An Inquiry Into Islam

Why We Created This Site

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 07:56:00 +0000

AFTER 9/11, lots of things were said about Islam, some of them contradictory, and many of them by people with believable credentials. My wife and I didn't know what to think, so we started looking into it. We read lots of materials — pro-Islam books, anti-Islam books, and classic Islamic doctrines, like the Quran. We've been on an eight-year learning binge.

We have become disgusted by people whose criticisms of Islam are motivated by bigotry and racism. And we've also became frustrated by people who know nothing about Islam but are so vehemently against the racist bigots that they said and believed foolish things about Islam — things that anyone with even a smattering of knowledge would know is not true.

Islam is an active and vital religion, and it is growing. It is having an increasingly powerful influence on world affairs. And most people in the free world do not even know the most basic facts about it, and yet make the assumption that Islam must be similar to other religions they are familiar with. This widespread assumption could have unexpected consequences because Islam is different than all other religions in many important ways.

My wife and I are not Christians or Buddhists or Jews or Hindus. We are not the members of any religion. I thought this was important to point out. We don't have a religious ax to grind.

The purpose of this site is to begin the education process for non-Muslims who don't know much about Islam but are curious about it. Once your interest has been piqued, your next step is to read the Quran yourself. Fortunately, reading the Quran has been made relatively easy. Learn more about that here: An Easier Way to Read the Quran.

Below is a table of contents for this site. You will find the same table of contents in the upper right sidebar of every page. The pages can be read in any order. Here they are:

Prevent Bigotry and Racism

What Makes Islam So Successful?

An Eight Minute Video About Islam

Islam and Women's Rights

Do You Know Much About Islam?

A Muslim Woman Speaks About Islam

Gentle Jihad

An Easier Way to Read the Quran

Critique of Pure Islam

Criticism of Islam Versus Bigotry

Why Know About Islam?

Do Islamic Texts Encourage Violence?

What is Taqiyya?

Perfectly Legal Jihad

The Allegory of Pleasantville

A Conversation About Islam

A Conversation About Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0000

A FRIEND of mine, Phil, was in town to promote his new book. We went out to lunch with another friend of ours from this area, Stan, a man who runs a multi-station radio conglomerate. We were talking about this and that when Phil mentioned an experience he had in a church in the Midwest.

Phil goes to church every week. And for awhile the church had speakers from various religions come to speak to them. One week they had a Hindu teacher come speak to the congregation, and the next week it was a Buddhist priest (this is a very open-minded church), and the third week it was a Muslim imam.

Phil said, "I couldn't believe the imam. He scared the old ladies. Every other thing he said was about cutting off someone's head." Phil looked surprised.

Now I hadn't seen either of these guys for awhile and in the meantime I had learned a lot about Islam and I hadn't really talked to many people about what I was learning. I said, "Awhile back I read the Qur'an because I wondered about Islam."

"Wondered?" asked Stan. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I've heard terrorists like Osama bin Laden quoting the Qur'an, talking about the obligation of all Muslims to subjugate the infidel and their responsibility to wage jihad, and then I've heard people like George Bush quoting peaceful passages from the Qur'an and saying Islam is a religion of peace, and I just wanted to know what the real story was. So read the Qur'an cover to cover.

"It's been a real eye-opener," I said. "First of all, the copy I first started reading jumped around and it was hard to follow. Then I found out that the traditional way to print the book — the traditional order of the chapters — is simply from the longest to the shortest chapter. So I found a book (A Simple Koran) that prints it in the order it was actually written, in chronological order, and it is much easier to follow that way."

Stan looked puzzled. He has a curious, inquiring mind. "I wonder why they printed it that way? That seems like an odd order to print a book."

"Yes," I said. "A secretary for one of the caliphs, I think his name was Zayd, decided that's how to arrange the chapters. Even at the time, people criticized his strange arrangement. But he was the secretary and that's the way he wanted it. Now it's just traditional.

"But something is revealed by reading the book in chronological order that I don't think you would see in the traditional chapter order: You see a dramatic change in the kind of revelations Muhammad has over time."

"Muhammad is the main guy, right?"

"Yes, he's the prophet. He's the one who first recited the Qur'an."

"What changed?" Phil asked. "What do you mean?" They were both curious now. They leaned forward, interested.

Glad to be sharing something so important with two people I care about, I said, "The nature of the revelations changed. And the book I read (A Simple Koran) gives you some of the surrounding history too, so you can see why the revelations changed.

"Muhammad originally lived in Mecca and Muslims were a minority. Obviously when he first started, he and his wife were the only Muslims on earth. Everyone else in the city of Mecca already had their own religions. Muhammad went around preaching his new religion and criticizing everyone else's. People didn't like that."

My friends laughed. Of course people didn't like that. "So after about thirteen years of preaching," I went on, "Muhammad had gained 150 converts, but they were still a minority, and the Muslims' relations with leaders of other religions had become increasingly hostile over the years. It was getting pretty hot around there, so Muhammad moved to Medina, where he had some friends.

"And that's when the revelations really started changing," I said. "For the first three-fourths of the book, the revelations were mostly about heaven and hell and how if you are a good Muslim and follow the rules you'll go to heaven and if you don't follow the rules or if you doubt Muhammad is really the Prophet, you'll burn in hell and the only thing you'll have to drink is boiling water, etc.

"But the last fourth of the book is very different. Once Muhammad gets to Medina, his group starts raiding caravans that are going to Mecca."

"Muhammad did that?" Phil and Stan both looked surprised.

"Yes. Muhammad went on some raids himself, and sometimes he just sent some of his Muslim followers on raids. And they would sometimes kill the men and take the women as slaves, and of course take all the valuable goods in the caravan."

Again, both of them looked shocked. Astonished. Surprised. And yet, it looked as if years of accumulated confusion vanished in an instant. Stan said, "So that's where the terrorists got the idea." Stan has a great sense of humor and he was making a joke, and we all laughed, but that's the light bulb I could see go on in these guys' heads.

I went on. "So they started doing pretty well, financially. Muhammad kept a fifth of the booty from the raids and the rest of the Muslim raiders split up the four-fifths. Muhammad started getting more recruits because this was a pretty sweet gig. He started growing an army. And the revelations changed accordingly.

"Up until this time, Muhammad had been trying to get the Christians and Jews to admit that in their own scriptures, Muhammad's coming had been foretold. His arrival was prophesied in their holy books. He was sure of this, and he wanted the Jews and Christians to say so. He wanted them to validate his legitimate prophethood as one of a long line of prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc.) but the Christians and the Jews wouldn't validate him.

"So in the first three-fourths of the Qur'an, the revelations are relatively tolerant of Christians and Jews. He was trying to curry their favor. But once Muhammad had an army, and once he realized they would never acknowledge him as a prophet, his revelations became less and less tolerant, and then they became violent.

"Now here's one of the strangest things," I said. "When the nature of the revelations changed, the Qur'an started accumulating contradictions. It had these tolerant passages earlier and then less tolerant passages later. But the Qur'an itself, conveniently enough, has a passage that tells Muslims what to do about this. In the Qur'an, Allah says, 'If something I say now contradicts something earlier in the Qur'an, the later revelation overwrites the earlier one. The earlier one is null and void, and the newer one is the better one.'

"The bad news is the tolerant passages are earlier and the intolerant, violent passages are later.

"So finally I realized how it was possible to have peaceful quotes and violent quotes, both from the Qur'an. The Qur'an is not like the Christian Bible. It isn't written by different people at different times. There are no vague analogies or symbolic passages given to multiple interpretations. It is written by one man and is very direct, straightforward writing. So how could it contain contradictions? Now I know."

"So, wait a minute." Phil looked concerned. "You're saying the peaceful passages don't count any more?"

"Right. They don't count. They have been overwritten by passages that say things like, 'Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them,' which is a passage from the very last revelation of Muhammad.

"Not only that," I said, my head now swimming with things I've discovered that these guys didn't know, "but they're supposed to follow Muhammad's example. It says in the Qur'an, and says it more than seventy times, that Muslims should follow Muhammad's example. He is the model. He's the one to imitate."

"That's not good," said Stan.

"No, that's not good. Muhammad didn't think well of 'monkery.' He didn't think it was a good thing for devoted religious people to seclude themselves in a monastery. He didn't believe in asceticism. He thought that was the lazy coward's way out. According to Allah, you show your devotion — you demonstrate your faith — in the real world by fighting in jihad, fighting for Allah, doing things you're afraid to do, fighting against the unbelievers, working to make sure all governments follow the law of Allah.

"Muhammad believed anyone could talk a good story or say a good prayer, but jihad is putting your money where your mouth is. Do you really believe? Prove it: Risk your life in combat. If you really believe what the Qur'an says then you know when you die in jihad you will go straight to Paradise without judgment, and all your sins will be instantly forgiven. If you are afraid of fighting, war, or death, it proves your unbelief.

"Fighting jihad is so highly valued by Allah that dying in jihad is the only way to guarantee your passage to heaven. You may have a chance to get into heaven if you do good works and do not sin. But if you die fighting against unbelievers, you are guaranteed passage to heaven."

"Wow," said Stan. They both looked amazed. Stunned, really. These are grown men. They read a lot. Both of them are educated, well-informed, successful people. Both are very bright, intelligent men. And they didn't know any of this.

These guys have known me for a long time, so they trusted what I said. They know I'm not a racist or a bigot, and they know I am not prone to fanatacism and I am not a hater. So they accepted what I said with open minds. And what I told them was accurate, as they assumed. But people who hear about it from someone they don't know well might easily dismiss this kind of information. So I recommend to everyone to just read the Koran themselves. That's really the only way to know for sure.

I'm sure I don't have to remind you that this is deadly serious business. It makes a huge difference what people know about Islam. The Jihadis don't want non-Muslims to be made aware this information (they can go about their Jihadi business with less interference if most people remain ignorant of the political goals of Islam) and they now have an "internet jihad" going on, hacking in and trying to shut down sites that alert people to their plans and methods.

Just the two pieces of information — that later passages overwrite earlier ones and that a good Jihadi will deliberately deceive non-Muslims — is enormously clarifying and damaging to their cause. But they can’t hack into your one-on-one conversations, and that’s really where the rubber meets the road.

So read the Koran and share what you learn. And share articles from this site. Let's have an informed population so we can figure out how to peacefully and effectively protect ourselves from the fundamentalist Muslims without being jerks to the peaceful Muslims. Let's stop listening to everyone's opinions and read the Koran ourselves.

If you'd like to do more, start here: What Can You Do About It?

Prevent Bigotry and Racism

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:33:00 +0000

WHENEVER WE HEAR something unflattering about Islam, most Westerners will tend to hear it through the filter of "racism" or "bigotry," and we have a natural, instinctive desire to protect Muslims from unjustified bias and hatred.

We envision lynchings. We don't want to see racial profiling. We don't want interment camps like the Japanese suffered during WWII. Since we see the criticism as bigotry or racism, we can be reflexively opposed to a perfectly normal and legitimate activity in a free country: Political and religious criticism.

One of our most treasured guaranteed rights is the right to talk about, and even criticize, the doctrines of any political or religious group. The fact that it might be offensive to someone is exactly why free speech has to be protected (if it didn't bother anyone, there would be no need to protect it; read more about that here.)

Hopefully you are not a bigot or a racist, but whether you are or not, Islam is not a race or an ethnic group. There are Muslims of every race. There are more non-Arab Muslims than Arab Muslims.

This racial issue is an important reason for all of us to learn more about Islam as soon as possible. Many people who have already learned about some of Islam's most basic principles want to tell others what they've learned, but they find many people don't want to listen, and they've told me it'll take a dirty nuke going off in Chicago or Paris before people will be willing to listen.

But after a tragedy or a major attack, people are angry and afraid, and decisions under those circumstances aren't always the sanest decisions. In times like those, people can overreact. In times like those, they do things like put Japanese people into internment camps. That was a fear-based, ignorant reaction, and it was bigoted and racist.

We can avoid that kind of overreaction if we talk about Islam now, in calmer times. In other words, talking about Islamic teachings now can help prevent racism and bigotry by making sure everyone understands what Islamic teachings are about, and that Islam is a doctrine, not a race, and not all Muslims follow the doctrine.

If even non-racist people think criticizing Islam is racist, it proves an important point. Namely: It is vital for more people to understand Islam.

To put it another way, if someone thinks criticizing Islam is racist, she is demonstrating that she don't understand what Islam is, and illustrating exactly why we need to talk about it and learn about it, because if someone so strongly against racism thinks Islam has something to do with race, then how are racist people going to react if a nuclear weapon goes off in downtown Houston and kills a million people?

The world needs to know about Islam — needs to know what it is and what it is not — and this needs to happen as quickly as possible.

Why Know About Islam?

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:38:00 +0000

IT IS A SANE, rational, sensible goal to know more about Islam. Why? Why bother to learn about it when you have no intention of becoming a Muslim? Here are twelve good reasons:

1. Your education will be more well-rounded. Most of us have some knowledge about Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. We've heard quotes by their founders, we know some of what they teach, we know a little of their history, etc. But almost every Westerner is unfamiliar with the most basic teachings of Islam.

2. It is interesting. Do you know, for example, why Osama bin Laden chose September 11th as the day to attack America? Because the last high-water mark of Islam occurred in 1683 on September 11th.

Islam had expanded and conquered for centuries, and was finally stopped at the gates of Vienna when 40,000 soldiers arrived just in time to stop the Muslim siege of the city.

Islam's spread has been repressed by superior military force ever since then. Their dominance has been receding since that day, and almost all Muslims know this, and many resent it. But the new resurgence has set out to finish the goal (worldwide Sharia law), so they chose September 11th to kick off the new era.

Before I started learning about Islam, I didn't know about the gates of Vienna. I didn't know why the Crusades happened. I didn't know why Middle Eastern countries have seemed so dead-set on destroying Israel. I didn't know what the hijacking of planes and the holding of hostages was all about when I was a kid. I have learned so much, and a lot of it has been very interesting.

3. Knowledge can immunize us. Have you ever gotten what looks like an official email from Amazon or PayPal or Gmail, asking you for account information? For those who don't know this kind of thing can happen, they are vulnerable to giving away their personal account information to a criminal.

The email usually says something like, "There has been a problem with your account and we need you to update your account information." And they provide a link. When you follow the link, it looks every bit like the official web site. If you give your information, you just gave it to a scam artist.

If you've heard of the scam, you are immune to it. If you want to check it out just in case, you will not use their link. You will type in "amazon.com" or "paypal.com" into your browser and go check your account to see if anything is really wrong.

With that little bit of knowledge, you avoided a potential catastrophe. Knowledge makes the difference.

It is exactly the same with knowing about Islam. Once you have a pretty good grasp of what's going on, you are less afraid, less paranoid, and less vulnerable to what is called "religious deception" (taqiyya ).

If you don't know about Islam, you will not be able to tell the difference between orthodox and heterodox Muslims, so you will have to either distrust them all (which isn't cool) or trust them all (which would be stupid). Educate yourself and you won't have this dilemma.

4. You'll be ahead of your time. In the future, everyone will know about Islam. It is a quickly-growing faith with more and more influence on world affairs. By learning about it now, you will be among the vanguard of a new era.

5. You can help your fellow non-Muslims understand. This is a nice benefit of learning about Islam. Your understanding can help you shed some light and help eliminate the confusion you see in the people you know. It is a valuable service you can provide your fellow citizens.

6. Confusing current events will become understandable. Once you learn what's really going on, the scary terrorist events that make you think, "Why are they doing this?!" are suddenly illuminated, and you know exactly why they're doing it.

Learning about Islam makes world events less upsetting. You will no longer feel as exasperated or wonder what is happening to this crazy world. You will finally understand.

Of all the benefits of learning about Islam, this had the most impact on me. Political events that have been happening since I can remember — the hostage situations and hijacked planes and bombings — all seemed so unnecessary and confusing. And you can watch the news all day long and get no clarity whatsoever about why these things are happening and what they all have to do with each other. It's a relief to finally comprehend the bigger picture.

7. Orthodox Muslims are immigrating to Western democracies. From within those democracies, including the one we are living in, some of these super-devout Muslims are setting up terrorist cells right now. Their spokesmen are delivering fiery tirades at mosques in our own country, calling the faithful Muslims to rise up against the infidels (you and me), telling the Muslims in their congregation (called an ummah) it is their holy duty to sabotage the government and establish Sharia law. They are recruiting native-born Westerners into groups working toward these goals, as I'm sure you've seen on the news. And it is becoming more common.

Not all Muslims follow these Islamic teachings (find out what the basic teachings are by clicking here). But some do, and they are in free countries now, preaching hatred. And most Western democracies allow more in all the time. Why? Because most Westerners don't know much about Islam.

8. Some of the orthodox Muslims will relentlessly try to change our laws, from within and from without. They have already done so throughout Europe and parts of the United States. Islam is partly a political ideology. It is the duty of orthodox Muslims to work toward making every government on earth follow Allah's law (Shari'a law).

If Westerners knew what was going on, we would surely find a peaceful way to prevent it. But our ignorance makes their job easy for now, and violence more likely in the future.

9. They are having more children than most of us. There are many ways to wage jihad and establish Sharia law. One is through violence. Another is through sheer reproductive superiority.

Orthodox, extremely devout Muslims are immigrating in large numbers into Western democracies, having as many children as they can, and teaching them to be devout Muslims.

If they are strictly following Islam, Muslims will try to turn any country they live in into an Islamic state, no matter how long it takes. They have to. It is their religious duty to do so, whether they want to or not. The main method many are using in the West is to gain small concessions to Sharia law.

10. The teenage children of heterodox Muslims are vulnerable to being persuaded by terrorist recruiters. Even though many (probably most) of the Muslims who immigrate into Western democracies are heterodox (ignore many Islamic teachings), their children will be vulnerable as the recruiters help these young, idealistic Muslims see through the hypocrisy of their parents' incomplete worship.

The children of Muslims have heard all their lives from everyone in authority that the Quran is a direct message from the Almighty Himself. As teens, if they hear a recruiter tell them what's actually in the Quran, they might be surprised. Being young and idealistic, they may become dedicated to the foundational principles of Islam. The Quran contains clear instructions to work toward the goal of creating a world that follows Sharia law. It is the primary goal of Islam. And it is the primary religious duty — the primary religious practice — of a devout Muslim to strive toward this goal with his money and his life.

The teens will look at their parents and feel disgusted. Their parents — the ones who have told them repeatedly that the Quran is the perfect word of Allah — ignore much of the book.

Plus, we cannot ignore the added benefit of dying while slaying infidels: You go straight to Paradise, and have 72 beautiful wives ready to do your bidding. Critics of Islam did not make that up. What 15 year-old boy wouldn't find a harem of beauties an attractive proposition?

If he reads the Quran, we'll discover the recruiters are right: It says quite clearly he is supposed to fight non-Muslims. He will discover that mainstream Islamic scholars agree that if he dies while killing infidels he will go straight to Paradise without having to be judged, and because he's done such a fine thing, he will be empowered to bring many of his family members to Paradise too.

