Did Islam wage terror wars before?

After seeing Iranians claiming Turkish heritage (Seljuks, Safavids, Afsarids, Timurids, Azeris)

Go Arabs go, smash Ctesiphon.

Too bad, we were not around while you were invading Iran.

Al Bedawi, when are we gonna attack Iran again?

The holy fire, or cleansing fire. It goes on to show how much damage religions can do. But in this case, the religion becomes a force of unity for those who seek to find solace from the oppressions of the corrupt Celestial government and her officials.

Hey Berosus,

    I know that Manicheanism reached China in ancient times, but I'm not entirely sure if "Ming Jiao" was Manichean (it probably was, cuz I can't think of another Persian religion in China.)  Were the Manicheans fire-worshippers?

Peace,

Michael

11-25-2004

Hey all,

    I think sometimes we are looking at the wrong place for answers to why terrorism occurs today.  Islam isn't a reason for terrorism: it's an excuse for it.  It is in hindsight, because of what happened in recent decades, that we look at all the violent aspects of Islam.  If we are living in the Crusade era we would probably wonder that Christianity is a particularly violent religion, and single out all the narratives of wars in the Bible. 

    Any religion can be an excuse for violence, even -- surprise -- Taoism and Buddhism!  Many Taoist priests were reputed anti-Mongolian heroes who fought in revolutions against Mongolians (I think the idea that people can fly and guide swords like missiles, now featured in Chinese martial art movies, probably started around that time.  The Taoists were famous for magic.)  And there was a Buddhist sect in late Yuan dynasty China that started a revolution against the Mongolians.  This sect believed in the appearance of a Buddha who will bring about the end of this world -- this should remind us the Messianism of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- and I think it allied with a Persian sect (I'm not sure which religion that was.  I think they were probably fire-worshippers.  I'm sure many here can inform me about that =) ) which is known as Ming Jiao (religion of lumination) in China (this sect believed that "Ming Wang," the luminous king, will appear to bring an end to this world.  It's not surprising that when the Mongolian dynasty was overthrown, the new Han regime named the new dynasty Ming dynasty.)

    I think the reality is that many people in the Middle East are extremely angry at Western economic encoachment.  They probably feel that their national pride being injured, as the Islamic culture was once the most advanced in the world.  The Middle East is not alone: the Chinese, for example, call the past century the century of humiliation.  Imagine a scenario where Christian west are exploited by others -- I wouldn't be surprised that they would turn to religion for strength, and many religious leaders would cease this opportunity to mobilize their followers to fight.  In fact, we don't need to think of a hypothetical: just look at how many Fundamentalist Christians in America rallied around President Bush for this war.

Peace,

Michael

11-22-2004