Posted on 12/12/2011 5:16:37 AM PST by IbJensen
I’m pretty sure that public opinion in the UK and throughout Europe is strongly against Muslim extremism and even against Islam in general. Unfortunately, bringing it up seems to get you arrested, sued, etc. under various “hate crime” laws that infest Europe.
Putting Muslim men and their multiple wives up in million plus pound council houses and paying each them for not working is pretty silly, too.
It took less trouble than I thought. Wikipedia covers it fairly well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy_in_Islam#Punishment_for_apostasy There’s apparently no specific punishment prescribed in the Koran itself, and in at least a couple of instances Mohammed himself didn’t punish apostates with death. Also one part of the Koran explicitly says, “Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error...” http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/quran/verses/002-qmt.php#002.256 (Would that this praiseworthy dictum had always been abided by.)
Yet there are also, in my opinion, contradictory passages and acts, and one Hadith passage says “The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshiped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims.”
So we see that there are different interpretations. Some support the death penalty, some don’t. There are Muslims of considerable importance both in the present and past — we might even count Mohammed himself among them (in at least the mentioned instances) — who rejected the claim that Islam requires the death penalty for all apostates. That’s good evidence from the Muslim side itself that can be used against those who support it.
I’ve now read the entire Wikipedia article. The good news is that it’s true that some prominent Muslims have opposed the death penalty for those who relinquish Islam, and there appears to be no explicit command in the Koran itself that it be applied. The bad news is that this penalty represents the established view, and is generally supported by Muslims in most Muslim countries. It’s a sad story, and a sign of just how barbarous the prevailing views are. “Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error...” Yeah, sure — words, empty words.
You have to look very carefully at the sources and question the definitions.
If it was said in English, it’s meaningless. It only has meaning if said in Arabic. MEMRI, which translates Arabic articles is a good source.
Their definition of “peace” is not the same as ours (just like the Communists). Same for “truce” or “cease fire.”
As for “compulsion” IIRC, one fellow said that a choice between death and Islam is not compulsion - they had a choice.
> As for compulsion IIRC, one fellow said that a choice between death and Islam is not compulsion - they had a choice.<
Perverse but interesting. My question to him would be, then what was the point of saying, ‘Let there be no compulsion...’? How would Muslims have acted differently if he’d said, ‘Let there be compulsion...’? :-)
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