11. Your vote on this issue is important. If you vote, you are helping to elect representatives and leaders who make legal and political decisions (like what kind of immigration policies we should employ, or whether an imam who encourages his followers to overthrow the government should be charged with sedition). When you understand more about Islam, you will be able to know which leaders have a grasp on this subject and which do not, and vote accordingly.

12. Our survival as a free society is at stake. I know that sounds very dramatic and rabble-rousing, but it is quite literally true. All the different orthodox Islamic groups have a single goal in mind: The establishment of Sharia law in every country. They didn't make this up. They didn't "interpret" their holy book that way. They didn't have to guess. That is what it says, directly and clearly.

These people are not joking. This is not a casual hobby for them. They have dedicated their lives to it. And oil-rich Islamic governments are pouring money into the project.

This struggle has gone on for 1400 years, and as far as the devout ones are concerned, it will go on for another 1400 years, or as long as it takes to win. They are acquiring the advantages of new technologies. And they are well-funded.

I don't know how the West will ultimately deal with it, but I know this: Until enough of us face and understand what we're up against, we don't have a chance. Cheerful obliviousness will always be easily defeated by grim determination.

THOSE ARE THE TWELVE most important reasons you should want to know about Islam. Most Westerners make the assumption that all religions are basically alike. And we have a deep-seated respect for other cultures and the right of everyone to believe what they want. We have a profound distrust of any hint of arrogance or any feelings of superiority of our own culture. It is almost at the level of a taboo.

This distrust is almost entirely a good thing. It's one of the reasons we are able to have such a rich, diverse society with people of all kinds getting along with each other.

But Islam is unique, doesn't reciprocate tolerance, and its influence is spreading. We should learn more about it. A good place to start is to stop relying on second-hand sources, and read the Koran yourself.

If you'd like to do something more, start here: What Can You Do About It?

Critique of Pure Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:23:00 +0000

WHEN SOMEONE says that some of the passages of the Quran are violent, and that Islam itself is political, what do you call that? It's an important question. Strangely enough, I've heard it called "racist," which seems very odd. Islam is not a race.

I've also heard it called "Islamophobia," which is also strange, because it's not a phobia.

It is religious criticism. But it's more than that, because Islam is not merely a religion. Islam is also a political system with political goals. So instead of racism or Islamophobia, we could call it religious or political criticism.

But if you call it that, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. In a free society, it is a perfectly legitimate activity to criticize religious doctrines and political systems. It's perfectly all right, for example, to point out that the Catholic church frowns upon birth control, or that communism and free enterprise are incompatible.

So when someone explains the political ideology contained in the Quran, it is a completely legitimate activity, and anyone who calls it racism or Islamophobia either doesn't understand what they're saying, or, more likely, they are trying to censor the person. That kind of censorship is out of line in a free society.

The fact that exponents of pure Islam (let's call them "orthodox Muslims") will not tolerate criticism of Islam is one of the main criticisms of Islam. The fact that the Quran itself is adamant about disallowing any criticism of the Quran (and calls for a death sentence for doing so) is one of the most egregious things to criticize about the Quran.

If someone doesn't hire a Muslim simply because the applicant is a Muslim, that is discrimination, and that's a different issue. If someone beats up a Muslim because he's a Muslim, that is a hate crime and is illegal, immoral, and should be punished.

But criticism of Islamic doctrine? It can and should be done. Period. Anyone who tries to shut down the discussion with accusations of racism or Islamophobia is out of line.

Helping Girls Will Weaken the Influence of Orthodox Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:16:00 +0000

THERE ARE a lot of problems in the world. But you can do one simple thing to help solve most of them: Support the Girl Effect.

When you help a girl, you help produce a cascade of positive side-effects, but pertinent to our purposes here, it also helps curb Islam's relentless expansion. For girls to gain and retain equal rights, Islam's doctrine cannot be fully expressed. So fighting for women's rights is effectively fighting against Islam's ultimate goal of world domination. Even in free countries, the most effective tool against Islamic encroachment is the application of already-existing rights for women.

Watch the Girl Effect video (below) and share it with your friends (it is two minutes long):

Your friends don't need to know their efforts to help girls will accomplish the goal of curbing the spread of jihad. But it will. The Pentagon has discovered that the level of violence in a town can be predicted by simply looking at the number of girls who go to school in that town. No kidding. Girls are the key.

And the key to helping girls is helping their mothers. To whatever degree you empower women by giving them legal rights, to that degree Islam's relentless repression of women is necessarily weakened.

This is a positive, life-affirming, inspiring way to defeat Islam's relentless encroachment. Go to the Girl Effect website and get involved. Recruit your friends and family into the cause. This is a purpose we can all get behind. Join the Girl Effect on FaceBook to get updates.

Your friends and family need never know why you're promoting the Girl Effect, or that it has anything to do with Islam, and it doesn't matter — the work needs to be done and in the end we will all be better off.

Read more about how helping girls can save the world in the book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

Let's do this.

Islam and Women's Rights

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:12:00 +0000

AHMEDI BEGUM, a 50 year-old woman, was showing two young women a room she was renting out when police rushed in and arrested the two girls and Ahmedi's nephew, who happened to be standing nearby.

That afternoon, Ahmedi went to the police station to see what could be done to release her nephew and the two girls, when the police arrested Ahmedi too, confiscating her jewelry and throwing her into a room.

In a short time, the two girls, naked and bleeding were thrown into the room too. Then police officers raped the girls in front of Ahmedi. She tried to look away, but they forced her to watch.

Ahmedi herself was then stripped and raped by several officers, and then beaten, and worse. At some point she passed out, and when she woke up, she had been charged with illegal fornication.

The country is Pakistan. Islamic law, otherwise known as Sharia, has been applied more and more vigorously in Pakistan since the country was formed, but it's still not applied as strictly as it is in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran.

Sharia law is set up in such a way that when a woman is raped, accusing her rapist is often considered an admission of fornication, for which she may be whipped or even stoned to death. This is but one example of the abuses women suffer today in many Islamic states.

Of course, women are abused by non-Muslims and for other than religious reasons. But the purpose of this site is inquiring into Islam, and Sharia law is a key element of mainstream Islamic teachings. Islam is not just a religion in the sense Westerners think of it. Islam is also a system of laws and government. Devout Muslims consider the practice of their religion to include more than praying. They must also follow the law of Allah.

Women's lack of freedom and outright abuse is a fundamental feature of Sharia, which is the system of law used by many Islamic governments. Shaykh Ghawhi, a well-known and well-respected (in Islamic universities and throughout the Islamic world) teacher of Islamic studies and Islamic law, says according to Sharia:

A woman must only leave her house if she has a real need to do so.
Her husband or guardian must authorize her leaving the house.
When she is out, she must be completely covered, including her face.
When she is out, she must not look left or right but keep her head bowed down as she walks.
She must not wear perfume in public.
She must never shake a man's hand.
Even if she is visiting a female friend and is inside her friend's house, she must not uncover herself in case a man is hiding somewhere in the house.

Criminals under house arrest in the U.S. have more freedom than this.

Women in the Muslim world have been fighting for their rights for a long time. They've won some victories, but they have also lost some freedoms they had once gained, because on the other side of women's push for greater freedom is the religious authority's push for stricter adherence to Sharia law.

Many countries following Sharia law have gone in cycles where they begin to allow some freedoms, but then crack down again, because modernization is strictly forbidden according to basic Islamic teachings.

In Sharia, a woman is forbidden to be a head of state or a judge. She can only inherit half of what a man can inherit. In court, her testimony is only worth half of a man's. She is not allowed to choose where she will live or who she will marry. She is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim or divorce her husband.

Her husband, however, can divorce her with a wave of his hand. And according to Sharia, he can and should beat her if she disobeys him. Read more about Sharia and women.

This is beyond abuse. This is legally-sanctioned abuse on a massive scale. Devout Muslims are trying to apply 7th-century law in the 21st century.

And they're not only doing it in Muslim countries, they're trying to impose their laws in the West, and they've been getting away with it because orthodox Muslims are exploiting a key moral strength of the Western democracies.

Honor killings are another heinous example of legally-sanctioned abuse. The word "abuse" isn't even strong enough. It is legally-sanctioned torture and murder. If a woman "dishonors" her family by falling in love with the wrong man or having an affair, her uncles and brothers are morally obligated to beat her to death. Here's a story of an honor killing in London. Read more about honor killings.

Acid attacks are another example. Read more about those here.

The religion of Islam is unique in the world. It is both a personal religion and a political system, and it is part of a Muslim's religious duty to constantly strive toward living in a country that applies Islamic law. They take this seriously. A growing number of Muslims are making a concerted effort to slowly make America and Europe follow Islamic law. Here are some of their recent victories.

If you'd like to do something about the abuse of women, help Amnesty International write letters to put political pressure on Sharia governments so they'll release unfairly imprisoned women. Their letter campaigns have a proven record of success. Here's an example of one of their campaigns.

You can support and promote groups working for women's rights, like Madre and the Girl Effect.

Let's help women gain basic human rights around the world.

Criticism of Islam Versus Bigotry

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:42:00 +0000

A BIGOT is "strongly partial to his own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ." A Christian, for example, who is intolerant of anyone who is not a Christian, is a bigot. Or anyone who is Chinese and intolerant of anyone who is not Chinese, is a bigot.

If the group to which you are partial is your race, then bigotry is the same as racism. There are definitely people trying to stop Islam's relentless encroachment who are motivated by bigotry. But criticism of Islamic doctrine is not bigotry.

Criticism of Islamic teachings is simply religious criticism, which is a perfectly legitimate and worthwhile thing to do in a free country. If I told you that in Buddhism they believe the source of human suffering is the grasping nature of the mind, is that bigotry? Even if I said I think that might be too simplistic and that there may be other causes of suffering, is that bigotry?

No, that's simply discussing religious texts.

And if I say the Quran says (91 times) that Mohammad is a good example of human behavior, is that bigotry? No. Even if I say I don't like that because the historical records of Mohammad's actions aren't something I want to see emulated, is that bigotry? No. We're just talking about a religious text and history.

And if a Muslim says he believes Jews are evil and should be destroyed, is that bigotry? Yes, it is. But what if he says "it must be true, it says so in the Quran," is it still bigotry? Yes. And if I say I don't like that about the Quran, is that bigotry? No. What if I say all Muslims are evil, is that bigotry? Yes. Get the difference?

The reason it seems to many people that anyone criticizing Islam is a bigot is because some bigots have, in fact, criticized Islam. But criticizing Islam, or any religion, does not make anyone a bigot.

Gentle Jihad

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:00:00 +0000

MAINSTREAM MEDIA tends to focus on terrorism because acts of violence are supremely newsworthy. But violence by orthodox Muslims is only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath the surface is a political movement working to gain incremental concessions for Muslims. We'll explore the purpose of these concessions in a moment.

But first you should know I'm not talking about your neighbor. Most Muslims are not actively involved in jihad. But enough are participating to merit a closer look.

We have no need to try to guess the purposes of the really devout Muslims — they state their goals openly and fervently, and they have one primary goal. It's a goal Allah gave to all Muslims: The establishment of the law of Allah throughout the world.

Islam makes the attainment of this political goal a religious duty.

Allah said (through Mohammad, and written in the Quran) he does not want his followers sitting around meditating or spending their lives in a monastery. Allah expects good Muslims to demonstrate their devotion and faith by working toward a time when the whole world comes under the rule of divine law.

There is no more important goal in Islam, and everyone has a part to play. Please do not take my word for it, even though I have dedicated many years to learning about it with an open mind. Read the Quran for yourself.

Many devout Muslims are not in a position to participate in a violent jihad, and many devout Muslims consider violence at this point to be tactically foolish against much stronger countries. But the Quran says every Muslim must do what they can. For example, Muslim women can give birth to as many healthy children as possible (helping to gain a numerical superiority) and raise them to be devout Muslims; the imams can keep their listeners motivated and donating money to the mosque to fund outreach programs; wealthy Muslims can support jihad financially; Muslim lawyers can sue people who criticize Islam, hackers can shut down web sites that try to educate non-Muslims about Islamic teachings, and Muslims with charisma can help get people to convert to the faith.

There is no better way to show Allah your devotion than jihad, according to the Quran. As far as Allah is concerned, actions speak louder than words. It doesn't matter how you feel. It doesn't matter if you'd rather just live a good life. Allah expects you to fight for Islam wherever you are and even if you don't feel like it, and to fight in whatever way you can. We should consider ourselves lucky that so many Muslims try to ignore these teachings, even though it says in the Quran the consequences of ignoring them are dire.

When the devout, Quran-following Muslims do not have the political power to impose their will, they are charged with the task of gaining that power. In democratic countries, the task then becomes to exert a constant pressure to gain concessions to Islam. Each concession moves the society a little closer to following Sharia law.

Each concession may seem small, but they are adding up. Meanwhile, the Muslim population is growing in democratic countries.

Read more: Perfectly Legal Jihad.

If you'd like to do something to reverse Islam's political encroachment, start here: What Can You Do About It? There is quite a bit you can do, right where you are.

Do Islamic Texts Encourage Violence?

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:10:00 +0000

DOES THE QURAN COMMAND its believers to make war on unbelievers? I wanted to check this out for myself because I'm skeptical that all this vilifying of Islam could be Christian or Jewish or Hindu propaganda. So I found web sites with English translations of the Quran. This is one. And here's another. And here's one more.

This is a chapter. I chose it randomly. Now keep in mind this is an Islamic-promotion web site rather than an anti-Islamic web site. Here are some of the passages from that chapter:

57. So if you gain the mastery over them in war, punish them severely in order to disperse those who are behind them, so that they may learn a lesson.

59. And let not those who disbelieve think that they can escape from the punishment. Verily, they will never be able to save themselves from Allâh's Punishment.

60. And make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war (tanks, planes, missiles, artillery, etc.) to threaten the enemy of Allâh and your enemy, and others besides whom, you may not know but whom Allâh does know.

65. O Prophet (Muhammad)! Urge the believers to fight. If there are twenty steadfast persons amongst you, they will overcome two hundred, and if there be a hundred steadfast persons they will overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they (the disbelievers) are people who do not understand.

67. It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war until he had made a great slaughter among his enemies in the land. You desire the good of this world (i.e. the money of ransom for freeing the captives), but Allâh desires for you the Hereafter. And Allâh is All-Mighty, All-Wise.

On the other side, I did see a hopeful passage in that chapter:

61. But if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and put your trust in Allâh. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower.

But the downside is that this quote is within the context of having defeated non-Muslims in battle. And the peace has lots of stipulations, including a choice of conversion to Islam or death, or for Christians and Jews, a heavy tax and fewer rights.

None of this is very encouraging. But it is better to deal with reality than make decisions based on false assumptions. I think the best thing any of us can do before we learn anything else about Islam is to read the Quran ourselves.

I have found a very readable version of the Quran. Read a review of it here: A Simple Koran. It is made to be easily understood by the English-speaking reader.

What is Taqiyya?

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:10:00 +0000

IN SEVERAL Quranic passages as well as the example of Mohammad, Muslims are encouraged to deceive non-Muslims when it will help protect Islam. It is known as the principle of "taqiyya" or "religious deception."

This is less surprising if you first understand that in mainstream Islamic teachings, the world is divided into "the house of Islam" and "the house of war." That is, part of the world is Islamic and the other part has yet to brought into the light with Allah's holy law (Sharia).

And since relations with the non-Islamic part of the world exists in a state of war, then deceit is an appropriate strategy, used by all military commanders since the beginning of warfare.

As Raymond Ibrahim wrote, the Quranic verses 3:28 and 16:106, as well as Muhammad’s famous assertion, “War is deceit,” have all led to the formulation of a number of doctrines of "taqiyya.” And this is not an obscure point of theology. It is being practiced today by devout Muslims. See some examples of taqiyya caught on tape.

In the book, Terrorist Hunter: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman Who Went Undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America, Rita Katz wrote about being at an IAP conference in Chicago. IAP is the Islamic Association for Palestine. There were lots of booths at the conference for "charitable" organizations, and at one of these booths, Katz met a man she already knew about: Muhammad Salah. She pretended she didn't know who he was, and he introduced himself as a "Muslim human rights activist."

Katz, a non-Muslim woman dressed as a Muslim, wrote, "He was small, thin, nearly bald. Totally harmless looking." He told her these conferences were so important because "we can teach you about the oppression and sufferings of Muslims in America and all over the world."

Then he told Katz his story. He had been a Palestinian with an American citizenship, a used-car salesman, working in Chicago when he went to Israel to "visit family and friends." But in Israel he was arrested by the Israeli authorities and thrown into prison for five years!

Katz looked appropriately appalled and asked why in heaven's name would they put him in prison? "Because the Israelis oppress innocent Palestinians," he said. "And do you know what is the most shocking part? When I returned to the U.S., after I was tortured and I thought I was going to die in that prison, the Americans placed me under investigation and froze my assets! Me, an innocent citizen, a car dealer, a family man, father of five!"

To any other kafir this probably would have been a convincing story. The poor, oppressed Muslim! It's just wrong to treat people that way. Those Israelis must be very cruel. Those Americans are so oppressive to Muslims!

But Katz was not an ordinary kafir. She researched people like Salah for a living. She knew all about him. This frail, innocent-looking man was the leader of the worldwide military wing of Hamas, a brutal terrorist organization! When he was arrested in Israel he had a hundred thousand dollars in cash on him. In his testimony, he admitted the money was supposed to go to "members of Hamas's military wing." He displayed detailed inside knowledge of Hamas's structure and funding, and his testimony was later used as evidence in the New York trial of Musa Abu Marzook, the leader of the political bureau of Hamas (and the man who had appointed Salah to his position as leader of the military wing). Katz writes:

"Salah disclosed (in his testimony) that he'd been authorized by Marzook to recruit individuals for training in the uses of explosives to fight in the 'holy war.' In the United States, Salah began training ten such recruits, three of whom were chosen to carry out attacks. In addition to supervising the building of bombs, explosives, and remote detonation devices, Salah was instructed by Marzook to develop biological and chemical weapons for Hamas."

When Nasser Hidmi was caught trying to detonate a bomb in Israel, he said he had been chosen by none other than the poor, innocent, abused, oppressed Muslim, Muhammad Salah.

This is an example of the principle of religious deception in action.

The use of taqiyya is the main reason most non-Muslims are so confused about the real nature of Islam — they are constantly being intentionally deceived by orthodox Muslims. But once you know about it, the jig is up. You are much less easily deceived.

How Taqiyya Alters Islam’s Rules of War

Download a PDF document explaining taqiyya in depth.

An Easier Way to Read the Quran

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:38:00 +0000

YOU HAVE HEARD Islamic terrorists quoting violent passages from the Koran (also spelled Quran), justifying their actions. And you've heard other Muslims saying the terrorists have it all wrong, and quoting peaceful passages.

