My book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is on the New York Times Bestseller List (paperback nonfiction) at number 15 for the week of October 9. This is its seventh week on the list and second in the top 15.
Why is such a book needed? I got a reminder from my friend Patrick Williams, who sent me this email this morning. How the young lady he decribes skipped over Sura 9 and so many other passages (48:29, 98:6, 4:34, etc.) in her Qur'an reading is beyond me, but I have seen it happen to other people.
I sat in on a dance performance, and went to lunch with two of the dancers -— both lovely, blonde Minnesotans, raised Lutheran. The one I knew well is still a devout Christian, but the other got to talking about her religious “quest,” and revealed that at the suggestion of a Pakistani man she knows she has been reading the Koran. “It’s so beautiful, and so tolerant… I just can’t stand the bigotry and closed-mindedness of so many people in the West towards Muslims.”I was speechless. This doesn’t happen often. Half an hour before, I’d been sitting, watching her do classical ballet, wearing clothes that would be illegal in any Islamic society, dancing to music that might never be performed. Here we sat in a British style teahouse eating smoked salmon sandwiches…. And this woman began to say that she was considering converting to the religion of burkhas, honor-killing, and jihad.
Whatever I said about life in Saudi Arabia, which I reminded her was the Islamic Vatican, or the fact that Mohammed (unlike Jesus) ENDORSED and LED the first brutal deeds done in his name, or the Islamic destruction of India… had no effect. She kept insisting that whatever people practiced, it didn’t match up to what she read in this lovely book… So it didn’t matter. Anyway, what about the Crusades, yadda-yadda….
At length, I realized something. In looking only at the text (and not very carefully at that) and not at the practices and traditions of a faith, she was trying to construct her own private Islam -- one in which she could look at the sacred text, interpret it in her heart, and practice it as she saw fit. Try that in a society ruled by Sharia, I reminded her, and you will be killed.
Then I told her that if she wanted to the read the Koran, she should certainly get hold of your book -— and weigh the poetic words not against crude media stereotypes, or ignorant attacks on Islam, but against a serious, well-researched study that offered the other point of view. I hope she follows my advice.
Then something came to me, after which we had to change the subject. I thought it might interest you. I told her:
“I’m sorry, but hearing a Western woman talk about how she might want to become a Moslem is… like hearing a black American talk about how he might like to try being a slave.”
Just got my copy in the mail today, can't wait to start reading.
“I’m sorry, but hearing a Western woman talk about how she might want to become a Moslem is… like hearing a black American talk about how he might like to try being a slave.”
given that there are black Americans who have converted to Islam, thinking it friendlier to dark-skinned people, this is not the best analogy with which to end an otherwise excellent piece.
What kind of society have we made where people cannot sustain even the slightest reality in the face of reality? We seem determined to bury the whole of the Modernist project in mud and slime and call it perfection.
X
'So, toward our myth's oblivion,
Darkling, and languid-lipped, we creep and grope
Sadlier than those who wept in Babylon,
Whose Zion was a still abiding hope.
Thomas Hardy writes of the decay and illusion of his time, and today we see the moral poses of the silly and the hateful postures of the evil that strike me as the dance of death frozen in place, slowly flaking away like a desiccated body in a museum. Hardy sums up these dead dancers and the stupified audience:
XVII
And they composed a crowd of whom
Some were right good, and many nigh the best....
Thus dazed and puzzled 'twixt the gleam and gloom
Mechanically I followed with the rest.
The naivete is very depressing. Along with Spencer's book, she should read "Leaving Islam," a collection of testimonies, some by people who converted to Islam because they had been grossly misinformed about it. There are other testimonies at the websites of ex-Muslims, which she really must look into. She could start at www.faithfreedom.org, and also google a few people, such as Azam Kamguian, or go to the HomaDarabi website. Finally, she might read "Why I Am Not a Muslim" by Ibn Warraq, and also his essay, to be found by googling "Ibn Warraq," "Islam" and "Fascism," which ought to be printed out, and carried around, by all those who come to this site -- so that they will have something at the ready, whether or not the person in need of some edification is a beautiful blond, not only leggy but ready with an entrechat or a sissonne fermee battue en arriere, yet for all her prima assoluta-ness, comes unpretentiously from Land-o'-lakes Minnesota, and speaks something like Francis McNormand in "Fargo."
