Mohammed, The Mad Poet Quoted....

Not too long ago I was listening to the radio, Bill O'Reilly on KFMB, as I recall. During his show, Bill was talking about some passages from the Koran that had appeared in print that seemed to contradict much of the CAIR and other Islamic apologist propaganda.

During the program a man, a Muslim, called in to the show to accuse O'Reilly of being unfair and taking things out of context, etc. He then said that you need to have an Imam explain these passages to you so you can understand their meaning. This of course means one of several things.

The first possible meaning is that the average person is too stupid understand the Koran without help. Another is that Mohammed chose not to speak plainly and clearly when relating Allah's word for one reason or another. Or, possibly, that the Imam's tell their followers this so that they may remain in control of the religion, and interpret it as they please without fear of contradiction.

Having read the Koran, cover to cover, and in its various parts, I contend that it's the latter--with the added twist that Mohammed had been out in the hot sun too long and was not thinking all that clearly during most of his sermons. One of the reason's I believe this are the frequent admonishments to the faithful not to listen to others speak about their religions. Fear of contradiction of the Koran as a whole as well of its constituent parts is a consistent theme.

That is not to say that there is no confusion in the Koran that needs clarification. In fact, the Koran goes from being quite clear to downright confusing and back again, repeatedly. Mostly it consists of rambling parables, admonitions repeated ad nauseum, and bad retellings of Old Testament stories (often repeated in fragments). The Koran is also difficult to read because as it lacks any kind of narrative thread and is constantly repeating itself. In fact, my copy, which spans over 400 softcover pages, could easily be condensed to about 50 pages and still thoroughly cover every it has to say. Not true with The Bible.

Other than that, anyone with a high school education and the will power to wade through it can easily understand it (most of it anyway), without help from anything other than a strong cup of coffee--which probably accounts for the Islamic ban on alcoholic beverages. It's guaranteed to bore you into a deep sleep if you try reading it under the influence. And Mohammed probably got upset when people fell asleep during his sermons.

We've heard all the rhetoric about the Koran being a book of peace and enlightenment, but little about the parts of the Koran that give rise and fuel to fanatical hatred and terrorism. The few that have been quoted in the press are pounced on by CAIR and other groups and isolated phrases taken out of context. The follow those charges up by pointing out bad things Christians have done in previous decades and centuries. The difference is that when Christians have persecuted and killed people they were acting against the principles of their faith. When Muslims do it they are acting in accordance with the Koran.

Another point that needs to be made is that all of the things that people point to in the Bible, to make the Koran look less bloody by comparison, are in the Old Testament. And almost all are refuted or moderated by the New Testament. The Koran is all "Old Testament" and makes the fire and brimstone of the first half of the Bible seem mild by comparison.

The following passages are just a sampling of what what I would call the "Dark Side" of the Koran. Or, at the very least, those that are interpreted by certain Imam's to mean that it is O.K. to blow up babies and drive airplanes into skyscrapers. They are presented in the order they appear in the Koran and I have taken care not to quote things out of context (something we infidels are always accused of doing). I will also add my layman's commentary and translations (in bold), as we proceed.

One of the ways to determine whether something is just an "isolated passage" or part of a larger, mainstream theme, it to take a look at how many times the same or similar wording appears. It must be assumed if something is repeated, it must be something that was intended to be remembered. Frequency says a lot. Therefore, in this posting, you will find what appear to be redundant quotes. There are included to show that a particular theme is not "isolated."

BTW, just by writing this little piece I am subject to being the object of a Fatwah. So, if I see any middle-eastern, or Nation of Islam looking types cruising slowly by my house, I will shoot first and ask questions later.... (yes, I profile).

The Quran, Translation: M.H. Shakir. In the citations I have added the Names of the various books (Surah's). They have very little to do with the subject of their particular Surah, so don't read anything into them..

One more thing: Depending on who you talk to, the term Jihad can mean anything from struggling with your zipper to all-out nuclear Holy-war, and several stops in between. You will not find the word in most available English translations, where it has been substituted with the words "fight" and "struggle". Where you see those words in the following passages they may or may not refer to Jihad.

And there are some people who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all believers. They desire to deceive Allah and those who believe, and they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive. There is a disease in their hearts, so Allah added to their disease and they shall have a painful chastisement because they lied. - Koran, Surah II: 8-10, "The Cow."

According to Mohammed, Allah hates hypocrites worse than infidels (or at least as much). This is a common and often repeated theme, but it only applies with regard to hypocrisy concerning belief in Allah, which probably explains Islam's constant use of Hypocrisy in all other instances.

Who break the Covenant of Allah after its confirmation and cut asunder what Allah has ordered to be joined, and make mischief in the land; these it is that are the losers.
How do you deny Allah and you were dead and He gave you life? Again He will cause you die and again bring you to life; then you shall be brought back to Him. - Koran, Surah II: 27 & 28, "The Cow."

There are several passages like this. I believe that this passage and others like it support Islamic laws against converting from Islam, and the subsequent penalties that go along with it--like death. It's an effective way to keep from losing your flock to competing religion. Kill any who convert and the rest will get the message.

And (as to) those who disbelieve in and reject My communications, they are the inmates of the fire, in it they shall abide. - Koran, Surah II: 39, "The Cow."

All infidels go to Hell, even Christians and Jews. This is one of the most repeated themes in the Koran.

And do not mix up the truth with the falsehood, nor hide the truth while you know (it). - Koran, Surah II: 42, "The Cow."

I threw this one in so you can quote it back at those jerks from CAIR the next time they start spinning.

And there are... Illiterates who know not the Book but only lies, and they do but conjecture. Woe, then, to those who write the book with their hands and then say: This is from Allah, so that they may take for it a small price; therefore woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn. - Koran, Surah II: 78 & 79, "The Cow."

Depending on how you choose to read this and other passages like it, this includes people like me, and that Rushde guy who wrote Satanic Verses, and so upset the Mullahs that they issued a death sentence against him. It also seem to provide for the punishment they decreed.

Those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book do not like, nor do the polytheists, that the good should be sent to you from your Lord....
Many of the followers of the Book wish that they could turn you back into unbelievers after your faith, out of envy from themselves, (even) after the truth has become manifest to them.... - Koran, Surah II: 105 & 109, "The Cow."

My guess is that this provides for Islamic laws that make it illegal to bring religious texts other than the Koran into some Islamic countries, and make it illegal to even speak to a Muslim about Christianity or Judaism under penalty of death.

And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: surely Allah's guidance, that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper. - Koran, Surah II: 120, "The Cow."

And whoever disbelieves, I will grant him enjoyment for a short while, then I will drive him to the chastisement of the fire; and it is an evil destination. - Koran, Surah II: 126, "The Cow."

The East and the West belong only to Allah; He guides whom he likes to the right path. - Koran, Surah II: 142, "The Cow."

Two things here. First, the whole world belongs to Allah. Second, he only guides the people he likes to the right path. This not only negates free-will, but leads to the obvious conclusion that if you do not follow the right path it is because Allah does not like you. A little on the petulant side for a loving God and the antithesis of the Old and New Testaments.

And do not speak of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead; nay, (they are) alive, but you do not perceive. - Koran, Surah II: 152, "The Cow."

Surely those who disbelieve and die while they are disbelievers, these it is on whom is the curse of Allah and the angels and men all.... - Koran, Surah II: 161, "The Cow."

And there is life for you in (the law of) retaliation, O men of understanding, that you may guard yourselves. Bequest is prescribed for you when death approaches one of you, if he leaves behind wealth for parents and near relatives.... - Koran, Surah II: 179-180, "The Cow."

The Palis probably know this one by heart. It even talks about those cash rewards to the families of those who blow themselves up.

And kill them wherever you find them [we infidels], and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers. - Koran, Surah II:191, "The Cow."

And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah. - Koran, Surah II:193, "The Cow."

Ask the Israelites how many a clear sign have We given them; and whoever changes the favor of Allah after it has come to him, then surely Allah is severe in requiting (evil). - Koran, Surah II: 211, "The Cow."

In other words, the true word was revealed to them, they rejected it, and now they're going to get theirs from Allah, or Yassir, or Hamas.

Allah does not call you to account for what is vain in your oaths, but He will call you to account for what your hearts have earned, and Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing. - Koran, Surah II: 225, "The Cow."

Being a vainglorious blowhard is O.K. as long as you are a believer at heart. So much for humility. This passage probably explains all those grandiose boasts by Saddam and Bin Laden.

And fight in the way of Allah, and know that Allah is Hearing, Knowing. - Koran, Surah II: 244, "The Cow."

Allah is the guardian of those who believe. He brings them out of the darkness into the light; and (as to) those who disbelieve, their guardians are Shaitans who take them out of the light into the darkness; they are the inmates of the fire, in it they shall abide. - Koran, Surah II: 257, "The Cow."

Ever hear of night-vision? Allah may be your guardian in the light, but we own the night. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Say to those who disbelieve: You shall be vanquished, and driven together to hell; and evil is in the resting place. - Koran, Surah III: 12, "The Family of Imran."

O you who believe! Do not take for intimate friends among others than your own people; they [unbelievers] do not fall short of inflicting loss upon you; they love what distresses you; vehement hatred has already appeared from out of their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater still.... - Koran, Surah III: 118, "The Family of Imran."

This one is quoted in the Hamas Charter. Basically, were not good enough to be their friends and we cannot be trusted. BTW you'll see this one again.

Yea! If you remain patient and are on your guard, and they come upon you in a headlong, your Lord will assist you with five thousand of the havoc-making angles. - Koran, Surah III: 125, "The Family of Imran."

