Yesterday on Fox News Channel, I videotaped "Patty Ann" (the host of a program around 9 AM). She said this:
It is said that "bin Laden is engaged in a holy war and the goal is to eliminate anyone who is not Islamic."
She then read these excerpted passages out of the Koran, which were written by Mohammed, himself:
[1] "Strongest among men in emnity to *the believers* wilt thou find the Jews and the pagans."
[2] "So fight and slay the pagans where ever you find them. Seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem [trick/deceit] of war, until they embrace Islam." ~
So ... was Mohammed, the founder of Islam, himself, a "peaceful" moderate?
Chapters from the Koran. Excerpted Introductory Note:
"THE ANCIENT religion of the Arabs was the worship of the stars ... long before the birth of Mohammed. ... The chief seat of this ... worship was the city of Mecca...".
1 Mohammed was born in 571 A. D. His father died before he was born, and his mother when he was only six. In his youth he tended sheep and goats, and at twenty-four he was employed to drive caravans of camels by a rich widow, ‘Hadïgah, whom he married.
2 When he was forty, while wandering alone on a desolate mountain near Mecca, he had a vision. An angel appeared to him and told him to read, and recited certain verses.
From youth he had suffered from a kind of hysteria, and this vision seems to have increased his tendency to hallucinations and ecstasy.
There was an intermission of two or three years before the vision reappeared, after which revelations came rapidly.
He became convinced of his prophetic mission, and began to make converts, the first being the **women** of his own family.
3 For years, however, the new religion made little progress, and the prophet underwent great hardships, finally having to flee from Mecca to Medinah. From this “Flight,” which took place in 622 A. D., the Mohammedan era dates.
Two years later began the Holy War, and from this time on Mohammedanism was extended largely by the sword.
When its founder died in 632, it was firmly established as a great political power as well as a religion; and it is now said to be the belief of about a hundred and seventy millions of people.
4 From the Qur’ân or Koran, in which are collected Mohammed’s revelations, the following chapters are selected to give a view of all the more important elements of the faith he taught. ~
Go to The Harvard Classics 1909–14 web site to read the chapters HERE
Yeah, he seems to fit a similar profile to Joseph Smith, the con artist who was responsible for founding the Mormon religion. Joseph Smith was visited by a similar angel. Thank God that the Book of Mormon is really a novel that was written by a retired Methodist minister named Simon Spalding. Joseph Smith had a buddy who worked as an apprentice in the print shop where Simon Spalding took his manuscript to be printed. This manuscript mysteriously disappeared from the print shop and 'reappeared' within months after Simon Spalding died. It is these manuscripts that Joseph Smith 'magically' translated from behind a curtain, and he print shop buddy is one of the few there to witness this holy translation. Ha!
Sounds like Mohammed, due to being born in a more ignorant time, gained more followers and delivered a much more deadly message.
Good source of "divine" revelation, eh?