When Islam was presented to me, I was presented a religion of worshiping One God alone and as a practical solution for mankind's social ills. It was a road map for improving our lives. I was told about an Islam that is about togetherness, sharing, caring and strengthening familial bonds. An Islam that was about creating communities, doing business together and uplifting people.

I was told about an Islam that promoted the equality of all men and no person is superior to the other except by his righteousness. An Islam that eschewed racism. I was told about an Islam that was about kindness to neighbors regardless of religion. Islam and Muslims were known as a force for good in the community and a sign that things are going to be cleaned up. This is the Islam that I know and love. An Islam of hope, kindness, concern and mercy. An Islam that promoted a mosque that affected the community around it in a positive manner and met the needs of a broken people. An Islam that was part of the community and not apart from it. An Islam that provided a place for outsiders.

A Muslim was a symbol in many neighborhoods - American neighborhoods- of standing for justice and making improvement in one's life. A Muslim man was the personification of manly pride and responsibility to his family and his community. I was told of an Islam that spoke of God's infinite love and mercy for His creation. I was told of an Islam that inspired people to make positive changes to their lives. I was told of an Islam that offers to serve others and offered solid solutions to problems. All of these things were attractive and this is the Islam that people were flocking to in the 1990’s. This is the Islam I accepted.

Now all of those things are a "waste of time." This new "Islam" is about hate, killing, rape and murder. I am told by a person visiting my blog that I should be praising the daily carnage that I see on the news and to believe in wacky conspiracy theories and blood libel. I have been accused several times - by my co-religionists - of being a spy and a closet Zionist.

Now I am told that I never understood Islam and that the things I mentioned above represent an "American" Islam and hence bidah (rejected innovation) and that I should accept this "real Islam." I see people trying to convince me that Islam is actually not about the things I mention above. No! Islam is about hate. You don't pray for people, you pray against them and invoke the worst curses you can think of upon them. You don't talk about God's Love, you constantly talk about His wrath. We should be fire breathing dragons that hate and invoke curses upon people.

I am now told by these people that there is no family togetherness or community building in Islam. Oh and by the way, that thing about all human beings being equal except by righteousness? Cancel that! The Arabs are superior to all men. They now tell me that Islam is firmly grounded in a medieval social order where Arabs are on top and I (as a black) am on the bottom.

I just don't recognize this "Islam" of hate, murder, rape, stealing, explosions and chaos and I hate this "Islam" passionately. This is why I am so vehemenently opposed to this "Islam" of Bin Laden and the other creeps. You see, I was told about a very different Islam than the one that we see on TV and hear about on the media and even the one that some Muslims try to promote. This new "Islam" that we see now would have been very strange in the 1990s to those of us who were accepting Islam. This is just not the Islam we were sold. And we would have never 'bought' it in the first place.

I find it very strange that I would be criticized by any Muslim for my rejection of throat cutting, rape and murder as being a part of Islam as if it were a pillar of some sort. I am not familiar with this Islam that calls for a lack of love and human emotion, but now this is what we hear. Slavish dogmatism, slogans and a culture of death.

Because of the lack of emphasis on self improvement (denounced as alien to Islam) and cloaking failure as "religious commitment" a Muslim is now one that is mired in many of the social ills that the rest of community suffers from. Because of this new "Islam," Islam has begun to cease to be a force for positive change in the inner cities.

It has gotten so bad that a person will say to a Muslim: "you are too rational to be a Muslim" or they think that he is about to leave Islam or it will be said to him "you are not like them." I am finding more Muslims from the 90's that are even beginning to think a "bait and switch" has been pulled on them and are confused because of the mass chaos set off by the Bin Ladens of the world.

This is why I reject this "Islam" of carnage, irrationality, social disorder and murder. I accepted an Islam of problem solving, love and rational thought. That is an Islam that people can accept and live with.

That is Islam.

