by William J. Federer |
Muslim Terrorists Commit Attacks
Orlando massacre, Boston bombing, Paris bombing, Belgium train station bombing, beheading in Oklahoma, San Bernardino shootings, Fort Hood “workplace violence,” Boko Haram Nigerian kidnappings, Kenya mall killings, disfiguring acid attacks in Pakistan, Syrian genocide, ancient Iraqi churches and monasteries destroyed, the grave of the Prophet Jonah blown up, and more.
Apologist politicians are quick to assure us that these terrorist acts do not represent true Islam. Yet, in many cases, terrorists are yelling “Allahu Akbar” and claim they do represent true Islam. Who can tell us what true Islam is? One person — Mohammed.
Mohammed was the best Muslim that ever lived. His life is called the sunna, which means the way or the example. If we examine Mohammed’s life, we can better understand those trying to be like him. His life went through three stages: he was a RELIGIOUS leader, then a POLITICAL leader, then a MILITARY leader.
Religious
Mohammed began as a religious leader in 610 AD in the pagan city of Mecca, making only 70 converts in 12 years. When he became confrontational, the Meccans drove him out for disturbing the peace. He attempted to go to the city of al-Taif, but they pelted him with rocks. With nowhere to go, Mohammed was a Muslim refugee. In 622 AD, he fled 210 miles north to Medina, a city controlled by three Jewish tribes. They were tolerant and let Mohammed in as a Muslim immigrant.
Political
Mohammed went into Medina’s minority pagan neighborhood and began to organize the community, finding reception among those who had grievances with the Jewish controlled government. He then pressured the Jews to accommodate him and his followers politically. The Jews made a treaty with Mohammed, recognizing him as a political leader in addition to being a religious leader.
Military
Back in Mecca, Mohammed’s followers became confrontational. Considered disturbers of the peace, they were chased out. Now refugees, they traveled to Medina where the Jews let them in as Muslim immigrants. Mohammed allowed his followers to rob the trade caravans headed to Mecca in retaliation for the Meccans driving them out. This was a departure from the teachings of Jesus, who said: love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to those hate you; if they take your coat give them your shirt. Mohammed’s instructions were, in essence, if they take your house, you retaliate and take their caravan. Mohammed had 300 warriors who robbed caravans. He received a whole chapter of the Qur’an, Sura 8, on how to distribute booty from robbing caravans. He received a fifth of the booty.
In 624 AD, the pagans of Mecca sent a thousand soldiers to escort and protect their
caravans. Mohammed, with only 300 warriors, defeated them at the Battle of Badr. This amazing victory, having been outnumbered 3 to 1, convinced Mohammed to be a military leader. He fought in 66 battles and raids in the next eight years before he died, killing an estimated 3,000. He even used the catapult in his attack on the city of al-Taif. When he was told the catapult was hurling stones that were killing innocent women and children, Mohammed responded, “they are among them.” In other words, they got to be killed too.
caravans. Mohammed, with only 300 warriors, defeated them at the Battle of Badr. This amazing victory, having been outnumbered 3 to 1, convinced Mohammed to be a military leader. He fought in 66 battles and raids in the next eight years before he died, killing an estimated 3,000. He even used the catapult in his attack on the city of al-Taif. When he was told the catapult was hurling stones that were killing innocent women and children, Mohammed responded, “they are among them.” In other words, they got to be killed too.
Today’s suicide bombers and ISIS fighters think they are following Mohammed’s example: religiously, politically and militarily. The effort to split the religious side of Islam away from the political-military side is, in a sense, an effort to split Mohammed. There is freedom for all religions in America, but is Islam just a religion?
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in Democracy in America, 1840: “Mohammed… put into the Koran not RELIGIOUS doctrines only, but POLITICAL maxims, CRIMINAL and CIVIL laws.” U.S. Minister to Spain Washington Irving wrote Lives Of Mahomet And His Successors (London: John Murry, 1850; New York: George P. Putnam, 1850; London: George Routledge, 1851; Philadelphia, 1873; Paris: Baudry’s European Library; A. & W. Galignani, University of California Libraries; Ipswich Press, 1993; Kessinger Publishing, 2008).
In Chapter 16, titled “The Sword Announced as the Instrument of Faith—First Foray Against the Koreishites—Surprisal of a Caravan,” Washington Irving wrote: “We come now to an important era in the career of Mohammed. Hitherto he had relied on argument and persuasion to make proselytes… His exhortations to them to bear with patience and long-suffering the violence of their enemies, almost emulated the meek precept of our Saviour, ‘if they smite thee on the one cheek, turn to them the other also.’
