Posted on 08/27/2006 2:59:20 AM PDT by Hannibal Hamlin
Kidnapped Fox reporters "convert to Islam" on video
Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:20 AM EDT
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Two kidnapped journalists for the American Fox News Channel appeared on a new videotape released by their captors on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, saying they had converted to Islam.
Palestinian Interior Minister Saeed Seyam said efforts were under way to secure the release of Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, a 60-year-old American, and New Zealand-born cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, within hours.
Both journalists appeared to be in good health in the new video. They were seized on August 14 by a previously unknown group called the Holy Jihad Brigades.
The two men were shown separately sitting cross-legged, reading statements announcing that they had converted to Islam. At times in the video they were wearing long Muslim robes.
"I changed my name to Khaled. I have embraced Islam and say the word Allah," Centanni said.
Wiig called on leaders of the West to stop "hiding behind the 'I don't negotiate with terrorists' myth."
Interior Minister Seyam of the governing militant movement Hamas expressed optimism the ordeal for the two reporters would soon be over.
"Efforts are under way with several parties to secure their release within the coming hours," he told Reuters.
The Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility on Wednesday for the kidnapping and had warned the United States to free Muslim prisoners to prevent the captives facing unspecified consequences. The deadline expired on Saturday.
The United States has said it will not make "concessions to terrorists."
A separate statement from the captors said: "They chose Islam and that is a gift that God gives those whom he chooses."
A videotape released on Wednesday showed the two men, dressed in tracksuits, sitting on a blanket in front of a black background. They appeared fairly relaxed and in good health. Both said that they were fine and being treated well.
The kidnapping is the longest-lasting abduction of foreigners in the Palestinian coastal strip in more than a year.
The Hamas-led government has called for the men to be freed while several prominent militant groups in Gaza have denied involvement and also said the men should be freed.
Previous kidnappings of foreigners have usually ended after a few hours, or at most a few days, of captivity.
Did they or didn't they? What will be the answer?
Crap...just because they said they did ...UNDER DURESS...doesn't mean they did. Like ANY sane person would convert to Islam....yeah, right.
Shep Smith just talked to Steve Centanni. Steve said "thank God we are released". He didn't say thanks to Allah.
He said he was forced to say he accepted Islam at gunpoint.
If they told me to bark like a dog, I would do it and you would too.
Absolutely.
How long will it take Reuters/AP etc to report Centanni's conversation with Shep Smith that they were forced at gunpoint to convert?
Now THAT'S gonna be tough to live down, especially with the Fox audience....
Even though it was under duress, Fox's competitors will be 'dragging that clip out' every time they want to slam Fox. If it had been someone from MSNBC, you probably wouldn't have even seen the tape...
No sane human being with an IQ above my thigh measurement would convert to Islam without being threatened with death.
No Compulsion in Religion
In the Quran we have a group of verses which specify that religion is to be accepted freely and cannot be forced upon someone and this confirms what we have been saying namely that in Islam no one can be coerced, be told either to become Muslims or die. These verses illuminate those unconditional verses in a different way.
One is a part of Ayatul-kursi (2:255-257) and is well-known;
«La ikraha fid-din. Qat-tabayanar-rushdo min al-ghayy.»
«There is no compulsion in religion, for the truth has been made manifest from the false» (2:255)
Which means that we must explain clearly the right path to people; its own reality, is manifest. There is no place for the use of compulsion in religion, no one must be obliged to accept the religion of Islam. This verse is explicit in its meaning. In the Quranic commentaries it is written that an Ansari who had previously been a polytheist had two sons who had converted to Christianity. These two sons had become fascinated by Christianity and very devoted to it, but their father was now a Muslim and upset that his sons had become Christians. He went to the Holy Prophet and said to him: “Rasula-lah! What can I do to these sons of mine who have become Christians? Whatever I have tried, still they do not accept Islam. Do you give me permission to force them to leave their religion and become Muslims?” The Prophet said: “No. La ikraha fid-din, there is no compulsion in religion.”
About the circumstances in which this verse was revealed, it is also written that there were two tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj, who were living in Medina, and who were the original inhabitants of Medina. At the dawn of Islam they were living there together with several large Jewish tribes who had come to Medina at a later period. One was the tribe, Bani Nazil, and another was the Bani Qoraizeh, while there was yet another large tribe of Jews that lived on the fringes of the city.
