Islam... a Religion of Intolerance, Violence and Terrorism

On February 15, 2015 a video surfaced that showed black-clad jihadists of the ISIS franchise in Libya, the Islamic State in Tripoli Province, beheading 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, staining the waves with blood. These Christian victims were poor men from Egypt's rural areas who had traveled to Libya looking for work to support their families. The jihadists made it clear: They beheaded the men because they were "people of the cross, followers of the hostile [Christian] Egyptian Church." The killings raise the possibility that the Islamic militant group — which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq in a self-declared caliphate — has established a direct affiliate less than 500 miles from the southern tip of Italy. One of the militants in the video, speaking English, makes direct reference to that possibility, saying the group now plans to "conquer Rome."

Before the killings, one of the militants stood holding a knife and said in a North American-accented English: "O Crusaders, safety for you will be only wishes, especially when you’re fighting us all together. Therefore, we will fight you all together, until the war lays down its burdens, and Jesus, peace be upon him, will descend, breaking the cross, killing the swine and abolishing jiziyah. (The meaning of jiziyah:  a poll tax levied from those who did not accept Islam, but are willing to live under the protection of Islam, and are thus tacitly willing to submit to the laws enforced by the Muslim State).

Egypt launched swift retaliation, bombing at least seven locations in Libya. 

Meanwhile, Barack Obama still denied the religious causes of the violence when in his While House delivered statement said... "We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Egyptian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens. ISIS's barbarity knows no bounds." Not only does Obama deny the religious motivations of ISIS, he dishonors victims by denying why they were murdered. Not knowing the enemy -- that's how wars are lost.

Christians are under siege all over the world... in the middle-east now the siege is deadly.  It’s beginning to feel like there is a war raging between Christianity and Islam.  Too many people are struggling to grasp the fact that these two religious traditions are indeed involved in a war without borders, without traditional battle lines, where the soldiers are not easily identifiable by the uniform they wear. 

The murder of Christians around the globe is an indicator of what is to come unless the march of ISIS and aligned radical Islamic groups are not stopped.

A simple Google search tells us that Christianity is the world’s largest religion, it has more ‘adherents’ than any other. However, that’s a little misleading. The most practiced religion, the religion where people believe and adhere to the teachings of that religion more than any other is Islam, and that is where the problems begin.

We hear the word jihad on a regular basis, but we often don’t understand what we are hearing. The Quran talks of two jihads, the Lesser and the Greater Jihad and this is where we fail to understand the motivation behind the different views.

The Greater jihad is the everyday struggle that Muslims face to grow in their faith and worship Allah, something most Muslims feel is the hardest thing they are asked to do, hence the greater tag. The Lesser Jihad is the struggle they face to build a good, stable Muslim society. It is the Lesser Jihad that allows Muslims to conduct Harb al-Muqadis, or what we often hear proclaimed as holy war.

A non-military Jihad [Lesser Jihad], one conducted by, an unofficial group of Islamists is not governed by the rules of the Quran, and that’s why we see the atrocities from “organized but unofficial groups” such a Shabaab, al Qaeda, Boko Haram and of course ISIS.

Just as Christianity encompasses different denominational groups, Islam also has different sects within it. Sunni, Shi’ite, Alawite and Wahabi are some examples. They all believe in Allah, they all follow the teaching of the Quran, but their interpretation of it is very different.

It is these differences that are stoking the fires of civil unrest in Iraq. This was bound to happen. When you remove a strong dictatorial leader, however bad he is [Saddam Hussein], and then you remove the force that removed that leader [U.S. military forces], there is a vacuum left behind that rival factions attempt to fill, and this is precisely what’s happening in Iraq, giving rise to ISIS.  The goal of ISIS... what is happening in Iraq will happen across the rest of the Middle East, and Africa until the winning sect is strong enough to take on the rest of the world.

There are three main tenants of Islam that most western nations do not understand.  They are...

Islam’s ultimate goal is to rule the world. Islamic theology provides two methods for this to be accomplished. The first is spiritual, as people are lured into conversion. The second is coercive through political and physical conquest of nations. For Muslims, there are no gray areas. They see the world in black and white. For them the world is divided into two big camps: the House of Islam and the House of War. The House of Islam are the Muslims, and the House of War are the non-Muslims, of every nation, in every corner of the planet. Muslims (the House of Islam) are in a constant state of spiritual/political/physical warfare with Non-Muslims (the House of War) until they subjugate them to Islam.

