Saudi Sermon: Time for Christians and Jews to Convert to Islam

IMRA ^ | March 14, 2004 | FBIS

[yonif]

Riyadh Kingdom of Saudi Arabia TV1 in Arabic, official television station of the Saudi Government, carries on February 27, 2004 at 0945 GMT a live sermon from the holy mosque in Mecca.

Shaykh Salih Bin-Muhammad Al Talib delivers the sermon, which he devotes to the story of genesis and the heavenly messages brought by the prophets, beginning with Adam and ending with Prophet Muhammad and the message of Islam. All heavenly religions, he asserts, came with one message -- worship of God.

"Therefore," the imam says, "is it not time the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] pondered and acknowledged that Islam is a continuation of the messages that came before it and that it is the religion that God has chosen for the whole of mankind?" "From the time of Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, until the Day of Judgment, God will not accept any other religion or creed," the imam says and cites the Koranic verse: "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost."

Continuing, the imam says: "Have you not noticed that in the past 15 centuries history has not recorded that one single Muslim religious scholar has entered Judaism or Christianity? On the other hand, history records with letters of light the columns of rabbis and priests who have converted to Islam and linked their messages with its final message, which God has chosen for all mankind."

The imam makes this appeal: "Therefore, from the fountain of the message, the site of its revelation, and the pulpit of the house [ka'bah], which was built by Abraham and to which Moses and Jesus, peace be upon them, made pilgrimage, I make a sincere appeal along with our Prophet Muhammad's message to non-Muslims and say: Embrace Islam so as to be peaceful. Embrace Islam so as to be peaceful. Embrace Islam so that God would reward you twice. Otherwise, you, and those that follow you out of ignorance would have to account for your sin. It is an appeal to accept the truth and study Islam; the correct Islam that the prophet of guidance, Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, has brought; Islam as it really is, free of innovations and distortions; the Islam that is innocent of human violations and the errors made by some of its followers." The imam then reads this Koranic verse: "Say: "O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah. If then they turn back, Say ye: Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims bowing to Allah's will)."

The imam continues with the same theme in the second sermon. He says: "What has caused misery to mankind in these times of confused ideas is when some politicians hijacked religions and used them as a means to suppress others and a tool to dominate the followers of other faiths. This is what world Zionism did to Judaism. This is also what the so-called secular governments did to Christianity. They coerced peoples and occupied states by religious motives and claims of religiousness. And, although they deny these motives in their statements, they come out in their slips of the tongue and are unequivocally explained by their statements. The clerics in those religions are called upon to clearly say that they do not approve the behavior of their governments and that what is happening is not advocated by their religions so that their followers who are used in these attacks, those who think they are doing a good thing and getting closer God, would know that they are mere tools in the hands of the politicians serving their reckless whims, which are not curbed by religion or morals. These people's [clerics] silence and shy statements would only lead to the conflict or clash of civilizations. The racial segregation wall, which usurps Muslim lands in Palestine, is one example."

The imam says: "O Muslims, and now a final word on the roots. It is the duty of Muslims to strongly uphold their religion. The nation of Islam must believe that it is the only one on the right path, that Islam is the last of religions, that the Koran is the last of the Books and most importantly, that Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, is the last of the apostles, that the Islamic law [shari'a] is a copy of their laws, and that God will not accept any other religion. Thus, it is impermissible to concede any of that even if at the cost of our lives. We say this at a time when some defeatists have weakened and called for mixing distorted scriptures with Islamic religion under the claim of bringing religions closer to one another. We say it also at a time when some people's faith is so weak as to believe that everyone is correct. This began from the statements uttered by some and the behavior and theses written by others. It is as if they did not hear God's words: "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never it will be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost."

The imam says: "If we are to renew the religious discourse, we must go back to the roots. This means going back to the Koran and the Sunnah. O God, show us the truth and help us to follow it, and show us falsehood and help us to avoid it. Please know ye, may God have mercy on you, that fasting on the 10th day in the month of Muharram [the first month of the new Hegira year, which began on 21 February 2004] atones for the sins of the two previous years. Fast on that day and also on the day before or after it. This is the tradition of your Prophet Muhammad, May the peace and blessings of God be upon him. He fasted on this day to thank God for saving Moses and his people and drowning the Pharaoh and his people. It is a strange paradox that this happy occasion has been transformed by a Muslim faction into continuous mourning and ceaseless wailing, in a picture that clearly shows ignorance of religion and following misleading persons without a good reason. O Ye, correct the path to God and follow the guidance of the prophet."

The imam concludes with a prayer to God to support Islam and Muslims, defeat the tyrants, atheists, and corrupt. He also prays to God to keep this and other Muslim countries safe and secure. He prays: "O God, spare us the evils of sins, earthquakes, and seditions, both the open and secret. O God, whoever wishes Islam and Muslims and their lands evil, busy him with himself, turn his plot against him, and make his plans destroy him. O God, support your religion, Book, the Sunnah of Your prophet, and your faithful subjects. O God, save oppressed Muslims everywhere. O God, support the mujahidin for your sake. O God, support them in Palestine and everywhere." The imam also prays to God to grant success to the king and his brothers in their endeavors for the wellbeing of the country and people.

