Editor, Times-Union: The Simple Koran points out that “Islam’s success comes primarily from its politics. In 13 years as a spiritual leader, Muhammad converted 150 people to his religion. When he became a political leader and warrior, Islam exploded, and Muhammad became King of Arabia in 10 years, (Simple Koran, p. vii).” A common tactic of Muslims and their apologists is to invoke Muhammad’s peaceful early period as a cover for his – and his successors’– later violent conquests up to the present day. The argument usually goes like this: “See, Islam is like Christianity; Christians are just as violent as Muslims; if this is true, then you don’t have to learn anything about the actual Islamic doctrine.” Bill Warner goes on to examine and compare the teachings on violence is the Islamic trilogy – the Koran, Sira, and Hadith – with the Bible. “The Islamic trilogy has 9.6 times as much wordage devoted to political violence as the Hebrew Bible... There is no admonition toward political violence in the New Testament... The political violence of the Koran is eternal and universal. The political violence of the Bible was for that particular historical time and place” (the conquest of Canaan). “Look at the examples of violent political threats against and/or murders of Salman Rushdie, Theo Van Gogh, Pim Fortune, Kurt Westergaard of the Muhammad cartoons, and many others.” The list goes on with Geert Wilders, producer of the 17 minute documentary Fitna and now Charlie Hebdo as the newest target of Islamic death threats and attacks. Having read and continuing to read the Koran, I agree with Bill Warner, “Islam is not analogous to Christianity and Judaism in any practical way. Beyond the one-god doctrine, Islam is unique unto itself” (The political violence of the Bible and the Koran by Bill Warner, Sept. 9, 2010, americanthinker.com). The moral equivalence argument is examined in the article “Christianity and Islam: A Side by Side Comparison” at the website religionofpeace.com The article begins, “However we do enjoy refuting nonsense, such as the claim the Muhammad and Jesus preached a morally equivalent message or that all religions are the same... Even though many Muslims regard terrorists who kill in the name of Allah as criminals they cannot deny that Muhammad also killed in the name of Allah.” The article continues to compare the two religions based on the actual teachings and examples of Muhammad and Jesus. “These two men (Muhammad and Jesus) could not have been more different in how they lived or what they taught others... As Wafa Sultan (who described herself as a Muslim who does not adhere to Islam) puts it, ‘The problem with Christians is they aren’t as good as Jesus. But thank God most Muslims are better than Muhammad.’ (The religionofpeace.com/pages/Jesus-Muhammad.htm) Yours, William M. Kelly Warsaw
