I disagree with Daniel Pipes' conclusions

Submitted by SarahSue (United States), Mar 28, 2009 at 03:23

Mr. Pipes, I have read most of your articles and feel confident that your knowledge of the Middle East is extensive. You have a great deal of expertise regarding of islam.

However, there is one area where you and I disagree. That disagreement is based on the premise that there are 'good' muslims and 'bad' muslims, moderates and extremists.

To explain myself, I have to first start with the koran. It has plenty to say about haven and hell and the paths to each. The descriptions are so detailed and graphic that every muslims hopes to go to heaven and all are terrified of hell.

Muslims that stray from the path to heaven and start to 'moderate' themselves, that it, start to get along with non-muslims, are very unstable. In the blink of an eye, all peace between neighbors can change if an imam comes along to remind them that they are going against the teachings of the koran. This reminder, along with the lurid descriptions of what happens to muslims that forget the instructions of the 'prophet' are enough to put any muslim back on the straight and narrow.

When you couple with the teaching of the koran, i.e. that deceiving your enemy is an accepted form of warfare, that killing your non-muslim friend is okay, that there is no loyalty to any non-muslim no matter how kind they have been, with the threat of hell, any muslim will turn on any non-muslim. This had happened time and time again. The most notable instance happened in Pakistan.

'In 1971, in Bangladesh, I saw a well-equipped invading Pakistani Muslim Islamic army indiscriminately killing millions of civilians and raping two hundred thousand women. The institution of Muslim Islamic leadership supported the invading army capturing and killing freedom fighters and non-Muslims. Each of the four thousand mosques became the ideological powerhouses of the mass killers and mass rapists. And those killers and rapists, those Islamist, were the same people of the same land as the freedom fighters and raped women.' Muhammad bin Abdulla, a former Muslim from Bangladesh

I have read many first hand accounts of muslims living in peace and posterity with non-muslims in isolated villages and towns. Many of the merchants of these villages were non-muslims that treated the populace with kindness and consideration. They extended credit to all and forgave the debt of the poorest inhabitants. Anytime a contribution was needed to ease a hardship in times of crisis, they gave generously. Yet time and time again, an imam would discover the village and immediately start issuing fatwas to divide the people. In no time at all, what had once been neighbors and friends became muslims and dhimmis or worse.

Even if the impossible happened, and the muslims living in and around Israel gave up the right of return, recognized Israel, renounced terror and decide to go along to get along, history had proven that they cannot be trusted. How can one advocate that Israel take these people into their bosom, when these same people can become Rottweilers, turning and destroying what were yesterday friends and neighbors? Those that say that down deep, muslims are like everyone else, that they only want to live and raise their families in peace, are willfully ignorant of history and the teachings of the koran. The koran will not let them forget that they must conquer and punish all non-believers or be punished themselves.

Most 'regular' people, that is non-muslims, are willing to make sacrifices to live in peace and prosperity. Most are willing to put aside differences for the common good of all. The great exception to this is the muslim. They will not be assimilated into any country, will not take in the customs of any country, will not submit to the law of the land of any country. Rather they bring in their islamic laws, create ghettos, create havoc and mayhem wherever they go.

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