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Madeleine And yet, the verses that I have reproduced (there are many more, as you no doubt know) specifically talk about non-believers and people of other faiths.
You argue that these verses are contextual and that they refer to specific events and specific circumstances. Meanwhile, your very peaceful brethren are murdering those who are accused of blaspheming against Islam and those of different faiths. No doubt, you will say that they are criminals and not real Muslims. WRONG!
Let’s go on a little journey into history.
More than 3,000 years ago, there was a significant cultural shift in a specific region in the Middle East. That cultural shift was the adoption of a monotheistic belief system which ultimately became Judaism. This wasn’t the first time that monotheism had been introduced but, in all other cases, this had been short lived and barely lasted a generation or two. However, in this case, Judaism stayed and grew. Soon, we had the kingdoms of Judea, Israel and Edom all of which were Jewish states and ultimately became the nation of Israel that we recognise today.
Some 2,500 years ago, the Jewish people decided to write down their story and the early incarnations of the Torah were created.
Another significant cultural shift occurred in the same region 2,000 years ago. This was brought about by the birth of a man named Jesus. He preached about Judaism, he was a Jew after all but, his overall message was about redemption and forgiveness.
Three hundred years later, a Roman emperor named Constantine decided to listen to his mother, Agia Sophia, and converted to Christianity. He convened the First Council of Nicaea which led to the Council of Rome some years later and, the creation of The Bible. This book begins with the story of the Jews (ie The Torah) and the Christians called it The Old Testament, and ends with the story of Jesus and his message of redemption and forgiveness and is called The New Testament.
About 1,400 years ago, there was another significant cultural shift, this time, in different part of the Middle East. This was when a relatively mediocre merchant married an older woman who had inherited the wealth of her dead husband. His name was Muhammad (the mediocre merchant, not the dead husband) and he started getting messages from God and visitations from the Arch Angel Gabriel. He created yet another monotheistic belief system, Islam, and its own accompanying religious text, the Qur’an.
And this is where there is a massive conceptual difference between the Torah, The Bible and the Qur’an. Even though all three talk about the same God, only Muhammad declared himself the final and ultimate prophet. Only the Qur’an declares itself as the final and ultimate word of God.
And so, when the Torah talks about crimes and sins and punishment, Jews can look at their scripture and understand its historical context. They can understand that they are now living in the 21st century and that their religion has evolved in the last three thousand years. When Christians look at their Bible, they see that its over-riding message is about redemption and forgiveness and, they too, can understand its historical context. Indeed, scholars (both believers and non-believers) have poured over its contents, and continue to pour over its contents, and tried to understand and interpret it. That’s both The Old Testament (ie the Torah) and The New Testament by the way.
Because, by their very nature, both the Torah and The Bible allow them to do so.
Not so with the Qur’an. The Qur’an is the final voice of Allah as spoken through the mouth of his final prophet Muhammad. There is no historical context permitted. Therefore, when the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, Daesh and all of the other Islamic fundamentalist groups, commit the atrocities that they routinely commit, they are not being criminals and they are being Muslims. Muslims as laid out in the dictates of their prophet and their religious text.
Finally, we are told over and over again that Islam is the religion of peace. And yet, of all of the five great religions in the world today, it’s only in Muhammad that we see a founder who has gone to war, led armies and personally benefited from the spoils of war. Yet another reason why Daesh & Co are indeed Muslims, they are directly following in the steps of their founding father.
