Why are so many people murdered in the name of Allah?
By Tom Quiner
Muslims get a bad rap.
This is the sentiment a writer to Andrew Sullivan’s blog expressed:
“There are 1.6 Billion-with-a-B Muslims in the world. Less than 100 have successfully carried out an attack that killed US civilians. Even at the most generous estimate, there are less than 25,000 active members of Al-Quaeda. That’s 0.00000015% of the Muslim population. There are rogue ideologies, savage ideas floating around the world, easily accessible, and yet how many people have actually gone on to apply those ideas to kill others?”
Quiner’s Diner has expressed concerns about Islam here and here. Our position is that belief fuels action. The Koran advocates violence. Therefore, some Muslims will act violently based on their beliefs.
Another commentator weighed in on the discussion with these comments:
“… I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family “honor”; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t “believers”; Muslims burning schools for girls; Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for “adultery”; Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and Shari’a law tells them to.
I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques and Madrasa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia , New Zealand , UK, America and Canada , while no one from these countries are allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country to teach love and tolerance … “
I appreciate your article. You give both sides and then your opinion. Well done.
I would think it would be in the best interest if 99.99999985% of those 1,600,000,000 people made a more open stand denouncing this violence, which is ultimately the issue. I don’t think it would stop the violence (Even in the U.S. we have way too much – just look to the streets of Chicago) but it would be a start.
I suppose some violence will always exist, but violence done out of revenge against innocent people, especially children, just escalates to more violence in the name of revenge and more violence against innocents. Look at all those that died in Ireland in their “war” of Catholics vs Protestants. One of my grandfathers was second generation Irish so this one hit a bit closer to home for me personally.
It’s complicated, no doubt. It is a fine line between honoring one’s individuality while embracing all our differences, which is sort of like treating others as you would want them to treat you.
I suspect more “moderate” Muslims don’t speak out in fear of the more “zealous” Muslims.
Hard to imagine a world where you get death threats for drawing cartoons or books of fiction, or you get shot in the face while riding to school.
When I saw the amount of outrage when the girl was shot in the face by the Taliban simply because she blogged about basic women’s rights for education, it did give me hope.
The sad reality is that the “moderate” Muslims don’t speak out because they don’t have Islamic doctrine on their side. The “zealous” Muslims do.
The sad reality is that the “moderate” Muslims don’t have Islamic doctrine on their side; the “zealous” Muslims do.
I worked in Iran before the revolution. Our moderate Muslim accountant admitted he and his wife both worked to keep their kids in private school and attended mosque on holidays and special occasions to keep up with their household demands. He told me he received death threats lest he not resume regular attendance. There is no way a moderate will buck that kind of “persuasion”.
Good point. In this country, we use “political correctness” in lieu of death threats.