Tremendous, totally authoritative and hugely important article by Patrick Sookhdeo in the Spectator which simply eviscerates the claim that Islam is a religion of peace. Dr Sookhdeo, who is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, presents a set of historical and theological facts that demonstrate, on the contrary, that for the past 1400 years Islam has been a religion of war.

Acknowledging that, as with other religions, it is possible to pick out of Muslim holy texts both war-like bits and peace-loving bits, he makes the knock-out point that that wherever contradictions are found, the rules of the religion dictate that the later-dated text abrogates the earlier one. And the later text is the war-like text.

‘So the mantra “Islam is peace” is almost 1,400 years out of date. It was only for about 13 years that Islam was peace and nothing but peace. From 622 onwards it became increasingly aggressive, albeit with periods of peaceful co-existence, particularly in the colonial period, when the theology of war was not dominant. For today’s radical Muslims — just as for the mediaeval jurists who developed classical Islam — it would be truer to say “Islam is war”...

‘Could it be that the young men who committed suicide were neither on the fringes of Muslim society in Britain, nor following an eccentric and extremist interpretation of their faith, but rather that they came from the very core of the Muslim community and were motivated by a mainstream interpretation of Islam?...

‘What happens after this stage depends on which of the two main religious traditions among Pakistani-background British Muslims gains the ascendancy. The Barelwi majority believe in a slow evolution, gradually consolidating their Muslim societies, and finally achieving an Islamic state. The Deobandi minority argue for a quicker process using politics and violence to achieve the same result. Ultimately, both believe in the goal of an Islamic state in Britain where Muslims will govern their own affairs and, as the finishing touch, everyone else’s affairs as well. Islamism is now the dominant voice in contemporary Islam, and has become the seedbed of the radical movements.

‘Muslims must stop this self-deception. They must with honesty recognise the violence that has existed in their history in the same way that Christians have had to do, for Christianity has a very dark past. Some Muslims have, with great courage, begun to do this.’

Read it all.

Posted by melanie at July 28, 2005