Thoughts and Theology

Guilt and forgiveness

2012-01-15T15:05:00.002-05:00

It has been months since I have posted anything here on my blog site, due partially to spending so much time on Facebook; partially to my computer having died and having it worked on for several weeks now (apparently only the hard drive is recoverable, and I will probably lose all the data on it) and currently using an incredibly old and unbelievably slow, extremely lagging computer in its place that I kept around only for emergencies; and partially due to having to work 9-10 hours a day.

So, since I’ve probably lost all 6 faithful blog readers that I used to have (j/k, LOL), I figured the best way to attract readers again is to write something that is very controversial and might lead some to get angry and upset. So here goes (tongue-in-cheek).

Now, I don’t expect any non-Christian to agree with this, and I expect that quite a few Christians would also disagree (some even angrily) with me on what I’m about to say. But I believe that what I am about to say is completely true.

Modern psychology teaches that you need to forgive yourself. This is man’s wisdom, and to a non-Christian, it would make complete sense. However, nowhere in the Bible does it teach that you need to forgive yourself. Nevertheless, this teaching (as has some other New Age teachings, teachings from psychology, etc.) has seeped into the Church.

Actually, a Christian does not need to forgive themselves, because, biblically, you are unable to forgive your own sins, and only God can forgive your sins! Of course, you can forgive someone else if they have offended you, but if you have offended God, then only God can forgive you, because only the offended party can forgive the one who has caused the offense. What the Christian needs to do is to fully and completely trust in and accept God’s forgiveness through Christ. For God’s mercy is able, through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross, to remove all guilt and sin. If you are still feeling guilt, then either you have not truly and fully repented of your sin and asked Christ to forgive you, or else you have not fully trusted in Christ’s forgiveness.

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:10-11)

We must first realize that all of us are sinful:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

“…every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood…” (Genesis 8:21)

“All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:23)

“… though you are evil…” (Luke 11:13)

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

However, to those that come to Christ in repentance, God is merciful:

“But if from there you seek the LORD [in Hebrew, ‘Yahweh’] your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. For the LORD [‘Yahweh’] your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31)

The mission of God’s mercy was to send Christ Jesus the Messiah (God the Son) to save people from God’s wrath by paying the price that we so justly deserve to pay…in other words, to take our place, and take our punishment upon Himself:

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:4-5)

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Why No Answers When We Pray?

2011-10-12T13:24:00.001-04:00

(Isaiah 59:1-2)

(outline by Pastor George Ragsdale)

I. Asking amiss (with wrong motives)
A. James 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

B. 1 John 5:14-15
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that HE hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

II. Selfishness
A. James 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss (wrong motives), that ye may consume (spend) it upon your lusts (pleasures).

III. Unbelief
A. Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

IV. Discord with spouse
A. 1 Peter 3:7
…that your prayers be not hindered.

V. Hypocrisy
A. Matthew 6:5
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

VI. Sin: living an unrighteous life
A. Psalm 34:15-17
15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

VII. Ingratitude
A. Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing (don’t be anxious about anything): but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Conclusions:
A. “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” (Psalm 5:1-3)

B. “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:8)

Obsolete, archaic language in the KJV

2011-09-25T14:22:00.001-04:00

The King James Version Bible was written in Early Modern English, which was used from the late 1400's till about 1650.

The KJV is the first Bible I ever read cover-to-cover. I started reading it in 5th or 6th grade on my own at home. It confused me when it talked about "divers places." I didn't know why the Bible was talking about SCUBA divers. Many years later, I learned that was the Early Modern English spelling for "diverse."

The KJV is still the most poetic version, IMO. However, it uses archaic words that we no longer use today, as well as words that mean something different today. There are many words in the KJV today that do not convey the meaning to the modern reader that the original writers intended to express. When the KJV came out in 1611, it was sixteenth century English at its best. Through the years many words and expressions have become ambiguous or misleading.

Those who state that the KJV is the 'only' acceptable version of the Bible apparently ignore the fact that there are many translations in different languages around the world other than in English. If the KJV is the only acceptable version, then we need to burn all those translations in other languages that were translated by missionaries, etc., and let all those other people who don't speak English go without a Bible in their own language. Not to mention that Jesus did not speak King James English.

Here is a list of some of the archaic words used in the KJV and what those words really mean:

The word ADMIRE, or ADMIRATION, was used in 1611 to denote wonder or astonishment, without any implication of praise or approval. That is why John in Rev. 17:6 looks at the great Whore, which is the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, and “wondered with great admiration.” Of course, John did not admire this wicked woman, but he was amazed and wondered. The NIV says,” I was greatly astonished.” The KJV conveys the wrong meaning here and in other places where these words are used.

AFFINITY means nearness of kin or mutual attraction today. The Hebrew word translated “affinity” by the KJV means, “relationship by marriage, especially by a father and a son-in-law.” In 2 Chronicles 18:1 Jehoshaphat “joined affinity with Ahab.” In Ezra 9:14 the KJV says, “Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations.” The NASB says “intermarry” or “allied himself by marriage.” The reader of the KJV will miss part of the meaning in these verses while the NASB makes it clear.

AGAINST today means opposite or confronting. Notice how it is used in the KJV. In Genesis 43:25, “against Joseph came” and Exodus 7:15 it says, “against he come” and in II Kings 16:11, “against king Ahaz came.” In Numbers 25:4 it says, “Take the heads of the people and hang them up before the LORD against the sun.” Over and over the KJV uses the word “against” when another word would give a clearer meaning for the modern reader. The NIV and the NASB usually say “for” or “before” in these passages.

AGONE is an outdated word for “ago.” In I Samuel the Egyptian said, “Three days agone I fell sick.”(30:13) The NASB says, “I fell sick three days ago.”

ALLEGE today means merely to assert. In the sixteenth century it meant to produce evidence and to prove. In Acts 17, Paul for three Sabbaths reasoned with the Jews out of the Scriptures. Verse 3 says, “Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead.” Does anyone believe that Paul only asserted but did not prove and give evidence for what he said? The NASB says, “Explaining and giving evidence.”

ALWAY appears 23 times in the KJV and “always” 62 times. Today we always add the “s.” In Titus 1:12 Paul said, “The Cretians are alway liars.” Matthew 28:20 says, “Lo, I am with you alway.”

ANGLE meant “fishhook” to the KJV translators. “All they who cast angle into the brooks” means “all those who cast a hook into the Nile.” (Isa. 19:8 NIV) The KJV turned around and translated the same word as “hook” in Job 41:1. “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?”

ANON means “soon” or “presently” in my dictionary today. The Greek word translated “anon” means “immediately” or “straightway.” The KJV can be misleading here. For example, in Mark 1:30, when Jesus entered Peter’s house they immediately tell Him about the sick mother-in-law. However, the KJV says that “anon” they told Him. This makes it sound like they waited awhile. The stony ground hearer, in the parable of the sower, heard the word and “anon with joy receiveth it.” (Matt. 13:20-21) The Greek says he received it immediately while the KJV makes it sound like he might have waited awhile. I realize this is no big deal. But the point I want to make is that throughout the KJV, in small things as well as the big, the reader is being misled.

APOTHECARY appears six times in the KJV. The word means one who prepares and sells drugs for medicine. However, the Hebrew word means “perfumer.” The NASB always says “perfumer.”

ARMHOLE is used for “armpit” in the KJV. In Ezekiel 13:18 it says, “Sew pillows to all armholes.” In Jeremiah 38:12 it says, “Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords.” The NASB says, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes.” Anyone can see that “armpit” is better than “armhole.” I am not sure what an “armhole” is, unless it is a hole in your arm.

AT is used in an obsolete way in Exodus 19:15. It says, “Come not at your wives.” Numbers 6:6 tells the nazarite, “he shall come at no dead body.” The Hebrew means don’t come near your wives or near any dead body. I give only two examples here, but many times the KJV uses “at” in the obsolete sense.

AWAY WITH is an old expression used in Isaiah 1:13. “I cannot away with.” The Hebrew means tolerate or endure. The NASB says, “I cannot endure.” This expression, which we never use today, makes it harder for the reader to see that God cannot endure false religion.

BAKEMEATS is used in Genesis 40:17, where the chief baker was carrying “all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh.” This simply means all sorts of food prepared by a baker, (which usually contained no meat). It has little to do with the modern conception of baked meats.

BEAST is used in the KJV as a general term for all living creatures other than man. The word “animal” is not used in the KJV. The word “reptile” does not appear, since it is was not in current use then. The word “beast” is used in the book of Revelation to refer to the holy living creatures around the throne of God. (4:6,7,8) Remarkably, the same word is used to refer to the wicked “beast” that rises out of the sea, and the “beast” that rises out of the bottomless pit. (13:1,11; 17:8) There are two different Greek words used in these passages. One means “living creatures” and the other means “wild beasts.” The KJV makes no distinction. The NASB does.

BESOM is an outdated word for broom. In Isaiah 14:23, God says of Babylon, “I will sweep it with the besom of destruction.”

BETHINK THEMSELVES is used in I Kings 8:47, “Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land.” The NASB says, “If they take thought in the land.”

BETIMES means early or in time. However, the Hebrew word the KJV translates as “betimes” actually means diligent or persistent. In II Chronicles 36:15 when the Lord sent messengers “betimes,” it means He sent them persistently. In Proverbs 13:24 the KJV says chasten him “betimes.” It actually means to “discipline him diligently.” The reader should research every verse where the word is used before he assumes he knows the meaning of it.

BEWRAY is an obsolete word which meant to reveal or disclose. In Matthew 26:73, Peter was told, “thy speech bewrayeth thee.” The NIV says, “Your accent gives you away.” I believe “bewray” is used about four times in the KJV.

BLOW UP is used in the KJV sometimes instead of simply “blow.” In Psalm 81:3, it says, “Blow up the trumpet.” Today “blow up” means to explode or inflate.

BOLLED is used in the KJV in Exodus 9:31. It says “the flax was bolled.” The Hebrew word means bud or bloom. Of course, the NASB or the NIV brings this out.

BOTCH, as used by the KJV, is an archaic word that means boils or sores, as the “botch of Egypt”, etc.

BOWELS is used 28 times in the Old Testament. Sometimes the word is used literally as we would use it today. In II Samuel 20:10, Joab cut out the “bowels” of Amasa. The NASB says, “inward parts,” which sounds better. Also, the KJV uses the word “bowels” to denote the womb and the male organs. This can be mis-leading. In about 10 instances the word “bowels” is used for feelings and emotions. Examples: “My bowels are troubled.” (Lam. 1:20) “My bowels were moved for him.” (S.S. 5:4) The KJV says of Joseph that “his bowels did yearn upon his brother.” (Gen. 43:30) In eight passages in the New Testament the KJV uses “bowels” in the sense of affection or compassion. The Greek word does not refer to the intestines specifically, but to the “inward parts.” It is much like the word for heart, which can mean your blood pump, or it can mean “inward affection” or “sincere emotion” (As, “I love you with all my heart.”) In the English language of 1611, both “bowels” and “heart” had this double reference to physical organs and to emotions of which these organs were supposed to be the seat. Today only the word “heart” retains the double meaning. When Paul tells the Philippians that he longs for them “in bowels of Jesus Christ” (1:8), he means the affections of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 3:12, Paul talks about “bowels of mercies.” In I John 3:17 the KJV says, “shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him.” The book of Philemon uses “bowels” about three times. This book will mean more if you put “heart” in the place of “bowels.” In fact, most passages where the word “bowels” is used, will mean more if you will read them in the NIV or the NASB. The word “bowels” was a good word in 1611, but I would not recommend that you use it in polite society today. It is a very crude word now. It should be updated.

BULLOCK is used today only of bulls that have been castrated. In the KJV the word means a young bull. To use the word “bullock” today is a blatant mistranslation because the word means something different than it did in 1611. The Bible says the bull had to be without blemish to be offered to the Lord.

CARE, CAREFULNESS, CAREFUL are words that can be misunderstood by the readers of the KJV. They appear in the sense of anxiety or worry. Martha was “careful and troubled about many things.” (Luke 10:41) This means she was worried and upset. Paul told the Corinthians, “I would have you without carefulness.” (I Cor. 7:32) This means that Paul wanted them free from worry or anxiety. God does not want His children to worry. (Phil. 4:6 NASB) The reader can miss some blessings unless he refers to another version where these obsolete words are not used.

CARRIAGE in the KJV means that which is carried. Today it means a vehicle by which persons or things are carried, such as a horse and carriage. Some may read, “we took up our carriages and went to Jerusalem.”(Acts 21:15) and not understand the actual meaning, “that they took up their baggage.”

CERTIFY today means to attest or declare by a formal or legal certificate. The KJV uses the word “certify” when the meaning is simply to tell or to make known. Examples: “Esther certified the king thereof.” (Esther 2:22) In Galatians 1:11, Paul says, “I certify you brethren.” In neither case is there any implication of formal attestation. The Greek means “to make known” or “I would have you to know.”

CHOLER is an outdated word that once meant anger. In Daniel 8:7, “He was moved with choler.” In 11:11, “The king of the south shall be moved with choler.” The Hebrew word means he was enraged or moved with anger. We do not use the old word “choler” today. If you did, no one would know what you meant.

CLOSET is used several times in the KJV. The word once meant a private room but this is not the meaning today. Sometimes the KJV translators use “chamber” for the same word. The Greek word for “closet” means private room or storeroom. “Closet” is ambiguous in Matthew 6:6, where it says, “enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret.” The reader is misled in all other places where the word closet is used.

COLLEGE is a mistranslation of the Hebrew word which means the second quarter or district. The KJV says Huldah the prophetess “dwelt in Jerusalem in the college.” (II Kings 22:14; II Chron. 34:22) The NIV says, “in the Second District.”

(the above information is from HERE)

Knowing God

2011-08-31T01:26:00.006-04:00

"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3)

"Unless God is revealed to us through personal experience, we can never really know God. Most of us know about God, but that is quite different from really knowing God. We learn about God through the agencies of the church, the Sunday School, the youth activities, the worship services. Many people stop in their quest for God at this point. It is one thing to be introduced to a person, but quite another thing to know Him personally." ("Day-By-Day with Billy Graham," Jan. 14 entry, published by World Wide Publications, copyright 1976 by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.)

"Christianity has at its core a transaction between a person and God. A person who becomes a Christian moves from knowing about God distantly to knowing about him directly and intimately. Christianity is knowing God." (Tim Keller, How Can I Know God?)

"But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 4:29)

Three broken but powerful, living tools of God

2011-08-24T18:16:00.000-04:00

Bethany Hamilton, Nick Vujicic, and Joni Eareckson Tada:

-All three have extreme physical handicaps.

Bethany Hamilton lost an arm due to a shark attack while surfing as a teenager.

Nick Vujicic was born without limbs.

Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed from the neck down during a diving accident as a teenager.

-All three have ministries where they have inspired, helped and motivated millions world-wide.

-All three have strong faith in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

-And none of them would have the powerful, moving, inspiring, motivating testimonies, ministries to others, and global impact that they have, if not for their extreme disabilities.

‎"Having one arm is the way He uses me." (Bethany Hamilton)

"The challenges in our lives are there to STRENGTHEN our CONVICTIONS. They are NOT there to run us over." (Nick Vujicic)

"Most of the verses written about praise in God's Word were voiced by people faced with crushing heartaches, injustice, treachery, slander, and scores of other difficult situations." (Joni Eareckson Tada)

Nick Vujicic: Born without limbs

2011-08-23T10:28:00.001-04:00

Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia with the rare Tetra-amelia disorder: limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, and having one small foot with two toes protruding from his left thigh.

His life was filled with difficulties and hardships. One was not being able to attend a mainstream school because of his physical disability, as the law of Australia required, even though he was not mentally impaired. During his schooling, the laws were changed, and Nick was one of the first disabled students to be migrated to a mainstream school. He learned to write using the two toes on his left "foot," and a special device that slid onto his big toe to grip. He also learned to use a computer and type using the "heel and toe" method, as well as learning to do basic things such as throwing a tennis ball, answering the phone, shaving and get a glass of water.

Being bullied at his school, Nick grew extremely depressed, and by the age of eight, started contemplating suicide. After begging God to grow arms and legs, Nick eventually began to realize that his accomplishments were inspirational to many, and began to thank God he was alive. A key turning point in his life was when his mother showed him a newspaper article about a man dealing with severe disability. This led him to realize he wasn't the only one with major struggles.

Nick graduated from college at the age of 21 with a double major in Accounting and Financial Planning.

Nick Vujicic - Fully living for Jesus Christ (Part 1 of 4)

Nick Vujicic - Fully living for Jesus Christ (Part 2 of 4)

Nick Vujicic - Fully living for Jesus Christ (Part 3 of 4)

Nick Vujicic - Fully living for Jesus Christ (Part 4 of 4)

Bethany Hamilton on Fear

2011-08-20T01:23:00.000-04:00

Bethany Hamilton: Soul Surfer

2011-08-17T01:21:00.000-04:00

Islam 101 for Westerners

2011-08-14T01:11:00.000-04:00

Dragonflies Defy Evolution

2011-08-11T01:09:00.001-04:00

Melipona Bee Defies Evolution

2011-08-08T01:07:00.001-04:00

Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution

2011-08-05T01:02:00.003-04:00

"For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)

Bombardier Beetle Defies Evolution

2011-08-02T21:49:00.002-04:00

The WoodPecker defies Evolution

2011-07-29T22:41:00.001-04:00

Did Jesus promise the coming of Muhammad?

2011-07-20T13:32:00.003-04:00

A Letter From Hell in Arabic

2011-07-19T13:21:00.005-04:00

In ENGLISH:

In ARABIC:

Islam In The Ancient World

2011-07-18T13:15:00.000-04:00

Islam In The Ancient World (.pdf file)

Produced by the Biblical Archaeology Society

What is Salvation?

2011-07-17T12:45:00.001-04:00

Are You a Good Person?

2011-06-28T10:02:00.008-04:00

Once again, I have not posted in a few months, largely because I've been busy. Hopefully, I will be posting more often in the near future. In any case, I ran across a well-made cartoon video which I wanted to share, so here it is:

Are You a Good Person?

Bulgarian subtitles (Добър човек ли сте?)

Italian subtitles (Sei una brava persona?)

Korean subtitles

Witnessing and Discipleship

2011-03-06T13:16:00.001-05:00

OK, so I have not posted any new articles in the last five months. I have been very busy, and financial situations and working long hours have been much of the reason that I have not posted anything new in quite a while.

Anyway, I wanted to attempt to address what I believe are two big problems in the Christian church today: (1) the lack of a desire for personal evangelism, and (2) the lack of discipling new believers.

The first point I just want to touch on briefly. It seems that most Christians (at least American Christians) are more interested in going to Christian concerts, or going to a “healing service,” or reading books on how God is going to prosper them and make them happier, than they are about the fact that people are dying and going to Hell every day.

A while back, I sent emails to the Pastors of all the churches in the area that I could find an email for, asking them if there was anyone at their church that I could go out witnessing with. Only one church answered me back, and that Pastor merely forwarded my email to the Youth Pastor. I ended up meeting with the Youth Pastor, and basically, he told me they already had a ‘youth evangelism’ program at their church, where they would invite young people to their church to play games, etc., and if I wanted to go out on the streets and do evangelism, I needed to go back to my own church and talk to my own Pastor about that. So, in other words, none of the churches in the area that I contacted were interested in going out soul winning with me.

A friend of mine (that I used to go witnessing with) would go various places to witness to people, and, though he would ask people in his church to go with him, usually the only one who would go with him was his dad.

Another friend of mine goes with his wife every week (at a time when I’m working) to join with members of a certain local church to go witnessing to people downtown. Though the church has something like 1,000 or more members, only about 3-8 people from that church go downtown to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only three to eight people, out of more than a thousand? That is only a tiny percentage!

“…according to Zondervan Church Source, 97 percent of church members have no involvement in any sort of evangelism. A survey by Christianity Today found that only 1 percent of their readership had witnessed to someone “recently.” Does anything strike you as being wrong with this picture? This does not sound like the people I read about in the New Testament who had so much zeal that they were willing to die for our Lord.” (p. 55, “One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven,” by Mark Cahill.)

So, the first problem is that most American Christians are too involved with worldly issues; too interested in their own comfort, pleasure, wealth, luxury and materialism; too self-absorbed and selfishly interested in their own health and wealth to be overly concerned about the fact that most people in the world are on their way to Hell. They are willing to sit in a pew at their church for an hour to be entertained, but that is all.

The next problem goes one step beyond that.

The Bible says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

Notice that it doesn’t say, “Go and make converts,” but instead, “Go and make disciples.” The extremely small percentage of American Christians who are willing to go out and witness to the lost usually end up handing out gospel tracts, or standing on a corner and do street-preaching. They may talk to one or more persons for a short while. And they may even lead that person in a “prayer of salvation.” But after that, the person is usually left on their own.

If someone is led to Christ, they become ‘born again,’ as Jesus said in John 3:3. They become a brand new creation, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says. But if a mother has a baby, and she merely lays that baby down in the street somewhere and leaves it, how likely is it that the baby is going to survive on its own? Now, when a person surrenders their life to Christ so that their life is drastically transformed, God the Holy Spirit comes to live inside that person, and becomes a Guide and a Comforter and a Teacher for that person. So, indeed, a new Christian does have the Holy Spirit to help them. Nevertheless, God did not mean for Christians to lead someone to Christ and then just leave them. That’s why Matthew 28 says “go and make disciples.”

If someone comes up to a professional artist and asks the artist, “How can I become an artist?” and the artist merely presents to that person the concept of how to paint a picture, a mere explanation like that is not going to help that person very much. He may try painting or drawing a few times and might get discouraged, since he has not had any training or support to be successful. On the other hand, if that professional artist takes the person “under his wing” as an apprentice, he will teach that person all he knows and give that person practical on-the-job training.

So the same is largely true of a brand new Christian. A well-meaning person may have given him a tract and explained the concept of getting saved. He may have even led him in the ‘Sinner’s Prayer,’ and then left. How successful will the new Christian be in his spiritual growth? He may even go to a church a few times but then may get discouraged and quit. What is missing? The answer: Discipleship. The soul winner should have invested much more time with the new Christian, invited him to a Bible Study, offered his phone number or email to answer any questions, invited him over to his house, etc., until that ‘baby Christian’ had matured. The soul winner should have helped him find a good church or invited him to his own church, and even made sure he had a way to get to the church. He should have sat with him in church, answered any questions the new Christian might have about the service, make sure he is enrolled in any discipleship class the church has (and, if the church does not have any discipleship class for new Christians, then one should be started), visited with him later or given him a phone call during the week, and made him feel welcome, loved and cared about.

Soul winning is more than just a numbers game. It has to do with the eternal future of a human being. Will the person wind up in Heaven or Hell? The soul winner should give 100%, starting from leading the lost person to salvation, to preparing and teaching the new Christian to go out and be a soul winner himself.

This may come as a shock, but a drug dealer can provide an example of how to disciple someone. First the drug dealer makes his potential convert a friend. He spends time with him, shows the person his lifestyle and a good time. Soon he introduces the person to drugs---just a little at first. He teaches him how to use the drugs, and soon the person is hooked. When the drugs get too expensive for the person, the drug dealer teaches the person how to sell drugs, thus making the person a fully educated drug dealer himself. Of course, this is a negative example, but if this plan of friendship, habit and education can be used for evil, why can’t it be used for good as well?

If the soul winner would follow similar steps with evangelism (i.e., friendship, caring, utilizing habit/routine and education, accompanied with lots of prayer), it seems that we would then have a lot more Christian soul winners, as well as full churches.

Comparing Jesus and Muhammad

2010-10-09T17:56:00.003-04:00

- Jesus was a religious leader
- Muhammad was religious leader and a military leader

- Jesus never killed anyone
- Muhammad killed an estimated 3,000 people, including beheading 700 Jews of the Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina, A.D. 627

- Jesus never owned slaves
- Muhammad received a fifth of the prisoners taken in battle, including women (Sura 8:41)

- Jesus never married
- Muhammad had many wives

- Jesus never forced followers to continue believing. After Jesus made a difficult saying, "many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, 'Will ye also go away?' Then Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.'" (John 6:31-69)
- Muhammad forced followers to continue believing, "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." (Hadith al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, Bk. 84, No. 57)

- Jesus taught God was our Father (Matthew 6:10)
- Muhammad taught it was blasphemy to call Allah your father (Sura 5:18)

- Jesus taught man was made in God's image. (Matthew 22:20, ref. Gen. 1:26-27, 9:6)
- Muhammad taught Allah has no image. (Sura 42:11, Sura 112:4)

- Jesus taught "forgive those who trespass against you." (Matthew 6:10-15)
- Muhammad taught to avenge trespasses against your honor, family or religion

- Jesus did not retaliate when violence was committed against him, saying "Father, forgive them." (Luke 23:34)
- Muhammad retaliated when violence was committed against him, ordering the death of his enemies

- A martyr in Christian and Jewish thought is one who dies for his faith.
- A martyr in Islamic thought is one who dies for his faith while killing infidels

- Christianity teaches God wants a personal relationship with each individual.
- Islam teaches individuals cannot have a personal relationship with Allah, as he is transcendent and unknowable.

- Jesus' religion is known for forgiveness and love
- Muhammad's religion is known for obedience and fear

- None of Jesus' Apostles led armies. A village did not receive Jesus "and when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, 'Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?' But he turned and rebuked them, and said, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.'" (Luke 9:52-56)
- All of the caliphs who followed Muhammad led armies. (Caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Muawiyya, the Umayyads, the Abbasids, etc.)

- In the first 300 years of Christianity, there were 10 major Roman persecutions, and Christians were fed to lions in the Colosseum. Never did Christians lead an armed resistance against those who attacked them.
- In the first 300 years of Islam, Muslim armies conquered Arabia, Persia, the Holy Land, North Africa, Spain, Southern France, Central Africa, and invaded vast areas of Asia and Asia Minor.

Fighting is inconsistent with Jesus' example, but not Muhammad's, as the Sirat Rasul Allah records Muhammad personally led 27 raids.

Jesus' teaching on how to treat enemies:

- Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you (Matthew 5:44).
- Resist not evil (Matthew 5:39).
- If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to them the other (Matthew 5:39).
- If someone takes your coat, give them your shirt (Matthew 5:40).
- If someone make you carry something one mile, carry it two (Matthew 5:41).
- Forgive and you shall be forgiven (Matthew 6:14).
- Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1).
- Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).
- Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 5:7).
- Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not kill, but I say who ever is angry with his brother is in danger of the judgment (Matthew 5:21-22).
- Treat others the same way you want them to treat you (Luke 6:27-36).
- Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, whatever you do to the very least you have done unto me (Matthew 25:40).