How do you know what is really in that book? Anyone talking about the Koran may have an agenda, may be biased, and may be deliberately distorting the contents. The only way to really know for sure what's going on is to read it yourself.

But if you've ever tried to read the Koran, you know it is difficult. Most English translations use words like "thee" and "thou" as it does in the King James version of the Christian Bible. The Koran also repeats itself many times, making it difficult to stay focused while you read it. The chapters are arranged in order from the longest to the shortest chapter, rather than in chronological order, so it seems to jump around, which is confusing. And sometimes, because of the way the Koran is written, it's difficult to know who is speaking to who.

In addition, the Koran makes references to events in Mohammad's life, and of course, unless you know a lot about Mohammad, you won't know what these events refer to.

A version of the Koran fixes these problems. A Simple Koran puts the passages in chronological order and translates them into modern, readable English.

It also includes explanations of the events in Mohammad's life the Koran refers to, and makes it perfectly clear who is speaking to who.

An interesting thing comes to light in reading this version. Because the chapters are laid out in chronological order, you can clearly see the progression from tolerance at first — tolerance of the Jews, and even seeking the approval of the Jews — to rejection of them and their "evil ways," to outright hatred, condemnation, and urging war against them.

The way the Koran is normally laid out, you would never notice this progression as the revelations changed.

But wait a minute, you might be thinking, the fact that the revelations changed means there are conflicting passage in the Koran, right? So can't believers pick and choose what they want?

Unfortunately, the Koran itself tells the believer how to handle its own contradictions. It says if a revelation contradicts one that came before it, the newer one overwrites the older one. This is the principle known as "abrogation." The bad news for non-Muslims is that all the intolerant and violent passages abrogate the earlier tolerant and peaceful ones.

The first three-fourths of the book is difficult to read because it is uninteresting. But then the book completely changes its tune. So when you're reading, just keep going.

The reason it becomes interesting for non-Muslims is because the nature of Mohammad's revelations totally changed once he gained military power. When he first started out (when Islam was a small minority) Mohammad preached peace and tolerance. But once he gained enough followers, started raiding caravans, and gained military and financial power (from the booty he gained from the caravans), he stopped trying to curry favor with the Jews and Christians and his revelations became intolerant and then downright hateful. Don't take my word for it. Don't take anybody's word for it! Find out for yourself.

UPDATE: I have found an even better version of the Koran called An Abridged Koran. It's exactly the same as A Simple Koran and published by the same people (CSPI Publishing), except it consolidates all the repetition. The Koran is very repetitive. For example, the story of Moses and the Pharaoh is told in the original Qur'an 39 times! In An Abridged Koran, the story is only told once.

The Koran is not a very big book once you take out all the repetition. Only 203 pages. Get this book and read it. Take the pledge: Read the Quran.

But in the meantime, you can learn some of the basic teachings of Islam right now: Why is Islam so Successful?

Read more about why the standard versions of the Quran are so difficult to decipher.

What Can You Do About It?

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:35:00 +0000

NOW THAT YOU understand what orthodox Muslims are supposed to do according to their teachings, what can you do about it? Most important is for other non-Muslims to learn some basic information about Islam. Most people know very little about Islam. In fact, most people know even less than they think they know because of the excessive application of taqiyya (religious deception).

Once enough of us are educated, we can vote people into office who understand the situation. We'll know enough to know who is knowledgeable and who is not. And we can push for initiatives and policies appropriate to our new understanding.

But until enough people understand, the policies and politicians will not have enough support to get anything done. So public education is vital. Really take this seriously. Read about how to talk to people. Learn about Islam. Read the Quran so you can speak with authority.

And find informative materials — books, online videos and articles, and DVDs — and buy them. Lend them out.

Also, get some good coaching on how to talk to people about Islam. Sign up for updates on Citizen Warrior:

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I also recommend you join ACT! for America, or at the very least, sign up for their news updates. If you're not an American, the organization has chapters in other countries too. It is a grassroots organization devoted to a public awareness of the basic teachings of Islam.

One uplifting task you can pursue that indirectly weakens the influence of orthodox Islam is to help girls. Find out more about the "Girl Effect" here.

For more ideas about what to do, check out a page completely devoted to taking action on this issue: WhatYouCanDoAboutIslam.com.

What Makes Islam So Successful?

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:16:00 +0000

IF YOU WANTED to deliberately design a collection of ideas with the purpose of making one that might eventually out-compete every other religion or political system on earth, you would be hard-pressed to do better than Islam.

Let's look at some of the individual ideas within the collection, keeping in mind that many of the ideas enhance each other. In other words, adding one idea to the others can make the whole collection more effective because some ideas work synergistically.

Here are some of the key components of the package of ideas (or bundle of beliefs) known as Islam (you can see this same list as a linked outline here):

1. A standardized version of the idea-collection is written down. This is something basic to several religions and isn't an Islamic invention, but it is an important factor in the success of Islam.

Something only transmitted orally can change over time, but something written will be identical a thousand years from now, and with modern printing presses, can be reproduced in the millions, giving it an enormous advantage in spreading identical copies of the idea-collection.

2. The Quran includes instructions for its own spread. It tells believers they must spread Islam. It is their holy duty to bring Mohammad's warnings and Islamic law to every corner of the world. Read more about that.

3. The idea-collection includes instructions for its own preservation, protection, and duplication. The Quran, the most important of the Islamic holy books, directly tells its followers that they can never change or modify or "modernize" any of the teachings within the idea-collection. It is perfect as it is. It is a capital sin to try to change it. This idea ensures the preservation of the whole collection.

These first three ideas are pretty standard for several successful religions. But now it gets interesting...

4. Islam commands its followers to create a government that supports it. This may be one of the most ingenious ideas in the whole collection. Islam is the only religion that uses it. Other groups of religious people have had political aspirations, but no other major religious group orders its followers — as a religious duty — to create a government that follows its own system of law.

Islam has a system of law, called Sharia, and all Muslims are obligated to continually strive to make their government — wherever they are — follow it. Because of some of the other ideas added to Islam, you will see that this political addition to the idea-collection has significant consequences.

Many people are under the impression that the goal of Islam is to convert everyone to Islam. This is not so. The prime directive of Islam is to bring all people on earth under the rule of Islamic law. Read more about the political nature of the core doctrines of Islam.

5. Permission to spread the religion by war. This is another successful innovation (source). Although some other religions have spread themselves using force, they had very little justification from their own religious doctrines to do so.

Not so with Islam. Expanding by conquest is very much accepted and encouraged by the idea-collection. Islamic teachings present it this way: The non-Muslims need to be saved from the sin of following laws other than Allah's. If they won't voluntarily change their laws to Sharia, then it is a Muslim's duty to insist. The world cannot be at peace until every government on earth follows the laws of Allah.

Mohammad's own experience showed the example — an example, says the Quran 91 times, that every Muslim should follow. At first, Mohammad tried to spread Islam by peaceful means. After thirteen years he'd gained 150 converts.

But then he changed tactics and started using caravan raids, warfare, executions, ransoming captives, and assassination, and within ten years he converted tens of thousands. After he died, his followers used the same tactics and converted millions. And by now it is one and a half billion.

The use of warfare combines synergistically and powerfully with the instruction to create an Islamic state. So Islam spread quickly as their armies got bigger. They conquered and set up Islamic states, most of which have lasted to this day, and the laws within an Islamic state make Islam very difficult to dislodge. The laws also make it very advantageous to convert to Islam.

This is one of the most effective methods ever invented for getting an idea-collection followed by huge numbers of people. It's a method of control and indoctrination similar to those used successfully in communist and totalitarian states. But as you'll discover below, Islam makes unique use of the power of the law to enforce complete conversion to the religion.

Islam started under unique conditions. All other major religions were started within an already-existing state. Islam is an historical exception to this rule.

Any organized government will, of course, put a stop to violent uprisings of a rebellious political group — especially one that wants to wage war and apply its own system of law. Christianity arose within the Roman Empire, for example. If Christianity had been a militant or political uprising, Rome would probably have killed or imprisoned the followers. Probably many military or political religions did start up then, but we've never heard of them. They couldn't get off the ground.

But Islam arose in Arabia when there was no central ruling power. The whole area was comprised of individual tribes. Under those circumstances, conversion by war and the use of force was possible.

6. Lands must be conquered. Lands that Islam has lost must be reconquered (Spain and Israel, for example). The Islamic empire must continually expand. Contraction is bad; expansion is good. So if a land was once Islamic and now it is not, that's contraction, and must be remedied.

According to Islamic teachings, the earth is Allah's. If there are parts of the earth not following Islamic law, it is the duty of the faithful to gain control of that land and establish Sharia. It is a sin to let it be.

7. The idea-collection provides new soldiers by allowing polygamy. According to Sharia law, a Muslim man can marry up to four wives, and he can have sex with as many slave girls as he wishes.

The Quran especially encourages men to marry widows. This is an important idea to add if you are going to be losing a lot of soldiers in war. You need some way of replenishing your army. Otherwise the idea-collection could die out from a lack of offspring. Read more about this principle.

8. It is a punishable offense to criticize Islam. You can see why this one is a good supporting idea for the collection. It helps suppress any ideas that would reduce the authority of Islamic ideas. This idea is in the Quran, and Mohammad set a fierce example of punishing people who criticized him or Islam. Read more about this principle.

9. You can't leave Islam once you're in. This is an interesting one. It is actually illegal in Islamic states to convert out of Islam. This is a critical part of Sharia law. Someone who has rejected Islam who was once a Muslim is an "apostate." This is a crime and a sin, and the punishment for it is death (and eternal damnation in hell thereafter).

Obviously, you can see why this idea has been included in the collection, but this one has actually caused Islam a problem because those who are following Islam to the letter consider more "moderate" Muslims (those who want to ignore or alter the more violent passages of the Quran) to be apostates. Since the punishment for apostates is death, fundamentalist Muslims are fighting modernizing Muslims all over the world, and keeping many rebellious, modernizing Muslims from speaking up for fear of death.

Every time a group of Muslims decides that maybe Islam should be updated for the 21st century and maybe women should have some rights and maybe the government should be more democratic, the devout Muslims call them apostates and discredit them or even try to kill them.

In this and in many other ways, Islam protects its own fidelity (in other words, the original idea-collection cannot be altered).

Another idea in Sharia law says it's against the law for anyone to try to convert a Muslim to another religion.

10. Islam must be your first allegiance. You are a Muslim first, before any allegiance you give to your family, your tribe, or your country.

This does two things: It causes a unity of people across borders which allows the group to grow bigger than any other entity. In other words, the "Nation of Islam" can grow bigger than any country, no matter how large (which gives the group a massive numerical advantage).

11. Dying while fighting for Islam is the ONLY way to guarantee a man's entrance into Paradise. This belief creates fearless, enthusiastic warriors, especially given the Quran's vivid descriptions of the sensuous delights of Paradise.

A Muslim man has a chance of getting to Paradise if he is a good Muslim, but it is not guaranteed. However, if he dies while fighting for Islam, he is guaranteed to get in, and that's the only thing he can do to guarantee it.

12. You must read the Quran in Arabic. This unites believers by language, and language has a very powerful unifying influence. For added incentive to learn Arabic, another basic Islamic principle says you can't go to Paradise unless you pray in Arabic.

So Muslims all over the world share a language. This makes it easier to coordinate far-reaching campaigns of protest, political pressure, and war. Read more about this principle.

13. You must pray five times a day. This is one of the five "pillars" — that is, one of the five central practices — of Islam. Within an Islamic state, this practice is enforced by law. Every Muslim must pray five times a day. The practice helps Islam dominate a Muslim's life, filling his daily rhythm with Islam.

It would be impossible to forget anything you deliberately do so often. Five times a day, every day, a Muslim must bow down and pray to Allah.

Research has shown that the more effort a person expends for a cause, the more he is likely to believe in it and value it. So this is a good way to eventually make believers out of people who became Muslims through coercion.

Islam completely takes over every aspect of Muslims' lives. Not only are they required to pray five times a day, they have to go through a washing ritual beforehand. Islam dictates the laws, and the laws cover many public and private behaviors. In an Islamic state, it is impossible to be a casual Muslim.

14. The prayers involve moving together in time. When Muslims pray, they all face the same direction, they bow down, get on their hands and knees, and put their face on the mat, all in unison, and then rise back up. Again and again.

When people move together in time, whether dancing or marching or praying, it creates a physical and emotional bond between them. That's why all military training involves close-order drill (marching in unison), even though it has been a long time since military groups have actually marched into combat. There is no longer a need for the skill, but military training retained the practice because it is so effective at creating a strong feeling of unity between soldiers (read more about that).

The same is true of any physical movements people make in unison. So the method of prayer in Islam helps Muslims feel unified with each other.

15. A woman is in a thoroughly subordinate position. This idea really helps support other ideas in the collection. If women had too much influence, they'd try to curb the warring. Women in general don't like to send their husbands and sons off to war. But if women have no say in the matter, then the rest of the ideas can express themselves without interference. By subordinating women, the idea-collection prevents their effective vote against war, violence, and conquest.

The rules and laws within Islam that keep women subordinate are numerous. For example, she is not allowed to leave her house unless she is accompanied by a male relative. Under Islamic law, a woman is forbidden to be a head of state or a judge. She can only inherit half of what a man can inherit. In court, her testimony is only worth half of a man's. She is not allowed to choose where she will live or who she will marry. She is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim or divorce her husband. He, however, can divorce her with a wave of his hand. And according to Sharia, he can (and should) beat her if she disobeys him.

All of these ideas keep her subordinate, which helps keep the war machine going unimpeded by domestic rebellion. Read more about Islam's subordination of women.

16. The only way a woman can guarantee her passage into Paradise is if her husband is happy with her when she dies. When I read about this one, I thought, "Mohammad, you are a crafty one."

This idea obviously helps with the subjugation of women. It gives her a strong incentive to subordinate her wishes to her husband's, because while she might have a chance to get into Paradise if she's a good Muslim, the only way she can guarantee she will go to Paradise (and avoid eternal suffering in hell) is to make sure her husband is happy with her when she dies.

17. Allah gives Himself permission to edit his own work. This is an interesting one. It says in the Quran that if a passage written later contradicts an earlier passage, then the later one is the better one (read more about that). The Quran was written in sections (each section is one of Mohammad's revelations, known as a sura or chapter) over a period of 23 years. The circumstances of Mohammad's life and his religion changed quite a bit over those 23 years.

One of the ideas in the Quran is "this is the word of Allah." People had already memorized his earlier revelations, and it would seem a little strange for the all-knowing, infinitely wise Allah to change something He had already said. But with this idea that later revelations abrogated or overwrote earlier revelations when they contradicted, the newer ideas could be accepted. Allah could edit His work.

As I pointed out earlier, in his first 13 years of peacefully preaching, Mohammad only managed to win 150 followers. But as a military leader and violent conqueror, he was able to subjugate all of Arabia to Islamic law in less than 10 years. The peaceful ways were slow. Conversion by conquering and establishing Sharia was faster and more efficient.

The bad news for non-Muslims is that the later, violent, intolerant verses abrogate the earlier peaceful, more tolerant passages. Read more about which passages were abrogated and what the last passages say.

18. The Quran uses the carrot and stick to reinforce behavior. Throughout the book are vivid descriptions of hell, where sinners and non-Muslims have to drink boiling, stinking water, are thrown face down into a raging fire, and have to be there for eternity, suffering endless torments in agony. Read more about this.

There are also vivid descriptions of Paradise. In Paradise, believers wear green silk robes and recline on plush couches. Trees shade them, fruit dangles nearby. Believers have tasty food and refreshing drinks served to them in silver goblets.

But to have a chance of reaching Paradise, they must be devout Muslims. To guarantee it, they must die in jihad (for men) or make sure their husbands are always happy with them (for women).

19. Islam provides a huge and inspiring goal. Leaders of countries, companies, and religions have all discovered that you can get the most motivation and enthusiasm from your followers if you provide them with an expansive vision — an enormous goal. In the Islamic idea-collection, the goal calls for a continuous effort to expand the domain of Islamic law until the entire world is subjugated to it.

Many religions have the goal of converting others to the faith, but Islam has a method available nobody else has: To expand by seizing and converting governments to Sharia, or using the method of gaining one small, incremental concession or accomodation after another until Sharia law is being followed.

Once the whole world is following Islamic law, peace will reign. That's why even terrorists can say with complete sincerity, "Islam is a religion of peace."

The Quran says it's better if non-believers accept Islam and become Muslims without force. But if they refuse, then you must do what you can to at least get them to live by the laws of Allah. Read more about this.

So Muslims have been given quite a mission: To create a one-world government. An Islamic world. World peace. It is an enormous and inspiring and motivating goal, and creates a strong unity of purpose.

20. Non-Muslims must pay a large tax. Once a country is following Sharia law, non-Muslims are given the choice between becoming Muslim or becoming a dhimmi. Dhimmis are allowed to practice their non-Muslim religion if they pay the jizya (a tax). If they convert to Islam, they no longer have to pay the jizya. This obviously creates a practical incentive to convert. Read more.

This is ingenious. The tax takes money away from non-Muslims and their competing religions and gives that money to support Islam. The income from these taxes (usually a 25% income tax) helped fund the Islamic conquests during the first two major jihads. They conquered vast lands, most of them already filled with Christians and Jews, many of whom did not convert at first, and their jizya poured huge sums of money into the Islamic war machine.

Eventually, the numbers of Christians and Jews in those countries dwindled down as they converted or escaped (or in some cases, were massacred), until now, in most Islamic countries, Jews and Christians are very small minorities.

The tax-the-non-Muslims idea helps the Islamic idea-collection make more copies of itself by suppressing competing religions and financially supporting Islam.

Several ideas within Sharia law extend this effect. For example, non-Muslims are not allowed to build any new houses of worship. They're not even allowed to repair already-existing churches or synagogues. This puts the houses of worship of any competing religion in a state of permanent decline.

Also, non-Islamic prayers cannot be spoken within earshot of a Muslim — again, preventing Muslims from being infected by a competing religion. No public displays of any symbols of another faith may be shown either.

All of this prevents the spread of any competing ideas, and makes competing religions die out over time. That's why today there are so many "Muslim countries." Almost every other country in the world is made up of different religions, but because of these principles, Islam tends to displace all other beliefs and cultures wherever it becomes established.

21. A Muslim is forbidden to make friends with a non-Muslim. A Muslim is allowed to pretend to be a friend, but in his heart he must never actually be a friend to a non-Muslim. This is one of the best protections Islam has against Muslims leaving the faith because conversions a new religion are usually made because a friend introduced it. Being forbidden to make friends with non-Muslims helps prevent that from happening. (See Quran quotes about this.)

22. The Quran counsels the use of deceit when dealing with non-Muslims. Mohammad instructed one of his followers to lie if he had to (in order to assassinate one of Mohammad's enemies). This set a precedent, and the principle was clear: If it helps Islam, it's okay to deceive non-Muslims. Read more about this principle here: Lying (Taqiyya and Kitman). And here.

