Religious Fanaticism & Islam

Submitted by Glenn Klotz (United States), Jul 31, 2002 at 10:58

It seems to me that what many people that study Islam have been saying of late is that because of the nature of the Koran and the Hadith Islam tends to be more prone to violent forms of religious fanaticism then other faiths. Personally, I don't know if they're right on this point or not. Although I most say having read the Koran a few times what I've found there does trouble me. Although it's true that other religious holy books like the Jewish and Christian Bibles talk negatively about gentiles and un-believers, they don't seem to go to the extremes of targeting these people for death as does the Koran. It's precisely this specific targeting of groups like the Jews and Christians that worries me. Frankly, it seems to me that it would be easy for any Muslim to read these suras (passages) and conclude that these groups are inferior and therefore anything a Muslim wishes to do to them is ok because they are "outside" the law. Unless and until I hear Muslim religious scholars and authorities address these issues within their faith I for one would be very weary about trusting any statements regarding peaceful co-existance coming from that part of the world community. Without tolerance and mutual respect for other religions and their followers there can be no real peace.

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