I wonder, is this is what Saddam was counting on? Just make sure they aren't those crappy Soviet-made havoc angels....

And certainly you desired death before you met it; so indeed you have seen it and you look (at it). - Koran, Surah III: 143, "The Family of Imran."

And a soul will not die but with the permission of Allah; the term is fixed; and whoever desires the reward of this world, I shall give him of it, and whoever desires the reward of the hereafter I shall give him of it; and I will reward the grateful. - Koran, Surah III: 145, "The Family of Imran."

You might as well blow yourself up because you have no free-will and you'll die when Allah wants you to, and if you die blowing yourself up, it must be because Allah wants you to, so why feel guilty about it?

Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great. - Koran, Surah IV: 34, "The Women."

O you who believe! Take your precaution, then go forth in detachments or go forth in a body. - Koran, Surah IV: 71, "The Women."

Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world's life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or be he victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward. - Koran, Surah IV:74, "The Women."

I would imagine that this passage is used to bolster the proposition that suicide bombers really are allowed by the Koran.

They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper. - Koran, Surah IV:89, "The Women."

You will find others who desire that they should be safe from you and secure from their own people; as often as they are sent back to the mischief they get thrown into it headlong; therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given you a clear authority. - Koran, Surah IV:91, "The Women."

Somewhat unclear as to the exact nature of the provocation, but quite clear that you can pursue and kill whoever does whatever this passage refers to (it does not really help the clarity to add the passages immediately preceding or following). The Mullahs probably make great use of this passage.

And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement. - Koran, Surah IV:93, "The Women."

Definitely falls under the preceding set of punishments. Kill a Muslim, whatever your reason and you better be Muslim yourself.

The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement. - Koran, Surah V: 33, "The Food."

Of course, waging "war against Allah and His apostle" can be interpreted in many ways.... everything from speaking out against Islam to dropping a JDAM on Bin Laden. Whatever suits the propaganda needs of the clerics.

And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment for what they have earned, and exemplary punishment from Allah; and Allah is Mighty, Wise. - Koran, Surah V: 38, "The Food."

O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes for them a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people. - Koran, Surah V: 51, "The Food."

So much for tolerance and that middle-east peace plan. Remember this one when the hypocrites at CAIR talk about Jews and Christians being "people of the book" who should not worry about devout Muslims. I challenge them to find an equivalent statement anywhere in the Bible.

O you who believe! take care of your souls; he who errs cannot hurt you when you are on the right way; to Allah is your return, of all (of you), so He will inform you of what you did. - Koran, Surah V: 105, "The Food."

This one is kind of interesting. If the enemy wins it is because you were not faithful enough.

Do they not consider how many a generation We have destroyed before them, whom We had established in the earth as we have not established you, and We sent clouds pouring rain on them in abundance, and We made rivers to flow beneath them, then We destroyed them on account of their faults and raised up after them another generation. - Koran, Surah VI: 6, "The Cattle."

Sometimes variations on this passage are in reference to the story of Noah, Lot, Exodus and others. This one is not used in particular reference to any Old Testament destruction. It's just letting the unbelievers know that Allah has wiped them out wholesale in the past and will probably do it again.

And who is more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah or (he who) gives the lie to His communications; surely the unjust will not be successful. - Koran, Surah VI: 21, "The Cattle."

Anyone who says anything bad about Allah/Mohammed is unjust. I guess that would be a reference to me or anyone else who points out the Koran's little inconsistencies.

And this world's life is naught but a play and an idle sport; and certainly the abode of the hereafter is better for those who guard (against evil); do you not then understand? - Koran, Surah VI: 32, "The Cattle."

I wonder if blowing up women and children, or gassing whole populations, is considered "idle sport."

And certainly We sent (apostles) to nations before you, then We seized them with distress and affliction in order that they might humble themselves. - Koran, Surah VI: 42, "The Cattle."

Sounds like the Wahabbi infiltration plan to convert the world to radical Islam.

And when you see those who enter into false discourses about Our communications, withdraw from them until they enter into some other discourse,.... - Koran, Surah VI: 68, "The Cattle."

Muslims are so secure in their faith that they are instructed to stick their fingers in their ears and run away when others start talking about their religions. If that doesn't work and they convert to another religion, kill them. Mohammed must have known how weak his arguments were.

They are lost indeed who kill their children foolishly without knowledge, and forbid what Allah has given to them, forging a lie against Allah; they have indeed gone astray, and they are not the followers of the right course. - Koran, Surah VI: 140, "The Cattle."

Mama's... don;t let your babies grow up to be suicide-bombers. (sung to the tune of "Mama's don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys".) A passage conveniently forgotten by the PLO, Hamas, etc. Then again, it's all in the interpretation.

Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it, and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. - Koran, Surah VI: 160, "The Cattle."

Too many Muslims seem to be overly selective in their application of this rule.

And for every nation there is a doom, so when their doom is come they shall not remain behind the least while, nor shall they go before. - Koran, Surah VII: 34, "The Elevated Places."

Sooner or later Allah is going to get us. Then we'll be sorry. (This is another frequently repeated theme).

Evil is the likeness of the people who reject Our communications and are unjust to their own souls. - Koran, Surah VII: 177, "The Elevated Places."

If you don't accept Islam you are unjust--period. Can't you feel the love? ...the tolerance?

And (as to) those who reject our communication, We draw them near (to destruction) by degrees from whence they know not. - Koran, Surah VII: 182, "The Elevated Places."

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them. - Koran, Surah VIII: 12, "The Spoils of War."

Surely the vilest of animals, in Allah's sight, are the deaf, the dumb, who do not understand. And if Allah had known any good in them He would have made them hear.... - Koran, Surah VIII: 22, "The Spoils of War."

Various versions of this passage appear throughout the Koran. Some are metaphors regarding those who refuse to listen, some are literal, like this one. The deaf are the way they are because Allah made them that way, and he made them that way because he knew they were bad and would never accept Islam. Pretty twisted logic working here. I wonder what Muslims think about hearing aids....

And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah. - Koran, Surah VIII: 39, "The Spoils of War."

And if you fear treachery on the part of a people, then throw back to them on terms of equality; surely Allah does not love the treacherous. - Koran, Surah VIII: 58, "The Spoils of War."

So, if you think the other guy (non-believer) might betray you, it's o.k. to betray him first. That's the same logic an old girlfriend of mine once used. Where's Dr. Phil when you need him?

"So, Mohammed, how's that working out for you in the relationship department? Have you heard about my fried pork rind diet?"

O prophet! Urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people who do not understand. - Koran, Surah VIII: 58, "The Spoils of War."

Oh, don't worry, we get it.... We're a little slow sometimes, but we definitely get it.

Announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve. - Koran, Surah IX: 3, "Repentance."

So when the sacred months have passed away; then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. - Koran, Surah IX: 5, "Repentance."

What! Will you not fight a people who broke their oaths and aimed at the expulsion of the Apostle...? - Koran, Surah IX: 13, "Repentance."

Fight them, Allah will punish them [idolaters] by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people. - Koran, Surah IX: 14, "Repentance."

This passage is significant. It clearly states that Allah intends to have unbelievers killed by the hands of the faithful. Vengeance is not reserved for Judgment Day or for Allah alone. In fact, the only real admonition against killing refers to one Muslim killing another on purpose. Compare this to the Bible.

And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away! - Koran, Surah IX:30, "Repentance."

Wait a minute! I thought we peoples of the book were supposed to be tolerated?

He it is Who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions.... - Koran, Surah IX:33, "Repentance."

One world, one religion. When the Wahabbi's infiltrate countries by building mosques and acting nice, this is what they are aiming for.

Allah has promised the hypocritical men and the Hypocritical women and the unbelievers the fire of hell to abide therein; it is enough for them; and Allah has cursed them and they shall have lasting punishment. - Koran, Surah IX: 68, "Repentance."

O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness. - Koran, Surah IX: 123, "Repentance."

What was that CAIR said about a few isolated and mis-characterized passages from the Koran?

And (as for) those who have earned evil, the punishment of an evil is the like of it, and abasement shall come upon them--they shall have none to protect them from Allah--as if their faces had been covered with slices of the dense darkness of night; these are the inmates of the fire; in it they shall abide. - Koran, Surah X: 27, "Yunus."

For his sake there are angels following one another, before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's commandment; surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, their is no averting it, and besides Him they have no protector. - Koran, Surah XIII: 41, "The Thunder."

I call this one the catch-22 passage. I suppose Mohammed meant to say that God helps those who helps themselves, but remembered it wrong. Instead you have a recipe for fatalism.

Do they not see that We are bringing destruction upon the land by curtailing it of its sides? And Allah pronounces a doom--there is no repeller of His decree, and He is swift to take account. - Koran, Surah XIII: 41, "The Thunder."

And those before them did indeed make plans, but all planning is Allah's; He knows what every soul earns.... - Koran, Surah XIII: 42, "The Thunder."

Hell is before him and he shall be given to drink of festering water:
He will drink it little by little and will not be able to swallow it agreeably, and death will come to him from every quarter, but he shall not die; and there shall be vehement chastisement before him.
The parable of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their actions are like ashes on which the wind blows hard on a stormy day; they shall not have power over any thing out of what they have earned; this is the great error. - Koran, Surah XIV: 4,5, "Ibrahim [Abraham]."

More fire and brimstone for the unbelievers whose actions, whatever they may be, will always be for naught. The Koran has lots of descriptions of heaven and hell.

Allah causes the unjust [unbelievers] to go astray, and Allah does what He pleases. - Koran, Surah XIV: 4,5, "Ibrahim [Abraham]."

