Islam vs. Tolerance

Article author: Jay Zeke Malakai

Article editor: Unedited

 

Introduction
A recent article authored by me has sparked yet more accusations of Islamophobia. According to one critic, I am ignorant and hateful, and should look at the similarities between Islam and Christianity, rather than the (obvious) differences. So, am I really being intolerant, or am I simply stating the truth?

The original article
First, I'd like to point out that the original article is actually about the atheistic claim that religion is the cause of all wars, which is nothing to do with Islam. Islam was, however, mentioned as a war-like religion, which has caused a grand total of: 4% of all wars recorded in the Encyclopedia of Wars. Now, if the article was actually about Islam, that wouldn't be too impressive. However, the critic was upset that I singled out Islam by pitting it against the 3% of wars caused by all the world's other religions. Apparantly, Christianity and Islam are even since Christians caused the other 3% of religious wars. Once corrected, she accused me of hiding information by not mentioning what percentage of wars were Christian in origin. As you'll see if you read, or have read, the original article, you'll see that I did adress the issue of the Christian view of war, which significantly reduces the number of truly Christian wars, but to answer the question, the total number of religious wars I am aware of that are Christian by name is 5. Just 5. There may be more, but only 5 that I know of. As for Christian by nature, well I can't really tell due to gaps in my knowledge of history, but of those 5, only 2 might be, and even the crusades were defensive, so even though it was fought in the name of Catholicism, I would stand by it if Christianity was a primary cause.

Christianity's view of Islam (and other religions)
As shown by many of the verses presented in the original article, Christianity is about as anti-war as a culture hoping to survive can get. The same principle goes for intolerance. We're supposed to love our enemies, and pray even for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44), and if at all possible, we're supposed to live peacefully with everyone as far as it depends on us (Romans 12:18). Now, that doesn't mean that we must love the religion, but we must love the people.

Intolerance?
The problem is, in our culture of cuddles and cookies, simply disagreeing with someone is classed as intolerance or hate speech. This, of course, is not true. No one sues a teacher for marking a student's homework wrong, and if you have an illness, you're not going to go to Ben down the street, you're going to go to a doctor. The truth is, a reality exists outside of the minds of human beings. Truth is not determined by our beliefs. If a person is right, they are right, and if a person is wrong, the person is wrong. The way I see it, it is more hateful to deny someone the right to know the truth than it is to correct them when they are wrong, particularly when their false beliefs can hurt them.

Islam's beliefs regarding Christianity (and other religions)
The problem with world peace is that it only works if everyone does it. Sadly, not everyone does, and it's these people that need to be confronted the most. So what does Islam say about tolerance? First, it should be noted that there are, indeed, peaceful verses in the Qur'an. For example, Surah 2:256 says "There is no compulsion in religion." Ok, great, I guess Islam is peaceful. Except there are countless other verses in the Qur'an that preach violence against unbelievers, and it even goes on to say you are not a true Muslim if you have a Jew or a Christian as a friend (Qur'an 5:51). Surah 5:80 even goes on to say You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve; certainly evil is that which their souls have sent before for them, that Allah became displeased with them and in chastisement shall they abide. Now, clearly it is Islam, not Christianity, that is intolerant. If a Christian or a Jew want to make friends with a Muslim, it is the Muslim that must compromise his faith in order to maintain that friendship. A Christian can take a Muslim as his friend and remain 100% consistent with his Holy scriptures. A Muslim who befriends a Christian, by contrast, is not a true Muslim according to his holy book.

However, the issue goes far beyond that. See, a religion started by a liar is, of course, going to have a more relaxed view of deception. Muhammad was a liar, and so had no problem with deception to further Islam.

A history lesson
Originally, Islam was a peaceful religion. When Muhammad and his followers were a small minority in Mecca, they were very peaceful. They criticised their attackers, but they did so in the context of a future judgement. They spoke as if it would be Allah to take down the unbelievers in the future. Personally, I wish Islam was still like this. Unfortunately, this was a trick designed so that people wouldn't attack Muslims, who would have no hope of survival if it came to physical combat. However, when the polytheists came to Muhammad's uncle, Abu Talib, they asked him to stop Muhammad from criticising their gods. Muhammad, however, replied with "I summon them to utter a saying through which the Arabs will submit to them and they will rule over the non-Arabs." How would they get this power over the non-Arabs (i.e. Jews and Christians)? "That you should say "there is no deity but Allah". (At-Tabari, Volume 6, Page 95). So, while Muhammad calls for peace publically, he's planning the subjugation of a group that has left him well enough alone behind closed doors. Yup, sounds peaceful to me...

And the Qur'an, of course, instructs Muslims to do the same. Surah 3:28 says Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: except by way of precaution, that ye may Guard yourselves from them. So, in other words, just like Muhammad, you are allowed to take unbelievers as friends if they feel it will protect them, but inwardly, no, they cannot be friends to unbelievers, or Allah will turn his back on them. Ibn Kathir, a respected Islamic scholar, says about this verse "In this case, such believers are allowed to show friendship outwardly but never inwardly."

