Islam - religion of peace?

[wub]

Lot of Islam discussion at the moment with the ongoing "Islamic genocide" in Iraq and the picture of the Australian boy holding a decapitated head. Also considering some of the latest alleged actions by Islams;

Islam's Latest Contributions to Peace

"Mohammed is God's apostle. Those who follow him are harsh to the unbelievers but merciful to one another" Quran 48:29

2014.08.10 (Surjani, Pakistan) - A Shiite man and his daughter are exterminated by committed Sunnis.
2014.08.10 (Jalawla, Iraq) - A Fedayeen suicide bomber kills ten Iraqis.
2014.08.10 (Kabul, Afghanistan) - A woman and two children are sectionalized by a Shahid suicide bomber.
2014.08.08 (Tenai Dara, Afghanistan) - Religious radicals storm a house in the middle of the night and slaughter four family members.
2014.08.08 (Huta, Yemen) - Religion of Peace proponents capture and behead fourteen soldiers.
2014.08.06 (Zigague, Cameroon) - Ten bus passengers are machine-gunned point blank by Boko Haram Islamists.

Is Islam the religion of peace that has been claimed? I'm wondering how much of what is reported is an anti-Islamic bias.

(No hate speak please, want a clean and open discussion )

[topmo3]

islam is as much a religion of peace as christianity imo. all of the abrahamic religions have their history and it's not always nice. there's like 1.3 billion muslims in the world and yeah a lot of outrageous and disgusting stuff is done in the name of islam but you can't outright blame islam for it. i mean the victims of these horrific crimes are prolly also muslim. it's not black and white

it's cool that you point out the possibliity of anti-islamic bias because no matter the way you look at it we live in the western world and mainly our knowledge of what happens in the middle east and a lot of the so-called 3rd world is up to our media. i'm not suggesting that the media lies to us but there's always chance of misconception

a bit OT: i can't believe they let ISIS continue doing that shit

[wub]

it's not black and white

Of course.

However, in the western world as we are not subject to any pro leaning Islamic media (that I am aware of). Al Jazeera is more balanced than most and does a great job of circumventing the (perceived) media blackouts that are present in some Middle Eastern states.

[topmo3]

basically yeah. also one way of looking at it is that as we don't live there ourselves the way we (the general public) mostly perceive the middle east as barren desert with a lot of violence and radical fundamentalism. we easily forget for example northern Africa which is mostly islamic and relatively peaceful.

i'd like to know more about the middle east from the earlier 20th century. as far as i've understood, places like afghanistan, iran etc were relatively "western" and prosperous before radical muslims took over at some point?

[wub]

basically yeah. also one way of looking at it is that as we don't live there ourselves the way we (the general public) mostly perceive the middle east as barren desert with a lot of violence and radical fundamentalism. we easily forget for example northern Africa which is mostly islamic and relatively peaceful.

There are exceptions to everything though. Algerian islamists hijacked a plane in 1994 with the intention of flying it into the Eiffel tower IIRC.

EDIT - just checked, it was Air France Flight 8969

as far as i've understood, places like afghanistan, iran etc were relatively "western" and prosperous before radical muslims took over at some point?

My knowledge of Afghanistan goes back only as far as the Soviet invasion of the 80s really...Russia invades Afghanistan, CIA helped the Mujahideen, Mujahideen became Taliban, 9/11 happens, US invades Afghanistan under the Bush Doctrine ("We will make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them")

[topmo3]

just for the sake of argument, describing the men "algerian" is pretty vague as in terrorists can assume or be originally of any nationality basically (the australian boy in the OP) what i meant by peaceful was that we don't all the time have to read of horrific murders happening in the north african countries. but yeah of course there are exceptions

[wub]

just for the sake of argument, describing the men "algerian" is pretty vague as in terrorists can assume or be originally of any nationality basically (the australian boy in the OP) what i meant by peaceful was that we don't all the time have to read of horrific murders happening in the north african countries. but yeah of course there are exceptions

Again you're quite right...there is a certain deliberate ambiguity in the way a lot of these sources are written.

[NickUndercover]

Extremism is a man-made disaster, wherever it comes from.


And there are always two sides to a coin

[nousd]

It certainly didn't start as a religion of peace
but a jihad requiring submission to its will...
only through capitulation was there peace.

Whilst I respect the genuine aspiration of many Muslims to live in peace,
I don't believe that the tenets of their religion espouse peace
in the sense of being tolerant, forgiving and loving of those who don't share their beliefs.

[ultraspatial]

people seem to forget that external jihad is not the most important thing in islam

[dickman69]

Seems as though sunni/wahhabi extremism is really the most dangerous form of islam (see: every middle eastern terror group except hezzbollah)

Its crazy fundamentalist groups that are against peace, not the entire religion

[dickman69]

Still ,that being said

Shit is fucking retarded over there

[wub]

Its crazy fundamentalist groups that are against peace, not the entire religion

Shit is fucking retarded over there

[m8son666]

MOD EDIT - as per OP, please no hate speech. One and only warning.

[dickman69]

Its crazy fundamentalist groups that are against peace, not the entire religion

Shit is fucking retarded over there

Oh yea because members of the westboro baptist church blow themselves up in catholic churches

[wub]

Oh yea because members of the westboro baptist church blow themselves up in catholic churches

I might have slightly more respect for them if they did, TBH. Standing around with placards is hardly dedication to the cause.



That aside though, my point was that people being nutty about religion isn't limited to anywhere in the world.

[dickman69]

But its definitely amplified in places where islamic law is ACTUAL law

[wub]

But its definitely amplified in places where islamic law is ACTUAL law

That's sort of an obvious thing to say though, IMO. I'd naturally expect something to be more prevalent somewhere where society allows something else that influences it.

[dickman69]

Too many pronouns for me to understand that

But i think we agree?

[OGLemon]

A lot of Islamic fundamentalism seems to be fueled by Western imperialism. You also have to remember that the middle east didn't go through the liberalization of society that the West did. Most of the region has been ruled by theocratic monarchs since the dawn of civilization. This is probably the main reason why Iraq's democracy has been pretty much a failure. You can't invade a land, install your values, leave, then expect the people to adhere to them. Change in society must come from the will of the people. Back on topic, I believe the idea that religions are inherently peaceful or violent is too simple of a characterization. What matters is how people interpret the text and how they project this interpretation in their lives.

The case many people make for Islam being a violent religion can also be made for Judaism and Christianity.