If Islamic doctrines are inherently violent, why isn’t every single Muslim in the world—that is, approximately 1.5 billion people—violent?
This question represents one of Islam’s most popular apologetics: because not all Muslims are violent, intolerant, or sponsor terrorism—a true statement—Islam itself must be innocent.
Let’s briefly consider this logic.
First, there are, in fact, many people who identify themselves as Muslims but who do not necessarily adhere to or support Islam’s more supremacist and intolerant doctrines. If you have lived in a Muslim majority nation, you would know this to be true.
The all-important question is, what do such Muslims represent? Are they following a legitimate, “moderate,” version of Islam—one more authentic than the terrorist variety? That’s what the media, politicians, and academics would have us believe.
The best way to answer this question is by analogy:
German Nazism is a widely condemned ideology, due to its (“Aryan/white”) supremacist element. But the fact is, many Germans who were members or supporters of the Nazi party were “good” people. They did not believe in persecuting Jews and other “non-Aryans,” and some even helped such “undesirables” escape, at no small risk to themselves.
Consider Oskar Schindler. An ethnic German and formal member of the Nazi party, he went to great lengths to save Jews from slaughter.
How do we reconcile his good deed with his bad creed?
Was Schindler practicing a legitimate, “moderate,” form of Nazism? Or is it more reasonable to say that he subscribed to some tenets of National Socialism, but when it came to killing fellow humans in the name of racial supremacy, his humanity rose above his allegiance to Nazism?… Keep reading
jihad3tracker says
Thank you, Mr. Ibrahim, for using supremacist Nazism as an equivalent to Islam’s intent.
For most Americans under age 70, WW II might as well have happened a thousand years ago, but I suspect that we still have a good idea of how pathological Hitler was.
And, because this post touches on a version of the current question “If Islam is violent, why are so many Muslims peaceful?” let me HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS EXCELLENT VIDEO BY DAVID WOOD:
Go to www (dot) answeringmuslims (dot) com —- Find “The Jihad Triangle” . . . About 5 minutes of lucid logical factual explanation.
David has many other vids on Youtube, all with his dark humor and expert knowledge of the Qur’an, Hadith, Sira.
Angemon says
The local thought police will react badly to this.
Angemon says
Ugh, accidentally posted too soon. Might as well post the whole thing:
The local I-know-everything-better-than-you thought police will react badly to this.
Coincidentally, I saw this being discussed elsewhere recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCeh9tutJOU
Another trigger for the local I-know-everything-better-than-you thought police.
Indeed. If only policies were decided based on facts alone…
epistemology says
Nazislam is today the worst totalitarian ideology on this planet. Nazism and Islam the same totalitarianism, anti-Semitism, supremacism and the aspiration to rule the whole world and to impose some barbarian law
jihad3tracker says
A SUPERB word combo — “Nazislam”. I hereby officially nominate it for 2015’s Best Counter Jihad Neologism So Far.
.
epistemology says
Thank you, but I didn’t invent it. Great to see people passing it on
mccode says
The biggest difference between Nazism and Islam?
Islam developed a better propaganda machine.
nicu says
it’s a fact that Muslims fought for the Nazis !
No difference – BUT : Muslims get away with everything in 21st century !
Jake Neuman says
When you belong to an evil ideology you are as evil as that ideology whether you personally commit acts of evil in the name of the ideology or not. Indeed you are as evil if not more eviler then the people committing these horrendous acts of evil. THEY ALSO SERVE WHO ONLY STAND AND WATCH.
http://www.godofmoralperfection.com
vlparker says
Gotta agree with you. Mr. Ibrahim states that many people who identify themselves as muslim actually know very little about the supremacist ideology of islam and know only the basics. In the past that may have been a legitimate excuse, but with the worldwide jihad going on full scale it is hard to believe these people are still unaware. It’s time for them to face the realities about Mohammad and islam and make a choice. No more excuses.
Many muslims may be non-violent themselves but that doesn’t mean they don’t support the jihadists. Muslims come out in droves to protest cartoons of Mohammad but when it’s time to show up for a anti-jihad rally your lucky to get 25 muslims. This tells me the peaceful, moderate muslim is mostly a myth.
John C. Barile says
We know, of course, that racism and “Aryan” racial supremacy weren’t the only repugnant features of Nazism, but also Nazism’s militarism, inhumane utilitarianism, and its one-party totalitarianism and its enduring hostility to democratic pluralism. Its idolatry of the state and violent intolerance of every competing creed are recognizably similar to the imperatives of Islamism, of political Islam.
celticwarriorcanada says
Great analogy ! I pray that more people will read your articles and be able to see through the deception of these Moderate , Extremest categories, created by the multicultural loving politicians .
mortimer says
A ‘moderate’ Nazi wanted to destroy the Jews, Gypsies and Slavs by sterilization.
