The Myth: Islam is a Religion of Peace

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From RELIGIONOFPEACE.COM
The Myth: Islam is a Religion of Peace

Muhammad was a peaceful man who taught his followers to be the same. Muslims lived peacefully for centuries, only fighting in self-defense when it was necessary. True Muslims would never act aggressively.

The Truth:

Muhammad organized 65 military campaigns in the last ten years of his life and personally led 27 of them. The more power that he attained, the smaller the excuse needed to go to battle, until finally he began attacking tribes merely because they were not part of his growing empire.

After Muhammad’s death, his most faithful followers and even his own family turned on each other almost immediately. There were four Caliphs (leaders) in the first twenty-five years. Three of the four were murdered. The third Caliph was murdered by the son of the first. The fourth Caliph was murdered by the fifth, who left a 100-year dynasty that was ended in a gruesome, widespread bloodbath by descendents of Muhammad’s uncle.

Muhammad’s own daughter, Fatima, and his son-in-law, Ali, who both survived the pagan hardship during the Meccan years safe and sound, did not survive Islam after the death of Muhammad. Fatima died of stress from persecution within three months, and Ali was later assassinated. Their son (Muhammad’s grandson) was killed in battle with the faction that became today’s Sunnis. His people became Shias. The relatives and personal friends of Muhammad were mixed into both warring groups, which then fractured further into hostile sub-divisions as Islam grew.

Muhammad left his men with instructions to take the battle against the Christians, Persians, Jews and polytheists (which came to include millions of unfortunate Hindus). For the next four centuries, Muslim armies steamrolled over unsuspecting neighbors, plundering them of loot and slaves, and forcing the survivors to either convert or pay tribute at the point of a sword.

Companions of Muhammad lived to see Islam declare war on every major religion in the world in just the first few decades following his death - pressing the Jihad against Hindus, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Buddhists.
By the time of the Crusades (when the Europeans began fighting back), Muslims had conquered two-thirds of the Christian world by the sword, from Spain to Syria, and across North Africa. The Arab slave-trading routes would stay open for 1300 years, until pressure from Christian-based countries forced Islamic nations to declare the practice illegal (in theory).

Today, there is not another religion in the world that consistently produces terrorism in the name of religion as does Islam. The most dangerous Muslims are nearly always those who interpret the Qur’an most transparently. They are the fundamentalists or purists of the faith, and believe in Muhammad’s mandate to spread Islamic rule by the sword, putting to death those who will not submit.

The holy texts of Islam are saturated with verses of violence and hatred toward those outside the faith. In sharp contrast to the Bible, which generally moves from relatively violent passages to far more peaceful ones, the Qur’an travels the exact opposite path. The handful of earlier verses that speak of tolerance are overwhelmed by an avalanche of later ones that carry a much different message. While Old Testament verses of blood and guts are generally bound by historical context within the text itself, Qur'anic imperatives to violence usually appear open-ended.

By any objective measure, the "Religion of Peace" has been the harshest, bloodiest religion the world has ever known.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021055.php

May 17, 2008

Bush: "I've got to do a better job of making it clear when I talk about Islam, I talk about a peaceful religion, which I talk about a lot"

Does anyone really not know that George W. Bush believes Islam is a peaceful religion? Apparently some don't:

yesterday "a young Palestinian Christian woman, Henriette Charcar" scolded the President for this, telling him: "I think it comes out that you don't like Muslims because in most of your speeches you do tend to relate extremism to Muslims."
Oh, the mind reels. Yet the sentiments of this "young Palestinian Christian woman, Henriette Charcar," are not all that different from the assumptions of the mainstream media, both liberal and conservative, in America today. Two of these assumptions are:

1. If you take note of the fact that Islamic jihadists justify their actions by referring to Islam texts and teachings that -- at very least by the account of the jihadists themselves -- justify violence and supremacism, it must mean that you hate Muslims.

But do Islamic texts and teachings actually contain elements that justify violence and supremacism? If they do, would it really mean that one necessarily dislikes Muslims if one points it out? Wouldn't that be rather like saying that if you point out that the Sun is hot, you must hate eskimos?

2. Those who "relate extremism to Muslims" are people like (preposterously enough, since he has bent over backwards to deny any such link) the President and other non-Muslims. There is no notice taken of the fact that the people who are really expending all their time energy to "relate extremism to Muslims" are Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and their ilk.

And also: if Islam really isn't a peaceful religion, as it manifestly isn't, as it is the only religion that contains doctrines and traditions mandating warfare against unbelievers, then what exactly will George W. Bush gain by pretending that it is? Will he convince peaceful Muslims not to support the jihad? Unlikely -- his status, and the status of any non-Muslim, as a teacher of Islam is not all that exalted. Will he prevent Muslim countries that are our nominal allies from supporting the jihadists? Well, it hasn't worked so far in Egypt and Pakistan, where despite ostensibly pro-Western governments there is significant support for the jihad at the highest levels.

"U.S. not at war with Islam faith, Bush says," by Jon Ward for the Washington Times, May 17 (thanks to Cindy):

President Bush yesterday told students in Israel he hasn't done enough to dispel the idea that the United States is at war with Islam, but also blamed the "poisonous" state-run TV stations in the Middle East for mischaracterizing him.
During an extended conversation with about 12 college and high school students under an olive tree in Jerusalem, the issue of diplomacy arose, and Mr. Bush launched into a defense of his attitude toward Muslims.

"Somebody said to me, 'Well, how come you dislike Muslims?'" Mr. Bush said. "I don't."

But then a young Palestinian Christian woman, Henriette Charcar, spoke up.

"I think it comes out that you don't like Muslims because in most of your speeches you do tend to relate extremism to Muslims," said Miss Charcar, who attends the Tabitha school in Jaffa.

Mr. Bush responded: "Actually what I say is you're not a religious person if you're a murderer. But you're right. I've got to do a better job of making it clear when I talk about Islam, I talk about a peaceful religion, which I talk about a lot."...