Islamic terror. What conclusions about Islam can be fairly drawn?

Question

All religions are not the same.

Some religions are scarcely even believed anymore (Christianty) while others deeply believed by the entirety of its followers (Islam). Some religions simply emphasize mediation and awareness (Buddhism) whiles others believe in a hands on violent spread of their doctrines (Islam).

Many ignorant people claim that we cannot judge "Islam" by the actions of Islamists. This claim might be the most insane of all human history.

Not only should we judge a religion by the actions of its followers, we should use this as the primary means of judging it.

All truth is revealed by action. In other words, if your wife says she loves you, but cheats on you all the time and puts slow poison in your food, the truth is not what she writes on hallmark cards, but its in what she does.

Of course in Islam, you have both. You have a history of genocide. Almost all armed conflict today is Islamic and the Quran explicitly gives warrant to all this horror.

Islam creates an entirely different species of violence. The issue is not whether Christians and Muslims do the same amount of violence, but how much violence is done for the sake of religious duty.

The Crusades and Inquisition stand as the last violence done by Christians based on percieved religious duty. However, Islamic violence has been directly tied to religious duty since its inception and seemlessly persists to this very hour.

tiger:

Its spelled both ways, however my spelling is the most commonly used among english speaking Muslims.

Basically you wanted to say "Im a jew defending Islam, even though I know nothing about it...hopefully you guys will see my remarks and hate jews a little less". Pathetic...and hopless.

Answer 1

What can I conclude about Islam? People like you love hating on it. And for your info.. this whole war on Iraq.. I take this as Christian crusades part two. By the way, would you want to be judged as an individual or as a definition of others. There is no such thing as "Islamicts". We are Muslims, and Islam is NOT defined by hate. These terrorists are doing the same thing as you, taking things out of their context and using them for their own ignorant purpose.

And about the wife thing: It's almost like trying to put into logic every human error. A bad cheating wife doesn't mean love has gone bad or love teaches that. Doesn't mean all women are bad either now does it. So when a hypocritical Muslim does something wrong.. does that mean Islam itself is spoiled.. I don't think so dear.

Peace.

Answer 2

True. I am personally very tired of those that just keep repeating the same tired phrase over and over again: "No, this is not Islam, Islam is peaceful, don't judge us by the deeds of a few of us." Ok, so what is wrong with that statement? Well, plenty. My first response to that is, "then what is REAL Islam? and who decides that?" I am very familiar with Islam and its teachings, so i know very well what the Quran does and does not say. The problem is not in the Quran itself, though it is a little violent in some places, but not anymore so than the bible, so where is the problem? The problem is in the limited mentalities that continue to attempt to understand the Quran with a 10th century mindset. That is still the most widespread interpretation of religion. No matter what Moslems say now, this is what they continue to look back on. In the midst of a depressed and hopeless present, they continue to look back upon a romanticized vision of a mythical past, in which the Islamic "empire" was somehow the embodiment of justice and happiness, though it was far, far from that. You say that Islam itself is the gun, i will disagree. If it is the gun, then someone needs to put a bullet in that gun and it is the medieval mentalitity that prevades the Muslim world that allows this gun to be continuously reloaded and fired. So again i ask, what is the REAL Islam? Who decides how to interprete the Quran? Let us put aside all the unsubstantiated and uncorraborated sayings of the prophet and just take the Quran. How do you read it? What can you take literaly and what can you play around with? Is real Islam what was done during and right after the time of the prophet? Well, that was almost nothing but continous warfare. True, more or less until the prophet's death, the wars were defensive in nature, but what about the rest of Islamic history? Is that Islam? Continuous warfare and conquest? If not, then we need to take an absolutely new look at the religion and redefine it within the context of the different world we live in. I don't agree that suicide bombings are the exclusive domain of Islam, they happen within all faiths. The crusades (yes, i had to bring them up) were another form of Jihad, albeit with some justification. Islam is what its followers make of it, not some text that says this or that. It is what it is in reality, not some imagined, idealistic vision of what is should be.