Muhammad's teaching on how to treat enemies:

- Infidels are your sworn enemies (Sura 4:101).
- Be ruthless to the infidels (Sura 48:29).
- Make war on the infidels who dwell around you (Sura 9:123, 66:9).
- Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day (Sura 9:29).
- Strike off the heads of infidels in battle (Sura 47:4).
- If someone stops believing in Allah, kill him (al-Bukhari 9:84:57).
- Take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends (Sura 5:51, 60:13).
- Never be a helper to the disbelievers (Sura 28:86).
- Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them (Sura 2:191).
- No Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel (al-Bukhari 1:3:111).
- The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land (Sura 5:33).

from:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=57615

Who hardened Pharaoh's heart? (Part 2)

2010-07-29T19:25:00.000-04:00

Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and that is why he would not let the people go. Repeatedly, he hardened his own heart even further (see Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 34, 35; 10:20, 27). However, it is also true that “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (Exodus 9:12; 10:20, 27; 11:10; see also 4:21; 7:3; 10:1). So how are we to understand this? Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Was Pharaoh’s heart hard because the Lord had hardened it? Or did God harden the king’s heart only as a punishment because Pharaoh had first hardened it himself? There are differences of opinion among commentators.

One viewpoint is that God did nothing to make Pharaoh’s heart hard. Those who take this viewpoint, that Pharaoh’s heart was hard because of his own choice, believe that God was actually trying to bring Pharaoh to repentance. The phrase “so that Pharaoh (or the Egyptians) might know that I am God” or a similar thought, appears frequently (Exodus 7:5, 17; 8:10, 19, 22; 9:14, 16, 29; 11:7). The knowledge of God mentioned is more than intellectual knowledge, so the statement is really an evangelistic invitation. The fact that a “mixed multitude” went up out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38) indicates that there were many Egyptians who did believe, and, therefore, the invitation was evangelistic in its outreach.

Another viewpoint is that God did everything to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Advocates of this viewpoint argue that the Bible says nothing explicit about God trying to bring Pharaoh to repentance. The first time anything is said about Pharaoh’s heart, it is God who is speaking to Moses, and He is saying, “I will harden his heart so he will not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21). Since that is the first reference to this hardening, it is probably right to think that Pharaoh’s later hardening of his heart was the result of God’s prior determination. (Of course, God can harden hearts simply by withholding a softening grace, since our hearts are both hard and also harden naturally apart from any direct action by God or anyone else.)

Furthermore, Exodus 9:16 reports a word of God to Pharaoh in which He says: “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” The apostle Paul quotes this verse in Romans 9:17, concluding, “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Romans 9:18). This means that God is sovereign in the matter of salvation and that He owes no one anything.

Whether God intervened in a positive way to harden Pharaoh’s heart or hardened it merely by allowing Pharaoh to harden it himself is beside the point. In fact, the manner in which Exodus mixes verses about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh hardening his own heart indicates that the question of which came first was not even an issue with the writer. In the final analysis, God determines all things, regardless of what the immediately preceding cause may be. What matters in everything is the glory of God. As Paul shows in Romans 9, God’s power, wrath and justice are glorified in His passing by the unrepentant, just as His grace, mercy, and compassion are exalted in the salvation of those who are being saved. In this case, God glorified His justice, power and wrath in His judgments upon Egypt. He displayed His mercy in His redemption of the Israelites.

A third viewpoint is that God and Pharaoh were both involved in hardening Pharaoh’s heart. Sincere Christians have debated the question of the sovereignty of God and the free will of man for centuries. It would seem that both are involved here. Still providing for the sovereignty of God in hardening Pharaoh’s heart, there is also a circumscribed area of freedom in which Pharaoh was responsible for his own choice to harden his heart. Though God twice predicted what would be the outcome, yet it was Pharaoh who consistently hardened his own heart during the first five plagues, and only then does the text consistently say that during the second five plagues (six through ten), the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. God’s purpose of revealing Himself and His power can be effected in more than one way. This is not the only instance of God’s using a ruler to show His power and glory to His own people, as well as to the unbelieving world. In addition to Pharaoh, there are other instances in the Old Testament where God displayed His glory by hardening a heart, i.e., Sihon (Deuteronomy 2:30), the Canaanites (Joshua 11:20), Absalom (2 Samuel 17:14), and Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:15). On the other hand, Cyrus, whose position was similar to Pharaoh’s, also gave glory to God, in the fact that he very responsively and willingly let the people of Judah return to their land (2 Chronicles 36:22-Ezra 1:8; 5:13-6:14; and Isaiah 44:28-45:13). Pharaoh also could have been raised up by God to show His power and to proclaim His name in the same way that Cyrus did, but Pharaoh chose to be obstinate. In either case, the purpose that “they might know that I am God” was effected.

Christians believe in only one God. We are not polytheistic as the Egyptians were. But many things can take the place of God in our lives: our reputations, money, pleasure, another person, even an imagined right to use our time and talents as we ourselves see fit. God will not compromise with idolatry. The first of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall have not other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). What things are functioning as gods in your life? Are you willing to repudiate them?

Our false gods do not go by the name of “gods,” but anything that sets itself up against God is an idol and should be opposed by Christians. Godless philosophies, such as extreme nationalism, secularism, humanism, and materialism are idols that must be opposed, just as Moses opposed the false gods and goddesses of Egypt.

Pharaoh wanted to compromise with God once he understood that he was dealing with a power greater than his own. However, God will not compromise. He is sovereign, and those who oppose Him will be broken ultimately as Pharaoh was. Are you fighting against God in some area of your life, obeying when you must but trying to win as many concessions from Him as possible? It is important that you abandon such folly and give yourself wholly to Him who is all wise, all-powerful and wonderfully good.

(The above information is from BSF Notes, BSF International, Lesson 7, “Battle Against the Gods of Egypt – Exodus 6:28-10:29”

Who hardened Pharaoh's heart? (Part 1)

2010-07-28T12:23:00.003-04:00

Exodus 7:3 says, “But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.”

And yet, Psalm 95:8-10 says, “Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, "When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. "For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.”

So why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart, especially in light of Psalm 95, where God commands people not to harden their hearts?

The Bible says that, after the plague of blood, Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen; he turned, went into his palace, and did not even take this to heart. Later, after the plague of frogs, the Bible reports Pharaoh as saying, ‘I will let your people go; but when he saw relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen.’ After the plague of gnats, the Pharaoh still would not listen. Nine times in Exodus, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ascribed to God. Another nine times, the Pharaoh is said to have hardened his own heart. However, a careful examination shows that the Pharaoh alone was the agent of the hardening in each of the first five plagues. Not until the 6th plague did God confirm the Pharaoh’s willful action. Soft soil allows plants to be planted and grow, while hard, dry soil does not allow for the easy growth of plants. The seed of faith could not take root in the hard, dry soil of Pharaoh’s heart. So, then, why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart? He simply reinforced the attitude that Pharaoh already had. God was the One Who brought the plagues, so God could keep Pharaoh’s mind from being changed by them. Ultimately, it was to glorify the Name of the only One Who rightfully deserves to be glorified and praised. In order for God to demonstrate His glory (and His power over all the Egyptian gods, because each of the plagues was directed toward specific Egyptian gods) and bring about all the plagues He had planned to demonstrate, Pharaoh had to be held back until the last plague was complete.

Romans 9:14-27 says:
“What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH." So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, "I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.'" "AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, 'YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,' THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD." Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED.”

(The above information is from BSF Notes, BSF International, Lesson 7, “Battle Against the Gods of Egypt – Exodus 6:28-10:29,” as well as NIV footnotes and my own notes)

A Message For Muslims: The Miraculous Food From Heaven

2010-06-18T22:28:00.005-04:00

God has given us a beautiful universe, amazing in its vastness: the great heavenly bodies hanging on nothing, the tiny parts of each atom of life, the color, the variety, the rhythm and motion of everything. Even with such wonders and beauty all around them, people still find it hard to trust in God. They seek miracles as proof of God’s presence with his messengers and the truth of their messages.

According to the Qur’an, Jesus’ disciples asked him if God could send them a special sign. They requested a table spread with delicious foods as one would find at a banquet. Instead of granting their request, Jesus warned them, “Fear God, if you have faith.”

The disciples persisted in their request. They insisted, “We want to eat from that Heavenly table until our hearts are satisfied. Then we will know you have really told us the truth. We want to be witnesses of this miracle.”

Jesus then spoke to God. “O God, our Lord, send us this table from heaven set with choice foods that will be a festival for us and a Sign for thee. Provide our sustenance for you are the one who sustains us.”

God answered that he would send that table down but warned that if the disciples still resisted believing after that, he would punish them with a penalty that would be harsher than any other people had received.

Thus we learn that the disciples’ faith was not complete. They put an undue emphasis on physical food, and they had a childish desire for miracles or signs. You can read this story in Sura 5:112-115.

Since the Bible is my authority in matters of faith and truth about God, let me share with you a story of a miraculous dinner that Jesus gave.

“Late in the afternoon the Twelve [disciples] came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” He replied, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They answered, ‘We have only five loaves of bread and two fish - unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.’ (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to the disciples, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ The disciples did so and everybody sat down. Taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces that were left over.” (Luke 9:12-17)

The people were astonished. Some decided that he must be made their king, but Jesus sent them away, and ordered the disciples to leave also, while he went up into the mountains to pray. Later, the same people begged him for food again.

“What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” (John 6:30-31)

Jesus’ reply startled the people and many of his followers left him because of these words:

“I am the bread of Life…I am the bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:35a, 41b, 54)

In this way Jesus discouraged the people from seeking miraculous physical food. At the same time he offered spiritual food to those who would believe.

All Christians regularly celebrate the ceremony called the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. Spiritual truth is experienced and rejoiced in while the participants eat small pieces of bread and drink small cups of wine or grape juice.

Are you tempted to seek miraculous signs instead of trusting God? Consider that Jesus Himself is the bread the Heavenly Father sent down. Consider these words of the prophet Isaiah:

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” (Isaiah 55:1-3a)

(The above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah) and from the book by the same title and author, pp. 29-31.

Jesus Interprets the Law: A Message for Muslims

2010-06-14T04:46:00.003-04:00

Wise people heed their consciences and learn from their own experiences, and from these, they seek to interpret good rules for their lives. Even wiser are those who consider the experiences, ideas and teachings of others as well. But the wisest people of all are those who obey the words of God’s prophets. According to Islam, Jesus is one of God’s prophets. And His rules for life are true for everyone.

The Qur’an teaches that certain things that were forbidden before would now be permitted. Jesus would settle the arguments people had about certain behavior. To prove his teaching was from God, Jesus performed many miracles. They were signs that his message was true. Jesus urged people to fear and worship God and to obey Jesus’ teachings. (Sura 3:49b-51; 43:63-64)

The Bible, which is my authority in matters of faith, agrees that Jesus confirmed God’s law. Jesus said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)

The Bible agrees that Jesus permitted things that were once forbidden. Religious people often consider certain foods clean and lawful to eat, but they believe other foods are unclean and unlawful to eat. Jesus relaxed such laws. Jesus said:

"Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")" (Mark 7:18b-19)

Religious people often have very exact laws about fasting. When people complained that Jesus’ disciples ate during the times when people were supposed to fast, Jesus answered:

"How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast." (Mark 2:19-20)

In this way Jesus suspended the laws about fasting for those who were with Him.

Religious people often celebrate special holy days. The Jewish people called the last day of each week their Sabbath. It was a holy day and no one was to work on the Sabbath. When Jesus healed people on the Sabbath, they accused Him of breaking God’s law by working. Once Jesus healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath.

"Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" (Luke 13:14-16)

Thus Jesus declared that it is right to do good to others on the Sabbath.

In many religions, certain places are considered sacred. Several times every year, Jewish people were required to offer sacrifices and worship at the temple in Jerusalem. The Samaritan people, who only accepted the first five books of the Bible as God’s Word, believed they should worship God on the mountain where Moses worshipped instead of going to the temple.

Once, a Samaritan woman challenged Jesus about which place was the correct one to go to for worship. Jesus solved this argument between Samaritans and Jews by saying:

"…true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23b-24)

In other words, true worship is not done because you are in a temple or on a mountain. True worship is spiritual without pretense and can be done anywhere.

Jesus confirmed God’s laws, but freed people from the rules of clean and unclean foods. He freed people from rules about fasting and rules about holy days and holy places. He taught that true worship is not obedience to outward customs and ceremonies at specific places. True worship is spiritual. It comes from the heart.

(Most of the above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah)

The Jewish People

2010-05-31T02:50:00.003-04:00

Someone once said that the fact that there are still Jews is proof that there is a God.

Six million Jews, including a million children, were massacred in the gas chambers and crematoriums during the Nazi Holocaust of World War II, which was a systematized program to eradicate an entire people, using all available technology and mechanized processes.

Jacob's twelve sons became the first Jewish family. Their offspring left the land that would later become the Holy Land, and settled in Egypt, where they eventually were enslaved for 430 years, after which they were miraculously delivered from Egyptian captivity.

Later, Jews were exiled, settling around the globe, experiencing two thousand years of forced separation from their homeland. Sometimes they were slaughtered, forcibly converted, and expelled. They were frequently targeted and scapegoated. They were the convenient people to blame for the Black Death in medieval Europe. When Bogdan Chmielnicki's Cossack hordes in the Ukraine fought their nationalist struggle, they wiped out a third of the Jews in the region. Jews were expelled - sometimes multiple times - from Portugal, Germany, England, France and other lands. The most famous expulsion - from Spain in 1492 - sent 200,000 Jews desperately seeking any place that would take them. Many did not make it, being killed along the way. Survivors went to Turkey, Amsterdam, and in following generations, to North and South America.

The Babylonians destroyed the first Temple, Solomon’s Temple, in 586 B.C. The second Temple was built and later destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Jews as a whole have produced fewer serious criminals than other groups. For example, the prison population of the United States is about 1.5 million, of which about 1700 are Jewish, approximately one in a thousand.

In two dramatic airlifts, Israel brought over 36,000 penniless black Jews from Ethiopia to escape famine and political upheaval.

Misinformation about Jews is plentiful. If all the conflicting claims about Jews were assembled, the result would be ridiculously comical, if not for the tragic consequences to Jews who suffer because of them.

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and Christian philosopher wrote, "It is certain that in certain parts of the world we can see a peculiar people, separated from the other peoples of the world and this is called the Jewish people.... This people is not only of remarkable antiquity but has also lasted for a singular long time... For where as the people of Greece and Italy, of Sparta, Athens and Rome and others who came so much later have perished so long ago, these still exist, despite the efforts of so many powerful kings who have tried a hundred times to wipe them out, as their historians testify, and as can easily be judged by the natural order of things over such a long spell of years. They have always been preserved, however, and their preservation was foretold... My encounter with this people amazes me..."

"Most of our best words, in fact - new, adventure, surprise, unique, individual, person, vocation, time, history, future, freedom, progress, spirit, faith, hope, justice - are the gifts of the Jews." (Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews, pg. 240-241)

"The Jews gave the world ethical monotheism, which might be described as the application of reason to divinity. In a more secular age, they applied the principles of rationality to the whole range of human activities, often in advance of the rest of mankind…. The Jews have been great truth-tellers and that is one reason they have been so much hated…To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of the human person; of the individual conscience and so of personal redemption; of the collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice… (Paul Johnson, History of the Jews, pg. 582-585)

In the area of medicine, Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical treatment. (Since every year in U.S. hospitals, 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.)

Israel's Givun Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of sensors.

In the area of technology, with more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the Silicon Valley).

In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and agriculturalists developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to minimize the amount of water used to grow crops.

Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.

Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions, Israel places first in this category as well.

The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.

Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel.

The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.

Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in Israel.

Four young Israelis developed AOL Instant Messenger in 1996.

A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the ClearLight device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct - all without damaging surrounding skin or tissue.

An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave Desert.

All the above was invented while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy that is continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other country on earth---this from a country just 55 years young, having started off on a very frontier-like basis, whose population had mostly just emerged from the devastating World War II years.

Here are some Jewish achievements:

Levi Strauss: Jeans (1873)
Maurice Levy: Lipstick (1915)
Lazlo Biro: Ballpoint Pen (1938)
J. Robert Oppenheimer: Atomic Bomb (1945)
Edwin Herbert Land: Instant Photography (1947)
Denis Gabor: Holography (1948)
Peter Carl Goldmark: Long Playing Record (1948)
Robert Adler: Television Remote Control (1950)
Edward Teller: Thermonuclear Bomb (1952)
Paul M. Zoll: Defibrillator (1952) Cardiac Pacemaker (1952)
Gregory Pincus: Contraceptives (1950s)
Charles Ginsburg: Videotape (1950s)
Gordon Gould: Laser (1958)
Stanley N. Cohen: Genetic Engineering (1973)
Jason Lanier: Virtual Reality (1989)
Sigmund Freud: Psychological innovations
Edward Land: Polaroid Camera
Abraham Stern: Adding Machine
Charles Adler: Traffic Light
Leo Sternbach: Valium
Emile Berliner: Microphone
Morris Michtom: Teddy Bear
Benno Strauss: Stainless Steel
Abraham Levis: Hot dog bun
Joe Friedman: Flexi-straws
Niels Bohr: Work on the structure of the atom.
Emilio Segre: Nobel Prize for his part in the discovery of antiprotons.

Scale-Model Train -- Joshua Lionel Cowan
Disc Records -- Emile Berliner
Sound movies -- Isador Kitsee
Telephone -- Jacob Reis
Kodachrome -- Leopold Mannes & Leopold Godowsky

Also see:

Israel's Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace

How and why have Jews survived through the ages? - The Big Picture

How the Jews Survived

A Message for Muslims: Qualities of a Disciple

2010-05-20T22:25:00.002-04:00

What qualities do you admire in people? Do you look at the color of their skin, their physical shape and appearance, or what type of clothes they wear? Does your opinion of people depend on their health, whether or not they are confident, how honest they are, how popular they are, or whether or not they make a good leader? The Qur’an gives a guide regarding these things. There are two special qualities that the Qur’an commends. God has given these qualities to Christians, though the Qur’an admits that some Christians do not express them.

Let me share a few teachings written by three of Jesus’ disciples. In the following several verses, can you guess which two qualities the Qur’an attributes to Christians?

“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:8-9)

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” (Romans 12:9-16)

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)

“Mercy triumphs over judgment!” (James 2:13b)

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” (James 3:13)

Now that you have considered these passages, written by three of Jesus’ disciples (Peter, Paul and James), which two qualities do you think the Qur’an mentions about Christians? You can check your answer by reading Sura 57:27:

“Subsequent to them, we sent our messengers. We sent Jesus the son of Mary, and we gave him the Injeel (Gospel), and we placed in the hearts of his followers kindness and mercy. But they invented hermitism [another translation says, “But monkery, they invented it"] which we never decreed for them. All we asked them to do was to uphold the commandments approved by GOD. But they did not uphold the message as they should have. Consequently, we gave those who believed among them their recompense, while many of them were wicked.”

We see that the two characteristics mentioned in the Qur’an about Christians are kindness (compassion) and mercy. When we think about people who are famous or rich or powerful, these are not qualities we usually notice. Compassion and mercy do not seem to elevate people who possess them. We tend to link compassion and mercy with weakness rather than strength; with women rather than men; with unheroic people rather than statesmen and politicians. This is because we do not understand God’s ways.

Why does the Qur’an value compassion and mercy? These qualities describe people who truly care about the needs and wants of others. According to Islam, these qualities are used to describe God (i.e., ir-rahman ir-raheem, etc.). A man whose character reflects the personality of God is truly a blessed one.

Much of what unbelievers admire and strive for is really useless and selfish. It is the person who is able to concentrate on others, caring for their needs, who comes closest to truly pleasing God. Perceptively, the Qur’an affirms that compassion and mercy are basic Christian beliefs and practices. The Bible says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36) It is a great challenge for Christians to live up to this marvelous lifestyle.

(Most of the above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah)

A Message for Muslims: Jesus and Commitment

2010-05-14T03:48:00.002-04:00

A leader needs people who will follow him through thick and thin, who will not fall away when the going gets tough. A leader needs people who are committed and faithful.

As we study Jesus in the Qur’an, we see that Jesus invited people to be committed to him and to his message.

Sura 3:52-53 says: “When Jesus sensed their disbelief, he said, "Who are my supporters towards GOD?" The disciples said, "We are GOD's supporters; we believe in GOD, and bear witness that we are submitters." "Our Lord, we have believed in what You have sent down, and we have followed the messenger; count us among the witnesses."

Sura 61:14 says: “O you who believe, be GOD's supporters, like the disciples of Jesus, son of Mary. When he said to them, "Who are my supporters towards GOD," they said, "We are GOD's supporters." Thus, a group from the Children of Israel believed, and another group disbelieved. We helped those who believed against their enemy, until they won.”

Jesus asked the crowds a question: ”Who will be my helpers in doing the work of God?”

Those who had already committed themselves to Jesus and his teachings did not hesitate to speak out, even though unbelievers surrounded them.

“We are God’s helpers,” they said. “We believe in God. Count us among your faithful.”

About those people who spoke up promptly and bravely, the Qur’an calls Jesus’ disciples---students or followers of Jesus. They were committed to Jesus.

Commitment is very important. But commitment is not automatic. Commitment is not just a sudden emotional response of loyalty. Commitment requires steadfastness. Our commitment grows as we experience greater and greater trust, and as we grow in understanding God’s commitment to us. In the Bible, Psalm 37:5 says, "Commit everything you do to God - trust Him to help you do it and He will."

The Bible also mentions how the disciples became Jesus’ committed ones. Multitudes of people followed Jesus to listen to his powerful teachings and to see his great miracles. Jesus’ twelve disciples had been personally invited by Jesus, and had left their families, their homes and their jobs in order to be with Jesus. They had left everything for the sake of following Jesus.

As Jesus’ popularity grew, the political and religious authorities began to fear him. They knew that he could easily organize his followers and start a rebellion against their authority. Spies were sent to watch Jesus and to report his every activity.

In such a delicate situation, it became dangerous to be too closely allied with Jesus. Although people still eagerly volunteered to join him, Jesus warned them that they had to be totally committed. Nothing must stand in their way of following Jesus. He must become more important to them than their security, their friends, their family or their property. He must be more important to them than their whole life. No sacrifice really means no commitment.

“Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)

It’s amazing that people would still follow Jesus under such circumstances. Of course, there were many who turned back as the situation became more and more difficult. But of the twelve men that he personally invited and commissioned to be his apostles, 11 were with him when the authorities arrested him, 2 were nearby during his trial, and 1 saw every detail of his crucifixion and death. Several women were on the scene also, including his mother, Mary. After the resurrection, the 11 disciples and the women renewed their commitment to him.

Both the Qur’an and the Bible teach that Jesus demanded commitment from his disciples. The power of evil and sin are so strong that only persons who commit everything are of use in forming God’s Kingdom.

(Most of the above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah

A Message For Muslims: Jesus as a boy

2010-05-09T11:59:00.003-04:00

What things do you remember when you look back on your childhood? Do you remember times of being sick, or times when you were hurt, or do you remember things like birthday parties and celebrations? Do you have mostly good memories or bad memories? Can you remember your first day of school? Can you remember games that you played as a child? As a Muslim, do you remember your first prayers at the mosque? There are usually quite a few memories we retain from when we were children.

There is a story about Jesus, as a child, making clay birds, which he then proceeds to bring to life, which is not found in the Bible, but is recorded in a book called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (not to be confused with the absolutely different sayings Gospel of Thomas), which is a non-canonical, pseudepigraphical, apocryphal work attributed to "Thomas the Israelite" (in a medieval Latin version), about the childhood of Jesus that dates to the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Sura 3:49 says, “As a messenger to the Children of Israel: "I come to you with a sign from your Lord - I create for you from clay the shape of a bird, then I blow into it, and it becomes a live bird by GOD's leave. I restore vision to the blind, heal the leprous, and I revive the dead by GOD's leave. I can tell you what you eat, and what you store in your homes. This should be a proof for you, if you are believers.”

Sura 5:110 says, "GOD will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My blessings upon you and your mother. I supported you with the Holy Spirit, to enable you to speak to the people from the crib, as well as an adult. I taught you the scripture, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel. Recall that you created from clay the shape of a bird by My leave, then blew into it, and it became a live bird by My leave. You healed the blind and the leprous by My leave, and revived the dead by My leave. Recall that I protected you from the Children of Israel who wanted to hurt you, despite the profound miracles you had shown them. The disbelievers among them said, `This is obviously magic.'"

The Bible, in the book of Luke, records an account of Jesus as a boy, where Mary, Joseph and Jesus went to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem:

"When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:42-52)

We learn from this story that, even as a boy, Jesus knew a great deal about God. He felt the temple was his “home,” and he called God his “Father.” Even as a boy, Jesus was thinking deeply about life, God and his responsibility to God.

These stories help us understand that Jesus was a unique, very special boy with exceptional knowledge about spiritual truth.

Now, back to Sura al-Maidah 5:110, where we read, "And when thou createst out of the clay, by My leave as the likeness of a bird, and thou breathest into it and it is a bird by my leave."

And once again, the same is claimed in Sura al-'Imran 3:49, "I have come to you with a sign from your Lord I will create for you out of clay as likeness of a bird; and it will be a bird by the leave of God."

Al-Tabari (7:127) says that Christ created birds out of clay when He was a child. Christians, on the other hand, believe He is the Word of God and that all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made (John 1:3). Yet, they believe that, after He was born, He waited 30 years before starting to preach and work miracles (Luke 3:23).

The Bible affirms, definitely, that the first miracles He worked was at Cana in Galilee when He turned water into wine (John 2:11).

A book not found in the Bible, The First Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, Chapter 15, a non-canonical book (a gospel that was not accepted into the canon) that is also known as The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour, which was written around 400 CE., says:

1. “And when the Lord Jesus was seven years of age, he was on a certain day with other boys his companions about the same age. 2. Who at play made clay into several shapes, namely, asses, oxen, birds, and other figures. 3. Each boasting of his work and endeavoring to exceed the rest. 4. Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys, I will command these figures which I have made to walk. 5. And immediately they moved, and when he commanded them to return, they returned. 6. He had also made the figures of birds and sparrows, which, when he commanded to fly, did fly, and when he commanded to stand still, did stand still; and if he gave them meat and drink, they did eat and drink. 7. When at length the boys went away and related these things to their parents, their fathers said to them, Take heed, children, for the future, of his company, for he is a sorcerer; shun and avoid him, and from now on never play with him.”

Another book that was not accepted into the canon of the Bible, The Second Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, Chapter 1, which is also known as The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, written around 140 CE., says:

1. “I, Thomas, an Israelite, judged it necessary to make known to our brethren among the Gentiles, the actions and miracles of Christ in his childhood, which our Lord and God Jesus Christ wrought after his birth in Bethlehem in our country, at which I myself was astonished; the beginning of which was as follows. 2. When the child Jesus was five years of age and there had been a shower of rain that was now over, Jesus was playing with other Hebrew boys by a running stream, and the waters ran over the banks and stood in little lakes; 3. But the water instantly became clear and useful again; they readily obeyed him after he touched them only by his word. 4. Then he took from the bank of the stream some soft clay and formed out of it twelve sparrows; and there were other boys playing with him. 5. But a certain Jew seeing the things which he was doing, namely, his forming clay into the figures of sparrows on the Sabbath day, went presently away and told his father Joseph, 6. Behold, your boy is playing by the river side, and has taken clay and formed it into twelve sparrows, and profanes the Sabbath. 7. Then Joseph came to the place where he was, and when he saw him, called to him, and said, Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day? 8. Then Jesus clapping together the palms of his hands, called to the sparrows, and said to them: Go, fly away; and while you live remember me. 9. So the sparrows fled away, making a noise. 10. The Jews seeing this, were astonished and went away and told their chief persons what a strange miracle they had seen wrought by Jesus.”

