Halo slightly tarnished already
At the National Prayer Breakfast this morning (full text of his remarks here), Obama made a number of interesting and highly questionable assertions:
[...] But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate.
Arguably, that is true: there is no religion whose central tenet is hate: there is no religion that teaches that the most important thing one must do in this world is hate someone or something else. But certainly the religion that comes closest to teaching such a thing is Islam. If the Qur'an doesn't teach that Muslims should hate unbelievers, certainly it teaches that they should be harsh with them, consider them the worst of all created beings, not become friends with them, and, ultimately, wage war against and kill or subjugate them:
"O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty (unto Him)." -- Qur'an 9:123
"Those who reject (Truth), among the People of the Book and among the Polytheists, will be in Hell-Fire, to dwell therein (for aye). They are the worst of creatures." -- Qur'an 98:6
"Let not the believers take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Whoso doeth that hath no connection with Allah unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them, taking (as it were) security...." -- Qur'an 3:28
"O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk." -- Qur'an 5:51
"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." -- Qur'an 9:5. "If they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due" essentially means, "If they convert to Islam..."
"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." -- Qur'an 9:29
Obama continues:
There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.
True, but how does one define "innocent"? Jihadists believe that no non-Muslim can be innocent, simply because he is a non-Muslim. Muslim leaders in the West have insisted for years that no non-Muslim can be innocent, and no one has had the wit or courage to ask any of them to define what they mean by "innocent."
Moreover, Islamic law clearly devalues the lives of non-Muslims: "Retaliation is obligatory...against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." That means, someone who commits murder must be punished. However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a Muslim for killing a non-Muslim." That means that there is no penalty for his doing so. ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-01.2). However, under some circumstances if someone causes the injury or death of a non-Muslim, the perpetrator may make a payment to the victim or his family. In that case, "the indemnity paid for a Jew or Christian is one-third of the indemnity paid for a Muslim. The indemnity paid of a Zoroastrian is one-fifteenth of that a Muslim." ('Umdat al-Salik o4.9).
When will human rights organizations, much less Obama, address this institutionalized and divinely sanctioned devaluing of human beings?
Back to Obama:
We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” The Torah commands, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” In Islam, there is a hadith that reads “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”...
Jihad Watch reader George expertly addressed that one in an email he sent me this morning:
I am not a Biblical or Islamic scholar, but I have read many of your books and regularly read and comment on JihadWatch articles, so I think I have learned at least a little about Islam and the concept of Taqiyya. As you know, this particular Hadith does not have the universalism of the Golden Rule because Islamic jurisprudence believes it only applies to Muslim on Muslim relations. There are other Hadith which clarify the limitation of reciprocity to relations between Muslim brothers:Bukhari 9,85,83: Allah's Apostle said, "A Muslim is a brother of another Muslim. So he should neither oppress him nor hand him over to an oppressor. And whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, Allah will fulfill his needs."
Bukhari 8,73,70: Allah's Apostle said, "Abusing a Muslim is Fusuq (i.e., an evil-doing), and killing him is Kufr (disbelief)."Finally, the Qur’an itself makes it clear that brotherhood applies only towards other Muslims (48:29): "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; and those who are with him are strong against Unbelievers, (but) compassionate amongst each other."
Although the President finished his speech with, “I am not naïve,” I would respectfully have to disagree. The ayatollahs and Islamic clerics must be licking their chops with anticipation of the next four years.
Indeed.
UPDATE: Pamela reports that CAIR is thrilled by Obama's use of the hadith quoted above. Unsurprisingly, they don't get around to mentioning the fact that the principle that "none of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself" applies in Islamic theology only to one's fellow Muslims. Don't believe me? Check out the parenthetical gloss in the Muslim translation of Bukhari's hadith that is featured on the USC-MSA website: "The Prophet said, 'None of you will have faith till he wishes for his (Muslim) brother what he likes for himself.'"
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