THE WORLD OF ISLAM

#1 · July 8, 2002, 9:38 am

Quote from Forum Archives on July 8, 2002, 9:38 am
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

NOTE: This is not a sermon. It is my research-based commentary on the contemporary meaning of Islam and the role Islam is playing in current world events.

THE WORLD OF ISLAM

July 7, 2002

evening

During the time I have been in pastoral ministry and military Chaplaincy, I have always witnessed an increase in interest in Islam whenever critical events in the Middle East have taken place. I have done a couple of introductory lessons on Islam since being here. Especially following the attack in September, questions concerning the nature of Islam have surfaced.

Frequently, many American political and religious leaders call for level-headed response, since many American citizens claim Islam as their religion. Obviously, we want to avoid a civil war among our own citizens. And my purpose tonight, as you will see, is not to stir up a modern "crusade" against Muslims. What I am doing is passing along further insights I have learned concerning Islam and the modern world in which it is being practiced. I am not really going to cover the fundamentals of Islam; I have done that before. If anyone wants, I can provide some pamphlets I have used before that cover the basics of Islamic belief and practice.

Both before and after September 11^th, we have heard particular groups referred to as "militant" Islams or Muslims. That is, there are certain groups of Islam that are more radical and militant than other groups of Muslims. At least that is what we have been told by many leaders in our country and around the world. And, because of my own experience with Muslims, that is what I generally believed. After all, as a Navy Chaplain, I have worked with a variety of faith groups at my duty stations. Part of the role of a military Chaplain is to provide for the religious needs of the personnel in the command he or she serves. That means, in large part, that the Chaplain, regardless of faith group, works with the command to ensure that personnel have the opportunity to practice their faith. My dealings with Naval personnel who claim to be Muslim have always been congenial. So it has been apparent to me that not all Muslims are militant.

So when I began seeing messages about violence being inherent to the Islam faith, I was concerned about such rhetoric. I specifically looked for unreserved denunciations of the attacks on America from well-regarded Islamic clerics, theologians, and scholars. I was particularly looking for such denunciations from Islamic leadership in the Arab world. I figured that such statements would not be hard to find since our own American media was always rushing to find victims of American bias and bigotry. Also, with world news networks and internet searches, such comments by Islamic leadership should not be hard to find. However, I have been surprised at what I have and have not found. I do not claim that my searches have been exhaustive or that they represent everything that is out there; they do not. However, as I said, what I expected to be a fairly straight-forward search turned out to be not so straightforward.

Let me first say that I did find one source in which the September attacks were clearly condemned. I found comments at the website of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies in America, www.iiasa.org. Some parts read: "Islam and true Muslims stand for peace, harmony, and justice. From the standpoint of Islamic law, Shaikh Salih Al-Luhaidan [sic], Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council in Saudi Arabia, asserts that the attacks of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are considered serious crimes in Islam. The Shaikh maintains, 'Those who commit such crimes are the worst people. Anyone who thinks that any Islamic Scholar will condone such acts is totally wrong.' Several years ago, The Commission of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia issued a decree stating that hijacking planes is strictly forbidden in Islam. The Commission also indicated that massacre of tourists, bombing of civilians and destroying buildings and other properties are absolutely prohibited regardless of the victim's faith, color or ethnicity. The Glorious Quran affirms: 'And let not the enmity of a people make you avoid justice. Be just. That is nearer to piety.' (5:8)." (www.iiasa.org/iiasa/wtc-condemnationENG.htm) The site also had a statement from the referenced Shaikh condemning the attacks. (www.iiasa.org/iiasa/wtc-letterENGLISH.htm)

Now these are the kinds of statements I was expecting to find. I figured that important, respected Islamic leaders the world over would be rushing to condemn the attacks on America and even the Palestinian suicide bombings that have continued to plague Israel. I thought that a majority of Islamic clerics, theologians, and leaders would quickly disassociate themselves from the groups that are identified as "radical" Muslims. Yet, such statements turned out not to be so easy to find, and they were certainly not the types of statements I did find in my initial searches.

Instead, what I did find when referred to a website that featured remarks by an Islamic scholar which were quite different than my expectations. One such scholar, Al Bouti, certainly speaks about terrorism: "The civilized world is witnessing a train of ferocious terrorism practiced by the American administration, sometimes using Zionist claws and other times grinding her fangs simulating she is chasing terrorism… In coordination with America, Israel has recently demolished seventy houses, through a train of crimes of her ferocious terrorism, and made hundreds of their innocent inhabitants - men, women and children - homeless in the open air, in the sight and hearing of the sacristans of Arab states. Even so, has any drop of blood boiled, or has it been agitated, in their veins? Has any word of reprobation been uttered by their mouths?" (Al Bouti,

www.bouti.com/ulamaa/bouti/bouti_e_monthly22.htm)