Among those who come to Jihadwatch are a number of women who have been there, done that: "I Married a Muslim" and lived to tell about it. They found out, sooner or later, what Islam is all about, sometimes to their great chagrin, usually to their embarrassed horror. Possibly among them one might be willing to set down (no names necessary) her own experrience, her own encounter with Islam, and through Robert Spencer, who will forward the message or offer to talk, perhaps, by telephone, to Patrick Williams who, one suspects, will be happy to convey that message. And if the doctrine of abrogation, and the Jihad-verses to be easily retrieved from the Calcutta Qur'an Petition, and a little introduction to the Hadith and the Sira (and don't leave out either the story of Aisha, or the fact that Khomeini's first act was to have the marriageable age of girls lowered to nine) would also help. Muir's "Life of Mahomet" or Arthur Jeffery's, might help, and so would "The Myth of Islamic Tolerance" which, I am sure, Robert would send along.
This girl deserves a Care Package for the brain -- in order to save her, if possible, from considerable future mental anguish. Who, as discreetly as required, would be willing to share her own story with this girl, before it is too late?
She should read the following book:
Women and the Koran: The Status of Women in Islam (Hardcover)
by Anwar Hekmat
This should settle it if she has a brain.
maya
I think that white Minnesotan woman is not a rare bird at all; in fact, she and her naivete probably still represents the majority in the USA, Canada, and Western Europe.
Well, it's a big job, but someone's got to do it, and if no one else steps forward, I'll...
I suspect that with those words I am merely expressing a sentiment shared by every second visitor to this site.
Women like this anger me -- after all the hard-won gains women have made in the West, she wants to throw it all away in pursuit of a spiritual quest to NeverNeverLand. I seriously doubt this person's thinking ability and state of mind. To say she is masochistic would be an understatement.
I lived a year in Turkey where 99% of the population adheres to Islam. This ballet dancer might be wise to consider what her life would be like there.
While there I witnessed a public incident of woman assault on the street, in broad daylight, just outside the gates of a private school where I taught. Hearing a woman's screams, I turned and saw a thin young woman cowering in the middle of the street and a muscular young man poised above her with his arm raised as if to strike a blow. Her one cheek already bore the mark of a previous blow. Horrified, I tried to intervene but since I spoke little Turkish my words were ineffective. But I did shout at him to stop, took my cell phone out of my purse and pointed it at him saying "Polis!" I had no idea how to call the police, but I didn't let him know that.
He circled around the young woman, like a shark, and smirked at me, not quite sure what to make of this yabanci, foreigner, with cell phone held aloft. Some older women standing nearby then approached me, smiling slyly, trying to placate me. They said, "evi, evi" - meaning, "it's OK - they are married."
By now the young woman had taken refuge in a parked car, the husband's I presume, and had locked the doors. I went up to her, completely at a loss as to what to do, but tried by words and gestures to let this terrified young woman know that this was not all right - that it was despicable. I kept my eye on the man telling him again and again that I would call the police, and waving my cell phone at him.
When he seemed calmer I retreated to the guard house at the gate of the school and asked the guard to call the police - I gestured and pointed at the small group of people standing in the street. He shrugged - pretending not to understand. Just then along came a young student, a 14 year old girl I knew well. She could speak English, so here's help, I thought. I explained the situation to her and asked her to get the guard to call the police. She turned to the guard, said a few words in Turkish, and then they both laughed. She said to me, "But Jen, this is Turkey!"
I was aghast, but knew there was no help to be had there, so I marched back to the couple, warned the husband that if he struck his wife again I would call the police (I'm sure he got my message - and he seemed uncertain of what I had just done at the guard house.) By now there was a small crowd of children and women gathered to watch me and my crazy yabanci reaction.
I left reluctantly, but felt I had given the husband pause to rethink his anger, and the wife reason to think her situation was not hopeless -- and not acceptable. Later that evening, I told this story to several Turkish people - school directors, businessmen, etc. I was met with blank looks - they just didn't understand why I would care, why I would get involved.
This is the reality of life in a modern city of secular but Muslim Turkey. The lot of women in the rural areas is much worse than what I had just witnessed - -gory pictures in the daily newspapers attest to the ongoing ferocity of violence against women.
I had thought that the new generation would have a different point of view, that there might have been some inroads made against this entrenched misogyny, but my young student's laughing reaction to my horror made me realize I was naive.
