Is Islam a religion of violence?

First and foremost, before I state my point of view on whether or not Islam is a religion of violence, I would like to clearly emphasise that I do not represent the voice of Islam and whatever that is being said is solely my point of view from the limited knowledge I have been imparted with. Also, a reminder to everyone out there: Never pick a fight with those less learned in order to manipulate them especially when it comes to religion. Pick a fight with the Rabbis or Bishops or Imams, not the average joes.

                The spread of Islamophobia is undeniably a worry to many especially in the West. Islam, the religion itself, comes from the root words of Salaam or “peace”. Would it not be an irony for the religion of “peace” to be violent? I stand by the fact that Islam is not a religion of violence but is not a pacifist religion either. We are not Mahatma Gandhi. If you slap my right face, I will slap your right face back. If you stab my body, I will stab you back. Why would I let you slap my other left side? It is ordained all the way back to Hammurabi’s law: A hand for a hand and a leg for a leg. Even the Torah, among the 5 books the Holy Scriptures of the Jews demands justice equal to what the aggressor have done. Muslims we greet each other with “May Peace be with you” or Assalamualaikum, the history of this greeting dates back to the early days when the Muslims are persecuted in Mecca during the Prophet’s times. Even if a Non-Muslim were to greet us with peace, we are encouraged to reply “same to you” or “Wa Alaik”.

             But what about jihad? What about Osama and his brethren of religious zealots? A highly regarded religious scholar from Pakistan of whom I have forgotten his name came up with a 600-word fatwa or religious ruling denouncing the use of violence in terrorism. The prophet mentions that the greatest of all Jihad is not the one in the battlefield. It never is! The greatest jihad is the one in you. The daily battle to do good and to be favourable in the eyes of God inshallah. I stand firmly as do 99.99% of all other moderate practitioners of Islam that what Al-Qaeda and the likes of it are doing are not in line with the simple teachings of Islam. Addeenu Yasr. Religion is simple. Osama quotes from the Quran, “kill the disbelievers wherever you find them”. Yes, I have seen it with my own eyes this very line. It exists for the world to see and for the less learned to be swayed into unforgivable violence. Another example from At-Taubah line 123, “ Oh ye believers. Fight the unbelievers near you and let them find harshness in you and know that God is with those who fears Him.”

      As I said before, Islam is never a pacifist religion. As do all other religions in the world, Islam preaches defending your religion.  If Moses had not stood up against Samiri who had led the Israelites to prostrate to the Golden cow, the sanctity of Judaism would have been lost at the very beginning! Before you talk to me about 9/11 and Bali bombings that are carried out by these minority misguided souls, tell me about the Spanish Inquisition, The Lord Resistance Army and even the numerous Crusades that are sanctioned by the Church itself. Violence is out of the question. More often it is politics, the darker side of the two that fuels the bloodlust. Why would God bask in the blood of man of whom He loves? In the same surah At-Taubah which means Repentance in Arabic by the way, it is also stated in line 7: “...As long as they (unbelievers) stand true to you, stand true to them. For God likes the righteous.” And line 6, “If among the Pagans ask thee of asylum, grant it to him so that he may hear of the Word of God”. No harm shall be unnecessarily fall on you if you mean no harm on us.

      What frustrates me is how the stereotypes of the majority of the world in viewing Islam as a religion of war. We go to war to spread religion and massacre the disbelievers. Our Prophet upon the “freeing of Mecca” told his followers to not hurt children or women and not even the trees. Spare those who stays in their homes. When the Promised land Jerusalem was first invaded by the Muslims under the rule of Khalifah Umar, he allowed the people to leave safely or pay “taxes” or Ijazah in Arabic for the protection and the welfare services they receive by the Muslim people. A contrast to when the First Crusading army went on a killing rampage with “blood up to their knees in the mosques” when they took back the Holy Land. Tell me, is Islam a religion of violence? Sultan Mehmed just like Salahuddin spared all the people in Constantinople when he took it. When a soldier hurt a man hiding in one of the many beautiful churches in Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed had him severely punished. He formed a council of Christian and Jewish leaders in his court to protect their minority rights. This was the man who went to war to spread Islam. Before Islam spread to North Africa, the Jewish people of Egypt begged the Muslims and helped the Muslims to victory to free them from the oppressive Roman rule.

      Then you will tell me, talk about the bloody Shariah law. Tell me about the stoning of man and the cutting of hands. Is that not barbaric and violent? Our laws dictate the people did it not? I am not here to dictate which laws are better. Living in a secular country under a civil law system, I have no rights to denounce it and I find it fairly justified also. Firstly, there are more murder rates in Washington than Pakistan so tell me, is Islam really so violent? There are hundreds of interpretations of shariah in the world and the shariah law is different between borders and ethnicities. During the Prophet’s time, a Jewish man had committed adultery and hence was caught. As he was Jewish, he requested not to be punished by the supposed strict laws of Islam so Sayidina Ka’ab ra, a former Jewish priest, quoted from the Torah that states that the sinner had to be stoned. From the Torah!

       Now, think on the larger scale, all religions have the same idealogy which is that of peace. There is a fine line between peace and being a pacifist. If Islam is violent, all 1.6 billion people in the world including me would have kept a knife in our pockets and bombs under our jackets to the nearest shopping mall. Is this quarter of all humanity so narrow-minded and heartless? Think. And Forgive.