Twenty Years Studying Islam: A Personal Reflection

Since 2002, I have devoted a significant portion of my academic life to studying Islam within the discipline of the economics of religion. My doctoral studies included time in Turkey, where I examined Islamic thought firsthand. Over the past two decades, I have studied the Qur'an, portions of the Hadith literature, and the writings of many of Islam's most influential philosophers and theologians. The photograph accompanying this post represents only a small fraction of the books in my personal library on the subject.

Throughout these twenty-plus years, I approached Islam with the sincere hope that its foundational texts could be reconciled with the principles of a modern liberal society, one grounded in religious liberty, individual rights, equality before the law, and peaceful coexistence. I did not begin this journey seeking to criticize Islam; rather, I sought to understand it objectively and fairly.

Regrettably, after years of study, I have reached a conclusion that I did not expect to reach. In my judgment, the Qur'an and the Hadith contain significant tensions with many of the values that underpin Western constitutional democracies. While the Qur'an certainly includes passages emphasizing mercy, justice, and compassion, it also contains passages authorizing warfare, the subjugation of certain non-Muslim communities, and the use of force under particular circumstances. Likewise, the Hadith literature contains traditions that many classical jurists have historically understood to support the expansion and enforcement of Islamic rule.

By comparison, I find the ethical teachings of the New Testament to be markedly different in their treatment of one's enemies.

Christianity

• Matthew 5:44 — "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

• Matthew 5:39 — "Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also."

• Matthew 26:52 — "Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

• Luke 6:27 — "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you."

• Romans 12:17–21 — "Do not repay anyone evil for evil... If your enemy is hungry, feed him."

  
  

Islam

Qur'an

• Surah 9:5 — "When the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush..."

• Surah 9:29 — "Fight those who do not believe in Allah... from among those who were given the Scripture... until they pay the jizyah willingly while being subdued."

• Surah 8:12 — "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. So strike above their necks..."

• Surah 8:39 — "Fight them until there is no persecution and religion is wholly for Allah."

• Surah 9:123 — "Fight those disbelievers who are near to you and let them find harshness in you."

• Surah 4:89 — "If they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them."

Hadith

• Sahih al-Bukhari — "I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah..."

• Sahih Muslim — "The Last Hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews..."

• Sunan Abu Dawud — Traditions instructing commanders to invite opponents to Islam, then to pay the jizyah, and if both are refused, to fight.

I recognize that many Muslim scholars interpret these passages as being limited to particular historical circumstances, and I also recognize that millions of Muslims reject violence and live peacefully within democratic societies. Those realities deserve acknowledgment and should not be ignored.

Even so, I find it difficult to dismiss the fact that these texts have also served as the legal and theological foundation for governments and movements that have exercised coercive religious authority. Whether one examines the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, or extremist organizations such as ISIS, each has appealed, rightly or wrongly, to Islamic scripture and classical jurisprudence to justify restrictions on religious freedom, the treatment of women, punishment of dissenters, and violence against perceived enemies.

My disappointment is not directed toward ordinary Muslims, many of whom desire nothing more than to live peaceful and productive lives. Rather, it stems from what I believe to be an unresolved tension within portions of Islam's foundational texts and the historical record of how those texts have, at times, been interpreted and implemented.

After more than two decades of study, I have reluctantly concluded that there are aspects of classical Islamic doctrine that, in my view, are difficult to reconcile with the principles of religious liberty, constitutional government, equal citizenship, and the individual freedoms that characterize modern Western democracies. I do not offer this conclusion lightly, nor do I expect everyone to agree with it. It is simply the conclusion to which my own study has led me, despite having hoped it would be otherwise.