The brutality of the Islamic State [ISIS] and various terrorist organizations is shocking and horrifying—beheadings, suicide attacks, slaughter of prisoners and women forced into sexual slavery. What's really behind such barbarism? The truth may surprise and shock you!
The headlines out of the Middle East in recent months have been horrifying—American and British hostages beheaded, captured prisoners executed in the thousands, women forced or sold into a lifetime of sexual slavery, children brutally murdered and communities starved to death or murdered in cold blood for refusing to change their religion.
Much of the world is shocked by such brutality, and rightfully so. It seems incomprehensible to the Western mind.
What's driving such this cruelty and barbarism? If we are to understand, we need to cast off the blinders of political correctness and unflinchingly face the facts of what the Quran really teaches.
In reality, the answer is simple. Those who are behind these horrors share a common denominator. They are unapologetic in saying they are doing what they are told to do by their religion— Islam.
And while it is true that many Muslims are peaceful, and are equally horrified by these events, all we have to do is look at the words of the perpetrators of such atrocities to understand their motivations. They clearly and proudly state that they are doing what their religion tells them to do.
Ever since the horrific hijacked-airliner terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with another jet apparently supposed to crash into the White House or U.S. Capitol building, Western leaders have gone out of their way to describe Islam as a religion of peace.
For example, just six days after those attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans, then-President George W. Bush, speaking at the Islamic Center of Washington D.C., said: "These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith . . . The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace".
In a 2014 speech to the United Nations, U.S. President Barack Obama stated: "The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Islam teaches peace. Muslims the world over aspire to live with dignity and a sense of justice. And when it comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them—there is only us, because millions of Muslim Americans are part of the fabric of our country. So we reject any suggestion of a clash of civilizations."
In a speech on Sept. 3, 2014—ironically, the day after the Islamic State (ISIS) released a video showing the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry applauded Islam as a "peaceful religion based on the dignity of all human beings." He then explained that "the real face of Islam is . . .one where Muslim communities are advocating for universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the most basic freedom to practice one's faith openly and freely."
On Sept. 24, following the brutal decapitation of British hostage David Haines, British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted that his murderers "have nothing to do with the great religion of Islam, a religion of peace, a religion that inspires daily acts of kindness and generosity."
While these and other Western leaders [Judeo-Christian cultures] repeatedly claim that Islam is a peaceful religion, we should also remind ourselves that those actively involved in committing these atrocities have spent their entire lifetimes immersed in Islamic belief and culture.
So the question that needs an honest answer... Is Islam a religion of peace? Those who state that Islam is a peaceful religion usually point to several verses in the Quran to support their view.
Those most commonly cited are:
- "There shall be no compulsion in religion" (Surah 2:256, all quotes from the Dawood translation, 1999). This is often quoted to say Islam doesn't compel conversions to Islam or prevent people from leaving Islam for another religion.
- "Whoever killed a human being, except as punishment for murder or other villainy in the land, shall be regarded as having killed all mankind; and that whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as having saved all mankind" (Surah 5:32). This is often cited to show that Islam condemns violence and holds human life in high regard.
- "Say, 'Unbelievers [non-Muslims], I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I shall never worship what you worship, nor will you ever worship what I worship. You have your own religion, and I have mine" (Surah 109:1-6). This is often quoted to say that Islam takes an accepting view toward others being able to practice their own religions.
- "If they incline to peace, make peace with them, and put your trust in [Allah]. It is surely He who hears all and knows all" (Surah 8:61). This is often cited to say that Islam teaches living at peace with others.
Some even say that the word Islam means "peace," however this isn't close to being true. Islam means "submission"— submission to Allah, Islam's deity.
The meaning of Muslim, a person who practices the religion of Islam, is "one who submits"— one who submits to Allah and his religion.
While the verses quoted here seem fairly clear, what the Quran actually teaches isn't so straightforward. Dozens of verses in the Quran clearly advocate warfare, violence and brutality against anyone who is not responsive to submission to Allah. So why the obvious contradictions?
Much of the confusion stems from the circumstances under which the Quran was written. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was illiterate, so he didn't write a single word of the Quran. The 114 chapters of the Quran, called surahs, record the supposed revelations of Muhammad as written down or memorized by his followers after Muhammad came out of trance-like states during which Allah supposedly disclosed his divine thoughts.
In the years following Muhammad's death in A.D. 632, his closest companions compiled these writings into the Quran, which Muslims consider to be the divine and authoritative words of Allah.
However, unlike the Bible, the Quran isn't organized historically, chronologically or thematically. It's organized based on the length of the chapters, from longest to shortest, regardless of content or timing. Thus, when verses conflict, no one can really tell for sure which verses were written earlier and which were written later and thus presumably the "final word" on a given subject.
Such inherent contradictions led to the Muslim doctrine of abrogation, meaning earlier verses were abrogated, nullified or overridden by later verses. This doctrine is based on two verses that Muslims believe Allah inspired to be included in the Quran:
- "If We abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten, We will replace it by a better one or one similar. Did you not know that [Allah] has power over all things?" (Surah 2:106).
- "When We change one verse for another ([Allah] knows best what He reveals), they say: 'You [Muhammad] are an imposter.' Indeed most of them have no knowledge" (Surah 16:101).
Islamic scholars and teachers are well aware of this teaching, though they seldom discuss it openly because of its inescapable implications, that Allah, far from being an all-wise and all-knowing deity, can and did change his mind in what was supposedly divinely revealed to Muhammad.
What are the practical conclusions that result from the doctrine of abrogation?
Most scholars who have studied the Quran believe that the Quran's verses advocating peaceful coexistence and tolerance were written in the early years of Muhammad's movement when he and his small number of followers didn't wish to antagonize potential enemies who greatly outnumbered them. But as Muhammad gained more and more power and a greater following, the chapters of the Quran written later increasingly advocated belligerence, warfare, violence, intimidation and enslavement of those who opposed him.
Thus, Allah's later revelations command fighting and subjugation of "infidels"— non-Muslims — so that Islam would gain its rightful place as the dominant or only religion in lands it controlled. Which is exactly what we see playing out in gruesome headlines all around the world.
More on the teachings of the Quran and the religion of Islam in the next article.
