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Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social evironment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. Albert Einstein Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them. Michael Levine New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. -- John Locke Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. Henry Lewis Mencken, 1880 - 1956 The well-meaning contention that all ideas have equal merit seems to me little different from the disastrous contention that no ideas have any merit. Carl Sagan, "Broca's Brain" (1978), p. xiv.
Rust wastes more than use ~French Proverb Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds. Earl of Chesterfield Avoid idleness, and fill up all the spaces of thy time
with severe and useful employment: for lust easily creeps in
at those emptinesses where the soul is unemployed and the
body is at ease; no easy, healthful, idle person was ever
chaste if he could be tempted; but of all employments,
bodily labour is the most useful, and of the greatest
benefit for driving away the Devil.
A faith much more deeply ingrained in this country than
Christianity. Since [World War II], and to a much
greater extent than in America, an astonishingly powerful
superstition has arisen that only the State is truly
competent to preserve the fabric of society and to address
its most pressing needs. The British like their charities and churches well enough, but they have lost the sense that such bodies can be a principal source of social cohesion and welfare. Instead, the British worship their socialized medicine plan, the National Health Service, which is held up as "the closest thing the English have to a religion." For all the rhetoric of a 'new civic politics'... we still turn instinctively to the State for solutions. When politicians refer to 'compassion,' the public still thinks they mean 'public spending.'--Matthew d'Ancona ' Sunday Telegraph, June 2000 Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake Godand forge some idol in his own brain. JOHN CALVIN The sky cannot have two suns.- Chiang Kai-Shek (1886-1975) In "Mao," by Ross Merrill, ch. 10, 1993. Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice." - G K Chesterton ILN 9/11/09 They who worship gold in a world so corrupt as this, have at least one thing to plead in defence of their idolatry--the power of their idol. This idol can boast of two peculiarities; it is worshipped in all climates, without a single temple, and by all classes, without a single hypocrite. --Caleb Colton We boast our emancipation from many superstitions; but if we have broken any idols, it is through a transfer of idolatry.--Ralph Waldo Emerson So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable [Aldous Huxley 1894-1963] Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit and abolish women? The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped. Shall we pluck them out of the sky. Luther Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God. --Martin Luther (1483-1546) _Large Catechism_ [1529], "The First Commandment" Man cannot make a worm, yet he will make gods by the dozen. -- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne From Sinai we have heard thee speak, And, by the way we may see hence the vanity as well as
the idolatry of them who would represent Christ in glory as
the object of our adoration in pictures and images. They
fashion wood or stone into the likeness of a man. They adorn
it with colours and flourishes of art, to set it forth unto
the senses and fancies of superstitious persons as having a
resemblance of glory. And when they have done, "they lavish
gold out of the bag," as the prophet speaks, in various
sorts of supposed ornaments, - such as are so only to the
vainest sort of mankind, - and so propose it as an image or
resemblance of Christ in glory. There is nothing so abominable in the eyes of God and of men as idolatry, whereby men render to the creature that honor which is due only to the Creator. BLAISE PASCAL And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride.This god, this one word: "I." --Ayn Rand, Anthem Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.-- Herbert Spencer An idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand. A.W. TOZER The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are not worthy of Him. A. W. TOZER God made man of the dust of the earth and man makes a god of the dust of the earth. THOMAS WATSON
If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people? If ignorance were bliss, he'd be a blister. Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain. Greek Proverb I would rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evils.--Aeschylus (525-456 BC),_The Suppliants_ Isn't it curious that narrowminded people are often the most thick-headed? Frank Baer If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Derek Bok, president of Harvard Behind every argument is someone's ignorance.- Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) In "The Speaker's Electronic Reference Collection," AApex Software, 1994. Ignorance is never out of style. It was in fashion yesterday, it is the rage today, and it will set the pace tomorrow.-- Franklin K. Dane His ignorance is encyclopaedic -- Abba Eban (1915-) We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. - Benjamin Franklin He that knows nothing will believe anything.--THOMAS FULLER When ideas fail, words come in very handy. Goethe (1749-1832) Men deride what they do not understand and snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their sympathies. ~ J.W. Goethe 1749-1832 To each his suff'rings: all are men, 'Well,' said the other, 'thank God, I know but little of
these things.' When all candles bee out, all cats be grey. John Heywood. Circa 1565.Proverbs Chap. v. Every time I look at you I get a fierce desire to be lonesome.-- Oscar Levant He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know. Abraham Lincoln Every man is ignorant -- just on different subjects.... Will Rogers (1879-1935) Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.-- Thomas Sowell When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. Mark Twain His ignorance covers the world like a blanket, and there's scarcely a hole in it anywhere. Mark Twain I am not young enough to know everything. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
I enjoy convalescence. It's the part that makes the illness worthwhile. ADVICE FOR THE FLU SEASON I cannot believe that my illness is natural. I suspect
Satan, and therefore I am the more inclined to take it
lightly. The common cold, if left untreated, lasts about two weeks. If treated with medication and rest, it lasts about fourteen days. I can't explain myself, I'm afraid, because I'm not myself, you see. Lewis Carroll It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth. --Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832)_Lacon_ [1820-1822] The deviation of man from the state in which he was originally placed by nature seems to have proved to him a prolific source of diseases. - Edward Jenner How sickness enlarges the dimensions of man's self to himself. --Charles Lamb (1775-1834) _Last Essays of Elia_ [1883], "The Convalescent" Cancer is so limited...
Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to consider men's evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.- John Calvin Within each of us exists the image of God, however disfigured and corrupted by sin it may presently be. God is able to recover this image through grace as we are conformed to Christ. Just as the figure of David lay hidden within the marble, discernible only to the eye of its creator, so the image of God (however tarnished by sin) lies within us, see and known by God Himself. Yet God loves us while we are still sinners. He doesn't have to wait until we stop sinning. Acceptance of His love is a major step along the road that leads to our liberation from the tyranny of sin. ALISTER McGRATH When God finished man He breathed into the human form the
divine life, "and man became a living soul." Man is created
to be a witness and likeness of God. God and man are so near
to one another that it was possible for the Eternal Word to
become Man without ceasing to be God, to re-ascend to the
Highest without dehumanizing the Manhood which He had
assumed; so near that the believer may say in the fullest
meaning of the words, "I live, yet not I, but Christ". It was a particular condescension of the Son of God, to be born of any of Adam's sinful children. True honour in God's account consists in holiness, and sin is to Him the vilest disgrace. Original sin in Christ's mother had made her more contemptible and ignoble than anything else could; had she been an empress, it would yet have been to Christ an abasing of himself to derive his humanity from her. That a clean thing should come out of an unclean is strange; for though she was sanctified by grace, nevertheless she had not attained spotless perfection, but still had the stain and pollution of sin on her. As it is a disgrace to have a traitor as one's father, so it is no less to have a sinner for one's mother. Thus Christ, though without sin, would be intimately related to sinners, for whose sake he came into the world. - SAMUEL WILLARD
Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery. Jack Paar Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.
We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting
the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependants, who are for the
most part the material of the future growth of the
immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation
busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. As I look
ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem
to see the Tiber foaming with much blood.
Man is immortal until his work is done. - Augustine In this modern world of ours many people seem to think that science has somehow made such religious ideas as immortality untimely or old fashioned.I think science has a real surprise for the skeptics. Science, for instance, tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. If God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of His universe, doesn t it make sense to assume that He applies it to the masterpiece of His creation, the human soul? Dr.WERNER VON BRAUN Without the hope of immortality no one would ever face death for his country. --Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) _Tusculanae Disputationes_ Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Susan Ertz [Jesus] does not waste a word in talking about immortality, as to whether it actually is or not; he states what it is, that it is the separation between the just and the unjust. ... Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption which you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree,helping each other to one or other of these destinations...There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. C. S. LEWIS, The Weight of Glory We are immortal until our work on earth is done. George Whitefield
The impatient may not always be wrong on issues, but they are almost always wrong in their attitudes. R. J. Rushdoony
Whoever is most impertinent has the best chance. - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart( 1756 &endash; 1791)
The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. --- Chris Eubank
With the majority the ship of thought is allowed to "drift" upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a common vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction. James Allen Idleness is the Dead Sea that swallows all virtues. Franklin (1706-1790) It is safer, but not easier. Paradoxically, it is easier ulitmately to engage, confront or resist a situation than to run away from it. The consequences of engagement can be success or failure, the first to be remembered with pleasure and the second with disappointment. But in escaping, the consequences remain unknown. They taunt with memories of failure feared fruitlessly and success foolishly foregone.Asad Latif Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and, in cold, water becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. Leornado Da Vinci The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialised - and never knowing. David Viscott
If New Testament Christianity is to reappear today with its power and joy and courage, men must recapture the basic conviction that this is a Visited planet. It is not enough to express formal belief in the "Incarnation" or in the "Divinity of. Christ"; the staggering truth must be accepted afresh -- that in this vast, mysterious universe, of which we are an almost infinitesimal part, the great Mystery, Whom we call God, has visited our planet in Person. It is from this conviction that there springs unconquerable certainty and unquenchable faith and hope. It is not enough to believe theoretically that Jesus was both God and Man; not enough to admire, respect, and even worship Him; it is not even enough to try to follow Him. The reason for the insufficiency of these things is that the modern intelligent mind, which has had its horizons widened in dozens of different ways, has got to be shocked afresh by the audacious central Fact -- that, as a sober matter of history, God became one of us... J. B. Phillips, New Testament Christianity [1956]
Only a mediocre man is always at his best Eschew obfuscation. I've changed my mind a dozen times. It seems to work better now Opinions are made to be changed --or how is truth to be got at? George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. Ralph Waldo Emerson Don't SAY things. What you ARE stands over you the while, and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson Lord make my words soft today, for tomorrow I may have to eat them. Dave Haigler One cannot live without inconsistency. -- C. G. Jung A foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds, as Emerson said, but seriou inconsistency is the downfall of many theories. -- Tibor R. Machan It is also said of me that I now and then contradict
myself. Yes, I improve wonderfully as time goes on. Clocks will go as they are set, but man, irregular man, is never constant, never certain.-- Thomas Otway (1652-1685) Inconsistencies of opinion, arising from changes of
circumstances, are often justifiable.
