Hamas represents Islam?

Submitted by Hamad (Saudi Arabia), Oct 5, 2006 at 15:19

Hamas adobted their own militant version of Islam which is influenced by their political reality, the conflict with Israel, and the oppression of the Palestinians. They live a life that they hate so much that they are eager to blow themselves to kill any Israeli, and hoping that this will move them to a better life in paradise. Suicide is one of the greater sins of Islam, so is killing children, so they might be surprised in the afterlife. If Hamas converts a couple of journalists by the sword, let them. As soon as they are free the hostages will revert to their old religions. Islam did spread by the sword in some cases, but that is not the general rule. The idea that this is plausible comes from the work of scholars like Ibn Hanbal who divided the world into 2 parts. The part of peace (Muslim lands) and the part of war (any non Muslim country).

Most of the negative traditions that you have about Mohammad comes from Hadith, a collection of narratives and stories much like the bible. There are thousands upon thousands of these. There are also many conflicts and many political agendas are served this way. Example, one story tells how the prophet was generous to his Jew neighbour who put dirt in front of his house everyday.Yet, another one tells how the prophet asked the believers to make sure that the Jews and Christians shall only walk the dirtiest and tightest roads. The sheer number of Hadiths only tells how so many insertions were made in the prophet bibliography. It is simple to tell which hadith is true and which is not, by using a little logic.

Fortunately, Islam is preserved by the Quran which is common to all Muslims and can't be tampered with.

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".