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On Dec. 1, 2001, Larry King was the host of "Larry King Weekend" on the topic of "Can Three Ancient Religions Peacefully Coexist?"

Guests on the program included Imam Warith Muhammad, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Father Michael Manning, Professor Maysam Al-Faruqi, and the senior minister of the Oak hills Church of Christ, Max Lucado.

The following conversation between Larry King and minister Max Lucado is taken from http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/01/lklw.00.html

KING: But do you hold a conviction that the Koran is not a peaceful way?

LUCADO: There are roots of violence, I think, in the Islamic faith that I don't understand, that I question, that caused me to choose the teachings of Jesus over Mohammed, yes.

KING: Did Mohammed -- can you quote Mohammed anywhere teaching violence?

LUCADO: Can I quote? I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question.

KING: Did Mohammed ever preach violence?

LUCADO: My understanding is that in the lifetime of Mohammed, the religion was born out of some violent activities -- some raidings, some attacks. And that -- and again, this is just my opinion; everybody has to make their own choice. As I compare his life and what I understand of it -- I may be wrong -- with the lifestyle and the life of Jesus Christ, I chose Christ.

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This conversation once again shows the lack of study and understanding of Islam by so many non-Muslim scholars. We Muslims are repeatedly being drawn into theological debates with accusations born out of ignorance or rancor. The evil actions of a few are used to condemn one-fifth of the world population. Imagine the following scenario. Some one records the "six O' Clock local news" from TV stations of major American cities over a period of few months and puts it on a, say DVD disk, ships it to a location in the world where no one has ever heard of the USA. Most news on these programs are murder reports, rape reports, drug busts,... The USA is about the 4th in the world in reported crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. ( http://www.odccp.org/odccp/crime_cicp_research.html  ) What do you think the people will say about America? True scholars don't go by the six O 'Clock news. They learn, study and spend years in search of knowledge and truth. Only then, they speak with some authority on a subject.

If we go by the train of thought of minister Lucado, we can pose the following questions about Christianity:

Isn't it true that Jesus (peace be on him) lived through a turbulent and violent time? Talk about the murder of John the Baptist (peace be on him), Pharisees, priests and Romans seeking Jesus and his disciples for persecutions. Were not the followers of Jesus severely persecuted? Didn't Christianity go through a violent time in the first couple of centuries? Isn't it true that the early leaders of the Church were either the persecutors or the persecuted? Should we then draw the same conclusions about Christianity as you did for Islam? Why do you forget the Christian crusaders, the Serbian Christians, the Spanish Inquisition,...?

Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) and his fellow Muslims spent thirteen years in Makkah and were severly persecuted by the pagans of that city. When the Muslims migrated to Madinah, it was not Muslims who went to Makkah to fight. It were the pagans of Makkah who traveled 400 kilometers to root out Muslims from Madinah. If Muslims have to fight in self defense, is that teaching violence or is it defending their lives and property?

As far as the topic is concerned, " Can Three Ancient Religions Peacefully Coexist?"
My answer is yes. Muslims have done it and their historic records prove so. The USA is an excellent place for it to happen again. We have so much in common to work on to make America a better place to live. There is an onslaught of immorality, for example, in our society for which Jews, Christians and Muslims can join hands and do something about it. Recently, a report was published showing that 33 percent children in America are born out of wedlock. I challenge Muslims and non-Muslims to focus on these and similar issues, instead of making claims of polemic truths by defaming other religions.

Read more at http://islam101.com/terror/index.htm

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