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Islam versus Christianity – A reply to The Pope!
Author Unknown The American Muslim leader, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed said, "When we read the Quran and Bible with proper understanding, we can clearly see that these great religious leaders were not divided one against the other. Jesus not only supported the scripture that Moses taught, but he interpreted it and explained it so that the people could get more light on what Moses had taught them. When Prophet Muhammad of Arabia came behind Jesus, he did the same thing. He spoke from the scriptures that Jesus had left and he explained and interpreted what Jesus left. If our great heroes in religion have not divided themselves one against the other, and if they have shown us that they belonged to one unified family, why are we divided?"
Islamic history Instead of speaking from actual teachings from the Qur'an, the Pope chose to quote from a 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II – an Emperor who lived in the time of the final crusades and during the end of the 2,200 year-old Eastern Roman empire. Ironically, this Emperor comments about a supposed "command" from Muhammad to spread Islam by the sword, while being himself embroiled in many wars even against family members and also against Muslims. The
Pope even goes so far to repeatedly during his speech refer to this Emperor
favorably as being erudite or scholarly. What is that telling us about the Pope
if he thinks that way about an Emperor who makes false unsubstantiated claims
about Islam? A fair question to ask is: why choose a remnant from the crusades
to quote from and not the Qur'an, if indeed Islam endorses terrorism and
violence? His Holiness, if you wanted to make a point to condemn attempts to
"convince reasonable souls" using violence, threats, weapons, etc. as a means to
bring them to faith, there is much in the rich history of Christianity to point
to. There is even the recent example of the Christian nation America doing just
that to bring Iraqi souls to have faith in "democracy". Why pick the Islamic
religion and bring in words from a 14th century remnant of the crusades? This in
no way reflects the example of unity and understanding amongst religions as
pointed out by Imam Warith Deen Mohammed in the messages brought to the world
by Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. as Most Generous, Most Beneficent, Most Loving, All Knowing, etc. Nor does it mean that reason should be abandoned and negated in God's universe. It is just stating that the Being who created us all has no limitations, no defects, no weaknesses and cannot be limited by anything in creation. Especially for human beings Islam teaches that true spiritual development cannot be attained without true rational development. Rational development is an intrinsic prerequisite to the proper development of the human being. This rational development is fueled by knowledge. Islam places great importance on knowledge to the point where the ignorance of an ignorant man is considered to be worse than the sins of a sinful man as captured by these words from the Prophet of Islam: The Prophet said: The ignorance of an ignorant man is more harmful than the transgression of a sinner. On the Resurrection Day a man will be raised to the rank of nearness to God in proportion to his intellect. The Prophet said: Nobody earns a better thing than intellect. It shows him the path towards guidance and saves him from destruction…When his intellect becomes perfect he obeys God and disobeys his enemy the Satan. The Prophet said: Have you not heard the words of the sinners in Hell: "Had we heard and understood, we would not have been the inmates of Hell." –al Ghazali, Ihya Ulum-Id-Din So in Islam we do not believe in an existence for human beings absent of reason. I
will list some accusations made against Islam (indeed there are many) by leading
Christians and Christian Zionists starting with the most recent remarks from The
Pope and then I will respond:
3. Franklin Graham, fundamentalist preacher son of
Billy Graham, pronounced on NBC Nightly News November 16, 2001: "The God of
Islam is not the same God. He's not the son of God of the Christian or
Judeo-Christian faith. It is a different God, and I believe it is a very evil
and wicked religion."
In their fundamentalist vision of the world, the Evangelicals see supporting Israel, right or wrong, as the best way to fulfill -- and even speed up -- the Bible's doomsday plan for the world. The founding of Israel in 1948 was the first step in the Biblically-mandated series of events leading to Armageddon and the return of Jesus. They are preparing for a period of extreme violence costing millions of lives including many Jews. Those who remain will embrace Jesus as Savior.
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/05/29/d30529150280.htm At
the same time many in the leadership of Judaism don't see the world
of Christianity as a threat. They view the Christian world as a civilization
that has already been conquered with their only remaining challenge being
the Muslim world. This is reflected in the following statement:
competing civilization of Islam, as they could not tolerate Christendom
or Communism. That is why the war with Islam is unavoidable." http://www.israelshamir.net/English/midasears.htm
It
was not Muslims who went to Christian lands to wage 8 successive Crusades to
take their land away from them as directed by their Islamic leaders as
Christians were, following the direction of their Popes. § It was not Islam whose leadership claimed that the purpose for the first crusade was (1) to rescue their brothers of the faith in the East from Muslim hordes and (2) liberate Jerusalem. But lo and behold then by the second crusade their Christian brothers in the East – who supposedly needed rescuing from the Muslims – joined the Muslims to fight against the crusaders due to the savage, barbarous and cruel behavior of their "rescuers".
