Is Islam inherently violent?

I was reading Mike Rubin’s commentary in the Tower issue of Feb 20, 2008 (“Violence inherent in Islam?”). He describes a few cases of “muslim violence” including the Danish cartoon controversy, death threats to the Pope for his statements suggesting that Islam is a violent religion and in particular the beheading of a woman living in New York by her “moderate” muslim husband who, ironically, was involved in “dispelling stereotypes of muslims as terrorists.” While I too condemn and share his outrage at such incidents I would disagree with his two fundamental arguments. First that “muslims let their violence veer on the ludicrous” because the West “allows them to.” I understand that the “moderate muslim” who had beheaded his wife was arrested and would face the full force of justice through the criminal justice system. Beheading sounds to be a particularly gruesome way to murder but not less violent in any way compared to, say stabbing, drowning or for that matter shooting. I am sure the author has heard of many such cases of apparently “moderate” and law abiding, model citizens belonging to all racial, religious and ethnic communities resorting to such extremes. Anger is irrational and does not pick and choose. And in this particular case there is nothing to suggest that this was an “honor killing.” So while I agree with the author that such an act by this particular individual undermines his and his communities’ efforts to show Islam in a more positive light I would refrain from using this incident to color my opinion of all “moderate” and for that matter all muslims. As regards to the West’s response to Danish cartoon controversy and Pope’s comments and the violence associated with it; most of it occurred outside the United States and there’s hardly anything the West can do to stop them other than condemning them which most news organizations and institutions have. The violent protests occurred mostly in poorer countries or countries which lack democratic institutions like in the Middle East where law and order is not what you would expect in the United States or other Western nations. So in many cases, even if the local authorities would like to clamp down on such violent protests they, in most cases are unable to, because of many reasons and not always because they condone it. Demanding apologies from clerics who issued death threats to the Pope or to the Danish cartoonist might be the “right” thing to do but I do not think that is going to be a part of the solution. A more in-depth understanding of local, cultural and religious sensibilities and addressing them would be more appropriate.

My second disagreement with the author is his suggestion with a “quote” from the Quran suggesting that probably violence is inherent in Islam. The author also notes that “such brutal” violence is not associated with Christians and Jews. I guess we do not have to look very far back in time and far away in space to appreciate that violence has always been associated with religion- be it Christianity, Judaism, Islam or for that matter any other religion. One can ague that either all these religions are inherently violent or preach violence or that many times in their long histories people who follow their tenets have resorted to violence either to show their disagreement or to suppress other points of view or in many cases used the garb of religion to further their own “moral” causes. I believe that as societies “mature” through secular education, technological advances and better living conditions (like in the West) they create and nurture democratic institutions to deal with disagreements in a less violent and more productive manner. They also learn to disregard the various tenets in their religion that preach violence and intolerance while appreciating and encouraging the message of love, peace and universal brotherhood that is also a part of these all religions including Islam. I hope the readers appreciate the complexity of the issues involved and refrain from over-simplifying and drawing narrow conclusions from them.