Islam always employs a carrot and stick strategy. The carrot and stick that is perpetually set before Muslims is the expectation of generous rewards in this life and in eternity for those who fight for Islam. On the other hand, those who falter are warned of severe temporal and eternal punishments.

Apostasy from Islam is not an option. Once-a-Muslim-always-a-Muslim, the only official alternative is death. There is no room for changing one’s mind. The door is wide open to join Islam, but there is no backdoor for those that would like to leave it.

The third point there is important. A person considered in Islam has the religion of the father, even if one does not practice Islam. Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, even if he doesn’t wish to be, is considered under the “law of Islam” to be a Muslim.  His father was Muslin and practiced Islam.

As no attempts have been made on his life, one can assume that Islam regards him as still being a Muslim, that he has not turned his back on the faith.  Or, it could simply be that no “opportunity” to exercise a jihad against him has yet presented itself.  

Unquestionably the Muslim activists of modern times are smarter and are using more sophisticated tactics than those of ancient times. The days of the primitive methods that were used to conquer the known world, between the 7th – 17th centuries, are long gone. Islam now applies carefully studied and sophisticated strategies to achieve their goals of global conquest.

They define their targets, and decide on the best strategies to reach them. Young women are reached through love and marriage. With African-Americans the race card is used. They are deceived into believing that Mohammed was black and that Islam was birthed on the African continent. To the needy, they use money. For most people, they polish Islam and present it in an attractively revised westernized form. The violent Quranic verses are carefully excluded from recruitment strategies. The peaceful verses of the Quran are emphasized. The fact is, according to Islamic theology, the early peaceful verses that were written in Mecca are nullified (abrogated), and replaced by later violent verses that were written in Medina. To the religious establishment they claim compatibility with the Judeo-Christian faith. They cite belief in Moses, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary.  

They concur with Christianity on the existence of Heaven and Hell. Regardless of their boast that they have some common ground with Christians and Jews, the fine print in Islamic teaching tells a very different story.   The war on Christianity by Islam has begun and it’s a fight to the death.  

What's Behind Islamic Jihadist Brutality?

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the declared caliph of the Islamic State, [ISIS] holds a doctorate in Islamic studies from the Islamic University of Baghdad—distinguishing him as highly knowledgeable of Islamic law, history and culture. Unlike these Western leaders, he is thoroughly familiar with the beliefs of Islam and teachings of its holy book, the Quran.

As caliph, the supreme ruler of the new Islamic nation carved out of Syria and Iraq, his determinations of what is allowable or forbidden is the law of the land. And as recent headlines have shown, Al-Baghdadi and his followers, like Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda before them, see no conflict between their tactics of murder and mayhem and their practice of Islam. In fact, they boast that what they do is the practice of Islam.

What, then, is the real truth? Is Islam a religion of peace, as western politicians say, or is it something drastically different? To understand the answer, we need to examine Islam's holy book, the Quran.

What are some of the teachings of the Quran that are leading to violence and bloodshed around the world?

The clear teaching of the Quran is that Islam is the supreme and only true religion, and that eventually the entire world will come under Islamic rule.

For example, Surah 61:9 states: "It is He [Allah] who has sent for His apostle [Muhammad] with guidance and the true faith [Islam] , so that he may exalt it above all religions, much as the idolaters may dislike it" (all Quran quotes from the Dawood translation, 1999). In the Quran, "idolaters" refers to all who practice non-Islamic religion including Christianity and Judism.

In line with this belief in the supremacy of Islam, Surah 2:193 gives this clear command: "Fight against them until idolatry is no more and [ Allah's ] religion reigns supreme." Again, "idolatry" in the Quran refers to any religion other than Islam, which would include Christianity and Judaism and any other belief system. To those who follow this verse and there are millions who do, if you don't worship Allah by the dictates of Muhammad, you are considered an idolater and therefore a legitimate target of this command. 

In the worldview of Islamic scholars and leaders, the world is divided into two spheres—the sphere or lands of dar al-Islam, meaning "the domain of Islam" (where Islam is dominant) and dar al-harb, meaning "the domain of war." A fundamental aspect of this worldview is that all non-Muslim lands must eventually be absorbed or conquered by Islam, preferably by peaceful conversion, but by force if necessary, thus they are "the domain of war." 

Most if not all of the Muslim world is united against Israel because it is considered an abomination of the land that was once dar al-Islam, part of the land of Islam, but has reverted to dar al-harb, or fallen back under control of the infidel, whether Jews or Christians.