To drive men from independence to live on alms, is itself
great cruelty. Oh, cursed be that arrogant satisfaction in standing alone. --Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)_Journal_ [May 8, 1838] Independence? That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.-- George Bernard Shaw All quarrels, disagreements, wars, strifes, and dissensions begin with a false declaration of independence--independence from God and independence from fellowman. --Fulton John Sheen (1895-1979) _Seven Words To The Cross_ [1944]
Though I've belted you and flayed you, We have no right to seize Sind (sic) but we shall do so,
and a very advantageous, useful, humane piece of rascality
it will be." It is expected that a strict and severe enquiry will immediately be made into the means by which gentlemen returning from India have acquired such monstrous and outgrown fortunes... It must end in bringing the plunderers of the East to that condign punishment which, to the disgrace of the national character, has so long been withheld from them.....-The Public Advertiser fulminates against 'nabobs' on 3 December 1774. As before, the genius of India has taken from her aggressors the most spiritually significant principle of their culture and fashioned of it a new message of hope for mankind. There is in Christianity the great doctrine that God became man in order to save humanity by taking the burden of its sin and suffering on Himself, here in this very world, not the next. That the starving must be fed, the ragged clad, has been emphasized by Christianity as no other religion has done. Charity, benevolence, and the like, no doubt have an important place in the religions of our country as well, but there they are are in practice circumscribed within much narrower limits, and are only partially inspired by love of man. --Rabindranath Tagore, _A Tagore Reader_
The blossom cannot tell what becomes of its odor; and no man can tell what becomes of his influence. --Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible…But the effects of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not as ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who have lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. - George Eliot, Middlemarch The very man who has argued you down, will sometimes be found, years later, to have been influenced by what you said. C S Lewis The influence one man can have on thousands is a never-ending source of wonder to me. ~George S. Patton Example is not the main thing in influencing others; it's the only thing. - Albert Schweitzer, 1875 - 1965
Our despondent moods are, for the most part, moods of ingratitude. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself. ... Native American Proverb (Minquass) An ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree eating acorns, but never looking up to see where they come from. --Timothy Dexter Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some --Charles Dickens (1812-1870) Men are slower to recognize blessings than evils. --Livy [Titus Livius] (59 BC-17 AD) _Ab Urbe Condita_ [c. 29 BC] How blind men are to Heaven's gifts!--Lucan [Marcus Annaeus Lucanus] (39-65) _The Civil War_, Book V, Line 528 Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away. --Sophocles (c. 495-406 BC), _Ajax_ [c. 447 BC] It is generally true that all that is required to make men unmindful of what they owe God for any blessing is that they should receive that blessing often and regularly. Richard Whately (1787-1863)
In 1930, Cousteau passed the highly competitive examinations to enter France's Naval Academy. He served in the navy and entered naval aviation school. A near-fatal car crash at age 26 denied him his wings, and he was transferred to sea duty, where he swam rigorously to strengthen badly weakened arms. The therapy had unintended consequences. "Sometimes we are lucky enough to know that our lives have been changed, to discard the old,embrace the new, and run headlong down an immutable course," he wrote. "It happened to me ... on that summer's day, when my eyes were opened to the sea." With the stones we cast at them, geniuses build new roads for us. ~Paul Eldridge, (1888-1982) ,Maxims for a Modern Man (1965) The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it. P. B. Medawar: A conservative is someone who does not think anything should be done for the first time. Frank Vanderlip Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road. --Voltaire (1694-1778) It's not a question of who's going to throw the first stone; it's a question of who's going to start building with it.--Sloan Wilson
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He sets himself incredibly low standards, which he consistently fails to maintain. When you left your home, you deprived the village of it's idiot. The man is all class - unfortunately third. He is as bright as Manchester in December Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life. -- Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719) "The 't' is silent, as in 'Harlow.'" Dame Margot Asquith (1864 &endash; 1945), to Jean Harlow, on the pronunication of "Margot." Tony Blair is as much use as an ashtray on a
motorbike. He did not seem to care which way he travelled providing he was in the driver's seat. Lord William Maxwell Aitken Beaverbrook (1879 &endash; 1964), on David Lloyd George A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. --Proverbs 12:16 NIV Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. --1 Peter 3:9 NIV He was born stupid and greatly improved his birthright. Samuel Butler The Cardinal is at his wit's end &emdash; it is true &emdash; that he had not far to go. - Lord George Gordon Byron If Gladstone fell into the Thames, that would be a misfortune, and if anybody pulled him out, that, I suppose, would be a calamity.- Benjamin Disraeli A sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity, and gifted with an egotistical imagination that can at all times command an interminable and inconsistent series of arguments to malign an opponent and glorify himself. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, speech (July 27, 1878) -speaking of Gladstone I do not wish to be the holder of an award that puts me
on the same level as these vulgar nincompoops. Mrs. Dryden Lord, Mr. Dryden, how can you always be
poring over these musty books. I wish I were a book, and
then I should have more of your company. Abuse is the weapon of the vulgar. - Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793 &endash; 1860) Every time I see Tom DeLay, I can't help thinking: a hundred thousand sperm and YOU were the fastest? - Jim Hightower Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. Eric Hoffer Actress Mary Anderson: "Mr. Hitchcock, what do you think is my best side?" "My dear, you're sitting on it." - Alfred Hitchcock (1899 &endash; 1980): She was a patron saint of the peripheral. - Jane Howard (1935-1996) "On Margaret Mead," 1984. If you can't answer a man's argument, all is not lost; you can still call him vile names. --Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) Chesterton was a fat clown who crucifies truth upside down.-- Dean Inge In his quiter moments he sounds like his trousers are on fire.-- Clive James on Murray Walker jCalumnies are answered best with silence. Ben Jonson I do not waste my time in answering abuse; I thrive under it like a field that benefits from manure.-Henry Labouchere (1935 - ____) When they circumcised him they threw away the wrong bit.-- David Lloyd George on his Liberal Party colleague Sir Herbert Samuel He may look like an idiot, and he may sound like an idiot, but don't let him fool you. He really is an idiot. -- Groucho Marx There's no hate lost between us. - Thomas Middleton (1580 &endash; 1627) The Earl of Sandwich: Egad, sir, I do not know whether
you will die on the gallows or of the pox. Mockery is the weapon of those who have no other.- Hubert Pierlot Rudeness is better than any argument; it totally eclipses intellect. --Arthur Schopenhauer, _Position_, 1851 The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests, and to his imagination for his facts. - Sheridan. Insults are effective only where emotions are present. --Spock _Star Trek_, "Who Mourns for Adonais" [Stardate: 3468.1] They don't hardly make 'em like him any more - but just to be on the safe side, he should be castrated anyway. -- Hunter S. Thompson He did not seem to care which way he travelled providing he was in the driver's seat.- Lord William Maxwell Aitken Beaverbrook, on David Lloyd George; At a dinner that was attended by the Yorks, Wallis had stepped forward to greet them, holding out her hand as a gesture of friendship. Edward had evidently asked Wallis to perform the role of hostess, The Duchess was furious. She walked straight past Wallis and said in a loud voice, 'I came to dine with the King', Throughout the evening she continued to ignore Wallis, and she and the Duke were the first to leave. - Michae Thornton, Royal Feud, p112 You take the lies out of him, and he'll shrink to the size of your hat; you take the malice out of him, and he'll disappear. -- Mark Twain He's the type of man who will end up dying in his own arms. -- Mamie Van Doren
In all things preserve integrity; and the consciousness of thine own uprightness will alleviate the toil of business, soften the hardness of ill-success and disappointments, and give thee an humble confidence before God, when the ingratitude of man, or the iniquity of the times may rob thee of other rewards. Author unknown Integrity is like oxygen. The higher you go, the less there is of it. -- Paul Dickson
A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals. --SPIRO AGNEW, Denouncing Moratorium Day protest against Vietnam War; in NY "Times," 20 Oct 69 Intellectuals are people who believe that ideas are of
more importance than values. That is to say, their own ideas
and other people's values. The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human nature. The mob and the intellectuals derived from it the vision of a Golden Age which would arrive without fail once the noble human race could act according to its whims. -- Jakob Burckhardt No ages are worse, no places more corrupt, than those that draw the iridescent film of an intellectual culture over the deep stagnancy of moral degredation. F.W. Farrar (said of Tarsus) in Life & Work of Saint Paul, p.16 Intellects whose desires have outstripped their understanding. F A Hayek, The Fatal Conceit. p153 A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an "intellectual", find out how he feels about astrology. Robert Heinlein The intellectuals and the young, booted and spurred, feel
themselves born to ride us. The intellectual is constantly betrayed by his own vanity. Godlike, he blandly assumes that he can express everything in words. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh _The Wave of the Future_ [1940] Like most intellectuals, he is imensely stupid. -- Marquise de Merteuil The uncouth hordes of common men are not fit to recognize duly the merits of those who eclipse their own wretchedness.-- Ludwig von Mises Christianity is the greatest intellectual system the mind of man has ever touched.-- Francis Schaeffer, letter:, 2 Mar 1959