This instruction in the Quran has served Islamic goals very well through history. And it serves those goals today. On the DVD, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, you can watch real-life examples of Islamic leaders saying one thing in English for the Western press, and saying something entirely different to their own followers in Arabic a few days later.

Deceiving the enemy is always useful in war, and throughout history generals have used it. Islamic teachings consider Islam to be in a permanent state of war with the non-Islamic world until the whole world follows Sharia law (read more about that here). All non-Muslims living in non-Islamic states are "enemies." So deceiving Westerners is totally acceptable because deceiving an enemy in a state of war is totally acceptable. It is encouraged if it can forward the goals of the spread of Islam.

And so we have the strange phenomenon covered by Steven Emerson in Terrorists Among Us, where organizations in America were ostensibly raising money for orphans, but really giving the money to terrorists. They deceived good-hearted Western non-Muslims into giving money to organizations that were actively killing Western non-Muslims.

As it says in the Quran, "War is deceit." This idea gives Islam a tremendous advantage over idea-collections that encourage indiscriminate truthfulness.

23. Islam must always be defended. This idea is a primary linchpin that gives justification for war with almost anybody, as you'll see in the idea below. After the enemy is defeated, of course, Muslims must establish an Islamic state.

24. Islamic writings teach the use of pretext to initiate hostilities. The Quran devotes a lot of time complaining about people who did not support Mohammad when he first started his religion, with Allah often condemning them to torment in hell in the hereafter. The Quran is intensely intolerant of non-Muslims (source).

Mohammad was somewhat pushy and insistent with his religion, and when others felt intruded upon and protested, Mohammad took that to mean they were trying to stop Allah's holy prophet from bringing the revealed word of Allah to the world, so he was justified to fight them and destroy them as Allah's enemies. This is a demonstration of the principle of pretext.

Non-Muslims of the world need urgently to become aware of this principle. Of all the ideas in the Islamic collection, this is the most dangerous to the West because it removes our natural self-preserving defenses. The use of pretext tends to make the West defenseless against Islamic encroachments. And it tends to make the West confused about how to respond to violent Muslim reactions.

The use of pretext means you need only the barest excuse to begin hostilities. It means actually looking for an excuse, and even trying to provoke others into striking the first blow ("starting" the hostilities).

If the only way to get to Paradise is dying while fighting for Islam, you need hostilities. And if it is your holy duty to make all governments use Sharia law, you need to conquer non-Islamic governments. But you don't really want to look like the aggressor. Appearances count. All throughout the Quran, Mohammad tries to justify his aggression as defending Islam.

The Quran repeats 91 times that followers of Islam should use Mohammad as a model and imitate him. So Muslims the world over try to find or create grievances, so they can recruit new warriors, so they can get a holy war started, so they can fight and die in Allah's cause.

And because of the rise of multiculturalism (respect for all other cultures) in the West, the use of pretext is very effective against people who are unfamiliar with Islam. Many Westerners are concerned that al Qaeda is angry at the West for having troops in Saudi Arabia, for example. That's merely a pretext. They want all non-Muslims out of the Middle East. Then they say they will cease hostilities. It is a ridiculous and impossible goal, so they are justified in permanent war against the West to "defend" Islam.

It's surprising that so many Westerners accept this particular pretext because it flies in the face of a fundamental Western principle: Equality. What Osama bin Laden is saying is, "infidels are so undeserving, their very presence somewhere in Arabia defiles the entire country." Wow. What does that say about the non-Muslims?

Why doesn't this kind of racism or prejudice or infidelphobia (or whatever you want to call it) outrage more Westerners? Instead, many think we ought to pull out of the Middle East so we stop offending these poor Muslims.

The principle of pretext means you try to provoke a hostile reaction and then use the hostile reaction as a reason to escalate hostilities. It's the same method schoolyard bullies have used for thousands of years.

25. The explicit use of double standards. Islam has one standard for Muslims, and a different standard for non-Muslims, which always gives the advantage to Muslims and within a Muslim country, it provides incentives to convert.

For example, Islam must be spread by its believers, wherever they are. But when others try to spread their religions, Muslims are supposed to see it as an aggression against Islam — an act of aggression that must be "defended." Islam must always be defended.

As another example, when Islam is defamed in any way, Muslims should violently defend it. Even in a cartoon. But Muslims can and should defame Jews and Christians in Muslim newspapers and television, and they should defame any infidel or enemy, as they defame the U.S. today.

Here's another example: The Islamic supremacists of Saudi Arabia are pouring money into building mosques all over the free world. But according to Sharia law, which is the law in Saudi Arabia, no non-Muslim religious structures are allowed to be built.

Yet Muslims all over the world protest loudly and violently when anyone in Europe or America resists the building of more mosques in their countries.

Islamic supremacists don't see the irony in it. They don't feel strange having such an obvious double standard. They are, after all, Allah's followers and everyone else is deluded. Fairness and equality with such unworthy infidels would seem very out of place. A double standard seems completely appropriate from that perspective.

The double standard principle is a key part of the idea-collection, and it has been a great advantage in the spread of Islam (and the suppression of competing religions).

Sixty-one percent of the Quran is about non-Muslims and how to deal with them. Not one verse in the Quran about non-Muslims is positive (source).

26. It is forbidden to kill a Muslim (except for a just cause). It is not forbidden to kill a non-Muslim. This causes a bond between Muslims, fear in non-Muslims, and motivation to become Muslim. This is also another example of an explicit Islamic double standard.

27. If Muslims drift away from Mohammed's teachings, Allah will end the world. That makes converting others and promoting Islam a matter of survival. It also motivates Muslims to prevent each other from losing faith.

28. The message in a standard Quran is difficult to decipher. Whether it was done intentionally or not, the Quran's message has been scrambled and in a sense, coded. This discourages almost all non-Muslims and a significant percentage of Muslims from understanding it.

In what way is the message scrambled? First, the chapters are published out of order in every standard Quran. Rather than printing them using the chronological order in which they were revealed, the 114 chapters (suras) of the Quran are arranged using a baffling method: They're arranged in order from the longest chapter to the shortest. That's the traditional order.

When you read a standard Quran straight through like a normal book, the message is disjointed and the story jumps around and seems contradictory. One very important consequence of this curious disorder is that it hides the clear progression from Mohammad's semi-tolerance of non-Muslims to his violent hatred toward them.

The disorder also prevents anyone from figuring out which passages are abrogated unless they know the chronological order of the Quran.

The second way the Quran has been put into code is by putting the key somewhere else. Much of the Quran cannot be understood without being familiar with the life of Mohammad (by reading the Sira and the Hadith). These are primarily about Mohammad — what he said and did.

In other words, the Quran — the source book, the single most important holy book in Islam — can't be understood without the key, and the key can only be found somewhere else, which is similar to one of the ways a message can be written in code: Put the key to understanding the message somewhere else besides including it in the message. This is enough to keep most non-Muslims from understanding the Quran, and also keeps most Muslims on a need-to-know basis. So the only ones who really know what's going on are the imams and the scholars. They call the shots. Everyone else is in the dark.

If the Quran wasn't put in code deliberately, it has been a tremendously fortuitous accident which has served the goals of Islam very well throughout history. Fortunately, someone has unscrambled the Quran for us. Read more about that here.

WHAT SHOULD we do with this information about Islam? That's a good question. For some, the solution is to hate Muslims, but that doesn't make any sense. Most Muslims had no choice in their religion, and many of them don't know as much about their own religion as you now do.

I think the best thing any of us can do is to simply help other non-Muslims learn about Islam. Because Islam is so successful, its teachings are becoming more and more influential on the world stage, and some of its built-in aggressiveness should be curbed. But the only way it can be curbed is if enough people know about it. The way we understand Islam will determine what policies we collectively endorse or reject about it.

So first, learn more about it. And then share what you know with others. And let them know what they can do about it too. To learn more, I suggest you first read the Quran. This is the version I recommend.

If you'd like to do something more, start here: What Can You Do About It?

Perfectly Legal Jihad

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 08:01:00 +0000

ACCORDING TO Islamic texts, waging jihad by fighting is only one way to do it. Another way is to influence the behavior and policies of non-believers. Here are some examples of concessions the West has made because of pressure from orthodox Muslims:

1. In Britain, Muslim women doctors and nurses do not have to follow the same stringent cleanliness procedures that everyone else has to follow — procedures put in place to prevent the spread of deadly diseases.

2. Shari'a law is now practiced in several places in Britain, legally.

3. A short video posted on YouTube that tried to get people to sign a petition to stop Shari'a law in Britain was removed from YouTube because Muslims complained.

4. In Hamtramck, Michigan, the City Council waved the noise ordinances in deference to the mosque there to allow them to broadcast an amplified call to prayer throughout the neighborhood.

5. Public pools in Canada now provide private swim times to Muslim women so they can avoid the 'shame' of being seen by men. As the co-founder of Human Rights Service in Oslo, Hege Storhaug, said after Muslims tried to pressure Norway into making alcohol off limits on certain days in restaurants and discos because they felt "uncomfortable" around people drinking, "All the time it's Muslims who come with special requirements," she says. "We never hear a peep from Catholics, Jews, Hindus etc."

6. After a Dutch newspaper published some cartoons depicting Mohammad — nothing more offensive than politicians suffer every day all over the free world — Muslims rioted all over Europe, killing 187 people. Afterward, many newspapers refused to reprint the cartoons out of fear. They were intimidated into silence by Muslims.

7. In a documentary called Undercover Mosque, mosques in London were found to promote violent jihad against non-Muslims, encourage murder and intolerance, and advocating the overthrow of the British government. A year and a half after the film aired, they did a follow-up documentary. Nothing had changed. The British government, out of political correctness, allows it to happen. Any other group would be stopped. But Islam gets special concessions.

8. In Britain, husbands with multiple wives have been given the go-ahead to claim extra welfare benefits following a year-long government review. Even though bigamy is a crime in Britain, the decision by ministers means that polygamous marriages can now be recognized formally by the state.

9. At Melbourne’s Monash University there are separate toilets for Muslims.

10. The Times of London reported that "Knorbert the piglet has been dropped as the mascot of Fortis Bank, after it decided to stop giving piggy banks to children for fear of offending Muslims." (Pigs are an offensive, unclean animal to Muslims.) Recently a local government council in Britain prohibited its workers from having knickknacks on their desks representing Winnie the Pooh’s sidekick Piglet.

11. Random House, after buying the rights to publish an historical novel about Mohammad, was warned by Muslims that violence might ensue with the publishing of the book, so they chose not to publish it. They were silenced by intimidation.

12. Orthodox Muslims use a classic technique of attempting to smear the reputations of people who are trying to educate non-Muslims about their goals and methods.

13. An American judge allowed Sharia law to override American law.

14. Orthodox Muslims are allowed to partly control media stories having to do with Islam.

15. Orthodox Muslims are allowed to partly control how Muslims are portrayed in movies.

16. The UK allows unfair treatment to women if they are Muslim.

Read more about how and why this is done: Gentle Jihad.

If you'd like to do something to reverse Islam's political encroachment, start here: What Can You Do About It? There is quite a bit you can do, right where you are.

Do You Know Much About Islam?

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:53:00 +0000

YESTERDAY I was on a lunch break with a new hire at work. I've been working with him for three days, and I liked this guy. He is a good man. We were on a break and he was talking about religion. We were getting to know each other. He told me he reads widely on many religions. So I asked him, "What do you know about Islam?"

"Not much," he said. "I'd really like to know more."

"Well you're in luck," I said, "because I know a lot about it. I started reading about Islam right after 9-11."

"A lot of people did," he said supportively, "I remember Korans were selling well."

"Yeah, I wanted to know what the story was. So many things were being said about Islam; you know, that it was all about peace, but then you had terrorists quoting the Koran, and I didn't know what to think about it all. I eventually read the Koran cover to cover. Most of it was dull reading, but the last fourth of the book got really interesting. It changed totally. Do you know how the Koran was written?"

"No."

"Mohammad got these revelations from an angel named Gabriel. He was living in Mecca at the time, and there were a lot of religions in Mecca, including Judaism and Christianity, so he picked up a lot of their ideas. Anyway, the Koran is just a collection of Mohammad's revelations. That's all that's in there. The whole thing was dictated by Mohammad. Once in awhile, for the rest of his life, he received revelations from Gabriel.

"But his revelations changed at some point. See, at first Mohammad was just one guy among many in a very religiously tolerant place, and he preached tolerance and non-violence. Most of his revelations were about what hell was like and what paradise was like, and how if you don't believe in Allah and if you don't believe Mohammad was the prophet, you were going to hell.

"After 13 years, he gained 150 converts. But Mohammad was always criticizing the other religions of Mecca, and the Meccans resented it, and eventually made his life pretty unpleasant there, so he moved to Medina, where he had some followers, and they set Mohammad up as a kind of leader of their gang."

He looked at me kind of skeptically so I said, "And this history I'm telling you is from Islamic sources, not writings by people who don't like Islam. Anyway, so the Muslims started raiding caravans going to Mecca, since the Meccans were his enemies now, and the enemy of Islam. Mohammad and his believers would raid the caravans, kill the people, and take their stuff. Well, sometimes they would capture some of the people alive and hold them for ransom.

"All of a sudden, Mohammad started getting a lot more people interested in joining Islam."

My workmate smiled at this. He could grasp that there is a certain kind of person who would want to get in on the booty from these raids.

"Yeah, it was a pretty good gig," I said. "They started accumulating some wealth. And Mohammad's little group of followers was growing into an army. Eventually they took over the city of Medina.

"Around this time is when the revelations changed," I said ominously.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, the revelations started becoming less tolerant and more violent. That's what I mean about the last part of the Koran getting interesting. I mean interesting in the sense that it got rid of the confusion I had to begin with."

"Like you, I have also read a lot about different religions. Especially Buddhism and Christianity. And before I learned anything about Islam, I thought most religions were pretty much the same, at least as far as basic principles go. You know what I mean?"

He was nodding his head.

"I thought religions were always started by a wise, kind person who gathers people around him because they can see he is wise. And he spends his life helping people, and then his followers build a religion based on his teachings.

"So when I was reading the Koran, I almost couldn't believe what I was reading. This was totally different than any religion I had ever heard of. Mohammad led the raids on the caravans? He killed people?! The founder of the religion was doing these things? I was blown away.

"At one point, Mohammad personally oversaw the beheading of 800 men. He tortured a rabbi to find out where a particular group of Jews had hidden their gold. I mean, can you imagine Buddha or Jesus doing that? I couldn't believe it! Mohammad actually ordered the assassination of people who criticized Islam."

Lights were going on in my workmate's head. He said, "That's like that guy who wrote 'Satanic Verses.'"

"Right! They're just following Mohammad's example. In fact, it says in the Koran that Mohammad is a model for human behavior and followers should try to be like Mohammad."

Then I anticipated what I know from experience people will think of: Other religious books have violence in them and we shouldn't pick on Islam. So I said, "But you know how the Bible has lots of different kinds of writings? Some are violent and some are peaceful, right?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding like he was just thinking the same thing.

"And if you have contradictions in the Bible, it's not really a big deal because it was written over such a long time by so many different people. Well, that's not the case with the Koran. It actually says in the Koran itself what to do with its own contradictions.

"It really had to deal with this issue, because if you think about it, there is Mohammad preaching tolerance and non-violence, and his believers know those teachings already, and then the revelations changed dramatically. It was very noticeable to everyone. So Allah says in the Koran in one of the revelations that if something I say contradicts something I've said earlier, the newer stuff overwrites the older stuff."

He grasped right away what that meant. "So the more violent parts cancel out the peaceful parts?"

"Yes, exactly. Isn't that mind-blowing? I mean, what a shock. But you know, ever since I read the Koran, I'm no longer confused by the news. I used to wonder what the hell is wrong with the Middle East. Why can't they seem to work out their differences and just get along? Now I realize that the Muslims really can't. They can't work things out with the Jews and still remain Muslim! There is a lot of very intolerant stuff in the Koran about Jews, specifically. Reading the Koran really cleared things up for me. And things like hijackings and kidnappings and suicide bombers started to seem not so perplexing any more."

I had just given my workmate a lot to digest. So I said, "Well, we probably ought to get back to work." And as we were on our way back, I changed the topic of conversation to something else. I remember what it was like when I first found out about this stuff, and I wanted to give him time.

I hope after he comes to grips with it, he feels curious. Ideally, he would read the Koran and find out for himself.

The Unsettling Brilliance of Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:41:00 +0000

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED why so many Muslim men are dedicated to killing Westerners? Or why so many are willing to blow themselves up to kill Israelis? Or why they are so committed to blowing up random people in Bali, London, Madrid, etc.?

Islamic supremacists are doing this all over the world, attacking Westerners and Indians and their own fellow Muslims alike. Why?

Because of a doctrine. A doctrine is a collection of ideas. These could be customs, words, beliefs, etc. A religion is not a single idea; it is a collection of ideas. The collection of ideas that make up the religion of Islam makes Muslims behave and feel as they do.

Collections of ideas compete with each other in the same way that collections of cells (organisms) compete with each other. And because idea-collections compete, and because new ideas can often be added or subtracted from the collection, and because some collections gain more believers than others, collections of ideas can actually evolve.

Let's look at how religious idea-collections evolve and compete. To begin with, let's assume we already have a religion established. It already has a holy book and millions of people are already believers.

And then there is a slight variation.

The original version had a "live and let live" attitude, and never tried to encourage its followers to get converts. But then someone comes up with the idea that if you can persuade a non-believer to become a believer, you earn some sort of spiritual merit. You are saving souls, and your chances of getting into heaven are better.

Okay, now you have two variations on the same religion: One contains the idea that it doesn't really matter if you get anyone else to join the religion. The other motivates its believers to persuade others to join.

After a thousand years, which of the two variations will have more believers? I'm betting on the motivated-to-spread-it version.

Let's assume, for the moment, that the motivated version gets far more followers. Does that mean it makes people happier? Or more successful in life? Or have healthier children? No. Just because a collection of ideas successfully gains followers does not mean it benefits any of the people believing those ideas.

The same is true in genetics. Contrary to common sense, a successful gene doesn't necessarily benefit the organism. It is "successful" in the sense that it has made lots of copies of itself and is found in many organisms. But it may actually be harmful for the organism.

For example, if there is a gene for alcoholism, and if drinking causes someone to start having children younger than someone who doesn't drink, over thousands of years, the alcoholism gene might be more successful (the gene makes its way into more offspring) than the non-alcoholism gene, even though it is bad for each individual person carrying the gene.

In the same way, the success of an idea-collection doesn't necessarily mean it's good for the people who believe it or follow it.

If an idea-collection says it is wrong to use contraception and wrong to masturbate, over time, that idea-collection would probably be followed by more people than the version that says these things are just fine (assuming people normally teach their children to believe as they do).