Let Ballet Dancer consider the reality of life for that young woman in Turkey and let her compare that to the flowery words of the Qur’an. It was obvious to me that what I witnessed was no rare occurrence - it was socially accepted behaviour in a society which follows the teachings of the Qur’an.
Thats it, Jen...Hugh, sir, you have a response to your request. Let's print a thousand copies of her anecdote and shove it down ne1's throat who tries to use the usual naive dhimmi propaganda line bout religion of peace, liberal to women blah blah blah.
To Patrick-- Wonderful comeback! I wish I'd thought of it first.
To Waterdragon--I'm reminded of Eldridge Cleaver. When he was a fugitive from justice he went to North Africa to visit the Muslim brothas. When he saw the black slaves in the market, he had second thoughts.
Have you considered that if Islam is really a religion of God, that what you are saying and doing will become thing of extreme regret? Is what you are doing worth an eternity in Hell the heat of 70 times that of the heat of sun. Have you not seen what happen to the past generations of Noah, Ad, Thamud, Lot and Phoroah? They were much more numerous in the land and more powerful than you will ever be, but they were destroyed. Do you not fear that such verses such as:
19.But those who deny (their Lord),- for them will be cut out a garment of Fire: over their heads will be poured out boiling water.
20. With it will be scalded what is within their bodies, as well as (their) skins.
21. In addition there will be maces of iron (to punish) them.
22. Every time they wish to get away therefrom, from anguish, they will be forced back therein, and (it will be said), "Taste ye the Penalty of Burning!"
that maybe just maybe if they are true, destruction awaits you. But if you still don't believe in Islam then you are free to worship who you want and to God is your return and He will judge between us in our differences.
Le pari de Pascal (Islamic version). We are told not to gamble with our likely fates in the afterlife, but apparently a good many Infidels are just born gamblers. We are promised the works --a heat 70 times hotter than that of the sun, boiling water, maces of iron, yet Infidels, who still make up 85% of humanity (coincidentally, mostly in those areas where Muslims did not seize control by force), are still willing to risk it. For what? Art, music, science, freedom of thought, humor, rationality, things like that? Really, is it worth it?
Many would answer: Yes.
She should check out the
164 Jihad verses in the Koran.
Great post, Jen. It's a picture of a supposedly "moderate" Islamic country that our PC minions would scoff at and assure us doesn't exist. We need many more accounts like yours -- especially of the so-called "moderate" Islamic countries, like Morocco, Indonesia, Malaysia, the UAE, etc.
Patrick's comeback was right on, even if the analogy to black slavery risks sidetracking a listener.
This chick's problem is not the text, it's the man. "Beautiful blonde"? She's gettin' the bum's rush from Mr. Wonderful, maybe a romp in the rack-a-rooni, a flop in the sack, a rub in the tub. Talked up as to how great she is, how much he respects her, how fine his family is, how much he misses his mother.
She's already proven not to have any reading comprehension. This right-brained artist can barely understand written stage instructions. Probably doesn't read half of what one would think she does in the Koran. Just repeats what HE says about it. She responds to all his emotional appeals, and RELATES. She needs to marry the bastard, or have his kid, or both, to REALLY understand. But even then, she might think the problem is ONLY HIM.
These jerks marry the white gal (they seem to gravitate to blondes, as can be seen when the Saudi princes land in Texas to see Bush, and the leggy blondes depart the airplane a little bit later and from the rear door so as not to be photographed). Often, Mr. Wonderful will pick a slightly overweight or otherwise ordinary looking victim, just right for the rush. After a couple of years, if the gal isn't completely cowed (i.e., she has a father who is eventually able to step in), they end up in family court.
This is always interesting, like watching a stageplay after you've read the script. I've given the usual plot in a previous post, but the end result of the divorce is that Daddy has to have supervised visitation with the kid, because he had threatened to take the child to Whereveristan, and mother's lawyer shoved that up his ass during the trial. The lawyer appointed to represent the child is not going to risk losing future appointments by siding with Daddy. The judge, running for reelection and not stupid, is not going to allow Daddy to kidnap the child in HIS CASE. Daddy, whose Halal grocery business (or auto repair shop or internet cafe) turns out to be a "worthless on paper" partnership with his relatives and friends, takes all the money and wanders off to marry his cousin.