Tariq, thanks for the effort to pose questions, if as yet unable to find answers. The hammering you will no doubt get from the usual suspects at this blog cannot obscure your honesty. Hang in there. Emjayinc

Like Tariq, the Islam I accepted 12 years ago was one of peace, rationality, love of mankind, a clear and simple way to live in the manner God intended for mankind.
I am appalled at the carnage that is being done in the name of Islam. The new doctrine of hate, of oppression is not the religion I accepted. Had it been presented to me in this manner, I would have fled screaming. Had I seen this in the Qur'an, I would have burnt the book rather than embraced it. Had I received the answers presented by the religio-politically motivated monsters that have hijacked the religion of God, I would have stopped asking questions and found another spiritual home.
But when I read the Qur'an, I did not find the evil that I had been told by non-Muslims that was there. I did not agree with the popular idea that the holy scripture of Islam was a blood-filled book. When I asked for explanations for passages that I had difficulty with, I was given answers and explanations that fit my modern world view of civil rights, gender equality, the striving toward world peace. And it did not include the idea that you could beat your wife, kill non-Muslims, and dominate others by armed force and terror. Violence was never something that any imam I had personal contact with ever condoned.
I work on a daily basis to present an accurate picture of Islam. In many cases, I am the only Muslim that my co-workers have contact with. It is my duty to God, to my religion, to myself, to my Muslim brothers and sisters and to my non-Muslim brothers and sisters to conduct myself in a manner pleasing to God. It is my duty to all of the above to educate those I come into contact about the truth of Islam rather than the distorted image the media feeds them, and the lies that are propagated by those who would claim to know the will of God but teach and practice only evil.
I thank Tariq for his article. I thank the many, MANY Muslim voices that speak out against the misuse of our religion, and I thank the increasingly many voices of non-Muslims who stand with us rather than against us as they learn the truth.
May Allah have mercy on us all, and may Love polish our Hearts.

Beautifully written, DefSufi.

I'm in the process of learning about the moderate Islam you describe, and truly heartened that terrorist Islam is not the whole story. God bless all moderate Muslims and enable the terrorists to see their error.

The reality is that all that both the compassionate and the hateful are equally accepted within the doctrines. There is scriptural precedence validating contradictory points of view. As with all theologies, they are written by imperfect men. The greatest faith should be in yourself of which you will never be betrayed.

This is a good testimony, Tariq. Same with yours, DefSufi. We have to understand, however, that we live in times of extreme. However hateful suicide bombings are, they pale in comparison to those bombings done in the open--jets, congressional approval, a nation of moral sloth unable to do anything with its indignation, support by the most dangerous people on earth (Armageddon watchers). The carnage of Iraq and Lebanon are beyond description and upheld, to large measure, by those who say, "God loves you." To feel pressure on "Islam" and to then invite these pathetically pedestrian thoughts of all theologies "written by imperfect men" and lazy sentiments like that which gainsay religion but never answer a single question of any transcendence-- this is difficult to bear. One God, one purpose, one journey, one answer, nothing on the face of the earth has kept a clear bearing on these enormous truths but Islam.

Tariq - I understand your feeling about "being sold a bill of goods" regarding a moderate Islam. Frankly, I've moved beyond your position to question whether Islam is the path for me. What I am starting to realize the more I read and discuss is that you can get all of the things you Tariq seem to long for in a religious path: moderation, love, charity, togetherness, etc. in both Christianity and Judaism -- without the extreme violence, mysogony and intolerance. No, those faiths are not perfect, but they inspire a lot less bloodshed these days. Fact is, Islam has a long martial tradition starting with the Prophet himself. Ask yourself what Islam offers that Christianity and Judaism do not. Unless you are a convinced literalist, it's a tough question.

Ansik

Your post is ridiculous beyond compare. Nothing has brought more violence to this world in the post-Greco-Roman period than Christianity. The "conflict" in Iraq IS, to large measure, a Christian-sponsored affair, pushed along by the ugly of evangelical christianity, or, to be fair, its extreme flanks, which happen to have profound influence in the Bush experiments around the world. Sorry if no one falls for your for faux kindness and triune gods.