With surprise, I began asking myself, "what is the position of Islam regarding terrorism?" Apparently, others have been asking the same things. In her syndicated column, Diana West writes, "When George W. Bush says 'Islam is peace,' and Tony Blair insists the war now begun 'has nothing to do with Islam,' some of us scratch our heads and try, brows furrowed, to reconcile their soothing words with our frightening vision: the dirty war on Western civilization waged by evil forces in the name of Islam. The experts tell us militant Islamic fundamentalists… represent a narrow, if murderous, fringe. They number no more than 10, maybe 15, percent of all Muslims. That estimate works out to somewhere between 100 million and 150 million people. Which is a lot of murderous fringe. Meanwhile, where is that peaceable majority overflowing Islamdom? Are they filling the streets in unity with America's effort to eradicate Islamic terrorism, 'marginal' though its supporters may be? Hardly… Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Amir Taheri, an Iranian author and journalist, recently declared that 'to claim the attacks had nothing to do with Islam amounts to a whitewash.' It's also, he wrote, a 'disservice to Muslims, who need to cast a critical glance at the way their faith is taught, lived and practiced.'" (Diana West, reprinted in Peru Tribune, October 29, 2001, p. 4)

In another editorial, Diana West noted that, even though a group of five Muslim scholars issued a religious opinion expressing consent for "Muslim-American military personnel to partake in fighting with whomever the united States decides has perpetrated terror against them," there is certainly overwhelming evidence that the members of this group of Muslim scholars are far from enthusiastic about their published statements. "What a blow, then, to discover that even after this [religious opinion] was written, its most prominent author, Yusef Qaradawi, was back in Qatar calling for 'negotiations,' and exhorting Muslim worshippers to remember that 'Muslims cannot be used as tools to kill brother Muslims?' What happened to all the 'religious justification for Muslim cooperation' with the U.S. military…? While Qaradawi has not offered any explanations, it's worth noting that this leading Islamic theologian and spiritual adviser to the militant Muslim Brotherhood is not quite the budding middle-of-the-roader some of his recent clippings say he is. 'A Muslim is forbidden from entering into an alliance with a non-Muslim,' he said on Sept. 16 on the Arabic-language network Al Jazeera. He also called on Muslims to 'fight the American military if we can, and if we cannot, we should fight the U.S. economically and politically.' There's more. As someone who sanctions bombings as 'heroic martyrdom operations,' Qarawadi made a rather sulfurous splash at a recent Muslim-Christian conference in Rome by denouncing the Sept. 11 attacks with a slanderous swipe at Israel. 'We Arabs are among the most sensitive to this because of the evil inflicted on us by arrogant Zionists. We go to sleep at night and get up in the morning in a Palestine transformed into a continuous funeral. We refuse terrorism, but don't consider it terrorism to defend one's home.' This language, harsh as it is, was actually gussied up for Western ears. Before Muslim audiences, Qaradawi is, shall we say, more himself. 'On the hour of judgment,' he said in 1989 at an Islamist conference in, of all places, Kansas City, 'Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them.' Or take his 1997 assessment of Arab-Israeli relations: 'There is no dialogue between us other than in one language - the language of the sword and force.'… And at least one of his fellow fatwa authors, Egyptian journalist Fahmi Houaydi, is perhaps even more extreme. Following the Palestinian suicide bombing of a crowded Israeli pizzeria in August [2001], he penned an op-ed for the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram with a title that says it all: 'I Cannot Hide My Happiness about the Martyrdom Operation that Took Place in Jerusalem.'" (Diana West, reprinted in Peru Tribune, October 17, 2001, p. 4).

The opinions, comments, and religious statements of such Islamic scholars are bound to have an impact on the people who believe in Islam, especially those living in the tumultuous Middle East. Indeed, they do have an impact on the common believer, as evidenced in an interview with the mother of one of the many recent Palestinian suicide bombers. These excerpts come from the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. The interview is with Umm Nidal, the mother of the shahid [martyr] Muhammad Farhat.

Q: "How did the idea of carrying out a Fidaai [martyrdom] operation develop in [your son] Muhammad's soul?"

Umm Nidal: "Jihad is a [religious] commandment imposed upon us. We must instill this idea in our sons' souls, all the time... What we see every day – massacres, destruction, bombing [of] homes – strengthened, in the souls of my sons, especially Muhammad, the love of Jihad and martyrdom."

Q: "Did you have a role in the planting of this spirit in Muhammad?"

Umm Nidal: "Allah be praised, I am a Muslim and I believe in Jihad. Jihad is one of the elements of the faith and this is what encouraged me to sacrifice Muhammad in Jihad for the sake of Allah. My son was not destroyed, he is not dead; he is living a happier life than I. Had my thoughts been limited to this world, I would not sacrifice Muhammad."

"I am a compassionate mother to my children, and they are compassionate towards me and take care of me. Because I love my son, I encouraged him to die a martyr's death for the sake of Allah... Jihad is a religious obligation incumbent upon us, and we must carry it out. I sacrificed Muhammad as part of my obligation. This is an easy thing. There is no disagreement [among scholars] on such matters. The happiness in this world is an incomplete happiness; eternal happiness is life in the world to come, through martyrdom. Allah be praised, my son has attained this happiness."

Q: "How did Muhammad say goodbye before he carried out the operation?"

