"By their fruit you will know them"

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (European Union), Nov 16, 2006 at 08:13

To Romesh

Unlike you Romesh, I do care what the Bible says, what the Qur'an says, what Jesus says, and what Muhammad says, and like you, I live in the real world, dealing with real people and their actions, actions shaped by their world view, actions which for Christians are based on their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the New Testament record, and for Muslims, based on their book the Qur'an, on their prophet Muhammad, and on his words/deeds..

Words carry meaning don't they, everything we believe being expressed in the words we use, and with them, we exhort others to a certain action or course of actions, so where are the actions of Christians and the actions of Muslims derived, whose words and actions are they emulating?

Jesus explicitly condemns the use of violence, stating categorically that "He who lives by the sword must die by the sword" Matthew 26:52, and exemplified this condemnation in His own life, by neither advocating it nor practising it, saying to His disciples "follow Me" John 8:12

And what of Muhammad, what does the Qur'an say about him, what did he do and teach?

"Ye have indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah."

Surah 33:21 (Abdullah Yusuf Ali)

"And verily, you (O Muhammad SAW) are on an exalted standard of character."

Surah 68:4 (Hilali-Khan)

Muhammad spoke the following words during his last sermon on 7^th.March AD 632 in Mecca:-

"I am leaving you with the Book of Allah (the QUR'AN), and my SUNNAH (the life style and the behavioural mode of the Prophet), if you follow them you will never go astray."

And what was "the lifestyle and behavioural mode" of the prophet of Islam? what did he say and do?

"I have been made victorious with terror" (Sahi Bukhari V4B52N220)

"I shall terrorise the infidels. So wound their bodies and incapacitate them, because they oppose Allah and his apostle." (Qur'an 8:12)

"Killing unbelievers is a small matter to us" ( al-Tabari IX:69)

"Paradise lies under the shade of swords" (Sahi Bukhari V4B5N73)

"The believers fight in Allah's cause, they slay and are slain, kill and are killed" (Qur'an 9:111)

"Muhammad said, ‘You are commanded to carry out jihad against the unbelieving infidels until they submit to Islam' " (Qur'an 47:4)

"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." (Qur'an 9:5)

In the context of the list of Muhammad's assets at the end of his life, al-Tabari records the nicknames of Muhammad weapons, detailing that he had nicknamed three swords that he took from the Jewish tribe Qaynuqa, after banishing them from Medina in April AD 624: "Pluck Out," "Very Sharp," and "Death." Two other swords from elsewhere are named: "Sharp" and "That is wont to sink" (presumably into human flesh). After his Hijrah or Emigration from Mecca to Medina in AD 622, he owned two swords called "Sharp" and "Having the vertebrae of the back." This last sword he collected as booty, after his victory at the Battle of Badr in March AD 624.

Finally, even Muhammad himself has a nickname, after Tabari lists the positive ones, he matter-of-factly provides one that is not so positive: "The obliterator."

I didn't write the hateful, hurtful stuff I present, it comes from the most authoritative Islamic writings, check ‘em out Romesh, they don't present an attractive portrait of Muhammad do they?

Muhammad is foundational for Islam, and he indeed endorses using a sword, swinging one himself on his frequent military raids and wars. For centuries the spread of Islam was backed by large Muslim armies, and it is a plain and unpleasant historical fact, that in the ten years Muhammad lived in Medina (AD 622-632), he either sent out or went out on seventy-four raids, expeditions, or full-scale wars, ranging from small assassination hit squads to the Tabuk Crusade in AD 630, involving 30,000 warriors and10,000 horsemen. It may surprise you Romesh to read that Muhammad was the first to launch a crusade, and that the Christian counter-crusades, which find no mandate or authority in the words of the New Testament, or in the life and teaching of Jesus, did not start until after around 500 years of Islamic jihad.

Violence was foundational for the Islam of Muhammad, and remains deeply embedded in it, with Muslims around the world copying Muhammad's actions, obeying his words, and using violence, seeking to extend the influence and rule of Islam, and like you, I have lived through the horrors of 911, 0707, the Moscow theatre siege, the Bali bombings, the Beslan School massacres, the Madfrid train bombings etc. all perpetrated by Islamic jihadis intent on getting into al janna the Islamic ‘paradise' in the only way the Qur'an says is sure and certain, recorded in Surah's 4:74, 9:111 and 61:10-12 which offers Islamic shahids the guarantee of al janna in an economic bargain. Indeed, these three references explicitly use words that connote buying and selling and signing a contract of sale, the currency behind the deals being death in Allah's service, something which Saajid Badat, the wannabe passenger airliner bomber from Gloucester (England) understood very well, writing to his parents "I have a sincere desire to sell my soul to Allah in return for paradise." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/4305161.stm and with Omar Bakhri Muhammad, the Muslim preacher deported from Britain for inciting Muslims to violence, saying of the Islamic jihadis of 0707 whose bombs in London killed over 50 people, that the 0707 bombers were "in paradise", also saying, "How can you condemn those great men - it's not something so bad, something so good. Something so good to be involved in." http://tinyurl.com/tdto9

Whose followers will affect you to your harm Romesh, Christians who follow the teaching and example of Jesus Christ The Prince of Peace, or Muslims who follow the teaching and example of Muhammad the Obliterator?

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