A Muslim crossroads: Millions gather against blasphemous depictions but similar numbers are not seen protesting against ISIS

Muslims at Crossroads | www.WorldMuslimCongress.com


Sadia's article below is pointed and accurate description of the state of the Muslims. She has given a good warning in her last sentence.

On the issue of rally, she has forgotten as Mr. Khalid Azam pointed it out that Deoband held a huge anti-ISIS rally last year and I remember lakhs of clergy and Muslims signing the condemnation. By the way we at the American Muslim Institution held the first anti-Terrorism and anti-ISIS really in the United States on the steps of Lincoln Memorial. Much has been written about it on this blog as well as the American Muslim Institution.org

Mike Ghouse
www.MuslimSpeaker.com 

# # #   

A Muslim crossroads: Millions gather against blasphemous depictions but similar numbers are not seen protesting against ISIS

January 22, 2016, 2:54 AM IST Sadia Dehlvi in TOI Edit Page | Edit Page, India | TOI

Courtesy - Times of India

Be it, Indonesia, Paris, Pakistan, America, Africa, Iraq, India or any place else, whenever terror strikes, Muslims experience multiple emotions ranging from shock, disbelief, anger, and fear of backlash. Clearly, the usual response, �Islam is a religion of peace�, rings hollow in the midst of the brutalities and slaughter that Muslim terrorists are perpetrating. Sadly, they are succeeding in globally projecting Islam as inherently violent.

Terrorists have already hijacked the word jihad, a beautiful word, with multiple meanings, once best defined as the struggle against the self to purify the soul of spiritual maladies.

Fortunately, India has the least number of ISIS sympathisers amongst Muslim communities worldwide. This goes to the credit of Indian Muslims, and their clerics, who barring the odd one, do not rave and rant, nor breed terror in madrasas, or fuel the divide between various groups within Muslims, saving us from the sectarian strife plaguing most Muslim countries.

Nothing defames Islam more than ISIS using the image of Prophet Muhammad�s seal on their flag. This is worse than cartoons or writings that attack core Islamic values. Millions gather against blasphemous media depictions, and for religious congregations, such as the recent Bhishwa Ijtema near Dhaka attended by Muslims from about 150 countries. When similar numbers are not seen protesting against ISIS, or the hacking of bloggers in Bangladesh, it is time to recognise the serious problems with mainstream Islamic discourse.

As opposed to traditional Islam, focus has shifted from tasawuff, spirituality to fiqh, jurisprudence. Islam needs rejuvenation, where law is again reconciled with spirituality, and justice tempered with compassion, God�s principle attribute and overriding tenet of Islam.

Cornered, Muslims are defining themselves in terms of �who we are not�, rather than �who we are�. If we proclaim that terrorists are not Muslims, we replicate their way, for they declare Muslims who don�t believe in their ideology as non-Muslims and kill them.

Conspiracy theories of ISIS as Israelis Jews masquerading as Muslims are delusional. Facts reveal that terrorist groups continue to be funded by some Muslim states and rich Muslims. �Nothing to do with Islam�, is poor defence, because terrorists quote the Quran. They do this selectively, ignoring its totalitarian wisdom that explicitly orders to repel evil with good, abhors those spreading fitna (social strife) that violates an atmosphere of peace.

Rather than through contributions to sciences, arts and gender justice, we have allowed hijab to define Islam. Why are Muslim voices defending the right to choose wearing the hijab louder than those against enforcing it legally to subjugate women? Not mandatory in Islam, the increased use of the black abaya and headscarf hijab are signs of the increasingly successful export of the hegemonic religious and cultural discourse of some oil rich Arab states. For the last 1,300 years, Islam has not been an archaic unchanging Arab religion. Today, Arabs comprise just 8% of the world�s 1.5 billion Muslims.

Groups like ISIS sell Muslims the dream of returning to some imagined ideal Islamic state, suggesting that Islamic history has failed and they are here to correct it. Islamic civilisation has witnessed a glorious history powered by cultural diversities of largely non-Arab Muslim communities. It created literary, scientific, architectural, philosophical and cultural marvels, which fuelled the Renaissance, carrying its light to Europe.

Hypocrites, terrorists reject modernity, but use its fruits such as modern weaponry, and the internet to propagate their diseased ideology. If not watchful, ISIS, al-Qaida, Boko Haram, Taliban, and their like will push Muslims into the Dark Ages, when unlike Islam, Christianity had serious problems reconciling with science and reason.

The debates on modernity are complex, because while claiming to return to first century Islam, terrorists actually use modern Salafi Wahabi Islamic texts to justify their actions. Salafis reject centuries of Islamic philosophy and teachings, which approaches the Quran as a spiritual treatise and not a political document. Dry, rigid Wahabi narratives do not leave room even for creative expressions of devotion, destroying the rich and textured legacy of indigenous Muslim communities and their local traditions.

Shaykh Google and fatwa dotcoms are by default part of the problem. Radical imams and hundreds of young Muslims are feeling obliged to spread Islam and correct the ways of whom they think as wayward Muslims. But recent studies prove that the majority of new Muslims do not embrace Islam overnight due to pamphlet distribution or through YouTube or television shows. Most conversions take place over years of interaction with Muslims, impacted by their kindness, generosity, values and unwavering devotion to God.

WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter have made it impossible to escape the cacophony of the words �shirk, bidah, haram� (meaning idolatry, innovation and unlawful) by fellow Muslims. Instead of calling to moral excellence, this propagation of an exclusivist fatwa and finger pointing Islam based on trivia is sheer ignorance, arrogance and stupidity.

Unfortunately, the internet can lead to gross misguidance. Viewing remains largely unmonitored by family elders, depriving of traditional learning through sohbat � companionship of the wise and enlightened. These are challenging times for Muslims, and unless the continuing rhetoric of rage, revenge, conspiracies, blasphemy, evangelism and damning the �other�, is shed, the word Islam is in danger of being used derogatorily, much like the word jihad.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

Must Read Book: HOUSE OF WAR: ISLAM�S JIHAD AGAINST THE WORLD, by Gregory Davis

This is a timely publication which provides a penetrating examination of Islam, its religious and political dimensions, and the "clear and present danger" to Christians and Western Civilization which arises from its ideology. It is a relatively slim volume (208 pages), yet is densely packed and rock-ribbed, and makes for a great introduction or handy reference on the threat of Islam.

What is perhaps most amazing is that, although this work was first published several years ago in hardcover, and therefore lacks any specific reference to ISIS (the Islamic State Caliphate) or certain other jihad terrorist groups which formed more recently, it is shockingly contemporary, as jihad ideology itself is essentially unchanged from the days of its founder, Muhammad. As one reads 'House of War', one experiences a steady flash of light bulbs turning on, of "Aha! moments", as the true goals and motivations of Muslim extremists are detailed from the supremacist sacred texts of Islam.

The author, Gregory Davis, is an Orthodox Christian, and a dear friend and encourager to me. The original edition of this book, and his documentary film, Islam: What the West Needs to Know, were two of my early sources which spurred me on to write Facing Islam and launch this blog. I cannot commend Greg's work highly enough.

Order two copies and share one with that interested soul looking to understand Islam. Publisher's description and link to order below.



