They're not Mohammedans. They're Muslims.

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Brofessor said:
Hi guys, I’m mostly a lurker here but I wanted to post something that’s bothered me. I’ve seen people here, on a couple occasions, using the term “Mohammedan” to refer to Muslim people and practices, and “Mohammedanism” to refer to Islam.

I don’t know if the people using the word know the modern connotations, but nowadays it’s considered quite offensive and disrespectful to our Muslim friends. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammedan#Obsolescence

I know not everyone is doing this, but I felt like I had to post this. If I were a Muslim considering conversion to Catholicism, I’d be very hurt by people throwing this sort of archaism around–I’d feel like someone had called me a Saracen or something. Has anyone else noticed people using this term?
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I use the term Muslim when describing people who follow the religion of Islam. Personally, I find “Mohammedan” about as a offensive a term for Muslims as “Papist” is for Catholics. Our faith doesn’t give us the right to be disrespectful of others. We should treat people of other faith traditions with the same respect that we would like to treated.
 
Publisher said:
It is offensive to call a Muslim a “Mohammedan”…it is not charitable…and it matters not what Muslims call Christians…“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”…if a Protestant used the word “Papist” for any length of time on this board, he or she would be banned as it was disrespctful and offensive…yet here we are…many defending the use of an offensive adjective because “Muslims do X Y Z”…not a good excuse IMO, nor a charitable thing to do…🤷
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I agree with this completely. 👍
 
Credo_ergo_sum said:
“Muslim” is an Arabic word meaning “one who submits to God”. Do they submit to God? :confused:
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Well, they pray five times a day. They follow the dietary rules of their faith. The women wear veils. They do all those things because that is what they believe Allah (their term for God) wants them to do. Honestly, the average Muslim probably lives his/her faith more actively than the average Christian, so in that sense, they do submit to God, or at least to their idea of God as He has been revealed to them.
 
Publisher said:
It is offensive to call a Muslim a “Mohammedan”…it is not charitable…and it matters not what Muslims call Christians…“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”…if a Protestant used the word “Papist” for any length of time on this board, he or she would be banned as it was disrespctful and offensive…yet here we are…many defending the use of an offensive adjective because “Muslims do X Y Z”…not a good excuse IMO, nor a charitable thing to do…🤷
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Nice post.
 
Publisher said:
It is offensive to call a Muslim a “Mohammedan”…it is not charitable…and it matters not what Muslims call Christians…“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”…if a Protestant used the word “Papist” for any length of time on this board, he or she would be banned as it was disrespctful and offensive…yet here we are…many defending the use of an offensive adjective because “Muslims do X Y Z”…not a good excuse IMO, nor a charitable thing to do…🤷
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I second Publisher’s comments here.
 
Brofessor said:
Hi guys, I’m mostly a lurker here but I wanted to post something that’s bothered me. I’ve seen people here, on a couple occasions, using the term “Mohammedan” to refer to Muslim people and practices, and “Mohammedanism” to refer to Islam.

I don’t know if the people using the word know the modern connotations, but nowadays it’s considered quite offensive and disrespectful to our Muslim friends. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammedan#Obsolescence

I know not everyone is doing this, but I felt like I had to post this. If I were a Muslim considering conversion to Catholicism, I’d be very hurt by people throwing this sort of archaism around–I’d feel like someone had called me a Saracen or something. Has anyone else noticed people using this term?
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Yes, and I don’t like it. It’s rather like calling Catholics “papists.”
 
christofirst said:
From what I can tell (and I’m certainly not the most learned guy), the term Mohammedans is an old-time term, which I would consider archaic today. I encountered it mostly in older books like “Radio Replies” by Rumble & Carty, and “The Great Heresies” by Hilaire Belloc.
I think it would be insulting if I said to a Muslim associate, “You Mohammedans are this or that or whatever” but maybe I’m too politically correct. I still maintain it is better to approach one another with respect.
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Personally, I think it makes people look a bit stupid- like they’ve been frozen for the last several decades. I do not think you are being “politically correct.” I’m no fan of political correctness, but there is a difference between political correctness and politeness.
 
Lokabrenna said:
I would say it’s like calling Catholics “Papists”. My parents sometimes say “negroes” instead of “black” (then when I correct them, they use the “it’s how we said it back then!” defense).
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Yet that is a significant difference. Papist has always had a negative connotation, while Negro isn’t intended to be offensive.

