The Difference Between the Quran and the Torah
One of the great myths, one of the egregious lies that Muslims enjoy spreading is that the Hebrew Scriptures contain passages just as violent and savage as any found in the Qur'an (1).
When infidels bring up Sura 9:5 instructing Muslims to "Slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them," Muslims will fire back with passages from 1 Samuel 15:3 - when God instructs King Saul to attack the Amalekites: "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." That is, completely obliterate them.
However there's a big difference between the Old Testament, which is a history book which recounts the relationship between God and the Jews, and the Qur'an, which is a military handbook which urges Muslims to struggle (Jihad) against unbelievers and to establish a World Caliphate.
When we read the history of the antebellum South in the United States, no American is urged to go out and buy a slave. When we read the history of the early western expansion of the United States, no American is urged to go out and kill an Indian. These are read for their historical value and are never meant to suggest future action on the part of any American or that the events mentioned are moral, good and to be emulated.
When a Jew reads Deuteronomy 13:6-9 that the punishment for apostasy is stoning, it is merely a piece of historical data; it certainly is not to be applied and hasn't been applied for millennia - in fact, more than two thousand years ago the rabbis declared that the passages regarding the death penalty for idolatry, bestiality, blasphemy, illicit sex, breaking the Sabbath, witchcraft, and certain adulterous behavior were purely for historical study, not for actual practice or execution. And that determination was made two thousand years ago!
Mohammed Chooses Barbarism
Yet 600 years later, when mankind should have been even more civilized, Mohammed put into place a barbaric military/social/political system he called Islam which was even more barbaric and savage and which called for the death penalty for merely questioning his authority. Blasphemy in the early days of Islam was punished by burning the blasphemer alive but later it was found that death by the sword was a kinder and gentler punishment.
As I wrote in Muslims for Jesus:
Mein Kampf is a political treatise. So is the Qur'an. Chapter 15 of Hitler's book outlines The Right To Self-Defense that mirrors Mohammed's view of Jihad. Indeed, "Mein Kampf" in German translates to "My Jihad". How is Hitler's view that Jews are conspiring to keep his people from rightfully ruling the world any different than Mohammed continually accusing Jews of treachery for aiding his enemies and thus preventing Islam from rightfully ruling the world?
Mein Kampf is not a history book, it is a how-to book: how to conquer the world. The Qur'an is not a history book, it is a how-to book: how to conquer the world. The Qur'an is a book of guidance and not a book of detailed accounts of historical events in stark contrast to the Torah.
The Qur'an plans future wars. The Torah recounts past wars.
That is the difference between the Qur'an and the Torah. That difference explains the violence of present day Muslims, that difference explains why it is easier for Mohammed's camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to find a Jewish suicide bomber.
This article available in Danish here.
ENDNOTES
(1):
Islamic Thinkers Society, Apostasy in the Bible
It is often believed that the Bible gives absolute religious freedom to everyone. Most of the Christians in the United States and the West think that the freedom of choice and speech that they have comes originally from the Bible. Let's just see how accurate this myth really is.
In the Old Testament:
Let us look at Deuteronomy 13:6-9 "If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying: Let us go and worship other gods (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other, or gods of other religions), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people.