§
It was not Islam that went conquering
people all over the world and colonizing them as Christians did forcing
defenseless people to embrace Christianity after being militarily defeated by
the more powerful Christian armies of Europe. These actions are being repeated
in this time with the military conquest of Iraq by America and Britain only to
be followed by enthusiastic Christian Zionists seeking to convert Muslims to
Christianity. "The opportunity for broadcast expansion in post-war Iraq is
phenomenal," enthused Don Black, Vice President of In Touch Ministries in
Atlanta, in an interview with the web site Salon. Samaritan's Purse, a relief
headed by Franklin Graham, is another group planning to proselytize the people
of Iraq. All these groups are doing it under the guise of providing aid to the
Iraqi people. Of course this is strongly encouraged and supported by the Bush
administration which claims "it's not the administration's responsibility to
determine which groups can provide aid to Iraq." § It was not Islam, whose Holy Book teaches "make no graven images" yet portrays the son of God as a Caucasian crucified savior on a cross for all the races in the world to worship. Then to also portray his virgin mother, apostles, and all the saints as Caucasians, belonging to the `divine white race' for all to revere and love. This fostering of white supremacy in religious form caused Caucasians to feel superior over the non-white `un-Godly' races thereby justifying the colonization and subjugation of other human beings. As a result of worshipping a Caucasian-looking God, it caused non-white races to feel inferior and Caucasians to feel superior, bringing about serious racial inferiority complexes among the non-white races and inspiring the rise of cruel inhumane organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, that committed lynching, murders and other racial atrocities.
§
It was not Islam that encouraged the
slave trade in Africa declaring it was OK because the heathen Africans were
having their souls saved by being converted to Christianity. It was not Islam
that cursed a whole race of people and described them as inferior, children of
Ham because of the color of their skin. Then to add further humiliation and
deepen racial tensions have this story embellished showing ridiculous origins of
African features as done by Rabbis in the Jewish Talmud.
§
It was not Islam which caused the
decimation of over 50% of the population of the Congo as was done by the Belgian
Christian King Leopold (11 million massacred out of a population of 20
million).
§
It was not Islam that attempted to
Frenchify Algeria at the cost of over a million Algerians (which at the time
represented over 10% of the population) as Christians from France did to this
defenseless country in Africa.
§
It was not an Islamic nation that
uttered the arrogant and conquering statement "the sun never sets on the British
Empire" as was done by a leading conquering Christian nation.
§
It was not Islam which dominated and
conquered the world, not as a result of superior ideas and excellent examples of
humanity, but as a result of superior weapons of war possessed by Christian
nations used against weaker nations, as we see being done by Christian America
today against Iraq and Afghanistan, and tomorrow against Iran, Syria and other
Muslim countries.
§
It was not Islam whose history is mired
with constant cycles of vicious wars and hostility as experienced for Centuries
by the Christian nations of France, England, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Russia
and others.
§
It was not Islam that went to the Far
East and conquered Asians and as part of the Asians' humiliation and subjugation
introduced addictive drugs into their societies, forcing those countries to
fight Opium wars to free themselves from Christian tyranny. § It was not Islam that caused the misery, suffering and whole scale deaths of millions with mass destruction of cities like the Christian nations did in WWI and WWII. During one night of February 13, 1945, the allied armies Britain and US bombed the city of Dresden in Germany, and it is estimated that as many as 350,000 - 600,000 victims were incinerated beyond being identifiable or even recognizable as human remains in that Holocaust. Only 35,000 could be identified. Then the Christians culminated this death and destruction by dropping atomic bombs on Japanese cities killing an estimated 115,000 victims, and many later with radiation sickness, disfigurement and permanent damage to thousands of innocent people.
§
It was not Islam that persecuted and
murdered thinkers and scientists, like Galileo, Copernicus and the great female
scientist Hypatia in the worst way because they dared to state their scientific
findings that differed from Catholicism. It was not Islam that defied scientific
facts and insisted for years that the universe was Geo-centric rather than
Helio-centric simply because Muhammad lived on earth as Christians did with
Christ and persecuted anyone who dared to say different. During the recent
invasion and occupation of Iraq, US occupation forces detained more than 600 top
Iraqi scientists, whose fate is totally unknown. Before this invasion, an
American scientist, David Albright, wrote an article "IRAQ: Resettle the
Scientists," in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (page 17, Jan/Feb 1998)
foretelling the US plans.
§
It was not Islam that kept its
followers in perpetual ignorance, superstition and barbaric filth during a
period of time known as the Dark Ages. It was not Islam that allowed its people
to live in the most un-hygienic ways, discouraging cleanliness and baths and
causing them to suffer Bubonic Plagues and other life-threatening diseases for
centuries. This Bubonic Plague was responsible for decimating 25% of the
European population at that time which was approximately 137 million people. § It was not Islam that instituted the Inquisition that punished millions of "heretics" for several centuries who did not go along with the official version of Christianity with imprisonment, torture and death. Then in the 1500's, the Christian Spaniards brought the Inquisition to the Americas demanding instant conversion by the Indians and death to any Indian daring to refuse.
§
It was not Islam that caused people to
flee religious persecutions as Christianity did in Europe causing Europeans to
find and establish religious freedom in a new land. Then due to the horrible,
inhumane experience with Christianity the country formed in the new world said
"never again". Never again would we let the ignorance and cruelties of the
Christian religion rule our government. We insist and we legislate that there
will always be a separation of church and state!
