CSC: The Big Questions PART 1

CSC Director Douglas Murray on BBC 1s Big Questions alongside novelist and commentator Cristina Odone and Ibrahim Mogra from the Muslim Council of Britain discussing 'Does Islam encourage violence? on 13th September 2009.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Douglas
• Murray;
• Ibrahim
• Mogra;
• Christina
• Odone;
• Islam;
• violence

[101openminded]

@susiejet i feel ya, people seem to think religion is a club, When you join my religion that means you go to heaven. I think everyone will be judged accordingly depending on what circumstances they are presented with. Religion may be a factor which contribtes to what attributes you adopt and in doing so you may do things that are good which you may not have done b4. I guess in that sense, maybe following a certain faith will allow you to have a more positive contribution to society..

[susiejet]

All I can hear from this forum is "my religion is the greatest & your religion is the worst.....blah blah blah blah blah. Which bloody religion or god is the one that we are suppose to follow than? Such arrogance in all those fanatics....I don't think I want to follow any of them.

[truth101]

@MrRooper100 You I assume have a statistics of the "millions of Muslims in the Middle East" that you interviewed? What are your sources of information? The media? You people act like these dogs spreading lies in the media are some sort of God-sent angels. Yes, there will be a war before the end of time in which the Jews will fight the Muslims and the army of Jesus Christ. The leader of the Jews will be the anti-christ. So?!

And is Islam spreading by sword in the western world today?

[MrRooper100]

@truth101 But millions of Muslims in the Middle East would disagree with your interpretation. Muslims know very well that Islam teaches that the Jews will be killed in the end times when the Mahdi comes. And when it comes to the Bible we both know you will run to the Old Testament. But nowhere in the Old Testament were God's people told to spread their faith by the sword like in Islam. But Christians are under the new covenant which means we obey the new testament.

[truth101]

@SoldierOfChrist110 So if I give you the true interpretation followed by the majority of the scholars and the Ummah, you want to direct the attention to what a minority believes (which is in fact untrue as well...those people are acting out of vengeance, not a strict interpretation). Is this really being sincere on you part. Can a give you some gruesome verses from the Bible that propagate murder, violence, rape, torture, honor killings, killing disbelievers etc.? Or you give up?

[SoldierOfChrist110]

@truth101 Nice try, but let me refute your deception :)

There are millions of Muslims who are still following these scriptures. What makes your interpretation correct? This was just one of MANY verses that condones violence. Muhammad forced his false religion on other people and killed them if they did not submit. He also had sex slaves and had sex with young girls. In the UK I see Muslims riots in the streets. So much for a religion of peace!

[truth101]

“It refers to fighting those who are waging war, whom Allah has permitted us to fight. It does not refer to those who have a covenant with us with whom Allah commands us to fulfill our covenant.” (Majmu` al-Fatawa 19/20)

Clearly, this narration does not refer to imposing Islam upon non-Muslims, since the Qur'an explicitly states:

2:256 There is no compulsion in religion...

Now to your other allegation....

[truth101]

he fighting that resulted was known as the Riddah wars.

Similarly, we can see that today's governments would not tolerate it if a citizen refused to pay tax or abide by the laws of the country. If one lives in a state or country they must abide by the regulations to ensure a secure and healthy society.

We should note that the 'people' referred to in this narration does not refer to all of humanity. As Shaykh Ahmed Ibn Taymiyyah says:

[truth101]

We find that after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), many hypocrites who had pretended to be Muslim began to turn away and leave their religious duties, one example was Zakat (the charity tax). They wanted to compromise the commands of God.

It was then that Abu Bakr, the First Caliph and the Caliph of that time, cited this narration to make it clear that a compromise would not be tolerated and he would fight them until they agreed to follow Islam in full.

[truth101]

Just as modern governments enforce their legal policies, so to does the Islamic state. These legal policies refer to Muslims paying their Zakat (charity tax) and abiding by the laws in an Islamic state. Those who understood the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) the best, were his companions, and we can examine their application of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to derive a better understanding.