Is the world population of Muslims now at 1.7 billion? That exponential growth is astounding. They will outnumber the Christians in about a week.

Posted by: eschwapp at February 16, 2005 9:54 AM

The problem is not that Christians are ignorant of Islam, the problem is Muslims are ignorant of Christianity.

Let's load up a B-52 (or two or three)with New Testament translations and start droppin' 'em all over Muslim world. Sure, they'd burn a bunch of them, but some would get through and maybe change the course of history.

any volunteers?

Posted by: rb at February 16, 2005 10:06 AM

Oh, is it now up to "1.7 billon"? My, just like Topsy, those figures just growed. What nonsense.

Posted by: Hugh at February 16, 2005 10:10 AM

By this time next week they will number 2.5 billion. With that kind of population growth, where do they get all those virgins for martyrs?

Posted by: johnb at February 16, 2005 12:16 PM

Presumably, they used the same calculating methods the Palestinian Authority used when they grossly overestimated the birthrate after they assumed power and added that to enumerations that included the dead and people who "double-dipped" and "triple-dipped" at the UN relief well back in the late 40s/early 50s.

An accountant I know speaks rather disparagingly of the population estimates for Afghanistan in the 1970s when he was employed there, prior to the Soviet invasion, with a range of 10 million for a pop est of 7 to 17 million. The number that was used depended on purpose.

Posted by: waterdragon52 at February 16, 2005 12:53 PM

Why doesn't anyone just pass out KORAN FOR DUMMIES or IDIOTS GUIDE TO ISLAM to people ignorant about Islam, because the authors of these two accessible books are not shy about explaining the true nature of Islam. Here's some choice quotes for your pleasure.

#1. "Practicing Muslims often discuss the primitive(un-Islamic)cultural values prevalent in certain parts of the world." Page
258 Idiots Guide.

Nuh’s comment: The author calls Judaism and
Christianity primitive. Imagine the outcry from
Muslim’s if “Christianity for Dummies” or “The Idiots Guide to Understanding Judaism” called Islam primitive?

#2). "Islam never gives any man the right to strike his wife for any reason except the one listed in this verse, namely, the wife is engaging in some type of evil activity such as drinking alcohol, abusing the children, or other really bad behavior." page 259 Idiots Guide.

Nuh’s comment: What constitutes "really bad behavior?" Dancing? Reading another book other than the Koran? Also, funny how it never mentions when it's permissible for a woman to strike her husband."

#3). "....Islam also calls unjust slander a criminal offense...for defaming the Prophet of God, capital punishment is a possible legal sentence." Page 351 Idiots Guide

Nuh’s comment: Thank Allah for the U.S. Constitution so that Christians and Jews alike are allowed to criticize their religion without fearing death.

4). "To form human laws that clearly contradict divine law is considered a sin in the Islamic tradition." Page 302 Koran for Dummies.

Nuh’s comment: I can hear the U.S. Constitution being ripped to shreds every Friday afternoon.

#5)."As such, an Islamic secular state, as there is a Jewish secular state in Israel, would be a
contradiction of terms." Page 113 Koran for Dummies.

Nuh’s comment: Replacing the shredded U.S.
Constitution, of course, will be the Koran. How scary is that?

#7). "There is no unified Islamic nation encompassing the whole Muslim world, as is called for in the Qur'an." Page 105 Idiots Guide.

Nuh’s comment: Give author credit for not hiding
shariah's ambition.

And so on, etc...

Posted by: nuh at February 16, 2005 1:42 PM

How nice of Keith Isaman (R-Hornersville) to arrange for Irfan Mehr (Da'wa Party, Mecca and points east, west, north and south) to lecture 160 hapless "county workers" about Islam, on the perfectly idiotic theory that who could better introduce them to the subject, and make them understand, and have more "respect" for Islam, than a Muslim himself.

Keith Isaman (R-Hornersville) may be merely silly or stupid, or he may not. But whatever the reason for this astonishing -- and quite possibly unconstitutional act on his part (since when does a representative arrange for government workers, in this case in a county in New York State, to hear a lecture on what its own adherents like to call a "religion"). Madison and Jefferson and the First Amendment might have a thing or two to say about that, the old fogies.

Meanwhile, Irfan Mehr (Da'wa Party, Mecca and all points on that dizzy compass), gets to fool a certain number -- 10? 20? all 160? -- of those 160 workers.

And the burden on the rest of us increases, with each fooled Infidel, added to the ranks of those we now must un-fool, or deal with otherwise.

There is no end to this stupidity. It is more powerful than evil; there is really no way to combat stupdiity. It remains locked in its own dumbness, impervious to evidence, to logic, to anything at all. Usually it can be diverted to silly things. When it comes to aiding and abetting Infidel innocence about Islam, that stupidity becomes dangerous.

Will the relevant voters kindly turn Keith Isaman (R.-Hornersville) out of office, at your next opportunity.

And the same should be done to Mayor Menino in Boston, for his allowing that monstrous edifice to go up, that mosque with its sinister connections, placed so cleverly smack in the middle of Roxbury (and designed, clearly, for the conduct of Da'wa among the black inhabitants of Boston, for preying on the economically marginal, and offering Islam as a vehicle for those expressing alienation that might otherwise be sensibly channeled into mainstream political efforts). Political figures must realize that they know little of Islam; they have a duty to find out about it, and not by simply listening to what those well-schooled in taqiyya and tu-quoque (a few trips to your local mosque will give you the complete repertoire; you could probably figure it out for yourself) tell you Islam is all about, from the "shucks, I'm just a country Muslim from Norfolk, Va." of one black "revert" to the deep sincerity of the liquid-eyed, soft-spoken Pakistani or Arab to the manner born, who speaks with such anguish of how terrible it is that there are so many "misunderstandings" about Islam and that really, in the end, we are all "part of the same abrahamic faith" and "children of God" and -- well, by this time one has either decided to leave, or is grimly writing down every word of the phony pitch.

