Posted on 06/05/2004 7:21:49 PM PDT by nuconvert
Taking Back Islam - Moderate Muslims say their faith is compatible with Freedom.
By Erick Stakelbeck & Nir Boms
June 03, 2004
There's an elephant in the room whenever the current U.S. operation in Iraq is discussed: Is Islam truly compatible with democracy? Or do the U.S.'s troubles in stabilizing Iraq signal that Muslims simply have no desire to live in a free, democratic society?
Right now the answers to these questions are unclear. For every modern Islamic "success story" like Turkey or Malaysia, there are Islamist nightmares like Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In the United States, too, there is reason for uncertainty. American Muslims with moderate views have been either unable or unwilling to engage in public discourse. As a result, militant groups with a moderate veneer have been able to set the tone.
A patriotic group of Arizona Muslims, however, is looking to change all that.
Earlier this spring in Phoenix, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) held a "Rally Against Terror" that gave moderate Muslims a platform on which to condemn terrorism and pledge support for the United States.
Identified by the Arizona Republic as "the nation's first Muslim rally against terrorism," the 50-minute event drew, according to various estimates, between 250 and 400 people, most of them non-Muslims.
Considering that the event was actively promoted within Phoenix's 50,000-strong Muslim community, that number is a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, AIFD Chairman Zuhdi Jasser says the rally was a positive first step for the group, which was founded in March 2003 by Muslim professionals in the Phoenix area.
"When the moderates stay silent, the radicals speak for everyone," says Jasser, a physician. "Up until now, moderates have not been articulating a moderate form of Islam which Americans can embrace. We want to take back our faith from the radicals and let them know that we are side-by-side with the U.S."
Listening to Jasser, the son of Syrian immigrants, is a breath of fresh air at a time when anti-American sentiment engulfs a large part of the Arab and Muslim world. A former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander who served as a Navy medical officer from 1988 to 1999, Jasser clearly loves his country and his faith, and sees no reason why the two cannot coexist.
"Our inspiration for this is two things," says Jasser. "Number one, at the core of the war on terror is a battle over ideology. World War II had fascism, the Cold War had Communism. Our present war has the targeting and killing of civilians in the name of religion: Islam. There needs to be a Muslim voice that speaks directly against that ideology. Secondly, there is a lack of any American Islamic institution that discusses the synergy of the U.S. Constitution with the Islamic faith. This makes it an obligation for us to be leaders in promoting a form of Islam that is tolerant and secular in nature."
Jasser is quick to clarify his use of the word "secular."
"Secularism as a term is almost associated with a lack of piety," he says. "What I'm trying to say is that in America, there are many devout people who are politically active. But we don't make decisions here based on theocracy or religious views."
The values that Jasser and AIFD are promoting are deeply rooted in the American experience. Jasser is confident that Muslims in the U.S. will eventually embrace his message and realize that, as he says, "Freedom brings you closer to God."
For now, though, Jasser realizes that views like the ones he expressed in a May 25 op-ed for azcentral.com aren't likely to endear him to the al-Jazeera crowd. In the piece, titled "Iraq is Your War," Jasser listed four reasons why the U.S. is currently fighting abroad:
It is impossible to keep America safe by just playing defense.
The Middle East is the epicenter of the terror network.
Despotic governments bring out the worst in religion.
Change the political environment in the Middle East and we change the associated religious pathology.
"Over half of the Muslim immigrants in the U.S. came here in the past 25 years," says Jasser. "And many of them bring with them the baggage that government coercion and autonomy are necessary, just as in their former countries. We want to educate them and let them know that is not the case."
It would help if U.S. government officials and the mainstream media took notice of AIFD's efforts, rather than continuing to promote the agendas of radical Muslims with anti-American views. AIFD is attempting to increase its visibility through its website and by holding future anti-terrorism rallies.
By supporting the endeavors of AIFD and other moderate Muslim organizations, the U.S. may yet be able to avert the clash of civilizations simmering in its own backyard.
