23 Ramadan 1430h - BBC: Does Islam encourage violence?

Suhoor: Sweet corn, hot ginseng tea and dates
Iftaar: ahmmm.... Warm milk, dates and bread with chicken and leek
Dinner: Baked mackerel and rice with lentil soup.

This morning BBC aired the big questions show and raise a rather not-so-friendly question, for the want of better words.

Does Islam encourage violence?

I think it wasn't the brightest of ideas to raise such a controversial (ahhh... thats the word!...controversial) question on live tv. Apparently they ran out of time before properly concluding it. Rather it is unfair to question muslims like this on tv as we all know the media wants to paint a black picture of Islam and with such a question it is fueling talk amongts ill-informed public. If they want to then at least dedicate a whole hour for intellectual discussions on the topic, sadly only 20 min was given. Anyone in the right mind will know there are many issues on this topic that need clarification.

In all fairness, if violence is the favourite topic of discussion then all other religions should be brought into this matter. Just so because terrorism points fingers at ill-guided Muslims therefore the entire ummah is being sterotype. We, the ummah, knows that those who profess the faith and yet does violence has taken the holy words of the Quran out of context and have manipulated it to their selfish benefits or desires.

Peace is the tenet of any faith. Peace is indeed the epitome of Islam whether in words or deeds. Many feminist and non-religious and (shamefully) some christian sects still regard Islam as a religion of violence. Where did we go wrong?

They say that it is the fault of misinterpretation of the holy texts. We say it is the fault of mis-guided humans who still have the dignity to call themselves muslims. They say that because Islam is yet to have one governing body to regulate the interpretation of th holy books. We say that we do have a governing body and that is the Quran and the Hadiths (Sunnah).

It is the purely the fault of human desires and man's fruitless invention of religions that gives birth to violence and selfish occupations.