I really don't have a dog in the fight but I am history teacher and I like to see history done right. I am currently trying to study the subject of Islam and Islamic terrorism. It is a very convoluted subject and the Qu'ran, their bible, can not be read literally. It is even worse than the REAL Bible. The reason I am so interested is that there are few clear answers out there. I'm having trouble making sense of it and I know most of you don't know what the hell your talking about either.
Most of the quotes we use are completely used wrong. Islam means "submission" as in submission to God. They believe in our God but not Jesus; kind of like Jews. The famous verse from Surah 9 of their bible "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." is actually written about the event where Muhammad captured the city of Mecca from a pagan tribe of Arabs who were trying to get rid of Muhammad and stamp out the islamic movement. The themes seems eerily similar to the start of Christianity and our Bible IMO but I have never seen anyone accuse them of lifting ideas. Also the line 9:29 "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and his apostle nor acknowledge the religion of truth of the people of the Book (the Jews and the Christians) until they pay the Jizya [tax on non-Muslims] with willing submission and feel themselves subdued." appears to also deal with destroying the arab pagan tribes, much like Joshua did, and how they dealt with Christians and Jews. It calls us "the people of the book." The standard muslim policy was to capture territory and tax all non muslims. It appears that after the Muslims captured most of the ME they stoped allowing people to convert because it hurt the revenue stream LOL. For historical reference: the spread of Islam began after the fall of the Roman Empire. The ME was broken up by various Arab tribes of all different religions and there were also many different tribes of Jews. Muhammad apparently conquered all the ME but he didn't slaughter Jews or Christians. They apparently had to pay a tax to keep their religion but were left alone.
Islam is for shore not a religion of peace, but I also am trying to find out where it all turns to mass killing. The Qu'ran, according to my study, does not advocate wiping out Jews and Christians but only the pagans and tribes allied with them. It appears there is the Qu'ran and then the Hadith. Kind of an old-new test. thing i guess. The Qu'ran preaches alot of violence but it is mostly restrained violence. It commands to treat Jews and Christians with respect even though they are ruled and taxed. The Hadith was not written by Muhammad and apparently is called into question for accuracy and truthfulness. I assume that this is where the terrorists must draw from. Also, there were many divisions along the line about Islma Sunni v. Shia and Sharia law etc. so I will see if this also plays into becoming more violent and less tolerant.
I am going to study this more and I hope someone will help me because, frankly, i am curious. Most of the stuff I see written is malarkey and bull crap is a nickel a ton.