But most of these women never make it to court. They get so cowed that they just fade away into the background.
This chick's path to salvation is hearing first-hand accounts from other women, western women, who can convince her that her case will just be more of the same. But it's unlikely to work.
In medical terms, she's got the disease and it's too late to vaccinate her.
Posted by: Ro at September 30, 2005 09:27 PM
WONDER HOW THEY FEEL??
Qur’an 74:31 “We have appointed nineteen angels to be the wardens of the Hell Fire. We made a stumbling-block for those who disbelieve and We have fixed their number as a trial for unbelievers in order that the people of the Book may arrive with certainty, and that no doubts may be left for the people of the Book, those in whose hearts is a disease. And for those to whom the Scripture Book has been given, and the believers, there should be no doubt. The unbelievers may say, ‘What does the Lord intend by this?’ The Lord will lead astray whomever He pleases, and He will guide whomever He pleases: and none can know the armies of your Lord except He, and this is no other than a warning to mankind.”
This can be broken by Yes it is the Army of the people of the Book who he has chosen to Free [USA] the Iraqi people as it says
He will guide whomever He pleases: and none can know the armies of your Lord except He, and this is no other than a warning to mankind.”
Yes he has chosen the USA!!
TO FREE THE IRAQI PEOPLE FROM THE MONSTER saddam [FOUND IN A HOLE DON’T SHOOT I’M A YELLOW COWARD]
And let’s look at another part?
The Lord will lead astray whomever He pleases,
Ubl,saddam,zawari,all who Kill and destroy mankind?
There will be no more warnings?
Earthquake in Iran kills 31,000 who harbors ubls[YELLOW COWARD WHO RUNS AWAY] son and wife’s??
And now Locus in Egypt
NOW IF THAT IS NOT TELLING YOU ARE ON THE WRONG PATH NOTHING WILL??
Kazakhstan Blast in mine??
Islamic terrorist- killing Iraqis??
Earthquake in Algeria??
The typhoon in Philippines Remember they ran away from the Fight in Iraq??
http://www.onlypunjab.com/fullstory1104-insight-Pink+Locusts+from+North+Africa-status-15-newsID-503.html
Pink Locusts from North Africa Swarm Through Cairo
Publish Date : 11/18/2004 5:09:00 PM Source : Science and Technology News Onlypunjab.com
Swarms of pink locusts swept through the Egyptian capital on Wednesday, evoking the biblical description of the plagues which struck in the time of Moses.
The swarms of millions flew high above tall towers or swooped down onto treelined streets, where scared pedestrians stamped
on them or ran for cover.
The flying insects arrived from neighboring Libya after devouring the countryside in central and western Africa in past months.
YES I SAY ubl[YELLOW COWARD WHO RUNS AWAY] is losing and trying to regain control??
What verses did he say in his rambling and to say about the people of the book??
The people of
the book didn’t lose their crops??
Now Earthquake of mulsum Islands of Indonesia?? 9.3 and afterwards mass killer waves that effect many countries?/
Who is coming to the aid of the people But the Red Cross and India to help the people and Israel and the USA and the Western countries!!
210,000, mulsum killed in Indonesia alone?? Whole mulsum towns gone?? And Churches still standing??
We are waiting for the mulsums to help other mulsums?? Or with the entire fund raising they do help people instead of making war??
And now more 6.2 earthquakes in Indonesia?? Because they have sent Islamic terrorist to terrorize the victims of the killer wave??
January 11, 2005 Philippines an 4.3 Earthquake ??
Maybe small there because the fight against Islamic Terrorist??
Was ubls[YELLOW COWARD WHO RUNS AWAY] family in
Indonesia we know they support Islamic Terrorist??
January 23 6.3 Earthquake in Indonesia??
AND THE LATES FOR THE FOLLOWERS OF THE CURSED??
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=NL712421F&news_headline=abu_hamza_covered_in_scabs
Since then, he has been charged in the UK with 16 offences including soliciting others to murder non-believers, racial hatred and possessing a document liable to help terrorists.
Hook-handed cleric Abu Hamza is covered from head to foot in scabs because he has an ailment that makes his skin bleed.
One theory is that he could have psioriasis, which results in flakes falling from crusty red patches on the skin.
NOW IF THIS AINT TELLING YOU SOMETHING??
