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"Islam" Does Not Mean "Peace"
by Daniel Pipes updated Sun, 10 Jun 2007
One would think by now that the "Islam = peace" nonsense would not need correcting, but I keep encountering it – just yesterday asserted by a hostile questioner at a talk I gave at Ashland University, today in an oped . So, for the record:
Most Arabic words are based on a trilateral root system, such as k-t-b or s-l-m. The words formed from these roots often have a connection to one another (kataba is to write, kitāb is a book, maktaba is a library, and so on), but not always (a katība is a squadron of soldiers). In other words, roots have a core meaning but also include unrelated words.
In the case of s-l-m, salām means peace and salāma means safety. But the root also has many meanings unconnected to this core, such as salam (a variety of acacia) sullam (ladder), sulāmā (digital bone in the hand or foot), sulaymāni (mercury chloride), aslama (to betray) … and islām (submission).
There is no connection in meaning between salām and islām, peace and submission. These are two distinct words with unrelated meetings. In brief, "Islam = submission."
Comment : Not only is it common for the same root to mean roughly the opposite, as in the case of peace and submission , but Arabic words famously have Janus-like features , meaning themselves and their opposite. As I put it in a 1980 article, "Mawlas: Freed Slaves and Converts in Early Islam ": "Arabists amuse non-initiates with the exaggeration that every Arabic word has four meanings – a basic one, its opposite, one related to sex, and a final one referring to camels." (October 9, 2005)
Oct. 19, 2005 update : CAIR's Ahmed Bedier speaking at the League of Women Voters of Manatee County's monthly Hot Topic luncheon yesterday said (according to Carl Mario Nudi of the Bradenton Herald in Florida) that Islam
comes from the root word of "As-Salamu," or "peace."
Assuming the newspaper account to be sound, then CAIR is guilty of one more inaccuracy.
Dec. 9, 2006 update : Islam Means Peace Milli Gazette
Apr. 8, 2007 update : CAIR buys again into this inaccuracy. Its national board chairman, Parvez Ahmed , says that "Islam does not only mean peace, Islam emphasizes peaceful coexistence as a supreme goal."
June 10, 2007 update : Mujeeb Chaudhary , Pakistani immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1972 and imam of a mosque in Philadelphia, tells the Philadelphia Inquirer that Islam means peace, and that if someone does not see it that way, "he is not a Muslim."
Apr. 1, 2008 update : Nor does Islam mean "a strong commitment to God." That's the bizarre translation offered by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed in Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think , presumably adopted to avoid submission , which has a too-strong quality for a Western readership.
Related Topics: Islam
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Reader comments on this weblog entry
Title By Date
Islam has never and will never mean peace. It means kill the other guy. [42 words]
Ames Tiedeman
Sep 13, 2007 16:14
↔ in response to Ames Tiedman [61 words]
Loops
Oct 2, 2007 08:12
↔ Hello Daniel [190 words]
Abdul Salaam
Jun 23, 2008 13:58
↔ To Mr. Ben Loops [76 words]
Ames Tiedeman
Jun 24, 2008 17:53
↔ Mr. Salaam: [115 words]
Ames Tiedeman
Jun 24, 2008 17:59
islam has not meant peace in terms of actions ie. 9/11 [112 words]
Phil Greend
Aug 3, 2007 16:22
Response to Seamus [135 words]
Mike
Jul 6, 2007 10:39
Bernard Lewis says that Islam means peace [w/response] [68 words]
Amjad M. Khan
Jul 1, 2007 10:43
↔ The word islam and salam have nothing in common except a common root [192 words]
dhimmi no more
Jul 5, 2007 06:34
Peace = Submission [10 words]
Dan
Jun 20, 2007 14:37
↔ Peace through submission to Allah? [48 words]
Linda Haslam
Jun 22, 2007 11:55
↔ In response to Peace and Submission [151 words]
the Wood
Mar 5, 2008 11:25
Unstoppable youth bulges and an increasingly Islamic Europe have the potential to cause massive conflicts and genocide. [3070 words]
warren thomson
Jun 17, 2007 18:14
For the readers of the thread: The words islam and salam revisited [146 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 16, 2007 13:06
↔ Islam = submission: PERIOD [48 words]
Ynnatchkah
Jun 16, 2007 23:51
↔ Thank you Ynna but! [64 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 17, 2007 20:52
↔ My Dear Ynnatchka [450 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 18, 2007 00:00
↔ But I like my screen name [72 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 18, 2007 19:17
↔ DHIMMI WILL YOU LISTEN FOR ONCE? [205 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 19, 2007 20:59
↔ Mafish Maschara Seamus MacNemi [68 words]
Sophie
Jun 21, 2007 17:46
↔ Our dear Seamus and logic [60 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 21, 2007 20:08
↔ You still did not answer my question [66 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 21, 2007 20:12
↔ My dear Sophie [266 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 22, 2007 04:14
