3. ISLAM IS VIOLENT

Every Muslim missionary believes that Islam is the true religion and considers it is his solemn duty to spread Islam around the globe. 21^st century civilized society permits each of its member freedom of practicing his religion as well as propagating his beliefs. Every member of the society has the freedom to choose his religion or no religion. Adherents of all religions and for those matter even atheists may also preach his belief. This freedom is available in all civilized countries. So a Muslim in any civilized country can practice and preach Islam. But freedom of religion does not exist in any Muslim country.  Freedom of religion is an alien concept in Islam. Non- Muslims are just tolerated. No Muslim country allows preaching of any religion other than Islam. Islam discourages learning of other religions. It advises its adherents to remain within its flock so that Muslims do not even know that there are other views. Islam considers conversion from Islam to any other religion is apostasy and punishable by death. Actually, Muslims in a Muslim country does not have religious freedom. He cannot opt for another religion, lest it will be apostasy which is punishable by death.

Islam is not only spread by violence, it keeps its adherents together through threat of violence. Violence is integral part of Islam. Though it is not necessary to prove Islam is violent as it is obvious but still following facts are brought out to indicate violent nature of Islam. 

1. Allah ordains convert or kill

Mohammed in one of his last verses directed Muslims to attack people of the Book (Christians and Jews) if they do not agree to profess the true religion: Islam. This leaves the door wide open for terrorists today to attack and fight Christians and Jews because they do not adhere to Islam. That is why we see Muslims all over the world rejoicing fall of twin towers on 9/11. Mohammed also said in another verse that if people of the book do not accept Islam then they must pay a tax for the "privilege" of living under the "protection" of Islam—submissively or in humiliation. People of the book are lucky. Prophet’s direction for action against idolaters and atheists is “Catch them and slay them wherever you find them.” People of books may be killed, converted or allowed to live in submission. But other infidels are only to be killed or converted.

In practice, however, Muslim rulers did not kill all infidels so that revenue sources are not dried up. Prudence and necessity was above religious dictum. But religious approval was always there. Even protection of the people of books could be lifted whenever desired. Nobody was ever safe under Muslim rule. One and half million Armenian Christians, five hundred thousand Greeks and two hundred thousand Assyrian Christians were killed by western educated young Turks between 1915 and 1918. These unarmed defenseless people were original inhabitants of Anatolia. It was the first case of mega-scale ethnic cleansing in the modern era. Hitler only duplicated it 25 years later but he never had any religious sanction. Hitler made all attempts to conceal the genocide.  German people have expressed remorse for the genocide. Turkey of 1915 did not try to conceal the ethnic cleansing, neither Turkey of today felt remorse or apologized.

There are numerous cases of massacres of innocent people in the six hundred years of Muslim rule in India. Tipu Sultan, portrayed as a secular king, lorded over treacherous murder of tens of thousands of Nairs and Nambudiries of Kerala. Even, the great King Akbar killed 30,000 Mewar peasants after victory of Chittorgarh. Practically all Muslim rulers of India used force for conversion or practiced selective killings. Even today Hindus, Christians and Buddhists are killed, maimed or converted by force on daily basis in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Rohingia Muslims are persecuted by majority Buddhists of Myanmar but sixty years back these Rohingias tried to wipe out Buddhists from Arakan province of Myanmar with the aim of establishing a Muslim state or joining Pakistan. Not only that Rohingias never hesitate to murder, rape or loot Hindu Bengalis living among them, even though they are persecuted themselves.

India is still Hindu after six hundred years of Muslim rule, not because Muslim kings were generous but because they needed flow of revenue and due to inner strength of Hinduism.

2. Mohammed unjustly executes around 900 male Jews and enslaves the women and children.

After the Battle of the Trench in March 627, Mohammed showed extreme savagery on the Jewish clan, Qurayzah, his third and final Jewish rivals (he banished the Qaynuqa tribe in April 624 and the Nadir tribe in August 625). Mohammed entered into a pact with the Qurayzah tribe before the Battle with Meccans for remaining neutral. After victory he blamed them for having had dialogues with the Meccans during the engagement. Mohammed was accuser, Mohammed was the judge and Mohammed was the executer. Qurayzah tribe was adjudged guilty and when they surrendered after 24 days of siege, Mohammed ordered execution of all able bodied men. He did not show mercy or did not exile them (as indeed they requested before surrendering).

The sentence: Death by decapitation of around 900 men and enslavement for the women and children (he took a beautiful Jewess as his own prize). It was OK for Mohammed, the tyrant but it was Mohammed, the Prophet.