Now, some Muslims say that the original Bible contained the apocryphal story of Jesus making and animating clay birds, and that the Qur'an was merely correcting a wrongful exclusion of these apocrypha from the canon. However, this is erroneous, as the sira tells how Muhammad, far from receiving these stories from Allah (via the angel Jibreel/Gabriel), heard it from three Christians:

“[Those who talked to Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, were Abu Haritha Ibn `Alqama, Al-`Aqib `Abdul-Masih and Al-Ayham al-Sa`id.] They were Christians according to the faith of the king with differences between them; they say: He is Allah, and say: He is Son of Allah, and say: He is the third of three [i.e., part of Trinity] and these are the claims of Christianity. [They use as evidence for their claim that He is Allah the argument that] he used to raise the dead, cure the sick, create from clay bird-like structure then breathe into it to make it a [living] bird. All this was by the leave of Allah, the Praiseworthy the Exalted {to appoint him as a sign for men} (Maryam:21). They also argue for saying that he is Son of Allah by saying he had no known father and spoke in infancy which is something never done by any human being. They use as evidence for their claim that He is the third of three [i.e., part of Trinity] the argument that Allah says: We did, We commanded, We created and We judged [i.e., by using the plural for Himself], and whereas if He was one, He would say: I did, I judged, I commanded and I created; but it is He, Jesus and Maryam. The Qur'an was revealed addressing all these arguments.” (Abu Muhammad `Abd al-Malik Ibn Hisham al-Ma`afiri, Al-Sirah Al-Nabawiyyah, 1998, Volume II, Dar al-Hadith: Cairo (Egypt), p 181-182.)

“The names of the fourteen principal men among the sixty riders were: `Abdul-Masih the `Aqib, al-Ayham the Sayyid; Abu Haritha b. `Alqama brother of B. Bakr b. Wa`il; Aus; al-Harith; Zayd; Qays; Yazid; Nubayh; Khuwaylid; `Amr; Khalid; `Abdullah; Johannes; of these the first three named above spoke to the Apostle. They were Christians according to the Byzantine rite, though they differed among themselves in some points, saying He is God; and He is the son of God; and He is the third person of the Trinity, which is the doctrine of Christianity. They argue that he is God because he used to raise the dead, and heal the sick, and declare the unseen; and make clay birds and then breathe into them so that they flew away; and all this was by the command of God Almighty, 'We will make him a sign to men.' They argue that he is the son of God in that they say he had no known father; and he spoke in the cradle and this is something that no child of Adam has ever done. They argue that he is the third of the three in that God says: We have done, We have commanded, We have created and We have decreed, and they say, If He were one he would have said I have done, I have created, and soon, but He is He and Jesus and Mary. Concerning all these assertions the Qur'an came down.” (A. Guillaume, The Life Of Muhammad: A Translation Of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, 1998, Oxford University Press: Karachi (Pakistan), p 271-272.)

According to the sira (biographies of Muhammad used to develop the hadith), the purported sources of the story are three Christians who spoke to Muhammad. These “Christians” were either heretics or they were unsure of doctrine. These errancies include Jesus animating clay birds, the talking baby Jesus, and the Trinity comprising God, Jesus and Mary (Father, Son and Mother). No true, informed Christian believes that the Trinity is composed of the Father, the Son and Mary.

(Most of the above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah and from Infancy Gospel of Thomas and also from Parallelism: Jesus Christ and Clay Birds)

A Message for Muslims: Peace: Salam in Jesus

2010-04-29T20:16:00.001-04:00

A new baby in a home is a wonderful thing. Friends and relatives will typically ask at some point if it is a boy or a girl. Women and girls will usually remark on how cute the baby is. The proud parents will happily show off their baby to others, and the mother’s conversation will typically be focused on talking about their new baby.

Babies are new lives brought into the world, and they give us hope of renewal, youth, better times and a new future. Probably no baby has inspired more hope and wonder than Jesus, the son of Mary.

According to the Qur’an, the presence of the baby amazed and shocked the people when Mary brought the infant Jesus back to her home village. All her neighbors could think of was that, since Mary was unmarried, she must have done evil and had sexual relations with some man. They felt disgusted and condemned her. “What is this amazing thing you bring to us?" they asked. “Your father wasn’t an evil man. Your mother wasn’t an unchaste woman.” (Sura 19:27-33)

The Qur’an says that Mary patiently listened to their accusations, but instead of explaining or defending herself, she pointed to the baby. “How can we talk to a baby?” they asked. Then, according to Sura 19:27-33 in the Qur’an, a response came to them from the unexpected source---the lips of the infant. The baby declared that he was a prophet who received revelation from God. God had commanded him to observe prayers and charity. God made him kind to his mother. He was neither rebellious nor overbearing. The baby continued talking, announcing that his total life---from his birth, to his death, and on to his resurrection from the dead---would be lived in the framework of God’s peace. God would bless him wherever he would go.

In this way (according to the Qur’an), Jesus defended his mother, while he announced his purpose in life and God’s plan for him. He would live within the framework of God’s peace.

The Bible also announces Jesus’ purpose and his peace. One such announcement is given by angels. A great group of heavenly angels appeared to some shepherds while they watched their flocks at night near the place where Jesus was born. The angel spokesman told the shepherds:

"Do not be afraid…Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

Then the angels sang:

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14)

Another announcement was made when Jesus was eight days old. Mary and her husband Joseph took the baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice, as required by Jewish law. An old man named Simeon was led by God’s Spirit to meet them in the temple. He held the baby in his arms and praised God, saying:

"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

Therefore, in both the Qur’an and the Bible, Jesus’ life purpose was announced while he was still an infant. His life, death and resurrection are specifically mentioned in the Qur’an. His coming influence in both the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds are declared in the Bible. Above all, there is the blessing of peace. According to the Qur’an, Jesus would live in a framework of peace during his life, death and resurrection. In the Bible, that peace extends to all people who find God’s favor. The announcement is joyous, causing angels to sing and people to praise God.

Was there ever such a baby whose influence over all mankind was understood and proclaimed before he could crawl or eat solid food, while he was still an infant cradled in his mothers’ arms?

Would you like to experience the peace promised by angels that Jesus brought?

(Most of the above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah)

Also see:

Who is Isa al Masih? - the man in white

A Message for Muslims: A Woman’s Place

A Message for Muslims: Mary is Not Divine

SIGNS: A message for Muslims

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 1

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 2

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 3

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 4

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 5

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 6

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 7

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 8

Some insight into the life and practices of a Jehovah's Witness

2010-04-20T03:13:00.002-04:00

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

SIGNS: A message for Muslims

2010-04-05T17:45:00.005-04:00

Have you ever been lost? What is one of the first things you do? Look for signs. Signs can give us directions, instructions, and help.

Although, sometimes, signs can be confusing...

Signs made by people help and guide us every day. God Himself has placed signs in nature to help us. God warns us that a storm is coming by sending wind and dark clouds. A meteorologist can help us interpret such signs. God warns us that something is wrong with our health when we get a fever, fell dizzy or get nauseous. Sometimes we need a physician to interpret the signs for us.

The Qur’an teaches that God has also placed signs in this life to teach us about Him and His will for us. The created things teach us about God’s character, power and wisdom. Consider the stars, the flowers or the thousands of varieties of insects, animals and birds.

Sometimes God chooses people to be signs. According to the Qur’an, Jesus and his mother, Mary, are a sign from God.

“We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign, and we gave them refuge on a mesa with food and drink.” (Sura 23:50)

How can both Mary and Jesus be one sign? We would expect both of them to be signs. Since the Qur’an only mentions one sign, what is the message of that sign?

Perhaps Mary and Jesus are one sign because they shared one very intimate experience totally unique in history. Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born.

Some people may say the sign is used to prove Jesus’ teachings are from God. But I believe this isn’t the meaning of the sign. A person’s method of birth does not prove that he will speak the truth.

Others may say the sign is proof that Jesus’ miracles are truly from God. But in the Qur’an, Jesus’ miracles are also called signs. God would not use such a tremendous sign as the virgin birth merely to point to other signs.

Probably the virgin birth points to Jesus Himself rather than his teachings or his miracles. The virgin birth is unique. That means Jesus is unique.

What is unique about Jesus? The Qur’an proclaims the sign but does not interpret it. My authority, the Bible, also calls Mary and Jesus a sign.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son…” (Isaiah 7:14)

Do you have questions about the sign of Mary and Jesus? That’s good! Perhaps God has given you the questions. As you try to answer the questions, you may discover new truth.

In the New Testament, we read in the Gospel of Luke the words of Simeon, a righteous and devout old man. Simeon came into the temple at the time when the infant Jesus was being consecrated to the Lord. He spoke to Mary and Joseph, claiming Jesus was to be a light to all people and then remarked,

“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” (Luke 2:34b-35a)

If the sign of Jesus and Mary is pointing toward the identity of Jesus Christ, Simeon is saying that many people will speak against the identity of Jesus and in that way their heart reactions against God will be revealed. Ponder this. Ask God to give you insight.

(Most of the above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah)

A Message for Muslims: Mary is Not Divine

2010-03-22T23:08:00.005-04:00

The true God who creates, sustains and judges all that exists, must be a very awesome Being. When we think about Him, we feel utterly dwarfed and insignificant. We cannot grasp the reality of one we cannot touch, see, hear or feel. Our hearts do not know how to search for One Who was, is and always will be, here and everywhere.

Therefore, although we know God exists, we tend to focus our attention, admiration, honor, respect and praise on people or things we can see, touch, understand and at least partially influence and control. Frequently, we choose people who seem to be close to God. Their suggestions become our guides for living. We value their prayers for us because we believe they have a greater influence on God. We feel secure because of them. Sometimes our Imam or priest or pastor is such a person. Or maybe we choose an especially saintly relative or friend instead. Sometimes we focus on a dead loved one whom we believe lives in God’s presence and can influence God on our behalf.

While this attitude may seem innocent enough, it is possible that this person we choose not only becomes a pathway to God for us, but a reflection of God Himself. This is wrong. It is blasphemy and idolatry.

Nevertheless, Jesus’ mother, Mary, has received such veneration. Even today, some people offer prayers to Mary, burn candles or incense in front of her statues and ask her to intercede to her son, Jesus, in their behalf. People will travel across the world to visit places where she is believed to have appeared. Shrines are built to her and people claim that she heals their sicknesses when they worship at these shrines.

In the times when the messages of the Qur’an were being revealed, such Christian heresies were in existence. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Qur’an condemns such elevation of Mary.

According to the Qur’an, Mary had no divine qualities. She drank, ate, and slept like all people do. (Sura 5:75) When it was God’s time for her to expire, she died. She had a particularly painful time at the birth of Jesus. (Sura 19:22-26) She did not have sex with God to conceive Jesus. Mary must not be considered divine, nor a consort for God, nor part of a trinity composed of God, Mary and Jesus. (Sura 19:35; 5:76-78) Such activity would have been improper for God, and it belittles and blasphemes Him to even suggest such ideas. (Sura 19:35; 4:171)

Clearly, the Bible, upon which I base my faith in God, does not elevate or glorify Mary. Apart from the virgin birth of Jesus, Mary is like any other woman who ever lived. She was awed and puzzled about her son, his work and his relationship to God, but was faithful to him. After his ascension into Heaven, she was one of several believers who formed the first church.

Jesus rejected the suggestion that people should praise his mother. He denied that there was anything divine about his human family. (Luke 11:27-28)

The Bible mentions only one time in Mary’s life when she spoke words inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. When she spoke these words, Mary was very humble, not exalting herself in any way, but giving glory, praise and worship to God.

"And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." (Luke 1:46-55)

(The above information is from "Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus In The Qur'an and the Bible," written by Yusuf Abdallah)

A Message for Muslims: A Woman’s Place

2010-03-16T01:42:00.005-04:00

In many ancient cultures (and in many cultures even today), women knew exactly what their roles were. They were expected to marry, to serve their husbands and to bear and raise children.

In such a culture, women had two primary concerns. First, they were anxious to be chosen to be some man's wife. Women who were not chosen often remained in their parents' home for their entire life. Second, they were anxious about whether or not they could have children. When a married woman was barren, she felt unfulfilled and less than other women. She was often pitied and disdained. Her husband might divorce her. If such a woman were desperate enough, she might even choose the self-defeating life of being a prostitute. In that way, she might feel a temporary sense of worth.

What happens when God begins to act in such a culture? God’s ways are not our ways. He values women as individual persons, regardless of the roles society gives them. In each society where God's word is honored, the status of women is elevated. Some women have been given a very special role in God's plan for mankind.

One woman in particular stood out in religious history as a unique person, specially chosen by God for a very important task. Her culture might easily have ignored or pitied her. She was unmarried. Like other women of their day, she was illiterate, with no hope and no desire for advancement. Her family was of no importance. She was neither famous nor rich . Yet God chose her to have a central place in His plan. That woman’s name was Mary.

According to the Qur'an, Mary was so important in God's eyes that the angels argued about who would have the privilege of guarding and caring for her. They chose the winner by casting lots.

"This is part of the tidings of the things unseen which We reveal unto you by inspiration, you were not with them when they cast lots with arrows as to which of them should be charged with the care of Mary, nor were you with them when they disputed." (Sura 3:44)

The angels informed Mary that God had honored her, choosing her from among other women, purifying her. In the Qur'an, we read that an angel told Mary that she would bear a very special son, whose name would be Christ Jesus (Isa al Masih, or Jesus the Messiah---"Messiah" means “the anointed one”).

The angel described Jesus. God Himself would teach him. He would be honored in this world and the next. He would be among those nearest to God. He would be a prophet, giving his message both as a child and as an adult. He would be righteous. He is God's Word, a Spirit sent from God and an apostle to the children of Israel.

"Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah hath chosen thee and purified thee- chosen thee above the women of all nations. "O Mary! worship Thy Lord devoutly: Prostrate thyself, and bow down (in prayer) with those who bow down." This is part of the tidings of the things unseen, which We reveal unto thee (O Apostle!) by inspiration: Thou wast not with them when they cast lots with arrows, as to which of them should be charged with the care of Mary: Nor wast thou with them when they disputed (the point). Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah; "He shall speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. And he shall be (of the company) of the righteous." (Sura 3:42-46)

(See also Sura 19 for details of Mary's trip into the wilderness, the appearance of the angel, etc.)

Mary asked the angel how she could have a son, since a man had never touched her. The answer was that God would create the son as He had created Adam, an easy thing for God to do.

God often chooses unmarried, childless women for special roles in His plan for mankind. Their destiny was selected for them just as Mary's was. Some of the world’s greatest scientists, politicians, doctors and social workers have been women. Consider Madam Curie, Mother Teresa and others.

Because God respects, honors and often chooses women for special places in His world's history, His true prophets must also honor women and teach others to do so. Mary's son, Jesus, certainly did. As he is revealed in the Bible, Jesus held women in high regard, no matter what their status in society. He was even kind to the adulteress and the prostitute. Their downfall was partly caused by the negative way others thought of them.

Once, while Jesus was teaching in the temple, some religious leaders brought a disheveled woman to him, accusing her of adultery and demanding that she be stoned to death, as the law required. Jesus calmly told them:

"Let any one of you who is without sin be the first a throw a stone at her." Being convicted of their own sins, her accusers left the woman alone with Jesus. Jesus told her, "God now, and leave your life of sin." (John 8:4-11)

The value of each woman is raised, and she is given dignity by Jesus' words. If you are a woman, whether you are unmarried or married, fertile or barren, God places a high value on you. You deserve respect and honor. You are a woman!

The Bible expresses the words the angel used when he spoke to Mary:

"Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

The angel described the son Mary would bear in this way:

"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." (Luke 1:28-32)

In gratitude for God's favor, Mary sang:

"My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name." (Luke 1:46-49)

When Mary's kinswoman, Elizabeth, received Mary into her home for a visit, her first words were:

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!" (Luke 1:42)

Like Elizabeth, all of us can rejoice that God chooses to use humble women in His world for His purposes. Women have a very important place in God's world.

(This information is from the book, “Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus in the Qur’an and the Bible,” by Yusuf Abdallah)

Also see:

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 7 (The Role of Women)
Islam and Women
Oppression of Women

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 8

2010-03-08T14:27:00.003-05:00

Muslims understand religion as a whole and integrated way of life. Secular, Christian-influenced cultures can confuse and even anger Muslims who see things through their holistic worldview. They often view “Hollywood sexuality” as “Christian,” or a military action as a “Crusade.” To them, the cross is a military symbol.

The Islamic Community

In Islam, brotherhood and consensus is emphasized, and individualism is avoided. The “community of the faithful” is responsible to enforce the moral code. This can explain how a lone Muslim, outside a community support structure, does not feel as guilty when breaking the code. However, bringing shame on his family or community would be a great sin.

Avoiding shame and protecting honor are primary motivations of most Muslims. Shame and honor are community-related, as contrasted to an individual sense of guilt.

Radical Muslims, known as Islamists or Jihadists, use this sense of community honor and shame to recruit and motivate their followers.

What Christians Believe

Followers of Jesus believe that they are to impact culture for Christ by going into all parts of the world to bring the message of Jesus to the people that live there (Matthew 28:19-20). In the West, a division exists between culture and religion. Religion is separated from government, and some people object to any influence of religion on state institutions and symbols.

Community in the West

Followers of Jesus do influence Western culture and institutions, but they seem to be a shrinking influence. Western culture affirms individualism and some people avoid community responsibility. Tolerance of sin and unbiblical practices continue to dilute the true Christians message; evolutionism and atheism also continue to influence the increasingly secular West. Only a minority of those in the West consider themselves followers of Jesus Christ. Most simply consider themselves Christian by name only, and do not follow the teaching of the Bible, of which they are largely ignorant. Generally, Western culture does not have a sense of the “community of the faithful.”

The Misunderstandings

In June, 2003, Time magazine ran a cover article asking the question: “Should Christians Convert Muslims?” The artwork featured a militant-looking clenched fist holding a metal cross, reminiscent of a Crusader’s sword. This imagery correctly symbolizes some typical Muslim misunderstandings, especially when viewed with the cigarette advertisement on the back cover. The advertisement features a sensual goddess-like model with men fawning at her feet. These pictures display some fears of Muslims: to be dominated militarily and corrupted morally by “Christianity.”

Correcting the Misunderstandings

The challenge is to present a correct view of the cross. Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ” has been seen by Muslims all over the world. They have seen the cross as a symbol of suffering, not as a military or political icon. Followers of Jesus, through their words and actions, are called to show Muslims that God loves all people so much that Jesus died on the cross. He also defeated Satan and death by rising from the grave. Jesus made it possible for all of God’s children to live with Him forever. This “good news” should be attractive to Muslims.

The above information is from "Islam & Christianity" by Rose Publishing

For more info, see: Islam vs Christianity - Comparison Charts

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 7

2010-02-26T09:46:00.007-05:00

WHAT MUSLIMS BELIEVE

The Perspective of Muslim Women
Muslim women generally consider themselves protected and satisfied within their culture. Their fulfilling social life is usually gender-separated and happens primarily within extended families and some close neighbors.

The Protection of Muslim Women
Women are valued in Islam. In fact, Muhammad brought an end to the practice of female infanticide, widely practiced before his time. The honor of women is a major concern in Muslim societies. The reputation of the family is linked with the women. Islam helps maintain roles and expectations that predate Muhammad. The modest dress code is to protect women. If seen without loose clothing or a veil, men might judge a woman based on her appearance or may try to abuse her. Muslim women do not need to wear a veil or loose clothes at home or when only women are present.

Polygamy
Since marriage and child bearing are highly valued in the Middle East, polygamy is allowed and yet controlled. Islam limits a man to four wives and requires equal treatment for each.

WHAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE

The Perspective of Christian Women
Christians believe that the Bible teaches that both man and woman were created in God’s image, had a direct relationship with God, and shared jointly the responsibilities of bringing up children and ruling over the created order.

“Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:26-28)

Christian husbands and wives are to mutually submit to one another. Women are to respect their husbands; husbands are to sacrificially and selflessly love their wives, just as Jesus Christ loves His church.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:21-25)

The Protection of Christian Women
Christian women are to dress modestly.

“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.” (1 Timothy 2:9)

And all followers of Jesus are to flee from sexual immorality.

“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Not Conforming to the World
Followers of Jesus believe that they must be transformed by renewing their minds and avoid conforming to the patterns of the secular world.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

Problems arise when Christians adapt to the Western secular culture more than to the Bible. When this happens, there is a decline in morality, which leads to an increase in sexual immorality, drunkenness, deceit, selfishness, rage and other sins.

How to Correct Misunderstandings

The Misunderstandings
Western values conflict with Muslims regarding women perhaps more than any other category. There are several problems in Muslim societies in regard to women. However, secularism and women’s liberation have brought the “Christian” West several problems as well.

Correcting the Misunderstandings
Christians, often focused on the plight of Muslim women, fail to see that many Western “solutions” are more to be feared than the problems they address. Many Muslim women prefer their lifestyle to lonely singleness, sexual exploitation, and the desire for money that makes home and family unimportant.

Societies long dominated by Islam have problems that need to be addressed, but before Christians can address these issues, they must deal with their own cultural problems. As Jesus said, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)

Information is from “Islam & Christianity,” Rose Publishing

Also see:
Islam and Women
Oppression of Women

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 6

2010-02-22T15:47:00.009-05:00

The Qur’an says, “For those who reject Allah, there is a terrible penalty: but for those who believe and work righteous deeds, there is forgiveness and a magnificent reward (Surah 35:7). This great reward is janna, a garden paradise, an eternal place of sensual and spiritual pleasures.

In Islam, there is no savior. That is not to say that salvation is impossible, for Allah is merciful and compassionate. He can always forgive---for Allah’s will is supreme---but He is primarily the judge. There are many descriptive warnings about hellfire and punishment in the Qur’an.

All men should fear Judgment Day, in which each person’s deeds will be weighed on a scale. “Recording angels” keep a list of every deed, both good and bad. Islamic teachers assign credits to deeds related to the pillars of Islam. It is unthinkable for Muslims to abandon their accumulation of credits and trust a Savior.

Muslims find God virtually unapproachable. There is no concept of relationship with God as in Christianity, and no assurance of heaven, except though martyrdom. In Islam, there is no guarantee of salvation. The only possible guarantee is to be martyred for the cause of Islam, usually in jihad, and that is what the terrorists are told. It is much easier for Muslims to go into paradise through jihad/martyrdom, than to perform all the rituals and duties and still not know for sure whether they will go to paradise or not. The Qur’an says that martyrs killed in the way of God, or fighting for Allah, will go straight into the paradise of Allah.

Christians believe that, after death, all people await the final Judgment, when both believers and unbelievers will be resurrected. All will be judged according to the deeds they have done, but believers will be saved, because God removed the record that contained the charges against them. He destroyed it by nailing it to the cross of Jesus. Colossians 2:14 says, “having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” This would therefore remove the list of bad deeds kept by any Muslim’s “recording angel.”

In Christianity, God does not judge on a curve. He does not compare one person to another. Neither does He weigh your good deeds against your bad deeds. Instead, He compares you to Himself. In order to get into Heaven based on your works, you have to be as holy and perfect as He is. Matthew 5:20 states, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And 1 Peter 1:16 says, "for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." This is precisely why we need a Savior.

Even if one’s list of good deeds outweighed their list of bad deeds, it would not make them acceptable to God. The Bible says this would only cause boasting and pride, as though someone could impress God by his or her good deeds. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Instead, God has credited Christians with the righteousness of Christ, so salvation is a gift, not earned by anyone---not even martyrs---but bought with a great price---Jesus’ blood (See 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 1 Corinthians 7:23).

In addition to this great gift, God the Father adopts those He saves into His family so they may live with Jesus in Heaven. To be saved involves being “born again” into a new relationship with God. John 3:5 states, “Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”

Thinking about Allah as Abba-Father is difficult for some Muslims. Any negative view of the earthly father role will twist one’s view of God. In Western cultures, parenting trends err toward permissiveness (more love than discipline). In the East, fathers tend to be negligent or authoritarian (more discipline than love). God is a Father Who shows both love and discipline. He wants loving followers, not just slaves or spoiled children.

This view of fatherhood makes it easier to relate to God as Abba and to come to Him as a humble child, ready to be loved and disciplined. Jesus said one must enter God’s kingdom as a little child. “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Mark 10:15)

The final book of the Bible describes the future scene of a huge family gathering with many from every tribe, tongue, people and ethnic group gathered around the throne of God, as shown in Revelation 5:
“Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

Boasting of good deeds would be unthinkable, because Jesus, the Lamb of God, sits upon the throne. Everyone in this great crowd honors Jesus as their substitute sacrifice, just as God pictured beforehand when He provided a ram to die in place of Abraham’s son, as in Genesis 22:
"Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba. Some time later Abraham was told, "Milcah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel." Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham's brother Nahor. His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.”

Most of this information is from “Islam & Christianity,” Rose Publishing; and from the DVD, “Radical Islam On The March.”

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 5

2010-02-17T00:45:00.002-05:00

The ritual practices of Islam are the pillars of their religious system. Although beliefs are important, the substance of their religion is the accomplishment of these five pillars.

· Confessing the Faith (Shahada)
· Prayer (Salat)
· Giving of Alms (Zakat)
· Fasting (Sawm)
· Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

The Muslim’s objective is to follow Muhammad’s pattern (his exact words, motions and timing) found in the sunna, as they accomplish the pillars.

Some Muslims would include a sixth pillar, Holy Struggle (Jihad). This struggle could be internal (a struggle in the soul to do the right thing) or external (an effort against the enemies of Islam). The interpretation of jihad can determine the difference between moderate and radical Muslims.

Their belief in the nature of the final Judgment Day motivates Muslims to faithfully accomplish these pillars. In the Qur’an, these practices are of great importance.

The Bible teaches that salvation is a gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ (Isa Al Masih) and there are no rituals or practices that anyone can do in order to get right with God (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Even though good works can save no one, followers of Jesus serve Him, imitate Him, and do what He commanded, by the power of the Holy Spirit that indwells every believer. Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commands, and my commands are not burdensome.” He gave seven specific commands:

· Repent and Believe (a turn of heart)
· Pray (as a lifestyle, from the heart)
· Give (with a joyful heart)
· Celebrate the Lord’s Supper (remember Jesus)
· Love God and Others (greatest command)
· Be Baptized (with water)
· Make Disciples (among all peoples)

Making disciples involves worship, fellowship, fasting, studying Scripture, and sharing the good news of eternal salvation through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that His disciples would be recognized by their love for one another (John 13:35).

A Muslim can be confused by Christian symbols and rituals, such as the cross (considered a military symbol to Muslims), and also the Lord’s Supper, when wine is used (because alcohol is prohibited in Islam). Christians are confused by some of the Muslim rituals as well.

