Bigotry: The Dark Danger

Preface:
The Misunderstood Islam

“Adopt my faith, or die!” That is the slogan of the fanatics. There is no such concept as democracy, freedom of ideas, love, respect, affection, friendship or altruism in fanaticism. People imagine that fanaticism, and its offshoot radicalism, can settle inside a true faith. Yet fanaticism is itself a religion; there are representatives of the religion of fanaticism inside every idea. There are fanatical believers in Islam, in Judaism and in Christianity, just as there are in Marxism, fascism and atheism. They all espouse the same faith; “I don't like your ideas! Either go along with my ideas, or die!”

In recent times in particular, this fanaticism has largely wound up being equated with Islam. Indeed, certain groups call this religion of fanaticism Islam and they have turned their fears of fanaticism toward Islam, so much so that Islam, an Abrahamic faith, has come to stand for “fear.” Islamophobia is talked about all over the world. People are unaware that their fears stem, not from Islam, but from fanaticism. They fail to see that the fanatical faith produced by peddlers of superstition has appeared in the name of Islam; nobody has ever told them that this is not Islam. Neither the radicals who emerge in the name of Islam nor the Islamophobes who fear those radicals have been shown that Islam is not this fanatical, terrifying, loveless and hate-filled faith. The radicals of Islam have begun harming the entire world, but Muslims most of all.

One of the main causes of Islamophobia is radicalism. Those who imagine that radicalism is Islam are in fact making the gravest error by opposing Islam and are fighting against the only possible solution to radicalism.

The phrase “moderate Islam” was born out of that need. As if there were such things as a savage Islam on one hand and a moderate model of Islam on the other, Muslims opposed to the savagery of the radicals began being referred to as “moderate Muslims.” Voices opposed to Islam admired the advocates of moderate Islam, but regarded them as weak in the face of the radicals. They imagined that some peace-loving people were trying to soften a savage religion (surely Islam is above that). They even called this “reform in Islam,” and referred to the advocates of moderate Islam as “reformists.” However nobody has managed to show that this is not a reform, but is in fact the real Islam. Although the opponents of Islam admire the “reformists,” the false strength stemming from radical violence and the idea that they represent the real Islam predominated.

Peace-loving Muslims are not trying to soften, reform or moderate Islam. Our aim as peaceable Muslims is to try to eliminate a falsehood that has been propagated under the name of Islam for many years. It is to eliminate the radicalism, fanaticism and bigotry displayed for years under the name of Islam and to eradicate that nonsensical faith that has nothing to do with the true Islam, and to describe the truth of Islam with evidence from the Qur’an. It is to put an end to the worst defamation of Islam being done by the fanatics.

This book responds to the claims made by certain Western opponents of Islam who have actually come to prominence through their criticism of radicalism, and to the terrifying way of thinking of the fanatics. It reveals the sources of the false, fanatical religion which they are trying to make part of Islam, and discusses the invalidity of that religion with examples from the Qur’an. The particular reason for producing a work responding to these claims is that all the criticisms made of Islam take the same direction and that people confuse the religion of radicalism with the true Islam. The objective, therefore, is to provide those people who are wrongly acquainted with the true Islam due to the accusations made against it, with evidence from the Qur’an rebutting those claims.

The fanatics’ problem is that they learn their faith from specious superstition. However, those who criticize those fanatics are sometimes just as radical as them and defend that superstition just as passionately. The more we produce evidence from the Qur’an, the more they try to produce their own from the superstition the fanatics subscribe to. That is where they make their gravest mistake. If they want to know the true Islam and find a solution to fanaticism, they must heed the true faith described here. Unless they do that, radicalism will continue to plague the world. 

The problem with fanatics is that they learn their religion from nonsense. When nonsense represents its source, it is easy for terror in the name of religion to spread. The only solution is the original faith in the Qur'an.