More catch-22 from Allah. No free-will to choose to believe or not believe because Allah decides who will or will not, and then punishes you for what is essentially his decision.

And never did we destroy a town but it had a term made known. No people can hasten their doom nor can they postpone (it). - Koran, Surah XV: 4,5, "The Rock."

Only they forge the lie who do not believe in Allah's communications, and these are liars. - Koran, Surah XVI: 105, "The Bee."

No specific lie here other than to believe in Allah or not. This might also be interpreted as all unbelievers are liars.

He who disbelieves in Allah after his having believed, not he who is compelled while his heart is at rest on account of faith, but he who opens his breast to disbelief--on these is the wrath of Allah, and they shall have a grievous chastisement. - Koran, Surah XVI: 106, "The Bee."

He who converts from Islam to another religion will suffer the wrath of Allah. In this case death, by the hand of a believer.

And We had made known to the children of Israel in the Book: Most certainly you will make mischief in the land twice, and most certainly you will behave insolently with great insolence. - Koran, Surah XVII: 4, "The Israelites."

Read your book; your own self is sufficient as a reckoner against you this day. - Koran, Surah XVII: 14, "The Israelites."

And this one is for the nitwit that called into O'Reilly and said that you need an Imam to tell you what the Koran means. Seems to me if your smart enough to figure it out for yourself on Judgment Day, you can probably handle the task when the sky isn't falling.

And when We wish to destroy a town, We send Our commandments to the people of it who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein; thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction. And how many of the generations did We destroy after Nuh [Noah]! - Koran, Surah XVII: 16-17, "The Israelites."

Here's one of those passages that randomly makes reference to the Old Testament story of Noah. In the Old Testament their are numerous stories of destruction by God's wrath, but each of them is specific to a time and place with the stories of Noah and Lott being the most significant. In the Koran, passages like that above are numerous and do not always reference anything specific.

The overall impression is that Allah goes around destroying towns and cities after giving them a chance to convert first. Historically, this is what happened during the spread of Islam. When one looks at the expansion of Islam as it spread through the middle-east, Africa and into Europe during it's salad days, it is easy to see where they got the idea. Islam was spread primarily by the sword. For those who like to point out the Christian Crusades, they should be reminded that those were in response the Muslim Crusade that nearly succeeded in subjugating Europe by the end of the 7th century A.D.

And do not kill any one whom Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause, and whoever is slain unjustly, We have indeed given to his heir authority, so let him not exceed the just limits in slaying; surely he is aided. - Koran, Surah XVII: 33, "The Israelites."

So far the only ones that cannot be slain are Muslims by other Muslims on purpose. Everyone else is fair game for one reason or another.

And we will drive the guilty [unbelievers] to hell thirsty. - Koran, Surah XIX: 86, "Marium."

Surely you and what you worship besides Allah are the firewood of hell; to it you shall come. - Koran, Surah XXI: 98, "The Prophets."

These are two adversaries who dispute about their Lord; then (as to) those who disbelieve, for them are cut out garments of fire; boiling water shall be poured on their heads. With it shall be melted what is in their bellies and (their) skins as well. And for them are whips of iron. Whenever they will desire to go forth from it, and taste the chastisement of burning.
Surely Allah will make those who believe and do good deeds enter the garden beneath which rivers flow; they shall be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and (with) pearls, and their garments therein shall be of silk. - Koran, Surah XXII: 19-23, "The Pilgrimage."

Mohammed really had a thing about describing all the punishments of Hell and the pleasures of Heaven. Not much to do with spiritual growth--just avoid the pain and get to the pleasure.

Surely Allah will defend those who believe; surely Allah does not love any who is unfaithful, ungrateful. - Koran, Surah XXII: 19-23, "The Pilgrimage."

So, if an American Army full of unbelievers beats a Muslim Army, what does that mean? I'd like to hear an Imam explain this one. Good thing they don't allow tap shoes in mosques.

Permission (to fight) is given to those whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them.... - Koran, Surah XXII: 39-40, "The Pilgrimage."

And (as for) those who strive to oppose Our communications, they shall be the inmates of the flaming fire. - Koran, Surah XXII: 51, "The Pilgrimage."

We're not neccesarily talking about "Judgment Day" or Hell. It could be that guy wearing the bulky over-coat in August.

That (shall be so); and he who retaliates with the like of that which he has been afflicted and he has been oppressed, Allah will most certainly aid him; most surely Allah is Pardoning, Forgiving. - Koran, Surah XXII: 60, "The Pilgrimage."

Repel evil by what is best; We know best what they describe. - Koran, Surah XXIII: 96, "The Believers."

The fire shall scorch their faces, and they therein [Hell] shall be in severe affliction. - Koran, Surah XXIII: 104, "The Believers."

Getting tired of these descriptions yet. Nearly every Surah in the Koran has one or more like it. I'd call that a pattern, not just a few out-of-context quotes.

Allah has promised to those of you who believe and do good that He will most certainly make them rulers in the earth as He made rulers before them, and he will most certainly establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them.... - Koran, Surah XXIV: 55, "The Light."

Call not this [judgment] day for one destruction, but call for destructions many. - Koran, Surah XXV: 14, "The Criterion."

The parable of those who take guardians besides Allah is as the parable of the spider that makes for itself a house; and most surely the frailest of houses is the spiders house--did they but know. - Koran, Surah XXIX: 41, "The Spider."

I threw this one in because, except for "The Women", "The Spider" is the only Surah in which the title matches anything in the subject matter.

...none deny Our communications except the unjust. - Koran, Surah XXIX: 49, "The Spider."

Since we're all unjust, I guess that means it's all right to blow us up, hijack airplanes, and be generally unpleasant.

And who is more unjust than one who forges a lie against Allah, or gives the lie to the truth when it has come to him? Will not in hell be the abode of the unbelievers? - Koran, Surah XXIX: 68, "The Spider."

Nay! Those who are unjust follow their low desires without any knowledge; so who can guide him whom Allah makes err? - Koran, Surah XXX: 29, "The Romans."

There's that catch-22 again. Allah makes us err, and then sends us to hell because we did. That's I'd call unjust.

Surely they used to behave proudly when it was said to them: there is no god but Allah; And to say: What! Shall we indeed give up our gods for the sake of the mad poet? - Koran, Surah XXXVII: 35, 36, "The Rangers."

This is a reminder; and most surely there is an excellent resort for those who guard (against evil), The gardens of perpetuity, the doors are opened for them. Reclining therein, calling therein for many fruits and drink. And with them shall be those restraining their eyes, equals in age. - Koran, Surah XXXVIII: 49-52, "The Suad."

Now I have searched for specific references to those 72 virgins we keep hearing so much about, and this is the closest I can come to it. I have found one or two other passages that make reference to "those restraining their eyes" awaiting the faithful, but no references to either their number or their chastity. It is possible, however, that I missed it during the many times my eyes glazed over during the search.... One should not drink adult beverages while reading the Koran. Conversely, one should not try to operate heavy machinery or a motor vehicle while reading it. The end result is the same.

Surely Allah does not guide him all right who is a liar, ungrateful. - Koran, Surah XXXIX: 3, "The Companies."

He is Allah, the One, the subduer (of all). - Koran, Surah XXXIX: 4, "The Companies."

Those who dispute concerning the communications of Allah without any authority that He has given them; greatly hated is it by Allah and those who believe. Thus does Allah set a seal over the heart of every proud, haughty one. - Koran, Surah XL: 41, "The Believer."

And whoever defends himself after his being oppressed, these it is against whom there is no way (to blame). - Koran, Surah XLII: 41, "The Counsel."

Absolution for the Palestinians. We all know how oppressed they are. All except for Yassir, that is.

So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you overcome them, then make (them) prisoners,... and as for those who are slain in the way of Allah, He will by no means allow their deeds to perish. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 4, "Muhammad."

No translation needed here; but they might want to read Clausewitz or Sun Tzu before they take us on again.

And (as for) those who disbelieve, for them is destruction, and He has made their deed ineffective. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 8, "Muhammad."

A parable of the garden which those guarding (against evil) are promised: Therein are rivers of water that does not alter, and rivers of milk the taste thereof does not change, and rivers of drink delicious to those who drink, and rivers of honey clarified; and for them therein are all fruits and protection from their Lord. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 15, "Muhammad."

Get to heaven and you are safe from your own God. Makes life sound like a shooting gallery where Allah takes pot shots at you till you make it to home base.

And be not slack so as to cry for peace and you have the upper hand, and Allah is with you, and He will not bring your deeds to naught. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 35, "Muhammad."

In other words, when you have them on the run, keep them on the run--no mercy.

The life of this world is only idle sport and play, and if you believe and guard (against evil) He will give you your rewards, and will not ask of you your possessions. - Koran, Surah XLVII: 36, "Muhammad."

Hmmm... don't take life seriously, and, if you're faithful, Allah let's you take it with you? Deep. Very Deep.

Say to those of the dwellers of the desert who were left behind: You shall soon be invited (to fight) against a people possessing mighty prowess; you will fight against them until they submit; then if you obey, Allah will grant you a good reward; and if you turn back as you turned back before, He will punish you with a painful punishment. - Koran, Surah XLVIII: 16, "The Victory."

What do you want to bet that Bin Laden reads this one a lot? And how do you think it will be interpreted by the Muslim world if we turn tail in Iraq and Afghanistan before finishing our business over their?

He it is Who sent His Apostle with the guidance and the true religion that He may make it prevail over all the religions, and Allah is enough for a witness. - Koran, Surah XLVIII: 16, "The Victory."

Can you say "Wahabbi Fifth-Columnist?" Is it really a good idea to let them recruit in our prisons or to commission them as Army Chaplains?