Posted by: Hugh at February 16, 2005 1:51 PM

O.T.

an interesting article at canadafreepress.com

Iraqi Army Recruitment Drive Draws Thousands

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/good-news-iraq021605.htm

Posted by: Sheik Canuck (swt) at February 16, 2005 2:40 PM

I, too, am amazed that public officials can be called in to listen about one person's interpretation of his religion. Is that really the best use of public funds running on the taxpayer's clock? Of the few counties that I am familiar with, most are working with a shoestring budget and a shoestring staff who are overworked and underpaid. Of course, JW has also featured news items with teachers'groups being forced to sit through 're-education' lectures by self-proclaimed Muslim experts. On the subject of numbers, several days ago on C-Span I saw a small panel of Muslims presenting their "official" reaction to the 9-11 report. Naturally, they were all uphappy with it and promised to organized townhall meetings all over the country to help...educate people..on the Muslim community. One cleric stated that Muslims had become "double victims" since 9/11. He put the number of USA Muslims now at 8 million...and the numbers grow and grow and grow. A friend tells me that the Muslims badly wanted to pass the 7 million mark, only on paper, of course, because 7 million is the approximate number of Jewish citizens in the US.

Posted by: maryrose at February 16, 2005 3:39 PM

1.7 billion Muslims in tne world, 8 million in the U.S.?

Years ago in a required General Statistics course, I semi-seriously remarked that 37% of all statistics are made up on the spot. These sound like two of them.

Posted by: jay at February 16, 2005 6:08 PM

Re: maryrose's comment

It always amazes and chills me the level of importance muslims attach to this numerical benchmark. "We must be growing fastest", "there must be more of us than the Jews" - and why, pray tell? If there are more muslims than Jews, does that make the muslims right and the Jews wrong?

Perhaps, if you subscribe to the position that might makes right. I wonder to what extent those sentiments are coupled in islam, and why.

Geoff

Posted by: Geoff at February 16, 2005 7:24 PM

This numbers game the islamists play (there are more of us than Jews!) reminds me of the old fable about the jungle animals and their offspring. It goes something like this:

“All the animal mothers where bragging about how many offspring they had. The Gazelle had two offspring, the Giraffe had three and was very proud of this, and the Hyena had four and was even more proud than the Giraffe. The Jackal had five and was bragging about having more than the Hyena. The Rat had 12 and was very very proud of the large brood she had produced. Finally someone noticed the Lioness grooming her one and only cub and they said to her sarcastically, How many offspring do you have Lioness? Only one, she said, but he is a Lion.”

Remember Quality over Quantity. I think this certainly applies to the Jewish/Islamic argument.

Posted by: Sheik Canuck (swt) at February 16, 2005 8:01 PM

Yes, maryrose, I was wondering the same thing. Councils everywhere are always complaining there's not enough money to do everything their taxpayers want. Even when it means something that would enhance public safety. But this county seems to be rolling in dough, and has more money than it knows what to do with for it to be able to afford religious indoctrination classes for its workers.

This is all part of the big plan. Brainwash as many people as you can. If you can't outright convert them, just fill their silly infidel heads with crap. That way, when things happen, like 9/11s, Beslans, Balis, Madrids, and people are murdered for criticizing Islam, the public will be blinded to reality. Oh no, not Islam! Islam is so wonderful and beautiful. Stop blaming the poor downtrodden Muslims. They're always being picked on, poor things.

Posted by: feralee at February 16, 2005 9:04 PM

"And next week, class, we have amputation and genital mutilation."

..........................

I remember reading that Stalin ordered a census, it was duly carried out and it was surprisingly low, about 20 million less than expected. He executed the people in charge of the census and of course the newly appointed officials came up with a "better" figure.

Outside the West, the large growth of Islam compared against Christianity is a very hollow boast. Firstly, 99.9% of it is just through sheer birth-rate and not through conversion. Secondly, much of it occurs in economies which are not automatically enriched by a bigger population. For example there may be additional land pressure, or an arid oil rich country may find that it is forced to import more and more foreign goods and food for more people, whereas their oil income remains largely the same.

Let them boast about their numbers - more fool them. In fact, in countries like Bangladesh and India, the population size is viewed as an acute embarrassment, and they look enviously towards vast non-Muslim countries like Australia, USA, Brazil, Canada, Russia and Argentina, with their vast empty spaces.

In the long run their population growth is going to work against them - not for them.

Posted by: Timbo at February 16, 2005 9:44 PM

I'm also amazed at the ever increasing figures. Just in the last 3 years, since I've been trying to open my eyes to the reality of Islam, it's gone from just over a billion, to now almost 2 billion. Wow!

But then Islam is so pathetic, backward and produces nothing but failed societies, that it needs something to brag about. So they brag about their breeding abilities. Well, rabbits, rats and cockroaches breed fast too. Doesn't take any intelligence to bonk and have kids. Even mentally retarded people can do that.

But I'm sure these figures are empty boasts. Exaggerated hysterically, to puff up their self-perceived importance, to try to gain some respect and influence even though it is not deserved.

Posted by: feralee at February 16, 2005 10:02 PM

Feralee and Timbo:

They are doubtless using the same enumerating techniques the PA used since 1994 that were recently revealed to grossly overstate the number of Palestinians.

And certain folks still talk about the "voodoo economics" of the Reaganites!

Posted by: waterdragon52 at February 17, 2005 9:23 AM