When you read these Quranic verses, it is helpful to think of them in their historical context. Allah told Muhammad to go out and conquer the world, so many Quranic verses were given that encouraged the people to fight jihad. Here are some examples:
Allah has preferred in grades those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above those who sit (at home). Unto each, Allah has promised good (Paradise), but Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight above those who sit (at home) by a huge reward.
—S
URAH
4:95, T
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Those who did not participate in jihad were threatened with hell fire.
. . . they hated to strive and fight, with their goods and their persons, in the cause of Allah: they said, “Do not go forth in the heat.” Say, “The fire of Hell is fiercer in heat.” If only they could understand!
—S
URAH
9:81, A
LI TRANSLATION
Those who retreat would incur Allah’s wrath.
If any do turn his back to them on such a day—unless it be in a stratagem of war, or to retreat to a troop (of his own)—he draws on himself the wrath of Allah, and his abode is Hell—an evil refuge (indeed)!
—S
URAH
8:16, A
LI TRANSLATION
Obviously you can see that killing, or jihad, is not an option. It is a must because it is Allah’s command (Surah 9:29). Every Muslim is required to participate to fulfill his faith. The only exceptions are those who are disabled, blind, and crippled (Surah 4:95)
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Jihad is carried out in order to achieve the ultimate goal of Islam—to establish Islamic authority over the whole world. Islam is not just a religion; it is a government too. That is why it always gets down to politics. Islam teaches that Allah is the only authority; therefore, political systems must be based on Allah’s teaching and nothing else.
The Quran states:
If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah has revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers. . . . If they fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah has revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel.
—S
URAH
5:44, 47, A
LI TRANSLATION
People fighting jihad consider themselves to have succeeded when a nation declares Islam as both their religion and their form of government. Nations where this has been accomplished include Afghanistan (under the Taliban), Iran (through Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution), and Sudan (under Hasan al-Turabi). The Islamic radical
army known as ISIS gained control of geographic areas in 2015, but not entire countries.
Man-made political systems—from democracies to dictatorships—are considered invalid. Moderate Muslims, however, do not always agree with this. A good example is past Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat. He pronounced that there would be “no politics in Islam and no Islam in politics.”
This statement was unacceptable to my former university professor Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who had become the spiritual leader of the Egyptian terrorist organization al-Jihad. After President Sadat said those words, Sheikh Abdel Rahman declared that the president was an infidel apostate who should be killed. Following Islamic law, al-Jihad carried out the declaration of its leader and shot the president to death. President Sadat paid the ultimate price—his life—in an effort to stop Islam from becoming the governing authority in Egypt in the 1980s.
In the 1980s radical Islamic groups focused their attacks on their own governments. Now these organizations are turning to attack the West directly. Later in this book I will explain why.
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Now you know the key facts of Islam. In contrast, let’s look at what the media have been telling us.
MISINFORMED BY THE MEDIA
Making Islam Look Good to the West
O
NE OF THE
indirect results of the events of September 11, 2001, was a wave of attention in the media regarding Islam. Islam was almost always represented as a religion of peace. It was made to be palatable to the Western ears.
The experts who were interviewed tried to separate the religious side of Islam from its political side, which cannot be done. When you see a Muslim on TV or print media saying that Islam is a religion of peace, it can be explained one of two ways:
1.
Wishful thinking.
Although this is not the Islam taught in the Quran, this person really wishes that it were. He sincerely believes he can explain away the unpalatable parts.
2.
Deceit with the intent to attract converts.
This is jihad practiced a different way. Instead of killing the enemy, you convert them with lies.
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ISHFUL
T
HINKING
An excellent example of wishful thinking about Islam is the show aired by popular talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. “Islam 101” aired on October 5, 2001—after the attack
against America but before the United States took action in Afghanistan.
Oprah had a few Muslim guests on the show to educate the audience about the basics of Islam. One of the show’s guests that day was thirty-one-year-old Queen Rania, the modern, Westernized queen of Jordan. Oprah asked her to comment on whether women in Islam were equal to men.
First of all, asking Queen Rania about anything in Islam is like asking Michael Jackson about his Christianity and what the Bible really teaches. Nevertheless the queen and the other Muslim women on the show acted as if they were the highest authorities on Islam. With great conviction, the queen stated, “Islam views women as full and equal partners to men, so [women’s] rights are guaranteed by Islam.”
1
Her answers made Western viewers feel good, but they do not accurately reflect the teachings of the Quran regarding women. If women are equal to men, why does the Quran say:
1. A Muslim man can be married to four women at the same time, but a Muslim woman can only be married to one man. “Marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four” (Surah 4:3,
The Noble Quran
).
