From ibn Misr ….
When Muslims are told about scores of horrendous facts contained in the Quran, Sunnah and the Shari’a, they will typical respond as follows:
1. Accuse the person of lying, ignorance, and he should know Arabic to understand Islam (regardless of the fact that 80% of Muslims don’t know Arabic). Tell him/her to read “authentic” Muslim websites and texts. Say that critics of Islam are “so-called” experts. Say that once a person “learns” about the “real” Islam, he/she will understand how beautiful and peaceful it is.
2. Accuse the person of racism or Islamophobia (This is one of the best tactics!). Say they are “filled with hate” (this works really well with Liberals!). Restrict your arguments to a specific subject (How Muslims are persecuted and misunderstood). Generalize a lot. Never suggest that a person examine both sides of the issue (that is, compare arguments from anti-Islamic sites with those from Muslims experts). Never refer to the hate and violence Muslims do. Say that the actions of Muslims have nothing to do with Islam.
Picture of Mohammed, c. 1315, as provided by Wikipedia
3. Say that the problem is that Muslims today are not practicing the “Original Islam” of Mohammed and the glorious era of the ‘Four Righteous Caliphs’ that followed him (Do not mention the hate and violence that Mohammad preached and practiced and do not mention that 3 out of the 4 so-called Righteous Caliphs were murdered by Muslims in a fifty year orgy of conquest, greed, violence and rivalry that ended at battle of Kerbala - called the Ashura ─ with Muslims fighting Muslims and the heads of Mohammad’s grandson and even infant great-grandson and 70 others being carried in bags as trophies by the victorious Muslim army). Tell them that Islam is really peaceful!
4. Say that any verse from the Koran that portrays Islam negatively is “out of context”. Tell them it doesn’t really mean what it says. Also, insist that any tradition that says that Mohammad did very bad things is “weak” or forged, or that it has no isnad (chain of narration) even if it has a long isnad and Muslims constantly quote from this same source.
5. Tell people that any ‘nice’ or ‘peaceful’ (or earlier) verse in the Koran is valid for everywhere and all time. Any ‘kill’ and ‘hate’ verse has limited application and can only be understood by an expert or in relation to another verse 56 pages away.
6. Accuse Christianity and other religions as being “just as bad”. Mention the Crusades, Hitler, Timothy McVeigh, Hiroshima.. etc (regardless that it had nothing to do with the Bible) . Say that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Say that Islam is the fastest growing religion on Mars too (forget about the prisons) and the rest of the universe.
7. Claim that Muslims are unjustly persecuted (never mention 1400 years of jihad against infidels, the treatment of non-Muslims in Islamic societies or current events). Mention the classical era when Islamic societies led the world in science, medicine and philosophy (Do not mention this was 700 years ago and that all of it was based upon ancient Greek works or done by the hated Jews and Christians living in those countries while in Arabia they were still living in tent, raising goats, living on the looting of other countries and robbing caravans)
8. Explain that jihad means “inner struggle” (like a diet plan or giving up smoking!) and not “holy war”. Tell them that Islam says fighting can only be in self-defense. If they ask about all those raids, explain that Mohammad went on 26 self-defense expeditions, captured a lot of self-defense loot and self-defense slaves and killed a lot of people in self-defense in the early morning and night self-defense attacks. He even let his men rape women in self-defense at Banu-Mustaliq. If they question that last statement, suggest that maybe the women accused Mohammad’s men of being ‘gay’ and they had to prove themselves. (Note: It may be wise to work more on this answer!)
9. Blame all current problems in Islamic societies on (choose one or more…) the Jews, Christians, the Crusades, the USA, Atheism, Israel, Colonialism, Hollywood, Bush, the Pope, Vatican, Capitalism, racism, poverty, sexuality, discrimination, translations, the media, the Neocons, Right-wing radio talk shows, Communism, the Romans, women, Zionists, culture, Imperialism, Islamophobes, stereotypes, fascism, the Cold War, the War on Terror, ignorance, education, lack of education, misguided education, despair, lack of hope, the suffering of the Palestinian people, bad hair, cartoons, teddy bears and Bugs Bunny. Stress that Muslims are innocent victims of circumstances, always. Say the US, Europe and West support brutal, corrupt Arab regimes (Do not mention that all regimes in Muslim Middle East are undemocratic, brutal and corrupt).
10. Say that Islam “protects and honors” women. Say that “Islam has given women all her rights”. Point out the immorality in Western culture. Say that most of the people that convert to Islam are women. (Never talk about what the Quran and hadith say about women, except for 4 specific verses and do not mention that Mohammad himself said women are ‘deficient in intelligence’ and beat his wife). If they talk about the status of Muslim women everywhere, honor killings, say that it is because Muslims do not follow Islam. Tell them it is “cultural”.
11. Say that a small minority of extremists have hijacked Islam, and they are not ‘real’ Muslims. Explain that just because a person says the shahada (profession of faith), observes the 5 pillars of Islam, goes to the mosque every Friday, has memorized half of the Quran, wears a beard, and is named ‘Mohammad’ - this does not mean that he is a ‘real’ Muslim. (Suggest that the terrorist- who knows,- may really be a Scientologist, a Presbyterian, a Rotarian or even a vile Jew pretending to be a Muslim)…..[………]
There are seven more examples, each very much to the point, and you can find them all here…
