Saudi Sermon: Time for Christians and Jews to Convert to Islam

Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia TV1 in Arabic, official television station of the Saudi Government, carries on February 27, 2004 at 0945 GMT a live sermon from the holy mosque in Mecca.

Shaykh Salih Bin-Muhammad Al Talib delivers the sermon, which he devotes to the story of genesis and the heavenly messages brought by the prophets, beginning with Adam and ending with Prophet Muhammad and the message of Islam. All heavenly religions, he asserts, came with one message -- worship of God.

"Therefore," the imam says, "is it not time the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] pondered and acknowledged that Islam is a continuation of the messages that came before it and that it is the religion that God has chosen for the whole of mankind?" "From the time of Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, until the Day of Judgment, God will not accept any other religion or creed," the imam says and cites the Koranic verse: "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost."

Continuing, the imam says: "Have you not noticed that in the past 15 centuries history has not recorded that one single Muslim religious scholar has entered Judaism or Christianity? On the other hand, history records with letters of light the columns of rabbis and priests who have converted to Islam and linked their messages with its final message, which God has chosen for all mankind."

The imam makes this appeal: "Therefore, from the fountain of the message, the site of its revelation, and the pulpit of the house [ka'bah], which was built by Abraham and to which Moses and Jesus, peace be upon them, made pilgrimage, I make a sincere appeal along with our Prophet Muhammad's message to non-Muslims and say: Embrace Islam so as to be peaceful. Embrace Islam so as to be peaceful. Embrace Islam so that God would reward you twice. Otherwise, you, and those that follow you out of ignorance would have to account for your sin. It is an appeal to accept the truth and study Islam; the correct Islam that the prophet of guidance, Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, has brought; Islam as it really is, free of innovations and distortions; the Islam that is innocent of human violations and the errors made by some of its followers." The imam then reads this Koranic verse: "Say: "O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah. If then they turn back, Say ye: Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims bowing to Allah's will)."

The imam continues with the same theme in the second sermon. He says: "What has caused misery to mankind in these times of confused ideas is when some politicians hijacked religions and used them as a means to suppress others and a tool to dominate the followers of other faiths. This is what world Zionism did to Judaism. This is also what the so-called secular governments did to Christianity. They coerced peoples and occupied states by religious motives and claims of religiousness. And, although they deny these motives in their statements, they come out in their slips of the tongue and are unequivocally explained by their statements. The clerics in those religions are called upon to clearly say that they do not approve the behavior of their governments and that what is happening is not advocated by their religions so that their followers who are used in these attacks, those who think they are doing a good thing and getting closer God, would know that they are mere tools in the hands of the politicians serving their reckless whims, which are not curbed by religion or morals. These people's [clerics] silence and shy statements would only lead to the conflict or clash of civilizations. The racial segregation wall, which usurps Muslim lands in Palestine, is one example."

The imam says: "O Muslims, and now a final word on the roots. It is the duty of Muslims to strongly uphold their religion. The nation of Islam must believe that it is the only one on the right path, that Islam is the last of religions, that the Koran is the last of the Books and most importantly, that Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, is the last of the apostles, that the Islamic law [shari'a] is a copy of their laws, and that God will not accept any other religion. Thus, it is impermissible to concede any of that even if at the cost of our lives. We say this at a time when some defeatists have weakened and called for mixing distorted scriptures with Islamic religion under the claim of bringing religions closer to one another. We say it also at a time when some people's faith is so weak as to believe that everyone is correct. This began from the statements uttered by some and the behavior and theses written by others. It is as if they did not hear God's words: "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never it will be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost."

The imam says: "If we are to renew the religious discourse, we must go back to the roots. This means going back to the Koran and the Sunnah. O God, show us the truth and help us to follow it, and show us falsehood and help us to avoid it. Please know ye, may God have mercy on you, that fasting on the 10th day in the month of Muharram [the first month of the new Hegira year, which began on 21 February 2004] atones for the sins of the two previous years. Fast on that day and also on the day before or after it. This is the tradition of your Prophet Muhammad, May the peace and blessings of God be upon him. He fasted on this day to thank God for saving Moses and his people and drowning the Pharaoh and his people. It is a strange paradox that this happy occasion has been transformed by a Muslim faction into continuous mourning and ceaseless wailing, in a picture that clearly shows ignorance of religion and following misleading persons without a good reason. O Ye, correct the path to God and follow the guidance of the prophet."

The imam concludes with a prayer to God to support Islam and Muslims, defeat the tyrants, atheists, and corrupt. He also prays to God to keep this and other Muslim countries safe and secure. He prays: "O God, spare us the evils of sins, earthquakes, and seditions, both the open and secret. O God, whoever wishes Islam and Muslims and their lands evil, busy him with himself, turn his plot against him, and make his plans destroy him. O God, support your religion, Book, the Sunnah of Your prophet, and your faithful subjects. O God, save oppressed Muslims everywhere. O God, support the mujahidin for your sake. O God, support them in Palestine and everywhere." The imam also prays to God to grant success to the king and his brothers in their endeavors for the wellbeing of the country and people.

