Request for Dr. Pipes to explain his view on Islam

Submitted by Debbie (United States), Apr 5, 2008 at 23:00

Dr. Pipes,

I know this is an old post, but I hope you will be inclined to offer comment in response to my questions herein. Since you're the scholar on this topic, I defer to you to explain to those of us who are merely concerned parties how you conclude that Islam is flexible and that it is somehow more violent in the last thirty years than it was in the past.

Doesn't one of the inherent tenets of Islam (based in the teachings of the qur'an) suggest that Muslims are to follow the law of the land they inhabit if its not majority Muslim - and populate it until it becomes a majority Muslim, and at that point they are to make demands or otherwise influence the host country into bending to their "religious" proclivities? Didn't Muslims do this in the 7th and 8th centuries until virtually all of the Middle East became Muslim? Didn't Muslims do this in Indonesia?

Based on the history that I know of Islam, I don't see how Muslims are more violent now than they were in Mohammed's time, or in 1683, or in the 1700's. A change in their tendencies toward violence doesn't mean that they're flexible enough to become non-violent for non-violence's sake - I see it as more an ongoing strategy to dominate. One thing Islam has that many of us in the West do not is patience. As they have been defeated in the past, haven't they retreated via a hudna, only to come back another time to attempt ultimate victory? What are dar al harb and dar al Islam?

Please explain to me how non-Muslim lands are referred to as Abode of War and how that designation could possibly lead anyone to believe that Muslims are flexible enough to consider becoming non-violent for the sake of what's right.

Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you - I'd really like to know.

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