May 29,2005 Indonesia mulsums kill Christians in a Market try to blow up a church?? 22 dead 40 injured?
May 30,2005 an Earthquake in Indonesia in mulsum region??
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,158667,00.html
5.7-Magnitude Quake Hurts 37 in Turkey
Monday, June 06, 2005
ANKARA, Turkey — An earthquake () with a preliminary magnitude of 5.7 shook southeastern Turkey () on Monday, injuring at least 37 people, officials said
I hear that extra guards have been posted on the Grapevine raisins??
http://www.beecy.net/frank/
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
GOD BLESS THE COUNTRIES WHO HAVE HEROS PITY NOT THE COUNTRIES WHO NEED THEM AMEN
PS
Gold Star for you Jen!!
Jen, thank you for your first hand account.
You know Catherine I could use the same argument against Christians
BLACK PLAGUE KILLS 20 MILLION EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS (2/5 OF POPULATION OF EUROPE) WHILE SPARING MUSLIM POPULATIONS. CAUSE LATER FOUND THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF EUROPEANS UNSANITARY PRACTICES THAT THE PLAGUE WAS SO WIDESPREAD AS COMPARED TO MUSLIM SOCIETIES WHO DUE TO PRAYERS REQUIRED TO BATHE AT LEAST 2 TIMES A DAY.
THIRTY YEAR WAR IN 1600S THAT INFLICTS CENTRAL EUROPE BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS LEADS TO EXTERMINATION OF 20 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION OF CENTRAL EUROPE.
WORLD WAR 1 AND 2 INFLICTS MASS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN WORLD WITH MORE THAN 50 MILLION CASUALITIES.
CHRISTIAN TSAR NICHOLAS II INSTIGATE POGRAMS OF JEW DURING THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
6 MILLION JEWS MASSACRED BY NAZI CHRISTIANS FROM 1939-1945
RWANDAN GENOCIDE INSTIGATED BY CATHOLIC CLERGY LEADS TO THE SLAUGHTER OF MORE THAN 800,000 TUTSIS BY FELLOW CHRISTIAN HUTUS WITHIN 100 DAYS
You see God gives provision to whom He wills and He tests with hardships whom He wills to see if they will thank Him during the good times and if they will ask for His help during the bad times.
AS FOR YOU HUGH
God doesn't ask you to sacrifice art, music, science, freedom of thought, humor, and rationality. In fact Islam doesn't believe in the monastic lifestyle and Muslims are encourage to get married and play with each other or foreplay (please reserve your perverted thoughts to yourself). Furthermore, Islam unlike Christianity doesn't conflict with science. In fact Islam uses science to prove the existence of God and that the Qur'an is God's word:
The Expansion of the Universe
Edwin Hubble with his giant telescope
In the Qur'an, which was revealed 14 centuries ago at a time when the science of astronomy was still primitive, the expansion of the universe was described like this:
"And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it."
(The Qur'an, 51:47)
The word "heaven", as stated in this verse, is used in various places in the Qur'an with the meaning of space and universe. Here again, the word is used with this meaning. In other words, in the Qur'an it is revealed that the universe "expands". And this is the very conclusion that science has reached today.
Georges Lemaitre
Until the dawn of the 20th century, the only view prevailing in the world of science was that "the universe has a constant nature and it has existed since infinite time". The research, observations, and calculations carried out by means of modern technology, however, have revealed that the universe in fact had a beginning, and that it constantly "expands".
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann and the Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre theoretically calculated that the universe is in constant motion and that it is expanding.
This fact was proved also by observational data in 1929. While observing the sky with a telescope, Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer, discovered that the stars and galaxies were constantly moving away from each other. A universe where everything constantly moves away from everything else implied a constantly expanding universe. The observations carried out in the following years verified that the universe is constantly expanding. This fact was explained in the Qur'an when that was still unknown to anyone. This is because the Qur'an is the word of God, the Creator, and the Ruler of the entire universe.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SCIENCE AND THE QU'RAN VISIT:http://www.answering-christianity.com/sci_quran.htm
You know Catherine I could use the same argument against Christians
BLACK PLAGUE KILLS 20 MILLION EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS (2/5 OF POPULATION OF EUROPE) WHILE SPARING MUSLIM POPULATIONS. CAUSE LATER FOUND THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF EUROPEANS UNSANITARY PRACTICES THAT THE PLAGUE WAS SO WIDESPREAD AS COMPARED TO MUSLIM SOCIETIES WHO DUE TO PRAYERS REQUIRED TO BATHE AT LEAST 2 TIMES A DAY.
