# I say "Islam" What's the first thing you think of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 2, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515 "2012-02-02T06:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/241 "2012-07-08T20:03:50Z")
Without reading the thread: my first thought is the religion founded by the Arab prophet Muhammad around 622-27 Common Era. (I don’t remember the year so I just put in a range that sounded right.) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/242 "2012-07-08T20:17:35Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > According to Indian textbooks, the hands of chief architect were cut off not of every worker. The current consensus view of the chief architect appears to be Ustad Ahmad Lahori who died at age ~69 in 1649. At the time he was apparently working on the Jama Masjid ( commissioned 1644, completed in 1656 ) with at least one of his several architect sons ( Nur Allah ). He also was apparently one of the primary architects of the Shajahanabad ( commissioned 1639, completed 1648 ). In the Mughal case architecture seems to have been a family calling and we find multiple generations working under various Mughals, including Lahori’s sons, one of whom is the primary source for Lahori’s involvement ( Luft Allah in this case ). It seems most unlikely these highly paid specialists, some of them _not_ subjects but rather imported experts from Persia or the Ottoman state, would have continued to work for a ruler inclined to maim them. But we’re straying away from the thread into debate territory here and I have a growing suspicion that I’m not capable of making an argument convincing enough for you anyway. So I’ll drop it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/243 "2012-07-08T20:24:21Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Without reading the thread: my first thought is the religion founded by the Arab prophet Muhammad around 622-27 Common Era. My problem with virtually all of these type of discussions is when someone mentions something like “Islam”, I think “Islam”, when someone mentions “Germany”, I think “Germany”. It makes for pretty boring answers, so I rarely participate in these word association threads :D. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/244 "2012-07-08T20:36:25Z")
A crescent. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/245 "2012-07-08T20:48:34Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > My problem with virtually all of these type of discussions is when someone mentions something like “Islam”, I think “Islam”, when someone mentions “Germany”, I think “Germany”. It makes for pretty boring answers, so I rarely participate in these word association threads :D. Well, in that case I’ll say that the first visual image that comes to mind is a (then) young woman whom I knew ten or twelve years back. She was a tall, stacked redhead, and she was the first Muslim I knew well, and also the first person I ever met who had converted from Christianity to Islam. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/246 "2012-07-08T21:22:35Z")
While Islam is certainly a religion, I see it as having been morphed into a political movement. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/247 "2012-07-08T21:26:22Z")
Islam Uslam We all slam for a Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast now only… Er, sorry. Don’t know what I was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/248 "2012-07-08T23:19:15Z")
Intolerance. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/249 "2012-07-08T23:21:31Z")
> [@Ibanez](#): > > Intolerance. Intolerance _by_ Muslims, or intolerance _of_ Muslims? ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/250 "2012-07-16T17:43:36Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > You probably do not have much idea about India. > > Indian potilics has always been about psuedo-secularism, muslim appeasement because of them being a substential (14-15%) portion of our population. Tens of thousands of kilometers of borders with islamic neigbhors especially pakistan which will seek any opportunity to fuel religious divide in India. > > In a secular country of India, the ruling party recently announced reservations\quotas for Muslims for political gains, which was quashed by courts. If servers of straightdope were in India, I would have feared of being jailed for writing anti-Islamic stuff for the possibility of my location getting revealed. > > Marriage laws are different in our nation for Muslims and for everyone else. A Muslim man, at any point, can have as many wives as he wants and be divorced just by saying ‘divorce’ 3 times. > > Its all about Muslim appeasement here in India. > > According to Indian textbooks, the hands of chief architect were cut off not of every worker. Dude. Also an Indian here. The hand cutting off thing is almost definitely a myth. If you want to convince people on this board of anything, citations are the way to do it. If historians actually mention this story, find a cite, and mention it here. If you can’t find a cite, consider your own ignorance fought. Or to put it in your terms, a truth you did not know which you have found. For the record, I’ve probably studied the same history as you but do not recall reading about any hands being cut off in the textbook. It is quite possible our teachers may have told the story as it is a fairly popular legend, and that got conflated in your head as being in the text. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/251 "2012-07-16T19:02:02Z")
Apart from anything, an almost identical variant of the legend is told about Ivan the Terrible and St. Peter’s Cathedral. There’s also the Greek myth about Daedalus being locked up to prevent him from sharing knowledge of the labyrinth with anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/252 "2012-07-16T22:16:25Z")
