ISLAM WAS SPREAD BY FORCE!

Reader comment on item: Islam's Future

Submitted by George (United States), Jun 17, 2003 at 03:16

I have a question, Muslims say that Islam was not spread by force, well, I'm Assyrian(Ashooree/Ashooreaen(In Arabic)) and a devout Orthodox Christian, Ever since the beginning of Islam, Assyrians have been persecuted and SEVERELY mistreated. What
"living peacefully among Muslims" are they talking about? Do you know how many Asstrians(Christians) were forced to become Muslim since the beginning? They were forced by all of them, Turks, Kurds, Arabs(Especially the ones during The Prophets time), and Persians. The "Muslim Arabs" in Syria and Iraq are or were actually Assyrians forced and I mean "forced" into Islam. When the conquests first began. Here are some websites that are pretty graphic of the torture that Christians faced after The Prophet came.

Please read these and please email me about your opinion. You seem to be very educated. the sites are here, thank you for your time.

1. http://www.aina.org/martyr.htm
2.http://www.markuswiener.com/reviews/yonan.htm

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Daniel Pipes replies:

In most regions, but certainly not all, Islam was spread by conquest. The outstanding exceptions are Southeast Asia, parts of Africa - and the contemporary West.

DP