§
It was not Islam that encouraged the
ethnic cleansing of Native American Indians and ruthless theft of their lands as
done by Christians from England, France and Spain. The number of deaths caused
by European Christians on poor hapless American Indians was upwards of 250
million.
§
It is not Islam whose countries are
decaying from within because of high crime rates, immorality, corrupt leaders,
high divorce rates, social unrest, rampant accepted homosexuality like in Sodom
and Gomorrah, destruction of the family, extreme selfishness, greed and other
ills that plague Christian nations today. § It is not Islam which has championed the cause of another people's religion identifying them as "God's chosen people" and then provided the means for these people to steal Palestine and ethnically cleanse innocent Palestinians including fellow Christians. The war crimes committed, barbarism, cruel and inhumane treatment of Palestinians and the Israelis' in brazen defiance of UN resolutions are rewarded by the most powerful Christian nation in the world with free money, undying support and special consideration.
§
It is not an Islamic nation that has
imposed sanctions on another nation that has caused deaths of mainly innocent
children in the range of 4000-5000 per month. Then to add insult to injury
threaten and attack that nation – killing more than 250,000 CIVILIANS -- on
false pretense causing millions more to live in squalor and misery as the great
Christian nation of America is doing to Iraq. Now that the WMD claim for
attacking Iraq proves to be false, this Christian nation changes the rules and
claims that the WMD reason to attack Iraq does not matter.
§
It was not an Islamic nation that has
brutally massacred more than 20,000 innocent Afghans and threw the Geneva
Convention out the window in their inhumane, barbaric treatment of Afghan
prisoners as the great Christian nation of America has in its false war on
terrorism against Afghanistan. While the world, including Islamic nations,
mourned the innocent deaths of about 3000 Americans on 911, the great Christian
nation of America degrades the dignity of human beings by describing the 20,000
innocent Afghans killed as collateral damage. § It is not an Islamic nation that already has a plan mapped out known as A Project for the New American Century (PNAC) whose National Security Strategy - promulgated as late as September 2002 - now includes pre-emptive attacks on possible future competitors first, assuming regional hegemony by force of arms in the Middle East, controlling energy resources around the globe, maintaining a permanent war strategy, and more as Christian America does. It is easy to surmise that Christian America is after oil, but not one of the Muslim nations, not even Iraq, has denied America the purchase of its oil. The Christian nation of America does not care. It is bent on pursuing a warlike imperial foreign policy and is chomping at the bit to attack Iran next.
Need I say more? I could go on and on. While the Zionists and Christian Zionists write and talk about Islam being warlike, the above information proves that Christians are the ones who are truly warlike. More evil has been committed in the name of Christianity than has been committed by any other religion in human history. Their history has been one of a people who have "the mark of the beast" in their hands or actions. But the elite Jews who are rejoicing and reaping the benefits of the turmoil caused by Christians are the ones with the "mark of the beast" in their foreheads. After all they gave the Europeans their version of Christianity and even boast about it as in the following: We
conquered you as no empire of yours ever subjugated Africa or Asia. And we did
it all without armies, without bullets, without blood or turmoil, without force
of any kind. We did it solely by the irresistible might of our spirit, with
ideas, with propaganda.
Muslims will never say, as some Christians do, that the evils done
by Christians were due to the teachings of the Noble Christ. Muslims will
never blame good God conscious Christians for those evils. No, Muslims will
put the blame where it belongs and that is on evil people who used the name
of Christ to accomplish their wrongs. Evil men and women dirtied the name
of Christ with their evil deeds. Now these same evil, war
mongering, hypocritical false people are trying to smear and falsify Islam. They
are at it again. They want war and they are using the name of Christ and
smearing the name of Muhammad (saaw) to achieve it.
"...There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is here
forth distinct from error..." [2:256] There is much propaganda about Islam and the "command" to spread it by the sword, but Muslims are still waiting to find out where our religion teaches that. Today Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world especially after 9-11. It should be obvious to everyone that despite all of the negative publicity and association of Islam with terrorism, there are people finding it to be more attractive than any other religion in the world. More and more people are finding out the truth about Islam and converting because they became curious and decided to find out more about this "terrorist" religion that they keep hearing so such about. Where is the sword in all this? Who is pointing the sword at the doctors, scientists, clergy, professionals and common people to force them to become Muslims? The
truth is Islam has always spread through contact with Muslims and peaceful
introduction to the teachings of Islam as it is spreading today. Not military
warrior crusading Emperors, but peaceful thinkers and scholars from around the
world know this and many of them have written about it as in the following:
As the leader of Catholicism in the world, the Pope should learn the truth about Islam and not single out hateful false statements about the religion of 1.5 billion people to publicize. Rather than praise the ignorance of an Emperor embroiled in war against Muslims as being erudite, he should learn the truth about Islam or go to truly erudite peaceful scholars as listed above to quote from. This would be more in line with following the noble example of Christ in spreading love, peace and happiness in this world.
"Strive as in a race to achieve the
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