Do you know that dolphins are so intelligent that within only a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the edge of a pool and throw them fish? The human brain is like a railroad freight car - guaranteed to have a certain capacity but often running empty. There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence. Henry Brooks Adams (1838 &endash; 1918) When you don't have an education, you have to use your brains. Frank Baer Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. George Orwell
Warning: the Internet may contain traces of nuts. I am Graham Weeks& I approved this post. The Internet is run by a guy named Heisenberg, and his principles are uncertain.~ Kevin G. Barkes, alt.quotations, 3 Oct 2001 Internet is so big, so powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life. - Andrew Brown The Internet also presents perhaps one of the greatest
threats to morality and decency that we face today ... it
has the power to corrupt absolutely. Interactivity has the virtue of democracy, conferring
upon everyone with access to a computer the right and
opportunity to be heard, but it's also saddled with
democracy's vice -- a tendency to assume that everyone who
has a right to be heard has something to say that's worth
hearing. If you don't like the content on the Internet, bring your shining light to make sure others will find something of value. Caring and connectivity go together, and with this God-given capability you can no longer claim powerlessness to change the world. --Frank Odasz The Internet is as persistent as it is potent, an indelible and uncontainable presence in the culture. In fact, the Internet isn't separate from the culture at all; it *is* the culture. All the trash, flotsam and spillage of our society gets its moment there, where the tiniest obsession has its spot on the shelf, right next to Bach and charity and sunsets. The Internet lets a million flowers bloom, and a million weeds. -- Daniel Okrent, "Raising Kids Online", TIME magazine, 10 May 1999 The Internet causes billions of images to appear on millions of computer monitors around the planet. From this galaxy of sight and sound will the face of Christ emerge and the voice of Christ be heard? - the Pope, Blessing of the Internet., January 24th 2002 Looking at the proliferation of personal web pages on the net, it looks like very soon everyone on earth will have 15 Megabytes of fame. -M G Siriam Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea -- massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect it.--spaf@cs.purdue.edu (1992). On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog - cartoon by Peter Steiner page 61 of July 5, 1993 issue of The New Yorker,
[S]trive to imbue that people with good morals, and bring it to pass, as well through yourself as through those whom you know from their faith, doctrine, and course of life to be fit for such a work, that the church may there be adorned, the Christian religion planted and made to grow, and the things which pertain to the honor of God and to salvation be so ordered that you may merit to obtain an abundant and lasting reward from God, and on earth a name glorious throughout the ages, - Pope Adrian IV to Henry II of England, encouraging him to invade Ireland so the Irish church would come under the See of Rome. I'm sick and tired of Irish Americans coming up to me, who haven't been back to their country in years, and talking about the glory of the revolution. Where's the glory in taking a man out in front of his wife and kids and shooting him? In leaving people out with their medals all brushed up laying under the rubble, dying for the glory of the revolution? ~Bono, New Musical Express(1988) Oh the bricks they will bleed and the rain it will weep When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and asked if the god I did not believe in was the protestand God or the catholic one. - Quentin Crisp I have never met anyone in Ireland who understood the Irish Question, except one Englishman who had only been there a week. Keith Fraser MP, House of Commons, May 1920. This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. -- Sigmund Freud (about the Irish) Murder is murder is murder. - John Paul II to the IRA , Ireland, 1979, quoted in Brenda Maddox, Maggie the First Lady, p134 To the north of the island of Inkiltere is the island of Irlanda. Its length is some twelve days' journey, and its breadth at the center about four days, and it is famous for its multiplicity of dissension. Its people were heathens and then adopted Christianity in imitation of their neighbours. - Ibn Sa'id - 13th century There is a story that when incoming jets throttle back for the approach to Belfast's Aldergrove Airport, the pilots tell their passengers to put their watches back to local time--1690. -- Quoted by Russell Miller, 1980 When a man takes a farm from which another has been evicted, you must show him ... by putting him into a moral Coventry, by isolating him from his kind as if he were a leper of old - you must show him your detestation of the crimes he has committed. - Charles Stuart Parnell, 19 September 1880: the first person to be so treated was Captain Boycott. Being born in a stable does not make one a horse.-- The Duke of Wellington, when referred to as Irish
Islam rules, it is not ruled Genocide committed in the name of Allah: 3,000,000 Bangladeshi Hindus Killed during the Pakistan-Bangladesh war in 1971. From 1894 to 1896 Abdul Hamid, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, killed 150,000 Armenian Christians. In India, Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur along with his disciples was burned to death by the Moghul ruler Aurangzeb in 1675. Another Sikh, Bhai Mati Das was sawn into right and left halves while he was still alive. In July 1974, 4,000 Christians living in Cyprus were killed by Fahri Koroturk, president of Turkey and his Islamic army. From 1843 to 1846 10,000 Assyrian Christians including women and children were massacred by the Muslims. From 1915 to 1918 750,000 Assyrians were killed in the name of Islamic Jihad. In 1933 thousands of Assyrian villagers were murdered by the Iraqi soldiers in Northern Iraq. Since 1990 more than 10,000 Kashmiri Hindus have been brutally murdered by Islamic fundamentalists. Over 280,000 Ugandans killed during the reign of Idi Amin from 1971 to 1979. Over 30,000 Mauritanians have been killed by the Islamic dictators since 1960. In 1980, 20,000 Syrians were murdered under the rule of Hafez Al-Assad, President of Syria. Since 1992 120,000 Algerians have been murdered by the Islamic fundamentalist army. From: http://www.truthtree.com/islam/islam_menu.shtml It is indeed true that the Islamic regulations for the
non-Muslims who live under Islamic rule (the dhimmis) are
founded upon the laws of jihad. Sura 9:29 provides the
mandate for this relationship, in that the jizya tax is
imposed as a result of jihad against Jews and Christians
('those who have been given the Scripture'). This verse is
cited and explained by Mark A. Gabriel, former professor of
Islamic history at Al-Azhar University, as follows: "Fight
against such of those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor
in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been
forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad) (3) and
those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam)
among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians),
until they pay the Jizyah [tax] with willing
submission, and feel themselves subdued. &endash; SURAH
9:29, THE NOBLE QURAN It is not lawful to make war upon any people who have never before been called to the faith, without previously requiring them to embrace it, because the Prophet so instructed his commanders, directing them to call the infidels to the faith, and also because the people will hence perceive that they are attacked for the sake of religion, and not for the sake of taking their property, or making slaves of their children, and on this consideration it is possible that they may be induced to agree to the call, in order to save themselves from the troubles of war… If the infidels, upon receiving the call, neither consent to it nor agree to pay capitation tax, it is then incumbent on the Muslims to call upon God for assistance, and to make war upon them, because God is the assistant of those who serve Him, and the destroyer of His enemies, the infidels, and it is necessary to implore His aid upon every occasion; the Prophet, moreover, commands us so to do. - From the Hanafi school, the Hidayah, vol. Ii. P. 140, in Thomas P. Hughes, "A Dictionary of Islam," "Jihad" Pp. 243-248. (London, United Kingdom.: W.H. Allem, 1895). In the repressive cultural and intellectual milieu that prevails in the modern Muslim state it is wiser fir a writer not to write, for a thinker not to think; it is prudent to be a coward.....It is no wonder that most original writers are either abroad or broken or silenced.....Paradoxically a home is provided for them in the West, usually in the USA and the UK which attracts the highest number of intellectual writers from the Muslim world. - Akbar Ahmed, Islam Today, I.B.Tauris, 1999 p150 Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth. -- Council on American-Islamic Relations Chairman Omar M. Ahmad, speech, July 1998 Holy war (Jihad) is an Arabic virtue, and a divine obligation: the Muslim is always mindful that his religion is a Qur'an and a sword ... the Muslim then is forever a warrior.