Answer 3

Should a religion be judged by the actions of its followers? No. Why? Well, we know there are certain religious people, even Muslims, that behave morally and charitably, and others that behave reprehensibly. The same goes for Christians, Jews, and atheists. In every religious persuasion, and among groups of people who adhere to no religion, you have some who are morally exemplary, and others who are insidious. So to merely decide on the merits of a religion based on the behavior of its subscribers, would lead to contradictory conclusions.

What we need to establish, with respect to a particular religious belief, and whether or not to condemn it, is whether its precepts more incline a follower to behave criminally or not. When viewed in this light, I think Islam stands guilty of most of the crimes committed by its adherents, because the individual injunctions in the Qu’ran and the Hadith lend credence to militancy in defense and for the promotion of the faith.

Sure one can find verses in both the Torah and the New Testament that can be construed to give sanction to violence, but both books, and especially the New Testament, contain latter traditions that negate violent behavior. In the Qu’ran no such abrogation exists, to where later verses negate the belligerence of the former. In fact given that the Qu’ran is not chronologically order, one could not make the case that certain peaceful edicts where made after the more aggressive passages. In fact a look at Muhammad’s own life demonstrates that he advocated violence later in his ministry, not earlier. Furthermore, the violence that is contained in the Torah is time and place specific for the most part. Many of the admonishments to carry out war against your neighbors in the Torah are not meant to be open ended admonishments to believers in all times and all places. The violent passages in the Qu’ran are actually written in such a way that they are meant to be taken as orders that are applicable for all times and towards all nonbelievers.

You are correct, there is no excusing the Qu’ran and the religion of Islam from its influence over the violence we see today. There is much with the Muslim religious tradition that gives justification to open ended aggression. Whenever you see a Muslim behaving morally, with love and kindness towards his fellow man, it is precisely to the extent that he has modernized and ignored his Qu’ran and the Hadith.

Answer 4

Although I disagree with your logic if we were to follow it you would have to have media coverage of the other 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Where was the media when my grandpa was selflessly commiting his life to good deeds?

Where were they for all the good I've done? You (plural) are foolish people to complain about this violence. You let it eat at you and create a fear in you that devours your morality and dignity. You sway under fear, tremble; lose your ground. Ultimately, YOU (and you alone) let evil triumph over good.

Otherwise you would have acknowledged the countless good deeds of the Muslim majority and concluded differently. But no, you too, are brainwashed by what you read in the bias newspaper and see on tv.

Still I wish you the best. God bless and peace (will u judge this response positively? I hope so cuz I really tried).

Peace.

Answer 5

Have you seen some of the "Banned by PBS" documentaries? They focus on exactly what you are saying.
My father is a Church History professor and he loves to educate on how early Christianity (3rd -10th Century) was violent, brutal, sadistic, all in the name of "truth", "love", and "peace".
The difference is Christianity matured; Islam is still in the medieval era.
Islamic women seem to continue to remain in the shadows of their men. Not all Muslims are terrorists, however those whose minds have already been poisoned cannot profess to be "God-fearing" when their actions demonstrate they are evil-minded mass-murderers.

Answer 6

Be patient with me here
1) there is something in the scriptures used that can be interpretted to promote violence( notice certain words I used "something"and interpretted"
2) there are those who have focused themselves on those verses and interpretations
3) The scriptures would seem to have become politicized rather than used for their spiritual purpose.

Answer 7

Sorry, Bud. You're wrong. No one can judge a religion by the actions of a few bad seeds. Your analogy about the wife is wrong also. If I were to use your logic then a cheating wife would be a reflection on all women...it should be a reflection on just the cheater as judgment on extremists should be just on the extremists...not the religion.

Answer 8

Well Christians have twice the number of followers than Muslims do...

We can just Islam by the actions of Islamists...but not Islamic Extremists. Just as you cannot just Christianity because of Evangelicals. Most Christians are, more mellow, than others.

Answer 9

One it is spelled Koran and second Islam is a beautiful culture though I am a Jew i don't hate every Muslim for a few sickos who killed a lot of people in the middle east I care for Israel but Islam doesn't teach you to hate people it is aimed to fight for your rights which is misunderstood by a lot of people in every religion.

Answer 10

Terrorism is a political tool. It is used when a people or country who perceive themselves as weaker than a people or nation who are perceived as stronger are oppressing them.

Religion is merely a convenient way to sell it.