Posted on 12/31/2002 8:04:43 AM PST by unspun
Commentary
Islam Is a Religion of Peace
By Donald E. Wildmon
December 31, 2002
A plane is commandeered and flown into one of the World Trade Center towers in New York. A few minutes later, another commandeered plane is flown into the other WTC tower. In Washington, a third plane is crashed into the Pentagon. And still another crashes in Pennsylvania. It was headed, it is believed, to the White House. Thousands of innocent citizens are killed.
Who is responsible? A group of Muslims. In Islamic countries, the streets are full of Muslims celebrating the carnage. No Muslin leader steps forward to apologize, to publicly refute the actions of those responsible. There is only silence from the Muslim leaders around the world. But, we are told by our own leaders, Islam is a religion of peace.
In Bali, a bomb explodes killing hundreds of innocent individuals. A group of Muslims is responsible. But, we are reminded, Islam is a religion of peace.
In Nigeria, hundreds of Muslim youths go on a rampage following their Friday prayers. Armed with sticks, daggers and knives, they set fire to vehicles and attack anyone they suspect of being Christian. The carnage leaves over 100 people dead. They are upset with an article in a local paper -- ThisDay -- which suggests that the Prophet Mohammed would have probably chosen to marry one of the Miss World contestants if he had witnessed the beauty pageant hosted by Nigeria. The newspaper apologizes for the article, which they say was run by mistake, but the rampage continues after the apology. We must remember that Islam is a religion of peace.
In the Philippines, Muslim rebels ambush a Canadian company's workers, killing 12 and injuring 10. Earlier, on Christmas Eve, a bomb made from an 81-mm mortar shell filled with nail fragments explodes outside the home of a town's mayor, killing 17 people. But remember, Islam is a religion of peace.
In Pakistan, three Christian girls -- ages 6, 10, and 15 -- attend a Christmas Day service to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. Two assailants covered in burqas -- the all-encompassing garment worn by women in some Islamic countries -- toss a bomb into the church where 40 Christians have gathered. The girls die. A Christmas service is turned into bloody chaos. One of those detained as being responsible is an Islamic cleric who told his followers to kill Christians. Let us not forget that Islam is a religion of peace.
In eastern India, a gang armed with crude bombs attacks a Christian church, wounding six people and robbing hundreds of others. In Bangladesh, police guard churches as the nation's small Christian community celebrates Christmas with prayers, carols, and feasts. In the Sudan, over two million Christians have been slaughtered by radical Muslims. Still we are told that Islam is a religion of peace.
In Yemen, a Muslim extremist shoots and kills three American Southern Baptist medical missionaries -- there to help anyone needing their healing skills, including Muslims. We must not forget that Islam is a religion of peace.
What do those who do all this evil want? Land? No. Money? No. Political power? No. They want none of the things normally associated with individuals and groups who do such deeds. What, then, do they want? They want only to harm, to cause destruction and promote fear, to attack and kill the "infidels." That is their reward.
But, please, before we rush to judgment, let us remember that Islam is a religion of peace. We are told that these Muslims who are doing the killing are extremists who are outside the mainstream of Islam. That would be easier to believe if there were Muslim leaders who condemned the atrocities. But there are none.
Why, then, do our leaders continually tell us that Islam is a religion of peace? Perhaps it is easier to be politically correct than it is to tell the truth.
© 2002 AgapePress all rights reserved.
I believe though that where God actually ordered up "violent" things in the OT, he did so justly. Since then, he has changed the way things are done to reflect what big new thing he did with his Oldest Boy, John 3:16 and all.
Well, it ain't all Muslims that want to blow us up. I don't think Anwar Sadat did (but look what happened to him!. 8-o I know of a former work buddy of mine, who's a really nice dude and he's Muslim. (There, one of my friends is a Muslim ---and if he were elected President, we might not have all these problems we' been havin' for all I know.) But, it seems there is a doctrinal root in the Koran about this subjugate-or-kill bit. I'd like to find a clear and crisp write-up of that.