If Christians and Muslims can communicate and completely understand the meaning behind these symbols and rituals, meaningful relationships can be built and truth–sharing can take place.

Following the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) is perhaps the best way for Christians to imitate Jesus and share with Muslims. The “Sermon on the Mount” challenges all followers of Jesus to live a righteous lifestyle of humility and love. Unfortunately, today in Western culture, Christian practices such as prayer, fasting and giving are not emphasized.

Muslims need grace-motivated Christian friends who follow the disciplines of Jesus. Jesus calls His followers to pray as a lifestyle, frequently and effectively. By confronting evil and bringing healing, believers can introduce Christ to their Muslim friends.

(Information is from "Islam & Christianity," Rose Publishing)

Islam and Christianity on Love

2010-02-12T13:56:00.007-05:00

Islam

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (10/129):

Love is a psychological sickness, and if it grows strong it affects the body, and becomes a physical sickness, either as diseases of the brain, which are said to be diseases caused by waswaas, or diseases of the body such as weakness, emaciation and so on.

And he said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (10/132):

Loving a non-mahram woman leads to many negative consequences, the full extent of which is known only to the Lord of people. It is a sickness that affects the religious commitment of the sufferer, then it may also affect his mind and body.

Ibn Taymiyah said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (10/185):

If a man is in love with a woman, even if she is permissible for him, his heart remains enslaved to her, and she can control him as she wishes, even though outwardly he appears to be her master, because he is her husband; but in fact he is her prisoner and slave, especially if she is aware of his need and love for her. In that case, she will control him like a harsh and oppressive master controls his abject slave who cannot free himself from him. Rather he is worse off than that, because enslavement of the heart is worse than enslavement of the body.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (10/135):

If the heart loves Allah alone and is sincerely devoted to Him, it will not even think of loving anyone else in the first place, let alone falling in love. When a heart falls in love that is due to the lack of love for Allah alone. Hence because Yusuf loved Allah and was sincerely devoted to Him, he did not fall into the trap of love, rather Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Thus it was, that We might turn away from him evil and illegal sexual intercourse. Surely, he was one of Our chosen, (guided) slaves” [Yusuf 12:24]

As for the wife of al-‘Aziz, she was a mushrik as were her people, hence she fell into this trap.

Ibn al-Qayyim said in Rawdat al-Muhibbeen (147):

If love occurs for a reason that is not haraam, the person is not to be blamed, such as one who loved his wife or slave woman, then he separated from her but the love remained and did not leave him. He is not to be blamed for that. Similarly if there was a sudden glance then he averted his gaze, but love took hold of his heart without him meaning it to, he must, however, ward it off and resist it.

The Bible

Song of Solomon 8:7
Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

Genesis 29:20
So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a and 13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails....And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Ephesians 5:33
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Colossians 3:14
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1 John 3:18
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 4

2010-02-09T19:08:00.001-05:00

To Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad, called the “seal of the prophets,” is the last of over 124,000 prophets going back to Adam. His name means “praised one,” and Allah in the Qur’an commends him.

Mecca was a center of idol worship in AD 610 when Muhammad first challenged the people to forsake idolatry and embrace Islam. Most Meccans rejected his message and many began to persecute the early Muslims, causing them to flee to the town of Medina in AD 622. This flight is known as the hijara and marked the first year on the Islamic calendar. Medina was more receptive to Muhammad and from this city, through battles and diplomacy, Islam was spread to the entire Arabian Peninsula before Muhammad died in AD 632.

Muslims try to follow Muhammad’s example, known as his sunna, or his way, in every detail possible. Everything is prescribed, from ritual washings before prayer, to hygienic practices in the bathroom. Such detailed behavior is known through large collections of hadith, accounts of Muhammad’s life, words, and behavior passed on by his early followers.

New Testament writers proclaimed Jesus as the fulfillment of the Law of Moses (Taurat) and the predictions of Old Testament prophets. These prophets are quoted in the New Testament. For instance, Matthew quotes various prophets concerning Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), his mother being a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), and even the killing of baby boys by King Herod (Jeremiah 31:15). The prophets also detail the suffering death and resurrection of Jesus (Isaiah 53; Psalm 16:8-11). The Bible points out that God carefully planned and carried out the details of the coming of Jesus in history (Luke 24:27; Acts 3:18).

The Bible contains numerous warning about false teachers and prophets. Jesus predicts the end times will be full of these (Matthew 24:11). Therefore, every teaching must be judged against the truth already revealed in the Bible. Jesus also promised that the Holy Spirit (“The Spirit of Truth”) would guide truth seekers into all truth (John 14-16).

In conversation with Muslims, Christians should remember not to attack Muhammad. Since so much is determined by imitating their prophet, to insult Muhammad is to attack their entire life and culture.

It is wise to find common ground and agree that Muhammad has much in common with Old Testament prophets. Like David and Solomon, he was a political and military leader with multiple wives. Like Moses and Joshua, he united tribes and led them in battle. Like Elijah and many other prophets, he destroyed idols and confronted the corrupt political and economic powers of his day.

Just as Old Testament prophets looked forward to the coming Messiah, Muhammad looked back with respect and admiration to Jesus as the Messiah. The Qur’an calls Isa Al Masih (Jesus) “God’s word” and a “Spirit from Him” (Surah 4:171). It affirms His virgin birth and special role in the end times.

Followers of Jesus do not have to deny or embrace Muhammad in order to exalt the Messiah. It is important to lift up Jesus, not tear down Muhammad.

Information is from “Islam and Christianity,” produced by Rose Publishing.

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 3

2010-02-03T16:42:00.002-05:00

According to Muslims, there is only one trustworthy Holy Scripture, the Qur’an. Many prophets before Muhammad were also given Allah’s Word, among them Musa (Moses), who was given the Taurat (Torah), Dawud (David), who was given the Zabur (Psalms), and Isa (Jesus), who was given the Injil (Gospel). However, Muslims are taught that all these writings were corrupted. Allah appointed Muhammad to receive the Qur’an in order to correct this corruption.

How did Muslims get the Qur’an? According to Islam, in AD 610, Allah sent the angel Gabriel to Muhammad in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Over the next 22 years, Gabriel revealed suras (chapters) to Muhammad with the command to recite it to others. Shortly after Muhammad’s death in AD 632, his followers gathered the suras into the Qur’an. The third caliph, Uthman, had scholars compile an official Qur’an, in written form, and had all other variant texts burned.

The Qur’an today is considered divine in its original Arabic form, and Muslims memorize and recite it only in this pure language.

As a comparison, how did Christians get the Bible? Followers of Jesus believe the Bible is the authoritative, inspired Word of God, composed of 66 different books, transmitted through at least 40 prophets, apostles, and holy men. The first 39 books, written before the coming of Christ, are called the Old Testament. The Old Testament was written over many centuries by various authors, in diverse cultures, using the Hebrew and Aramaic languages. The remaining 27 books after Christ are called the New Testament. They were written in Greek, the dominant language of the first century. The New Testament contains collections of eyewitness reports of the life and teachings of Jesus, followed by a history of His disciples over the next 50 years, including letters from His apostles and a vision of the end times called the “Revelation.”

The Christian view of inspiration is that God “breathed” His Word through many people. Therefore, the Bible reflects cultures as diverse as Abraham’s nomadic lifestyle, to the royal court of King David. The result is the Book of beautiful human diversity, interwoven with divine unity.

Muslims feel sorry that Christians follow a corrupted book, and most Muslims avoid the Bible. Even among Western-educated Muslims, the great diversity of Bible versions and translations adds to their belief that the Bible is corrupted.

Muhammad, however, did not question the accuracy of the Bible. The accusation that the Bible had been corrupted came centuries after Muhammad, at a time when Muslim scholars realized there were contradictions between the Qur’an and the Bible. Yet, the Qur’an points to the Bible as truth over 120 times. The text of the Bible is better preserved than the writings of Plato and Aristotle. Furthermore, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the reliability of the Bible.

To a Muslim, it is impossible to think that any man could corrupt the actual Word of God, and diminish God. By His reputation, God is committed to protect His Word. In the Bible, in the book of Psalms, chapter 138, verse 2, it says: “I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” For Muslims, the best defense of the Bible’s integrity is the nature, power and reputation of God.

Hal Lindsey - The Two Faces of Islam

2010-02-01T17:36:00.001-05:00

Hal Lindsey - Great Britain and Shari'a law

2010-01-31T14:45:00.002-05:00

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 2

2010-01-29T14:37:00.002-05:00

The absolute oneness of Allah is primary to Muslims. The greatest sin is to associate any partner with him. The sin is called shirk. Muhammad’s message, advocating one God, was courageous, because idolatry was the established religion of Arabia. Muhammad challenged this system, and finally prevailed with the message of monotheism. Islam is rooted in this commitment to the belief in one God.

The Bible teaches that God is one, but His is a complex unity, not just a simple unit. He is completely unique---a personal God Who existed in relationship from eternity.

In Islam, Allah is transcendent and cannot be compared to humans or any other created thing. Allah’s character and attributes are revealed through his 99 Arabic names, the two most common being “The Merciful” and “The Compassionate.” Allah is never described in Islam by using human family terms such as “father” or “son.” In the Qur’an, he reveals his will for mankind to obey, not his person for mankind to relate with and know.

In the Bible, which is the Christian’s authority, the Scriptures reveal God as the ultimate Father, in name, character, and person, but always as the Creator, never with sexual references. God is called “Father” in a spiritual sense, not in a literal, biological sense. God also reveals Himself as the Eternal Word, Who became flesh when the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin Mary and conceived Jesus, the Messiah, Who is also called the Son of God in the Bible. In His teaching, Jesus further reveals God the Holy Spirit, Who was sent by the Father and Himself. The Bible presents a mystery of three Persons revealed as one God. Although the world “Trinity” is not in the Bible (just as the word tawhid, which means the unity of God, is not in the Qur’an), the term captures biblical truths about God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God, not just three parts of God or three names for the same person. Not a council of gods, but a supreme, unique Being Who is different from (and above) every creature, Who exists as a tri-unity of Persons. God exists as one Being Who is three Persons. People do not exist in this way; only God exists in this way.

In Islam, Allah creates and sustains all life, spiritual and material. His will is absolute and cannot be questioned by his creation. He is the final judge, without a mediator. The best chance on Judgment Day is for those who live lives of righteousness and submission to Allah’s will---Insha Allah (God willing).

The Bible says, “God is Love.” This love existed from eternity as the Father loved the Son, even before the foundation of the world. God’s love is expressed through creation. God does not simply choose to love; His love chooses to act. “God so loved the world that He gave His Son…” (John 3:16)

Most Muslims consider Christians to be polytheists (people who believe in many gods) because of the Trinity. A popular misunderstanding of the Trinity is that Christians believe that a Father God had sex with a Mother God (Mary) to produce their “Son of God.” No Christian believes this. Educated Muslims understand this false Trinity is not what Christians believe, but they still do not understand how the math can show God’s unity. To them, it is simple: 1+1+1=3; Father + Son + Holy Spirit = Three Gods. But this is not what Christians believe, either.

Rather than using an analogy of adding units (1+1+1=3), the Trinity has been explained as multiplied wholeness (1x1x1=1). The Bible says Jesus is the eternal “Word of God” revealed in flesh through the virgin birth. The Qur’an sets apart Jesus as the “Word of God” and “Spirit of God” and affirms His virgin birth and miracles, even raising the dead. Muslims also believe in the Second Coming of Jesus, because the “day of his return” is mentioned in the Qur’an. Muslims like to point out how the Qur’an honors Jesus. Yet, such positive references to Jesus in the Qur’an are few, compared to the complete story of Jesus preserved by God in the Injil (New Testament).

(Most of this information is from "Islam & Christianity," Rose Publishing)

Comparing Islam to Christianity, Part 1

2010-01-27T08:24:00.001-05:00

(Thanks to Larry (Nitewrit) of Night Writing in the Morning Light for this idea)

Muslims believe that Islam (which means “submission to Allah”) is the original religion since the creation of Adam, the first prophet. Since the beginning of time, all people who submit to Allah are called Muslims. Over the centuries, Allah appointed thousands of prophets to warn and guide mankind. Prominent among them were Ebrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), and Isa Al Masih (Jesus the Messiah).

Christians also trace their religious history back to Adam, who brought the curse of sin upon all mankind (Genesis 1-3). In the Bible, Jesus is known as the 'second Adam,' Who came to remove this curse of sin (Romans 5).

Most Muslims believe that Muhammad was the final prophet. Mankind habitually strayed from the way of Allah that was revealed through the prophets. About AD 610 in Arabia, Allah sent the last prophet, Muhammad, who united the Arab tribes and turned them from idolatry to Islam.

Christians believe that God’s plan unfolded carefully over history. Abraham (Ebrahim in Arabic) was promised the blessing to carry out God’s eternal purposes. He was blessed so he could be a blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3). Jesus is the promised seed of Eve, Who would crush the head of Satan (Shaytan in Arabic – Genesis 3:15) and bring the blessing of the “Good News” (Injil in Arabic).

After the death of Muhammad in AD 632, Sunni Islam rapidly spread from Arabia, under the leadership of the first four “rightly guided” rulers (caliphs), who were close companions of Muhammad. Shia Islam began to rapidly spread through the teachings of “infallible” Imans from the bloodline of Muhammad. To Muslims, the military and economic expansion of Islam liberated people who were suffering under the corrupt Byzantine and Persian Empires.

Christians believe that a great war has been raging throughout the Creation; a struggle in which Satan has twisted all good things---even religion---into weapons to discredit God. The decisive battle of this war was won on the cross when Jesus destroyed Satan’s power and overcame the curse of sin. By rising from the dead, Jesus conquered death---a consequence of the curse---and thereby offers the blessing of eternal life to mankind.

Correcting Misunderstandings

Religious history between Christians and Muslims is covered with blood and war, much like all of human history. Both sides, to justify murder and mayhem, have used God’s name. Several key events in history continue to affect the perceptions of Christians and Muslims. These events include the Islamic expansion (AD 600 to 800’s), the Crusades (AD 1000 to 1200’s), the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the attack on the World Trade Center, the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003, and many other events, including more recent events.

Historians have pointed out that these “holy wars” of history were more about economics than faith. Yet, economic struggle cannot explain the intense hatred, cruelty and malicious evil of a Crusader, Nazi or suicide bomber. Behind these horrors is a deeper spiritual war, and a vindictive enemy---namely, Satan. Christians and Muslims should not lose sight of Satan, the “enemy of souls.” By recognizing the common enemy, Christians can create a context in which they can build relationships with Muslims.

(Information is from "Islam & Christianity," Rose Publishing)

Islam: Conclusion

2010-01-22T00:54:00.000-05:00

All politics must submit to Islam. It is the purpose of Islam to replace the U.S. Constitution with Islamic law called shariah.

Every Muslim can act in two different ways. The first is based upon the Meccan Qur'an and Meccan Sunna. The second way is the Medinan Qur'an and Medinan Sunna. But a Muslim also has a third way of acting.

Kafir civilization is very strong in many ways. Nearly everything you can pick up and hold in your hand comes from kafir civilization. Nearly all products are based upon patents and copyrights. The Islamic world does not produce any significant work in the world of ideas. All democratic politics and most media and culture are based upon kafir thought. The modern world is kafir, and Islam exists inside of that. So every Muslim is also part kafir. It is almost impossible for a Muslim not to be part kafir.

Every Muslim is part Meccan-Muslim, part Medinan-Muslim and part kafir-Muslim. So what any Muslim does is based upon which type of Muslim he is. A Muslim is a person who makes personal decisions, so it is never possible to predict what a person who calls himself a Muslim will do or say.

If you have a Muslim friend or an associate at work and they are a nice person, you must have more than once said this doctrine can't be right, because "the person I know at work is such a nice person, and all of this doctrine of Islam sounds so dreadful." Well, let's stop and ask what you mean by "a good Muslim." Is he a good Muslim or is he a good person? Those are separate questions because, quite frankly, until you know the doctrine of Islam, and until you know the history of Islam, you really can't make any judgments as to whether or not the person at work or your friend is a good Muslim or not. Being a good Muslim does not depend upon anything about the kafir and the kafir's judgments. No. Whether a person is a good Muslim or not depends upon the doctrine of Islam. It is the doctrine of Islam that makes a Muslim. We must compare the Muslim with the doctrine, not the Muslim with what we think as good.

For example, Osama bin Laden is a good Muslim. He strictly follows the Koran of Medina, the greater Koran, the one that was written later, the one that Allah said abrogates the earlier. What you may mean when you say he's a 'good Muslim' is that he is simply a good person. Let's consider this.

Even in Mohammed's day, there are many references to the fact that Muslims did not want to engage in Jihad. Those Muslims were called hypocrites. Perhaps your friend who is such a good person is not really a "good" Muslim. And there's another thing about the good Muslim - you say he is your friend. How does his friendship stack up against the fourteen verses in the Koran which clearly and explicitly state that the kafir is never the friend of the Muslim?

What you probably have in your friend is a good person. A good Muslim follows the doctrine of Islam, and following the doctrine of Islam means seeing you as a kafir. Your friend is a human being before he is a Muslim, and the Golden Rule exerts a powerful force upon everyone, including those who profess the Islamic faith. Perhaps what you have in your friend is merely someone who is naturally following the Golden Rule and is therefore a good person. But notice, as long as he is actually really your friend, then he is not a good Muslim. Contradictory, isn't it? And not only is it contradictory, it's very sad.

Most Muslims are part Meccan Muslim, part Medinan Muslim and part kafir Muslim, just like your friend.

In earlier articles on this site, I mentioned that the Five Principles of Political Islam could be used as a tool to understand Islam. Let's review the Five Principles, and then see how to use them to analyze Islam by asking the right questions.

The first principle is that every word and action by Islam is based on the Qur'an, Sira and Hadith. In short, it is all based on Muhammad.

So, in analyzing anything Islamic, ask the question: What did Muhammad do or say that relates to this? Is this Meccan or Medinan Islam?

The second principle is, that if it deals with kafirs, it is political, not religious. The question is: how are kafirs involved? How is the religious "teflon shield" being used?

The third principle is that all non-Muslims are kafirs.

The question is: how is this based on the division between Islam and kafirs? Kafirs are always wrong and Muslims are always right. Ask questions like: how is it all the kafir's fault? How is the problem not Islam's fault?

The fourth principle is: dualism means that Islam can treat you two different ways.

The question is: How is dualism working here? What are the two opposing choices available here? What is the other side of the contradiction that is not being talked about?

The fifth principle is that the kafir must submit to Islam in politics and public matters.

The question is: what is the pressure to yield to Islamic values and dictates?

Really, all of the five principles can be summarized in two sentences. Everything that Islam does to kafirs is political and is based upon the Trilogy, the Qur'an and Muhammad. The treatment of kafirs is dualistic and kafirs must submit to political Islam.

Or, the five principles can be reduced to five words: Trilogy, politics, kafir, duality, submission.

Let's apply these principles by looking at an old problem---the so-called Israel - Palestinian problem.

First, there is a massive amount of the Trilogy about the Jews. Do you ever hear any news report that quotes either Muhammad or the Qur'an?

Is the interaction between the Palestinians and Israelis political or religious?

The Jews of Israel are kafirs. The kafirs are always wrong and the Muslims are always right. In any of the reporting of the conflict, do you ever read any self-examination by the Palestinians?

Duality. What is the whole truth? What are the two different ways that Islam has in dealing with Jews?

Submission. How are the kafir Israelis being asked to yield or submit to Islam? What are the demands on kafirs? How is it that Islam will not change?

In order to understand the five principles, you have to know Muhammad. If you know Muhammad, then you know Islam; if you do not know Muhammad, you do not know Islam. The five principles will allow you to understand Islam based upon its own doctrine and history.

We must have a clear and analytic study of Islam. What we want to do is to examine this ideology by giving it a cold, hard, analytic look. We need to understand that the religion is of no concern to the kafir. The religion is simply for those who want to go to Islamic heaven or avoid Islamic hell. We must take an analytic look at Islam and see its political nature and its political history.

Political Islam will continue to have its way if we don't learn about it. What is its way? It is clearly politically expansive. Our Constitution must fall, according to the doctrine of Islam. Now, you laugh, and say, "That's impossible. I mean, we're so strong, nothing could affect our Constitution." But the power of Islam grows daily in this country, and it feeds upon ignorance. The Qur'an of Mecca is used as the 'teflon shield' as more and more politics in Washington, D.C. are affected by the 'religion of peace.' Ignorant people, diplomats, congressmen, and senators don't know any better. We must demand that they educate themselves. We must demand that our leadership change and understand political Islam.

We have to ask this question: Why do our tax dollars fund universities that are formally devoid of the doctrine of political Islam? It is not taught at any university. How can this be? Why can't our tax dollars be used to teach the history of 270 million dead? Why can't our tax dollars be used to teach the real and complete history of slavery?

By educating yourself, you are making a difference. By encouraging others to learn about political Islam, you can make a huge difference. This war is not a war against terrorism. This war is a war against ignorance. And the enemy is not Islam. Islam is simply a doctrine. The enemy is our own passive ignorance. That is our enemy. We must do battle against ignorance, because this is a case in which the truth is on the side of the kafir.

It is not that Islam is so strong. The problem is that our ignorance makes us weak.

The above text is taken from the website Political Islam.

Interesting verses from the Qur'an and the Hadith

2010-01-13T14:50:00.002-05:00

After Muhammad died, various conflicting Qur’ans were produced. It was the Caliph Uthman who made his own version of the Qur’an the official one (see Bukhari’s Hadith, Vol. 1, pg. 56, No. 63). He later burned all the other conflicting Qur’ans. The Qur’an sold today is the Uthman version.

The Hadith is the record of the teachings and examples of Muhammad not found in the Qur’an and are thus authoritative for all Muslims. To deny the Hadith is to be guilty of apostasy under Islamic Law. The greatest of all Hadith scholars was Bukhari.

Surah 2:190-194: Fight in the cause of Allah against those who fight you … and kill them wherever you catch them … if they fight you, kill them. Such is the reward of those who suppress the Faith…. And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah.

Surah 2:216: Fighting is prescribed for you.

Surah 2:244: Fight in the cause of Allah.

Surah 4:74: Let those who fight in the cause of Allah, who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter, to him who fighteth in the cause of Allah…. Soon shall We give him a reward of great value.

Surah 4:89: If they turn apostates, seize them and kill them wherever you find them.

Surah 4:91: Seize them and kill them wherever you get them.

Surah 5:33: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and his apostle … they shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall be struck off alternately, or they shall be banished from the land.

Surah 5:51: O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends.

On Jesus:
Surah 5:72-73: They do blaspheme who say: Allah is Christ the son of Mary…. They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three (gods) … Christ the son of Mary was no more than an apostle.

Ask No Questions:
Surah 5:101: Ask not questions about things which, if made plain to you may cause you trouble…. Some people before you did ask such questions, and on account lost their faith (in Islam).

The Greatest Deceiver:
Surah 3:54: The greatest Deceiver (Makara) of them all is Allah.

Beating Wives:
Surah 4:34: Men are the managers of the affairs of women … those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them.

People Turning Into Monkeys, Rats and Pigs:
From the Hadith:
Bukhari, Vol. IV, No. 524, pg. 333: The Prophet said, “A group of Israelites were lost. Nobody knows what they did. But I do not see them except that they were cursed and transformed into rats, for if you put the milk of a she-camel in front of a rat, it will not drink it, but if the milk of a sheep is put in front of it, it will drink it.

(1) It was illegal for the Israelites to eat the meat or drink the milk of camels, while they were allowed to eat the meat and drink the milk of sheep. The prophet inferred from the rat’s habit that some of the Israelites had been transformed into rats.

(2) Later on the prophet was informed through Inspiration about the fate of those Israelites: They were transformed into pigs and monkeys.

Mohammed’s Inspiration
According to the Hadith:

Mohammed would hear ringing in his ears; his heart would beat rapidly; his face turn red; his breathing would become labored; he would fall to the ground or lie down; he would shake; his eyes would open wide; his lips tremble; spit drool from the corners of his mouth; he would sweat profusely; he saw and heard things no one else ever saw or heard; he would sometimes make a snoring noise like that of a camel; and he would be covered with a sheet.
Vol I, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4
Vol. II, chapter 16 (pg. 354), 544
Vol. III, Nos. 17, 829
Vol. IV, Nos. 95, 438, 458, 461
Vol. V, Nos. 170, 462, 618, 659
Vol. VI, Nos. 447, 448, 468, 478, 481, 508

A Test of Prophethood:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. IV, No 546: When Abdullah bin Salam heard of the arrival of the Prophet at Medina, he came to him and said, “I am going to ask you about three things which nobody knows except a prophet:
1. What is the first sign of the Hour (i.e. the end of the world)?
2. What will be the first meal taken by the people of Paradise?
3. Why does a child resemble its father and why does it resemble its maternal uncle?”
Allah’s Apostle said, “Gabriel just now told me of their answers.”
Abdullah said, “He (i.e. Gabriel), from amongst all the angels, is the enemy of the Jews.”
Allah’s Apostle said, “The first sign of the Hour will be a fire that will bring together the people from the East to the West; the first meal of the people of Paradise will be extralobe of fish-liver. As for the resemblance of the child to its parents: If a man has sexual intercourse with his wife and gets his discharge first, the child will resemble the father, and if the woman gets her discharge first, the child will resemble her.”

The Man Who Died for a Hundred Years:
According to the Qur’an:
Surah II:259: Or take the similitude of one who passed by a village in ruins to its roofs. He said, “Oh! How shall Allah restore it to life after its death?” But Allah caused him to die for 100 years. The he raised him up and said, “How long have you stayed here?” He said, “A day or a part of a day.” He said, “No, you have been here for 100 years! But look at your food and your drink, they show no signs of age. And look at your donkey! We have made you a sign unto the people. Look further at the bones (of your body) how We clothed them with flesh.”

A 90-Foot Adam:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. IV, No. 543: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Allah created Adam, making him 60 cubits tall.”

Playing Chess Forbidden:
According to the Hadith:
Muslim Vol. IV, No. 5612, Chapter CMXLVI: It Is Prohibited to Play Chess
Allah’s Apostle said, “He who played chess is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine.”

Satan Stays in the Nose Overnight:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. IV, No. 516: “Satan stays in the upper part of the nose all night.”
Footnote (1) We should believe that Satan actually stays in the upper part of one’s nose, though we cannot perceive how, for this is related to the unseen world of which we know nothing except what Allah tells us through his Apostle Mohammed.
Muslim Vol. I, No. 462: Abu Huraira reported: The Apostle of Allah said, “When any one of you awakes from sleep and performs ablution, he must clean his nose three times, for the devil spends the night in the interior of his nose.”