So the hapless believer of a particular idea-collection will try to follow the rules and be a good person by avoiding the evils of contraception and masturbation, and what will be the result for him personally? He may have more children than he might want or could afford, causing him to work overtime to support them — working two jobs if he must. This may send him to an early grave, but his effort creates more believers of that particular collection of ideas than someone who doesn't hold those ideas.

So in a sense, the idea-collection has used the man for its own purposes, or at least that's one legitimate way to look at it. And it's a way that sheds new light on Islamic supremacism, which is why I've spent so much time explaining it.

If you were going to deliberately design a collection of ideas with the purpose of making one that might eventually dominate the world — one that would eventually out-compete every other religion or political system — you would be hard-pressed to do better than Islam.

Let's look at some of the individual ideas within the collection. Many of the ideas enhance each other. In other words, adding one idea to the others can make the whole collection much more effective because some ideas work synergistically.

Here are some of the key components of the idea-collection known as Islam:

1. A standardized version of the idea-collection is written down. This is something basic to several religions and isn't an Islamic invention, but it is an important factor in the success of Islam.

Something only transmitted orally can change over time, but something written will be identical a thousand years from now, and with modern printing presses, can be reproduced in the millions, giving it an enormous advantage in spreading identical copies of the idea-collection.

2. The Qur'an includes instructions for its own spread. It tells believers they must spread Islam. It is their holy duty to bring Mohammad's warnings and Islamic law to every corner of the world.

3. The idea-collection includes instructions for its own preservation, protection, and replication fidelity. The Qur'an, the most important of the Islamic holy books, directly tells its followers that they can never change or modify or "modernize" any of the teachings within the idea-collection. It is perfect as it is. It is a capital sin to try to do so. This idea ensures the preservation of the whole collection.

These first three ideas are pretty standard for several successful religions. But now it gets interesting...

4. Islam commands its followers to create a government that supports it. This may be one of the most ingenious ideas in the whole collection. Islam is the only religion that uses it. Other groups of religious people have had political aspirations, but no other major religious group orders its followers — as a religious duty — to create a government that follows its own system of law.

Islam has a system of law, called Shari'a, and all Muslims are obligated to continually strive to make their government — wherever they are — follow it. Because of some of the other ideas added to Islam, you will see that this political addition to the idea-collection has significant consequences. Not only is this perhaps Islam's most brilliant innovation, it is also the most unsettling to non-Muslims.

5. Permission to spread the religion by war. This is another brilliant innovation. Although some other religions have spread themselves using force, they had very little justification from their own religious doctrines to do so.

Not so with Islam. Expanding by conquest is very much accepted and encouraged by the idea-collection. Islamic teachings present it this way: The poor non-Muslims not living in an Islamic state need to be saved from the sin of following laws other than Allah's. If they won't voluntarily change their laws to Shari'a, then it is the duty of Muslim warriors to insist. The world cannot be at peace until every government on earth follows the laws of Allah.

Mohammad's own experience showed the example — an example, says the Qur'an, that every Muslim should follow. At first, Mohammad tried to spread Islam by peaceful means. After thirteen years he had a paltry 150 converts.

But then he changed tactics and started using warfare, slaughter, executions, and assassination, and within ten years he converted tens of thousands, and after he died, they used the same tactics and converted millions. And by simple population increase, it is now over a billion.

The use of warfare combines synergistically and powerfully with the instruction to create an Islamic state. So Islam spread quickly as their armies got bigger. They conquered and set up Islamic states, most of which have lasted to this day, and the laws within an Islamic state make Islam very difficult to dislodge. The laws also make it very advantageous to convert to Islam.

This is one of the most effective methods ever invented for getting an idea-collection into huge numbers of minds. It's a method of control and indoctrination similar to those used successfully in communist and totalitarian states. But as you'll discover below, Islam makes unique use of the power of the law to enforce complete conversion to the religion.

6. Lands must be conquered. Lands that Islam has lost must be reconquered, like Spain and Israel, for example. The Islamic empire must continually expand. Contraction is bad, expansion is good. So if a land was once Islamic and now it is not, that's contraction, and must be remedied.

According to Islamic teachings, the earth is Allah's. If there are parts of the earth not following Islamic law, it is the duty of the faithful to gain control of that land and establish Shari'a. It is a sin to let it be.

7. The idea-collection provides for new soldiers by allowing polygamy. A Muslim man can marry up to four wives, and he can have sex with as many slave girls as he wishes.

The Qur'an especially encourages men to marry widows. This is an important idea to add if you are going to be losing a lot of soldiers in war. You need some way of replenishing your army. Otherwise the idea-collection could die out from a lack of offspring.

8. It is a punishable offense to criticize Islam. You can see why this one is a good supporting idea for the collection. It helps suppress any ideas that would reduce the authority of Islamic ideas. This one, like many of the others, is good for the idea-collection, but bad for people. This one limits freedom of speech.

9. You can't leave Islam once you're in. This is an interesting one. It is actually illegal in Islamic states to convert out of Islam. This is a critical part of Shari'a law. Someone who has rejected Islam who was once a Muslim is an "apostate." This is a crime and a sin, and the punishment for it is death (and eternal damnation in hell thereafter).

Obviously, you can see why this idea has been included in the collection, but this one has actually caused Islam a problem because those who are following Islam to the letter consider more "moderate" Muslims (those who want to ignore or alter the more violent passages of the Qur'an) to be apostates. Since the punishment for apostates is death, fundamentalist Muslims are fighting modernizing Muslims all over the world, and keeping many rebellious, modernizing Muslims (or MINOs) from speaking up for fear of death.

Every time a group of Muslims decides that maybe Islam should be updated for the 21st century and maybe women should have some rights or maybe the government should be more democratic, the devout Muslims call them apostates and try to kill them.

The idea-collection protects its own fidelity (the original idea-collection cannot be altered). This is not good for the organisms (the Muslim human beings), but it's great for the collection.

Another idea in Shari'a law says it's against the law for anyone to try to convert a Muslim to another religion.

10. Islam must be your first allegiance. This is a great idea to add to the collection if the goal is world domination. You are a Muslim first, before any allegiance you give to your family, your tribe, or your country.

This does two things: It causes a unity of people across borders which allows the group to grow bigger than any other entity. In other words, the "Nation of Islam" can grow bigger than any country, no matter how large (which gives the group a massive numerical advantage).

11. Dying while fighting for Islam is the ONLY way to guarantee a man's entrance into Paradise. This is a great idea for creating fearless, enthusiastic warriors, especially given the Qur'an's vivid descriptions of the sensuous delights of Paradise.

A Muslim man has a chance of getting to Paradise if he is a good Muslim, but it is not guaranteed. However, if he dies while fighting for Islam, he is guaranteed to get in, and that's the only thing he can do to guarantee it.

12. You must read the Qur'an in Arabic. This unites believers by language, and language is a very powerful unifying phenomenon. For added incentive to learn Arabic, another idea in the collection says you can't go to Paradise unless you pray in Arabic.

So all Muslims all over the world share a language. This makes it easier to coordinate far-reaching campaigns of protest, political pressure, and war. I doubt if Mohammad foresaw this possibility, but this idea is brilliant, even if it was an accident.

13. You must pray five times a day. This is one of the five "pillars" — that is, one of the five central practices — of Islam. Within an Islamic state, it is enforced by law. Every Muslim must pray five times a day. The practice helps the idea-collection dominate a Muslim's life, infusing his daily rhythm with Islam.

It would be impossible to forget anything you deliberately do so often. Five times a day, every day, a Muslim must bow down and pray to Allah.

Research has shown the more effort a person expends for a cause, the more he is likely to believe in it and value it. So this is a good way to eventually make believers out of people who became Muslims through coercion.

Islam completely takes over every aspect of Muslims' lives. Not only are they required to pray five times a day, they have to go through a washing ritual beforehand. Islam dictates the laws, and the laws cover many public and private behaviors. In an Islamic state, it is impossible to be a casual Muslim.

14. The prayers involve moving together in time. When Muslims pray, they all face the same direction, they bow down, get on their hands and knees, and put their face on the mat, all in unison, and then rise back up. Again and again.

When people move together in time, whether dancing or marching or praying, it creates a physical and emotional bond between them. That's why all military training involves close-order drill (marching in unison), even though it has been a long time since military groups have actually marched into combat. There is no longer a need for the skill, but military training retained the practice because it is so effective at creating a strong feeling of unity between soldiers.

The same is true of any physical movements people make in unison. So the method of prayer in Islam is a unifying idea added to the collection.

15. A woman is in a thoroughly subordinate position. This idea really helps support other ideas in the collection, like five and six. If women had too much influence, they'd try to curb the warring. Women in general don't like to send their husbands and sons off to war. But if women have no say, then the rest of the ideas can express themselves without interference. By subordinating women, the idea-collection prevents their effective vote against war, violence, and conquest.

The rules and laws within Islam that keep women subordinate are numerous. For example, she is not allowed to leave her house unless she is accompanied by a male relative. Under Islamic law, a woman is forbidden to be a head of state or a judge. She can only inherit half of what a man can inherit. In court, her testimony is only worth half of a man's. She is not allowed to choose where she will live or who she will marry. She is not allowed to marry a non-Muslim or divorce her husband. He, however, can divorce her with a wave of his hand. And according to Shari'a, he can (and should) beat her if she disobeys him.

All of these ideas keep her subordinate, which helps keep the war machine going unimpeded by domestic rebellion.

16. The only way a woman can get into Paradise for sure is if her husband is happy with her when she dies. When I read about this one, I thought, "Mohammad, you are a crafty one."

This idea obviously helps with the subjugation of women. It motivates her to subjugate herself. It gives her a strong incentive to subordinate her wishes to her husband's, because while she might have a chance to get into Paradise if she's a good Muslim, the only way she can guarantee she will go to Paradise (and avoid eternal suffering in hell) is to make sure her husband is happy with her when she dies.

17. Allah gives Himself permission to edit his own work. This is an interesting one. It says in the Qur'an that if a passage written later contradicts an earlier passage, then the later one is the better one. The Qur'an was written in sections (Mohammad's revelations, each written as a sura or chapter) over a period of 23 years. The circumstances of Mohammad's life and his religion changed quite a bit over those 23 years.

One of the ideas in the Qur'an is "this is the word of Allah." People had already memorized his earlier revelations, so Mohammad couldn't just change his revelations. It would look a little strange for the all-knowing, infinitely wise Allah to change something He had already said.

But with this new idea — that later revelations abrogated or overwrote any earlier revelations they contradicted — Allah's methods could change as Mohammad found more effective ideas.

As I pointed out earlier, in his first 13 years of peacefully preaching, Mohammad only managed to win 150 followers. But as a military leader and violent conqueror, he was able to subjugate all of Arabia to Islamic law in less than 10 years. The peaceful ways were too slow. Conversion by conquering and establishing Shari'a was much faster and more efficient. So later, violent, intolerant verses abrogate the earlier peaceful, tolerant passages.

18. The Qur'an uses the carrot and stick to reinforce behavior. Throughout the book are vivid descriptions of hell, where sinners and non-Muslims will have to drink boiling, stinking water, will be thrown face down into a raging fire, and will be there for eternity, suffering endless torments in agony.

There are also vivid descriptions of Paradise. In Paradise, it says, believers will wear green silk robes and recline on plush couches. Trees will shade them, fruit will dangle nearby. They'll have tasty food and refreshing drinks served in silver goblets. To have a chance of achieving this, they must be devout Muslims. To guarantee it, they must die in jihad (for men) or make sure their husbands are always happy with them (for women).

19. It provides a huge and inspiring goal. Leaders of countries or companies or religions have all discovered that you can get the most motivation and enthusiasm from your followers if you provide them with an expansive vision — an enormous goal. In the Islamic idea-collection, the goal calls for a continuous effort to expand the domain of Islamic law until all the world is subjugated to it.

Many religions have the goal of converting everyone, but Islam has a method available nobody else has: To expand by seizing and converting governments to Shari'a.

Once the whole world is Islamic, peace will reign. That's why even terrorists can say with complete sincerity, "Islam is a religion of peace."

The Qur'an says it is best if non-believers accept Islam and become Muslims without force. But if they refuse, then you must fight them and conquer them and save their poor souls by insisting they live by the laws of Allah.

Once all countries are conquered, the world will be at peace. Therefore, Islam is a religion of peace.

It is an enormous and inspiring goal, and a strongly unifying purpose. It creates motivated, enthusiastic followers.

20. Non-Muslims must pay a large tax. Once Muslims conquer a country and convert the government to Islamic law, any non-Muslims have the choice between becoming Muslim or becoming a dhimmi. Dhimmis are allowed to practice their non-Muslim religion if they pay the jizya (a tax). If they convert to Islam, they no longer have to pay a tax, so there is a practical incentive to convert.

But another aspect of this makes it a brilliant idea to add to the collection. The tax takes money away from the non-Muslims and their competing idea-collections and gives that money to support Islam. This is pure genius!

The income from these taxes (usually a 25% income tax) helped fund the Islamic conquests during the first two major jihads. They conquered vast lands, most of them already filled with Christians and Jews, many of whom did not convert at first, and their jizya poured huge sums of money into the Islamic war machine.

Eventually, the numbers of Christians and Jews dwindled down as they converted or escaped, until now, in most Islamic countries, Jews and Christians are very small minorities.

The tax-the-non-Muslims idea helps the Islamic idea-collection make more copies of itself by suppressing competing religious idea-collections and financially supporting the Islam.

Several ideas within Shari'a law extend this effect. For example, non-Muslims are not allowed to build any new houses of worship. They're not even allowed to repair already-existing churches or synagogues. This puts the houses of worship of any competing idea-collection in a state of permanent decline. Brilliant.

Also, non-Islamic prayers cannot be spoken within earshot of a Muslim — again, preventing Muslims from being infected by a competing religion. No public displays of any symbols of another faith may be shown either.

All of this prevents the spread of any competing religion, and makes competing idea-collections die out over time. That's why today there are so many "Muslim countries." Almost every other country in the world is made up of many different religions.

One added idea makes it that much easier for Muslims to dominate non-Muslims within an Islamic state: Non-Muslims are not allowed to own weapons of any kind. To subjugate a people, all dictatorial rulers in the history of the world have done the same thing: Disarm the subjugated people. They are much easier to manage, less dangerous, and less capable of upending the status quo.

21. A Muslim is forbidden to make friends with an infidel. A Muslim is allowed to pretend to be a friend, but in his heart he must never actually be a friend to a non-Muslim. This is one of the best protections Islam has against Muslims leaving the faith because in every other religion conversions to the religion are usually made because a friend introduced it. Being forbidden to make friends with infidels effectively prevents that from happening.

22. The Qur'an counsels the use of deceit when dealing with infidels. Mohammad instructed one of his followers to lie if he had to (in order to assassinate one of Mohammad's enemies). The principle was clear: If it helps Islam, it's okay to deceive non-Muslims.

This principle has served Islamic goals very well through history. And it serves those goals today. On the DVD, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, you can watch real-life examples of Islamic leaders saying one thing in English for the Western press, and saying something entirely different to their own followers in Arabic a few days later.

Deceiving the enemy is always useful in war, and Islam is at war with the non-Islamic world until the whole world follows Shari'a law. All non-Muslims living in non-Islamic states are enemies. So deceiving Westerners is totally acceptable. It is encouraged if it can forward the goals of the spread of Islam.

And so we have the strange phenomenon covered by Steven Emerson in Terrorists Among Us, where organizations in America were ostensibly raising money for orphans, but really giving the money to terrorists. They deceived good-hearted Western infidels into giving money to organizations that were actively killing Western infidels. As it says in the Qur'an, "War is deceit." This idea gives Islam a tremendous advantage over idea-collections that encourage indiscriminate truthfulness.

23. Islam must always be defended. This idea is a primary linchpin that gives justification for war with almost anybody, as you'll see in the idea below. After the enemy is defeated, of course, Muslims are required to establish an Islamic state.

24. Islamic writings teach the use of pretext to start wars. The Qur'an devotes a lot of time complaining about people who did not support Mohammad when he first started his religion, with Allah often condemning them to torment in hell in the hereafter.

Mohammad was rather pushy and insistent with his religion, and when others felt intruded upon and protested, Mohammad took that to mean they were trying to stop Allah's holy prophet from bringing the revealed word of Allah to the world, so he was justified to fight them and destroy them as Allah's enemies. This is a demonstration of the principle of pretext.

Non-Muslims of the world need urgently to become aware of this principle. Of all the ideas in the Islamic collection, this is the most dangerous to the West because it removes our natural self-preserving defenses. The use of pretext tends to make the West defenseless against the Islamic invasion now underway. Muslim terrorists are not naive people. They are smart, educated, well-funded, and being used by a very clever idea-collection.

The invasion of the West is underway, and it is being done so cleverly, most Westerners don't even know it is happening. (Read more about their 20-year plan to overthrow the government of the United States. Also, read about the Shariatization of Europe.)

The use of pretext means you need only the barest excuse to begin hostilities. It means you're actually looking for an excuse, and even trying to provoke others into striking the first blow ("starting" the hostilities).

If the only way to get to Paradise is dying while fighting for Islam, you need war. And if it is your holy duty to make all governments use Shari'a law, you need to conquer those governments. But you don't really want to look like the aggressor. Appearances count. All throughout the Qur'an, Mohammad tries to justify his aggression as defending Islam.

The Qur'an repeats over seventy times that followers of Islam should use Mohammad as a model and imitate him. So Muslims the world over try to find or create grievances, so they can get a holy war started, so they can fight and die in Allah's cause and help make the world ruled by Allah's laws.

And because of the rise of multiculturalism (respect for all other cultures) in the West, the use of pretext is very effective against people who are unfamiliar with Islam. Many people think al Qaeda is angry at the West for having troops in Saudi Arabia, for example. That's merely a pretext. They want all non-Muslims out of the Middle East. Then they say they will cease hostilities. It is a ridiculous and impossible goal, so they are justified in permanent war against the West.

It's surprising that so many Westerners accept this particular pretext because it flies in the face of a fundamental Western principle: Equality. What Osama bin Laden is saying is "infidels are so undeserving, their very presence defiles our holy places." Wow. What does that say about the non-Muslims?

Why doesn't this kind of racism or prejudice or infidelphobia (or whatever you want to call it) outrage more Westerners? Instead, many think we ought to pull out of the Middle East so these poor offended Islamic supremacists aren't so angry with us any more!

The principle of pretext means you try to provoke a hostile reaction and then use the hostile reaction as a reason to escalate hostilities. It's the same method schoolyard bullies have used for thousands of years: "What are you looking at? You got a problem?! You wanna take it outside, punk?"

25. The explicit use of double standards. Islam has one standard for Muslims, and a different standard for non-Muslims, which always gives the advantage to Muslims and within a Muslim country, it provides incentives to convert.