This is a key reason why Muslims are so determined to bring the physical territory of Israel back under Muslim domination. Keep in mind that the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded in 1964, three years before Israel captured the West Bank and Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War—so Muslim determination to "liberate" Israeli lands long predates Israel's control of these areas and extends to all of Israel, period.

This is why Muslim leaders openly boast of their desire to liberate the land "from the sea to the sea"— from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, meaning no more Israel. This is why the founding documents of terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah openly call for the elimination of Israel.

Western governments, failing to understand this Muslim belief, regularly pressure Israel to negotiate with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for a peaceful solution. But in fact there is no peaceful solution when the negotiating partners believe with all their heart and soul that Israel's land belongs to them and that it must be ethnically cleansed of Jews as stated repeatedly by Hamas and Palestinian Authority leaders. 

If Islam is to become the supreme and only true religion in the world as taught by the Quran, how is that goal to be accomplished? 

The answer is jihad or holy war against non-believers. The Quran commands violence and conquest to spread Islam. It contains literally dozens of such commands, such as these:

Surah 9:5 states: "When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them."

Surah 9:73 reads: "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate."

Surah 9:123 commands: "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that [ Allah ] is with the righteous."

Harvard University professor of government Samuel Huntington, commenting on the disproportionate involvement of Muslims in warfare and terrorism around the globe, coined the phrase "the bloody borders of Islam" in his 1997 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. At that pre-9/11 time he had no idea how prophetic the phrase would be.

In the 2005 book Religion, Culture and International Conflict: A Conversation (Michael Cromartie, editor), Professor Huntington wrote: "While groups from all religions have engaged in various forms of violence and terrorism, the figures make it clear that in the past decade Muslims have been involved in far more of these activities than people of other religions . . .

If you look around the Muslim world you see that in the 1990s Muslims were fighting non-Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kashmir, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Middle East, Sudan, Nigeria, and other places. 

He went on to note that in the year 2000, 23 of the world's 32 armed conflicts involved Muslims. Similar numbers hold true today. A glance at a world map shows that nearly all of the world's wars are taking place around the edges of the Muslim world where Islam is pressing outward against non-Muslims. 

Whereas the Bible teaches us to love our neighbors, the Quran teaches Muslims to "make war on the infidels who dwell around you”— to fight your neighbor. 

It's also worth noting that many Muslims believe that the only sure way to enter paradise (in their view of the afterlife) is to become a martyr fighting for Islam. They draw this belief from Surah 22:58: "As for those that have fled their homes in the cause of Allah and afterwards died or were slain, Allah will surely make a generous provision for them in paradise. [Allah] is the most munificent provider. He will surely admit them with a welcome that will please them. All-knowing is Allah, and gracious."

In Islamic thinking, as soon as a martyr sheds his first drop of blood, he is guaranteed a place in paradise. And when he arrives, he has waiting for him 72 young, dark-eyed, beautiful virgins to be his perpetual companions in paradise. This is one reason so many young Muslim men are willing to die as suicide bombers, because they are guaranteed entry into paradise as soon as they blow themselves up, since they are dying in the cause of jihad.

The Quran also says that Allah will punish those who do not wage jihad as he commands. Surah 9:39 warns: "If you do not go to war, [ Allah ] will punish you sternly, and will replace you by other men." In other words, if you're a Muslim and don't wage jihad, you will be punished and Allah will choose someone else to fight in your place. 

The Quran also commands using terror and cruelty in waging jihad. Surah 8:59-60 states: "Let not the unbelievers think that they will ever get away. They have not the power so to do. Muster against them all the men and cavalry at your command, so that you may strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides them who are unknown to you but known to Allah." 

This is why the Sunni fighters of the Islamic State [ISIS] are so viciously cruel. Knowing this verse, they use terror to strike fear into their enemies to demoralize them and cause them to give up their will to fight. Those whom they capture, Shiites whom they consider apostates or non-Muslims, they brutally execute in accordance with what they read in their holy book.  

The Quran even mentions specific methods to sow terror, which the Islamic State fighters are using. Surah 8:12 states: "[Allah] revealed his will to the angels, saying: 'I shall be with you. Give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers!'"   So what the Quran tells them to do, they do. When their holy book tells them to strike off heads, they do exactly that.

The civilized world has been horrified to see Islamic State fighters, like al-Qaeda fighters and Iraqi terror groups before them, brutally decapitate captive soldiers, as well as Western journalists and aid workers. Perhaps you have seen clips from some of the beheading videos shown on news reports or posted on the Internet. You may have wondered as I did, what the Arabic-language shouting and chanting signified.

