HOW DID IT ORIGINATE?
The religion of Islam was founded by Mohammed in the early 7th Century at Medina and Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia. At the time, Arabs were worshipping many gods (and a few goddesses) in typical paganism (worshiping nature, fertility and, ultimately, the phallus). Mohammed (or Muhamed, Mahomet, etc. - spellings vary) chose his favorite among the pagan gods, his tribal god, whose name was Allah, a Moon god; he declared all the rest to be false, and preached that Allah was the only god. After initial reverses, in which he fled from Mecca to Medina (the "Hirja"), he backed up his claims with military victories over those who disagreed. This was the birth of Islam. Mohammed had heard the preaching of both Jews and Christians, and rejected both. Borrowing heavily from the Bible, portions of which he had heard from Christians and Jews, he dictated the Koran (also spelled Queran, Qur 'an, etc.) to scribes (he was illiterate*). Mohammed died in 632 AD at age 63 and was buried in Medina. After his death, his sayings were assembled; although parts were lost, what survived became the Koran, the holy book of Islam - in effect, its "bible."

HISTORY
After initial losses, the forces of Mohammed prevailed in battle and Islam became the official religion of all Arabia by the time of Mohammed's death. Following that victory, Islam was spread by conquest (bloody wars of aggression) until, by the Middle Ages, Islam had spread by the sword to control the Middle East, North Africa, and Mediterranean Europe, including all but the northernmost part of Spain. Muslims even crossed the Pyrenees Mountains and advanced into France, where they were stopped by Charles Martel in 732 AD. But it was not until the end of the 15th Century that Christian forces finally drove the last Muslim invaders out of Western Europe. In fact, Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain, would probably not have funded the exploration of Columbus in 1492, but for the fact that Spain had just won final military victory over the Muslims at Grenada, and driven them at last from Spain. Columbus wanted to claim the unknown lands to the west for Christ, and the King and Queen were in the right state of mind. By the 16th Century, Muslims had driven through Central Europe, and had reached the gates of Vienna on the Danube; here they were finally stopped by the Vienese in 1529, and the Muslim tide in Europe began, finally, to recede.

Today Islam rules in the Middle East (except for tiny Israel), much of Africa, Central Asia, Indonesia and part of the Philippines; and, with virtually limitless oil wealth, Islam is spreading aggressively worldwide.

ARE ALL MUSLIMS ARABS?
No. Islam originated in Arabia, but all Muslims are not Arabs. For example, Iranians are Muslim, but are not Arabs; they are what were called until recent times, Persians. In addition, because Muslims and their culture controlled much of eastern Europe for so many centuries, significant portions of Eastern Europe, including areas of Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia, although non-Arab, are still Muslim. It was here, in Bosnia, that the Clinton administration involved itself in warfare against the Christian Serbs, establishing that area as Muslim. Large portions of the Philippines and Indonesia are Islamic, but not Arab.

THE "FIVE PILLARS" OF ISLAM
The basic requirements for all Muslims are often called the "five pillars" of Islam. They are (1) Declaration of the creed ("There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet"); (2) Prayer, five times daily, with Friday as the special day of prayer by adult males (if possible, in a mosque); (3) Almsgiving (a religious tax, for operation of mosques, and for the poor); (4) Fasting, from sunrise to sunset, during Ramadan, their holy month; and (5) A pilgrimage (the "Hajj") to Mecca, at least once in a lifetime.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MECCA
Mecca, Mohammed's birthplace, was a center of Arab idolatry for many centuries before Mohammed's birth. A black meteorite had fallen there, and was worshipped by the Arabs; in time, it had been built into the southeast corner of a small, cubical building ("Ka'bah"), at a height which made kissing it convenient. Within the building were various idols, including Allah, Mohammed's tribal god. Muslims believe that Abraham, on a visit to Mecca to visit Ishmael, built the Ka'bah, and imbedded the black stone in it. This small building, with it's black stone, is the most sacred site in Islam. In the Hajj (pilgrimage), pilgrims must circle the building 7 times, kissing the stone each time, touching it, or simply gazing intently at it.

