I am in a World REligion class in college and the professor says that the religion of Islam is actually a peaceful religion. However, many of my classmates argue that it is terroristic in nature because of their belief in martyrdom(?). You know the saying "Kill the infadels." This seems to resonate from the beginning of the religion.

Can anyone give me insights on either side. I know this subject may get a bit hairy, but I am truly curious.

fia

hello,yes islam is a peaceful religion i really dont know why people say that islam is a terrristic religion..please if u want information about islam just read quran read its translation ...u will know all about it dont go on what people say.. islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood.....thanx



Clash or Peaceful Coexistence?
Dr. Ja`far Sheikh Idris

Islamic Future, Safar 1417 (July 1996)



Are Muslims and the West bound to clash? Dr Jafar Sheikh Idris, professor of Islamic studies, Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences, Washington, gives an answer which supports the idea of peaceful coexistence.

Is it possible for the inhabitants of our global village to live peacefully together and reap the fruits of science and technology whose pace of advancement is ever increasing? Or are their religious, cultural and civilization differences bound to create clashes and wars among them? The matter is so important that it behooves Muslim intellectuals and statesmen to give it serious thought.

Western intellectuals are very much concerned with this question. But they are by no means agreed on the answer. One view is that the clash between Western civilization and others is inevitable, nay that it is already under way. Another view is that the real clash is within Western culture itself.

A third view is that people all over the world are heading toward Western political liberalism and economic capitalism, and that these systems constitute the end of history in these respects. A fourth view is that peaceful coexistence among people of different cultures and civilizations is possible provided they adopt secular pluralistic democracy.

What is the Islamic standpoint on this important and urgent issue? This paper is an attempt to give a brief answer to that question. But I am not speaking here as a social scientist who describes and explains actual reality; rather I am attempting to describe only theoretically what I consider to be the Islamic standpoint on this issue in our present circumstances. And my short answer is that it is a standpoint that is unequivocally on the side of peaceful coexistence. But to live peacefully with others you need sometimes to be fully prepared for war against them.

REASONS FOR PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE

1. Rationality is an inseparable part of the Islamic religion, and its rationality does include that important ingredient of judging actions by their consequences. but it is of course a rationality which is guided by other Islamic values. The preferred action is always the action which results in the greatest good, or the least evil. The main goods to be achieved in Islam for example, are ones which would be acceptable, in their general sense, to most people. These are: Spiritual well-being, mental well-being, human life, human wealth and honor. Judged by this rational standard and those values, peaceful coexistence and cooperation is definitely to be preferred over wars and clashes in normal circumstances.

2. While some religions, secular ideologies and psychological theories teach that the human person is born evil; while some teach that he is born neutral between good and evil and it is society which directs him one way or the other; and while yet others believe that there is no such thing as human nature; while some brazenly racist and others are discriminatory in other respects, the Islamic position in the words of its Prophet is that every child is born good. Whatever his or her present beliefs or cultural milieu, every human person is a potential Muslim. In viewing people of other beliefs and cultures, Muslims should not forget to see the original nature which lies behind the facade of those cultures.

3. The best favor that a Muslim can therefore do to a non-Muslim is to invite him to Islam, to persuade him or her to come back to their original nature. But in doing so a Muslim is required to bear in mind certain facts, and to abide by certain principles, among which is the fact that since faith is a matter of the heart, no one can be compelled to accept it. This is understood from the verse which reads, "And invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom, and good admonition, and argue with them in the best of ways". How can this be achieved except in a peaceful atmosphere?

4. God tells his Prophet that however keen he is on people accepting the faith, most of them will not. All the same, He tells His Prophet that he is sent as a mercy to them, and that his main task is to never tire of inviting them to the truth.

5. Peaceful coexistence among people belonging to different religions and civilizations makes it easy for them to exchange material and intellectual benefits. It also helps them to cooperate in solving the problems which face them as inhabitants of a global village: Drugs, diseases, pollution, etc. But his ideal picture of peaceful coexistence and cooperation cannot be realized if the West lives in constant fear lest its hegemony be lost, and therefore do its best to prevent others from developing.

6. No rational person who has an idea of the amount of destructive weapons available in the world and the extent of the damage they can cause would hesitate to be against all kinds of wars, local or worldwide. To avoid wars however we must try to eradicate as many of their causes as we can. We must thus stand for justice and against all kinds of unfair treatment and aggression.

7. Muslims should play a big role in this because they are qualified to do so. Islam is a religion which does not compromise on moral values like truth and justice. Believers in Islam are urged to be allies to each other irrespective of race or time or place.

8. Muslims, in my view, have a special stake in peace. If peace prevails, Islam will have a better chance of being heard and accepted in the West, and elsewhere. Many people in the West and other parts of the world are coming back to religion so much so that what is called fundamentalism has become a universal phenomenon. People have discovered that science much as it is respected and valued by them cannot replace religion.

