Are Judaism and Christianity As Violent As Islam?
Middle East Quarterly › Vol. 16 Nbr. 3, July 2009
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Summary
Ibrahim examines whether Hebriew violence in the ancient erea, and Christian violence in the medieval era, compare to or explain away the tenacity of Muslim violence in the modern era. Jews and Christians conveniently point to the Qur'an as evidence of Islam's violence, but they readily ignore their own scriptures and history.
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Extract
Are Judaism and Christianity As Violent As Islam?
"There is far more violence in the Bible than in the Qur'an; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam."1 So announces former nun and self-professed "freelance monotheist," Karen Armstrong. This quote sums up the single most influential argument currently serving to deflect the accusation that Islam is inherently violent and intolerant: All monotheistic religions, proponents of such an argument say, and not just Islam, have their fair share of violent and intolerant scriptures, as well as bloody histories. Thus, whenever Islam's sacred scriptures - the Qur'an first, followed by the reports on the words and deeds of Muhammad (the Hadith) - are highlighted as demonstrative of the religion's innate bellicosity, the immediate rejoinder is that other scriptures, specifically those of JudeoChristianity, are as riddled with violent passages.
More often than not, this argument puts an end to any discussion regarding whether violence and intolerance are unique to Islam. Instead, the default answer becomes that it is not Islam per se but rather Muslim grievance and frustration - ever exacerbated by economic, political, and social factors - that lead to violence. That this view comports perfectly with the secular West's "materialistic" epist...See the full content of this document
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