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Sunday, August 14, 2005

Islam is Evil

Fundamentalism is often a form of nationalism in religious disguise --The Insider

You've probably heard from a guy who knew a guy who had a friend who once saw a Qu'ran that it's full of evil and vile things and that those "ragheads" are out to get us because of that "crazy" book. Time and again we are told that this is a war against Islam. Islam is evil, you see.

There is, however, a problem with this analysis: reality. There is nothing in the Qu'ran that makes it any more supportive of violence than the Christian Bible. Notice how the press doesn't go on and on about Christian terrorism when someone like Eric Ruldolph kills people. Most people have the common sense to recognize that Rudolph and his ilk do not represent mainstream Christianity. So why do we have such a hard time recognizing the same phenomena in Islam?

The label of Catholic terror was never used about the IRA

It's the propaganda, stupid! We've been boondoggled by the mainstream media and various pundits into believing that Osama Bin Laden and cohorts are representative of mainstream Islam; nothing could be further from the truth. As a recent article in the Insider points out:

Like the Bible, the Qur'an has its share of aggressive texts, but like all the great religions, its main thrust is towards kindliness and compassion. Islamic law outlaws war against any country in which Muslims are allowed to practice their religion freely, and forbids the use of fire, the destruction of buildings and the killing of innocent civilians in a military campaign. So although
Muslims, like Christians or Jews, have all too often failed to live up to their ideals, it is not because of the religion per se.

What this boils down to at this point is authority and interpretation. Like any religious tradition, there are various elements vying for the aurhority to determine what Islam is. In the past, the traditional Sunni religious leadership (ulama) claimed the prerogative to interpret Islam. But if one pays any attention to modern Islam there are and have been a great cast of voices, each with their own interpretation of Islam. In recent memory Islam has been used to legimate monarchies (Morocco and Saudi Arabia), millitary regimes (Pakistan, Libya, the Sudan), and a theocracy (ran). And these regimes have spanned the political spectrum from the radical socialism in Libya to the conservative Saudi monarchy.

Unfortunately we in the West tend to view Islam as some monolithic entity where all Muslims think and act in the same way. We are doing more harm than good with such nonsense:

Rhetoric is a powerful weapon in any conflict. We cannot hope to convert Osama bin Laden from his vicious ideology; our priority must be to stem the flow of young people into organisations such as al-Qaida, instead of alienating them by routinely coupling their religion with immoral violence. Incorrect statements
about Islam have convinced too many in the Muslim world that the west is an implacable enemy.

We are currently on a path to alienate a billion Muslims. Do we really want that? Do we really need to continue with the hateful and ignorant rhetoric about Islam? If endless war is what we want, then the answer is clearly yes. But if we seriously want peace, then we might benefit from understanding our Muslim friends before they become our enemies.

posted at 4:15:00 PM by David Buccola

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