I suppose I should mention that he prays for our whole church; receiving answers to those prayers is what we call revelation. Each of us can do the same for ourselves and our families. So can you. If you are a Christian, and you've ever prayed to know if you should take a job, or go on a trip, or date a particular guy or girl, or get baptized, and gotten an answer, you have experienced revelation. The answer to one such prayer is why I joined the church in the first place, and to others is why I stay.

The scripture we base this on is James 1:5. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him."

"It seems to me that by the "logic" that muslims use, that muhamed and the koran came after the bible, thereby replacing it, then all the muslims should convert to Mormons, since Joseph Smith came about later than muhamed... Or Scientology, since L. Ron Hubbard came even later on..."

I don't know, we have a church nearby that's been around since the early 1980's called the "Lord of Life" Church started by Mark somebody-or-other. I think everybody should convert to that religion (whatever religion it is). (Actually, I know some people who attend that church, and they are the 'salt of the earth'.)

Islam is the most dysfunctional religion around. Notice that many of those in our society who convert to it seem to be a bit dysfunctional themselves? It seems to pick up converts in prison. Could the violent, militant message of islam be one that attracts them?

I concur that there is little if anything in Christianity that is 'unique.' You will find not only Christmas trees and yule logs in religious traditions prior to Christianity but even such conceptions or practices as trinitarian godheads, crucified saviors, dying & rising god-men, baptismal rites, sacred suppers, etc. With the Church Fathers, with such contemporary figures as C.S. Lewis, I would argue that Christianity is the myth that came true.

The Lutheran Churches in Germany were coopted by Nazism. The 'two kingdoms' idea allowed them to have difficulty in opposing an evil and corrupt regime, but Lutheranism did not create National Socialism. It did not create its rites. Only so far as Lutheranism and Christianity's historic teachings were ignored could policies of eugenics, total war, the leader principle and so forth be implemented.

So, my assertion that Nazism was pagan rather than Christian should simply be understood as a reminder that the essential tenets of Nazism were in opposition to Christian teachings, not rooted in the New Testament. You will not find any exhortations in the Gospels, for instance, to gas Jews or launch out on wars of conquest for the sake of Christ. Individual Christians and even elements of the larger Church have corrupted or ignored Scripture and the better instincts of the Church in order to sin in such ways, but war, aggression, atheistic evolution, racism, are not necessary elements of the Christian faith and there is much in the sacred writings, Church tradition, etc. to oppose such things.

So finally, my critique settles on Islam. There is no comparison with Christianity. The false prophet with dark sayings, a pedophile and coniving warrior cannot be compared with the Prince of Peace who came to bear witness to the passionate love of God for humanity - willing even to suffer the cross for the sake of the beloved.

The militant and authoritarian nature of Islam is rooted in the Quran; it is seen in the historical origins of Islam; it is witnessed in the history of that sad religion - Islam is violent, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, anti-'everyone else but Muslims.' Moderate and liberal Muslims, and I don't deny such good men and women exist, are an exception to the rule and develop some moderation only in so far as they ignore their own holy book.

You make the point very well yourself. Chivington is one example in a two thousand year history of such examples - beginning with St. Peter and continuing on to you and I - Christians individually and corporately can sin; can forget the teachings of Christ; can ignore the Scriptures; we can turn our backs on Christ, deny him and wound, hurt, kill other people in thought, word and deed. When we do so, we are not being 'good Christians' and are not acting as disciples of Christ.

When a Muslim harbors anti-Jewish thoughts or runs a plane into an office building or ignites a suicide bomb in an Isareli pizza parlor - they are only being true to their own prophet and perverse conception of the deity. They find more than a little justification in the Quran and in the history of their religion.

Islam is a religion of holocaust - it has been throughout its history because that is the nature of the beast. Even our friendly Turks committed horrific genocide against the first Christian nation in the rape and destruction of Armenia & that in the modern era.

Read what the Lutheran religion teaches:

This is my reply to you and to him. It is not my purpose to quarrel with the Jews, nor to learn from them how they interpret or understand Scripture; I know all of that very well already. Much less do I propose to convert the Jews, for that is impossible. Those two excellent men, Lyra and Burgensis, together with others, truthfully described the Jews' vile interpretation for us two hundred and one hundred years ago respectively. Indeed they refuted it thoroughly. However, this was no help at all to the Jews, and they have grown steadily worse.

Posted with the understanding that this is Martin Luthers words.

