It seems obvious that there is both good and bad in Islam. The thing is, the bad has taken off in such a widespread violent way. To ignore it and say it’s not “real” Islam is to ignore the fact that there is rampant violence at least associated with it. My point is that there ARE people, and the number of them is frightening, that see Islam as a catalyst for such violence and they carry it out. Indeed these people think it is justified by the Koran. And like it or not, there are countless silent supporters.
Maybe it’s because there is no central authority in Islam to lay down the law, so to speak.
Maybe it’s because Islamic scholars will tell you that by praying somewhere they consider that land they just prayed in, even if it is not theirs, is now Islamic land. That kind of arrogance must be attractive to the overzealous.
Maybe it’s because Islam, in it’s simplicity makes it difficult for these people who carry out attacks to understand that it is NOT ok to kill people who believe differently than they do.
How can these people (the Islamists), and so many of them, all see that in Islam it is ok to kill innocents, because there ARE no innocents? You are either Muslim or khafir.
The truth is I don’t know, but I have ideas and I know something MUST be done. Look at Sufi Islam, there has never been, as far as I know, a Muslim terrorist from that particular sect. What are they doing different? It bears looking into.
How can people so easily blame the West and yet give horrid regimes like the madmen in charge of Iran and other gov’ts like those of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, etc a pass? These regimes are murderous at their core. Oh, I know, it will be said that they are not true Islamic regimes, but come on, that’s just not honest. It’s like Communists who say that the USSR was not true Communism. Enough excuses, if these people are hijacking Islam, then other Muslims need to stop playing the part of victim and say “No more!” I know people say Islamic groups are doing that, but I also know that the Koran says it is ok to lie to “infidels” if it is for the furtherance of Islam. Soo how are we supposed to trust Muslims? ( Are you refering to all of them? or a certain sect?)
I have great hope for the people of Iran, the young people there are tired of the Ayatollahs and their hardline Islamic rule. They want reform. Could this not be anything but good? No doubt Iran would remain Islamic, and the election of a new president who is a severe hardliner is a big setback for those Iranians who want to live their own lives. But I continue to pray for them, that they get their freedom.
Now it is no secret that I think Islam is a heresy much as Belloc so poigniantly showed, but if people wish to follow Islam, that is for them to decide. They must however, understand that some people will need more than verbal assurances of their disdain for the terrorists.
More later, I’m still gathering my thoughts on this.