is Islam a religion of violence based on
an article by dr. Nasir Khan the Prophet
said worship God the most merciful and
spread peace Muslims believe that Islam
clearly condemns violence but with so
much violence committed in the name of
religion many people believe that
religion itself is to blame some people
even think that humanity would be better
off without religion and that religion
hinders peace but a quick look at
history shows why this view is factually
incorrect world war 1 was not about
religion but nationalism it claimed the
lives of 15 million people world war ii
was about fascism and up to 80 million
people were killed
Soviet atheism was explicitly against
religion but it resulted in more
violence and deaths than any religious
battle in human history 62 million
people were murdered under the Soviet
regime and in the past century European
colonialism resulted in the deaths of 50
million people the bottom line is that
it doesn't matter whether an ideology is
religious or non-religious any ideology
becomes a cause for violence when it is
imposed by force or when it is used to
dehumanize others and dehumanization or
the denial of the humanity of others is
the step that permits killing with
impunity
today we often see people accusing
Muslims of violence because terrorist
groups carry out violence in the name of
Islam on the one hand we have the
mainstream followers of Islam 1.8
billion people who believe that Islam is
a religion of peace and justice on the
other hand we have a modern terrorist
organization that is using the same five
letter word Islam to refer to their
violent ideology when the media uses the
word Islam to refer to that violent
ideology instead of the peaceful faith
the Muslim families around the world the
media ends up siding with the terrorist
narrative this ignores the way 1.8
billion mainstream followers of Islam
understand their faith the mainstream
followers who have the right to inform
others about what Islam actually means
when we talk about Christianity we don't
consider
terrorist organizations like The Lord's
Resistance Army in Uganda or the Ku Klux
Klan to be the true representatives of
what Christianity is instead we go to
the mainstream followers of the faith in
the consensus of the religious leaders
to mainstream Muslims around the world
Islam represents a spiritual journey
towards God who worshipping Him alone
and caring for all of God's creation
mainstream Muslims believe in upholding
the values of compassion and mercy as
embodied in the Quran and through the
practice of the Prophet peace be upon
him so Quran is very clear in condemning
acts of violence and aggression in
numerous passages but terrace and
Islamophobes alike both try to misquote
a handful of verses in order to portray
Islam is violent for example chapter 2
verse 191 is the most frequently
misquoted Quranic passage it is argued
that the Quran says kill them wherever
you find them but look at the verses
immediately before and after fight in
the cause of God those who fight you and
do not commit aggression verily God does
not love those who transgress so kill
them that is your attackers wherever you
find them and drive them out from where
they have driven you out but if they
cease and fighting then let there be no
hostility except against the oppressors
all of a sudden it becomes crystal clear
that this phrase is referring only to
those waging war against you in fact the
great scholar and cousin of the Prophet
even Abbas said that this verse means do
not attack women children elderly or
anyone who is not fighting against you
sounds exactly like the kind of
statement terrorists in Islamophobes
will conveniently ignore terrorists who
use Aslam to further their agenda
completely disregard any textual and
historical context ignore reputable
Islamic scholars consistently
cherry-pick portions of verses to suit
their agenda and even violate the
literal command of other explicit texts
in the Quran like the verse there is no
compulsion in religion so the terrorists
have constructed their own violent
ideology they call Islam
but it actually goes against everything
that you find in the sources of real
Islam the Holy Quran and the teachings
of the Prophet the trouble is the media
and many politicians parrot the
terrorist narrative by referring to
violent criminal groups as radical
Islamist Islamic extremists and Islamic
terrorists the result whenever anyone
sees a terrorist attack the one common
word everyone instantly thinks of is
Islam most people agree that the vast
majority of the 1.8 billion Muslims are
not causing violence but by using the
same word that describes the faith of
these 1.8 billion people they end up
lumping them into the same group as the
terrorists so is Islam a religion of
violence here are two important
conclusions number one Aslam
categorically denounces violence the
real Islam found in the Quran and the
teachings of the Prophet is the same
Islam followed by a global faith
community of 1.8 billion people who
uphold the values of compassion and
justice as we find in numerous verses of
the Quran and sayings of the Prophet it
is not the Islam of terrorists
terrorists manipulate and exploit the
religion to serve their own agenda even
though they use the same word Islam they
are referring to something completely
different which contradicts everything
that mainstream Islam stands for and
number two religion does not beget
violence violent movements use whatever
ideology they can to further their
agenda whether its religious or
non-religious including nationalism
fascism white supremacism and communism
any ideology can become an ideology of
violence if people use it to dehumanize
others it is ideologies of
dehumanization that encourage violence
whereas the Islamic faith of 1.8 billion
people around the world preaches peace
and compassion
you