User talk:Blingpling

Talk:Abu Bakr

Hi, I moved your comment on the talk page to the bottom, where new comments usually go, and this matter is being discussed. Hope you can come to some agreement. Rich Farmbrough 14:00 26 February 2006 (UTC). 14:00, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sunni-Shi'a disputes

Blingpling, I reverted some of your edits. In Umar ibn al-Khattab, you removed some stories, like the quarrels in Muhammad's household, that are found in all the early Islamic narratives. In Succession to Muhammad you removed some references to Shi'a beliefs and replaced them with Sunni beliefs that were presented as fact. The opening to that article MUST be absolutely neutral, stating only what both Sunni and Shi'a accept, or intimating that there are two points of view.

These articles re early Islam have been battlefields, with Sunni and Shi'a trying to "capture" them for their side. I'm a non-Muslim and I'm right in the middle, trying to keep a balance and being hated by both sides. But I think this must be done if people are to understand each other. It's better than bombings and killings. Zora 05:08, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

BP, we don't take sides. We just describe both sides and let the reader decide. It would be absolutely wrong to write the Islam articles from the Sunni POV as if the Shi'a did not exist. Yes, they're a minority, but they're a significant minority, numbering in the millions, and much in the news. This is not like dealing with the editor who occasionally tries to edit the Kaaba article, claiming that it was originally a Hindu shrine! One person in a tinfoil hat can be disregarded, but not millions of people.

Instead of focusing on the big articles, like the ones on Umar and Abu Bakr, it would be useful if you would work on some of the articles re the Companions. Striver, a Shi'a editor, made many of those and a lot of them are prejudiced and Shi'a-POV. I don't have time to deal with all of them. If you have the energy to make them neutral, that would be a help. Zora 08:55, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hind bint Utbah would be a good start. Zora 09:44, 2 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]