1. Islam is about Muslims.
No, Islam is about everyone. Islam has rules about everything, and that includes non-Muslims. 61% of the Koran is about non-Muslims. It has rules about whether or not Muslims should befriend non-Muslims; about how to treat non-Muslims captured in war; about whether non-Muslim women can be raped; the attitude to take towards the possessions of non-Muslims. Most of these rules are unfavourable or hostile toward non-Muslims.
2. Islam is a race (kind of).
There’s a lot of sloppy thinking about this. Making this assumption will render you incapable of any clear thinking on the subject. When you think about it, it’s obvious Islam is a belief system, but when people criticise Islam they are often accused of racism. Defenders of Islam are happy to exploit this tendency as a charge of racism carries such force in a society sensitised to it. But Islam is and always will be a belief system, not a gene pool.
3. Islam is a religion.
There is a theme of personal salvation within Islam which gives it some similarities to other religions. However, this is not the main part of Islam. It is mainly a political and legal system with rules concerning the conduct of every imaginable subject from warfare to wiping your bottom. It is both highly political and very personal which may help to explain its huge capacity for taking offence. In a society concerned about discriminating against people on the basis of religion, the religious dimension of Islam can be exploited for political gain.
Islam teaches that achieving personal salvation is done through obeying all the rules and extending Islam’s control of the world. The surest way to personal salvation is by being killed whilst fighting for Islam.
Islam is often described by Muslims as a “total system of life”. This is a fair description. The effects of this system can be seen right across the Muslim world where women are subordinated, free expression is non-existent, and tyranny in one form or another is the norm.
4. The word “Islam” means “peace.”
Actually, “Islam” means “submission”. The basic idea is that perfect submission to the will of Allah brings peace. How do Muslims know the will of Allah? By studying what Muhammad said and did. What did Muhammad say and do? He brought new lands under the control of Islam and told his followers to do the same. So Muslims bring new lands under the control of Islam. When the whole world submits to the will of Allah, there will be “peace”, as Islam defines it.
In the past, Islam conquered new lands by following Muhammad’s example of military conquest. Today, this is less feasible so Islam follows Muhammad’s example of migration (al-Hijra). This is a 3 step process: (a) migrate (b) multiply (c) dominate. (b) is achieved by new arrivals, having large families, and converting the host population. (c) is achieved by subversion, increasing intimidation, then revolution. (a), (b) and (c) are mutually reinforcing. For example, the power achieved through (b) and (c) can be used to block controls on (a) migration.
5. Because most Muslims are not violent it must mean that Islam is not violent.
The perception that most Muslims are not violent will depend on where you live. In those countries where Muslims are more dominant, they tend to be more aggressive. As a rule of thumb, where Muslims are a minority they are less violent. This goes back to the birth of Islam: when Muhammad had a small band of followers in Mecca, the message he gave them was peaceful and tolerant (“Let there be no compulsion in religion” is a favourite from this period); when he migrated to Medina and established dominance he and his followers became more violent (“Kill the unbelievers wherever ye find them” is a favourite from this period). The message he taught after migrating to Medina is saturated with violence. The principle here is that when Muslims are in a weak position, the Meccan message is uppermost; when they are dominant, the Medinan message is unleashed.
In effect, Islam is both violent and tolerant: when circumstances dictate, it is driven by the Meccan message; but, when circumstances allow, it switches to the Medinan message. Being a “good” Muslim and doing what’s right for Islam will change accordingly.
6. The best person to ask about Islam is a Muslim.
About 90% of Muslims know very little about Islam. Most Muslims do not study Islam for themselves; they get their opinions ready-made from their leaders. They don’t have an in-depth knowledge and most probably don’t want it because the consequences of forming a deviant viewpoint can be fatal. Many Muslims are also in denial about the real nature of Islam.
