THE QURAN ADVOCATES VIOLENCE AGAINST JEWS AND CHRISTIANS
by Andrew Stunich
Contrary to the assertions of Islamic apologists, the Quran does not command respect for Jews and Christians. In fact, it commands Muslims to make war against them until they are subdued and willingly submit to discriminatory taxes and laws. (Quran, chapter 9, verse 29)
While some verses in the Quran do advocate respect toward Jews and Christians, there are other superseding verses that are the epitome of intolerance. The Quran, for example, prohibits Muslims from taking Jews or Christians for friends (chapter 5, verse 51). The Quran also teaches that Jews have been cursed by Allah, David and Jesus (chapter 2, verse 61; chapter 5, verses 78-82), and that Allah was so disgusted with Jews that he transformed them into apes and pigs (chapter 5, verses 60-65; chapter 2, verse 65; chapter 7, verse 166).
The Quran further alleges that Jews and Christians have corrupted their holy books such that they are untruthful, that Jesus was not crucified, and that he was not the Son of God. Despite such disrespectful attacks on Jews and Christians and their most sacred beliefs, when Westerners so much as depict Muhammad in cartoons, even for the sake of humor, the Islamic world erupts in violent, deadly protests. Such a violent double standard is attributeable to Islamic Doctrine and the prevalent Islamic belief that Islam is superior to other religions because it is allegedly God's final revelation. Adding to the deep-seated bigotry is the widespread defamation of other religions and western society in mosques, Islamic schools, and in the Islamic news media.
It gets worse. The Quran also commands the muslim faithful to wage war against Jews and Christians for profit:
“Fight ... the People of the Book (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizya (discriminatory tax against non-Muslims in conquered territories) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (chapter 9, verse 29).
The foregoing verse and similar verses are what led the early Muslims that knew Islam best due to their personal exposure to Muhammad to attack Jewish and Christian tribes in the Arabian Peninsula and to embark on wars of conquest against neighboring empires. Muhammad and the early Muslims beheaded hundreds of Jewish males and sold Jewish women and children into slavery. Muhammad ordered one Jewish leader tortured and killed for not revealing where the Jews had hidden some treasure. Muhammad then shortly thereafter took his widow as a “wife.” Because the Quran teaches that Muhammad is the perfect example for Muslims to follow, many Islamic scholars teach violent intolerance toward Jews and Christians using, inter alia, the verses set forth above.
There are some peaceful verses in the Quran that Islamic apologists use to justify their version of Islam that I derisively refer to as "Disneyland Islam" for naive westerners. The mix of peaceful and intolerant verses causes great confusion to new readers to the Quran. However, the discrepancy is easily resolved when one understands that the discrepancy between the peaceful and violent verses in the Quran resulted as a natural consequence of how it came into existence.
Muhammad never presented his complete revelations at one time as a book that was meant to be consistent. Rather, Muhammad verbally revealed verses sporadically over a period of at least twenty-two years. The verses were revealed to a mostly oral Arab culture based on the circumstances of the time and what Muhammad hoped to accomplish or justify. The complete written Quran was not created until approximately 20 years after Muhammad’s death.
When Muhammad first attempted to convert Jews and Christians to Islam, he did so by alleging he received verses from God that were peaceful and that advocated tolerance. When Muhammad came to power in Medina, his entire approach changed from trying to persuade others to convert solely by voluntary means and he began to reveal the harsher verses of the Quran ordering war against non-Muslims. At first, he hoped to win over Jews and Christians to Islam by persuasion. When they refused to accept him in any significant numbers, the subsequent violent Quranic verses were revealed and those verses were meant to replace the earlier tolerant verses. “When We substitute one revelation for another — and God knows best what He reveals (in stages) — they say, ‘Thou art but a forger’: but most of them understand not” (chapter16, verse 101).
The verse set forth above commanding war against Jews and Christians was one of the last verses revealed by Muhammad and it is difficult to convince fundamentalist Muslims that earlier peaceful verses should guide their behavior and lead to respect for any adherents to other religions.
In addition, because Muslims are taught that Muhammad’s life was a perfect example to live by, his history, as documented in the earliest Muslim source (Ibn Ishaq’s biography of Muhammad) leads to violence as terrorists mimic the life of Muhammad that they are taught was inspired by God.
Islam developed rules based on the Quran and words and deeds of Muhammad that forced Jews and Christians to live under discriminatory laws that were designed to profit from them, humiliate them and severely inhibit their religious freedom. Bat Ye’or is the world’s leading authority as to how Jews and Christians were treated under Islamic rule. Her speech on the topic is available online at www.sullivan-county.com/z/dhimmitude.htm. Bat Ye'or's work has done much to disprove the abundant amount of disinformation set forth by Islamic apologists in order to re-write history so that Islam can be falsely portrayed as a religion of peace.
