Home
What's New
Cults
Escaping the Cult
Apologetics
Current Trends
Bible Doctrines
Bible Explanations
Ecumenism
Emergent church
Prophecy
Latter Rain
Word Faith
Popular Teachers
Pentecostal Issues
Trinity / Deity
World  Religions
New Age Movement
Book Reviews
Testimonies
Web Directory
Tracts for witnessing
Books
Audio 
Video
Web Search
The Persecuted Church

 

For printing  our articles please copy the web page by highlighting  the text first - then click copy in the browser-  paste the article into a word  program on your computer. When the text is transferred into word, click to save or print.      

 

 

 

 

                            

Which is the real Islam?

Were the hijackers radicals? Were they extremists, radicals or are they are following the Koran as Bin Laden is saying. This is something we will have to make our mind up as individuals and as a nation as the truth comes out. The translated version of the Arabic document that was left behind instructed the hijackers “You should pray, you should fast. You should ask God for guidance, you should ask God for help . . . Continue to pray throughout this night. Continue to recite the Koran.” What verses would they be reading before committing this inhuman act?

The Dallas Morning News quoted federal officials as saying that a copy of an Arabic-language prayer guide had been found in the wreckage of Flight 93. The first four pages of the document obtained by The Post recite some basic Islamic history about the prophet fighting infidels with 100 men against 1,000.

Were these men wrong or alone in their interpretation and representation of Islam? The truth is that young Muslims are recruited for Jihad all over the world, especially in Israel. Unfortunately they are being used by evil and clever men to further their cause by religion! We know now 16 out of the 19 terrorists came into America with student visas. There are still 600,000 foreign students on our soil with student visas, something we need to further look into. This is what we are now face. Is there is an Islamic fifth column operating on America’s soil, that the American public needs to know about? I realize that there are many conservative Muslims in America and elsewhere who would nothing to do with this kind of Islam, and so I'm not addressing those who are in the minority in America. We are looking at those who come to America in disguise, for in their homelands they would be open and vocal in what they believe. 

How loyal are some Muslims to America? What would they do if they have to choose between defending America and their God or fellow Muslims? In the Sunday edition of the New York Times, a reporter interviewed Muslim American students in Brooklyn, one of the male students said, on the record, that he would abandon the United States and give his own life to back an “observant Muslim who is fighting for an Islamic cause.” This is not an isolated opinion.

Harvard's Samuel P. Huntington wrote in his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, “Muslims make up about one-fifth of the world's population but in the 1990s they have been far more involved in intergroup violence than the people of any other civilization. The evidence is overwhelming.”

The fact is that 10 out of the 20 top terrorists on the FBI list have the name ahmed or Mohammad in their names. What is the message sent when they are named after Mohammed? Would Mohammed do such things? Maybe we need to ask Muslims “What would Mohammed do?”

It is a spiritual fact that the God we serve and worship will conform us to his likeness.

What is Jihad?

This has becomes a war of Islam within itself. It is the fundamentalist Islam, the ancient Islam clashing with the conservative Islam of today. Each have there own interpretations of their Qur’an. Many new Muslim theologians argued for a new interpretation of the Qur'an, some are good with a more conservative view and some want to go back to the old. This conflict called Jihad that we have now entered into is of a religious nature, and it’s meaning is crucial.

The Jihad ideology and the dhimmi rules are not in the Qur'an. These apparently were developed by Muslim theologians after the death of Muhammad. They were the result of the interpretation of some verses in the Qur'an and some from the hadith (their commentaries). These were mostly composed during the period of the Islamic conquest in the eighth or ninth century, when there was a strong military confrontation between Christianity and Islam. But it is not only Jews and Christians that are in this conflict, but also Buddhists, Hindus and any other religion that is not Islamic.

A dhimmi is any non-Muslim who is tolerated under the Islamic rule of government.

Jihad is the Muslim view that the world is divided into two parts: Muslim and the non-Muslims lands. In Islam there is the idea of Jihad (the struggle to extend the interests of Islam). The Quran speaks of the struggle within oneself (inner jihad), the struggle within the Islamic community (external jihad), and the struggle among unbelievers (also an external jihad). It is this one which becomes a militant aggression against those that oppose their beliefs.

Surah 29:68-69, (Al-Ankabut) introduces the idea that the Muslim will encounter many who are practitioners of error, and it is their duty to be alert to error and not succumb to it. “And who does more wrong than he who invents a lie against God or rejects the Truth when it reaches Him? Is there not a home in Hell for those who reject Faith? Sura 29:69 “And those who strive (Jihad,) in Our (Cause), We will certainly guide them to Our Paths: for verily God is with those who do right.” The term “Jihad” or “struggle” is used in this sense, although it is not the more common use.

