Will the Real Religion of Islam Please Stand Up?
For years I have listened as those of us who flirt too closely with anti-Islamic sentiment have been told that Islam is actually a religion of peace and has been hi-jacked by radicals using the faith to further their political agendas. Fine, I’m willing to accept that. I have just one question: Where is the proof? Where are the moderate peace-loving Muslims decrying this sort of behavior?
It’s plain to me that not all Christians murder doctors that perform abortions or disrupt military funerals with their vile demonstrations. In fact, those sorts of behaviors are the exception rather than the rule. Those people are regularly condemned by mainstream Christians who struggle everyday to live out their faith of loving God and neighbor.
However, the opposite seems to be true of Islam. What we typically see are large protests involving gunfire and signs calling for the beheading of *insert current defiler of Islam here*. If this is not indicative of the Islamic faith, where is the condemnation from those who find these displays as offensive and vulgar as the rest of us do?
I’m not trying to be facetious nor am I trying to suggest that all Muslims are this radical–I would truly like to know why more moderate Muslims aren’t speaking out. Are there really so few of them that their voices aren’t being heard? Are they outnumbered by the radicals in their communities and are afraid to speak out? Do they identify with the sentiments expressed but deplore the violent ways in which those sentiments are manifested? What part of this puzzle are we missing?
I think it is crucial for us as Americans to answer these questions. This video was not taken in a Middle Eastern country, it was right here–in our country. This is not an issue that is going away.
Thanks to Tom Trento for documenting the protest and posting his video on youtube. I’ve provided a link to his site:
https://www.watchobsession.org/
January 8, 2009 at 2:02 am
I’ll attempt an answer why moderate Muslims are not speaking out in great numbers, because, of course, some do speak out.
There is nothing moderate about Islam or Shariah Law. If you are a Muslim, you must support the extremes of the Koran. For those who want no part of the jihad portions of the Koran, they are really living outside of their faith/ideology – not outside of a simple denomination, like we might say, well I’m Baptist or Methodist, and we don’t believe “such and such.” The Koran teaches that you can and should kill infidels, and you can lie or whatever is necessary to do to an infidel what Mohammad demands.
Moderate Muslims who go to Mosque, and especially those who send their sons there, know that if the need arrives, and they have no other choice; they will choose Islam over EVERYTHING else, including their families.
“Moderate” Muslims stay quiet because they know they are outside of the ideology. A “fallen” Muslim is not in good standing with the clerics., who are large presences among Muslim communities throughout the western countries.
Using your abortion example: Christianity doesn’t encourage the death of those involved with abortions. Those who do the violent actions are extremist acting out of their own warped convictions – never to be found in our scriptures.
The Koran demands the violence against infidels.
This is just my opinion, of course. I read your post today at SGP and thought I’d stop by to visit.
Maggie @ Maggie’s Notebook
January 8, 2009 at 2:22 am
Thanks for the visit Maggie, I really appreciate it. I also appreciate your insight as well.
I haven’t done the proper research but I have wondered if, in fact, the Koran preaches violence in such extremes or if it has been twisted and taken out of context to justify such atrocities. The passages that I have read seem contradictory in their messages that fluctuate between violence and peace but we can also find such contradictions in the Bible. It’s only when we apply our knowledge of the evolution of Christianity that we can reconcile those statements. I’m inclined to agree with your theory that moderates don’t speak out because moderation may as well be desertion.
January 8, 2009 at 9:29 am
Islam is a religion of PEACE. It doesn’t teach us to kill. Muslims start their greetings with “As-salaam-wa Alaikum Wa Rahmatu Allah Wa Barakatuh”, which means in English “May GOD’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.”
Allah states: “Whoever kills a human being… then it is as though he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a human life it is as though he had saved all mankind.”
No one probably ever heard of such a stunning message of peace, which considers killing just one person (be it innocent or not) tantamount to killing the entire humanity?
It is a common complaint among some non-Muslims that Islam would not have millions of adherents all over the world, if it had not been spread by the use of force. The following points will make it clear, that far from being spread by the sword, it was the inherent force of truth, reason and logic that was responsible for the rapid spread of Islam.
1. Islam means peace.
Islam comes from the root word ‘salaam’, which means peace. It also means submitting one’s will to Allah (swt). Thus Islam is a religion of peace, which is acquired by submitting one’s will to the will of the Supreme Creator, Allah (swt).
2. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.
Each and every human being in this world is not in favour of maintaining peace and harmony. There are many, who would disrupt it for their own vested interests. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace. It is precisely for this reason that we have the police who use force against criminals and anti-social elements to maintain peace in the country. Islam promotes peace. At the same time, Islam exhorts it followers to fight where there is oppression. The fight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force can only be used to promote peace and justice.
3. Opinion of historian De Lacy O’Leary.
The best reply to the misconception that Islam was spread by the sword is given by the noted historian De Lacy O’Leary in the book ’Islam at the cross road’ (Page 8):
’History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated.’
4. Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years.
Muslims ruled Spain for about 800 years. The Muslims in Spain never used the sword to force the people to convert. Later the Christian Crusaders came to Spain and wiped out the Muslims. There was not a single Muslim in Spain who could openly give the adhan, that is the call for prayers.