VARIATIONS WITHIN ISLAM
Like all religious traditions, there are variations within Islam in its out-workings, and there are sects within Islam. At times these sects go to war with one another. It is also true that some Muslim countries are more lax than others in their enforcement of Islamic law. There are nominal Muslims just as there are nominal Christians; the difference is that nominal Muslims, lax in their observance, are always at risk of being punished or killed wherever Muslims are in control. Yet this summary of facts applies to them all, in terms of the fundamental teachings of Mohammed in the Koran, regardless of variations in orthodoxy. Any Muslim who befriends a Christian or Jew, or who fails to participate in Jihad (war on all non-Muslims), is in violation of Muslim law. Any Muslim who kills innocent people in the name of Jihad, is performing a righteous act according to the Koran.

ISLAM AS A THREAT TODAY
Today, I consider the greatest threat to freedom on Earth to be militant Islam. Muslims (the adherents of Islam) are flooding into formerly Christian countries like Great Britain and the USA, building mosques (their places of worship), and establishing Muslim schools. For example, the city with the second largest Iranian population in the World is Los Angeles (second only to Tehran, the capitol of Iran). There are more than 1,200 mosques and Islamic centers in the USA, and the number is growing. Islamic schools are also being built all across America in numbers already approaching 600. There are 12 such schools in the "DC corridor" between Washington, DC and Richmond, Va. In these schools children are indoctrinated to hate the USA and Israel, and to idolize and emulate Muslims who kill "infidels" (that means you and me) in the name of Jihad. A great many of such Muslim schools, especially in the Northern Virginia/Washington, DC area, are funded by our "friend and ally" in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia.

In Great Britain and America, Muslim mosques are being constructed at a rate much greater than are Christian churches; in the USA, mosques are being built at 4 times the rate of evangelical Christian churches, and the rate is much greater still, compared with Catholic churches. In England, there are more Arab Muslims worshipping than there are Methodists; in the USA they outnumber Episcopalians.
Ever since the September 11 massacres, the nation is awash in non-stop, pro-Muslim propaganda, assuring us that Islam is a peaceful religion, that they worship the same God as Christians and Jews, and that they pose no threat to the non-Muslim world. Although this is the liberal, multicultural mantra, nothing could be farther from the truth.

While the media and liberal politicians sing Islam's praises, Muslims are systematically killing Christians, savaging, raping and selling them into slavery in Islamic countries such as Sudan and Indonesia; the long-term goal of Islam is for the entire World to be under Islamic rule, with all people either Muslim or dead.

ISLAM AND GOVERNMENT
The Islamic ideal is that civil government be under the control of the religious leaders; the ultimate goal is World government, Islamic of course. Today, in most Islamic countries, non-Muslims are non-citizens, aliens in every way, tolerated at best, and are forced to pay special taxes.

THE NATURE OF ISLAM
Like other religious traditions, specific attitudes and practices vary from nation to nation; the following, however, are true of Islam at its roots, true of its history, and true as it is practiced in most places today.

A. Islam And Violence. Islam is a religion of violence, calling for the death of all who will not convert. In "enlightened" Saudi Arabia today, theft is punished by cutting off the hand (first offense). Public amputations are held regularly there, and are well attended. In February 2002, a Saudi woman was raped there, and reported it to the police. Although the rapist was punished, the woman was sentenced by an Islamic court to be whipped (65 lashes), and imprisoned for 6 months for her "crime" of being raped.

B. Islamic Evangelism. Individuals have at times voluntarily embraced the religion of Islam; but this is definitely the exception to the rule. It is a revealing fact that no nation or culture has ever been converted to Islam by persuasion - it has always been done by the sword - by bloody conquest. For example: the Muslim government of Sudan today doesn't send Muslim evangelists southward into Christian territory to share the good news of their religion; instead, they send bombs, soldiers and death squads, to rape, murder and sell the Sudanese Christians into slavery if they won't submit. In fact, the word "Muslim," is Arabic for "one who submits." The Koran teaches that all "infidels" (non-Muslims), who will not submit and become Muslims, are to be killed.

C. Jihad - Islamic Holy War. Jihad is the Muslim campaign to convert, or kill, all non-Muslims. The primary focus of Jihad today is the extermination of all Jews and the eradication of the Israeli nation. Second on their list of enemies is the USA. They also speak of "peaceful Jihad" which means emigrating into non-Muslim, democratic countries, and having babies at such a rate as eventually to become the majority in that land, thus taking control.

