User talk:Patrick poloney

Welcome!

Hello, Patrick poloney, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{helpme}} before the question. Again, welcome! --Shahab (talk) 16:18, 18 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Founder

Hello Patrick. Thanks for your comment on my talk page. The debates I refer to can be viewed here: Talk:Muhammad/Archive_8#Header_edit_war_-_reaching_consensus, Talk:Muhammad/Archive_10#.22a_religion_he_called_Islam.22, and there are probably a few more sections elsewhere. The essential issue was how to present the passage in a way that reconciled two opposing viewpoints. One perspective is the purely historical one, from which it may be argued that Islam as a religious-legal code originated in the time of Muhammad. The other perspective is the Islamic one, which asserts that Islam (i.e. submission to God's will) has existed as long as mankind has, with every prophet sent with the same message and being upon same religion, and with Muhammad as a continuation and finalisation of that religion. There were many arguments and counter-arguments raised with regards to expressing things in a way that doesn't imply one side or the other to be false. That's where I think the "founder of Islam as a historical phenomenon" has served as a reasonable compromise and does seem to have stuck for quite some time. Regards, ITAQALLAH 19:13, 5 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]