Chapter Five: The Example
When we move beyond reading the Koran and Hadith as light entertainment, we are soon confronted by the hard cold fact that Islam is a violent, intolerant, deceptive religion.Unlike Christianity, there is no well-developed doctrine of salvation in the religion of Islam. According to the Koran and the Hadith, salvation is earned by gaining Allah's favor through acts of obedience, primarily through jihad. However, what this entails is not entirely clear apart from the all-consuming need for Muslims to defend the Islamic faith of Allah and Mohammed at all costs. This is the one consistent theme that runs through the Koran and Hadith.
Mohammed's attitude toward infidels is anything but charitable. As mentioned, it is true that early in the history of Islam, Mohammed taught his followers to avoid provoking the ire of those who opposed his new ideology. This kind and gentle approach is reflected in the early Koranic writings. However, once Mohammed gained power and influence, the pacific approach gave way to a much more militant expression of the Islamic faith. Remember, the way one defends Islam is to imitate Mohammed, the apostle of Allah, the prophet of Islam. Whatever Mohammed did equals normative behavior for the followers of Islam.
Thus, there really is no such thing as moderate Islam. The real division s between devout Muslims and non practicing Muslims because a true follower of Allah must emulate the example of Mohammed in every way in order to please his god. And as we shall see in the paragraphs ahead Mohammed eventually arrived at the point where he extended no quarter to those who deny or disagree with Islam.
Time and again we are told the Islamic terrorism taking place around the world on a daily basis is an aberration. However, if we understand the subtleties of Islam concerning infidels, Islamic terrorism makes a perverse sort of sense. You see, a good Muslim is one who contends for the faith, always defending Islam with his own person and his worldly goods. When Islam is resisted - even by words or nonviolent action - it is considered an attack on Allah and his prophet. Therefore, violent action against those who do this is justified. Moreover, according to the Muslim holy books, any nation that does not submit to Islamic law is likewise at war with Islam. The goal of Islam is to subdue or destroy all infidels.
At Medina, Mohamed and his fellow refugees found it difficult to earn a living and soon resorted to plundering caravans for livelihood, a practice which they justified upon the ground that the merchants were idolaters and unbelievers. Mohamed strengthened his authority and provided funds for his followers by exiling hostile Jewish clans and confiscating their property. Other obnoxious individuals were assassinated, and once some six hundred Jews who would not accept Islam were executed in cold blood and their women and children were sold into slavery. Thus the new religion began early to take on the ruthless and sordid features of conquest and tribute, and the persecuted prophet rapidly transformed himself into religious despot and national legislator.1
Hence, all polytheistic idolaters (such as Hindus) must be resisted at all times in every place; the same is mandated for Christians and Jews. According to the Islamic holy books, the only good Christian or Jew is the Christian or Jew who realizes their faith is nothing more than a form of proto-Islam. Once they realize the truth they will convert to Islam, thereby becoming Muslims. So, the worst of sins are infidelity (kufur) and polytheism (shirk) which constitute rebellion against Allah, the creator. To eradicate these, Muslims are required to wage war until there exists none of it in the world, and the only religion is that of Allah.2
There is no imaginative theorizing in this theology. It is simply a rephrasing of the words of the Islamic holy books. The following is a sampling of what every good Muslim must do.
And fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not commit aggression; God does not love the aggressors. And kill them wherever you overtake them, and expel them from where they had expelled you. Oppression is more serious than murder. But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque, unless they fight you there. If they fight you, then kill them. Such is the retribution of the disbelievers. And fight them until there is no oppression, and worship becomes devoted to God alone. But if they cease, then let there be no hostility except against the oppressors (Koran, sura 2.190-193).
Fighting is ordained for you, even though you dislike it. But it may be that you dislike something while it is good for you, and it may be that you like something while it is bad for you. Allah knows, and you do not know (2.216).
Fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah is Hearing and Knowing (2.244).
The punishment for those who fight Allah and His messenger, and strive to spread corruption on earth, is that they be killed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or be banished from the land. That is to disgrace them in this life; and in the Hereafter they will have a terrible punishment (5.33).
Fight them until there is no more persecution, and religion becomes exclusively for Allah. But if they desist - Allah is Seeing of what they do (8.39).
When the Sacred Months have passed, kill the polytheists wherever you find them. And capture them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayers, and pay the alms, then let them go their way. Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor abide by the religion of truth - from among those who received the Scripture - until they pay the due tax, willingly or unwillingly ...And fight the polytheists collectively, as they fight you collectively, and know that Allah is with the righteous (9.5, 29, 36).
Allah loves those who fight in His cause (61.4).
You will note that according to the Koran, oppression is worse than murder (2.190). In other words, it is worse for non-Muslims to oppress a Muslim than it is for a Muslim to kill his oppressor. And according to the Islamic holy books, to disagree with Islam and speak against it is to oppress or persecute it. Moreover, those who oppress or persecute Islam must be fought until they are all gone.
And now, from the Hadith.
Allah's Apostle said: "I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshiped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah" (1.2.24).
Allah's Apostle was asked, "What is the best deed?" He replied, "To believe in Allah and His Apostle (Muhammad). The questioner then asked, "What is the next (in goodness)? He replied, "To participate in Jihad (religious fighting) in Allah's Cause" (1.2.25).
