I didn't say I agreed with what he said, I just found it interesting his view point (see my last post to the transcript).
I haven't read the Koran, but from what I've seen of Islam, it is NOT a religion of peace, but rather a religion of pieces and shrapnel.
I notice some people here haven't read the Koran. Well let me hight some excerpts for you...
Quotes from their unholy Koran
http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/
[9.3] announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve.
[9.14] Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people.
[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah,
[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!
[9.33] He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions
[5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends
[2.191] And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.
[2.193] And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah
[4.74] Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world's life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or be he victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward.
[8.39] And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah
[9.123] O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness
[4.89] They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.
[4.91] You will find others who desire that they should be safe from you and secure from their own people; as often as they are sent back to the mischief they get thrown into it headlong; therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given.you a clear authority.
And it was long after when as a young man I began to meet Hindus and Sikhs in the United Kingdom at university and became friends with them that I realized that they in turn looked on us Muslims in exactly the same way.
What part of the following Koran verse does Akbar Ahmed not understand.
"5.51": O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.