Nir Boms is a fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Council for Democracy and Tolerance. Erick Stakelbeck is senior writer for the Investigative Project, a Washington, D.C.-based counterterrorism research institute.
Well, sort of, but not in the way Christianity had a reformation. We went back to our roots ... back to the teachings of Jesus.
In that sense, islam has already had its reformation. What islam needs is a deformation - something that would radically change it from its original form.
ISTANBUL, October 27 (Compass) -- An Egyptian Coptic Christian teenager kidnapped a month ago by Muslims who claim she's converted to Islam is being refused direct access to her Christian family, her elder brother near Cairo asserted today.
Read the full thread - listed.
Read the beheadings of Buddists, Sudanese, forced conversion - they call it reconverts as they think we were all Muslims since the beginning. If you don't convert you die - it's that simple. Look at the churchs they're burning - they shoot into churches and kill all within - I could go on but you know that anyway. The proof is there - don't be fooled. Follow your gut - GOD HOLE!
Well they hav'nt studied very hard..
Studying Qu'ran and the Hadiths <<- where the Qu'ran comes from
is crotch'ology.. and you're mind must be wiped often,
Theres so much bull sperm in those volumns it would fill a cow. Qu'ran MUST be studied until ALL the comedy comes out..
The majority of people in hell are women. Mohammed said, "I was shown the Hell-fire and that the majority of its dwellers are women. SURAH..Vol. 1:28, 301; & Vol. 2:161; & Vol. 7:124
Qur'an tells to kill unbelievers in these surahs 9:5- 2:191-2-193-3:118-4:75,76-5:84-4:104-5:33-5:51-5:57-5:80.81-8:12-8:13-8:14-8:50-8:65-9:23-9:38.39-9:42-9:49-9:73-9:123-21: 109-21:52-27:69.60-31:21-33:60.61
Mohammed referred to Blacks as "Pugnosed Raisin Heads". (Sahih Al Bukhary vol. 1, no. 662 and vol. 9, no. 256)
(Sahih Al-Bukhari Volume 4, Book 54, Number 516) Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "If anyone of you rouses from sleep and performs the ablution, he should wash his nose by putting water in it and then blowing it out thrice, because Satan has stayed in the upper part of his nose all the night."
Then it's hopeless! God alone can do it.
It's a book of PURE HATE - EVILhate!!!!!
It's a book of PURE HATE - EVILhate!!!!!
It's a book of PURE HATE - EVIL!!!
The Quran itself instructs the followers to Islam to judge unlike Christianity who's prophet tells us 'not to judge lest we be judged'.
Oops - thought I'd caught it on time to fix the error! Bed time I guess...
Look at memri.org to see what they're saying about us - what their clergy are telling them to do to us.
Not too religious but I can recognise this as the devil.
I've seen some "devilish" things advocated by some "good" Christians, which is as much, or of a greater concern to me. I believe fear is the last thing which should guide one's hand during a time of great tribulation.
Plurality elections that later form coalitions to form a government are very common, but very unstable. Also, having many minority parties creates a lot of turnover in leadership and doesn't tend to develop high quality, talented leaders. They tend to be tempramental and self interested ideologues that don't think of their countries best interests.
I think politics works best when the basic contest is between equality/social justice versus freedom/empowerment.
Hot of the Press
Religion of "Peace"
TEHRAN - Thousands of Iranians have signed up for suicide attacks on Israel, U.S.-led forces in Iraq and British author Salman Rushdie, a recruiting group said on Saturday. ...
The father of Irans 1979 Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, condemned Rushdie to death in 1989 for alleged blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses.
Some 10,000 people have registered their names to carry out martyrdom operations on our defined targets, said Mohammad Ali Samadi, a spokesman for the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign. But he said the group would need the green light from Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to launch the attacks.
The independent group said it started to register Iranian men and women prepared to carry out the attacks after Friday prayers last week and sent forms to religious universities. Our targets are mainly the occupying American and British forces in the holy Iraqi cities, all the Zionists in Palestine, and Salman Rushdie, he said.
