Islam and peace? Islam a religion of peace?

Worldwide, there are many cultures of "righteous" rage – cultures where rage and hatred are incited, encouraged, fostered as righteous. I say, that must stop.

Today's idea:

I keep hearing, Islam is a religion of peace, Islam is peace.

So I say: any Muslim who is not protesting 10,000 times as much against every act of Muslim violence as they have protested against a Danish cartoon that links the Muslim religion with violence is committing an injustice. Anyone who does not protest far more against violence than against a cartoon is doing damage to the Muslim religion, and much more vital, is doing something very wrong. Islam and peace? I need evidence.

Many Muslims say: the cartoon is an outrage. One must make no image of the prophet. It defiles the religion. The Muslim religion is a religion of peace.

I answer:

No image of the prophet? All the world can easily see one very powerful Muslim image of the prophet – in the words and deeds of those Muslims who call for rage, hatred, violence. You slaughter fellow Muslims. You murder aid workers. You have created the very image portrayed in the Danish cartoon. Islam a religion of peace? Where? Islam and peace? Where?

I say:

You prefer to try to kill the messenger, instead of heeding the message and doing what is required: to change.

The cartoon, I have been told, may actually tell two truths. One: violence is being done in the name of the prophet Mohammed. Two: when the bomb goes off, it may not only kill those around him, it may also kill him.

I agree:

I see that the branch of the Muslim religion which is supporting violence will self-destruct. Those with eyes to see will leave it.

You demand that others change, give in to your rules. It is time for you to change.

****

I also say:

Were your prophet here, he would count up every destructive act and hold you accountable. He would throw you out, every single one of you who does such violence or who condones it - just as Jesus threw the money-changers out of the temple for defiling it.

In case I have not been absolutely clear:

Many Muslims worldwide have protested against the Danish cartoon which shows the prophet Mohammed turned into a ticking time bomb.

At the same time, Muslims are NOT protesting worldwide in horror and outrage against massive Muslim violence - violence often turned against other Muslims. In Iraq, there is a reign of terror in some areas, with some Muslims murdering anyone from another branch of the Muslim religion. A few days ago (today is Feb. 25, 2006), to give just one instance, one of the holiest mosques in Iraq, from one branch of the Muslim religion, was bombed. It was done by Muslims to Muslims. In retaliation, Muslims have violated hundreds of mosques from the other main branch, and murdered scores of fellow Muslims.

Some people wonder: is Iraq descending into a civil war?

I say:

The Muslim religion is being used to commit atrocities – exactly the message of the cartoon. Islam and peace? Peace as part of the central beliefs of Islam? Where?

I also say:

If the Muslim god exists, he will never permit any Muslim to enter into heaven who has committed any such act of violence. No person involved will be welcome near him. Further, he will bar from heaven anyone who has not raised their voice in protest. He will not allow near himself any person who remains silent.

If the Muslim god exists, he will not send these people to hell. To commit such acts, they are already in their own personal hell, a hell made of rage and of the delusion that they are doing right when they are committing horrors.

****

Where are the imams, I ask. Where are the Muslim religious leaders worldwide, particularly those who denounced the cartoon? More than that, where are all the Muslims who protested around the world against the Danish cartoon? Muslims even burned an embassy, supposedly because of the cartoon.

Why is there no huge outpouring of outrage against Muslim atrocities? Why is any single Muslim at home instead of out in the streets demanding that this violence cease? Islam and peace: actions speak louder than words. Islam and peace? Where are the actions?

Of course, we know where the imams are. Some are speaking out against the violence. Others are the main culprits, whipping up hatred and rage.

****

So why the outrage over the cartoons?

Once again I say:

The cartoon accurately portrays an aspect of the Muslim religion, as it is currently practiced. Some Muslims, in the name of their religion, support and practice violence and destructiveness, cruelty and horror, devastation and massacres.

Then why the protests against the cartoon?

Many people do not want to see themselves, to see what they are doing. This cartoon reveals them to themselves.

