In response to the recent beheading of an Englishman by the Islamic State group, Prime Minister David Cameron decried the group’s claim that it commits such atrocities in the name of Islam, countering that “Islam is a religion of peace.”

More recently, we heard this same politically correct mantra repeated by a Lewiston woman from Somalia whose ex-husband died fighting in the same group’s cause (Sept. 21).

But as Paul Fregosi, author of the book “Jihad in the West,” attests, “Islam has always preached war … Muslims who kill are following the commands of Muhammad.”

Religion of peace? Consider the following:

In the Sahih Muslim, a decisively authoritative collection of reports of Muhammad’s words and deeds, Muhammad declares, “I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify to the fact that there is no god but Allah and believe that I am his messenger …”

In the Qu’ran, Allah commands him to “strike terror in the hearts of the enemies of Allah …,” i.e., all unbelievers. It was because Muhammad consistently acted on this divine dictate that he could later boast, “I have been made victorious with terror.”

One way Allah’s beloved apostle gained this victory-by-terror was by means of decapitation. In 627, after the Battle of the Trench, for example, he personally beheaded an estimated six to nine hundred tribesmen, together with their innocent adolescent sons.

Peaceable Muslims apart, how can it be denied that Islam is intrinsically terroristic?

William LaRochelle, Lewiston

Editor’s note: There is an uncomfortable tension in the histories of most world religions between peace and love, and violence and terror. Before drawing any conclusions about Islam, readers are encouraged to do further research.