Islam and Violence

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Oct 26, 2008 at 18:58

To Keith Williams

I take your words at face value, responding to their plain meanings, assuming you are not employing taqiyya and I start by defining ‘real Islam' as the Islam of Muhammad, because Muhammad is Islam, Allah's solitary spokesman and sets Islam's DNA, so it is to him we must look to see ‘real Islam,' and that is what I do in order to interact with the contents of your posting, whatever I say, and the many Internet publications I cite, being sourced in Islam's "title-deeds," that is Qur'an, Tafsir, Sahi Hadith, Tarikh and Sirat literature

Striving "to be the best Muslim, father, husband, Soldier, and member of society" as you do, causes me great unease, when I set your "strivings" against the example given you by your prophet, who was in fact the archetypal Islamic terrorist, unless you are not following his example, and are living a very much better life than he did, in which case, you do so in spite of the Islam of Muhammad, rather than because of it.

Muhammad's mistreatment of his many wives is well-documented, as is his sexual behaviour, please see the following publications, sourced to Islam's "title-deeds,"

"Polygamy in the Quran"

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/women_polygamy.htm

"Muhammad and the treatment of wives"

http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/treatment_of_wives.htm

"Muhammad and Aisha revisited: An Examination of Muhammad's Marriage to a Prepubescent Girl and its Moral Implications"

http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/prepubescent.htm

and these which document the Qur'an's mistreatment of women,

"Top ten rules in the Quran that oppress and insult women"

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/women_top_ten.htm

"Domestic violence in Islam The Quran on beating wives"

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/beating.htm

"Banish Them to Their Beds and Scourge Them! Muhammad's Low Opinion of Women"

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Wood/women.htm

The use of aggressive violence to further Islam is in harmony with the example of Muhammad the prophet of Islam and the teaching of the Qur'an. Violence was foundational to Islam and remains deeply embedded in it. Please see the following publications, which also compare and contrast the sword of Jesus and the sword of Muhammad, clearly demonstrating that the Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the Prince of Peace, and Muhammad is indeed the archetypal Islamic terrorist, and believing this to be of supreme importance in deciding where we are to look for peace, and who will give us peace, I quote numerous publications, all sourced to Christianity and Islam's respective "title-deeds," but before doing so, I comment on your striving to be "the best Soldier you can be," a soldier who strikes terror into the hearts of the enemy when I am on the battlefield."

I don't know what sort of "soldier" you are, which "enemy" you are referring to, or which is your "battlefield," but I'll tell you that as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, I too am a soldier, but, my battle is not against human beings, the Bible teaching that,

"We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world. So put on all the armour that God gives. Then when that evil day comes, you will be able to defend yourself. And when the battle is over, you will still be standing firm."

Ephesians 6;12-13

So, now to refer to the Internet publications which examine Islam, peace and violence, here they are,

Top ten reasons why Islam is NOT the religion of peace

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/ten_reasons.htm

Spread by the sword?

http://www.answering-islam.org/Terrorism/by_the_sword.html

Was Islam Really Spread By The Sword

http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=107152&list=/home.php

The Verse of the sword: Surah 9:5 and Jihad

http://answering-islam.org/Silas/swordverse.htm

"Kill those who Associate Partners (Mushrikun) Wherever You Find Them"

A Historical and Contextual Exegesis of Q.9:5 and 29

http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/shamoun/q9_5_29.html

which Sam Shamoun concludes by saying,

"Moreover, these passages are part of the many texts which form the basis for offensive jihad, encouraging Muslims to fight and kill the disbelievers, and subjugate Jews and Christians, in order to bring the entire world under the control and rule of Islam, provided that they have the power and the military means to do so. Otherwise, they must bide their time and deceive people into thinking that Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion by focusing on the texts of the Quran which encourage peace and forgiveness, the ones composed during the time that Muhammad was outnumbered and couldn't do anything to kill and control his opponents. Yet as soon as the Muslims have the upperhand, as soon as they have the money and weaponry to mount an offensive strike, then we will see the true face of Islam, its prophet, and its god."

Pacifism and the Sword in the Gospels

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/pacifism2.htm

A Brief Explanation of the Sword in Matthew 10:34

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/matthew_10_34.htm

Jihad: Quran 9:123 vs. Matthew 10:34

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/sword.htm

Jesus, Pacifism, and the sword

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/pacifism1.htm

The sword of Jesus and the sword of Muhammad

A comparative study of Quran 8:12 and Luke 22:36

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/sword2.htm

Islamic Martyrdom (sic) What a bargain the economy of death in the Qur'an

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/death_economy.htm

Allah and God at war: World's apart

http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/allahs_wars.htm

Drawing to a conclusion, I critique your misuse of and misquotation of Surah 5:32 when you say "to kill one person is to kill all mankind and to save one person is to save all mankind." which is often quoted by Muslims seeking to present Islam as "peaceful and peaceloving" to impress Westerners. This verse is so typically mendaciously and duplicitously quoted, as part of the "Islam is peaceful and peaceloving" mantra, as you have done, but the full and unexpurgated version (Abdullah Yusuf Ali) of Surah 5:32&33 complete with "nasty bits"states:-

"On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;"

Aya 33 lists a selection of savage punishments for those who fight the Muslims and create "mischief" (or in some versions "corruption") in the land, punishments which include execution, crucifixion and amputation. What kind of "mischief in the land" could merit such a reaction? Could it be interpreted as secularism, democracy and other non-Islamic values in a land? Could the "murder" be the killing of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan?