O you who believe! do not take My enemy and your enemy for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth.... If you go forth struggling hard in My path and seeking My pleasure, would you manifest love to them? And I know what you conceal and what you manifest; and whoever of you does this, he indeed has gone astray from the straight path.
If they find you, they will be your enemies, and will stretch forth towards you their hands and their tongues with evil, and ardently desire that you may disbelieve. - Koran, Surah LX: 1&2, "The Examined One."

That's number three. So I guess it's not such an isolated, out-of-context passage after all. And this one takes it a step further than the others. Remember--frequency and pattern...

O you who believe! why do you say that which you do not do? It is most hateful to Allah that you should say that which you do not do. - Koran, Surah LXI: 2&3, "The Ranks."

Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way in ranks as if they were a firm and compact wall. - Koran, Surah LXI: 4, "The Ranks."

Further Quotes on The Subject...

"We are terrorists, and terror is an obligation in the book of Allah. Let the west and east know that we are terrorists and we strike fear: 'Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power. Including steeds of war to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies...' (8:60), So Terror is an obligation in the creed of Allah SWT" - Sheikh Abdullah Azzam.

"Our new world rests on order. The danger is disorder. And in today's world, it can now spread like contagion. The terrorists and the states that support them don't have large armies or precision weapons; they don't need them. Their weapon is chaos." - Prime Minister Tony Blair, speech to the U.S. Congress Accepting the Congressional Gold Medal, July 17, 2003.

"I know [the war on terrorism is] hard on America, and in some small corner of this vast country, out in Nevada or Idaho or these places I've never been to, but always wanted to go. I know out there there's a guy getting on with his life, perfectly happily, minding his own business, saying to you, the political leaders of this country, 'Why me? And why us? And why America?'
And the only answer is, 'Because destiny put you in this place in history, in this moment in time, and the task is yours to do" - Prime Minister Tony Blair, speech to the U.S. Congress Accepting the Congressional Gold Medal, July 17, 2003.

"We expect nations to speak the truth about terror. They shouldn't encourage malicious lies and outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th. No government should promote the propaganda of terrorists." - President George W. Bush, Radio Address to the Nation, from The Oval Office, November 10, 2001.

"The only alternative to victory is a future of terror. So we will fight for victory." - President George W. Bush, Radio Address to the Nation, from The Oval Office, November 10, 2001.

"Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option." - President George W. Bush, State of the Union Address, Tuesday, January 28, 2003.

"One hundred percent of the successful terrorist attacks on commercial airlines for 20 years have been committed by Arabs. When there is a 100 percent chance, it ceases to be a profile. It's called a 'description of the suspect...." - Ann Coulter.

"No matter how long this war takes, this issue is the issue of an entire nation which has refused a life of humiliation under American arrogance and Israeli violence. Secondly, the organization of al-Qaida announces that Bush the father, and Bush the son, and in between them, Clinton, Blair and Sharon are at the head of the criminals, the Zionists and the crusaders, who have committed the worst practices and greatest atrocities against the Muslim nation, before and now." - Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden spokesman, statement on al-Jazeera satellite channel, October 14, 2001.

"[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement" - Hamas Charter, Article 13.

"The Muslim women have a no lesser role than that of men in the war of liberation; they manufacture men.... raising the children upon the moral concepts and values which derive from Islam; and of educating their sons to observe the religious injunctions in preparation for the duty of Jihad awaiting them." - Hamas Charter, Articles 17&18.

"This, for the purpose of calling upon the Arab and Islamic peoples as well as their governments, popular and official associations, to fear Allah in their attitude towards and dealings with Hamas, and to be, in accordance with Allah's will, its supporters and partisans who extend assistance to it and provide it with reinforcement after reinforcement, until the Decree of Allah is fulfilled, the ranks are over-swollen, Jihad fighters join other Jihad fighters, and all this accumulation sets out from everywhere in the Islamic world, obeying the call of duty, and intoning "Come on, join Jihad!" Hamas will only be of help to all associations and organizations which act against the Zionist enemy and those who revolve in its orbit." - Hamas Charter, Article 33.

"Safety and security can only prevail under the shadow of Islam.... The members of other religions must desist from struggling against Islam." - Hamas Charter, Article 31.

"Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims.... We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the [Islamic] Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.... I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I will assault and kill, assault and kill, assault and kill." - Hamas Charter, Article 15.

"Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur'an its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief." - Hamas Charter, official slogan, Article 8.

"Make no mistake: Unless we give this Millennial Generation a clear, cause-and-effect understanding of what freedom is, how it works and what it takes to protect it, then that uniquely American birthright could be lost to history forever.
"Whatever you do, don't shrug it off. The world has been relatively free now for several decades of the tyranny and terror that faced the great "G.I. Generation" of World War II. But sleeping giants inevitably awaken, and the cycle of history never strays far from its orbit. Make sure the next generation is prepared. Its children and grandchildren will thank God you did." - Charton Heston, "Next Generation Is Our Hope but Must Understand Freedom", June, 2001.

"I wonder is the possibility of being killed through ignorance of a threat somehow secondary to surviving at the expense of offending someone's ethnicity? Have we all gone nuts? (Somebody better turn up the burner on America's melting pot there are still a few lumps in the broth.)
"The media, and most politicians, are reluctant to identify a terrorist as a terrorist, preferring the term 'militant' all the while assuring America that 'most of Islam is moderate and not all militants are terrorists.' Even a quick reading of my book, The Everlasting Hatred, the Roots of Jihad, would dispel that fantasy." - Hal Lindsey, "Survival Speak", January 2, 2003.

"An international fraternity of terrorists, with the Soviet Union as the chairman of the rush committee, has enabled the Russians to engage, as Senator Henry Jackson has put it, in "warfare by remote control" all over the world. Other members of the international club include North Korea, Cuba, South Yemen, East Germany, Libya, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Malcontents from all over the world are trained by them in the arts of kidnapping, assassination, sabotage, bomb making, and insurrection, and then sent off to ply their trade. Their tutors are careful to keep them well supplied with weapons and to provide sanctuary when they need it." - Richard Nixon, The Real War, 1980.

"We must force America to fight on a hundred fronts all over the Earth. We must force it to fight in Lebanon, to fight in Chad, to fight in Sudan, and to fight in El Salvador." - Colonel Qadhafi, Dictator of Libya, 1985.

"We must take a stand against terrorism in the world and combat it with firmness, for it is a most cowardly and savage violation of peace. We must remember our heritage, who we are and what we are, and how this nation, this island of freedom, came into being." - Ronald Reagan, campaign speech in Chicago, August 1980.

"The American people are not--I repeat--not going to tolerate intimidation, terror, and outright acts of war against this nation and its people. And we're especially not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states run by the strangest collection of misfits, loony tunes, and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich." - President Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Annual Convention of the American Bar Association, July 8, 1985.

"When a boy becomes a martyr, thousands of people attend his funeral. Poor families become celebrities. 'Everyone treats them with more respect after they lose a son,' a martyr's father said. 'And when there is a martyr in the village, it encourages more children to join the Jihad. It raises the spirit of the entire village,' he continued." - Jessica Stern, Foreign Relations.

"You are not an enemy combatant, you are a terrorist. We hunt terrorists down and bring them to justice." Federal District Court Judge William G. Young, statement upon sentencing al-Queda "shoe-bomb" terrorist Richard Reid, January 31, 2003.

Further Reading:

To: strategofr

"Although no one agrees with me, I believe communism and this modern version of Islam that we are seeing both originated in the same place: Russia."

I agree with you, why do you think the commies and the socialists are always at the anti-war rallies??? They know if Democracy spreads in the middle east, any hope of socialist revolution is OVER/DEAD/NADA/DONE

Read this interview with Ian Pacepa - Arafat at least, was a die hard marxist...

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=12387

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Ion Mihai Pacepa, former acting chief of Communist Romania’s espionage service. In 1987 he published Red Horizons (Regnery Gateway), reprinted in 24 countries. In 1999 Mr. Pacepa authored The Black Book of the Securitate, reportedly an all time bestseller in Romania. He is now finishing a book on the origins of current anti-Americanism.

Frontpage Magazine: Welcome to Frontpage Interview, Mr. Pacepa. Let’s begin. As a former Romanian spy chief who used to take direct orders from the Soviet KGB, you are obviously armed with a wealth of information. You have written about how the Soviets armed Hussein with WMDs, and also taught him how to eliminate any trace of them. Can you talk a bit about this and tell us its connection to the “missing WMDs” in Iraq today?

Pacepa: Contemporary political memory seems to be conveniently afflicted with some kind of Alzheimer's disease. Not long ago, every Western leader, starting with President Clinton, fumed against Saddam’s WMD. Now almost no one remembers that after General Hussein Kamel, Saddam’s son-in-law, defected to Jordan in 1995, he helped us find “more than one hundred metal trunks and boxes” containing documentation “dealing with all categories of weapons, including nuclear.” He also aided UNSCOM to fish out of the Tigris River high-grade missile components prohibited to Iraq. That was exactly what my old Soviet-made “Sãrindar” plan stated he should do in case of emergency: destroy the weapons, hide the equipment, and preserve the documentation. No wonder Saddam hastened to lure Kamel back to Iraq, where three days later he was killed together with over 40 of his relatives in what the Baghdad official press described as a “spontaneous administration of tribal justice.” Once that was done, Saddam slammed the door shut to any UNSCOM inspection.

FP: So was any Sãrindar plan activated?