It is not our fault that the Zionists have brought their wives and children to the occupied territories and have turned them into shields for themselves, he added, when asked about the killing of civilians. [Notice the rudimentary awareness of the concept of human shields ... just enough awareness to twist the definition and use it as a rhetorical weapon against Israel. ed.]
Salman Rushdie is the only non-military target for us, because we believe his attack against Islam was much worse than a military assault, the spokesman said.
Hardline cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati urged worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran to attack U.S. and British interests.
It is the duty of every Muslim to threaten U.S. and British interests anywhere, he said.
Anyone asked Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam what he thinks about this?
In the first week of the fatwa against Rushdie and his book, I appeared on a television panel. Among the Muslim panelists, all of whom favored condemning the book, were two zealots: the same Kalim Siddiqui; and Yusuf Islam, the Muslim convert pop singer of Greek Cypriot origin formerly known as Cat Stevens. The moderator asked if, in my role as a commissioning editor of Channel 4 UK, I would contemplate turning The Satanic Verses into a film. I said that I would judge the cinematic merits of the script, and that no other consideration would rule it out. Kalim Siddiqui and Yusuf Islam snarled, warning that the sentence of death on Rushdie would extend to all those who forwarded his book in any way.
We had all come from London to Manchester to record the discussion. The producer had a word with me when it was over: would I feel more comfortable if he changed my hotel, away from the threateners and their entourage?
bttt
I agree, it's not the greatest form, yet it's still the most common form in the world.
I get a kick outta watching PM's Questions, when the far left lefties go after the lefties. They're the 3rd largest reps in the British House of Commons & they sit on the same side of the house as the conservatives. First time I heard one of them going after Blair I thought it was a strange question by one of the conservatives.
Back when Major was PM, I didn't even know there was a pretty big block of far left, cuz both left parties sat on the same side.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS EMBRACE ISLAM - A SHOCKER
By Reverend Austin Miles
Special to ASSIST News Service
Wednesday, January 9, 2002
BRENTWOOD, CA (ANS) -- As children return to school this week, following the Christmas break, 7th graders in a growing number of public schools, who are not permitted to wear a cross or speak the name of Jesus, will be required to attend an intensive three week course on Islam; a course in which students are mandated to learn the tenets of Islam, study the important figures of the faith, wear a robe, adopt a Muslim name and stage their own Jihad.
In Byron, California, parents were outraged when students came home with their handouts and were told what was being taught. Their complaints to the school principal not only were ignored, but officials of this public school, funded by tax dollars, essentially fluffed them off.
The public schools in California so stealthily slipped this course into the 7th grade curriculum that even another 7th grade teacher, Elizabeth Christina Lemings, was totally in the dark that this was being taught until her son, Joseph, who is a 7th grader in the same school where she teaches, brought home the handouts.
We could never teach Christianity like this, Lemings said to ANS during anon-site interview. We can't even mention the name of Jesus in the public schools, but over there , she pointed to the building next to hers, they teach Islam as the true religion, and students are taught about Islam and how to pray to Allah.
Lemings, in her second year of teaching in the Byron (Northern California) Union School District, has been a Christian since 1987. The government school system requires that she teach evolution in her science class with no reference to creationism or any contrasting viewpoint to Darwins theory. She quickly learned that God and Christianity are out (forbidden) but that Islam is in.
The textbook used for the Islamic course, Across The Centuries, is published by Houghton-Mifflin (Boston, Ma). It is described as a Social Studies/History book and has been adopted by the California School System.
In it, Islam is presented broadly in a totally positive manner, whereas the restricted references to Christianity, is centered on The Reformation, Martin Luther and The Catholic Church. Everything Christian is shown in a negative light, with events such as the Inquisition, the Salem witch-hunts, etc., highlighted in bold, black type.
This is proper for a complete study of history. However, there is not one negative to be found about Islam in this one-sided account, such as the wars, massacres, cruelties against Christians and other non-Muslims that Islam has consistently perpetrated over the centuries.
