Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Examining Islam
IntellectualConservative.com ^ | October 12, 2002 | J. Grant Swank

Posted on 10/12/2002 8:07:33 PM PDT by az4vlad

Islam is not a religion of peace. This author carefully goes over different facets of the Islam religion to show its proclivity for violence, particularly its intolerance towards non-Muslims.

Islam is being pictured today as a "religion of peace."

Granted, religion can be complicated. Therefore, one must be careful when stating that Islam is not a religion of peace. But in fact it is not.

Nevertheless, it is true that some Muslims believe that their religion is one of peace.

Confused? You are not alone.

So, let's look at some basics:

Secular Muslims accept Islam as a religion of peace because they are not familiar with the Quran nor the historical realities regarding intolerant Islamic adherents. Moderate Muslims are those who have read some of the Quran and take from it the peace statements attributed to Mohammed. Zealot Muslims (sometimes referred to as "Fundamentalists") are those who take most seriously the aggressive Quran statements. They may act them out in persecuting or killing "the enemy."

Mohammed himself was a complicated person. He wrote in the Quran statements that are conciliatory toward Jews and Christians. He also wrote statements that are threatening to Jews and Christians. Moderates accept the conciliatory statements. Zealots accept the aggressive statements.

The refined, sophisticated, learned Muslims who reach out to other religions in tolerance are those who are the present-day "window display" models of Muslims. Persons of like nature, whatever their religion, are most reassured to come upon such contemporary examples of the Muslim faith.

However, alongside these tolerant moderate Muslims are the zealots. It is the latter which must be understood today if we are going to be true to the study of Islam and protective of our positions as Christians.

"Islam" means "submission." It means submission totally to Allah, the deity of the Muslim religion.

Zealots who aggressively move against Jews and Christians-the "infidels" — act out this command from Sahih Muslim I, p. l7: "The Messenger of Allah commanded to fight against all people till they testify to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and believe in me (that) I am the Messenger (from the Lord) and in all that I have brought."

Further, Surah 8:39 of the Quran states: "And fight them or until there is no more tumult or aggression. And there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere. But if they cease, verily Allah doth see all that they do."

Other quotations from the Quran could be given regarding the Allah-directed right of a Muslim to do away with a non-Muslim.

Country after country today is under threat by the zealot Muslims. This is fact. Others may pontificate on the "Islam is a religion of peace" theme all they want; but the truth is that there are untold numbers being killed each day by zealot Muslims in the name of Allah and his prophet, Mohammed.

In Algeria, Muslims make up 97% of the people. Zealots are aggressively working for the establishment of Shari'a law. Christians suffer violence. Believers' throats have been slit. The Christian witness is not permitted.

In Bangladesh, Christians are frequently denied access to public water wells. Many have been beaten by zealot mobs.

In Brunei, Muslims account for 65% of the people. Christian leaders have been dismissed from the country. Christian literature is not tolerated. Applications for church registration are ignored. Christians must meet in secret.

In Comoros, Christians cannot testify in public. They have undergone harassment and persecution by zealot Muslims.

In Egypt, Christians are treated as second-class citizens. Zealot Muslims frequently attack Christians. There are reports of Christian females being raped and forced to marry Muslims. The Coptic Church, the largest body of believers in the Middle East, is persecuted continually. Some Coptics have been put in prison for "inciting intercommunal strife."

In Indonesia, zealots want to eliminate Christianity completely. Over 600 churches have been leveled. Christians are being forced to convert to Islam. Men, women, and children are coerced to be circumcised. Some Christians are killed out rightly.

In Iran, Christian pastors have been murdered. Believers are not allowed to pursue education or to hold jobs; and they are not permitted to own property.

In Libya, there is a limit of one congregation per denomination in each city. Muslims make up 97% of the population.

In Mauritania, it is against the law for Muslims to enter Christian homes. The government has gone to great lengths to prohibit Christianity from entering the culture.

In Myanmar (Burma), forced conversions are frequent. In 1966, almost all Christian effort was forced to exit.

In Nigeria, believers have been murdered, while Christian buildings have been burnt to the ground.

In Pakistan, much violence against Christians has been daily fare. Numerous Christians have been murdered by mobs. Christians are not permitted in some professions and given lower class tasks.

In order to love one's enemy, one must know the truth about one's enemy.

Christians are to love their enemies, pray for them, and do good toward them. But they are not to be ignorant concerning their beliefs and activities. Jesus said that His own were to be as wise as snakes and harmless as doves.

Just as there are many within Christendom who do not read nor understand the Bible, so there are adherents in every religion. Therefore, there will be those secular and moderate Muslims who are active in "name only." That is, they adhere to certain rituals and basic tenets of Islam, but are not fully knowledgeable concerning Islam nor the zealot acting out of the aggressive commands in the Quran.

Christians must then learn to decipher who it is that the Christian is speaking to when communicating with a Muslim. Is it a secular Muslim? Is it a moderate Muslim? Or is it a zealot Muslim?

But the last thing a Christian can do is to be naive in baptizing the Islam religion as a religion of peace.

Confusing? Yes, it can be. But the bottom line in understanding any of the world religions apart from the revealed truth in Scripture is to understand that the devil is the "author of confusion."