Umm Nidal: "Muhammad was willing to carry out any martyrdom operation... He swore to me that the only reason he loved life was Jihad. He would say to me that if his turn for Jihad did not come he would quit the military arm of the movement, take his weapon, and go to the battlefield to fight on his own. He tried several times. He would go out to the Al-Muntar road, taking his gun and bombs, but an opportunity did not present itself. He would return with his blood boiling because he hadn't managed to carry out an operation. He would brandish his weapon and tell me: 'Mom, this is my bride.' He loved his gun so much. He would tell me, 'I am going out now [to an attack]. I cannot control myself.' I would answer him, 'You will yet have a great opportunity. Be patient, plan well, so that you don't sacrifice yourself in vain. Act with your mind, not your emotions...' On the day of the operation, he came to me and told me: 'Now, mother, I am setting out for my operation.' He prepared for the operation two days in advance, when the video was filmed. He asked me to be photographed with him, and during the filming he brandished his gun. I personally asked to make the film so as to remember…. He set out for his operation with cold nerves, completely calm and confident, as if convinced that the operation would succeed. But I worried and feared greatly that the operation would not succeed, and that he would be arrested. I prayed for him when he left the house and asked Allah to make his operation a success and give him martyrdom. When he entered the settlement, his brothers in the military wing [of Hamas] informed me that he had managed to infiltrate it. Then I began to pray to Allah for him. I prayed from the depths of my heart that Allah would cause the success of his operation. I asked Allah to give me 10 [Israelis] for Muhammad, and Allah granted my request and Muhammad made his dream come true, killing 10 Israeli settlers and soldiers. Our God honored him even more, in that there were many Israelis wounded…. After the martyrdom [operation], my heart was peaceful about Muhammad. I encouraged all my sons to die a martyr's death, and I wish this even for myself. After all this, I prepared myself to receive the body of my son, the pure shahid, in order to look upon him one last time and accept the well-wishers who [came] to us in large numbers and participated in our joy over Muhammad's martyrdom..." (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, June 5, 2002.)

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD39102

These are quite eye-openers. These are the thoughts and words not of Westerners antagonistic to Islam, but of the Islamic adherents themselves. As I have learned in my studies, the foundations of the Islamic religion contain enough violent content to give justification to those Muslims who continue to believe in and act out "conversion by the sword." As I have said in some of my former presentations, the history of Islam and its practice in the modern world is complex. I cannot possibly cover all of the doctrines and applications of Islam that have developed over the centuries. It is true that many, many Muslims do not practice violence and seek to live peacefully. There are instructions throughout their holy book, the Qur'an, which instruct such peacefulness. The Qur'an instructs in many areas of life. But the Qur'an also includes some rather disturbing commands as well. Writes Jonathan Swift, a church-planter in an urban center containing one of North America's largest Muslim populations, "Essentially, Islam is not simply a religion… The most accurate way to describe Islam is not so much a religion but rather as an all-encompassing socio-political system dressed in religious garb. Islam is the motive and end for which its followers live. It is what informs and determines its followers' every action, relationship, and perception of the world and his or her role in it. For the Muslim, Islam is business and politics. Islam is public policy and law. Islam is education. Islam is marriage and family life. Islam is worship and prayer. Islam motivates war (defensive and offensive). Islam even dictates personal hygiene. Islam for the Muslim is the only path acceptable to Allah, submission to which is the only means of peace, and is therefore intended to be the 'religion' of everyone on earth." (Jonathan Swift, "Reaching Muslim Americans for Christ," ABE Journal, vol. 10 no. 1, March 2002, pp. 11-12)

Swift's observations pretty much match my own conclusions from the reading I have done in comprehensive works on the Islamic faith. I also observe that, given the political instability in Islamic nations over the centuries, leaders in such nations often try to create common enemies to draw their citizens' attention away from internal unrest. Those common enemies have most frequently been those of the Jewish and Christian faiths. States the Qur'an: "O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. And whoso among you takes them for friends is indeed one of them. Verily, Allah guides not the unjust people." (5:52)

As with our Bible, it is not always accurate to take a few verses out of context. The Qur'an is a complex work, difficult to comprehend, and not easy to follow. Additionally, Islamic purists insist that the only language that the Qur'an can be read and studied is the original language that Allah revealed it to the prophet Mohammed: Arabic. Even this leads to conflict between the Muslim and the non-Muslim, since the Muslim believes the language which best serves the believer is Arabic. Anyway, in the Qur'an, there are relatively few passages that instruct on and motivate warfare. But, by the same token, these few passages have been developed and used throughout the history of Islam to justify holy war and conversion by the sword. They are being used by Islamic scholars, clerics, and theologians today to justify the attacks on the non-Muslim, and particularly Western, world today.

