Hi Khalil,

Welcome to the forum. Let me start by assuring you that this sort of thread is normally not tolerated (pun intended), but as long as everyone stays civil the moderator usually looks the other way on the weekends. I see that you aren't a registered member, so let me be the first to invite you to register and participate frequently (assuming that you actually work with 8051s and derivatives).

To the topic at hand. You have made my very point. You start by professing to believe in Islam, but then immediately describe yourself as a secular humanist. You assert that Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism are all equivalent. But this can not be. It is a fundamental tenet of Buddhism that there is no creator God. But the existance of a monotheistic creator is THE fundamental tenet of Judaism, and consequently of the two world religions that sprang therefrom, namely Islam and Christianity. So by definition these religions can not be equivalent.

You asked what Hasidim means. The Hasidic are a sect of Judaism that are, for lack of a better phrase, the "true believers." They are sometimes described as the Jews' Jews. They are viewed by many as being ultra-legalistic because they believe that the teachings of the Torah aren't just to be followed in synagouge on Shabbat (Sabbath or Saturday if you prefer), but that they are to be lived every day in every aspect of life. You would probably recognise them on sight. They sometimes wear tifillim (little scrolls in boxes on their wrists or foreheads) and they always wear payees (curls of hair on the sides of their heads). They always wear black clothes and hats. Of course, being Jews they reject that Jesus is the Messiah (a point with which I take great exception), but they genuinely believe what they profess.

Whether we're talking about Jews, or Christians or Muslims, it is a fact of human nature that most are as you are. They profess (as I wrote earlier and you so astutely pointed out) whatever religion was popular where they were raised. But when pressed for the details of what they believe it quickly becomes apparent that they don't actually subscribe to the doctrines of the religion they profess.

So if you believe in a doctrine of tolerance and peace between diverse points of view, then you should really come up with another name. The one you're using already means something else. It is you who are hijacking Islam, not the militants we call terrorists. Intollerance of diverse thought and belief, and sword-tip evangelism, have been mainstays of Islam beginning with Muhammed.

And it is the true believers of Islam who are warring against us all today. That's right, all of US. Don't be deceived into thinking that just because you call yourself Muslim that they will not war against you too. Unless you conform your life to the dictates of the Koran, you too are an infidel (remember that infidel means unfaithful, not unbeliever). They do not seek prosperity. They seek the only the fulfilment of the Koran and Muhammed's prophesies.

And therein lies the danger of calling the people that you refer to as "most Muslims" Muslim at all. To do so belies the truth of true Islam. As I wrote earlier, you need to deliberate just what it is you believe, and reconcile that belief to what you profess. But if you insist on calling what you believe Islam, then it is also up to you to recognise that I am talking about the other Muslims when I point out the folly of trying to dialogue with them.