FACT & FICTION: MUHAMMAD WAS A TERRORIST?
Juan Cole, History News Network, 10/7/02
http://hnn.us/articles/1018.html
Jerry Falwell, the fundamentalist televangelist, has said, "I think
Muhammad was a terrorist." On CBS's Sixty Minutes, the reverend contrasted
Moses and Jesus as men of peace with Muhammad, whom he saw as warlike. News
of the slur ricocheted through the Muslim world, and crowds rioted in
Kashmir, raising questions as to whether Falwell himself is exactly
promoting love and peace.
Falwell's comments are problematic for many reasons, not least with regard
to historical accuracy. Muhammad forbade murder and the killing of
innocents, and never used terror as a weapon in his struggles against his
aggressive pagan enemies. Far from glorifying aggression, the Koran says
(2:190), "Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but
do not begin hostilities, for God does not love aggressors"
As for the contrast to other prophets, it is not as clear as Falwell
suggests. Biblical narratives depict Moses as a murderer and leader of a
slave revolt, and while he was a liberator, it is difficult to see him as
a
pacifist. The Romans crucified Jesus of Nazareth because they saw him as
a
subversive, and historians know too little about his life to be sure they
were entirely wrong. Many of the patriarchs and prophets celebrated by
Christian fundamentalists were arguably terrorists or even genocidal,
including Joshua?
In contrast, the Romantic sage and writer Thomas Carlyle (d. 1881) spoke
for moderns in insisting on Muhammad's sincerity. (Another Western black
legend about Muhammad was that he knew he was a charlatan). Of the prophet
he wrote, "A false man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot build a
brick house!" He went on to observe of Islam, "To the Arab Nation it was
as
a birth from darkness into light; Arabia first became alive by means of
it?
The admiration of Muhammad's achievements visible in this modern writer
marks a turning point in Western culture, away from narrow religious
bigotries and toward a humanist ability to appreciate the best in world
civilization. Falwell in contrast is promoting religious hatred for his
own
purposes. The rest of us should resist his scary agenda by learning more
about Muhammad and Islamic civilization, and gaining a secular appreciation
of their contributions to our world.
---==================================== Amadou O. Wane UNIX & Database Administrator Certified Info. Security Professional Office:(727)897-4982 Pager: (727) 402-7387 http://www.intechs.net ====================================
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