THIRTY YEAR WAR IN 1600S THAT INFLICTS CENTRAL EUROPE BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS LEADS TO EXTERMINATION OF 20 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION OF CENTRAL EUROPE.
WORLD WAR 1 AND 2 INFLICTS MASS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN WORLD WITH MORE THAN 50 MILLION CASUALITIES.
CHRISTIAN TSAR NICHOLAS II INSTIGATE POGRAMS OF JEW DURING THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
6 MILLION JEWS MASSACRED BY NAZI CHRISTIANS FROM 1939-1945
RWANDAN GENOCIDE INSTIGATED BY CATHOLIC CLERGY LEADS TO THE SLAUGHTER OF MORE THAN 800,000 TUTSIS BY FELLOW CHRISTIAN HUTUS WITHIN 100 DAYS
You see God gives provision to whom He wills and He tests with hardships whom He wills to see if they will thank Him during the good times and if they will ask for His help during the bad times.
AS FOR YOU HUGH
God doesn't ask you to sacrifice art, music, science, freedom of thought, humor, and rationality. In fact Islam doesn't believe in the monastic lifestyle and Muslims are encourage to get married and play with each other or foreplay (please reserve your perverted thoughts to yourself). Furthermore, Islam unlike Christianity doesn't conflict with science. In fact Islam uses science to prove the existence of God and that the Qur'an is God's word:
The Expansion of the Universe
Edwin Hubble with his giant telescope
In the Qur'an, which was revealed 14 centuries ago at a time when the science of astronomy was still primitive, the expansion of the universe was described like this:
"And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it."
(The Qur'an, 51:47)
The word "heaven", as stated in this verse, is used in various places in the Qur'an with the meaning of space and universe. Here again, the word is used with this meaning. In other words, in the Qur'an it is revealed that the universe "expands". And this is the very conclusion that science has reached today.
Georges Lemaitre
Until the dawn of the 20th century, the only view prevailing in the world of science was that "the universe has a constant nature and it has existed since infinite time". The research, observations, and calculations carried out by means of modern technology, however, have revealed that the universe in fact had a beginning, and that it constantly "expands".
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann and the Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre theoretically calculated that the universe is in constant motion and that it is expanding.
This fact was proved also by observational data in 1929. While observing the sky with a telescope, Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer, discovered that the stars and galaxies were constantly moving away from each other. A universe where everything constantly moves away from everything else implied a constantly expanding universe. The observations carried out in the following years verified that the universe is constantly expanding. This fact was explained in the Qur'an when that was still unknown to anyone. This is because the Qur'an is the word of God, the Creator, and the Ruler of the entire universe.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SCIENCE AND THE QU'RAN VISIT:http://www.answering-christianity.com/sci_quran.htm
You know Catherine I could use the same argument against Christians
BLACK PLAGUE KILLS 20 MILLION EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS (2/5 OF POPULATION OF EUROPE) WHILE SPARING MUSLIM POPULATIONS. CAUSE LATER FOUND THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF EUROPEANS UNSANITARY PRACTICES THAT THE PLAGUE WAS SO WIDESPREAD AS COMPARED TO MUSLIM SOCIETIES WHO DUE TO PRAYERS REQUIRED TO BATHE AT LEAST 2 TIMES A DAY.
THIRTY YEAR WAR IN 1600S THAT INFLICTS CENTRAL EUROPE BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS LEADS TO EXTERMINATION OF 20 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION OF CENTRAL EUROPE.
WORLD WAR 1 AND 2 INFLICTS MASS DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN WORLD WITH MORE THAN 50 MILLION CASUALITIES.
CHRISTIAN TSAR NICHOLAS II INSTIGATE POGRAMS OF JEW DURING THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY
6 MILLION JEWS MASSACRED BY NAZI CHRISTIANS FROM 1939-1945
RWANDAN GENOCIDE INSTIGATED BY CATHOLIC CLERGY LEADS TO THE SLAUGHTER OF MORE THAN 800,000 TUTSIS BY FELLOW CHRISTIAN HUTUS WITHIN 100 DAYS
You see God gives provision to whom He wills and He tests with hardships whom He wills to see if they will thank Him during the good times and if they will ask for His help during the bad times.