For example, Islam must be spread by its believers, wherever they are. But when other religions try to spread their own idea-collection, Muslims are supposed to see it as an aggression against Islam — an act of aggression that must be "defended." Remember, Islam must always be defended.

Another example of how the double standard idea gives Islam an advantage: When Islam is defamed in any way, Muslims should violently defend it. Even in a cartoon. But Muslims can and should defame Jews and Christians in Muslim newspapers and television, and they should defame any infidel or enemy, as they defame the U.S. today.

Here's another example: The Islamic supremacists of Saudi Arabia are pouring money into building mosques all over the free world. But according to Shari'a law, which is the law in Saudi Arabia, no non-Muslim religious structures are allowed to be built.

Muslims all over the world protest loudly and violently when anyone in Europe or America resists the building of more mosques in their countries.

Islamic supremacists don't see the irony in it. They don't feel strange having such an obvious double standard. They are, after all, Allah's followers and everyone else is deluded. Fairness and equality with such unworthy infidels would seem very out of place. A double standard seems completely appropriate from that perspective.

The double standard principle is a key part of the idea-collection, and it has been a great advantage in the spread of Islam (and the suppression of competing religions).

26. It is forbidden to kill a Muslim (except for a just cause). It is not forbidden to kill an infidel. This causes a bond between Muslims, fear in non-Muslims, and motivation to become Muslim. This is also another example of an explicit Islamic double standard.

WE CAN ADMIRE the brilliance of the Islamic idea-collection in an abstract, intellectual sort of way, but it is unsettlingly real. Millions of people try to follow these ideas to the letter, and they are actively (and successfully) recruiting new believers. And their belief in the idea-collection is strongly supported by the side-effects of Shari'a law. By making the government and laws ruled by Islam, the idea-collection applies two powerful principles of influence: social proof, and authority.

Everyone practices the religion in an Islamic state (or they are flogged, taxed, or killed) and no one can criticize it, not friend-to-friend, and not through any media. The psychological impact of this is enormous. Three generations later, it would be almost impossible for any Muslim living in that state to think outside of Islam. The authority and social proof would be overwhelming.

Of course, just because I admire the genius of the idea-collection doesn't mean I'm in favor of it. As a non-Muslim, I am wholeheartedly against it. Remember, the success of an idea-collection has nothing to do with making people happy or healthy. "Success" only means it propagates well.

The same is true for genes. A successful gene is one that gets the most copies of itself into future generations. The genes making up a deadly virus may kill millions of people and cause untold misery, but from a genetic point of view, the virus is successful. Genes don't care about people. They don't try to make us happy. They are cold and indifferent to our plight.

Same with ideas. An idea-collection will use up and spit out human lives in the service of its propagation, indifferent to the pain, misery, or death it causes.

An idea-collection, well-drilled into someone's head and reinforced by the powerful authority and social proof of his whole society, can cause him to blow himself up just to kill others for the fulfillment of a fantasy goal of ultimately attaining world peace and the triumph of Allah (and a harem of 72 dark-eyed voluptuous beauties devoted to his every wish).

The Islamic idea-collection is formidable. It is a force to be reckoned with. It has already taken hold of the minds and lives of almost one and a half billion people, and it's the youngest of the major religions.

And yet, I don't think the situation is hopeless. Many Muslims now living in Islamic states are trapped and would defect from Islam if it were safe to do so.

The first thing we in the multicultural and tolerant West need to do is help each other become aware of this formidable idea-collection. We need to help our fellow citizens awaken to the fact that Islamic supremacists will deliberately take advantage of our tolerance and our freedom so as to ultimately eliminate it.

This is partly an ideological war, so the ideas in the heads of your fellow Westerners makes all the difference. And you can help turn the tide. Find ways to introduce this information to your fellow non-Muslims. Here are a few ideas to help you.

You will be shocked at how little most people know about Islam. And they will be shocked to find out. And when enough non-Muslims know about it, Islamic tactics like pretext and deceit will be seen for what they are, and will no longer make us defenseless. When we know more about the founder (the one all Muslims should imitate) and the goals of Islam, our collective decisions and actions can effectively thwart their plans. Our collective grasp of the real situation will bring more rational changes to our laws and policies (such as our current immigration policies).

But to do this kind of inoculation, you have to have a pretty good handle on the Islamic teachings. That will require some study. I know you have other things to do, and you can't make this a full-time occupation, but I also know how serious this is, so it will require some sacrifice on your part.

I have created a curriculum of sorts. I tried to figure out what would be the material you could study that would give you the most critical knowledge in the easiest way with the smallest investment of time. You can see my curriculum here.

Study that material, and start right away. After millions of people have fought against tyranny and died to gain the rights and freedoms we enjoy today, we are now confronted with a pernicious idea-collection hell-bent on taking them away. And the Islamic idea-collection could realistically succeed.

Take action today. Learn about Islam. With every new understanding you have, and with every new certainty and clarity you gain, you will feel bolder in speaking up, and speaking up is the first thing we must do to win.

Three Things About Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:13:00 +0000

Below is a video about a few basic principles non-Muslims should know about Islam. It is eight minutes, ten seconds long.

For more information about Islam, read: What Makes Islam So Successful?

Read a full transcript of the video here.

Find out how, why, and by whom this video was made.

Orthodox and Heterodox Muslims: Definitions

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:04:00 +0000

YOU'VE HEARD the terms "radicalized Muslims" and "fundamentalist Muslims." We use those terms to make sure everyone knows we're not talking about "normal" or "moderate" Muslims. There is a good reason to try to make this distinction.

The main reason is because if you say "Muslim," you might mean all Muslims, and clearly all Muslims are not behaving the same.

The only piece of information missing from most peoples' understanding is that the "radicalized" Muslims are not really radical. They are orthodox. They are simply doing what it says in their scriptures they are supposed to do. They're not "hijacking" their religion or misinterpreting it. Most non-Muslims are unaware of this.

The first definition for "orthodox" in Answers.com is: Adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion. That's perfect. And it is easily understood by most Westerners. It's a term we're already familiar with.

And in Answers.com, heterodox means: Not in agreement with accepted beliefs, especially in church doctrine or dogma. You can delete the word "church" and that's a great definition for what has been termed "moderate" Muslims. It's accurate and makes the distinction very clear.

So I'll be using the term "orthodox" to describe someone who strictly follows the teachings in the Quran and the Hadith, and who tries — as a good Muslim is supposed to do according to the doctrines — to follow Mohammad's example.

To learn more about some of these basic teachings and what kind of example Mohammad set, refer to the article, What Makes Islam So Successful?

Three Things About Islam Video

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:03:00 +0000

Below is a video about a few basic principles non-Muslims should know about Islam. It is eight minutes, ten seconds long.

Just in case the video above (from YouTube) is unavailable, here is another version of the same video: Three Things About Islam.

For more information about Islam, read: What Makes Islam So Successful?

And for a detailed list of links and references to support the statements in this video, read an article by Islam Exposed: 3 Things You Should Know About Islam.

This video is also available in German: Drei Dinge über den Islam.

Read a full transcript of the video here.

Find out how, why, and by whom this video was made.

What Does it Mean to "Islamize the West?"

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 06:53:00 +0000

The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Islamic organization in the world, stated in an internal document written in 1991 (seized in an FBI raid) that their mission in America was:

"...eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house..." Read more about that here.

The Muslim Brotherhood has established what appear to be legitimate, mainstream, moderate Muslim organizations (opulently funded with Saudi oil money) which have set themselves up as representatives of "the Muslim community" to approve or disapprove of what is in American textbooks, what is published in magazines, newspapers, and television news, and how Islam is portrayed in Hollywood movies. These organizations have been able to influence how the U.S. governmental security agencies think about and write about Islamic terrorism. They are successfully silencing criticism of Islam in the West. And in numerous other ways, believing Muslims are getting Islamic law applied in the West, and getting it applied more completely with each passing year.

Because the percentage of Muslims is much higher in Europe than in the United States, Europe is further along in the process of becoming "Islamized." It's hard to believe, but European laws are giving way to Islamic law. Muslim pressure continues to find cracks, and it works its way in. For example, all over Europe, the right to free speech is giving way to Sharia's limits on free speech (source 1 and source 2). Belgium, Germany and Britain offer benefits to polygamists' wives, even though polygamy is illegal there (source). Schools in Amsterdam don't mention farms because pigs are offensive to Muslims. "Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In France, school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire. The history of the Holocaust can in many cases no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity (source)."

France is allowing Muslims to rule parts of their country (source). Britain allows unfair treatment of Muslim women (source). Muslim doctors in Britain don't have to follow the same rules of cleanliness as everyone else (source). Britain knowingly tolerates sedition by Muslims (source). Britain allows over 80 Sharia courts to operate within their borders (source). In these and many, many other ways (source), the laws, values, and principles of Western civilization are giving way slowly but surely to unceasing Islamic pressure.

"Do You Think the Ground Zero Mosque Should Be Allowed?"

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 06:12:00 +0000

SOMEONE ASKED me that question today and I said "no." He asked me, "Why do you say that?" I said, "I don't have enough time to give you a full answer, and a short answer wouldn't be very good."

A woman sitting nearby said, "I think it should be allowed. After all, just because Muslims flew the planes into the Twin Towers doesn't mean all Muslims are bad."

The man added his two cents. "I believe in freedom of religion," he said, turning to me, "Okay, tell me this. What do you think about the internment camps in World War Two?"

I said, "I think they were wrong."

"Why?" he asked, "Isn't stopping the mosque the same thing?"

For once in my life I spontaneously came up with a good answer at the time rather than ten minutes later. I said, "No it isn't, because the Japanese-Americans they put in the internment camps did not have the same ideology as the Japanese who attacked America. The Japanese war machine was driven by a militaristic, imperialist, expansionist Shinto ideology. Almost none of the Americans placed in internment camps had those beliefs.

"That's really the question, isn't it?" I said. "Will the people who run the mosque share the same ideology and the same goals as those who flew the planes into the buildings? If they do, I think we would both agree they should not be allowed to build the mosque. And if they don't have the same ideology or goals, I think we can agree they should be allowed to build it.

"Unfortunately, in all likelihood, they will be promoting the same ideology in the Ground Zero mosque as the hijackers were following. And they will probably have the same goals (although they may differ in tactics). When mosques were investigated in the U.S., the majority of them preached jihad against America. And we have nothing in place to monitor what mosques are preaching. Why? Because they are protected by the freedom of religion."

He was just staring at me now. This was obviously a much better argument than he expected, and he had nothing left to say. So I kept going. "So now the question is: If something being preached is seditious, but it's part of a religious doctrine, which law should trump which? Should preaching and promoting the sabotage, undermining, and overthrow of U.S. laws and the U.S. government be protected by the right to freedom of religion?"

Luckily for him, we were interrupted by someone, and he had to go take care of something. But I was thinking about it afterwards. This mosque controversy is a great opportunity for us to awaken more people to the basic teachings of Islam. This issue pivots around the central question: What is the ideology of Muslims in general? If it's peaceful like they say it is, then okay, build the mosque because Islam had nothing to do with 9/11.

But if Islam is inherently political, supremacist, imperialistic, and intolerant — if that's really a core, mainstream, inseparable part of Islamic doctrine — then what do we do? That's really the question we should be asking. This issue helps us push conversations into two important questions. First, what is the ideology of Islam?

Here is a list of the central beliefs of mainstream Islam.

And second, if this is true (that Islam is inherently political, supremacist, imperialistic, and intolerant), what should we do about it? I think Robert Spencer has a possible answer. Read it here.

When the guy I was talking to earlier came back from his errand, I told him about Spencer's idea, and he saw the sense in it. And he seemed to also understand that it makes sense not to build more mosques — especially at Ground Zero — until we have some sort of solution to the more fundamental problem.

Islam's Prime Directive

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Khan) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 03:28:00 +0000

THE PRIMARY goal of Islam, according to its doctrine, is to bring the law of Allah (known as Sharia) to all people on earth. That isn't much different than similar goals of other religions. The thing that makes Islam different is the methods their doctrine allows them to use.

Islam's doctrine is unique because its history is unique. The three other large, fairly recent religions (Buddhism, Christianity, and Taoism) arose within an already-existing legal system. The methods they could use to spread their religion were limited by that system. Christianity, for example, arose at a time when Judaism was strong, and Rome was even stronger. If Christians had been armed insurrectionists, if they had tried to take over the Roman government, if they had tried gaining converts by force, Christianity would have been annihilated before it really got started.

The same can be said for Buddhism and Taoism.

The same was also true for Islam when it first started in Mecca. Mohammad and his followers were a minority and had to practice tolerance of others (or be crushed). But when they moved to a new city (Medina), things changed. They soon ruled that city. In Arabia at the time, no overriding legal or military power existed — the region now known as Saudi Arabia was made up of independent tribes and clans.

In other words, the religion of Islam arose where there was no external imposition of limits, and it developed a religious doctrine quite different from other religions we are familiar with. Islamic doctrines unapologetically advocate the use of force, warfare, deceit, fear, torture, and slaughter to bring the law of Allah to the world. This sounds really horrible, but I'm not making this up. You can verify this all yourself, and I wish you would. You should start by reading the Quran. It has been made relatively easy for you.

In their time, nothing existed to stop the fledgling religion from employing any means necessary. Unfortunately, it was all written down and has been considered holy doctrine ever since.

Since Mohammad existed in the seventh century, his biographical details were also written down and were never lost. What he did and said is well-preserved, as is the unaltered, unedited holy book of Islam, the Quran.

Unfortunately for non-Muslims, it says in the Quran no less than 91 times that a Muslim should follow Mohammad's example in all things and for all time.

So Islam's prime directive is to bring the law of Allah to all people on earth using any means necessary. You can say Islam's mission in three words: Islam must dominate. That's the bad news for us non-Muslims. The good news is that many people who consider themselves Muslims don't know much about Islam, and even some who know about this prime directive are not interested in pursuing it.

Some are pursuing it earnestly, however, and it is worth knowing about because some of the ways they're pursuing it are pretty clever. Learn more about that here: Perfectly Legal Jihad. Once you know what's going on and what devout, orthodox Muslims are aiming at, it is a lot easier to prevent them from gaining any ground.

The Sacredness of Mohammad's Example

noreply@blogger.com (Adam Khan) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 02:22:00 +0000

THE KORAN demands 91 times that Muslims imitate Mohammed in every way. These commands take two types — historical examples and direct commands. The Meccan Koran is filled with examples of the previous “prophet/messengers” who had to be obeyed or Allah punished them. Moses is an historical example. There are only 5 direct commands to follow Mohammed in Mecca.

Then in Medina there are 86 verses with a direct command to obey and follow Mohammed. Why the increase? In Medina, Mohammed was a political leader and needed total command in this world, not the next.

Below are the passages, divided up into different categories. First we'll start with verses from the Meccan period:

Historical Messages that Warn People to Obey their Prophet:

69:9 Pharaoh, too, and those who thrived before him, and the overthrown cities, all committed sin, and disobeyed the messenger sent by their Lord. That is why He punished them with an accumulated punishment.

26:141 The people of Thamud rejected the messengers. Their brother Salih said to them, “Will you not fear Allah? I am a faithful messenger worthy of all trust. Fear Allah and obey me. I ask for no reward. My reward comes only from the Lord of the worlds. Will you be left safely to enjoy all you have among gardens and fountains and grain-fields and palm-trees, heavy with fruit, and — insolent as you are — your homes carved from the mountain stone? Fear Allah and obey me. Do not obey the bidding of the extravagant who make mischief in the land, and do not reform.”

26:123 The people of Ad rejected the messengers. Their brother Hud said to them, “Will you not fear Allah? I am a faithful messenger worthy of all trust. Fear Allah and obey me. I ask for no reward. My reward comes only from the Lord of the worlds. What? Do you build monuments on every high place to amuse yourselves? Do you acquire fine buildings in the hope that you will live there forever? When you exert your power, do you do so like a tyrant? Fear Allah and obey me. Fear Him who has generously given you everything you know. Fear Him who has generously given you cattle, and children, and gardens, and fountains. Truly, I fear that you will have the punishment of a terrible day.”

26:176 The people who lived in the forest of Madian rejected the messengers. Their brother Shuaid said to them, “Will you not fear Allah? I am a faithful messenger worthy of all trust. Fear Allah and obey me. I ask for no reward. My reward comes only from the Lord of the worlds. Give just measure, and do not be one of those who give less than is due. Weigh with an exact balance. Do not cheat men of their goods, and do not do evil on the earth by making mischief. Fear Him who created you and your ancestors.”

71:1 We sent Noah to his people and said to him, “Warn your people before a terrible punishment befalls them.” He said, “My people, I come to you as a plain-speaking warner. Serve and fear Allah and obey me. He will forgive you your sins and give you respite until the appointed time, because when Allah’s appointed time has come, it can not be delayed. If only you knew this!”

26:105 The people of Noah rejected the messengers when their brother Noah said to them, “Will you not fear Allah? I am a faithful messenger worthy of all trust. Fear Allah and obey me. I ask no reward from you for this because my reward comes only from the Lord of the worlds. Fear Allah and obey me.”

26:160 The people of Lot rejected the messengers. Their brother Lot said to them, “Will you not fear Allah? I am a faithful messenger worthy of all trust. Fear Allah and obey me. I ask for no reward. My reward comes only from the Lord of the worlds. What? Of all the creatures of the world, will you have sexual relations with men? Will you ignore your wives whom Allah has created for you? You people exceed all limits!”

20:90 Aaron had already told them, “People, You are being tested. Surely your Lord is the god of Mercy: Follow and obey me.”

43:64 When Jesus came with clear proof of Allah’s sovereignty, he said, “I come to you with wisdom and to clear up some things which you dispute. Therefore fear Allah and obey me. Allah is my Lord and yours. Worship Him. This is the right path.”

36:20 A man [Habib, the carpenter] came running from the outskirts of the city and said, “My people, listen to the messengers! Obey those who do not ask any reward and who follow the right path. It would be unreasonable of me not to serve Him who created me, and to Whom we will all return. Should I worship other gods besides Him? If Allah wished to afflict me their intercession could not help me at all, nor could they save me. If I did worship other gods, I would be in clear error. I believe in your Lord, so listen to me.” It was said to him, “Enter the Garden of Paradise.” The man replied, “Oh, if only my people knew how gracious Allah has been to me and that He has made me one of the honored ones!”

Historical Messages that Warn People to Listen to Allah's Messenger:

15:80 The people who lived in the rocky place [the people of Thamud] also rejected Allah’s messengers. We sent Our signs to them, but they turned away from them. They cut their homes into the rock, feeling secure, but the cry overtook them in the morning, and all their efforts did nothing to help them.

23:42 After them, We created other generations. No people may either hasten or delay their appointed time. Then We sent Our messengers one after another. Every time a messenger went forth to a nation, its people accused him of lying, so We caused them to follow one another into disaster, and We made them examples. So, away with the unbelievers.