↔ Our dear seamus [74 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 22, 2007 06:45
↔ Whishful Thinking Khawaja Seamus [98 words]
Sophie
Jun 22, 2007 22:36
↔ Dhimm The Torah Does Not Say Anything About Being "Created". The Word Is Made Manifest. [66 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 23, 2007 01:22
↔ Islam means NOTHING to me and neither does ALLAH I do not speak Arabic I speak HEBREW [473 words]
Saemus MacNemi
Jun 23, 2007 05:07
↔ I'll try to explain it to you one more time [637 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 23, 2007 14:05
↔ Sophia means Wisdom---NOT in this case [188 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 23, 2007 17:58
↔ Listen we are both infidels, at least this is what Angela believes [310 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 23, 2007 18:45
↔ Armageddon Comimg Soon To A Theater Near You. [603 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 24, 2007 04:17
↔ So is it creation or is it Zuhuur? That is the question! [166 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 24, 2007 08:07
↔ Peace and our dear Angela [190 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 24, 2007 08:21
↔ Thank you, Seamus [163 words]
Angela Class
Jun 24, 2007 12:51
↔ Our dear Angela and more fantasy [131 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 24, 2007 16:49
↔ ROTFL Marvin Minsky and the Arabic language and our dear Angela [77 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 24, 2007 17:16
↔ Seamus and his drama [91 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 24, 2007 17:28
↔ A Child Sees With Childish Eyes [255 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 24, 2007 20:29
↔ Exposed? Who is really exposed here? [101 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 24, 2007 20:49
↔ Back To Lady Angela [229 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 24, 2007 21:19
↔ But the word islam means [78 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 25, 2007 06:43
↔ Our dear Angela and pontificating about our dear Seamus' funny Arabic [201 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 25, 2007 07:06
↔ Our dear Seamus but our dear Angela regards you as an infidel and what are you going to do about it? [61 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 25, 2007 18:13
↔ I read this as: you have no answer [73 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 25, 2007 18:34
↔ How Many Muslims Really Understand Arabic? [445 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 25, 2007 20:11
↔ Translation of Quais, Mafish Maskhara, Majnun [16 words]
Sophie
Jun 26, 2007 03:59
↔ Our dear Seamus and his damsel in distress and the word Islam and the Hellenes [604 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 26, 2007 07:39
↔ Dhimmi god Demagogue [290 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 26, 2007 23:51
↔ Quit beating your dead horse [127 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 27, 2007 00:28
↔ Alright lets have a real go at this point by point [373 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 27, 2007 12:03
↔ It's gotten awfully quiet around here [27 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 28, 2007 09:49
↔ Do you really know what is a dhimmi? [6 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 28, 2007 17:37
↔ Hi Sophie [83 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 28, 2007 18:03
↔ And? So now it is about your ego! I see [48 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 28, 2007 18:22
↔ What is a "Dhimmi" [222 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 28, 2007 19:02
↔ Hi Sophie and the word is Kuwayis and not Quais as our dear Seamus wrote [31 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 28, 2007 20:01
↔ I just thought of something [419 words]
Saenus MacNemi
Jun 29, 2007 03:49
↔ Our dear Seamus and beating a dead horse [316 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 29, 2007 06:48
↔ Quais-Kuais??? Hey, I don't read Arabic [101 words]
Seamusn MacNemi
Jun 29, 2007 17:38
↔ What else does Islam "NOT" mean?? [591 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 30, 2007 01:36
↔ The word Dhimmi and our dear Seamus [63 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 30, 2007 06:11
↔ Well said but this is not what Islamists have in mind [145 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 30, 2007 06:36
↔ I SAID THAT I DO NOT KNOW THE PRECISE MEANING OF DHIMMI [120 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 30, 2007 19:33
↔ YOU STILL HAVEN'T TOLD WHAT ELSE ISLAM DOES 'NOT' MEAN. [114 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 30, 2007 19:53
↔ You mean the word islam? [69 words]
dhimmi no more
Jul 1, 2007 17:10
↔ Is it really important what the Islamists have in mind? [431 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jul 2, 2007 02:13
Peace [35 words]
saberman
Jun 14, 2007 08:56
Hermeneutics and intepretation, something for those without in advanced studies? [59 words]