[madison10]

Moses was a Hebrew, raised by an Egyptian princess. Receiver of the Ten Commandments. The Jews follow those Books of Moses.

Are you being technical with the "I don't think he was..." comment?

[madison10]

Yes, Levites are Hebrews. One of the tribes. (people will get technical here & say there were no "Jews" until there was Judah) They are ALL Hebrews: Moses, Levites, Bejaminites, etc. Abraham was NOT a Jew he was a Babylonian. ;)

[aruanan]

Saudi Sermon: Time for Christians and Jews to Convert to Islam

It didn't work back when Muhammed tried it in the Arabian peninsula and it won't work now. This time, though, we won't be wiped out as Muhammed wiped out the high-tech Christian and Jewish civilization of the Arabian peninsula. Funny, even Medina was a city built by Arabian Jews.

[Future Snake Eater]

That's because you goat humpers KILL them.

That is most likely what happened the majority of the time. If one of their scholars converted, ran, and got away, does anyone really think they would write that down in their Islamic history?

[kanawa]

Death to Islam.

[King Prout]

Old Student,

Your passionate defense and use of equivocation is not compelling.

While there are ugly passages in the judeochristian texts, almost all of them are written as historical accounts of one-shot-deals and the laws/acts of Man - not continuous mandates directly from the Almighty. Those passages which ARE present-tense indicate that GOD will judge and condemn, and are unlike the hundreds of exhortations in the Koran and Sunnah directing the Muslim to go out and slay the infidel.

That is a very big difference, one which cannot be touched by your "every group has bastards" philosophy.

On that note, yes: there are radical lunatic christians and jews. Very damned few of them, but extant. Compare their numbers and proportionate representation and influence in the body of adherents to that of the islamicists. There is no comparison. Islam is chock full of such loonies, and they are the ones dominating the mosques and madrasses and sharia courts.

Facts, Student. Study them.

Moreover, I have known a goodly number of "moderate" Muslims. I say "moderate" in quotes because they would be considered apostates by their hardcore coreligionists (the overwhelming majority) and are condemned as apostates repeatedly throughout the Koran and Sunnah. Most of them were Muslim to the same extent that the average Frenchman is Catholic. My very best friend on Earth is such a Muslim, from Iran.

So what?

I am willing to accept as fact that, just as there are moderate individual Muslims, there were moderate individual Nazis. Nazis who would not themselves have been happy to pack Jews and Gypsies and Catholics into boxcars and ship them off to death-camps. Nazis who would not themselves be happy to gun down prisoners of war with machine-guns. Nazis who, though convinced of German supremacy, may have thought that going to war with the whole world was foolish or excessive. Nazis who, though they may have bought into the notion of the supremacy of the “Aryan Race”, may have thought that old Adolph was a little too rabid and went a trifle too far...

I can see that such moderate Nazis may well have existed.
But would their existence have indicated that Nazism itself was moderate?

No. Of course not.

So why is it that so many people in the West point to some handful of identifiably moderate Muslims and exclaim “Eureka - Here is Moderate Islam!”?

Why, then, are so many people so very eager to accept the totally undemonstrated and amply counter-demonstrated notion that there exists such a thing as “moderate, mainstream Islam”?

As I said, your arguments are not compelling - they are, in fact, laughable.

[Valin]

The world must wage war on this militant Islamic ideology and not just on the resulting terrorist actions.

It really is a war of ideas, much like the cold war...and may take as long.

[BayouCoyote]

"I'd die before converting to that God-forsaken 'religion'. That's a fact. I'd also fight to the death any who tried to force it upon me or mine. Islam hasn't run across anything quite like the US of A in their history. Let's get it on........and get it over with, once and for all."


You can rely on me to be there. The time is drawing near where those who understand what is happening will have to unite to defend civilization.

[oyez]

Time for Saudis to see The Passion.

And they will tell you it is forbidden to them.

[montag813]

No Islam, you are going to have to do a whole lot better. By their fruits you shall know them, and I see something rotten in Mecca, to coin a phrase.

Why are you telling me? Obviously you missed my comments underneath the red typeface. Take another look, as I am not advocating Islam.

[knighthawk]

Time for Christians and Jews to Convert to Islam

Or else...

[Lady Heron]

On Sept 11 and after we talked at length about the hatred of Muslims for the "infidels", and they were absolutely adamant and unequivocal that this terror and murder wasn't Islam, this was some fanatic sect.

Then they either do not know what is in the koran or they are lying to you, wich is allowed in the koran. Muslims are allowed to lie to no-muslims in order to present islam in a good light in hope of winning conversions and oops later you learn the truth after the conversion but now there is a death sentence for leaving islam.

One of the best things a person can do is learn about what islam teaches so that you are well armed.