The Jews, having Judaism as their religion and having also a holy book, came to be more or less considered as the learned of that society, while, amongst the original inhabitants of Medina, who were polytheists and generally illiterate, there had newly come into existence a small group also able to read and write. The Jews, as a result of their superior culture and the wide dimension of their thoughts, exercised quite an influence on this group. Thus, despite the fact that the religion of the Aws and Khazraj was different from that of the Jews, nevertheless they allowed themselves to be influenced by Jewish ideas. As a result, they would sometimes send their children to the Jews to be educated, and while they were among the Jews, the children would once in a while renounce their pagan religion of polytheism and convert to Judaism. Thus, when the Holy Prophet entered Medina, a group of these boys from that city were being trained by the Jews and had chosen for themselves the Jewish religion, which some of them chose not to renounce. The parents of these children became Muslims, yet the children did not give up their new religion Judaism. And when it was settled that the Jews should leave Medina (as a punishment for the chaos they had instigated), those children also left with their fellow Jews. Their fathers came to the Holy Prophet asking him for permission for them to separate their children from the Jews, to force them to relinquish Judaism and to become Muslims; permission which the Holy Prophet did not give. They said: “O Rasula-lah! Allow us to force them to leave their religion and embrace Islam.” The Holy Prophet told them: “No. Now that they have chosen to go with the Jews, let them go with them.” And the commentators say that it was then that the verse:
«La ikraha fid-din. Qat-tabayanar-rushdo min al-ghayy» (2:255)
was revealed.
Another famous verse is:
«And call to the way of your Lord (Rabb) with the judgment and beautiful admonitions, and dispute with them with that which is beautiful...» (16:125)
Invite people to the path of your Rabba. With what? With force of sword? No. With beautiful admonitions and advice.
«And dispute with them with that which is beautiful... » (16:125)
With those who dispute with us, we must also dispute, beautifully. This verse has introduced clearly the way for Islam to be embraced.
In another verse we are told:
«The truth is from your Rabba, so whoever has the will so he must reject...» (18:29)
Whoever wants to believe will believe, and whoever wants to be a kafir will be a kafir. So this verse has also stated that faith and rejection, iman and kufr, can only be chosen by oneself, they cannot be forced upon one by others. So Islam does not say that others must be forced into Islam; that if they become Muslims, well and good, and if they do not, they are to be killed, that the choice is theirs. Islam says that whoever wants to believe will believe, and whoever does not want to, will not.
There is also this verse:
«And if your Rabb willed all the earth would have believed, in total, will you then compel them to be believers.» (10:99)
The verse is addressed to the Prophet. The Holy Prophet really loved the people and wanted them to be true believers. The Quran says that the use of force in the matter of belief is meaningless. If force was valid, God Himself, with His own Power of creation would have made believers of all the people, but belief is a thing that people must choose for themselves. God with all His Powers of creation and compulsion has not forced mankind to be true believers and has given them the free will to choose. Thus, for the same reason the Prophet also was to let them choose for themselves. He whose heart has the desire will become a good believer, and he whose heart does not want to, will not.
from : JIHAD
(The Holy War of Islam and Its Legitimacy in the Quran)
By:
Ayatullah Morteza Mutahhari
The muslims I've run into deny that there is such a thing as free will.
Forced or not, many Muslims will "count" the conversion as having been made. If you try to reject Islam after having publicly accepted it, you are an apostate and are subject to death. These guys should get away from the Middle East for their own protection.
Quran; Surah 004: Ayah 089
Take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah. Seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and take no friends or helpers from their ranks.
bttt
I am going to buy a Koran today so I can wipe my ass every morning with a page of Mohammed's satanic bullshit.
Until the world is cleansed of that barbaric, pseudo-religious cult, there can be no piece.
um, I meant peace.
I was typing at gunpoint. ;)
I remember early in my miltary training, we had a lesson about what to do if we ever found ourselves in the hands of an enemy.
"Your first duty is to stay alive. Do what you have to, to stay alive."
There are limits, of course - there may be information you can't reveal because the consequences would be too high. But those are exceptional circumstances.
Geesh...everybody knows they were FORCED to say this. Not even the MSM will criticize this.
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