CAIRO, July 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Islam should not be associated with terrorist acts committed by people who call themselves Muslims because they violate essential Islamic principles, a famed British writer wrote on Monday, July 11.

"We need a phrase that is more exact than 'Islamic terror'. The Qur'an prohibits aggressive warfare, permits war only in self-defense and insists that the true Islamic values are peace, reconciliation and forgiveness," Karen Armstrong wrote in The Guardian.

A prolific writer on all three monotheistic religions, she said that terror has no religion, with people calling themselves Muslims, Christians or Jews committing crimes in the name of their religions.

"So although Muslims, like Christians or Jews, have all too often failed to live up to their ideals, it is not because of the religion per se," averred Armstrong.

Catholic Armstrong said that Islam is all about peace, love and tolerance, and states firmly that there must be no coercion in religious matters.

"And for centuries Islam had a much better record of religious tolerance than Christianity. Islamic law outlaws war against any country in which Muslims are allowed to practice their religion freely, and forbids the use of fire, the destruction of buildings and the killing of innocent civilians in a military campaign," she added.

The British writer wondered why bloody bombings by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) did not cause people to equate Christianity with terrorism as it is now the case with Islam.

"We rarely, if ever, called the IRA bombings 'Catholic' terrorism because we knew enough to realize that this was not essentially a religious campaign," she said.

"Indeed, like the Irish republican movement, many fundamentalist movements worldwide are simply new forms of nationalism in a highly unorthodox religious guise. This is obviously the case with Zionist fundamentalism in Israel and the fervently patriotic Christian right in the US," wrote Armstrong.

Armstrong, the author of Islam, a Short History, also criticized stereotyping the Arabic word "jihad" as merely meaning holy war.

"Extremists and unscrupulous politicians have purloined the word for their own purposes, but the real meaning of jihad is not 'holy war' but 'struggle' or 'effort'. Muslims are commanded to make a massive attempt on all fronts - social, economic, intellectual, ethical and spiritual - to put the will of God into practice," she stressed.

Armstrong said "jihad is a cherished spiritual value that, for most Muslims, has no connection with violence."

The British writer noted that some people wrongly prefer to call terrorists "jihadists".

She maintained that terrorists "in no way represent mainstream Islam."