For instance, the Qur'an reads, "And when the forbidden months have passed, kill the idolaters wherever you find them and take them prisoners, and beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat, then leave their way free. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful." Dr. Muhammad Sa'id al-Buti of the Islamic university in Cairo Al Azhar in "The Jurisprudence of the Biography" writes, "The verse does not leave any room in the mind to conjecture about what is called defensive war. This verse asserts that Holy War which is demanded in Islamic law, is not defensive war (as the Western students of Islam would like to tell us) because it could legitimately be an offensive war. That is the apex and most honorable of all Holy wars." (as quoted in Mark I. Bubeck, Preparing for Battle, Chicago: Moody Press, pp. 323-324) Likewise, states chapter 9 verse 29 of the Qur'an, "Fight those from among the People of the Book who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor hold as unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have declared to be unlawful, nor follow the true religion, until they pay the tax with their own hand and acknowledge their subjection."

Subjection is certainly an appropriate term to be used by the Qur'an, for that is exactly what an Islamic government seeks: the complete domination and subjection of its citizens. Dr. Duane A. Garrett, Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, writes, "Islam is a religion of oppression. Saudi Arabia, for example, is a ferociously cruel regime. Even expatriates there, such as Filipino Christian workers, are not allowed to have private Christian services in their own apartments. Any Muslim who converts and is baptized does so at the risk of his life. This is true not only in extremist countries, like Saudi Arabia or Iran, but also in moderate countries, such as Turkey. At the very least, the Christian will suffer ostracism and severe hardships. Two days ago, on Sunday, a group of Muslims entered a Christian church in Pakistan and ruthlessly murdered men, women, and children. We cannot excuse this on the grounds that those who did it were a few maniacs analogous to skinheads here in the west. Skinheads do not have orthodox Christian pastors exhorting them to violence, but the imams [religious leaders] in Pakistan do precisely that." (Duane A. Garrett, "Confronting Islam," ABE Journal, vol. 10 no. 1, March 2002, p. 22)

And there lies one of the largest, most accurate exposures of the inherent violence of Islam. While the Christian faith readily acknowledges the self-sacrificing nature of our Lord, and his commands to follow him in similar self-sacrificial service, the Islam faith issues no such calls to its believers. The closest it can come are calls to live in peace with one another, but alongside such admonitions still reside the verses that call for violence toward "idolaters;" that is, non-Muslims. Cites 9:39, "If you do not go forth to fight, he will punish you with a painful punishment, and will choose in your stead a people other than you, and you shall do Him no harm at all. And Allah has full power over all things."

I share with you what I have learned thus far in my own studies because I think it is important to know the truth in these matters. While I can understand the need for our national leaders to approach this with diplomacy, I do believe that they, the media, and even some of our own denominations try to ignore the inherent violence found in the religion of Islam. We may not like it, but it is a truth that has been part of Islam throughout its history. Albert Hourani, an author of the history of the Arab people, acknowledges that Islam has often taken violent paths. "The path to creation of a truly Muslim society, Sayyid Qutb had declared, began with individual conviction, transformed into a living image in the heart and embodied in a programme of action. Those who accepted this programme would form a vanguard of dedicated fighters, using every means, including jihad, which should not be undertaken until the fighters had achieved inner purity, but should then be pursued, if necessary, not for defence only, but to destroy all worship of false gods and remove all the obstacles which prevented men from accepting Islam. The struggle should aim at creating a universal Muslim society in which there were no distinctions of race, and one which was worldwide. 'The western age is finished': it could not provide the values which were needed to support the new material civilization. Only Islam offered hope to the world." (Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1991, p. 446)

Regardless of the violence found in Islam directed against Israel and the West, Christians are still called to remain true to the commands of Jesus. Christians are not called to convert through force, but through the spreading of the truth of God as taught by Jesus the Christ. Christians are not called upon to alienate our neighbors on the basis of racial or religious differences, but to seek to live lives together worthy of our calling in Christ. Even though our nation, and other nations, must resort to military actions in order to afford safety for their citizens, Christians everywhere should seek to find the most peaceful ways possible to resolve differences. As Paul reminds believers everywhere, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Romans 12:18)

Dr. Duane Garrett offers these five suggestions toward a solution to the Muslim world:

"First, before we can do anything, we must know who we are and what are our foundational truths…

Second, we must recognize that we are in a struggle unlike any we have ever seen before. Isolated here in the west, many have felt that humanism, hedonism, and new age thinking were our great enemies. Some were even so deluded as to think of Muslims as our allies. Communism, founded on atheism, never really had a chance, and its history is turning out to be very short indeed. Islam, by contrast, has held a huge portion of the human population in darkness for over a thousand years. Now, like it or not, we have to face it…

Third, we must rid ourselves of everything that defiles. We cannot change all of western culture before we confront the Muslims, but we don't have to. We do, however, have to sanctify ourselves… if you maintain your own purity, you can confront the Muslim without fear… If you love God, love your family, have the Holy Spirit, and walk with Jesus, you are ready to face Islam no matter what Hollywood does.

Fourth, all of us, in one manner or another, must be involved in missions to Islam. There are wonderful mission organizations, such as Arab World Missions, that you can find out about…

Fifth, we must pray. The task before us is enormous. It is a war, but it is a spiritual war. We will not win by jihad. We will win by the power of God, by the blood of the lamb, and by the redemptive suffering of the people of God. Paul says, 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.'" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) (Duane A. Garrett, "Confronting Islam," ABE Journal, vol. 10 no. 1, March 2002, pp. 22-23)

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

NOTE: This is not a sermon. It is my research-based commentary on the contemporary meaning of Islam and the role Islam is playing in current world events.

