Hamas-linked CAIR wants Americans to read the Qur’an. Over at PJ Media, I explain why I think that is a great idea.
Nihad Awad of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has claimed that “research has shown that anti-Islam prejudice goes down when people interact with ordinary Muslims and have greater knowledge of Islam.” Accordingly, he says, “it might also be a good idea for Americans of other faiths to borrow a Quran from a Muslim friend, neighbor or co-worker. In that way, knowledge may be increased as bonds of friendship are formed.”
Awad is right. Americans should read the Quran. If they did, they would find that it makes sense of a great many recent events that might otherwise remain inexplicable, bereft of clear motive or purpose.
5. The kidnapped aid workers in Syria.
It was revealed Thursday that two young aid workers from Italy, Greta Ramelli, 20, and Vanessa Marzullo, 21, were kidnapped in Aleppo by Islamic jihadists. Western non-Muslim analysts routinely cite such stories as evidence of the evil of the jihadis — or else as evidence of how self-defeating their jihad is, if they would even try to drive out of their lands the people who have come there to help.
But the Quran makes the reasoning behind the abductions clear. Islam’s holy book directs Muslims to wage war against unbelievers, killing them by beheading and taking captives who may then be freed or ransomed: “Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens” (47:4).
Islamic law has elaborated from these passages four options for the treatment of captives:
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 [Islam] then strike [their] necks” (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4) (Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, The Laws of Islamic Governance).
The decision as to what is “most beneficial” is made on the basis of what is most beneficial for Islam. But whatever decision is made, under Islamic law, the abductions themselves are not crimes. Two naïve young Italian girls in a jihadist-controlled area of Syria – from the jihadist perspective, there would be no downside to abducting them. The only possible negative effect could be a suspension of Western aid, but jihad groups watch the West closely, and know by now that there is essentially nothing they can possibly to do stop that aid from flowing.
4. The Yazidi ultimatum.
A Yazidi woman, Nofa Barakat, explained last week why she and thousands of other Yazidis had fled the area of Iraq controlled by the Islamic State: “We came here because the terrorists said, ‘Either you convert to Islam or we slaughter you.’”
This has been widely reported as the height of barbarity, and that it certainly is. It’s “extremism,” we’re told, but no one seems interested in explaining how this “extremism” became so widespread. Doesn’t the Quran say that “there is no compulsion in religion” (2:256)? Indeed it does, but it also says that Muslims must fight unbelievers until “religion is all for Allah” (8:39). And it repeats three times that Muslims should “slay them” wherever they’re found (cf. 2:191; 4:89; 9:5).
The Quran says that Muslims must fight against the “People of the Book” – Jews, Christians, and others who are considered to have received previous revelations from Allah – until they “pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (9:29). That option of submission and subjugation, however, is not open to groups that have no written revelation that could qualify them for “People of the Book” status. Hence for the Yazidis, convert or die are the only Quranic options open for them.
3. The neighbors’ help.
Sabah Hajji Hassan, a 68-year-old Yazidi, in recounting the recent jihad massacres of his people, noted that “the worst killings came from the people living among us, our [Sunni] Muslim neighbors….The Metwet, Khawata and Kejala tribes – they were all our neighbours. But they joined the IS, took heavy weapons from them, and informed on who was Yazidi and who was not. Our neighbours made the IS takeover possible.”
Two weeks earlier, a Christian refugee from Mosul said much the same thing: that his Sunni Muslim neighbors “said that this land belongs to Islam and that Christians should not live there…We left Mosul because ISIS came to the city. The [Sunni] people of Mosul embraced ISIS and drove the Christians out of the city. When ISIS entered Mosul, the people hailed them and drove out the Christians.”
There are innumerable other examples of this phenomenon, such as Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s 9/11/11 throat-slitting murder of his Jewish “best friend.” In September 2013, Christians in Maaloula, Syria, said that their Muslim neighbors had aided jihad attacks against them. And in July 2014, Christian refugees from Mosul said that their Muslim neighbors had helped drive them out of the city.
An anecdote from the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century:
Then one night, my husband came home and told me that the padisha had sent word that we were to kill all the Christians in our village, and that we would have to kill our neighbours. I was very angry, and told him that I did not care who gave such orders, they were wrong. These neighbours had always been kind to us, and if he dared to kill them Allah would pay us out. I tried all I could to stop him, but he killed them — killed them with his own hand. (Sir Edwin Pears, Turkey and Its People)
What could account for this? An overriding loyalty, delineated in the Quran: “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is one of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.” (5:51) This extends even to family members: the Quran says that Abraham gives an “excellent example” to Muslims when he tells his pagan family that there is now “enmity and hatred” between them and him until they worship Allah alone (60:4). And: “O you who have believed, do not take your fathers or your brothers as allies if they have preferred disbelief over belief. And whoever does so among you – then it is those who are the wrongdoers” (9:23).