Migocup - The Iraq war is largely a Christian-sponsored affair? What exactly is your proof of this? I thought it was a Zionist conspiracy? Get your paranoid theories straight. How many Iraqis are being forced to convert to Christianity? In fact, Christians are being slaughtered there in the name of Islam and largely driven out. The Iraqi constitution ok'd by the U.S. states that Sharia law supercedes all other law. Quite a Christian triumph!

Nothing has brought more violence in the post Greco-Roman period than Christianity? Not sure if you're right. What about Hitler/Stalin/ Mao? The Mongols? How many millions perished in the Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent or at the hands of the Ottomans? How many died in the Iran/Iraq war? A million? Who set an example for all eternity as an expansionary military leader, Jesus or Mohammed? How many acts of violence done explicitly in the name of Christianity can you cite from the last 50 years? How many acts of violence can you cite done explicitly in the name of Islam in the last 50 years? Hmmm. It's an insult to truth to even debate this.

Honest observers cannot deny that Islam inspires some people (even ones with a great deal of Islamic education) to violence generally more than other religions do. If you want to debate whether this is true down through history, fine. But as for today, just open the newspaper and ask yourself which religion today is inspiring the most violence - from Thailand to Spain to Indonesia to Chechnya to all across the Arab world to Manhattan. It's not even close. And then ask yourself what it is about Islam that inspires so much violence -- even among those who are well-off and educated (ie., the MD in Scotland who tried to explode his car at the Scottish airport while screaming "Jihad! Jihad!") How do you explain this behavior without looking at Islam itself long and hard?

This is actually off my original topic. What I would really like is an answer to my earlier question. What does Islam offer that Christianity and Judaism do not? If a person with no particular religious background came to you and asked why he should be a Muslim as opposed to anything else, what would you answer?

That's what i mean. You ask for proof and then rattle off your church mantra with the rigor of a child. Islam offers truth.

Most of the killing in Iraq on behalf of the US government is being committed by self proclaimed Christian soldiers. Whether you murder someone by means of suicide bombing, dropping a bomb from an F-16 fighter plane, or gunning someone down with a government issued machine gun, at the end of the day it's all MURDER.
Do you really believe that God will condemn the actions of a suicide bomber but uphold the person who drops bombs on innocent civilians in the name of their government? Oh, I forgot, once your saved it doesn't matter what kind of atrocities you commit, right?

"Most of the killing in Iraq on behalf of the US government is being commited by self proclaimed Christian soldiers."

What does "self-proclaimed Christian soldiers" mean, may I ask? What is your proof that any US soldiers there are self proclaimed of any religion? Are they citing New Testament verses when they go to battle? Do they invoke the example of Jesus as they cut off someone's head? Of course not. But that is exactly what Muslim fighters in Iraq (and elsewhere) do -- and they do it to fellow Muslims!!! All in the name of Allah and Muhamed. You can cite occasional atrocities by US troops or Abu Graib all you want, but were any done in the name of Christianity?

This is the difference: while there are plenty of bad apples among Christians, they don't invoke their religion to commit violence. They don't turn to the example of the religion's founder when going into battle. There aren't multitudes of prominent Christian scholars around the world who call for violent struggle against non-Christians. On the other hand, jihadists constantly invoke the Koran for their violent acts and contantly cite precedents set by Mohamed to justify their acts.

Until Muslims of good will confront this uncomfortable truth about the violent side of traditional Islam and stop diverting the issue on to paranoid and non-existent theories about Christians and Jews, no one will live in peace.

