Ignorance is bliss

Submitted by HK from England (United Kingdom), Nov 7, 2008 at 15:52

I am a muslim myself, and frankly speaking, believe the 'moderate muslim' is a theory created by the west. There is only one Islam, and unfortunately individuals interpret it differently or follow the principles of their culture rather than that of religion.

One comment was made in regards to Islam having to prove itself in order to be worthy of toleration. Its amazing how one day (9/11) followed by the propaganda caused such ignorance. Just because someone says they are doing something in the name of religion doesn't mean they are. The Klu Klux Klan used texts from the bible to justify their terrorist actions, but no-one has called Christianity evil. Same goes for N.Ireland (Catholic vs Protestant), as well as Israel's terror attacks on Palestine (yet the Palestinians are called terrorists when they defend themselves, or unfortunately go to means like sucicide bombings; well after 60 years of humiliation, what did they expect? Flowers)? This doesn't make me anti-semitic, I have nothing against Jews. (In fact I believe Muslims, Jews and Christians have alot in common).

I haven't even mentioned history. If you look at world history; you will find that when Islam spread, peaceful and humane negotiations took place and citizens of a state would have to pay a tax. Islamic history is beautiful. There is a museum in England that has texts from the times of the crusaders, which include 'we know we will go to hell for what we did to the muslims', and 'the blood was so thick, it reached the knees of our horses'.

Another question is why are the west so rich and other parts of the world so poor. The west got rich at the expense of others. Invading other nations, slavery etc. Again, no-one questions the lengths gone to, in order to achieve self-interest goals.

I know I sound very negative (and anti-west, which I'm not. There's many things I love about western states), but when people single out Islam, it gets very irritating, as alot of people could say the same about other religions and groups. Thankfully I am not so misinformed and don't hold events that have taken place against an entire nation. I truly believe that Muslims, Christians and Jews alike can live in peace. Past history has proved we can and God willing we can today.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".