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Date: February 2005
In the politically correct universe of the blind and uninformed many mantra’s are endlessly recycled that are so false, they elicit disbelief and anguish. Such a myth is the curious and unsubstantiated statements by politicians, media analysts and non-Muslims that Islam is a religion of peace and harmony. Even a cursory glance through Islamic history makes this statement a mockery. It is insulting that politician’s trip over themselves, in order to ingratiate the media and buy politically correct votes, to run to the local mosque and then state that Islam is a wonderful philosophy of gentleness and brotherhood. What nonsense. Islam – the ideology, the philosophy, the autarchic life controlling force – is the problem and it is undeniably a strain of ideological fascism. To stop terrorism we need to modernize Islam, destroy its fascist tendencies and change the regimes of its nation states through freedom, separation of Church and State and the introduction of modern political and economic policies.
In reading Islamic history and in discussing its violent, warlike and immature character we can make three concrete points supported by a range of experts -- theologians authors, historians and political scientists, both Islamic and non-Islamic – that clearly indicate Islam’s problematic and fascist nature.
First, Islam [meaning submission] is the very antithesis of the gospel of Christianity and the Christian appeal to charity, private property, equality, individual responsibility, private property rights, respect for women and the poor, compassion and social harmony. It is a religion of coercion, forced submission, repression and control. It is in fact almost diametrically opposed in its philosophy to Christianity. Second, Islam does not separate Church and State leading to state controlled societies that destroy individualism and freedom. Third Islam has never produced social, economic, technological or scientific advances [contrary to mainstream media propaganda] that have improved the life of its subjects. Thus its domestic polity is a disaster. To quell internal discontent Islam relies on external aggression. Jihad in Islam [Dar al Islam] has nothing to do with spiritual attainment but the forced conversion of non-believers [Dar al Harb]. All non-Muslims are in the house of Al Harb and they must submit to Islam. External aggression and destruction of non-believers is a necessity in failed societies. Otherwise internal factors will cause the society to implode.
The above general points can be juxtaposed against Christianity and the West, which have given the world the entire modern political – economic structure that has led to vast improvements in the lives of everyone. Philosophy, science, business, education, charity, medicine, evolution, constitutional democracy and rational inquiry, were invented, improved upon and implemented in the West.
Mohammad and Islam
One first needs to look at the tenets of the Koran and of Islam itself, and especially its founder – Mohammed. There is a problem with the entire religion of Islam and its construct and its stems from its founder - a man who was not a prophet, had no compassion or love, but was lustful, sinful and violent. Mohammad was in fact the exact polar opposite of Christ. He was not a man of God but a political leader who used theology to conquer Arabia and bring various tribes under his control. His rule was spread not by love or compassion but purely by killing and war.
Mohammad through peaceful means had converted about 70 people in Mecca by 622 AD to his concept of Islam [submission to Allah]. He was however driven out of Mecca by those who saw his new theology as a threat to the city’s paganism. After fleeing to Medina Mohammad rejected peaceful methods and turned to violence [Sale, Life of Mohammad, p. 20]. Al Dashti an Iranian Muslim and scholar of Islam states, “After the move to Medina….he became a relentless warrior, intent on spreading his religion by the sword, and a scheming founder of a state.”[A.J. Schmidt, Great Divide, p. 14]. Christ in comparison was unlike Mohammad. Christ was a missionary, aiding the poor, the sick, the female, and the enslaved. He never engaged in conflict, war, or violence, nor did he create polygamous marriages, raid caravans or torture ‘non-believers’, take slaves, or butcher those who opposed his authority. All of these things and more, Mohammad did.
For Mohammad war was the means to build his state. Islam is not a religion but a state. Its creation was founded on war. For example Al-Islam.org recounts the crucial battle of Badr, in which Mohammad gained control of the local Arab tribes. During the battle Mohammed "took a handful of gravel when the battle was extremely heated [and] threw it at the faces of the pagans saying 'May Your faces be disfigured.' " According to the same page, "This battle laid the foundation of the Islamic State and made out of the Muslims a force to be reckoned with by the dwellers of the Arabic Peninsula." Islam was built in the fires and blood of war. Its ethos is imbued with this martial spirit.
