See Discover Islam page here.

The title of this poster begs a different question: Who are the ones that misunderstand Islam? The Muslims that confidently cite the Qur'an and the life and ways of Muhammad to justify and encourage violence and subjugation against non-Muslims? Or those that are fed a steady diet of misinformation about Islam—the same misinformation spread by these posters?

The goal of this particular poster is clear, as if saying something over and over makes it true:

• Islam means peace...

• ...this peaceful way of life...
• ...the true and peaceful nature of Islam...
  
• The very word "Islam" means peace...
• A fifth of the world's population is reclaiming this peace...

As previously discussed, Islam does not mean peace; it means submission or surrender. Islam expanded through war and subjugation against non-Muslims, following the example set by Muhammad.

So why does the word "peace" come up so frequently in Islamic outreach material?

Because Islam does promise peace—when Islam is in charge. As explained in this interview by Abu Bakir Bashir, "the alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), al-Qa'eda's main ally in the region [Indonesia]":

...it is unnatullah [destiny, a law of nature], as Allah has said in the Koran. If they [the West] want to have peace, they have to be governed by Islam...

As long as there is no intention to fight us and Islam continues to grow there can be peace. This is the doctrine of Islam. Islam can't be ruled by others. Allah's law must stand above human law.

The poster makes another set of claims:

Muslims are standing up against terrorism, against the persecution and killing of innocent people, and against those who perpetrate such injustice in the name of any faith.

Let's focus on the issue of killing "innocent people." Muslim sources such as the USC MSA cite verse 17.33 of the Qur'an to demonstrate that it is "Islamically unlawful to murder anyone who is innocent of certain crimes." This verse begins, "Nor take life—which Allah has made sacred—except for just cause." Yet the MSA does not explain what constitutes "just cause."

In April 2002, as published in this paper by Jonathan Halevi, Sheikh Hamed Al-Ali, Professor of Islamic Culture at the College of Basic Education in Kuwait, issued a ruling on Islamic grounds explaining the circumstances in which women and children may be killed: for those "who knowingly take part in combat or advise and encourage others to do so, etc., the prohibition against killing them does not apply and it is permitted to kill them in war." (See an automated translation of the original Arabic here.)

Also in 2002, Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the top Egyptian cleric at Al-Azhar University, stated his position "that every martyrdom operation against any Israeli, including children, women, and teenagers, is a legitimate act according to [Islamic] religious law, and an Islamic commandment, until the people of Palestine regain their land and cause the cruel Israeli aggression to retreat…"

Indeed, in an open letter to the American public, Osama bin Laden—always careful to show how Islam justifies his efforts—methodically explains why the American civilians killed on 9/11 were not innocent:

...the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.

The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq...

Also the American army is part of the American people. It is this very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.

The American people are the ones who employ both their men and their women in the American Forces which attack us.

This is why the American people cannot be not innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.

Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge...

Condemning the murder of "innocents" has become an oft-repeated banality among Muslim leaders; as another example, see the "fatwa" from the Fiqh Council of North America (and endorsed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations) against "the use of violence against innocent lives." Yet an actual definition of "innocence" is rarely provided. Just as some Islamic leaders use "innocence" as a convenient word for non-Muslim consumption, others handily provide the Islamic justification to argue that in conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, not even women or children are innocent.

On to the next poster.
Back to the previous poster.