“He now arrived at a point where he completely diverge from the celestial spirit of the Christian doctrines… The means of retaliation unexpectedly sprung up within his reach. He had come to Medina a fugitive seeking an asylum… In a little while, and probably to his own surprise, he found an army at his command… The fugitives flocking to him from Mecca… were men of resolute spirit, skilled in the use of arms, and fond of partisan warfare… He endeavored to persuade himself… that the power thus placed within his reach was intended as a means of effecting his great purpose, and that he was called upon by divine command to use it.”
Military Genius
Mohammed turned out to be an extremely effective military leader, primarily because he was creative, unpredictable, and unconventional, not playing by the rules of traditional Arab warfare. For example, pagans in Arabia had one month off a year where they agreed not to fight–it was their pilgrimage month. They would set aside their differences and go to Mecca to worship the 360 gods kept in the square building called a Kaaba. Mohammed received verses to attack the caravans during this month, catching them by surprise and carrying away much booty.
Jesus vs. Mohammed
Some may say, Muslims killed people, but so did Christians, but instead of comparing “followers,” the comparison must be made of “founders.” If one’s computer acts up, the owner reloads the software to the way it was left the factory store, if one’s religion acts up, we must look back to the example left by the founder. Let us compare Jesus and Mohammed, the founders of the two largest religions in the world, Christianity, around 33 percent; and Islam, around 22 percent.| Jesus | Mohammed |
|---|---|
| Jesus never killed anyone. | Mohammed killed an estimated 3,000 people. |
| Jesus never fought or led armies. | Mohammed fought in 66 battles and raids, leading 27 of them. |
| Jesus never owned slaves. | Mohammed owned slaves, including African slaves, as he was an Arab. |
| Jesus never married. | Mohammed had at least 11 wives, with the youngest being Aisha: “The Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine.” (Sahih al-Bukhari) |
| Jesus never tortured anyone. | Mohammed had the Jewish chief of Khaybar stretched out on the ground and kindled a fire on his chest because he refused to tell where the tribe’s treasure was hidden. |
| Jesus did not permit His disciples to lie. | Mohammed permitted “taqiyya,” sacred lying, holy deceit. Muslims are obligated to lie to infidels if they feel it can help advance Islam. |
| Jesus never forced anyone to follow Him. | Mohammed instituted the death penalty for those leaving Islam, called the “ridda” apostasy laws. Egyptian Imam Yusuf Qaradaw stated: “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn’t exist today; Islam would have ended since the death of the Prophet, peace be upon him … Opposing apostasy is what kept Islam to this day. Ibn Mas’ud hadith: ‘Kill these three criminals: the adulterer, the murderer, and the apostate that leaves our community.’” |
| Jesus did not permit His disciples to rape anyone. | Mohammed permitted this, as described in many hadiths. |
| Jesus forgave insults, praying for those mocking him, “Father, forgive them.” | Mohammed ordered Ibn Khatal murdered for composing poems ridiculing him. |
| Jesus told His disciples to preach the Gospel and if they were not received to shake the dust off their feet and depart. | Mohammed told his followers to offer infidel cities peace if they submitted to Allah, but if they rejected the offer, subdue them. |
| Jesus and His apostles were never governors or generals. | Caliphs and Sultans were governors and generals. |
| In Islam, it is blasphemy to call Allah your father. | |
| Jesus taught that people are children of God. Jesus taught God as our Father. | In Islam, it is blasphemy to claim you are a child of Allah, as Allah took no wife and has no son. |
| Jesus taught that men and women are made in the image of God. | In Islam, Allah has no image. |
| Jesus taught to have a personal relationship with God. | In Islam, it is blasphemy to even want to have a personal relationship with Allah as he is transcendent and unknowable. |
| In the first 300 years of Christianity, Christians were thrown to the lions. They never led an armed resistance to overthrow the Roman Emperor. | The first 300 years in Islam, they conquered from Arabia to Paris. |
Challenge
Europe is a dynamic case study of the ongoing challenge. It has gone from a Judeo-Christian past, into a secular/LGBT present, and is now entering an Islamic future. The secular/LGBT agenda has, in effect, functioned as a transition phase from a Judeo-Christian past into an Islamic future. Western countries are having a rude awakening to the millennium-old challenge, namely, though large numbers of Muslims are moderate, with some even being courageous Muslim non-violent reformers, there will always be those drawn to follow the political-military examples of Mohammed in Medina, the “rightly-guided” Caliphs, and the Ottoman Sultans.
Western Civilization is reexamining the prophetic insight of Hilaire Belloc, one of the four great Edwardian Letter writers with H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw and G.K. Chesterton, who warned in The Great Heresies (1938): “Anyone with a knowledge of history is bound to ask himself whether we shall not see in the future a revival of Mohammedan POLITICAL power, and the renewal of the old pressure of Islam upon Christendom.”
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