Islam is a violent religion

In this final round I will give a final answer your arguments and provide a conclusion. “Here, my opponent basically admits that part of his book could be inaccurate. Thus, one cannot tell how much of the book is a fraud.” The comment I made was referring to the hadith. As I already said in my opening statement, the Quran is God’s own word. The hadith are a supplement to that and are mere testimonies of companions of Muhammad. These are collected by several people, including Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim. The have attempted to gather the reliable hadith where possible. Especially when regarding practical or fundamental issues (such as how to pray, times of prayer, which prayers to recite, etc.) these hadith were submitted to stringent tests. When it comes to academic matters (for example description of historical events) the tests were less stringent. Therefore anything that is said in the Quran is taken as the truth and without doubt and there we as Muslims believe there is no contradiction. The hadith however, are composed by Islamic scholars of that time and can contain mistakes or inaccuracies. Many hadith are mentioned many times in different books. This points to their authenticity. If a hadith is mentioned only once, that might suggest that it is not authentic. Also any hadith that contradict the Quran are believed to be unauthentic. [1] “Muhammad terorized all who went against him, so I doubt anyone would risk writing about his sexual exploits.” Historicians (even from the Western world: Sir Bosworth Smith, Sir William Muir, Thomas Carlyle) have described Muhammad as an honest, trustworthy and good man. He received his first revelations at the age of 40. Before this time he had already been given nicknames as ‘Siddiq’ (the truthful) and Al-Amin (the trustworthy). His first wife, Khadija, was a rich businesswoman. She sent Muhammad to places like Syria for trade-related matters. Muhammad’s honestly and good character impressed her so much that she asked him to marry him. [2] This shows that Muhammad was a man of good character and not someone who would terrorise people. “This, once again, cannot be proven, and even the quote he provided does not prove it. It only states that the wives would be rewarded, but isn't that qutie an incentive to stay?” The quote I presented is from the Quran itself, so it is authentic. I will repeat the quote: "O Prophet! Say to thy consorts “If it be that ye desire the life of this world, and its glitter, – then come! I will provide for your sustenance and set you free in a handsome manner. But if ye seek God and His Apostle, and the home of the hereafter, verily God has prepared for the well-doers amongst you a great reward.” [3] It clearly says that if the wives of Muhammad desired to leave (because the wives of Muhammad were very respected individuals and were seen as role-models, which can become a burden) they had the free choice to do so, without incurring any punishment. On the contrary! Muhammad tells them that he will provide for them (financially) and they would not have any problems. The verse continues to say that if they are true believers and want to get rewarded by God (in the Afterlife) they should decide to stay. As you say, this is indeed quite an incentive and further proves my point that they decided to stay by choice, even if it was just for the reward in the afterlife and not for the love of Muhammad (which is what you are suggesting). Another point regarding this issue is that this is a Quranic verse, which means everyone knew about this. Everyone knew that this choice was given to the wives. This is not a private matter, it’s out in the open. “My oppononet goes on to justify polygamy, which is quite funny. It's immoral. Somewhere in Islam mentions not to be lustful, and if men are getting women for pleasure, as my opponent stated, that is lust. Bad muslim.” I provided situations where polygamy could be justified. This does not mean that it is or should be the norm. Going outside and cross-dressing is allowed by the law. This does not mean that everyone actually does it. The same principle can be applied here. The Quran has given permission for polygamy, but this does not mean that everyone should do it. The Holy Prophet Muhammad married so many women, but not out of lust. I provided the examples of hadith (there are many hadith regarding this, making it more reliable) from Aisha that Muhammad would spent major parts of the night in prayer. The latter part of the nights he would sleep. He also treated women in general with a lot of respect and was not known as a ‘womanizer’. [2] “Here, he admits that his own god will punish non-believers. That is violence. If the own god of islam is saying that he will punish people, the religion is violent. Your own god states it!” God has revealed his signs and has provided us with a law. It is our choice to follow or not follow this law. Just like with secular laws, if you break it, you will be punished. People who repeatedly violate the law will get heavier punishments. People who make minor mistakes are treated more leniently. The same applies to the law of God. If you broke his law repeatedly and do not repent making these mistakes, you will get the punishment. This is nothing more than justice. If you did break the law and later repented and became a better person, you will be forgiven. That is also justice. However, having to spend an eternity in Hell for crimes committed in a limited time span in this life would not be justice. This is also not the Islamic concept of Hell. In Islam, Hell is merely a ‘penitentiary’ where people go for a limited time and eventually everyone will end up in Heaven. How can you say this is violence? You wouldn’t say that giving a life sentence to a murderer would be violent, would you? This is exactly the same principle. [4] Conclusion In my opinion I have sufficiently provided evidence to prove my point, that Islam is not a violent religion. All verses that are cited as being violent and inciting hate have been taking out of context (as explained), as the basic conditions of Islamic warfare have been explained clearly (Surat al-Baqarah 2:190-194). Any war that does not meet the conditions of war as laid down in the Quran cannot have any Islamic justification and therefore is politically motivated. The actions of Muslims cannot be used to judge the teachings themselves. If we look throughout history, many major religions started out peacefully, but the further they got from their prophets (in time), the further they deviated from their teachings. The Islam is no exception. Many so called imams corrupt the teachings of Islam and spread lies that have no Quranic basis. To study true Islam, one should not look at these imams or mullahs, but at the true source: the Quran. In addition to the Quran one should look at the character and example of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. A lot of lies and rumors have been spread about the character and life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. The sources that my opponent has provided either cite no external sources (2 and 3) or provide dubious sources (1), yet these are being described as factual and cross referenced (where is the lists of references?). The fact is, historical data cannot be factually proven, unless there is visual documentation. (in this case it is impossible, since there were no video cameras 1400 years ago) Historical data is inherently biased (a famous saying: History is written by the victors). Therefore we have to rely on the data provided by historians. A majority of historical descriptions are in favor of what I have presented. Therefore I believe that I have provided sufficient evidence to refute the allegations based on these dubious sources. The sources I have provided from alislam.org are cross-referenced and usually contain a list of references either in footnotes or at the end of the chapter. Therefore, I would recommend anyone who has questions about Islam or wants to know more about Islam goes to these websites (www.alislam.org and www.reviewofreligions.org) for more information, because Islam covers a wide range of issues and it is impossible for me to know and provide all of this information at once. [5][6]References: [1] http://www.alislam.org... [2] http://www.alislam.org... [3]Surat al-Ahzab 33:28-29, Yusuf Ali [4] A Philosophical Cocept of the Doctrine of Hell, Review of Religions, 1908 (http://www.reviewofreligions.org...) [5] www.alislam.org [6] www.reviewofreligions.org