Islam: more on understanding it

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.