Fight Islam because it’s Intolerant, Not because it’s False

Last week, the National Post published several excerpts from Christopher Hitchens’ book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. One of the excerpts was about Islam: What Did Muhammad Say? Who Knows?

Below is a copy of my comment on that excerpt, which I have also published in the open thread. (The copy below has been slightly edited to correct some structural errors.)

As a person who used to follow the Islamic faith most of my life, I must admit that Hitchens has done an excellent job in covering historical facts on it. However, I do not agree that the inaccuracies and falseness of a religion make it ‘poisonous’.

I am hoping that Hitchens’ book covers more about the dangers of following Islam under the assumption that its historical documents are credible. That way, we would be looking into the Muslim mindset and realizing how dangerous Islam is to humanity. The only way Islam can be ‘reformed’ is by cutting out huge chunks of the Quran and eliminating the example of Muhammad altogether (which is impossible, since Quran-ic verses like 33:21 dictate that Muslims must follow Muhammad’s example):

Quran 033:021
Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.

For example, when Muhammad was 50, he ‘married’ his best friend’s 6-year-old daughter and raped her 3 years later (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Hadith 234). This is why the female legal age for ‘marriage’ in Iran is nine.

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Hadith 234:
Narrated Aisha:

The Prophet engaged me when I was a girl of six (years)… Allah’s Apostle came to me in the forenoon and my mother handed me over to him, and at that time I was a girl of nine years of age.

When poets like Ka’ab bin Al-Ashraf, Abu Afak (a centenarian), and Asma’ bint Marwan (a mother) wrote poetry mocking and/or criticizing Muslims, Muhammad had them assassinated. Following his example today, we see that Muslims attempt to kill anyone who dares speak a word against their role model (or draw a cartoon, for that matter).

One of Muhammad’s most well-known examples of mass murder was the massacre of at least 600 Arab Jews from the tribe of Banu Qurayza. In fact, Muhammad proudly stated that before the end of life as we know it, Muslims will massacre all the Jews (e.g. Sahih Muslim, Book 41, Hadith 6985).

Sahih Muslim, Book 41, Hadith 6985:
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Jihad progressed in three stages in Islam. The final stage was a declaration of war against the entire world. According to Quran 9:29, non-Muslims are to be offered conversion to Islam, subjugation as humiliated second-class dhimmis (only applicable to Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians), or war. (See also my older post, Question on Dhimmitude.)

Quran 009:029
Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

The Sunna (example of Muhammad in his biographies and Hadiths) is clear on how he treated the non-Muslims of Arabia. After breaking the Hudaybiya Treaty with the Meccans, conquering Mecca, and busting their idols (because Islam is a religion of tolerance), he gave the pagans four months to convert or face death (Quran 9:1-5). On his deathbed, he ordered his followers to “expel the pagans from the Arabian Peninsula” (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 288).

Religion is like a placebo. Those who believe in it can do a lot of good for themselves and mankind. Who are we to say that anything that’s false is bad for us? Is Santa Claus bad for our children?

The problem with Islam is not in its inaccuracies, but rather in its intolerance. Belief is a personal choice made by an individual. I have no problem with people believing in Jesus, Buddha, or Mother Goose for that matter. But when a ‘religion’ preaches hatred and intolerance for all those who differ from its adherents, then this ‘religion’ should be declared as a banned political ideology no different from Nazism.

In the name of Allah, the Merciful… We’re Breaking up Your Family!

What’s that again? Islamic values keep a family united?
(H/t: FFI)

Everywoman looks at the crime of apostasy; how a baby can be torn from its parents because a Muslim woman dared to marry a non-Muslim.

The Trouble with Islam

Someone’s looking for a fatwa!

US Islamic Centre: “Aposates must be sentenced to death… and by the way, Islam is a very merciful religion.”

I don’t get it. Why do Americans tolerate such intolerance in their own backyards? This is an insult for all the brave soldiers who are risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan to form democracies: Furor over author Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s visit stirs debate on religious freedom.

(h/t: Little Green Footballs)

Imam Fouad ElBayly, president of the Johnstown Islamic Center, was among those who objected to Hirsi Ali’s appearance.

