Following every terrorist attack carried out by radical Muslims to fulfill what Islam professes, comes a justification “Islam is a religion of peace and has nothing to do with terrorism”. And although all the perpetrators behind such attacks have openly claimed responsibilities and have justified those through texts and references from Islam, the world believes in the version of Islamic apologists. Most people busy in carrying day to day affairs have little time to look into what it is that has divided humanity so far apart. Having respecting and caring Muslim neighbors, friends or colleagues often leads to forming a good image of Islam amongst most western non Muslims. There is no doubt that Muslims in general are as nice as other humans are. But that does not mean that Islam is humane and nice too.

Islam formed in the deserts of Arabia over 1400 years ago calls for laws that are extremely harsh and immoral. Child marriages, forced labor, sexual slavery, amputations, beheading, plundering and other evils very customary in the early Islam are considered bad even by most Muslims of today although, Muhammad the prophet of Islam practiced those who according to Quran is the best example for all humanity to follow “Verily you have in the Prophet of Allah an excellent model, for him who fears Allah and the Last Day and who remembers Allah much” (Quran33:22). In fact most of Muslims only happen to be Muslims because they were born in such families and try to avoid burdening their minds by going through puzzling and contradictory interpretations of Quran and Sunah.

The convoluted and confusing commentaries that try to define Islamic injunctions have been a reason why a religion so exclusively brutal has survived for so long. For instance the heatedly debated verses of Quran (2:191-193) calling for Jihad against the infidels until all embrace Islam are interpreted differently by some moderate Muslim scholars with a tweaked meaning which interpret that fighting is ordered only for self defense.

There are countless such examples from the verses of Quran and life of Muhammad and his followers which prove that Islam spreads hatred and calls for division of humanity. Muhammad’s treatment of Jews in the city of Yathrib very much defines the basis of hatred for other religions that Islam was formed on.

Within 5 years of his emigration to the oasis city of Yathrib (later named as Madinat-un-Nabi which means the city of Prophet) Muhammad after failing to convince the Jews to accept Islam tried to convert them forcefully. When they refused he expelled the tribes of Banu Nadhir and Banu Qainuka from their native city on petty allegations. But the third tribe of Jews Banu Qurayza was not that fortunate. All men of the tribe were put to death and their women and children were taken as captives on false accusations of complicity with Mekkans.(Quran 33: 26,27, Sahi Bukhari 58:148, Abu Dawood 2665,4390 and detailed accounts in Al-Tabari’s ‘Victory of Islam’ and Ibne Ishaq ‘s ‘The Life of Muhammad’.)

Violence against people of other faiths is deeply rooted in Islam. Quran calls for fighting infidels until they accept Islam on several occasions (Quran 8:38-39, 9: 5, 11-14 & 29-30). The successors of Muhammad exercised this god gifted right when they marched on foreign lands. Muslim armies demanded the defenders to either accept Islam or faced them in the battle. That was how the brutal set of laws fixed in the ill-populated, barren lands of Arabia came to be introduced in the invaded territories of Asia, Africa and Europe.

Islam with its very harsh injunctions has been an impediment towards integration of Muslims in the modern world especially in the West. Covering women, forcing Muslim women against interfaith marriages, yelling in loudspeakers five times a day, the Halal and Haram syndrome, and all such Islamic restrictions have limited the mingling of Muslim communities with their hosting nations. Due to restrictions like these a lot of Muslims have created their separate communities in UK, Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries with considerable Muslims populations.

The religion that calls for either conversion or execution of all is extremely dangerous in the current world of human mobility. A religion that calls for beheading of apostates (who renounce it) and blasphemers (who criticize it) is too out dated to be implemented in the contemporary world. Armed groups like Taliban, Boko Haram and ISIS are products of the doctrine of hatred that Islam spreads. The claim that radicalization is caused through misinterpretation of Islam is deceitful. The Islamic decrees that convince so many young men and women to carry acts of terror are very clear.

With so much loss resulting from the very same doctrine, it should be clear that the principles of Islam incite violence and hatred in the hearts of Muslims against others. Islam needs serious reformation to be able to abide by natural laws of rationality and the standards of human rights required in today’s world. Otherwise, the world will continue to be a dangerous place to live in.