The prophet said the following in Quran about the Battle of the Trench and his treatment of Qurayzah:

 God sent back the disbelievers along with their rage—they gained no benefit—and spared the believers from fighting. He is strong and mighty.

 He brought those People of the Book [Qurayza] who supported them down from their strongholds and put terror into their hearts. Some of them you [believers] killed and some you took captive.

He passed on to you their land, their homes, their possessions, and a land where you had not set foot. God has power over everything.

3. Mohammed in his Quran promises sensuous Gardens for martyrs dying in a military holy war.

Throughout the Quran, Mohammed promised the men in his fledgling Muslim community that if they die fighting for Allah and for him, Allah will reward them with a "virgin-rich" Garden.

In the following Quranic passage, the Arabic word "jihad” is used to mean trade in this life for the life to come after death.

 You who believe, shall I show you a bargain that will save you from painful punishment?

Have faith in God and His Messenger and struggle [jehad] for His cause with your possessions and your persons—that is better for you, if only you knew - He will forgive your sins, admit you into Gardens graced with flowing streams, into pleasant dwellings in the Gardens of Eternity. That is the supreme triumph.

These verses are found in the historical context of the Battle of Uhud (625), in which Mohammed lost 70 of his fighters. Thus, he must make the loss of life appear worth the sacrifice, so he framed their death a bargain. If his jihadists sacrificed their lives down here, they will be granted heaven where they would be served by beautiful virgins.

                      

4. Mohammed aggressively attacks Meccan caravans.

Mohammed’s attacked Meccan caravans six times in one year and sent out a punitive expedition three-days away against an Arab tribe that stole some Medinan grazing camels totaling seven raids in 622.

It must be emphatically stated that the Meccans never sent a force up to the doorstep of Medina in the first year since Hijrah—they did later on when they were fed up with Mohammed’s aggression. It is true that the Meccans gathered forces to protect their caravans, but Mohammed always confronted Meccan caravans more than 80 miles away from Medina. (Medina and Mecca are around 250 miles from each other, taking seven to eleven days of travel by foot, horse, or camel.)

Mohammed either sent out or personally led seventy-four expeditions, raids or wars from 622 to 632. They range from negotiations (only a few compared to the violent expeditions), to small assassination hit squads, to the conquest of Mecca with 10,000 jihadists, and to the confrontation of Byzantine Christians (who never showed up), with 30,000 holy warriors to Tabuk.

Thus, aggressive military violence sits at the heart of early Islam, in the Quran and Hadith.

5. Mohammed assassinates poets and poetesses.

These poets represent others in early Islam.          

March 624: Uqba bin Abu Muayt

Uqba mocked Mohammed in Mecca and wrote derogatory verses about him. He was captured during the Battle of Badr, and Mohammed ordered him to be executed. "But who will look after my children, O Mohammed?" Uqba cried with anguish. "Hell," retorted the prophet coldly. Then the sword of one of his followers cut through Uqba’s neck.

March 624: Asma bint Marwan

Asma was a poetess who belonged to a tribe of Medinan pagans, and whose husband was named Yazid b. Zayd. She composed a poem blaming the Medinan pagans for obeying a stranger (Mohammed) and for not taking the initiative to attack him by surprise. When the prophet heard what she had said, he asked, "Who will rid me of Marwan’s daughter?" A member of her husband’s tribe volunteered and crept into her house that night. She had five children, and the youngest was sleeping at her breast. The assassin gently removed the child, drew his sword, and plunged it into her, killing her in her sleep.

The following morning, the assassin defied anyone to take revenge. No one took him up on his challenge, not even her husband. In fact, Islam became powerful among his tribe. Previously, some members who had kept their conversion secret now declared openly, "because they saw the power of Islam," so conjectures an early Muslim source that reports the assassination.

Another poet, Kab bin al-Ashruf, had offended Mohammed by making derogatory verse about Muslim women. Mohammed exclaimed in front of his followers: "Who will kill this man who has hurt Allah and his prophet?" A young Muslim named Muhammad bin Maslama volunteered, but with the caveat that, in order to get close enough to Kab to assassinate him, he be allowed to lie to the poet. Mohammed agreed. Maslama traveled to Kab and began denigrating Islam and Mohammed, carrying on this way till his disaffection became convincing enough for Kab to take him into his confidences. Soon thereafter, Maslama appeared with another Muslim and, while Kab's guard was down, they assaulted and killed him. They ran to Mohammed with Kab's head, to which the latter cried: "Allahu akbar" or "God is great."