Most of us already knew the meaning of the shouts of "Allahu Akbar"—"Allah is great" or, more properly, "Allah is greater" (than any who would oppose them). With a little research I learned the significance of the chanting often accompanying the shouts. The murderers are chanting verses like the one above telling them to behead infidels. They are simply quoting their scriptures in the Quran.

Yet Western leaders assure us, as President Obama did in a Nov. 16 White House statement after the beheading of American hostage Peter Kassig, that such acts "represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith . . ."

Another Surah that illustrates Allah's cruelty is Surah 5:34-35: "Those that make war against [Allah] and His apostle [Mohammad] and spread disorder in the land shall be slain or crucified or have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, or be banished from the land. They shall be held up to shame in this world and sternly punished in the hereafter."

Here Allah commands torture, crippling and maiming of prisoners. Crucifixion is a horrible form of torture and execution, and they practice it with relish. A brief search of the Internet will produce hundreds of photos showing Islamists carrying out and celebrating such practices.

What does the Quran teach about slavery? Although little is said about it in Western media, slavery remains alive and well in parts of the Muslim world. While the slave trade in the Americas during the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s has been rightfully condemned, the focus has largely been on the white slave owners and slave traders, with little said of the Arab Muslims who first enslaved Africans and sold them to whites from the American colonies.

This, too, was approved in the Quran. Surah 47:4 says: "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly." Those who follow the Quran literally have long understood this to mean that when Muslims defeat their enemies, they are allowed to either kill them or enslave them.

According to early Muslim writings, Muhammad—who is viewed as the ideal man whom Muslims are to emulate—sold, traded and confiscated slaves, clearly making himself a slave trader.

A particularly appalling aspect of recent Muslim conquests is women and girls being taken captive to be used as sexual slaves. This happened with the capture of Yazidi towns in northern Iraq by the Islamic State and the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls by the Islamic Boko Haram movement in Nigeria. This, too, is specifically allowed in the Quran. Notice these verses:

Surah 23:1-6 says: "Blessed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers, who avoid profane talk, and give alms to the destitute, who restrain their carnal desires, except with their wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to them."

Surah 33:50 states: "We [that is, Allah speaking of himself in the plural] well know the duties We have imposed on the faithful concerning their wives and slave-girls. ( We grant you this privilege [satisfying their sexual desires with slave girls]) so that none may blame you."

A Nov. 5, 2014, report by the International Business Times was headlined "Shocking: ISIS Official 'Slave' Price List Shows Yazidi, Christian Girls Aged '1 to 9' Being Sold for $172." The article went on to describe a price list for sexual slaves on an Islamist website: "In the name of Allah, most gracious and merciful. We have received news that the demand in women and cattle markets has sharply decreased and that will [affect] Islamic State revenues as well as the funding of the Mujaheddin [jihadist fighter] in the battlefield. We have made some changes. Below are the prices of Yazidi and Christian women."

At the same time a video posted online appeared to show Islamic State fighters at what one of them called "slave market day" while quoting Surah 23:1-6 (cited above). The men discuss prices for girls and women from $100-300 depending on the age and eye color—with green or blue eyes bringing a higher price.

An October online edition of Dabiq magazine (published by an Islamic State jihadist group) boasted after the capture of the Iraqi town of Sinjar that "the enslaved Yazidi families are now sold by the Islamic State soldiers." It then explained that "the Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the Shariah [Islamic law] amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations." Thus, as war booty, they were divided up and sold as pieces of property.

The sad truth about the Middle East today is that we are seeing a revival of the original Islam Muhammad brought to the world in the seventh century.

Muhammad's new religion caught fire, fueled by power and plunder. The Islamic State is repeating Muhammad's early conquests—burning churches, looting monasteries, enslaving and forcibly converting the powerless, and callously executing those who stand up to them. It is vigorously enforcing sharia law—cutting off the hands of thieves, stoning adulterers and blasphemers, whipping criminals and banning anything that stands in the way of Islam.

In defiance of the major Western powers, it has brutally butchered American and British citizens, decapitating them and posting videos of the murders on the Internet for the world to see. The message is unmistakable: Allah is on their side, and they have nothing to fear from the major world powers.

Until Western leaders wake up from their willful blindness and face the grim reality of the jihadist worldview that is motivating the Islamic State as well as Hamas, Hezbollah and countless other groups and movements, that part of the world will remain a powder keg waiting to explode and take down much of modern civilization with it. 

_____________________________________________________________________