In Surah 25:51-52 (Al-Furqan) Muslims are instructed to “struggle” against unbelievers with the Qur'an. This places the struggle in the realm of an intellectual struggle. “Had it been Our Will, We could have sent a warner to every center of population, 52 Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive (Jihad,) against them with the utmost strenuousness, with the (Qur'an).”

When Mohammad established his community (the umma) his intention was to have both Jews and Christians be part of it, by paying a designated tax. But they did not accept him as a prophet, Sura 2:113 “The Jews say: “The Christians have naught (to stand) upon; and the Christians say: “The Jews have naught (To stand) upon.” Yet they (Profess to) study the (same) Book. Like unto their word is what those say who know not; but God will judge between them in their quarrel on the Day of Judgment.

Jihad is the normal state of relationship between the non-Muslim and the Muslim. It is a perpetual conflict. The concept of Jihad preceded the Crusades by five centuries. It was with Jihad that the Christian populations and Jewish communities became subject to the Islamic law. If they submitted without resistance to the Muslim armies, they were given protection by the Islamic ruler, but this was protection from the laws of jihad, not protection because they were cared or loved by them. If they paid the tax, (a ransom money) their life was safe. Sura 9:29 “Fight those who do not believe in Allah … until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a states of subjection with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (1917 Maulana Mohammed Ali Translation).

Tolerance was given to Jews and Christians only on the condition that they would accept and submit to their system of Shari’a and have inferiority. Under countries that have shari'a, not everyone is equal, only Muslims are equal. Under what we consider a declaration of human rights in America or the western world, we recognize that everyone has the right to live by their conscience and have liberty, the freedom to choose

Jizya is the tax levied on Dhimmis by Muslim rulers. A Dhimmi is a non-Muslim tolerated under Shari’a, Islamic rule.

When non-Muslims or a non-Muslim country pays a tribute to the Islamic countries, war can be replaced by a temporary peace. But if they stop paying the Jizya, (the tax), the jihad resumes because jihad is the normal state of relationship between the non-Muslim and the Muslim. Those in the early growth of Islam that disagreed, that did not want to be converted to Islam or to be reduced to slavery, fled to the mountains or to other cities. In this era non-Muslims had to dress differently (sometime humiliating) when they went out in public so that they would not be confused with Muslims. Non-Muslims were not allowed to practice their religion in public. Those of other religions were not permitted to build new synagogues or churches. The Jews could not repair their synagogues the Christians their churches and In time fall into ruins.

The history of dhimmi, include Jews and Christians are a single unit because they are bound together as the People of the Book. This phrase the people of the book is used several times in the Qu’ran. In Sura 5:15: “O people of the Book! There hath come to you our Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide in the Book, and passing over much (that is now unnecessary). There hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book.” Here we find that Mohammad’s revelation replaces the Old and New Testament.

For us to ignore militant Islam’s intolerance toward what they deem as unbelievers, is a grave and costly mistake. There is no middle ground in this kind of jihad, Sura 9:5,29,41 “Slay the idolators [non-Muslims] wherever ye find them, and take them captive, and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the last Day…. Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah!”

We need to understand not only how they live, but why. Shari’a (Islamic law) is not practiced by all Arab nations but they all do not allow freedom of speech, the press, or religion in their lands as we have in America or in other western countries. Muslims are able to build mosques in England, America and many western countries with no protest, but they do not allow others the same rights in their countries. This is because Islam does not support a democracy.

The Muslim governments in Sudan had imposed Sharia, Islamic law in 1993. Over 2 million Sudanese Christians and animists have been killed and enslaved, since then barely an outcry is heard about this. For years in Indonesia, the Philippines and East Timor, Christians are being massacred by Muslims. Coptic Christians in Egypt whose religion arrived prior to Islam, have been slaughtered by fundamentalist Muslims. The authorities have done little to stop them. Arab Christians are oppressed by Muslims in their own lands as are Christians in many Arab lands such as Syria, Iraq, Lebanon. Churches and Christian homes in Nigeria are being burned, and Christians are murdered, by militant Muslims because they believe they are unbelievers, so they are doing God’s will. In Saudi Arabia it is illegal to be anything but a Muslim. The death penalty is given if ones conscience has them believe another religion, especially Christianity.

In the article Islam “According to Oprah”, By Rod Dreher, columnist for the New York Post October 8, 2001 quotes author Samuel P. Huntington and saysIn his 1996 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Harvard's Samuel P. Huntington warned us of deluding ourselves about the true nature of the Islamic threat. “Some Westerners, including President Bill Clinton, have argued that the West does not have problems with Islam but only with violent Islamist extremists,” Huntington wrote. “Fourteen hundred years of history demonstrate otherwise.”

