Title: Does Islam Breed Violence? (An Iranian-Born American's View) Source:
FaithFreedomOrg URL Source:http://faithfreedom.org/islam/does-islam-breed-violence Published:Nov 14, 2009 Author:Amil Amani Post Date:2009-12-03 22:32:29 by Liberator Keywords:Islam, Bloody, Muslim, Cult Views:58574 Comments:650
There is a division of the house. On one side are the politically correct in government, the leftist mainstream media, and a raft of Islamist apologists. One and all are tripping over each other in reassuring us that the mass murderers such as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and suicide bombers who detonate their explosive vests in crowded marketplaces and even mosques are individual anomalies and Islam is not responsible for what they do.
On the other hand are those who have been fed up with the numberless daily horrific acts that are clearly committed under the banner of Islam throughout the world. In all fairness, there needs to be a distinction. Numerous criminal acts are also committed, on a daily basis, by non-Muslims. The critical difference is that non-Muslim criminals do not hoist a religious banner to justify their misdeeds, while the Muslims proudly claim that they commit their heinous acts in obedience to the dictates of their religious faith.
Would someone, please, explain what motivated Nidal Hasan who had been, at tax payer’s expense, educated from college all the way through medical school and post medical-school training, to turn his deadly weapons against a nation that gave him everything he had?
If Islam had nothing to do with what Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan did, why:
* had he repeatedly preached the ascendancy of Islam to the U.S. Constitution?
* had he publicly supported Islamic suicide bombing?
* had he proclaimed his highest loyalty to Islam?
* had he been in contact with violent anti-U.S. Islamists and a virulent Yemeni Imam?
* did he distribute copies of the Quran to people the morning of his bloody attack?
* did he keep screaming “Allah-o-Akbar” as he heartlessly sprayed over a hundred bullets, killing thirteen and injuring some thirty innocent men and women?
Here is the truth, as bitter as it may be. Islam is the culprit. Islam is anything but a religion of peace. Violence is at the very core of Islam. Violence is institutionalized in the Muslim’s holy book, the Quran, in many suras:
Qur'an:9:5 "Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."
Qur'an:9:112 "The Believers fight in Allah's cause; they slay and are slain, kill and are killed."
Qur'an:8:39 "So fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief [non-Muslims]) and all submit to the religion of Allah alone (in the whole world)."
Qur'an:8:65 "O Prophet, urge the faithful to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination they will vanquish two hundred; if there are a hundred then they will slaughter a thousand unbelievers, for the infidels are a people devoid of understanding."
Qur'an:9:38 "Believers, what is the matter with you, that when you are asked to go forth and fight in Allah's Cause you cling to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? Unless you go forth, He will afflict and punish you with a painful doom, and put others in your place."
Qur'an:47:4 "When you clash with the unbelieving Infidels in battle (fighting Jihad in Allah's Cause), smite their necks until you overpower them, killing and wounding many of them. At length, when you have thoroughly subdued them, bind them firmly, making (them) captives. Thereafter either generosity or ransom (them based upon what benefits Islam) until the war lays down its burdens. Thus are you commanded by Allah to continue carrying out Jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam."
And the Quran is considered by Muslims as the word-for-word literal edicts of the Muslims’ god, Allah.
Right from the start, violence served as the engine of Islam under the command and supervision of Muhammad himself. For one, the Prophet’s son-in-law cousin, Ali, was titled the Commander of the Faithful for his unsurpassed feats of butchery. Ali with the assistance of one or two of his thugs, beheaded some seven hundred captives, most of them Jews, in only one day. This man, highly esteemed by the prophet of Allah, had a sword that had its own name—Zolfaghar. Ali’s portrait, holding the menacing sword, adorns the homes and shops throughout Shi’a’-lands. And this man, Ali, is revered by the Shi’a at the same level as Muhammad.
On the Sunni side, Muhammad’s co-revered is Umar, another unabashed killer of untold numbers. And of course the choice weapon of these champions of the religion of peace was the sword. And to this day, a sword adorns the flag of the birthplace of the religion of peace, Saudi Arabia.
And Islam, by the nature of its very doctrine, appeals to man’s base nature. It promotes intolerance, hatred, discrimination, and much more:
Qur'an:61:2 "O Muslims, why say one thing and do another? Grievously odious and hateful is it in the sight of Allah that you say that which you do not. Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in a battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure."
