Ken Livingstone - "Religions do not discriminate on grounds of religion"

In London, prospective Mayor and noted left-winger Yusuf al-Qaradawi welcomed the celebrated though controversial Islamic scholar Ken Livingstone.

Sheikh Livingstone spoke on religion to an attentive crowd, and described Islam as 'a religion of morals, which like all great religions totally rejects any forms of discrimination on the basis of race or religion'.

He illustrated this universal theme with quotes from the Bible

Psalms 2:8-9
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

and quotes from the Koran

Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them. (2:191)

Fight and slay the pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem. (9:5)

Slay or crucify or cut the hands and feet of the unbelievers...(5:34)

...strike off the heads of the disbelievers...[make a] wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives [for ransom] (47:4)



Sheikh Livingstone is the Al-Zarqarwi Professor of Logical Inconsistency at Al-Bowlly University, Cairo.