Islam doesnt promote violence? Maybe the question shouldve been, Does the Koran promote violence? Yes. Yes it does. So does the Bible. Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate. (Koran 9:73) Bill Maher makes his statements about Islam and violence because he sees trends across the world that only seem to appear linked by Islam, e.g. violent riots across eleven different countries resulting in over 200 deaths in response to a comic strip making fun of Muhammad (the Jyllands-Posten comic of 2005) and more violent riots resulting in over 50 deaths for a YouTube video insulting Islam. (the Innocence of Muslims video--also noteworthy in copyright law for a ridiculous reason, but I digress) A few hundred years ago, this kinda shit might have been perpetrated by Christian groups, too--god knows the Christians did much worse throughout history. But they dont have these immediate, worldwide violent responses to media--not as a group, anyway. Their bad acts are many, but they are insidious, slow and diverse (like #hb2). When Monty Pythons Life of Brian came out in 1979, Christians in many countries protested. But no one died in those protests. This is not to say that these violent reactions are ubiquitous across Islam--far from it. But Islam is indeed the unifying element here. I believe that components and origins of any given culture are extremely complex and that religion is so intertwined with most cultures that we cant point out causation with much confidence (i.e. Islam causes violence or FGM is a problem in majority-Muslim countries). If Maher is simply pointing out correlation without asserting causation, we have to give him that--thats just plain statistics. Especially regarding FGM, which is far easier to quantify than violence generally. (Ill acknowledge right now that that FGM predates Islam and isnt mentioned in the Koran, but several hadith praise the practice as a noble one.) Reza speaks of FGM in Eritrea and Ethipia, and calls them Christian countries then says, Nowhere else in Muslim majority states is female genital mutilation an issue. That statement blatantly contradicts internationally-respected data. And I dont think anyone would consider Eritrea and Ethiopia to be Christian countries once they had experienced the countless minarets in those countries--you cant escape them. A close friend just spent months in Addis Ababa and she said that those amplified prayers and calls to prayer pervade the air all day and night. Technically, yes, 62% of Ethiopia is Christian while only 39% is Muslim. 50% of Eritrea is Christian and 48% is Muslim. But to get to the point, FGM is *absolutely* most prevalent in Muslim-majority countries. Im basing this on census statistics and 2013 figures from an ongoing UNICEF study. Look at these numbers: 98% of women in Somalia are subjected to FGM--Somalia is 99.8% Muslim. 96% of women in Guinea, which is 85% Muslim. 93% of women in Djibouti, which is 94% Muslim. 91% of women in Egypt, which is 90% Muslim. 89% of women in Mali, which is 55% Muslim. 88% of women in Sierra Leone, which is 71.3% Muslim (according to 2004 numbers). 88% of women in Sudan, which is 97% Muslim. 76% of women in Gambia, which is 90% Muslim. 69% of women in Mauritania, which is ~100% Muslim. 44% of women in Chad, which is 64% Muslim. If you look at countries that arent majority-Muslim, like Kenya and Libera, which are only 11.2% and 12.2% Muslim, respectively, youll see that the people engaged in the practice of FGM there are either in, or adjacent to, Muslim groups. (Gerry Mackie, Political Scientist at St. Johns College, University of Oxford) And Reza says its an African problem? Really?! Maybe FGM isnt happening outside of Africa. But its also not happening in parts of Africa where there are no Muslims.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 18:21:36 +0000
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