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User voted Yes.
0 votes
Oct 13, 2015

For all those who said no, I have one question:

Why not?

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100
User voted No.
main reply
1 vote,
Oct 19, 2015

Islam is incompatible with our ideas of democracy, Islam codifies gender inequality and discrimination against non-Muslims. If elected it would his (under Islam Bukhari (88:219) - "Never will succeed such a nation as makes a woman their ruler." so it wouldn't be a woman) duty to force Islam onto the country, with all the laws that go with it. So as a cleric Sufi Muhammad, recently put it, "True Islam permits neither elections, nor democracy."

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User voted Yes.
0 votes,
Oct 22, 2015

Islam Bukhari is Hadith, not Quran. Many Muslims disagree about what elements of Haddith are binding doctrine and what parts are mere cultural tradition that is free to change with the times. A parallel from Christianity would be the Law of Moses, which many Christians argue is no longer binding on modern Christians.

You're confusing one Muslim ideology with the whole of Islam. If a Muslim candidate explicitly endorsed democracy and equality of the sexes and denounced Hadiths that say otherwise as non-binding, would it change your perspective about that candidate?

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User voted No.
0 votes,
Oct 24, 2015

Christians, as I pointed out above, in general don't follow that bible that closely. And given that, in the polls, 51% of Muslims think that the Quran should be the ultimate law, and even a greater percentage think that if the Constitution and the Quran are in conflict that the Qu'ran should take precedence Now you claim that Islam Bukhari is Hadith that is authentic words and teachings of the prophet Muhammad, are you saying that the Quran, is not the un-corrupted word of God?

Even if a Muslim candidate explicit endorsed democracy and equality and denounced Hadiths, doesn't the Quran exempted are those who lie about their religion if they are forced to do this to avoid persecution? So if the Quran allows a person to lie to avoid persecution, how can anything take their word that they truely are for democracy and equality?

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User voted Yes.
linked reply
0 votes,
Oct 24, 2015

Do your polls say how many American Muslims follow Hadith with the same loyality as the Quran?

And, to be clear, no, the Quran does not say that deceit in the name of Allah is justified. That, to, is Hadith, and a relatively obscure Hadith that most Muslims ignore unless it is to save their lives. The USA offers Muslims more freedom of religion than most nations, which pressure residents into secularism or the official state version of Islam. America, rather uniquely, does not treat religious people as intrensicly less desirable than secularists and allows Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Wahabis equal religious freedom of expression. Many American Muslims live here precisely because they value that.

Unless we're persecuting them (like, say, by blaming them all for terrorism and 9/11, even while they issue fatwas against the sacrelige of the terrorists), we have no reason to fear deceit.

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User voted No.
0 votes,
Oct 25, 2015

No the polls were asked if they are Muslim, if they said no, they were thanked and the call ended, then the poll asked again if they were Muslim and they had to confirm it.

Hadith as I understand it is a record of the traditions or sayings of Muhammad, and is considered as a major source of religious law and moral guidance, second only to the authority of the Quran. Given that (if I'm wrong please point out my mistake) the Quran is the ultimate authority right?

Therefore according to the Quran a Muslim can disavow their faith to avoid persecution and still be faithful. So even if a Muslim were to say they endorse democracy and equality, etc, how can anyone say what they speak is the truth? Give that if they were to say that the Quran is the ultimate authority and that should be the law in the United State, would mean they would be persecuted?

When a person says I'm a Muslim, Christian, Jew, or whatever. They are telling everyone that this the book and rules I follow. So if you look at their book and it says it's ok to oppress women, those who don't believe, etc. and that is direct conflict with what you believe why would you vote for them?

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User voted Yes.
0 votes,
Oct 25, 2015

The Bible says that adulrters should be stoned. Should we never vote for Christians because of such calls for violence? Christians are about as likely to stone adultrers as Muslims are to lie as a religious duty; it essentially never happens.

What persecution would a Presidential candidate be avoiding? A Presidential candidate is pretty well accepted by mainstream society. The justification you claim they use doesn't fit the circumstances we're discussing.

