this is perhaps the most commonly held misconception. fortunately, its also one of the easies to debunk.
now, a key thing to remember is that the person who holds these myths as truth, are obviously not muslim! therefor, using arguments like "islam can't be violent because its from God" are pointless arguments. one must be able to tackle the situation with logic that is impartial to religion.
the first issue is that islam should be seperated from the actions of muslims. i am not islam, we are not islam. therefor anything i do, good or bad, is as unrelated to islam as what anyone else does is unrelated to their religion.
no doubt, individual muslims have killed and subjugated vast areas of the world. however, these actions are not based upon islamic teaching and are rather antithetical to them.
the way to debunk the islamophobe is simple. all known islamophobes concede that islam started off a peaceful faith in the first 13 years in mecca. if they hadn't the meccans would have wiped them out with their superior military force.
the myth argues that muslim power grew, and once the move to medina was made, the quran became "violent" and muslims went on offensive wars.
this has the following problems, from a logic background:
a) even in medina, during the battle of badr, the number of muslims was around 300-400 according to the History of Islam by Najeebabadi (published by the Saudi Darussalaam company). in fact, according to Najeebabadi, the number of muslims was between 310 and 313. by contrast, the wealthy meccan army was around 1000 strong, and had far more armaments. thus, the muslims were in no way in a dominant position capable of whimsically declaring war on the meccan pagans.
b) the battle of badr took place in medina, not mecca. if the muslims in medina had gone on an offensive campaign, the first battle (badr) would have taken place in mecca. the location of the battle is proof positive that the meccans were the ones who declared war on the muslims.
c) even in the "violent" medina chapters of the quran, it states that if the enemies declare a ceasefire, the muslims have no choice but to accept.
Quote:
and if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it, and trust in Allah, he is the Hearer, the Knower.
surah 8, verse 61
|
d) even if the muslims know that the enemy is asking for peace as part of a war strategy, muslims are bound to uphold the ceasefire.
Quote:
and if they would deceive thee, lo, Allah is sufficient for thee...
surah 8, verse 62
|
often times, islamophobes love to quote the verse 9:29 which reads "fight against those of the People of the Book who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day..."
this is supposedly evidence of fighting until all convert to islam. however, this is a directive to the muslims at the particular time and place to defend themselves against those people of the book who had made and then broke a mutual defense treaty with the muslims.
of course, the islamophobe may then retort, "i thought islam is for all times and places???"
islam is for all times and places. however, one must use common sense. surah 8, verse 60 instructs warriors to make their prepare their horses for battle. who uses horses nowadays?
using common sense, we know that should the aforementioned scenario (9:29) arise again, then only is one to follow the directives of the quran. we are not go to warring with people who have NOT broken treaties with us. the entire context of the quran must be taken into account and understood.
other myths will be busted soon...