Religion of Peace?

Submitted by Danny (Singapore), Sep 6, 2005 at 13:19

Islam is today being portrayed as a peaceful and tolerant religion. History has proven otherwise. Though there were certainly periods of relative tranquility and tolerance, minorities and non-Muslims have always been prosecuted under Islam. In fact, Islamic ideology is based upon an intense hatred of the non-Muslim. For Muslims, there exist two kinds of non-Muslim enemies... kafir (non-believers in Islam) and ahl al-kitab (People of the Book). Kafir, such as Buddhists and Hindus, must either convert to Islam or face execution. People of the Book include Jews and Christians. These people need only submit to Muslim authority to avoid forced conversion or death. Although they may keep their original faith, their status becomes dhimmi (a "protected," yet inferior non-Muslim status) eg non-Muslims in Malaysia must accept the so-called New Economic Policy (NEP) where they are discriminated against in all fields. The Christians and Jews, instead of outright forced conversion or slaughter, would be allowed to remain somewhat unmolested as long as they acknowledged the superiority of the Muslim. However, as 100,000 dead Lebanese Christians have discovered over the years, these guarantees have proved worthless!

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