Blatantly wrong argument

Submitted by Prashant (United States), May 15, 2016 at 10:39

Dear Dr Pipes,

your reader gms from south Africa gives a blatantly wrong argument to state that Islam was not spread by force. Gms says that if Islam had been spread by force "there would not have been so many christians in Egypt" and "indIa would not have been 80% Hindu as it is today". You do not need a mathematics phd to see that gms's argument is blatantly wrong.

Before the arrival of Islamic invaders, Egypt was entirely Jewish, Pagan and Christian so it is outrageous when someone uses the presence of small pockets of Christians in Egypt as an evidence of Islamic tolerance.

And it is even more wrong to say that India is 80 percent Hindu. Before Islam, Hindu-Bhuddist India extended from Bangladesh to Afghanistan. If you include this entire region then the percentage of Hindus in the total population is significantly smaller than 80 percent. And, true to the Islamic fervor the Islamic parts of Indian subcontinent are over 95 percent Islamic while whatever is left is a mixture of races, religions and cultures.

The fact of the matter is that Islam had no business in being in Egypt or India unless it was exclusively btought to them by non-violent monks and philosophers. Unfortunately such was not the case.

It is high time that we bury the frivolous arguments such as gms's and work to bring Islam to the 21st century. When it comes to education, freedom, respect, and openness, Islamic nations are walking on very thin ice. For our world to meet all the challenges that it is facing, democracy and freedom in Islamic societies is a must.

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