One thing I find interesting about Islam is its calendar.

One would think the year ‘1′ in the Islamic calendar would coincide with a particularly noteworthy event — perhaps the most important event. After all, Christians date their calendar from the birth of Christ (or at least very close to it). One would think Islam would have year ‘1′ start at Muhommed’s birth (or death). Yet that is not the case.

In 622, when  Muhommed was more than fifty years old, he and his followers made the Hijra from Mecca to the oasis of Yathrib — later renamed Medina — some 200 miles to the north. He had already angered the pagan leaders of Mecca, and there had already been an attempt on Muhammad’s life. Muhammad had sent emissaries to Medina to ensure his welcome. He was accepted by the Medinan tribes as the leader of the Muslims and as arbiter of inter-tribal disputes.

Shortly before Muhammad fled the hostility of Mecca, a new batch of Muslim converts pledged their loyalty to him on a hill outside Mecca called Aqaba. Sira p208 conveys the significance of this event:

Sira, p208: When God gave permission to his Apostle to fight, the second {oath of allegiance at} Aqaba contained conditions involving war which were not in the first act of fealty. Now they {Muhammad’s followers} bound themselves to war against all and sundry for God and his Apostle, while he promised them for faithful service thus the reward of paradise.

That Muhammad’s nascent religion underwent a significant change at this point is plain. The scholarly Ishaq clearly intends to impress on his (Muslim) readers that, while in its early years, Islam was a relatively tolerant creed that would “endure insult and forgive the ignorant,” Allah soon required Muslims “to war against all and sundry for God and his Apostle.” The Islamic calendar testifies to the paramouncy of the Hijra by setting year one from the date of its occurrence. The year of the Hijra, 622 AD, is considered more significant than the year of Muhammad’s birth or death or that of the first Quranic revelation because Islam is first and foremost a political-military enterprise. It was only when Muhammad left Mecca with his paramilitary band that Islam achieved its proper political-military articulation. The years of the Islamic calendar (which employs lunar months) are designated in English “AH” or “After Hijra.”

This only underscores the primacy of violence in Islam.

Of course, your Islam apologists would, yet again, complain that we’re reading a “translation” and that the only true Quoran (or Haddith, or whatever) is Arabic and that we must only talk about the Arabic version.

What’s absurd about that claim is that the vast, vast majority of Muslims don’t read Arabic at all. So I guess all those Muslims aren’t real Muslims.

I don’t think I need to speak fluent German in order to understand “Mein Kampf.” Any idiot could translate that book into English, and I’d have a pretty good idea how sad Hitler’s brain was.

It is time for the human race to move beyond this kind of superstitious nonsense, this root of intolerance, bigotry, racism and genocide.

The contest section that we are building for this contest (and the others that may come down the pipe) will have a healthy dose of reading material for you to digest over the next couple of days. I will not be publishing the entries until tomorrow night so that all entries have a fair shot at the voting process. All will be posted at the same time and voting on all will end at the same time. I plan on posting them all at 20:00 CST May 6. Voting will end on Sunday, May 11 at 20:00 CST. Good Luck and fill up that inbox!! The address once again is bookcontest@thejesusmyth.com.

Thanks to our friend at Debunking Christianity, John Loftus, TJM is holding a small contest. We our looking for your story. What were the triggers that led you down the path of skepticism? Did you forsake a religion? What is your de-conversion story? Have you always been an atheist? Why?

Yes, these are the things we want to hear about. May the best article win. Win what? An autographed copy of the book, ” Why I Rejected Christianity: A Former Apologist Explains” by John Loftus. Don’t know about John? Allow me to give you some background info on him.

How have I gone from being a defender of Christianity to an atheist? That is the question of this book. I was a Christian apologist set for the express purpose of defending Christianity from intellectual attacks. I was not afraid of any idea, because I was convinced that Christianity was true and could withstand all attacks. Now I turn that same intellectual muscle into questioning the things I formerly defended.

I graduated from Great Lakes Bible College, Lansing Michigan, in 1977. Afterwards I became the Associate Minister under Eddie Bratton in Kalkaska, Michigan, for two years. Then I attended Lincoln Christian Seminary, Lincoln, IL, and graduated in 1982 with M.A. and M.Div. degrees, under the mentoring of Dr. James D. Strauss. After this I attended Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and graduated in 1985 with a Th.M degree, under the mentoring of Dr. William Lane Craig. I also took classes at Marquette University in a Ph.D. program with a double major in Philosophy and Ethics, but didn’t finish. At Marquette I studied with Dr. Ron Feenstra, Dr. Marc Greisbach, and Dr. Daniel MaGuire. I have taught extension classes for Lincoln Christian College, Lincoln, IL, and I taught for Great Lakes Christian College, Lansing, Michigan, for the College of Lake County, in Grayslake, IL, for Tri-State University, Angola, IN, and for Kellogg Community College, Battle Creek, MI. I was in the “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” in 1996.

From December of 1987 to December of 1990 I was the Senior Minister of the Angola Christian Church, Angola, IN, and for a year was the President of the Steuben County Ministerial Association. Before that I had several ministries in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. I was in the ministry for about fourteen years, or so, and wrote many articles for the Christian weekly magazine, The Christian Standard.

I have a copy of this book, and it is a great read. Entries will be taken until Tuesday, May 6 2008. All entries will be posted in a new section on the site for peer review. Sunday, May 10, the winner will be announced. The winner will be chosen by you, the readers. There will be a rating with each essay, highest rating wins.

Pleases send all submissions to bookcontest [@] thejesusmyth.com. This email address will be invalid after may 6, so get writing! This contest is open to current authors on TJM and everyone.

It was interesting timing. On Sunday, after a couple of days of web surfing, I had ordered Walid Shoebat’s book “Why I Left Jihad.” On Monday, I happened to open the local paper while waiting for an oil change on my car (no irony intended). The front page article was about Walid Shoebat. I discovered he would be speaking at the University that evening.

All (free) tickets were gone, but they did have about 200 tickets available at the door. I arrived early, anticipating quite a turn out.

Indeed, the hall was full, and security was tight.

Kamal Saleem spoke first. He described his life growing up in Palestine. It was a mostly unsurprising account: the education his family and school gave him about how the Jews were the enemy, the Holocaust was a hoax, America was the ‘Great Satan,’ Israel was the ’small Satan,’ and one day Islam would be the one true religion displacing all the others, worldwide. At that time, he became resolute for jihad. Obviously, at a very early age. I found particularly humorous how, given the education he had at the time (which, again, said the Holocaust had been a hoax), he asked his teachers in his school “how did they get the Jews to be so skinny? What diet were they on?”

Walid Shoebat was next. I might call him “the headliner.”

His descriptions of his childhood were similar. He emphasized the impact it had on him at a very early age. He held and fired an AK47 at the age of 6. At 7, he ran his first bomb supply mission from Syria through the Golan Heights. Like Saleem, he was instilled with the desire to fulfill jihad; to become a martyr.

“In my right hand, I had the Koran. In my left, the AK47″

Walid Shoebat is a darling of conservatives, particularly among Christians (since, of course, he converted to Christianity).

He is a self-described member of the “far right.” A quick search on YouTube will turn up many of his appearances in prophecy-oriented Christian discussions. I haven’t bothered to watch all of those (I pretty much know what to expect). But I know he is often a speaker in such arenas.

Walid Shoebat is also a focal point of controversy. Some say his story of being a (former) terrorist is unverified, even perhaps fabricated. Some say he is simply a mouthpiece for the Christian Right. He is never a critic of the current administration. From him I found not the slightest criticism of the invasion of Iraq.

Boulder being “liberal” (albeit mostly “limousine liberal”), and this being a presentation at a university, you can imagine the reception.

Actually, it was somewhat mixed. The members of the Arab Student Association were none too pleased. He was heckled a few times, and during the Q&A session the discomfort of Arabs in the room was palpable. A few people were escorted out by rather well-armed police.

On the other hand, he received a huge applause for describing what he wanted to see from American Muslims if, indeed, they loved America: “I want to see you with headbands in Arabic and with signs in English: ‘Allah bless America.’” There were other points in his presentation where he aroused substantial emotional support. Again, please keep in mind I’m referring to the notoriously “libral” Boulder, Colorado.

Mr. Shoebat invoked many of the well-known passages in the Koran that support what we today call terrorism. “What part of ‘kill’ do you in the West not understand?” he said.

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

This Sura in the Koran is oft quoted by both critics of Islam and terrorists themselves. In fact, Muslim terrorists cite it to justify their violent jihad. Critics of Islam claim that it commands Muslims to act with aggression towards the non-Muslims (polytheists) of that period, and contributes to Islam’s final theological doctrine of aggression towards all non-Muslims of all times. Apologists for Islam claim that this passage is purely defensive.

Personally, I find the apologists’ argument to be simply ludicrous. Of course, when I say that, I find more than one Muslim telling me that, since I can’t read Arabic, I have read a mis-translation. Also, it seems, even if I had a proper translation, I wouldn’t understand the context.

Y’know … I have to say….I don’t read German. But I don’t think I need to be fluent in German and German history to get the overall gist of “Mein Kampf.”

I had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Shoebat (briefly) after the event, before he was whisked off by his handlers. I pointed out to him that, during his presentation, he had mis-quoted Mr. Richard Dawkins. He invited me to engage in a discussion with him over email. I have started that discussion — we will see where that leads.

To be honest, I am not expecting much. He has a great gig going, and he doesn’t need some pinko like me confusing him with the facts. On the other hand, he apparently admires Christopher Hitchens, which I found quite ironic.

If you would like a taste of Mr. Shoebat’s lecture, this series on YouTube is pretty much the script he followed at CU Boulder.

Enjoy.

From the British historian Hilaire Belloc’s “The Great Heresies” written in 1938:

“It has always seemed to me possible, and even probable, that there would be a resurrection of Islam and that our sons or our grandsons would see the renewal of that tremendous struggle between the Christian culture and what has been for more than a thousand years its greatest opponent.

The suggestion that Islam may re-arise sounds fantastic, but this is only because men are always powerfully affected by the immediate past. One might say that they are blinded by it.

But not so very long ago, less than a hundred years before the Declaration of Independence, Vienna was almost taken and only saved by the Christian army under the command of the King of Poland, on a date that ought to be among the most famous in history: September 11, 1683.”

20 “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.”

21 So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.

22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”

23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this disgraceful thing.

24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.”

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.

26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel.

30 Everyone who saw it said, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt.

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And this book is where our moral code comes from?