Practiced, Prescribed, Permitted or Prohibited? *

One trap that you can fall into is to mix up what people actually to with what their religion teaches.  Just because Christians do something does not mean it is part of Christianity, and the same with Islam.

The "Five Pillars of Islam" aren't all neatly listed together anywhere in the Quran, the same way as they are listed in Exodus 20.  Nevertheless, all Muslims seem to agree on what the pillars are for some reason.

One of these five pillars is the pilgrimage, which is where Muslims walk around the Kaaba.which is the house that contains  the special black rock that is a part of Islam.  This often makes the headlines when some of them fall over and are trampled to death by the rest of them.

Concerning the pilgrimage, I once heard a discussion about whether or not Muslims commit idolatry when they walk around the Kaaba (along wit other things).  The Muslim offered various responses. One of them was that Christians do similar things, like kissing Bibles, kneeling before a cross, wearing a cross, kissing Bibles, and things like that.

The problem with this sort of answer is that you can't compare what one religion prescribes with what the other permits or even prohibits, based on what some person once did.

There is nothing in the Bible that says we must kiss Bibles or wear or kiss crosses.

Sometimes, when discussing, there comes a time when both sides need to clarify what defines their respective religions.

For always or just temporary?

Also sometimes Muslims claim that their violent verses were only for a particular time.
If the violent verses do not apply then the peaceful verses they like to quote aren't for today either.