islam is indeed a political ideology and no more
Reader comment on item: Muslims Respond to President Obama
in response to reader comment: Islam political ideology

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Dec 10, 2008 at 07:55

Vijay wrote

". Now here is where the islamic confusion peaks: With the Greeks being called al-ruum and Muslims have no clue about Constantinople but some how the other ruum or Romans of Italy must fit in here some how."There is no confusion if we remember Islam is a political ideology . Muhammed refers to Constantinople and it's people as Roams since Byzyntine Empire was officially known as Roman Empire. It is as if you call every Ukrainian or Russian or Estonian as a Soviet since they were all part of now defunct Soviet empire. Mohammed and Islam looked at people only in political terms with no allowance for ethnic or cultural origins.

May be I did not make it clear: The Quranic word al-ruum means the Romans (but you read it as the Greeks). Do not read it as the Eastern Roman Empire. The Qur'an is not talking about al-dawla al-Rumaniya al-sharqiya or the Easten Roman Empire. It is talking about the people of such empire and those people are the Greeks which the Qur'an calls al-Ruum or the Romans. Muhammad would have flunked his political science class.

Now notice the following:

1. The Greeks are called al-ruum or the Romans (which is a loan word from Syriac, and it is not even an Arabic word, and in Syriac it means The Roman soldiers that came to Syira from Italy) but in time it also became the Syriac word for the Greek (soldiers) and then the Greeks.

2. The Qur'an is silent about the name of the capital (Constantinople) of the Romans (sic) or the Greeks and the attested Arabic name is; al-Qustantiniya and not Rommeye

3. Now enter modern islamists and those of them that know Arabic know that the Greeks are not really the Ruum (read this as the Romans as they are al-yunaniyuun or al-ighreeq in Arabic) and that the real Romans are the Italians and this is why Rommeye (Roma in modern Arabic) is not really Constantinople but Rome but some how Muhammad is supposed to have sent a letter asking the Emperor of the ruum (read this as the greeks) to beomce a Muslim. Now do you see where the confusion is? So much for Allah and his book

It is confusing enough and I hope I made it clear this time

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.