A ‘radical’ Nazi wanted to destroy the Jews, Gypsies and Slavs right NOW!
A ‘moderate’ Muslim wants to destroy the Jews, the Christians and the Hindus by sterilizing their cultures.
A ‘radical’ Muslim wants to destroy the Jews, the Christians and the Hindus right NOW!
Jay Boo says
Muslims immigrants are flocking to Germany as the absolute most favorite EU destination like homing pigeons coming home to roost.
Who would have thought?
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
like homing pigeons coming home to roost.
Don’t overlook that Germany is the wealthiest nation in EUrabia. Especially now that Sweden is pretty much tapped out.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
A fine analysis that goes to the heart of the matter. A checklist of facts to account for based on this essay should be issued to every news entertainer in the world. Then civilization would have a better chance of survival, even though most news entertainers would pretend the checklist didn’t exist, a few would take it up. And that would cause an uproar in the political discourse.
PigManFan says
“Moderate” is the wrong word. The better word is “inconsistent.” Consistently acquiring all your knowledge via faith is incompatible with life. Christians, Jews, & your neighbor the Muslim-American live more consistently by reason than by faith and are inconsistently religious (i.e. “in name only”) a tiny percentage of their time and in a tiny percentage of their day to day life.
Abdul Ameer says
In addition to the analogy with Nazism, we can also look to other religions. Just as many, if not most, Christians and Jews, do not strictly follow the precepts of their religion, so many, if not most, Moslems do not follow the precepts of Islam. The difference is in the precepts. When Christians and Jews deviate from their religious precepts, they commit bad deeds. When Moslems deviate from their Islamic precepts, they can be good people doing good deeds.
voegelinian says
“When Moslems deviate from their Islamic precepts, they can be good people doing good deeds.”
Well, if that’s all we thought about the matter, we might be susceptible to that glibly starry-eyed conclusion. However, Islamic taqiyya and its multiple permutations renders the playing field paradoxical. Note especially, the bolded permutations of Islamic deceit below.
Taqiyya (Shia) or Muda’rat (Sunni): tactical deceit for the purposes of spreading Islam.
Kitman: deceit by omission.
Tawriya: deceit by ambiguity.
Taysir: deceit through facilitation (not having to observe all the tenets of Sharia).
Darura: deceit through necessity (to engage in something “Haram” or forbidden).
And my favorite:
Muruna: the temporary suspension of Sharia in order that Muslim immigrants appear “moderate.”
The problem of Taysir, Darura, and Muruna — coupled with the deadly dangers Muslim fanatics pose for us — render the simplistic optimism of Abdul Ameer’s comment which I quoted utterly useless for our #1 priority, the safety of our societies.
Mansur Rastani says
Muslims no matter where they live, are of two groups. First the ones that have become Muslims by reading the Quran and decided to lead their lives based on its instructions. These groups of people actually behave according to what has been asked from them, which include all the those that are wrongly known as extreme or radical Islamic group but in fact they are the only Islamic people.
Second group are the ones that have not reviewed the Quran in their lives, but they just got to become Muslim through inheritance or marriage, and as a result do not have exact idea what has been asked them to do, they just heard the good things from their parents about Islam as their parents have heard the same things from their parents. These group are wrongly known as moderate Muslim but in fact they are the ones who are lost in their lives and cannot be label as Muslims since they follow a grey and artificial pattern of faith, which is nonexistent.
Dave J says
Yeah baby, got to be consistent with the teachings, kill an infidel every day or what’s your excuse?
“I was busy praying” ? Dude what about the other 1/6th of the day?
Now get back out there and kill one for your Allah.
Sheesh, kids today.
Ben says
Most Nazi’s didn’t personally kill Jews, nevertheless the holocaust was, clearly and proven, an important and horrific element in Nazi ideology. Neither did they all fight personally in WW II, but of course they did pay their party contibution so they supported the Nazi wars for world domination.
Likewise, most muslims don’t partake in violent jihad personally, they let the socalled radicals do the dirty work and look the other way, paying generous amounts of money for the good purpose, the spread of islam and subjugation of the world to the sharia.
Because clearly and proven for almost 1400 years now, in theory and practice, the criminal jihad is an eternal duty for muslims, as the mother of all wars, and an essential element in islam as a religion of war and oppression..