D. Islam and Slavery. Muslims have historically been at the center of the slave trade. Today Muslims, Arab and non-Arab, are still at the heart of the slave trade; and today most such trade involves the selling of women, girls and little children into sex slavery.

E. "Black Muslims." Although there are Muslim countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Sudan and Senegal, and growing numbers of American blacks are taking Arab names and embracing Islam, the term "Black Muslim" is really a contradiction. Mohammed had African slaves of his own; in fact, the Arabic word for "Negro" is the same as its word for "slave." Mohammed taught that blacks were fit only for slavery and could not go to paradise: "Only people with white faces will be saved; people with black faces will be damned."* (Sura 3:106).

F. Islam and Women. Women are considered property, more or less in the same category as camels, horses, cattle, sheep and goats; they have no civil rights.

(1) Education. In many Muslim cultures, women may not be educated. In Afghanistan, very recently, girls as young as 8 were publicly executed for attempting to learn to read.
(2) Must Be Covered. In most Muslim countries women must be completely covered, including the head, in public. In Afghanistan recently, an old woman was severely beaten because the wind blew her long skirts, exposing an ankle.
(3) Considered Basically Inferior. In Islam women are considered to be basically inferior. Mohammed taught that women are inferior physically, intellectually and spiritually. The testimony of one man is equal in weight to that of two women. Girl children are generally subordinated to boy children; in many places, the girls must obey their brothers, regardless of age or situation.
(4) Polygamy. Polygamy is practiced in Islam; most interpreters of the Koran teach a maximum of 4 wives (Mohammed said, "two, three or four"); others teach a figure of 9 (by adding the 2, 3 and 4). A husband may freely beat his wives. He may also divorce them, simply because he wants to; and, if he does, he keeps the children. In addition to his 4 (or 9) wives, a man may have many concubines. Mohammed had many wives, plus many slave girls which he described as "toys." He also had an adopted son, whose wife, Ayesha, Mohammed wanted. The son divorced her so that his father could have her; she was 9 years old, and Mohammed was 53.
(5) Genital Mutilation. Genital mutilation of girls, although not prescribed in the Koran, is a common Muslim practice. It is conservatively estimated that this atrocity is performed on 20% of little Muslim girls, worldwide.

ISLAM VS. CHRISTIANITY
A. Allah, the Muslim God. The Muslim god, Allah, is a distant, stern, fearsome god. Allah is a god to whom people must submit - never one to whom they can relate, never one whom a Muslim could know and love. We enjoy a Father-child relationship; for the Muslim, it is that of master-slave. The Christian concept of a loving God is unimaginable to the Muslim; a young Muslim woman, who was born-again as a Christian, faced the death penalty in her country for blasphemy because she stated that now she loves God. To a Muslim, such a statement is unthinkable blasphemy - something like cosmic incest.

B. Allah and Mohammed Compared with Jehovah/Yahweh and Jesus. Think of it this way: Allah requires that the sons of his followers die for him; our God, whose nature it is to love, sent His only begotten Son to die for us. Allah requires his followers to perfect themselves by obedience and earn their heaven by self-sacrifice; our God has provided for us to receive righteousness as a gift, with Heaven as the ultimate result of that gift. Mohammed established Islam by killing for it; Jesus established Christianity by dying for it.

C. The Koran and the Bible. The holy book of Islam is the Koran, authored by Mohammed. Over a period of 23 years, he would periodically go into a trance, under the influence of a spirit, and speak while the scribes wrote. Although the Koran borrows freely from our Bible, which was authored by God, there are great differences in the Koran's borrowed material. (Islamic apologists explain the differences by saying that the Koran versions are accurate - that the Jews and Christians have been careless and allowed errors to slip into their Bibles.) Examples of differences follow:

(1) Although the Koran honors Abraham as a patriarch and prophet, it claims that the promises of God to Abraham are passed down through Ishmael, not through Isaac. Abraham offered Ishmael as a sacrifice in Mecca, Muslims believe - not Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah as the Bible states.
(2) In the Koran, God forgives Adam and Eve, and their sin has no consequences, because Adam memorized some things ("learned certain words"); and Adam, for his good performance, became God's deputy ruler. No original sin.
(3) There are many obvious errors in the Koran, apparently made by Mohammed in relating his memory of the Bible stories; three examples will suffice here:
(a) In the Koran, a Samaritan helps the Israelites build the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai (the Samaritans didn't exist as a people for another 1,000 years);
(b) In the Koran, Pharaoh commands Haman to build a tower like the Tower of Babel, confusing the Exodus with Genesis 11 and the Book of Esther.
(c) In the Koran, the Virgin Mary is sister to Moses and Aaron, an error of genealogy, and a chronological error of 1,500 years.