In reality, Islam is like a deadly contagious disease. Once it invades the mind of its victim, this debilitating disease is capable of transforming him to a helpless pawn that has no choice but to execute what he is directed to do.
Of the reported 1.3 billion Muslims in the world, millions are already trapped in the terminal stages of this affliction while millions of others are rapidly joining them. The people enslaved with the extreme cases of Islamic mental disease are highly infectious. They actively work to transmit the disease to others, while they themselves engage in horrific acts of mayhem and violence to demonstrate their unconditional obedience to the dictates of the Islamic cult of violence.
The savagery and variety of the actions of these Islamic captives are seen daily around the globe. Many of these acts, committed under the banner of Islam, have become so commonplace that the world has come to view them as the normal part and parcel of a troubled humanity. And, from time-to-time, the world is shocked into a passing and momentary realization of the evil deeds these Islamist robots commit and quickly gets over it and does nothing to seriously address this affliction of humanity.
The recent dastardly mass murder at Fort Hood, committed by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will be forgotten by the public before very long. Life will continue on its deadly course, pushed along in a variety of ways by agents of death, Islamists. Only the families who lost their loved-ones and those who survived the bullets have to live the rest of their lives with incapacitating injuries, in the main, won’t be able to put the episode behind them.
The mass murderer Nidal Malik Hasan did not riddle people with bullets under the pressure of momentary insanity. The insanity, ironically, in a man who was trained to help people with sanity was introduced in him from the moment of birth and from the very early years when he prostrated himself five times daily toward Mecca in expression of total submission to the dogma of hate called Islam.
Islam is a mental retrovirus that has mutated into numerous varieties and degrees of severity, over the past 1400 years. Everyone born in a Muslim family, as well as those who convert to Islam, contract a particular mutation of the Islamic Virus. As is the case with all retroviruses, the Islamic Virus burrows deeply in the person and erupts, from time-to-time with potentially devastating consequences.
The Islamic Virus first divests the person of his most fundamental human attribute. It takes away his right to make decisions himself and absolves him, in return, of any responsibility for his actions rendered in blind obedience to it.
A true Muslim does not and cannot believe in freedom of choice. In the religion of Islam—Submission—everything is up to Allah, as clearly and repeatedly stipulated in the Quran .The Raison d'être for the Muslim is to be an unconditional submissive to the will and dictates of Allah. Everything that a “good” Muslim does is contingent upon the will and decree of Allah, he is indoctrinated to believe.
Humanity is facing a deeply troubling dilemma. On the one hand is the desire of enlightened people whose aim it is to forge a world of diverse people into one universal society ruled by peace and justice for everyone while, on the other hand, Islamists are hell-bent on imposing their stone-age system on everyone. Tellingly, the Muslims themselves are at one another’s throat regarding which of dozens of Islamic sects’ dogma should rule.
For now, Islam is busy with what it did from the time of its birth, fighting the non-Muslims and infighting.
Truth be told: Violence is the animating force of Islam. Islam is a religion born through violence, raised by violence, thrives on violence and dies without violence.
Author's Bio:
Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. Imani is a columnist, literary translator, novelist and an essayist who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran. He and his family escaped Iran after the radical Islamic revolution.
The first pillar of Islam is Belief and Witness - believing and professing the unity of God and the messengership of Muhammad, teaching others about Islam but do not use coersion to convert them.
There are those who choose to distort the scriptures and abuse it, just as in other religions, even in Christianity.
Most of the slaves brought here from Africa were of Muslim faith. They were forbidden to practice their own faith and forced to convert to Christianity. They see Christianity as part of the oppression they suffered under the white man as slaves and early on after they were freed. There are many movements now dedicated to helping them revert back to their ancestral religion - Islam. I've been studying their beliefs this week and the stereotypes are disgustingly misleading. Believe whatever you want to believe. Most of our ancestors came here to escape religious prosecution - they came here to practice their beliefs in peace.
Our nation was founded on freedoms, the freedom of religion included. Get off your high horse. Your religion has done just as much damage as anyone elses.
Most of the slaves brought here from Africa were of Muslim faith.
I think a statement with more truth to it would read:
Most of the slaves brought here from Africa were captured by and sold into slavery initially by many of the Muslim faith, placed on board ships many of which were owned and financed by Jews, and sold to plantations and other interested parties most of which were Christians.