By self proclaimed I mean, if you ask them their religion the majority will say they are Christian.
I hear right wingers invoking their religion all the time, while spewing hate which incites violence. The people bombing abortion clinics justify their actions with their faith. The KKK does the same. The Serbians who slaughtered Muslims in Bosnia, also often proclaimed their preservation of their faith as an excuse for their actions. Jews have definitely justified the killing of Muslim and Christian Arabs in the name of their faith.
Iraqis are fighting back because THEIR COUNTRY HAS BEEN INVADED AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES!
I find it amusing that Americans often make assertions that make it seems that even when Muslims defend themselves they are labled as terrorists.
If someone invaded your country, blew up or even stole your homes, destroyed your power sources, bridges and airports, raped your women, humiliated your husbands and brothers, (Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq), you would sit idly by or would you defend yourself?
There is no justfication for murder, not for Muslims or anyone else.
We have killed many more times the number of innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan than those lives that were lost on 9/11, yet people like you still justify the continued murder of innocents as long as they are not your own.

Dear Anisk28

Yes the history of Islam does contain incidents of violence (battles, assassinations, executions, etc.) and these stories are also related in some verses of the Quran, the Hadith and Seerah of the Prophet Muhammad (S). There is no doubt about this...BUT what you need to understand and study is the whole history of the Muslims during the time of the Prophet (S). You cannot take one or two examples out of context (as many extremists do) and justify committing similar acts of violence today. Can Muslims defend themselves against oppression and those attacking them, yes of course they can defend themselves, but at the same time, we as Muslims are not allowed to do more than what has been done to us. And it is better to forgive than to take revenge.

To answer your question about what can Islam offer which is more than what Christianity and Judaism has to offer...it's pretty simple: For Christians, their relationship to God is not the same as ours. They have to go thru a priest or father and we have a direct relationship to God thru making dua, praying and fasting! Tell them about the Holy month of Ramadan and they will be astonished (maybe even jealous) about how much blessings we have in order to worship Allah by fasting!

For the Jews, they have to be a "chosen" people to get God's blessings. In Islam, anyone can get the blessings of Allah and anyone can directly pray, fast, give charity and go on the Hajj with millions of other Muslims from all over the world for the pleasure of God. They do not have this blessing of Hajj like we do in Islam.

So my friend, if you really are considering to change your religion, then first talk seriously to members of the other faiths, and you will see the real blessings that we Muslims have in our faith of Al-Islam. Either we can take advantage of it, or we can just waste our time and wish we were a Christian or Jew. Don't waste your time in that, but spend your time becoming a True Muslim and worshipping Allah and take advantage of all the opportunities we have in worshipping Him and receiving his Blessings, which the other religions do not have.

Peace4all - if the butchery committed by Muslims in places like Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon (in the name of Islam while citing the example of the founder of the religion) is all beacuse of "the invasion of their countries," then why aren't the Christian inhabitants of those countries doing the same? Are Christians Palestinians blowing themselves up at Passover seders? Are Christian Iraqis beheading their countrymen while quoting verses from their scriptures? The vast majority of the violence in Iraq has been Muslim on Muslim, whether that fits your worldview or not. What about examples of bloodthirsty Muslim violence in places like Thailand, where Bhuddist monks are slaughtered by Muslims on a regular basis? What's your excuse there? How about Islamists blowing up a shopping mall this week in Manila? Killing of children in Beslan? Blowing up girls schools in Afganistan? Is this all just legitimate resistance to imperialist/Zionist America? By your logic, we in the US, who were attacked by Muslims in the name of Islam on 9/11, would be justified in committing all kinds of atrocities too as "resistance".

My point which few seem willing to concede is that maybe, just maybe, there is something in Islamic texts and in the example of Muhamed that can easiy be interpreted by educated and uneducated people alike to incite violence more than other religions. I'm surprised that moderate Muslims deny this so much. Your rage should be focused on those committing violence in the name of Islam and rethinking the violence-inciting core texts of Islam rather than finding flimsy excuses for terrorists. Even a number of well-off and educated Muslims in the West who have not been "attacked" and "raped" like you say those in the Middle East have been, study Islam and proceed to commit atrocities against civilians. Why is that? Because they are upset by the mistreatment of Muslims somewhere? Plenty of non-muslim Westerners are upset about conditions around the world. Many don't like Chinese support for the Sudanese murderers in Darfur, for example. But are they blowing up schoolchildren in NYC Chinatown because of this? Many Christians don't like Christopher Hitchen's new book on Atheism, but have they called for his death? I can't believe I even have to make that point! Who would you rather be, a Muslim in Paris, London or Chicago, or a Christian in Karachi, Cairo or Ryadh? Where is there more religions tolerance?

