Kuwait: Islam Is "Moderation, Peace and Understanding"..

Just when you thought the myth that Islam is a religion of peace had been buried, the Kuwaiti Minister of Justice and Minister of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs has decided to exhume it. Speaking in Washington, Abdallah Al-Maatouq said yesterday that only moderation could stop Islamic societies from succumbing to lawlessness and extremism.
"Destruction can take place when scholars and intellectuals let go of their duties, allowing extremists to take the initiative and letting them take over leadership to enforce their narrow, defective perspective," he said, according to Arab Times. "We came here to say that the true leaders of the Islamic nation are the sane scholars and intellectuals, rather than the crazy insolent people."
He was speaking at the second Islamic Moderation Conference. It seems surprising that there has never been a need for a conference on Christian or Buddhist moderation. But these religions do not have such bizarre scriptures as the following: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)." (Sura 9, verse 5).
"I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them," states the Koran, Sura 8, verse 12. And Mohammed himself waged war on those he considered to be unbelievers. So when Abdallah Al-Maatouq calls for "moderation", is he really calling for true Islam to be followed, or some secularized heresy?
Adel Al-Fallah is the under-secretary of the Ministry of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs, and was the chairman of Saturday's conference. He stated: "Moderation is the core, banner and merit of Islam. We came from Kuwait, the dear country of moderation, with one message to the American Muslims, the American people and the residents in the United States saying 'let us all work together for spreading moderation and positive integration among the ranks of society'."
Dr Maasouma Al-Mubarak, Kuwait's Minister of Communications told the conference: "We as Muslims should tell others what real Islam is all about, a religion of moderation, peace and understanding." She appears to believe this. It is a shame that the holy book of Islam, the Koran, is so riddled with exhortations to violence. Moderate Islam is a lovely idea, but for it to work, parts of the Koran would have to be censored, along with a large portion of the Hadiths. With Islam stripped of its messages of global domination and bloodshed, there would be very little of substance left