An open and acrimonious forum was held to discuss whether a mosque should be built at Ground Zero. While some argued that this would represent the heights of insensitivity, others pleaded for religious tolerance. One person commented that this mosque would give moderate Islam a voice to counter extremism within the Islamic community. Meanwhile, another observed that moderate Islam was silent when a Dutch filmmaker was murdered on the street by a radical Jihadist and Islam issued another fatwa against a woman in Seattle for promoting comics of the prophet Mohammed.
Elsewhere, David Bloomberg weighed in on the matter: “The government should never be in the business of telling people how to pray or when they should pray.” Another at the forum commented about those opposed to the mosque: “It’s Islamophobia, pure and simple.”
Actually, I think he raised as interesting question. Is the fear of Islam a rational response or does it represent unwarranted fear-mongering? Do we need to closely examine Islam as we would the bird flu virus in order to counteract it, or is this just much-to-do-about-nothing?
The only way we can answer this question is to examine the central tenants of Islam and how they’ve played out historically. However, at the outset, we’re confronted with contradictory messages, from both Muslims and the Koran. On the one hand, many Muslims claim that Islam is a religion of peace and cite Surah 2.256: “There is no compulsion in religion.”
But then there’s Jihad! While American Muslims have assured me that Jihad only pertains to the Muslim’s struggle against sin, their case isn’t very satisfying. The Khan Noble Koran (KNK), which has been distributed in many American prisons through the generosity of Saudi Arabia, has compiled a number of chilling verses on the subject of Jihad along with commentary – the understanding that the Saudi’s want our prisoners to have. I’ll copy them here verbatim – first the Surahs (verses) along with the explanatory notes that the KNK provides in parentheses followed by the commentary:
KORAN: “So when you meet (in fight…Jihad in Allah’s Cause) those who disbelieve smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (take them as captives). Thereafter either generosity or ransom until the war lays down its burden. Thus you are ordered by Allah to continue Jihad against the disbelievers till they embrace Islam or at least come under your protection. But if it had been Allah’s Will, He Himself could certainly have punished then (without you). But He lets you fight in order to test you, some with others. But those who are killed in the way of Allah, He will never let their deeds be lost” (47:4).
COMMENTARY: Then Allah revealed the order to disgard the obligations and commanded Muslims to fight against all the Mushrikun (Polytheist and Trinitarians) as well as against the people of the Scriptures if they do not embrace Islam, till they pay the Jizya (tax) with willing submission and feel themselves subdued. At first the fighting was forbidden, then it was permitted and after that it was made obligatory against them that start the fighting against you and against all those who worship others along with Allah (Trinitarians).
In the end, Jihad was obligatory! The commentary enables us to reconcile the earlier command, “There is no compulsion in religion” with “Thus you are ordered by Allah to continue Jihad against the disbelievers till they embrace Islam” (47:4). Earlier commands are customarily set aside by the later, more authoritative commands. At first, when Mohammed lacked an army, it would have been expedient to preach peace.
KORAN: “Then kill the Mushrikun wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for then each and every ambush. But if they repent and offer prayers perfectly and give Zakat, then leave their way free (9:5)…Fight against those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued (9:29)…Oh you who believe! What is the matter with you, that when you are asked to march forth in the Cause of Allah (Jihad) you cling heavily to the earth? Are you pleased with life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world as compared with the Hereafter. If you march not forth, He will punish you with painful torment and will replace you by another people, and you cannot harm Him at all and Allah is able to do all things” (9:38-39).
“Not equal are those believers who sit at home except those who are disabled and those who strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above those who sit at home. Unto each Allah has promised good, but Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight above those who sit at home by a huge reward” (4:95).
