# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/21 "2012-02-02T10:57:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The word “Allah”, written in Arabic. I guess that’s the closest thing to a religious symbol Islam has, the Star and Crescent were a Byzantine thing that just got spread by the Ottomans ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/22 "2012-02-02T11:01:47Z")
Cat Stevens. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/23 "2012-02-02T11:02:03Z")
The sound of the prayers (there was a prayer room in the room above mine when I was in university, so I heard them praying a lot). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/24 "2012-02-02T11:04:07Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Inspired by [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=639553)thread on Germany > > What’s the very first thing that springs to mind when you think of Islam? Or has you-know-what coloured your first impressions of it? Muslim ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/25 "2012-02-02T11:04:55Z")
lā ʾilāha ʾilá l-Lāh, Muḥammad rasūlu l-Lāh, i.e. the [Shahada](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahada). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/26 "2012-02-02T11:06:01Z")
The crescent, sideways. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/27 "2012-02-02T11:07:50Z")
Pizza. (Don’t ask, my mind is a weird place.) ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/28 "2012-02-02T11:12:05Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Cat Stevens. How dare you smear hundreds of millions of people with the terrible actions of one horrid monster?:mad::mad::mad: ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/29 "2012-02-02T11:43:45Z")
A woman in niqab/hijaab (although not burka, funnily enough). Clearly my mind is visual as that’s genuinely what I cam up with, even though I know a shit ton about Islam and would put that very far down the list of significant things about the religion. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/30 "2012-02-02T11:49:50Z")
Repression of women. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/31 "2012-02-02T11:52:09Z")
Mamluk cavalry. I’ve been playing too much Medieval 2 lately. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/32 "2012-02-02T11:57:31Z")
the ritualistic washing of hands ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/33 "2012-02-02T12:20:53Z")
I get a very specific visual picture every time I’ve read the thread title (although I haven’t opened the thread until now.) There are three men in long robes standing on the dusty ground, about to begin kneeling in prayer. If they’re facing East, then I’m standing in the southeast looking at them on a bit of an angle. The center one has on peach/orangey colored robes and a white hat (those hats that sort of look like soft-sided pillbox hats but are worn low on the head…I have no idea what they’re called.) The man to his right (“closer” to me in my mind’s eye) is wearing white, dusty and dirty now. The man to his left (“in back”) is bent over, further towards kneeling than the other two. This picture is so solid and specific in my mind (and I’m usually crap at “visualization”), that I suspect it must be an actual photograph that I only half-consciously remember. The first \*concept \*to come to mind: oppression of women. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/34 "2012-02-02T13:14:06Z")
Bearded man in white robe thing. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/35 "2012-02-02T14:11:28Z")
Capt. Richard Francis Burton. The dude was awesome and he converted to Islam (maybe, sort of) so there must be something worthwhile to it. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/36 "2012-02-02T14:15:34Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > Minaret. Ditto ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/37 "2012-02-02T14:16:27Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > What’s the very first thing that springs to mind when you think of Islam? Zero tolerance. Death to innocents. Suicide bombers. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/38 "2012-02-02T14:16:39Z")
Strangely enough, the show “Little Mosque on the Prairie” ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/39 "2012-02-02T14:23:02Z")
I think of the Middle East’s funky music and classic architecture: onion domes, minarettes, stone lattice. Oddly I don’t think of non-ME Muslims very much and I still don’t associate Islam with violence in the way “That Guy!” creeps in when I think about Germany. That’s probably because, while there certainly are some vile nutters trying to justify their madness with Islam, they never seize control of minds of an entire country and push evilness to critical pressures in quite the same way. Bin Laden, to me, was just a dickhead who happened to be an Arab. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515/40 "2012-02-02T15:01:14Z")
Like several others, the call to prayer. Beautiful and exotic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-islam-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/611515.md?page=3)