Pacepa: Certainly. The minimal version of the Sãrindar plan I made for Libya’s Gaddafi. Soon after I was granted political asylum in the US, Gaddafi staged a fire at the secret chemical weapons facility I knew about (the cellar underneath the Rabta chemical complex). To be sure the CIA satellites would notice that fire and cross that target off its list, he created a huge cloud of black smoke by burning truckloads of tires and painting scorch marks on the facility. That was written in the Sãrindar plan. To be on the safe side, Gaddafi also built a second production facility, this time placed some 100 feet underground in the hollowed-out Tarhunah Mountain, south of Tripoli. That was not in the Sãrindar plan.

FP: It is undeniable, therefore, that Saddam had WMDs, right?

Pacepa: In the early 1970s, the Kremlin established a “socialist division of labor” for persuading the governments of Iraq and Libya to join the terrorist war against the US. KGB chairman Yury Andropov (who would later become the leader of the Soviet Union), told me that either of those two countries could inflict more damage on the Americans than could the Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhof group and all other terrorist organizations taken together. The governments of those Arab countries, Andropov explained, not only had inexhaustible financial resources (read: oil), but they also had huge intelligence services that were being run by “our razvedka advisers” and could extend their tentacles to every corner of the earth. There was one major danger, though: by raising terrorism to the state level we risked American reprisal. Washington would never dispatch its airplanes and rockets to exterminate the Baader-Meinhof, but it might well deploy them to destroy a terrorist state. We therefore were also tasked to provide those countries secretly with weapons of mass destruction, because Andropov concluded that the Yankees would never attack a country that could retaliate with such deadly weapons.

Libya was Romania’s main client in that socialist division of labor, because of Ceausescu’s close association with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Moscow kept Iraq. Andropov told me that, if our Iraq and Libyan experiment proved successful, the same strategy would be extended to Syria. Recently, Libya’s Gaddafi admitted to having WMD, and the CIA inspectors found them. Why should we believe that the almighty Soviet Union, which had proliferated WMD all over the world, was not able to do the same thing in Iraq? Every piece of armament Iraq had came from the former Soviet Union—from the Katyusha launchers to the T72 tanks, BMP-1 fighting vehicles and MiG fighter planes. In the spring of 2002, just a couple of weeks after Russia took its place at the NATO table, President Putin and his ex-KGB officers who are now running Russia concluded another $40 billion trade deal with Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical regime in Iraq. That was not for grain or beans—Russia has to import them from elsewhere.

FP: Tell us about the PLO and its connection to the Soviet regime.

Pacepa: The PLO was dreamt up by the KGB, which had a penchant for “liberation” organizations. There was the National Liberation Army of Bolivia, created by the KGB in 1964 with help from Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Then there was the National Liberation Army of Colombia, created by the KGB in 1965 with help from Fidel Castro, which was soon deeply involved in kidnappings, hijackings, bombings and guerrilla warfare. In later years the KGB also created the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which carried out numerous bombing attacks on the “Palestinian territories” occupied by Israel, and the “Secret Army for Liberation of Armenia,” created by the KGB in 1975, which organized numerous bombing attacks against US airline offices in Western Europe.

In 1964 the first PLO Council, consisting of 422 Palestinian representatives handpicked by the KGB, approved the Palestinian National Charter—a document that had been drafted in Moscow. The Palestinian National Covenant and the Palestinian Constitution were also born in Moscow, with the help of Ahmed Shuqairy, a KGB influence agent who became the first PLO chairman. (During the Six-Day War he escaped from Jerusalem disguised as a woman, thereafter becoming such a symbol within the bloc intelligence community that one of its later influence operations—aimed at making the West consider Arafat a moderate—was given the codename “Shuqairy.”) This new PLO was headed by a Soviet-style Executive Committee made up of 15 members who, like their comrades in Moscow, also headed departments. As in Moscow—and Bucharest—the chairman of the Executive Committee became the general commander of the armed forces as well. The new PLO also had a General Assembly, which was the Soviet-inspired name given to all East European parliaments after World War II.

Based on another “socialist division of labor,” the Romanian espionage service (DIE) was responsible for providing the PLO with logistical support. Except for the arms, which were supplied by the KGB and the East German Stasi, everything else came from Bucharest. Even the PLO uniforms and the PLO stationery were manufactured in Romania free of charge, as a “comradely help.” During those years, two Romanian cargo planes filled with goodies for the PLO landed in Beirut every week, and were unloaded by Arafat’s men.

FP: You have discussed your personal knowledge of how Arafat was created and cultivated by the KGB and how the Soviets actually designed him to be the future leader of the PLO. Illuminate this picture for us please.

Pacepa: “Tovarishch Mohammed Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini, nom de guerre Abu Ammar,” was built into a Palestinian leader by the KGB in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli War. In that war Israel humiliated two of the Soviet Union’s most important allies in the Arab world of that time, Egypt and Syria, and the Kremlin thought that Arafat could help repair the Soviet prestige. Arafat had begun his political career as leader of the Palestinian terrorist organization al-Fatah, whose fedayeen were being secretly trained in the Soviet Union. In 1969, the KGB managed to catapult him up as chairman of the PLO executive committee. Egyptian ruler Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was also a Soviet puppet, publicly proposed the appointment.

Soon after that, the KGB tasked Arafat to declare war on American “imperial-Zionism” during the first summit of the Black International, an organization that was also financed by the KGB. Arafat claimed to have coined the word “imperial-Zionism,” but in fact Moscow had invented this battle cry many years earlier, combining the traditionally Russian anti-Semitism with the new Marxist anti-Americanism.

FP: Why has the American and Israeli leadership been deceived so long about Arafat’s criminal and terrorist activities?

Pacepa: Because Arafat is a master of deceit—and I unfortunately contributed to that. In March 1978, for instance, I secretly brought Arafat to Bucharest to involve him in a long-planned Soviet/Romanian disinformation plot. Its goal was to get the United States to establish diplomatic relations with him, by having him pretend to transform the terrorist PLO into a government-in-exile that was willing to renounce terrorism. Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev believed that newly elected US president Jimmy Carter would swallow the bait. Therefore, he told the Romanian dictator that conditions were ripe for introducing Arafat into the White House. Moscow gave Ceausescu the job because by 1978 my boss had become Washington’s most favored tyrant. “The only thing people in the West care about is our leaders,” the KGB chairman said, when he enrolled me in the effort of making Arafat popular in Washington. “The more they come to love them, the better they will like us.”

“But we are a revolution,” Arafat exploded, after Ceausescu explained what the Kremlin wanted from him. “We were born as a revolution, and we should remain an unfettered revolution.” Arafat expostulated that the Palestinians lacked the tradition, unity, and discipline to become a formal state. That statehood was only something for a future generation. That all governments, even Communist ones, were limited by laws and international agreements, and he was not willing to put any laws or other obstacles in the way of the Palestinian struggle to eradicate the state of Israel.

My former boss was able to persuade Arafat into tricking President Carter only by resorting to dialectical materialism, for both were fanatical Stalinists who knew their Marxism by heart. Ceausescu sympathetically agreed that “a war of terror is your only realistic weapon,” but he also told his guest that, if he would transform the PLO into a government-in-exile and would pretend to break with terrorism, the West would shower him with money and glory. “But you have to keep on pretending, over and over,” my boss emphasized.

Ceausescu pointed out that political influence, like dialectical materialism, was built upon the same basic tenet that quantitative accumulation generates qualitative transformation. Both work like cocaine, let’s say. If you sniff it once or twice, it may not change your life. If you use it day after day, though, it will make you into an addict, a different man. That’s the qualitative transformation. And in the shadow of your government-in-exile you can keep as many terrorist groups as you want, as long as they are not publicly connected with your name.

In April 1978 I accompanied Ceausescu to Washington, where he convinced President Jimmy Carter that he could persuade Arafat to transform his PLO into a law-abiding government-in-exile, if the United States would establish official relations with him. Thereupon, President Carter publicly hailed Ceausescu as a “great national and international leader” who had “taken on a role of leadership in the entire international community.”

Three months later I was granted political asylum by the United States, and Romania’s tyrant lost his dream of getting the Nobel Peace Prize. A quarter of a century later, however, Arafat remains in place as the PLO chairman and seems to still be on track with the Kremlin’s game of deception. In 1994, Arafat was granted the Nobel Peace Prize because he agreed to transform his terrorist organization into a kind of government-in-exile (the Palestinian Authority) and pretended, over and over, that he would abolish the articles in the 1964 PLO Covenant that call for the destruction of the state of Israel and would eradicate Palestinian terrorism. At the end of the 1998-99 Palestinian school year, however, all one hundred and fifty new schoolbooks used by Arafat’s Palestinian Authority described Israel as the “Zionist enemy” and equated Zionism with Nazism. Two years after the Oslo Accords were signed, the number of Israelis killed by Palestinian terrorists rose by 73% compared to the two year period preceding the agreement.

FP: There simply can’t be any kind of peace in the Middle East with Arafat at the helm. What advice would you give to American and Israeli diplomats now?

Pacepa: To expose Arafat’s lies and condemn his bloody terrorism, but to avoid being implicated in physical reprisals against him—that would certainly make him a hero with the Palestinians. I strongly suggest the Ceausescu solution. In November 1989, when he was loudly reelected president of Romania, Ceausescu was as popular there as Arafat is now with the Palestinians. A month later, however, Ceausescu was tried for genocide by his own people and executed by his own people. From one day to the next Ceausescu became the symbol of tyranny. Romania turned into a free country, and twelve years later it was invited to join NATO.

FP: Tell us a bit about what you think about the state of the KGB in Russia today. Some say it is experiencing a resurrection. Is this true?