- Al-Azhar magazine, Cairo, the opening article by Ahmad Hasan az-Zayat, August 1959. Allah's Apostle said, "I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings, and I have been made victorious with terror, and while I was sleeping, the keys of the treasures of the world were brought to me and put in my hand." Abu Huraira added: Allah's Apostle has left the world and now you, people, are bringing out those treasures. - Sahih Al Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220 Just as scholastic theology is used with thinking people concerning the truth, the sword is used with the infidels after informing them with the truth ... so just as it cannot be said that the sword was Mohammad's most eloquent argument, neither can it be said that scholastic theology is the ultimate science. - Ihy'a 'Uloum ed-Din by al-Ghazali, Dar al-Kotob al-'Elmeyah, Beirut, Vol. V, p. 35 …one must go on jihad (i.e., warlike razzias or raids) at least once a year...one may use a catapult against them [non-Muslims] when they are in a fortress, even if among them are women and children. One may set fire to them and/or drown them...If a person of the Ahl al-Kitab [People of The Book &endash; Jews and Christians, typically] is enslaved, his marriage is [automatically] revoked. A woman and her child taken into slavery should not be separated...One may cut down their trees...One must destroy their useless books. Jihadists may take as booty whatever they decide...they may steal as much food as they require, - Al-Ghazali (d. 1111). Kitab al-Wagiz fi fiqh madhab al-imam al-Safi'i, Beirut, 1979, pp. 186, 190-91. [English translation by Dr. Michael Schub] Islam is a revolutionary doctrine and system that overturns governments. It seeks to overturn the whole social order … and establish its structure anew … Islam seeks the whole world. It is not satisfied by a piece of land but demands the whole universe … Islamic jihad is at the same time offensive and defensive… The Islamic party does not hesitate to utilize the means of war to implement its goal. (Al-Jihad fi Sabil Allah, ['Jihad in the Path of Allah'] Cairo 1977, pp. 23, 29, 51). The mushrikun [infidels] of Dar al-Harb (the arena of battle) are of two types: First, those whom the call of Islam has reached, but they have refused it and have taken up arms. The amir of the army has the option of fighting them…in accordance with what he judges to be in the best interest of the Muslims and most harmful to the mushrikun… Second, those whom the invitation to Islam has not reached, although such persons are few nowadays since Allah has made manifest the call of his Messenger…[I]t is forbidden to…begin an attack before explaining the invitation to Islam to them, informing them of the miracles of the Prophet and making plain the proofs so as to encourage acceptance on their part; if they still refuse to accept after this, war is waged against them and they are treated as those whom the call has reached….Al- Mawardi, (d. 1058 ), Shafi'i jurist , The Laws of Islamic Governance [al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah, (London, United Kingdom.: Ta-Ha, 1996, p. 60). Jihad is a precept of Divine institution. Its performance by certain individuals may dispense others from it. We Malikis [one of the four schools of Muslim jurisprudence] maintain that it is preferable not to begin hostilities with the enemy before having invited the latter to embrace the religion of Allah except where the enemy attacks first. They have the alternative of either converting to Islam or paying the poll tax (jizya), short of which war will be declared against them.- Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, La Risala (Epitre sur les elements du dogme et de la loi de l'Islam selon le rite malikite.) Translated from Arabic by Leon Bercher. 5th ed. Algiers, 1960, p. 165. [English translation, in Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam, Cranston, NJ, 1996, p. 295] Muslim Theology offers, up to present, no systemetic formulation of a status of being a minority - Zakki Badawi quoted in "Islam in Britain" Philip Lewis, London 1981. At its core, Islam is a religious mission to all humanity. Muslims are religiously obliged to disseminate the Islamic faith throughout the world. "We have sent you forth to all mankind" (Q. 34:28). If non-Muslims submit to conversion or subjugation, this call (da'wa) can be pursued peacefully. If they do not, Muslims are obliged to wage war against them. In Islam, peace requires that non-Muslims submit to the call of Islam, either by converting or by accepting the status of a religious minority (dhimmi) and paying the imposed poll tax, jizya. World peace, the final stage of the da'wa, is reached only with the conversion or submission of all mankind to Islam…Muslims believe that expansion through war is not aggression but a fulfillment of the Qur'anic command to spread Islam as a way to peace. The resort to force to disseminate Islam is not war (harb), a word that is used only to describe the use of force by non-Muslims. Islamic wars are not hurub (the plural of harb) but rather futuhat, acts of "opening" the world to Islam and expressing Islamic jihad. Relations between dar al-Islam, the home of peace, and dar al-harb, the world of unbelievers, nevertheless take place in a state of war, according to the Qur'an and to the authoritative commentaries of Islamic jurists. Unbelievers who stand in the way, creating obstacles for the da'wa, are blamed for this state of war, for the da'wa can be pursued peacefully if others submit to it. In other words, those who resist Islam cause wars and are responsible for them. Only when Muslim power is weak is "temporary truce" (hudna) allowed (Islamic jurists differ on the definition of "temporary").- Tibi, Bassam. "War and Peace in Islam," in The Ethics of War and Peace: Religious and Secular Perspectives, edited by Terry Nardin, 1996, Princeton, N.J., pp. 129-131. Christianity's record is indisputably spotted. But standing in eternal reproof of that record, crying hypocrisy and betrayal, is Christianity itself, quitessentially embodied in the example of Jesus. In the case of Islam, the charge of hypocrisy hardly applies--certainly not on the matter of religious violence. To put the issue at its starkest, there is simply no equivalent in the Koran to the New Testament's admonishment to "turn the other cheek"; conversely, there is no equivalent in the New Testament to the Koranic injunction to "kill the disbelievers wherever you find them".-- William Bennett, _Why We Fight: Moral Clarity and the War on Terrorism_, 2002 We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for hman rights and - in contrast with Islamic countries - respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its value understanding of diversity and tolerance. - Silvio Berlusconi, BBC News, 27 Sep 2001 Muslims and Christians are at war with each other in Nigeria--and in many other places, unfortunately. That is a normal situation, for Islam regards its relationships with others as one of permanent war. Peaceful relations with others are only a matter of temporary strategy. Genuine Muslim peace with others is realized only when they have turned Muslim, when the House of War has become the House of Islam. They fully expect others to enter the House of Islam at one time or another and they are willing to work towards that with the patience of Job. = The Anatomy of Miss World, Dr. Jan H. Boer, (January, 2003) Al Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money, its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere. --George W. Bush I am a Persian Turkish immigrant raised as a Sunni Muslim, and in the interest of full disclosure, I must state that I left Islam in 1982, and became an American citizen...The present conflict is not a war against Islam, and neither is it a "war for oil." In the previous six military endeavors, American troops sided with Muslims who were under attack, and there are much less extreme methods of garnering oil. This is a war of ideologies, and with Fahrenheit 911, Moore clearly shows his. [...] The central fact of the current controversy is the conflict between Islamic theocracy and American democracy. Islam has not now nor has it ever allowed religious freedom or freedom of expression. The best the Islamic republics can offer is "religious toleration." Based on the "Pact of Umar," religious toleration allows non-Muslims to enter Islamic republics, but they must pay a tax (jizyat). They can practice their faiths, but they cannot convert nyone from Islam. To do so means deportation or worse. Further, Islamic prophecy foretells of worldwide conversion to Sharia law under Islam, and thus, those who are fighting against us are "holy warriors." In this instance, I would say our president is half-right. He says we are not at war with Islam. I agree. However, a significant portion of Islam is in fact at war with us. -- Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner, Moore's 'hate-riotism' http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0604/hate-riotism.php3 A fourth challenge facing moderate Muslims is to resist strongly the taking over of Islam by radical activists and to express strongly, on behalf of the many millions of their co-religionists, their abhorrence of violence done in the name of Allah. We look to them to condemn suicide bombers and terrorists who use Islam as a weapon to destabilise and destroy innocent lives. Sadly, apart from a few courageous examples, very few Muslim leaders condemn, clearly and unconditionally, the evil of suicide bombers who kill innocent people. We need to hear outright condemnation of theologies that state that suicide bombers are 'martyrs' and enter a martyrs reward. We need to hear Muslims expressing their outrage and condemning such evil. - Lord Carey of Clifton, Christianity and Islam: Collison or convergence? Gregorian University, Rome,, March 25 2004 Muslim leaders often tell Christians and Jews that 'there is no compulsion in religion'. This sadly is only half true. If non-Muslims are not compelled to become Muslim, Muslims are not free to choose another faith. There is, we find, some compulsion, after all. - Lord Carey of Clifton, Christianity and Islam: Collison or convergence? Gregorian University, Rome,, March 25 2004 How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property&emdash;either as a child, a wife, or a concubine&emdash;must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science&emdash;the science against which it had vainly struggled&emdash;the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome. -- Winston Churchill, _The River War_ I would rather Mahommedans were permited among us though one of God's children be persecuted. - Oliver Cromwell, quoted by Barbara Tuchman, Bible and Sword. Forget Reds under the Bed, there's Arabs in the Attic ~ Hamid Dabashi, The Times Higher Education Supplement (October 17, 2003) On this morning of May 17 rabi II, two days after the victory, the Sultan sought out the Templars and Hospitallers who had been captured and said " I shall purify the land of these two impure races." He assigned fifty dinar to every man who had taken one of them prisoner, and immediately the army brought forward at least a hundred of them. He ordered that they should be beheaded, choosing to have them dead rather than in prison. With him was a whole band of scholars and surfis and a certain number of devout men and ascetics; each begged to be allowed to kill one of them, and drew his sword and rolled back his sleeve.