Okay...here I come. As a Muslim, I feel compelled to respond to this thread.

FIRST...regarding Wahabis, the TRUE Islam sent by God does NOT have any sects. Wahabis, Shiites, Sufis....all of these 'groups' are baseless and were made later on. There is nothing in the Quran that would support or even encourage these 'groups', and most Muslims I know, like myself, do not consider themselves a part of any stupid group or organization.

SECOND...If you read the Quran, you will see that in MANY places, God speaks to the Jews and Christians, referring to them as, "Oh People of the Book." People of the BOOK, because Jews and Christians were the followers of the previous books sent by God. So the reason God refers to them as the 'people of the book' is BECAUSE God DID reveal the Torah and the Bible to Prophet Moses and Jesus, and as Muslims, we do believe in that. If we don't believe that what God sent to Moses and Jesus and ALL of the Prophets mentioned in the holy books was the truth, then we're not Muslims to begin with. We do not believe the One God sent many different religions to mankind. How does that make sense anyway? God created all of mankind, and obviously, the guidelines He wants us ALL to live by are the same. ALL of the Prophets He sent, according to our beliefs, brought the exact same message, and if the Jews today followed the EXACT teachings brought by Prophet Moses....if Christians today followed the EXACT teachings brought by Jesus, and if Muslims today followed the EXACT teachings brought by Prophet Muhammad, we would ALL be the followers of EXACTLY the same thing. The reason things are so different now is because the Bible is not completely in its 'original form' now. What I mean by that is we believe in what God revealed to Jesus, at that time, but people have changed things now, and it no longer remains exactly the same as it was at that time. People change....people bring changes, but God remains the One and same, and His expectations from us won't ever change no matter what century we live in. So I guess my point is, no TRUE Muslim would ever...EVER disrespect the Bible or Torah in this SICKENING way that the troops abused the Quran in. Islam does not teach disrespect.

THIRD...Comparing the United States to Saudi Arabia is like comparing a mango to a bean. In other words, there is no comparison. The Saudi government is an oppressive monarchy, and while I don't know the truth of them abusing Christians/the Bible, I *DO* know that they abuse their OWN MUSLIM PEOPLE. So if they don't give Christians living in their country certain rights, its not like they are giving Muslims living in their country the rights they deserve either. The US on the other hand guarantees the freedom of religion to ALL people living here, and this is something that is in our Constitution. To guarantee freedom of religion to EVERYONE, and then go against it. If you can call anything hypocricy, a US soldier flushing a Quran down the toilet , is just that. To think that our country's soldiers are justified when they sexually and so disgustingly abuse prisoners...to think they are justified when they abuse God's Books...well...Its surprising that ANY American that stands on liberty and justice for ALL would ever justify them or ANYONE else for those actions.

Does the Muslim WORLD abuse the Bible? Do the 1.4 billion Muslims in the world all abuse the Bible that they should be accused of hypocrisy? I have been to MANY Muslim countries, and was surprised at the fact that when I stay in their hotels, they have a copy of the Bible sitting in the drawers, but no Quran. How nice. And I was also surprised to see Christmas trees all over the airport and malls in Dubai when I went there once in December. Yep...Muslims are hypocrites cause they abuse Christians in their countries. That is generalizing 1/4th of the ENTIRE world population. We are not a 'few' people here and there on the planet. We make up for 1/4th of the entire world. There are almost as many Muslims in this world as Christians at this point. I want to know how many of those Muslims have EVER shown any disrespect to the Bible. If any, very few, and again, it is the PEOPLE who do wrong things, and NOT the religion that teaches or encourages wrong. There are good and bad people in every race, in every country, in every religion, and I am SICK.....absolutely SICK of people making all Muslims the 'bad ones' ALL the time. What is so 'bad' about all 1.4 billion of us? What has the 'average' Muslim ever done against anyone? NOTHING. A Muslim is one who submits to God Almighty, and worships Him. A Muslim is one who faithfully follows the religion of Prophet Abraham. Is that a bad thing? I think not. As a Muslim, I wish to get the same respect I give other people.

Wrong doings cannot and should not be justified, no matter how dear the person committing wrong may be to you. Wrong doings are wrong, and when one commits wrong, he/she should be condemned no matter who it is. Whether it is a Jew, or Christian, or Muslim, or troop, or civilian, or government official, or anyone else, if someone is doing something so wrong, it needs to be condemned, and not justified by, "Well such and such did the same thing." The Saudi government is an oppressive monarchy, that doesn't give full rights to anyone living in their land, no matter who they are. They never claimed to give freedom, and they do not. No they are NOT justified...they're in fact one of my most hated governments in the world, but, you cannot compare them to the US. The US guarantees freedom of religion to all people. TO have the US do this.......THAT is hypocrisy. What the troops did to the Quran is completely unacceptable. It makes me furious. Just because they're troops, that does NOT justify them. If the troops of any country....ANY country committed the same actions towards the Bible, I would be the first to condem them. God doesn't give troops any special favors. He will treat us ALL as equals, and judge us all according to our deeds, and not our 'status'. Would Jesus justify those actions? Would he? Honestly? No. He never would, and you all KNOW he wouldn't. So anyone who claims to love God and Jesus shouldn't either.

Now...about the Saudi government again. Do you know who considers them his 'best friends'? Yep...our president. And you know what else I see as hypocrisy? Going to war against a country claiming to 'save their people' from an 'evil dictator', and then treating that dictator to all the Doritos in the world after capturing him. WHY isn't he being punished while innocent children continue to die? Why does it seem that he's being treated so well? I want to know that too.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/....ap/index.html

Hypocrisy...Something that is very easy to accuse other people of. People are just idiots.

I am so glad that I grew up in the US, while being able to visit the East at the same time. I've been able to see people of both societies, and that opens my mind to so much. It gave me a good perspective of both sides, and how and why people think the way they do on both sides. I can see that people in the Eastern part of the globe are so much against the West because they know nothing about it. I also see that people in the US have a problem with Islam because they too, are CLUELESS about it. People need to educate themselves ACCURATELY, and learn to stop judging others when they know nothing about them. Ignorance is a disease, and unfortunately, most people in this world so ignorantly pass judgements on other people without having a clue of what they're talking about. The hatred in this world is all caused by ignorance, and fed by the crazy media in all parts of the world. People need to wake up and see what's right and wrong for themselves.

And I will end my post with this verse from the Quran...

Quran; 2:136. Say: "We believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow down to God in submission."

That is what all true Muslims believe in, and true Muslims do NOT abuse the books of other nations. Only a person who has no shame, no dignity, and no respect would do such a thing to anyone.

Sorry for making it so long.