University of Chicago professor Fred Donner, in his book The Early Islamic Conquests, theorizes that there may be something intrinsic to Islam that spurs a conquering attitude: "[T]here is the possibility that the ideological message of Islam itself filled some or all of the ruling elite with the notion that they had an essentially religious duty to expand the political domain of the Islamic state as far as practically possible; that is, the elite may have organized the Islamic conquest movement because they saw it as their divinely ordained mission to do so." Islam’s aggression is manifest today in terror and repression, but it has been attacking the West and Christianity for 1400 years.
Islam’s Aggression and Violence
Islam has been at war with the West since 632 AD. Islam expanded quickly by overrunning tired, isolated or small scattered kingdoms in a form of blitzkrieg, subjugating within 100 years [632-732], Arabia, the Levant, Syria, parts of Byzantium, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, Sicily and parts of the Balkans. Islam was not spread through Hallmark cards, flowers, chocolates and group hugs. It was carried by fast moving, fanatical Arab horsemen, employing great speed, overwhelming strength and an incredible aversion to pain or fear, in their quest for booty, trade, plunder, gold, women, slaves and the benefices of going to heaven as a martyr for Allah. It was a fearsome mix of fanaticism, and speed. Most so-called ‘converts’ to Islam were forced to accept Allah on the pain of death, higher taxes, or the lure of women and the spoils of plunder. There is no evidence that the conquered people were spiritually willing to accept the house of Islam. Other factors were at issue to coerce ‘conversions’. Islam was spread by guile, by war and by force.
Indeed Islam has never stopped attacking Europe. Defeated at Tours France by Charles Martel and the Franks in 732 AD, Islam recoiled but recovered, and quickly overran in succeeding centuries, Christian states in the Balkans, Central Europe, Italy and of course Byzantium itself [1453]. The Turks and Islam tried on various occasions to destroy Vienna and Christian Austria, Poland and Germany ultimately failing in 2 decisive battles – Lepanto in 1571 and Vienna in 1683. Lepanto was a major naval victory that confined Islam to the eastern Mediterranean and Vienna was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman empire in Europe and started the unraveling of the Islamic empire. Coupled with the ejection of the Moors from Spain in 1492, Islam suffering from inferior troops, materiel, methods and leadership succumbed to a rather limited and unwieldy Christian counter-attack. For the past 300 years it has been in constant retreat against the West in economics, science, politics, military power, artistic endeavors and wealth creation. Yet even today Islam weak, neglected and rotted, still persists in attacking Christians, Western nations and targets from the Sudan, across the Near East and in Europe and America.
But what about the Crusades?
Islamic apologists regard the Crusades as infinitely more evil than the 1400 year war Islam has waged against Europe, Christianity and the West. Such a viewpoint is entirely nescient. The Crusades running from about 1095 to about 1295 were Christian Europe’s second [Charles Martel at Tours being the first] and rather timid response to centuries of Islamic aggression. For 400 years, Islam had conquered Christian countries, enslaved and murdered thousands of Christians, expelled in 1197 the Jews from Spain, disrupted trade through piracy, and pillaged monasteries, churches and private property in a lust for gold and wealth, including the rape of Rome. They had invaded countries and subjugated and slaughtered subjects that had no appetite or interest in Islamic theology simply because they offered value in slave material or plunder.
Yet the crude and inaccurate picture of the Crusades persists. It was Europe’s first concerted response to Islamic attacks and involved the outfitting and transport of thousands of men across the Mediterranean – no mean feat of logistics and organization. It was intended to protect Christians who were being persecuted, travelers and traders from the West who were at times being enslaved or killed, and to protect the pilgrimage of Christian faithful to Jerusalem. The Palestine as well was originally a Jewish – Christian area and was never peacefully subjected by the Arabs. Its populations were either non-Islamic or in the case of the most ambitious, immoral or opportunistic, Islamic to avoid the non-believer tax, or engage in the political and economic affairs of the Islamic state.
Though many Crusaders committed un-Christian acts, it is hard to argue that they were unprovoked attempts to rightfully reclaim Christian lands. Islam for 4 centuries, had attacked, enslaved, killed and raped various parts of the Levant and Europe. Without this provocation it is most probable that Christian forces would never have invaded the Islamic lands. Islam declared an imperialist war on Christian states, long before the Christians took the offensive in an effort to stave off the Islamicization of Europe. Such historical details usually escape the notice of Western apologists.