- Imad-ad-Din, Secretary and Chancellor to Saladin 1187 ... the terrorists who profess the name of Allah and proclaim jihad are operating squarely within the Islamic tradition. Indeed they are performing what Islam has typically held to be a religious duty. Of course it could be pointed out that there are millions of Muslims who do not agree with this view of Islam. They prefer what may be termed the "jihad of the heart" or perhaps the "jihad of the pen" to the "jihad of the sword." But traditionally Islam has embraced all these forms of jihad as legitimate, so that the only reasonable conclusion is that many Muslims today, both in the West and in the Islamic world, no longer profess Islam in its classical or traditional sense. In a word, they are liberals, not in the Michael Dukakis sense, but in the classic meaning of the term. From the point of view of the Bin Ladens of the world, these people are apostates for diluting the faith and refusing to do battle against the infidels. -- Dinesh D'Souza, _What's So Great About America_, 2002 The classical consensus was that the revelations regulating relations with non-Muslims evolved in accordance with the development of Muhammad's prophetic career. At the beginning, when Muhammad was weaker and his followers few, the revelations encouraged peaceful relations and avoidance of conflict. Then, after persecution and emigration to Medina in the first year of the Islamic calendar, authority was given to engage in warfare for defensive purposes only.As the Muslim community steadily grew stronger, and conflict with its neighbours did not abate, further revelations expanded the license for waging war. Finally, in Sura 9, regarded as the last to be revealed, it was concluded that war against non-Muslims could be waged, virtually at any time and in any place, to extend the dominance of Islam. This resulted in an aggressive theory of jihad which is well documented in medieval manuals of shari'ah law. - MARK JOHN DURIE, WITNESS STATEMENT to VICTORIAN CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/Witness%20Statement.pdf When accusing the West of imperialism, Muslims are obsessed with the Christian Crusades but have forgotten their own, much grander Jihad. In fact, they often denounce the Crusades as the cause and starting point of the antagonism between Christianity and Islam. They are putting the cart before the horse. The Jihad is more than four hundred years older than the Crusades. -- Paul Fregosi, _Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries_ We must accept what our ancestors, Christian or Muslim, did. It was done and nothing can change that now. We must know our past and accept it. It is all part of the immense mosaic of mankind, whose history is a complex picture of good and bad. Let us keep it in the past where it belongs. [...But, i]t needs to be said: Islam considers itself doctrinally a religion whose destiny it is to dominate and to rule the world. In the spiritual sphere it believes that it has taken over from the older Jewish and Christian religions. It considers them outdated and itself therefore entitled to the recognition of its true and superior status, and to their deference. Politically others see Islam and it sees itself as the would-be successors of the Russians and now, strangely enough, of the Americans. Let us never forget the ideological dimension of Islam. -- Paul Fregosi, _Jihad in the West: Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries_, 1998 I ask this very important question: is the jihad a religious right of those who declare and wage it, or is it a violation of the human rights of the people against whom it is declared and waged? - John Garang, chairman of the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, press conference in Geneva March 1999 The Huntington scenario which pits a monolithic Islam against a monolithic West in a ' clash of cultures' is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. We need to discuss the issues with our Muslim friends. How do religion and politics relate? What is the balance between their desire for all to accept Islam and the need to live in harmony with people of other faiths? - Ram Gidoomal in The Asian Age, Nov 2001 Many of Islam‚s apologists insist that suicide bombing is not Islamic because the Koran forbids suicide. Mmm-hmm. So where are all the Muslims gathering in mass demonstrations to vehemently condemn this practice that slanders their religion? Why does contemporary Islam promote „martyrdom‰ as the highest duty of Muslims? Why are photographs of suicide bombers plastered everywhere in Beirut? Because Islam is what Islam does. -- Jamie Glazov, Suicide For Allah http://frontpagemag.com/columnists/glazov/2002/glazov02-06-02.htm Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon hlmg) said: I have been given superiority over the other prophets in six respects: I have been given words which are concise but comprehensive in meaning; I have been helped by terror (in the hearts of enemies): spoils have been made lawful to me: the earth has been made for me clean and a place of worship; I have been sent to all mankind and the line of prophets is closed with me. - Hadith, in Sahih Muslim Book 004, Number 1062 Allah is its goal, the prophet is its model, the Koran is its constitution, jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is its most coveted desire.- Hamas Motto As for apostates, it is permitted to kill them by facing them or coming upon them from behind … Secondly, their blood if shed brings no vengeance. Thirdly, their property is the spoil of true believers. Fourthly, their marriage ties become null and void. - A summary of Sunni law on apostasy given by Mohammed Al Abdari Ibn Hadj in Al Madkhal quoted by S. M. Zwemer in The Law of Apostasy in Islam What is preached in the madrassas on the West Bank, in Pakistan, and throughout the Gulf is no different from the Nazi doctrine of racial hatred. What has changed, of course, is that unlike our grandfathers, we have lost the courage to speak out against it. In one of the strangest political transformations of our age, the fascist Islamic Right has grafted its cause onto that of the Left's boutique "multiculturalism," hoping to earn a pass for its hate by posing as the "other" and reaping the benefits of liberal guilt due to purported victimization. By any empirical standard, what various Palestinian cliques have done on the West Bank &emdash; suicide murdering, lynching without trial of their own people, teaching small children to hate and kill Jews &emdash; should have earned them all Hitlerian sobriquets rather than U.N. praise. -- Victor Davis Hanson, "Cracked Icons", http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200412170839.asp There are only two modes of repelling the sin of apostasy, namely, destruction [death] or Islam [returning to Islam], and Islam is preferable to destruction. - The Hedaya: Commentary on the Islamic Laws, the key text-book of Hanafi Islamic law It would be a gross mistake to imagine that the idea of universal conquest may be considered as obliterated…the canonists and the vulgar still live in the illusion of the days of Islam's greatness. The legists continue to ground their appreciation of every actual political condition on the law of the holy war, which war ought never be allowed to cease entirely until all mankind is reduced to the authority of Islam- the heathen by conversion, the adherents of acknowledged Scripture by submission. Even if they admit the improbability of this at present, they are comforted an encouraged by the recollection of the lengthy period of humiliation that the Prophet himself had to suffer before Allah bestowed victory upon his arms; and they fervently join with the Friday preacher, when he announces the prayer taken from the Qur'an: "And lay not upon us, our Lord, that for which we have not strength, but blot out our sins and forgive us and have pity upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then to conquer the unbelievers." And the common people are willingly taught by the canonists and feed their hope of better days upon the innumerable legends of the olden time and the equally innumerable apocalyptic prophecies about the future. The political blows that fall upon Islam make less impression…than the senseless stories about the power of the Sultan of Stambul, that would instantly be revealed if he were not surrounded by treacherous servants, and the fantastic tidings of the miracles that Allah works in the Holy Cities of Arabia which are inaccessible to the unfaithful. The conception of the Khalifate still exercises a fascinating influence, regarded in the light of a central point of union against the unfaithful.,- Hurgronje, Snouck. Mohammedanism. New York, 1916, p. 59. Islam's borders are bloody and so are its innards. The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is Islam, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power. The problem for Islam is not the CIA or the U.S. Department of Defense. It is the West, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the universality of their culture.-- Samuel Huntington, _The Clash of Civilizations_ Conflict along the fault line between Western and Islamic civilizations has been going on for 1,300 years...... This centuries-old military interaction between the West and Islam is unlikely to decline. It could become more virulent........ On both sides the interaction between Islam and the West is seen as a clash of civilizations. The West's "next confrontation,"observes M. J. Akbar, an Indian Muslim author, "is definitely going to come from the Muslim world. It is in the sweep of the Islamic nations from the Maghreb to Pakistan that the struggle for a new world order will begin.":Samuel P. Huntington, THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATION, Foreign Affairs. Summer1993 Jihad is the highest expression of Islam. Fighting against unbelievers is an act of worship, one of the most supreme forms of devotion to God. Nothing compares with it in merit or reward. It brings material benefit (i.e. through booty), and spiritual merit.- Anyone who takes the path of jihad is guaranteed to be successful: either victory or paradise. Muslim armies in the past spread across the world spreading knowledge of Islam, instilling faith, and crushing the power of evil, so everyone was free to enter Islam. Jihad is essential for the spread of Islam. Fighting against non-Muslims is THE way to call others to God. It was not a contextual response to the needs of the first period of Islam, but is an inseparable part of the invitation to Islam. Jihad is so deeply rooted in the Qur'an and the life and example of Muhammad, that it could not be merely a response to the times in which Muhammad lived. Any position which sets itself up against Islam will, by definition, be violently opposed to Islam, and must be fought against. Evil &emdash; defined as opposition to Islam &emdash; is inherently militant. Furthermore, the only response to militant evil is an equally militant good: 'Falsehood fortified must be met with truth ironclad.' When Muslims today define jihad in ways other than described above, this is deception. They are diluting the Qur'an and the Sunnah. They are humiliated by their cowardice. Muslims must realize the true meaning of jihad, and 'feel superior' about their faith.- - Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia, http://iisca.org/knowledge/jihad/jihad_for_allah.htm Although in Arabic the word jihad means 'struggle' or
'hardship', as a term of Islam, it means 'to struggle
against the disbelievers'. Other implications of jihad
include struggling against Satan, ignorance and doubt. The
struggle against disbelievers must be conducted with all
that a Muslim possesses: with body, soul, wealth, words and
heart. The world is divided into the powers of Satan and the
forces of God. These are in competition for dominance. The
one way to dispel power of Satan is to establish the
Shari'ah in its totality over all the earth. Fighting
against unbelievers (jihad) became normative for Muslims
after the migration to Medina. This is a sign of its
