Islam and peace

"I have a panic room in my house, where I am supposed to take refuge if one of the adherents of the "religion of peace" makes it past my permanent security detail and into my home. In fact, its not really my home at all—I live in a government safe house, heavily protected and bulletproof. Since November 2004, when a Muslim murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh for the crime of offending Islam, I have been surrounded by police guards and stripped of nearly all personal privacy. I am driven every day from the safe house to my office in the Dutch Parliament building in armored police cars with sirens and flashing blue lights. I wear a bulletproof jacket when I speak in public. Always surrounded by plainclothes police officers, I have not walked the streets on my own in more than seven years."

"Islam, it means peace, it stands for peace, it promotes peace, it teaches peace, and everything that you will achieve is peace. In this world peace, in the next peace, in your grave peace, with your children peace, in your environment peace. That is Islam. Anything that destroys that in any way is not Islam."

"Religion" is a nearly useless term. Its a term like "sports". Now there are sports like and sports like , and they have almost nothing in common apart from breathing. There are sports that are just synonymous with the risk of physical injury or even death … There is, Im happy to say, a religion of peace in this world, but its not Islam. The claim that Islam is a religion of peace that we hear ceaselessly reiterated is completely delusional. Now Jainism actually is a religion of peace. The core principle of Jainism is non-violence. Gandhi got his non-violence from the Jains. The crazier you get as a Jain, the less we have to worry about you. Jain extremists are paralysed by their pacifism. Jain extremists cant take their eyes off the ground when they walk lest they step on an ant... Needless to say they are vegetarian. So the problem is not , because extremism is not a problem if your core beliefs are truly non-violent. The problem isnt . We often hear this said; these are euphemisms... The only problem with Islamic fundamentalism are the fundamentals of Islam."

"If they let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you to harm them."

"Peace is associated in the Quran with God, making it the defining feature of the life intended for humanity, to be fully realized ultimately in the next life. Islam recognizes corruption as endemic to humanity and the need for force to maintain political and social peace, within and across societies. Early biographies of the Prophet Muhammad suggest that while he waged war, he always sought a just peace—sometimes over the protests of his companions. Considerable confusion attaches to the concept of jihad, which can be translated as either spiritual or armed struggle. During the early centuries of Islam, scholars set ethical limits on war-making. Intentions had to be pure, and not just self-interested, and the use of force had to be absolutely necessary, for example, to protect the religious community, preserve justice, or defend territory. Therefore, jihad to extend the abode of Islam was driven more by imperial than by religious considerations. The Qur’an forbids coercion in religious affairs: “There is no compulsion in religion.” (Qur’an 2:256) and killing a life without cause is equivalent to "killing the whole human race" (Qur’an 5:32). Modern calls for holy war against the infidels, articulated by Osama bin Laden and others, are at odds with the Islamic tradition and roundly denounced by leading Muslim scholars. Islam is also home to a pacifist current, most richly developed within Sufism."

"I would not like to use big words to apply generic labels. It certainly contains elements that can favor peace, it also has other elements: we must always seek the best elements."