To a “Moderate” Islamic Apologist

If only these peaceful verses did govern Islam, I wouldn't be writing to you right now. There many religions with which I disagree with more than Islam, but I don't write against them - Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism.... This is because they are not murdering my people the way that Islam is throughout almost the entire Islamic world. Scholar and writer, Raymond Ibrahim, wrote about the extent of this slaughter:

• From one end of the Muslim world to another, Christians are suffering under the return of Sharia…Whenever Muslims are in power or getting more power, churches are outlawed, burned or bombed, while Bibles and crucifixes are confiscated and destroyed. Freedom of speech – to speak positively of Christianity or critically of Islam – is denied, often on pain of death…Christian women and children are routinely abducted, raped, and forced to convert to Islam. (Crucified Again, 8)

In addition to this, tens of thousands of Christians are routinely being slaughtered. Why is this so? Because justification for this is found in your holy books! And here’s what some of your own people say about the Koranic teachings:

• "If we follow the rules of interpretation developed from the classical “science of Koranic interpretation, it is not possible to condemn terrorism in religious terms. It remains completely true to the classical rules in its evolution of sanctity for its own justification. This is where the secret of its theological strength lies." -- Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

• "Many thanks to God, for his kind gesture, and choosing us to perform the act of Jihad for his cause and to defend Islam and Muslims. Therefore, killing you and fighting you, destroying you and terrorizing you, responding back to your attacks, are all considered to be great legitimate duty in our religion." -- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his fellow 9/11 defendants

• "Allah on 480 occasions in the Holy Koran extols Muslims to wage jihad. We only fulfil God's orders. Only jihad can bring peace to the world." -- Taliban terrorist Baitullah Mehsud

• "Jihad, holy fighting in Allah's course, with full force of numbers and weaponry, is given the utmost importance in Islam....By jihad, Islam is established....By abandoning jihad, may Allah protect us from that, Islam is destroyed, and Muslims go into inferior position, their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligation and duty in Islam on every Muslim." -- Times Square car bomb terrorist Faisal Shahzad

I wish more Muslims would live according to the peaceable verses. However, there seems to be a general consensus among Islamic Scholars that the verses preaching Jihad and the subjugation of all other peoples now take precedence over the earlier peaceful verses, which have been abrogated. Here’s the commentary of Khan’s Noble Koran on the subject of abrogation:

• Then Allah revealed the order to discard the obligations and commanded Muslims to fight against all the Mushrikun [Polytheist and Trinitarians] as well as against the people of the Scriptures if they do not embrace Islam, till they pay the Jizya (tax) with willing submission and feel themselves subdued. At first the fighting was forbidden, then it was permitted and after that it was made obligatory against them that start the fighting against you and against all those who worship others along with Allah [Trinitarians]. (From the index on “Jihad.”)

I wish it were otherwise!

What is Shariah Law – the “Way of Islam?”

A group calling itself Defending Religious Freedom published a pamphlet for Western consumption entitled Understanding Shariah:

• Shariah preserves basic human rights in order to maintain harmony in society.
  This necessary protection applies to all members of society, irrespective of their race, religion, or ethnicity. These rights are classified as faith, life, progeny, property, and intellect. These fundamental protections ensure freedom of religion, affirm the sanctity of life, validate the importance of family, guarantee the security of assets, and uphold the power of reasoning. (whyislam.org)

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But is it truthful or just another Islamic attempt to deceive the infidel?

Steven Emerson, director of the award winning documentary Jihad in America, writes:

• If you want to know what’s really happening in the Muslim world, there’s one man to turn to: Raymond Ibrahim… Crucified Again is a stunning and revelatory book that should be in the hands of every congressman ... and every reader who cares about Islamist aggression, human rights, and the survival of Christians in the Holy Land and elsewhere.

Ibrahim writes about The Conditions of Omar – and this is almost inseparable from Shariah – in as far as it governs Christian worship under Shariah. “Conquered Christians had to agree to”:

• “Not build a church in our city – nor a monastery, convent, or monk’s cell in the surrounding areas – and not to repair those that fall in ruins or are in Muslim quarters;

• Not to prevent Muslims from lodging in our churches, by day or night, and to keep their doors wide open for [Muslim] passerby and travelers;

• Not to harbor in them [churches and monasteries] or our homes a spy, nor conceal any deceits from Muslims;

• Not to clang on cymbals except lightly and from the innermost recesses of our churches;

• Not to display a cross or [Christian] book in the markets of the Muslims;

• Not to congregate in the open for Easter or Palm Sunday, nor lift our voices for our dead nor show our firelights with them in the market places of the Muslims.” (31-32)

Elsewhere, Ibrahim lists other requirements of The Conditions of Omar:

• “Not to display any signs of polytheism [Jesus as God] nor make our [Christian] religion appealing, nor call or proselytize anyone to it; 

• Not to prevent any of our relatives who wish to enter into Islam;

• Not to speak like them [Muslims], nor adopt their surnames;

• To honor the Muslims, show them the way, rise up from our seats if they wish to sit down;

• None of us shall do business with Muslims unless the Muslim commands it;

• To host every traveling Muslim for three days and feed him adequately;

• We guarantee all this to you … and if we change or contradict these conditions imposed upon ourselves  … we become liable to the same treatment you inflict upon the people who resist and cause sedition [death].” (26-27)

Ibrahim demonstrates that these Conditions strongly reflect the teachings of the Koran and also Ibn Kathir’s interpretation of Surah 9:29:

• Therefore, Muslims are not allowed to honor the dhimmis [the unbelievers who live under Shariah] or elevate them above Muslims, for they are miserable, disgraced, and humiliated. Sahih Muslim [a canonical Hadith collection] recorded from Abu Hurraira that the Prophet said, “Do not initiate the Salam [peace greeting] to the Jews and Christians, and if you meet any of them in the road, force them into the narrowest alley.” This is why the Leader of the Faithful [Omar] … demanded his well-known conditions be met by the Christians, conditions that ensured their continued humiliation, degradation and disgrace. (23) 

Surveys show that the vast majority of Muslims want to impose Shariah, although perhaps not every stipulation of The Conditions. Ibrahim argues that these Conditions are still very much a part of Islamic thinking. He cites the sermon of Saudi Sheikh Salem al-Ghamdi to prove this. Ibrahim also cited the forward to a paper written Sheikh Ismail, written by Saudi Arabia’s former Grand Mufti:

• It is forbidden to build churches in Islamic lands; that it is obligatory to demolish them if they are built; and that building them in the Arabian Peninsula … is the greatest sin and offense. For the Prophet, followed by his Companions, ordered the expulsion of all Jews, Christians, and idolaters from the Arabian Peninsula, and forbade other religions from being practiced. (34)

Ibrahim writes:

• When it comes to churches, Islamic history is a testimony to Islamic doctrine … According to one medieval Muslim historian, over the two-year course of a particularly ruthless Christian persecution campaign, some 30,000 churches were burned or pillaged in Egypt and Syria alone.

How then should we regard the pamphlet, Understanding Shariah, published for Western eyes? The West needs to promptly get acquainted with the doctrine of Taqiyya, which authorizes Muslims to deceive the infidel in order to promote Islam. Ibrahim can be of great help in this regards!

Who is the Real Muslim?

 Is Bin Ladin the real Muslim or the peaceful Muslim next door? Debater and host of the Aramaic Broadcasting Network, David Wood, provides us with a sobering analysis of the real Islam:

• Islam is unique among world religions in that it explicitly calls for the violent subjugation of unbelievers. Western theorists insist that Islam can be reformed…However Islam does not allow Muslims to question or reinterpret the commands of Allah or Muhammad (Qur’an 33:36). Hence, any attempts to reform the Islamic concept of Jihad will be considered innovation and heresy among Muhammad’s more devout followers. (Christian Research Journal, Vol. 36/Number 01, 47)

However, whenever I mention these harsh realities to my secular friends, they brush off my concerns, claiming that they have many friendly and respectful Muslim friends and that I need to make some myself.

However, Wood insists that if the Muslim is faithful to their religion, then this show of friendship is no more than a ploy according to the Islamic doctrine of Taqiyya, which authorizes the Muslim to deceive the infidel, until they can gain the upper hand:

• Concealing the true intentions of the Islamic community in order to guard against attacks from non-Muslims. This tactic was eventually made explicit in Qur’an 3:28: “Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them, taking (as it were) security” (Pickthall). This verse forbids friendship with unbelievers, unless Muslims are heavily outnumbered and they feel that they are in danger from a stronger adversary. That’s when Muslims are told to pretend to be friendly. Ibn Kathir, history’s most respected Qur’an commentator, quotes Muhammad’s companions to explain 3:28:

• Allah sad next, (unless you indeed fear the danger from them) meaning, except those believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers. In this case, such believers are allowed to show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly. For instance, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Ad-Darda said, “We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them. Al-Bukhari said that Al-Hasan said, “The Tuqyah […Taqiyya] is allowed until the Day of Resurrection.”

Consistent with this, wherever Islam becomes a sizable minority, they are compelled by their faith to seek to impose Shariah law, which reduces all non-Muslims to a secondary and dependent status. It also means the end of free speech and the rights we have long cherished in the West.

Wood demonstrates that Islam has a long and deeply entrenched history of intolerance:

• In Medina, Muhammad began ordering his followers to assassinate critics. Early detractors such as Abu Afak, Asma bint Marwan, and Ka’b bin al-Ashraf were all murdered for writing poems about Muhammad or Islam…Muslims began following Muhammad’s example by killing those who spoke negatively of their prophet: “Narrated Ali ibn Abu Talib: A Jewess used to abuse the Prophet and disparage him. A man strangled her till she died…” Muhammad eventually laid down harsh penalties of death, dismemberment, or imprisonment for the extraordinarily vague crime of “making mischief” in the land: “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned…” (Qur’an 5:33. Shakir)

What then is the overriding intention of Islam? Wood claims that their purpose is to:

• Subjugate and humiliate Jews and Christians. The justification for carrying out the attacks commanded in Qur’an 9:29...  “And Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!” (Qur’an 9:30) (45-46)

How do we explain the fact that peace with Islam is always so tentative? The Qur’an gives us all the explanation we need. While the Muslims are the best of peoples (3:110), the “People of the Book [the Bible] … are the worst of creatures” (98:6, Hilali-Khan). Consequently, Muslims perform righteously by fighting against these “worst of creatures”:

• “Fight those who believe not in Allah, nor the Last Day…nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth [Islam]. From among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Qur’an 9:29, Ali)

If this is all true, then concern should lead us to expose these threats. However, the West has not only failed to do this, but has criminalized those who do, charging them with “Islamophobia” and “hate speech!”

What is the true face of Islam? It really doesn’t take much to answer this question. Even if we can’t read the Qur’an, we can travel to Islamic nations, even to the supposedly “secular” Islamic nations where the religious minorities are compelled to live in fear that someone might charge them with “insulting the Prophet.”