REASONS FOR BEING POWERFUL

Islam is however too realistic a religion to be pacifist. It is one thing to want to live peacefully with others, but quite another to make them have the same attitude toward you. On the whole, people of every culture desire to be more powerful than those who are culturally opposed to them. They take all steps which they deem necessary for the preservation of their cultural identity, and for the subjugation of others. In his new classic paper on clash of civilizations, Huntington tells us with unusual candidness that, "The West is now at an extraordinary peak of power in relation to other civilizations. Apart from Japan the West has no economic challenge. It dominates international political and security institutions, and with Japan economic institutions."

And: "In the post-Cold War, the primary objective of arms control is to prevent the development by non-Western societies of military capabilities that would threaten Western interests. The West attempts to do this through international agreements, economic pressure and controls on the transfer of arms and weapons technologies."

Muslims are therefore enjoined to be materially powerful so as to deter those who might resort to aggression against Muslims or who are prone to use force to subjugate others. Material power can and should thus be an ally to the cause of spiritual development and not a contradictory of it.

Fr_Chuck

In itself, Islam is sold as a peaceful religion, just as Christianity is.

But both have a war fulled past. Islam was used to justify wars and to take over other nations. Islam combines religion with the political system.

But then Chrisitianity has been used to justify slavely, wars, killing of all sorts of people.

Today in Islam there are many that have returned to old beleifs and have went further and added pilliars.

But what the rest of Islam has done wrong ( at least in my opinoin) is not speaking out against these other sects, they see to accept them and accept the leaders of these as important leaders.

But then one can make the arguement that communism and socialism are also peaceful as long as everyone is controled by them.

If the entire world was Christian, or Islam or communist the world would be peaceful.

But for example using Iraq as an example, if they are so peaceful then why are they fighting for democracy, because they don't want equal rights, they want the religon to control their nation.

Afganistan for example where even with ast from the US, thier peaceful religion would want to execute someone for merely converting to be a Christian, this is not the evil sect but the main line Islam that have been set in power by the US.

So my overall general opinion, it has never really been a religoin of peace unless you are a member of it and follow it exactly.

Starman

Some professors enjoy being enigmatic. Perhaps your professor is trying to say that Islamic governments tended to be tolerant of other religions within the conquered territories. For example, in Muslim Spain, Jews and Christians were allowed to worship as they pleased and were respectfully referred to as people of the Book. This tolerance ceased when professed Christian monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella gained control of the former Muslim territory and began to require forced conversions of both Jews and Muslims to their form of worship under the threat of expulsion from the country.


BTW
What does your professor say when students argue against his statement?

NeedKarma

Of course there is that niggling little problem that creeps up if you ever decide that Islam is no longer for you.

nav

im good on religion so here is the real answers to your question.
nowhere does islam say kill the infidel. how can you try to convert someone who is dead? islam says to fight those who have opressed you and treated you unjustly. do not kill civilians. islam is against peaceful protest and hunger strikes.
the terrorism you see today is the result mainly of american foreign policy and bad governments in MOST muslim countries. the american foreign policy i am talking about is, creating israel ilegally, arming saddam and then running to the saudis askin for protection for cheap oil (cia quote "putting saddam in charge of iraq is our greatest ever achievement") arming both iran and iraq during their war. christian zionists putting preassure on american government to let israel do as they please, and steal as much land possible, so the prophecy in the bible about jesus coming back when the jews return to their land.

magprob

I wonder if the crusades might have a little to do with the long standing problems we see today. Why did the Pope start the crusades? I know that Islam was a highly developed nation with great libraries and advanced knowledge at that time. Mass collections of books were destroyed by the crusaders. Does anyone know how that time period has impacted our relations today?

J_9

All my professor says is that this is what he must teach. We can only assume that he is trying to be "politically" correct. I have spoken to several ministers who have told me that the Islamic religion was terroristic from the get go. It has nothing to do with America and oil. This was started long before America was even discovered, so I dispute any of those claims.

Let's go on with their belief of Martyrdom. Why do they take little children and women and turn them into human bombs if they do not believe in terrorism? Why do they kill their own?

As I stated before, this all began before America was discovered as well as WAY before the birth of Saddam. No one can use these two entities as excuses for terrorism.

J_9

But I am mainly wondering about the beginning of Islam, way before the Pope was involved. According to my professor the true Islam began during biblical times.

ScottGem

First, I was going to respond but then I saw Chuck's response covered what I would have said. But then I saw this comment and I would really like to know how he gets this or what he defines as biblical times.

As far as I know, Islam began with the prophet Mohammed who was born in 570 AD. I wouldn't consider that "biblical times".

Religion has been used to justify so many atrocities on several sides. But no religion is inherently terroist. The three major religions are all based on one set of lawsl; the Ten Commandments. Judiasm, Christianity and Islam all honor them. Since one of those commandments is; thou shalt not kill, how anyone can say that any of those religions is terroistic is beyond me.