C L O S E R

Debating Islam as a Peaceful Religion

Posted on July 19th, 2013 by martijn.
Categories: islamophobia, Multiculti Issues.

After the gruesome murder in Woolwich, UK, when two Muslim men killed and beheaded a British soldier, and the riots by Muslim youth which broke out in Stockholm, Sweden, the question as to why young Muslims are resorting to such violent acts has returned and is now dominating the media. This question, whilst it might be framed in a number of different ways, is essentially and most frequently: ‘why are they so angry?’ or ‘why do they hate us?’ or ‘Why do they use violenc?’. The Oxford Student Union took up the issue by having a debate about whether or not Islam is a peaceful religion.

Proposition speaker Matthew Handley started the debate by grounding it in recent events, deploring the previous day’s “reprehensible act in Woolwich”, a sentiment that he was sure would be shared by Muslims around the world. He explains why they put forward the motion and why they want to defend it:

Against:

Peter Atkins:
Atkins concluded the debate by describing Islam along with all other religions as a “supermarket of ideas and instructions” from which good and bad men can select what they want “according to their taste.”

However, he claimed that Islam “does in practice inspire more violence than the other Abrahamic religions”.

Taking on Adam Deen’s metaphor of a ‘golden thread’, he argued that “the opposite of peace is woven into the fabric of the Qur’an.”

Atkins declared that “all the seas incarnadine cannot wash the blood from a religion’s hands”, because “when evils destroy a human life, as they did yesterday, that life cannot be restored”.

Anne-Marie Waters:
Waters denied that she and her fellow opposition speakers cause fear of Islam and blamed instead “the actions of Islam itself”. She listed “9/11, 7/7, Mali, Somalia, gender discrimination, forced marriages, polygamy, amputation”, and many more. To the opposition’s claim that these acts belong to an “extreme fringe” which has misunderstood the words of the Qur’an, she described the executions for blasphemy and apostasy in Saudi Arabia, and asked “has there ever been a more spectacular misunderstanding?”

Waters concluded by arguing that it is the moderate Muslims who must “dance around meanings” and “stretch interpretations” when confronted with the fundamentally violent ideology of the Qur’an.

Daniel Johnston:
Johnston called Islam “the most direct threat to Western civilization in the world today”. He deplored the lack of “freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, equal rights, and separation between church and state” in Islamic countries, emphasizing that “all these ideals emerged in the West.”

Johnston claimed that a university like Oxford, with its tradition of free academic inquiry, could not exist under the conditions of an Islamic state and that “there is no university in this sense in the Islamic world”.

Pro:

Adam Deen:
Deen countered argued that “if we approach Islamic teaching fairly and objectively, there is a golden thread that runs through whole Qur’an,” an ideal of “justice” and “positive peace”.

He argued that in fact the whole of Islam is compatible with “just war theory”, in which “the virtue of avoiding violence is superseded by the virtue of justice.” He then quoted from the Qur’an which states: “Fight in God’s cause but do not overstep the limits. God does not love those who overstep the limits.”

Mehdi Hassan:
Hassan warned Anne-Marie Waters that her “astonishing claims” might endanger her future as a Labour Party candidate, but assured her “don’t worry, the BNP will take you”.

He asked why, if Islam is “responsible for killing,” such a tiny percentage of believers actually participate in violence. He asked the audience if they really believe that 1.6 billion people are all “followers, promoters and believers in a religion of violence”.

Hasan urged them not to “fuel the arguments of the phobes and bigots and legitimise hate”, but to “trust the Muslims that you know and that you hear.” It is in particular his response that has become very popular, seen by many as the best answer against bigots who blame Islam for everything they think is bad.

Additional information taken from Oxford Student.

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