Peaceful mask of violence

So, it seems a Danish newspaper re-published a satirical cartoon depicting Muhammed carrying a bomb around in his turban. This, obviously, refers to the legacy of death and violence that tends to sadly accompany modern day radical Islam, in practice and teaching, throughout the world in which the religion saturates culture to the point of inextricable blending.

Across the world, Muslims are, clearly, not happy with this cartoon. Dominating the news is coverage of violent protests: burning buildings, boycotting products, throwing stones and rocks, shooting guns, destroying houses and cars, threatening various targets. Citing religious beliefs that all depictions of the "Prophet" are forbidden, they threaten DEATH to anyone (or any nation) breaking their religious code. "Islam is the religion of peace!" is professed, which is an increasingly insult to our collective intelligence, considering that being simultaneously uttered are such sentiments as:

~ "This is not a protest, this is a warning," said Khalid Kelly, 39, an Irish national who converted to Islam five years ago."Stop murdering our women and children. We gave the same message before 9/11. We are now saying to insult our Prophet means death. We are being attacked and an attack against our Prophet will mean death."

~ "It is very clear: Anyone who insults the Prophet must be beheaded. Remember van Gogh?" he said, referring to the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh who was murdered in 2004 for his controversial film about Islam. "Whoever did it, bless him. Islam is peace but you see there will only be peace when Islam is implemented across the world. In the Prophet's time anyone who insulted the Prophet was beheaded. The same should happen now." That gem courtesy of Abu Jihad, 43, English citizen of Pakistani descent.

~ 500 protesters gathered outside the Danish Embassy in West London after a two-hour march. Amid chants of "Denmark go to hell" and "Bomb, bomb Denmark", protesters called for a jihad, or holy war. Protesters yelled: "Denmark watch your back" and "You'll pay with your blood". Banners read: "Europe you will pay, your 9/11 is on its way".

~ "The only solution is for those responsible to be killed. In Islam, the one who insults the messenger should be killed." ~ Abu Ibrahwm, 26, of Luton, England.

And, get this:

~ Mahmoud Zahar, a top leader of newly elected Palestinian militant group Hamas, said yesterday: "“We should have killed all those who offend the Prophet."

That this guy was just ELECTED to a leadership position at ALL should bother us more than a little bit.

The ongoing hoopla in both word and action over this cartoon starkly illustrates the kind of peace Islam subscribes to.

Such peacefully loving advocation of mass murder, terrorism, beheading, and holy war just gets me all warm and fuzzy. How absolutely horrifying and indefensible! Why are we not moved to condemn this unformly? This is lunacy. It is a cartoon, people. Written by non-Muslims who do not subscribe to Islam, and are thus, not bound to abide by Islamic religious laws of the non-depiction of Muhammed.

And you know what? The message intended by the illustration, however disrespectfulul its presentation, has merit. For it was as Muslims ACTING IN THE NAME OF ALLAH that destroyed our planes, buildings, and lives on September 11, that bombed the subway stations and bus in England on 7/7, that stage suicide-bombing massacres of staggering proportions everyday in Jerusalem or on the streets of Muslim nations at the hands of Hamas or Al Qaeda, that killed seventeen US soldiers aboard the USS Cole. Muslim violence is occurring on a global scale as a concentrated jihadist effort against the "infidels", which literally includes everyone "who are not Muslims."

Definitely seems a peaceful religion to me. Definitely peaceful. Definitely.

If the only two ways to achieve peace are to either religiously convert or kill everyone you meet, your definition of peace is rancid. And intolerable. And rotten. And wrong.

I am awakened. I will no longer will tolerate being fed the lie of a "peaceful" Islam. I flat out do not believe that. I just refuse to disregard my own eyes, ears, mind, heart, and soul to my own risk of peril when it comes to Islamic "promotion of peace".

I hope with all my heart that I am missing something, that somehow all these guys who run around blowing things up and targeting anyone who differs from them are the rogue members of an outcast Muslim sect. That they do not represent the whole. But when members of the elected leadership of a nation unabashedly advocate the same inflammatory violence speech and actions, my hope dwindles to a level just below paltry.

In seeking to understand the Qu'uran/Koran, I have read it. Twice from cover to cover and often in pieces as part of more intensive study over the years. This elusive "peace" that Islam claims to contains has never been evident to me. Instead, I find as the heart of Islam, a religion founded in war and initially spread by armed conquest ancapturingng of wives, wealth, land, and spoils. Violent aggression is embedded throughout the Qu'uran/Koran and in basic concepts of the religion in practice and philosophy. Simply stated, territories dominated by Muslims are called "Dar al-Islam", meaning: the sphere of Islam. The rest of the world is called "Dar al-Harb", or: the sphere of War.

This means that, sooner or later, everyone will be categorized. And, from the Qu'uran/Koran's own pages, either one becomes a Muslim, or one becomes a target.

Even as I realize I am a target to these radicals, I love because God first loved us and commands us to love one another. And His peace - REAL peace - never comes delivered as a suicide bomb, or by means of a fatwa or jihad, which are all solely the efforts of corrupted, sinful human beings adhering to a religious tradition built on a foundation of violence.