Large-Scale Islamic Belief is Harmful to Society

The word "Islam" means "submission" and "surrender. It comes from the word for "peace". The "deen", which can be translated as "way of life" or "religion" that the Qur'an prescribes to its followers would be to focus on The Truth and be honest about what they believe in while being kind to each other and practicing charity. Sincerity of faith and charity is the religion that the Qur'an prescribes. Jesus sums up the law and the prophets, to "Love God with all your heart soul and mind, and to love thy neighbor as thyself". These are different ways of saying the same thing. A Muslim is one who submits to God, which is understood as The Ultimate Reality, or the way things truly are. Surely, it is silly to think that a Holy Scripture that encourages people to love truth, practice integrity, give to charity, and be peaceable to their community would be harmful to society! The only type of violence that is ever justified by the Qur'an is self defense when the attacker won't accept a peaceable surrender. This is shown as an example in the early community as led by Mohammed. For about a decade, the earliest Muslims faced terrible persecution by the community in Mecca. Muslims were getting killed simply for believing and following their deen, which was considered offensive to the pagans in Mecca. After this decade of persecution, the Muslim community moved up north for the sake of peace, and the pagans of Mecca still made war. When all attempts at peace have been made, and the enemy refuses to stop attacking, it was determined that war for the sake of simultaneously maintaining sincerity, faith, and life is justified. This is something that most people would not have a hard time swallowing. War in self defense. Even then, it is a choice. So, if your life is being threatened by a killer, you have permission to defend yourself if you so choose to. When those who surrender and accept peace are in charge, they donate a portion of their earnings toward charitable causes. When those who do not believe in peace are under the rule of those who do live in peace, they are expected to pay taxes that go towards protection and allowing them and others to practice their religion or way of life freely. These are not hard things to accept. Areas that were once occupied by Byzantine Rome, after switching to Muslim rule actually paid less in taxes than when under Roman rule. The Muslim world has traditionally respected the rights of people to practice their faith in peace. Jews, Christians, Sabians, eventually Zoroastrians, Buddhists and Hindus were allowed to practice their faiths. Science flourished in the Muslim world. Once again, the early Muslim community as led by Mohammed is a prime example. The constitution of Medina outlines a government that respected people of different tribal affiliations and religions to peacefully co-exist. The Qur'an teaches a religion of peace, but Muslims are people. They are susceptible to the same temptations that any other person would be susceptible to. They, like all people, are going to act on bad information without even realizing that it is bad. They, like all people, make mistakes. A good argument could even be made that Islam by itself is actually beneficial to society. Truly, any example of harm being done to society in correlation with large scale belief in Islam could not be reasonably used to pin down Islam as being the primary causal force.