Is Islam a peaceful religion?

[Melvyn]

There is a view that Islam is warlike and they have set their sights on us. (The west, the U.S. and Israel in particular). I have read an English version of the Koran and while the rhetoric against non-believers is rather harsh I don't see in the text that believers should go to war to convert non-believers or to destroy them for the sake of destruction. I hear some Muslim voices calling for war against America using the word jihad. I hear others say that jihad is the internal struggle against good and evil. We all have that no matter what we call it.

On the other hand, The original spread of Islam in the mideast, Africa and all the way into Europe was by conquest. It is a fearsome history.

I know of the Madrass schools in Saudi Araia where they teach a virulent strain of Islam called Wahabee. I also know that there is an intellectual class that says it desires peace. Our government says we are only at war with the actual killers, the bin Ladens of the world. But I don't see any peace movement in the Muslim world.

I would really like some feedback on this one.

Thanks,

Mel blogging at - http://radio.weblogs.com/0137954/

[Nono]

Any religion can serve as the basis for us-against-them tribal thinking. As soon as a faith grows clerics to interpret its holy scriptures for the unwashed (and often illiterate) riffraff, the rot sets in (see the Inquisition).

Like most major religions, Islam has different branches, ranging from hard-ass Wahabis to mystical Sufis, which just goes to show that there's more than one way to read the Koran (and -- like the Bible -- probably thousands of ways to translate it from the language it was originally written in, if thou gettest my drift).

Is Islam a peaceful religion? The question is, I think, whether the people who practise it are peaceful. Certainly Islam is big on rules (do this so many times a day, don't do that at all ever, etc.). Perhaps this aspect is exploited by some clerics to make people take a superficial view of Islam and conclude that respecting a few little rituals is a safe route to eternal salvation.

Then again, Christianity is much more a religion of love than of rules. Yet listen to the hate belching forth from the hearts of so many people who think they're Christians. It just goes to show how endlessly religiosity can be manipulated, and the tremendous human capacity for self-righteousness.

Thus endeth today's sermon (collection plate on the way out).

[Mia]

Yes, the religion is. More so than Christianity. More fair to and respectful of women, as well, as a side note.

All the people who are a part of it? Of course not. The same as any other religion.

Read the Quran. It will answer your question.

Islam keeps getting correllated to middle-eastern and African nations which have a lot of problems having nothing to do with being Islamic, and everything to do with the people themselves.

It's a terrible thing that people will not let go of blaming the religon and continue to ask the question you did.

Is Christianity a peaceful religion? Not judging by the people who say they are Christians.

'W' is creating more war and killing and judged the largest threat to world peace by Europe and other parts of the world.

So if we applied the same standards to the US as we do to Islamic nations, we would have to conclude that Chrisitanity is all the things that are said about Islam.

[Mia]

Jim Jones was a Christian supposedly. Does this reflect on the religion any more than Bin Laden does on his supposed muslim status?

Not in my opinion.

[Nono]

Mia, do you know of any place where it could be said, by and large, that people practise Islam "by the book"? This a real question, if a tough one. After all, the same question about Christianity would be hard to answer (for my money, maybe the Quakers, or perhaps Dorothy Day's people, but they don't belong to a specific place).

I ask because, taking up your point about women, to my mind it's hard to think of any place where Islam holds sway and where the situation of women isn't pretty miserable (by my reckoning). Women have it tough pretty well everywhere, you might reply. But if we look purely at overwhelmingly Islamic regions, things look pretty bleak on the gender front, don't they?

How would you explain this? The way communists, when confronted with a country that claims to practise communism, will invariably say "Well but that isn't really communism." ?

[Melvyn]

Nono, a great reply, Thank you.


Mel

[rcne]

All religions are peaceful in the beginning. It is only when the supposedly holy men interprets his religion's scripture that he corrupts the religion.

Read the Old Testament, remember the inquisition, the dark ages, the crusades - both Christian and Muslim. Then think about the new crusade being initiated by Islam today.

And all the time that the genocide is going on 'they' think God is on their side.

[recluse]

All religions, if based on supernatural or metaphysical foundations, have the possibility of an element of peaceful speculation. There have however been some historically extremely violent, cruel, and inhumane acts committed in the name of religion. Even in recent history, there are actions committed in the name of religion that could in no way be considered peaceful. What do we consider evil? If we answer someone whose religious beliefs are different than our own, then I would surmise that evil is in the eye of the beholder, and all religious beliefs are potentially harmful.

[Mia]

Originally posted by Nono,
Mia, do you know of any place where it could be said, by and large, that people practise Islam "by the book"? This a real question, if a tough one. After all, the same question about Christianity would be hard to answer (for my money, maybe the Quakers, or perhaps Dorothy Day's people, but they don't belong to a specific place).

I ask because, taking up your point about women, to my mind it's hard to think of any place where Islam holds sway and where the situation of women isn't pretty miserable (by my reckoning). Women have it tough pretty well everywhere, you might reply. But if we look purely at overwhelmingly Islamic regions, things look pretty bleak on the gender front, don't they?

How would you explain this? The way communists, when confronted with a country that claims to practise communism, will invariably say "Well but that isn't really communism." ?

Syria. Muhammad and Za3boot will jump me over this, but the President is Alawite ruling over a Sunni majority and enacting less Sunni rules than they would like.

A wonderful thing, in my opinion. Alawites believe in the Quran only (i.e., "by the book"), not these other "sources" where all the crazy, oppressive laws come from.

The women over there are in a status limilar to the 70's in the US and catching up fast. They are applying affirmative action right now.

In Syria, a women is almost to the point of being better off than an American woman.

A man is not permitted to abandon his responsibilities toward his wife and children there.

A woman can walk down the street at any time of night and not fear rape.

They are not restricted on dress, work, driving, you name it.

Quite a drastic difference from other Muslim countries.

Alawites are a small sect that other Muslims look down on, and would be slaugheted if they weren't in power. So the country is repressive for men and women compared to ours, but far better off than in the hands of those who'd impose even more if they gained control.

This is what makes me angry about the US trying to overthrow current Syrian Government. It could end up like Afganistan. We install a regime more friendly to us who ruins the country and the people in it.

Oppose the Syrian Accountability Act. I have a thread on it.

(Alawites also rule Monnaco, where I believe women have more rights as well).

[PatrickHenry]

Originally posted by Mia,
(Alawites also rule Monnaco, where I believe women have more rights as well).

This Monnaco? http://www.monnacoseguros.com.br/principal.swf

[Nono]

Mia: "Alawites also rule Monnaco, where I believe women have more rights as well."

Say again? If you mean Monaco (one 'n&#39, I think women there are particularly badly oppressed on account of being hounded by paparazzi and constantly having their liaisons revealed in trash magazines.

Can't be Morocco, can it?

[Nono]

I haven't been to Syria but it's definitely on my list, for some of the reasons you've mentioned. However, I was unaware that this aspect of the country is a specifically Alawite deal. Thanks.

I don't know Arabic and, as a translator, mistrust translations. But if the Koran is anything like the King James version of the Bible, it's wide open to (mis)interpretation. How do the Alawites do without the services of a clergy? (Or do they?) What's the literacy rate, for one thing? Perhaps they simply have a reading that is more congenial to Western Liberals like us?

Naturally the Syrian government is ruthless and oppressive -- as the Israelis would say, "This is a tough neighbourhood." But I agree that this can't possibly explain the enmity of a US government otherwise quite comfortable with oppressive regimes.