Non-Muslims Have Seven Intestines:
According to the Hadith:
Muslim Vol. III, Nos. 5113, Chapter DCCCLXII: A Believer Eats in One Intestine Whereas a Non-Believer Eats in Seven Intestines.
Ibn Umar reported Allah’s Messenger as saying that a non-Muslim eats in seven intestines while a Muslim eats in one intestine.
(See also Nos. 5114-5120)

Don’t Pray Looking Up:
According to the Hadith:
Muslim Vol. I, Nos. 863, Chapter CLXXIII: It Is Forbidden to Lift One’s Eyes Toward the Sky in Prayer
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Apostle saying: “People should avoid lifting their eyes towards the sky while supplicating in prayer, otherwise their eyes would be snatched away.

The Wondrous Wings of a Fly:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. IV, No. 537: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “If a house fly falls into the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (into the drink) because one of its wings has a disease and the other wing has the cure (for that disease).
Bukhari Vol. VII, No. 673: Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “If a fly falls in the vessel of any of you, let him dip all of it into the vessel and then throw it away, for in one of its wings there is a disease and in the other wing there is healing.”

The Setting of the Sun:
According to the Qur’an:
Surah 18:86: When he (i.e. Zul-qarnain) reached the setting of the sun, he found that it set in a pond of murky water.

Mohammed Bewitched!
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. VII, No. 658: Narrated Aisha: A man called Labid bin al-A’sam from the tribe of Bani Zaraiq worked magic on Allah’s Apostle until Allah’s Apostle started imagining that he had done a thing that he had not really done.
Bukhari Vol. VII, No. 660: Narrated Aisha: Magic was worked on Allah’s Apostle so that he used to think that he had had sexual relations with his wives while he actually had not…. “He is under the effect of magic.”
Bukhari Vol, VII, No. 661: Narrated Aisha: Magic was worked on Allah’s Apostle so that he began to imagine that he had done something although he had not.

Drinking Camel Urine:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. I, No. 234: The Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of camels and to drink their milk and urine.

The Crying Palm Tree:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. II, No. 41: Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah: The Prophet used to stand by a stem of a date-palm tree. When the pulpit was placed for him we heard the stem crying like a pregnant she-camel till the Prophet got down from the pulpit and placed his hand over it.
Bukhari Vol. IV, No. 783: Narrated Ibn Umar: The Prophet used to deliver his sermons while standing beside the trunk of a date-palm. When he had the pulpit made, he used it instead. The trunk started crying and the Prophet went to it, rubbing his hand over it (to stop its crying).

Shouting Food:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. IV, No. 779: … no doubt, we heard the meal glorifying Allah, when it was being eaten (by Allah’s Apostle).

The Devil Urinates Into the Ear:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. II, No. 245: If one sleeps and does not offer the prayer, Satan urinates in his ears. Narrated Abdullah: The Prophet said, “Satan urinated in his ears.”

Yawning Comes From Hell:
According to the Hadith:
Vol. IV, No. 509: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Yawning is from Satan.”

Hell-Fire for Women:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. I, No. 28: The Prophet said, “I was shown the Hell-fire and that the majority of its dwellers were women who were ungrateful.”
Bukhari Vol. I, No. 301: Allah’s Apostle … said, “O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you women…. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you.”
Bukhari Vol. II, No. 161: The Prophet then said … “I also saw the Hell-fire and I had never seen such a horrible sight. I saw that most of the inhabitants were women.”

No Assurance of Salvation:
According to the Hadith:
Bukhari Vol. V, No. 266: The Prophet said, “By Allah, even though I am the Apostle of Allah, yet I do not know what Allah will do to me.”

Islamic Slavery

2010-01-10T15:05:00.000-05:00

Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzam:
“Slavery is part of Jihad and jihad will remain as long as there is Islam.”

Sura Al-i-Imran, 3:106-107 "On the day when some faces will be whitened and some faces will be blackened, say to those whose faces will be blackened, 'Did ye reject faith after accepting it? Taste then the penalty for rejecting faith.' But those whose faces will be whitened, they will be in Allah's mercy: therein to dwell."

432 The "face" (wajh) expresses our Personality, our inmost being. White is the colour of Light; to become white is to be illumined with Light, which stands for felicity, the rays of the glorious light of Allah. Black is the colour of darkness, sin, rebellion, misery; removal from the grace and light of Allah. These are the Signs of heaven and hell. The standard of decision in all questions is the justice of Allah.

Africa produced great thinkers like Augustine of Hippo (Algeria), Clement and Athanasius of Egypt, and Tertullian of Carthage (Tunis), while Ethiopia had the first African church totally independent of Europe (Acts 8).

An African church was planted first before there was ever a church in Britain, Canada, the USA or Spain, or any other European state. So why do we not hear of this African church, and why do we not continue to see any remnants of it today?

In North Africa, we know that the whole Saharan region of Morocco, Libya, Algeria, and Egypt, to the Sudan and Ethiopia, used to be Christian, before Islam came and destroyed the local churches. Why do we not hear about it in Muslim literature?

Islam fights against all those who choose to follow their own beliefs; that is, beliefs not compatible with those of the followers of Muhammad.

Sura Tauba, 9:5: "Fight and slay [those who associate another with Allah (Shirk)], and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war."

Sura Imran, 3:28 "Let not the believers take disbelievers [Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.] for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them, taking (as it were) security. Allah biddeth you beware (only) of Himself."

We can examine the history of the Sudan as a case in point. Before the Muslim invasion of 1275 A.D. by the Islamic Mamluks of Egypt, the Sudan had three mini-Christian states called:

NOBATIA in the north, the capital of Qustul

MAKURIA, the capital of old Dongola, and

ALODIA or ALWA, the capital of Soba

These three African Christian states, from 300 A.D. to 1500 A.D., had their own written language, great centers of learning, international commerce with Egypt, Ethiopia and other Middle East states, and sent out missionaries to other African states. (Read K. Milhalowski,Faras, vol.2, Poland, 1965 for extensive archaeological and historical documentation on these states).

Even the Arab, ibn Selim al-Assuani, was impressed when he saw Soba, describing it as having "...fine buildings, roomy houses, churches, and the land is more fruitful than Makuria...[and it has] much meat, and good horses."

All this was wantonly destroyed by Muslim invaders in 1275 A.D., not by European Imperialism.

The historical records show that the same type of massive destruction,slaughter, subjugation, forced conversion and enslavement happened all over Africa, yet we never hear anyone holding the Muhammadan Muslims - both Arab and African Muslims - in any way responsible.

No Arab or Muslim country has ever admitted fault or offered any kind of apology, while the Europeans and Americans have.

Why have Christian countries who traded in slavery offered apologies, and yet, not a SINGLE Muslim country has?

Arab Muslim RACISM is just as evil and obnoxious as that of the Europeans, so why is it allowed to continue unchallenged?

Muhammadan Muslim racism continues unabated and unchallenged in Africa.
In the 1990's, the Sudan in northeast Africa had been suffering a Muslim jihad-war, whereby thousands of Christians and unbelievers had died, many by crucifixion, or had suffered by having their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off. Is it only coincidental that we find, in the Qur'an, the sanction for this very practice?

Sura (the Table Spread) 5:33, "The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and his Messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off..."

While this continues to go on, Muslim states have never once told off the Islamic government of Khartoum.

The silence is DEAFENING. Why?

Yet there has always been an enormous amount of noise about the apartheid of the old South Africa. Why the double standard?

That then brings us to the question of slavery. Muslims - the best people on earth at the BLAME GAME - say it is only a Christian phenomenon.

Let us now examine some facts. Because most of the Black people in Africa were animists in general, the Muhammadan Muslims labeled them KUFFAR/UNBELIEVERS from which is derived the white South African derogatory term for the individual Black as 'KAFIR'.

Even in this 21st century, in the ordinary language of the Arabs, Black people are still called 'ABEED/ SLAVES'.

This is why, according to the Qur'an, SLAVERY was not PROHIBITED, but in fact, was ENCOURAGED, especially the enslavement of UNBELIEVERS.

It was the British Empire, after all, who, in the 1850's, initiated the move to abolish and stop African Slavery in the first place, under pressure from British Christians like David Livingstone and William Wilberforce, and hunted the Arab Muslim slave ships in the Indian ocean and around the African coasts, who were continuing their hellish business till recently.

Have you not read about the islands of Zanzibar and Pembe in East Africa, during the nineteenth century?

Have you not asked the question as to why Muslim countries have never been involved in the movements for the abolition of slavery?

Let's set the record straight. While Europeans were involved with the slave trade for a few hundred years, the existence of the traffic of African slaves had been well-established among the Arabs one thousand years earlier.

The Muslim position, which places the entire blame for the invention and practice of black slavery at the door of Christian Europe, is OBSCENELY HYPOCRITICAL, and simply not historically tenable.

Both the Grecian and Roman societies were slave states, yet most of their slaves were Caucasian. In fact, the word 'slave' meant a person who was of Slavic origin.

Robert Hughes, in his essay on "The Fraying of America," in the February 3, 1992 issue of Time magazine, corrects this false impression when he says:

"The African slave trade as such, the black traffic, was an Arab invention, developed by traders with the enthusiastic collaboration of black African ones, institutionalized with the most unrelenting brutality, centuries before the white man appeared on the African continent, and continuing long after the slave market in North America was finally crushed.

.... Nothing in the writings of the Prophet [Muhammad] forbids slavery, which is why it became such an Arab-dominated business. And the slave traffic could not have existed without the wholehearted cooperation of African tribal states, built on the supply of captives generated by their relentless wars.

The image promulgated by pop-history fictions like Roots - of white slavers bursting with cutlass and musket into the settled lives of peaceful African villages - is very far from the historical truth. A marketing system had been in place for centuries, and its supply was controlled by Africans. Nor did it simply vanish with Abolition.

Slave markets, supplying the Arab Emirates, were still operating in Djibouti in the 1950's; and, since 1960, the slave trade has flourished in Mauritania and the Sudan. There are still reports of chattel slavery in northern Nigeria, Rwanda and Niger."

Unfortunately, Islam still hasn't learned, as today the slavery of foreign nationals still exists in the heartland of Islam: Saudi Arabia.
(UN Report on Slavery, 1994)

Continuing the BLAME GAME, Muhammadan Muslims claim that the Christian West wishes to control Africa. Yet, why is it that Africans must not like the Coca Cola culture of the West, but are obliged to start wearing seventh-century Arab dress once Islam is taken on?

What's wrong with the native beautiful African cultural dress?

Is that not CULTURAL IMPERIALISM ?

Is it also not RELIGIOUS IMPERIALISM that Black African Muslims are obliged to pray facing a Saudi Arabian city: Mecca?

Why not face any number of African holy towns instead?

Why should Africans be forced to believe in an Arabian prophet---Muhammad---and in a previously Arabian Pagan god, Allah?

Who wants to dominate whom?

Is not Allah supposed to be everywhere, and that prayers should be directed to Him who is the whole Universe?

Furthermore, why are people who convert to Muhammadan Islam required to read Allah's word and speak to Him only in Arabic? Does Allah only speak Arabic? Is He not capable of understanding Swahili, Tutsi, Amazigh, and other African languages?

Based upon the historical records of Slavery in Africa, it was not the WHITE MAN who went into Africa to gather the Black people and take them into their ships and into slavery.

In reality, the White Slavers awaited their cargo on the Western and/or Eastern coasts of Africa, while it was ARAB and BLACK MUSLIMS who raided African communities, massacred, pillaged, raped and rounded up the remaining unfortunate humanity, and walked them to the shores of Africa for transport to the Americas and elsewhere.

It is estimated that for every slave that arrived ALIVE to be sold, TEN others perished in the most inhuman and horrible manner possible. The figures are mind-boggling and range from 140 million to 180 million human beings.

Even as you are reading this TODAY, in Darfour, Sudan (meaning 'land of the Blacks'), the Arabized Sudanese are massacring, raping and pillaging other Muslims of the Sudan, just because they are of the darker African skin.

This is a purely ETHNIC/RACIAL war, and is just a continuation of 1450 years of the most obscene oppression of Blacks at the hands of the Arabs and Islam.

A Former Slave Speaks
A Sudanese victim talks about his capture and enslavement at the hands of Muslim slave masters when he was only seven.

Islam: Tears of Jihad

2010-01-06T04:52:00.001-05:00

The tears of jihad refers to the deaths of 270 million people over a 1400-year period. They were all killed for the same reason: they did not believe that Muhammad was the prophet of Allah.

After Muhammad died, Abu Bakr was elected caliph---basically, the supreme ruler of all Islam, which included both spiritual guidance and political guidance. He was sort of a combination of both pope and king. Abu Bakr spent his three years in office basically making sure that Muslim Arabs did not leave Islam. The apostasy wars continued during his entire time in office. An apostate is one who wants to leave his religion, and this is a fatal offense---a capital crime---in Islam.

After Abu Bakr died, Umar became the second caliph. Umar picked up where Muhammad left off, continuing Muhammad's efforts to attack the Christians north of Arabia. Those Christians were kafirs because they had not submitted to Islam.

At this time, the Middle East was not even remotely the same as we think of it now. It was basically a Greek culture. The Greeks were sailors and businessmen, which allowed the Greek culture to spread all around the rim of the Mediterranean, including Syria and Northern Egypt. Even North Africa was a Greek culture. And, of course, all of Anatolia (Turkey) was Greek. It was a highly sophisticated culture, but it had overwhelming problems, which could be defined as age, degeneracy and decay.

The Greeks had been at war with the Persians for a long time. This continual war left both the Persians and the Greeks weak. The 900-year rule of Greek culture in the Mediterranean was coming to an end. The Greeks were very divided along religious lines. People are different and interpret things in different ways, so, people being imperfect as they are, Christianity had several doctrinal variations, and the Greeks in Constantinople had a different theological view of Christianity than those in Jerusalem, Syria and Egypt. These divisions were strong enough to cause ill will between them, and this was the world that Umar invaded and conquered.

The conquest progressed so fast that Umar found it difficult to govern what he had. Still, he now had enormous wealth from the fall of Syria, Persia, Iraq, Egypt and North Africa. In thirty years time, all of Greek culture, except Anatolia, was destroyed. An entire new world order came about.

At first, the Christians were pretty much left to govern themselves and just send taxes to Medina. But after the consolidation of the empire under Uthman, things began to change. Islam was no longer conquering more territory. Instead, it was consolidating the territories it had conquered. The age of the dhimmi had arrived. Being a dhimmi involved paying heavy taxes, but it also began to involve being a second-class citizen in your own home country. In Egypt, for instance, the Coptic culture was especially despised. Now the Copts, who were the descendants of the Egypt of the Pharaohs, had become Christians. The Coptic language was thousands of years old. If, as a Christian, you spoke the Coptic language in front of your new Arab (Muslim) masters, your tongue was cut out. That was the life of the dhimmi.

North Africa became Islamic, and 600 years of Christianity disappeared. The culture of the Greeks, Romans, and the Europeans were annihilated. Then the pressure began against Greek Anatolia.

The Arab Muslims despised the Christians with a terrible fervor. You may say, “But in the Qur’an, it speaks well of the Christian.” Religiously speaking, that may be true, but that was written when Muhammad was in Arabia.

Now, everywhere the Muslims looked, they saw Christians who were wealthy, educated and very sophisticated. The Arabs were none of those things. They just wanted to crush the Christian kafirs. The 900-year-old world of the Middle East completely changed. (Note that it has not changed in the last 1400 years, except for becoming even more Islamic.)

The Christians had no idea what hit them. They never called the invaders Muslims; instead, they called them Arabs or Saracens. Here are some of the words they left behind:

The sword of the Saracen, beastly and demonic savages. Evil, God-hating Saracens destroyed crops, burned cities and drove the survivors before them.

This was the world that was created by Islam, and that would later cry out to the Christians in Europe, "Help us!" Indeed, the treatment of the Christians was only a little better than slaves.

After the Middle East was conquered, Arabia turned its sights on Constantinople in Anatolia. This became a long-term goal, which took a few hundred years to accomplish. Their first step was to kill Armenians. In one town, they brought together all of the Armenian leaders, took them down to the church and burned the church, which fell in on top of the Armenian leaders.

In another town in Anatolia, when you came to pay your dhimmi tax, you got a special brand from a hot iron on your arm. If you were found and you did not have a brand, the first thing they did was to cut off the arm that should have held the brand. It didn't hurt very long because the next thing they did was to cut off your head.

There was one Greek Bishop who offered to debate the Muslims with regards to Islam and Christianity. The Muslims listened to his debate for two hours, then they cut off his head.

Another Bishop invited them to a debate, so they, too, debated for the afternoon. When the debate was over, the Muslims took the bishop, cut out his tongue, hauled him out to the desert and left him to die.

Needless to say, acts like this began to teach the Christians what their place was in this new order. It was a place of the dhimmi, a semi-slave. They could still have their church buildings---those that were left. Christianity could not be seen or spoken of beyond the church or the home. For a Christian to try to convert a Muslim was a death sentence.

Christians were actually forbidden to read the Qur’an. This element is important, because it helps to insure an ignorance of the Christian by his Islamic rulers. This has had a 1400-year effect. Christians or other kafirs still do not study either the history or the doctrine of Islam. To not study the history or doctrine of Islam makes anyone, including a Christian, a dhimmi.

Dhimmitude starts with ignorance. The cure for dhimmitude is knowledge. Once a dhimmi becomes aware of the doctrine of persecution and the history of persecution, the dhimmi's eyes are opened and the dhimmi becomes a kafir.

The destruction in Anatolia took several hundred years. We have one accounting from a Muslim historian who gladly reports the figure of the destruction of 30,000 church buildings. Now some of the better church buildings had a special fate reserved for them. Those sites became mosques. When it conquers, Islam has built its mosques on top of where the best church building or temple was. It is ever thus, because this is the way of Muhammad or Sunna.

Destroying religious art is also the way of Muhammad. As soon as Islam conquered any town, the churches were desecrated. The Christians could move back into them later, if Islam decided to let them stand. Art---in particular religious art---is an affront to Islam. Muhammad's first act upon returning to Mecca, after he prayed, was to destroy all the religious art. We see this in Egypt, for instance, where the nose of the Sphinx has been knocked off. We see this along the silk route, where all of the Buddhist murals in caves have had the eyes pecked out and the mouth taken out. It was Islam who invented the act of ‘defacing.’

There was an interesting side effect for those who had already been conquered, as the conquest ebbed and flowed in Constantinople. If the Arabs lost a battle in Constantinople, then back in Egypt, for example, there would be angry riots, simply because of the fact that the Christians had beaten the Muslims in war, and, in those riots, the Christians would be killed.

This persecution was what set the stage for the Christians in the Middle East to cry out to their brothers in Europe, “Please help us,” and the response of the Europeans in the Crusades was to try to help them. So, the history of the Crusades is one of the few times where Christians tried to help other Christians in the Middle East. The Crusades should be a point of pride, and should be studied to see what can be done to help Christians against Islam.

In the East, jihad was not just against the Christians; it was against everyone. The Persian Empire at this time had already been crushed. Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Persians, was annihilated. It was annihilated to such a degree that today, historians are not really sure of the true nature of the Zoroastrian religion, because so many of their sacred texts were destroyed.

Islam moved onward towards Hindustan. Due to jihad, what we think of as India today is actually only about half of its original territory. But on the way to Hindustan, Islam stopped off in Afghanistan and destroyed the Buddhism that was there.

They then turned to the Hindus. The attack against the Hindus was similar to the ones against the Christians, Buddhists and Persians. When Islam started attacking the Persians, there was a parlay---a conference---before the battle, and the Persian general asked, "Who are you and why are you here," because the Persians had never really fought the Arabs. And here, in a hadith, is what Islam told him: "Our prophet, the messenger of our Lord, has ordered us to fight you until you worship Allah alone or pay the jizyah, the dhimmi tax, and our prophet has informed us that our Lord says, whoever amongst us is killed shall go to paradise and lead a life of great luxury. Whoever amongst us remain alive will become your master." This is the perfect statement of jihad.

Now, here is a statement by one of the conquering Muslim generals of India, Tamerlane: "My principle aim in coming to Hindustan has been to accomplish two aims. The first is to war with the kafirs, the enemies of Muhammad, and by this holy war, be able to claim a reward in paradise. The other was that the army of Islam might gain by plundering the wealth of the kafirs. Plunder in war is as lawful as a mother's milk to a Muslim."

You can see that the reason for invading Hindustan was exactly the same reason as invading Persia, and it was the same reason for invading Anatolia and the Middle East. It's important to realize this, because many times people think that, when the Muslims invaded, maybe the people there got what was coming to them in some way. No; the only way you had to be---the only ‘fault’ you had to have---was to be a kafir, and the Hindus were kafirs.

Just as the culture of the Middle East was crushed, the culture of the Hindu was crushed. You need to know that the Hindu that we see today is not the same Hindu before Islam. Islam changed the Hindu. Before Islam, the Hindus had been a proud culture. They were a leader in intellectual theory, mathematics and philosophy. And they were very wealthy.

Hindustan had been an Empire for a thousand years, and it had been relatively peaceful. In times of peace, you accumulate a great treasure. That was one of the things that happened in Afghanistan with the Buddhists. They were very prosperous, because they had given up war. It turns out that the Buddhists were a demonstration of what happens when you deal with Islam by saying, “We are peaceful people, we will do whatever you want.” What happened to the peaceful Buddhists was that the pacifists were annihilated. Witness the fact that half of the Hindu culture still remains behind, because it had a warrior caste. None of the Buddhist culture remains in Afghanistan.

Here is a typical story: 20,000 jihadists and thousands of mercenaries laid siege to a city in Hindustan. A traitor in the city, in exchange for money, gave them a clue as to how they could place ladders up against one particular portion of the wall and penetrate the city. The Muslims poured into the city. For three days, they did nothing but kill. They didn't even rob the bodies. It's very interesting. The General gave the job of killing the Hindus to only his most religious men, and after three days, they stopped the killing and began to rob the bodies. While the killing was going on, the women and children were raped, because rape always accompanies jihad.

In the end, the Hindus were crushed. Half their territory was gone. They were sold into slavery. There are some remnants of this in the geography books. There is, in Afghanistan, a mountain range called the Hindu Kush. ‘Hindu Kush’ means the funeral pyre of the Hindu.

What we now call Pakistan was originally a part of India. This petitioning of Pakistan (so that it would become purely Islamic), which happened under the British, led to the destruction of about a million Hindus in the partition that led to the creation of the state of Pakistan.

The name ‘Pakistan’ for a Muslim division of British India was put forward in 1930 by Choudhary Rahmat Ali (1897–1951) from names of the Muslim parts of the subcontinent: Punjab, the Afghan Northwest Frontier, Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan. Pak means ‘pure’ in Urdu, and stan means ‘land’. Fear of domination by the Hindu majority in India led in 1940 to a serious demand by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, for a separate Muslim state. This contributed to the delay in Britain granting independence for some years, but in 1947 British India was divided into two dominions, India and Pakistan. The Islamic state of Pakistan was created, on Indian independence in 1947, out of the Northwest Frontier Region, the northwestern region of Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sind (making up West Pakistan), and the eastern region of East Bengal (making up East Pakistan). Jinnah became the first governor general and Liaquat Ali Khan, deputy leader of the Muslim League (1940–47), became the first prime minister.

Although Mahatma Gandhi, the hero of Indian independence, forced the Indian National Congress to divide the assets of the former government of India, there was no confidence between the two countries. It was Ghandi, the secular saint, whose pacifism and dhimmitude lead to the deaths of a million Hindus. It was Ghandi who said that, although all of the Hindus had to leave Pakistan, none of the Muslims in India had to leave. Today, those Muslims are devouring India from the inside out. Ghandi was actually the great betrayer of Hindu culture.

Both Ghandi and the Buddhists of Afghanistan show how pacifism leads to total annihilation in the shortest period of time.

At the other end of India, in Bangladesh, the Islamization goes on today. In 1947, Bangladesh was still about one-third Hindu. Today, it is about 10% Hindu. And that reduction of the Hindu has come at a terrible price. Women and men who are left in Bangladesh are persecuted on a daily basis, dreadfully, and the police turn a blind eye when some Muslim throws acid in a Hindu woman's face. Why does he throw the acid? Her face isn't veiled. The police will not investigate because the police are Muslim.

We do not have time in this brief account to tell the terrible story of the conversion of Anatolia to Turkey. Nor do we have time to tell the terrible persecution of the Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe. Their persecution was dreadful, but they fought on and on, to their credit.

The first ‘September 11th’ was in 1683, when the Europeans drove the Muslims from the gates of Vienna. Of course, many years later, we would have another September 11th. Now what is important about that is this: Islam never forgot that on September 11th they had been turned back from the gates of Vienna, and the proud Turkish Army defeated. They never forgot.

Here's what's important: On September 11th in America, we had no idea why that date was chosen. We were clueless, and in that we see the nature of Islam and the kafir. The kafir never remembers the history that went with the expansion of Islam. Islam never forgets.

Since 9/11, about 58,000 people around the world have died in over 9,000 attacks. Over 87,000 have been injured in 39 countries. All of this suffering goes on around the world, and you never hear about it, because our press does not want to report the terror of what is happening politically around the world with Islam. They do not connect the dots.

But I suppose we can't really blame our press, because none of our schools teach this history either---not even the Christian schools teach the dreadful history of the destruction of 60 million Christians. No schools teach the deaths of 10 million Buddhists, 80 million Hindus and 120 million Africans.

And, since we don't know the history, we are doomed to repeat it. Islam continues to kill the kafir, and the kafir just says, "Oh well, we'll take care of that problem by pretending it is not there. And the reason we won't turn our attention to it is complicated, but part of it has to do with the shame of the history, because Islam has defeated the kafir time and time again. We absolutely refuse to admit that this is an ideology that is devoted to the annihilation of all kafir cultures.” Because now, when you go to Iraq, you don't find a Christian Iraq. When you go to Egypt, you don't find a Christian Egypt. It is Islamic.

There's only one way to stop this. The history of the ‘tears of jihad’ must be taught in kafir schools. How can it be that the history of the expansion of the empire of Islam is treated as a glorious history, while the history of suffering---the suffering of the dhimmi and the death of 270 million---is never reported? Until this changes, we're doomed to continual annihilation, both here in America and abroad.

Most of the above text is taken from Political Islam and from Pakistan.

Muslim Brotherhood 'Conspiracy' to Subvert America

2010-01-03T00:10:00.000-05:00

Apostasy in Islam

2010-01-02T00:02:00.000-05:00

Under Shari’ah law, the penalty for a Muslim who departs from Islam is death.

A book published in the United States, Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, is a translation of 'Umdat al-salik by Ibn Naqib (died 1368 A.D.). This Shari’ah legal manual explicitly presents the punishment for Muslim who leaves Islam. It states that, if a sane person leaves Islam voluntarily, the person is to be killed by the proper Islamic authority. However, if someone kills an apostate on his own, the killer does not face the capital punishment, because he has killed someone who deserves to die. Although this book is published in the United States, it has not been denounced by Muslims. In fact, it is featured by many respected Islamic bookstores without a word warning that it advocates murderous acts contrary to human rights and constitutional law. Many fundamentalist Muslims believe that, even within Western nations, Shari’a law is supreme over all human legal systems.

o8.1 "When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to he killed."

o8.2 "In such a case, it is obligatory for the caliph (A: or his representative) to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does, it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed."

o8.4 "There is no indemnity for killing an apostate (O: or any expiation, since it is killing someone who deserves to die)."

o8.5 "If he apostatizes from Islam and returns several times, it (O: i.e. his return to Islam, which occurs when he states the two Testifications of Faith (def: o8.7(12))) is accepted from him, though he is disciplined (o17)."

