Burning Muhammad's Aunt?

    I opened a new book last night and in a few minutes read that Muhammad wanted to burn his aunt and uncle, and it's in the Quaran- 111:15? Immediately, I am confused. First, why would you want to burn your uncle and auntie because they don't want to take up your new-found religion? You want your auntie to be covered with faggots and have a rope of fire around her neck? Who talks in such a savage way about his auntie even in the 8th Century? I thought the Quaran supposedly transmitted orginally from Allah, through Michael, through Muhammad. So who wanted Auntie and Uncle dead? Allah? Why all the murderous, cruel rage about two people who don't jump to Islam as fast as you want them to? Once again, I have to ask if Islam is so great why do Islamists kill people, even their aunties, if they don't join up? And kill them if they leave? Why don't you let becoming and unbecoming a Muslim to be voluntary? Your behavior makes it appear that Islam is a terrible thing. Is that what you mean to say? The book was The Politically Incorrect Guide To Islam(And The Crusades) by Robert Spencer.
    I have an uncle who told me that I was not born from my mother and father because around the time of that blessed event he was dancing with my mother in Massachusetts - and he didn't know why mother was out dancing with him!- and my father was in Alaska, serving his country. My uncle also served as a pilot. Shame on me! It took me years to get the nerve up to confront my uncle about his comments. First, I talked to my aunt who said my uncle had remarked that he hoped I didn't think he was my true father. Then I talked to my uncle who not only denied what he had told me but also denied that his wife had just told me she that he didn't want me thinking I was his child. So he denied that he said anything to me and that his wife said anything to me. Did I want to burn alive my uncle and drap my auntie with "faggots" and a rope of fire? No. Should I have? Of course not. I kept my temper because Auntie had told me that he was loosing his memory.  I cut him some slack and merely said, "Well, I hope we can still be civilized and talk to each other." Uncle said nothing. I then said, "Good-bye." Uncle said nothing. I hanged up. It was a pitiful end to our relationship. He and his wife and another aunt and uncle had been bright lights in my dark childhood. But again, it was probably loss of memory, and the confusion and rage that brings and not mendacity. I certainly hope so as this was an Air Force Major (ret.) Why couldn't Muhammad cut his uncle and auntie some slack too? Isn't that the manly thing to do? Does a man want to murder by fire Auntie and Uncle because they won't give up their religion for his religion? Not in my book.
    P.S. It would have been nice to have received a call or letter from Auntie thanking me for my restraint. Not hearing from her made me think she had flushed me down the toilet just like her husband had done. Especially when you are enjoying the life of a millionaire, and your nephew is at the other end of the spectrum, not enjoying much at all.
    Peter Nickerson, Philosophy Major, Class of '68, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. peternickerson12@yahoo.com
    "The measure of a man
      Is not what he says
      But what he does
      And what he allows others
      To do in his presence."
          - Navy Seal Instructor