THE WORLD OF ISLAM

July 7, 2002

evening

During the time I have been in pastoral ministry and military Chaplaincy, I have always witnessed an increase in interest in Islam whenever critical events in the Middle East have taken place. I have done a couple of introductory lessons on Islam since being here. Especially following the attack in September, questions concerning the nature of Islam have surfaced.

Frequently, many American political and religious leaders call for level-headed response, since many American citizens claim Islam as their religion. Obviously, we want to avoid a civil war among our own citizens. And my purpose tonight, as you will see, is not to stir up a modern "crusade" against Muslims. What I am doing is passing along further insights I have learned concerning Islam and the modern world in which it is being practiced. I am not really going to cover the fundamentals of Islam; I have done that before. If anyone wants, I can provide some pamphlets I have used before that cover the basics of Islamic belief and practice.

Both before and after September 11^th, we have heard particular groups referred to as "militant" Islams or Muslims. That is, there are certain groups of Islam that are more radical and militant than other groups of Muslims. At least that is what we have been told by many leaders in our country and around the world. And, because of my own experience with Muslims, that is what I generally believed. After all, as a Navy Chaplain, I have worked with a variety of faith groups at my duty stations. Part of the role of a military Chaplain is to provide for the religious needs of the personnel in the command he or she serves. That means, in large part, that the Chaplain, regardless of faith group, works with the command to ensure that personnel have the opportunity to practice their faith. My dealings with Naval personnel who claim to be Muslim have always been congenial. So it has been apparent to me that not all Muslims are militant.

So when I began seeing messages about violence being inherent to the Islam faith, I was concerned about such rhetoric. I specifically looked for unreserved denunciations of the attacks on America from well-regarded Islamic clerics, theologians, and scholars. I was particularly looking for such denunciations from Islamic leadership in the Arab world. I figured that such statements would not be hard to find since our own American media was always rushing to find victims of American bias and bigotry. Also, with world news networks and internet searches, such comments by Islamic leadership should not be hard to find. However, I have been surprised at what I have and have not found. I do not claim that my searches have been exhaustive or that they represent everything that is out there; they do not. However, as I said, what I expected to be a fairly straight-forward search turned out to be not so straightforward.

Let me first say that I did find one source in which the September attacks were clearly condemned. I found comments at the website of the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies in America, http://www.iiasa.org. Some parts read: "Islam and true Muslims stand for peace, harmony, and justice. From the standpoint of Islamic law, Shaikh Salih Al-Luhaidan [sic], Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council in Saudi Arabia, asserts that the attacks of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are considered serious crimes in Islam. The Shaikh maintains, 'Those who commit such crimes are the worst people. Anyone who thinks that any Islamic Scholar will condone such acts is totally wrong.' Several years ago, The Commission of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia issued a decree stating that hijacking planes is strictly forbidden in Islam. The Commission also indicated that massacre of tourists, bombing of civilians and destroying buildings and other properties are absolutely prohibited regardless of the victim's faith, color or ethnicity. The Glorious Quran affirms: 'And let not the enmity of a people make you avoid justice. Be just. That is nearer to piety.' (5:8)." (http://www.iiasa.org/iiasa/wtc-condemnationENG.htm) The site also had a statement from the referenced Shaikh condemning the attacks. (http://www.iiasa.org/iiasa/wtc-letterENGLISH.htm)

Now these are the kinds of statements I was expecting to find. I figured that important, respected Islamic leaders the world over would be rushing to condemn the attacks on America and even the Palestinian suicide bombings that have continued to plague Israel. I thought that a majority of Islamic clerics, theologians, and leaders would quickly disassociate themselves from the groups that are identified as "radical" Muslims. Yet, such statements turned out not to be so easy to find, and they were certainly not the types of statements I did find in my initial searches.

Instead, what I did find when referred to a website that featured remarks by an Islamic scholar which were quite different than my expectations. One such scholar, Al Bouti, certainly speaks about terrorism: "The civilized world is witnessing a train of ferocious terrorism practiced by the American administration, sometimes using Zionist claws and other times grinding her fangs simulating she is chasing terrorism… In coordination with America, Israel has recently demolished seventy houses, through a train of crimes of her ferocious terrorism, and made hundreds of their innocent inhabitants - men, women and children - homeless in the open air, in the sight and hearing of the sacristans of Arab states. Even so, has any drop of blood boiled, or has it been agitated, in their veins? Has any word of reprobation been uttered by their mouths?" (Al Bouti,

http://www.bouti.com/ulamaa/bouti/bouti_e_monthly22.htm)