Pacepa: It certainly is. In the last dozen years, Russia has been transformed for the better in unprecedented ways. Nevertheless, that country has a long way to go until it will tear down the legacy of Soviet Communism. As of June 2003, some 6,000 former KGB officers were reportedly holding important positions in Russia’s central and regional governments. Three months later, nearly half of the top governmental positions were also held by former KGB. It is like putting the old, supposedly defeated Gestapo in charge of rebuilding Germany.

Since the fall of Communism the Russians have been faced with an indigenous form of capitalism run by old Communist bureaucrats, speculators and ruthless mafiosi that has widened social inequities and created a decline in industrial production. Therefore, after a period of upheaval, the Russians have gradually—and perhaps thankfully—slipped back into their historical form of government, the traditional Russian samoderzhaviye (autocracy) traceable to the 14th century’s Ivan the Terrible, in which a feudal lord ruled the country with the help of his personal political police. Good or bad, the historically Russian political police may appear to most people in that country as their only defense against the rapacity of the new capitalists at home and the greediness of grasping foreign neighbors.

Russia will never return to Communism—too many Russians perished at the hands of that heresy. But it seems that Russia will not truly turn westward either, at least not under this generation. If history—including that of the last 14 years—is any guide, the Russians, who are now enjoying their regained nationalism, will struggle to rebuild a kind of an Old Russian Empire by inspiring themselves from old Russian traditions and by using old Russian ways and means.

FP: So is Russia a friend or a foe of the United States in the present international environment?

Pacepa: After the Berlin Wall was torn down, I hurried over there to have a look around. The dreaded East German political police was abolished from one day to the next, and its archives were opened to the public. One year later, the Stasi’s outrageous activity was laid bare in a large, impressive museum of freedom. A member of the Berlin parliament told me that the Germans wanted to provide the world with the certitude that the past would never be repeated. To be on the safe side, the German government sold off all the Stasi’s buildings to private companies.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, the new rulers in the Kremlin did not open the archives of the Soviet Union’s political police, but in 1992 they did create their own kind of KGB museum in Moscow, in a dreary gray building behind the Lubyanka. The upper floors remain KGB offices, but the rooms on the ground floor are used for conferences and as a club for retired KGB officers—complete with disco.

On September 11, 2002, numerous former KGB officers gathered at the KGB museum. They had not congregated in order to sympathize with us on the date of our national tragedy, but to celebrate the 125th birthday of Feliks Dzerzhinsky—the man who created one of the most criminal institutions in contemporary history. A few days later, Moscow’s mayor, Yury Lushkov, one of Russia’s most influential politicians, reversed his previous opposition and now said he wanted to restore Dzerzhinsky’s bronze statue to its former place of honor on Lubyanka Square. Just before that, the new Russian president ordered that the statue of Yury Andropov be reinstated at the Lubyanka, from where it had been removed after the KGB coup in 1991. Andropov is indeed the only other KGB officer to have been enthroned in the Kremlin, and it was therefore normal for Putin to pay homage to him. For all his life, Andropov indoctrinated his subordinates to believe that American Imperialism was the main enemy of their country. Now these subordinates are running Russia. It may take another generation until the visceral hatred for the US cultivated by Andropov disappears.

FP: How does Russia fit in the War on Terror? Isn’t there at least a common interest in fighting Islamic terrorism?

Pacepa: September 11, 2001 was directly rooted in a joint Soviet/Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operation conceived in the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli War. The object of this joint operation was to repair Moscow's prestige by turning the Islamic world against Israel and by creating a rabid and violent hatred for its main supporter, the United States. The strategy was to portray the US, this land of freedom, as a Nazi-style "imperial-Zionist country" financed by Jewish money and run by a rapacious "Council of the Elders of Zion" (the Kremlin's epithet for the US Congress), the aim of which was allegedly to transform the rest of the world into a Jewish fiefdom. In other words, the heart of the joint plan was to convert the historical Arab and Islamic hatred of the Jews into a new hatred of the United States. We threw many millions of dollars at this gigantic task, which involved whole armies of intelligence officers.

In the late 1960s, a new element was added to the Soviet/PLO war against Israel and American imperial-Zionism: international terrorism. Before 1969 came to an end, the KGB's Thirteenth Department-known in our intelligence jargon as the Department for Wet Affairs, wet being a euphemism for bloody-invented airplane hijacking. The KGB constantly lectured at us that no one within the

American/Zionist sphere of influence should feel safe anymore. The hijacked airplane became an instrument of Soviet foreign policy-and eventually the weapon of choice for September 11, 2001.

During those years of intensive airplane hijackings, I became amazed at the almost identical pride both Arafat and KGB General Sakharovsky exhibited over their prowess as terrorists. “I invented the hijacking of [passenger] airplanes,” Arafat bragged to me in the early 1970s, when I first met him. A few months later I met with Sakharovsky at his Lubyanka office. He pointed to the red flags pinned onto a world map hanging on his wall. “Look at that,” he said. Each flag represented a plane that had been downed. “Airplane hijacking is my own invention,” he boasted.

Sakharovsky’s subordinates are now reigning in the Kremlin. Until they fully disclose their involvement in creating anti-American terrorism and condemn Arafat’s terrorism, there is no reason to believe they have changed.

FP: Mr. Pacepa. thank you. We are out of time. It was a great honor to speak with you. I hope you will return and join us again.

Pacepa: It was a great pleasure to be with you, and I would be delighted to return.

Jenny

95 posted on 02/15/2006 7:37:45 PM PST by Jenny Hatch (Mommy Blogger)
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An Historical Perspective on Islam

Let’s begin our consideration of these questions with some historical background.

Muhammad, the man who dictated the Koran and gave birth to Islam, was born in Mecca in the Saudi Arabian peninsula in 570 A.D. His father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was six years old. He was raised first by a grandfather and later by an uncle.

Muhammad was illiterate throughout his life. Until the age of 25 he worked in caravans. During his extensive travels, he encountered many Christians and Jews. Through his conversations with them, he picked up bits and pieces of both Judaism and Christianity.

His life was radically changed at age 25 when he met a wealthy widow 40 years old who fell in love with him. Their marriage enabled Muhammad to live a life of leisure from that point on.

Muhammad’s Call
Fifteen years after his marriage, at age 40, Muhammad had a visitation from a spirit. Supposedly, this spirit told him that he was called of God to be a “prophet” and an “apostle.” It is interesting to note that there was no tradition in Arabian religions of either prophets or apostles. These terms were obviously used by Muhammad to appeal to Jews and Christians.

Muhammad continued to have spirit visitations. They would throw him into a trance, and his utterances during the trances were written down by scribes. These ethereal statements became the Koran, but they were not compiled until after Muhammad’s death. When the compilation was made, the utterances were not organized either chronologically or by subject matter. The result was a jumble of disorganized and often incoherent sayings which are frequently contradictory.

For example, the Koran1 gives four conflicting accounts of Muhammad’s call to be a prophet [the word, Sura, means chapter]:

Suras 53 and 81 — God, or Allah as he is called in Arabic, personally appeared to Muhammad.

Suras 16 and 26 — The call was from the Holy Spirit.

Sura 15 — Angels issued the call.

Sura 2 — Gabriel was the one who appeared to him.

Muhammad’s Revelations
At the time Muhammad received his initial visitation, there were over 300 gods being worshiped in Mecca by pilgrims who came there each year to pray at the Ka’aba, a small cubic building that housed a black meteorite and effigies of the various gods. One of those gods was Allah, the moon god.

Muhammad decided to proclaim that there was only one god — and he selected Allah as that god. That’s the reason the crescent moon became the symbol of Islam. Muhammad also proclaimed that he was the prophet of Allah.

Initially, Muhammad expected both Jews and Christians to receive his new revelation. Thus, early passages in the Koran speak admiringly of “the people of the Book.” These are the passages that Muslims in the West love to quote in their effort to prove that Islam is a tolerant religion. An example is Sura 5:82 which says, “You will find that those who are nearest in love to the believers [Muslims] are those who say, ‘We are Christians.’”

Muhammad’s Rejection
But when Jews and Christians rejected Muhammad, he turned fiercely against them, and later passages in the Koran speak of them disparagingly:

Sura 5:51 commands Muslims not to take Jews and Christians as friends.

Sura 9:29 commands Muslims to fight against Jews and Christians until they either submit to Allah or else agree to pay a special tax.

Sura 2:65-66 and Sura 5:60 contain references to Jews as “apes and swine to be despised and rejected.” (Think of that! You can be sure that such a statement did not come from the true God of this universe who selected the Jews to be His Chosen People.)

Jews and Christians were not the only ones who rejected Muhammad’s new revelations. The people of his own tribe, the Quraysh, also rejected him. In response, Muhammad succumbed to the temptation to appease his tribe by announcing that it would be okay for them to worship the three daughters of Allah — named Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat.

This declaration led to the infamous “Satanic verses” of the Koran which were later deleted when Muhammad reverted back to monotheism. Muslims have tried ever since to cover-up this diversion from the faith. You may remember that in 1989 an Indian writer by the name of Salman Rushdie brought up this taboo topic when he wrote a novel entitled, The Satanic Verses. The Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran condemned him and called for his assassination. A three million dollar bounty was placed on his head, and he has been in hiding ever since.

Muhammad’s Trek
The opposition to Muhammad in his home town of Mecca continued to grow until he was forced to flee 250 miles to Medina where his message was received. The Islamic calendar dates from this year when Muhammad fled to Medina and found a receptive audience, resulting in the formal establishment of Islam as a religion. It was the year 622 A.D., and that date represents year one of the Muslim calendar, which is a lunar calendar. The year 2001 is the year 1422 in the Muslim dating system.