Islam then has been written by the devil. He is the Angel of Light. Therefore the devil can produce a religion that has elements of peace in its devilment.

And this in itself is the start of the understanding of any religion of the world other than the Christian truth.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: arabs; christians; grant; hatred; intolerance; islam; israel; jews; muslims; religion; swank; violence; violent

1 posted on 10/12/2002 8:07:33 PM PDT by az4vlad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: az4vlad
A most distressing list of Muslim nations' persecution of Christians.
2 posted on 10/12/2002 8:11:27 PM PDT by Ciexyz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: az4vlad
Truth, truth.
3 posted on 10/12/2002 8:15:38 PM PDT by tupac
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: az4vlad
I was at Ruth's Chris, in Jacksonville, Florida, reading...
..."The Name" by Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son, who has been a lightning rod for controversy of late because he's such an outspoken Christian and I had this thought...

Islam's prophet, Mohammed (Muhammad) "spread" Islam throughout the Middle East by killing those who refused to accept the validity of his supposed revelations. In the course of his bloody campaigns, he killed tens of thousands of people. He was a terrorist. No doubt about it. Osama bin Laden is his legitimate heir.

My Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, Messiah, took no lives. In the face of violence, He advocated turning the other cheek. He gave His life to redeem the lives of sinners like me.

Obviously, there is no equivalence, no comparison, between Jesus and Mohammed. No comparison whatsoever. On what basis, then, does the theological liberal assert that all religions are essentially equivalent?

Parts of the quran (Koran), Islam’s "holy" book, are indeed poetic, but the god who speaks in the quran is not the One God who speaks in Judeo-Christian Scripture. Not unless God speaks out of both sides of His mouth, which I cannot accept. The Bible plainly says that God does not lie. If allah and Yahweh are one and the same, then God is two faced, capricious, an opportunist. How is this lost on the theological liberal?

Actually, that's an easy question. It occurred to me this evening, reading "the name," that to the PC, theological liberal, the clear distinctions between my God and allah are completely irrelevant because both God and allah are products of human imagination. Therefore, they are equivalent. In the final analysis, then, the PC idea that one belief system should be accorded the same respect as the other, or any other, is the same as saying that one person's imagination is just as valid as another person's. The latter is true, somewhat. The former is not, at all.

Many liberals would rejoin, vehemently, "no! I believe in God!" to which I would rejoin, calmly, "not my God, you don't. You believe in a god you feel comfortable believing in. Because I am a sinner, and know it, and because I know I cannot save myself, my God makes me uncomfortable, every single day, but I never doubt but that He loves me unconditionally. You have created this god in whom you supposedly believe in your own mind. You created this god. He did not create you. This god of yours is, therefore, an idol. He is not God."

Only a person who does not believe that Truth exists can believe that all beliefs are equal. If Truth is real, and if its parameters are finite, then either all religions are lies, or one religion represents Truth, and the rest are lies. The theological liberal wouldn't admit it, but he believes all religions are lies. Some more harmless/harmful than others, but all lies, nonetheless. That's why he asserts that they all should be accorded equal respect.

I believe in One God, the God of Moses who came as promised in Scripture in the person of Jesus Christ. I respect the right of a person to believe otherwise, but I do not respect his/her belief. In other words, people, according to the post-modern definition of the term, i am a bigot because I hold beliefs that exclude other beliefs. I am "incorrect." oh me. – John Rosemond 8/19/2002.


4 posted on 10/12/2002 8:32:01 PM PDT by killermosquito
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: az4vlad
A well read individual should quickly recognize that Muhammed co-opted his new "religion" from Judaism and Christianity in a rather cynical bid for power against otherwise pagan Arabs who had likely put the whammy on some of his trading activities. When the Jews of Medina would not buy his evident claims to being even their messiah, he confiscated their wealth to further the building of an army that swept across all of Arabia within two years. Thus was Islam born and subsequently spread by theft, warfare and imposition.

He compounded evidently devout polygamy with pedophilia by marrying a six-year old girl, which was undoubtedly way outside of earlier Hebrew and hence even likewise appropriated Muslim custom of at least allowing a girl her first menses before so taking her. In evidently attempting to make this somehow more palatable, the Hadith calims that he didn't copulate with her before aged nine. But even quoted herself therein, one can readily sense quite a bit of Ayeshe's anxiety about the foul business in her own words.

Personally I don’t find much honor in any of these circumstances, nor in anyone who would endorse them, in either the earlier or present day.

Islamism is the invocation or actualization of jihad to impose sharia, or Quranic law on the infidel. Again, personally, I do not care whether it represents a spiritual or actual physical struggle to the individual Muslim. I do however, recognize it as dangerous in an environment where Islamism has declared war against America, and would therefore urge the deportation of virtually all non-citizen Muslims.

As for Americans, Islamism is the enemy in this war. I would suggest that Muslims lay low, lest they be revealed as Islamists, and should therefore be charged with sedition and possible Treason.

Any Muslims about care to comment on Islamism?



5 posted on 10/12/2002 8:37:13 PM PDT by onedoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: az4vlad
Bookmarked. Thank you for posting this article.
6 posted on 10/12/2002 8:49:36 PM PDT by EverOnward
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EverOnward
later
7 posted on 10/12/2002 10:37:42 PM PDT by LiteKeeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson