With the unstated premise here being that there cannot possibly be any hate in the Qur’an. Now I wonder if Ibrahim Hooper or Stephen Schwartz or maybe John Walker Lindh would be so kind as to explain to me how exactly we can be certain of that. “‘Offensive’ remarks taken straight from Koran, defence says,” from the TimesOnline, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
COPIES of the Koran were handed to the jurors in the Abu Hamza trial yesterday as his defence argued that some of the cleric’s “offensive” statements were drawn directly from Islam’s holy book.
Edward Fitzgerald, QC, for the defence, said that Abu Hamza’s interpretation of the Koran was that it imposed an obligation on Muslims to do jihad and fight in the defence of their religion. He said that the Crown case against the former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque was “simplistic in the extreme”.
He added: “It is said he was preaching murder, but he was actually preaching from the Koran itself.”
Why then, if he was preaching from the Qur’an, it just only seemed as if he was preaching murder. He was actually preaching that everyone should enjoy ice cream. Oh, how could I have been so ignorant? So Islamophobic?
Mr Fitzgerald [no relation whatsoever to Jihad Watch’s Hugh Fitzgerald] cited two verses of the book that Abu Hamza would rely on, among many others, as theological justification for the words that had led to him being charged. They were Chapter 2, verse 216 and Chapter 9, verse 111. He said that all the great monotheistic religions had scriptures that contained “the language of blood and retribution”.
No, Fitz. I challenge you, and I challenge the world, to produce any verse of the Bible that remotely corresponds to either one of these.
2:216 says: “Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.”
Where in the Bible does it tell the aggregate of believers that fighting is “prescribed” for them? There are verses in the Old Testament telling the Israelites to fight against specific people, but they are not commands to open-ended warfare against unbelievers, and Jews and Christians have never understood them as such.
9:111 is even worse: “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain…”
This verse is used as a rationale for suicide bombing. Now find me one verse of the Bible that promises Heaven to anyone who kills and is killed. Go ahead. I’ll be right here: director@jihadwatch.org.
Abu Hamza’s remarks, which the prosecution alleges amount to an attempt to stir up racial hatred against the Jewish people, were, Mr Fitzgerald said, a reference to the Hadith “” sayings of the Prophet Muhammad “” in which fighting between Jews and Muslims is predicted.
The Hadith says that the trees will call out to the Muslims “there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him”.
In a sane world, this would not be seen as a valid defense at all. Instead, it would raise questions about the Qur’an and Hadith themselves. But that is so far off the radar screen in Britain, Eddie Fitz has nothing to worry about.