Is Islam a Religion of Peace?
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Islamic faith was nevertheless hailed “a religion of peace” by several individuals. Since the birth of Islam in 7th century A.D., the influence of the Abrahamic religion has spread throughout the world with positive and negative impacts. Recent religiously-motivated terrorist activity done by adherents to Islam has left many people wondering about the true character of this supposed religion of peace.
The Qur’an is the fundamental religious text for the Islamic religion, known to Muslims as a revelation of God that was recorded by the prophet Muhammad. The Qur’an is broken up into chapters called Surahs and then broken further into verses, similar to the Bible. Like many religious texts, the content of the Qur’an is subject to massive interpretation.
The most commonly disputed verses are those that (arguably) command peace and those that (arguably) command violence. This verse from the Qur’an is commonly interpreted as violent: “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled” (Qur’an 9:29). It appears from this text that Muslims are commanded to fight people who do not believe in Allah and deny Islamic law, and also fight until they pay the jizyah or tax.
This verse from the Qur’an is commonly interpreted as peaceful: “And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive, [saying], "We feed you only for the countenance of Allah. We wish not from you reward or gratitude” (Qur’an 76:8-9). This is clearly a merciful verse that commands to give to less fortunate people.
Apart from the Qur’an are collections of Muhammad’s writing. The Hadith, or sayings of Muhammad, second to the Qur’an in authority, provides a legal system and explains the Qur’an in further detail.
The Sunnah, or habitual practice, which is found in the Hadith, recounts the social customs and laws of the Muslim community and is typically the reference for shariah law.
Scars on the Islamic religion include the Armenian Genocide, the organized deportation, and slaughter of ethnic Armenians living within the Ottoman Empire around the turn of the century. The extermination program was launched by a radical Turkish faction known as the “Young Turks” that took over the government in 1908 and in 1915 began the ethnic-cleansing program that claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenians along with 450,000–750,000 Greeks and 150,000–300,000 Assyrians.
In modern times, radical Islamic terrorism is rampant predominantly in Africa and the Middle East, but its effects are felt across the globe. Modern Islamic violence is fond of unconventional warfare and is typically done by factions with unrecognized borders rather than whole countries. These terrorists are motivated by imperialistic nations, societal pressure, economic reasons, and religious views.
A study on the world’s Muslims done by the Pew Research Center showed that the majority of Muslim nations do not feel that suicide bombings are appropriate, but the majority do support some form of Shariah, which tends to advocate radical laws against women and contains gruesome punishments for lawbreakers.
Examining all of this information makes me think that the assertion of Islam being a peaceful religion is worth re-examining. In my educated opinion, the doctrine prescribed in Islamic texts is relative of the nature of Muslims: about half are peaceful, and the other half is not so peaceful. Overall, I would say that Islam does not appear to be a “religion of peace”, but if the reality happens to be that it is, then the margin might be a small one.