HOUSE OF WAR: ISLAM�S JIHAD AGAINST THE WORLD
by G.M. Davis, PhD
Paperback, 208 pages; also available in autographed edition.
WND Books, July 2015

Over the past several decades, countless wars and terrorist attacks have been perpetrated by various groups and individuals claiming to act in the name of Islam. Yet Western leaders of virtually every stripe and party have consistently affirmed their belief that, despite the violence done in its name, Islam is a "religion of peace." 

The critical question is, who is right? Do Muslims who wage violent jihad against unbelievers fundamentally misunderstand their own religion? Or are Western leaders taking refuge in a comfortable fiction while shielding themselves from an exceedingly difficult truth? 

With the West engaged in military operations in multiple Islamic countries and with growing Muslim minorities at home, the answer is of critical importance to the future of Western Civilization.

Relying primarily on Islam's own sources, "House of War: Islam's Jihad Against the World," formerly "Religion of Peace? Islam's War Against the World" and now available in paperback, cogently demonstrates that Islam is a violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the subjugation and destruction of other faiths, cultures and systems of government. 

Islam is as much a system of government as it is a religion, and it seeks to extend its own peculiar legal code, Sharia law, over the entire world. Islamic doctrine divides the world into two conflicting realms: the House of Islam, where Islamic law holds sway, and the House of War, the rest of the world on which war must be waged until Islam is triumphant. The "peace" that Islam seeks is a world united by the Islamic faith and Sharia law in which all other faiths and political regimes have been suppressed or eliminated. "Jihad" is the violent struggle against the House of War world to bring it into "submission" (the Arabic meaning of the word "Islam") to Islamic rule.

Westerners have been indoctrinated to believe that the jihadists they see on television are extremists who have twisted their religion to serve a violent purpose. In fact, their actions are right out of orthodox Islam and are grounded in the Koran and the life of Muhammad. 

By delving into the Islamic writings, Davis reveals the fastest-growing religion in the world for what it is: a violent, expansionary ideology that poses an existential threat to Western Civilization � a fact to which Western leaders remain determinedly blind.

Order now from WND Superstore...

Editorial Reviews

�A very important work at a very important time. Anyone interested in understanding the growing violence on the world scene today must read this book. Its message for America and the West is, �Wake up before it's too late.�" � Gary Bauer, president, American Values

�A valuable, well-argued contribution to the public understanding of Islam . . . [House of War] conveys in a short space what the West needs to know about Islam: that its violent aspects are not the result of deviance but of orthodoxy.� � Robert Spencer, director, www.JihadWatch.com

�This book provides a timely reality check. . . . The refusal of the elite class to open its eyes to reality and protect Western nations from the threat is the biggest betrayal in history.� � Serge Trifkovic, author of "The Sword of the Prophet" and "Defeating Jihad"

About the Author

G.M. Davis is an author and filmmaker. He graduated from the University of Rochester in 1997 with a B.A. in political science, and from Stanford in 2003 with a Ph.D. in the same area of study. In 2005, he produced and directed the feature documentary "Islam: What the West Needs to Know."

WND Exclusive Autographed Edition

Also available in a special "Autographed Edition." Signed books are precious treasures. An autographed book from your favorite author can turn an item of personal value into a cherished keepsake and a wonderful addition to any book collection.

Order now from WND Superstore...

Pakistan: Christian Flood Victims Forced to Renounce Jesus Christ, Become Slaves to Muslims or Die

Sharia applied to disaster relief for Christians in the Muslim country of Pakistan: 

"More than 60 Christian families in the western Pakistani region of Kasur lost their homes and all worldly possessions when the deluge hit this summer... left to starve if they don't convert to Islam or become modern-day slaves in order to receive help from Muslims or the government..."

by Samuel Smith, Christian Post, via Pravoslavie, August 26, 2015

As torrential flooding spanned across various regions of Pakistan this summer and washed away thousands of homes, Christians in Kasur have received very little humanitarian aid and have been left to starve if they don't convert to Islam or become modern-day slaves in order to receive help from Muslims or the government.

Wilson Chowdhry, the president of the British Pakistani Christian Association, told The Christian Post that there are more than 60 Christian families in the western Pakistani region of Kasur that have lost their homes and all worldly possessions when the deluge hit this summer and washed their mud homes and everything inside them away.

While Muslims in the region have benefited from temporary shelter, clean water and food provided by Pakistani government agencies and Muslim charities, Christians have largely been without those bare necessities and medication needed to fight illnesses that can occur after flooding.

Chowdhry explained that some Muslim charities are giving Christians the option to convert to Islam and renounce Jesus if they want to receive help.

"We are are aware that this community has previously been offered aid from Muslim charities if they convert but they never accept conversion. They hold strong to their faith. They believe God will be their provider," Chowdhry explained. "These families have literally been struggling without food. Churches have opened up their doors but can't provide them much aid because the churches themselves in the region are struggling. We are talking about a very rural part of Pakistan."

Chowdhry added that as desperation started to get the best of the Christian population in Kasur, many Kasur Christians ended up signing bonded labor contracts in order to receive aid from Muslim landlords before BPCA arrived in the region.

"We have come in very late. We first went to Layyah and Gilgit, but if we could have arrived [in Kasur] seven days earlier, there could have been more lives that we potentially could have saved from this modern-day slavery," Chowdhry said. "Several families have already now signed contracts, which has now made them slaves for their Muslim landlords."

Although the flooding hit other regions like Layyah and Gilgit, Chowdhry stated that through "the grace of God," Christians in those areas were "unaffected" by the flooding. After BPCA officer Naveed Aziz visited Christians in Layyah and Gilgit, he then made his way to Kasur where he noticed that Christians in that region were not as fortunate.

"I was shocked at the immense devastation before me it was a lot to take in," Aziz said in a statement. "People are in real desperation and children are starving. I am surprised and shocked at the lack of help from Pakistani authorities."

As flooding has become a consistent problem for Pakistan over the last five years, Chowdhry said it "is not unusual" for the government to overlook helping the Christian communities.

"When it comes to flooding of Christian communities, the government seems to back away. Whereas with Muslim communities, they go straight in there, so do the Muslim charities," Chowdhry said. "Muslim charities depend upon their Muslim supporters for their donations to continue. So, helping Muslims helps support their particular group and the publicity that it generates for them."

The BPCA will aid 60 Christian families from two different Christian communities in Kasur. BPCA will provide basic food items like rice, flour and curry to help prevent those communities from starving. Additionally, the BPCA will provide medication for Dengue fever.

"I'm sure there is more, but these are the 60 families that we are going to be able to help. Anything larger scale than that, we are going to need to have a lot more resources," Chowdhry asserted. "They will literally be eating bread for the duration of the time that we are helping. That's what we can provide. It is a very basic but healthy enough to help them continue in the sustenance they need."

With donations from an unnamed African church, BPCA also plans to build three water pumps in the region to help get those communities access to fresh drinking water.

BPCA would love to provide more for the distressed community in Kasur, but only has enough funds to provide what little the organization can. BPCA started a fundraising effort to help Christian flood victims, however, the effort has only raised the equivalent of $392.

"To be honest with you, Christians and their lack of support, its very frustrating," Chowdhry admitted. "We do what little we can with the donations that are coming through. We are giving very basic meals at the moment. Luckily, we have the funding for the pumps from another group. People really need to dig down."

"In Matthew 25:40, which goes something like the King will say, 'When you have done it for the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you are doing it me,'" Chowdhry recited. "People need to kind of reflect on that, as Christians we need to help the needy."

Chowdhry is also calling on the Pakistani government to stop ignoring the Christian community and put in place infrastructure that will help limit damage caused by flooding.

"Our dams are outdated. There needs to be more dams restored. They need to be larger-size dams, those that would work more efficiently," Chowdhry argued. "In tandem with this, there has to be a more coordinated approach toward the damn [sic] infrastructure with India."

'Breaking of the Crosses' in Syracuse Part 2: The Sharia Doctrine against the Cross

The huge response to my recent post on the conversion into a mosque of a century-old Roman Catholic church in Syracuse, NY, gives us reason and opportunity to explore Islamic hatred of Christianity and the Cross in more depth. 

This well-researched article by Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project elaborates the sharia doctrine behind Islam's jihad against the Cross, and helps explain the significance of Muslims breaking and covering 10,000 crosses in Syracuse.

We will only see more such examples of Islam's jihad against Christianity and the Cross in the dark days ahead. This is truly a Sign of the Apocalypse.

Al-Qaeda Declares 'We Must Eliminate the Cross'

This follows sharia doctrine that says Christianity's ultimate elimination will be carried out by Jesus,who is really an Islamist.

by Ryan Mauro, The Clarion Project (originally posted April 27, 2014)

Senior Al Qaeda leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi recently appeared in a video made in Yemen during the largest and most dangerous gathering of Al Qaeda in recent years.

Al Qaeda recently released a video of a large meeting in Yemen showing senior leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi preaching, �We must eliminate the cross� and explained that, �The bearer of the cross is America.�

Al-Wuhayshi was referencing sharia doctrine about the ultimate elimination of Christianity at the hands of the Islamist version of Jesus. It couldn�t be clearer: Their jihad is not about Western foreign policy. It�s about global conquest.

The Al Qaeda leader�s comment is important because it displays the end goal of even the �moderate� Islamists who insist that sharia governance is tolerant to Christians and Jews because it does not require a change in faith.

In truth, the system is designed to contain Christianity and Judaism and minimize their sustainability, but even this modicum of acceptance is not permanent.

Mainstream sharia doctrine holds that Jesus was not crucified or resurrected, but instead ascended to heaven. According to the doctrine, one day he will return to defeat the Islamic version of the Antichrist, which is called the Dajjal.

IslamWeb, a website that honors Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef al-Qaradawi, states in Fatwa 82061 that �the first people to follow him [the Dajjal] will be the Jews.� The Antichrist will be on earth for 40 days and then Jesus �will come down from heaven and kill him.�

IslamWeb Fatwa 124824 says Jesus will �break some crosses and command people to do the same�... 

The objective is to make Christians accept that their interpretation of Jesus is wrong and to convert to Islam.

Islamist teaching about the Dajjal foments anti-Semitism and depicts Jesus as someone who -- alongside the Muslims -- will fight the Jews. Islamic scholar Imran Nazar Hosein preached in 2011 that the Dajjal will have an army of 70,000 Jews from Isfahan, Iran �externally appearing to be Muslims.� Egyptian Sheikh Mahmoud al-Masry says the same thing, adding that the Dajjal will be born to a Jewish woman in Isfahan and reign from Jerusalem.

IslamWeb Fatwa 124824 says Jesus will �break some crosses and command people to do the same� and will also �prohibit keeping them.� The objective is to make Christians accept that their interpretation of Jesus is wrong and to convert to Islam.

OnIslam.net, a website where Muslims can ask Islamic scholars questions, says Jesus �will declare himself as a prophet of Islam, coming to correct his message and to unite all the believers under the banner of Islam.� Jesus will then abolish the jizya, the mandatory tax paid by non-Muslims under sharia governance.

This prophetic absorption of Christianity into Islam is what is envisioned by the United Muslim Christian Forum, an Islamist terrorist front group, when it talks about bringing the two religions together into a single bloc.

Sharia will be the only government and Islam the only faith. The Reliance of the Traveller, an authoritative Sharia manual endorsed by Egypt�s Al-Azhar University (the highest school of Sunni learning) and the Muslim Brotherhood-linked International Institute of Islamic Thought, says in section 09.8:

�After his [Jesus] final coming, nothing but Islam will be accepted from them [Jews and Christians], for taking the poll tax [jizya] is only effective until Jesus� descent�The coming of Jesus does not entail a separate divinely revealed law, for he will rule by the law of Mohammed��

IslamWeb Fatwa 82052 explains that Jesus will

�implement Islamic rules, and He will fight against the present Idolatrous Christianity. The most correct evidence shows that he is still alive, has not yet died, after Almighty Allah rescued him from the guilty Jews.�

Sharia doctrine further explains that Christians who convert at this time will go to Paradise. As for Christians and other non-Muslims who did not live for this prophetic time, they will be judged one day by Jesus. Anyone who ever lived and heard the message of Islam and did not convert will have Jesus as a �witness� against them on the Day of Judgment, according to Fatwa 82052.

These fatwas reference the hadith, or the collection of narrations about Mohammed�s life, as the source for their determinations. Muslims often disagree about the authenticity, interpretation and correct application of the different hadiths, but the top sharia scholars are united in their beliefs about Jesus� role in prophecy and his destruction of crosses.

The Islamist offensiveness at the sight of a cross comes from these teachings about Sharia. Since they believe Jesus finds it so offensive that he will one day break the crosses, these Islamists believe they are commanded to likewise be offended by Christianity and the symbol of the cross in particular.

There is disagreement among Islamists about when Christians are acceptable targets, but Islamist terrorists like Al-Qaeda can cite authoritative Sharia rulings to show that attacks on Christianity are permitted before Jesus� descent from heaven.

A worldview that says �we must eliminate the cross� cannot be changed by political [or religious] dialogue...

When Islamists destroy crosses or talk of destroying the cross, they are emulating the anger they believe Jesus has towards the cross. They are acting as they believe Jesus would if he were on earth today. This is the source for al-Wuhayshi�s statement that �we must eliminate the cross.�

This is also why Christian girls in Egypt are having their necklaces with crosses broken. It is also why Islamists in Libya destroyed a cross (along with the gravestones) at a gravesite for British soldiers who died there fighting the Axis powers.

Section o9.8 of Reliance of the Traveler states that a caliph (the leader of a caliphate) �makes war upon Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians� after first giving them a chance to convert or submit to sharia governance and agreeing to pay the jizya. Some Islamists argue that the resurrection of the caliphate is required for this war to commence, but that�s not exactly a reassuring qualification.

The Distinguished Jurist�s Primer by Ibn Rushd was published by the Qatar-based Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization and endorsed by a list of prestigious Islamist scholars including Qaradawi, members of Al-Azhar and the Qatari government. Section 101.1.7 of the Primer states, 

�The Muslim jurists agreed that the purpose of fighting the People of the Book, excluding the (Qurayshite) People of the Book and the Christian Arabs, is one of two things: it is either for their conversion to Islam or the payment of jizya.�

Islamist terrorists like Al-Qaeda who target Christians and Western civilization believe they are doing the work of Allah and, ironically, Jesus. A worldview that says �we must eliminate the cross� cannot be changed by political dialogue and foreign policy alterations.

 _______

Ryan Mauro is the ClarionProject.org�s National Security Analyst, a fellow with the Clarion Project and is frequently interviewed on top-tier TV stations as an expert on counterterrorism and Islamic extremism.

Christians in Philippines Fear Creation of Muslim Sub-State, Sharia Law, Increased Persecution

"If Bangsamoro, or 'Moro Country' with Moro being colloquial for 'Muslim', were ruled under sharia, non-Muslims would become second-class citizens with drastically reduced rights." Muslim separatist groups have increased their deadly jihad attacks in recent years...

Scroll down for map and link to report on Muslim Persecution of Christians in Philippines...

Morning Star News � June 26, 2015

MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) � Christians and others in the southern Philippines have expressed strong fears that legislation creating an Islamic sub-state on Mindanao Island will exacerbate religious tensions rather than resolve them.

The Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), proposed by President Benigno Aquino III last September with the aim of ending decades of Islamist rebel violence in Mindanao, was approved by a House Ad Hoc Committee on May 20 with 50 members voting yes, 17 voting no and one abstaining. The area, comprising five provinces with sizeable non-Muslim populations, already enjoys a measure of autonomy as the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and the proposed BBL would give leaders sufficient independence to impose sharia (Islamic law).

�What President Aquino is doing is treasonous to Christian communities in Mindanao,� Rolly Pelinggon, national convener of Mindanaoans for Mindanao (M4M), told Morning Star News.

If Bangsamoro, or �Moro Country� with Moro being colloquial for �Muslim,� were ruled under sharia, non-Muslims would become second-class citizens with drastically reduced rights. Critics of the bill say it would render the federal government powerless to redress human rights abuses under Islamic law.

Pelinggon said the BBL would thus worsen Muslim-Christian conflict. Besides intensifying religious-cultural differences between Christians and Muslims, the BBL would also facilitate monopoly of oil and gas resources by vested groups in Mindanao, he said.

The BBL came about as part of a preliminary peace accord, the Bangsamoro Peace Framework Agreement (BPFA), between the Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebel group, but it has done little to reduce violence. The BPFA was signed in 2013 as a precursor to a final peace agreement. The government claimed there would be no more Muslim rebel attacks in Mindanao after it was signed, but in some areas violence has increased.

In Basilan Province of the ARMM, Muslim separatist groups raided the town of Maluso on June 1 and cut off the Water District Office, managed mostly by Christians. The municipality is now suffering from water crisis that has destabilized the local economy, while security forces have engaged in a firefight with rebels that put more than 20,000 civilians in evacuation centers.

In Pikit, Cotabato Province, two men aboard a motorcycle in October 2014 threw a grenade at a United Church of Christ congregation at the height of worship, killing a nurse and a teacher. The blast injured another teacher and two other businessmen. Separatist rebels have been active in North Cotabato for past 20 years.

In Zamboanga City, an anti-bomb squad of the Philippine Police detonated an Improvised Explosive Device on Oct. 11, 2014. The bomb was similar to previous devices manufactured by separatist rebels. Zamboanga is home to more than 100,000 evangelical Christians and Ebenezer Bible College and Seminary, one of the first Protestant Bible schools in the Philippines.

Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabella Climaco announced in public that Zamboanga will never be part of the BBL and is one of the country�s staunchest critics of the legislation.

See: Voice of the Martyrs Philippines Newsletter � A Timetable of Terrorism

In Cotabato, indigenous tribal leader and village chieftain Jojo Sibug also told Morning Star News the BBL would aggravate religious conflict in Mindanao. Noting that the first inhabitants of Mindanao were the Manobo and other indigenous tribes, Sibug denied Islamic claims to the region.

�Our ancestors were already here even before Islam came to Mindanao,� he said. �This Philippine government should consider the welfare and plight of the indigenous tribes, and the Aquino administration should not only focus on one sector, but it should remember the indigenous people were also the first inhabitants of Mindanao.�

Tribal chiefs ruled Mindanao until the 1400s, when many of them embraced Islam after an Arab trader arrived to the island. In the 1900s, U.S. missionaries came to the Philippines and built a number of Christian schools in Mindanao. Many of the indigenous tribes embraced the evangelical Christian faith, including the ancestors of Sibug.

As part of the peace process, early this month the MILF surrendered 75 World War II firearms out of its 16,000 weapons to the government. Opposition Sen. Bongbong Marcos questioned why only 75 weapons were surrendered as part of the decommissioning process. Marcos presides over the Senate committee that conducts hearings on the BBL.

The fate of the BBL lies in the hands of the country�s 24 senators now deliberating the bill. A March poll found that 44 percent of Filipinos opposed the bill, and 22 percent supported it. In Mindanao, 62 percent of those surveyed opposed the bill.

Some have also questioned the 75 billion-peso (US$170 million) budget that would be allocated for the Bangsamoro government. Some critics believe that the MILF could use this huge amount to buy more sophisticated firearms to expand its control. By comparison, the Philippine military has a budget of only 15 billion pesos annually (between 2012 and 2017), or US$34 million.

In Manila, three archbishops, former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, former Sen. Francisco Tatad and the Philippine Constitution Assembly on June 19 filed a petition with the Supreme Court to nullify the March 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro that gave rise to the BBL. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case.

While Christian leaders fear abuses if the BBL were passed into law, some lawmakers also warned there would be war if the BBL fails to pass. Rep. Tupay Loong of Sulu, a former member of the rebel Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), said in February that if the BBL is not passed, �the war will continue.�

The BBL measure was reportedly fast-tracked by bribes to lawmakers; the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported the accord was endorsed by a majority in Congress after lawmakers accepted US$10 million in bribes to endorse it to the Senate.

In spite of congressional denials, investigative journalist Christine Herrera, who first exposed the alleged $10 million in bribes, has said she stands by the story because no fewer than two high-ranking officials of Congress confirmed the wrongdoing.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigue Duterte said the BBL could increase chances of Christians getting caught between the MNLF and the MILF, who are fighting each other.

�What I don�t like about Manila is they make wrong decisions for Mindanao,� he recently told a national newspaper. �They act as if they know everything about our land, and then put us in jeopardy.�

Bad Islamic Books fabricated by Muslim scholars need to be shelved

Bad Islamic Books | World Muslim Congress
http://www.worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2015/06/bad-islamic-books-fabricated-by-muslims.html

Don't jump to conclusions, it is not the Muslim thing to do. 

Muslims never had the freedom to speak out, even though freedom of speech is one of the greatest values of Islam.   Quran positively asserts on freedom � there is no compulsion, period!

In the 1400 years of our history, we did not get a chance to question anything lest the tyrant deputies of Caliphs (after the first four righteous ones), dictators and Monarchs would make us disappear in a hurry.  Thank God for the western societies, and in particular America and Canada, we have the Allah given freedom to cherish and enjoy  the life and have noting to complain. The Verse from Sura Rahman 55:13 (Y. Ali) perfectly describes our situation, "Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?"  None! We can think, write, speak, and question everything in America, Alhamdu Lillah (Praise the Lord)!

 Ibn Taymiyyah denounced Mongols for not following Sharia

Over a period of time, the books written by Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Kathir, Hasan Banna, Qutub, Maududi and their likes have been unfortunately equated with Quran. While Quran is eternal guidance, their work was a product of their times, and whatever they wrote was  a knee jerk reaction to the tough situations they were dealing with, and certainly lacked the universalism of God and the Prophet that Quran preaches, both were referred to as God of the Universe and Mercy to the Universe respectively. 

Sad Situation

The Country of Jordan is under pressure to remove the books of Ibn Taymiyyah, and Egypt has already done that. This goes against the freedom of speech, we cannot undo the books that are already written, even though they are wrong.  Instead we should produce books that are reflective of Islam � of equal treatment, non-judgmentalism, justice and mercy to all of the humanity.  Good books will chase the bad books out of circulation.

Had God wanted, he would have wiped Satan out, but he chose to keep him and let him tempt humans to go astray, while he gave us guidance to stick to the right path. It was the question of free will and freedom to chose again, it is a God's gift to humanity.  They should not have wiped the books, they could have stored them in a Library and marked,  "these were the books written by scholars of the past, and should not be equated with Quran. They are flawed."

My conservative friend Ryan Mauro asked, "What actions should be taken when mosques include these materials in their libraries as authoritative texts, though? " The response should be consistent with freedom, "Those books should be locked up and made available for research, and or labeled "Questionable book - finding the truth is your own responsibility". 

Why are those books wrong?

Quran mistranslations: Verse 1:7 reads � God help me walk the right path, and not the path of those who went astray or earned your anger.  Now, the people of that time probably asked Ibn Kathir, who were the people that went astray? He was neither resourceful nor his audience had the ability to reason � he said, Christians!  And those who earned his anger? He said, Jews!  Good lord, that is not only wrong, but sinful to misquote Quran. I gave a full power point presentation of Chapter 1:1- 1:7 at the Parliament of Worlds religions in Melbourne in 2009 to a shocking audience, and that is another full story.

Let�s reason with Ibn Kathir without defending him, he lived from 1300 and 1373 A.D., right after the crusades, and he must have felt that would be the right answer after what the European men did to Muslims in the name of Christianity.  Six hundred years later in the 1920�s Hilali Khan translated Quran, and adopted what  Ibn Kathir wrote, whereas the other two translations from the same decade by Yusuf Ali and Picktall did not.

It was very irresponsible! Indeed,  copy of that translation was freely distributed to millions of Jews, Christians and Hindus, all you had to do was call the toll free number and you get the book. This translation was the source of Islamophobia, and rightfully so, why should a "Muslim God" tell them to hate Jews and Christians? The bad translation created a Muslim God out of a single God for the whole humanity. Thank God, that translation was corrected in 2012, but there are still many verses that need correction (check out www.QuraanConference.com for the list of the verses).

What about Sharia Books?  

Allah's Sharia (a way of life) in Quran (2:225-245) says, �Those who intend to divorce their wives shall wait four months; if they change their minds and reconcile, Allah is the forgiver, merciful. If they go through with the divorce, then Allah is hearer, knower.� (The wives have the exact same rights)

American Sharia ( a way of life) gives 3-6 months waiting period to finalize a divorce, except in Nevada where it requires half that time.

Sharia Laws (or Men�s Sharia) allows, "The man can utter divorce three times in a row" and the marriage is over. The woman who had built her life with him, and raised the children is out on her own." This is not Islam and this is not Quran. 
Critical thinking

Somewhere in our history, we took off on the wrong path, or we were prevented from questioning Quran, Prophet, Allah and Islam.  I thank the lord for blessing me with that ability, and as a result, I have  a very strong faith in Islam.  I was able to reject all that was dished out to me,  and learn Quran afresh from a critical point of view; from the pluralistic point of view.  I questioned everything.  Now, the more I question, the more wisdom I find in Quran about sustaining cohesive societies. 

I feel sorry for the faith of some of my fellow Muslims who do not have the confidence in the books they believe. Once I challenged Pastor Robert Jeffress and did the same with Pastor Terry Jones, �I will give you the right translation of Quran, take your time, and then we will discuss in public, and if you find three faults in Quran, and we agree to it, I would give up my religion and join you.� Such was my faith, a strong Imaan and I feel sorry for the weak faith in those men who thought the Pastor may find faults in Quran. I can never forget an Imam telling me that I should not have challenged him, what if he finds three faults?  The man did not have faith because he never learned to question.

The free speech is an enduring value and the hallmark of civilizations, and we simply cannot compromise on it, however much a few may abuse it. We believe in free speech and that is the only way societies will grow. As Muslims we seriously appreciate the gains we have had, that far outweigh the tensions given by a handful of miscreants.

Freedom is a God given gift that we should cherish! God could have stopped Lucifer from tempting Adam and Eve, he could have stopped Adam from consuming the forbidden fruit, and he could have prevented Jesus from the crucifix, Moses did not have to speak up against Pharaoh, Muhammad (pbuh) did not have to endure persecution. God Almighty could have stopped everyone in the tract, but he did not, he gave us the freedom to choose how we deal with conflicts and restore harmony.

Quran positively asserts on freedom � there is no compulsion, period!

No matter how much the radicals among us may resent the western democracies, without free speech, Islam did not have a chance of being preached here, and Muslims would not have  practiced Islam in America, had the western democracies followed the policies of a few Muslim nations where you cannot even pray in public other than Islam.

We need to honor the freedom of speech, in the long term that is what will endure. 

 ADDENDUM TO THE ARTICLE:

Thanks for pointing out the mistake, �and he could have prevented Jesus from the crucifix.� My apologies for the same, and I am pleased to add this note instead of removing the mistake.  As a Muslim, I believe Jesus was beamed up.

This is the most critical difference and the root cause of much of the conflict between Christians and Muslims.  There was a pastor in Syria in and around 850 AD, who was seriously concerned about losing his flock to Islam, and he figured how to capitalize on it to regain his losing membership.  He said something to this effect �that Quran is a false book written by a false prophet� and to this day, you hear similar words echoing about Islam in different places of worship. 

Then in 1142 AD the first Quran translation was �made� in Latin with full of errors to mischaracterize Islam, Quran and the Prophet for the political gains of the European kings threatened by the invasion from Arab kings at that time. I will write the full story some day about it. 

On our part we addressed a similar situation in Dallas.  On August 23, 2010, Pastor Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church (don�t hold against the church, it was him) said on camera, �Quran is a false book written by a false prophet.� He and I debated for a week,  and then finally we held a Quran conference to address some of those issues, and the link www.QuraanConference.com will give you all the videos and story of the conference. It was a powerful event and first of its kind and has not been repeated.

New age Islam readers will have the stomach to watch some of the videos, but most people will not � they will be seething with anger for what they hear on the videos.

The only way to address the difference is given in Quran � that is to accept the difference and live with it in the most civil manner.  Elsewhere God says, he could have made us all alike, but chose to make us different and then adds the best ones amongst you are those who understand each other.  You don�t have to agree to live in peace, but respect the otherness of others. 

God�s wisdom shines through this verse.  109:6 (Asad) �Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine !" and 109:6 (Y. Ali) �To you be your Way, and to me mine.� And 109:6 (Picktall)� Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.� 

By the way Christians, Jews and others will not go to hell for holding a different belief; God assures them that if they are good to fellow beings, he will recompense them for their care.  

[2:62] Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the Christians, and the converts; anyone who (1) believes in GOD, and (2) believes in the Last Day, and (3) leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve. Similar things are said, in 5:69, 22:17 etc.

Another great quote from Ghulam Mohiyuddin,  "If we call their Book false, they will call our Book false! Let us learn to respect the Books of others." 

Mike is a speaker, thinker, writer, pluralist, TV-Radio commentator and a human rights activist committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His info in 63 links at MikeGhouse.net and writings at TheGhouseDiary.com

==============================================================

Jordan under pressure to ban Ibn Taymiyyah's books & Egypt will remove the books
By: Al-Araby al-Jadeed staff Date of publication: 10 June, 2015

Leaked correspondence claims works by the medieval Islamic scholar have been used by the Islamic State group to justify its barbaric massacres.

Owner of publishing houses are reportedly withholding the works of a medieval Islamic scholar amid claims a total ban is imminent.

Ibn Taymiyyah's books are also reportedly being prevented from entering Jordan, although no official statement has been released by Jordanian authorities.

The move, if confirmed, follows the killing of a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, who was burned to death in Syria last year by the Islamic State group. It is further claimed that IS is highly influenced by the work of Ibn Taymiyyah.

A 12th century Islamic scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah is considered to have had considerable influence in the development of contemporary Wahhabism, Salafism, and Jihadism.

He sought the return of Sunni Islam to what he viewed as earlier interpretations of the Quran, and was known for issuing a fatwa and declaring jihad against Mongol rulers on the basis that they did not follow Sharia, and thus were not "truly" Muslim.

Some experts believe that the Islamic State group have exploited the idea of Ibn Taymiyyah's fatwas as justification for their barbaric acts.

The reported "decision" was hailed by Egyptian TV presenter Islam el-Behery, who praised Jordan and King Abdullah for the move.

"This is the beginning," he posted on Facebook. "Today, officially, the Jordanian Department of Press and Publications is implementing a ban on the books of Ibn Taymiyyah.

"Jordan becomes the first Arab country taking such measures against the books of the murderous Ibn Taymiyyah and to confront terrorism in deeds not just words. Bravo Jordan and King Abdullah," he added.

But Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, a Salafi Islamist Jordanian-Palestinian writer, and a former jihadist, did not share the presenter's sentiments.

"The folly of withholding the books of Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah or banning them on the pretext of Islamic State's mis-comprehension of his fatwas is as bad as allowing books that directly insult our religion and prophets," Maqdisi tweeted.

An official decision is yet to be announced by Amman authorities.

Jordan's minister of Islamic affairs, Hayel Dawood, has denied that he or his ministry had issued any decision regarding any ban on the books, saying that the leaked correspondence was a draft proposal that he had not yet examined.

Dawood said a decision regarding the ban will be "issued soon" - and that an internal inquiry had been opened regarding the leaked correspondence.

Al-Araby al-Jadeed's correspondent in Jordan, Mohammad Fadilat, confirmed that no such ban had yet taken place.

A conference is due to take place next week to discuss IS ideology and to look into whether university courses featuring Ibn Taymiyyah's work should be changed, reported our correspondent.

- See more at: http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2015/6/10/jordan-under-pressure-to-ban-ibn-taymiyyahs-books#sthash.gP3s2iWU.dpuf
=================================================

Egypt to remove books of Ibn Tamiyah, Ibn Baz and Ibn Uthaymeen

http://www.doamuslims.org/?p=3861

Names of scholars whose books are to be removed or confiscated:-

� Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab
� Imam Ibn Taymiyyah
� Sheikh Ibn Baz
� Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen
� Sheikh Abu Ishaq al-Huweini
� Sheikh Mohamed Hussein Yacoub
� Sheikh Mohammed Hassan

They have already confiscated 7000 books and CDs from mosque libraries in Cairo, Alexandria and Giza. The authors of these materials include:

� Sheikh Wagdi al-Ghoneim
� Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi
� Sheikh Muhammad al-Maqsood
� Yasser al-Burhami
� Sheikh Abu Ishaq al-Huweini
� Sheikh Mohamed Hussein Yacoub
� Sheikh Mohammed Hassan

The ministry�s department is currently launching an inspection campaign on mosques and libraries in all provinces, to make sure they are free of any books and media calling for �militancy and extremism�.

----

Islamophobia, Iconophobia, and Islamic Images of Muhammad

A helpful analysis of the place of images in Islamic history.

Related:

• Freedom, Provocation and Targets � 'No Cartoons Required'
• Islam's Hatred of Holy Icons � and what that means for Persecuted Eastern Christians

by Timothy R. Furnish, Mahdi Watch � May 31, 2015

Timothy R. Furnish holds a PhD in Islamic history; writes, lectures and consults on Islamic world issues; and blogs on Mahdism and Muslim eschatology at www.mahdiwatch.org.

Muhammad cavorting with houris, from the Ottoman palace museum.

THIS should upset Muslims more than anything from "Draw Muhammad."

The rather obscure realm of Islamic art, and in particular whether it�s �unIslamic� to portray Islam�s founder, Muhammad, therein, has become an important�indeed, potentially lethal�topic, first with the murders of the Charlie Hebdo publishers, then with the Garland, Texas, attack on the organizers of �Draw Muhammad� which resulted in two self-styled jihadists being dispatched to consort with the houris.  The brains behind �Draw Muhammad��Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller�inspired another similar event in Phoenix this past Friday (May 29, 2015).  Geller, the lightning rod of the Spencer-Geller counter-jihad duo, recently mixed it up on CNN with Chris Cuomo, as the latter compared her push for people to draw Muhammad with using the �n-word� in referring to black Americans.  

Whether one feels that �Draw Muhammad� events are intentionally provocative, it�s clear that they are certainly legal on First Amendment grounds�so I do not wish to rehash that debate.  Rather, I think it more important to examine the history of Islamic attitudes toward art in general and the portrayal of humans, particularly prophetic figures, in particular.  Media experts are all over the map on this issue:  some maintain that images of  Muhammad are strictly forbidden in the world�s second-largest religion, while others argue that �the koran [sic]� does no such thing.

Jesus and Muhammad, the original easy riders.

Neither seems too uptight about being painted. 