D. Islam and Jesus Christ. Although the Koran honors Jesus, it relegates Him to the status of a mere prophet (one of 25 listed in the Koran, and only one of 125,000 prophets recognized by Islam today), and inferior to Mohammed. Jesus could not be the Son of God, the Muslims say, for they believe that God has no sons. Muslims deny the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Islam teaches that man is basically good, and can make himself righteous by obeying Islamic laws; therefore, it teaches, there is no need for a redeemer such as Christ. NOTE: If everything else about Islam were right, this alone would make it wrong, and completely, irreconcilably, unacceptable for Christians.

E. Muslim Prayer. Muslims cannot pray as Christians do. In Islam, prayers are prescribed, must be performed at prescribed times, facing Mecca, preferably in a mosque, in a formation of worshipers; the rows of worshipers must be straight (Allah won't look upon a "crooked row"). If women pray in a mosque, it must be behind a screen. Prayers are to prevent Allah's anger, and are most acceptable to him on Friday. Before praying, a Muslim must be ceremonially cleansed. If not in a mosque, then prayer must be said in a clean place, on a clean mat; if the mat is touched by a dog or a woman, then cleansing must be begun all over again. The prayers must be recited in Arabic, whether or not the worshipers understand Arabic. Personal, private prayer, the very breath of life for a Christian, is unknown to a Muslim - a completely foreign concept. This, of course, is in keeping with the nature of their god, Allah; he is not a personal, loving god, whom they can know and love - not one with whom a Muslim can speak and relate; this is to them unthinkable and blasphemous.

F. Muslim Eschatology (beliefs about end-time events). Muslims believe that Jesus was taken up to "paradise" alive; when the end comes, they believe, Jesus will return to Earth, "break all the crosses" (eliminate every trace of Christianity), convert all "infidels" to Islam, marry, reign for 40 years, die, and be buried in Medina next to Mohammed.

G. Paradise (Muslim Heaven). Muslim men and boys are taught that if they die in the act of killing "infidels" (non-Muslims), they are immediately taken to Paradise (their version of Heaven), where they can have all the booze they want, plus all the women they want, forever (not exactly an exalted view of spiritual perfection). The women provided will be virgins, and will supernaturally remain virgins, no matter what the men do with them. One wonders what there is to attract the women to Paradise; but this merely reflects the basic Islamic view of women as property, and as objects of pleasure for men.

THE KORAN AND THE HADITH
The source of Muslim doctrine is the Koran, dictated by Mohammed to scribes (he was illiterate), with generous (and confused) borrowing from what he remembered of the Bible. Muslim doctrines are also based upon what they call the Hadith (Sunna), collections of sayings and stories attributed to Mohammed, but not found in the Koran. The Koran, however, remains the fundamental source of Muslim doctrines. Although the Koran is wordy, not organized chronologically or by topic, and sometimes self-contradictory and confusing, the following are selected quotations from the Koran, by topic, the meaning of which will be clear. The passages are identified by sura, (chapter) and verse; the Koran consists of 114 such suras (chapters).