[Old Student]

The Koran is a much smaller "scripture" than the Bible, so there is little sense in trying to compare them as you have. The Sunnah are not scriptures at all, but testimonies of supposed witnesses to Mohammed's actions. They have a whole "science" of determining which are more acceptable, and which are not. They have much the same problem with witness reliability as your local police do, too. There are certain sunnah accepted by different sects of Islam, some of which are not accepted by other sects. It's rather like asking a Baptist to accept the Book of Mormon.

The major problem with your arguement, however, is thinking that Wahhabi Muslims are representative of the whole group. There are, at most, a couple of hundred million Wahhabi and like sects in Islam. Yes, that is a large absolute number, compared to the population of the US, but it is only a fifth of the total of all Muslims, at most. Muslims of all sects total only about a sixth of the world's population. Further, not all that are Wahhabi or their like subscribe to the line coming out in the pulpits even of Mecca. There are as many variants of Islam as there are in Christianity, and considerably more than there are of Judaism. The Wahhabi have been trying to take over Islam for the past 300 years or so, and they have not yet succeeded. This isn't to say that they can't, or even won't, because they might.

I have studied the facts. I've lived in Islamic countries, and spoken to a bunch of Muslims. I've also been studying the history of the region for most of the past 20 years. You may have noticed that a lot of Saudis, who are mostly Wahhabi, do not follow the tenets of their variety of Islam while outside their home country? Maybe it is because they think God is stupid and blind, and won't see them, but I tend to think it is because much of what they are supposed to believe is truth is known to them as nonsense. No doubt some of them cut loose a little too much, and go home feeling guilty, too, and try to do "better" by being more fanatic about it. That seems to have been the mode the 9/11 hijackers were operating in; they would be forgiven because they "gave their lives in Jihad."

I personally find your arguments against Islam as a whole as racist as those of Klansmen against Blacks and Jews and Catholics. You paint with a very broad brush. I stand by my argument that there are no-goodniks in any group. I'm afraid I have to lump you in that crowd, too, based on your posts here. I'm not personally very fond of Saudis, myself; I found them quite arrogant and more than a little willing to let someone else bleed for them rather than lift a finger in their own defense. I am willing to admit I didn't get to know many Saudis, either. Most of my friends were Turks, Kurds, Morrocans, Pakis, and Indonesians, with a few Persians thrown in for flavoring. Perhaps your knowledge of Muslims IS more than mine. I still find your arguement less than compelling, and quite repellent.

[Old Student]

"It seems to me that by the "logic" that muslims use, that muhamed and the koran came after the bible, thereby replacing it, then all the muslims should convert to Mormons, since Joseph Smith came about later than muhamed... Or Scientology, since L. Ron Hubbard came even later on... "

I believe you misunderstand their logic. They claim that Mohammed was the last prophet. As a Mormon, I'd have to disagree with that, of course. On the other hand, I'd have to agree with the Muslims as far as LRON's prophetic vision is concerned.

[tet68]

Molten Glass as far as the eye can see.
I say we stand off and nuke them from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.

[King Prout]

whoopie - you find it repellent.

cry me a river - you did not refute it.

I have stated, in CLEAR TEXT AND SMALL WORDS, that there are moderate MUSLIMS.

That does not mean that ISLAM is moderate, or even can be - thus, the illustration using a related cult: Nazism.

Try again. Try harder.

[philetus]

If you put a "Nuke Mecca" sticker on your car, something WILL happen.
I don't think it would be safe.

[philetus]

The muslims have learned a new trick with Spain.
They just caused a WHOLE COUNTRY to turn against the "Great Satan"
and abandon the war on terror.
I think the muslim world is impressed.
I think more of the "peaceful muslims" will be willing to get involved.
Muslims are not ones to do things in moderation.

[King Prout]

moreover, you err:

The Koran is a much smaller "scripture" than the Bible, so there is little sense in trying to compare them as you have. The Sunnah are not scriptures at all, but testimonies of supposed witnesses to Mohammed's actions. They have a whole "science" of determining which are more acceptable, and which are not. They have much the same problem with witness reliability as your local police do, too. There are certain sunnah accepted by different sects of Islam, some of which are not accepted by other sects.

survey says? XXX

The Koran is roughly the equivalent of the four cannonical Gospels of the New Testament, as established under the Council of Nicaea. The Koran is literally held to be the directly recited word of Allah, and cannot be interpreted, reworded, modified, even translated out of Arabic. Inconsistencies in the suriyah are explained by the cute little dodge that Allah can change his mind, replacing older and outmoded commandments with newer more perfect ones. Read the Koran - it's in there. The "later revelations" are SO much fun that way.

The Hadith of the Sunnah are the rough equivalent of the lesser books of the NT (Acts, Epistles, etc...) plus the non-canonnical Apocryphal Gospels and testaments. The Hadith are held to be accurate testimonies of the words of Muhammad and inspired by Allah. There is some wiggle room for interpretation, but not much. Nor is there much motivation for doing so, because "Allah hates those who ask too many questions" and the penalty for unrepentant apostasy is death.

Facts. Deal with them.

[King Prout]

KAKKATE KOI!