With surprise, I began asking myself, "what is the position of Islam regarding terrorism?" Apparently, others have been asking the same things. In her syndicated column, Diana West writes, "When George W. Bush says 'Islam is peace,' and Tony Blair insists the war now begun 'has nothing to do with Islam,' some of us scratch our heads and try, brows furrowed, to reconcile their soothing words with our frightening vision: the dirty war on Western civilization waged by evil forces in the name of Islam. The experts tell us militant Islamic fundamentalists… represent a narrow, if murderous, fringe. They number no more than 10, maybe 15, percent of all Muslims. That estimate works out to somewhere between 100 million and 150 million people. Which is a lot of murderous fringe. Meanwhile, where is that peaceable majority overflowing Islamdom? Are they filling the streets in unity with America's effort to eradicate Islamic terrorism, 'marginal' though its supporters may be? Hardly… Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Amir Taheri, an Iranian author and journalist, recently declared that 'to claim the attacks had nothing to do with Islam amounts to a whitewash.' It's also, he wrote, a 'disservice to Muslims, who need to cast a critical glance at the way their faith is taught, lived and practiced.'" (Diana West, reprinted in Peru Tribune, October 29, 2001, p. 4)

In another editorial, Diana West noted that, even though a group of five Muslim scholars issued a religious opinion expressing consent for "Muslim-American military personnel to partake in fighting with whomever the united States decides has perpetrated terror against them," there is certainly overwhelming evidence that the members of this group of Muslim scholars are far from enthusiastic about their published statements. "What a blow, then, to discover that even after this [religious opinion] was written, its most prominent author, Yusef Qaradawi, was back in Qatar calling for 'negotiations,' and exhorting Muslim worshippers to remember that 'Muslims cannot be used as tools to kill brother Muslims?' What happened to all the 'religious justification for Muslim cooperation' with the U.S. military…? While Qaradawi has not offered any explanations, it's worth noting that this leading Islamic theologian and spiritual adviser to the militant Muslim Brotherhood is not quite the budding middle-of-the-roader some of his recent clippings say he is. 'A Muslim is forbidden from entering into an alliance with a non-Muslim,' he said on Sept. 16 on the Arabic-language network Al Jazeera. He also called on Muslims to 'fight the American military if we can, and if we cannot, we should fight the U.S. economically and politically.' There's more. As someone who sanctions bombings as 'heroic martyrdom operations,' Qarawadi made a rather sulfurous splash at a recent Muslim-Christian conference in Rome by denouncing the Sept. 11 attacks with a slanderous swipe at Israel. 'We Arabs are among the most sensitive to this because of the evil inflicted on us by arrogant Zionists. We go to sleep at night and get up in the morning in a Palestine transformed into a continuous funeral. We refuse terrorism, but don't consider it terrorism to defend one's home.' This language, harsh as it is, was actually gussied up for Western ears. Before Muslim audiences, Qaradawi is, shall we say, more himself. 'On the hour of judgment,' he said in 1989 at an Islamist conference in, of all places, Kansas City, 'Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them.' Or take his 1997 assessment of Arab-Israeli relations: 'There is no dialogue between us other than in one language - the language of the sword and force.'… And at least one of his fellow fatwa authors, Egyptian journalist Fahmi Houaydi, is perhaps even more extreme. Following the Palestinian suicide bombing of a crowded Israeli pizzeria in August [2001], he penned an op-ed for the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram with a title that says it all: 'I Cannot Hide My Happiness about the Martyrdom Operation that Took Place in Jerusalem.'" (Diana West, reprinted in Peru Tribune, October 17, 2001, p. 4).

The opinions, comments, and religious statements of such Islamic scholars are bound to have an impact on the people who believe in Islam, especially those living in the tumultuous Middle East. Indeed, they do have an impact on the common believer, as evidenced in an interview with the mother of one of the many recent Palestinian suicide bombers. These excerpts come from the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. The interview is with Umm Nidal, the mother of the shahid [martyr] Muhammad Farhat.

Q: "How did the idea of carrying out a Fidaai [martyrdom] operation develop in [your son] Muhammad's soul?"

Umm Nidal: "Jihad is a [religious] commandment imposed upon us. We must instill this idea in our sons' souls, all the time... What we see every day – massacres, destruction, bombing [of] homes – strengthened, in the souls of my sons, especially Muhammad, the love of Jihad and martyrdom."

Q: "Did you have a role in the planting of this spirit in Muhammad?"

Umm Nidal: "Allah be praised, I am a Muslim and I believe in Jihad. Jihad is one of the elements of the faith and this is what encouraged me to sacrifice Muhammad in Jihad for the sake of Allah. My son was not destroyed, he is not dead; he is living a happier life than I. Had my thoughts been limited to this world, I would not sacrifice Muhammad."

"I am a compassionate mother to my children, and they are compassionate towards me and take care of me. Because I love my son, I encouraged him to die a martyr's death for the sake of Allah... Jihad is a religious obligation incumbent upon us, and we must carry it out. I sacrificed Muhammad as part of my obligation. This is an easy thing. There is no disagreement [among scholars] on such matters. The happiness in this world is an incomplete happiness; eternal happiness is life in the world to come, through martyrdom. Allah be praised, my son has attained this happiness."

Q: "How did Muhammad say goodbye before he carried out the operation?"

