Question

Understand the reasons behind the perception of Islam as violent

Answer 1

Islam is not violent. Islam is a very peaceful religion. However, not all Muslims follow Islam the way it should be like not all Christians are true followers, etc. So, you can't really generalize.

Answer 2

I agree with Asterion: you start with an assumption that Islam is violent, and the ask why this is the case. It would be like asking a man, "When did you stop beating your wife?" or a child asking, "Why are all dogs brown?" particularly if the child had only seen brown dogs. . . I'm guessing that you don't personally know any Muslims, and that you don't understand that there are three main branches of Islam, just as there are three main branches of Christianity. The Wahhabi branch, also know as the Salafis, who are our oil allies in Saudi Arabia, practice "fundamentalist" Islam. But nowhere is it acceptable to mainstream Islam to practice acts of violence against innocents. . . Further, in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, there are heartwarming passages in Psalms about dashing out the brains of the infants of the conquered, in Leviticus about stoning women to death, even in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John about carrying out the death penalty against political prisoners, but not many people hold these instances up and say, "Christianity is violent." . . Tribal customs are violent. Sexism encourages violence. Human beings are sinful and fall short of perfection. Islam is not inherently violent.

Answer 3

Who would know Islam better than the spiritual leader himself? Such was Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini when he declared, "The purest joy in Islam is to kill and be killed for Allah." Is that violent?. . And could you call the founder of a major world religion a fanatic? Muhammad, who with his followers slaughtered thousands in establishing and spreading Islam, said of Muslims, "Who relinquishes his faith, kill him...** I have been ordered by Allah to fight with people till they testify there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger." *** Was Muhammad violent? Are they fanatics who obey him today in exacting the death penalty upon Muslims (as in Afghanistan, the Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan) who for the sake of conscience convert to another religion?. . I think the question is an honest one by looking at the anals of history. A list would be too long, how about just 2005?. . http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/default.htm#attacks

Answer 4

You're right about that most of todays terrorist actions are performed by muslims. But that doesn't mean that any muslim is a terrorist. There is a strong fundamentalist fraction that covers itself under the shield of islam to do those violent actions. But most muslims, I think, don't like their presence.. Apart from that, it's a very popular point of view in the muslim countries to think that all violence is coming from the Western countries.

Answer 5

Islam is not a violent religion. . . Islam appears violent to you because you live in a culture that is trying to deprive many in the Islamic world of their natural resources. When these people oppose the theft of their land and resources it is protrayed in the media as unprovoked violence.

Answer 6

i think in this political age islam is misunderstood as violent religion. Islam itself prohibits violence and terrorism.

Answer 7

I understand where you are coming from especially with the political athmosphere that we all are in today but I have to say that your question is inherently biased as it already assumes that Muslims are violent because of their religion which is definitely not the case. Besides, If forced to look on the issue from this perspective then Christianity or Catholicism is as violent as Islam. Just check out the Catholic Church's history and youll know what I mean

Answer 8

It shouldn't be.... . Mohammed said, "The most excellent Jihad (Holy War), is within". . and, "The ink of the scholar, is worth more than the blood of a martyr".... . His closest disciple, Abu Bkr said, "The spiritual warrior has no outside enemies".... . So you can see that anything less than these high standards, is an abomination...

Answer 9

So I have a question for all the people who answered. Let's suppose Islam is not a violent religion, and it's just the extremists, ok. But then you have to ask, why are the rest of the Islamic people so quiet about all the terrorism. Why don't they speak up and say that they are not the ones doing it? There are many cases where people don't speak because they support it. In almost all other religions, if someone claims to be of the religion, but does something against it, the rest of the people in the religion speak up. Why is this not the case with Islam?

Answer 10

I don't know too much about Islam. But I want to address answer this quesiton. Is Islam violent or are there some people who say they are apart of the religion who are violent? I promise you that there are people from all religions who are violent, but they do not represent the religion they say the practice.