In Christianity and Islam, as in all religions, how followers choose to practice their beliefs is based on their interpretation and acceptance of Holy Scripture. Many passages in all forms of religious texts are outdated and are considered criminal if carried out in today's time, but are still discussed as part of the faith. In the Bible, dire warnings are dotted throughout the Old Testament for those who worship other gods or several gods at once.
Deuteronomy 17 tells believers who come upon such a person to "bring that man or woman to the gates of the city Another brutal passage about non-believers from the Bible, Psalm , states, "Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. Father Dan Madigan, a professor of theology at Georgetown University, pointed out that these passages are recited every day in the Christian faith, and yet thousands of clergy members remain at peace.
He noted the double standard many put on the Koran. The Old Testament is filled with tales of divinely-ordained slaughter and war, yet about two billion Christians today follow the word of the Lord, coupled with the New Testament, which includes a command from Jesus to "love thy neighbor as you love thyself. Muslims also face a similar dichotomy of ideas in the Koran, from maintaining peace to raging war.
In one part, the scripture says there is "no coercion in matters of faith. ABC News received hundreds of viewer-submitted questions about Muslims and their faith, and posed them to a group of Muslim and non-Muslim scholars of the Koran, who tackled the most common ones.
The scholars agreed that the Prophet Muhammad's words turned more militant later in life, around the time his tribe came under violent attack. But according to Grizwald, those words should not supersede anything Muhammad is said to have stated earlier. While some fundamentalist Muslims may declare they follow Muhammad's instructions to "fight the infidels," moderate scholars argue the infidels he was referring to have been dead for 1, years. Reza Aslan, a Muslim scholar and author of several books on the Middle East.
Father Dan Madigan also pointed out the key passage that follows the "fight the infidels" line that many radical Islamists often ignore or don't know it exists. On the other hand, another Muslim scholar stated that of the more than 6, verses of the Koran, call for war against enemies of the faith. The argument is that an ideological movement to impose sharia law, by force if necessary, is gaining ground across the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and even in Europe.
The fact is from Woolwich to Tunisia, from Ottawa to Bali, these murderers all spout the same twisted narrative, one that claims to be based on a particular faith. Now it is an exercise in futility to deny that. This school of thought understands that the problem of radicalization begins long before a suicide bomber straps on his vest or a militant picks up his machine gun; it begins in mosques and schools where imams preach hate, intolerance, and adherence to Medina Islam.
But this has not amounted to meaningful ideological engagement. These so-called moderate representatives of Islam insist that violence has nothing to do with Islam and as a result the intolerant and violent aspects of the Quran and the Hadith are never acknowledged or rejected.
There is never any discussion about change within Islam to bring the morally outdated parts of the religion in line with modernity or genuine tolerance for those who believe differently. Despotic governments, civil war, anarchy, economic despair — all of these factors doubtless contribute to the spread of the Islamist movement.
But it is only after the West and, more importantly, Muslims themselves recognize and defeat the religious ideology on which this movement rests that its spread will be arrested.
And if we are to defeat the ideology we cannot focus only on violent extremism. We need to confront the nonviolent preaching of sharia and martyrdom that precedes all acts of jihad. We will not win against the Medina ideology by stopping the suicide bomber just before he detonates himself, wherever he may be; another will soon take his or her place. We will not win by stamping out the Islamic State or al Qaeda or Boko Haram or al-Shabab; a new radical group will just pop up somewhere else.
We will win only if we engage with the ideology of Islamist extremism, and counter the message of death, intolerance, and the pursuit of the afterlife with our own far preferable message of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Attacks on the Hindu community show how the country has turned away from its pluralist heritage.
Shusha was the key to the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Now Baku wants to turn the fabled fortress town into a resort. Argument An expert's point of view on a current event. By Ayaan Hirsi Ali. November 9, , AM. Follow her on Twitter Ayaan. The verse should not be read literally, they say, but in context with other Koranic verses, as well as the example of the Prophet Muhammad, who — as has been well-established in hadiths, which document his words and actions — never hit his wives, and encouraged men to treat women with respect.
