Terrorists Use the Qur\'an to Promote Hate and Killing

¶ … Holy Texts

The Bible and the Qur'an are ancient religious texts that many -- if not most -- believers in the Christian faith and the Islamic faith take literally. At least in part, most Christians are likely to accept the teachings in the Bible -- particularly the New Testament because the Jewish faith embraces the Old Testament -- as the Word of God and must be followed in order to arrive in paradise following one's death. And likewise, Muslims believe the Qur'an is Allah's Word sent to humans through the Prophet Mohammed. But because both of those texts are subject to interpretation -- and because people read different things into both books -- wildly divergent attitudes and beliefs are the result. This paper delves into how sacred texts can (and do) provide a springboard to radically different interpretations of the information found in those sacred texts.

How the Qur'an is interpreted to justify jihad

An article by David Bukay in the peer-reviewed Middle East Quarterly presents the argument that the "al-Wala wal-Bara" is central to understanding Islam and the radicalization of believers. Bukay explains that "al-Wala" is an expression of "sincere love for Allah," his prophet Mohammed and all believers in Islam (Bukay, 2013). But "al-Bara" is, to the contrary, an expression of "enmity and hatred toward falsehood and its adherents," which presumably refers to persons who adhere to other faiths, such as Judaism and Christianity. Hence, for believers in the Qur'an al-Wala wal-Bara is interpreted as the need to become close to what is pleasing to Allah (and the Prophet Mohammed) and "withdrawing from what is displeasing to Allah and His Messenger" (Bukay, p. 3).

Taking this a step deeper into the reason why radicalized Muslims ("jihadists") hate the West, in particular the United States, the interpretation of radicals is that loving Allah means He will love you and forgive you of your faults -- but because "Allah does not love the infidels" you must hate them. And, taking that a step even further, people like Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar -- and presumably the fanatical groups ISIS -- take that concept of "hate" to mean, kill the infidels whenever and wherever they may be found. (That would likely include the justification for the killing of the Canadian soldier who was recently shot dead in Ottawa by a reportedly recent convert to radical Islam.)

How authoritative is the Qur'an in terms of giving terrorists justification for their bloodthirsty vendettas against the West?" "There are more than four hundred verses in the Qur'an…that describe the torment in hell that Allah has prepared for the infidel" (Bukay, p. 4). However, author and attorney Al Lipold quotes the Qur'an: "God changes not what is in a people until they change what is in themselves" (Lipold, 2013). Lipold also quotes the Qur'an -- in passages that clearly do not authorize or condone suicide -- saying, "Do not cast yourself into destruction…Kill not yourself," so right there the terrorists that claim they are only carrying out the Qur'an's messages are perverting that holy text. Moreover, Islam comes from the word "Salam," which literally translated means "peace" (Elkayam, 2009).

Anglican Bishop Kenneth Craig, considered a respected scholar on Islam and Christianity, accounts for the different readings of the Qur'an (and the Bible) explains in his book The Qur'an and the West that "…the terrorists of 9/11 perverted the Qur'an's meaning," and yet, the misunderstandings of religious tenets "is a condition religions have suffered through the centuries" (Craig, 2006).

How the Old Testament is used to condemn gay and lesbian people

Meanwhile, there are people in the public eye, like Dr. Laura Schlesinger, among others, who condemn gay people because the Old Testament -- specifically Leviticus 18:22 -- appears to rebuke homosexuality. In fairness, Schlesinger is not alone in her rants against gay people; there are evangelical churches and cults that take public positions against gays as well as against gay marriage. They do so because of several Biblical passages, including Leviticus 18:22: "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable" (Bible Gateway). In this case it is not so much a perversion of the Bible but a matter of taking it out of context, according to Canon Dr. Ron Cassidy, the Rector of St. Lawrence, Manchester. In the peer-reviewed journal The Expository Times, Cassidy asserts that Leviticus 18:22 "…does not condemn homosexual relations. It condemns men who treat other men sexually as women," and Leviticus also condemns men who "allow themselves to be so treated" (Cassidy, 2004).

The author of this article adds that Leviticus is not necessarily reacting against behavior because it is homosexual behavior but because it "degrades men to the status of women" (Cassidy, 299). Of course that would be considered sexist today, but nevertheless the clarity is helpful given that in contemporary American society liberals and moderates take offense to the idea that gay and lesbian people should be considered contemptible because a book written many centuries ago seems to support the biases of certain political and religious groups.