An imam in Gaza earlier this year broadcasted a sermon over Palestinian Authority radio calling on Muslims to murder Christians and Jews because it is their Islamic duty. Broadcasts such as “first we go after the Saturday people then the Sunday people” are not uncommon. For it is the Qur'an that says 5:36 “The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.” So they take a literal interpretation of these verses implementing them in their daily lives.

The last hour with the false Christ (Daljal) is an important topic in the Hadith as it warns of his coming. According to the Bible he will make a peace treaty with Israel. This is exactly what this war is about.

Mohammed said, “The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them.” (Mishkat Al Masabih Sh.M. Ashraf pp.147, 721, 810-11, 1130) It is the Hadith that explains the Qur’an, it is their commentary on the writings. Hadith, the body of traditions relating to Mohammed and now supplemental to the Koran: He (Abu Hurayah) reported the messenger of Allah as saying: The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, so that Jews will hide behind stones and trees and the Stone and the tree will say, O Muslim, O servant of God! There is a Jew behind me; come and kill him. The only exception will be the box-thorn for it is one of the trees of the Jews. (Sahih of Muslim, quoted by Israel and the Prophecies of Al Quran by Ali Akbar, Bismi Publishers 1992, p.44)

If a good portion of Islam believes we are in this hour then we can understand the “why” of what is now taking place.

We have heard that Muslims are for peace, but most have not asked what they mean by peace.

What does it mean when Muslims say they are for peace? For the most part means that there would be no struggle or resistance to Islam. That those who are not Muslim would submit. Islam means submission, a Muslim is one who submits to Allah, and there is not peace without Allah. George Braswell, Jr. (B.D., Yale; Ph.D., U of NC) lived in Iran for seven years, defines the word “peace” from a Muslim perspective, “The world…of Islam must conquer and rule over those of ignorance and disobedience…. The peace of the world cannot be secured until the peoples come under the rule and protection of Islam.” (What You Need To Know About Islam and Muslims, p. 87)

We hear they for peace, and they have quoted their own verse to prove it; but it is out of its full context. They have said to us "anyone who kills another man it is as if he has killed all mankind." Here is the whole quote which changes it’s meaning as far as I’m concerned. "For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind" (Sura 5:27-32) These "other words" certainly change the meaning of the verse. The question that should be asked is why they cannot quote their own verse correctly to the public. To Muslim all those who do not worship Allah are corrupted. If they misquote their own verse to the public doesn’t this show they either do not know their own religious book or it is done on purpose. The question would be why?

Personally when I hear of a religion is promoting peace as in tolerance, I think of Buddhism before Islam. 

Again in Sura 17:33 “Nor take life - which God has made sacred - except for just cause. And if anyone is slain wrongfully, we have given his heir authority (to demand qisas or to forgive): but let him nor exceed bounds in the matter of taking life; for he is helped (by the Law).” While a cursory reading of this passage can support the view of not to kill, it still has in it a qualification of  “except for just cause” and  “slain wrongfully.” Again this can mean something quite different than the way we interpret it here in the west. There may be Muslims that would not interpret these verses in a negative way, but what about history. How did they traditionally use these verses? This will have to be left up to those who specialty is in the area of Islamic history, mine is not.

Jihad is a necessary element in Islam. Islam turned to aggression as those refused the message and the messenger. Mohammed as general planned 65 campaigns and lead 27 invasions, certainly these would be considered Jihad.  Mohammad was sometimes diplomatic and would institute a peace. But we are not focusing on the character of Mohammad, but the history and the revelation. The sword was most often used to conquer those steeped in paganism, and at one time Islam had conquered all of Northern Africa and came close to overtaking Europe. The belief that people need to have the one God who is Allah spurred the followers to spread this religion. Islam spread its influence not by engaging in dialogue and persuading people by truth, but by the offer of submitting to Allah. Unfortunately this became a similarity in the “Christian crusades” as well.

It is a spiritual fact that the God we serve, follow and worship will conform us to his likeness.

There are about 100 verses that endorse the use violence, and a plain reading of these is apparent what they say is what they mean. Some I'm sure may disagree saying they are not clear. Lets look at the quotes from the Qur'an that teach war and killing on the unbelievers and infidels > the Qur'an's quotes

 

© 2009 No portion of this site is to be copied or used unless kept in its original format- the way it appears. Articles can be reproduced in portions for ones personal use. Any other use is to have the permission of  Let Us Reason Ministries first. Thank You.

We always appreciate hearing  from those of you that have benefited by the articles on our website. We love hearing the testimonies and praise reports. We are here to help those who have questions on Bible doctrine, new teachings and movements.  Unfortunately we cannot answer every email. Our time is valuable just as yours is, please keep in mind, we only have time to answer sincere inquiries from those who need help. For those who have another point of view, we will answer emails that want to engage in authentic dialogue, not in arguments. We will use discretion in answering any letters. 

  Let Us Reason Ministries

We thank you for your support in our ministry