People live their religions in different ways that an outsider might predict from a few select passages of scripture. They adapt their worship to the times and their conscience and the wise teachers and scholars of their society. Christians today get more of their ideas from John Calvin and Immanuel Kant than from the Bible. Similarly, Muslims look to their scholars to teach them how to intrepret scripture properly, and (except for a few nuts like Bin Ladin) those scholars teach reasonable principles to live by. You will not find American Imams preaching liescas religious duty. Search YouTube for "American Imam speech" and see for yourself. Or actually really read the Quran for yourself while considering what advice you, personally, could take from it. That more than anything would help you understand Muslims. Rashaf Khalifa produced an excellent English translation. amazon.com/Quran/dp/1881893057

If that's too much work, consider reading a short history of the Muslim holy book and it's top scholars entitled The Quran: A Biography. amazon.com/Quran-Biography/dp/080214344XX

Whatever approach you take, please seek to discover if your theories actually reflect the behavior of modern American Muslims in any way. I think you will find that it does not, and that it is only a fear of the unknown, not knowledge of Muslims, that allows such beliefs to endure.

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100
User voted No.
1 vote,
Oct 25, 2015

As I pointed out Christians are very good at ignoring most of the Bible. And as far as stoning isn't that still practiced in some muslim countries?

What persecution? How about not getting elected? Every time said candidate would speak, he's would have to answer question about he Quran, "Doesn't the Quran say ...."

And NO extreme Imams in America? How can you possibly say that? There have been a number of arrests of extreme Imams in the US.

BTW yes I've read much of the quran and found it full contradictions and errors and just like the bible or the torah, the quran isn't where someone should get their morality from.

Well, why look at America, why not look at England, a free country with a growing Muslim population and see what problems they are having. Let's start with Sharia courts, where the courts are abusing muslim women, (bowgroup.org/policy/bow-group-report-parallel-world-co...im-women-britain) can't happen in the US? Irving TX shutdown the Sharia court there as being illegal, of course she was labeled anti-Islamic. A growing extremist problem, same in the US. There are some parts of the UK, according to reports, that is you're not a muslim you're not welcome. And if you happen to be a woman even less so. How about free speech? As long you're not drawing Muhammad, Even in the US we saw violance and South Park couldn't show a drawing of Muhammad even though there is NOTHING in the Quran to prevent it. Look at draw Muhammad day and tell me that America Muslim want freedom of speech. Anwar al-Awlaki (american immam) called for the DEATH of Molly Norris for her part in draw Muhammad day.

As I have pointed out when a person identifies themselves with a religion that is direct conflict with what I believe, why would I vote for them? After all the question is "Would you consider voting for a Muslim to be the president of your country?" Not whether or not I think all Muslims are bad people.

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100
User voted Yes.
1 vote,
Oct 22, 2015

This is an interesting answer. But I wonder if you would also still consider voting for a follower of Christianity or Judaism considering not only are both of those religions closely related to Islam, but they also codify slavery and stoning in the Old Testament (among other outdated and unpleasant things).

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User voted No.
0 votes,
Oct 24, 2015

Given that most, by most I mean over 80+%, of Christians and Jews, don't follow the Bible or the Torah and just pick and choose what parts they do follow, it's not that big of a problem. But if the candidate was standing up saying how they would return the US to the bible, etc I would NOT vote for them.

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User voted Yes.
0 votes,
Oct 25, 2015

Would you therefore be willing to vote for a Muslim who didn't follow the ideology you have highlighted in your original reply? I imagine there are plenty of Muslims who do not follow those teachings, but would you still refuse to vote for them based solely on their religion?

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User voted No.
0 votes,
Oct 26, 2015

Is a person a Christian if they don't follow the bible or Jewish if they don't follow the Torah? I say no, so if a Muslim isn't following the Quran, then are they truly Muslim? Like I've said in this thread, if a Christian were to stand up and say I'm a Christian and we need to return to the bible, I wouldn't vote for them. Odds are if they aren't following the Quran they won't say they are Muslim. So basically no problem. But the question is "Would you consider voting for a Muslim to be the president of your country?" Which to me means the person is following their religion and is claiming to be Muslim.

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main reply
0 votes,
Oct 23, 2015

Whether I like it or not, I live in a Catholic country, Christianity is a part of its history and tradition.

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