SAM HARRIS IS CORRECT: STOP CALLING ISLAM A RELIGION OF PEACE

In the name of God, the beneficent, the merciful.

Peace be upon our Master Muhammad and his purified progeny.

Sam Harris

Sam Harris is a well-known critic of Islam. He states that there is a religion of peace in the world which is certainly not Islam. He calls Jainism a religion of peace and asks the audience to stop sounding politically correct by declaring that Islam is a religion of peace because, apparently, Islam is not a religion of peace.

Wonderfully enough, I agree with Harris. He's correct. Islam is not a religion of peace. But I disagree with him when he calls Islam a religion of violence. Islam is not about peace or violence. It's just a bunch of laws and principles. Islam's a faith, an ideology. An ideology's never violent or peaceful. People are either violent or peaceful. If you are a Jain and you murder people, you follow Jainism but you are a violent psychopath. If you are a Muslim and you are non-violent, you follow Islam but you are a non-violent Gandhi-lover. 

Jainism is about non-violence to the extant that you're not even allowed to defend yourself when someone attacks you for the core purpose of taking your life. Does Islam teach that? No, Islam doesn't teach that kind of non-violence. Why? Because it's completely stupid an ideology. You must defend yourself when an assassin tries to murder you. You can't just simply sit idle and do nothing while watching your entire family being chopped into pieces. This kind of  non-violence preached by Jainism is inhumane, unnatural and impractical. Islam teaches the original non-violence i.e. you cannot harm some people who are not harming you but you certainly should hurt those who are trying to hurt you. This is the genuine non-violence humanly actually and practically agrees upon.

Sam Harris states:

"The crazier you get as a Jain, the less we have to worry about you."

No, Harris. That's the opposite of what will really happen if a Jain gets real crazy about ahimsa. He will end up a devastated man. Jainism is not a sane people's religion. Islam is! Contrary to what you think Islam preaches, our religion does not instruct us to conquer the worldly or forcibly gain proselytes. Islam is not a totalitarian religion, nor does it preach world domination.

But what Sam Harris is implying is that Jainism is about non-violence so we don't have to worry about Jain extremists 'cause they are, like, super non-violent Gandhi-ass weirdos. In other words, according to Sam Harris, Islam is all about violence so we have to worry a lot about an extremist Muslim because he will act like just what we've seen Taliban, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Hamas and ISIS doing in the world.

Sam Harris states:

"Extremism is not a problem if your core beliefs are about non-violence."

No, Harris. You are wrong about Islam, my brother. Islam doesn't preach violence. Islam doesn't preach murder of non-Muslims. You think Jain people are peaceful because they refuse to kill a bug. Don't you know that, in Islam, it's haram to spill blood of an innocent civilian? Don't you know that Prophet Muhammad showed discomfort at the eggs of a bird being stolen from its nest? Don't you know that Prophet Muhammad disapproved of burning of an anthill? Don't you know that Prophet Muhammad commanded a guy to show mercy to his camel? Don't you know that he was against branding of animals on their faces? Don't you know that he even instructed to make the animal drink some water before slaughtering it and not to slay an animal before a member of the same species? This is called peace! You just don't turn vegans and abandon meat. This is impractical. Islam preaches peace which is practically possible. Jainism preaches peace that is quite unnatural.

The the images shown by Harris: Mullah Omar, Bin Laden and Khalid Shaykh Muhammad

Sam Harris states:

"The only problem with Islamic fundamentalism are the fundamentals of Islam."

Which Islam, one might ask you. Which Islam is fundamentally violent and aggressive? There are many sects within Islam and the pictures of all these terrorists you are showing to your audience are those of Salafi/Wahhabi fanatics. And one does certainly not need to be an acrobat to figure out he the hell he's distorting the faith. It is child's play to prove that he's a fanatical business who didn't read the books written by his own ancient scholars. If these terrorists had just studied the woks of Ibn al-Qayyum they would've turned out just fine.

We, sir, are moderate Muslims and we've been trying to show you for decades that these terrorists don't follow Islam. If you want us to prove it further, we would be happy to.

In the end, I would like to quote these two verses (Q. 4:89-90) from Qur'an which explain the idea of peace-violence in Islam:

They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah . But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper. Except for those who take refuge with a people between yourselves and whom is a treaty or those who come to you, their hearts strained at [the prospect of] fighting you or fighting their own people. And if Allah had willed, He could have given them power over you, and they would have fought you. So if they remove themselves from you and do not fight you and offer you peace, then Allah has not made for you a cause [for fighting] against them.