The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam - The Sword of the Prophet: Islam

I have turned this over in my mind for weeks now, trying to decide whether to post this or not. It is SORT OF a vanity, but not entirely. I am reading a book that I was turned on to, titled The Sword of the Prophet: Islam, history, theology, impact on the world, by Serge Trifkovic. The book has a sub-title called 'The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam'. It is published by Regina Orthodox Press and though this is a Catholic publishing house, the book is not about Catholicism but a history of how Islam began and what some political and church leaders, both Protestant and Catholic and other religions - DO NOT WANT TO HEAR - ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE!

Far from me to recommend a book that will get your blood pressure up, but Serge takes apart this so-called religion, piece-by-piece. Read this at your own risk but if you have the chance, read it. A sample:

From Chapter 2, 'The Teaching': '......The Resurrection will be general and will extend to all creatures. Hell will be divided into seven regions, for faithless Muslims, for the Jews, Christians, various kinds of pagans, and "hypocrites." '

I decided not to relate any more passages from the book because of copyright and the fact that some of it is too violent or offensive, even for our firm beliefs here on the Free Republic. This is a bombshell book and though none of the information contained in it is new, it puts things in perspective. Muslims do not hate you because you are American - they hate you because you are non-Muslim. They are prepared to do whatever they have to do, to make the world into the one-world religion (theirs). This book is raw and unapologetic and, to be perfectly honest, GUTSY. Don't take my word for it but read it yourself.

Serge Trifkovic is a graduate of the University of Sussex in England. He received his PhD at the University of Southampton and his postdoctoral research on a State Department grant at the Hoover Institute at Stanford. He is also a regular contributor and, since 1998, foreign affairs editor of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture.

I am still waiting for you to give me the courtesy of a reply to my questions in #112 above.

Your attempt to whitewash Tantawi with the quote from muslimnews.co.uk does not get very far with me.

Simply enter "Tantawi" and "suicide" as search terms into Google, and we also find

(1) Arabic News:
Grand Imam Tantawi said Palestinian resistance suicide persons are 'martyrs'
(2) Arabia.com:
Suicide attacks on the US-led coalition in Iraq are permitted under (Islamic) religious law, the sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni Muslim spiritual authority, Muhammad Sayed Tantawi, said here yesterday.

Maybe the man is bipolar/schizophrenic, maybe he is genuinely torn.

The Middle East Quarterly has an extended discussion of the status of suicide bombings in Islamic countries.

Quote:

It is important to acknowledge that a debate is underway. It is also crucial to recognize that those who sanction attacks against Israeli civilians seem to be winning it.

Where do you stand in that debate? I have yet to hear an unequivocal, unqualified condemnation of Palestinian Arab attacks against Israeli civilians from you.

Would it break a bone in your throat to utter one?

Very good. We're getting somewhere.

The next step is a commitment to the security of the state of Israel as a democratic Jewish (and minority Arab) society, with NO RIGHT OF RETURN to Israel for Arabs, largely in the pre-1967 borders with some sensible territorial adjustments, AND most of Jerusalem including the Temple Mount as Israel's undivided capital. (Of course the two Mosques on top of the Mount can stay forever.)

At this point you may balk and that's okay DEPENDING on your reasons. If you say "What is it to me, I am Muslim but not Arab" then that's fine. The sooner the world's one billion Muslims discard their unhealthy obsession with a few million Israelis on a sliver of land, the better.

If, however, you balk because you cling to the dangerous slogans -- "All of Palestine is a Waqf", "Israelis are colonialist aggressors", "1948 was a Nakba and must be avenged", "We won't murder the Jews if they let in three million Arabs", "There must be justice for the Jewish crimes" -- then no, it isn't acceptable.

In case you haven't noticed yet, there are strong forces working towards an apocalyptic end-of-the-world scenario centered on Israel.

The Ayatollah Rafsanjani, the power behind the throne in Iran, has advocated acquiring and using nuclear weapons against Israel because after a nuclear exchange Israel will be totally destroyed while the Arabs and Iranians will "only" be damaged.

A minority of Israel's Christian supporters have as their motive the intent to hasten the coming of the battle of Armageddon.

Silence and inaction is complicity.

"I know I am a peaceful person and I do not feel in the least at odds with Islam for being that way. You are entitled to your beliefs."