A man came to the prophet and asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What kind of fighting is in Allah's cause? (I ask this), for some of us fight because of being enraged and angry and some for the sake of his pride and haughtiness." The prophet raised his head (as the questioner was standing) and said, "He who fights so that Allah's Word (Islam) should be superior, then he fights in Allah's cause" (1.3.125).
Allah's Apostle said, "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshiped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah." Narrated Maimun ibn Siyah that he asked Anas bin Malik, "O Abu Hamza! What makes the life and property of a person sacred?" He replied, "Whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshiped but Allah', faces our Qibla during the prayers, prays like us and eats our slaughtered animal, then he is a Muslim, and has got the same rights and obligations as other Muslims have" (1.8.387).
I asked the prophet, "What is the best deed?" He replied, "To believe in Allah and to fight for His Cause" (3.46.694).
The prophet said, "...Paradise has one-hundred grades which Allah has reserved for the Mujahidin who fight in His Cause, and the distance between each of two grades is like the distance between the Heaven and the Earth." (4.52.48).
Allah's Apostle said, "Allah welcomes two men with a smile; one of whom kills the other and both of them enter Paradise. One fights in Allah's Cause and gets killed. Later on Allah forgives the 'killer who also get martyred (In Allah's Cause)" (4.52.80).
History tells us that Mohammed and his followers took Allah's commands to fight in his cause very literally. Muhammad himself arranged sixty five military campaigns in the last ten years of his life, leading twenty seven of them himself. As the prophet of Allah gained in power and influence it became clear that he encouraged war not to defend Islam but to impose it upon others.
After Muhammad's death, war immediately broke out between the Muslims and former allied tribes that wanted to part ways with Islam. There was a universalism implicit in Mohamed's teaching and actions: he claimed universal authority, the haram which he established had no natural limits; in his last years military expeditions had been sent against the Byzantine frontier lands, and he is supposed to have sent emissaries to the rulers of the great states, calling on them to acknowledge his message. When he died, the alliances he had made with tribal chiefs threatened to dissolve; some of them now rejected his prophetic claims, or at least the political control of Medina. Facing this challenge the community under Abu Bakar affirmed its authority by military action.3
Abu Bakr, the prophet's successor, declared the wayward tribes apostate and proceeded to kill all who fell into his hands. It was only through violence and threats of violence that the Islamic empire survived the tumultuous years after Mohammed's death. But it wasn't only war against apostates that shook the kingdom of Allah, there was intrigue and civil war and among the faithful as well. In the twenty five years following Mohammed's death, four caliphs in turn took charge of the Muslim empire; three out of four were murdered by rival factions within Islam. These civil wars, assassinations and intrigue are the origin of the many coteries within Islam today - each with it's own accepted line of succession from the prophet of Allah to the present day and each with its own ideological peculiarities. The Koran and Hadith are very clear concerning Mohammed's belief that followers of Allah should do battle against unbeleivers. With this clear message from Allah and his apostle, Muslims embarked on a fourteen hundred year orgy of warfare, plundering and enslavement. Many contemporaries of Muhammad lived to see Islam wage war on every major religion in the world. Hindus, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Buddhists were all targets of the jihad.
Muslim jihad conquered much of the Christian world before Europeans began to fight back. The Crusades were a response to Muslim aggression ranging from from Syria all the way to Spain, and across North Africa. Islamic warriors enslaved countless Christians along with millions of pagan Africans as spoils of war. Arab slavers continued to ply their trade for 1300 years. It did not come to an end until Christian nations forced the Islamic world to cease and desist. Yet, the practice was not really ended but driven underground. Indeed, ISIS has openly revived the Islamic custom of making slaves of conquered people and has even issued a fatwa concerning the proper treatment of slave girls in this modern era.4
Contrary to leftist critics of all religions except Islam, the "peaceful religion" of Allah is the only organization calling itself a religion that consistently sponsors terror. And it is not the less devout Muslim we should worry about but those who are deeply devoted to Islam and accept the words of the Koran at face value. These are the ones who are purists and follow most closely the mandate to imitate Mohammed in everything and in every way.
As we have seen, the holy books of Islam are filled with admonitions to do violence against those who reject Allah and his Prophet - and we have just scratched the surface.
____________________
1. Anthony Esolen, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization, (Washington DC: Regnery Publishing Incorporated, 2008), 141.
2. Robert Spencer, The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran, (Washington DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc, 2009), 186.
3. Albert Hourani A History of the Arab Peoples,(Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1991), 22-23.
4. Lizzie Dearden, "Isis 'fatwa' on female sex slaves tells militants how and when they can rape captured women and girls," The Independent News, December 29, 2015: online at, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-fatwa-on-female-sex-slaves-tells-militants-how-and-when-they-can-rape-captured-women-and-girls-a6789036.html
The Truth About Islam
Chapter One: A Politically Incorrect IntroductionChapter Two: The Prophet
Chapter Three: The Koran
Chapter Four: The Plagiarist
Chapter Five: The Example
Chapter Six: The Leftism
Chapter Seven: The Deception
Entire Site Copyright © 2022 By David Eric Williams