Disagreement

Submitted by Lawrence Auster (United States), Jun 28, 2005 at 13:38

Whether Allah means God or not is irrelevant. Even accepting the fact that Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, the God of the Koran is so unutterably different from the God of the Bible that it's silly and dangerous to equate them. In truth, Muhammad, Allah's mouthpiece, is virtually one with Allah, and Allah is a projection of Muhammad's own lust for absolute rule, and of his burning vindictiveness against anyone who rejects him. In the Koran, men are not called to any relationship with God, as in the Bible, they simply must obey him, in which case they go to Paradise, and if they don't, well, I'd say that half the Koran consists of repeated, hate-driven, gleeful promises of vile punishment to be meted out to those who disobey. Open the Koran at random and you won't read five lines before coming upon fierce promises of punishment that often go on for hundreds of words at a stretch. It is a huge mistake to equate these two incompatible visions of God, merely because "Allah" means God.

...Mr. Pipes ...believes that the sameness of the names has religious significance. He writes:

"The God=Allah equation means that, however hostile political relations may be, a common 'children of Abraham' bond does exist and its exploration can one day provide a basis for interfaith comity. Jewish-Christian dialogue has made great strides and Jewish-Christian-Muslim trialogue could as well."

But there is no children of Abraham bond. There is no brotherhood of the three religions. There is only ONE religion. According to Islam, Abraham and Jesus were Muslims, and as long as Jews and Christians refuse to recognize that fact and refuse to obey Muhammad, Allah's Prophet, they deserve death and scourging. That what Muhammad himself did to the Jews. Earlier in his career, he thought the Jews would welcome him as their Messiah. When they didn't, he turned on them with murderous relish.

Pipes continues:

"Before that can happen, however, Muslims must first recognize the validity of alternate approaches to the one God. That means leaving behind the supremacism, extremism, and violence of the current Islamist phase."

And returning to what? The religious egalitarianism, moderation, and peacefulness of the age of Omar and Othman? Are we to assume that... before the modern period, Islam was a moderate religion? ...

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