Since you are a peaceful person, I would like to know if you and your friends of the same faith ever discussed the systematic killing of millions of Christians in Sudan-in the name of that peaceful religion, Islam? Did you at least feel ashamed or upset that some barbarians are using your religion to kill innocent people? Did you see any protesters in any Arab capital against the killing of Christians. Remember, we had protesters in the US against our government war against Iraq, even though it was not about killing Moslems because they are Moslems.

No, that's a political step and has nothing to do with an understanding that Islam is a religion of peace. If a religion is forced to take a political stance with a particular nation in order to be considered viable, then we need to question the reasons for that.

Disingenuous. With the exception of Turkey and perhaps a few other countries, the problem with Islam is that it does not separate matters of religion and matters of state (politics), and that the people (primarily clerics and intellectuals) who want to force everyone to submit to their barbaric way of life based on the orthodox reading of the Koran are so powerful.

This means that all these societies make life miserable for their own people and those who they choose as their enemies. (For an extended exposition, see for example "Among the Believers" by V.S. Naipaul.)

If I came to a Christian or a Jew and said: "To prove to me that your religion is viable, you have to do this and this and this." Well, first they'd laugh me out of the room.

Neither Christians nor Jews attempt to take over the world by holy war.

Why do you keep evading my questions from #112 above? I repeat:

Finally, let me ask you, for how long are the Palestinians and the Muslim Arabs going to carry on with their lust for revenge? The state of Israel is 55 years old. Is there no concept of forgiveness, and moving on, in Islam?

And is there such a thing as critical self-examination? Such that Moslems would acknowledge the wrongs they, in turn, did to others through the ages, and continuing to this present day?

My dear friend, I am trying to be as open minded as possible. Since you are an expert, with access to lots of detailed information about who is funding the Christian south, I must admit, I did not read in your comments about any support of the Moslem North by countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia? I also did not read any comment on how this whole mess started due to forcing of the Sharia, the Islamic laws on the non-Moslem south? I guess impartiality is missing in your comments?

Oh sure, I remember many passages in the New Testament where Christ instructed his followers to kill and maim. (sarcasm)

Look, there are good people who profess themselves to be Christian and there are genuine psychopaths who do exactly the same (Torquemada, the neo-Nazi's, and the KKK come immediately to mind). But their conduct was and is in direct contradiction to what Jesus taught.

I've known devout muslims who were and are kind and generous people, but that's not the point. I know of no instance in scripture where Jesus told his followers it was alright to conquer and kill. Self defense is another matter and something which Christ does cover in his instruction to sell one's claok and buy a sword. The same cannot be said of what are reported in the Quran as the words of Mohammed.

There are good people who can and do select specific Quranic sayings to justify their conception of Islam as a religion that preaches brotherhood and peace. But there are many others which advocate the slaughter of anyone who does not "submit" (the actual meaning of the word islam). It is therefore inaccurate to portray Islam as a religion which is not materially different from the other world faiths such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

FAITH UNDER FIRE Islamists butcher new Christian Body of man who converted sent to family in 4 pieces -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE RELIGION OF PEACE EXPOSED! © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

After slaughtering a Muslim-turned-Christian, Islamic extremists have reportedly returned the man's body to his Palestinian family in four pieces.

According to a report from the Barnabas Fund, the newly converted man left his friends and family earlier this month bound for a mountainous region of the Palestinian Authority area. He reportedly took Christian material with him – videos, cassette tapes and a Bible. After approximately 10 days, the body of the man, who left behind a wife and two small children, was returned to his home, having been cut into four pieces. The family believes the act was meant a warning to other Muslims who might consider becoming Christians.

The Barnabas Fund is withholding further details about the story due to concern for the safety of the family.

The organization records incidents of Christian persecution in the Holy Land and elsewhere, and works for changes in the way Islam is taught. Under Muslim sharia law, any male who leaves Islam faces the death penalty.

According to the Barnabas Fund, local Christians working to support converts from Islam report that Islamic militants in the Palestinian Authority area deliberately target converts. The terror group Hamas reportedly receives funding from Iran specifically for this purpose.

I don't believe there is much point in continuing our conversation at this point.

This has been a sobering experience.

I doubt that it is merely a matter of discourtesy that you've consistently refused to reply to my questions in #112 above.

What I perceive instead is that you cannot because you lack something that David Warren calls sympathy with non-Muslims. (Link to DW's essay titled "Wrestling with Islam"). You say you grew up a Christian (and, presumably, a Westerner) but that same lack of sympathy that Warren describes is in you.

Note to Moderator: Thank you for allowing andak01 to debate on the forum; I believe these exchanges are instructive although perhaps not productive.

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