 ISLAM
and the Destruction of the World Trade Center.
Why would a group of young men study and train for a year or
more on how to kill themselves and thousands of innocent people?
The question becomes further complicated when we learn that they were a
religious group doing it for God. To
try to understand the reasoning behind this terrorist move one needs to study
the Islam religion and understand that within this religion, like with other
religions there are factions that become extremists on one side or the other.
To help understand how this tragedy could possibly occur one first needs
to know the history and basic teachings of Islam.
Islam began with Muhammad’s quest to find the absolute truth of God in
the midst of the many conflicting claims about the nature of God he saw with the
Jews, Christians, Meccan, idol-worshippers, etc., that claimed to be worshipping
God. He did not understand that if
they were all worshipping God, how could
the conflicts arise.
Influenced by earlier “hanifs” (monotheists who claimed to be
adhering to the religion of Abraham), Muhammad went off by himself in search of
the true one. It was in a cave on
Mount Hira where the first utterance that later became the Quran
were spoken through him. When
Muhammad died there was no exact provision for a successor to lead the new
community. This caused a split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims which
persist to this day.
The spread of Islam was extremely rapid because of its relative
simplicity. Within a hundred years
of the death of Muhammed, it had reached the Atlantic in one direction and the
borders of China in the other. It
now amounts to about a billion adherents, and is found in most countries of the
world. Islam is found in many
different styles although always expressing the same basic characteristics.
Essential
Beliefs of Islam:
Allah (God) -
Muslims are strictly monotheists, believing in the existence of only one
personal God that they refer to as Allah. Allah
is simply the Arabic term for God. They
misunderstand the Christian conception of the Trinity.
They view the elevating of Jesus (a created being) to the status of
divinity as committing the ultimate sin (ishrak or shirk).
The Muslims reject the concept God as Father and teach that although He
will have pity on all Muslims even though they sin, He does not love all men.
Scriptures-Islam accepts the divine inspiration of various revealed books including
the Torah, the Psalms of David, and the Injil or Gospel of Jesus.
This is not to be confused with the New Testament Gospels that Muslims
believe have been corrupted. For a
Muslim, the essence of the Gospel of Jesus was the same message that any Muslim
would bring: to obediently submit to the will of Allah.
The sacred book of Islam is the Quran (meaning "recitation"). Muslims believe the angel Gabriel revealed the Qur'an to
Muhammad and that it is eternal, existing with Allah in heaven.
The average Muslim has a high view of the Quran, believing that it has
been preserved perfectly through history and represents an exact copy of the
heavenly original. The Quran is divided into 114 chapters called suras
or surahs. Many Muslims reject the reliability of all translations
from the Arabic, but many others accept a translation and commentary by Yusif
Ali.
The Hereafter-The Muslim view
of the afterlife includes a future resurrection of the dead, a divine Day of
Judgment, eternal punishment, and paradise for believers.
Muslims believe that at the Day of Judgment paradise will be the reward
for those Muslims whose good deeds outweigh evil deeds.
The
Divine Decree-Many Muslims accept the complete and total sovereignty of God.
Therefore, everything that occurs happens because of Allah's sovereignty.
Jihad-The term jihad is one of the best-known terms of Islam in the Western
world, but one most misunderstood. The
term means "struggle," and Muslims differ over their understanding of
the meaning of the term in Muslim teaching.
Muslim intellectuals and scholars tend to view jihad as an intellectual
struggle in the arena of ideas, whereas others, such as radical terrorist groups
view it as a call for armed struggle, resistance, and terrorism.
Thus, Islam has an inner tension over interpreting this Quranic teaching
that generates great controversy in the twenty-first century.
Most Muslims would argue that when terrorist groups speak of jihad as an armed resistance they misuse Quranic teaching for their
own political ends.
What
Is Islam?
Islam is a very complicated and complex religion, far more so than
Judaism or Christianity.
To
a Muslim, Islam is a complete system that encompasses every aspect of society.
The Laws of Islam meet not only the religious and moral codes of a
society, but the political, economical and ethical codes as well.
The word Islam means
“submission to Allah,” and a Muslim is the one who submits to Islam.
This is a total surrender to Allah, a god who is absolute in everything
and totalitarian in his ways of converting and subjecting his creations.
To become a Muslim is to become a slave of Allah.
Many Muslims are called Abd-Allah, meaning “a slave to Allah.”
True
Islam Is Militant
Some may argue that a true Muslim is not militant.
On the contrary, this is the very nature and teaching of Islam.
Khomeini (Iranian leader) in his book, The
Hokumat-e-Islami (Islamic Rule), clearly identifies his ideologies, claims
and views as a revival of a tradition he traces to Muhammad, the prophet of
Islam.
A well-known Muslim saying states, “One must wash blood
with blood.” Islam has left
a fingerprint of blood through every page of its history, beginning with Hijra
up to today. The spirit that
advocated Islam is a bloodthirsty spirit that wages war and division. It is a spirit of revenge and retaliation.
Its purpose is to create hate, sorrows, mourning and confusion.
The following statement by Hussein Musawi, the leader of the Islamic Amal
movement, illustrates such a spirit:
This path is the path of blood, the path of martyrdom.
For us death is easier than smoking a cigarette if it comes while
fighting for the cause of God and while defending the oppressed.1
Thus it is easy
to see that to a Muslim, dying and killing for the cause of Islam is not only an
honor, but also a way of pleasing Allah.
When one compares those beliefs and teachings to some of the teachings
found in the Koran it becomes easy to understand how a group of men would be
willing to train for about a year on how to crash an airplane into a building
killing all aboard and in the buildings.
To quote just a few verses from the Koran we can see a clear picture of
this teaching, we have included the Sura chapter and verse for each.
“And
slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned
you out, for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter.” 2:191
“Fighting
is prescribed for you, and you dislike it.
But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and
that you love a thing which is bad for you.
But Allah knows, and you know not.” 2:216
“Let
those fight in the cause of Allah who see the life of this world for the
Hereafter. To him who fights in the
cause of Allah – whether he is slain or gets victory – soon shall We give
him a reward of great value.” 4:74
“Fight them
and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you to
victory over them, heal the breasts of the Believers.” 9:14
“Strike terror
[into the hearts of] the enemies of God and your enemies.” 8:60
“Fight and
slay the pagans wherever you find them.”
9:9
“Oh
you who believe do not take the Jews and Christians for friends.
They are friends of each other and whosoever is amongst you takes them
for a friend… Surely he is one of them.”
5:51
The very passages you read above and many more like it are being taught
to little children throughout the world. This
“religious training” is virtually guaranteeing that the next generation of
terrorists is being groomed for violence and hatred while America digs out from
the rubble of the last attacks. We
need to find ways to reach out to the Muslims and bring them to the love of
Jesus Christ.
Thus the religion of Islam when carried to the extreme can lead its
believers to kill or die for the cause they blindly follow.
If it is an honor to die for God and it is also a command to serve God in
that nature a follower has little choice. As
Christians we need to introduce the saving grace of Jesus Christ and teach our
brothers about the free gift of salvation.
End
Notes
1. Robin Wright, In
The Name of God: The Khomeini Decade, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1989,
p.99.
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TLEM