importance. Against whom should Muslims fight? If you come to understand this, you should know that the greatest step of adherence to this firmest handhold and the highest step of disbelief in this man-made deity [the democratic legislator] is the peak of Islam. By this I mean The Jihad. The Jihad against the deity, his followers, and helpers, to try to damage this man made system, and to try to get the people to turn away from worshipping it and to return to the worship of Allah alone. - (Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia), 'Democracy is a religion' www.iisna.com/articles/democracy.htm Be careful not to limit the word religion, just to Christianity, or Judaism and so on, because you may follow the other false religions and go astray. It includes every religion, method, judgment system, and law, that the creatures follow and adhere to. All of these false religions must be left, and avoided, we must disbelieve in them avoid their helpers, and supporters, all except the monotheistic religion, the religion of Islam. This may include Communism, Socialism, Secularism, and the other innovated methods, and principles, which the creatures invented with their minds or ideas, and then satisfied these ideas to be their religions. One of these is the democracy which is considered a religion that is contradictory to Allah's religion.... and Satan stands at every door of these ways, calling to the Hell fire. So democracy is on one side a polytheism and on the other side a disbelief in Allah that contradicts with monotheism ...-There is no consideration in the democracy religion to the verses of the Qur'an, or the traditions, or talks of the Prophet (pbuh). Allah ordered his Prophet (pbuh) to judge by what Allah revealed unto him, and asked him not to be swayed by people's desires ... Therefore, democracy is a religion that is different from Allah's religion. It is the judgment of their Satanic deity, but not of Allah. It is a law of different, separate gods, but not the law of Allah, the One, the Subduer."(Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia), 'Democracy is a religion' www.iisna.com/articles/democracy.htm So, you must choose the religion of Allah and His pure legislation, His brilliant light, His straight road. Or the democracy religion, and its polytheism, unbelief, its closed, curved road. You must choose the judgment of Allah, the One, the Subduer, of the judgment of the man made deity.The democracy is the evil result of secularism and its illegitimate daughter, because secularism is a fake doctrine that aims at separating the religion from the government.... the word 'deity' includes any one who makes himself a legislator [in competition] with Allah, ruler or ruled, a representative in the parliament (the legislative authority), or the persons who select him, because he exceeded his limits. Man was created to be a servant of Allah and Allah ordered him to accept His legislation, but man rejected and exceeded the limits. He wanted to equate himself with Allah, and to participate in the legislation of Allah, which is not allowed to anyone except Allah. ...Sheikh of Islam Ibn Taimyyah said 'for this reason the one who judges without referring to the Holy Book (Qur'an) is a deity'....These representatives, in fact, are erected, craven images and worshipped idols, and claimed gods that are set up and fixed in their temples, at their heathen sanctuaries (the parliaments).... [any one's] agreement with the polytheists about the democracy religion, and his agreement to make the legislation, and the judgment to be his, and to make his authority more important than Allah's authority, Consider how Allah started with the enmity before the hate. Enmity is more important because a human may hate the deity's followers [i.e. citizens in a democratic nation], but may not consider them enemies. So a human will not be doing his duty or obligation unless he hates them, and takes them as enemies. Consider how Allah mentioned their disavowal of the polytheist people, before the disavowal of what they worshipped, because the first [enmity] is more important than the second [hatred]. - (Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia), 'Democracy is a religion' www.iisna.com/articles/democracy.htm Arguments against false understanding of jihad, current among Muslims today Many Muslims today think that jihad means any kind of struggle for God. This is a false understanding. Jihad as an Islamic, legal term means fighting (al-qitaal). The word jihad can be used in a non-technical, everyday sense meaning 'to struggle', but this is a different sense of the word, not to be confused with the Islamic meaning. Key points of the introductory section are: Other Islamic words have two meanings. For example salaah has 'prayer' (du'a) as it basic meaning. But it has a technical religious sense meaning the obligatory daily ritual worship. Similar observations apply to terms like zakah, saum, and hajj. No-one can satisfy Shari'ah requirements by applying everyday meanings to such words. For example you cannot satisfy the requirement of zakah 'purification' by taking a bath. As a legal term zakah can only be performed by giving 2.5% of annual savings to charity. Likewise, the obligation to perform jihad can only be satisfied by fighting. This distinction is well-known to the classical scholars of the four schools (madhaahib) of Sunni Islam. In both the Qur'an and the Sunnah, jihad generally means fighting (qitaal). This article has been translated in order to Muslim youth to take up fighting ('legal jihad') because some Muslims try to divert Muslim youth away from this - The Meaning of Jihad: Both Linguistically, and from the Shari'ah http://iisca.org/knowledge/jihad/meaning_of_jihad.htm ...for the theory of the world which it enshrines is still fundamental to the thinking of great masses of Muslim people to the present day. The troubles in India which lead up to the great Patna conspiracy trials of 1864 were due to the fact that Syed Ahmad of Oudh had preached against the Sikh cities of the Panjab a Jihad which later turned to one against all non-Muslim groups. The bloody episode of the Padri rebellion in Malaysia was due to the preaching of Jihad against the pagan Battak tribes. The Fula wars in the Hausa country [Western Sudan] in the early nineteenth century, which lead to Osman Dan Fodio's setting up the ephemeral sultanate of Sokoto, began as a jihad preached against the pagan king of Gobir. The Moplah rebellion in South India in 1921, with its massacres, forcible conversions, desecration of temples, and outrages on the hapless Hindu villagers, could be heard openly proclaimed as a Jihad in the streets of Madras.- Jeffery, Arthur. "The Political Importance of Islam," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 1, 1942, p. 388. It is of course, easy to raise the objection that a Jihad in the old sense is impossible of realization in the modern world, for Islam is far too badly divided for anything like a general Jihad to be contemplated and far too weak in technical equipment for a Jihad to be successful even if started. This does not dispose of the fact, however, that the earlier conception of Jihad has left a deposit in Muslim thinking that is still to be reckoned with in the political relations of the Western world with Islam.- Jeffery, A. "The Political Importance of Islam," 1942, pp. 388-389. Did you ever read the Koran? I recommend it. What the Koran teaches people is aggression; and what we [Christians] teach our people is peace. . . . Christianity aspires to peace and love. Islam is a religion that attacks.If you start teaching aggression to the whole community, you end up pandering to the negative elements in everyone. You know what that leads to: Such people will assault us. --Pope John Paul II [Karol Wojtyla] (1920- ) (In Carl Bernstein and Marco Politi's _His Holiness: John Paul II and the Hidden History of Our Time_ [1996]) Muhammad, unlike Christ, was a man of violence, he bore arms, was wounded in battle and preached holy war, Jihad, against those who defied the will of God as revealed to him. -- John Keegan, _A History of Warfare_ Thus the jihad may be regarded as Islam's instrument for carrying out its ultimate objective by turning all people into believers, if not in the prophethood of Muhammad (as in the case of the dhimmis), at least in the belief of God. The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have declared "some of my people will continue to fight victoriously for the sake of the truth until the last one of them will combat the anti-Christ." Until that moment is reached the jihad, in one form or another will remain as a permanent obligation upon the entire Muslim community. It follows that the existence of a dar al-harb is ultimately outlawed under the Islamic jural order; that the dar al-Islam permanently under jihad obligation until the dar al-harb is reduced to non-existence; and that any community accepting certain disabilities- must submit to Islamic rule and reside in the dar al-Islam or be bound as clients to the Muslim community. The universality of Islam, in its all embracing creed, is imposed on the believers as a continuous process of warfare, psychological and political if not strictly military.- Khadduri, Majid. War and Peace in the Law of Islam, 1955, Richmond, VA and London, England, pp. 63-64. In the Muslim community, the holy war [jihad] is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the [Muslim] mission and the [obligation to] convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force. Therefore caliphate and royal authority are united [in Islam], so that the person in charge can devote the available strength to both of them [religion and politics] at the same time. The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty to them, save only for purposes of defence. It has thus come about that the person in charge of religious affairs [in other religions] is not concerned with power politics at all. …[Political authority is assigned among peoples of other religions] not because they are under obligation to gain power over other nations, as is the case with Islam. (Ibn Kaldun, The Muqaddimah, I, 480. 14th century). In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the (Muslim) mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force. ..The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defense. ..Islam is under obligation to gain power over other nations. -- Ibn Khaldun, c. 14thC Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled and incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of other [countries] so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world. But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world...Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured [by the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill them [the non-Muslims], put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]. Does this mean sitting back until [non-Muslims] overcome us? Islam says: Kill in the service of Allah those who may want to kill you! Does this mean that we should surrender to the enemy? Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other [Koranic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of the Prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim. -- The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, quoted in Amir Taheri's _Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism_, 1987 ...most Muslim countries are still profoundly Muslim, in a way and in a sense that most Christian countries are no longer Christian. Admittedly, in many of these countries, Christian beliefs and the clergy who uphold them are still a powerful force, and although their role is not what it was in past centuries,it is by no means insignificant. But in no Christian country at the present time can religious leaders count on the degree of belief and participation that remains normal in Muslim lands. In few, if any, countries do Christian sanctities enjoy the immunity from critical comment or discussion that is accepted as normal even in ostensibly secular and democratic Muslim societies. Indeed, this privileged immunity has been extended, de facto, to Western countries where Muslim communities have been established and where Muslim beliefs and practices are accorded a level of immunity from criticism that the Christian majorities have lost and the Jewish minorities never had. Most important, with very few exceptions, the Christian clergy do not exercise or even claim the kind of public authority that is still normal and accepted in most Muslim countries. --Bernard Lewis, _The Crisis of Islam_ There was another, perhaps more important, factor driving bin Ladin. In the past, Muslims fighting the West could always turn to the enemies of the West for comfort, encouragement, and material and military help. Now, for the first time in centuries, there is no such useful enemy. Bin Ladin and his cohorts soon realized that, if they wished to fight America they would have to do it themselves. In 1991, the same year that the Soviet Union ceased to exist, bin Ladin and his cohorts created Al-Qa'ida, which included many veterans of Afghanistan. Their task may have seemed daunting to anyone else, but they did not see it that way. In their view, they had already driven the Russians out of Afghanistan, in a defeat that was so overwhelming that it led directly to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Having overcome the superpower that they had always regarded as more formidable, they felt ready to take on the other; in this they were encouraged by the opinion, often expressed by bin Ladin among others, that America was a paper tiger. Muslim terrorists had been driven by such beliefs before. One of the most surprising revelations in the memoirs of those who held the American Embassy in Tehran from 1979 to 1981 was that there original intention had been to hold the building and hostages for only a few days. They changed their minds when statements from Washington made it clear that there was no danger of serious action against them. They finally released the hostages, they explained, only because they feared that the president-elect, Ronald Reagan, might approach the problem "like a cowboy." --Bernard Lewis, _The Crisis of Islam_ In particular, the 'economic class struggle' theories so pervasive in academe should be thrown out of the window in such an exercise. For, it is clear that the jihadis are not motivated by economic cravings, to drive in BMWs, or to indulge in other Western ways of living. Their struggle is not for wealth, and many of them left wealthy Arab families. [...] It is the religion as interpreted by the bearded men on the ground, running the madrassas, that matters in assessing the aspirations of jihadis, and not the Islam as interpreted by its relatively few Westernized liberal voices. Yes, we all wish Islam were more like it is cranked up to be on American college campuses today, and should encourage any movement in that direction. But, meanwhile, we must plan based on what it is perceived to be by those who are driven to such extremes based on religious dogma.-- Rajiv Malhotra, "America's Last Chance" ...I'm asking Muslims in the West a very basic question: Will we remain spiritually infantile, caving to cultural pressures to clam up and conform, or will we mature into full-fledged citizens, defending the very pluralism that allows us to be in this part of the world in the first place? My question for non-Muslims is equally basic: Will you succumb to the intimidation of being called "racists," or will you finally challenge us Muslims to take responsibility for our role in what ails Islam? -- Irshad Manji, blurb for her book _The Trouble With Islam_, http://www.muslim-refusenik.com/thebook.html#troublewithislamis Non-Muslims have been granted the freedom to stay outside the Islamic fold and to cling to their false, man-made ways if they so wish. They have, however, absolutely no right to seize the reins of power in any part of God's earth nor to direct the collective affairs of human beings according to their own misconceived doctrines. (Maudidi's commentary on Sura 9:29, in Towards understanding the Qur'an. Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1988). Every Muslim guilty of the crime of apostasy, whether by word or action, will be invited to repent over a period of three days. If he does not repent within this time limit, he is to be condemned to death as an apostate and his property will be confiscated by the Treasury. - Article 306, Criminal Code of Mauritania The lordship of man over man is the root cause of all corrupt rule. In the light of this principle, no laws are legitimate except God's law, and no government is legitimate except those who rule as God's deputies, implementing God's laws alone, which no-one has the power to change. So I say to you: if you really want to root out corruption now so widespread on God's earth, stand up and fight against corrupt rule; take power and use it on God's behalf. It is useless to think you change things by preaching alone. - Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi. Let us be Muslims. Trans. & ed. Khurram Murad. The Islamic Foundation, Leicester England. (Printed by A.S. Noordeen, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ) Third Reprint 1991. First published under the title Kutubat in 1940. (Doc. 18) (p.288) What Islam demands from those who submit to God as the real Sovereign, their only Ruler, and who accept to abide by His laws as brought by His Prophet, blessings and peace be on him is quite obvious. They should rise to bring their King's land under His law, to destroy the power of those rebels among His subjects who have set themselves up as sovereigns, and to free His subjects from the burden of slavery to others. … wherever you are, in whichever country you live, you must strive to change the wrong basis of government, and seize all powers to rule and make laws from those who do not fear God. … The name of this striving is Jihad. - Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi. Let us be Muslims. Trans. & ed. Khurram Murad. The Islamic Foundation, Leicester England. (Printed by A.S. Noordeen, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ) Third Reprint 1991. First published under the title Kutubat in 1940. (Doc. 18) (p.288) (p.290) Islam is nothing but man's exclusive and total submission to God. - Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi. Let us be Muslims. Trans. & ed. Khurram Murad. The Islamic Foundation, Leicester England. (Printed by A.S. Noordeen, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ) Third Reprint 1991. First published under the title Kutubat in 1940. (p. 94). Whoever renounces his religion, kill him. - Muhammad in the hadith, Sahih al Bukhari's collection We don't make a distinction between civilians and non-civilians, innocents and non-innocents. Only between Muslims and unbelievers. And the life of an unbeliever has no value. It has no sanctity. -- Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, "Militant Cleric Says Attack on London 'Inevitable'", http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040418/wl_nm/portugal_britain_attacks_dc_1 The truth is that a Muslim who reads the Quran with devotion is determined to reach the battlefield in order to attain the reality of Jihad. It is solely for this reason that the Kuffar [infidels] conspire to keep the Muslims far away from understanding the Quran, knowing that Muslims who understand the Quran will not distance themselves from Jihad. - Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, Jihad, the foreign policy of the Islamic state.. If we look closely, we see that in Christianity there is no jihad because it has nothing at all. By which I mean that there is no Christian structure of society, no Christian legal system, and no Christian rules as to how a society is to be formed, for these to contain the laws of jihad. There is no substance in Christianity; it contains no more than a few moral teachings … Islam however is a religion that sees its duty and commitment to form an Islamic state. Islam came to reform society and to form a nation and government. Its mandate is the reform of the whole world. Such a religion cannot be indifferent. It cannot be without a law of jihad. It came to organize a state, to organize a government. Once this is done, how can it remain without an army? How can it be without a law of jihad? - (Ayatullah Morteza Mutahhari, JIHAD: the Holy War of Islam and its legitimacy in the Quran.. Translated by Mohammad Slaman Tawhidi (Tehran: Islamic Propagation Organization, 1985. http:/www.al-islam. org./jihad/short (Nov 2001). Islam is in its origins an Arab religion. Everyone not an Arab who is a Muslim is a convert. Islam is not simply a matter of conscience or private belief. It makes imperial demands. A convert's worldview alters. His holy places are in Arab lands; his sacred language is Arabic. His idea of history alters. He rejects his own; he becomes, whether he likes it or not, a part of the Arab story. The convert has to turn away from everything that is his. The disturbance for societies is immense, and even after a thousand years can remain unresolved; the turning away has to be done again and again. People develop fantasies about who and what they are; and in the Islam of converted countries there is an element of neurosis and nihilism. These countries can be easily set on the boil. --V.S. Naipaul Mahomet established a religion by putting his enemies to death; Jesus Christ bycommanding his followers to lay down their lives.-- Blaise Pascal, _Pensees_ Islamic terror is caused by Muslims, not, as Islamic and leftist apologists would have it, by the non-Muslims against whom it is directed. In our morally confused world, Spain, Israel and America are blamed for having their men, women and children blown up: What did these countries do to arouse such enmity among otherwise tolerant Arabs and Muslims?Palestinian terror provides the answer. About 25 percent of Palestinians are Christian, yet if there are any Palestinian Christian suicide bombers, I am unaware of them. Now why is that? Don't Muslim and leftist apologists incessantly tell us that the reason for Palestinian terror is "Israeli occupation and oppression"? Why, then, are there no Palestinian Christian terrorists? Are Christian Palestinians less occupied? The answer is obvious. There is Palestinian terror for the same reasons there is Muslim terror elsewhere. A significant part of the Muslim world wishes to destroy those non-Muslims -- Americans, Israelis, Filipinos, Nigerians, Sudanese blacks -- who prevent Islam from violently attaining power.Palestinian Muslim terror emanates from a desire to destroy Israel, not to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Other Muslim terror is aimed at weakening the West, America in particular, so that militant theocratic Islam can dominate Muslim-majority societies and then take over other societies, as it is slowly doing in Western Europe.