Islam, The Delimma

Over two years ago, I read "Secrets Of The Koran" by Don Richardson. I wish this were required reading. My reasons for reading the book were:

1. To compare Islam with Christianity.
   
2. To learn about Islam. Islam is the 3rd largest religion in the world and the fastest growing. There are approximately 1.3 billion Muslims in the world.

At first I thought the book was a comparative study of Islam and Christianity. It is not. It is an exposè of the underlying violence in the Koran and in Islam. This includes the beheading of between 500 - 900 Jewish men in 630 A.D. at Medina. The victims refused to acknowledge Muhammad as a prophet. The Koran prescribes decapitation for infidels who won't convert to Islam or pay exoribitant taxs, and for all apostates. This tradition continues into the present.

9-11, London, Madrid, and others are examples of the large scale violence sponsored by extreme Muslims who rely on the Koran for direction and doctrine. Theo Van Gogh was publicly assassinated for opposing Islam.

• More recently, eleven people were killed because a Koran was allegedly defiled in a prison. Kidnappings in Iraq too often result in decapitation.
  
• The Muslim world protested and many of all faiths died, because of cartoons published in Denmark depicting Muhammad unfavorably. The focus of the riots expanded beyond the original protest against the cartoons; and often became a generalized protest against non Muslims.
  
• There is violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq over the defamation or destruction of sacred sites. Concern has been expressed that this sectarian violence could expand to a world wide conflict between the three main Muslim sects, Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. The Shiites and Sunnis have been fighting each other since A. D. 680 over the authenticity of the 4th Caliph (successor to Mohammed).
  
• Islam has hundreds of different sects. Many of these consider fellow Muslims of different sects infidels, worthy of death. Sunni Islam, for example, is not tolerant of other Islamic sects. Yet, the Sunni’s are estimated to represent 90% of all Muslims.

Extreme Muslims have shown enmity towards Jews, Christians, non-Muslims and Muslims for generations. This often resulted in slavery which is an all too recent epoch of Muslim history. Slave raids from Muslim states into Christian areas of Africa were suspected as late as 1995 and some suggest it goes on to this day. Saudi Arabia outlawed slavery in 1965. Muslim Sudan only in 1991.

The word Islam means submission. The faith demonstrates little concern for human rights. Women are considered chattels. They are covered from head to foot and sometimes sexually mutilated to reduce or eliminate their sensuality. Man's reward for dying in the name of Allah is an eternal supply of virgins waiting for him in heaven. (The number of virgins quoted is 70 - apparently each with perpetual virginity.)

The media refers to the activists as Muslims extremists. They claim moderate Muslims are peace loving. This is undoubtedly true; however, the extremists have the support of the scriptures in the Koran. Most notably are the 109 War Verses. I.e: Koran 8:12-13 "Strike off their heads. Strike off their finger-tips!. . . because they defied God and His Apostle" (N. J. Dawood translation, 1999). This verse was used to justify the slaughter of 1 million Armenian Christians in eastern Turkey in the early 1900s. Such verses are used today to justify the ongoing violence. The decapitations during the war in Iraq are not a new atrocity deployed by extremists or terrorists. Decapitation is a tradition that dates back to Mohammed in Medina during the beginning of the Islam faith around 630 A.D.

Christians are often reminded of the violent acts committed in the name of Christ such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the violence in Northern Ireland between the Protestants and the Catholics, to name a few. These occurred for sure; but, it is important to note that violence is not supported by the New Testament, the Christian source for doctrine. Christian doctrine is predicated upon love, see Matthew 22:37-40 in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. So the events above, while in the name of Christ, were not consistent with the teachings of Christ or the doctrines of Christianity. The bottom line is: In Christian doctrine, Christ served. In Islamic doctrine, Muhammad conquered. This defines differences beyond religious ideology. It defines different cultural mores. One, a culture at odds with man's penchant for violence; and the other, a culture consistent with man's penchant for violence. Each is so foreign to the other that it is not valid to develop behavioral expectations for extreme Muslims from the perspective of Judeo-Christian traditions.

Recently, I heard a statement from a Muslim leader in Algeria asserting that their goal is to make Africa the first completely Muslim continent. Muslim states often become theocracies with the state subservient to the Islamic faith. The Koran is their legal foundation. This is their intent for the world.

The non Muslim world faces challenges with a rapidly expanding and migrating Muslim population. Muslims migrating to Europe are usually employed at the lower end of the economic scale. This was the cause for the recent riots in France. How does a Western culture accommodate a group that does not want to assimilate? Again, the word Islam means submission. The Muslim goal is to bring the world to Islam (submission).

Most religions assimilate into the cultures they inhabit. They may maintain their customs; but, they function within the society. It is easy to spot a Hasidic Jew in New York City; but, he is not normally considered an enemy or a threat to non Jews. Judeo-Christian tradition doesn't require submission or death to non believers. The Koran does.

Western society is going through an era of over concern for 'political correctness'. It is now incorrect to name a sports team after an Indian/Native American tribe. (I'm of Norwegian descent, should I protest the Minnesota Vikings?)

We have become so afraid of offending others that we tried to take the Christmas out of the Christmas tree, outlaw the Nativity in public; and yet, allow the Menorah to be displayed as a non religious object. We have 7th graders dress in Muslim clothes, study the Koran and play a board game that emulates a jihad (Byron, California). New York City sets aside public classrooms for Islamic prayer rituals. Yet, Americans have to fight in court to say "One nation under God" . This is distorted.

Professing ourselves wise, we became fools, as in Rom 1:22, substituting common sense for a fear of offending anyone (even the offensive). It will be a new and refreshing moment when we re-discover that the majority has equal rights with the minorities. Minorities that have extreme elements pose a real threat to our social organization. If only one in a thousand is an extremist and one of those is a suicide bomber, we have a problem.

My concern is that in our perception of political correctness, we will complacently overlook real danger. Extremism is a danger under any cloak. Somebody who is poor and hungry and told he will have access to 70 virgins for eternity if he but dies for Allah, is a danger to whatever part of the world he occupies. As the Muslim population grows, so the extreme Muslim population grows. While we embrace the peace loving Muslims in our midst, we must be alert to the neighboring extreme Muslims who use the violence of the Koran as their authority. Yes, it is politically correct to avoid stereotypes. But, taken too far, can this hurt us in reverse? Have we become blind to the enemy in our midst because our fear of appearing xenophobic? Do we endanger ourselves by adopting extreme appeasement?

I will welcome into my home any faith or ethnic group so long as they adhere to a caveat put forth by the late Dr. Albert Schweitzer: "Any religion or philosophy which is not based on a respect for life is not a true religion or philosophy." Schweitzer continues, "Just as white light consists of colored rays, so Reverence for Life contains all the components of ethics: love, kindness, sympathy, empathy, peacefulness, power to forgive."

How similar to the NT Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.