Your examples of violence inspired by other religions are weak. Serbia? Did the Serbs cite Christian scripture and the example of Jesus while committing atrocities? No. They were nationalists. Who stopped them and saved Muslims in the process? The Christian West. Abortion bombers? When was the last one? Over ten years ago - resulting in a couple deaths? They were overwhelmingly condemned and criticized (without excuses) by every Christian denomination. Jews in Israel? Again, most Jews see the conflict as a nationalist dispute over land, not as a religious war. If some Jews have cited Jewish scripture while killing Palestinians, they are a handful that can be counted on one hand. Even if I concede that all of your examples are valid, they amount to a few drops of water compared to the ocean of violence committed in the name of Islam and its Prophet. Can you explain why this is? Could it maybe, just maybe, have something to do with Islam itself?

Because Christians dominate, they are not currently in a position to use religion to justify their atrocities. I could cite statistics of Muslim victims of hate crimes, including murder, right here in this country over the past 6 years. You can log on to CAIR website to view these. These were all committed by your fellow upstanding American citizens.
I don't condone any type of violence or murder committed against anyone, this includes Muslims.
The entire justification for the occupation, degradation, oppression and murder of Palestinians along with the creation of the state of Israel is based on religion, to suggest otherwise is ludicrous.
As far as comparing the violence committed by Christians and others as a drop of water compared to an ocean committed by Muslims is again ludicrous. Even looking at current history, add up the killing in Iraq, Africa, South America, Bosnia/Serbia, Ireland, Vietnam, etc. - this would far exceed those killed by Muslims. You also didn't address the thousands of blacks killed at the hands of the KKK, a self professed "Christian" organization.
Past history speaks for itself, millions were slaughtered under the guidance of power hungry Christian leaders. One merely needs to open any high school history book to see this.
If one wants to compare apples to apples, I would be happy to post the biblical reference to violence, which are far greater and more explicit than anything in the Quran. Human beings can exploit and misuse any religous text they choose to justify their own depravity.
I have found far greater peace and contentment in Islam over the last 20 years than I ever had as a "born again Baptist".

Peace4all -- let's go point by point:

"Because Christians dominate, they are not currently in a position to use religion to justify their atrocities."

Why wouldn't they? This does not make sense. As I asked before, Christians living in the Middle East today certainly don't dominate, but do they commit atrocities in the name of their religion like Muslims?

"I could cite statistics of Muslim victims of hate crimes, including murder, right here in this country over the past 6 years. You can log on to CAIR website to view these. These were all committed by your fellow upstanding American citizens."

Were they committed in the name of a religion, citing scripture and invoking the precedent of the religion's founder -- as is much of the violence at the hands of Muslims? Was one? It's a testament to the civility of most Americans that so few hate crimes against Muslims occured after 9/11. Muslims reacted more violently to the Danish cartoons.

"The entire justification for the occupation, degradation, oppression and murder of Palestinians along with the creation of the state of Israel is based on religion, to suggest otherwise is ludicrous."

No it's not. The founders of Israel and the majority of Jews in Israel are secular. The founders were anti-religious socialists. Zionism is Jewish nationalism, not religion. The confusion comes because Jews can be described as a religious group but they are also an ethnicity and a "people". The founders of Israel emphasized this peoplehood in the tradition of European nationalism.

"Even looking at current history, add up the killing in Iraq, Africa, South America, Bosnia/Serbia, Ireland, Vietnam, etc. - this would far exceed those killed by Muslims."

As I asked before, which of these killings was done in the name of Christianity, inspired by core Christian texts and the example of Jesus? Fact is, the vast majority of Muslim violent death in the last 20 years has been at the hands of other Muslims (Iran/Iraq war, Algerian civil war, Shiite/Sunni killings in Iraq). Religion of Peace? They can't even be peaceful with each other. Ask yourself what happened to the Hindus in Bangladesh, who 30 years ago comprised 15% of the population and are now basically gone?

