BEHOLD THE BEAST
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Islam Reviewed
13 - JIHADJIHAD literally means "a great striving," and that striving includes a
relentless and remorseless worldwide aggression. Jihad is a multi-action
form of warfare, a more "total" war than that practiced by the fascist and
Communist leaders of this century. Jihad does call for armed struggle
and battle, but it also means a war through subversion and propaganda,
through conversion of non-Muslims to Islam, and penetration of non-
Muslim societies. Political and economic pressure is involved, such as the
cutting off of oil supplies or the buying of property in "target" countries.1
Western lands beware! For instance, Arab nations, particularly Saudi
Arabia, now have significant holdings in the United States and other
western countries, all bought with western oil money.
How did it all begin? Well, Muhammad's attempt to persuade his
tribesmen to embrace his teachings by peaceful means only brought him
threats, mocking and severe persecution. But Muhammad's persecution
did not arise from his advocating the worship of Allah. Allah had been
worshiped by his people for centuries. Historically, Allah was one of the
360 gods on display in Ka'aba. Going by his name, which means "servant
of Allah," Muhammad's father, Abdullah, was probably a priest of Allah.
The Meccans were provoked because Muhammad appeared to be staging
a religious coup d'etat in favor of only one of their 360 idols at the
Ka'aba, namely Allah. They couldn't understand why Muhammad should
elevate that one idol above the other 359.
That was the primary cause of Muhammad's flight (Hijra) from
Mecca to Medina (then Yatrib) in 622 AD. From the passages of the
Koran backed by the Hadiths and writings of Islamic scholars, Muham-
mad took up the sword only when told to do so by Allah.
Sura 2:216; 4:73-80 leads us to believe that Muslims at first objected
to the idea of engaging in physical combat to spread Islam. As a
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1 This was put into practice during the Yom-Kippur-Jihad against Israel on October
17, 1973 when the Arab Kings and Sheikhs suddenly quadrupled the price of oil
and threatened to cut off the supply. Since then oil has assumed the name, black
gold (an expensive commodity). Its costliness is one of the main reasons for the
economic crisis currently rocking the world from east to west to such an extent,
that some countries, especially in third world, are strangled by debt.
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persecuted minority in Mecca, they understood Jihad to be a verbal
defense of their faith. But the alluring benefit of material gains through
plunder, the unrestricted use of female captives, and an automatic
admittance into paradise proved too much of a temptation for the
Muslims to resist. As a result, the initial expeditions could be better
described as plundering exercises rather than "evangelistic" missions
inspired by religious fervor.
In his new role as "Military General," Muhammad commanded a
band of Islamic Jihadists to ambush a defenseless Meccan caravan and
seize their goods. This took place in a month when all fighting was
prohibited by treaty. When the Jihadists returned to Medina with their
plunder, this unprovoked attack was unanimously condemned by the
community. But what the people of Medina judged to be an armed
robbery in broad daylight got divine approval:
"They ask thee concerning fighting in the prohibited month.
Say: fighting therein is a grave [offence]: but graver is it in the
sight of God to prevent access to the path of God to deny Him,
to prevent access to the sacred mosque, and drive out its
members. Tumult and oppression is worse than slaughter . . . "
(Sura 2:217).
If you accept these statements as "revelations" from Allah, then you
are faced with an Allah who admitted that fighting in the prohibited
month was a "grave offence," but who turned around and defended the
"grave offence" by saying that more "grave is preventing people from the
sacred mosque." Two wrongs do not make a right nor do two sins make
righteousness. The true God never defends sin. The conclusion that the
promise of loot was one of the stimuli motivating Jihadists to fight can
be plainly seen in the Koran. Listen to this sura:
"God promised you many gains that ye will acquire, and hath
given you this in advance, and withheld men's hand from you,
that it may be a token for the believers and that he may guide
you to the right path" (Sura 48:20).
That the speaker made good his promise to enrich Jihadists with
plunder is proven from the lives of Muslims who migrated to Medina
with Muhammad. Many who came to Medina poverty-stricken left
fortunes to their heirs.1 With these earthly incentives and more in
paradise, Islamic Jihad escalated until it became an all out war of
subjugation, not only of individuals, but of whole nations and empires.
