i wanna ask every muslim stop trying to teach a person who doesn`t even care & happily living at lies cause they know the truth would be a shame for them they know it they accused islam but never try to read quran they accused Mohamed but never try to read his biography ! what do u wanna tell them ? that islam is not terrorism & that they occupied iraq for oil not for poor iraqi people cause they r not saints ! that they r helped & helping jews at Gaza Holocaust to bring the christ back to spread peace !!!!
man they know it ! so plz do not bother those people shame on U !

Hilarious how fast this comment section turned into another Islam bashing fiesta!

Wow, look at the ignorant and radical comments, shocking and amazing at the same time.

Well, this is nothing new, the Jews have been hosted by Muslims for centuries and they are thankful for that, it is only the zionists and the brainwashed monkeys that still don't get what's going on in the world. Nay, I doubt it that they even read histor (I am not talking about some propaganda books)

To the haters:
Enjoy your ignorance, intolerance and extremism folks, it will only lead to your own demize, sooner or later you'll find out that you are a lost soul and it could be late for you (You'll become what you despise)

This is recycled material from Pamela Taylors Jealous Blogg.

As an female? Imama & with U.S. "1st Amendment RiGHTs" in Mind Ye that hath sinned a Great Sin! Allah & Muhammad are angry now. Ye will see o' Islam My [un-godl's] Astrays; not Children!

Moderator(s); Stop deleting to PLAGERIZE or Covering-Up i ESSAY's which is TRUE (opposite MYTH)! Ye art Using US [i] WE for the NEW-SONG. How Lost & Jealous ye HUMAN(s) are! O' EKLAHTi; O' LORD!

Is it Jealous ISLAM or Jealous WAPO staff/Crew who does/did the Deleting [i] ESSAY's Again.??

Ye hath Jealously & Discriminately & Prejudically "Deleted" "2 of 2" on June.27th.09; 9:57Am. Imagine Blocking the Word "MU-'HAM'-'MAD" (Muhammad) [NO pbuh]! Nor JEZUES & Co.! Ya Ya!

2 of 2: Reposted:

Musloms are LAST to Explore, what they thought was Flat & Jinned, miraculous World/Planet, borneth from OUR Holyi Cosmic NEBULA (not Korans....) ; Or discover the Deeper Places , like deeper Prophecy's, waiting to be discovered & Unvailed to & for HU{eMATE-Kinds, not HUMAN-Unkinds!)

America is meant for the "JO{KTANian EBERU Race [Little Uniters; aka in arabic the KHATAN people of the Book, aka US [i] in U.S. of A.]; not PE{LEGian Eberu Race [big DIVIDERS]! This is the Prophecy!

Not Mr. Moses a Macho-Man, Not Mr. Jesus. not Mr. Muhammad, not Mr. Vyasa, not Mr. Gautama, not Mr. Guru, Mr. Confusion etc..
Commentary:

In Desert Climates the Burka in a way is not "CARCINOGENETIC"; meaning it can be a good SUNSCREEN! But Conventional westernized HATS look better & are justly as effective, if not MORE!

Please; Give US American "HU{eMATE(s), aka Jok{Tanians & CO., a Break!

Wow! How Jealous Ye are for i being Authentic via High I.Q. [We art SUPERIOR [Akbar!] not Inferior & We [i] art Fearless & Non-Jelous'd; only Natural & innately aware'd] ..

Pleas a Allah & Muhammad; Forgive them for they no not what they Doeth! O' HOLYi-NO-MAN/WOMB!

Amazing No Grace ().

I don't get how this is related to religion? Albanians and religion... well you could write many books on that and I bet that at least a dozen new religions will pop out. Albanians religion is Albanianism. This was what the Albanian renaissance tought Albanians when they first learned to read and write. No religion is important more than national traditional values. The "Besa" was a concept that was present well before the Ottoman invasion of Albania and was reinforced in Canons such as that of Lek Dukagjini where the only religious references are made to the church and not to the mosque. Albanians saving Jews has nothing to do with religion or Albanians being a Muslim majority. It would be shameful by Albanian standards if someone was killed while being guest at your house. The Canon states that if that happens the host has been ashamed and as such has the right of blood over the one that killed the guest, meaning he would have to kill him or one male of his family. Albanians did not care what happened to Jews around Europe but once in their homes, they were their responsibility. It was never about the Jews but about the honor of the host.