- Dennis Prager Every individual of the male sex who, born in the religion of Islam, apostatises, no longer enjoys the protection of Islam, but is ipso facto condemned to death. His wife should be separated from him; and his property is confiscate. - A summary of Shi'a law on apostasy given by A Querry, in Recueil de Lois concernant Les Musulmans Schyites. When the sacred months are past, kill the idolators wherever you find them, and seize them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush; but if they repent, pray regularly, and give the alms tax, [i.e. if they follow Islam] then let them go their way, for God is forgiving, merciful. Regarding Christians and Jews (Peoples of the Book):Sura 9:5 Fight those who do not believe in God or the Last Day, and who do not forbid what has been forbidden by God and his Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of truth from among the People of the Book [i.e. the Christians and Jews who refuse to accept Islam], until they pay the poll tax out of hand, having been humbled. - 9:29. Such of Our revelations as We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, we bring (in place) one better or the like thereof. Knowest thou not that Allah is Able to do all things? Sura 2:106. When we substitute one revelation for another - and Allah knows best - what he reveals, they say 'Thou art but a forger'. But most of them understand not. Sura 16:101 But such as open their breastto unbelief on them is Wrath from Allah and theirs will be a dreadful penalty. - Surah 16: 106, Qur'an Britain is an evil regime and it is corrupt. The idea of democracy goes against everything that Muslims should believe. Democracy is a man-made construct. Instead, everyone should live their life by the teachings of Allah. You ask me to follow Tony Blair, a man, or to follow Allah, our divine teacher? There is no contest. We believe that it is the obligation of every Muslim to fight to create an Islamic state that is based on the Koran. ... Every single Muslim should have a love of Jihad. They should want to go out on a Jihad. Every single Muslim should have these feelings. It would not bother me to shoot a British soldier in the least. Why should it? -- Irfan Rasool, 18-year-old member of radical Muslim group Al-Muhajiroun, quoted http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1739392001 According to Islamic law, the world is divided into three
parts: dar al-harb (the house of war), dar al-islam (the
house of Islam), and dar al-'ahd (the house of accord); that
is, the countries with which a treaty was stipulated.
[...] According to Muslim law, Christians, Jews, and the
followers of other religions assimilated to Christianity and
Judaism (the "Sabeans") who live in a Muslim state belong to
an inferior social order, in spite of their eventually
belonging to the same race, language, and descent. Islamic
law does not recognize the concepts of nation and
citizenship, but only the umma, the one Islamic community,
for which reason a Muslim, as he is part of the umma, may
live in any Islamic country as he would in his homeland: he
is subject to the same laws, finds the same customs, and
enjoys the same consideration. Radical Islam, which proposes that shari'a law be
instituted in every Islamic state, is gaining ground in many
Muslim countries, in which groups of Christians are also
present. It is evident that the institution of shari'a would
render the lives of Christians rather difficult, and their
very existence would be constantly in danger. This is the
cause of the mass emigration of Christians from Islamic
countries to Western countries: Europe, the United States,
Canada, and Australia. [...] The estimated number of
Arab Christians who have emigrated from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel in the last decade
hovers around three million, which is from 26.5 to 34.1
percent of the estimated number of Christians currently
living in the Middle East. We must, finally, recall a fact that is often forgotten because Saudi Arabia is the largest provider of oil to the Western world, and the latter therefore has an interest in not disturbing relations with that country. In reality, in Saudi Arabia, where wahhabism is in force, not only is it impossible to build a church or even a tiny place of worship, but any act of Christian worship or any sign of Christian faith is severely prohibited with the harshest penalties. Thus about a million Christians working in Saudi Arabia are deprived by violence of any Christian practice or sign. They may participate in mass or in other Christian practices &endash; and even then with the serious danger of losing their jobs &endash; only on the property of the foreign oil companies. And yet, Saudi Arabia spends billions of petrodollars, not for the benefit of its poor citizens or of poor Muslims in other Muslim countries, but to construct mosques and madrasas in Europe and to finance the imams of the mosques in all the Western countries. - Giuseppe De Rosa S.I..Christians in Islamic Countries"La Civiltà Cattolica" no. 3680, October 18, 2003 Unlike Christianity, which preached a peace that it never achieved, Islam unashamedly came with a sword.- Sir Stephen Runciman (1903 &endash; 2000) Like the Communist Party in its Leninist construction, Islam aims to control the state without being subject to the state.- Roger Scruton, The West and the Rest, ISI Books, 2002, p 6 The honour of Islam lies in insulting kufr and kafirs. One who respects the kafirs dishonours the Muslims... The real purpose of levying jiziya on them is to humiliate them to such an extent that they may not be able to dress well and to live in grandeur. They should constantly remain terrified and trembling. It is intended to hold them under contempt and to uphold the honour and might of Islam.-- Sufi saint Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624), letter #163 Leaders and pundits must cling to fond fictions about Islam being a religion of peace that has been hijacked by a tiny minority of extremists. They thus pass up the opportunity to call for a worldwide reform of Islam that starts by identifying the elements of Islam that give rise to violence and extremism and finishes by repudiating those elements, so that Muslims and non-Muslims can live in peace as equals. - Defeating Global Jihad: Reagan Showed the Way By Robert Spencer FrontPageMagazine.com | June 7, 2004 For all too many, being a serious Muslim means doing Allah's work by any means necessary. Of course, most Muslims will never be terrorists. The problem is that for all its schisms, sects and multiplicity of voices, Islam's violent elements are rooted in its central texts. It is unlikely that the voices of moderation will ultimately silence the militants, because the militants will always be able to make the case that they are standing for the true expression of the faith. Liberal Muslims have not established a viable alternative interpretation of the relevant verses in the Qur'an. -- Robert Spencer, _Islam Unveiled_, 2002 The problem is ... that moderates don't have a strong theoretical foundation within the classic Islamic texts. That being the case, they're not able to sustain a large scale movement. That's because they're constantly placed on the defensive by people who go back to the text and quote these passages that radicals use to justify violence. If they say, "We simply don't take that as being our marching orders for today" they're charged with disloyalty. So this is why moderate Islam is in retreat, because the radicals are so explicitly & persistently explaining what they do in light of the classic teachings. So there are millions of moderate Muslims, but moderate Islam is something that is only formulated by particular individuals in particular places. Most of the Muslims who are moderates are simply just ignoring the other aspects of the religion without confronting and refuting them on Islamic grounds. -- Robert Spencer, "An Interview With Robert Spencer", http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/spencer.php Whether or not Islam ever becomes dominant in Western Europe or elsewhere in the former lands of Christendom, the wars will not end. Militant Islam will not go away with the death of bin Laden, or Arafat, or Saddam Hussein or anyone else. It will clash increasingly with the weary secular powers it blames for all the ills of the umma. - Robert Spencer, Islam Unveiled, 2002 Jihad is a divinely ordained institution in Islam. By many authorities it is counted as one of the pillars of Islam. Theologically, it is an intolerant idea: a tribal god, Allah, trying to be universal through conquest. Historically, it was an imperialist urge masked in religious phraseology. -- Ram Swarup, _Understanding Islam through Hadis_ So before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribeagainst the world. And all of us against the infidel.--Leon Uris, _The Haj_ (1984) Since lawful warfare is essentially jihad and since its aim is that the religion is God's entirely and God's word is uppermost, therefore according to all Muslims, those who stand in the way of this aim must be fought. As for those who cannot offer resistance or cannot fight, such as women, children, monks, old people, the blind, handicapped and their likes, they shall not be killed unless they actually fight with words (e.g. by propaganda) and acts (e.g. by spying or otherwise assisting in the warfare). - Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328), Hanbali jurist , in Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam, (Princeton, NJ. : Markus Wiener, 1996, p. 49) Jihad is a religious obligation. It forms part of the duties that the believer must fulfill; it is Islam's _normal_ path to expansion.-- Bat Yeor, _The Decline of Eastern Christianity_ Christianity_ What is the result of our investigation of the Moslem idea of God? Is the statement of the Koran true, "Your God and our God is the same"? In as far as Moslems are monotheists and in as far as Allah has many of the attributes of Jehovah we cannot put Him with the false gods. But neither can there be any doubt that Mohammed's conception of God is inadequate, incomplete, barren and grievously distorted. It is vastly inferior to the Christian idea of the Godhead and also inferior to the Old Testament idea of God. - S M Zwemer, The Moslem Doctrine of God, new York, 1905, p107 |
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