A. Salvation by works (No Need for a Savior):
o "Those whose scale (of good deeds) is heavy will prosper; those whose scale will be light will find their soul in perdition." (Sura 7:8,9)

B. Fight Non-Muslims:
o "Oh prophet Mohammed, urge the believers to fight….the unbelievers." (Sura 8:65)
o "Jihad (holy war) is ordained for you….Allah knoweth (what is good)." (Sura 2:216)
o "Oh you who believe, do not take Jews or Christians for your friends and protectors… those of you who do, are part of them." (Sura 5:54)
o "And fight them until there is no more disbelief in Islam and the religion will all be for Allah alone, altogether and everywhere." (Sura 8:39)
o "Fight them until there is no more Fitnah (non-Islamic belief) and all worship is for Allah (alone)." (Sura 2:193)
o "I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, Smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them." (Sura 8:12)
o "When the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them; capture them, besiege them, lie in wait for them in each and every ambush."(Sura 9:5)
o "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home, an evil fate." (Sura 9:73)

C. Kill Muslims Who Become Christians:
o "But if they turn back (from Islam) take them and kill them wherever you find them." (Sura 4:89)

D. Christ Is Not God's Son:
o "The Jews call Uzayr-a the Son of God,' and the Christians call Christ the Son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but intimate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be upon them: how they are deluded away from the truth." (Sura 9:30)

E. Christians and Jews Are To Be Shunned, and Are Destined for Hell:
o "Oh you who believe! Take not the Christians and Jews as friends." (Sura 5:54)
o "The unbelievers among the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of creatures." (Sura 98:1-8)

F. Status of Women:
o "And call in to witness two witnesses, men; or, if the two be not men, then one man and two women…" (Sura 2:282)
o "Righteous women are therefore obedient,….And those you fear (suspect) may be rebellious, admonish, banish them back to their couches and beat them (lightly)." (Sura 4:34)

G. Muslim "Paradise" (Heaven):
o "And if you are killed or die in the way of Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are far better than all that they (rich infidels) amass." (Sura 3:157)
o "Truly Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties…theirs shall be paradise. They fight in Allah's cause, so they kill and are killed." (Sura 9:111)
o "Eat and drink with happiness because of your good deeds. They will recline on thrones arranged in ranks. We shall marry them to Hur (fair females) with wide, lovely eyes. And we shall provide them with fruit and meat such as they desire." Sura (52:17-22)
o "….reclining on couches….women of special creation and made virgins of equal age."
o "Gardens and vineyards and young, full-breasted virgins of equal age, and a full cup of wine." (Sura 78:31-34)

Author's Notes:
1. Arabic is not written with English letters (a sample is on the first page). To write the Arabic words in English, the words are spelled phonetically (the way they sound to us); this explains the different ways of spelling the same word (eg, Mohammed, Muhammed, Mahomet, etc.).
2. These Koran passages are chosen to verify the points made; there are many more such passages from the Koran, plus the Hadith (which I haven't used here at all). Interpretations of the Arabic vary with the translator; but the above represent, to the best of my knowledge, the consensus.
3. Special thanks to Randall Terry, Col. Myrl Allinder, USMC (Ret), and my wife, Marty, for their assistance and material.

Recommended Sources:
1. Any respectable encyclopedia article;
2. The Koran in English, especially:
a. Shakir, M.H. (translator), The Qur 'an, Elmhurst, NY : Tahrike Tarsile Qur 'an, Inc, Eleventh Edition, 1999 (with Index)
b. Rodwell, J.M. (Translator), The Koran (Everyman Edition), Vermont: Everyman, 1909 (Footnotes with cross-references to the Koran, Islamic history, and Bible references to portions of the Koran taken from the Bible);
3. Terry, Randall, The Crescent Terror, Loyal Opposition, PO Box 600, Windsor, NY, 2001 (available from Loyal Opposition 607-655-4700);
4. Noss, John B., Man's Religions, Revised Edition, New York, Macmillian, 1957.
5. Morey, Dr. Robert, The Islamic Invasion, Las Vegas, Nev: Christian Scholars Press, 1992;
6. World Magazine, Vol. 16, No. 41, 27 Oct 2001;
7. Voice of the Martyrs, Various Excellent Publications, including a free magazine, PO Box 443 Bartlesville, Oklahoma 74005 (918-337-8015). See their web address below (persecution.com).
8. Oxley, Mick, Various Publications and Tapes, RR #1, Box 257E, Crescent city, FL 32112 (904-698-2553)
9. Web Sites:
www.persecution.com
www.opendoors.org
10. The Holy Bible.

Copyright 2002
Tom C. McKenney
Art work by Joe McCormick

Words for Living Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 143 o Marion, KY 42064
(270) 965-5060
wflm@apex.net o www.wordsforlivingmin.org

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