So with Muhammad and his followers playing the victims, despite the fact they "fired the first shots", so to speak, various Christians, Jews and pagan groups rushed to the aid of these poor, persecuted Muslims, much like the critic we are adressing would like us to do now. Of course, the defenders of Islam did not know that, behind closed doors, Muhammad was planning to gather an army and overthrow them. This gave Islam the ability to gain enough numbers to adequately defend against an attack. No longer at the mercy of the polytheists he was annoying, Muhammad changed his message. Islam went from being stealthy to being defensive. Qur'an 22:39-40 gives Muslims permission to fight if they are oppressed. Now of course, that wouldn't be a problem, except that Muhammad wasn't slowing down in his own oppressive ways. He went from whining about a harsh response to his reviling pagan gods to launching 7 attacks on caravans heading to Mecca carrying supplies.

The Meccans, for some reason, didn't even attempt to do anything about this, but then Muhammad made the mistake of attacking a caravan during the Holy month, killing one man, taking others captive and stealing all of their supplies. They of course questioned him on this, because it was pretty much a universal agreement to have no wars during the Holy month. But Muhammad, always one to respect the religions of others, recieved Surah 2:217, which says They question thee (O Muhammad) with regard to warfare in the sacred month. Say: Warfare therein is a great (transgression), but to turn (men) from the way of Allah, and to disbelieve in Him and in the Inviolable Place of Worship, and to expel His people thence, is a greater with Allah; for persecution is worse than killing. So, according to Muhammad, it's a bad thing to kill during a universal anti-war agreement in the land, but because they were "persecuted" in Mecca, it's permissable. Ok then...

So the Meccans got pretty scared. They knew the Muslims wouldn't stop attacking their supply caravans, without which the city would suffer and many of its residents would die, so they sent guards to protect the next caravan. The Muslims attacked, the Meccans were defeated and the caravan was still taken. This became known as the battle of Badr, the first offensive war fought by Islam. In other words, the first full-scale battle between Muslims and non-Muslims was caused by Meccans trying to protect themselves from Muslims repeatedly attacking their trade routes.

This caused the defenders of Islam to realise the true nature of the religion they had originally defended, and many of them tried to withdraw their support, leading to yet more violence as Muhammad ordered the deaths of critics of Islam. See, Islam has a broader definition of attack and defense than you or I might. I view physical violence, or the incitement of such, as an attack. However, during this "defensive" stage of Islam, Muhammad even killed a 100 year old man simply for writing a poem against Islam. What threat is a 100 year old poet? He could die three days after writing the poem and you want to kill him because he criticised your religion? If Christians did something like this in the modern world, the media would light up the skies with messages about how evil and intolerant Christianity is. Atheistic websites would post photos and cite any verse from the Bible that seems to condone this kind of behaviour. Muhammad does it and a little under 1 and a half millenia later, we're met with claims of intolerance because we speak against a religion that actually said this is "defensive"?

After this, Muhammad had completely conquered the territory. His home land was subjugated, his critics were silenced and those who tried to withdraw their support for Islam found themselves on the sharp edge of a sword. Such violence had never been seen in the Middle East, and it was only going to get worse as the nature of Islam sunk to an all time low. Islam took on its final form; the same form we see executing sinners and apostates, flying planes into buildings, posting videos of tourists and journalists losing their heads on Youtube, training 10 year olds to use rifles and gunning down cartoonists. Chapter 9 of the Qur'an, the final chapter to be "revealed" to Muhammad, is full of declarations of war against unbelievers and "hypocrites" (i.e. the Muslims who do not agree 100% with the Qur'an). It is far from the only chapter containing such cruel verses.

So about that 4%...
The 4% of wars throughout history caused by Islam is surprisingly low considering the origins of Islam. It has singlehandedly matched and exceeded the number of wars waged in the name of every other religion in history. The violent tradition of Islam has enabled it to spread throughout much of the planet. It started in the Middle East, which it has now all but completely taken over. Living in a country dominated by Islam is as close to Hell as you can get with air in your lungs.

Conclusion
World peace is a wonderful concept. It would be gladly embraced by every true Christian, and likely many pseudo-Christians aswell, if it were a possibility. However, as wonderful a concept as it is, it only works if everyone does it. As explained in this article, Islam, by nature, is a violent religion. Its creator was violent, and its history has been violent. When a Muslim preaches peace, you can never really tell if he is doing so from the bottom of his heart, or if he is merely following his "Holy" book, loving you outwardly but despising you inwardly. History has shown that defending Islam is the best way to lose everything you hold close to your heart. Religious freedom, or indeed freedom for anything outside of Islam, would soon fly out of the door. As a Christian, I am supposed to love Muslims regardless of how they feel about me, or act towards me. It is difficult, as many Christians will admit, but we must pray for them. However, if they return the sentiments, they are hypocrites according to their prophet and their scriptures. It is Islam, not Christianity, that is hateful. It is the prayer of The Genesis Key, and many Christians the world over, that Muslims will lay down their arms and repent of their sins. If that day ever comes, you can be absolutely certain that Christians will recieve their Muslim brothers with open arms, putting the past in the past and the devil on his ass.