For a reasoned and exhaustive take, yet one accessible to us philistines, I have turned to the chapter �The Visual Arts in an Islamic Setting, c. 1258-1503,� pp. 501-520 in The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization: The Expansion of Islam in the Middle Periods by the brilliant historian Marshall G.S. Hodsgon.  Hodgson situates the topic into the the long history of the �Irano-Semitic lands,� and of the monotheistic religions therein, and pegs the distaste for visual symbolism�particularly of humans, and even more specifically of those deemed prophets�to a rejection by Jews, some Christians, and later Muslims for the �figural images� which were a staple of non-monotheist nature cults in the Middle East.  This �iconophobia� is not spelled out in the Qur�an, true; but Islam�s intense focus on abstract monotheism derived from the Qur�an meant that �any other symbolism, particularly in such seductive forms as music and visual imagery, must appear as a rival to the Qur�anic presence.�  Thus, �Shar�iah-minded Islam� eventually �banned all figural imagery�on the ground that it might tempt the weak to idolatry. Hanafi and Usuli [Twelver] Shi`i law books banned images�Shafi`is and Malikis implicitly linked art to luxury...but they all came to like conclusions��contra artwork that showed holy humans, that is.   The Hanbali school of jurisprudence, which did not develop until centuries later, doubled (at least!) down on this artistic puritanism (Wahhabism and Salafism stem from Hanbalism); it is from this particular Islamic interpretive ideology that most of the world�s terrorists now come�including the al-Qa`idah-linked killers in Paris, and the ISIS destroyers of any and all art which they can get their bloody jihadist hands on.

There are those who got around the portrayal prohibition�especially in the areas of the Islamic world conquered by the Mongols, to which less restrictive ideas about painting and imagery were exported from the Far East, particularly China.  In Afghanistan and Persia, in particular, and between 1300 and 1600 AD, �miniatures� which portrayed humans�as well as prophets, up to and including even Muhammad�were allowed, and often even patronized by Islamic rulers. 

Even in the central (Arab) Islamic lands, the Shari`ah-minded �iconophobia� was not the only perspective: often at loggerheads with that was Sufism, the broad, mystical movement more concerned with inner than outer piety, and thus not always averse to depictions of prophets and other holy figures. But in so far as the Shari`ah-minded have come, since 1600 AD,  to dominate Islamic thinking and adjudicate acceptable Islamic piety��where if a peasant came upon ancient paintings or statues he was likely to destroy them at once, or even a scholar (with the sanction of fiqh law) might actually draw a line across the throat of a painted figure to show that it was not alive��the Sufis (who number perhaps 100 million, all told) now comprise not just the numerical but the ideological minority. 

Muhammad "the Lawgiver" flanked by two others a bit more relevant to Western civilization: Charlemagne and Justinian.  Why haven't Muslims rioted over this graven image on the US Supreme Court building? Well, the millennium IS young...

So does Islam ban portrayals of its founder, Muhammad? Yes�and no.  The majority opinion of Muslims�certainly of the `ulama, the cleric-scholars, in all five major interpretive schools�is that it is �idolatrous� to paint/illustrate any human, much more Jesus or Muhammad. However, it is also quite clear that such depictions were done in the past by Muslim artists, and thus that the Shari`ah-minded consensus of the last 400 years could very well be rolled back to what held before that�if Muslims were willing to give the Sufi side of Islam another chance.  Until then, while it is not true that cartoons of Islam�s founder are the visual equivalent of the �n-word,� a more effective means of exposing the majoritarian intolerant strain of Islam might be to eschew modern drawings of Muhammad (and certainly intentionally insulting ones) and, rather, stage exhibits with examples of ISLAMIC paintings of him.*  That would make the point more historically and legitimately, and less provocatively, in my opinion.  

[The three images used on this page all come from the "Mohammed Image Archive" at zombietime.com]

* The Garland Texas event � which was actually entitled 'Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest' � did include reproductions of images of Muhammad created by pious Muslims during preceding centuries of Islamic history. In his remarks at the Garland event, Robert Spencer did in fact make a similar point to that of Dr. Furnish, namely, that in earlier Islamic history, Muslims did depict Muhammad.  

Islamic Jizya: Fact and Fiction

"Jizya is yet another ugly fact of Islam�add to offensive jihad, imperialism, misogyny, slavery, etc.�one that cannot be whitewashed away, even as the world stands idly by watching its resumption in the twenty-first century."

by Raymond Ibrahim � May 28, 2015

The Return of Jizya

Muslim demands for non-Muslim �infidels� to pay jizya on pain of death are growing, even as the West fluctuates between having no clue what jizya is and thinking that jizya is an example of �tolerance� in Islam.

In the video where the Islamic State slaughters some 30 Christian Ethiopians in Libya last April, the spokesman repeatedly pointed out that payment of jizya (which the impoverished Ethiopian migrant workers could not render, nor the 21 Copts before them) is the only way for Christians around the world to safeguard their lives:

But whoever refuses [to pay jizya] will see nothing from us but the edge of a spear. The men will be killed and the children will be enslaved, and their wealth will be taken as booty. This is the judgment of Allah and His Messenger.

When the Islamic State invaded ancient Christian regions around the Ninevah Plain last June,  it again declared: �We offer them [Assyrian Christians] three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract�involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword.�

The Islamic State�which most Western politicians ludicrously insist �has nothing to do with Islam��is not alone in calling for jizya from Christian �infidels.�  In 2002, Saudi Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman, discussing the Muslim prophet�s prediction that Islam will eventually conquer Rome, said, �We will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce Islam in it. Yes, the Christians . . . will yet pay us the jizya, in humiliation, or they will convert to Islam.�

And in a video recently posted, Sheik �Issam Amira appears giving a sermon in Al Aqsa Mosque where he laments that too many Muslims think jihad is only for defense against aggressors, when in fact Muslims are also obligated to wage offensive jihad against non-Muslims:

When you face your pagan enemy, call them�either to Islam, jizya, or seek Allah�s help and fight them.  Even if they do not fight [or initiate hostilities], fight them!� Fight them!  When?  When they fight you?  No, when they refuse to convert to Islam or refuse to pay jizya�.  Whether they like it or not, we will subjugate them to Allah�s authority.

In short, if the Islamic State is enforcing jizya on �infidels,� demands for its return are on the increase all around the Muslim world.  Put differently, if Abu Shadi, an Egyptian Salfi leader, once declared that Egypt�s Christians �must either convert to Islam, pay jizya, or prepare for war,� Dr. Amani Tawfiq, a female professor at Egypt�s Mansoura University, once said that �If Egypt wants to slowly but surely get out of its economic situation and address poverty in the country, the jizya has to be imposed on the Copts.�

The Doctrine and History of Jizya

A dhimmi paying the jizya. Note the weapons arrayed
against him, should he not fulfill his payment.

So what exactly is jizya?

The word jizya appears in Koran 9:29, in an injunction that should be familiar by now: �Fight those among the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and his Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued (emphasis added).�

In the hadith, the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, regularly calls on Muslims to demand jizya of non-Muslims:  �If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay jizya, seek Allah�s help and fight them.�

The second �righteous caliph,� Omar al-Khattab, reportedly said that any conquered �infidel� who refuses to convert to Islam �must pay the jizya out of humiliation and lowliness. If they refuse this, it is the sword without leniency.�

This theme of non-Muslim degradation appears regularly in the commentaries of Islam�s authorities.  According to the Medieval Islamic Civilization Encyclopedia, Muslim �jurists came to view certain repressive and humiliating aspects of dhimma as de rigueur. Dhimmis [subjugated non-Muslim Christians and Jews] were required to pay the jizya publicly, in broad daylight, with hands turned palm upward, and to receive a smart smack on the forehead or the nape of the neck from the collection officer.�

Some of Islam�s jurists mandated a number of other humiliating rituals at the time of jizya payment, including that the presiding Muslim official slap, choke, and in some cases pull the beard of the paying dhimmi, who might even be required to approach the official on all fours, in bestial fashion.