AS FOR YOU HUGH
God doesn't ask you to sacrifice art, music, science, freedom of thought, humor, and rationality. In fact Islam doesn't believe in the monastic lifestyle and Muslims are encourage to get married and play with each other or foreplay (please reserve your perverted thoughts to yourself). Furthermore, Islam unlike Christianity doesn't conflict with science. In fact Islam uses science to prove the existence of God and that the Qur'an is God's word:
The Expansion of the Universe
Edwin Hubble with his giant telescope
In the Qur'an, which was revealed 14 centuries ago at a time when the science of astronomy was still primitive, the expansion of the universe was described like this:
"And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it."
(The Qur'an, 51:47)
The word "heaven", as stated in this verse, is used in various places in the Qur'an with the meaning of space and universe. Here again, the word is used with this meaning. In other words, in the Qur'an it is revealed that the universe "expands". And this is the very conclusion that science has reached today.
Georges Lemaitre
Until the dawn of the 20th century, the only view prevailing in the world of science was that "the universe has a constant nature and it has existed since infinite time". The research, observations, and calculations carried out by means of modern technology, however, have revealed that the universe in fact had a beginning, and that it constantly "expands".
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann and the Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre theoretically calculated that the universe is in constant motion and that it is expanding.
This fact was proved also by observational data in 1929. While observing the sky with a telescope, Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer, discovered that the stars and galaxies were constantly moving away from each other. A universe where everything constantly moves away from everything else implied a constantly expanding universe. The observations carried out in the following years verified that the universe is constantly expanding. This fact was explained in the Qur'an when that was still unknown to anyone. This is because the Qur'an is the word of God, the Creator, and the Ruler of the entire universe.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SCIENCE AND THE QU'RAN VISIT:http://www.answering-christianity.com/sci_quran.htm
SORRY FOR POSTING THREE TIMES
Do you not fear that such verses such as:
No. How can I when I have
" God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not die but have eternal life. It was not to judge the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through him the world might be saved".
John 3.16
God is love. He forgives all those who truly repent.
It's as simple as that.
I like the part about Hubble. But I missed the part where Islam explains in advance gravity, recombinant DNA, fractals, the transistor, and why cholesterol is bad for you.
I adore women but I have yet to figure them out. Most of them are warm and caring, nurturing and thoughtful but some want to marry serial killers on death row or swallow a theology that is so destructive to the human spirit. If the ballet dancer goes she will be one more horror story for others to heed or ignore..as the case may be.
This story about "pernonal Islam" reminds me of that disinformation engine, Irshad Mangy -- Her lesbian-friendly version of Islam would be utterly annihilated in ANY Islamic country. In fact she is only able to have her highly tendentious "personal" version of Islam in a non-Islamic culture such as America -- yet she continues to espouse the most deluded notions about the reformability of Islam and her misinformation is mainly directed toward naive Westerners who crave her message... Not towards the promulgators of the religion of intolerance and hatred which she champions as a reformable friendly and tolerant religion.
The hapless boob's delusions about Islam in the story, and Irshad's ixjihad, or whatever she calls it, are total hogwash in every sense...
Granny weatherwax
In Islam God is actually more forgiving than in Christianity. Unlike Christianity where God condemns mankind for the sin of one man (Adam), in Islam God forgives Adam after he repents. In fact God not only forgives sins but He turns those sins into good deeds if the person repenting is truly repentant:
Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah. for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur'an 39:53)
By the way if you want to know the truth about the Trinity (the most ridiculous concept brought unto mankind) visit http://www.answering-christianity.com/at.htm. I can't believe anyone can believe in such an idiotic concept. I mean according to the faith, Christ is the second person in the Trinity, the Father being the first and the Holy Ghost third. Each of these persons is God. Christ is his own father and his own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but both. The son was begotten by the father, but existed before he was begotten--just the same before as after. Christ is just as old as his father, and the father is just as young as his son. The Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and Son, but was equal to the Father and Son before he proceeded, that is to say, before he existed, but he is of the same age as the other two. So it is declared that the Father is God, and the Son and the Holy Ghost is God, and these three Gods make one God. According to the imaginary multiplication table, once one is three, and three times one is one, and according to heavenly subtraction if we take two from three, three are left. The addition is equally peculiar: if we add two to one we have but one. Each one equal to himself and to the other two. Nothing ever was, nothing ever can be more perfectly absurd than the dogma of the Trinity. Why do you set your salvation based on something so doubtful? 1+1+1=3 not 1 and salvation is not based on your wishful thinking.
