Raymond Ibrahim, associate director of the Middle East Forum and author of The Al Qaeda Reader, writes an incredibly detailed, accurate piece in Middle East Quarterly comparing the history of violence within and between the three major Abrahamic religions. The core question is the title of the piece: Are Judaism and Christianity as Violent as Islam?
Those of us who have actually taken the time to honestly study the three Abrahamic religions and world history know the answer: No. Neither Judaism nor Christianity are as violent as Islam.
It has become ‘politically incorrect’ to say so, and this truth is constantly challenged by moral relativists and historical revisionists these days, but it remains the truth. Biblical, ‘Old Testament’ violence in the Judeo-Christian scriptures was always constrained and limited. It was directed at particular peoples and nations for limited times. Violence in the Qur’an is transcendent of time and space—standing orders from the Prophet Muhammad to slay and conquer non-Muslims.
Even the Crusades, oft cited as a prime example of Christian violence, are wholly misrepresented by many modern historians. While inexcusable atrocities certainly occurred during the Crusades, the conflicts were, at their core, retaliatory against the bloody Muslim invasions of southwestern Europe, the Holy Land, the Balkans, and elsewhere.
We need to stop kidding ourselves about the nature of Islam and the long-term intent of many of its adherents and leaders. That intent is, of course, to do exactly as the Qur’an instructs: convert the entire world to Islam through violence and subjugation.