Muslims and Islam Are Not the Same Thing

To bring it back to where this started: these things happen in some Muslim societies, but that is not Islam. It may be Muslims who are completely getting wrong what Islam is supposed to be. Right.

Take the case raised of the woman in the West Bank, with those pictures of Muhammad (peace be upon him) drawn as a pig — she is Jewish, living in Russia, and is in jail now in Israel for fomenting religious discord. Has a fatwā been put out against her? One does not know what is going on there. But the problem, personally, is that in the Muslim world there is not any government that is implementing Islamic law. Not one. None. Zero. Sudan? One is not there, and does not know, but it would be amazing if they were.

In a Muslim country, if that happened, she would be taken to trial. There would be a trial: it goes against — it is like a blasphemy; it goes under those laws.

Do all those Muslim countries contend that they are implementing Islamic law? Some of them do, some of them do not. Most of them will say that it is the law of the constitution or of the state, but none of them do. Probably the only ones who would claim to are Arabia — what they call Saudi Arabia now — Sudan, and maybe Afghanistan would probably claim that they do also. And Iran.

But that belongs to the chapter on the end of time, and how the Muslims view this period: really discussing how the Muslims view this period of time traditionally.