As for you Pismopal and Jsla,
You have just proven what Spencer's goal really is, it is not like Daniel Pipes who doesn't call forced abolishment of the religion of Islam, but for the reformation. In fact Pipes believes that Muslims worship the same God of the Jews and Christians. He proves it through this article: http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2714
This shows your intolerance and how you are not interested in dialogue but the complete destruction of Islam and thereby you advocate the same intolerance the Jihadist you claim to be fighting except against Muslims this time. Spencer claims:
Q: What can we do about this (Islamic)threat?
A: Many things, but what we must do above all is remain true to our principles of freedom and equality of rights and dignity for all. These ideas and related ones are what set us apart from global jihadists. If we discard them in order to fight the jihadists, we risk erasing the distinction between the two camps.
Isn't believing that we should abolish Islam in America violating our principles of freedom and equality of rights and dignity for all?
Ro-
You need to review your history concerning the Black Plague. The Islamic world was not spared one bit. The major port cities such as Alexandria, Tripoi, Algiers, etc. suffered death tolls as high as Europe. Ritual handwashing before praying had absolutely no effect on the bacillus which was transmitted by biting fleas.
Ro
You are fond of the word proof but I doubt this is actually what you mean. Daniel Pipes cannot prove anything about the G-d I worship and neither can I..or you,as a matter of fact. I can however, prove that muslims are worldwide at odds with their neighbors, who are not of their faith. I happen to believe,as many others do, that this aggression is directed by the religion of islam. All of this being said, it is odd that you would accuse me, and I'm sure anyone who reacts negatively to islam, of intolerance. I am very much at odds with your religion Ro but I promise not to make you a slave or throw a grenade into your mosque.
Spelling error....I meant "Tripoli"
Still here, Ro?? I'd love to debate issues with you further.
I printed out the list from the NYT and highlighted the title of Guide. When I first bought my own copy in August, I ordered a few extras so as to donate them to my local public library (which I note has not yet purchased nor put in an order to purchase the Guide).
Off I go tomorrow to the library, with the list and my copies for donation in hand. Most libraries will accept books if they appear on the NYT bestseller list. Let's see if mine do. I'll be monitoring the library's web site to see if the books indeed make it to the shelves or if CAIR squelches my donations.
Ro,
You forgot to mention that "...Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre..." was also a Catholic Priest.
Got mine last night. So far it is excellent. Going to be reading all of the books recommended throughout PiG to Islam. Love the Pigs.
RO:
The Bible also describes that the Universe is
expanding, opps, excuse me, didn't you know Ro
that the Koran was plagerized from the Bible
and then distorted by the terroristic, pedophile
Mohamand because he could not get the people of the Book to worship him?
Let it be known that the Bible is the ONLY religious book to contain Prophecy, in fact 30%
of it is devoted to Prophecy. In fact, the present War In Iraq was Prophecized in the Bible.
I hope the lady will download the short movie Submission a film that describes the treatment of women in accordance with the Koran.This film was so powerful a muslim killed Van Gogh because of it"s truth.
I've read the Koran right through and I cannot relate to statements such as "It’s so beautiful, and so tolerant..." I found it boring, repetitive, and not all that coherent, in fact a real struggle to get through. I concure with Thomas Carlyle quoted in 'The Secrets of the Koran' that it is 'a wearisome jumble, crude, incondite [with] endless iterations [and] longwindedness...Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran'. Was ballet dancer reading the same book that I did?
I've read the Koran right through and I cannot relate to statements such as "It’s so beautiful, and so tolerant..." I found it boring, repetitive, and not all that coherent, not to mention the threats of hell fire and damnation of all sorts on virtually every page. I fact it was a real struggle to get through. I concure with Thomas Carlyle quoted in 'The Secrets of the Koran' that it is 'a wearisome jumble, crude, incondite [with] endless iterations [and] longwindedness...Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran'. Was ballet dancer reading the same book that I did?