Nor is any mention made of the way Muslims treat their own people, cutting off hands, feet and heads for even the slightest violations of the Islamic tenets of faith, or the shocking way they treat their women.
The miraculous events leading up to the Koran, the holy book of Islam, and other revelations are presented as factual. Any reference of the miraculous regarding Christianity is always set next to a disclaimer stating that; It was (is) believed by Christians (or an individual such as Martin Luther) that ..,implying an absence of credibility about the stated event.
For example, the representation that Gabriel the archangel came to Muhammad (Note: not believed to have come to Muhammad) and dictated to him the Koran, a whole new revelation and idea that would surpass all other religions.
What needs to be explained by the Houghton-Mifflin Historians, is why Gabriel (which translates, Man of God), the archangel of both Christians and Jews, who was a part of all of God's plan, who interpreted for Daniel the vision of the ram and the he-goat, and comforted him after his prayer with the prophecy of the seventy weeks and who heralded the good tidings by declaring the coming of the predicted Messiah, would at that point in time and history, call on Muhammad, one who did not believe in Jehovah God or Jesus as the Son of God, and reveal to him the words of the pagan god Allah to lead his people with. How's that again?
It would be most interesting to have the Houghton-Mifflin experts explain what possessed Gabriel to turn on the God of Abraham and Jesus Christ to lend assistance to what would become a murderous cult with no regard for life, the very antithesis of Christianity. There is a deplorable lack of information here.
And too, the Book of Revelation clearly states that no words should be added or taken away from that book. So this in itself poses a major contradiction and problem.
The faulty textbook, Across the Centuries, has more than its share of deceit. It is stated as fact that Islam, Judaism and Christianity share in common the belief in one god. This is a half-truth, which is the worst kind of lie. Christianity and Judaism worship one God, the God of Abraham. Islam worships one god named Allah. This hook is misleading on the part of Houghton-Mifflin. The publisher apparently is attempting to legitimize Islam.
If this were an authentic history, the textbook would explain that the god of Muhammad was man's creation. Arabia was a pagan nation that worshiped over 300 gods. One of those was the moon god named, al-ilah. Legend has it that the moon god mated with the sun god and had two daughters, both of whom were worshiped as goddesses. When Muhammad claimed to have had his vision and revelation from Gabriel he chose al-ilah as the god to build his army around.
Muhammad shortened the name, al-ilah, to, Allah, and declared that he alone should be worshiped. He forbade the worship of the daughters. To this day, a crescent moon can be found at the front of every mosque, acknowledging that Allah was, and is the moon god. All of this is missing from the Houghton-Mifflin accounts.
It is also to be noted, even though not publicized, that Allah is also known as, The God of War. So why isn't this important study of Islam included in the history books?
The handouts used in this course, obtained by ANS, are considerable. They include a history of Islam and the life of Muhammad its founder.
Muhammad is portrayed as an extremely moral man who wanted a society of purity. A vast body of historical accounts will refute this image. Historians will show that he had multiple wives, a sexual problem, and among his wives, he took a 10-year-old girl for his pleasure (some accounts list her age as 6).
And Islam promises its followers that those who become suicide bombers, killing themselves and others, will go directly to Allah's paradise where they will be given 72 virgins for unbridled sexual pleasure for all of eternity.
There are many verses in the Koran that must be memorized in this Public School course and students are taught to pray, in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful and to chant, Praise to Allah, Lord of Creation.
There are 25 Islamic terms that must be memorized, six Islamic (Arabic) phrases, 20 Islamic Proverbs to learn along with the Five Pillars of Faith and 10 key Islamic prophets and disciples to be studied.
Can you imagine the barrage of lawsuits and problems we would have from the ACLU if Christianity were taught in the public schools, and if we tried to teach about the contributions of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Apostle Paul? teacher Elizabeth Lemings lamented. But when it comes to furthering the Islamic religion in the public schools, there is not one word from the ACLU, People For The American Way or anybody else. This is hypocrisy!
