Islam: Religion or Political Ideology?

One must question whether Islam is truly a religion or a political ideology given that the followers of Islam are so intent on the imposition of their beliefs on the rest of the non-Muslim world, including barbarisms such as gratuitous murder, sexual assault, and wholesale destruction of cultural artifacts.

In order to believe that Islam is a religion, we must look to the belief system as compared with other religions.

If we are made in God’s image, why would the God of Islam want us to kill others who do not believe in a “true religion”?

• Other religions adhere to the concepts of salvation and redemption.  Islam requires total submission and rewards only “true  believers”.
• Other religions believe there are innocents (infants, children, mentally impaired). Islam does not believe in innocents.

By what “provable” authority has God given any “religion” the right to impose its philosophy on others?

• A religion is a belief system held by groups of individuals.  There is no basis for one religion being favored over another.
• Who is the final determinant of which religion reigns over all?  The word of God is written by men and thus, cannot be discerned as being without bias or prejudice.

What about the dichotomy of a vengeful vs merciful God?

• Our civil law dictates that murder is a crime. Why would mankind universally adopt a position that is in conflict with God’s will to exact punishment to non-believers (infidels)?
• How could this idea germinate across all time and societies as a common theme if it is in direct conflict with the will of God (did he not put the thought in us or was it the work of the Devil and what does that gain)?
• Our natural tendency is to be abhorrent of gross violence. How is it that God would sanction this and encourage us to work against our own will?
• Why have we “evolved” from abject cruelty evidenced in our past to the more compassionate expression of a world society of love and tolerance? This would be counter-intuitive if God wanted us to always seek vengeance against infidels.
• How is it that we reject our natural instinct to flee and protect ourselves when we see others in peril (i.e. putting ourselves at risk to save others).  Our compassion is a gift from God to overcome our natural tendency to be self-absorbed and cruel to others.

Could tribalism and lack of cultural progression explain current savagery inflicted by Islam to infidels?

• The lack of adoption of science, art, literature, philosophy, technology, and other expressions of an enlightened society by Islam indicate an entire race mired in the past?
• Can any society or group grounded in ancient expressions of religious practice act without regard to current morality and expressions of civility and culture?

How can one God love everyone while another seeks to subjugate, kill, or treat the majority of other peoples as inferior and unworthy of grace?

• While the God of many religions offers redemption, the God of Islam considers most to be nonredeemable (i.e. a Jew cannot convert to Islam and be accepted as an equal).
• If God is the creator of all things, what man can claim that some of animals and peoples are unworthy of acceptance?
• If we cannot know that God is a male, female or both then we have no basis to claim a woman to be inferior if they are both products of the same God. Why would God make the sexes unequal?

The Prophets of most religions cared about the state of humanity and embraced the idea that they should be taught to see a higher purpose.

• If a prophet expresses the will of God on earth, why do some prophecies benefit the interests of the prophet alone as opposed to all people?
• The Prophet of Islam profited from revelations that allowed him to circumvent laws and hold himself above others.
• The prophets of other religions revealed to people universal concepts that benefited all, not just themselves.

Islam is a political ideology which requires it’s followers to embark on conquest of other nations and the subjugation of peoples.  It is not a religion in the sense that it wishes to convert others through reasoned approaches that highlight the benefits of adherence and the promise of a better life.

The overriding reason to believe in Islam is that you will not be killed, enslaved, or treated as an inferior. Your reward for observance is in the afterlife, not in the here and now.  No other religion known to man offers such a choice to draw people to its belief system.