# Isn't Islam a wonderful religion? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 31, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240 "2026-01-31T19:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/1 "2026-01-31T19:36:13Z")
At least I guess you know where you are with it. None of those awkward moral ambiguities… > **[Couple whipped 140 times each for having sex and drinking alcohol](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/couple-whipped-140-times-having-151414020.html)** > > An unmarried man and woman were publicly caned with a rattan stick in a park, as dozens of onlookers watched ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/2 "2026-01-31T19:37:23Z")
Yeah, it’s so much less ambiguous when Muslims do this kind of thing than when Christians do it. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/3 "2026-01-31T19:38:23Z")
NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/4 "2026-01-31T19:38:44Z")
Don’t they know that stoning is the only proper way do take care of adultery. Barbarians! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/5 "2026-01-31T19:44:22Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > At least I guess you know where you are with it. Oh, fuck off. From your source: > Sexual relations between unmarried couples is strictly forbidden in Aceh, the only province in the world’s largest [Muslim-majority country to enforce a form of sharia law](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-helped-set-adultery-laws-205622751.html). So, in this Muslim-majority country, one province has a super fucked up criminal code, and you blame this on Islam, not on this one province? You sure as fuck don’t know where you are with Islam unless you know that you’re in Aceh. I can think two things at once: this is a horrible perversion of justice, and you’ve got a bigoted shitty take on the story. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/6 "2026-01-31T19:57:57Z")
Thanks to @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness for giving a succinct answer better than I would have. The OP is nothing but unmitigated bigotry. I lived for 21 years in two of the most geopolitically significant Muslim majority countries in the world (Indonesia and Egypt) and can attest that run-of-the-mill followers of Islam are no better or worse than followers of any other mainstream religion. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/7 "2026-01-31T20:12:08Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I can think two things at once: this is a horrible perversion of justice, and you’ve got a bigoted shitty take on the story. I am quite aware that the story is probably rather sensationalized. But it doesn’t change my basic feeling Fuck “cultural relativism and it’s their way.” The way I would wish to see humanity moving forwards is towards a humanistic, scientific world where we realize that we’re all part of the same distant family living on the same planet. But of course that is a historically recent idea. And unfortunately the tendency to ‘belive’ without evidence and enforce tribal rules seems to be a persistant bug in the human brain operating system. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/8 "2026-01-31T20:16:37Z")
Next up, a general review of Christianity as a whole…featuring old interviews with Fred Phelps and Jack Chick. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/9 "2026-01-31T20:16:47Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Fuck “cultural relativism and it’s their way.” Yup. And the only one in this thread saying “it’s their way” is you. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/10 "2026-01-31T20:22:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yup. And the only one in this thread saying “it’s their way” is you. There are lots of cults, movements and religions etc who very definitely take the position that their way is the only right way. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/11 "2026-01-31T20:25:59Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > But it doesn’t change my basic feeling Which is that you’re a stupid bigoted asshole. Fuck you. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/12 "2026-01-31T20:26:10Z")
What is the title of this thread? What is the first fucking sentence? See the word “cult” in there? You are directly saying that this crude little offshoot represents Islam. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/13 "2026-01-31T20:29:08Z")
I recently heard a talk from an expert in Sharia law, and learned two things: 1. There’s absolutely no agreement among Muslims as to what constitutes Sharia law, and 2. therefore, what specifically is considered Sharia law varies wildly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction: it will always have a Qur’anic justification, but those justifications are sometimes ad hoc and can change overnight, or be applied differently by different judges. So while Sharia law is definitely an Islamic thing, it’s nowhere near the same for all Muslims, and many (e.g. American Muslims) don’t have access to Sharia courts, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/14 "2026-01-31T20:32:29Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Fuck you. So what world do you want to live in? Wouldn;t you rather live in a tolerant world where there aren’t people who want to impose their personal predudices on everyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/15 "2026-01-31T20:38:41Z")
How about not lying when you report things? ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/16 "2026-01-31T20:42:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > crude little offshoot represents Islam. I really hope it doesn’t. But it does seem to represent a significant strain in that tradition. Some readings of the Koran seem to support it, though I am no arabic scholar and can not claim any expertise. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/17 "2026-01-31T20:45:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How about not lying when you report things? Er, what? Who is lying and about what? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/18 "2026-01-31T20:48:02Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > though I am no arabic scholar and can not claim any expertise. Then take a seat and shut the fuck up until you actually learn something. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/19 "2026-01-31T20:54:14Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > Wouldn;t you rather live in a tolerant world where there aren’t people who want to impose their personal predudices on everyone else? Yes, I agree it would be a much better world if ignorant dumbshits like you would shut the fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240/20 "2026-01-31T21:10:19Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Then take a seat and shut the fuck up until you actually learn something. Actually, since this is the Pit, I am NOt going to shut the fuck up. Religion is a mental disease. It is a bug in the human brain operating system, It involves a compulsion to defer to authority without evidence, It’s a cultural construct. As Dawkins said: there are no ‘christian’ children or ‘muslim’ children etc. They have just absorbed the beliefs of their parents, just as they learned language. There is NO objective evidence for the existence of any deity. What you _feel_ is up to you, but don’t try to force your beliefs on me, please. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isnt-islam-a-wonderful-religion/1027240.md?page=2)