Cyprus-Forum.com

[siam]

Oh dear I seemed to sparked off a war

if your interested there are quite a few middle eastern countries featured on url removed, I understand Oman is a great place to visit, Dubai of course has the shopping, but I've know people who have enjoyed tours and such in Lebanon, and Lebanese food is great.

It was sad to hear about the bomb in Jorden though

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[Sotos]

I don't know about Dubai but Saudi Arabia is terrible. I know people that went there and they told me that they treat women in a very bad way, and that everybody including foreigners should stop working 3-4 times every day because they have to pray!!

[siam]

I suppose every country is different, and different for different people, I had a great time in South Africa, even though its one of the worst countries for violent crime, I know people who have been to Thailand and hated it, others just love it.

[devil]

As I mentioned, the US Dept of State are paranoid about US citizens travelling to dangerous areas. The following is the current list at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_t ... _1764.html (I have bolded Arab states - or partially Arab - which are considered doubtful):

Current Travel Warnings

Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid a certain country. The countries listed below are currently on that list. In addition to this list, the State Department issues Consular Information Sheets for every country of the world with information on such matters as the health conditions, crime, unusual currency or entry requirements, any areas of instability, and the location of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate in the subject country.

Lebanon 11/07/2005
Liberia 11/04/2005
Yemen 10/28/2005
Indonesia 10/26/2005
Cuba 10/19/2005
Burundi 10/19/2005
Côte d'Ivoire 08/25/2005
Sudan 08/05/2005
Bosnia-Herzegovina 08/01/2005
Somalia 07/21/2005
Algeria 07/21/2005
Uzbekistan 07/01/2005
Kenya 07/01/2005
Iran 06/30/2005
Iraq 06/28/2005
Congo, Democratic Republic of the 06/24/2005
Nepal 06/24/2005
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza 06/20/2005
Afghanistan 06/09/2005
Haiti 05/26/2005
Nigeria 05/20/2005
Saudi Arabia 05/17/2005
Colombia 05/04/2005
Central African Republic 04/19/2005
Pakistan 03/25/2005
Philippines 03/23/2005
Zimbabwe 03/16/2005

Note that the following Arab or partially Arab states that spring to mind are not included in this list and are therefore deemed to be safe (except when crossing the road! ):
Morocco
Tunisia
Libya
Egypt
Jordan (yet!)
Kuwait
UAE
Qatar
Oman
Bahrain
Djibouti
Mauritania
Syria

[ProudToBeGreek]

Islam certainly DOES treat women badly.

[devil]

Islam certainly DOES treat women badly.

Do all Christians treat them well? Can you think of a country where you can see Monsieur riding side-saddle on a donkey with a cigarette in his mouth, followed by Madame, bowed under a heavy sack of firewood or produce from the fields, walking behind?

[ProudToBeGreek]

Islam certainly DOES treat women badly.

Do all Christians treat them well? Can you think of a country where you can see Monsieur riding side-saddle on a donkey with a cigarette in his mouth, followed by Madame, bowed under a heavy sack of firewood or produce from the fields, walking behind?

Sure, not all Christians treat their women well, the point is, you will not find a verse from The NT that justifies such behaviour, whereas in the Quran you will find tens. Do we stone our women?

"When Muslims say Islam teaches piety, it does not mean at all what you think piety means. Piety in Islam means do what is halal (permitted) and avoid what is haram (forbidden). These have nothing to do with right and wrong. For example, homosexuality is haram but pedophilia is halal. Masturbation is haram but killing the non-Muslims is halal. wine is haram but stoning is halal. For a woman, exposing her hair in public is haram but for her husband beating her is halal. The concept of Islamic piety defies human logic. A pious Muslim is not necessarily a good person by our definition. A pious Muslim is one who follows Muhammad, he could be a terrorist, a child molester, a wife beater or a liar. As long as he lies to non-believers, he is pious. As long as he says his obligatory prayers, fasts, his beard and his dress are the right size, he enters into toilet with the correct foot and follows all the rituals meticulously, he is pious."

- Ali Sina

[devil]

Your quotation is NOT the Qur'an. You will find nothing like that in it.

St John Ch 8 is a NT reference that discusses stoning of adulterous women, even though, by implication, Jesus was against it. We may not stone our women, but many so-called Christians often do worse by killing them psychologically and committing all sorts of violence on them.

Perhaps "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." isn't a bad quotation here. Islam is a totally different culture to ours and we should criticise it only a) when we know what we are talking about and b) our own Christian culture is without sin among us.

[ProudToBeGreek]

Your quotation is NOT the Qur'an. You will find nothing like that in it.

St John Ch 8 is a NT reference that discusses stoning of adulterous women, even though, by implication, Jesus was against it. We may not stone our women, but many so-called Christians often do worse by killing them psychologically and committing all sorts of violence on them.

Perhaps "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." isn't a bad quotation here. Islam is a totally different culture to ours and we should criticise it only a) when we know what we are talking about and b) our own Christian culture is without sin among us.

My point is that the quran encourages such things, while Jesus Christ's message was one of peace and forgiveness.

[siam]

I don't think the Qoran does encourage this, its just some people interpretation of it, but I'm not an expert, so I could be wrong