But instead of acknowledging the evil that is being done, the evil that many are doing, they do the easiest thing. They attempt to silence it.

Perhaps, deep down, they are ashamed.

Or perhaps - more likely for many Muslims - many of those who claim to be outraged at the cartoon know that it is easy to frighten others, to threaten violence and do violence. Almost certainly, they have learned to cut themselves off from feeling empathy for those they destroy – as the Hutus cut themselves off from feeling for the Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide; as the Nazis cut themselves off from the millions (Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, etc.) they murdered; as centuries ago, the Christian crusaders cut themselves off from feeling for the Muslims they massacred. Islam and peace? There is much more Islamic terrorism.

****

To live peacefully is much harder than to make war. To acknowledge the wrong one has done is also much harder. One may deny, even to oneself, that wrong. One may rage against those who tell the truth.

I say:

It is easy to rage against those who tell the truth. It is easy to do violence in the name of one's god, one's beliefs. That has been done over and over, worldwide.

I say:

This has to stop. Immediately.

I call on every Muslim to stop the violence. If any of you, for even a fraction of a moment, was upset by the Danish cartoon, I ask you: look at what is being done in the name of the Muslim religion. It is a violation of anything to do with human decency.

Islam and peace? Islam a religion of peace?

I say:

If the prophet Mohammed were here, his voice would be raised against the violence.

I say:

If any prophet is here, their voice is raised against the horror.

You do not support the Muslim religion, or any decent religion, or any adequate ethical standard, if you in any way support the violence, including if you are silent against it.

I ask you:

Raise your voice against it. Raise your voice in support of caring, decency, every good humane value.

One recent prophet of the Western world has been John Lennon. His most powerful message: Give peace a chance.

I say:

If the Muslim prophet had been alive in John Lennon's time, he would have been with John Lennon.

John Lennon's words:

All we are saying
is
Give peace a chance

Were he alive in these days, the Muslim prophet would say that too.

It may have been Confucius who said: clean the mountain of dirt off your doorstep before complaining about the speck of dust in your neighbor's house.

That is what I say to every Muslim upset over the cartoon:

Get rid of the mountain of poisonous rage, toxic hatred, evil violence you are doing, and that is being done in the name of the Muslim religion.

****

I say once again:

You are demanding that others change. We may not speak out. We are to remain silent or be threatened by death.

I say:

It is time for you to recognize the horrors you are committing and change. Ask for forgiveness for the devastation you have helped create. Ask for grace, for the hatred and rage to leave your hearts.

There is a Christian hymn, one of the best-known hymns of all time, written by someone who spent years as a slave-trader:

Amazing Grace
how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost
but now am found
was blind
but now I see

The slave-trader changed his ways. He is now remembered for those powerful words written after his life-changing experience of grace. I mention him to show that change is possible.

I say:

The violence must stop. And condoning the violence must stop. Of course not everyone can be reached. But the message must go out, over and over, loudly and clearly.

Give peace a chance.

****

This is not my usual tone. But they say: fight fire with fire. The fire I am fighting is the fire of the self-proclaimed righteous who incite violence. My fire: I want to create a firewall of truth, a firewall powerful enough to stop that violence from spreading, and just plain to stop that violence.

NOW WITH UPDATE ON  WHAT IS ISLAM

signed,

ThisIsNotMe
February 25, 2006

****

and then
signed,

Elsa
August 27 , 2006

You may note that I am not staying with signing

ThisIsNotMe

I am used to signing my own name.
Click here to read on -
first, about why I almost didnt sign my name and why I finally did,
and second, to add your name to a short petition - if you want to and are willing to.
MORE

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006, 2009 - all rights reserved

Click here for a posting on Islam Religion of Peace:
The big question:
What is Islamic peace?

Click here to go from Islam and Peace
to the revelation that there is
no Golden Rule in the Muslim Religion;
absolutely no Golden Rule in Islamic Religions;
a clear lack of a Golden Rule in Islam.

The Golden Rule:
love your neighbor as yourself;
do unto others as you would have them do onto you.