"You also didn't address the thousands of blacks killed at the hands of the KKK, a self professed "Christian" organization."

I meant to. Again, does the KKK justify its acts in the name of Christianity, inspired by core Christian texts and the example of Jesus? And by the way, when was the last time the KKK killed anyone?

"Past history speaks for itself, millions were slaughtered under the guidance of power hungry Christian leaders. One merely needs to open any high school history book to see this."

Again, my point isn't to deny or excuse bad behavior by Christians or Jews. It is to explore the motives behind such bad behavior and compare it to the motives behind violent acts by Muslims. When was the last time a "power hungry Christian" killed anyone in the name of Christianity, citing core Christian texts and the example of Jesus? I'm not asking when the last time someone who is Christian killed anyone. This is an important distinction which you ignore.

Millions were slaughtered or carried off into slavery by Islam over the centuries -- India, Byzantium, Persia, Southern Europe, etc. -- unfortunately most history books ignore this. Will you admit slaughter under the guidance of "power hungry" Muslim leaders over the centuries? Can you imagine what the world would be like if Egypt were still Christian, Pakistan still Buddhist and Hindu and Persia still Zoroastrian?

"If one wants to compare apples to apples, I would be happy to post the biblical reference to violence, which are far greater and more explicit than anything in the Quran."

If so many biblical verses call for believers to be violent so explicitly, why don't any bible readers refer to these verses and go commit violence with Biblical justification? Conversely, if the Quran is so peace-inspiring, why have so many people in so many different places and circumstances over the years used it to justify violence?

"Human beings can exploit and misuse any religous text they choose to justify their own depravity."

That's true. But some are much easier to exploit than others. That is my point. Until peaceful Muslims acknowledge this and confront it, we will have bloodshed in the name of Islam.

>>> Were they committed in the name of a religion, citing scripture and invoking the precedent of the religion's founder

People are being killed in the name of America and the founding fathers on a daily basis. Every Nazi skinhead, KKK member, Jewish Zionist, Tamil tiger is doing it. Your very own country supports Israel on the basis of religious rectitude and the influence of scripture in dominating the Canaanites and other brown middle easterners is pervasive in American politics! It is common knowledge. SO Americans use the scriptures of their founding fathers to invade Vietnam. How is this different from disillusioned Muslim youngsters resorting to their heritage?

>>> The founders of Israel and the majority of Jews in Israel are secular

So what? The founding Caliphs and the basis of Islamic politics is secular too.

>>> If so many biblical verses call for believers to be violent so explicitly, why don't any bible readers refer to these verses and go commit violence with Biblical justification?
>>> does the KKK justify its acts in the name of Christianity, inspired by core Christian texts and the example of Jesus?

http://www.alternet.org/middleeast/13267/
http://www.thesocialistparty.org/spo/archive/israel/poll_Israel.html

Yes. And these are just recent incarnations of the hate stirring nature of western Christianity. The entire United States is the witness to the humiliation and Mass destruction of Original Americans Love filled bible bashers. YES ~ In Jesus name, they pray that heathens are smitten. You're also ignoring the fact that the bible is mostly falsified, misread, misunderstood and in alot of instances .. made up.

>>> Millions were slaughtered or carried off into slavery by Islam over the centuries

I love the gross generalisations. If this is true, then how could there be whole functioning societies of non-Muslims with their own laws and freedom to trade and reach the highest office in so called violent and freedom hating muslim society? How can India still have a strong and developed Hindu religious institution if the aim of Islamic invaders was to destroy the beliefs of others? Did you know that the British banned free religious practice? Thats not very "secular"

>>> Can you imagine what the world would be like if Egypt were still Christian, Pakistan still Buddhist and Hindu and Persia still Zoroastrian?

