The Complete History of the Universe: A Personal Journey

I came across the following:

I don’t want to delve into this issue too deeply, because I have not ever been nor will I ever be a Muslim. I have not read the Qur’an or studied Islam in depth. I willingly acknowledge up front that many Muslims are kind, caring, peaceful people who would no more kill me than I would kill them. I hope I would not refuse to ride an airplane only because a Muslim was also boarding. However, I cannot leave this claim unchallenged.

This quote is clearly cherry picked and out of context. If you want a more in-depth analysis and longer list of quotes, please check out this link. For my part, I will only point to three examples.

First, the very next verse, immediately following the one quoted above, says this:

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement (Qur’an 5:33)

Murdered or crucified, it says. Of course, this verse in particular could easily be taken to mean self-defense only. I would also like to point out that the quote from 5:32 above leaves out a clause that allows killing “for manslaughter or for mischief in the land”. So far as I’m concerned, that is twisting the words and giving them a better image than they deserve, much like saying Yahweh stopping Abraham from slaying Isaac is showing that Yahweh is against child sacrifice while ignoring the fact that he later allows it from Jephthah (seriously, look it up).

Second, this verse orders believers of Islam to destroy every believer of other religions:

And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do. (Qur’an 8:39)

How could anyone see that and continue claiming that terrorism and killing infidels is a twisting of Islam?

Finally, one more verse that is indisputably violent:

When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. (Qur’an 8:12)

That’s right: the Qur’an orders believers to behead nonbelievers.

Maybe some religions cannot reasonably be used to justify terrorism. Christianity makes it a lot harder, if you ignore the Old Testament especially. Jainism makes it basically impossible, to the best of my knowledge. But for Islam, the Qur’an orders violence, repeatedly and clearly. Terrorism has lots of place in Islam.