After the death of his wife, Muhammad married at least 11 other women (some sources place the total as high as 16). He also took several concubines. He married one girl who was only six years old and had sexual relations with her when she was 9.2 According to the Koran, only the prophet could have unlimited wives. All other Muslim men are limited to four (Sura 4:3).

Muhammad died on June 8, 632 A.D. in Medina at age 63. He left no successor, and Islam soon broke into warring sects such as the Shiites and the Sunnis.

The Spread of Islam
All of those who survived Muhammad took up the sword, as directed by the Koran, and devoted themselves to advancing Islam through military might. The resulting spread of the religion was phenomenal. Within a century, Islamic forces had conquered Saudi Arabia, the entire Middle East, Central Asia, and large parts of India. The armies raged through Egypt and across North Africa, destroying corrupt Byzantine Christianity in their path.

In 710 A.D. the Islamic armies crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and quickly conquered three-fourths of Spain and Portugal. They then invaded France and took one-third of the nation. They were 125 miles from Paris when they were miraculously defeated at the Battle of Poitiers (also known as the Battle of Tours) in 732 A.D. by a French army led by Charles Martel. Their influence in Spain lived on for a few more centuries before they were slowly driven back to North Africa.

A second powerful attempt to subjugate all of Europe was made 900 years later in the 17th Century when the Turks began to expand their Ottoman Empire. They took Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and parts of Romania and Hungary. By 1683 they had reached the gates of Vienna where once again the Western forces won a miraculous victory against overwhelming odds.

Following this second attempt to conquer Europe, Islam fell into a state of depression and stagnation until it was awakened in the 20th Century due to several factors:

The Amassing of Great Wealth — due to the discovery of vast reservoirs of oil in Arab lands.

The Re-establishment of the Nation of Israel — interpreted by Islamic clerics like Khomeini as a judgment of Allah due to Islamic stagnation and apostasy.

The Positioning of U.S. Armed Forces — the placement during the 1990's of American troops throughout the Middle East in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

The Encroachment of Western Culture into the Muslim World — due to the penetration of Western movies, television programs, and consumer goods.

The Cultural Nature of Islam
The encroachment of Western culture cannot be stressed too much. It seems trivial to most Westerners, but that is because of the failure to understand that Islam is a cultural religion that deifies 7th Century Arabian culture.4

Westerners tend to view religion as something intensely personal and private, and not as a cultural phenomenon. For example, Christianity is “supra-cultural” in that it allows people to live, dress and eat in accordance with the culture in which they exist. This is not so with Islam. In Islam there is no “secular realm” that is free of religion. Islam regulates every aspect of life to the point that religion, politics, and culture are inseparable. Islam is thus fueled by a subtle form of racism in which 7th Century Arab culture is to be imposed upon all other cultures.

Here are some examples of the cultural nature of Islam:

Political Structure — The tribalism of 7th Century Arabia is the political structure sanctioned by the Koran. The chief has absolute authority. There is no concept of civil rights. This principle is reflected today in the reality that all Islamic countries are ruled by dictators, and civil liberties, like freedom of speech and religion, do not exist.

Prayer — A Muslim is required to pray five times a day toward Mecca. This is a symbol of the underlying cultural imperialism that lies at the heart of Islam. Think of it — what if all Russian Orthodox throughout the world were required to pray toward Moscow? Or, if all Roman Catholics were required to face Rome when they prayed? What if Evangelical Christians were required to pray toward Jerusalem? Such requirements would imply a cultural attachment to the focal point of prayer.

Pilgrimage — A Muslim is required, despite the hardship and cost, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia once in his lifetime. Again, what if all Christians were required to go to Rome once in their lifetimes?

Dietary Laws — The only foods allowable are those that were acceptable in 7th Century Arabia.

Women — What an illiterate, nomadic tribeswoman wore in the desert in 7th Century Arabia is what is mandated for Muslim women today. The plight of women in Islamic countries today is despicable. They can be kept prisoners in their homes. They cannot appear in public without a covering. They are usually denied the right to vote. They are often denied anything more than a rudimentary education. In strict Islamic countries, women are generally treated as sub-human.5 Sura 4:34 says, “Men are the managers of the affairs of women . . . Those women who are rebellious — admonish them, banish them to their couches, and beat them.”

Punishment — Cruel and unusual punishment is practiced throughout the Islamic world. Incarceration without due process is common. Punishments often include torture, the cutting off of body parts (hands, ears and tongues), the gouging out of eyes, beheading, and public flogging — all representative of 7th Century Arabian culture. The Koran specifically commands that those who disobey Allah are to be tortured (Sura 8:12-14).

Time magazine recently presented a chilling summary of the cultural nature of Islam as it is evidenced in the “moderate” Islamic nation of Saudi Arabia:6

Despite the modernization that took place after the discovery of oil reserves in 1938, Saudi Arabia remains a land where rigid religious and traditional values are strictly enforced. Cinemas and discos are outlawed; men and women are separated in banks, schools, and fast-food restaurants; women must wear veils and are forbidden to drive. Public decency police known as muttawa comb shopping malls searching for women whose loose scarves reveal a curl of hair and forcing store owners to shut during prayer times. Unforgiving Saudi justice is on view after the main prayer every Friday, when a swordsman beheads blindfolded murderers, sorcerers, drug smugglers, and other criminals in Riyadh’s “Chop-chop Square.”

The Spiritual Nature of Islam
Islam is a typical works salvation religion centered around a false god. Its fundamental tenets deny the heart of the Christian Gospel, revealing its demonic origin.

The Koran — As I have already pointed out, the holy book of Islam is riddled with contradictions. Consider, for example, what it says about creation. In one place it asserts that Allah created everything in “the twinkling of an eye” (Sura 54:49-50). Elsewhere it says that the time period of the creation was two days (Sura 41:9, 12); four days (Sura 41:10); six days (Suras 7:54, 10:4, and 32:4); in “a day equaling 1,000 years” (Sura 32:5); and also in “50,000 years” (Sura 70:4). That’s a total of six different time periods!

The Koran contains many scientific errors. A crude example is found in Sura 18:8-86 where it says that Alexander the Great followed the setting of the sun and discovered that it went down into the waters of a muddy spring!

Many Arabian fairy tales about genies are contained in the Koran, and the book is also full of historical errors. It presents Mary the mother of Jesus as the sister of Moses and Aaron (obviously confusing her with their sister, Miriam). The Noahic flood is placed in the time of Moses, and the claim is made that one of Noah’s sons refused to enter the Ark and was drowned.

The Koran also pictures Abraham as offering Ishmael as a sacrifice in Mecca, whereas the biblical account has Abraham offering Isaac on Mt. Moriah in the area that would later become the heart of Jerusalem.

God — The Koran asserts that the god of Islam is the God of Christians and Jews (Sura 29:46). Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The god of Islam, Allah, is most definitely not the God of the Bible. Allah is presented in the Koran as an autocratic ruler who is aloof and arbitrary (Sura 5:40). Allah is unknowable whereas the God of the Bible is knowable (2 Timothy 1:12). Allah is impersonal, unlike the personal God the Scriptures reveal (1 Peter 5:6-7). Allah is unitarian (Sura 4:48) whereas the God of the Bible is trinitarian (2 Corinthians 13:14). Here is what the Koran says about the God of the Bible (Sura 4:171): “Believe in Allah and say not ‘Trinity.’ Cease! It is better for you! Allah is only One God. Far is it removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son.”

Allah is capricious (Sura 2:284), whereas the true God is trustworthy. And Allah is never anywhere presented as a god of love — which is the essence of the nature of the true God (1 John 4:7-16).

Jesus — The Koran denies point blank that Jesus was the Son of God (Sura 112:2-3). It also denies His atoning sacrifice by claiming that he never died (Sura 4:157). A substitute died for Him on the Cross. Jesus was translated to Heaven, like Enoch, where He will remain until He returns to kill all pigs, destroy all crosses, and convert the world to Islam. Jesus will marry, reign for 40 years and then die and be buried next to Muhammad in Medina. Jesus is characterized in the Koran as nothing more than “an apostle of Allah” (Sura 4:171).

Sin — There is no concept of sin in Islam and therefore no need for forgiveness. Shame replaces sin. Everything is a matter of honor verses dishonor. In the Muslim view, man does not need redemption, he only needs some guidance so that he might develop the inherently pure nature with which the Creator has endowed him. If he will be faithful in his prayers, almsgiving and fasting, God is likely to overlook his failures and usher him into Paradise.

Ethics — The situation determines the appropriate action, not a standard of right and wrong. As an example, Al Ghazzali (1058 - 1111), one of the greatest Muslim theologians, wrote: “Know that a lie is not wrong in itself. If a lie is the only way of obtaining a good result, it is permissible. We must lie when truth leads to unpleasant results.”11 The Koran sanctions revenge: “If anyone transgresses . . . against you, transgress likewise against him” (Sura 2:194).

Salvation — Islam is a religion of works. One obtains favor with Allah by performing the five pillars of the faith:

Reciting the creed that there is one god, Allah, and his prophet is Muhammad.

Praying five times a day toward Mecca.

Giving alms to the poor.

Fasting from sunrise to sunset one month a year during the month of Ramadan.

Making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Another way to reach Paradise is to die fighting for Allah (Sura 3:157).

Islam is so works oriented that it teaches that good deeds cancel bad ones (Sura 11:114). In contrast to all this emphasis on works, the true Word of God teaches that it is impossible to earn salvation because it is a gift of God’s grace that is received through faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Heaven — The Islamic Paradise is a place of sensual pleasure consisting of gluttonous feasts and endless sex orgies (Suras 52:17-24; 55:54-56; and 78:32-34).