(Quotations from: Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Amana Publications, Beltsville, MD, 1997 Revised Edition, p. 595-598.)

Sura 4:88-89 "Then what is the matter with you that you are divided into two parties about the hypocrites? Allah has cast them back (to disbelief) because of what they have earned. Do you want to guide him whom Allah has made go astray? And he whom Allah has made to go astray, you will never find for him any way (of guidance) 89 They wish that you reject (Faith), and thus that you all become equal (like one another). So, take not Auliya (protectors or friends) from them, till they emigrate in the way of Allah (to Muhammad). But if they turn back (from Islam), take (hold of) them and kill [q-t-l] them wherever you find them."

(Note: the Arabic verb 'qatala' is used (root is q-t-l), and this word means exclusively to fight, kill, war, battle, or slaughter.)

Bukhari records this tradition traced back to Muhammad himself in a legal context. It gives three reasons for shedding a Muslim’s blood. One of them is apostasy:

"Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas [like-for-like punishment] for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam (apostate) and leaves the Muslims." (Bukari)

As another example from Bukhari’s collection, this hadith promises a reward on the Day of Resurrection for killing apostates in the last days:

"No doubt I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "During the last days there will appear some young foolish people who will say the best words but their faith will not go beyond their throats (i.e. they will have no faith) and will go out from (leave) their religion as an arrow goes out of the game. So, wherever you find them, kill them, for whoever kills them shall have reward on the Day of Resurrection." (Bukhari)

Maududi cites two hadiths that he considers reliable. Both say that a Christian or Christians converted to Islam, disliked it, and then switched back to Christianity. Ali is Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law and fourth Caliph (ruled AD 656-660), who was assassinated while praying in a mosque. How does he treat these Christians? Tolerantly?:

"A man who was formerly a Christian, then was Muslim, and again became a Christian was brought before Ali. Ali asked him: What is the cause of your conduct? He replied: I have found the religion of the Christians better than your religion. Ali asked: What is your belief about Jesus? He said: He is my Lord (Rabb); or else he said: He is Lord of Ali. Hearing this, Ali ordered that he be executed."

These Christians were martyred after they realized that their first religion, Christianity, was far more excellent than all other religions, even Islam. Note what Ali does to their children:

"Ali was informed about a group of Christians who had become Muslims and then became Christians again. Ali arrested them, summoned them before himself and enquired about the truth of the matter. They said: We were Christians. Then we were offered the choice of remaining Christians or becoming Muslims. We chose Islam. But now it is our opinion that no religion is more excellent than our first religion. Therefore we have become Christians now. Hearing this, Ali ordered these people to be executed and their children enslaved."

In one long hadith, Malik first lays the foundation that execution is legal.

"Yahya related to me . . . that the Messenger of Allah . . . said, "If someone changes his religion—then strike off his head!"

Please pray for Rifqa Bary

2009-12-31T17:13:00.001-05:00

Myspace Glitter Graphics

Teenager Rifqa Bary, 17 years old, grew up in a Muslim family, originally from Sri Lanka. They moved to Ohio when she was 3 years old. Over 4 years ago, she became a Christian, but did not tell her parents, because she knew the consequences. When their mosque found out by seeing her Facebook page, they reported it to her parents, and told her dad to "take care of it." She fled to Florida after her dad (who has been abusive to her for many years) threatened to kill her. There were several court hearings in Orlando, FL, and she was sent back to Ohio, where there has been a court hearing, and will be another one in Jan. She is living in a foster home, no visitors allowed. A CAIR-appointed lawyer is representing her dad. CAIR has been shown to have terrorist ties. In Muslim countries, it is a capital crime, punishable by death, for any Muslim to convert to any other religion.

“When a person who has reached puberty and is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deserves to be killed. In such a case, it is obligatory for the caliph (A: or his representative) to ask him to repent and return to Islam. If he does, it is accepted from him, but if he refuses, he is immediately killed.” — ‘Umdat al-Salik o8.1-2

Islam: Sharia

2009-12-29T00:40:00.007-05:00

Islam is a political system, a culture and a religion. The political system has a legal code call Sharia law.

When most people think about Islam and danger to our civilization, they think of jihad. But there is something that is far more dangerous than jihad--Sharia law---Islamic law. But Sharia is not law in the sense that we think of it.

Sharia not only covers the normal legal things that you might think of - contracts, wills, criminal law, how people are to be punished - but it also includes rules on how to run a family, have sex, worship, pray, say hello and other ideas that we would call religious and cultural. This is because Sharia law is based upon the Koran and the Sunna. The Sunna is found in the Sira (Mohammed's biography) and the Hadith (his Traditions). Sharia law is a compilation of the directives found in the Sunna and the Koran.

Sharia law is an attempt to conform all societies into a society that duplicates Arabia in the days of Mohammed. Sharia law can be seen as a "paper Mohammed" devoted to forcing every person to be like an Arab of Medina in 632 AD. Therefore, it goes into all the details of human life that Mohammed dictated and includes the regulation of sex, food, worship, travel and all legal details. Since Mohammed set rules for the smallest detail of life, so does Sharia.

Why is Sharia more dangerous than jihad?

What most people mean by jihad is the jihad of the sword: violence. We can use police and military to protect ourselves against violence, but there is a ‘soft’ jihad that comes from money, the pen and the tongue. The ‘soft’ jihad is devoted to us allowing Sharia law to function in our society. Muslims want Sharia law, because only under Sharia law can Muslims practice pure Islam.

Sharia dictates the form of government and its laws. Real Islam cannot be practiced in America today, because we have a Constitution. But our Constitution is ignorant, man-made garbage according to Sharia law. The work that Jefferson, Adams, Benjamin Franklin and all of the other Founding Fathers established is an offense to Islam. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are pure ignorance, because they violate Sharia law and Islam. Why?

Because, according to Islam and Sharia law, Benjamin Franklin and all the other people who put together our Constitution had no knowledge of any sort of all. How could they? Because, according to Islam and Sharia law, the only real knowledge comes from the Koran and the Sunnah. There's no actual knowledge outside of those three books – the Koran, Sira, and Hadith. Therefore, only laws that are based upon the Koran, Sira and Hadith can be true or real, because man-made laws, our Constitution, all of our legal theory---they're nothing. They're all a part of Jahiliya - ignorance.

Our legal system is based upon two principles-the Golden Rule and critical thought. The Golden Rule is a unitary ethical system-all people are to be treated the same. When we say, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” we mean ALL others, without regard to sex, race, or age. It is unitary, because there is one rule---one basis of ethics.

Islam is based, instead, on dualistic ethics---there is one set of rules for Muslims, and another set of rules for kafirs. In the same way, there is one set of laws for men, and another set of laws for women.

Islam is not based upon critical thought, but on authoritative thought. Truth is found by looking it up in the only authoritative texts - Koran, Sira and Hadith. This means that Sharia cannot change, since the foundational texts cannot change. Sharia does not adapt. We must adapt to Sharia.

The other basis of Islamic thought, ethics and legal code is submission---all kafirs and their institutions must submit to Islamic law. We used to have submissive laws in this country, since slavery is based upon one race submitting to another. But that violates the unitary ethics of the Golden Rule, so we ended slavery.

Islam sneers at our Constitution, because it violates all of Sharia law. Therefore, as Islam comes to America, Sharia law must be triumphant.

Enough about theory; let's take some of our freedoms and see how they violate Islamic law. Pretend that you just woke up this morning and it is a Sharia world. What is changed?

If you said that Mohammed made his living by taking other people's money, you would go to jail. There is no freedom of speech in Islam. To contradict Islam violates Sharia law. This is because Mohammed would not tolerate being told he was wrong. When he conquered Mecca, after he prayed, he issued death warrants against those intellectuals and artists who had disagreed with him. Since Sharia is a paper Mohammed, it dictates death to those who disagree with Mohammed.

Freedom of the press is like freedom of speech. Sharia law must control the media and all artistic expression. We saw this in the Danish Mohammed cartoons. The cartoons made fun of Islamic violence. When Muslims saw them, they turned violent and burned cities and killed people. The violence induced fear and all of the kafir newspapers submitted to Islam and dropped their freedom of the press. Sharia law prevailed over our Constitution.

Sharia law forbids any and all artistic expression that is offensive to Islam. This means that movies, TV, the net and all art must conform to Islam in a Sharia world.

Equality of the sexes is part of our laws, but Sharia is very clear that women and men are treated differently under the law, since in more than 95% of the references to women in the Koran, Sira and Hadith, the woman is subjugated to the man. Under Sharia, women must submit to men.

4:34 Allah has made men superior to women because men spend their wealth to support them. Therefore, virtuous women are obedient, and they are to guard their unseen parts as Allah has guarded them. As for rebellious women, admonish them first, and then send them to a separate bed, and then beat them.

So the Koran says that women can be beaten. Muhammad struck his wife, and said that no one should ever ask a man why he beats his wife. So Sharia lays out exactly how a wife is to be beaten---what precedes the beating, and where and how she is to be struck.

The submission of women does not stop with their beating. In Sharia law, a woman's testimony in court is worth half that of a man's testimony. Women receive half as much as a man in an inheritance. Men have full right of divorce, but not women. Sharia goes on and on about how to subjugate women.

Women are completed subjugated inside of Sharia law. Why should we tolerate the Sharia's subjugation of women?

In America, all categories of people can carry weapons, but under Sharia law, kafirs are forbidden to carry weapons; only Muslims may be armed. This illustrates both dualism and subjugation. Dualism separates the kafir from the Muslim. Submission means that the kafir must be in a weaker position.

Under Sharia law, an apostate (one who leaves Islam) can be killed. Apostasy is the worst crime in Sharia. So much for ‘freedom of religion.’ Under Sharia law, no one can proselytize Muslims, but Muslims can proselytize everybody. The principle of submission is very clear here.

In every case there is dualism and subjugation. Dualism, because there are always two sets of laws; and subjugation, because the separated class called kafirs, as well as women and apostates, must submit to Islam.

Our freedoms will have to go, because they are offensive to Allah. Mohammed never allowed Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of religion or freedom of the press; and Sharia does not allow those freedoms.

Our Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and bill of rights, are the result of critical thinking based upon the Golden Rule, which is foreign to Sharia law. Sharia law is based upon one principle authority - the Trilogy of the Koran, the Sira and Hadith. The only true form of government and laws is Sharia. All of our civilization is jahiliyah (ignorance).

Now, the way it starts is this: Muslims say, ‘Our Sharia is so precious to us, and our laws are so beautiful to us, that we want to be governed by our laws. Now we, of course, are here today to follow your laws. But in matters of family---because family in Islam is a very special thing---we believe that only the laws of Allah can rule our families. So let us use our religion and govern our own families in matters such as wills, estates, divorce, domestic abuse, adoption - all of these things which are none of your business---the way we run our community---because we are separate from you. We want our own special laws to govern the special people, the best of people.’

Now, this seems innocent enough to dhimmis, to politicians, and to professors who know nothing of Islam. In the process of welcoming it, we are submitting to it, since Islam wants to do things its way. And what does it matter to us how a Muslim writes a will? On the surface, it seems like a small thing, and nothing to worry about. In England, for instance, there are many Sharia courts set up to rule over Muslims. England has entered into legal dualism and has given up sovereignty.

You might say that Sharia is the longest ‘wedge’ in the world, and the thin end of is in place in England---but it is also already in place in America. That’s right. Sharia law is even being implemented here in America.

In America, in cities where Muslims congregate to create their own separate empires, Sharia law is already in place.

In certain areas of America today, a Muslim woman does not call the police if she is beaten, because the Muslim community will turn against her. A Muslim husband can beat his wife by Sharia law. The Islamic community enforces Sharia in the areas it controls. This is implementation of Sharia law in America.

Factories that employ many Muslims find that they must obey Sharia law, and set aside prayer rooms and allow time off. So, Sharia law has started in America. It starts with prayer, but it does not end with prayer. In time, there will be no kafir supervisors in the company, because Sharia does not allow a Muslim to be subordinate in any way. It might take a few centuries (or less), but one day in our ‘kafir’ civilization, when Sharia law is in force 100%, the days of a kafir boss over a Muslim will not even be a memory. This is the nature of Sharia law.

Added to the long list of Sharia horrors is the dhimmi. The Sharia lays out all of the rules for the dhimmis-how they are to be taxed, regulated, subjugated and humiliated. Of course, Sharia calls non-Muslims kafirs---the people that Allah and Mohammed hated.

Our symbol of justice, Lady Justice, is a blindfolded woman holding scales in her hands. She is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. She is blindfolded in order to indicate that justice is impartial and should be meted out objectively, regardless of identity, money, power, or weakness. She symbolizes the neutrality of the dispensing of justice. Now, we may not always succeed in that, but that is the ideal. But in Islam, justice is not impartial or neutral. The first thing justice wants to know in Sharia is: Is the person a kafir, a dhimmi, a woman, a man, or a slave---because justice for all these people - man, woman, dhimmi, kafir, or slave, is different. The civil penalties are different. Different fines are levied. Criminal codes are different. If a Muslim kills a kafir, then he is not subject to the same penalty as if he killed a Muslim.

Now, since all of Sharia law is built upon submission and duality, that means that the entire purpose of Sharia law is subjugation. Why should we tolerate any aspect of it?

Why should we allow any part of Sharia law, including Sharia finance, to exist in our civilization? All of Sharia is permeated by subjugation and duality. Every single law inside of Sharia, in some way, is about subjugation and duality. We should have zero tolerance for Sharia law, because every element of it violates every one of our principles regarding how to act as a human being.

We should not tolerate anything about Sharia law. Halal food---who cares? Footbaths in the bathrooms in America to comply with Sharia law? We don't want to implement anything about Sharia law, because every single aspect of it is an affront to our whole way of being. Sharia is designed to annihilate the host culture! Why should we allow any part of a barbaric legal system to exist here?

Sharia law, in every way, is against everything that our civilization is based upon, in terms of law and legality, how we treat a fellow human being, and the definition of justice. Sharia law destroys all of these things.

So, we must learn what Sharia law is. We must resist it at every level. We should detest Sharia law because it is inhuman. It is not a sacred law; it is oppression, duality and subjugation. We must oppose it at every turn.

The above text is taken from the website Political Islam.

Also see this video HERE.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2009-12-23T16:20:00.001-05:00

Someone asked a child, "Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?" The child replied, "No, but it's not my birthday!"

After being fed up with the hassle and stress of Christmas shopping, someone announced, "Whoever started this thing called Christmas should be shot!" Another person, close by, replied, "Don't worry. They already crucified Him."

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this." (Isaiah 9:6-7)

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:23)

"And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."” (Luke 2:9-14)

Please click here to enjoy this online animated Christmas card, and be sure to turn your sound up!

"In the First Light" by Todd Agnew

Third Day - "Joy to the World"

Wisdom from the Qur'an

2009-12-21T16:01:00.002-05:00

In Eastern countries (unlike the West), the elderly are seen as wise, because of their experience. Through trial and error, they often have learned more common sense and wisdom than most young people have. They have learned that actions have consequences. They have also learned through pain and mistakes, and usually have gone through more hard times than young people have, and have had to learn how to deal with the hardships of life. They have discovered that life does not always seem fair, and that things don’t always turn out the way you think they will turn out. They have seen injustice in their lifetime. Yet, as people with religious convictions, they have seen how God relates to this life and can instruct the young adult about all these matters.

Traditionally, in the East, as I mentioned, the elderly are often sought out for their wisdom. Their opinions are respected---again, unlike in the West. In the West, it seems it is the young people who are familiar with the latest technologies and devices, who know all the latest films and television shows, and who know the latest scientific discoveries. They are the ones who seem the most computer and Internet savvy.

Because the young people of today seem to focus on all the new things, instead of focusing so much on the old traditions and ways, maybe this is why they usually have the superior technical knowledge, while the elderly are often resistant to, or uninterested in, learning the new technologies. This may be part of the reason why young people often act so cocky, acting like they know more than their parents and grandparents. They sometimes seem to think they know it all. They sometimes ignore the warnings and advice of their elders, which sometimes leads them to get into trouble. They often have to learn the hard way, on their own, instead of learning from the wisdom of their elders. This may lead the elderly in the household feeling useless and helpless, since their advice and hard-earned wisdom is not listened to. And, when the young people do get into trouble or bring sorrow upon their lives, this grieves the parents and grandparents.

The parents and grandparents hope their children will keep the old ways and will respect their elders and not break tradition. They want their children to honor them and obey them, instead of rebelling. Children, on the other hand, sometimes resent being told what to do, especially if they are teenagers. They want to fit in with the culture and blend in with their friends and the society where they live. They don’t want to be seen as an oddball or weirdo. They want to be accepted by their peers. Children tend to learn new languages easier than older people do, and therefore, those children who are immigrants are usually the first and quickest to pick up a new language, as well as new customs. And they are sometimes the ones who translate or interpret those new things to their parents and grandparents. This often causes somewhat of a role reversal, where the children teach the parents. And it often causes stress and tension on the family, because children teaching parents is not natural.

Sometimes, though it may be rare, a child comes along who can bridge the gap between the old and the new, who observes the traditions yet takes those things that are good and grows through his participation in modern life. Because he does not defile or ignore the old ways and traditions, the parents of such a child would be proud of him, and he would be respected and well liked by his friends and community. Though this type of child does not come along very often, there would certainly be much less tension and strife in such a household. What parent would not want to have a child such as this?

According to the Qur’an, Zakariya’s son Yahya (John) was such a child. The Qur’an teaches that Yahya was filled with wisdom from his youth. He learned about life, about life’s pains and disappointments and about justice and injustice, without having to learn the hard way. God had given him wisdom in his youth, and that wisdom helped determine all of his actions and helped him in his relationships.

Children are sometimes cruel to animals, throwing stones at dogs, or pulling cat’s tails, or being cruel to frogs and lizards. They may need to be reminded to do their chores. But Yahya wasn’t like this. He felt pity for God’s creatures. He realized they were just dumb creatures, led by their natural drives and instincts, unable to think or reason for themselves. Yahya lived at peace with God’s creatures, and showed wisdom.

Yahya guarded against youthful lusts and lived pure for God. He did not dwell on evil thoughts, and avoided evil actions. That is true wisdom.

Yahya was devout. He had a humble and submissive attitude toward God and obeyed God’s commands. He worshiped God throughout his entire life, and his desire was to please God in all that he did. Truly, that is wisdom.

Any parent would be pleased to have Yahya as a son, because he was obedient and he always lived to please God and serve God, and he was submissive to God’s will. He was kind to his parents and he treated his parents with both honor and respect. His submission, obedience and understanding kept him from rebelling against his parents. He was not proud, but was humble. That is wisdom.

Yahya had all these good qualities because God had given them to him when he was a youth, rather than letting him acquire these things through age and experience.

[Sura 19:12] "O John, you shall uphold the scripture, strongly." We endowed him with wisdom, even in his youth.

[19:13] And (we endowed him with) kindness from us and purity, for he was righteous.

[19:14] He honored his parents, and was never a disobedient tyrant.

[19:15] Peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the day he is resurrected back to life.

In the Bible, Proverbs 1:7 also talks about wisdom:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

’Fools’ describes those who are morally deficient.

The Bible teaches that wisdom is the most important thing a child can possess, and urges young people to seek out wisdom and understanding.

Proverbs 2:1-11 talks about the moral benefits of wisdom when it states:

“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you.”

These should be great encouragement and wonderful instruction and promises for young people today. And truly, we can find wisdom no matter how young or old we are. Surely, many parents desire more wisdom in knowing how to deal with their children.

If you respect, honor and obey God, you are wise. And then, if God holds first place in your life, then everything else in your life will fall into place. That is true wisdom!

If you have this wisdom, you must learn to apply it. Instead of letting anger and emotion dictate your actions, seek to find out what God would have you do in that situation; doing so will bring the most praise and honor to God. In every situation, think about what the wise reaction should be. Think about what action would bring the most glory to God. Consider the consequences of your action, before reacting out of impulse.

Do you not admire the Qur’anic Yahya for his wisdom? God can give you wisdom as well, if you seek out His help with all of your heart and desire. My authority, which is the Bible, says that this is so.

The Bible also says very good things about John, whom the Qur’an calls Yahya. Read these promises that God’s angel gave to John’s father, Zechariah:

“But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.” (Luke 1:13-15)

The Bible also says this about John:
“And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit…” (Luke 1:80a)

(The idea for this article, as well as the previous article, comes from the book, “Jesus Gives Peace: Jesus in the Qur’an and the Bible”)

Muslims and Zakariya

2009-12-19T02:55:00.003-05:00

My previous posts on Islam have been mainly for the purpose of educating Westerners about Islam, since most Westerners don’t know too much about Islam. However, in this article, I want to come at it from a different angle. I want to attempt to come at it more from a Muslim’s perspective, or as if I am talking to a Muslim. Sort of like trying to look at things through a Muslim's eyes.

I wonder if Muslims sometimes feel sad about the situation in America. Surely they are shocked by the lack of moral standards, the crime and the frequent corruption in government and politics. A Muslim girl once told me that, after 9/11, many people would stare at her with unfriendly looks. Surely some Muslims have sometimes been the victim of racial, cultural or religious prejudice. Maybe Muslims wonder what the future of America will be, especially when they see homosexuals demanding rights and gay marriage being legalized. What do Muslims think when they see so many children born out of wedlock, and so many divorces, and so many abortions happening?

Do Muslims wonder what will happen to their children and grandchildren in such an environment? Do they wonder if their children will be able to keep their faith in Allah when they go to Western schools that teach things that are very different from Islam? What do Muslims think when they see uninhibited sex, violence, greed and lust on TV and in movies, and especially when their children are exposed to that? Do they worry that their children will be humbled and shamed when they refuse to eat foods that are not halal in school lunches, or when they observe religious holidays? What about the Western cultural habits of dating, and the open free association and friendship between men and women? Do they worry that America’s (or Canada’s or Europe’s) secularism will affect their children’s sensitive spirits and turn them away from submission to Allah?

How does a Muslim feel when they compromise what they believe in order to adjust to the foreign society around them? What happens to their traditional modesty? Does the Western high cost of living force them to become workaholics and neglect their family responsibilities?

As long as a Muslim is alive, he can lead his family. But what about when that Muslim is no longer around? What will happen to his family then? Does he worry that his descendants will forget their native language, their culture, and even their religion?

According to the Qur’an, the ancient prophet Zakariya (Zechariah) had similar questions about the future of his relatives and friends. He didn’t let his own personal needs and desires blind him to the needs of his people. He was concerned about what would happen to his family and friends when he died. This is recorded in the Qur’an, Sura 19, verses 2-10.

Could it be that the way Zakariya solved his problem could also be helpful today? Zakariya thought he knew how to help his people preserve their faith and their future. He thought he knew how to bring about the solution.

Zakariya believed that God would send a prophet like himself to continue his work and show the people how to keep their faith.

Zakariya believed in prayer. He believed that prayer was more than just bowing in humble submission to honor God. He believed that prayer could actually move God to take action on behalf of the people. Zakariya believed in prayer because he felt he had always been blessed when he prayed to God, and he believed that God actually heard him and answered him.

Because of his belief in prayer, Zakariya asked God to send the prophet that his people would need. This prayer was in addition to the regular prayers that he and his people offered publicly in the formal worship services. To make this special prayer, Zakariya went into his own room, alone, and closed the door so he could secretly talk to God.

In this secret prayer, Zakariya opened his heart to God and shared his deepest fears and his hopes with God. He prayed, “I’m afraid what my relatives and colleagues will do after I’m gone. Without me here to straighten them out, they might forget about God and become open sinners. God, you know that I’m old and that my wife is barren. But send me an heir---a boy who will represent me and who will represent the continuation of my people. Make him grow into a man into whom you are well pleased.”

God actually heard and answered Zakariya’s prayer. God promised Zakariya that he would have a son whose name would be called Yahya (John). Since Zakariya was very old and his wife was barren, he asked God to show him a sign, so that he would know that God would answer his prayer, and so that he might be sure of God’s word. God gave him a sign: He told Zakariya that he would not be able to speak for 3 nights.

Zakariya was now satisfied. He left his private place of prayer and went out to his people. Since he now could not talk, he made signs to his people that they should continue to worship and praise God every morning and evening.

Don’t you think that was a marvelous way for God to answer Zakariya’s prayer and take charge of the future of his people? According to the Bible, Zechariah’s son, John, was sent to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. The Bible records that story in Luke 1:5-25. You might notice that the details of the story differ, but both the Bible and the Qur’an mention Zechariah’s age, the fact that his wife was barren, his prayer, God’s answer, and Zechariah’s inability to speak for a time.

Today, we surely feel the need for God to do something dramatic to keep the believers faithful, and to bring unbelievers to faith. In the same way that Zakariya secretly prayed for God to intervene in human affairs, we can also secretly pray that God would act in our day to save our family and our nation from unbelief and from destruction. According to the Bible, which is my authority, Jesus advised, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” This counsel of Jesus is found in the Bible, in Matthew 6:6.

Islam: more on understanding it

2009-12-16T20:15:00.002-05:00

Muhammad divided the world into two houses: the house of Islam and the house of war. In Arabic, it's Dar Al-Islam and Dar Al-Harb, or the House of War. So, the entire non-Muslim world is called the House of War, and is in transition to become the House of Islam. Therefore, a faithful Muslim sees the world as two parts: Muslim, and Going-To-Be Muslim. Muslims see the world as being in transition.

The word "Islam" means "submission," and a faithful Muslim thinks there will be world peace when the whole world has submitted to the will of Allah. Now, some say that a "Moderate" Muslim thinks the world will submit to Allah in the distant future. So, since it's so far away, and it's not going to happen during our lifetime, those Muslims will (supposedly) think, "Since it's not going to happen now, let's just get along with everybody." However, a "violent" Muslim thinks that the world will submit to Allah now, so they want to help make it happen (by using terrorism, etc.).

Jihadist Muslims believe the whole world should submit to Islam, so, when they come to the U.S., they want to see Shari'a law being implemented. The goal of jihadists, whether they will admit it or not, is to Islamicize America. Strictly speaking, Islam has been on the march since its inception. In the Qur'an, and in the teachings of Muhammad, and in Islamic tradition, theology and law, there are mandates commanding Muslims to wage war against unbelievers. This is the reason there has been all these jihadi attacks against civilians only.

Experts say the method of radical jihad is used to implement an ultimate goal---Shari'a law. Jihadists fight in order to bring Shari'a to a land where it is not currently enforced. Shari'a (Islamic) law is considered by Muslims to be the law of Allah, just as much as Christians understand the Ten Commandments to be the law of God.

There have been more than 14,000 distinctly jihadi attacks since 9/11 around the world. This works out to 4.7 attacks, on average, per day.

Jihad is warfare against unbelievers in order to subjugate them under the rule of Islamic law, and institutionalize and impose upon them a system of discriminatory laws that make sure they do not enjoy equality of rights with Muslims, but rather are made to feel their renegade status as people who have rejected Muhammad's prophetic role, every day of their lives.

