Islam: Does it teach hate or peace?

[Patrick]

After 9-11, many people started believing that Islam taught hate, after several Arabian hijackers brought down the twin towers, many in the Middle Eastern countries giving thanks to Allah for what happened.

Contrary to this, the word Islam actually means peace.

So, what is your opinion....does Islam teach peace or hate? Or does it depend on the certai branch of Islam?

[Midtowner]

Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) joined forces with a tribal chief, Muhammad Ibn Saud, to lead a militant reform movement in Arabia. Although known to us today as the "Wahhabi" movement, they called themselves Muwahidun: "those who advocate oneness," i.e. strict monotheists based on the Islamic doctrine of Tawhid which Abd al-Wahhab understood not merely as the "oneness" of God, but, the exclusiveness of the One God. Adherents of the movement also called themselves followers of al-salaf ("the pious ancestors"), a reference to the early companions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Influenced by the thought of medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyya, the Wahhabis practice a form of legalism somewhat resembling the Hanbali School of jurisprudence. An innovation of theirs, however, is the exclusion of the normal Islamic practice of ijma ("consensus") as the basis of Islamic Sharia law.

Wahhabis in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries went on an uncompromising campaign against Sufis, Shiites, and all others deemed unfaithful to the Wahhabis' strict interpretation of the sunna ("custom") of the Prophet Muhammad. The ways of Muhammad and his community at Medina were the only acceptable models for the Wahhabis, and, all Muslims, in their view, should be compelled to follow them. Many practices of Muslims who came after the Prophet were labeled bida'a, "objectionable innovations." At first, these included the building of minarets (acceptable to Wahhabis today) and the use of funeral markers. Wahhabi zealots even tried to destroy the tomb of the Prophet in Medina and were narrowly prevented from doing so through the intervention of King Abd al-Aziz al-Saud. Religious police, called mutawi'oon ("enforcers of obedience") were responsible for maintaining Wahhabi moral order. Today, Wahhabi standards have moderated somewhat from what they were, but the mutawi'oon remained a pillar of the religious Saudi establishment in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Ibn Abd al-Wahhab labeled all who disagreed with him heretics and apostates, which in his eyes justified the use of force in imposing both his beliefs and his political authority over neighboring tribes. This in turn led him to declare holy war (jihad) on other Muslims (neighboring Arab tribes), an act which would otherwise have been legally impossible under the rules of jihad.

In 1802, the Wahhabis captured Karbala in Iraq and destroyed the tomb of the Shiite Imam Husayn. In 1803 the Wahhabis captured Mecca. The Ottoman Turks became alarmed and dispatched Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman ruler of Egypt, to challenge the Wahhabis in 1811. He succeeded in reimposing Ottoman sovereignty in 1813. Nearly a century later in 1901 with Wahhabi help, Saudi amir Abd al-Aziz al-Saud recaptured Riyadh. Saud's sovereignty over the Arabian peninsula grew steadily until 1924 when his dominance became secure. The Wahhabis went on a rampage throughout the peninsula at this time smashing the tombs of Muslim saints and imams, including the tomb of the Prophet's daughter Fatima. (see Wahhabi raid of 1924) Saudi Arabia was officially constituted as a kingdom in 1932.

The first Wahhabi missionaries to Central Asia actually arrived there in 1912 led by a resident of Medina named Sayed Shari Muhammad. They set up cells in the Fergana Valley and Tashkent. (more on radical movements in Uzbekistan) But, the big impetus for Wahhabi mission activity came in 1962 when the Muslim World League was founded in Saudi Arabia for the specific purpose of exporting Wahhabism throughout the world. (see Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2002), 52)

The surge in oil prices following the 1973 Arab-Israeli war that brought unprecedented high levels of wealth into Saudi Arabia meant huge amounts of money became available to fund these Wahhabi missionary movements. The Wahhabis began supporting Islamist revivalist movements in countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Western China, in East Africa, and in Central Asia. Wahhabi translations of the sayings of Ibn Taymiyya were distributed in Egypt and used by extremist members of the Jihad organization there to justify the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981 (see Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2002), 72 and 86f.). Wahhabi dissidents seized and briefly held the Great Mosque in Mecca in 1979.

In the 1990s, in the aftermath of the war to liberate Kuwait, the Saudi government invited the United States to build military bases and station troops in the kingdom. As a result, tensions between the ruling Saudis and their Wahhabi allies began to grow. The Buraydah Uprising (1994) made it clear to the Saudis that Wahhabi fundamentalism had grown to become a potent threat to their sovereignty. Arguably the most famous Wahhabi Muslim of the late 20th and early 21st centuries was Usama bin Laden.

http://www.nmhschool.org/tthornton/wahhabi_movement.htm

[Floating_adrift]

I don't see the connection there...

[Midtowner]

I don't see the connection there...

Well, probably not. There is not a whole lot of a connection between this movement and the Islam that others practice. The Wahhabi sect -- admittedly, a very powerful Islamic sect is not all of Islam in the same way that those that follow and believe Benny Hinn aren't representative of Christianity.