6. Mohammed in his Quran commands death or the cutting off of hands and feet for fighting and corrupting the land.

 Indeed, the punishment of those who fight Allah and His Messenger and who go around corrupting the land is to be killed, crucified, have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or to be banished from the land. That is a disgrace for them in this life, and in the life to come theirs will be a terrible punishment.

Except for those who repent before you overpower them. Know, then, that Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful.

According to the hadith, the historical context of these verses from Quran runs as follows and clarifies "fighting" and "corrupting" the land.

Some Arab tribesmen visited the prophet, but fell sick in the uncongenial climate of Medina, so he recommended an old folk belief: drinking the milk and urine of a camel. Subsequently, they reported to have recovered. However, for some reason, after departing from Medina, they killed some of Mohammed’s shepherds, turned apostate, and drove off with prophet’s camels.

This news reached him, and he ordered them to be hunted down and brought before him. He decreed that their hands and feet should be cut off, their eyes gouged out, and their bodies thrown upon stony ground until they died.

Thus, gruesome violence sits at the heart of early Islam—in Mohammed’s life and in the Quran. Islam is therefore a religion of violence.

7. Mohammed in his Quran commands that the hands of male or female thieves should be cut off.

Cut off the hands of thieves, whether they are male or female, as punishment for what they have done—a deterrent from God: God is almighty and wise.

But if anyone repents after his wrongdoing and makes amends, God will accept his repentance: God is most forgiving and merciful.

Aisha [favorite wife of Mohammed] reported the Prophet saying, "A thief’s hand should be cut off for only a quarter of a dinar and upwards."

A dinar, a word taken from the Roman denarius, was not a small sum, but not exorbitant either, yet one-fourth of a dinar merits the loss of a hand in Mohammed’s view.

Ibn Umar said the Prophet had a thief’s hand cut off for a shield worth three dirhams.

The shield was fairly expensive. The poor in Mohammed’s armies could not afford one.

Abu Huraira reported the Prophet as saying, "God curse a thief who steals an egg and has his hand cut off, and steals a rope and has his hand cut off!"

Some commentators are quick to say that an "egg" is really a helmet, and the rope is a ship’s rope, which is sizable and costly. However, the translation above is usually accepted, and this means that the penalty could be imposed for trivial thefts. But even if the more expensive items are in view here, they still do not measure up to a hand.

Thus, harsh and excessive punitive violence sits at the heart of early Islam—in Mohammed’s life and in the Quran. Islam is not a religion of peace.

8. Mohammed in his Quran permits husbands to beat their wives.

Husbands should take full care of their wives; with [the bounties] God has given to some more than others and with what they spend out of their own money. Righteous wives are devout and guard what God would have them guard in the husbands’ absence. If you fear high-handedness from your wives, remind them [of the teaching of God], then ignore them when you go to bed, then hit them. If they obey you, you have no right to act against them. God is most high and great. (Haleem)

Written in the historical context of the Battle of Uhud (March 625), in which Islam lost 70 holy warriors, this verse belongs to a larger collection of verses that outlines laws for the family, such as how to divide the inheritance and to how to oversee the assets of orphans.

Husbands may beat their unruly wives if the husbands "fear" highhandedness, quite apart from whether the wives are actually being highhanded. This puts the interpretation of the wives’ behavior squarely in the husbands’ judgment, and this swings the door to abuse wide open.

Hadith shows Mohammed hitting his girl-bride, Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, his right-hand Companion:

"He [Mohammed] struck me [Aisha] on the chest which caused me pain." Aisha.

Thus, domestic violence sits at the heart of early Islam—in the life of Mohammed and his Quran. Islam is therefore not the religion of peace.

9. Mohammed commands in his Quran that adulterers and adulteresses should receive a hundred lashes.

Strike the adulteress and the adulterer one hundred times. Do not let compassion for them keep you from carrying out God’s law—if you believe in God and the Last Day—and ensure that a group of believers witnesses the punishment.

This sura was written after winning a raid on a Arab tribe in December 627. Mouhammed brought his favorite and youngest wife, Aisha, also the daughter of Abu Bakr, his right-hand lieutenant in the campaign. They journeyed back to Medina. On their last day of journey, Aisha went for searching her necklace which she had lost in the darkness, just as the army was setting out early in the morning.  Meanwhile, the man leading her camel assumed she was in her curtained litter and led the camel along with the army. Returning, Aisha saw that she was left behind.

However, a handsome young Muslim named Safwan saw her and accompanied her back to Medina.  Muslims and Mohammed’s opposition all wagged their tongues at seeing the two entering the city together. Eventually, revelation came that Aisha was not guilty of any immorality.

This verse establishes some ground rules against adultery, of which flogging one hundred times is one of the rules. Amazingly, the verse exhorts the accusers and judges not to let compassion keep them from carrying out God’s law.