Respect means allowing adherents of other religions to live in peace as equals. Making war against them until they feel subdued and accept harsh discriminatory laws as the Quran requires is simply one step removed from the Quranic verse that disrespectfully commands Muslims to slay pagans wherever they find them if they will not convert to Islam (chapter 9, verse 5).
by Andrew Stunich
Contrary to the assertions of Islamic apologists, the Quran does not command respect for Jews and Christians. In fact, it commands Muslims to make war against them until they are subdued and willingly submit to discriminatory taxes and laws. (Quran, chapter 9, verse 29)
While some verses in the Quran do advocate respect toward Jews and Christians, there are other superseding verses that are the epitome of intolerance. The Quran, for example, prohibits Muslims from taking Jews or Christians for friends (chapter 5, verse 51). The Quran also teaches that Jews have been cursed by Allah, David and Jesus (chapter 2, verse 61; chapter 5, verses 78-82), and that Allah was so disgusted with Jews that he transformed them into apes and pigs (chapter 5, verses 60-65; chapter 2, verse 65; chapter 7, verse 166).
The Quran further alleges that Jews and Christians have corrupted their holy books such that they are untruthful, that Jesus was not crucified, and that he was not the Son of God. Despite such disrespectful attacks on Jews and Christians and their most sacred beliefs, when Westerners so much as depict Muhammad in cartoons, even for the sake of humor, the Islamic world erupts in violent, deadly protests. Such a violent double standard is attributeable to Islamic Doctrine and the prevalent Islamic belief that Islam is superior to other religions because it is allegedly God's final revelation. Adding to the deep-seated bigotry is the widespread defamation of other religions and western society in mosques, Islamic schools, and in the Islamic news media.
It gets worse. The Quran also commands the muslim faithful to wage war against Jews and Christians for profit:
“Fight ... the People of the Book (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizya (discriminatory tax against non-Muslims in conquered territories) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (chapter 9, verse 29).
The foregoing verse and similar verses are what led the early Muslims that knew Islam best due to their personal exposure to Muhammad to attack Jewish and Christian tribes in the Arabian Peninsula and to embark on wars of conquest against neighboring empires. Muhammad and the early Muslims beheaded hundreds of Jewish males and sold Jewish women and children into slavery. Muhammad ordered one Jewish leader tortured and killed for not revealing where the Jews had hidden some treasure. Muhammad then shortly thereafter took his widow as a “wife.” Because the Quran teaches that Muhammad is the perfect example for Muslims to follow, many Islamic scholars teach violent intolerance toward Jews and Christians using, inter alia, the verses set forth above.
There are some peaceful verses in the Quran that Islamic apologists use to justify their version of Islam that I derisively refer to as "Disneyland Islam" for naive westerners. The mix of peaceful and intolerant verses causes great confusion to new readers to the Quran. However, the discrepancy is easily resolved when one understands that the discrepancy between the peaceful and violent verses in the Quran resulted as a natural consequence of how it came into existence.
Muhammad never presented his complete revelations at one time as a book that was meant to be consistent. Rather, Muhammad verbally revealed verses sporadically over a period of at least twenty-two years. The verses were revealed to a mostly oral Arab culture based on the circumstances of the time and what Muhammad hoped to accomplish or justify. The complete written Quran was not created until approximately 20 years after Muhammad’s death.
When Muhammad first attempted to convert Jews and Christians to Islam, he did so by alleging he received verses from God that were peaceful and that advocated tolerance. When Muhammad came to power in Medina, his entire approach changed from trying to persuade others to convert solely by voluntary means and he began to reveal the harsher verses of the Quran ordering war against non-Muslims. At first, he hoped to win over Jews and Christians to Islam by persuasion. When they refused to accept him in any significant numbers, the subsequent violent Quranic verses were revealed and those verses were meant to replace the earlier tolerant verses. “When We substitute one revelation for another — and God knows best what He reveals (in stages) — they say, ‘Thou art but a forger’: but most of them understand not” (chapter16, verse 101).
The verse set forth above commanding war against Jews and Christians was one of the last verses revealed by Muhammad and it is difficult to convince fundamentalist Muslims that earlier peaceful verses should guide their behavior and lead to respect for any adherents to other religions.
In addition, because Muslims are taught that Muhammad’s life was a perfect example to live by, his history, as documented in the earliest Muslim source (Ibn Ishaq’s biography of Muhammad) leads to violence as terrorists mimic the life of Muhammad that they are taught was inspired by God.
Islam developed rules based on the Quran and words and deeds of Muhammad that forced Jews and Christians to live under discriminatory laws that were designed to profit from them, humiliate them and severely inhibit their religious freedom. Bat Ye’or is the world’s leading authority as to how Jews and Christians were treated under Islamic rule. Her speech on the topic is available online at www.sullivan-county.com/z/dhimmitude.htm. Bat Ye'or's work has done much to disprove the abundant amount of disinformation set forth by Islamic apologists in order to re-write history so that Islam can be falsely portrayed as a religion of peace.
Respect means allowing adherents of other religions to live in peace as equals. Making war against them until they feel subdued and accept harsh discriminatory laws as the Quran requires is simply one step removed from the Quranic verse that disrespectfully commands Muslims to slay pagans wherever they find them if they will not convert to Islam (chapter 9, verse 5).
posted by Charles R. Martel | 7:02 PM
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