counter hate

[Maripat]

...the truth is these are my suggestion and I am not sure what the way forward is.

Sorry, you have already suggested the way forward. We got to get going. Allah (SWT) willing I shall take my plunge soon after Ramadan. I also agree with the Jama-'at idea. I'll make the humble suggestion that we make teams of three people and for the time being divide sites to visit among ourselves. I do not not think we need a separate Google group to discuss our line of action. That can be done here in this thread itself. I have seen much older threads where similar ideas were discussed but the things did not take off. So it is pointless to over plan. It is time for action. Let us make our enterprise completely non-friction activity like Jama-'at-ut-Tabligh. Detractors of Islam are in a very advance state of hatred, and they have been so for quite some time, so it is sufficient to state the Islamic position and leave the matter there. In fact if some one is spewing venom in a thousand ways then it will be sufficient to point out the folly of one of them and allow them to ponder.

Those of you who have my email please drop a line if you want to be with me in a team.

And we put our complete trust in Allah (SWT) and we completely depend upon Him and we seek His help. We beseech Him to make it easy for us, render all the help that we need and accept it for His sake only merely by His Mercy.

And Allah (SWT) is the best of the helpers.

PS: (1) Videos have their uses. So have the blogs. Here we are talking about a different activity. We got to visit them personality in their e-home and make all effort to say our point, before getting banned, in a way that our response is sensible enough to remain undeleted.
(2) I have seen many brothers defending Islam and Muslims with cool and calm.
(3) I also wonder if other fora have similar programmes - we can do with all the hands that we can muster.
(4) I suppose eventually we have got to develop some sort of specialization also. We are going to face those people who are educated - to say the least. No sentimental stuff is going to be of any help. But this does not mean that we should not start it immediately.

[a.s.]

brother, i am stating my own understanding, there is practically nobody that will convert to islam at all. till this day, i have only heard of 4 islam haters converting to islam. considering islam haters are in the millions

Akhi, what are you saying. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Many 'haters' who you'd probably have no hope for actually become Muslim.
Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KuPJSLn5cQ

[Starting_anew]

Really motivated by seeing such positive reactions in this thread.
I like everyone's ideas who've contributed. There is a lot of good in them. I'll start from the beginning of the proposals and work my way through -

Brother Abdul - Targetting individual bloggers - What if these bloggers are shayateen? By them I mean people whose views will not be altered no matter what? For our efforts to be worthwile it is the 'middle' ground, the people ignorant about islam who say silly things that need to be given Dawah too - given information on Islam. So i agree with this proposal - but I do not feel it is necessary (just yet) to tackle the hardcore element - it is a lot of expended energy for an uncertain output.
Going on Media organisations - to some extent this is done on tv/radio already - i feel like this is an addressed issue. 'Older' Muslims are active in these spheres but they do not operate to full effect online. I agree with targetting online media organisations definitely
Go on Small forums - Excellent idea - i see no immediate issues with this and a lot of benefit.
Brother MH - Write a blog - agreed - this blog I believe should contain dawah and important refutations - this should also be our 'go to' source for info.
For example if a non-muslim says 'honour killing is allowed' in Islam - someone can go to this blog, read about what Muslims actually believe, and then respond appropriately.
youtube videos etc - if someone possesses the capability its a good idea - we can also link people to what respected scholars have to say - like it or not - it has to be in clear English for our target audience.
twitter - I feel twitter is a MASSIVE resource for gaining followers to help - the 'jewish internet defence league' has 60,000 followers who are quite rabid. There should be a muslim twitter page with 600,000 followers to combat this! - I am willing to setup a twitter page.
gmail address - agreed - need volunteer to manage
facebook - agreed - who will volunteer to run this?
_
Brother Maripat - you're 100% right - action is needed as of now!
I agree with you in that we can visit them in their e-homes. But there are also areas of neutral discourse - for example EDL - nationalist - fascist groups are highly active on twitter/facebook - if we engage them - this is considered a neutral area and a public enough arena to generate interest? Especially if we stay cool. What are your thoughts?
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Recommended next step
- agree a 'brand' name
- set up twitter/facebook/gmail accounts
____
Personally I would also like to see a private refutation area - here we can discuss tools and techniques. For example if someone says islam is from the 'stone age' - the best reply to this - I do not want to see this discussion publicly this includes with w1k1pedia. I also would like to use the twitter/facebook page where we attract followers to direct them to certain sites as necessary - for example if salon.com writes an article on islam -invariably ignorant comments arise in the threads - if people detect this article and can direct people to defend islam - it would be ideal - but we have to have a VERY strict policy on asking people to keep cool, civil and Islamic. As soon as someone swears to defend the Prophet sws - they lose their personal battle.
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p.s there are so many usernames already taken on twitter! just type in @islam or whatever you wish to see if it is available - and what you'd recommend brand name to be please

[Revert2001]

I have been on several non muslim forums for over 5 years.

So I have basically heard it all and seen it all. Look, if you are a thin skinned person. The people on there forums will eat your lunch. So it's best that you stay away.

Never ever let them see you get angry or emotional. Because if you do the battle is lost. Remain calm and keep your cool.

Muslims love to say that Islam is the religion of logic and rationalism.

So counter every anti Islamic remark no matter how insulting with well thought out responses based on the Sunnah.

Do that and you will take the high ground every time.

[Aram]

i thought this thread was about the bonehead ex-army guy that went on a shooting spree in a sikh temple because he thought they were Muslims

can't even tell the difference between Muslims and Sikhs...thats the heros in the army for you

EDL etc are of the same kind...uneducated fools...they haven't achieved anything in life...so this is giving them some kind of purpose in life

[Revert2001]

i thought this thread was about the bonehead ex-army guy that went on a shooting spree in a sikh temple because he thought they were Muslims

can't even tell the difference between Muslims and Sikhs...thats the heros in the army for you

I haven't seen any evidence that the shooter thought the Sikh's were Muslim.

That's just pure conjecture on your part..........

[abdul12345]

well last 10 days people are going to be busy so we'll probably hold it off until the end of ramadhan, for now I'll make a blog on blogger called islamic myths debunked or something like that as the name later can't change.

I think keep it to a blog and a small forum later moving to videos or twitter when we have enough content on our blog.
people participating:
abdul12345
revert2001
maripat
starting_anew
(add your name at the bottom if anyone else would like to take part.

teams
I'll go with someone more older and experienced so revert2001.
maripat and starting_anew
anyone else wanting to join can be added later to teams.

[Aram]

I haven't seen any evidence that the shooter thought the Sikh's were Muslim.

That's just pure conjecture on your part..........

that's what's being said in the UK news..the Sikhs also feel like this was his motive

I don't know how worthwhile it will be setting up a counter group...i think most of the members in gangs such as EDL can't even read...and those that can are not really interested in what Islam actually says..they just want to belong somewhere and want to feel as if they are doing something worthy with their life because they don't have any achievements

[Revert2001]

Basically, about 10-20% of the general population hates Islam/muslims.

And on the other end of the scale we have support from around 10-20% of the non muslims.

So it's the 60-80% of the population who haven't decided either way how they feel towards Islam/muslims that we are targeting.

[Abu Zakir]

Aram;802320]feel as if they are doing something worthy with their life because they don't have any achievements

Maybe, some of them think they are fighting something that threatens their way of life and culture. Zionists have fed them with all the things they need to say....some of them who are football hooligans in their spare time also hate Catholics the Pope and the IRA.