The Intolerant and Militant Nature of Islam
One of the most controversial issues regarding Islam concerns whether or not it is a militant religion. Muslims in the West argue it is peace-loving. Westerners who have experienced it in the Muslim world argue it is inherently intolerant and militant.

The Koran itself preaches intolerance toward other religions. Sura 5 contains the following command: “Take not Jews and Christians for friends... He among you who takes them for friends is one of them... Choose not for friends such of those who received the Scripture before you [Jews and Christians].. But keep your duty to Allah” (verses 51, 55, 57). Extreme intolerance is commanded in Sura 5:33 — “[For those who do not submit to Allah] their punishment is . . . execution or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet, from the opposite sides, or exile from the land.”

The Koran also expresses an intolerant attitude toward any person who decides to reject the Islamic faith or convert to another religion. Such persons are to be executed (Sura 9:12). In the Hadith (the oral tradition of Muhammad’s sayings) it says “Whoever changes his religion, kill him” (Hadith 9:57). These commands are practiced in all Islamic Fundamentalist countries today.

With regard to militancy, the Koran not only condones it, it commands it:

Fighting is prescribed for you, and [some of] you dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knows, and you know not (Sura 2:216).

Fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war (Sura 9:5).

Fight in the way of Allah . . . and slay them [the unbelievers] wherever you find them and drive them out . . . and fight them until . . . religion is for Allah (Sura 2:190-193).

Muhammad is quoted in the Hadith as saying, “The sword is the key of heaven and hell. A drop of blood in the cause of Allah — a night spent in arms [war] — is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven, and at the day of judgment, his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim.”

Muslim Propaganda
Muslims living in Western democracies try to defend their religion by quoting Sura 2:256 which says, “There is no compulsion in religion.”

In evaluating this very lonely verse in the Koran, you need to keep in mind first that it was written before Muhammad was rejected by Jews, Christians and his fellow Arabs — before he fled to Medina and started responding in hatred to all his detractors. But even more important is the fact that Islamic teachers themselves argue that this verse was later abrogated, either by the words or actions of Muhammad.

Some argue that the verse was abrogated by Muhammad’s later orders for his troops to fight until unbelievers were compelled to surrender to Islam.

Others argue it was abrogated by Sura 9:73 which says, “O Prophet, struggle with the unbelievers and hypocrites, and be harsh with them.”

A third group argues that the words of the verse do not mean what they seem to say. They argue the words mean that religion cannot be used to force someone to do something evil, but compelling people to accept the truth of Allah is a religious duty.

A fourth group of Islamic clerics accepts the words to mean what they say, but they argue that they were part of Allah’s strategy to advance Islam. While Muslims were weak, Allah spoke through Muhammad and told them to tolerate infidels. But when the Muslims became strong, Allah commanded them to cease being tolerant and attack and subdue the infidels.

The bottom line is that regardless of the explanation, the result is the same — the verse has been abrogated, and infidels must embrace Islam or face death.

Muslims sometimes counter by pointing to the intolerance and violence that have characterized both Jews and Christians at certain times in their histories. They point to the slaughter of the Canaanites when the Jews took the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. And, of course, they point to the Christian Crusades in the Middle Ages. Using these examples, they accuse Jews and Christians of being hypocritical in attacking the intolerance and violence of Islam today.

With regard to the Jews, this argument ignores the fact that God used them as an instrument of His judgment against the tribes living in Canaan — just as He later used the Assyrians and Chaldeans to judge the Jews (Genesis 15:16; Leviticus 18:24-25; Deuteronomy 9:5). He never told the Jews to conquer the world for Him, and He provided them with precise instructions as to how they were to treat aliens who might wish to live among them. They were to be treated with dignity and were to be provided with justice (Leviticus 19:17, 33 and Deuteronomy 27:19). Even more, the Jews were commanded to love their neighbors as they loved themselves (Leviticus 19:18).

Regarding the Christian Crusades, they were an aberration in Christian history based upon perverted Catholic doctrine and not upon any biblical injunction. In contrast, the intolerance and violence that have characterized Islam throughout its history are firmly rooted in the Koran.

What a contrast all the ghastly commands of Muhammad are to the loving words of Jesus who told Christians:

“Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

“Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).

“Do not judge, lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1).

“However you want people to treat you, so treat them” (Matthew 7:12).

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39).

“This is my commandment that you love one another” (John 15:12, 17).

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

And what a contrast it is between the admonition of Muhammad to conquer for Allah with the sword and Jesus’ exhortation to go forth in peace and appeal to people’s hearts through the preaching of the Gospel, relying on the persuasive power of God’s Holy Spirit.

The Imperialistic Nature of Islam
From its inception, Islam has been committed to what it calls jihad — a word meaning holy war. The duty of Muslims is to subjugate or destroy “infidels” — the term the Koran uses for all non-believers.

In the Muslim viewpoint, the world is divided into two regions — those areas controlled by Islam, called Dar al-Islam (meaning the House of Islam) and those called Dar al-Harb (the House of War). The Koran commands Muslims to fight non-Muslims until they exterminate all other religions, leaving Islam as the one and only religion in the world (Suras 2:193 and 8:39). Muhammad is quoted in the Hadith as saying, “I have been ordered to fight with the people until they say, none has the right to be worshiped but Allah” (Hadith 4:196).

Regarding terror, Allah orders Muslims to terrorize non-Muslims on his behalf: “Strike terror (into the hearts of ) the enemies of Allah and your enemies” (Sura 8:60). Allah then assures his followers that he will assist them: “I will instill terror into the hearts of unbelievers. Smite them above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them. It is not you who slay them, it is Allah” (Sura 8:12, 17).

Concerning jihad, the Koran guarantees Paradise to those who fight for Allah (Sura 4:74). It promises instant Paradise for those who die in battle (Suras 9:111 and 47:5-6). Dying for Allah is presented as better than living: “And if you are killed or die in the Way of Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are far better than all that others may amass [of worldly wealth]” (Sura 3:157).

Martyrs are promised a sensual and luxurious life in Paradise (Sura 52:17-22). According to Al-Ghazzali, one of Islam’s greatest teachers, when a martyr reaches Paradise, he “will marry 500 companions, 4,000 virgins, and 8,000 divorced women.” Commenting on this statement, Randall Price, biblical teacher and Middle East expert, observed that the Islamic Paradise is “just the kind of place that adolescent, unmarried men, isolated through their lives from the opposite sex by rigid cultural standards, would die for.”

Islamic Sermons

The murderous imperialistic nature of Islam is clearly revealed in the sermons delivered weekly throughout the Muslim world. Consider the following excerpt from a sermon by Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi that was broadcast live over Palestinian television on June 8, 2001. Referring to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that had killed 21 Israeli teenagers the week before, he praised the terrorists: “Blessings to whoever waged jihad for the sake of Allah. Blessings to whoever raided for the sake of Allah. Blessings to whoever put a belt of explosives on his body, or on his son’s body, and plunged into the midst of the Jews, crying, ‘Allahu Akbar!’ Praise to Allah!”

Then he expressed the imperialistic aims of Islam by issuing warnings to nations that would be “erased:” “Allah is almighty . . . We must prepare the ground for the army of Allah that is coming according to [divine] predestination. We must prepare a foothold for them. Allah is willing for this unjust state of Israel to be erased. The unjust state, the United States, will be erased. The unjust state, Britain, will be erased.”

A similar sermon was delivered the previous year on October 13, 2000, by Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya. It too was carried live on Palestinian television. He proclaimed that the true terrorists are the Jews “who must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty has said.” He called for Muslims to have no mercy on the Jews: “Fight them wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them, . . . and kill those Americans who are like them — who stand by them.” As an incentive to carry out these murderous exhortations, the cleric added: “O brothers in belief, the beautiful bride has a costly price and dowry . . . Our bride is Paradise. O brothers in belief . . . the cost of the dowry of this bride . . . is that we fight in the path of Allah, and kill and be killed.”

Keep in mind that these are quotes from sermons! Can you imagine a Jewish rabbi or a Christian minister urging their congregations to go out and kill a Muslim for God?

Fundamentalist Goals
The Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran was the modern day Islamic spokesman who revived Muhammad’s vision of world conquest. He taught that the re-establishment of Israel was a Satanic miracle allowed by Allah because of the lukewarmness of the Muslim masses. He called for a renewal of true Islam to accomplish three purposes:

To overthrow the “secular” rulers of Islamic countries (like Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt), just as he had done in Iran.

To take back the land of Palestine for Allah, exterminating Israel in the process.

To conquer the rest of the world for Allah.

Notice the first priority was the transformation of secular Islamic countries into religious states ruled by the Koran. Then would come Israel and the world.

In a proclamation made by Osama bin Laden in 1998, he listed the same goals and prioritized them in the same order. He then identified the United States as the prime obstacle to the achievement of these goals. Accordingly, he called on Muslims everywhere “to comply with Allah’s order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it.”

It is important to note that the eradication of Israel is not the top priority. Nor is Israel viewed as the major obstacle to world conquest. I emphasize this because many Americans are saying that the key to winning the war against terrorism is to dump Israel. More and more, on radio talk shows, I hear people saying, “Let’s cut Israel loose. Let the Arabs have it. Then they will leave us alone.”

That is utter nonsense. Israel is not the cause of Islamic terrorism toward the West. If Israel were to disappear tomorrow, Fundamentalist Islam would still be determined to destroy America as part of its plan to take the world for Allah. And if we were to abandon Israel, the Muslim world would interpret it as an act of cowardice, proving our word is meaningless and that we truly are, as they say, “a depraved society devoid of values.” Our abandonment of Israel would only whet their appetite. Islamic Fundamentalism cannot be appeased. It must be defeated.

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