Even more disturbing; students are to pretend that they are Muslims, wear Muslim clothing to school, stage their own Jihad via a dice game, and pick out a Muslim name (to replace their own) from a list of thirty.
ANS asked some of the students what they thought about this course. All of them felt that it was fun, while others described Islam as a pretty culture." This included a pastor's son! Joseph Lemings, 12, said, The Jihad was like playing a video game, even though the true violent nature of Jihad was well concealed.
Lemings is disturbed by the fun description. She sees it as a tool, not only to engender sympathy and support for the Muslim cause, but for recruitment. This is not just a class of history of examining culture, she said. This course is entirely too specific. It is more about indoctrination.
Lemings, upon learning of the course on Islam, approached the principal of Intermediate-Excelsior School of Byron, Nancy Castro, requesting the right to teach Christianity in the manner that Islam is taught and for the same length of time.
Castro has not responded to her request. Lemings later received, round about, information that the only way she could do this would be to teach the Christianity class (as a Christian Club) after school hours where students would come of their own accord. Otherwise, she would violate the law of (selective) Separation of Church and State. Excuse me?
In an interview with Nancy Castro, the principal of the schools in Byron, she stated to ANS that the Islam course (hidden within History of Cultures) reflects California (educational) Standards that meet State requirements.
When asked about the intensity of the Islamic course, Castro stated that the course is not religion, but Ancient Culture and History. And, she pointed out, the text is a State Adopted textbook. We do not endorse any religion, we just make students aware.
She stated that the textbook is now in use throughout California. When asked if she would allow Christianity to be taught the same way that Islam is taught, Castro stammered before saying that Christianity is already taught in the History and Culture class, which, she said, actually starts in the 6th grade.
She said that this class started a year ago. The Christianity that is taught is brief, taught as a myth, and strictly negative. This is how it is portrayed in the textbook.
Lemings had stated to ANS that there were many, many parents who protested this course on Islam, especially after September 11th (which, coincidentally, is when the course began). Nancy Castro contradicted this account.
Asked if there was any response from parents about this course, Castro answered, Oh a couple of parents called to express concerns, three to be exact.
Peggy Green, Superintendent of the Byron Union School District did not return calls by press time.
The Muslim's intentions are clear and the public has been continually notified of that fact. In nearby Fremont, where the majority of the over 150,000 Muslims living in the Bay Area reside, Omar M. Ahmad, chairman of the board of the Council on American-Islamic relations said this at the Flamingo Palace banquet hall: I urge Muslims not to shirk their duty of sharing the Islamic faith with those who are on the wrong-side.
He said that Muslims should not assimilate into American society. If you choose to live here, you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth, he said. These quotes were published in the San Ramon Valley Herald on July 4, 1998, (ironically on our Independence Day), 3 years, 2 months and 7 days before September 11, 2001. And like everything else, Americans and church leaders didn't pay any attention to it. In the same article, Ahmad stated: Everything we need to know is in the Koran. And bear in mind that the Koran clearly states that Muslims are obligated to kill Christians, Jews and all other infidels.
(snip) ** You may use this story with proper attribution.
Islam Review - Public Schools
and another link from Michigan:
Anti-Christian Muslim Brings Pro-Islam Books to American Schools
Yeah right sure...I'll believe this when the Muslim groups start providing reliable translators for the war on terror
The lambs aren't wearing wolves' clothing here - they're just totally in hiding, afraid of the radicals. What makes this war effort so important is that if we lose, terrorism is established as a successful strategy worldwide. What that would mean in the Muslim world is that the radicals get clear title to the entire faith.
By the time any natural reformation of Islam occurs, we'll all be dead. The people are either brainwashed or cowed, and we've let things simmer to the boiling point for too long to do anything other than fight now.
What else can push it along is a major feminist movement as took place here in the U.S. The men were feminized as well, and rendered impotent (no offense, guys!) and mostly harmless. Yipes. That creates its own problems, but less danger to us, eh?
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