Maria
Jun 13, 2007 12:20
↔ Brava Maria! [22 words]
Angela Class
Jun 13, 2007 20:20
↔ FYI-Re:Hermeneutics and Orientalism [318 words]
Angela Class
Jun 13, 2007 23:05
↔ It is called a language that Angela does not know! [192 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 07:27
↔ ROTFL and big time falsafa our dear Angela and hermeneutics and orientalism and other sordid matters [67 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 22:00
↔ inquisition [14 words]
bos
Feb 18, 2008 16:32
Islam does equal peace [46 words]
Fundamentalist
Jun 12, 2007 23:36
↔ People of the Book [813 words]
Angela Class
Jun 13, 2007 22:02
↔ Islam = War even among Muslims [34 words]
Oscar Navarro
Jun 14, 2007 09:15
↔ Islam [120 words]
donvan
Jun 14, 2007 15:19
↔ Our dear Anglea needs to get her money back from her madrassa [312 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 20:34
↔ NON SENSE.. [82 words]
DONVAN
Jun 15, 2007 11:55
what islam really means [7 words]
haya
Jun 12, 2007 20:55
↔ Allah not God [41 words]
Oscar Navarro
Jun 14, 2007 09:21
↔ Not The Same God [57 words]
AnneM
Jun 14, 2007 23:19
Trading one tyranny for another? [867 words]
Angela Class
Jun 12, 2007 18:30
↔ Amen To You Ms. Angela Class [324 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 15, 2007 22:50
↔ four wives ... [98 words]
Oliver
Jun 19, 2007 22:51
↔ don't you dare say anything about muhammad [85 words]
rehna
Jan 22, 2008 19:28
↔ respect [123 words]
bos
Feb 18, 2008 16:51
Yes, there are good and bad people in every group [393 words]
Angela Class
Jun 11, 2007 17:30
↔ Jesus was not a prophet at least this is what the Qur'an really says [44 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 11, 2007 20:42
↔ Kindergarten knowledge and Muhammad came to teach us peace! Really? [80 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 11, 2007 21:08
↔ "The Qur'an does not teach that Jesus is God, but only a Prophet." [529 words]
Angela Class
Jun 12, 2007 19:34
↔ Agree with you up to a point [101 words]
Oscar Navarro
Jun 13, 2007 00:08
↔ But the Qur'an really says that jesus is God [90 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 13, 2007 19:45
↔ Big Sufi Falsafa, celestial teas and our dear Angela [710 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 07:01
↔ Smell Test: Angela Class [100 words]
Mike
Jun 15, 2007 03:06
↔ where does it say so? [146 words]
Lactantius Jr.
Jun 18, 2007 07:23
↔ The Qur'an really says that Jesus is God [27 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 18, 2007 19:03
↔ jesus is a prophet [33 words]
rehna
Jan 22, 2008 19:33
So Islam really means peace? really? [107 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 10, 2007 14:03
↔ You're so busy being silly, you still haven't refuted my argument [641 words]
Angela Class
Jun 10, 2007 20:43
↔ Angela Class and Al Taqyia- TO Dhimmi no More [228 words]
Ynnatchkah
Jun 11, 2007 03:20
↔ Hypocrisy and Deceit??? [111 words]
Jaladhi
Jun 11, 2007 14:41
↔ No, bogus again [141 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 11, 2007 18:34
↔ Oh I forgot: Refute what? [200 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 11, 2007 18:51
↔ For Ynnatchkah and our dear Angela [82 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 11, 2007 19:03
↔ Muslim girls? Where does this come from? [583 words]
Angela Class
Jun 11, 2007 20:56
↔ Now pay attention, Dhimmi, or don't keep bothering me [305 words]
Angela Class
Jun 11, 2007 22:17
↔ Islam = Submission [220 words]
Oscar Navarro
Jun 12, 2007 01:12
↔ The word Islam revisited [301 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 12, 2007 07:42
↔ Islam means surrender [45 words]
Sophie
Jun 12, 2007 09:06
↔ Fundamentalists of the World Unite! [269 words]
Angela Class
Jun 12, 2007 19:07
↔ Rumi's Islam [180 words]
Angela Class
Jun 12, 2007 19:51
↔ Our dear Angela: If you cannot stand the heat! oh well you know the rest [123 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 12, 2007 20:27
↔ One word Bogus [69 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 12, 2007 20:37
↔ I must disagree [258 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 12, 2007 20:55
↔ Angela does not get it [39 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 13, 2007 06:55
↔ Just amazing [340 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 13, 2007 07:27
↔ Absurd indeed [134 words]
donvan
Jun 13, 2007 09:03
↔ Now it is symbolism [55 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 13, 2007 19:26
↔ More bogus falsafa by no other [30 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 13, 2007 19:28
↔ And so is Christianity and so is Hinduism [42 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 13, 2007 19:37
↔ What I can't stand is the Hot Air [531 words]
Angela Class
Jun 13, 2007 20:17
↔ Shalom having several meanings [137 words]
Ronan
Jun 13, 2007 22:50
↔ TO Dhimmi No More: Follow up about Angela Class subject [228 words]
Ynnatchkah
Jun 14, 2007 12:44
↔ I read this as! [54 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 18:47