25:35 Long ago, We gave Moses the Book, and appointed his brother Aaron as his aide. We commanded them, “Both of you go to the people who have rejected Our signs.” We absolutely destroyed those people. And the people of Noah, when they rejected the messengers, We drowned them and made them a sign for all men. We have prepared a terrible penalty for all the wicked.

25:35 Long ago, We gave Moses the Book, and appointed his brother Aaron as his aide. We commanded them, “Both of you go to the people who have rejected Our signs.” We absolutely destroyed those people. And the people of Noah, when they rejected the messengers, We drowned them and made them a sign for all men. We have prepared a terrible penalty for all the wicked.

7:157 Those who follow the Messenger — the Prophet who neither reads nor writes, whom they shall find described in the Torah and the Gospel, who commands good and forbids evil; allows the pure and healthful and prohibits the impure; releases them from the burdens and shackles that were upon them — those who believe in him, honor and help him and follow the light [the Koran] that was sent down with him, they are the successful.

34:43 For when Our clear signs are recited to them, they say, “This is merely a man who would turn you away from your father’s religion.” They say, “This (Koran) is only a lie.” And when they hear the truth, the unbelievers say, “This is nothing but clear sorcery.” Yet We did not give them any books to study deeply, nor have We sent them a messenger with warnings. Those before them rejected the truth, but they have not given Us a tenth of what We have given to them. When they rejected My messengers, My vengeance was terrible.

10:13 We have destroyed generations before you when they acted wickedly. Messengers came to them with clear signs from Allah, but they would not believe. This is how We reward the wicked.

40:21 Have they not traveled this land to see what has been the end of those who disbelieved before them? They were even mightier than these in strength and in their traces left in the land; yet Allah destroyed them for their sins, and they had no protector against Allah. That was because messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they rejected them, so Allah took them in hand for He is mighty and vehement in punishing.

28:56 You [Mohammed] truly cannot guide everyone whom you desire, but Allah guides whom He will. He knows best who follows His guidance. But they say, “If we follow your guidance, we will be driven from our land.” Have We not settled them in a sacred, secure territory where fruits of every kind are gathered together — Our gift for their support? But most of them do not understand. And how many communities have We destroyed that were thankless for the livelihoods We provided? These dwellings have not been inhabited since their time save by a few, and We are their inheritors. Your Lord did not destroy the cities until He had sent a messenger to their city to recite Our signs to its people. We never destroy cities unless its people are unjust.

13:32 Many messengers who came before you were mocked. For a long time We allowed the unbelievers to go unpunished, but finally We punished them. Then how terrible was Our punishment!

52:7 Truly, a punishment from your Lord is coming, and no one can stop it. That day heaven will heave from side to side, and the mountains will shake to pieces. Woe on that day to those who called the messengers liars, who wasted their time in vain disputes.

18:103 Say: Shall We tell you whose actions will make them the biggest losers? Those whose efforts are lost in this world’s life even while they thought that they were doing good deeds. These are the people who disbelieve in their Lord’s revelations and who do not believe they will meet Him in the afterlife. Their deeds will have been done in vain, and on the Judgment Day, We will not give them any weight. Their reward is Hell, because they disbelieved and mocked Our revelations and Our messengers. As for those who believe and do good deeds, they have the Gardens of Paradise for their entertainment where they will dwell forever, never wishing to leave.

38:12 Before them the people of Noah and Ad and Pharaoh, the impaler, rejected their prophets. The people of Thamud [the people of a ruined Nabatean city near Medina] and Lot and the people who lived in the forest also rejected their prophets. They all called My messengers liars; therefore, their punishment was justified.

36:28 After the man [Habib] from the outskirts died, We sent no army down from heaven against his people. We did not need to do so. It was nothing more than a single cry, and they were extinct. Oh! The misery that falls upon My servants! Every messenger sent to them has been mocked. Do they not see how many earlier generations We have destroyed? Everyone of them will be brought before Us for judgment.

43:21 Are they clinging to a scripture that We had given them earlier? No! They say, “Our fathers followed a certain religion, and we are guided by their footsteps.” And so, whenever We sent a messenger before you to an erring people, their wealthy said, “Our fathers followed a certain religion, and we are guided by their footsteps.” The messenger said, “What! Even if I bring you better guidance than your fathers had?” They replied, “We do not believe what you say.” So We punished them. Now see what comes to those who reject truth!

16:112 Allah gives a parable about a city [Mecca] that is safe and secure, abundantly supplied with everything it needs, and yet, it is ungrateful for the favors of Allah. Allah gives it a taste of hunger and fear because of the evil it has done. A messenger from themselves came to them, but they rejected him and a punishment overtook them while they were unjust.

11:59 The men of Ad [an ancient people of southern Arabia] rejected signs of their Lord, rebelled against His messengers, and followed the bidding of every proud, defiant person. They were cursed in this world, and on Resurrection Day it will be said to them, “Did Ad not reject their Lord?” The people of Ad were cast far away.

40:5 The people of Noah, and the factions after them, denied their messengers before these, and every nation schemed against their messenger to destroy him. They argued falsely to refute the truth. Then I seized them, and how great was my punishment. So the word of the Lord proved true against the unbelievers. They truly are companions to the Fire.

6:42 We have already sent messengers to many nations before you [the Meccans], and We seized them with terror and suffering that they might humble themselves. If only they had been humbled when Our disaster came on them. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened, and Satan made their sinful acts seem good to them. And when they had forgotten the warning they had received, We opened the gates of all good things to them until, as they were rejoicing in Our gifts, We seized them, and they were plunged into despair. So the unbelievers were annihilated. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds!

Historical Examples Warning People Not to Reject a Prophet's Message:

23:68 Do they not consider the Word of Allah, or has nothing new come to them since the time of their ancestors? Is it that they do not recognize their messenger and so reject him? Or do they say, “He is possessed.”? No, he has brought the truth to them, but most of them hate the truth. If the truth did not contradict their desires, then the heavens and the earth and everything contained in them would have been corrupted and ruined. No! We have brought them their warning, but they turn away.

50:12 Other men before these rejected their prophets: the people of Noah and the men of Ar-Rass [unknown city] and the tribe of Thamud [the people of a ruined Nabatean city near Medina] and Ad [an ancient people of southern Arabia] and Pharaoh and the brethren of Lot and the people of the forest and the people of Tubba [the people of Himyar in Arabia]. All rejected their prophets; therefore, they were justly punished.

The Five Direct Meccan Commands:

44:9 They [the Meccans] fool around in doubt, but watch them the day the sky emits a visible smoke that will cover mankind. This will be a terrible punishment. They will cry, “Lord, take away our punishment. We are believers.” But how did warning them help when Our messenger went to them, and they rejected him and said, “He learned it from others, he is insane!”? If We were to give you any respite, you would surely revert to wickedness. On the day when We seize you with a terrible onslaught, We will certainly inflict punishment!

7:158 Say: Oh, people, I am sent to you as the messenger of Allah, whose kingdom is the heavens and the earth. There is no god but He. He gives both life and death. So believe in Allah and His messenger, the unlettered Prophet, who believes in Allah and His word. Follow Him so that you may be led aright.

40:70 Those who reject the Book and the revelations with which We have sent our messengers will soon know the truth. When the yokes and the chains are on their necks, they will be dragged into the boiling waters then they will be thrust into the Fire and burned.

72:22 Say: Surely, no one but Allah can protect me. Nor can I find any refuge except Him. My only task is to convey Allah’s truth and His message. Those who rebel against Allah and His apostle have the fire of Hell, and they will remain there forever! They will doubt until they see with their own eyes what they are promised. Then they will know who is weaker in allies and fewer in number.

35:3 Oh, men, call to mind Allah’s grace toward you. Is there a creator other than Allah who provides for you from heaven and earth? There is no god but Allah. How are you turned away from Him? If they reject you [Mohammed], then messengers have been rejected before you, but to Allah all things will return.

— now we come to the Medinan passages —

Warning People to Obey the Messenger:

3:30 Say: If you love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins. Allah is forgiving and merciful. Say: Obey Allah and His messenger, but if they reject it, then truly, Allah does not love those who reject the faith.

3:131 Obey Allah and His messenger so that you may receive mercy. Urge each other on to earn forgiveness from your Lord, and the Paradise as wide as heaven and earth is prepared for the righteous. Those who give freely, whether they are prosperous or poor; who control their anger; who are forgiving (for Allah loves those who do good); who, when they have sinned or wronged themselves, go to Allah and implore His forgiveness for their sins (for who except Allah can forgive you of your sins?) and do not knowingly continue in their sinning; these will be rewarded with their Lord’s forgiveness and with the Garden watered by flowing rivers where they will live forever. The reward is great for those who serve Him!

33:63 When the people ask you about the Hour of Doom, say: Knowledge of it is Allah’s alone. And who can tell whether the Hour is not nearly upon us? Truly, Allah has cursed the unbelievers and has prepared the Fire for them, where they will live forever with no friend or helper to be found! On the day their faces are rolling in the Fire they will cry out, “If only we had obeyed Allah and His Messenger!” And they will say, “Our Lord! Truly we obeyed our chiefs and great men, but they led us astray from Your path. Our Lord! Give them a double punishment, and curse them with a heavy curse.”

33:69 Believers! Do not be like those who disrespected Moses. Allah cleared him of the insults they spoke of him [There were complaints about Mohammed’s distribution of the spoils of war], and he was highly exalted in Allah’s sight. Believers! Fear Allah and speak only the truth so that He may guide your works and forgive your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will be greatly blessed.

47:32 The unbelievers who turn others away from Allah’s path and do not obey the messenger after they have clearly received his guidance will in no manner bring injury to Allah. He will bring all their actions to nothing.

3:30 Say: If you love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins. Allah is forgiving and merciful. Say: Obey Allah and His messenger, but if they reject it, then truly, Allah does not love those who reject the faith.

4:41 How will it be for them when We produce a witness from every nation and bring you [Mohammed] forth to testify against them? On that day, the unbelievers and those who disobeyed the Messenger will wish they could sink into the earth for they cannot hide a single thing from Allah.

9:71 The faithful of both sexes are mutual friends. They command what is just and forbid what is evil. They observe regular prayer, contribute regularly to charity, and they obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah will show His mercy to these. Allah is mighty and wise. Allah promised the faithful, both men and women, Gardens beneath which the rivers flow in which they shall abide, and blessed mansions in the Gardens. The best, though, will be Allah’s good pleasure in them. This is the supreme triumph.

64:11 Nothing misfortunate occurs unless Allah wills it. Whoever believes in Allah, He will guide his heart. Allah knows all things. So obey Allah and His messenger. But if you turn your backs to them, Our messenger is not to blame, for his duty is only to deliver Our warning clearly. Allah! There is no god but Him! Let the faithful put their trust in Allah.

24:47 There are those who say, “We believe in Allah and His Messenger and we obey.” But just as soon as this is said, they turn their backs. These are not the believers. And when they are summoned before Allah and His Messenger so that He may judge them, some of them refuse to come. But if truth had been on their side, they would have come to Him obediently. Are their hearts diseased or do they have doubt? Are they afraid that Allah and His Messenger will judge them unjustly? No, they are the unjust.

24:51 But when Allah and His Messenger call the true believers to judge between them, their response is, “We have heard, and we obey.” These are the ones who will be successful. Those who obey Allah and His Messenger and who dread and fear Allah will be the winners. And they have sworn by Allah, a most solemn oath, that if they are given the order, they would certainly march forth. Say to them, “Do not swear. It is worth more to show your obedience. Truly, Allah is well aware of all you do.”

24:54 Say: Obey Allah and the Messenger. But if you turn away, He is still responsible for fulfilling His duty as you are bound to fulfilling yours. If you are obedient, then you will guided on the right path. The sole duty of the Messenger is to warn you clearly.

24:55 Allah has promised those who believe and do good works that they will be leaders in the land as He did with those who came before them, and He will establish their religion which He has chosen for them and will exchange their feelings of fear for security. They will worship Him and no others besides Him. Those who do not believe in Him after this are truly wicked. Observe your prayers, pay the poor tax, and obey the Messenger so that you may receive mercy. Never think that the unbelievers can thwart Allah’s plan on earth. Their destination will be the Fire, a wretched home.

8:1 When they ask you about the spoils of war say: The spoils belong to Allah and His messenger. [This sura was written after the Battle of Badr.] Therefore, fear Allah and settle your arguments. Obey Allah and His messenger if you are truly believers.

8:20 Believers! Be obedient to Allah and His messenger, and do not turn your backs now that you know the truth. Do not be like the ones who say, “We hear,” but do not obey.

8:45 Believers! When you confront their army stand fast and pray to Allah without ceasing so that you will be victorious. Obey Allah and His messenger, and do not argue with one another for fear that you will lose courage and strength. Be patient for Allah is with the patient. Do not be like the Meccans who left home bragging and full of vainglory. They prevent others from following Allah’s path, but Allah knows all that they do.

47:33 Believers! Obey Allah and the messenger, and do not let your effort be in vain. Those who do not believe and who prevent others from following Allah’s path and then die as unbelievers will not receive Allah’s forgiveness. Therefore, do not be weak and offer the unbelievers peace when you have the upper hand, for Allah is with you and will not begrudge you the reward of your deeds.

3:131 Obey Allah and His messenger so that you may receive mercy. Urge each other on to earn forgiveness from your Lord, and the Paradise as wide as heaven and earth is prepared for the righteous. Those who give freely, whether they are prosperous or poor; who control their anger; who are forgiving (for Allah loves those who do good); who, when they have sinned or wronged themselves, go to Allah and implore His forgiveness for their sins (for who except Allah can forgive you of your sins?) and do not knowingly continue in their sinning; these will be rewarded with their Lord’s forgiveness and with the Garden watered by flowing rivers where they will live forever. The reward is great for those who serve Him!

59:3 And if Allah had not decreed their exile, surely He would have punished them in this world. And in the world to come they will receive the punishment of the Fire because they had disobeyed Allah and His Messenger. Whoever disobeys Allah, knows that Allah is truly severe in His punishment.

24:62 Only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger are the true believers, and when they are gathered together, do not leave until they have sought his permission. Those who ask your permission are the ones who truly believe in Allah and His Messenger. And when they ask your permission to leave for personal reasons, give permission to whom you please, and ask Allah for His indulgence on their behalf, for Allah is indulgent, merciful.

24:63 Do not address the Messenger in the same way you address one another. Allah knows which of you leave quietly from the assemblies, hiding behind others. And let those who disobey his commands beware, for fear that some terrible punishment will come upon them.

4:64 We have sent messengers only so that people will obey them by Allah’s permission. If the people hurt themselves by their own error, and they came to you to ask Allah’s forgiveness, and you asked Allah’s forgiveness on their behalf, they would certainly have found Allah forgiving and merciful. But no, I swear by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you judge in all their disputes. Then they will have no doubt in the fairness of your judgment and will entirely submit to you.

4:69 Those who obey Allah and His Messenger will live with the messengers and the faithful and the martyrs and the righteous. What wonderful company! This is the bounty of Allah, and Allah’s infinite knowledge is sufficient. Believers! Be cautious, and either march forward in groups or advance all together. There are some among you who are sure to hang back, and if a disaster came upon you, would say, “Allah has dealt with us graciously because we were not in the battle.” If, however, you were met with victory, they, as if there were no friendship between you, would say, “If only I had been with them! Surely I would have been greatly successful!”

4:79 Whatever good comes to you is from Allah, but whatever evil happens to you is from yourself. We have sent you to mankind as a Messenger, and Allah is sufficient as your witness. Those who obey the Messenger obey Allah. As for those who turn away from you, We have not sent you to watch over them.

49:14 The Arabs of the desert say, “We believe.” [A tribe of desert Arabs came to Medina during a famine. They converted to Islam and received charity.] Say: You do not believe, but you only say, ‘We profess Islam,’ for the faith has not yet found its way into your hearts. If you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not withhold any of the rewards of your actions. Allah is indulgent and merciful. The true believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger without doubts and who strive with their lives and their wealth on Allah’s cause [jihad]. These are the sincere.

33:30 Wives of the Messenger! If any of you are proven guilty of public indecency, then you will be doubly punished; that is easy for Allah. But those of you who obey Allah and His Messenger and do good works will be doubly rewarded. We have prepared honorable provisions for you.

33:32 Wives of the Messenger! You are not like any other women. If you fear Allah, then do not be too lax in your speech for fear that lecherous-hearted men will lust after you. Stay in your homes and do not go out in public dressed in your fine clothes as they did in the time of ignorance [all non-Islamic history, civilization and customs are of the time of ignorance], but pray regularly, pay the poor tax and obey Allah and His Messenger. It is Allah’s desire to remove all that is unclean from you, People of His House, and to make you pure. And remember what is said to you in your homes of Allah’s revelations and wisdom, for surely Allah knows all mysteries and is aware of all.

33:36 And it is not the place of a believer, either man or woman, to have a choice in his or her affairs when Allah and His Messenger have decided on a matter. Those who disobey Allah and His Messenger are clearly on the wrong path. And remember when you said to your adopted son [Zaid], the one who had received Allah’s favor [converted to Islam], “Keep your wife to yourself and fear Allah,” and you hid in your heart what Allah was to reveal, and you feared men [what people would say if he married his daughter-in-law], when it would have been right that you should fear Allah. And when Zaid divorced his wife, We gave her to you as your wife, so it would not be a sin for believers to marry the wives of their adopted sons, after they have divorced them. And Allah’s will must be carried out.

48:17 It will be no crime on the part of the blind, the lame, or the sick if they do not go to the fight [participate in jihad], but whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, He will bring him into the Gardens beneath which the rivers flow, but whoever turns back, He will punish him with a sore punishment.

60:12 Oh, Messenger, when believing women come to you and pledge an oath of allegiance to you and ascribe no other gods as partners to Allah and that they will not steal, they will not commit adultery, they will not kill their children, they will not slander or lie, and that they will not disobey you in any just matter, then receive their allegiance and ask pardon for them from Allah. Allah is indulgent and merciful.

58:12 Believers, when you speak privately with the Messenger, give to charity before you meet. This will be better for you and will purify you. But if you do not have the means to do so, Allah is forgiving and merciful. Do you hesitate to give to charity before you meet with him? If you do not do it (and Allah will forgive you), then at least observe your prayers and pay the poor tax, and obey Allah and His Messenger, for Allah is aware of all that you do.

9:95 They will swear to you by Allah when you come back to them that you may leave them alone. So leave them alone for they are unclean. Their dwelling will be Hell in payment for their deeds. They will swear to you [Mohammed] that you will be pleased with them. But if you are pleased with them, Allah will not be pleased with those who disobey.

4:13 These are the limits set up by Allah. Those who obey Allah and His Messenger will be led into the Gardens watered by flowing rivers to live forever.

4:14 This is the ultimate reward! But those who disobey Allah and His Messenger and go beyond His limits, will be led into the Fire to live forever, and it will be a humiliating torment!

5:90 Oh, believers, surely wine and games of chance, and idols, and the divining arrows [an Arabian method of foretelling the future] are an abomination of Satan. Avoid them so that you may prosper. Only Satan would sow hatred and strife among you using wine and games of chance and turning you away from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. Will you not, then, abstain from them? Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and be on your guard. If you do turn back, know that our Messenger is only bound to deliver a plain announcement.

Warnings Not to Oppose Allah's Messenger:

9:63 Do they not know that whoever opposes Allah and His Messenger will abide in the Fire of Hell, where they will remain forever? This is the great shame.

4:115 Anyone who opposes the Messenger after having received Our guidance and follows a path other than that of the true believer will be left to their own devices. We will lead them into Hell, an evil home.

58:18 On the day Allah will raise them all to life, they will swear to Him as they swear to you now, thinking that their words will help them. Are they not the liars? Satan has possessed them and caused them to forget their praise of Allah. They are of Satan’s company. Truly, will it not be Satan’s company who will be the losers? Those who oppose Allah and His Messenger will be laid low. Allah has declared, “Surely I will be victorious, along with My messengers.” Truly Allah is strong and mighty.

58:22 You will find no one who is a believer in Allah and the Last Day loving those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if it is their fathers, sons, brothers, or closest relations. Allah has engraved the faith on their hearts and with His own spirit He has strengthened them. He will lead them into the Gardens beneath which rivers flow, to live forever. Allah is very pleased with them, as they are with Him. This is Allah’s company. And truly, will it not be Allah’s company who will be victorious?

58:5 Those who oppose Allah and His Messenger will be laid low, just as those who came before them. And now that We have sent down clear signs, the unbelievers will receive a humiliating punishment. On the day Allah raises all of them to life, He will tell them of what they did. Allah has recorded it even though they do not remember it, and Allah witnesses all things.

8:12 Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, “I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the unbelievers’ hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!” This was because they opposed Allah and His messenger. Ones who oppose Allah and His messenger will be severely punished by Allah. We said, “This is for you! Taste it and know that the unbelievers will receive the torment of the Fire.”

Warnings to Those Who Reject Allah's Messenger:

9:79 They who slander such of the faithful as give charity freely, and those who find nothing to give but the fruits of their labor, and scoff at them, Allah will scoff at them, and there is a grievous torment in store for them. Whether you ask forgiveness for them, Mohammed, or do not ask for it, it will be the same. If you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will by no means forgive them. This is because they have rejected Allah and His Messenger. Allah does not guide ungodly people.

3:59 This is the truth from your Lord, so do not doubt it. If anyone one argues with you about him after they have received the knowledge say, “Come, let us call together our sons and your sons, our wives and your wives, and ourselves and yourselves. Then we will humbly pray and ask for Allah’s curse to come down upon all the liars.” [A method of resolving religious disputes was for each party to call down the curses of their god upon the other party.] This is an entirely true account. There is no god except Allah, and truly Allah is mighty and wise. But if they reject you, surely Allah knows those who cause corruption.

22:42 And if they reject you, remember that so did the people of Noah, and of Ad and Thamud [ancient Arabic cities], and the people of Abraham and Lot, and those who lived in Midian [a city on the Red Sea] have also denied their messengers. Moses, too, was rejected. I endured the unbelievers for a long while; then I seized them, and how terrible was My rejection of them.

9:53 Say: Pay your offerings willingly or unwillingly. It cannot be accepted from you because you are a wicked people. The only reasons their contributions are not accepted are because they reject Allah and His Messenger. They do not keep prayer but with sluggishness, and they do not make offerings willingly.

9:90 Some Arabs of the desert came with excuses to avoid fighting. They who had rejected Allah and His Messenger sat at home. A painful doom will fall on those who do not believe. It will be no crime in the weak, in the sick, or in those who find no resources to contribute to Allah’s cause [jihad] to stay at home provided they are sincere with Allah and His Messenger. There is no cause of blame against those who act virtuously. Allah is gracious and merciful. Nor is their blame against those who, when they came to you asking to be provided with mounts, were told, “I do not find mounts for you.” They turned their backs, their eyes shedding tears of grief, because they found no means to contribute.

Warnings to Those Who Resist or Deny Allah's Messenger:

4:150 Those who deny Allah and His Messenger and those who seek to separate Allah from His messengers saying, “We believe in some, but reject others,” therefore seeking a middle ground, these are truly unbelievers. And for the unbelievers We have prepared a disgraceful punishment. But those who believe in Allah and His messengers and make no distinction between them, they will be rewarded by Him. Allah is forgiving and merciful!

4:136 Believers! Believe in Allah and His Messenger and in the Scriptures which were sent down to His Messenger and in the Scriptures He sent down before him. Those who deny Allah, His angels, His Scriptures, His messengers, and the Last Day have gone far astray. Those who are believers, then deny the faith, then believe again and deny again and go on in increasing disbelief, Allah will not forgive them or guide them on the right path.

47:1 Those who deny Allah and prevent others from following Allah’s path, He will make their plans fail. Those who believe and do good works, however, and believe in what Mohammed has revealed, as it is the truth sent down from their Lord, He will cleanse them of their sins and improve their circumstances.

Warnings to Believe in Allah's Messenger:

4:171 People of the Book [Christians]! Do not overstep the boundaries of your religion and speak only what is true about Allah. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is only Allah’s messenger and his Word which he sent into Mary was a spirit from Him. Therefore, believe in Allah and His messengers and do not say, “Trinity.” Hold back and it will be better for you. Allah is only one god. Far be it from Allah to have a son! All in the heavens and earth are His. Allah is the sufficient as a protector. The Messiah does not condescend to be Allah’s servant, nor do His favored angels. Those who disdain service to Him, and are filled with arrogance, Allah will gather them all together before Him.

4:53 Should those who would fail to give even a penny to their fellow man have a share in the kingdom? Do they envy the people for what they have received from Allah’s bounty? We gave the Scriptures and wisdom to the children of Abraham, and a grand kingdom. Some of them believe in His Messenger while others turn away from him. The flames of Hell are sufficient punishment for them! Those who reject Our revelations We will cast into the Fire. As soon as their skins are burnt away, We will give them new skins so that they will truly experience the torment. Truly Allah is mighty and wise!

64:7 The unbelievers think that they will not be raised to life on the Day of Judgment. Say: Yes, you will be raised by my Lord, and you will be informed of everything you have ever done! That is easy for Allah. Therefore, believe in Allah and His messenger and in the light which we have sent down to you. Allah knows all your actions.

2:285 The messenger believes in what has been shown to him by his Lord, and the believers do too. They all believe in Allah, His angels, His Scriptures, and His messengers. We treat His messengers equally, and they say, “We hear and obey our Lord. We ask for Your forgiveness Lord. We will return to You.”

57:19 Those who believe in Allah and His messenger are truthful ones who will testify [against the unbelievers] before the presence of their Lord. They will receive their reward and their light, but those who deny Allah will be the prisoners of Hell.

57:21 Therefore, urge one another on in seeking forgiveness from your Lord and in earning admittance into a Paradise as vast as the heavens and earth prepared for those who believe in Allah and His messengers. That is the grace of Allah, and He gives it to whom He pleases. Allah’s grace is boundless.

57:7 Believe in Allah and His messenger, and give charitably of the inheritance which He has given you for those of you who believe and give generously will be greatly rewarded. What reason do you have that you should not believe in Allah when His messenger has called you to believe in your Lord, and He has already made a covenant with you if you are true believers? It is He who sends clear signs down to His messenger so he may lead you out of the darkness and into the light, for Allah is kind and merciful to you.

61:10 Believers! Should I show you a profitable exchange that will keep you from severe torment? Believe in Allah and His messenger and fight valiantly for Allah’s cause [jihad] with both your wealth and your lives. It would be better for you, if you only knew it!

3:178 It is not Allah’s will that the believers should remain in their present condition but only until He divides the bad from the good [reveals the hypocrites]. Neither is it Allah’s will to reveal the secrets of the unknown, but Allah chooses those of His messengers whom pleases to know them. Therefore, believe in Allah and His messengers, and if you have faith and fear Allah, then you will receive a great reward.

5:12 Allah did, of old, make a covenant with the children of Israel, and We appointed twelve leaders among them, and Allah said, “I will be with you if you observe regular prayer, practice regular charity, believe in My messengers and help them, and offer Allah goodly gifts. I will surely wipe away your sins, and I will bring you into Gardens beneath which the rivers flow. Whoever of you does not believe this has gone astray from the even path.”

48:11 The desert Arabs [Bedouins] who did not accompany you into war will say, “Our flocks and our families kept us busy, so we ask you to pardon us.” They speak with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say: Who can have any power over Allah in your behalf, whether he intends that you have some loss or he intends that you have an advantage? Yes, Allah is acquainted with your doings. You [the desert Arabs] thought that the Messenger and the faithful could never come back to their families, and this seemed pleasing to your hearts, and you thought an evil thought, for you are a people lost in wickedness. We have prepared a blazing Fire for these unbelievers who do not believe in Allah and His Messenger. Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth. He will forgive whom He will, and He will punish whom He will. Allah is gracious and merciful.

9:85 Do not let their riches or their children astonish you. Through these Allah is inclined to punish them in this world and to let their souls depart while they are still unbelievers. When a sura [chapter] was sent down saying, “Believe in Allah and strive and go to war with His Messenger,” those of them who are possessed of riches demanded exemption saying, “Leave us behind that we may be with those who sit at home.” They are well contented to be with those who stay behind for their hearts are sealed. They do not understand.

9:84 Never pray over nor stand over the grave of anyone of them who dies because they did not believe in Allah and His Messenger and died in their wickedness.

9:61 There are some of them who injure the Messenger and say, “He is only a hearer.” Say: He is a hearer of good for you. He believes in Allah and believes in the faithful. He is a mercy to those of you who believe, but those who injure the Messenger of Allah will suffer a painful doom. They swear to you by Allah to please you, but Allah and His Messenger are worthier, so they should please Him if they are believers.

5:78 Those among the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by the tongue of David and of Jesus, Son of Mary, because they were rebellious and persisted in excesses. They did not restrain one another from the iniquity they committed. Their actions were detestable. You will see many of them make friends with the unbelievers. They have sent their evil works on before them. Allah is angry with them, and they will abide in torment forever. If they had believed in Allah, the Messenger, and the Koran that was revealed to him, they would not choose them for their friends, but most of them are rebellious wrongdoers.

2:177 Righteousness is not determined by whether you face the east or the west. The one who is righteous believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Scripture, and the messengers; he gives his wealth for love of Allah to his family, to orphans, to the needy, to the wayfaring traveler, to the beggar, and for the ransom of slaves. The righteous one observes his prayers and pays the poor tax. The righteous one keeps his promises and stands firm in the face of suffering and hardship and war. These are the true believers, the Allah-fearing.

57:28 Believers! Fear Allah and trust in His messenger. He will give you a double portion of His mercy and will give you a light in which to walk. He will forgive you, for Allah is forgiving and merciful

65:8 How many cities have turned away from the command of their Lord and His messengers! Therefore, We judged them severely and punished them with a harsh punishment. They tasted the evil consequences of their own behavior, and the consequences of their behavior were ruinous.

33:57 Truly, those who speak evil of Allah and His Messenger will have Allah’s curse upon them in this world and the world to come. He has prepared a torturous punishment for them. And those who speak evil of believing men and women, when they have done nothing to deserve it, will carry the guilt and a clear sin.

8:27 Believers! Do not betray the trust of Allah and His messenger or knowingly betray His secrets. And know that your children and your wealth are merely temptations and that Allah’s reward is immense. Believers! If you fear Allah, He will give you wisdom to discern right from wrong, He will cleanse you of evil and forgive your sins. Allah is the Lord of boundless grace.

57:25 We have sent Our messengers with clear signs, and We have caused the Scriptures and the balance of justice to come down through them. We have sent down iron with its strength for war as well as its many other uses for mankind so that Allah would know those who would help Him and His messengers, although unseen. Allah is powerful and mighty.

4:60 Have you not noticed those who act like they believe in that which has been revealed to you and that which was revealed before you? They wish to seek the judgment of Satan, although they have been commanded to deny him, and Satan wishes to lead them astray into grievous sin. And when it is said to them, “Come and be judged by what Allah has revealed and by His Messenger,” you see them turn their heads in disgust. But how would they act if some disaster came upon them because of what they have done with their own hands? They would come to you, swearing by Allah, “We wish nothing but goodwill and reconciliation.” But Allah knows the secrets of their hearts. Therefore, turn away from them and warn them, speaking words that will pierce their souls.

Warnings to Avoid Opposing, Rejecting, or Denying Allah's Messenger:

4:115 Anyone who opposes the Messenger after having received Our guidance and follows a path other than that of the true believer will be left to their own devices. We will lead them into Hell, an evil home.

8:12 Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, “I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the unbelievers’ hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!” This was because they opposed Allah and His messenger. Ones who oppose Allah and His messenger will be severely punished by Allah. We said, “This is for you! Taste it and know that the unbelievers will receive the torment of the Fire.”

8:45 Believers! When you confront their army stand fast and pray to Allah without ceasing so that you will be victorious. Obey Allah and His messenger, and do not argue with one another for fear that you will lose courage and strength. Be patient for Allah is with the patient. Do not be like the Meccans who left home bragging and full of vainglory. They prevent others from following Allah’s path, but Allah knows all that they do.

24:51 But when Allah and His Messenger call the true believers to judge between them, their response is, “We have heard, and we obey.” These are the ones who will be successful. Those who obey Allah and His Messenger and who dread and fear Allah will be the winners. And they have sworn by Allah, a most solemn oath, that if they are given the order, they would certainly march forth. Say to them, “Do not swear. It is worth more to show your obedience. Truly, Allah is well aware of all you do.”

33:21 You have an excellent example in Allah’s Messenger for those of you who put your hope in Allah and the Last Day and who praise Allah continually. And when the believers saw the confederates they said, “This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us, and Allah and His Messenger spoke the truth,” and this served to increase their faith and devotion.

47:33 Believers! Obey Allah and the messenger, and do not let your effort be in vain. Those who do not believe and who prevent others from following Allah’s path and then die as unbelievers will not receive Allah’s forgiveness. Therefore, do not be weak and offer the unbelievers peace when you have the upper hand, for Allah is with you and will not begrudge you the reward of your deeds.

48:11 The desert Arabs [Bedouins] who did not accompany you into war will say, “Our flocks and our families kept us busy, so we ask you to pardon us.” They speak with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say: Who can have any power over Allah in your behalf, whether he intends that you have some loss or he intends that you have an advantage? Yes, Allah is acquainted with your doings. You [the desert Arabs] thought that the Messenger and the faithful could never come back to their families, and this seemed pleasing to your hearts, and you thought an evil thought, for you are a people lost in wickedness. We have prepared a blazing Fire for these unbelievers who do not believe in Allah and His Messenger. Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and of the earth. He will forgive whom He will, and He will punish whom He will. Allah is gracious and merciful.

58:18 On the day Allah will raise them all to life, they will swear to Him as they swear to you now, thinking that their words will help them. Are they not the liars? Satan has possessed them and caused them to forget their praise of Allah. They are of Satan’s company. Truly, will it not be Satan’s company who will be the losers? Those who oppose Allah and His Messenger will be laid low. Allah has declared, “Surely I will be victorious, along with My messengers.” Truly Allah is strong and mighty.

61:10 Believers! Should I show you a profitable exchange that will keep you from severe torment? Believe in Allah and His messenger and fight valiantly for Allah’s cause [jihad] with both your wealth and your lives. It would be better for you, if you only knew it!

64:11 Nothing misfortunate occurs unless Allah wills it. Whoever believes in Allah, He will guide his heart. Allah knows all things. So obey Allah and His messenger. But if you turn your backs to them, Our messenger is not to blame, for his duty is only to deliver Our warning clearly. Allah! There is no god but Him! Let the faithful put their trust in Allah.

4:171 People of the Book [Christians]! Do not overstep the boundaries of your religion and speak only what is true about Allah. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is only Allah’s messenger and his Word which he sent into Mary was a spirit from Him. Therefore, believe in Allah and His messengers and do not say, “Trinity.” Hold back and it will be better for you. Allah is only one god. Far be it from Allah to have a son! All in the heavens and earth are His. Allah is the sufficient as a protector. The Messiah does not condescend to be Allah’s servant, nor do His favored angels. Those who disdain service to Him, and are filled with arrogance, Allah will gather them all together before Him.

24:51 But when Allah and His Messenger call the true believers to judge between them, their response is, “We have heard, and we obey.” These are the ones who will be successful. Those who obey Allah and His Messenger and who dread and fear Allah will be the winners. And they have sworn by Allah, a most solemn oath, that if they are given the order, they would certainly march forth. Say to them, “Do not swear. It is worth more to show your obedience. Truly, Allah is well aware of all you do.”

4:136 Believers! Believe in Allah and His Messenger and in the Scriptures which were sent down to His Messenger and in the Scriptures He sent down before him. Those who deny Allah, His angels, His Scriptures, His messengers, and the Last Day have gone far astray. Those who are believers, then deny the faith, then believe again and deny again and go on in increasing disbelief, Allah will not forgive them or guide them on the right path.

Bill Warner, Director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam
Copyright (c) CBSX, LLC
Use and distribute as you wish; do not edit and give us (politicalislam.com) credit.

22. The Quran counsels the use of deceit when dealing with non-Muslims

noreply@blogger.com (Citizen Warrior) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 01:40:00 +0000

Principle number 22 of Basic Elements of Islam: The Quran counsels the use of deceit when dealing with non-Muslims. Mohammad instructed one of his followers to lie if he had to (in order to assassinate one of Mohammad's enemies). This set a precedent, and the principle was clear: If it helps Islam, it's okay to deceive non-Muslims. Read more about this principle here: Lying (Taqiyya and Kitman). And here.

This instruction in the Quran has served Islamic goals very well through history. And it serves those goals today. On the DVD, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, you can watch real-life examples of Islamic leaders saying one thing in English for the Western press, and saying something entirely different to their own followers in Arabic a few days later.

Deceiving the enemy is always useful in war, and throughout history generals have used it. Islamic teachings consider Islam to be in a permanent state of war with the non-Islamic world until the whole world follows Sharia law (read more about that here). All non-Muslims living in non-Islamic states are "enemies." So deceiving Westerners is totally acceptable because deceiving an enemy in a state of war is totally acceptable. It is encouraged if it can forward the goals of the spread of Islam.

And so we have the strange phenomenon covered by Steven Emerson in Terrorists Among Us, where organizations in America were ostensibly raising money for orphans, but really giving the money to terrorists. They deceived good-hearted Western non-Muslims into giving money to organizations that were actively killing Western non-Muslims.

As it says in the Quran, "War is deceit." This idea gives Islam a tremendous advantage over idea-collections that encourage indiscriminate truthfulness.

Back to Basic Elements of Islam>>