Reforming Islam requires asking the underlying question: "Is Islam necessary?"
Reader comment on item: Symposium: Holiday Jihad?

Submitted by DrRJP (United States), Dec 17, 2007 at 14:35

The short answer is, "No." From its very inception, Islam was a rip-off of Judaism but it left out the most important parts of it, such as the requirement to have a personal relationship with God, to love thy neighbor, to walk humbly, and do God's mitzvoth. There is no counterpart to the Ten Commandments in the Koran, and that is by design.

When the Jewish tribes did not accept Mohammed's take on their religion, he deliberately made Islam less like Judaism, beginning with how Jews were at first revered, and then reviled. Even the most religiously-challenged can see why Allah, the God of Islam, is nothing like the God of Israel. Given Mohammed's hatred of Jews, it's perfectly understandable why he would make Islam diametrically opposed to Judaism (and, by extension, Christianity)

Almost all religions are human institutions established to worship a familiar deity. Judaism is the lone exception because it was created by a Deity largely unknown to His followers. Islam is a man-made religion created at first to be like Judaism, and then to be made nothing like it.

My question, then, is "What is the attraction of Islam?" "What does Islam have that Judaism or Christianity does not?"

The answer is the most intransigent Catch-22 of all religions.

Unlike Judaism or Christianity, you are not free to choose Islam -- Islam chooses you. Once chosen, you are not allowed to leave Islam. You are not allowed to show your displeasure with Islam. You are not allowed to question Islam. You are not allowed to follow Islam the way you want. Any deviation from total submission and silence is seen as an insult to Islam and is severely punished.

In other words, whereas Judaism and Christianity is likened to a marriage, Islam sure sounds like an abusive relationship.

Personally, I really do not see Islam as an independent and valid expression of one's spirituality. Certainly, there are a lot of good things in Islam, but the genesis of them stems not from Islam itself, but from the religions it tried to copy.

Everyone is entitled to follow their own course and practice their own religion as long as I am allowed to do the same. I can see no way that Islam can coexist with other religions when its prime directive is to replace other religions. Take away that prime directive, take away the command for jihad, and take away its allure of a hedonistic afterlife, and what you have left is no longer Islam.

So, the bottom line is that the only way to reform Islam is to start from Square One.

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