Defenders of Islam note that there are verses in the Qur'an calling for peace with unbelievers. But a key point to understand is that most sects of traditional Islam teach that those verses have been abrogated.

Ibn Ishaq (died 767 AD) was Muhammad's first biographer, an 8th century Muslim writer, who explained that the Qur'an actually has 3 stages of development in its teachings on jihad and unbelievers. The first stage is tolerance, which was the prevailing understanding of the relationship between Muslims and nonbelievers during the period when Muhammad was in Mecca, and the Muslims were merely a small band that did not have a whole lot of power, and were facing a much larger and more formidable enemy. Ibn Ishaq taught that it is a progression, so that the later stages cancel out the earlier, and 'offensive' jihad (in other words, not a spiritual struggle within yourself, but jihad against non-Muslims) is the Quran's word for all time that must be followed, whereas tolerance was only for a limited period. This is the unanimous teaching of the schools of jurisprudence and all the orthodox sects of Islam to this day---that offensive jihad is the highest level of jihad, and the one that is applicable for all time. The desire to bring the entire world into subjection under Allah is where the concept of jihad enters the picture.

Some have said that Osama bin Laden and terrorists and militants have hijacked Islam. However, those terrorists and militants were indeed Muslims. They were informed and motivated by their interpretation and belief of Islam. And to deny that is to deny the responsibility among the teachers of Islam today, which still teach jihad.

Some say Islam is not monolithic (i.e., a rigid, undivided whole). Within Islam, there are many different sects, but all of them are united by some central ideas. Interpretations of the Qur'an vary according to a number of factors. All Muslims have the Qur'an, but it's really the traditions that you bring to it that determine how you interpret it, and how you're going to understand what it's stating.

Islam is not primarily a theological system, but rather a legal system. To know who you are, to know what to do, to know how to eat, where to live, how to travel, you always go back to Islamic law. The heart of Islam is the Hadith. The Hadith is a collection of 600,000 sayings of Muhammad that developed over a 200-year period. Between 650-850, various scholars traveled around the Muslim world (North Africa, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, etc.), talking to people, collecting stories about what they understood Muhammad had said and what Muhammad had done. They collected these stories into a book called the Hadith. These stories tell you how to live your life.

In a very real sense, the totality of Islamic life and beliefs could be summed up in the phrase, "What would Muhammad do?"

I understand that Muslims are encouraged, and even 'programmed,' to be a part of establishing the United States of Islam (Kingdom of Allah on earth). And what we call "terrorism," Muslims call struggle. That's how Muslims can say that Islam condemns terrorism. They consider them to be "freedom fighters," not terrorists.

Now, some say that only 10% of Muslims are "radical." If that is accurate (and remember that those "Radicals" are willing to die, and they want the USA gone/dead), and if it only took 19 "Radicals" to kill over 3000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, then how many ("Radical") Muslims do you think it will take to wipe out the USA, which is composed of 350 million people? Estimates say there are as many as 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. If the very conservative estimate is correct that only 10% are "Radical," then that is 150 million "Radical," "terrorist" Muslims in the world. That's the size of the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria. Bangladesh has 150 million people. Facebook has 150 million people.

We consider Saudi Arabia to be our friends, and to be "moderate" Muslims. Yet, in Saudi Arabia, every week, people are beheaded and every week, people have their hands cut off. So how can we consider this "moderate?"

Islam has more than 80 sects, and numerous denominations.
You can read more about the various branches of Islam here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_schools_and_branches
http://www.religion-cults.com/Islam/islam5.html

BTW, the only answer to Islam and what's happening around the world is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no other solution. The more Muslims that come to Christ, the less Muslims there are for the terrorists to recruit.

Also, as much as we hear about the progress of radical Islam on the march, there is another story to be told: Muslims coming to faith in Jesus Christ. This is happening in the millions.

Islam: Submission and Duality

2009-12-12T00:02:00.035-05:00

Islam is based upon two principles - submission and duality. When you understand how these principles work, you'll understand the political doctrine of Islam.

Islam's first principle is submission---and that is part of the meaning of both the words Islam and Muslim. Islam means 'to submit' and Muslim means 'one who has submitted.'

Islam is a chain of submission. The ranking of authority is Allah, then Muhammad, the Muslim, the kafir, the dhimmi and the slave. In this country, we are beginning to see how submission works. We're not as far along as Europe, but Muslims have immigrated here and have started making their demands. The first thing they have demanded is this: everything in the textbooks of America must conform to their way of teaching about Islam. No kafir is allowed to write in the textbooks of America anything that is critical of Islam. It all has to be vetted by Islam. Our textbook system has already submitted.

But submission is not enough to explain the success of Islam. Its most powerful principle is duality. Duality is the second major principle of Islam. We see duality in how the Qur’an and Muhammad's life are divided. First comes Mecca: the preacher...the religion---'You have your religion, I have mine.' Then comes Medina. Medina is jihad. You must submit in this life, or Islam has the option of harming you. The two positions contradict each other, but both of them are equally true.

This duality explains Islam's overwhelming success. Islam has two faces that it presents to the world. The face of Mecca and the face of Medina. Medina is the violent phase---the political phase. Mecca is the nice phase. What we have is that the Qur’an of Mecca is used as a shield. It's the Teflon coating. It's the public face of Islam. Mecca is what Muslims always talk about when they talk about Islam to kafirs. This duality---this subtlety---is what makes Islam so powerful, because you can't just jump up and condemn Islam as being totally violent. Most Muslims are not violent at all, so therefore, this charge doesn't work.

Duality is when Muslims say that anything that is based upon the Qur’an of Medina is not the real Islam (i.e., Osama bin Laden, 9/11, al Quaeda)---"Oh, that's not the real Islam." The duality of Islam lies in the fact that two contradictory things are both true. The Muslim friend, the nice Muslim at work---they're only one-half of Islam. The real Islam actually includes both the Muslim friend and Osama bin Laden. The real Islam includes both the Qur’an of Mecca (religious) and the Qur’an of Medina (political)...hence, we have a duality.

In our courts of law, if you take an oath as a witness, you swear: "I will tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth." The 'nothing but the truth' prohibits lies. But 'the whole truth' prohibits something that's equally a lie---a half-truth. The whole truth of Islam includes the half-truth of Mecca and the other half-truth of Medina.

So, the religious Qur’an of Mecca is the Teflon coating. It's the Medina version that's always denied in public, but inside of Islam, it is known that Medina outranks Mecca. This outranking of Medina over Mecca is what explains another phenomena in Islam. When something dreadful happens, such as the 9/11 destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center; the London bombings; the Muhammad cartoon riots---when those happen, Muslims say, "Oh, that is not the real Islam." And yet, it is the real Islam. But notice something: they do not protest against those dreadful incidents; they merely deny that Islam is to blame for them. Why don't they protest against the Medinan Muslims, the Jihadists? Because they are outranked. The Medinan Qur’an that celebrates war and political power is higher and more powerful than the Meccan Qur’an. In The Wizard of Oz, when they see the little man behind the curtain, and a voice says, "Oh, no, no, do not look at the man behind the curtain," that is the way the duality of Mecca and Medina works. Mecca says, "Oh, no, do not look at the Medinan Qur’an behind the curtain!" So we don't---and we're fooled.

We need to see the entire truth of Islam. The whole truth, not the half-truth. That is the reason that understanding the principle of duality is an absolute necessity. If you do not understand the principle of duality, you will always be fooled by the Qur’an of Mecca.

Let's see how duality can work in real life. Let's say there is a retired military man who is a devout Christian. He has some Muslim friends. They point out to him the verses in the Qur’an of Mecca that sound very good to him and they tell him, "This is Islam." He says, "This is very good. This is like Christianity. I like this. And besides, the Muslims are such moral people: they don't drink; their women are very modest; they don't gamble. This must be the real truth of Islam." And off he goes into the marketplace of ideas, proclaiming that Christianity and Islam are perfectly compatible. Indeed, they're like brothers. Because of duality, he does not understand that there is another truth---the truth of Medina. But his logic is a Western logic, and so he thinks, "Jihad is contrary to the peace of Islam, so jihad must be false, or else it must only mean 'inner struggle,' like an inner spiritual struggle against self. That must be it, because I believe in the truth of the peace of Mecca." Dualism has fooled him.

But dualism is used in all the words of Islam. They use the same words we do, but they have entirely different meanings. Let's take, for example, the word "peace"---'salaam.' Now, that sounds very nice, but when you understand what Islam means by peace, it's not nice at all.

Peace in Islam comes only after you have submitted to Islam. The submission can be brought about by jihad. So, here again, the Qur’an of Mecca covers over the Qur’an of Medina. That is, our common understanding of the word 'peace' hides the fact that jihad can be used to achieve Islamic peace.

Here's another example of dualism---women's rights. Muslims are very quick to use the term 'women's rights' and claim that Islam grants women rights. And this is true, but the rights they have are: the right to be beaten; the right to inherit half as much; and the right to have their testimony only be worth half of that of a man in court. This dualism allows a Muslim to look straight at a problem and not see the other half. After 9/11, Muslims protested, "We are the religion of peace." They were able to maintain that since they're so used to having a dualistic view. They can accept 'the religion of peace' as being absolutely true, while at the same time, they know that jihad is one of the teachings of Islam. Dualism allows a Muslim to have a totally compartmentalized mind, in which the Qur’an of Medina never interferes with the Qur’an of Mecca. But, deep within the political doctrine of Islam, we have duality and the kafir.

Jihad demands complete submission from the kafir and forces the kafir into a completely separate social and political class. Islam allows its women to be beaten. Once again, we see submission and duality. Islam has a separate set of rules for women. Both categories---kafirs and women---must submit.

Submission and duality are also part of Islamic slavery. Islamic slavery and its fundamental principles have already been discussed in a previous article. Submission and duality are demonstrated within the entire process of slavery. Who submits more than a slave? Who, within society, is as separated as a slave? Slaves fall under a separate moral code. We see that submission and duality completely explain slavery.

There is also the idea of the dhimmi and dhimmitude---again, we have the duality of a social and political class. The dhimmi exists within an Islamic political system, in which he is subjugated and not given full legal rights.

The grand duality in all Islam is Mecca and Medina. Mecca must submit to Medina, and the duality here is that you have two separate Qurans that contradict each other; yet both of them are completely true. We see submission and duality in Islam's ethics, where we have one set of rules for the believer, and another set of rules for the kafir. Islamic politics are dualistic. Muhammad, of course, is the chief dualist. His entire life is divided into the preacher, which did not work so well, and the successful jihadist/politician. Now, Islam says it worships one---and only one---God, but that God---Allah---is the God of duality, and the God of submission whom everyone is to fear. The Qur’an says, over 300 times, that we are to fear Allah.

All of Islam can be explained by the principles of duality and submission. That's the beauty of knowing the two principles. Once you understand duality, and once you understand submission, you really no longer have any need of the doctrine, because everything that happens in Islam can be explained by those two principles.

Every political system has fundamental principles that underlie it. Our political system of democracy has the Golden Rule as a foundation. The Golden Rule underlies everything that we do in government. It is our moral and political guide. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Some may jump up and say, "We don't always follow that principle, do we?" No, but we use the Golden Rule to criticize our own behavior, and if we can clearly point out that something is unfair and abuses others, then the Golden Rule is the principle we use to fix that. It is our guiding principle, even if it is not something that we always fulfill.

Islam denies the truth of the Golden Rule, because the Golden Rule is the same for every person, and Islam has two sets of behavior - one for the kafir and another for the believer. Islam divides humanity into Muslims and kafirs.

This is very important: We need to understand that there cannot be a compromise between submission and duality, and the Golden Rule. We would like to think that everyone can coexist peacefully, but Islam does not work like that. Islam demands submission. There is simply no compromise between a system that wants to use the Golden Rule and be democratic, and another system that says that everyone has to submit. When they say ‘everyone’ has to submit, Islam means everyone. Let's take some political examples.

What we now call Afghanistan used to be a Buddhist nation. It was a nation of peace and wealth. Then Islam invaded. Today, in Afghanistan, there is not a single Buddhist to be found. Not one. The only place you can find any Buddhism in Afghanistan is if you dig into the dirt like an archaeologist; and then you might be able to find the remnants of Buddhism.

Islam keeps working until 100% of a civilization gives way to it. Today, Turkey is 99.7% Islamic. Islam is working very hard to make sure that the other .3% disappears. This would mean that, over a period of time, every single Christian in Turkey would be gone. They will have emigrated elsewhere, or have been killed in a street riot. Islam does not cease until submission is 100%. Yet---and this is important---the entire time that Islam is making the kafir submit, it keeps proclaiming the truth of Mecca---it keeps claiming to be peaceful.

The principles of submission and duality contradict and deny the Golden Rule. So, how can it be, if they contradict, that they can both coexist? We're going to have to study the laws of duality and submission. Once you understand duality, you will not merely understand half a truth, and then proclaim that that is the entire truth. You will understand that Islam is grinding away, very slowly, at our own democratic rights.

Islam has an overwhelming advantage over the kafir. Islam has a thousand-year plan. Duality and submission are part of a thousand-year plan. Islam's duality and submission are like gravity. It never sleeps. It's always there. Always pressuring, always pushing. Submission must occur with the kafir---if not now, then tomorrow. Islam is very patient. Muhammad said that, in war, patience is a virtue. Muslims study Muhammad. They know that submission may take time, but Islam is very patient.

In Turkey, it's taken them 400 years to get to the 99.7% mark. They're not in a hurry. They can keep fooling the Europeans and say, ‘we're very democratic,’ but there you have another use of a word by Islam that does not mean the same thing that we mean. ‘Democratic’ in Turkey includes the elimination of all of the kafirs. True democracy is not what Islam practices. True democracy would mean that the kafir has an equal say along with the believer. The Qur’an of Medina says that cannot happen. The kafir must submit to the Qur’an of Medina. So, ‘democracy’ in Turkey is a sham and a fraud. It is a tool used as a way of submission, but in the public face of the political councils of Europe, the Qur’an of Mecca stands up and says ‘we are a modern state’---but this is merely a veil or Teflon coating. Meanwhile, the sword of the Qur’an of Medina is working. More Christians emigrate from Turkey all the time, just like they do in Iraq. In Iraq, they form 3% of the population and 30% of the emigrants, because they're unable to deal with submission inside of Iraq.

But in our country---which is, so far, free of duality and submission---we keep believing the Qur’an of Mecca. We are historically ignorant of the principle of duality. We only see one end of the stick---we don't see the other. We don't look at the man behind the curtain. We're fascinated by the cape, while we ignore the sword. The sweet words of the Qur’an of Mecca pour out of our media, our universities and our politicians' mouths, and we think this is good. We don't have to worry, because a peaceful Islam is here---a reformed Islam is here. So we can relax---we can go back to sleep.

The above text is taken from the website Political Islam.

The Koran (Qur'an)

2009-12-01T04:44:00.000-05:00

Our next lesson is on the Koran (Qur'an). The Koran must surely be the world's most famous book that has not been read. How many people do you know who can say "I have read the Koran and understood it"? It turns out that (in a sense) there are two Korans. Once you understand how they differ, you will understand Islamic duality and why Islam always has two stories about any subject.

The word 'Koran' (or "Qur'an") is an Arabic word that means 'recitation.' According to Islam, the Koran is perfect, complete, universal and final. According to the teachings of Islam, the Koran contains not even the slightest error, since it comes directly from Allah, the only God of the universe. It is in his exact words. The Koran was created before the universe was created, and it sits on an emerald table at the right hand of Allah.

The Koran we have today was created, or brought together, by the 3rd caliph, Uthman. It is said that Muslims were beginning to say that there were many versions of the Koran, and there would soon be error. So Uthman, as absolute ruler, called in all of the Korans and turned them over to a secretary. It was the secretary's job to compile the new Koran. After it was put together, Uthman did something that was very telling---he burned all the original source material.

Now, ask yourself a question. Why did he burn the original source material, if the reason that they had put together a new Koran was that there were variations?

As a result of the burning of all the source Korans, Muslims like to boast today that their Koran has no variations, that it was delivered in this exact form from Allah, and the lack of variations shows its perfection. And then they point to variations in Biblical texts as proof of corruption of the texts.

Since Islam means submission, this argument that the Koran is perfect and the New Testament and Old Testament are corrupt and contain variations, is another assertion that demands submission from the Christian and the Jew.

The Koran contains 114 Suras, or chapters. If you pick up a Koran and thumb through it, you will notice very quickly that the long chapters are in the beginning, and the short chapters are all at the end. That is the way that the Koran is arranged, and this leads to one of the major difficulties in understanding it. Imagine: if you took a mystery novel and cut off the spine, and then you rearranged the chapters---you put the longest chapter up front and the shortest chapter at the back; then you rebound this book and handed it to a friend and told him, "This is a great mystery novel! Read this!" Your friend would try to read it and say, "I can't understand this. When I turn the page, I seem to go back in time, or sometimes forward in time. I don't understand---there's no story to this; there's no plot." And that is the way the Koran is arranged. Now, if you take the Koran and put it in the right time order (i.e., chronologically), then it is a much more logical book.

Another thing about the Koran that's confusing is that the stories, in many cases, are not complete. Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end, but most of the stories in the Koran, many times, are as if you walked in halfway through the story. You don't know what the beginning is. This is odd, since the Koran has obviously derived many of its stories from the Hebrew Bible---the Old Testament---and they are wonderfully told in the Christian and Jewish Scriptures; but not so with the Koran. There is not one really complete story in all of the Koran. There's always something missing.

Another thing that's interesting about the Koran is how repetitious it is. This becomes very tiring when you're trying to read it. As an example, the story of Moses and the Pharaoh is repeated, in one fashion or another, 39 times. The repetition is so intense in the Koran that, if you remove all of the repetition, it is cut in half, and that does not leave a very big book, since the Koran is about the same size as the New Testament.

There's another thing that's a little odd about the stories. They fall into two classifications. There is some retelling of old Arabic stories, and then there is the retelling of the Jewish stories: Adam, Noah, Moses...all of these characters appear in the Koran; but, if you're familiar with the stories in the Jewish Bible---the Torah---they're not the same. They merely have the same characters. For instance, in the Koran, it is the purpose of Moses not to free the Jews as slaves, but instead to get the Pharaoh to admit that Moses is the prophet of Allah. The same is true with the story of Noah. The whole story of Noah centers around making the people of the earth admit that Noah is the prophet of Allah, and because they would not admit that Noah was the prophet of Allah and do everything that he said, Allah destroyed the earth. So the stories are similar to the stories in the Old Testament, but they've all been changed so that they proclaim one theme - those who do not recognize the prophets of Allah will be destroyed.

The other thing that becomes apparent when you read the Koran is how much of it is devoted to the kafir---the unbeliever. As a matter of fact, 61% of the Koran is devoted to the kafir. That only leaves 39% to be devoted to being a Muslim. And that 39% is filled with repetition, so it is actually less than 39%. So, the Koran is not a very big book at all, when you get down to what it teaches about being a Muslim. There is not enough information in it to practice the religion of Islam. For a work which claims to be complete, it is remarkably incomplete. Of the Five Pillars of Islam, the Koran does not give enough information on how to perform them. The perfect and complete Koran does not teach how to be a Muslim. That information comes from the Hadith---the Traditions of Mohammed (Muhammad). Mohammed is the one who tells a Muslim how to worship, not Allah.

The other thing that strikes people who press on through and read the Koran, is that it is very contradictory. It says things that are completely opposite. So much so that, in the days of Mohammed, some of the kafirs pointed this out to Mohammed: "You said this earlier; now you're saying that; they're opposite---which is it?"

The Koran says Allah can replace a verse with one which is better. Let's dwell on this a moment. Replacing it with a verse which is better means that the better one comes later. To deal with contradiction, you need to know which verse was written earlier or later. This time order is known to scholars. Although the Koran you buy in the bookstore has it arranged from longest chapter to shortest chapter, since the beginning, Muslims have known what the right order is, in terms of time. This cancellation of one verse by another is called abrogation. But abrogation does not cancel or negate the verse, because if the earlier verse was by Allah, then that verse is true, because Allah, by definition, cannot tell a lie. So this leaves the Koran as a very peculiar book. It is contradictory, but both sides of the contradiction are true.

This turns out to be an insight into the understanding of Islam, because it means that Muslims can hold in their mind two contradictory ideas, and accept both of them as true at the same time. This explains how Muslims, after September 11th, were able to say that Islam is a peaceful religion. A peaceful religion doesn't send out jihadists to kill 3,000 people. That is a contradiction. But if you are a Muslim, you have been trained to accept contradictory facts, and so, as a result, these contradictions do not bother you at all---they don't cause you any mental problem. The Koran is a dualistic document. This dualism runs very deep in the Koran. If you arrange it in the right time order, the Koran written in Mecca is a radically different Koran than the one written in Medina. They are so different that you could take a class of college students, and in one hour's time, teach them how to pick out a verse taken at random, and tell you whether it was written in Mecca or Medina---the two Korans are that different.

The earlier Koran is more religious. There are 147 different references to Hell. Now, there are more than 147 verses about Hell, but taking it topic-by-topic, there are 147 of them. 94% of these say that the reason that the kafir is burning in hell is because he did not believe that Mohammed was the prophet of Allah. The remainder are people in hell for moral charges - that is, theft, greed, hate, etc. What does that tell us about Islamic Hell? It's a political prison for the intellectual dissenters who do not believe that Mohammed is the prophet of Allah, and indeed, the great majority of the Meccan Koran is devoted to that theme. Indeed, the entire Meccan Koran can be summarized in one sentence: 'Mohammed is the prophet of Allah, and if you don't believe it, you're going to suffer.'

Now, the Koran written in Medina continues with the same hatred of the kafir, but it manifests itself in a totally different way. There's not much mention of Hell in Medina, because a new form of suffering for the kafir is introduced. In Mecca, the kafir suffers after he dies. In Medina, he suffers in this lifetime. He can be tortured, beheaded, robbed, and worse. The Medinan Koran has the same kafir hatred, but this time there is jihad, where the kafir suffers and dies in this life. So the Medinan Koran is very political.

The Medinan Koran introduces Mohammed's greatest innovation, and that is jihad. It also introduces dhimmitude, the political subservience of the Christian and the Jew. Now, as soon as someone brings up the violence in the Koran, someone is going to say "Oh, well, the Koran is no different than the Old Testament; the Old Testament has a lot of violence in it, as well." Yes, there is violence in the Old Testament, but it's enormously different from the violence in the Koran. The violence in the Old Testament is local and temporary; it is against a neighboring tribe, and for a certain period of time. This is not true of the violence in the Koran. The violence in the Koran is universal and eternal. The jihad is to go on until the last kafir leaves the face of the earth. There's a great deal of difference between temporary and local violence, and a universal, eternal violence.

Although jihad is called 'Holy War,' it is really better simply described as political war. Why? Because the only reason in the Koran that people are attacked and killed is, they do not agree that Mohammed is the prophet of Allah. That's an intellectual idea, and so jihad is political war against the kafir.

The Koran is an Arabic document. More than once, it refers to its Arabic nature. That's very clear. Since the Koran was written before the creation and in the Arabic language, that implies that Allah is an Arab. This is a very important part of the Arabic hegemony [the political, economic, ideological or cultural power exerted by a dominant group over other groups]---that is, the Arab culture must dominate all other world cultures.

When you bring up something negative about the Koran, a Muslim quickly responds with, "Oh, but did you read it in the Arabic?" And then he will say, "Well, you can't really understand the Koran unless you read it in Arabic." Now let's stop and think about this statement for a moment. The Koran claims to be universal. That is, it applies to all people. But since only a small portion of the world reads Arabic, that means these ideas must be understandable in the languages other than Arabic, or they would not be universal. So which is it? Can the ideas be understood in any other language or not? Because, if the ideas in the Koran cannot be understood in other languages, then the Koran is not universal.

The other weakness to the argument, "Oh but you don't understand Arabic," is this: the great majority of Muslims today don't speak Arabic, so the Koran has been translated into their language, and they're fully practicing Muslims. In fact, fewer than 20% of Muslims in the world speak Arabic.

Now, many Muslims recite the Koran in classical Arabic, but the classical Arabic is not the Arabic language of today. Languages change over time, and a modern Arab cannot pick up a random Koran verse and read it and understand it. It's as if you were to study Chaucer. Chaucer wrote in the English of his day, but that English is very difficult for us to understand. It is the same with a native Arab speaker picking up the Koran and reading it. He, too, is not fully aware of what it means. He, too, has to have the classical Arabic translated into modern Arabic. The fact is that Arabic is really not a barrier to understanding the Koran. It's been translated into many languages.

In the end, the Koran is a document about the kafir. 61% of it is about hating the kafir and how the kafir must be subdued; therefore, the Koran is primarily a political document---not a religious document.

Now, what does the Koran bring to the table that is new? It brings two new ideas: that Mohammed is the prophet of Allah, and that jihad can be practiced against those who do not believe that is true. Everything else in the Koran is derivative. There are old Arabic stories, stories from the Old Testament that have been reworked, ideas from the Zoroastrian religion, and ideas from the local Arabic religion at the time of Mohammed. It is interesting that the Koran claims to be the work of a universal God, but the horizon of the Koran goes no further than Mohammed's eyes.

Until recently, the Koran has been a document that was difficult to read. That is no longer true. The work of scholars has now produced a book called "A Simple Koran," which has all the verses in the right order; and they've all been grouped, so you eliminate most of the repetition; Mohammed's life has been woven through "A Simple Koran," so the reader can see that, although the Koran claims to be a complete document, there are many, many things in the Koran that cannot be understood unless one knows the life of Mohammed. For instance: Which verse comes earlier? Which verse comes later? If you know Mohammed's life, it is easy to tell which one is earlier and which one is later. It is Mohammed's life that gives meaning to the Koran. The Koran does not make any sense without Mohammed's life. The Koran cannot be understood on its own. And yet, it claims to be complete.

Here's a small example: In the Koran, there is a remark about the destruction of the palm trees. The verse just comes out of nowhere. If you weave Mohammed's life into the Koran, then you know what it means. Mohammed was given authority to burn the palm trees, because it was only a few days earlier that he had attacked the Jews. They had a date palm plantation which he burned, contrary to the rules of war. The Arabs condemned him for violating the rules of war. Hence, the Koran declares that it was good to burn the palm trees.

This is an example of how Mohammed's life gives meaning to the Koran, and indeed, when Mohammed's life is woven into the Koran, the Koran becomes an epic story. It depicts Mohammed's rise to power from being an orphan and a businessman, to the supreme ruler of all of Arabia, with a goal of becoming the supreme ruler of all of the world. So the Koran is a great epic story. You should read it and understand it.

The Koran has been made to seem complicated. It is actually a simple text that contains only two new ideas: Mohammed is the final prophet, and jihad may be used to harm kafirs. The main idea in the Koran is the division of humanity into 'believer' and 'kafir,' and the triumph of Islam over all kafirs.

The above text is taken from the website Political Islam.