Islam the Koran and its Teachings
The personal philosophy of Mohammad embedded in his Islamic theology demands violence. This violence is directed not only against non-believers but also women. The widely used veil and burqa [in use since pagan times in most cultures] denotes the woman as private property. Not wearing a veil suggests a woman is a prostitute. Polygamy is the manifestation of the Islamic view of the woman as a pleasure toy for men, and an agent of domestic support. Polygamy and veiling women are expressions of centralized control and forceful violence. As one historian states;
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"This is why historically Christianity is associated with political freedom. Those who govern themselves morally do not need a strong central government power to maintain social order. Conversely Islam for all its high moral teachings, enforces them with external control."[Gene Veith, ‘Heart Problems’, World, May 3 2003, p. 13]
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In Islam women are deemed to be a threat to society and are thus controlled. As Mohammad himself stated, “A woman comes in the image of the devil, and leaves in the image of the devil.” [Fadl, God’s Name, p. 275] This lack of equality, justice and compassion imbues and activates Islamic thought. Such precepts contradict Christianity.
Islamic violence extends of course to non-believers as well. The Koran has innumerable passages inciting holy war and violent Jihad. It promotes the killing of non-believers and the use of force to destroy those who will not convert. Contrary to Western apologists Jihad has nothing to do with improving one’s spirituality. It is directed at the conversion or extirpation of non-believers. In the Bible the Old Testament adjures its people to fight against specific enemies of the Israeli tribe. It does not command the Jews or Christians to exterminate non-believers. Importantly as well there is not one line inciting violence in the New Testament. The same cannot be said for the Koran, the supposed book of peace. Koranic text inciting violence would include:
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“kill the disbelievers wherever we find them" (2:191)”;
"fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem" (9:5);
"slay or crucify or cut the hands and feet of the unbelievers, that they be expelled from the land with disgrace and that they shall have a great punishment in world hereafter" (5:34).
“And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out ….persecution is severer than slaughter, …then slay them, such is the consequence of the unbelievers” [Sura 2:191]
‘Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world’s life for hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then he be slain or he be victorious. We shall grant him a mighty reward.” [Sura 4:74]
‘…then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper’ [Sura 4:89]
“I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them’ [Sura 8:12]
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah…nor follow the religion of truth….until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.” [Sura 9:29]
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[Islam the Great Divide, Appendix A, others@
The above passages hardly sound like a theology of peace. I challenge anyone to find similar passages in the New Testament. It is clear that Islam has little to do with compassion, charity, equality, love, respect for the poor, respect for women or individual responsibility. It is a religion of power, force, and coercion.
Some wits will of course point to verses in the Koran that discuss peace. First peace in the Islamic sense of the word means submission, not peace as Westerners understand it. Second according to the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and others, compassionate Koranic verses come from the time before Mohammed seized absolute power. After Mohammad achieved absolute dictatorship his methods [violence in lieu of preaching] and his words changed drastically. As already discussed Mohammad was a vindictive, violent man who used killing to subjugate and spread his political doctrine.
Peace has never been at the root of Islamic expression. Fear, anger, hatred, and envy permeate Islamic belief. Bernard Lewis a foremost expert on Islam claims that for Muslims,
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"What is truly evil and unacceptable is the domination of infidels over true believers. For true believers to rule misbelievers is proper and natural, since this provides for the maintenance of the holy law, and gives the misbelievers both the opportunity and the incentive to embrace the true faith. But for misbelievers to rule over true believers is blasphemous and unnatural, since it leads to the corruption of religion and morality in society, and to the flouting or even the abrogation of God's law."
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In fact the intolerance for non-believers is so stringent, that Islam is incapable of understanding, using or accepting outside influences and viewpoints. As historian Paul Johnson argued in the National Review, "in all countries where Islamic law is applied, converts, whether compulsory or not, who revert to their earlier faith, are punished by death." It is hard to imagine such great intolerance and fear of other thoughts, passions and ideals. It signifies a state owned fascist representation of the world in which no dissent can be accepted. When viewed historically and when analyzed objectively it is clear that Islam is not a religion of diversity, debate, reform, introspection or tolerance. It is myopic, monolithic, and intolerant of dissent or doubt.
Church and State
No where is Islamic intolerance more obvious than in the melding of the Church and State. Islam is more a political doctrine of control than a religion. There is very little real spirituality that emanates from Islam in which equality, respect, charity, compassion, responsibility and love are honored. Islam demands and orders submission. This political ideal necessitates the control by the State over theology. Christianity is totally different. It renders to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God and to the self what God and self demand.
