An epic of misunderstanding and pollyannish fact evasion from Ralph Peters, who should know better, in USA Today, with thanks to Nicolei:
Suicide bombings. Assassinations. The wholesale murder of prisoners. The mass slaughter of 9/11. Videotaped beheadings and the execution studios recently discovered in Fallujah. We describe it as “Islamic terrorism.”
And we’re wrong.
The hard-core terrorists spawned by the breakdown of the Middle East quote the Koran. They wear Muslim garments. They perform the daily rituals prescribed by the faith into which they were born. But all of us, in the West and the Middle East, have mistaken the identity of these butchers.
For all of their Muslim trappings, the terrorists of al-Qaeda and its affiliates have returned to pre-Islamic practices, to behaviors that Moses, Christ and Mohammed uniformly rejected: They practice human sacrifice.
The grisly decapitations caught on film and the explosives-laden cars driven into crowds, the bombings of schools and the execution of kidnapped women are not sanctioned by a single passage in the Koran. Nor are they political acts committed by freedom fighters. These are the actions of a resurrected blood cult that has nothing to do with the message of the Prophet Mohammed and everything to do with the bloodthirsty winged devils and gory altars that haunted the ancient Middle East.
The terrorists may believe that they’re good Muslims “” self-awareness is not a widespread human trait “” but their deeds are those of the pagans Mohammed condemned….
The attack on 9/11 was not a political act. It was a religious act. But it wasn’t Islamic. The Koran forbids the murder of innocents (as well as the taking of hostages and the abuse of prisoners). The 9/11 attacks were cult behavior from the dawn of civilization, employing modern tools.
We must cut through the layers of intellectual nonsense piled up by academics and pundits to get at the essence of this new “” and very old “” reality. When the terrorists we face invoke the names of “Allah” or “Mohammed,” they are blaspheming and corrupting a great faith. The prophet was appalled by the religious practices of the early desert peoples. Those who murder in his name today have rejected his message even as they claim to revere it.
The terrorists we face aren’t super-Muslims. They’re Islam’s worst enemies. They don’t seek to turn back the calendar to the 10th century. They’re reaching back to the sordid epochs when gods drank human blood.
Along with the link, Nicolei kindly sent a refutation:
“The grisly decapitations caught on film and the explosives-laden cars driven into crowds, the bombings of schools and the execution of kidnapped women are not sanctioned by a single passage in the Koran.” – Ralph Peters
Ralph Peters obviously is not familiar with the Koran and Islamic traditions, nor with the assasination of poetess Asma Bint Marwan ordered by Mohammed.
“So, when you meet (in fight Jihâd in Allâh’s Cause), those who disbelieve, smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (on them, i.e. take them as captives). Thereafter (is the time) either for generosity (i.e. free them without ransom), or ransom (according to what benefits Islâm), until the war lays down its burden. Thus [you are ordered by Allâh to continue in carrying out Jihâd against the disbelievers till they embrace Islâm (i.e. are saved from the punishment in the Hell-fire) or at least come under your protection], but if it had been Allâh’s Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight), in order to test you, some with others. But those who are killed in the Way of Allâh, He will never let their deeds be lost.” – Koran Sura Al-Muhammad 47:4
“(Remember) when your Lord inspired the angels, “Verily, I am with you, so keep firm those who have believed. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes.” – Koran Sura al Anfal 8:12
“As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” “” Abu”l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.
Ayshah says:
“None of their women were slain, except one woman….she was with me, talking with me….while the Apostle of Allah was killing her men in the market place, when a crier cried out her name…..She said, ‘It is I, by God.’ I said to her, ‘Alas for thee, what is the matter with thee?’ She said, ‘I shall be killed.’I said, ‘And why?’ She said, ‘For the talk which I talk.’ Then she was taken off and beheaded.” Ayshah used to say, ” By Allah, I do not forget my surprise at her, the godliness of her person….” “Then verily the Apostle of Allah divided the goods of the Banu Quraiza and their wives and children among the Muslims….And the Apostle of God chose for himself of their women Rihânah….and she was with the Apostle of Allah until he died from her, and she was among his concubines.” (Siratu’l Rasool vss. 689-693).