Islam and the Quran

By Pete Fisher

We have seen some disturbing instances lately concerning the perception of defilement of the Quran. First and foremost, I do not condone defilement of any holy book. It serves no purpose, and it is inconsiderate.

However, do those who do such things merit death? This is something about Islam I have never been able to understand, from the death warrant on Salman Rushdie to others in Islamic nations who have been put to death for supposedly blaspheming Islam, to the riots we see around the world presently for an irresponsible act of journalism.

Even if what was reported was true, the deaths and mayhem that followed shows the world the heart of Islam. Now I will most certainly receive a lot of emails from Muslims claiming this is not Islam, but depending on which Quran they themselves read, they may also be guilty of not adhering to Islam according to many scholars in their own religion.

I believe every human has the right to protest if they feel an injustice was done to them. I have no problem with people being angry if they feel their religion was slammed. But I have a huge problem with the mob mentality that screams for the blood of individuals for either a perceived or real action by someone against their religion.

And I will also no doubt receive many emails telling me that the West has committed atrocities against Muslims. And no doubt they have. However, the emails I receive never claim the Western culture as the villain, but Christians and Jews, specifically as a religious entity, not a culture.

And I always need to reply stating that if a Western nation goes to war or does something horrible, they never do it while screaming "God is great"! or "Death to the unbelievers!," they simply are going the way of mankind and doing what they do for their own self interest.

But Islam seems to differ greatly from the other great religions in this respect. The emails this last year I have received also solidify my feelings on this issue, because many have been quite biting and violent. Yes, I am a Christian. And many times in my life I have heard people bad mouth God. I have seen people desecrate the Bible. I have been told religion is for the weak and stupid. I have been told there is no God. I have laughed at, I have heard the skeptics rail on the Bible, and I have heard the worst of what man can think about God, Christianity, Judaism, and the Bible.

I have also seen Buddhists and Jews endure the same treatment of their religion and God, as well as Hindus. But Between Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, we all seem to take the position that all people have a right to believe what they desire, and all will bear the consequences of their beliefs and actions either in the hereafter, or in the next life however it is perceived.

We feel our God can not only defend Himself without our petty interference, but He is also the only worthy judge of our lives and actions. Though we may strive for a more holy lifestyle, we all recognize our weaknesses and attempt to better ourselves while creating no harm to others.

And we all watch as Islamists word wide are running rampant in the streets without even knowing for sure if the story they heard was true or not. It will not even matter to them that the story has been retracted. They now have a reason to Jihad, and Jihad they will. The truth matters not, the fire has been lit and the violent protests have begun. It also seems not to matter that some Muslims claim the Quran condemns killing and mayhem. They will simply take the other verses that condone those actions and run with them.

And people will die. Homes and property will be destroyed, lives ruined. And all due to a supposed blaspheming of the Quran. Now I may be wrong, but my idea of blasphemy was that a god or entity had to be spoken of irreverently, not a book or religion itself.

But Fatwah have been issued worldwide because someone either blasphemed Islam, the Quran, Muhammad, or Allah. People have been murdered for speaking against a religion that I have been told hundreds of times is NOT a religion of compulsion. They have been ostracized for not believing, killed for leaving, and beheaded for Islam or their take against it.

And I am not talking about the period of the Crusades, or any other time in history where the medieval mind ruled. I am talking now, 2005 in an age of information, an age of education, mass media, telecommunications, and on and on. And I see not one Western Muslim entity who claims Islam is peace over in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, or anywhere en masse in a huge effort to educate their brethren in what they consider a peaceful religion. I have heard a spattering of imams decrying terror and murder, but with 2 billion people worldwide, one might think perhaps that the story we keep hearing of terrorists being the minority in Islam is nothing more than a fairy tale.

If Allah needs his people to kidnap for him, murder for him, riot for him, and if the Quran needs to be shown to the world as a Holy book using the same methods, how will this world ever see Islam, Allah, and the Quran as anything else than a bloody entity?

Yet the so called peaceful Muslims try and talk to those who are not Muslim, and try to teach us the more peaceful ways of Islam they claim exist. But it is not us who need to hear these things. We are not the ones kidnapping, murdering, raping, beheading, all the while screaming out the name of our God. Governments may do these things. But I do not see people screaming out the name of Jesus or Krishna, or Buddha while performing deplorable acts of evil.

It is Islam itself that needs to be educated by you peaceful Muslims. Not the rest of us. We see what we see, and we know what we know, and whether you believe it or not, many of us have read the Quran and felt it was not for us and perhaps chose another religion. But our former religion did not have us killed or ordered to be put to death for leaving. Some have even left our religions and become Satanists. Sad as it may be to the followers of the God of Abraham, we believe they have their choice and will face God Himself. We truly believe our God is strong enough and holy enough to defend Himself and to rightly judge others. He does not want us to, or need us to commit acts of evil to show the world He is Holy and Just. Some will mock Him, mock the Bible, and our ways. But we have no right to slaughter those who do so.

Muslims, teach your own. Go into the world and put your faith to the test. Go to the aforementioned nations and get on those loud speakers yourselves. Decry those actions and diffuse this madness through your teachings and outreach to Muslims who have been deceived. And perhaps the world will believe your message when we see that happen.

Or are you afraid perhaps that those passages they use from the Quran can not be debated? And perhaps by teaching peace and love, compassion and truth, that you yourself may be the next blasphemer and sentenced to death?

I often wonder why those who proclaim peace in Islam never seem to take the message to where the violence is. They simply seem to try and tell us that the atrocities we see in the name of Islam are not what Islam espouses.

But I say, images and actions speak louder than opinion. Until you allow Allah to fight his own battles, your people and religion will always be suspect.

© Pete Fisher