The below article presents a thorough refutation of the position taken by Islamic apologists in the West, as well as by government leaders and media outlets, that the actions of the Islamic State, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, the Taliban (which has now pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State/ISIS) and other jihadist groups are a distortion of Islam or "have nothing to do with Islam."
Sadly, there are many voices in the Christian world, including Orthodox Christian priests, educators, bishops and even patriarchs, who make the same absurd claim, confusing the faithful and abusing the truth in the process. I cite some examples in my book,
Facing Islam, but here are some more recent instances:
“The religious feelings of people, in particular, Muslims, are now exploited to cause these people to commit radical actions. Many people indeed genuinely take the horrible path of terrorism, thinking that by doing so they serve God.” However, Islam does not teach anything of the sort and this interpretation is caused by “a complete lack of religious awareness.” — Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia (Source)
"The roots of historical conflicts between Christians and Muslims are normally in politics and not in religion." — Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (Source)
"It’s high time for Muslim scholars and religious leader to prove to the world that these groups do not represent true Muslim teachings." — Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (Source)
Alas, "these groups" — ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Hizbollah, Hamas, the Taliban, etc, etc. —
most assuredly do represent "true Muslim teachings." However, in spite of the well-intentioned but erroneous statements cited above and others like them, thank God, there are some brave Orthodox Christian voices willing to speak the truth:
"Islam is at its core anti-human... Reading the Quran, you will see that all of this [extremism] lies at the foundation of Islam. One must look truth in the eye: this is all anti-human, it is directed against humanity... Yes, there were times when Muslims tried to live in peace with their neighbors, they even acknowledged that we Christians are people, too. But for many, those times have passed, and now they reveal who they really are." — Archbishop Mark (Arndt) of Berlin (Source)
"We are against the presence of Islam in Thessaloniki. We have already lost so much… When the Turkish minister entered the Church of Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki in our city, he announced at once: 'Here is a suitable mosque for Turks'. Another Turkish official came to the historical Greek province of Thrace and called this region ‘a severed hand of Turkey’.” — Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki (Source)
"Your children will surely be slaves of Muslims. Greece is disappearing, faith is disappearing… Keep the flame of the motherland and faith. Globalization is not knocking at our doors any more – it has already entered our home.” — Metropolitan Amvrosios of Kalavryta and Aigialeia (Source)
"Among those who call themselves Orthodox, I have met such strange people who say that Fr. Daniel should not preach to Muslims, that one must respect their religion, and that there is no benefit from his preaching. But Fr. Daniel thought, as did the Lord, the Apostles, and all the saints, that one must respect mistaken people but not their mistakes. Truth is one, that which contradicts and negates truth is a lie, and respect for a lie is contempt for the truth." — Deacon Georgi Maximov, co-laborer of Holy New Martyr Fr Daniil Sysoev of Moscow (†2009). (Source)
That is all I have ever tried to do with my
book and this little blog: to side with the Orthodox saints and martyrs, to keep the flame of Christian faith alive, and to share the truth, warning about the heresy and danger of Islam. I hope some have profited in some small way from this effort.
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Analysis: Does the Islamic State Really Have 'Nothing to Do with Islam'?
by Jeffrey M. Bale, Special to IPT News — October 10, 2014
Note: This analysis has been excerpted [and published by IPT], with the approval of the author, from a much longer scholarly article that will be published in an academic journal.
"Which will come first, flying cars and vacations to Mars, or a simple acknowledgement that beliefs guide behavior and that certain religious ideas – jihad, martyrdom, blasphemy, apostasy – reliably lead to oppression and murder?"
Sam Harris, Sleepwalking Toward Armageddon
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| The Islamic State: Beheading in the name of Islam |
As is invariably the case these days in the wake of the terrorist violence, brutality, and atrocities carried out explicitly in the name of Islam, a host of dissimulating
Islamist activists,
other Muslims in a state of psychological denial, and apologetic
Western pundits insist that the actions of the terrorist group calling itself al-Dawla al-Islamiyya (IS: the Islamic State) have little or nothing to do with Islam.
Not long ago, many such commentators
also argued that the horrendous actions committed by the Nigerian jihadist group Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad, better known as Boko Haram (Western Influence is Sinful), had
nothing to do with its members' interpretations of Islam.
"The perpetrators of these violent actions not only proudly insist that their actions are inspired by the Qur'an and the exemplary words and deeds of Muhammad, but explicitly cite relevant Qur'anic passages and the reported actions of their prophet to justify those actions."
In all such cases, however, the perpetrators of these violent actions not only
proudly insist that their actions are inspired by the Qur'an and the exemplary words and deeds of Muhammad himself (as recorded in the canonical
hadith collections), but explicitly
cite relevant Qur'anic passages and the reported actions of their prophet to justify those actions. Therefore, to argue that jihadist terrorists are not directly inspired and primarily motivated by their interpretations of Islamic doctrines and by clear precedents from early Islamic history, one must stubbornly ignore what the actual protagonists keep telling the entire world.
But why ignore the claims of the perpetrators and instead rely on Islamist activists, who are often peddling outright disinformation, or on Western commentators, most of whom know little or nothing about Islam or Islamism, for explanations of this behavior? These pundits are prone to minimize the central role played by Islamist ideology and erroneously ascribe the actions of jihadist terrorists to assorted subsidiary causal factors, such as garden-variety political grievances, poverty, lack of democracy, psychopathology, greed, or simple hunger for power.
Needless to say, most of the commentators who keep insisting, against all evidence to the contrary, that the actions of jihadist terrorists cannot be attributed to their interpretations of Islam do not also argue that the violent actions of other types of extremists cannot be attributed to their ideological beliefs. On the contrary, whenever other types of terrorists carry out gruesome attacks, many of those same commentators are quick to ascribe their actions primarily to their proclaimed theological and ideological beliefs – and justifiably so.