Philip Schaff, writing on the history of the Christian church, stated
it this way:
"The Sword", says Muhammad "is the key of heaven and hell;
a drop of blood shed in the cause of Allah, a night spent in
arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer;
whoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven, and at the day of
judgment his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and
cherubim." This was the secret of his success. Idolaters had to
choose between Islam, slavery and death; Jews and Christians
were allowed to purchase a limited toleration by the payment
of Jizya (humility tax), but were nonetheless kept in degrading
bondage.'" The khalifs, Muhammad's successors who like him
united the priestly and kingly divinity, carried on his conquests
with the battle cry: "Before you is paradise, behind you are
death and hell." Inspired by the weakness of the Byzantine
empire and the internal distraction of the Greek church, the
wild sons of the desert who were content with the plainest food,
and disciplined in the school of war, hardship and recklessness
of life, subdued Palestine, Syria and Egypt, embracing the
classical soil of primitive Christianity. Thousands of Christian
churches in the patriarchal diocese of Jerusalem, Antioch and
Alexandria were ruthlessly destroyed or converted into
mosques. Twenty years after Muhammad's death, the crescent
ruled over a realm as large as the Roman Empire.
The command to fight for the cause of Allah is given in many Suras
of the Koran:
"Then fight in the cause of God and know that God heareth and
knoweth all things" (Sura 2:244).
The command to fight relentlessly is given in Sura 4:74. In Sura 8:65,
Allah encouraged Muhammad to incite Muslims to fight. Listen to Allah
giving the Jihad order:
"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay
the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer
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1 Read of the life of Abd Rahman, in Rauzatu's Safa Vol. 2, P.253
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them and lie in wait (ambush) for them in every stratagem (of
war) but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and
practice regular charity, then open the way for them: for God is
oft-forgiving most merciful" (Sura 9:5).
"O ye who believe! fight the unbelievers . . . " (Sura 9:123).
Those who are ignorant of the Koran and Islam are terrified when they
see Muslims slaughtering Christians, and rightly so. We might feel a little
bit better about it if we understood that our Muslim friends are just
doing what they believe to be right. Allah specifically commands
Muslims to fight against Christians and Jews until they are reduced to a
condition worst than that of slaves:
"Fight those who believe not in God (Allah] and his apostle, nor
acknowledge the religion of truth [even if they are] of the
people of the book [i.e. Jews and Christians], until they pay jizya
[humiliating tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves
subdued [enslaved]. (Sura 9:29).
A being who is determined to wipe out Jews and Christians, now
who might that be? The Bible has the answer:
Rev 12:17 And the dragon (Satan) was wroth with the woman
(Israel), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed
(the Jews today), which keep the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus Christ (the Christians).
Suppose you have two sons and one was stubborn. Would you instruct
the good son to slay the stubborn? Of course not. No loving parent
would do such a thing. If no earthly parent would do that, how much
more would God not do so, the author of mercy. If the speaker in this
sura is Allah (which I strongly believe him to be) then we have solid
proof that Allah is totally different from the Bible God. The Bible God has
a special love for His people, the Jews and Christians. The Bible God
warns against taking up Jihad against his people:
He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings
for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my
prophets no harm. (Psa 105:14-15)
But in obedience to Allah's call to fight, Muhammad spent a great
deal of his time between the Hijra (flight) and his death mapping out
strategies for the purpose of spreading Islam, and personally getting
involved in ambush attacks. Islamic historians themselves confirm that
Muhammad was present at twenty six such armed conflicts and fought
actively in nine (Risalatu Abdullah & C., 47, CF. Ibn Hisham Vol. 3, P.
78).
In thirteen years of ministry, Muhammad won just over a hundred
souls to Islam by peaceful persuasions. But when he took up the sword
"miracles" started to happen. People were forced to choose between
Islam and violent death.1 With death as the only option, eight years after
the Hijra (flight), Muhammad could mobilize an army of about 10,000
Jihadists for his attack against Mecca (see Ibn Athir Vol.2, P. 93)
A year later, i.e. 9 A.H., 30,000 Jihadists attacked Tabuk. When
Khalifah Abu Bakr captured Syria for Islam, the Islamic army had grown
so large that the whole place was swarming with Jihadists.2
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1 Muhammad understood Jihad to mean literal war and even participated in those
conflicts himself. As a result, moderate Muslims arguing against Jihad have no
basis for their belief.
2Katib. Waqidi, Futuhu. Sham, Vol. 1, P. 6, Bombay edition, 1298 A.H.
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