Moreover, early and reliable traditions depict Mohammed and his Muslims stoning adulterers and adulteresses, as recorded by the two most reliable collectors and editors of the hadith, Bukhari (AD 810-870) and Muslim (c. AD 817-875):

Umar said: God sent Mohammed with the truth and sent down the Book [Quran] to him, and the verse of stoning was included in what God most high sent down. God’s messenger [Mohammed] had people stoned to death, and we have done it also since his death. Stoning is a duty laid down in God’s Book for married men and women who commit fornication when proof is established, or if there is pregnancy, or a confession.

Perhaps the most gruesome hadith is the following. A woman came to the prophet and asked for purification (by being punished for her sin). He told her to go away and seek God’s forgiveness. She persisted four times and admitted that she was pregnant as a result of fornication. He told her to wait until she had given birth. Then he said that the Muslim community should wait for two years until she had weaned her child. When the day arrived for the child to take solid food, Mohammed handed the child over to the community and ordered the woman’s death by stoning.

And when he had given command over her and she was put in a hole up to her breast, he ordered the people to stone her. Khalid b. al-Walid came forward with a stone which he threw at her head, and when the blood spurted on his face he cursed her.

10. Mohammed nicknames his weapons.

Tabari (AD 839-923) is an early Muslim historian who is considered largely reliable by scholars today.

A list of Mohammed’s assets was prepared at the end of his life (horses, camels, milch sheep, and so on). List records the nicknames of Mohammed weapons. Mohammed nicknamed three swords that he took from the Jewish tribe Qaynuqa after he banished them from Medina in April 624: "Pluck Out," "Very Sharp," and "Death." Two other swords from elsewhere are named: "Sharp" and "That is wont to sink" (presumably into human flesh). He collected "Having the vertebrae of the back"  sword as booty after his victory at the Battle of Badr in March 624. He owned one sword called "Sharp" during Hijrah or Emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622.

Mohammed took three bows from the Qaynuqa tribe and named them as follows: "Most conducive to ease, or wide," "white," and "of nab wood" (species of tree from which bows are made).

Finally, even Mohammed himself had a nickname. After Tabari lists the positive ones, he matter-of-factly provides one that is not so positive: "The obliterator."

What the ten reasons mean for us today

Muslims believe that Quran is revealed. At that time Arabs used to prize valour, poetry and generosity. There is no reason to believe that Mohammed could not write the verses himself. He was a very clever person who used to recite verses to suit his requirement. It is also possible that he was a psychopath and used to hallucinate and compose the verses under hallucination. This is most possible situation as Mohammed used to have fits and his verses were related to his current issues.

No religious man, be it Buddha or be it Mahavira or be it Christ assassinated opponents, whipped adulterers, cut off the hands of thieves, or launched jihads. Buddha and Mahavira preached non-violence, non-violence to animals as well. Christ expressed love for God. All saints believed in love of God and love to humanity. Therefore, Buddhists, Jains, Christians and all fair-minded persons have the right to question whether the true God can reveal such verses to support Mohammed’s violence. Whether true God can be so partisan? Whether true God can ask His followers to practice wife bashing? Whether true God can be so cruel to advise His followers to cut off hands and feet of people who had committed crime, and biggest crime being not accepting Mohammed? Islam is definitely a religion of violence.

The result is open to see. Fourteen hundred years of Islamic journey is replete with violence. The virus of violence unleashed by Mohammed is still flourishing. Killing of two millions Armenian and other Christians in 1915 by Turks, killing of millions of Hindus and Sikhs in 1947 during formation of Pakistan, killing and brutalizing of three million Bengalis (Both Hindu & Muslim) by Pakistani army are only few examples. The Arabs never tires in asserting their goal of uprooting and throwing out every single Jew of Israel to sea. Arabs waged three wars with Israel but lost all three. But if they win any engagement ever, Jews will be massacred. Boko Haram terrorists of Nigeria, Talibans and Al-Quada of Afghanistan and Pakistan, ISIS of Iraq and Syria are burning examples of Islamic violence. The terrorists themselves do not prove anything; it is the wide supports these terrorists receive from common Muslims population make them dangerous.

Violence in Islam is obvious. Muslim fanatics are ruling world terrorism. Terrorism is also practiced by communists or Maoists with an aim of establishing just society. Terrorism is also a weapon for soldiers of an ethnic group for securing independence. All type of terrorism needs to be condemned. But terrorism as a religious philosophy needs to be denounced by one and all. Every practicing Muslim is a fanatic person. He can turn into a terrorist if there is an opportunity.

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