Posted on 11/16/2001 5:18:18 PM PST by concerned about politics
Are Americans converting to Islam? Arab press reports wave of interest in faith in U.S.
Sheikh Raid Sallah, the head of the Islamic movement in Israel, called on President Bush to convert to Islam and thus solve all problems connected with the dramatic terrorist attacks on the United States.
At a rally in the Arab town of Tamra, he reiterated his call Oct. 26: "Oh, peoples of the West ... we say to you: We are the masters of the world and we are the repository of all good (in the world), because we are the 'the best people, delivered for mankind' (Koran, 3:111). We do not hesitate. Oh Bush and (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair: We invite you to Islam; enter Islam, you and your peoples."
Bush and Blair didn't bite, but, according to various reports in the Arab press, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a wave of Americans have converted to Islam since Sept. 11.
'Alaa Bayumi, director of Arab Affairs at the Council for American-Islamic Relations, wrote in the London daily Al-Hayat that "non-Muslim Americans are now interested in getting to know Islam. There are a number of signs. ... Libraries have run out of books on Islam and the Middle East... English translations of the Koran head the American best-seller list. ... The Americans are showing increasing willingness to convert to Islam since Sept. 11. ... Thousands of non-Muslim Americans have responded to invitations to visit mosques, resembling the waves of the sea (crashing on the shore) one after another. ... All this is happening in a political atmosphere that, at least verbally, encourages non-Muslim Americans' openness towards Muslims in America and in the Islamic world, as the American president has said many times in his speeches. ..."
CAIR Chairman Nihad Awad told the Saudi paper 'Ukaz that "34,000 Americans have converted to Islam following the events of Sept. 11, and this is the highest rate reached in the U.S. since Islam arrived there."
According to Dr. Walid A. Fatihi, instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston has recently become a center of Islamic proselytizing aimed at Christians. On Sept. 22, 2001, Al-Fatihi sent a letter to the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, in which he described the unfolding of events since Sept. 11.
"On Saturday, Sept. 15, I went with my wife and children to the biggest church in Boston, (Trinity Church in) Copley Square, by official invitation of the Islamic Society of Boston, to represent Islam by special invitation of the senators of Boston," wrote Fatihi. "Present were the mayor of Boston, his wife and the heads of the universities. There were more than 1,000 people there, with media coverage by one of Boston's main television stations. We were received like ambassadors. I sat with my wife and children in the front row, next to the mayor's wife. In his sermon, the priest defended Islam as a monotheistic religion, telling the audience that I represented the Islamic Society of Boston. After the sermon was over, he stood at my side as I read an official statement issued by the leading Muslim clerics condemning the incident (i.e., the attacks). The statement explained Islam's stance and principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I read Koran verses translated into English. ... These were moments that I will never forget, because the entire church burst into tears upon hearing the passages of the words of Allah!!
"Emotion swept over us," Fatihi continued. "One said to me: 'I do not understand the Arabic language, but there is no doubt that the things you said are the words of Allah.' As she left the church weeping, a woman put a piece of paper in my hand; on the paper was written: 'Forgive us for our past and for our present. Keep proselytizing to us.' Another man stood at the entrance of the church, his eyes teary, and said, 'You are just like us; no, you are better than us.'"
Fatihi recounts the next day the Islamic Society of Boston issued an open invitation to the Islamic Center in Cambridge.
"We did not expect more than 100 people, but to our surprise more than 1,000 people came, among them the neighbors, the university lecturers, members of the clergy, and even the leaders of the priests from the nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam," Fatihi wrote. "All expressed solidarity with Muslims. Many questions flowed to us. Everyone wanted to know about Islam and to understand its precepts. Of all the questions, not a single one attacked me; on the contrary, we saw (the people's) eyes filling with tears when they heard about Islam and its sublime principles. Many of them had never heard about Islam before. Well, they had heard about Islam only through the biased media. That same day, I was invited again to participate in a meeting in the church, and again I saw the same things. On Thursday, a delegation of 300 students and lecturers from Harvard visited the center of the Islamic Society of Boston, accompanied by the American Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor of the mosque, which was filled to capacity. We explained to them the precepts of Islam, and defended it from any suspicions (promulgated in the media). I again read to them from the verses of Allah, and (their) eyes filled with tears. The audience was moved, and many asked to participate in the weekly lessons for non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center. ..."
Fatihi says on Sept. 21, the Muslims participated in a closed meeting with the governor of Massachusetts. They discussed introducing Islam into the school curriculum. He claims Gov. Jane Swift agreed to implement their plans.
"These are only some of the examples of what happened and is happening in the city of Boston, and in many other American cities, during these days," Fatihi continued. "Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days after Sept. 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like 11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah. I write to you today with the absolute confidence that over the next few years, Islam will spread in America and in the entire world, Allah willing, much more quickly than it has spread in the past, because the entire world is asking, 'What is Islam?!'"
You need to make a separation between Islam the religion and Islam which is also a political ideology. The former has forms such as Sufism, which are thoroughly harmless. The latter is the enemy of Western Civilisation, as much as Communism and Fascism were.
Regards, Ivan
It does sound like it may be giving Scientology a run for its money.
islam was invented by a child-raping monster so that people in hell would have something to laugh at.
This is very strange. I have no memory of that post. I must have been thinking of how the FBI broke up the KKK, by joining and undermining it from within. A bit more difficult with islamofacists.
The five oldest and most trusted Islamic sources don't portray Muhammad as a great and godly man. They confirm that he was a thief, liar, assassin, mass murderer, terrorist, warmonger, and an unrestrained sexual pervert engaged in pedophilia, incest, and rape. He authorized deception, assassinations, torture, slavery, and genocide. He was a pirate, not a prophet. According to the Hadith and the Qur'an, Muhammad and his henchmen plundered their way to power and prosperity.
Yeah I read yer book, no go bother someone who likes ya.....
I have no memory of that post.
And that has happed to me too when I got a response from a years old thread :-)
"Fight and slay the pagans [Christians] wherever ye find them and seize them, confine them, and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush" (Surah 9:5)
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and his apostle nor acknowledge the religion of truth of the people of the Book (the Jews and the Christians) until they pay the Jizya [tax on non-Muslims] with willing submission and feel themselves subdued." (Surah 9:29)
"Those who follow Muhammad are merciless for the unbelievers but kind to each other." (Qur'an 48:29)
"Enmity and hatred will reign between us until ye believe in Allah alone." (Qur'an 60:4)
Say to the Unbelievers, if (now) they desist (from Unbelief), their past would be forgiven them; but if they persist, the punishment of those before them is already (a matter of warning for them). And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God altogether and everywhere; but if they cease, verily God doth see all that they do. (Qur'an 8:37-39)
"Fight the unbelievers in your surroundings, and let them find harshness in you." (Qur'an 9:123)
"For he who believes in the Trinity, "the Fire will be his abode … a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemer." Qur'an (5:72-73)
So much for a "loving religion.. I'll note your sign-up date is Nov. 5, 2005. Perhaps you're just trolling.
Not while I live and breathe.
You probably got it from me. When people link to old threads, I forget to look at the dates.
Surely the number is MUCH higher than that. The California public schools have created more muslims than that simply through their become a muslim week of education where student take Islamic names and recite the Shahadah, which makes them life long muslims even if they did not know it.
Only one Lord: Jesus the Christ.
http://www.mother-of-jesus.org
Apparition photos of Mother of Jesus blessing our home with an tablet of Jesus' image.
Lazarus Aeginos
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