controversies related to Islam and Muslims

Part of a series on Controversies related to Islam and Muslims
Criticism
Islam \| Muhammad \| Qur'an
Issues
Apostasy in Islam Dhimmi \| Eurabia Islam and antisemitism Islamism \| Islamophobia Islamist terrorism Persecution of Muslims \| Qutbism Women in Muslim societies
Notable critics
Afshin Ellian \| Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ahmad Kasravi \| Daniel Pipes Ibn Warraq \| Philippe de Villiers Robert Spencer \| Theo van Gogh
Muslims
List of Guantánamo Bay detainees Moazzam Begg Osama bin Laden
Events since 2001
September 11, 2001 attacks Guantanamo Bay detention camp Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons Qur'an desecration controversy 2005 beheadings of Christian girls CPT hostage crisis Fox journalists kidnapping Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse Egyptian ID card controversy Flying Imams controversy French headscarf ban Imam Rapito affair Knighthood of Salman Rushdie Pope Benedict XVI controversy Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings

This article lists various controversies related to Islam and Muslims.

Overview

It is hard to draw a line that distinguishes between political motivated and religious motivated controversies regarding this issue, since politicians are known to use religion as a tool, and also since Islam has within itself a political system.

As an example of controversies by a Muslim, a message attributed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi propagated that Shi'a Muslims in Iraq should be killed since they are heretics^{[citation needed]}. While Shi'a may attribute the motivation of this message to politics, other may put a true religious motivation to it ^{[citation needed]}. This does not become more clear with some people alleging he was used as a propaganda tool. The same goes to controversies by the non-Muslim, for example how religious motivated is the Iraq war? The US president has a voters base of conservative Christians ^{[citation needed]}, and people in his administration have used what has been term as a Tenth Crusade, yet they officially deny any religious motivation for their political actions^{[citation needed]}.

Another example the 2001 destruction of Buddhas of Bamyan in Afghanistan. While the Talibans claimed they were on a campaign to crack down on "un-Islamic" segments of Afghan society, the government of Iran was among those urging them to not do so ^[1]. This does not get less muddy due to the fact that the same Taliban government had ordered the restoration of the same statues in 1999.

The same difficulties apply to whether a controversy is related to Islam (the religion) or Muslims (the adherents), since Muslims themselves are not in agreement in exactly what is Islam. For example, some (Sunnis) view that a Caliph chosen by the people holds religious authority, while others, for example Shi'a, reject that idea. If a Muslim claims that he acted on the order of a Caliph, is the act related to Islam or the Muslim?

On the same token, while one Muslim may do one action and attribute it to Islam, some other Muslim may denounce the same actions, also referring to Islam.

	What are the reception hours of the office of Bituach Leumi in Jerusalem?
	How can you get married in Central Park?
	Who won the 2002 pulitzer prize for fiction?
	Using Photoshop how do you add a photo of yourself to a photo of someone else?
	Which universities in the US give need-based financial aid to international students?

controversies related to Islam and Muslims

Overview

Terms

Events

Concepts

Groups

Criticism

Individuals

History

600s

700s

800s

900s

1000s

1100s

1200s

1700s

1900s

2000s

References

See also

Tackle These

Keep Reading

Do you have the answers?