Violence of any kind directly violates sharia law which is the teachings of the Koran, the hadiths, and the expertise of Islamic scholars , Mr Salman said. Muslims in Australia are required to abide by the law of the land. Feminist scholars and feminists have argued that the problem is simple: for centuries Islamic scholarship has been the domain of men. Silma Ihram, president of the Australian Muslim Women's Association, said that while Islam does not condone violence, "men who are less educated about the complexities of ['s] application and depth of meaning can use it to justify their superiority, that their wife should behave".
Furthermore, there is clear evidence that Muslim women working for equality have a substantial workload. The NSW Government recently revealed there had been a " tsunami " of young girls forced to go overseas to become foreign brides, and called on imams to educate their communities that "forced marriage is completely unacceptable".
Even though underage marriage is illegal in Australia, reports of backyard marriages to girls as young as 12 and 15 under sharia law remain. Similarly, while female genital mutilation is also a criminal offence, a recent study of just one hospital — Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney — found 60 cases had been seen since , many of them extreme.
Yet just as it is not assumed all criminal acts committed by, say, Christians and Hindus are reflective of their religion's teachings, many Muslims deeply resent the same implication being placed on them. And, as Joumanah El Matrah, the chief executive of the Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights, points out, there is no evidence suggesting women in Muslim communities — of which there are many, diverse groups in Australia — experience domestic violence at a higher rate.
One in four Australian women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime, with one woman killed by a current or former partner every week. However, Ms El Matrah said, Muslim men who have an abusive nature will sometimes use Islam as justification.
The greatest responsibility for addressing domestic violence in Muslim communities may well rest with imams, who are often the first port of call for abused women.
New research has confirmed that some religious leaders in Australia are putting women's safety at risk by encouraging them to stay in violent relationships under the guise that they will be "rewarded" by God for for being patient. The majority of the women said their faith had been a source of resilience and empowerment in dealing with abuse — praying, for example, was cited by many as a way of coping.
The only negative aspect of their religion the women reported was the role of religious leaders, some of whom had advised them to "tolerate" their partner's abuse. Another woman, aged 35, was told by an imam, "that the woman who is patient with her husband's bad deeds will go to paradise".
Some of the women I interviewed didn't even go to a religious leader [for help] because they knew the answer in advance. Ms El Matrah said she had heard of similar examples where faith leaders had encouraged women to stay in violent relationships for the sake of their family.
For some religious leaders, she said, "domestic violence really needs to be quite extreme before they get that it is something they need to be concerned about". In recent months, several community groups have been leading a push to educate Islamic faith leaders about the importance of gender equality in addressing intimate partner violence. In , for example, the Lebanese Muslim Association made a video to "confront the misconception … that family and spousal abuse is tolerated within Islam".
In it, several imams and sheiks, including the Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, reject the notion that Islam permits violence against women and encourage Muslim women being abused to "break the cycle" and seek help. Now, two new initiatives launching soon in Australia are seeking to counter imams' lack of understanding of domestic violence.
Nada Ibrahim, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education at the University of South Australia, will next month oversee the launch of a program designed to educate about 30 Islamic faith and community leaders in Brisbane about the dynamics of domestic violence. Many imams have been trained overseas and have limited knowledge of services and support systems available to Australian women.
Imams also strive to keep families together, which may sometimes conflict with a woman's desire to leave a violent relationship. Darebin City Council in Melbourne's northern suburbs is also preparing to launch a resource to guide Islamic faith and community leaders in promoting respectful relationships in the community.
It places particular emphasis on the "complex relationship" between gender inequality and violence against women. All women and men are protected under Islamic law. Referencing a report by Vic Health that found 19 per cent of Australians think men should be in control in relationships and be the head of the household, the resource also says:. The strongest predictor of high levels of violence against women is unequal power between men and women.
As examples, it adds culturally specific references, including women being forced into becoming a second or third wife; denial of inheritance; and female genital cutting. The resource goes on to outline numerous strategies through which community leaders can address gender inequity, including improving women's financial independence and leadership, and promoting anti-violence campaigns.
That is the golden rule. Mr Salman said many imams in Australia need to "change their entire attitude and way of thinking". So they always encourage the wife to show patience. But when it comes to domestic violence the advice needs to be One problem with strategies designed to encourage imams to spruik the merits of gender equality is that all of them are men. Can you imagine how difficult it is for a young woman to walk into the office of an imam on her own?
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