Islam is a Peaceful Religion | Oxford Union

Anne-Marie Waters

Well, good evening, everyone.

Uhh thank you for having me. I hope everyone can hear me.

Umm … sigh … how to respond to .. to a lot of this.

Umm .. First of all on on the bar, you said you admit it yourself that the bar has
been set quite high. Uhm … I would suggest that the burden of proof is on the
proposer rather than on us as it clearly says that Islam is a religion of peace.

And I suggest that you prove it. Ummm I have also been told we‟ve also been told
tonight when we opened uhmmm that this debate must take place in a real world,
well, absolutely yes, it must. It must take place in a real world. And ummm I … I
will describe what Islam is doing in the real world.

We can sit and we can debate theocracy day in day out, we will never agree, we
can debate is there a god, isn‟t there a god, isn‟t the quran real, isn‟t it, none of
it actually matters. It‟s … what matters is what happens in the real world, as my
opponent quite rightly said.

My side of the argument is regularly told that are …. we„ve heard it again tonight
we were described somewhat ….as hate. We were told that we are demonizing
Islam, whipping up the fear of Islam. Not the first time I have been accused of this,
probably won‟t be the last. Let me just say, and let‟s take this into the real world
as we‟ve been advised to do. Let me tell you what actually whips up fears of Islam.
Let me take it from the top: 9-11, the London underground bombing, Madrid,
Mumbai, Mali, Bali, Northern Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Yemen, Pakistan; Death for Apostasy, Death for Blasphemy, Death for Adultery,
Death for homosexuality; Gender Segregation, gender discrimination, unequal
testimony between men and women in in legal proceedings, uhhh child marriage,
amputation, beheading, imprisonment for being raped, anti-Semitism, burqas, uh
execution as I‟ve said for this death and the others, slaughter of Theo Van Gogh in
the street of Amsterdam, Death Threat on the street of London, Butcher those who
insult Islam, Muslim Patrol in East London telling people that they are entering
Sharia controlled zones, polygamous marriages, marriage not requiring the consent
of the bride, this is what causes fear of Islam.

It is not me, it is not my colleague on this side.

[Mehdi Hassan: point of interruption on that point

If Islam, if Islam and muslims are responsible for the muslims patrol of East London

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No, No I I am not. No No. Let me speak on.

The point is It is not I, or the debater on this side who are causing fear of Islam.
It‟s the actions of muslims that is causing fear of Islam. That is the real world.
That‟s where we actually live. Then we‟ve been told that this is just the extreme
fringe of Islam. Well, let me have a look at Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, the birth place of Islam, the custodian of its holy sites, In Saudi
Arabia a woman is not allowed to drive, she is not allowed to leave the house
without a mahram, she is not allowed to vote, although incredibly generous by
allowing some votes in the next elections, uhhh you know bbuuuhhh this is
apparently the extreme fringe of you know people are executed for blasphemy, as
executed for apostasy. In Saudi Arabia, the birth place of Islam, we‟re being told
that‟s the extreme fringe of Islam, no it‟s not. Calling Saudi Arabia the extreme
fringe of Islam is like calling the Vatican the extreme fringe of Catholicism, so it
just doesn‟t work.

Then we‟ve been told that it‟s …. We‟ve misunderstood. Violent muslims have
misunderstood. Saudi Arabia has misunderstood, Iran which stones people to death
for adultery has misunderstood. Yemen which marry children at the age of nine has
misunderstood. Has there ever been a more spectacularly misunderstood religion
than Islam? It seems that everyone, these nations who apply it as their laws,
nations which have the Koran as their constitution … you … innumerable
innumerable nations where there is no free speech where there is no freedom of
religion, uhhh they‟ve all got it wrong. They‟ve all got it wrong. It‟s quite a
spectacularly misunderstood religion.

And you know it‟s just it‟s just so much that you know I‟m constantly told that I
need to respect Islam. I‟ve never quite given a good enough reason why. I know I‟d
… uhh.. I am under no greater obligation to respect Islam than I am .. than I am
any other beliefs I‟m under no more obligation to respect a woman oppressed
under in the name of Islam than if she is oppressed by the BNP or anyone else. I am
under no obligation to make to make compromises with an ideology and simply
don‟t see as peaceful why don‟t I see it as peaceful because of the evidence if I
look around the world and I see the countries where Islam calls the shots all I see
is [interruption …. ] is is brutality and violence imposed by the state. Someone
someone thought … we were told that peace is not just the absence of violence
but the presence of justice. Absolutely, I do not see how in a nation where as the
only woman here, as the only woman here I have some particular issues uhmm with
the way women are treated in Islamic states now you can argue that they‟ve got it
wrong … it‟s … tell them that because they seem to think that‟s what it is. Ummm,
yes … I mean they‟re so it‟s just so much to say about it but either is there a
peaceful Islam, yes there is. It‟s in the hearts of peaceful muslims. Unfortunately

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though there is also a rather more objective Islam and peaceful muslims have to do
some really rather creative interpretation like the command “to beat her” I‟ve
seen muslim women …. I didn‟t stand up for you ….[unintelligible statement] … no I
didn‟t … I knew this would happen, I knew this would happen by the way.

What I‟m saying, what I‟m saying is completely controversial and will be booed
and shouted down and I have no doubt my colleagues the same … I know this would
happen you say anything negative you‟ll get the boos. I am I‟m actually leave it
there and but I will so We‟ll finish by saying this: there are hundreds of millions of
peaceful muslims. That is a fact but that does not mean that Islam itself is
peaceful. People, peaceful muslims interpret verses of the Quran so almost beyond
recognition it‟s reinterpreted like the command “to beat her”. It‟s there in the
Quran and I‟ve seen muslim women try to dance around it they put words in there
that simply aren‟t there that‟s what it says, it says “beat her” and in the countries
where the Quran calls the shots that is exactly what they do. This is not peace.
This is not justice …… Islam is not a religion of peace as the evidence shows us.

Thank you.

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