Undoing historical wrongs

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jun 27, 2022 at 13:47

Dear Dr Pipes,

There is enormous amount of evidence in the history of the world to indicate that Islam was spread by brutal invaders who used murders, rape, force, bribes, financial rewards, discrimination and subjugation to win converts. There is also sufficient evidence that the Quran and Hadiths extend support this kind of brutal behavior.

Ancient Israel was no exception to this Islamic behavior and suffered at the hands of Muslims as many other societies. In this context, no great injustice was served when Israel bought back some of the ancient land that Jews owned. In absence of any serious apology or remorse on the part of today's Muslims, there is no major injustice if Israel captured additional lands from Muslims after a war in which Israel was attacked. Essentially, Israel just gave the time-tested Islamic medicine to Islam.

It is difficult or impossible to undo the effects historic wrongs, but it is unacceptable to not do anything about them. When it comes to Islam, humanity has to answer this basic question: was it ever right to give free reigns to armies to plunder other nations, rape, buy, intimidate, and enslave enemy women, and win religious conversions in the process? The historians of the world cannot evade this question. The onus is on them to either criticize or state that it did not happen and is not supported by Quran even today.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".