Criticizing Islam

During the past year there have been numerous issues surrounding the Islamic world and the west.

Daniel Pipes has an essay in which he comments on the controversy surrounding the pope and provides some background on the response of some members of the Muslim world to things that they find offensive. Pipes also comments on whether this was an intentional remark by the pope. Let's take a look:

"Whatever the pope's purpose, he prompted the near-predictable furor in the Muslim world. Religious and political authorities widely condemned the speech, with some calling for violence.

• In Britain, while leading a rally outside Westminster Cathedral, Anjem Choudary of Al-Ghurabaa called for the pope "to be subject to capital punishment."
• In Iraq, the Mujahideen's Army threatened to "smash the crosses in the house of the dog from Rome" and other groups made blood-curdling threats.
• In Kuwait, an important website called for violent retribution against Catholics.
• In Somalia, the religious leader Abubukar Hassan Malin urged Muslims to "hunt down" the pope and kill him "on the spot."
• In India, a leading imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, called on Muslims to "respond in a manner which forces the pope to apologise."
• A top Al-Qaeda figure announced that "the infidelity and tyranny of the pope will only be stopped by a major attack."

The Vatican responded by establishing an extraordinary and unprecedented security cordon around the pope. Further away, the incitement spurred some violence, with more likely on the way. Seven churches were attacked in the West Bank and Gaza, one in Basra, Iraq (prompting this ironic headline at the "RedState" blog: "Pope implies Islam a violent religion ... Muslims bomb churches"). The murder of an Italian nun in Somalia and two Assyrians in Iraq also appear connected.

Second reflection: this new round of Muslim outrage, violence, and murder has a by-now routine quality. Earlier versions occurred in 1989 (in response to Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses), 1997 (when the U.S. Supreme Court did not take down a representation of Muhammad), 2002 (when Jerry Falwell called Muhammad a terrorist), 2005 (the fraudulent Koran-flushing episode), and February 2006 (the Danish cartoon incident)."

It is no secret that there are people who claim that there is a war against Islam. Most of those people fall into the category of what some people would call Radical Muslims. As you can see from the Pipes essay there is a history of these types of reactions many of which predate the current issues.

There is also a real question about how many people can be termed as being Radical Muslims. This term suggests that they are a minority and clearly leads into the area we call Moderate Muslims. Surely there must be a group of moderates, but we almost never hear from any who can clearly be identified this way. Why aren't they marching?

Back to Pipes for a moment. He makes a critical comment that I am going to place in bold:

Third reflection: the Muslim uproar has a goal: to prohibit criticism of Islam by Christians and thereby to impose Shariah norms on the West. Should Westerners accept this central tenet of Islamic law, others will surely follow. Retaining free speech about Islam, therefore, represents a critical defense against the imposition of an Islamic order.

This is not the first time that Pipes has stated this. You can find earlier comments here and my response here.

We shouldn't set out to intentionally offend others, but at the same time we cannot allow these violent responses to temper our ability to voice our thoughts. Violence is unacceptable.

In one of my posts about the cartoon controversy I cited Hosni Mubarak's comments:

"Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned that the insistence of European newspapers on printing the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) risked provoking a terrorist backlash,..."

When the leader of a nation says that criticism may create a terrorist backlash we should be greatly concerned. More comments and thoughts about this.

Our friends the Saudis have schoolbooks that are definitely not designed to spread tolerance and understanding. I blogged about that here:

FIRST GRADE

" Every religion other than Islam is false."

"Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words (Islam, hellfire): Every religion other than ______________ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____________."

FOURTH GRADE

"True belief means . . . that you hate the polytheists and infidels but do not treat them unjustly."

FIFTH GRADE

"Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot maintain a loyal friendship with those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives."

"It is forbidden for a Muslim to be a loyal friend to someone who does not believe in God and His Prophet, or someone who fights the religion of Islam."

"A Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother in religion. Someone who opposes God, even if he is your brother by family tie, is your enemy in religion."

I cited a Dennis Prager essay in which he discussed some of what is going on in Islamic nations. I also blogged about the Afghani convert to Christianity who at time faced the death penalty because of his conversion.

Want to see some of the cartoons from the Arab world. Just click here.

The examples of unacceptable behavior and inconsistencies are endless. For me, the bottom line is that we must draw a line in the sand and dictate that violence and threats of violence are unacceptable.

There must be a reformation and as one of my commenters said in an earlier post it must come from within Islam. But they need our help and that means we make it clear that we will not be bullied or threatened.

Until we reach a point at which violence and or threats of violence are not the first response to things that they find offensive you can expect it to be a very rocky road and a challenging relationship.

I do not believe that all Muslims are bad people. I do not believe that Islam is incompatible with the west. But we have a long road ahead of us and much to do before we get to a point in which we can just relax