“She has been identified as one who has defamed the faith. If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death,” said ElBayly, who came to the U.S. from Egypt in 1976.

Hirsi Ali, an atheist, has been critical of many Muslim beliefs, particularly on subjects of sexual morality, the treatment of women and female genital mutilation. In her essay “The Caged Virgin,” she also wrote of punishment, noting that “a Muslim’s relationship with God is one of fear.”

[…]

Although ElBayly believes a death sentence is warranted for Hirsi Ali, he stressed that America is not the jurisdiction where such a crime should be punished. Instead, Hirsi Ali should be judged in a Muslim country after being given a trial, he added.

“If it is found that a person is mentally unstable, or a child or disabled, there should be no punishment,” he said. “It’s a very merciful religion if you try to understand it.”

Zahida Chaudhary, a member of the education council and education secretary at the Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh in Monroeville, insisted that Islam is a peaceful religion.

“The Prophet Mohammed was a peacemaker and a role model for humanity,” she said. “My understanding is that he was a peaceful person who believed that religion was a choice. He tried to teach people and bring them into it, not punish them.”

Let me guess. I’m being hateful for quoting this imam! Right?

Before someone says, “This is not true Islam! Stop cherry-picking some bad imams’ words!”, here’s a list of Sahih Hadiths (words of Muhammad) on how to handle apostates. You don’t like them, don’t be Muslim. Simple.

Condemning Hate Makes Me a Hateful Person

A commenter on my blog post, in which I exposed some jihadis praising the Virginia Tech shooter, is calling me hateful for simply translating some remarks his fellow Muslims made:

I love how you’re instilling more hate in the world.

Hotmachete,

How did I instil more hate in the world? The hate is already here; it was expressed by your fellow Muslim brothers and sisters. Why shoot the messenger? Do you complain to CNN each time they report a terrorist attack, and accuse them of being terrorists for simply reporting the news? What kind of logic is this you hold?

Did you also contact the Web site administrators of the two forums and complain to them about how these posters are supposedly misrepresenting your faith? Of course not. Are you willing to register at both forums (here and here) and condemn what they wrote? Or are your complaints only reserved for imaginary enemies from the House of War (the land of infidels Muslims are required to wage war against)?

Tell me, do the following verses instil more love in the world, Mr. Follower-Of-A-Peaceful-Yet-Misunderstood-Religion?

Quran 3:28

Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah.

Quran 8:55

Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve, then they would not believe.

Quran 9:5

So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.

Quran 9:14

Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace.

Quran 9:23

O you who believe! Do not take your fathers and your brothers for guardians if they love unbelief more than belief.

Quran 9:28

O you who believe! The idolaters are nothing but unclean.

Quran 9:29

Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

Quran 9:123

O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness.

But you won’t condemn that. You’ll just condemn me for being ‘hateful’ enough to expose these verses. So when Muslims preach hate, it’s called dawa, when nonMuslims expose them, they’re called hateful?

Did you know that Islam shares the same branches of faith as Christianity and Judaism?

Judging from the above verses from your Religion of Tolerance, that did not seem to matter to Muhammad.

Here’s how your prophet viewed the Christians and Jews:

Sahih Muslim, Book 019, Number 4366

I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.

Sahih Muslim, Book 026, Number 5389

Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it.

If you’ve got some time to read more on Islamophobia, please read this: “Islamophobia” is ad hominem.

The Difference between Jews and Muslims

Let’s compare.

As a disturbed individual was randomly shooting his colleagues at Virginia Tech, a Jewish Holocaust survivor blocked a classroom door to protect his students from the shooter. This 77-year-old engineering professor heroically sacrificed his life on Holocaust Memorial Day by taking bullets the shooter meant for his students.

Rest in peace, Liviu Librescu:

And now, turning to our peace-loving Muslims at an Arabic Islamic forum, I translate some of their ‘condolences’:

Al-Jazeera reported 20 dead and 29 injured. Praise be to Allah.

Praise be to Allah for these calamities hitting America. By the will of Allah, more of this [will happen], following their defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

O Allah, keep America busy with itself, and enamor its people against it.

