I still haven't figured out how President Bush and Karl Rove pulled that off!
Islam: the Facade and the Facts
By Abdullah Al Araby
Jump to: Change of Identity Change of Vocabulary Change of Strategy
Stage of Weakness Mohammed in Mecca The Facts
The Facade
The "Islam" that Muslim activists introduce to the West these days is completely different from the Islam we knew and experienced in the Middle East. This is a new edition - revised, modified, expanded and abridged - of the real Islam. A major facelift operation has been taking place here.
To their credit, I must acknowledge that the international Islamization movement, in recent years, has grown much in both intelligence and sophistication. They lacked power, so they decided to be smart. Since they could no longer use the sword to conquer the world, as they once did, they decided to use more cunning methods, taking advantage of democracy in the West.
The following are some of the methods Muslim activists are now adopting:
Change of Identity
Muslim activists in the West avoid referring to teachings that may offend the Western citizen, such as the Islamic code of punishment.
They stress that they believe in Moses and Jesus. They refrain from calling Jews and Christians "infidels", nor would they call them "Zionists" or "Crusaders".
The last thing they want to do is to shock people. They once had a Muslim host on their TV. program with a Christian name, "Paul"; names like Mohammed, Mustafa and Omar were too strong to swallow they thought. They use the term "Sunday School" in place of "Friday Class", and they end their speeches with the Christian expression "may God bless you".
They boast about being Americans, and have the American flag cover the background of their program set. This is the same flag Muslims burn in their daily rituals in Islamic countries, calling America "The great Satan".
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Change of Vocabulary
Instead of living in isolation from society, they are using now a completely new terminology. Words like love, grace... are now part of their vocabulary. Theological Christian terms such as : Salvation, Justification and Sanctification are now part of their teachings.
They change Quranic translations to hide some of Islam's harsh teachings.
An example is the new French translation of the Quran which has caused tremendous furor among Muslim fundamentalists. The translation attempted to please Jews by modifying some verses of the Quran that condemned Jews. An example is a verse that used to read "The people of Israel, after sowing corruption twice on earth for the purpose of dominating other people, will push themselves up into a position of extreme power before being punished by God."
The new translation reads just the opposite: "The people of Israel will be twice destroyed as an innocent victim, and God will reward them by elevating them to great heights."
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Change of Strategy
Their new strategy lies in trying to be accepted, included and involved in all activities; religious, social and political.
They are now becoming active in partisan functions in order to have a say in parties platforms. They conduct letter compaigns to members of Congress to influence legislation. They run for public offices in hope of reaching a position of authority. They make full use of their voting power to get concessions in their favor. They try to be represented on educational programs to go in line with their beliefs.
The stage of weakness and the stage of Jihad (Holy War)
It seems that these new tactics we discussed are not without precedent in Islamic history. Mohammed Hassanein Heikal, the noted Egyptian author, refers to this concept in his book "Autumn Furor". He states:
"So the element of Jihad emerged in the ideology of Abul Aala Almaudoody. He went on to differentiate between two separate stages a Muslim community goes through:
"The stage of weakness - In it a Muslim community is unable to take charge of its own destiny. In this case - according to his thinking - they must withdraw for the purpose of preparing themselves to be capable of executing the second stage.
"The second stage is the Jihad stage, and it will come when the Muslim community has completed its prepardness and is ready to come out of its isolation to take charge, through Jihad.
http://www.islamreview.com/articles/facade.shtml