It would have been a world without science, literature, mathematics and philosophy. These were nations who before the Arabs had arrived were stuck in warring kingdoms and trapped in idol worshipping human sacrifices. A world polarised by god-like monarchies and the enslaved and oppressed. Read it up for yourself. For more than just a few hundred years, almost all that was CIVILISED was MUSLIM.

The irony of what you say is that you're painting a historical place for muslim and Islam by ignoring the impact of muslims on the world and the history of Islam. Without a doubt, the worst thing that has happened to the world has been the manic colonialism of Europe done so traditionally with the assistance/witness of the church and the docking of the cross wherever they landed.

Muslims had access to the wealth and riches of Africa .. find these grotesque abuses that you're so fond of exaggerating if you can. Look for Muslim Cortez's in Indonesia and destruction of social structure as happened to the Aborigines of Australia. The idea of attacking Muslims by resorting to an essentially Christian argument (covered up as rational/ising analysis) is absurd.

Bad is bad and good is good. Don't confuse the two. The Quran clearly talks about upholding what is right and rejecting what is wrong. To do otherwise is blasphemy.

Ghulam - nothing you wrote addresses my main point. You can rant all you want about how terrible the West is and how glorious Islamic history is (which direction are people immigrating in, by the way?), but the fact is Muslim atrocities the world over are committed by those citing core Islamic texts and the example of Muhammed. This is my focus. Even if I agree with you that other religions cause just as much violence in today's world (which I do not -- see earlier posts), does that make Muslim violence ok? Does that eliminate the need for Muslims who want to live in peace with others from taking the uncomfortable step of acknowledging the connection between Muslim texts and Muslim violence and finding ways to reinterpret or revise those Muslim texts so the problem is lessened?

I am not going to repeat myself and waste time in refuting your points such as Tamil Tigers and Jewish Zionists and Nazi skinheads are commiting violence in the name of the Founding Fathers (?!) -- anyone with a brain reading this will hopefully recoil at this stupidity.

Or that pre-Islamic Buddhist society in Pakistan, Zoroastrian society in Persia, and Christian society in Egypt consisted of Idol worshiping human sacrificers. Ask an Indian Hindu if he'd prefer to live under Muslim rule or British rule. Or a Christian Copt or an Iranian Bahai or a Syrian Jew or a Christian Armenian or a Sudanese Animist.

Even if we suppose that Muslims at one point gave the world things like math, philosophy and literature (none of these are true), what has the Muslim world produced in the last 500 years? The fact is that the countries under Muslim rule today are backward, impoversihed, illiterate and bleak. The purer the Islam, the bleaker the society (Saudi Arabia, Taliban Afganistan, etc). Without the oil wealth (discovered by Westerners), they would be even worse. They export nothing to the world but oil, people and violence. I suppose you will answer that this is all because of Western colonialism. But the Muslim world has been in decline longer than the relatively brief period of European colonialism in the Middle East (approx. 1850-1950). In fact, Muslim colonialism into Europe (such as Ottoman rule of Southestern Europe and early Muslim rule of Spain) lasted much longer than European colonialism into Islamic lands. Somehow Europe bounced back and didn't resort to post-colonial excuses.

As I've said several times, I'm not trying to excuse violence committed by non-Muslims. There has been plenty of it through history. All I am trying to do is draw attention to the connection between Muslim texts concerning violence and Muslim violence itself in today's world. This is a connection made repeatedly and openly by Muslim terrorists themselves to justify their acts. Why can't peaceful Muslims acknowledge the connection and, in a loud way and on a mass worldwide scale, take on the Jihadists on a theological basis? If Islam at its core is a religion of peace, this should not be hard to do.

You are very insightful in your presentation, unfortunately you are speaking in the language of logic and the response has been emotional. When we are secure in our knowledge there is no need to rant and rave. As you have researched so well you must realize that negative responses are the reactions of people who have been outclassed. You may continue attempting to convince the believers but you only get limited results. Fanaticism is a component of Islamic expression. When you are dealing with people who are under a spell, their must be an internal awakening to shock them into reality.