↔ Shalom/Salam Ronan [111 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 22:22
↔ The word salam has other meanings? you must be kidding [32 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 22:25
↔ Good things come in small packages [212 words]
Sophie
Jun 15, 2007 01:13
↔ to Angela Class and loving arab religion [197 words]
AS
Jun 16, 2007 02:39
↔ Well said Sophie [19 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 16, 2007 07:34
↔ Another gem from none other than our dear Angela [121 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 16, 2007 13:39
↔ Slight correction [10 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 17, 2007 18:12
↔ You can't make a silk purse out of a ... [59 words]
Oliver
Jun 19, 2007 23:46
actions speak louder than words [175 words]
Phil Greend
Jun 3, 2007 19:40
"Lost in Translation" [389 words]
Angela Class
May 29, 2007 21:29
↔ Our dear Angela Class really lost in translation [140 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 10, 2007 12:45
↔ How about if we try sticking to the topic? [627 words]
Angela Class
Jun 10, 2007 19:28
↔ "Submission" (to ISLAM) [97 words]
DONVAN
Jun 11, 2007 11:13
↔ Our dear Angela Class really lost in translation again and again [38 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 11, 2007 18:27
↔ What topic? [103 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 11, 2007 19:44
↔ Submission to God, not some petty tyrants [195 words]
Angela Class
Jun 11, 2007 21:22
↔ Yeah, I'm not surprised you have to ask that question... [191 words]
Angela Class
Jun 11, 2007 21:49
↔ It matters little... [173 words]
donvan
Jun 12, 2007 15:57
↔ Bogus again [57 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 12, 2007 20:19
↔ SLM is called a root not a construction [144 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 12, 2007 21:07
↔ Our dear Angela Class really lost in translation part trois [494 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 12, 2007 21:52
↔ Dhimmi, I give up, I can't overpower your ignorance with logic and I won't try anymore. [161 words]
Angela Class
Jun 13, 2007 19:01
↔ If it were about grammar then your English would disqualify you from speaking here.. [136 words]
Angela Class
Jun 13, 2007 20:44
↔ Note for our ESL readers [47 words]
Angela Class
Jun 13, 2007 22:17
↔ The issue is here the Arabic language madam [27 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 18:43
↔ Our dear Anglela lost in nahw wa qawa3id [88 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 18:56
↔ Too late: It is called the root and the stems from the root and not construction. Oh the ego thing again [95 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 19:06
↔ Our dear Anglela [143 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 19:25
↔ More evidence that our dear Anglela does not know any Arabic or logic and has a big ego [256 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 14, 2007 19:55
↔ Our dear Angela's original gems revisited [515 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 15, 2007 07:10
↔ To The Lady Angela Class [271 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 16, 2007 00:40
↔ Note To Dhimmi No More [189 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 16, 2007 01:06
↔ al-Imam al-ghayib aka our dear Angela [177 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 16, 2007 13:57
↔ Note to Seamus MacNemi [169 words]
Mike
Jun 16, 2007 16:37
↔ re: To The Lady Angela Class [380 words]
Mike
Jun 16, 2007 20:57
↔ Our dear Seamus and Mecca [102 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 17, 2007 07:23
↔ Again to Dhimmi no more- Language is what we make of it. [542 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 17, 2007 10:28
↔ Our dear Seamus ... [40 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 17, 2007 17:38
↔ Well Mikey Boy [265 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 17, 2007 20:09
↔ Back to Dhimmi No More [371 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 17, 2007 20:50
↔ AGAIN TO SEAMUS !!!!!!!!!!!! [221 words]
Mike
Jun 17, 2007 21:01
↔ Back to Mr Mike. [327 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 17, 2007 21:30
↔ Again to Mike and Dhimmi No More [258 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 18, 2007 00:59
↔ The Serpents Subtle Tongue To Mike [292 words]
Saemus MacNemi
Jun 18, 2007 18:39
↔ Whatever [34 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 18, 2007 19:08
↔ Back to Dhimmi No More [381 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 19, 2007 20:10
↔ Yes they are! [145 words]
dihmmi no more
Jun 20, 2007 07:51
↔ Whatever again and again [16 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 20, 2007 19:45
↔ Ouch ... that hurts ... [245 words]
Owen
Jun 20, 2007 21:42
↔ Speaking of being a majnun and "understand what"? [144 words]
dhimmi no more
Jun 21, 2007 07:00
↔ Dear Dhimmi [605 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 22, 2007 03:36
↔ In Reply to Owen [65 words]
Seamus MacNemi
Jun 22, 2007 04:23
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