The root meaning of the Arabic word �jizya� is simply to �repay� or �recompense,� basically to �compensate� for something.  According to the Hans Wehr Dictionary, the standard Arabic-English dictionary, jizya is something that �takes the place� of something else, or �serves instead.�

Simply put, conquered non-Muslims were to purchase their lives, which were otherwise forfeit to their Muslim conquerors, with money. Instead of taking their lives, they took their money.  As one medieval jurist succinctly put it, �their lives and their possessions are only protected by reason of payment of jizya.�

Past and increasingly present, Muslims profited immensely by exacting jizya from conquered peoples.

For instance, Amr bin al-As, the companion of Muhammad who conquered Christian Egypt in the early 640s, tortured and killed any Christian Copt who tried to conceal his wealth. When a Copt inquired of him, �How much jizya are we to pay?� the Islamic hero replied, �If you give me all that you own�from the ground to the ceiling�I will not tell you how much you owe. Instead, you [the Christian Copts] are our treasure chest, so that, if we are in need, you will be in need, and if things are easy for us, they will be easy for you.�

Yet even that was not enough. Caliph Uthman later chided Amr bin al-As because another governor of Egypt had managed to increase the caliphate�s treasury double what Amr had. In the words of Uthman, the �milk camels [Egypt�s Christians, that is] . . . yielded more milk.�  Years later, yet another caliph, Suliman Abdul Malik, wrote to the governor of Egypt advising him �to milk the camel until it gives no more milk, and until it milks blood.�

Little wonder Egypt went from being almost entirely Christian in the seventh century to today having a mere 10%�and steadily dwindling, thanks to ongoing persecution�Christian minority.

Related to the idea of institutionalized jizya is the notion that non-Muslims are fair game to plunder whenever possible.  The jizya entry in the Encyclopaedia of Islam states that �with or without doctrinal justification, arbitrary demands [for money] appeared at times.� Even that medieval traveler, Marco Polo, whose chronicles appear impartial, made an interesting observation concerning the Muslims in Tauris (modern day Iraq) in the thirteenth century:

According to their doctrine [Islam], whatever is stolen or plundered from others of a different faith, is properly taken, and the theft is no crime; whilst those who suffer death or injury by the hands of Christians [during the course of a plunder-driven raid], are considered as martyrs�.  These principles are common to all Saracens [Muslims].

All this is echoed in recent times by the words of  Sheikh Abu Ishaq al-Huwaini, spoken a few years ago, concerning what the Muslim world should do to overcome its economic problems:

If only we can conduct a jihadist invasion at least once a year or if possible twice or three times, then many people on earth would become Muslims. And if anyone prevents our dawa [invitation to conversion] or stands in our way, then we must kill or take them as hostage and confiscate their wealth, women and children. Such battles will fill the pockets of the Mujahid [holy warrior] who can return home with 3 or 4 slaves, 3 or 4 women and 3 or 4 children. This can be a profitable business if you multiply each head by 300 or 400 dirham. This can be like financial shelter whereby a jihadist, in time of financial need, can always sell one of these heads.

So it was for well over a millennium: Muslim rulers and mobs extorted money from �infidels� under their sway as a legitimate way to profit.

Much of this financial fleecing came to an end thanks to direct European intervention. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, one Muslim region after another abolished the jizya and gave non-Muslims unprecedented rights�originally to appease Western powers, later in emulation of Western governance. The Ottoman Empire�s Hatt-i Humayun decree of 1856 abolished the jizya in many Ottoman-ruled territories. Elsewhere in the Muslim world, the jizya was gradually abolished wherever Western powers were present.

Today, however, as Muslims reclaim their Islamic heritage�often to the approval and encouragement of a West, now under the spell of �multiculturalism��jizya, whether institutionalized as under the Islamic State, or as a rationale to plunder infidels, is back.

Even in the West, in 2013, a UK Muslim preacher who was receiving more than 25,000 pounds annually in welfare benefits referred to British taxpayers as �slaves,� and explained:  �We take the jizya, which is our haq [Arabic for �right�], anyway. The normal situation by the way is to take money from the kafir [infidel], isn�t it? So this is the normal situation. They give us the money�you work, give us the money, Allahu Akhbar [�Allah is Great�]. We take the money.�

Academic Lies about Jizya

Yet if Muslims�from Islamic State jihadis to Egyptian university professors�know the truth about jizya, the West is today oblivious, thanks to its leading authorities on Islam: Western academics and other �experts� and talking heads.

Consider the following excerpt from John Esposito, director of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University and a widely acknowledged go-to source for anything Islamic:

In many ways, local populations [Christians, Jews, and others] found Muslim rule more flexible and tolerant than that of Byzantium and Persia. Religious communities were free to practice their faith to worship and be governed by their religious leaders and laws in such areas as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. In exchange, they were required to pay tribute, a poll tax (jizya) that entitled them to Muslim protection from outside aggression and exempted them from military service. Thus, they were called the �protected ones� (dhimmi). In effect, this often meant lower taxes, greater local autonomy (emphasis added) �

Despite the almost gushing tone related to Muslim rule, the idea that jizya was extracted in order to buy �Muslim protection from outside aggression� is an outright lie.  Equally false is Esposito�s assertion that jizya was paid to �exempt them [non-Muslims] from military service��as if conquering Muslims would even want or allow their conquered �infidel� subjects to fight alongside them in the name of jihad (holy war against infidels) without first converting to Islam.

Yet these two myths�that jizya was for �Muslim protection from outside aggression� and exemption from military service�are now widely accepted.  In �Nothing �Islamic� About ISIS, Part Two: What the �Jizya� Really Means,� one Hesham A. Hassaballa recycles these fabrications on BeliefNet by quoting Sohaib Sultan, Princeton University�s Muslim chaplain, who concludes: �Thus, jizyah is no more and no less than an exemption tax in lieu of military service and in compensation for the �covenant of protection� (dhimmah) accorded to such citizens by the Islamic state.�

In reality and as demonstrated above via the words of a variety of authoritative Muslims, past and present,  jizya was, and is indeed, protection money�though protection, not from outsiders, as Esposito and others claim, but from surrounding Muslims themselves.  Whether it is the first caliphate from over a millennium ago or whether it is the newest caliphate, the Islamic State, Muslim overlords continue to deem the lives of their �infidel� subjects forfeit unless they purchase it, ransom it with money.  Put differently, the subjugated infidel is a beast to be milked �until it gives no more milk and until it milks blood,� to quote the memorable words of an early caliph.

There is nothing humane, reasonable, or admirable about demands for jizya from conquered non-Muslim minorities, as the academics claim. Jizya is simply extortion money. Its purpose has always been to provide non-Muslims with protection from Muslims: pay up, or else convert to Islam, or else die.

And it is commanded in both the Koran and Hadith, the twin pillars of Islam.  In short, jizya is yet another ugly fact of Islam�add to offensive jihad, imperialism, misogyny, slavery, etc.�one that, distort as they may, the academics cannot whitewash away, even as the world stands idly by watching its resumption in the twenty-first century.

Note: Most quotations not hyperlinked are sourced from Crucified Again: Exposing Islam�s New War on Christians.  Full references can be found there.