5. 14 million Arabs are Coptic Christians.
Muslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British ruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia for 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians i.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would not have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian.
6. More than 80% non-Muslims in India.
The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they had the power of converting each and every non-Muslim of India to Islam. Today more than 80% of the population of India are non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim Indians are bearing witness today that Islam was not spread by the sword.
7. Indonesia and Malaysia.
Indonesia is a country that has the maximum number of Muslims in the world. The majority of people in Malaysia are Muslims. May one ask, ’Which Muslim army went to Indonesia and Malaysia?’
8. East Coast of Africa.
Similarly, Islam has spread rapidly on the East Coast of Africa. One may again ask, if Islam was spread by the sword, ’Which Muslim army went to the East Coast of Africa?’
9. Thomas Carlyle.
The famous historian, Thomas Carlyle, in his book ’Heroes and Hero worship’, refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: ’The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can.’
10. No compulsion in religion.
With which sword was Islam spread? Even if Muslims had it they could not use it to spread Islam because the Qur’an says in the following verse:
’Let there be no compulsion in religion:
Truth stands out clear from error’
[Al-Qur’an 2:256]
11. Sword of the Intellect.
It is the sword of intellect. The sword that conquers the hearts and minds of people. The Qur’an says in Surah Nahl, chapter 16 verse 125:
’Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord
with wisdom and beautiful preaching;
and argue with them in ways that are
best and most gracious.’
[Al-Qur’an 16:125]
12. Increase in the world religions from 1934 to 1984.
An article in Reader’s Digest ‘Almanac’, year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984. This article also appeared in ‘The Plain Truth’ magazine. At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%. May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?
13. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and Europe.
Today the fastest growing religion in America is Islam. The fastest growing religion in Europe in Islam. Which sword is forcing people in the West to accept Islam in such large numbers?
14. Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson.
Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson rightly says, ’People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already, it fell the day MUHAMMED (pbuh) was born’.
January 8, 2009 at 9:36 am
Terrorists do not have a religion. They use it as a mantle to do what their religion forbids. At its heart is the desire to meet their own narrow agenda.
If we look into the historic records, it proves that a large number of terrorist acts in the 20th and 21st century were committed by non-Muslims. The so-called global phenomenon of “Islamic terrorism/militant Islam” was a creation of the western governments and their media outlets. Politics lies at the heart of labeling Muslims across the globe as perpetrators of terror acts.
In every religion there are black sheep and the media keep putting these people forward. This is a media conspiracy and a way of pushing people away from Islam. No religion encourages terrorist acts or violence. Injustice is the root cause of terrorism…
In the Bible, : “It says in the Book of Numbers that whoever worships other than God should be killed,”, yet such verses were conveniently ignored by the Western media.
Palestinians are called terrorists just because they are fighting to get their land back. We can cite the examples of LTTE (in Sri Lanka), IRA (in UK), Lord’s Salvation Army, which trains the young children to conduct terrorist attacks, and many other non-Muslim terrorist outfits. The lives claimed by these outfits are more than the ones by the so called Muslim terrorists.
Naxalites/Maoists across India and the LTTE in Sri Lanka were non- Muslim terror organisations, which had had developed pan regional bases beyond national boundaries. Other such non-Muslim terror outfits included the United Liberation Front of Asom, National Democratic Front of Bodoland and All Tripura Tiger Force in the Northeast.
On international examples, the Japanese Red Army, Lord’s Salvation Army and the ETA in Spain were also non-Islamic in character and composition.
So nothing is more removed from truth as to suggest that Muslims have monopolized terrorism. The Irish Republican Army, which was considered to be terrorist group, has a history of 100 years of violence against the British, but the British government doesn’t seem to be scared about them as they are about radical Islamic groups. Besides, even a single killing by a Muslim is condemned by Islam, whatsoever the reasons. Islam does not justify using wrong means to reach the right goals. People should not take the law in their hands.
India has seen maximum number of communal riots in recent years. Politicians have been using the ‘Divide and Rule Policy’ to secure their vote banks. However, the masses should not get instigated by them. Terrorism is a monopoly of politicians. People, regardless of their religion, wish to live harmonious lives, but politicians feed the feeling of hatred amongst them.
There are different Muslim societies – Some may be close to Islam, some may be far away from Islam. Because of a few black sheeps, one should not and cannot blame the community. Many such ‘Black Sheeps’ choose individual verses or parts of verses of the Holy Quran to justify their actions. But they are the misguided ones. Many a times, to get the correct and proper understanding, we have to analyze the Quran as a whole, and not just by quoting one particular Verse. Because if one particular verse of the Quran if its ambiguous many a times the answer is given somewhere else in the Quran. And also, we need to know the context for which a verse was revealed. No religion encourages terrorist acts or violence.
The message of the Quran is meant for all people for all times.
ope the above answers your query.
January 8, 2009 at 9:38 am
* Hope the above answers your query.
January 21, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Highly stimulating post and comments. I certainly appreciate the input of Navedz. Thank you for clearing up many misonceptions we may have. Though I do not share a religion with you, I do share a common desire for peace. That said, peace be with you Navedz.