Islam and Ethics

2009-11-23T04:39:00.000-05:00

If you only learn one thing regarding Islam, learn about Islamic ethics. Islamic ethics do not share anything with our ethics. Islamic ethics are profoundly and foundationally dualistic. They have one set of rules for themselves, and another set of rules for everyone else, the kafirs. The treatment of kafirs varies from their being treated well to being beheaded. Both treatments reflect pure Islam. In Islam, kafirs can also be deceived, robbed, murdered and raped. There is even a word for sacred deceit---taquiyya.

On an ethical basis, there is no such thing as Islamic pacifism. Islam is a civilization of war and violence. The Sira and Koran show that Islam was a failure until it adopted violence. It then became overwhelmingly powerful. The Hadith (Traditions of Mohammed) is filled with details of the ethics of Islam.

Ethics is the great divide between Islam and all other cultures, but before we look at Islamic ethics, let's look at ours. Our ethics are based upon the Golden Rule---treat others as you would be treated. Who are the 'others?' The 'others' are ALL others. There's no elimination of someone because of race, sex, ethnicity, or religion. In our politics, everyone is to be treated fairly and equally before the law, and the Golden Rule leads to the concepts of what we call fair and what we call equal. Some may jump up and say, "But we don't do that all the time, do we?" No, it is true that we do not do that all the time, because every person is pulled between two contradictory ideas. One is to treat others as they should be treated. The other idea is purely selfish and to only look to ourselves. When we dwell on our own personal needs too much and start hurting or harming others, we can be corrected and brought back by saying, 'That is not fair,' and such 'fairness' is based upon the Golden Rule.

So the Golden Rule lies behind our legal and ethical system.

Islam does not follow the Golden Rule. Indeed Islam explicitly denies the Golden Rule. The Koran never addresses humanity as a whole. Instead, humanity is always divided into the kafir (the unbeliever) and the believer (the Muslim). The Koran is very clear that the kafir is to be treated differently from the believer, and this treatment can be very violent. So this division into kafir and believer eliminates the possibility of having a Golden Rule.

Islam, therefore, is dualistic. It has one set of rules for itself, and another set of rules for the kafir. There is no 'one humanity.'

The other difference between Islamic ethics and ours is that, fundamentally, there is no concept of right and wrong in Islam. All ethics in Islam are based upon what Mohammed did and did not do; therefore, the concepts inside of Islamic ethics are not 'right' and 'wrong,' but what is permitted and what is forbidden. Mohammed is viewed as the perfect ethical pattern. Every Muslim is to follow him and do what he did and say what he said. The ethics of Islam are determined by what Mohammed did and said---his Sunna. The rest of the ethics are found in the Koran.

Let's examine Islamic ethics regarding deceit, by reading some ideas that have been given to us by Muslims. Let's look at a quote from Ali Al Timimi, an internationally-known Muslim scholar and imam who had government clearance, who even worked with a former White House Chief of Staff and was invited to speak to the military about Islam.

Publicly, the imam denounced Islamic violence and said: "My position against terrorism and Muslim-inspired violence against innocent people is well known by Muslims." But privately, another picture emerged. Five days after the attacks on September 11th, he called them legitimate, and rallied young Muslim men in his mosque to carry out more Holy war and violent Jihad.

Another Islamic leader in this country, Abdurahman Alamoudi, who developed the Pentagon's Muslim chaplain corps, and acted as a good will ambassador for our State Department, also, denounced terror. "We are against all forms of terrorism," he claimed. "Our religion is against terrorism." Privately, he raised major funds for Al-Qaeda, and was caught on tape grumbling that Osama bin Laden had not killed enough kafirs in the U.S. Embassy bombings.

In our culture, we would call these men liars. But this does not apply inside of Islamic ethics, because what these men were practicing was deceit. They were talking to kafirs when they said those things. Let's examine what Mohammed said about deceiving the kafir.

In Medina, there was a Jew named al-Ashraf. Al-Ashraf wrote a poem in which he condemned Mohammed, and Mohammed, at the mosque, asked, "Who will rid me of Ashraf, the enemy of Allah and his prophet?" One of the Muslims said he would, but a few days later, Mohammed noticed that the task of killing al-Ashraf had not been done, so he went to the man and asked, "What are you doing?" The man said, "Mohammed, in order to kill Ashraf, I will have to tell a lie". Then Mohammed said, "Say whatever you need to say."

The Muslim took a couple of his friends and went to al-Ashraf and told him they were getting sick and tired of Mohammed, but before they could leave, they needed to have a little money, and were wondering if al-Ashraf could help. They wanted to borrow some money. Al-Ashraf said he would need some collateral to loan them money. And so, they suggested that perhaps they could bring him their weapons - their swords and knives - and leave them in pawn. He agreed.

So, the next night, the three Muslims showed up, their weapons in hand. But al-Ashraf was not concerned: they had come to pawn the weapons. They chatted with him in a friendly way and said, "It is night---a pleasant night; let us go for a walk and discuss things". So they did. But, in the middle of the walk, after they had recited some poetry, one of them grabbed him by the hair of the head, said to the other, "Kill him", and they knifed him in the stomach and killed al-Ashraf.

When they came back to Mohammed, Mohammed was delighted at the death of the enemy of Allah and the prophet. He had given them permission to lie, because they were dealing with a kafir, and the lie advanced Islam. Here we have dualism. A Muslim is told not to lie to another Muslim, but with a kafir, there is an option. The Muslim can tell the kafir the truth, or he can tell him a lie, if it will advance Islam. And this was repeated many times in Mohammed's life. So much so that, at one point he said, 'Jihad is deceit.'

Now let's go back to the idea that Islam does not use terror. And let's take a look at another story. This one happened in Russia, in Beslan, where there was a school, and the school had roughly a thousand people in it, including the children and the personnel. Some Muslim Jihadists attacked the school and took it over, and held everyone in it. The Jihadists took all of the children and put them in the gymnasium. They were kept there for days without food or water. Finally, the Russian special forces decided that they needed to go in. There was chaos, and as the children jumped out the windows and ran for safety, the Jihadists shot them in the back.

The attack continued. Once it became clear that they were going to lose the building, the Jihadists fell back from their original plan. They had brought explosives, so they placed them in such a way that, when they detonated them, the roof fell in on the children. This was the way that most of the children were killed. This was a terrible attack, but what happened after the attack is what we want to point out.

Muslim scholars and Muslim imams all said the same thing: "That was not Islam. In Islam, we are forbidden to kill women and children." And that is true; there are Hadiths which state that women and children are not to be killed. However, there are other Hadiths in which they were getting ready to attack a tribe, and the simple reason they were attacking is that the people were kafirs---who had done nothing wrong. They decided to attack at night, and they asked Mohammed, 'What if they made a mistake in the dark and wound up killing women and children?'---and Mohammed said, "They are from them." ("them" = unbelievers)

Well, now we have a contradiction. We have Mohammed saying, 'Do not kill women and children,' and we have Mohammed saying, 'Kill them, they are from them.' This is dualism. We have contradictory facts, but both of them are true. The Jihadists can choose whichever they want. And what did the Jihadists in Beslan do? They chose to kill the children. Why? "They are from them." That is, they are kafirs.

In Mohammed's time, in which he developed the ethics of Jihad, he always had the kafirs confused. The Arabs, just like everyone else, had rules for warfare. Since Mohammed was an Arab, they kept expecting him to follow the rules, but Mohammed did not follow the rules. He made them up as he went.

As far as terror not being Islamic, Mohammed said, in one of the most famous Hadiths, "I have been given five things that have never been given to anyone before me." One of these things he was given was that Allah allowed him to spread Islam by awe and terror.

Jihad is terror. So when Muslim scholars say terror is not the way of Islam, they are practicing deceit. Indeed, the practice of deceit even has a special name in Arabic, which we mentioned earlier---taquiyya. It means 'sacred deception.' To even have the concept of 'sacred deceit' is an amazing ethical thought.

Here's another example of deceit in Jihad. In modern times, we have grown used to the fact that a Muslim Jihadist can strap on dynamite and walk into a room filled with people---kafirs---and kill himself and everyone else. Muslim clerics say that is not Islam, because suicide is forbidden in Islam. And this is true. Suicide is forbidden in Islam. But there is a very famous Hadith in which Mohammed said that killing yourself while trying to kill kafirs sends you straight to Heaven; therefore, the ethical expectation of the person who kills himself in the face of killing others, is that he will go straight to Heaven. He is a martyr.

In the very term 'martyr' in Islam, we see the difference between the West and Islam, because the word 'martyr' in Islam means someone who dies while killing kafirs; whereas, in our language, a martyr is one who is killed because of what he believes.

Here's another example of the ethical divide. Currently, in America, there is debate over whether waterboarding is torture. Indeed, the idea of what constitutes torture has been talked about in the media. There is, however, no debate inside the Islamic world about torturing kafirs, and the reason is, Mohammed tortured kafirs. There's a famous story about when he attacked a tribe of Jews. After the Jews had surrendered, they took the leader of the Jews and staked him out on the ground at Mohammed's orders. The reason they did this was that they knew that the Jews had a buried treasure. Mohammed had a small fire built on the old man's chest, but the old man refused to speak. He would not give up the secret of the treasure, so, finally, Mohammed said, 'Cut him loose,' and he took him over to a Jihadist who had lost a brother in the attack on the Jews, and he gave the brother the pleasure of killing the leader of the Jews. So, as a consequence, inside of Islam, there are no questions about whether torture can be used against kafirs. It is Sunna. It is the way of Mohammed to torture the kafir.

Islamic ethics are clearly laid out in the Hadith. Here are some statements about Islamic ethics found in various traditions: 'A Muslim is to never cheat another Muslim in business.' 'A Muslim does not lie to another Muslim.' 'A Muslim does not kill another Muslim.' 'A Muslim does not bother another Muslim's wife.' These statements are very dualistic, because this behavior is only reserved for other Muslims. A Muslim is a brother to other Muslims. Anyone who knows Muslims says, "Wait a minute; I know a lot of Muslims, and they don't lie to me, and they don't cheat me in business. They don't come to work with dynamite and kill themselves and other people." This is duality. The kafir has two ways of being treated. He can be treated as a human being. The Golden Rule can even be applied to him if it will advance Islam, but the truth does not need to be told; the truth can be shaded. The most common form of this deceit is for Muslims to only discuss the Koran of Mecca. Only talking about the Koran of Mecca is telling a half-truth, not telling the whole truth.

In our courts, we swear to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 'Nothing but the truth' prohibits direct lies. But it's equally important to tell the whole truth, because telling half a truth is just another form of a lie. So, when a Muslim discusses with a kafir the Koran of Mecca---the 'good' Koran---this is a form of deceit. All Muslims obey an ethical code which is quite different from our ethical code.

Islamic ethics support how Muslims treat women. For instance, women can be beaten. Women are set apart in their own separate code. There is an ethical system for slavery. Mohammed was the perfect slave master. His Sunna laid out all the ways that slaves are to be treated. There is also an ethical system for the treatment of the dhimmi, that strange political creature who is not quite a slave, but certainly not a citizen.

So, Islamic ethics lie behind everything that a Muslim does---but it does bring up political questions: If a Muslim does not have to tell the kafir the truth, why would we use Muslim translators for Arabic documents inside of the FBI and the CIA? Muslim translators take an oath, but Islam has a very unique interpretation of oaths: that is, an oath can always be changed by a Muslim for something better, and there is a Hadith which explicitly states this. But the Hadith does not really say what is better. That is the choice of the Muslim. So if we have a Muslim policeman or a military man who takes an oath to serve and protect, he can change it anytime he wishes. And for that matter, this same changing of oaths is applied to treaties---political treaties. If the Muslim nation signs a treaty with a kafir, it can be abrogated at any time, as long as Islam comes out on top.

To deal with Islam, it is critical that we understand its ethics. We assume that they're the same as ours, but this assumption is based upon ignorance, because Islamic ethics are very different from ours. Ours are based on the unitary law of treating all people the same (which originally comes from the Bible). Islamic ethics are based upon the idea of kafirs and believers, and having a separate set of ethics for each one. One cannot understand Islam without understanding its ethical duality.

The above text is taken from the website Political Islam.

Why did the Jewish religious leaders---the Pharisees---have Jesus killed?

2009-11-18T01:08:00.004-05:00

"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds." (John 8:58-59)

"I and the Father are one." Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him." (John 10:30-31)

"We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." (John 10:33)

"Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy." (Matthew 26:65)

God's temple was holy to the Jews. Who was holier than the temple? Only God Himself was holier than the temple. Yet, Jesus said in Matt. 12:6, referring to Himself, "I tell you that one greater than the temple is here." He was inferring that He was God.

The Sabbath Day was a holy day. The Lord of the Sabbath was God. Yet, Jesus said in Matt. 12:8, "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." He was claiming to be God here.

"For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5:18)

"Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' " (Exodus 3:13-14)

Several times Jesus described Himself, introduced by the term, "I AM." (John 6:35; 8:12; 9:5; 10:7,9,11,14). In the Greek, the words are solemnly emphatic and echo Exodus 3:14. And John 8:58-59 says, "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds."

"Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that are coming upon him, having gone forth, said to them, `Whom do ye seek?' they answered him, `Jesus the Nazarene;' Jesus saith to them, `I am [he];' -- and Judas who delivered him up was standing with them; -- when, therefore, he said to them -- `I am [he],' they went away backward, and fell to the ground." (John 18:4-6, Young's Literal Translation)
[NOTE: The word "he" is not in the original Greek. In the Greek, Jesus merely says, "I am."]

The men who fell backward were those who had come to arrest Jesus before the crucifixion. This shows that Jesus was God, and had power over the soldiers, and could have destroyed them if He wished.

Those Jews understood that Jesus was claiming to be God, and was calling Himself by the Name of God from Exodus 3:14. They wanted to kill Jesus because of blasphemy, because He claimed to be God. This is why they finally manipulated the Romans into crucifying Him.

"Jesus, therefore, said to them, `When ye may lift up the Son of Man then ye will know that I am [he]; and of myself I do nothing, but according as my Father did teach me, these things I speak." (John 8:28, Young's Literal Translation)

"No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life." (John 6:46-47)

"Then they asked him, "Where is your father?" "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also." He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come." (John 8:19-20)

"Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (John 10:25-30)

"You are not my sheep": The unbelieving Jews were not of the Elect; they did not know God. Though the Jews as a nation are God's chosen people, not every Jew will be saved.

"They shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my / my Father's hand": The Elect are secure in Christ.

In John 10:30, Jesus says, "I and the Father are one." The Greek is neuter--"one thing," not "one person." The two are one in essence or nature, but they are not identical Persons. This supports the Trinity---one God, yet three Persons. This great truth is what warrants Jesus' "I Am" declarations.

"I and the Father are one": Jesus was saying that He and the Father are one God (though distinct Persons). Each Person of the Trinity---Father, Son and Holy Spirit---has always existed. With man, one person = one being. But God is not like man. With God, one Supreme Being = three Persons. A human being does not have gills like fish. Neither does a human being have wings like a bird. Similarly, a human being is not made up of three persons. But, just as fish and birds are not human beings, so God is not a human being. So, although man was made in the image of God, that does not mean that man has all the characteristics of God. For example, man is not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent; yet God is.

"Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" (John 14:9)

"He who hates me hates my Father as well." (John 15:23)

"I said, therefore, to you, that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye may not believe that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:24, Young's Literal Translation)

Hundreds rally for Rifqa Bary's freedom!

2009-11-16T23:21:00.001-05:00

HUNDREDS RALLY FOR RIFQA'S FREEDOM!

Brigitte Gabriel speech

2009-11-14T02:23:00.003-05:00

Islam and Slavery

2009-11-12T04:37:00.000-05:00

You do not know the history of slavery if you do not know about Islam and slavery. Slavery is a very important part and a highly developed doctrine in Islam. It has a 1400-year-old history, which is still alive today in Africa. Mohammed was a slaver who dealt in every aspect of slavery.

It is impossible to study the history of Mohammed and the beginnings of Islam and not become involved in the role of slavery. The ‘politically correct’ version of slavery is that it only happened when white men showed up in wooden ships off the coast of Africa, went into the bush, captured slaves and brought them back to sell in America. That is the generally accepted history of slavery in America.

That does contain an element of truth, but it's not even remotely the story of world slavery, or even how slave trading worked in the Americas.

To study slavery from the standpoint of the world, you must study Islam, because Islam has enslaved all others - the African, the European, the Asian – Islam has enslaved everybody.

Francis Bok, a Christian, appeared at a university to give a talk. It was interesting, because he was an actual freed African slave. He and his sister had gone to the market to sell beans and, while they were in the market place, Muslim jihadis showed up. They captured his sister and him, along with others, and set out on a forced march. Every night the members of the troop raped his sister. When they finally got to the jihadis' camp, they were put on the block and sold as slaves. Once Francis was sold, he was taken to his new master's home. He was placed in the center of the family, and every member of the family took a small stick and began to beat him with it. Then they informed him that he no longer had any name. From this day forward there was no more Francis Bok. There was only abd - A-B-D - black slave.

Now this is interesting. ‘Abd’ is an Arabic word, but it's only one of about forty different words that Islam has for a slave. That's very interesting because, in the English language, we simply have one word - slave. Now ask yourself a question: Why would the Arabic language have so many words for ‘slave?’ Abd means ‘black slave’ and an ‘African.’ Think about that for a moment. ‘Abd’ means both ‘black slave’ and ‘African.’ There is an entire history in those two meanings.

There's a word for a white slave, as well—‘mamluk.’ There's also a word for a Hindu slave. Perhaps you're beginning to gain some idea that over a long period of time, Arabs have had a lot to do with the slave trade, because you don't change a language overnight. It takes a long time to accumulate 40 words for a slave.

Francis Bok was given a room with the animals in the barn. They gave him some straw to lie on. This is interesting, because when the subject of slavery is brought up, Muslims will admit that it happened in the past, but that it's long-since passed; and besides, they will say that they treated their slaves really well. Perhaps that message was not given to Francis Bok's masters, because he slept in the barn with animals. He tried to escape but was captured and beaten.

By the way, as soon as he escaped, the Arabic language had a new word for him. The Arabic language has a word for an escaped male slave, and it has a word for an escaped female slave. It even has a word for an escaped child slave. The Arabic language has honed its details of slavery to a fine point.

Francis kept working and plotting, and growing a little older and a little stronger. Finally, he found an opportune time and escaped, setting out on his own forced march. This time, however, it was not a forced march to slavery, but a forced march to freedom. He got to Egypt, and managed to get to America, where he works with an organization called Iabolish.com, which was the group that sponsored him to attend a university.

Francis was asked from the audience, "Who captured you?" His reply was, "Muslims.” Later, someone said, "Muslims can react very violently. Indeed, they can kill you if they don't like what you say about them. Are you afraid for your own life, in saying that ‘Muslims captured and enslaved me?’" His remark was memorable. He said, "I am now a free man. Now I can die, because I will die as a free man." Think about that. ‘I will die as a free man.’ You can learn more about Francis Bok by searching the Web under his name.

Now, let's stop and take a closer look at the white man's involvement with slavery. Did he show up on the coast of Africa in a wooden ship to get slaves? Yes, he did. But he didn't go into the bush to get them. He went to the slave market, where he bought them at a wholesale price, in wholesale lots. Bills of sale, money and invoices were exchanged. He left with his boatload of slaves that he got from the Muslim slave trader. The Muslims had been trading slaves and capturing slaves in Africa for 1400 years, and the white man merely represented a new market. That's all. Muslims had been enslaving before the white man, and when white people put together the code that eliminated slavery and the slave trade, Muslims just kept on with their old business. The laws of the kafir do not inhibit them.

We know that Mohammed had black slaves. It says so in the Hadith. It says so in the Sira. So, slavery is nothing new to Islam, because slavery is the ideal in Islam. The ideal Muslim is the slave of Allah, and indeed, Mohammed called himself the slave of Allah, because inside of Islam, there is no freedom. Everything has been prescribed. Everything you need to do has been recorded---laid out---and your job as a Muslim is to be a slave to Allah and follow all the rules, which includes the Sunna of Mohammed. A slave is the ideal Muslim. This is reflected in one of the Muslim names, Abdullah. ‘Abdullah’ is a combination of two words: Abd - slave; and Allah - slave of Allah.

Islam has enslaved many peoples, including Europeans. It's estimated that a total of 25 million Africans have been sold as slaves, and we know that about a million Europeans have been sold into slavery. Indeed, the one word that we have for slave comes from the Slavic people---the Slavs. The Muslims took many slaves out of Eastern Europe, and the primary ethnic group they preyed upon was the Slavs. So we adopted the term "slave" from the poor Slavs.

There are different uses for different races of people as slaves. The blacks were usually put into rough, hard work, and frequently died at it. It was a death sentence to be a black slave in the Saharan salt mines.

Whites were usually put to work in what we would call white-collar jobs. They could even become leaders in the army. The highest-priced slave in the Meccan slave market for 1400 years never changed. It was always a white woman who brought the highest price. Writings from medieval Islamic documents show that they were very free and open in discussing which race you used for which job. For instance, the white woman was preferred as a slave of pleasure, but if you could not afford her, since she was the most expensive, then an Ethiopian woman---or as they called them then, Abyssinian woman---was the second-best choice.

It is very unfortunate, but Mohammed put this sale of white women in place. You see, Mohammed had all manner of slaves, and his favorite sexual partner was a white woman. Her name was Miriam. She was a Coptic Christian. Since Mohammed's Sunnah determines what everything shall be, this means that the preference of all Muslims who wish a slave of pleasure should be the same that Mohammed had---a white slave. So, the Sunnah of Mohammed was very bad for white women.

There is an interesting special kind of slave that was used in Islam---that of the Eunuch. Generally, these were black slaves, and the castration process removed everything about the sex. Eunuchs are even referred to in the Koran, because they can see the woman of the house unveiled. The Koran is very clear about slavery. It's quite desirable, and it has only one limitation---you cannot enslave Muslims. Only kafirs (infidels) can be enslaved, and poor Francis Bok, being a Christian, was a kafir.

Now, Francis ran away to get his freedom, but he might have escaped being a slave if he had chosen to become a slave of Allah, a Muslim. The rules of slavery inside of Islam---and there are many rules---is that it is good to free slaves, because that brings a great merit with Allah---but you don't free a kafir slave. So perhaps Francis could have converted to Islam and been freed through that path. But Francis Bok wanted to be a Christian. He did not want to be a Muslim, so he had to take the only path open to him, which was flight.

The full history of slavery is not taught in any university in the United States. Nor is it easy to find books written that include the fact of Islam's role in world slavery. The only acceptable history of slavery is the 200-year white man theory---and, BTW, while we're talking about the white man and slavery, I’d like to point out that it was the white man who actually did the most to stop the international slave trade. The British Navy was commanded to intercept all slave ships. This did not stop the Islamic enslavement of Africans, however.

Out of the 25 million slaves that were taken out of Africa, 11 million were sold in the Americas. The other 14 million were sold in West and North Africa, where Islam is, and in the rest of Asia.

There was a terrible side effect of slavery. For every slave captured, the slavers had to kill others. For instance, Francis Bok's parents were killed. The slavers showed up with armed troops, and killed all those who tried to defend their tribe. When the slavers finally killed all the defenders, they could then take the best of the survivors as slaves. The old, the sick and the very young were left behind, because they couldn't take the forced march that comes right after capture. The estimate of the collateral damage there was, from taking each slave, varies. Some of those who visited Africa during the peak slave-trading days said that as many as ten had to die to produce one slave in the wholesale market. Others said no, only five. So, using the lower figure, we can see that out of the 25 million enslaved, there were over 100 million Africans---as many as 120 million Africans---who have died over the 1400 year period, including today. These figures are never talked about.

Now then, let's talk about Mohammed's role in slavery. He had slaves in his family. His first wife, Khadijah, owned slaves. Indeed, one of Mohammed's first converts was a black slave, and Mohammed himself owned black slaves. Mohammed was deep into slavery. As a matter of fact, slavery was one of the chief ways he financed jihad. He would have kafir men killed so their women and children could be made slaves. He sent his own jihadists out on slave missions. He gave away slaves as gifts. He owned all kinds of slaves, including males, females and black slaves. He passed around slaves, for the purpose of sexual pleasure, to his chief lieutenants. He stood by and prayed while others beat slaves. He shared the pleasure of forced sex with female slaves after conquest. He captured slaves and wholesaled them, to raise money for jihad. One of his favorite sexual partners was a slave who bore him a son. He got slaves as gifts from other rulers. A slave made the very pulpit he preached from. Some of his cooks were slaves. A slave treated him medically. He had a slave tailor. He declared that any slave who ran away from his master would not have his prayers answered. Now, that didn't work out for Francis Bok, because he did escape from slavery. His prayers were answered, because his prayer was to be free.

It is interesting to note how slavery falls under Islam's two fundamental principles-- submission and duality. Slavery includes submission, for who is more submissive than a slave? Slavery also includes duality, because the Islamic doctrine creates a separate legal classification---an ethical classification---for the slave.

It's no wonder that for all these years, Islam has been involved in slavery, because Allah likes a slave, and Allah wants Muslims to enslave others---because after you keep them as a slave long enough, they will convert to Islam; and if they don't, then, their children will. The Koran and Islam see slavery as a great good.

Now you might say to yourself, "If it's in the Koran, why don't they still do it?" In fact, Muslims are indeed still involved in slavery. Women who are brought in from the Philippines to work in Saudi Arabia are treated as slaves---their passports are taken away; and they may never get back home. So, Islam has always been involved in the slave-trading business. It's there, it's in the Koran---it's in the Sunnah---and the only reason they don't do it openly anymore is because they're simply not militarily strong enough. But slavery cannot be removed from the Islamic doctrine because, unlike our Constitution, for instance, Islamic doctrine is eternal; it's permanent; it's forever.

When David Livingston was in Africa, he saw the slave trade up close. He said that the paddle wheels on the boat he was on frequently hit slaves who had drowned in the river, or the bodies of those who were killed in the process of trying to get slaves. He described a peculiar disease among slaves, which the slave owners told him about. "The strangest disease I have seen in this country really seems to be broken-heartedness, and it attacks kafirs who have been captured and made slaves. Speaking with many who later died from it, they ascribe that their only pain was to the heart, and place the hand correctly on that spot. Some slavers expressed surprise to me that these men would die, seeing that they had plenty to eat and no work. It really seems that they died of a broken heart."

He talked with slave traders for a long time about what they did, and the Muslims told him that their object in capturing slaves is to get them into their possession and make them of their religion.

Now this history is quite sad, but the saddest thing about this whole history of Islam---and slavery---is that it's not taught. Our universities don't teach it. In fact, the universities don't even teach how white people were enslaved, or how many Hindus were sold into slavery. It is not enough that slavery has been in our past. We must teach the complete history of slavery in our schools and universities. Only then can we fully understand this dreadful history.

Every Muslim is a slave of Allah. Slavery is Islam's dark secret. Islam has enslaved Europeans, Africans and Asians. Unfortunately, the Western intellectuals, including blacks, are determined to cover up Islam's crimes against humanity.

The text above is taken from the website Political Islam.