Answer to ISIS Lies in the Holy Quran

Part 2 of 2

Virtually every terror tactic used by ISIS to date, whether it be suicide bombing, killing Muslims or others, beheading prisoners, using chemical weapons, poisoning water, burning people, attacking the marketplace, destroying homes and property, denying education to women, or exercising some post-Muhammed man-made “Sharia Law” punishments, is an explicit violation of the teachings and example of the Prophet as recounted in the Holy Quran. (The Quran is far more explicit and detailed in its prohibitions than is our Western Bible - not that some Christians don’t sometimes violate the fundamental teachings and example of Jesus Christ, detailed or not detailed.)

The Holy Quran is the weapon of choice to defeat ISIS.  Islamic leaders, believers and we ourselves should quote the Quran to refute every vile action by ISIS fanatics. Take, for example, the denial of education to women. ISIS fanatics routinely shoot girls and women on their way to school or college in reprisal for having the temerity to seek an education. But what did the Prophet Muhammad actually say about the education of women, as recorded in the Quran? He said this: “Any man who gives his daughters an education has a special place waiting for him in heaven.” Again and again the terrorist actions of ISIS are directly refuted by the Quran.

The misplaced ideology of ISIS is highly contagious and lends itself to acts of violence in Western democracies. Such was the case this month when masked gunmen shouting “Allah Akbar” (“God is Great’) attacked the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France, killing 12 people and wounding others. Charlie Hebdo is renowned for satirical cartoons lampooning all religions, not just Islam. Further motivation for the Paris attack seems to be retaliation for cartoons and a favorable Hebdo review of a new book, “Submission,” by Michel Houellebecq, which depicts an imaginary future France led by an Islamic party that victimizes women bars them from the workplace.  What the ISIS-style extremists have realized is that their message can influence and attract adherents even in Western  countries, like France, the UK and the USA, and it is possible to take advantage of the relative openness of Western countries to launch headline-grabbing attacks.

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When writing or speaking about ISIS, we should never refer to the “Islamic State,” but rather always say or write “so-called  Islamic State.”  ISIS is neither Islamic, nor a state. It is an abomination, the corruption of a dream, a nightmare.  The term “Islam” really means “Peace.”  ISIS is anything but peaceful. ISIS is anti-Islam, anti-the Prophet, and anti-Quranic. The entire world has to realize this. The Prophet Muhammad must surely turn over in his grave daily at the sight, sound and prospect of the so-called “Islamic State” in 2014, just as Jesus Christ must do whenever he recalls the so-called “Christian” Inquisition” of the 15th century in Spain, the “Wars of Religion” of the 16th and 17th centuries throughout Europe, and a good deal more since then.

So, what is to be done?  We need to mobilize all true Muslims and Islamic leaders worldwide, and even non-Muslims, to declare this truth, the truth of the Holy Quran. How can we initiate this?  I would recommend that a few highest-ranked Islamic leaders in the world be encouraged to convene an Islamic Ecumenical Conclave or Conference of theologians (Sunni, Shiite, et al.) to review the true meaning of Islam, and assemble academic and religious scholars to review all the teachings of the Prophet and summarize them in a way that ordinary people, theologians and politicians can understand, promote and obey. In this way, we should also be able to find common cause in both Islam and Christianity.  There may also be a middle ground: a Caliphate and a Christian movement both of which are deeply religious, yet co-existent and non-political. That’s the ecumenical solution to the fundamental problem of man-made conflict between Islamic and Christian faith.

In short, the answer to ISIS lies within the pages of the Holy Quran.  Let’s bring this truth into the light. It’s the best way to save democracy in the Middle East, and it’s the only way for Islam to save itself.  

Anthony Piel is a former director and general legal counsel of the World Health Organization.