Posted on 09/13/2001 9:41:00 AM PDT by cantfindagoodscreenname
These ungodly acts are anathema to Islam
By M.K. Jasser
Sept. 13, 2001
As I watched the horror unfolding on the TV screen, the feeling of pain and sorrow was alternating with extreme anger.
Mass murder of innocent men, women and children, destruction and pillage, all in the name of what? To a Muslim American, the horror of it all is accentuated by the recurring use of the Islamic adjective in describing terrorist individuals or countries.
For a loyal and patriotic U.S. citizen, the whole thing is too hard to bear.
No individual, group of individuals, country or institution represents Islam. Islam is a religion represented only by a book, The Holy Koran. What is in the Koran is Islam and what is not in it, is not.
It is nearly impossible to get Western media to understand that. Western writers and reporters keep on going from one Muslim cleric to another for opinions on this issue or that, as they are used to doing in Christian circles.
The Koran states in no uncertain terms: "No clergy in Islam." The Koran speaks for itself.
"Jihad" is not defined in the Koran as holy war. There is no such a thing. Jihad means struggle. Struggle to make a living, struggle to survive, struggle to defend one's self, one's family or property. It is always defensive.
The Koran defines the ethics of war like no other religion. The non-combatants are absolutely protected in their selves, their homes and their property. During the Crusades, when the Crusaders targeted the religion of Islam itself in their attacks, a truce was declared when Richard the Lion Heart, the king of England, was wounded. Arab physicians treated his wounds; then the fighting resumed.
On suicide bombings and suicide operations, the Koran has the clear admonishment: "Do not ever throw yourselves into certain demise."
A Muslim who defines the time, place and instrument of his death, or the death of someone else, will never see heaven. In the entire history of the Islamic Arab and Ottoman empires there was never a single documented episode of a suicide mission.
In the Holy Koran it is stated: "He who kills a human being will be considered as if he killed all of mankind."
Actions by Muslims have little to do with Islam, while actions by Arabs have even less to do with Islam. Islam is frequently used and abused by both. It is not enough for Muslims to describe murderous operations, such as those that occurred on the morning of Sept. 11, in terms such as deplorable and unfortunate. This is the way I would describe a riot or other acts of lawlessness.
But actions of this depravity and wantonness, with the indiscriminate killing of innocent and totally uninvolved men, women and children, cannot fit those mild descriptions. These are anti-Islamic actions that defy and violate the rules of God and the very basic requirements of belonging to the human race.
Those who are responsible for such monstrous actions will burn in Hell forever in the next life. In this life they need to be hunted, captured and executed like the animals they are.
It is also necessary for us to remind those who rejoice and celebrate the murder of others, that by such rejoicing they will forever relinquish their entitlement to sympathy when they become victims themselves.
M.K. Jasser is a Phoenix cardiologist. He was born in Syria, which he left as a political refugee in 1967.
I found this interesting as I don't know much about the Koran. I think I'd like to read the Koran to see if what this person is saying is true.
When reading some denial from the author of this piece, realize that he is taught that his reward is in heaven if he lies to and deceives an infidel.
Cordially,
There are other things in there that are not quite as benign, though.
But interestingly, there is but one woman mentioned in the Koran. Mary, mother of Jesus. The Koran teaches the virgin birth.
The Koran also says that Jews are friends of Islam, and that Jesus was a prophet (although a lesser one than Mohammed).
Look: I'm a Christian with a reasonable facility with the Bible, and I also happen to know a thing or two about Judaism. Islam is mostly foreign to me.
Since I do know something about Judaism, I am aware of some of the horrors of which Christians have been historically guilty--horrors that might be compared to modern terrorism.
But today, in modern times, the word "Islamic" and "terrorist" seem to go so smoothly together simply because Christian terrorists and Jewish terrorists are so few and far between. (Regardless of one's opinion of the Israeli government, it cannot be realistically defined as a terrorist organization.)
Why is this? If Islam is such an admirable, heroic religion, then why does it give rise, in modern times, to so many people who want only to kill, maim, and destroy--in comparison to other religions, I mean?
Are there Muslims on the board who can respond? I am not a person who is inclined toward premature or blanket condemnation of anyone or anything, and I cannot bring myself to condemn Islam as "a Satanic religion," as many people around me have done. But it does seem, from a strict comparison of its modern record to that of Christianity and Judaism, to be a dangerous religion. Do you (reader educated in Islam) disagree?
The Crusades are often portrayed as a Christian atrocity, in which murderous knights raped and pillaged their way across the Middle East. In fact, the Crusades were a European political response to agggresively expansionist Islam. That war started with the death of the Prophet and continues to this day.
For an excellent read about the history of militant Islam, check out Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries by Paul Fergosi.
I know the intent is to instill in us that good adherents to the Islam faith do not condone or participate in this type of act. But films of the streets of Palestine flooding with cheering islamic people shows that what may be true in doctrine is not necessarily true in reality. Killing is against all christian faith, but in war we kill unapologetically. Probably the same kind of thought process.
Name a single religion where that isn't true.
America is in a war frenzy.Rightfully so, in my opinion.
But Islam is not the enemy. The practitioners of terrorism and other forms of warfare against us are the enemy.
The fact that they follow a perversion of Islam is mere happenstance.
Also, the Islam concept of abrogation is important when interpreting the Quran.
The writer of this article is emphasizing the early Suras and makes no mention of the later Suras to rise up and kill in the name of Allah.
By the way, someone just posted a thread quoting that Sura from the Quran in the title. But that post was pulled before I could get it.
Let me introduce you to another book, The Bible, which says; "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"
I was thinking the same thing. My husband was just asking me if Muslims have other writings in the same way that the Jewish people have the Talmud that "explains" or "expounds upon" the Bible (Old Testament, for Christians). If so, perhaps that's where Jihad is defined differently than the way it is in the Koran (according to this author).
Candi
No one today would look at the old days of the Inquisition, and the forced conversions of natives in the new world, and exonerate the Church for its role by saying that the tortures and heresy hunters and enslavement and killing of natives weren't mentioned in the Bible, therefore the Christians who did them in the name of God really weren't answerable as Christians.
History exposes him, because Islam has been spread by the sword since its founding--all the way into Christian Spain and to the outskirts of Vienna. These medieval Christians did not yield to Islam en masse because they liked the religion so much. They submitted to save their lives.
Apologists are coming out of the woodwork right now, most likely due to fear of what retribution will mean, and panic at the thought of war. Certain plump Westerners fear that they may lose their wealth-- better to just give up some freedom and buy some peace for a while longer.
But the evil of Tuesday sprang wilful and whole from the corrupt hearts of the perpetrators, and their behavior will have consequences.
They cannot avoid the judgment of civilization. They cannot escape the response which they have brought down upon themselves, and those who allow themselves to be used for cover and support.
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