Why do you and other Muslims who keep quoting the expurgated form of this verse do it? unless relying on the ignorance of Islam by most of your hearers, thus seeking to ‘impress' them with Islamic ‘ethics'?

Webmaster permitting, you and others will be able to refer to the Islamic "title-deeds" referred to in the many publications I have cited, to see exposed just how "peaceful and peaceloving" Islam is, and just how Muhammad falls woefully short of the "mercy to mankind" Islam claims him to be.

The Islamic doctrine of abrogation, that is the doctrine that where contradictions exist in the Qur'an, the later verse abrogates (cancels, annuls or sets aside) the earlier verse, creates many problems for the Qur'an and for Allah who is said to have inspired it, with every instance of abrogation being a problem for thinking Muslims, comparing and contrasting Allah with the all-Holy God of the Bible, in whom there is "no shadow of turning," of Whom it is recorded in the Bible, that,

"The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever."

Isaiah 40:8

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

Matthew 24:35

For non-Muslims, the changing commands regarding the use of violence against them are certainly the most relevant and troubling, and whilst I quote the Qur'an, I do so not because I believe it to be divinely inspired, or because it is authoritative for me, I don't and it isn't, but you and other Muslims do believe it to be divinely inspired and accept it as being authoritative for them, and this is what is so troubling concerning violence, and its use in attempting to spread Islam and make it supreme.

The Qur'an is "a tale of two halves," and whilst the Qur'an does initially state that Muslims and others are to live amicably with one another, these ‘revelations' were received by Muhammad when he was living in Mecca when his band of Muslims was relatively small and militarily weak, and these Qur'anic ‘revelations' were abrogated by later ayat when Muhammad and his Muslims were living in Medina, more numerous and militarily stronger, and these ‘revelations' state that Islam is to be "shown" to non-Muslims , who if they refuse to acknowledge, accept and follow it, are then to be slain. Surah's 9:5; 47:5 and 8:39 among others.

Surah 9:5 was the last one that was ‘revealed' to Muhammad, and thus abrogates all the nice sounding, peaceful, earlier Meccan ones that some Muslims like quoting, which encourage peace and forgiveness, the ones composed during the time that Muhammad was outnumbered and couldn't do anything to kill and control his opponents.

We're seeing a worldwide resurgence of the Medinan Islam of Muhammad, and that means tough, tough times ahead, for Western democracies, who still haven't heeded the alarm call of 911 and 7/7, although at the time of 911 John Ashworth, the then US Attorney General showed he knew much more about Islam than his President, by saying, "the difference between Christianity and Islam is that the God of the Bible sent His Son to die for us, whilst Allah requires a Muslim's sons to die for him," and that's some difference isn't it? and drawing to a close, it's important to let the spokesmen for Allah speak for themselves, because they are saying it clearly enough, and here's a quotation from around 30 years ago, followed by one published the day after 7/7, that's right, the very day after.

"Islam is not Christianity……………Islam is the religion of agitation, revolution, blood, liberation and martyrdom (sic) Shaikh Morteza Motahari "Nehzat Islami Dar Sadsal Akhir" ("Islamic Movements In The Last 100 Years), Tehran, 1979, page 83

"Ask the defenders of Western civilization such as Daniel Pipes. Thomas Friedman and Bush and Blair to find out what they actually mean by defending their ‘way of life' or ‘life style.' The instant answer would be the Western politico-socio-economic system. That is what the Qur'an means when it commands for (sic) establishing the way of life as prescribed by Allah. It can never be limited to just personal ethics pr spirituality" Abid Ullah Jan "Islam, faith and power" The Muslim Weekly: July 8^th 2005 The day after the London bombings http://tinyurl.com/aja2p

Key points of the article

• Muslims should strive to gain political and military power over non-Muslims
• Warfare is obligatory for all Muslims
• Islamic state, Islam and Sharia law, should be established throughout the world

And to really "ink-it in," the most telling assessment of the whole issue, confirming the centrality of the sword in Islam, comes from a modern scholar, writing in the magazine of al-Azhar University in Cairo, the most prestigious University in the Muslim world, and published nearly 50 years ago:-

"Holy war (jihad) is an Arabic virtue, and a divine obligation: the Muslim is always mindful that his religion is a Qur'an and a sword…the Muslim is forever a warrior."

Al-Azhar magazine, Cairo, the opening article by Ahamad Hasan az-Zayat, August 1959

With this assertion, the Qur'an, the Hadith, the history of Islam, and scholars, ancient and modern concur.

I close by saying as emphatically as I can, that I firmly believe that politicians with their bombs, bullets, battleships, helicopter gunships, cruise missiles etc. will not defeat the Medinan Islam of Muhammad, but that only the Gospel of Grace will defeat it, and the Christian Church has to waken up, and get about the commission given it by the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is the One who can bring peace to this world. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the paradigm. He is the exemplar. He is the sinners all-sufficient Saviour. He is the redeemer, I wish I could describe Him to you Mr Williams, but He's indescribable!!

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr

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