The Good of Islam Versus the Evil of Ignorance

Submitted by Steve Connolly (United Kingdom), Sep 24, 2002 at 06:06

Time and again the readership of Pipes' articles seem incapable of either getting their facts right or of sensible discourse or, indeed, of both. So we hear that the Prophet married Aisha when she was just 6 or 8 years old (depending on who is doing the writing) when in fact it has been established that the narrator of such matters was in error and it has been reasonably established that she was 18 at the time of her marriage. Or we hear that Taqiah (the so called secret agenda - dissimmulation) is practised by the Muslims or enshrined in the Qur'an when in fact it has been completely condemned by the Islamic scholars who have stated that there is no evidence for this practice within the Islamic texts.

Other commentators, clearly with their axes to grind, liberally quote and misquote the Qur'an maintaining, for example, that non-Muslims can be killed due to certain verses being present therein. Or that certain verses abrogate other verses and so on (where is the proof of this when the Qur'an clearly states otherwise in one passage). The fact is the Qur'an requires detailed study to demonstrate that it is, unlike other scriptures, a miracle of reason and content. Nowhere does the Qur'an sanction the wanton killing of non-Muslims (or Muslims): there are strict rules and defined methods of interpretation, but these appear to have been universally overlooked by the Pipes' readership. One reader, for example, claimed that the Muslims killed 600 to 900 innocent Jewish men; this to demonstrate the lack of security afforded to non-Muslims thus sanctioned under Islamic rule. Innocent ? Really ? Were these not the infamous Bani Quraza whose treachery nearly cost the lives of the people of Madina at the hands of the invading polytheists ? And whose judgement resulting in their execution was done according to their own Talmudic law ? Let us pose a question then. If the Jews were all so mistreated as the Jews of Bani Quraza were why did their golden age occur under Muslim rule ? And why did they flee towards the Islamic state in Istanbul from the Spanish Inquisition ? Etcetera etcetera.

Another rich seam of ignorance concocts that non-Muslims are not the equal of the Muslims under Islamic rule due to their being humiliated and having to pay high taxes which the Muslims don't pay. In point of fact it is the duty of the Muslim to protect the non-Muslim by Jihad on the battlefield if necessary. The non-Muslims have to pay a small tax which absolves them from military service, otherwise they can avoid paying it by doing their military service alongside the Muslims. Muslims have taxes which are far more onerous but which only apply to them. These are the Islamic rules concerning the matter and if one Islamic leader or other did not apply these rules then that is their sin, not the fault of Islam. And so we can go on and on rebutting each and every claim of the Pipes' readership.

With the above in mind then, Islam - through the medium of people like myself - challenges the Pipes' readership to bring any reasonable evidence that it is unreasonable or, to quote from the Pipes' readership, 'evil' in any real way, form or substance. We therefore solemnly challenge you.

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