Also, I know that "Kefir" is liquid yogurt, but I'd be interested in what the Koran says about "kafir(?)"
Here are a few leads read the Koran and report back on your conclusions. - Tom
Kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (Koran 2:191) "Ye are the best of peoples evolved for mankind." (Koran 3:110)
"Not to make friendship with Jews and Christians" (Koran 5:51)
I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: you smite them above their necks and smite all their fingertips off of them." (Koran, 8:12)
"Fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem" (Koran 9:5)
Our God tells us to "fight the unbelievers" and "He will punish them by our hands, cover them with shame and help us (to victory) over them" (Koran 9:14).
"Unless we go forth, (for Jihad) He will punish us with a grievous penalty, and put others in our place" (9:39).
"O Prophet! Make war against the unbelievers [all non-Muslims] and the hypocrites and be merciless against them. Their home is hell, an evil refuge indeed." (Koran, 9:73)
"Murder them and treat them harshly" (Koran 9:123)
"When you meet the unbelievers in jihad [holy war], chop off their heads. And when you have brought them low, bind your prisoners rigorously. Then set them free or take ransom from them until the war is ended." (Koran, 47:40)
"When we decide to destroy a population, we send a definite order to them who have the good things in life and yet sin. So that Allah's word is proven true against them, then we destroy them utterly." (Koran, 17:16-17)
"strike off the heads of the disbelievers" (Koran 47:4) Further, make him march in a chain, whereof the length is seventy cubits!
"The Christians say: The Christ is the son of Allah; "Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given [Jews and Christians]...until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." (Surah 9:29)
These are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them." (Sura 9:30)
"Unbelievers are those who say: 'God is one of three.' There is but one God. If they do not desist from so saying, those of them that disbelieve shall be sternly punished." (Surah 5:73)
When the Muslims say, "Islam is peace", they are not describing Islam. They are describing peace. They are saying that outside of Islam, there is no peace. To a Muslim, Islamic justice results in peace. That's the essense of "Islam if peace". When they say they want peace, they mean they want you and me under Islamic justice, which is required before peace can result. Islam is not a pacifist religion.
Well, nowhere in the Bible does it say that a man can march very far without his head, no matter how long or short his chain is....
But seriously, as an exercise in objectivity (i.e., subjectivity to God's truth and consistent ways of determining it) I must say that there are quotes one can take from the Bible, Old Testament mostly, that are similar to some (but not all!) of these.
However, from what I've seen, they are either...
1. God telling people in the OT to kill off others in specific instances (and he knows what their just, eternal and self-directed ends are anyway and it's his call to make) or...
2. People such as David going off in anger in the Psalms, despite God's love - called "imprecatory Psalms" in some seminaries, etc. (and this shows in itself, that the God of the Bible allows and supports freedom of thought --and even general freedom of speech in this world), or...
3. People acting on their own, in disobedience, or...
4. Simply, the way warfare or self defense was carried out --in ways that we would have to allow for and not violent toward those who mean no harm, unlike the behavior these Koran quotes seem to proscribe.
But nowhere does the Bible prophetically call for God's followers to do violent things in principle, such as murdering unbelievers. Just the opposite. (See the Ten Items that the ACLU wants taken out of American culture.) And BTW, in the law handed down to Moses for that time, there are precepts and instructions as to the freedom and hospitatlity one is to show those who aren't "children of Israel" and do not believe in the "I AM THAT I AM."
So, I raise the question, are any of these quotations actually supposed to be prophetic statements saying that "Allah" wants his followers to commit such acts in principle? Do the contexts for any of these violent statements indicate that they are issued as guiding precepts or commands to be carried out from circumstance to circumstance, for "Allah's" followers?
Don't bring in the OT,Christianity is founded on the NT.
Do the contexts for any of these violent statements indicate that they are issued as guiding precepts or commands to be carried out from circumstance to circumstance, for "Allah's" followers?
I believe they do, and apparently so don't the terrorists. - Tom
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