Posted on 06/08/2003 6:16:24 AM PDT by Israel Insider
I am an American, a Jew, and a Zionist and I am writing to defend Islam against those who belittle it, defame it, and demean it.
Don't get me wrong. I am no fan of many things in the Islamic world today. To start with, Hamas and its endorsement of suicide bombings and the mass murder of innocent Israelis. Just as bad are the whining sycophants who proclaim these suicide attacks only occurred because the Palestinians are "frustrated." These guys do more to damage Islam's reputation than any staunchly anti-Islamic American preacher. Any Islamic cleric who supports suicide attacks against Israeli children says more about his interpretation of Islam than he does about Israel, a country I love with all my heart.
I'm not crazy about the mullahs in Iran who make life difficult for my Iranian friends. I think that, in the 21st-century, the world could do without religious police who make sure women are "properly" dressed.
Finally, I have little patience for those self-appointed spokesmen of American Islam, either. I need to turn off the television when I see these jokesters, most of whom sound more like Vichy-era French fascists than scholars of medieval Islamic law. They can barely conceal their antipathy to America. I do often wonder why they just don't leave? Oh yes, it has something to do with the fact that Muslims, like all Americans, have freedom of speech, assembly, and religion here in the U.S.A.
For some, it is tempting to cast the whole of Islam into the enemy camp.. But, we must remember those millions and millions of Muslims who have never harmed a soul, whose top priorities involve working hard and raising a family, and who probably couldn't tell you and probably doesn't care about the Palestinian cause. These Muslims aren't terrorists or extremists and shouldn't be labeled as such. And their faith isn't "evil" as some have claimed.
A proud New Yorker, I interact with Muslims everyday, from the Egyptian Muslims with whom I practice my Arabic and from whom I buy my kosher groceries to the Bangladeshi Muslims from whom I buy my New York bagels. I recently gave a talk to a joint audience of Albanians and Jews about the need for our people to work together for a better world. I probably have more Muslim friends than those leftist fools who profess such sympathy to the Islamic world, but who really are just acting out some bizarre psycho-social problems I don't even wish to understand.
None of my Muslim friends would become a terrorist, let alone kill Americans and Jews. In fact, many of them have professed a quiet admiration for my people, for what we have accomplished in the face of such overwhelming odds. From my days of living in both the United Kingdom and the United States, I remember many a bonding experience with Muslim friends over our mutual dislike for all things pork. I remember a good friend from Kuwait with whom I could always share cigarettes and a smile. I always enjoy spending time with my Albanian and Lebanese Muslim friends, too. And what's not to like about Turkish food?
Truth told: I am getting awfully sick of these simple and pedantic articles demonstrating how evil Islam is. As if non-Islamic societies like Burma, North Korea, and Zimbabwe are some paradises on earth? I really wouldn't want to be a Jew living in overwhelmingly Christian Greece right now. That society is far more anti-Semitic than many of the Muslim societies of Central Asia where Jews are treated respect by the governments. And last time I looked, rural Idaho wasn't such a wonderful place for a bar mitzvah.
True, there are problems in the Muslim world right now - lots of problems. There is a terrorist problem, do doubt about it. And it isn't just a small group of people, either. There are fanatics from Casablanca to Teheran; from Amman to Singapore. There are those extremists who would kill and be killed for their nihilistic ideology of radical Islam. I know: they attacked my city, my home. They did it in 1993, too and I am sure they are plotting something as I type.
There is an anti-Semitism problem. Too many Muslim (pseudo)-intellectuals speak of "the Jews" in conspiratorial tones reminiscent of the Nazis. Hizbullah puts out enough of this anti-Semitic garbage to make a gentile and refined East Coast anti-Semite shiver. This has got to stop. Now! One need not deny this for the sake of political correctness.
And let's be honest, religious minorities don't fare so well in the Muslim world right now, a sensitive topic for Muslims to be sure, but one that shouldn't be swept under the rug, either. Ask the Assyrians, the Bahai, and the Copts. Yet, one need not condemn 1.2 billion Muslims either.
