Does the Quran glorify terrorism?

We now have a law in Britain which makes it illegal to glorify terrorism. What this law means is that acts of terrorism are not to be supported by words.

We now see political "leaders" trying to make distinctions between "moderate" and "radicalised" Muslims. However, what do they actually mean? Do they understand what they are talking about?

From a non-Muslim perspective, it is not easy to understand what it all means. However, let us take a working definition of a Muslim as someone who believes that the Quran is the revealed word of Allah. In order not to be considered a heretic, such a Muslim must beleive that every verse in the Quran is the word of Allah.
Such a working definition would cover the "radicalised" Muslims, if, that is they carry out terrorist acts, or provide physical or moral support for their brothers to carry out such acts. Moral support would include praising or encouraging such acts, in other words, glorifying terrorism.

Here are some quotes from the Quran, which could be easily seen to glorify terrorism. This is not at all a complete list, but merely a few examples amongst many similar verses.

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"And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers." Quran 2.191

"Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is the eventual coming." Quran 3.28

"Abasement is made to cleave to them wherever they are found, except under a covenant with Allah and a covenant with men, and they have become deserving of wrath from Allah, and humiliation is made to cleave to them; this is because they disbelieved in the communications of Allah and slew the prophets unjustly; this is because they disobeyed and exceeded the limits." Quran 3.112

"O you who have been given the Book! believe that which We have revealed, verifying what you have, before We alter faces then turn them on their backs, or curse them as We cursed the violaters of the Sabbath, and the command of Allah shall be executed." Quran 4.47

"They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper." Quran 4.89

"You will find others who desire that they should be safe from you and secure from their own people; as often as they are sent back to the mischief they get thrown into it headlong; therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given you a clear authority." Quran 4.91

"And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain, and you hope from Allah what they do not hope; and Allah is Knowing, Wise." Quran 4.104

"Wherefore for the iniquity of those who are Jews did We disallow to them the good things which had been made lawful for them and for their hindering many (people) from Allah's way. And their taking usury though indeed they were forbidden it and their devouring the property of people falsely, and We have prepared for the unbelievers from among them a painful chastisement." Quran 4.160-161

"And how many a town that We destroyed, so Our punishment came to it by night or while they slept at midday." Quran 7.4

"When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them." Quran 8.12

"And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do." Quran 8.39

"O Prophet! urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people who do not understand." Quran 8.65

"So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." Quran 9.5

"Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection." Quran 9.29

"O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil)." Quran 9.123

"And when We wish to destroy a town, We send Our commandment to the people of it who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein; thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction." Quran 17.16

"On the day when the trumpet shall be blown, and We will gather the guilty, blue-eyed, on that day" Quran 20.102

"Said he: You believe in him before I give you permission; most surely he is the chief of you who taught you the magic, so you shall know: certainly I will cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and certainly I will crucify you all." Quran 26.49

"Cursed: wherever they are found they shall be seized and murdered, a (horrible) murdering." Quran 33.61

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In my own opinion, it is very clear that the Quran does indeed glorify terrorism. Should the British legal system therefore ban the Quran? The legislation is relatively recent, and was enacted in response to 9/11. It is not some archaic law (such as the obligation to do weekly archery practice) which has simply not been repealed. It is very much a law of our time.

I would suggest that given that we have this law now which makes illegal the glorification of terrorism, and also to anyone of sound mind, it would appear that the Quran does in fact glorify terrorism, then surely we should as a minimum have a legal enquiry into the status of the Quran in this respect. The legal process must take its course.

Doing only half a job, i.e. producing this legislation, and then failing to follow it through to its logical conclusion indicates that the present government is incompetent at the least. Perhaps they understood what they were doing, but now are too afraid to carry it through. In either case, whether they are stupid, or whether they are cowards, they are not fit to govern.

It does seem now that the people of Britain are starting to wake up to the very real threat that Islam represents. We must realise that we really are at war. It is a war unlike, say the war against the Nazis. It is an ideological war, which probably will never end.

When my eyes first opened to the reality of the threat, I was at first very depressed. Feelings of terrible foreboding and powerlessness. However, if each of us can do something about it, however small, it will all be a step in the right direction. In my case, I have produced some cartoons, even though my artistic skills are not very advanced. The cartoons should help to open the eyes of my fellow countrymen and women. The point is, that I have done something. Personally I feel much happier for having done this, and hope that it will make some small difference.

If you are currently feeling as despairing as I was, then it will help you to feel some sense of achievement to do something positive. Why not write to or email your Member of Parliament? In a recent opinion poll, 53 percent of the respondents believe that Islam is a serious threat to democracy in Britain. We must pressurise our government to take this problem seriously, and actually to do something about it.

It is clear that the current Labour government of Britain must bear a large responsibility for allowing so many terrorist sympathisers to take up residence in Britain. It is generally quoted that there are 2 million Muslims in Britain. It is also generally quoted that a quarter of these sympathise with the suicide bombers of 7/7 who murdered 53 people and seriously injured many more in London. Whilst the precise numbers of terrorist sympathisers may not easily be determined, a guesstimate of half a million probably is about right. Whether the true figure is 300,000 or 700,000 is of academic interest. However, what we need to fully understand is that it is a very large number indeed.

We should praise the work of the security services and the police. They are doing a tremendously important job of tracking down the Islamic terrorists in our midst, and have foiled a number of very serious plots. So far, around 1000 Islamic terrorists have been arrested. However, this must surely be the tip of the iceberg, and I would suggest that it represents much less than one percent of the total number of terrorists and terrorist sympathisers.

Of course, our security services and police must foil every single plot. The terrorists will be happy if only a single plot is successful. It would seem highly likely therefore that sooner or later there will be many more innocent civilians murdered in Britain, in the name of Allah.

Given the current turmoil in the Labour party, and their ineffectual response to the threat of Islamic terrorism, it would seem that the other significant political party in Britain, the Conservatives (also known as Tories) will be elected next time. It is to be hoped that they will have more guts than Labour. However, the next general election is some way off. Traditionally, Labour have been socialists, and the Conservatives have been slightly right-wing, although they both appear to be sitting on the fence together at the moment. There is a third party in British politics, the Liberal-Democrats. However, they always finish in a poor third position, and so are very unlikely to form a government in the forseeable future.

An interesting development recently has been the very significant surge in popularity of the British National Party (BNP). It is still a small party. However, wherever it put up candidates in the local elections earlier ths year (2006), it has done very well, on average taking around 25 percent of the vote. In previous elections they have attracted only typically 3 percent of the votes.

The BNP has for a long time been highlighting the numerous problems resulting from uncontrolled immigration into Britain, and in particular the very serious threat from Islam. The British people are starting to become impatient with the two main parties (Labour and Conservatives), and are sending a very clear message to them by voting for the BNP.

It would seem unlikely that the BNP will form a majority government any time soon. However, it is increasingly likely that some of their policies will be adopted by the main parties.

Personally I do not really mind too much which party is in power, provided that they are:
1. Honest about the disadvantages of uncontrolled immigration.
2. Honest about the threat of Islam in Britain.
3. Have the courage to do something about these problems.

It is the current Labour government that has created the law banning the glorification of terrorism. However, it is patently clear that they are completely lacking in courage to follow through with the task. They must realise that the Quran is the single most significant document that glorifies terrorism.

Humanity needs peace not Islam.