I just completed an article about jihadist websites (I’ll let you know when it’s available), and reader Nancy Block has kindly referred me to two more. The sorts of things they say are readily available on the Net, are read by Muslims, and no doubt go a long way in recruiting terrorists.
First this morning is Islamic-World.net, where we are told that “because Islam is a complete way of life,” the Qur’an and the Sunnah’s “Divine Guidance is for all matters private and public, political and economic, social and cultural, moral and legal.”
That is a clear call to establish states governed by Islamic law, the Sharia. Every radical Muslim from Osama bin Laden on down has declared this as his intention. “In the Godless secular nations,” says the site, “they require a separation of religion and state. Politics is to be made free from religious influence. In Islam politics is a necessary element of the religious domain. Allah has told us He is to be the sole determiner of what is right and lawful. ‘Command is for none but God; He has commanded that you obey none but Him — that is the right path,’ ([Qur’an] 12:40). And, ‘If any do fail to establish and rule by what God has revealed, they are the unbelievers, the unjust or the evil doers,’ ([Qur’an] 5:44,45,47).”
How will the proponents of democracy in the Islamic world disabuse these people of the notion that to institute democracy would be to exchange God’s law for human laws?
“What has a secular political system given the Western world? Admittedly, it has allowed them to gain great wealth, power and technological expertise; but, at what expense? Their secularism has brought with it skepticism in thought, confusion in values, expediency in standards, vulgarity in behaviour, and opportunism in diplomacy. Modern man has learned to fly through the air like a bird and swim through the oceans like a fish, but he has failed to learn how to live on the Earth like a human being.
“The political system in Islam is to help those it governs be successful in the practice of a right Islamic way of life. ‘And grant from Thee a ruling authority as an aid for me,’ ([Qur’an] 17:80). An Islamic world society cannot have a secular political system. For the Islamic world to exist there must be an Islamic State.”
And from alminbar.net, a lovely sermon entitled “The Menace of the Jews.”
Some highlights from a summary provided at the site: “Jews are a source of evil and enmity against them is part of our faith. . . . Nationalism has not and can never bring any benefit to the Muslims. . . . Our war against the Jews can only be conducted according to the principles of Islaam. . . . The miserable predicament of contemporary Muslims and the role of the sick-hearted Muslims and hypocrites in calling for peace settlements. . . . The Jews never keep their covenants and our war against them is continuous.”
Then comes the sermon itself: “The Jews, who are the nation of pigs and monkeys . . .”
This is an extremely common designation for Jews among radical Muslims. It is based on Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:166 of the Qur’an, in which Allah curses a group of Jews and transforms them into pigs and monkeys.
Picking up where we left off: “. . . are nothing but a source of evil, corruption, tribulation and war. Hatred against the Muslims is inherited by every generation of Jews who in turn teach it to their children. Our enmity and hostility against them is based on our faith. The Jews have never and will never lower the banner of war against us Muslims; it is a war between truth and falsehood, belief and disbelief. It is a war between the truth of Islaam and the falsehood of Judaism. The Jews will never stop adding fuel to the fire of war, nor will they ever stop plotting against us. Whenever the fire of one battle is extinguished, they light another. . . .
“Nationalism has been devastated and humiliated repeatedly in its war against the monkeys and pigs over the past forty years. The nationalists, who fought for the sake of land and olive fields, have strayed far away from Islaam and have refused to base this war against the Jews on Islamic principles. The Jews rush towards their religion searching for ways of unity, strength and victory, while the nationalists run away from their religion. They have kept their people pre-occupied with empty slogans which are of no benefit. . . .
“The reality of our war against the Jews is that it is a religious war which cannot be conducted except according to the principles of Islaam which are clearly defined. Allaah says that which translates as: ‘Fight those who do not believe in Allaah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allaah and His Messenger have made unlawful and do not adopt the religion of truth [i.e., Islaam] from those who were given the scripture — [fight] until they give the jizyah (protection tax) willingly while they are humbled.’ (At-Tawbah: 29).”
At-Tawbah is the 9th sura of the Qur’an. “From those who have been given the scripture” refers primarily to Jews and Christians. So this sermon is a prime example of a radical Muslim quoting the Qur’an to justify violence on the contemporary scene. I have quoted this verse and other verses of the Qur’an many times in discussions with Muslim spokesmen, and they have invariably assured me that the great book is peaceful, and that Muslims do not understand such passages as calling them to violence. Indeed, many have suggested that it is I who make the equation between the Qur’an and violence, out of bigotry or hatred. No doubt many gullible non-Muslims in the U.S. and Europe believe that sort of appeal. But this sermon is just one of many examples of the fact that it is not Western non-Muslim analysts who have made a connection between the Qur’an and violence; it is Muslims themselves. Until they stop doing so and renounce the theological ideas quoted above, religious violence will continue in our age.