There are endless mohammedan clerics issuing fatwahs in favor of killing Christians, Jews and anyone else, even other muslims in terroristic ways. Tell me of any mohammedan cleric who has issued a fatwah condemning terrorism. Islam has decided that now is the time to attack the non-islamic world and even the islamic people who have gotten beyond the stone age. Actually, it is about time for islam to die. Your mullahs are deciding that for the rest of you. We have democracy and decide life and death issues for ourselves. You have semiliterate mullahs deciding for you. You have a backward society because of them and because you have a belief system that is counterproductive, not only in modern times, but in every time. Each civilization you have overturned was more advanced than yours afterward.
Here's hoping we're going to get it on. and see who is left standing.

You paint with a very broad brush.

islam's fundamentals are the same whether sunni or shiite, they are both based upon the koran. The koran calls for jihad whether being studied by either sect. Terrorism has come from both shiite and sunnis (think about the 70's and 80's shiite terrorism).

Islam is evil to its core. Study the religion for yourself, don't let others tell you what it says and demands. There is enough garbage in the koran to let you know of its evil without the sunnahs, it just adds to the evil.

Yes, that makes me anti-islamic which has nothing to do with race.

Madam, you are mistaken. There are some who claim to be Muslims who are as you describe, but not by any means all of them. That is like the islamofacists claiming all Christians are alike. Total BS.

Anti-semitism is a form of racism, and Arabs, who are a large percentage of the world's Muslims, are Semites, just like the Jews. The KKK is also unfond of Catholics, and Jews, in case you hadn't noticed.

As for studying the religion, I have. I lived in Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, and Morocco, and among the Turks and other immigrant workers, many of them Muslim, in Germany, as well.

Like Christianity, Islam is not, in itself, evil, although, again like Christianity, there are evil people in it. The same book which brought the world the Quakers also brought the Inquisition, as it is all just a matter of interpretation. Do you know the historical reason for the split between Northern Baptists and Southern Baptists? There are many other "doctrinal differences" between the various sects of Christianity based on differing interpretations of the one foundational text. Islam has the same problem. The split between Shia and Sunni happened before Mohammed was completely cold in his grave. There have been numerous other splits in that religion, since then. If you were to say the Wahhabi were evil to the core, I might be inclined to agree with you, but even they must have SOME good people. I haven't met any of them, but I won't take that as proof that there aren't any. I knew when I decided to shoot my Southern Baptist minister stepfather if he beat up my mom again, when I was 12, that not all Baptists, or even all Southern Baptists, were evil. Just some of them. Heck, if you want to say the Imam who this thread is about is evil, I would happily agree with you. But: Broad brush I said, broad brush I meant. If the shoe fits, wear it.

"There are endless mohammedan clerics issuing fatwahs in favor of killing Christians, Jews and anyone else, even other muslims in terroristic ways. Tell me of any mohammedan cleric who has issued a fatwah condemning terrorism. Islam has decided that now is the time to attack the non-islamic world and even the islamic people who have gotten beyond the stone age. Actually, it is about time for islam to die. Your mullahs are deciding that for the rest of you. We have democracy and decide life and death issues for ourselves. You have semiliterate mullahs deciding for you. You have a backward society because of them and because you have a belief system that is counterproductive, not only in modern times, but in every time. Each civilization you have overturned was more advanced than yours afterward.
Here's hoping we're going to get it on. and see who is left standing."

There have been Muslim clerics opposing the fatwahs against Christians and Jews, etc. Not very many of them, unfortunately, it is true. However, in case you weren't aware of it, ANY Imam can issue a Fatwah in his own name, without consulting with any other Muslim cleric. Do an internet search, and read through the stuff, and you'll find them. You will have to wade through a lot of hateful stuff, too, I'm afraid. My question for you is: what makes you call them MY mullahs? I'm a Mormon, not a Muslim. I've lived in several Muslim countries, and visited a lot of their religious sites in Turkey, where all such are open to the public. I'm telling you that not all Muslims are evil. I am not telling you that there aren't some who are. Relative to the population of our country, there may well be a whole lot of them who ARE evil. That is still a small portion of the total Muslim population of the world. The ones we need to watch out for, and hunt down and kill, are the Taliban, some of the the Wahabbi, and some others like them. You want to keep an eye on the rest, you won't hear me complain about it, but I think most of the Christian nations of the world bear watching, too.

No sir, I am not mistaken. I have studied the religion and know what it teaches. Unlike Christianity or Judism it teaches its followers they should KILL non-muslims, lets not go into other things like what it teaches about women. Islam is evil in the extreme.

I do not know what you are a student of but it is evident you know nothing of what was going on in the Church through out history (Dark Ages the Church was not following the teachings in the Bible and the people had no clue, gee I wonder why it was called the Dark Ages, Reformation brought about the Bible being able to be read by the people and thus Protestantism (Protesters of the Catholic Church which brought the Catholic Church much closer to Biblical teachings)). I begin to wonder what you know about islam or whether you are a convert and are here to lie about what islam actually teaches. To bad we in the West can read.

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I'll Convert the Day They Sell Ice in Hell!