And on this site, the massacre is being referred to as “The Great Ghazwa of Virginia”:

(Ghazwa means ‘raid’ in Arabic, referring to the battles Muhammad and his followers fought against the non-Muslims)

Translation: “The first picture of the South Korean Shaikh, Abu Mus’Ab Al-Virgini [the Virginian]” (an attempt to make him seem like Abu Mus’Ab Al-Zarqawi)
 

Translation: “A Product of American [democracy + nationalism]. As Muslims, our real condolences to you is to help you absolutely destroy your criminal democracy. By the vulnerable people in the Earth.”

And there’s a lot more.

Hmm, could these Muslims not see the love Islam preaches them to have for nonMuslims? I’ll help:

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 220

I have been made victorious with terror (cast in the hearts of the enemy).

Quran 019:083

Do you not see that We have sent the Shaitans against the unbelievers, inciting them by incitement?

Quran 008:012

When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.

Ibn Ishaq:489

Do the bastards think that we are not their equal in fighting? We Muslims are men who believe there is no shame in killing.

Tabari IX:69

Killing disbelievers is a small matter to us.

Updates @ GMT 3:34 PM

1. Another forum member remarks:
   

   We ask Allah to show us the wonders of His abilities on America. He is the guardian of that, and the one able to do it.

2. One of the two sites is unavailable at the moment. I have no idea why but many other pages of the same Web site are inaccessible as well.
   I wish I had shown more photos with translations of their captions. I will do so once the site is back up. There were about a dozen photographs related to the Virginia Tech massacre, with captions mocking grieving students, policemen, school officials, and of course President Bush. The way the event was dramatized as a god-sanctioned ghazwa is just sickening.
3. I realize that many Muslims are indeed sickened by the VT killings. This is despite of their religion, not because of it. The Islamic texts are filled with so much hatred for the ‘other’ they rejoice for their miseries. I have shown some examples of such hatred from reliable Islamic sources in my post.
4. For the record, I am in no way linking Seung Hui Cho’s actions to any Islamic teachings. Cho was mentally disturbed. But so are those who share his happiness in the death of people whose only ‘crime’ was to attend school on Monday.

Update: @ GMT 1:53 AM, April 19: Site’s back up.

Question on Dhimmitude

A Buddhist friend and I got engaged in a discussion on dhimmitude, the second-class status some non-Muslims have in an Islamic state. During our discussion, she asked me, bluntly, if a Muslim is required to kill her if she were to refuse to convert to Islam after being offered to adhere to the faith.

A complex issue (as historically applied), but I’m sharing a relatively simplified response here for everyone’s reference. Feel free to make use of the material on this post, but please note that I may make additions and corrections to it as needed. 

In general, dhimmitude applied only for Christians and Jews. Zoroastrians were also allowed to live as dhimmis:

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 53, Number 384

… ‘Umar did not take the Jizya from the Magian infidels till ‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Auf testified that Allah’s Apostle had taken the Jizya from the Magians of Hajar. 

(Magians practiced the predominant form of Zoroastrianism between the 3^rd and 7^th centuries.)

Out of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, only one (Maliki) allowed dhimmitude to be extended to all non-Muslims.

The Qur’anic reference to dhimmitude is in 009 : 029:

Three of the most recognized English translations of the verse are: 

YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

PICKTHAL: Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.

SHAKIR: Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

Historically, Muslims have applied the dhimmitude system to Buddhists and Hindus, although they were not mentioned in the early Islamic books. Muslims sometimes did kill them in the Middle Ages though. In theory, pagans must convert, be killed, or be enslaved. Such cases did appear in history but it depends on the practicability. 

A few more notes:

• Are Buddhists and Hindus considered pagans by Muslims? Well, they have sacred books, but on the other hand, they can be considered as idol worshippers from an Islamic point of view.
• When Islamic countries waged war against ‘pagans’ in East Asia, they did not massacre the women and children. Instead, they were taken as slaves who do not even have possession of their bodies. This is a topic on its own which I may write on someday:



Quran 004 : 024

And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess.

But again, it was sometimes not strictly applied with Muslim expansion in Asia.