Most Muslims would say that these people have perverted the religion to accompish their own ends.

When one is asked whether or not Islam is or isn't a religion of peace, the answer depends on which Muslim you are asking about. Islam itself is not a religion that teaches hate and murder, however, there are sects of Islam -- powerful sects that do have such teachings.

[windowphobe]

And technically, "islam" is closer in definition to "submission" than to "peace"; the most fundamental principle of Islam is submission to the will of Allah.

Good job by Midtowner on the Wahhabi, though.

[Midtowner]

And technically, "islam" is closer in definition to "submission" than to "peace"; the most fundamental principle of Islam is submission to the will of Allah.

Good job by Midtowner on the Wahhabi, though.

It is impossible to accurately discuss a religion unless you take into account the many sects that are involved. There are many sects within the religion, some are very educated, respected, professional people that absolutely despise the terrorists just as much -- if not more than we do.

It's like asking the same question about Christianity.

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

No religion teaches hate, but it's believers might blame their hate on religion.

[Midtowner]

No religion teaches hate, but it's believers might blame their hate on religion.

You place a lot of faith in the innate goodness of religion. Religion can be an ugly thing just like anything else that's invented by man.

[Winterhawk]

After 9-11, many people started believing that Islam taught hate, after several Arabian hijackers brought down the twin towers, many in the Middle Eastern countries giving thanks to Allah for what happened.

Contrary to this, the word Islam actually means peace.

So, what is your opinion....does Islam teach peace or hate? Or does it depend on the certai branch of Islam?

1. Whose god (christian or muslim) has promised the cruelest fate for people of different religions?

(Both are equally vicious. Both gods have utter disdain for all other religions and condemn the followers of those faiths to eternal damnation.) “Surely those who disbelieve . . . Allah has set a seal upon their hearts . . . and there is a great punishment for them” (Koran 2:6-7). “Surely those who disbelieve and die while they are disbelievers, these it is on whom is the curse of Allah and the angels and men all” (Koran 2:161). [W]hen the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance of them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord . . . (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). “[H]e that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”(John 3:36).

2. Whose god orders the most violent plight for nonbelievers while on Earth?

(The Christian god because he ordered his followers to kill all those of a different religion, including family members, friends and even their cattle, whereas the Moslem god simply required the enslaving of nonbelievers .) “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods . . . thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people . . . If thou shalt hear . . . Certain men . . . have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods . . . Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants ofthat city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword” (Deuteronomy13:6-15). “Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection” (Koran 9:29).

3. Whose god orders the cruelest warfare?

(The Christian god because he ordered his followers to kill all the men inthe towns they invaded, enslaving only the women and children (who sometimes were to be slaughtered as well, along with every other living thing insight.)) “So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make (them) prisoners, and afterwards either set them free as a favor or let them ransom (themselves) until the war terminates” (Koran 47:4). “And when the Lord thy God hath delivered [a city] into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones . . . shalt thou take unto thyself . . . But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth”(Deuteronomy 20:13-16).

4. Whose god has the least pity and most contempt for the enemies of his followers?

The christian god: And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both males, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men who were before the house. And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go you forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city” (Ezekiel 9:5-7). “Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of (your) religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely Allah loves the doers of justice” (Koran 60:8). “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it and trust in Allah; surely He is the Hearing, the Knowing” (Koran 8:61).

5. Whose god has more contempt for homosexuals?

The christian god: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them”(Leviticus 20:13). “And if two (men) of you commit it, then hurt them both; but if they turn again and amend, leave them alone, verily, God is easily turned, compassionate” (Koran 4:21). “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God”(1 Corinthians 6:9-10). "And there shall wait on them young boys of their own, as fair as virgin pearls" (Koran 52:24). “They shall be attended by boys graced with eternal youth, who will seem like scattered pearls to the beholders" (Koran 76:19).

Whose god has prescribed the more vicious physical punishment of sinners?

The Muslim god: (The Moslem god because he ordered his followers to apply more lashes to sinners than the Christian god did.) “(As for) the fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them, (giving) a hundred stripes, and let not pity for them detain you in the matter of obedience to Allah, if you believe in Allah and the last day, and let a party of believers witness their chastisement” (Koran 24:2). “And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face . . . Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed”(Deuteronomy 25:2-3).

7. Whose god places the least value on the lives of women?

This is basically a wash. Both gods view women as far less worthwhile than men. “Allah enjoins you concerning your children: The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females; then if they are more than two females, shall have two-thirds of what the deceased has left, and if there is one, she shall they have the half” (Koran 4:11). "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and sayunto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation. And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above, if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female, ten shekels" (Leviticus27:1-7).

8. Whose god puts women in their place with the harshest of restrictions on their speech?

The christian god: “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" ; (1 Timothy 2:11-12). "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church" (1Corinthians 14:34-35). "Allah has heard and accepted the statement of the woman who pleads with you (the Prophet) concerning her husband and carries her complaint to Allah, and Allah hears the arguments between both of you for Allah hears and sees all things”(Koran 58:1).



Take these quotations and answers with both the satire and truth as intended.