2. Men have the right to ask for a divorce, but not women (Surah 2:229).
3. Women only inherit half of what men inherit (Surah 4:11).
4. Women may not serve as imams, and they are not allowed to lead prayer in the presence of men. (Man must always be above woman according to Surah 4:34.)
5. A woman is not allowed to answer the door at home if her husband is not there, even if it’s her brother or a relative at the door. (This is derived from Surah 33:53, where Muhammad was giving instructions to people who visited his home. He said that if he wasn’t home, they had to speak to his wives through a screen.)
6. Women should stay in their houses (Surah 33:33). Many Muslim women cannot travel without the permission of their fathers or husbands.
7. If a wife refuses to have sexual relations with her husband, it is permissible for the husband to physically beat her until she submits (Surah 4:34).
8. During jihad, when a man dies, he goes to heaven and Allah rewards him with incredible energy to enjoy sex with seventy virgins the first night. What happens if a woman dies in jihad? What is her reward—to be one of the seventy?
I am not sure whom the queen was trying to convince—herself or the world. The prophet Muhammad once said, “If there is an evil omen in anything, it is in the house, the woman, and the horse.”
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Oprah also questioned Queen Rania about the veil (
hijab
) that some Muslim women wear. The queen said,
“It’s a personal choice. Some people are more conservative than others.” She pointed out that she herself chooses not to wear one.
3
About the issue of the veil in Islam, the following are the Quranic verses that command women to cover themselves.
O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e. screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see that way).
—S
URAH
33:59, T
HE
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OBLE
Q
URAN
And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the times of ignorance . . .
—S
URAH
33:33, T
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Q
URAN
The only people allowed to see a woman’s face are her husband, children, siblings, and parents:
It is no sin on them (the Prophet’s wives, if they appear unveiled) before their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their brother’s sons, or the sons of their sisters, or their own (believing) women, or their (female) slaves.
—S
URAH
33:55, T
HE
N
OBLE
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Islamic law has generalized these instructions to Muhammad’s wives to apply to all women. (See Surah 24:31.) Queen Rania and other wishful thinkers like her do not recognize that they cannot interpret the Quran to suit their own preferences.
Oprah Winfrey’s show was just another opportunity for these Muslim women to present the secular, Westernized, compromised, and Christianized Islam that is not supported by the Quran and Islamic teaching. I hope that
Oprah will find out the truth about Islam and present the correct information on this subject.
D
ECEIT
During one of my visits to the United States in August of 1998, I was staying with a family friend near Los Angeles. As we were surfing through TV channels, an Islamic program caught our attention. To my amazement I heard the announcer say, “In a minute we will enjoy a spiritual journey through the prophet Muhammad’s life with Brother Paul.”
I did not move from the television set until I saw Brother Paul. I almost hit the floor when I laid eyes on him. He was a dark man with black hair and a thick, long, black beard, and he was wearing a long white robe and a tiny little head covering. Paul probably graduated from some Islamic institute in the Middle East and came to the United States as a missionary to spread Islam in the West.
I’m thinking, “Paul? Paul is a Muslim name now? This guy is 100 percent Middle East Muslim who grew up just like me. There is no way that is his real name.” What flabbergasted me was how Brother Paul used familiar Christian lingo such as, “The Lord bless you; the grace of our Lord be with you; God bless you.” He talked about God the Creator and how mankind can have a relationship with Him, how we can hear His voice and He can hear our prayers, and that we should allow the Spirit of God to work in us.
My head was spinning listening to this program that was broadcast from California. I was thinking, “Now I understand how they are spreading Islam in the US and Europe.” I jumped out of my seat and cried out, “O God,
have mercy on America! God, protect America and Your people in this great country. Please expose this great deception! Rescue this nation from this great deception!”
My friend and his family tried to comfort me by saying, “God’s protective hand has been on America since day one, and it will always be.”
I asked my friend, “Why is this man lying to Americans about his name? Why would he present to America a new Islam that is totally different from the one that I grew up experiencing for most of my life? Why would he present an Islam that is much closer to Christianity than to the real Islam that I studied for so many years?” I told my friend, “This man should tell America his real name. Most likely it is Muhammad, Ahmed, Mahmoud, Mustaffa, Omar, or Osama—not Paul.”
This was the first time I witnessed Muslims presenting a totally new Islam to the West. The average Muslim from the Middle East would never recognize it as the Islam that he practiced.
It is now obvious that many Islamic leaders are doing their part for jihad by influencing the Western media. Yes, they are doing their part when they fool the majority by getting them to believe that Islam is not for killing; that it is only a religion, not a political system; and that it is for peace, love, forgiveness, and so on. That will keep Islam the fastest-growing religion in the world. It is just a different practice of the same principles of jihad.