• When Muhammad conquered Mecca in 630 A.D., he gave the pagans of Mecca four months to convert. Those who did not convert after the four-month safety guarantee were to be killed:

Quran 009 : 001 – 005

009.001
(This is a declaration of) immunity by Allah and His Messenger towards those of the idolaters with whom you made an agreement.

009.002
So go about in the land for four months and know that you cannot weaken Allah and that Allah will bring disgrace to the unbelievers.

009.003
And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger to the people on the day of the greater pilgrimage that Allah and His Messenger are free from liability to the idolaters; therefore if you repent, it will be better for you, and if you turn back, then know that you will not weaken Allah; and announce painful punishment to those who disbelieve.

009.004
Except those of the idolaters with whom you made an agreement, then they have not failed you in anything and have not backed up any one against you, so fulfill their agreement to the end of their term; surely Allah loves those who are careful (of their duty).

009.005
So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Furthermore, on his death bed, one of his wishes was that the pagans must be turned out of the Arabian Peninsula:

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 288 

Narrated Said bin Jubair:  

… The Prophet on his death-bed, gave three orders saying, “Expel the pagans from the Arabian Peninsula, respect and give gifts to the foreign delegates as you have seen me dealing with them.” I forgot the third (order)” (Ya’qub bin Muhammad said, “I asked Al-Mughira bin ‘Abdur-Rahman about the Arabian Peninsula and he said, ‘It comprises Mecca, Medina, Al-Yama-ma and Yemen.” Ya’qub added, “And Al-Arj, the beginning of Tihama.”)

(Repeated here and here)

Another hadith from the Religion of Tolerance^TM:

Sahih Muslim, Book 019, Number 4366

It has been narrated by ‘Umar b. al-Khattib that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.

• I am not an expert on the history of Jihad and dhimmitude in Asia, but I agree that it does deserve as serious an investigation as has been done for dhimmitude in Christian Europe. Buddhists and Indian historians should publish on these topics today, especially with the recent revival of fundamentalism trends in Pakistan, Indonesia, etc.

Faith Freedom International Needs Our Help!

For those who visit Faith Freedom International (FFI) regularly, you are aware that the main news site has mysteriously been down for about a week, although the archived section (the treasure trove) is still accessible.

Ali Sina has just posted an announcement explaining why this has happened. A security breach occurred on the FFI server. Although it does not seem to have caused substantial damage, for security purposes, the operating system and services are being re-installed. 

Ali is asking us to also help with our wallets, and for good reason: 

The forum and the news site remain inaccessible. 

As the result our administrator decided to ask our guests to find other homes. This is not an ideal situation. These sites do what we do and their success is our success. I know how difficult it is for them to find a safe home. Being a cyber nomad myself for several years and mistreated by greedy and unreliable hosting companies, I know what these friends go through. However, I also understand the dilemma of DT. He puts countless hours to keep the server running and he does that for free. Keeping up with all that work and without a dime of compensation is really taxing. He does all this with great sacrifice. We can’t overload him with a lot of work and certainly we can’t afford losing him. All of us can take a vacation and not be missed. But not him! He is our hero.

All our editors, administrators and moderators work as volunteers. Not only they put long hours maintaining this site, they even pay for it. 

We do not want to get rid of our guests but also we can’t have them anymore. We discussed about the possible solutions. The solution is to have two servers. FFI has to upgrade to a faster server.

[…] 

If we want to keep our guests, we have to accommodate them on a different server. It’s too much risk to have guests using CMS systems which we don’t know how to secure. That’s a lot of work for our administrator to keep up with, and our guests mostly don’t know how to do it. 

Money is part of the solution. We need $350 dollars per month for one server and about $500 for two servers, (i.e. if we want to keep hosting our guests.) If we had to hire an administrator, it would cost us at least a couple of thousand dollars per month. Our administrator even pays out of his pocket.