IT was & is the Original JUDEO's (not Judeo-VEDIC, not via Judeo-Buddhists..) that

That Al iSLAM, aka MUSLOMS, Moslems, Muslims, Muzzleman-womb's who must never Byte the Religio Hand of the PELEGians whom Gave Them (Stolen, not Borrowed) R-E-L-i-G-I-O-N! Soo,

Albanians, before, during & after, as Islamics Had/have NO-CHOICE but to "Welcome [All Judeo-Ju's]

Point: All, every & any "HAM"ite's or "JASPETH"ite , i.e., like iSLAMites via their gods fearing Musloms anywhere on S.S. Earth, must Bow/Submit via "BESA" or BESTA's of their Nations!

So Ye ISHMAELites (Canaanites, not Arabous, aka ARABites)& Ye ESAUites (Canaanites, not Arabous) must Bow down to every JEWish Man/Woman & Child on S.S. Earth & must Care for them Yadulla's (Jew's in Hindu/Urdu) or Yahudi (Jew in Arabic) or Hoodio (Je in Latin); For They gave Ye Pre-Apocalyptic PELEGian's (not US Apocalyptic Jok{TANites Race; as Prophecied) Mono? "R-E-L-i-G-I-O-N"! So,

Islamic Albanians? was/are obligated to care for Any Judeo-Jew(s) on S.S. earth.

TRiVIA: Did Ye Knowth that All the JUDEO Chumash/Bibles, JUDEO-Quran/Korans, JUDEO-GITA/KANGYURS are all in fact POLY-THEO & Zero MONO-THEO Faith/Belief/Religions SYSTEMS (man-Made zero innate/Natural)!????

Note: iF Ye don't believe i [US; JO{KTANian Nationals on S.S. Earth] THEN

please read or reread what ZEUS lover Mr. Moses Novelized?, includes Mr. Je{ZUES, Mr. Muham{mad, Mr. Vyasa, Mr. Gautama, Guru, Confusion.. are really singinging therein & Act therefrom!

END of 'The [Old-time] Beginning. And BEGINs the Beginning of the Prophetic a NEW-SONG, as Promised in all them INFIXUS-BOOKS comething from All YE (not OUR) oldy's folklores but still hath some goody's therein writtenly [by Man, not innately/naturally via "IT" , aka "iTSELF"].

hint: OUR 'CLAUSE'S to uphold, to magnify & to make Honorable. like the Scientific-Method; "To KNOW in order to PREDICT in Order to CONTROL" = "IT"s own LAWS OF [OUR] NATURE & "IT"s "CONSTITUTION" = OUR (not Abrahamics, not Vedics etc.. man made gods Systems) our "UNIVERSE!!! [never CHURCH, Mosquew, Shuel, Temple etc..]!!

This is the TRUTH (opposite MYTH)!

1 of 2:

continued, "When Judeo-Jews" saved "Judeo-ISLAM":

According to the CHUMASH(old-Basorah)/BiBLE (new-Masorah) and in their, not OUR, "Most Evil Story Ever Told"; The DRUN-KiN Racist NOACH Story's" [& continually 'Enforced' upon unsuspecting Potential HUe{MATES till today by Pre-Apocalyptic believing Abrahamics & Vedics, Pagans, Wicaans etc..] THAT

Biblio "HAM" (Worshipped in QURAN/Koran also, the Black/Brown/Tan folk & "JASPETH" (White/Yellow/Red) was below "SHEM" , aka the "P-E-L-E-G-i-A-N" Eberu Race/Descendants/Family TREE(man-Made Systems built on JEALOUSY) Faith? Systems.