So you want the authors refrences as well? No problem. Then you have to post your evidence that refutes what I have posted deal? I can hang out and tell people thy are wrong all day long, but without any evidence to show them they are wrong, my words would mean nothing. So cough up your evidence. I should remind you that one must be well learned in a subject in order to write a text book for use in University courses. The authors refrences:
Ahmed, Akbar, S., Islam Under Siege, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003. Careful explanation of Islamic ideals and concerns in the context of contemporary violence in the name of Islam.
Ahmed, Akbar S., Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society, London and New York: Routledge, revised edition, 2002. A well-known Pakistani diplomat and scholar teaching in the United States offers keen insights into the spirituality and history of modern Muslim cultures.
Ali, Maulana Muhammad, The Religion of Islam, sixth edition, Columbus, Ohio: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam, 1994. A classic reference explaining all aspects of Muslim belief and practice, with extensive scriptural quotations. Armstrong, Karen, The Battle for God, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. A monumental study of the development of fundamentalism in the United States, Israel, and Egypt in response to modernity.
Dessouki, Ali E. Hillal, ed., Islamic Resurgence in the Arab World, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1982. A scholarly study of the contemporary Islamic resurgence in specific Arab nations.
Esack, Farid, Qur’an, Liberation and Pluralism: An Islamic Perspective of Interreligious Solidarity against Oppression, Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1997. A first-person account of the struggle for justice in South Africa from the point of view of a Muslim scholar and activist, exploring Qur’anic principles that lead to inter-religious fraternity. Esposito, John L., The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, third edition, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. An insighful survey of militant Islamic movements around the world.
Esposito, John L., Islam: The Straight Path, New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. A scholarly, clear introduction to historical and contemporary Islam.
Hefner, Robert W. and Patricia Horvatich, eds., Islam in an Era of Nation- states: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997. Detailed analyses of Muslim reformist movements in Southeast Asia with reference to modern governmental structures.
Lings, Martin, Muhammad, London: George Allen & Unwin, and Islamic Text Society, 1983. A highly regarded biography of the Prophet. McCloud, Aminah Beverly, African American Islam, New York and London: Routledge, 1995. An accessible inside view of contemporary African–American Muslim communities and issues they face in a contrasting cultural context. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Ideals and Realities of Islam, second edition, London: Unwin Hyman Ltd., 1985. Thoughtful presentation of both esoteric and exoteric features of Islam.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, ed., Islamic Spirituality I: Foundations, New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1987 and London: SCM Press, 1989. Excellent chapters on key features of Muslim spirituality, from fasting to angels, with sections on Sunnism, Shi’ism, and Sufism.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Traditional Islam in the Modern World, London and New York: Kegan Paul International, 1990. Religiously sensitive discussions of varied topics in attempts to bring forth traditional Muslim values within contemporary social settings. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Dabashi, Hamid, and Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza, Shi’ism: Doctrines, Thought, and Spirituality, Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1988. To balance the predominant media attention to Shi’ite politics, a set of thoughtful essays on aspects of Shi’ite spirituality.
Paige, Glenn D., Satha-Anand, Chaiwats, and Gilliatt, Sarah, Islam and Nonviolence, Honolulu: University of Hawaii, Center for Global Nonviolence Planning Project, 1993. Strong essays on theories and practice of non-violence stemming from Muslim values.
Pinault, David, The Shiites: Ritual and Popular Piety in a Muslim Community, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992. Sensitive discussions of Shi’ite interpretations of Muslim history and how these inform communal life and action.
Rashid, Ahmed, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. A Pakistani journalist chronicles the Taliban’s rise to power, including global politics and economics as well as religion. Schimmel, Annemarie, And Muhammad is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1985. Extensive exploration of Muslims’ love for the Prophet.
Schimmel, Annemarie, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1975. A classic survey of Sufi history, teachings, and saints. Schuon, Frithjof, Understanding Islam, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1963. Profound and lyrical observations about the way of Islam.
Stowasser, Barbara Freyer, The Islamic Impulse, Washington, D.C.: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, 1987. Sensitive articles exploring the meanings of Islamist movements.
Wadud, Amina, Qur’an and Woman, New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Probing hermeneutic analysis of the Qur’an, revealing its principles of social justice, including gender equality.
Webb, Gisela, Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar-Activists in North America, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2000. Articles revealing the depth of feminist scholarship within Islam, particularly with reference to the ideal of social justice as seen from the point of view of women of faith.