Umm Nidal: "Muhammad was willing to carry out any martyrdom operation... He swore to me that the only reason he loved life was Jihad. He would say to me that if his turn for Jihad did not come he would quit the military arm of the movement, take his weapon, and go to the battlefield to fight on his own. He tried several times. He would go out to the Al-Muntar road, taking his gun and bombs, but an opportunity did not present itself. He would return with his blood boiling because he hadn't managed to carry out an operation. He would brandish his weapon and tell me: 'Mom, this is my bride.' He loved his gun so much. He would tell me, 'I am going out now [to an attack]. I cannot control myself.' I would answer him, 'You will yet have a great opportunity. Be patient, plan well, so that you don't sacrifice yourself in vain. Act with your mind, not your emotions...' On the day of the operation, he came to me and told me: 'Now, mother, I am setting out for my operation.' He prepared for the operation two days in advance, when the video was filmed. He asked me to be photographed with him, and during the filming he brandished his gun. I personally asked to make the film so as to remember…. He set out for his operation with cold nerves, completely calm and confident, as if convinced that the operation would succeed. But I worried and feared greatly that the operation would not succeed, and that he would be arrested. I prayed for him when he left the house and asked Allah to make his operation a success and give him martyrdom. When he entered the settlement, his brothers in the military wing [of Hamas] informed me that he had managed to infiltrate it. Then I began to pray to Allah for him. I prayed from the depths of my heart that Allah would cause the success of his operation. I asked Allah to give me 10 [Israelis] for Muhammad, and Allah granted my request and Muhammad made his dream come true, killing 10 Israeli settlers and soldiers. Our God honored him even more, in that there were many Israelis wounded…. After the martyrdom [operation], my heart was peaceful about Muhammad. I encouraged all my sons to die a martyr's death, and I wish this even for myself. After all this, I prepared myself to receive the body of my son, the pure shahid, in order to look upon him one last time and accept the well-wishers who [came] to us in large numbers and participated in our joy over Muhammad's martyrdom..." (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, June 5, 2002.)

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD39102

These are quite eye-openers. These are the thoughts and words not of Westerners antagonistic to Islam, but of the Islamic adherents themselves. As I have learned in my studies, the foundations of the Islamic religion contain enough violent content to give justification to those Muslims who continue to believe in and act out "conversion by the sword." As I have said in some of my former presentations, the history of Islam and its practice in the modern world is complex. I cannot possibly cover all of the doctrines and applications of Islam that have developed over the centuries. It is true that many, many Muslims do not practice violence and seek to live peacefully. There are instructions throughout their holy book, the Qur'an, which instruct such peacefulness. The Qur'an instructs in many areas of life. But the Qur'an also includes some rather disturbing commands as well. Writes Jonathan Swift, a church-planter in an urban center containing one of North America's largest Muslim populations, "Essentially, Islam is not simply a religion… The most accurate way to describe Islam is not so much a religion but rather as an all-encompassing socio-political system dressed in religious garb. Islam is the motive and end for which its followers live. It is what informs and determines its followers' every action, relationship, and perception of the world and his or her role in it. For the Muslim, Islam is business and politics. Islam is public policy and law. Islam is education. Islam is marriage and family life. Islam is worship and prayer. Islam motivates war (defensive and offensive). Islam even dictates personal hygiene. Islam for the Muslim is the only path acceptable to Allah, submission to which is the only means of peace, and is therefore intended to be the 'religion' of everyone on earth." (Jonathan Swift, "Reaching Muslim Americans for Christ," ABE Journal, vol. 10 no. 1, March 2002, pp. 11-12)

Swift's observations pretty much match my own conclusions from the reading I have done in comprehensive works on the Islamic faith. I also observe that, given the political instability in Islamic nations over the centuries, leaders in such nations often try to create common enemies to draw their citizens' attention away from internal unrest. Those common enemies have most frequently been those of the Jewish and Christian faiths. States the Qur'an: "O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. And whoso among you takes them for friends is indeed one of them. Verily, Allah guides not the unjust people." (5:52)

As with our Bible, it is not always accurate to take a few verses out of context. The Qur'an is a complex work, difficult to comprehend, and not easy to follow. Additionally, Islamic purists insist that the only language that the Qur'an can be read and studied is the original language that Allah revealed it to the prophet Mohammed: Arabic. Even this leads to conflict between the Muslim and the non-Muslim, since the Muslim believes the language which best serves the believer is Arabic. Anyway, in the Qur'an, there are relatively few passages that instruct on and motivate warfare. But, by the same token, these few passages have been developed and used throughout the history of Islam to justify holy war and conversion by the sword. They are being used by Islamic scholars, clerics, and theologians today to justify the attacks on the non-Muslim, and particularly Western, world today.

For instance, the Qur'an reads, "And when the forbidden months have passed, kill the idolaters wherever you find them and take them prisoners, and beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat, then leave their way free. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful." Dr. Muhammad Sa'id al-Buti of the Islamic university in Cairo Al Azhar in "The Jurisprudence of the Biography" writes, "The verse does not leave any room in the mind to conjecture about what is called defensive war. This verse asserts that Holy War which is demanded in Islamic law, is not defensive war (as the Western students of Islam would like to tell us) because it could legitimately be an offensive war. That is the apex and most honorable of all Holy wars." (as quoted in Mark I. Bubeck, Preparing for Battle, Chicago: Moody Press, pp. 323-324) Likewise, states chapter 9 verse 29 of the Qur'an, "Fight those from among the People of the Book who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor hold as unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have declared to be unlawful, nor follow the true religion, until they pay the tax with their own hand and acknowledge their subjection."