Given what has been said about the Meccan and the Medinan messages, how do you know which message your Muslim is familiar with? And, if your Muslim knows the Medinan message is he/she going to tell you? There is a longstanding principle of using deception to protect the faith and the faithful in Islam which, as with all things Islamic, goes back to Muhammad’s own example.
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The conclusions we reach reflect the assumptions we make. Start with false assumptions and you reach false conclusions. Start with suicidal assumptions and you reach suicidal conclusions. We don’t have to make these mistakes ourselves; our leaders are making them on our behalf. We and our children will suffer the consequences.
Islam has a foothold in our country. If you want to prevent that becoming a stranglehold by means of the “peace process” described in 5 above, you need to join the Resistance.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Six Suicidal Assumptions about Islam
Excellent overview from Citizen Warrior.
14 comments:
very informative post!
This post concisely articulates the true nature of a total system of life, which forces itself on those outside of this system, yet masquerades under the pretense of religion.
Am I Islamophobic? You bet I am because of what I see in the rest of the world where Muslims have not even achieved a majority status. As for the places where they ARE a majority, oppression, discrimination, bigotry, intolerance, death and torture await any who do not participate in their life-system.
Islamophobia = a rational desire for self-preservation among non-Muslims.
Thank you, shared!
Fabulous post, I shared again. God Bless. Let's not grow weary of doing good and sharing the truth.
Excellent post!
David,
EXCELLENT! Gonna share this with our Adult Sunday-school class. I wish you and Nabeel would add a tab to the blog with back-ground information on this order. Yes, I know you don't want to burden us with still more reading about Islam but your distillation is priceless. Please do more of this. BLESS YOU for all that you do for us!
KAFIR AND PROUD!!
Thank You so much, as always you are infomative and factual. The truth has to be heard. You are truly a soldier for Christ and every infidel residing in the house of war. I would like very much to lend my assistance if you will be attending the Arab Fest this year. I also have several friends who would like to help. Here is an events page I set up on FB to try to get some reinforcments.
Of the first sentence in item 6, I have this comment:
The first sentence is also true of other areas as well. How many people who call themselves "Christian" or "Jewish" know their own scriptures?? I think Christians are ahead of the Jews when it comes to that, unless you're limiting it to, say, Orthodox Jews. Many so-called Christian ministers learned little of the bible in seminary, for example. I suspect THAT is LESS true of Muslim Imam's, but that is only a guess on my part.
My favorite is the one that says muslims know the most abt their religion. I get that a lot when im in college arguing w/ the idiot students on what islam is all abt.
The argument sounds good until u bring evidence to them and then that usually shuts them up. lol
And the whole islam is a race thing also drives me thro the roof!! As soon i hear someone say that, then i usually know right away im talking to and idiot who cant distinguish between a race (in all honesty i hate to say race myself, i prefer ethnicity for there is only one race, the human race), and a cult/religion.
Great Post's David :) tnx
@Paul I am grateful that both my husband and I graduated with a BS from a Bible College because I graduated with a dual major, one being in Biblical Studies. I took 30+ hours not only in theology and hermeneutics but in actual books of the Bible. I can't speak to seminary since I have not attended, but most pastors whether with a BA, BS or MDiv study hours upon hours in the Bible each week. They know the Word. There are always exceptions but what I write about is the norm.
@Tizita
Tizita what's your last name? Can you tell me if you don't mind?
On point #6: A lot of people who say one should learn about a religion from its adherents (usually Muslims and liberals) apply the rule inconsistently. They learn about Christianity from everyone but Christians. I think a good example of the inconsistency came from "Kangaroo," who recently visited this site for a few weeks. He linked to or copy and pasted from Muslim websites to disprove Christianity, and all of his arguments were basic Islamic polemics that were obviously derived from what other Muslims say about our religion (like his "pagan Trinity" argument, which he learned from the Muslim Osama Abdallah). Kangaroo later turned around and said that people should learn about Islam from Muslims, not from "missionary hate sites."
very true and let me say there are many more mis assumptions and concepts that do not protray islam but are all over the people mind read quran online
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