The first thing I think of is Osama Bin Laden. The second thing I think of is my friend Fayrouz from college. The third thing I think about is the asshole boss I used to work for who made a killer chicken shawarma. I’ve never had anything that can compare, but we left on terrible terms so I can’t go in and order the food. Now I’m craving Middle Eastern food. * * * Sorry if my knee-jerk response isn’t PC. It’s called implicit association. Means absolutely nothing about my feelings toward Islamic people. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/253 "2012-07-17T09:25:34Z")
My lesbian friend from Madrid who appears to have converted to some kind of sufi variant of islam. Don’t know why she did it, but if she’s OK with it and her new co-religionaries are OK with her… Well, OK then. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/254 "2012-07-17T09:53:56Z")
What’s the first thing I think of when I hear the word “Islam”? Scarborough, ON, Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Tilt\_Boogie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Full\_Tilt\_Boogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Tilt_Boogie)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/255 "2012-07-17T11:39:08Z")
Jaffa Old Town. I’ll be there next week - eating the best humus and pita in the world. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/256 "2012-08-24T13:52:40Z")
the only religion whose followers making news like this, in the name of the very religion wont surprise you: 1. Iran moves to legalize marriage for girls under 10 years old [http://digitaljournal.com/article/329317#ixzz24O118yQf](http://digitaljournal.com/article/329317#ixzz24O118yQf) 2.Christian boy tortured and killed in Pakistan [24 August 2012] > [@](#): > > His lips and nose had been sliced off, his stomach removed and there was evidence that his legs had been mutilated too. > Police said they were investigating whether blasphemy had been behind the attack on Samuel. His death comes just days after the arrest of Rimsha Masih, an eleven year old girl with Down’s Syndrome, after Muslims in Islamabad accused her of burning pages from the Koran for cooking. > **[Christian boy tortured and killed in Pakistan](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/9495451/Christian-boy-tortured-and-killed-in-Pakistan.html)** > > The tortured body of an 11 year old Christian boy has been found in a town in Punjab, Pakistan, days after a young Christian girl was arrested on blasphemy charges. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/257 "2012-08-24T14:00:10Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > the only religion whose followers making news like this, in the name of the very religion wont surprise you: Oh, please. Barbarism and stupidity in the name of religion isn’t restricted to Islam. The Christian push for the mass murder of homosexuals in Uganda comes to mind; something that’s heavily supported by American evangelical Christians. Or the call for the kidnapping of children of homosexual couples here in America. ---
**Author:** ![truthSeeker2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7cd45c/32.png) [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/258 "2012-08-24T14:08:42Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Oh, please. Barbarism and stupidity in the name of religion isn’t restricted to Islam. The Christian push for the mass murder of homosexuals in Uganda comes to mind; something that’s heavily supported by American evangelical Christians. Or the call for the kidnapping of children of homosexual couples here in America. In other religions its very rare. Other religions have also reformed themselves over time but not Islam. Its at war with every other religion across the world: Christianity and Islam Hinduism\sikhism and Islam Buddhism and Islam Atheism and Islam If the US was Islamic it wouldnt be the land of freedom and opportunity. Neither would it be the leader in science , technology and education. ---
**Author:** ![Bass\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/43a26b/32.png) [@Bass\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bass_Chick)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/259 "2012-08-24T14:11:00Z")
Muslim – a conservative religious person Islam - young black men wearing suits and bow ties standing on the street corner selling newspapers ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/260 "2012-08-24T14:29:00Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#): > > In other religions its very rare. Other religions have also reformed themselves over time but not Islam. > Its at war with every other religion across the world: > Christianity and Islam > Hinduism\sikhism and Islam > Buddhism and Islam > Atheism and Islam > > If the US was Islamic it wouldnt be the land of freedom and opportunity. Neither would it be the leader in science , technology and education. Nonsense. Christianity is just as barbaric and tyrannical and irrational as Islam; it’s just not as powerful in most of the countries it dominates anymore. If you magically switched Christianity for Islam in America, very little of importance would change; if you magically turned Saudi Arabia and Iran into Christian theocracies instead of Islamic ones, they would be just as tyrannical and nasty. And America isn’t exceptionally free, and it isn’t the “land of opportunity” except in its own fantasies. It’s one the least social mobile Western nations, tied with Great Britain last I heard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515.md?page=14)