Subjection is certainly an appropriate term to be used by the Qur'an, for that is exactly what an Islamic government seeks: the complete domination and subjection of its citizens. Dr. Duane A. Garrett, Professor of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, writes, "Islam is a religion of oppression. Saudi Arabia, for example, is a ferociously cruel regime. Even expatriates there, such as Filipino Christian workers, are not allowed to have private Christian services in their own apartments. Any Muslim who converts and is baptized does so at the risk of his life. This is true not only in extremist countries, like Saudi Arabia or Iran, but also in moderate countries, such as Turkey. At the very least, the Christian will suffer ostracism and severe hardships. Two days ago, on Sunday, a group of Muslims entered a Christian church in Pakistan and ruthlessly murdered men, women, and children. We cannot excuse this on the grounds that those who did it were a few maniacs analogous to skinheads here in the west. Skinheads do not have orthodox Christian pastors exhorting them to violence, but the imams [religious leaders] in Pakistan do precisely that." (Duane A. Garrett, "Confronting Islam," ABE Journal, vol. 10 no. 1, March 2002, p. 22)

And there lies one of the largest, most accurate exposures of the inherent violence of Islam. While the Christian faith readily acknowledges the self-sacrificing nature of our Lord, and his commands to follow him in similar self-sacrificial service, the Islam faith issues no such calls to its believers. The closest it can come are calls to live in peace with one another, but alongside such admonitions still reside the verses that call for violence toward "idolaters;" that is, non-Muslims. Cites 9:39, "If you do not go forth to fight, he will punish you with a painful punishment, and will choose in your stead a people other than you, and you shall do Him no harm at all. And Allah has full power over all things."

I share with you what I have learned thus far in my own studies because I think it is important to know the truth in these matters. While I can understand the need for our national leaders to approach this with diplomacy, I do believe that they, the media, and even some of our own denominations try to ignore the inherent violence found in the religion of Islam. We may not like it, but it is a truth that has been part of Islam throughout its history. Albert Hourani, an author of the history of the Arab people, acknowledges that Islam has often taken violent paths. "The path to creation of a truly Muslim society, Sayyid Qutb had declared, began with individual conviction, transformed into a living image in the heart and embodied in a programme of action. Those who accepted this programme would form a vanguard of dedicated fighters, using every means, including jihad, which should not be undertaken until the fighters had achieved inner purity, but should then be pursued, if necessary, not for defence only, but to destroy all worship of false gods and remove all the obstacles which prevented men from accepting Islam. The struggle should aim at creating a universal Muslim society in which there were no distinctions of race, and one which was worldwide. 'The western age is finished': it could not provide the values which were needed to support the new material civilization. Only Islam offered hope to the world." (Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1991, p. 446)

Regardless of the violence found in Islam directed against Israel and the West, Christians are still called to remain true to the commands of Jesus. Christians are not called to convert through force, but through the spreading of the truth of God as taught by Jesus the Christ. Christians are not called upon to alienate our neighbors on the basis of racial or religious differences, but to seek to live lives together worthy of our calling in Christ. Even though our nation, and other nations, must resort to military actions in order to afford safety for their citizens, Christians everywhere should seek to find the most peaceful ways possible to resolve differences. As Paul reminds believers everywhere, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Romans 12:18)

Dr. Duane Garrett offers these five suggestions toward a solution to the Muslim world:

"First, before we can do anything, we must know who we are and what are our foundational truths…

Second, we must recognize that we are in a struggle unlike any we have ever seen before. Isolated here in the west, many have felt that humanism, hedonism, and new age thinking were our great enemies. Some were even so deluded as to think of Muslims as our allies. Communism, founded on atheism, never really had a chance, and its history is turning out to be very short indeed. Islam, by contrast, has held a huge portion of the human population in darkness for over a thousand years. Now, like it or not, we have to face it…

Third, we must rid ourselves of everything that defiles. We cannot change all of western culture before we confront the Muslims, but we don't have to. We do, however, have to sanctify ourselves… if you maintain your own purity, you can confront the Muslim without fear… If you love God, love your family, have the Holy Spirit, and walk with Jesus, you are ready to face Islam no matter what Hollywood does.

Fourth, all of us, in one manner or another, must be involved in missions to Islam. There are wonderful mission organizations, such as Arab World Missions, that you can find out about…

Fifth, we must pray. The task before us is enormous. It is a war, but it is a spiritual war. We will not win by jihad. We will win by the power of God, by the blood of the lamb, and by the redemptive suffering of the people of God. Paul says, 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.'" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) (Duane A. Garrett, "Confronting Islam," ABE Journal, vol. 10 no. 1, March 2002, pp. 22-23)

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN