Not Quite the Religion of Peace
6th February 2019
Bernie Power
When sentencing a pair of jihadis, a NSW judge observed that the Islamic community needs to work out if Koranic exortations to violence are to be taken seriously or not. Predictably, there followed immediate denials that anything needs to change or, indeed, could be changed. It seems Islamic leaders could use a refresher course in their creed’s most sacred text
NSW Supreme Court Justice Des Fagan recently incurred the wrath of Muslim leaders for suggesting that Muslims need to disavow the “belligerent†verses in the Koran. Sentencing a young couple who had planned a terrorist attack, Fagan noted:
“Terrorists’ reliance on verses of the Koran to support an Islamic duty of religious violence has been seen with more or less clarity in a number of NSW and Victorian cases. If the verses upon which the terrorists rely are not binding commands of Allah, it is Muslims who would have to say so.â€[1]
The Muslim reaction has been predictable. The Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, insisted there only two verses of the Koran talk about pre-emptive fighting.[2] In a classic red-herring strategy, Australian Muslim Women’s Association president Ms Silmi Ihram weighed in: “There are very few verses in the Koran that can be twisted for violent purposes, there are a lot more in other scriptures.â€
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2019/02/not-quite-the-religion-of-peace/