COMMENTARY: So He denied the equality between the believers who sit at home and join not in Jihad and those who fight in Allah’s Cause. Then He mentioned the superiority of the Mujahidim [fighters] over those believers who sit at home by a grade and then later on mentioned their superiority over them by degrees of grades….And Jihad is a very wide gate and there is no deed whose regard or blessing is as that of it, and for this reason, it is best thing that one can volunteer for. All the Muslim religious scholars unanimously agree that Jihad is superior to Hajj and Umra (pilgrimage) and also superior to non-obligatory prayer and fasting…He informed them of Jihad’s advanced and delayed reward that is for them, and how different kinds of evils Allah repels with it, and what a great honor, power, dignity and high grade is obtained through it and He has put Jihad at the top of Islam.
The Koranic context (and the commentary) contradicts the claim that Jihad is only about the Muslim’s personal struggle against sin. Jihad is clearly about warfare! Sadly, many Muslims believe that dying in Jihad is their only guarantee of eternal life. It’s therefore not surprising that sincere Muslims – not just extremists – would be willing to take on the belt of a suicide bomber.
Serving or not serving Allah is not just a matter of reward for the Muslim. It is also a matter of life and death: [Surah 4.89] “They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back [from Islam], then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.”
KORAN: “And whosoever turns his back to them on such a day, unless it be a stratagem of war, he indeed had drawn upon himself the wrath of Allah and his abode is Hell, worst indeed is that destination” (8:16).
COMMENTARY: So fight the Cause of Allah and make victorious Allah’s religion until it becomes superior over all religions, and mankind is brought out from the darkness into the light, from the worshipping of the slaves (created false gods) to the worshipping of Allah alone, from the narrowness of the world to it wideness and from the injustices of the religions to the justice of Islam…When the Muslims turned away from their religious teachings and became ignorant of its wisdom and its laws and deviated towards man-made laws taken from the opinions of man, their spread in them immorality of character, falsehood, hypocrisy, ill-will and hatefulness became increased in them…All this is a visible fact which every true believer feels, and which every enthusiastic person palpates in every community that gives up Jihad and dips itself in a luxurious life, and in worshipping wealth and in the love of this world.
Clearly, at least in these verses, the Cause of Allah is warfare against the unbelievers and not against sin. Why then are not Muslims straightforward about this? Perhaps because they consider themselves at war against us, as the Koran teaches? Among themselves, Muslims sometimes plead the example of Mohammed in his strategy against Mecca, with whom he had made an insincere and temporary peace treaty until he achieved the upper hand militarily. Yassar Arafat privately used the example of Mohammed to justify his “peace” talks with Israel.
Is Islam to be feared? I think that our discussions about building mosques, fatwas, honor killings and the wearing of burqas must come back to the central tenets of Islam, its DNA. Sadly, discussing this is almost taboo. However, in dealing with swine or bird flu, we have to first determine whether or not it is a threat. Then, it has to be examined closely to discover what makes it tick and spread in its lethal manner. This is not being done in regards to Islam.
But perhaps the chilling teachings of the Koran aren’t the DNA of many individual Muslims or how they understand the Koran. I know several Muslims who are truly beautiful people. However, when I mentioned this to one Islam-watcher, he retorted,
“Can you name one country where a sizable Islamic majority is willing to live peaceably with their non-Muslim neighbors? The Muslims are either trying to set up their own state or trying to impose Islamic Law. Or do you know of any Islamic countries where the minority haven’t been made into second class citizens?”
I thought of Lebanon, the former jewel of the Middle East, but Lebanon has gone up in flames and Christians are still leaving en masse. I recalled the words of the Muslim woman who had passionately argued that the mosque and accompanying community center would serve to counter extremism by giving the moderate Muslims a voice. But then I wondered if this was just flack to deceive the Great Satan?
Around 8:30 A.M. I set up the table at the Sugarlands Visitor Center and was greeted by a lady who noticed the sign beside the table. It states Ps. 121:1 (“I will lift up my eyes to the hills . . .”). She sang a song for everyone to hear as she passed by, and the lyrics were word for word from Ps. 121. What a great way to start this day! 