What is needed is intellectual honesty. What is not needed is a war between Christianity and Islam with the Jews caught in the middle. Memo to my Jewish colleagues who support the Evangelical alliance with Israel: open your eyes, my friends. The Christian supporters of Israel from Middle America may be great people. I am sure of that. I deeply appreciate their support for the Jewish State. They aren't the scary fanatics that the media often portrays them to be. Nevertheless, they should really carefully assess their plans to evangelize to the Muslim world. More importantly, they - unlike Israeli teenagers - will not be going to nightclubs in Tel Aviv that will be targets for suicide bombers. It is easy to claim "Islam is evil" when you live in a small American town with no Muslims.
The American Muslim community needs to be more honest as well. They need to explain why so many of its self-appointed spokesmen - those who are always on television - have next to nothing good to say about anything. I mean it: they are anti-American foreign policy, anti-Israel, anti-war with Iraq, anti-discrimination at the airport, anti-Jewish power. The list goes on. What do they stand for? Seriously. Memo to the millions of apolitical American Muslims: get involved with politics and shut down the fools who speak in your name: Be a Muslim and be an American.
Islam is a great civilization that is going through some rough times. It is also one of the fastest growing religions in the United States. Even though many Americans might not like it, American Islam is here to stay. This means that Christians and Jews have an obligation to respect the Islamic faith, even if they may vigorously disagree with its tenets. It also means that Muslim-Americans must reject extremism, sincerely disavow terrorism conducted in their name, and adapt to living as religious minorities in a predominantly Christian society.
It also means that the cable news media need not give airtime to the ranting and raving Muslim activists who have nothing good to say about the country that has given them a home and a life unimaginable in much of the Islamic world. It also means that the media should give airtime to respectable and truly moderate Muslim leaders as well as ardent secularists from Muslim countries, including those who are willing to discuss sensitive issues such as women's rights. Unlike the fanatics, they may not make the ratings; yet, their voices must be heard.
I will never forget what was done to my city (primarily by Saudi citizens) in the name of Islam, yet I won't forget my Muslim friends either. They have added intellectual nourishment to my life and have made this city a wonderful place to live. If not for them, where would I, a pro-Republican, pro-Zionist New York Jew, buy my bagels?
I have a copy of the Koran on my PC. A text search for "bears" does not com up with your quote
What kind of religion murders children for calling someone dirty?
Can you cite the verses there? If that is from the Koran, its a loose copy of an account from the Bible in II Kings 2:23-24 about the Hebrew prophet Elisha:
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD . Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
Apparently baldness was quite rare in the ancient near-east, and associated with disease and actually moral failure--seen as a judgement of God. These youths were not little kids (probably older teens) so they were of accountable age, and they were greatly (greatly) insulting God's prophet, hence the severe judgement (42 killed by 2 bears!!!).
I must admit, I don't find even that explanation satisfactory--so I plead an "I don't understand." But its in your Bible.... If the Koran copied it, well, that's par for the course. Still there's lots of things in our own religion that we don't understand...let alone other's.
Ummm, no, they don't, Mr Lewis.
In 1892, islam was declared to NOT come under the purview of the 1st Ammendment of the U.S. Constitution by the New York State Supreme Court.
That ruling has never been overruled, overturned nor vacated.
Time for a dope slap. I took the time to read the article and didn't see what the defense was. Because he has Muslim friends, Islam is defensible? That's his argument? Why aren't his Muslim friends in the streets protesting terroists? Why aren't Muslim majority countries rounding up terroists? They round up everybody else they don't like.
Also, does being a Jew and a Zionist give him special insight into Islam? To me this is a false credential. Islam does not discriminate between Christians and Jews. They depise both equally.
These "Muslims" he prattles on and on about "interacting" with are probably laughing at him when he walks out, and wishing they could slit his throat and get away with it, since you're a Jew.
Please. Spare me.
Islam is an evil, barbaric, religion that was initially spread by violence, and continues to use violence as the primary means to spread its twisted message to this day. It is a violent, murder cult. Of the major conflicts on planet Earth today, almost all of them involve Islamic populations trying to conquer their neighbors and impose Islamic law upon them.
So, as I said at the beginning, go f- yourself, buddy.
Islam's goal is to dominate the world, as it has been from the beginning - the Koran tells you so. The writings of the Koran are the ravings of an Arab madman; a drunk and a demon possessed pedophile named Mohammad (piss be upon him), and this vile so-called "religion" has brought misery, slavery, and tyranny in every nation it has taken over. It suppresses women and turns them into chattle and slaves who have no rights whatsoever. It's a barbaric religion.
Dumbasses like this guy better wake up. They better make sure Islam doesn't secure a foothold here, because America is all that stands between Islamofascism, and Western culture and civilization.
Europe already has so many Muslims that they're done for. It's too late for Europe. Watch what begins to happen to France in the next few years. They're the canary in the mine of Western Civilization. France will be the first to fall, and it won't be pretty (regardless of what you think about the French).
You make some good points, there are many Muslims that do not support terrorism. However, it doesn't stop the religion from being "evil", even if everyone who practices it is not "murderously evil", as they are being characterized.
You see, what makes Islam evil, is that it rejects Jesus. Oh, it accepts Jesus as a prophet, but not as the Son of God. It rejects the redemptive work of the cross.
At this point, you no doubt are asking, "but wait, I'm a Jew and Jews reject Jesus, does that make Jews evil?". I hate to be the one to break it to you, but yes. It's why Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70. It's why you have suffered 2000 years of exile. It is what ushered in the prophesized "times of the gentiles".
God who was opposed to any images, had Moses hang the image of a serpent on a tree. And when bitten by the serpents Israel had to look to it if they wanted to be healed. Think about how absurd that is that God would have Israel look to a statue of a serpent, of all things. What was He trying to teach you? That Jesus would come and become the symbol of sin (the serpent) and hang on a tree (the cross) if you are going to be healed (saved) when you are bitten by the serpent (sin).
When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son and then provided a substitutionary sacrifice, He was telling you what He was going to do. The whole animal sacrifice system was to teach you that "atonement is in the blood". Jesus was the ultimate substitutionary sacrifice. God Himself paying the price.
The Jewish prophets told you when the Messiah would come, where he would be born, His lineage, and many other things. That the Jews didn't listen, that they didn't recognize when the Lord walked among them, was a great evil. Some did recognize it and they were the first Christians.
So why do we support Israel if it suffers from the same evil that Islam suffers from? Several reasons.
1) The Jews are kind of viewed like our older brothers that didn't quite listen to everything God said. Whereas the Muslims are viewed as a cult which turns everything on it's head in favor of their new prophet Mohammed, which doesn't pass the test of a prophet that Moses laid down. They acknowedge Jesus but then reject Him anyway.
2) God told us to bless the descendants of Abraham and that would include both Israel and Arabs. We are after all supposed to love everyone the way He does.
3) God loves Israel. Jesus wept over the coming destruction of Jerusalem. God honored Israel by having Jesus come through the Davidic line. And it's clear from Exekiel and Revelations that God is not through with Israel yet. Although there is still more judgement coming your way too.
4) The scriptures in Exekiel of God's judgement on the nations which divide Israel are certainly cause for concern. As well as the promise to Israel that the land would be yours for all time.
We support Israel, whether or not Israel deserves it, because we seek to honor God and do as He commands.
It contains many surrahs that call for the death of "infidels". The only thing worse than an "infidel" (one who rejects Islam) is a Muslim hypocrite (a Muslim who does not follow the teachings of the Koran - or violates them - hmmmmm, would this be the so-called "moderate" Muslims?...or a Muslim who rejects the Koran).
What kind of religion, other than a cult, states that anyone who rejects Islam should be put to death? Because that's the penalty for any Muslim who leaves the faith. They are to be put to death, according to Muslim Shari'a Law.
What the New York courts have to say about it is irrelevant outside of NY. And a 110-year-old ruling is almost certainly also irrelevant in NY in the face of subsequent Supreme Court cases.
Islam is a religion whose 'holy book', the Koran, teaches violence and hatred against Christians and Jews, (specifically). While there are definately many Muslims who prefer peace to violence, their very religion encourages them to violence against those who will not convert. Islam kills Christians in the Sudan, Indonesia, Somalia, Rwanda, the Philippines, the U.S. and elsewhere. Islam kills Jews in Israel and in embassies abroad. Islam kills Buddhists in Afghanstan and it murders Hindus in Kashmir. In Rwanda there are programs going on to buy back Christian slaves who were captured and brutalized by Muslims. Where there aren't many Christians, Jews, Hindus or Buddhists to kill, Islamists kill each other, (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran-Iraq, Turkey-Kurdistan, etc). Islam is evil to the core, and was surely hatched in the sulphery bowels of Hades.
Sounds like something from Mother Goose's Fairy Tales" to me. LOL
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