The Kingdom Come

Now that it has passed I thought I'd make a few comments on the Qur'an Burning episode (see background here). First, let me say I have read the Qur'an about 4 times through and have extensively studied its background, which is what I wish more people would do before they go around claiming "Islam is a religion of peace". Next, let me say immediately that although I didn't agree with Terry Jones' plan to burn Qur'ans, I think the entire episode has brought out some very useful points of discussion; for Muslims, Christians and all.

Burning Qur'ans just because seemed pointless but if I'd been allowed to interview both Terry Jones and leading Imams (Muslim clergy) I would have asked the following questions.

TO TERRY JONES:

1. Have you ever read a Qur'an? -- Even Paul was familiar with pagan religions of his day and used them against those who held to them. (see Acts 17)
2. Were all of the Qur'ans you intended to burn in English?

TO MUSLIMS:

1. If Jones burns these Qur'ans will he defeat Islam?
2. I thought Qur'ans written in English aren't actually considered legitimate? (since whenever I debate a Muslim they always claim I can't understand the Qur'an unless I read it in Arabic)

After Jones' announced the plan, to me it was less and less about what he was going to do and more and more about the potential Muslim reaction. Why the violence? For example, the reason we have Shiite and Sunni Muslims in part is specifically due to the burning of Qur'ans at the request of the 3rd Muslim Caliph (like pope of Islam), Uthman ibn Affan. Eventually, Uthman was assassinated by Shiite Muslims who overthrew him and put in place a Shiite Caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib. After Ali, there really has been no real Caliph in Islam. (source)

My point is, the Qur'an's early years saw mass burning of it, by Muslims themselves. Secondly, Muslims seem to have a book worship mentality whereas Christians may respect the Bible as the Word of God, but at the same time they don't worship the Bible. This is the difference between how Muslims and Christians look at their sacred texts. Both Christians and Muslims have had a practice of memorizing large sections to the entire text of their sacred books. Why then such a reaction if someone threatens to burn mere paper and ink? I believe the Muslims ended up giving Jones more power than he had and now have only created a situation where people seeking attention will threaten to burn Qur'ans.

Now, directly to the Muslim reaction. By reacting so violently, the Muslims only validated Jones' contention that Islam is NOT a "religion of peace". However, this fact that Islam is not a peaceful religion has already manifested if not by the outright terrorism by Muslims (that not even so-called "moderate" Muslims seem to oppose loudly), the violent nature of Islam manifests itself in how Muslims have reacted to issues like Muhammad cartoons of all things (source). Muslims simply could have said, no depiction of Muhammad can be true, since no known picture of him exists. Instead Islam responded in violence.

After all this, it becomes more of a commentary of how different religions respond when hostility comes to them or their sacred texts. I wonder what would happen if someone as a case study, gathered Christian Bibles, Jewish Torahs, Muslim Qur'ans, Book of Mormons, JW New World Translations, the Hindu Vedas/Bhagavad Gita, the Buddhist Taisho Daizokyo and just about any other major religion's sacred text and burned them simultaneously; which group would respond most violently?

Obviously, I'm not actually advocating someone doing this, it is merely an academic question. Muslims need to examine how they can claim to be a "religion of peace" when their text, their history and even present actions say just the opposite. This is all despite whether Christianity, Islam or any other religion is "true". It is simply reality that Islam is a violent religion that provokes and encourages violence in its adherents.