I mean, by your standards, technically black is no longer a word that is acceptable either, technically you’re supposed to use the term African-American. As if it matters.
 
FabiusMaximus said:
Yet that is a significant difference. Papist has always had a negative connotation, while Negro isn’t intended to be offensive.

I mean, by your standards, technically black is no longer a word that is acceptable either, technically you’re supposed to use the term African-American. As if it matters.
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Soon African-American will be offensive. The euphemism treadmill strikes again!
 
FabiusMaximus said:
Yet that is a significant difference. Papist has always had a negative connotation, while Negro isn’t intended to be offensive.

I mean, by your standards, technically black is no longer a word that is acceptable either, technically you’re supposed to use the term African-American. As if it matters.
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I’m Canadian, the convention here is to use the term “black” because “African-Canadian” sounds awkward, unless you want to call them “African North Americans”.

Or you could just call them Americans and Canadians, that works too.
 
Lokabrenna said:
I’m Canadian, the convention here is to use the term “black” because “African-Canadian” sounds awkward, unless you want to call them “African North Americans”.

Or you could just call them Americans and Canadians, that works too.
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Eh, unless it’s overtly offensive, like the N-Word I call them whatever. I’m not too concerned about avoiding eggshells.

Edit: just found out that you can’t even say the “N-Word” in order to demonstrate it’s an offensive term. Oh jeez…🤷
 
Brofessor said:
Hi guys, I’m mostly a lurker here but I wanted to post something that’s bothered me. I’ve seen people here, on a couple occasions, using the term “Mohammedan” to refer to Muslim people and practices, and “Mohammedanism” to refer to Islam.

I don’t know if the people using the word know the modern connotations, but nowadays it’s considered quite offensive and disrespectful to our Muslim friends. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammedan#Obsolescence

I know not everyone is doing this, but I felt like I had to post this. If I were a Muslim considering conversion to Catholicism, I’d be very hurt by people throwing this sort of archaism around–I’d feel like someone had called me a Saracen or something. Has anyone else noticed people using this term?
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Yes I am guilty here;

Mohammedanism was considered a Christian heresy when it first came about by the Early Catholic Church. These were considered heretics teaching a new Christian heresy which denied Jesus divinity. You do know Muhammad and his uncle practiced a Judeo/Christian heretical faith prior to implementing it into Islam?

This term Mohammedanism is never used to address Muslims today.
 
Since we are to emulate Christ the Son of God and are called Christians why shouldn’t the people who are called to emulate Mohammed be called Mohammadens?
 
AlltheRoses said:
Well, they pray five times a day. They follow the dietary rules of their faith. The women wear veils. They do all those things because that is what they believe Allah (their term for God) wants them to do. Honestly, the average Muslim probably lives his/her faith more actively than the average Christian, so in that sense, they do submit to God, or at least to their idea of God as He has been revealed to them.
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Actually…to reject Christ is not submitting to God.
 
adoglover1956 said:
Actually…to reject Christ is not submitting to God.
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The word “Jew” comes from Judah, which means “praise God”, and Jews don’t exactly praise Christ as God either… do you think we should start calling them a new name too?
 
Havard said:
The word “Jew” comes from Judah, which means “praise God”, and Jews don’t exactly praise Christ as God either… do you think we should start calling them a new name too?
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Who is calling names? Mohamaden is a name that they have been referred to as. It’s better than constantly being called infidel…don’t ya think?
 
adoglover1956 said:
Who is calling names? Mohamaden is a name that they have been referred to as. It’s better than constantly being called infidel…don’t ya think?
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It still has a pejorative connotation. Like homo, when referring to homosexuals. Sure, there’s historical usage. And there are worse terms, as well. But it’s still doesn’t justify usage, when there are terms with no pejorative connotation, like gay.
 
Havard said:
It still has a pejorative connotation. Like homo, when referring to homosexuals. Sure, there’s historical usage. And there are worse terms, as well. But it’s still doesn’t justify usage, when there are terms with no pejorative connotation, like gay.
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That’s merely trying to be politically correct. How long has the word “gay” been used to describe homosexuals? Perhaps women with the name gay…or people that are gay in the sense of happy are insulted because they do not want to be mistaken for being homosexual.

BTW…feel free to call me Christian. I’m a follower of Christ. 🙂
 
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