PrintJanuary 8, 2006
Torture in the Quran and early Islam
Three main purposes of torture are to punish criminals, to extract information, and to exact revenge. It is at least one of these three purposes that Muhammad, the founder of Islam, had in mind when he tortured two criminals: a treasurer who would not disclose where Jewish wealth lay hidden, and an enemy—an old woman taken as a prisoner in a Muslim raid.
Violence and brutality are embedded in the origins of Islam, including the Quran. Islamic websites that preach justice and human rights too often do not substantially (or do not at all) confront this legacy. For example, these three articles, among many others, preach 'peace and love' and 'human rights':
But a presentation of Islam as peaceful is not full disclosure.
In apparent reply to the unpleasant facts about original Islam, one of the oddest interpretive gymnastics performed by Muslim polemicists and missionaries asserts that Jesus also endorsed torture and summary executions. So who are Christians and the West...(Read Full Article)
