Evil Muhammed? Evil Islam?

Memo To: Website Fans, Browsers, Clients
From: Jude Wanniski
Re: Letters on the subject

My memo earlier this week, "Islam, an Evil Religion?," elicited a great many letters, many of them coming in from fans of Lew Rockwell's website, which linked to the memo. (Thanks, Lew). I've selected several for publication here and promise to return to the topic again in the near future. I'm learning a lot in the process and think we will all learn much more about Islam than we think we know if we open our minds to that possibility. I welcome all e-mails, of course, but please don't replicate what others have already said, pro or con.

From: "Joseph Ames Jr." Bryn Mawr, Pa.

I studied Islam at university; a friend is a degreed middle-east scholar with in-country experience in the Army Ranger battalions. We both believe that Mohamut was a blood-thirsty man and his chosen symbol, the red crescent moon, is the symbol of the local pagan deity, their [blood red] god of war. Islam produces bloodshed in any clash with competing systems. It is peaceful in its areas of dominance, but so too is a prison! My training is in management science. I believe in cause-and-effect – not ideology. If it looks bloody and violent, then it is. Therefore Islam is a violent religion! How do you reconcile these opposing observations?

From: Sulayman J. Ferguson

Thanks for writing this. As a Muslim myself, it really disturbs me how horribly anti-Islamic people can be. I even considered leaving the Republican party because of such vitriol I felt coming from them (though Democrats aren't immune either, but to a lesser extent). I never heard of "Mahomet and His Successors," but I found your treatment of it fascinating. I wish more Americans could be informed in this manner, you hit the nail right on the head that this is worrisome. What can we do?

From: Bob Cranston

I'm glad to hear Mohamet had an affection for Jews early on as I wonder what happened that he had 700 Jews killed in year 600 or was it 600 Jews in the year 700?

From: David Atherton

Show me anyplace in the world where Islam has power that you would want to live. The desirability of living in any country with a majority religion of Islam increases in inverse to the extent in which the government is controlled by the Mullahs. This is a religion that has always expanded primarily by the sword. Think of the Moslem crusades against Europe which resulted in the unfortunately failed European crusades against the Moslems. Are there nice Moslems? OF COURSE! Is the religion itself pretty severely flawed? Absolutely. Watch Europe. In 50 years when Islam is the majority religion, the countries will be totally dysfunctional. Look at the Islamic ghettoes of Europe now. You have a miniature of the future. It is not a pretty site. Look at the strife and murder and racism w/i the Islamic community of Black America. I think the radical right wing diatribes against Islam, while not pretty, are far closer to the truth than the whiney apologetics – based on emotion, not fact – of the left and the blind.

From: "Max Doner"

You are blind to the reality of what Islam is – I suggest you read the newspaper for the previous 4 years to find out – or better yet, read the books Human Events is selling – they tell the truth. Your ignorance is profound. Islam is truly a religion of murder.

From Jeff Jones

To answer your question, yes. Islam is an evil and violent religion founded by an evil and violent man, carried on by the evil and violent who have deceived many who otherwise would not be so. No student of history can honestly deny the horrible acts of violence Muhammad and his followers down through the ages have perpetrated on Jews and Christians. Long before the crusades (Jerusalem surrendered to Moslem forces in 638 AD), Muhammad and those who came after him made war on the non-Islamic nations around the Mediterranean, and slaughtered many Jews native to Israel (or Canaan or Palestine, if you prefer)…. From Mohammed through the end of the Ottoman Empire, Islam has been a violent faith that has been used to justify war. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, neither of which advocate the "convert or die" process of Islam, had to be grossly distorted in order to be used by apostates to commit acts of unjustified war.

From Oscar Okes

I must confess that I am confused [but] at the age of 73 I am often confused. However you like others of your persuasion seem to spend more time defending Islam than you do condemning those that commit heinous crimes in the name of Islam. I cannot find words that describe how I feel about those carrying out such horrific crimes against anyone that is an easy kill, be they agnostic, Jew, Christian, Muslim or whatever. It seems to me that anyone with common sense would expect a thunderous condemnation coming from such a peaceful and loving religion.

From: Nxxxxxx@aol.com

Islam is an evil religion. Its founder was a demon-possessed pedophile, who took as the true God the pagan Arabic moon-god.

From: dxxxxxx@hotmail.com

All Muslims are not terrorists.........but ALL terrorists are Muslims. Islam IS an evil religion! Open your eyes.

From: Marley Greiner

Thank you so much for your piece on the current Islam hate-fest. I was not aware of Washington Irving's book and have put it in my amazon.com wish list. I'm sick of these monsters. I live part-time in Russia and am seriously considering moving there permanently. At least Russians aren't dumb enough to believe the state.

From: Ralph E. Zecco

Islam is a violent religion and will always be. The Imans teach that Christians are Satan's servants as well as to be killed. If a man leaves Islam, he is to forfeit his life. If a Christian does not accept Mohammed as a prophet of God, then they are to be put to death. There is no religious freedom under Islam and many missionaries have found this true at the cost of their very lives. This is documented in blood. (A Christian)

From: John Hackney

Islam is not an Evil Religion. It is not a Religion at all. It is a worldview based on the teachings of Mohammed. These teachings include * a Muslim's duty includes the murder of all non-believers, * that Jesus was simply a prophet and not the incarnate God, * that a Muslim man can divorce (any one of) his wives by simply speaking, * raping women among the conquered is A-OK, * etc., and that all this is part of the revealed truth from the one true God. In other words, a bunch of evil nonsense.

From: Dan

Until people like you remove your head from the sand how will you ever come to the realization that these fanatics of Islam want us dead? … No bigotry here or in the Human Events article; just truth, something you seem to close your eyes and ears to and then use your column to reveal just how little you know about the religion in question. Are there individuals who practice Islam in 'peace?', yes, but they are also very, very, very quiet when it comes to denouncing the homicide bombers or jihadists, so they may as well be co-conspirators.

From: "Randy Brown"

How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

From: Barbara, Florida

I am so glad that you are defending "the faith" of the Islamic people. In my estimation, there is a great push to knock Islam and thus justify the battles that we are waging in the Middle East and elsewhere where Islam exists. The common denominator is Judaism. They are the ones that are pushing this anti-Semitism the most (yes, Arabs are Semites too). If books were printed against Jews and what they have written about Christ in the Talmud (Christ is swimming in human excrement, plus the hundreds of verses against gentiles, incest with gentile children, usury against gentiles, etc.), we would all lose our jobs and be black balled for ever, known as anti-Semitic. It's a one-way street and freedom of speech is a thing of the past. Keep up the good work, Jude. You are a light in this dark nation.