Is Islam really worse than other religions?

I am utterly non-religious but I fully disagree with people who single out Islam as being worse. Action depends on how religious text is interpreted and that is based on culture and wider social/political factors.

Quoting nasty verses written in the Qu'ran does not win an argument because it doesn't take account for the vast majority of Muslims who are peaceful and non-fundamentalist. It also doesn't account for the fact that most Christians do not take the Bible literally. Jesus Christ was a socialist pacifist who could forgive anything and the Old Testement God was violent and vengeful.

I live in a part of London with plenty of Muslims and when people call Muslims backward, insular and 'not-integrated' this clashes with my own personal experience. Only 1% of Americans are Muslims and when you don't personally know a group of people, it is easier to be susceptible to media stereotypes.

Also, Reza Aslam is awesome:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1QfgDkFR5E]

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

LarryStrawman · 22-25, M

The old testament says some pretty bad shit as well, just like you mentioned. Deuteronomy, for example, makes it a rule ordered by god that in case a woman doesn't bleed on the consummation of her marriage, she must be stoned to death at the front of her father's house. Pretty bad shit. But there is one huge difference here: A clear separation of the state and the Bible. A secular state. The Bible is not the law, however, the Qu'ran is. There's no such a thing as a secular state there, nope. Qu'ran is the law, and all muslims must abide by it. No, not just extremists, I'm talking about regular muslims. So yeah, the nasty things the Qu'ran says are worrysome. But no need to listen to me, listen to normal non-extremists muslims: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV710c1dgpU

Just something worth mentioning here: at the very beginning of the Qu'ran, it's written that to follow that book you must believe everything it says, 100%, not just fragments, like many people like to do with the Bible.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

But most don't follow everything the Quran says and that is my point.

LarryStrawman · 22-25, M

@Burnley123: They should. If you don't, you're not a muslim. Qu'ran is not open to interpretation or partial belief. "THE FALSE DICHOTOMY: MODERATE MUSLIMS VS. RADICALS" from the frontpagemag represents this point very well:

"Other Muslims who obey some of the verses and disregard others cannot be called good Muslims, representatives of Islamic ideology, or even true followers of Islam, based on the Qur'an and Muhammad’s teachings. Therefore, they cannot in fact, represent any categories. Every word of Allah should be obeyed.

These people who call themselves the representatives of real Islam are in fact a representative and reflection of certain socio-political, socio-economic and cultural traditions mixed with some glimpses of Islamic teachings, not the real truth of Islam. Their identity and character is a mixture of these aforementioned qualities rather than the actual ideology of Islam.

This means that those Western Muslim scholars — who claim that Islam is a religion of peace and that people like Khamenei, Khomeini, Bin Laden and the like, are not true Muslims— cannot introduce themselves as representatives of real Islam."

You could argue that many people that originated in Islam don't follow the rules, not that muslims don't. That'd be like a Jew following Jesus. The things I said here are a great reason why there is so much terrorism in Islam, and it shows how really troublesome such a religion is.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@LarryStrawman: Then Most Muslims are not Muslims and I'm gonna tell people I work with that they are fake unless then join ISIS.

LarryStrawman · 22-25, M

No, you're just distorting my point now. You don't need to join ISIS to be a Muslim (I'll get there in a minute), but you still must follow the Qu'ran, completely. Otherwise you're not a proper representative of being a Muslim, which your colleagues don't seem to be. You know how there are people that call themselves catholics but don't follow anything they preach? It's more or less the same principle, but Islam is more solid and clear about things (and by that I mean it's written there that it's the absolute truth with no fail, and that you must completely follow it, not just partially. And people do so), so they shouldn't be able to get away with it.

It's completely possible for a Muslim to be a Muslim and not be part of a terrorist group. The Qu'ran makes it clear:

Surat Al-Mumtahanah [60:8-9]:

Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly. Allah only forbids you from those who fight you because of religion and expel you from your homes and aid in your expulsion - [forbids] that you make allies of them. And whoever makes allies of them, then it is those who are the wrongdoers.

Did you know that a HUGE percentage of American Muslims actually believe in things that directly contradict what in fact most muslims believe, which is incidentally written in Qu'ran?

Most Muslims believe that men and women should sit seperatly, and that Allah's punishments for humanity are the best ones. Meanwhile, 90% of US Muslims said, according to studies, that women should be able to work outside the home. With men, of course. Approximatly 50% of them even said that many religions can lead to eternal life! That among many others contraditory beliefs.

"The truth about Muslims in America" by Holy Yan is an article with collected data about what I'm saying here, in case you want to check.

Go ahead in saying to your colleagues that they are not actual Muslims if they don't fully follow the Qu'ran inwardly and outwardly.

Burnley123 · 41-45, M

@LarryStrawman: Well. I won't be saying that to my colleagues. The whole point I am making is that religious action depends on interpretation and that most people don't follow religious texts literally. You seem to agree.