I don’t feel comfortable letting those who put so much of their time running the site, also pay for it. We need to raise money. There are two ways to do that – by selling advertising and through donations. The donations have been dwindling, maybe because I do not feel comfortable asking for money all the time. Last month’s donation was $10 dollars. One of our editors has already paid $1,000 dollars. This is good for two months. Other editors offered also to pay but they all have paid a lot already. I prefer that many people pay, each a few dollars, than a few people pay a lot each. I want people feel that this site belongs to them and that they have a share in it. FFI is more than a site. It is a movement. It belongs to everyone who cares about peace and is worried about the rise of Islamofascism. It needs your support. Humanity paid a big price for not stopping Nazism in time. Today we can stop Islam and dismantle it if we spread the truth about it fast.

Also if we have to keep our guests we need a volunteer to manage the second server. It is just unfair to ask DT to do all that extra work. So if you can help, please let us know. We will pay you fairly, the same amount that we pay our other volunteers. i.e., a large generous zero, with several more zeros in front of it. The potential for growth is unlimited. Every year we double your salary.

Ali Sina 

This Web site is changing people’s lives. It is turning brain-dead zombies into soldiers of peace, love, justice, and truth.

We need that Web site to keep running, and it’s time we did more than just thank these selfless volunteers for their hard work. Many ex-Muslims who leave Islam move on with their new lives. But not FFI! They want to still remember the nightmares of Islam so they can tell the world about it. 

They are our soldiers and protectors. They are sacrificing their time, money, and energy on this.

I owe my apostasy in large part to Faith Freedom International. I have just donated, and I hope you do too. 

(And please don’t forget to spread the word. Feel free to just copy this blog post and send it to all your friends who care for humanity.)

Thank you.

PLEASE DONATE HERE

Stay strong, Ali! We’re here for you!

Dhimmi UN Human Rights Council Threatens Censorship

On March 23, UN Watch’s Executive Director, Hillel Neuer, told the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) the hard truth about the hypocrisy of the so-called defenders of Palestinian people. What’s even more shocking is how the council’s president responded: He threatened to censor.

Get this through your head again: The UNHCR, the body that’s supposed to defend universal human rights, is threatening to employ censorship.

See for yourself: 

Below is a more comprehensive version of the video; it’s the same as above but it starts with demonstrating that the council president did not mind thanking speakers for denying the massacres in Sudan, criticizing Israel, and insulting human rights experts.

I’m not saying that all these statements he did not threaten to censor should not be tolerated. Free speech means freedom to offend (within the limits of non-vulgar language and nonviolence). Calling an Ambassador ‘ignorant’ or criticizing Israel should not be banned, of course, but rather such claims should be discussed openly to reach an agreement over their validity. However, it’s disturbing to see the council president thanking speakers who openly criticize Israel, and refusing to thank UN Watch for criticizing the council for its anti-Israeli bias. 

It seems that at the UN, the verdict is already made, and its members just work toward finding any exaggerated premises to support their anti-Israeli conclusions. 

Who pays the price? Watch the video below and see. 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on The Colbert Report

You can watch the segment here: Ayaan Hirsi Ali on The Colbert Report. I’m having trouble embedding it using the code the site provides. I loved her remark at the end of the segment: “The freedom of the individual goes above anything that any god can say.“

(h/t: Isaac Schrödinger).

Typical Muslim remark:

Some of the things she said, it’s like she was quoting Shaytaan verbatim! [Astaghfirullah! –ed.] That is the only way I can think of to describe it. She says outright that she has a problem submitting to God!! It’s one thing to fall short in following what Allah (swt) has commanded, but subhanAllah it is a completely different story to have this extreme level of arrogance in your approach to your relationship with your Creator and Sustainer!

 Abdul Quddus, a brother ex-Muslim, replies back:

Her “extreme level of arrogance” differs from that of Iblees [Satan –ed.] because she’s an atheist. To a certain degree, Iblees somewhat recognized the existence of Allaah. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, on the other hand, doesn’t subscribe to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic understanding of evil.

Another Muslim correctly explains why Muslims should fight Ayaan. He quotes the holy book of the Religion of Peace^TM:

Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves. [Surat Al-Fath 48:29]

In addition to Qur’an 48:29, harshness toward non-Muslims is confirmed in other verses throughout the Qur’an, such as 9:123.

Qur’an 9:123

O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).