To those who believe Islam is NOT a peaceful religion. . . .?

sure there are, that's one of the things muslims fight with eachother about

Peace is the ideal state to which we all aspire and toward which we all work. Strife is the sad and gloomy reality in which human life is all too often mired.

Legitimate, lawful and societally sanctioned force is the instrument that human beings have devised for minimizing and controlling strife and for maximizing peace.

The foundation of true and lasting peace on earth and in any society is justice, love, compassion, integrity, truth, reasonableness and sound morality.

Where this foundation is absent or weak, and where people's most basic needs and legitimate rights and aspirations are not met, and are persistently and blatantly denied, chances of stable and lasting peace are minimized or jeopardized.

All too often, then, those who have been systematically denied their basic and legitimate rights, and who are not allowed by nations, societies and governments any rightful recourse to the redress of their lawful grievances, begin to resort to force and violence as an instrument of resistance to their domination, subjugation and exploitation by others and for the amelioration of their situation.

There are all kinds of university books, full of all kinds of theories, that explain why and how people develop violent tendencies and behavior.

For example, extreme poverty, deprivation, hopelessness, oppression, marginalization, cruelty and systematic discrimination and abuse may potentially move people toward violence. So also may serious perceptions of injustice, usurpation of property, abuse of power, violation of basic rights and deeply held values such as honor, personal dignity and the life, honor and dignity of family members.

Colonization, mass enslavement, social and political tyranny, occupation of lands, exploitation and stealing of resources will all make nations and societies rise up in revolt.

This has been the history of the world. And everyone knows that.

Right to Self-Defense Guaranteed by Civilized World

That is why the constitutions of practically every civilized country in the world, as well as the United Nations Charter Article 51, guarantee people individually and collectively the inherent right to self-defense and the defense of their family and property.

What Islam does is it takes this universal and fundamental human right of individuals, families, societies and nations to self-defense and canonizes it - to use a Christian religious expression. That means Islam makes that right a sacred and not just a mundane or secular one.

So, self-defense in Islam is not just a legal right but also a sacred one, blessed by God.

So, some of those who assert that "Islam is a peaceful religion" seem to want to cover up this fact.

They have been thoroughly intimidated and demoralized by the relentless and ruthless propaganda that brands Islam and Muslims as inherently violent and irrational.

So, is Islam "peaceful" then? Of course, it is. In fact, Islam is peace, period.

But Islam is also about truth - quite possibly much more than any other system in the world.

And Islam is also against all forms of injustice, inequity, cruelty, oppression, exploitation, domination, tyranny and abuse.

But does Islam permit self-defense? Of course, it does. How can it not?

Which constitution of the world, and the law of which civilized country, does not permit self-defense?

sure Islam is a non violent faith yet communities like Isis lie and interprete the Quran interior the incorrect way. the Quran replaced into diverse before yet Sunni Muslims like Abu bakr and uthman replaced the Quran in case you to be Muslim grow to be Shia twelver and stick to the Ahl Al Bayt, you will see how non violent Islam is there is no deity yet God Muhhamad is the messenger of God Ali is the vicevergent of God

I think that most people like to make extraordinary and highly unlikely judgments about things they are totally ignorant of.

The vast majority of the population simply can't ever say that they don't know much about something.

Even though it should be obvious that people cannot possibly know a lot about everything, its like some terrible embarrassing weakness for a person to simply say 'Islam? I don't know about this culture.'...Their ego can't handle it.

After someone does something that people think is terrible and it scares them....The masses will look for whatever superficial quality which made that person different, and assume that this is the cause. They are too lazy and cowardly to examine the situation deep enough to actually get a good understanding about it.

it was founded by a violent man ( he killed all the Jews in the town of Medina ) and in countries where the Koran is followed as law it is a very harsh place to life for women and violence towards them is encouraged ( beatings with sticks for looking up while walking and such ) but many Muslims do not live in Muslim run countries and are good people I am sure.

Yes, there are always exceptions to the rule.

Do these good muslims agree with the Quran and Hadiths that those who leave Islam should be killed?

yeah, but people no matter where

they come from- usually focus more on hating their family first

How many terrorists have you heard of coming from Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, or Singapore, Tajikstan, Bosnia, or Eritrea?

because those are all muslim nations, and right there is at least 50,000,000 people

Not until they step up and make their presence known and publicly and openly oppose the so-called tiny minority of extremists.

Until then, they are all the same.

Im a Muslim. ad yes, Islam forbided us to kill people and torture them for absolutely no reason.

They must not have read the quran.

Tell me, what is the punishment for leaving islam?

Also: was Allah unwilling or unable to write it so it would be perfectly clear violence is always wrong?