Before revealing what the Qur’an and Hadith have to say about Muhammad and Islam, I’d like to clear up a few inevitable misconceptions. First, on Muslims—I love you in spite of your beliefs and deeds. I would like nothing more than to free you from Islam. I agree with Renan, the famed scholar, who, after dedicating himself to understanding Islamic scripture, wrote: “Muslims were the first victims of Islam. Many times I have observed in my travels that fanaticism comes from a small number of dangerous men who maintain others in the practice of this religion by terror. To liberate the Muslim from his religion is the best service that one can render him.”
Second, on Christians, you—we—are responsible for the awful mess the world is in. We have turned a personal relationship with our Creator into an emasculated religion, confused and aimless. In the name of that religion, we have perpetrated inhumanities. Today, for fear of appearing hateful we are apparently willing to let a billion people live in virtual slavery, perishing in ignorance and poverty. Tolerance of evil is not a Christian virtue. We are called to be discerning.
Third, on Jews—I love you in spite of yourselves. Fourteen centuries ago your forefathers sold Bible stories to Muhammad and then mocked him when he goofed them up. By doing so you manufactured your own enemy. Now, you are a divided people, unsure whether to appease or fight the terror you helped inspire. As the world’s most lettered people, I fear that you understand less than you know. I pray that you come to trust your God before it is too late.
Fourth, on secular humanists, liberals, and agnostics—you are guilty of the very things you denounce in others. History is as condemning of man separating himself from God as it is of man-made religions establishing themselves as intermediaries to God. The last hundred years have been especially indicting; atheistic doctrines have annihilated more people than all religions combined. Truth is not relative. Yet in today’s media, secular humanists judiciously edit under the guise of enlightenment. While irritating, this practice is particularly lethal as it relates to Islam. The errant recasting of the religion as peaceful, the reshaping of jihad into a spiritual struggle, the impression you convey that Islam is tolerant and that the terrorists have corrupted their religion, is wrong. Thousands have died in the wake of your illusions.
Fifth, on Islam itself—without deceit and sword, Islam would have been stillborn. An infinitesimal fraction of the one billion people subservient to Islam today actually chose their fate. In Mecca, fourteen hundred years ago, after a decade of preaching, as few as fifty men chose to follow Muhammad. But that all changed in Medina. There, according to the Qur’an and Hadith, Muhammad became a political tyrant, a terrorist, and a thief. His willingness to lead seventy-five armed raids against defenseless civilians swelled his ranks as swiftly as the spoils of “war” filled his pockets.
Deserves another bump.