[General Battuta]

I'm seeing a very strange pattern here, and that is this:

muslim = arab

Do you know what the biggest Muslim nation on Earth is?

[Scotty]

That pattern has to do with how most many arab countries have a predominant, Islamic culture (and several of those actually enforce Islam as a state religion.) (examples: Iran, Syria, Jordan)

[Ford Prefect]

Iran is not an Arab country.

[Scotty]

Hmmm, so it isn't.  Then again, how many people do you know that know it isn't? (and it still has state-sponsored Islam)

[General Battuta]

Wow, the depth of misinformation here is staggering.

Most Muslims are not Arabs.

Iran is not an Arab nation and the ignorance of Americans does not change that.

In any case this:

That pattern has to do with how most many arab countries have a predominant, Islamic culture (and several of those actually enforce Islam as a state religion.) (examples: Iran, Syria, Jordan)

is psychologically valid (availability heuristic) but logically laughable; most presidents of the United States are Christian but that doesn't mean that we tend to think of most Christians as presidents of the United States.

[Turambar]

I'm seeing a very strange pattern here, and that is this:

muslim = arab

Do you know what the biggest Muslim nation on Earth is?

Indonesia

also, it really is a shame what's happened to the muslim world

they were doing great with classical knowledge and learning and hygiene back when europe was having a real ****ty time with feudalism, 30 year lifespans, killing people because it's tuesday, and whatnot.  just a shame that they went from being so far ahead to lagging behind like they are now.

[BloodEagle]

I'm seeing a very strange pattern here, and that is this:

muslim = arab

Do you know what the biggest Muslim nation on Earth is?

Indonesia

also, it really is a shame what's happened to the muslim world

they were doing great with classical knowledge and learning and hygiene back when europe was having a real ****ty time with feudalism, 30 year lifespans, killing people because it's tuesday, and whatnot.  just a shame that they went from being so far ahead to lagging behind like they are now.

As compared with your personal text, I find the above message hilarious. 

[Nuclear1]

I'm seeing a very strange pattern here, and that is this:

muslim = arab

Do you know what the biggest Muslim nation on Earth is?

Yeah, it's Indonesia, but Islamic culture is almost chiefly defined by the thousand plus years of Islam in the Middle East.  No, Middle Eastern countries (read:  not Arab; Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey would disagree with you) individually don't match up to Indonesia.  

But Indonesia didn't invent calligraphy, develop classical Islamic architecture, or implement Sharia.  

On a similar note though, Islamic society didn't start to decline in Indonesia either.  That was a result of centuries of xenophobia, isolationism, and perversion of Islam occurring after the Middle East's clashes with Europe.  So all in all, Kosh was accurate; I'm almost certain he knows Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country.

[Kosh]

I'm seeing a very strange pattern here, and that is this:

muslim = arab

Do you know what the biggest Muslim nation on Earth is?

Not once did I ever say that, ever. The article that I linked to was partially talking about radicalization and fundementalization of Pakistan, which is also NOT arab. Again, my point still stands. Please read the articles I link to before you go off assuming I'm ignorant.

I stated Saudia Arabia as one of the main souces of all this, because it is. All these decades we've been sending them petrodollars to buy their oil, what do they do with it? Sponsor fundementalist madrasses all over the muslim world, often in NON ARAB nations like Pakistan. Result, combined with a couple of other factors it produces the fundementalism we see in those places.

EDIT: I'll also add that Turkey is one of the few muslim nations to actually make any real progress, particularly resisting this tide of fundementalism. And no, the turks are not arab either.

EDIT2:

I'm almost certain he knows Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country.

Thanks for your vote of confidence, your trust is well placed.

[General Battuta]

I'm hardly addressing you exclusively. Don't go jumping at shadows.

[Kosh]

Given that it was right after my last post and nothing was quoted from posts above mine, it is easy to believe it was aimed at me.

[General Battuta]

And now it's been clarified.

[Galemp]

This is absurd. The purpose of constitutional rights in a society is to prevent the majority from trampling over the rights of a minority. Singling out a particular feature of a particular religion's cultural and architectural heritage is pure xenophobic spite. I am genuinely surprised that this would happen, in Switzerland of all places.

[castor]

All this does is further the alienation and polarization between muslims/others.
I'm not sure which one is it, don't people think at all, or is it that they actually wish for conflicts?

[Titan]

I always foster bad relations on 4D strategy games, 'cuz war is the only fun bit to play.

[Narvi]

Huh. Can't they just change the design? A minaret's just an archaic speaker system. You don't need a tower anymore.

Maybe you could make the tower look like a fortified castle, to make the whiners happy.

[karajorma]

You think the whiners would be happy about Muslims building fortifications in their city?

[Narvi]

They're Christian-designed fortifications.  

[Flipside]

I don't think this really has anything to do with architecture, to be honest

[Sarafan]

You know what caught my eye in this news? Not the whole muslim thing but this:

Several papers criticise the type of democracy practised in Switzerland, which allows ordinary people rather than elected representatives to decide on such matters.

I wonder why the Swiss are criticize over that since we all know how efficient "elected representatives" are and especially with dealing with different cultures and a democracy where the actual people decide things is an awful thing to have.