Posted on 11/16/2002 4:15:12 AM PST by Bad~Rodeo
Exactly what it is that Islamists want? They´re murdering innocent people around the world, disrupting commerce with their attacks on ships and businesses, attacking churches and temples, and broadcasting threats to the world almost daily. It´s understandable that we would ask: What is it they really want?
The short answer: They want to conquer the world. They want to establish a one-world Islamic government and govern the world under Shariah, Islamic law. They want to take away our freedoms, abolish churches and synagogues (as Saudi Arabia already has), and lock women in their homes and dress them in Afghan burkas. The Islamists I worked with in the Middle East for six years also boasted that they would take wives as young as nine years old and slaves to serve them from among the infidel population they govern. When I expressed doubt, they even told me which holy books authorized those actions.
On CBN News, Moshe Sharon, who has studied Islam for 35 years, said he believes Americans “ought to know that Islam divides the world into two parts: one part that is already under the rule of Islam, the other part which must come under the rule of Islam in the future. And this can happen either if the rest of the world, which is non-Islamic, succumbs to Islam or is conquered by Islam.´”
David Parsons, the editor of the Middle East Digest, said, “Osama bin Laden, this master terrorist, he has set forth a plan to his followers, a plan to conquer the world for Islam within a hundred years. And the main obstacle to him and others who share his beliefs, very prevalent within the Islamic world of world conquest, the main obstacle is the United States. Americans need to understand that.”
The truly Islamic nation is called Khilafah (Caliphate) headed by a Khaleefah (Caliph). Al-islami website explains: “When we say that Muslims must establish Khilafah, we mean that Muslims must establish an Islamic state, with an Islamic system of government ruled by the Islamic Shariah.” Khilafah.org says: “Khilafah is the political system of Islam. Under the Khilafah, the entire breadth of the Islamic system (be it social, economic, educational, foreign policy, etc.) is implemented. The Khilafah is also responsible for spreading the message of Islam to the world.”
Khilafah.com says, “The Khilafah is the global leadership for all the Muslims in the world. Its role is to establish the laws of the Islamic Shari‘ah and to carry the da‘wah [missionary invitation] of Islam to the world.” It warns that establishing a Khaleefah is a holy obligation upon all Muslims in the world.
They first want to unite all Islamic nations under a Khaleefah with absolute power over his subjects then go after the rest of the world. A powerful Islamic nation can challenge the non-Islamic world.
The Khaleefah is appointed by a council and will rule for life if he adheres to Islamic principles and law. One can also seize power by brute force. Islamic-world explains: “Many Muslim scholars say that if a person has already seized power, then to avoid Muslim bloodshed that person should be accepted if he upholds his duties as the Khalifa of the Muslim ummah [people].” They worry about Muslim bloodshed; the 9/11 attacks on America and the recent attack in Bali show that Christian bloodshed apparently means nothing, perhaps because we are kaffirs, infidels, nonbelievers. The Bali murderers chose Bali because only nonbelievers would be killed.
Pat Robertson, on his 700 Club TV broadcast, said: “[Islam] is not a peaceful religion that wants to coexist. They want to coexist until they can control, dominate and then if need be destroy. I have taken issue with our esteemed president in regard to his stand in saying Islam is a peaceful religion. It's just not. And the Koran makes it very clear, if you see an infidel, you are to kill him.” Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein may be monsters, but to the Ummah, the Muslims of the world, they are also fellow citizens of the Ummah. That might explain why Muslim leaders halfheartedly condemn Islamic terrorists.
Samuel P. Huntington, in his book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, notes: “Wherever one looks along the perimeter of Islam, Muslims have problems living peaceably with their neighbors. . . . in the 1990s they have been far more involved in intergroup violence than the people of any other civilizations.”
Khilafah.com says that after the Khilafah is established, “Then the Muslims should work with the Khilafah to combine the rest of the Islamic countries with it, hence the countries will become Dar al-Islam [under Islamic law] and they will then carry Islam to the world through invitation and jihad.”
They´ll “invite” us to become Islamic, then use jihad to impose it. They don´t have to explain jihad to us, of course. We saw it in America on September 11, 2001 and in Bali. And Osama bin Laden, his henchmen, and Islamists around the world (and don´t be fooled; there are tens of millions of them) have told us over and over what we can expect from their jihad.
As an American, I´m sick and tired of being bullied and intimidated. I want us to show Islamists once and for all the American version of jihad. We have no choice. Our nation, our freedoms, our very lives and those of our children and grandchildren depend on a swift and overwhelming response to the Islamist threat. Otherwise, believe me, if there is ever a hell on Earth, it will be a world under those savages.