Islam does not render anything to anyone. The person is submerged in Islamic submission. Such submission takes not only the form of obedience to Koranic doctrine, but to the interpreters of the Koran – be they mullahs, dictators or fascists. Islam is the perfect ideological cover for fascism. Much like Nazi paganism Islam elevates the group over the individual, conformity over individualism, tradition over science, ritual over dynamism and communitarianism over free will. Mohammad himself declared that he was not only a prophet [untrue] but also the ruler of Islam. The prophet acted out political and military decisions much as any secular ruler did. Mohammad decreed and most Muslims accept, that Allah wants the state and the church to be one. This is indicated by the Sharia law – the law of the Islamic state that is binding on all citizens.
Without a separation of Church and State society is fascist in its organization and religion becomes a state program, not of spirituality, but of control. Islam is the perfect embodiment of this pagan ideal – the destruction of the individual and the elevation of the group and state.
Islam’s Economic and Intellectual Failure
In his book ‘Why I am not a Muslim’ former Muslim Ibn Warraq states that, ‘There is a persistent myth that Islam encouraged science.’ [273] He further states that Muslims have always been suspicious of knowledge for its own sake, and intellectual debate and inquiry is deemed to be a danger to the faith [273]. The general myth is that Islam was a great center of scientific and cultured advancement. This is untrue. Compared to the Christian era of scientific, technological and intellectual advancement [800 – present day], Islam has contributed very little to the corpus of important advancements in any area. There is no comparing the West’s contribution from Francis Bacon I through the Enlightenment and various western economic and scientific revolutions with Islam. Simply put Islam has not produced anything of great value.
Most Islamic apologists point to the era of 700-1100 as one of glorious Arab achievement. But on close inspection this is false. Science in this era of Islam was based on translations of Greek and Syriac texts, not on independent empirical induction – a method that was a Western invention [see Francis Bacon I]. Second, Nestorian Christians were the ones who translated the Greek texts on science, philosophy and math. This was true in Spain as well as in the Near East. Jews were also prominent in translating and interpreting ancient Greek texts.
Translating texts and using Greek ideas while noble does not constitute great advancement. Arabs in the 9th century did not improve on the works of the Greeks. They added nothing new. Nor did they accept for over 200 years the Indian numerals and algebra which make higher mathematics possible. As one analyst writes, ‘In general the achievement of the Arabs in pure mathematics is below the Greeks in geometry and below the Hindus in algebra.’[Singer, A Short History of Scientific Ideas]. Math is the language of science and the lack of advancement by the Muslims in math, meant a corresponding lack of scientific innovation. In medicine, agriculture, astronomy, architecture and philosophy Arab methods during their ‘golden age’ were either the same as, or inferior to the ancient Greeks or Romans. Even in ‘Dark’ Europe the Christians had learnt to build a harness around a horses shoulder which was a landmark invention in agricultural development and transport. Such a simple idea eluded the ‘advanced’ Arabs.
The Muslims have never discovered any scientific laws nor did they improve upon Greek medicine [Islam forbade the dissection of bodies and corporeal empiricism]. The Arabs never discovered: Kepler’s 3 laws of astronomy; Newton’s law of gravity; Pascal’s law of liquid pressure; Ohm’s law in electricity; Boyle’s law in chemistry; Kelvin’s absolute zero; Faraday’s electromagnetic induction, Dalton’s atomic weights, Lavoisier’s law of energy conservation, or Mendel’s hereditary laws. Muslims never discovered; bacteria, chloroform, disease inoculation, blood circulation, antiseptics, or cadaver dissection. All of the above came from the Judeo-Christian tradition of inquiry, experiment, induction and rational logic built up patiently over 2000 years.
Such backwardness in the theology and statism of Islam now shows itself in today’s world with broken economies, fascist governments, slave trading, female enslavement, the wanton destruction of outside influences and knowledge and a group of nations outside of main global trading patterns. Economic impotence, military incompetence, political corruption and mind-numbing education has led to ossified rigid societies incapable of free thought and inquiry and hence, mired in poverty. Islam thus finds recourse in violence and terror. The modern expressions of Islamic terror – rogue states, Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hussein, Arafat, Nasserism, Khomeneism, the Taliban and so on – are not historical oddities. They are very much part of the troubled, demented and violent statist program of fascist theology that has been hammering away at the West for 1400 years.
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