So as a "RACE" sprouting out of YE "Abraham [PASSOVER] Lines story, not OUR's, concocted by Novel-Star Mr. MOSES & CO., . aka the god(s) Player (not OUR G-D) of his time (not OUR), THAT

in Fact; Copy cat Abrahamic Al "ISLAM" [Religion of S-U-B-M-i-S-S-i-O-N] of Today via Mr. Mu-HAM-mad, was Stolen from the "S-H-E-M-i-T-E'S" (Judeo-Jews) folks.

Note: HISTORY is OUR juryist, judgeth & Witnesseth. Originating from OUR (not Pelegian thinking) Arrow of 'TIME' (Holyi 'TEMPerature'; not via man-made clock). Soo,

we [i] JO{KTANian EBERU's" race (not Peleg race), on THIS Blesseth, never Sineth nor Cusrseth, Holyi NEBULA-BUiLT Miraculous S.pace-S.hip EARTH (of many), Hath now appeared to

SAVE THE EARTH from PRE-APOCALYPTARIANITY!

Commentary: According to the Drunkin Racist Noah Story; that Copy Cat ex-Pagan Judeo-ISLAMICS, Copy cat ex-pagan Judeo-Christians, ex-Christian Judeo-Mormons et al, are the LOWER & the LOWEST on the Judeo-Jewish Todem-Pole so to speaketh! Soo,

especially Judeo Musloms, not only Christians, Owe, their "MY Religion" Complex's/Syndromes fanaticism to the "Ya-Who-di" {People of the [original] Book?, aka Judeo's,-JU's].

continued 2 of 2:

"IT" [G-D, Allah, Ishvara, Lord, Rock, aka "iTSELF"... by 1.000 names & no longer by 99] is neither a "HE" or a "HIM" nor is S.S. Earth(s) are "HiS"! Nor is "IT", a "SHE" or a "HER"s either!

For Genuine "HEALING OF NATIONS" & "TRUE (opposite MYTH) PEACE ON S.S. EARTH, aka S.S. GAiA, S.S. GEOiD, S.S. TELLUSng something; that This [Pre-Apocalyptic] thinking or Mentioning's Ye god(s) "INSTEAD OF (OUR) G-D", as be a "HE" or a "SHE" needs to END! (not the World!)!

Hence ; Better END YE (Pelegian Race) than Ye ENDng US (JO{KTAN Eberu Race) via Ye (not OUR) J-E-A-L-O-U-S-Y(s)! All Pre-Apocalyptically INSTEAD of APOCALYPTICALLY, Competing for a Name-For-Manmade-god(s), Instead of OUR G-D innate/Natural SYSTEMS!.

If most Muslims were good human beings they would be screaming from the rooftops against how non-Muslims are treated under Islamic rule. But they are not.

The statement that Islam respects other religion is just ridiculous. LOOK around the world. Look at these videos of the persecuted Coptic Christians in Egypt.

http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2009/06/egyptian-con-and-obamavideos.html

Hey Maxim you might want to educate yourself to the fact that the threat from Islam against Jew existed long before Israel did.

If this site had any integrity they would fire this author as he is nothing more than and Islamic propagandist.

1.What matters today is the everyday threat to Israel.
2.He also does not tell us that Islam calls for Muslims to kill Jews to reach judgment day. (3rd video down)
http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2009/01/american-muslims-no-different-from-rest.html
3.Or how Jews have been threatened by Islam for centuries. Anyone ever wonder why there are no Jews in Saudi Arabia?
Hadith Malik 511:1588 The last statement that Muhammad made was: “O Lord, perish the Jews and Christians. They made churches of the graves of their prophets. There shall be no two faiths in Arabia.” (During the caliphates of the first four Caliphs this edict was fully carried out and all non-believers were removed from Arabia.)

Zebra asks:
“In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians …” Is this fascism?”

This is quite right! A special place was reserved for them. As to whether this is fascism or not you tell us after you review that”special” place (status) assigned the Dhimmis as codified by the Umar Pact, cited below. Add to that all the different inordinate taxes imposed on them and only them.

http://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-kills-pact-of-umar.htm

TO LIVEANDLOVE: You just made that up! Besa in albanian does not have anything to do with "Best Wishes". It means TRUST! This article is about albanians, and BESA as a word and as a custom is only present in albanian culture. There might be similar customs in other cultures but they are not called Besa.

In a 2006 article Uri Avnery, an Israeli peace activist and a former knesset member wrote: “The treatment of other religions by Islam must be judged by a simple test: how did the Muslim rulers behave for more than a thousand years when they had the power to ’spread the faith by the sword’?”

For many centuries, he says, the Muslims ruled Greece. “Did the Greeks become Muslims? Did anyone try to Islamise them? On the contrary, Christian Greeks held the highest positions in the Ottoman administration.

“The Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians, Hungarians and other European nations lived at one time or another under Ottoman rule and clung to their Christian faith. Nobody compelled them to become Muslims and all of them remained devoutly Christian.”

Then he points to a fact that when the Crusaders invaded Palestine, the majority had remained Christian in spite of 400 years of Muslim rule. Then “in the name of gentle Jesus”, he says, the Crusaders “massacred its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants”.

He adds: “There is no evidence whatsoever of any attempt to impose Islam on Jews. As is well known, under Muslim rule, the Jews of Spain enjoyed a boom the like of which the Jews did not enjoy anywhere else until almost our time.”

“In Muslim Spain, Jews were ministers, poets, and scientists” and “Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars worked together and translated ancient Greek philosophical and scientific texts. That was indeed the Golden Age.

“How would this have been possible had the Prophet decreed the ‘spreading of the faith by the sword’?” Then he refers to the re-conquest of Spain by Catholics and says: “The Jews and Muslims were presented with a cruel choice: to become Christians, to be massacred or to leave.”

Then he asks, “Where did the hundreds of thousands of Jews … escape? Almost all of them were received with open arms in the Muslim countries. The Jews settled all over the Muslim world, from Morocco … to Iraq, from Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman empire) … to Sudan. Nowhere were they persecuted. They knew nothing like the tortures of the Inquisition … and the terrible mass expulsions that took place in almost all Christian countries up to the Holocaust.”

He asks, “Why?” and then he answers, “Because Islam expressly prohibited any persecution of ‘peoples of the book’. In Islamic society, a special place was reserved for Jews and Christians …” Is this fascism?

Then he says : “Every honest Jew who knows the history of his people cannot but feel a deep sense of gratitude to Islam, which has protected the Jews for 50 generations, while the Christian world persecuted the Jews and tried many times ‘by the word’ to get them to abandon their faith”.

The story about “spreading the faith by the sword”, he says “is an evil legend, one of the myths that grew up in Europe” during the many wars with Muslims.

Oooppsaa again:

Sounds like the Alban-ians folks are Angels compared to the POLAND-ians folks of WW-2!

ooops. "WHEN JUDEO-JEWS" saved "JUDEO-MUSLOMS"?

In German/Dutch "We wish you the BEST" [BESA? is translated, "Wir wünschen Ihnen das BESTe.

In a way, the German Word BESTa, of which Albanian dailect borrows; can mean a form of "SH{OLOM" [Hello, Welcome Friend, Peace, even Besta Wishes etc..].

Note: from other Albanians i [WE] also knoweth that many joined the STASi & participated with Anti-Western Elements. Especially During WOrld War ONE with Fighting for the OTTOMAN Empire pre-1919!

Soo, "BES[t]A" = a form of Hello Friend & Bye friend?

You cannot blame a religion for a terrorist act. You can blame people for a terrorist act!

Just a clarification. Albania is in Europe. Near Italy. Besa is belived to be a albanian-illyrian tradition. Because linguist and historians could not find any other link for this name. Besa in albanian is a synonymous for trust. And has to do with everything from hospitality to business. So if someone knocks at your door it means that that person trusts you so you are obligated to give him shelter. But besa (trust) is the same in other fields. It is like an unwritten contract. Nothing to do with religion.

AlySheba_3: "So what else is new? An article which tries to point out that all Muslims are not "terrorists" gets bashed."

Those of us who have criticized Mr. Patel's article would agree that most Muslims are not terrorists. But we are arguing that that is because most Muslims are good human beings, not because the Qur'an "teaches mercy and protecting the weak". I am happy to respect Islam just as soon as Islam respects other religions. I don't really care that you prostrate yourself in front of a black stone in Mecca, or believe that an illiterate businessman in 7th century Mecca with 14 wives and who knows how many slave girls was a prophet, so why do Muslims care if I worship stone idols, plastic idols or matinee idols?

Finally, no discussion of this sort would be complete without a multi-culti Westerner demanding to know why we cannot all get along, and our "16th generation American" Maxim678504 plays the role to perfection. Maxim678504 claims to be perplexed that "napalm dropping, atomic bomb deploying, ... war-profiteering-enthusiast Americans presume to lecture Arabs about, unh, anything", and goes on to argue that openness and liberalism will flourish in Muslims countries when there is "economic development, opportunity, and generalized prosperity". In 2007, the GDP (PPP) of Saudi Arabia was $24,000, and native-born Saudis live like kings, compared to say most Indians or Chinese. Lots of "generalized prosperity" there, and yet Saudi Arabia is the wellspring of Wahabbi poison that has now contaminated the world. One wonders whether Maxim678504 finds this perplexing as well.

Eboo asserts:
“Besa as an expression of the Qur'anic teachings of mercy, hospitality, and protecting the weak.”

Wrong! It is a pre-Islamic tradition among the tribes of Yemen and Hijaz. The Ghassanide Christian Arab tribes of Yemen practiced this tradition of extreme hospitality and protection of whoever asks for it before and after Islam.

Mr. Patel. Please check on the activities of Haj Amin El Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, during WWII. Then come back and describe how many Jews were saved by Muslims.

"I've always found it perplexing to have strafe-bombing, napalm dropping, atomic bomb deploying, state-torturing, munitions dealing, territorial acquisitioning, war-profiteering-enthusiast Americans presuming to lecture Arabs about, unh, anything. But hey, that's just me.

Posted by: maxim678504"

Do you find female-suicide bombers in Iraqi markets and bus stops equally perplexing? What about Salafist mayhem in Somalia?; or Pakistani decapitations of hostages; or attacks in Mumbai? There is plenty to lecture not only Arabs but all Muslims about the disparity between the "religion of peace" and the practices of many of its followers.

Besa is a beautiful idea: if some one knocks on your door you have an absolute obligation - no matter who that person is - to save their lives.

Besa is a beautiful idea: if some one knocks on your door you have an absolute obligation - no matter who that person is - to save their lives.

So what else is new?

An article which tries to point out that all Muslims are not "terrorists" gets bashed.

Hey, let us not be idiots to believe that everybody with claims of faith or culture is all good and religious. There are always good and bad people in every race, religion and breed. One has to be suspicious of anyone who uses religion or culture to spur up hate. It calls to mind the very first commandment to beware of those who use the name of God in vain. When anyone uses faith to denounce another, or preach his/her importance, he/she is merely serving Satan's desires... and should be the least to be trusted. We tend to preach faith and forget the most essential call from God... the Ten Commandments.

Dear Mr. Patel, I have one question - Why has the Hindu population in Pakistan dwindled so drastically while the Muslim population in India has grown three fold. These are all silly attempts to show Islam as a tolerant religion while it is not. Of course there are are tolerant Muslims but that is more personal and ideological with human instincts. It has nothing to do with religion. So let us not confuse the issue.

"Unfortunately, I see few signs of reform within Islam...persecuted by the government...it is forbidden to build churches or temples...apostasy is a capital offense...In the end, actions speak louder than words."

That is not to suggest that there is no crime conducted by Hindus against Muslims in India...

Which begs the question of context. When put upon by outside forces, those who self-identify turn inwards and destroy their own societies in reactionary rage. The most simplistic, flawed analogy is America during the Red scare--a time when cultural minorities had no easy ride either. With the whole of the West seeking to stake a claim in Muslim territories using every tool at her disposal, and the gaping wound that is bleeding Iraq, Afganistan, and Western Pakistan, Palestine, and the special history of mineral conquest in Iran, is it no surprise that Muslim societies have cracked down on religious minorities?

It is economic development, opportunity, and generalized prosperity that drives openness and liberalism within any culture. If in Muslim societies the resources of state are plundered by tribal autocrats, planted within Western banks and companies, and, if local autocratic structures are cemented in place by willful collusion with Western security arrangements--what chance does street-level Islam have to emphasize and obtain its inherent openness and benevolence?

One thing is certain: not much by way of bombing Muslims back to the stone age.

"...MUSLIMS VOWING TO WIPE THE STATE OF ISRAEL FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH."

The State of Israel currently holds captive 14,000 Arab Muslim political prisoners, and, to most of the Muslim world right or wrong, is recognized as having constructed a religiously and racially exclusive state upon lands that at the time of Israel's founding were inhabited by a considerable number of Muslims-many of whom now live lives of squalor in refugee camps.

One might understand why the wild man of Teheran might wish for the "Zionist regime be wiped from the page of time," which is the actual quote from Kohemeni that Ahmadenijad recites. What exactly might that mean when placed in context?

Mir_WSU: "I am not sure how many times I have seen someone like you just posting a line from Quran and declaring the religion of 1.3 Billion people as something it is not."

You and I can agree that there are horrific exhortations to violence in the holy books of most of the religions of the world. The caste system that my ancestors practiced is an example of horrific violence against minorities, and as you point out, the Old Testament is filled with blood-curdling passages.

Nevertheless, I see genuine efforts within Hinduism and Christianity to reform some of the more despicable aspects of these religions. In India, Dalits now have special quotas for admission to colleges and for jobs to help them improve their economic situation. We have had a Dalit President, and it is very likely that we will soon have a Dalit Prime Minister (Mayawati). None of these things would be possible without the acquiesence of upper-caste Hindus. Similarly, Mormons did not allow non-white people to join their church, but today they actively seek out Asians and blacks to join their church. There is a long way to go before these religions become civilized but at least there are genuine efforts at reform.

Unfortunately, I see few signs of reform within Islam. In Iran, Zoroastrians have been wiped out, and the Bahaii are being killed for their beliefs (the biggest Bahii temples are in Tel-Aviv and Delhi!). In Pakistan, Ahmadiyas and Ismailis are being persecuted by the government. In Saudi Arabia, it is forbidden to build churches or temples, and in many Muslim countries, apostasy (converting from Islam to some other religion) is a capital offense (mandated by the Qur'an, no?).

In the end, actions speak louder than words. Muslim countries are the most dangerous countries in the world for religious minorities. I will agree that there is much to be admired in Islam when I see Muslims acknowledge openly that there is also much to be reformed in Islam, and that there are horrific passages in the Qur'an, like in other religious texts, that need to be abrogated.

Until then, statements about "Qur'anic teaching of mercy and protecting the weak" should be seen for what they are - an attempt to hide the true nature of Islam as it is practiced, to hoodwink the rest of us.

Finally, about the proportion of Muslims in Bangladesh - the State Department website says 88.3%, while I said 90%. I'm not sure this is an issue to quibble over.

cOINCIDENTALLY, pATEL WAS APPOINTED BY oBAMA TO SERVE ON THE fAITH PANEL. pATEL IS FROM cHICAGO. pATEL, OFFICIALLY, IS AN "INTERFAITH" TYPE OF 'CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?' GUY. i BELIEVE THE QUESTION IN 2009 IS NOT WHAT MUSLIMS IN EUROPE ARE DOING TO PROTECT THE JEWS IN EUROPE, BUT MUSLIMS VOWING TO WIPE THE STATE OF ISRAEL FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH. The apologist for the Quaran passage apparently thinks it's okay to spare the life of the infidel as long as he agrees to be inculcated in the virtues of Islam, or otherwise stays the hell out of the way of the conquering of the world.

@FEDUPINDIAN

I am not sure how many times I have seen someone like you just posting a line from Quran and declaring the religion of 1.3 Billion people as something it is not. Lets start with the verse you quoted. Let just add couple of verses before and after the verse FEDUPINDIAN mentioned.

Sura 9:4 --> (But the treaties are) not dissolved with those Pagans with whom ye have entered into alliance and who have not subsequently failed you in aught, nor aided any one against you. So fulfil your engagements with them to the end of their term: for Allah loveth the righteous.

Sura 9:6 --> If one amongst the Pagans ask thee for asylum, grant it to him, so that he may hear the word of Allah; and then escort him to where he can be secure. That is because they are men without knowledge.

The 5th Verse of the Sura only applies to people who did not live up to the previous agreement. History says Muslims were intimidated,tortured and obstructed repeatedly during that period despite the pact with Pagans.

Anyway,Mr/Mrs FEDUPINDIAN. Ignorance and intolerance always goes hand in hand. Try not to judge a religion based on one verse.If we do so, there are not any religion on this planet which can be termed as civil. Let me give you some example:

In the cities of these nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you as a patrimony, you shall not leave any creature alive. You shall annihilate them — Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites — as the Lord your God commanded you. (Deuteronomy 20:16-17)

Go now and fall upon the Amalekites and destroy them, and put their property under ban. Spare no one; put them all to death, men and women, children and babes in arms, herds and flocks, camels, and asses. (1 Samuel 15:2-3)

After the conquest of Jericho: "They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys." (Joshua 6:21)

And one more thing while we are at it. Wikipedia is not a good source for information. In Bangladesh ( Country I am from )Muslims constitute less than 85% of the population. Hindus constitute more than 14% of the population. And then you have Buddhists, Christians and some other tribal religions.

"Besa [is] an expression of the Qur'anic teachings of mercy,hospitality, and protecting the weak"

These Qur'anic teachings must be the reason religious minorities are treated so well in Muslim countries, and why they prosper and flourish there. From Wikipedia:

Afghanistan: 99% Muslim
Algeria: 99% Muslim
Bangladesh: 90% Muslim
Egypt: 90% Muslim
Morocco: 100% Muslim
Pakistan: 98% Muslim
Saudi Arabia: 100% Muslim
Turkey: 99% Muslim
Yemen: 99% Muslim

Here's what the Qur'an actually says about how Muslims should treat religious minorities: "When the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." Sura 9:5

Qur'anic teachings of mercy and protecting the weak, my ass!

As a sixteenth generation American with direct ties to Jamestown and a chartered plantation there, I've always found it perplexing to have strafe-bombing, napalm dropping, atomic bomb deploying, state-torturing, munitions dealing, territorial acquisitioning, war-profiteering-enthusiast Americans presuming to lecture Arabs about, unh, anything. But hey, that's just me.

Benedict founded a religious order in which old values were codified - welcom the stranger -- but if he prove to be argumentative, have two stout monks toss him out; to the Abbott: 'break not the bruised reed' when disciplining or tasking the brothers. Balance each day with work, study, and prayer. All things permissible should be used in moderation.

Today, we talk about making sure we don't leave any money on the table in our interactions with one another.

On the other hand, we've (mostly) given up hanging drawing and quartering criminals - and women are only rarely burned or hanged as witches.

Such a zigzag dance we dance...

too bad you named the people who helped those jews. the headcutters will be hunting down their decendants now.

My personal experience is that it it the ARAB culture that fosters the hatred of Jews. Even many Christian arabs exhibit those tendencies. Muslims in non-arab countries like Indonesia are overwhelmingly neutral when it comes to Jews. Bottom line: it is the self-loathing arabs with their tendency to blame everyone else for their sorry condition when it is their own stupidity that causes them so much grief.

Whatever the past, it seems that now most Muslims are unable to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism, and therefore seem to hate Jewish people.
It seems like every religion has its dark times. Right now, it's Muslims that are backwards as hell.

Albania at the time had around 800,000 citizens, only about 200 of whom were Jewish - though over 2,000 refugee Jews from Greece, Austria and Italy were taken in to the homes of Albanians as well.
________________________________
Ah, I see. STill, some editing is in order. It appears you wish to say that non-Jewish Albanians, a majority of them Muslim, protected Jewish Albanians, as well as Jewish refugees from other nations....

Also, you should have given the nazi definition of "Jew," which is/was unique.

This is erroneous: "And it wasn't just Muslims making sacrifices - the ENTIRE POPULATION (emphasis mine), approximately 70% Bektashi Muslim, 20% Orthodox Christians and 10% Catholic - risked their lives to save Jewish strangers."

I'm a little confused by the terms here. Were the Jews who were saved Albanian, or did they come from somewhere else? If they were Albanian, then does the article mean to discuss the assistance some Albanian Muslims offered Albanian Jews?

I'm not questioned the substance of the piece at this point, merely asking for clarification.

What is meant by "Albanians" in this discussion? What is meant by "Jews"?

Bulgaria also saved all of its Jews, at one point by people lying on the tracks in front of the deportation trains. For details see "Beyond Hitler's Grasp: The Heroic Rescue of Bulgaria's Jews" by Michael Bar-Zohar, Adams Media Corp., 1998, 2001.

AlbanianAnarchist: So the name of this commentary should be When Albanians Helped Albanians.

According to the latest studies. Most of albanians (70%) belive in a god but are not religious.

What I wrote earlier was a slight exaggeration of what being an albanian is all about. Albanian may not be considered a religion, and it probably should not, but albanians have a lot of their own traditions and stories related to a god and gods that have transformed from pagan times, and christian-muslim influence.

If you want to see some statistics about religion in albania you could read here:
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/country/?CountryID=103 (or if you can read in albanian)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15738681/Feja-ne-Shqiperi1

My grandfather worked for a jewish businessman in Prishtina and during the war (WW2) he joined the partisans. He helped the jewish man and his family escape from Albania (Kosovo) back than without any compensation. Although he did not offer help because of Besa. He did it (as he told me) because of the albanian tradition of helping other people no matter how risky that is.

To albaniananarchist: are you saying that no citizens of Albania belong to the Muslim faith? Jews are not only jews. They, like everyone else, can choose to lay claim to a national identity.
In the context of Nazi domination religion actually does matter very profoundly.

Besa is considered one of the oldest codes that has survived until our times. It is the corner stone of the albanian tradition, but is vastly threatened under todays modernization. In fact people who still honor Besa today are considered hyper-conservative.

This is interesting but highly misleading. The fact is there were only 200 Jews in Albania because most had left due to persecution.

Albanians in Kosovo rounded up about 600 Jews, most of whom died in concentration camps and Albanian. This was done in part by an Albanian SS division allied with the Nazis.

In addition it should be noted that Albania was under Italian occupation during most of WWII. Germany occupied portions of Albania for about a year but were never in total control as it lacked the manpower to control Albania and large sections were under control of Albanian communist forces. In addition, it was not as oppressive an occupation because the Germans tried to maintain Albania as an independent state.

Still, it is meaningful that the small number of Albanian Jews survived the short term German occupation and some Albanians protected and sheltered Jews from the Germans.

"What Besa says is that if some one knocks on your door you have an absolute obligation - no matter who that person is - to save their lives."

Whether Muslim or Albanian or a combination of both, Besa is an extraordinarily important concept, to which the world must return. Christians, too, strictly followed customs that forbade sins against hospitality to travelers and those in need-and were punished for transgressions. The greatest example of the wrath brought upon villagers who did sin against hospitality is the legend of two important cities destroyed, Gomorrah and Sodom, a tale now corrupted by modern preachers to vilify an entire class of people. How far have the Abrahmic religions strayed? The evidence is abundantly clear.

Fisrst of all: albanians are not muslims, albanians are albanians, just like jews are jews. So saying that Besa is a muslim tradition is like saying that bar mitzvah is a christian tradition. Besa is equally important to every albanian. Religion is not importat!