69 million page views

Islam - A Bipolar Religion

Reader comment on item: Bush Returns to the "Religion of Peace" Formulation

Submitted by Raymond S Kraft (United States), Dec 30, 2007 at 13:56

Islam is a bipolar religion.

A religion of peace, and a religion of war.

Reading through the Koran, one can pick out scores of passages from which one can support the claim that Islam is a religion of peace. One can also pick out scores of other passages from which one can support the position that Islam is a religion of perpetual jihad against infidels and hypocrites, until Islam is "victorious over every other religion" (Koran 9:33).

Thus, Islam is a religion of peace, for those who want it to be, and Islam is a religion of war, for those who want it to be, and both positions can be fully justified by picking and choosing which passages of the Koran one wants to rely on, and ignoring (or at least not mentioning, a favored ruse of Muslim apologists) the others.

But as long as the Koran justifies Islam as a religion of war, as long as the Koran calls Muslims to war against the infidels, it cannot be, truly, a religion of peace. This is an intractable problem for Islam, and with Islam, since the Sword Verses cannot be culled, edited, ignored, or reinterpreted, without at least implicitly admitting that the Koran is not inerrantly the eternally true words of Allah, recited perfectly by the Prophet, and this admission would deconstruct the logic that sustains Islam (i.e., the inerrancy of the Koran), and lead to the end of Islam as a major religion.

This, Muslims, will not do. Muslims will not deconstruct the Koran. Muslims will not deconstruct Islam. Islam will not commit theocide by conceding that the Sword Verses are not truly the words of the Prophet, the revelation of Allah, any more than believing Christians would concede that the words of Jesus in the Gospels are fictitious.

And thus Islam will continue to exist for all the foreseeable future, openly or covertly at war with everybody else, the infidels, and at war with its own hypocrites, the liberal Muslims, the Muslims who are not Muslim enough, the Muslims who make friends of infidels. "O Believers! make not friends of your fathers or your brethren if they love unbelief above faith . . ." Koran 9:23.

The threat of Islamic Imperialism to all other civilizations can be contained, perhaps, by the constant use of sufficient economic, political, and military pressure, but as long as the Koran is accepted as the inerrant revelation of Allah, the Koran will call Muslims to Jihad . . . "Believers! wage war against such of the infidels as are your neighbors . . ." Koran 9:124.

Submitting....

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".

Submit a comment on this item

<< Previous Comment      Next Comment >>

Reader comments (13) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1uncanny similarity between Quranic and Gadhafi's calls [116 words]TedFeb 23, 2011 03:52182905
Islamic peace? [47 words]The lone catJun 4, 2009 21:11156779
Praising Islam as peaceful may be a lie -- but it can help get us a peaceful Islam [208 words]Michael BernetDec 31, 2007 12:25117222
Weak President of USA [95 words]f.shaDec 31, 2007 02:09117193
"Religion of Peace"??? [172 words]Patricia ZentaraDec 30, 2007 20:22117167
Religion of Peace [76 words]Dannel R. BallesterosDec 30, 2007 17:46117153
Peaceful Religion ? I Don't Think So. [266 words]clarence paul puckettDec 30, 2007 17:32117151
Reality Check for Bush [109 words]John GreenDec 30, 2007 14:49117136
1Islam - A Bipolar Religion [433 words]Raymond S KraftDec 30, 2007 13:56117132
Bipolar Religion [28 words]Boyd WhiteJan 28, 2009 18:55117132
2Islam needs a non-violence movement [256 words]PrashantOct 6, 2011 03:15117132
HE SAID WHAT???? [58 words]MJDec 30, 2007 13:18117128
Bush Returns to the Religion of Peace formulation. [429 words]kim segarDec 30, 2007 12:56117126

Comment on this item

Mark my comment as a response to Islam - A Bipolar Religion by Raymond S Kraft

Email me if someone replies to my comment

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".

See recent outstanding comments.

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)