Another common misunderstanding is the interpretation of an "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" as a call to revenge. In ancient times, it was quite common, when one person in a tribe was harmed by other trive, to go out and slaughter thousands of others in the other tribe. The command of an "eye for an eye" was actually a call to equal retribution, as opposed to seeking retribution beyond the harm done.
The New Testament goes a step further, saying that the punishments that were allowed to the Jews should not be practiced, as they were permitted because of the hardness of heart that existed in those times. Forgiveness became the rule instead of retribution. Thus, your accusations against Christians are unjust, because your accusation misinterprets the intention behind the passages you cite.
As another note, the criticism doesn't stand against modern Jews either, as they more or less interpret the passages in the same way.
I would like to think that many of the Koranic passages are written with the same thing in mind- that they prescribe punishments for the purpose of prohibiting harsher punishments. Unfortunately, the Islamic world does not view them as harsh punishments allowed because of the hardness of hearts, but rather as punishments written in stone that MUST be carried out. Please note this distinction before you accuse Christians and Jews of being like Muslims simply due to the similiarity of passages in their scriptures. The intention behind those passages are completely different.
"Piffle"? How dare you piffle me?
We weren't talking "numbers", but the fact that violence exists within
circles of the extremists of all groups. It does.
The times and conditions to which they addressed were also, and that is my point.
I would feel safe to assume they want to be able to fight their own battle and not
see their opponent be graced with support from outsiders.
We [our nation] is obligated to support freedom and democracy [and any country
that is in quest for it]. That places us in a difficult spot, doesn't it?
They [one group or another] always have. It's just that lately [and
likely the result of 8 years of clinton mishandling of foreign matters],
that is has fallen to our doorsteps in the form of "9-11".
We are now seeing it firsthand instead of rumor and visions from afar.
We are now suffering as those involved have suffered. Innocent people
dead and escalations of hostility. But now we have to fight, there is no
resolution, other than penalize those involved with the planning and attack.
That does not mean that we are at war with a religion. We are at war with
people; a nation of people without their soil. It's a tough battle, but I personally
think that the fight should be contained to those involved, not the religion
of those fighting, or to those of that religion that are at peace with us.
re:
".....[Islam/Christian/Jew] ...The intention behind those passages are completely different..."
The times and conditions to which they addressed were also, and that is my point.
In the case of Christianity and Judaism, this is largely true. Unfortunately, most of the Islamic world, figuratively speaking, still lives in "those times and conditions", and their interpretation and insistence upon those punishments can still be considered to be in the mainstream in many places.
One must be careful to understand the instance of Muslims on Islamic government. It is a non-negotiable part of the Muslim faith. The core of Islam (and I know this for a fact- I almost became a Muslim once and studied Islam quite deeply) is the notion of submission of all aspects of life to God and "His Law" (the Koran). This is why Islam can mean both "Surrender" and "Peace"- the peace is a direct result of surrendering life in the world to the order of God. This is why there is no distinction in the Islamic world between the secular and the religious- because, the secular is surrendered in all things to the religious. It is in this way very different from Judaism and Christianity.
The Jews tended to view themselves as a chosen people, in the minority, set apart from the majority of people in the world. Theirs would only become the order of the world with the coming of the conquering messiah.
Christians have always distinguished between the things of the world and the things of God. Up until the 4th century, when Christianity first became legal in the empire, the two were largely considered incompatible.
Islam has never made that distinction. The laws that God gives were written in eternity. They must be obeyed to conform the world to the order of God (this Muslims would call the natural order). Islam does not view man as having a corrupted and sinful nature. It views men and the world as being in the order of God. Things which do not conform must be cut out, because they are corruptions. Islam does not give the benefit of the doubt in regards to ignorance of the basics of its law. All transgressors are viewed as having transgressed fully by their own free will, and transgression against God is not permissible in this world without consequences.
This is why I still say that the laws of Islam are of a different character than those found in Judaism and Christianity, because they are part of the core of Islam. They only pass when "order is restored".
No... You think?
Heck, just read the Koran and you would know this already...
Is this the same Daniel Pipes that sees Islam as a peaceful religion with some in it that make it evil? Is that the expert you refer to?
Show me any Christians in the world today that would act like that.
Wrong line of reasoning. See http://www.glorywatch.com/fundamentalism.htm ...
You do realize, that these people have been at war with each other for eons?
So how is it that Mulsims in Cairo, Jakarta, and other parts of the globe were rejoicing when the towers fell? I mean how hard is it to understand we are in a world war called the Great Jihad?
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