And so when the local Muslim leadership calls on Muslims to act on those hatreds, they will find some who will obey….
Read the rest here.
richard sherman says
Sayyid Qtub – arguably the most important 20th century Islamic theorist – declares that “no compulsion in religion ” means that you have a choice: live a great life as a Muslim or a pathetic worthless humiliating life as a dhimmi. You are not compelled. The choice is yours.
richard sherman says
Sayyid Qtub – arguably the most important 20th century Islamic theorist – declares that “no compulsion in religion ” means that you have a choice: live a great life as a Muslim or a pathetic worthless humiliating life as a dhimmi. You are not compelled. The choice is yours.
Wellington says
Another crystal clear article by Robert Spencer. And respecting the Koran, I read it, all 114 suras of it. I found it the most disturbing, desultory, repetitive, boring and stupid religious literature I have ever read. I wanted to quit reading it far before I got half way through but forced myself to read the whole damn thing just for knowledge’s sake. Yes, by all means, people should read the Koran to find out more about Islam. That is if you can stand it.
dumbledoresarmy says
Wellington
when exactly was it that you decided you would read the Quran?
And what was it that prompted you to take a look?
Wellington says
Hello, dda. I hope you are doing well.
When I first began studying Middle Eastern history decades ago (I ended up taking four courses in this area, either at the undergraduate or graduate level, even though Western history was my primary emphasis), I often read various passages from the Koran to buttress my overall understanding of that region of the world. But back then I didn’t go through the entire Koran, though by around 1980 I had pretty much determined that Islam was the odd man out among world faiths—–and I knew what people like Arthur Schopenhauer, Winston Churchill and Bertrand Russell had said about it. I also by 1980 had had more than one talk with that very impressive, well read Catholic priest, a monsignor, whom I told you about a while ago, who also had grave misgivings about Islam that he simply did not have about other non-Christian faiths.
It wasn’t until shortly after 9/11 that I determined to do an intensive re-study of Islam. It was then, within the first year or so after 9/11, that, among other related endeavors, I forced myself to read the entire Koran, distasteful and tedious though it was. I still have the copy to this day that I annotated throughout. I can tell you this much and that is that I would be in a heap of trouble were Muslims aplenty out there to go through my copy of the Koran considering the notes I made on page after page. In fact, “a heap of trouble” is a euphemism. To put it more plainly, I would be dead.
Have you read the Koran throughout, dda? I don’t think it necessary in order to have a proper understanding of a faith which is like no other on earth, but knowledge is power and so the more we infidels know about Islam the better I figure. I think what struck me more than anything else about the Koran when I read it through is just how repetitive it is. The repetition is so extensive that it becomes mind-numbing, which, I think, is something that Islam, if believed, truly does to the mind, i.e., it anesthetizes it.
Take care, my Australian friend. As always, it’s good to read your posts here at JW. So long for now.
Antonius Tanoso says
Hi,
When i read that Robert Spencer and other islamophobes said bad things about islam, i started read the Qoran and found out that they are right.
I also made so many notes in my Qoran that I better keep it safe to myself. You have to read the Qoran to understand the reason for their barbarism. it’s in the Qoran, what a pity.
dumbledoresarmy says
Yes, I have read it all. In the Penguin classics edition – N Dawood translation (I understand he is / was an Iraqi Jew, fluent in Arabic). I believe Mr Spencer regards this as one of the most strictly accurate translations. It’s not as flowery as the Yusuf Ali (done by an English convert to Islam).
Word to what you say about the repetitions. And the tedium. For me, as a Christian thoroughly familiar with all the major biblical persons and stories, what also struck me was the “foe-fic” quality of the drastic quranic rewrites of such persons and stories as had been “appropriated”. It wasn’t just a rewrite of Biblical material, nor an innocently-ignorant garbling; it was a *hostile* rewrite, that gutted the stories and the personages of *all* their original meaning and then reversed them…like the Black Mass. It felt distinctly creepy.
I’ve since skimmed through the thing a couple of times – I once went through it looking for all the places where the Islamic “paradise” is described, because I wanted to check whether there was any music/ singing in the Islamic “paradise” as there is, for example, in St John’s visions of heaven in the book of Revelation. And – unsurprisingly – I found that there is *no* music in allah’s bordello.
Sabba AbuShy says
Wellington,
your comments reminded me when I took a “Comparative Religions” class at a university in the 1970s. My first impression of that book was the hilariously bad attempt at religious plagarism I encountered. As I mentioned this to the professor (who was a Hindu) he observed that there was no sense of chronological order or actual history through out the very bad counterfeit of Judeo Christian ideas that Mohammed obviously was trying so hard to duplicate in his own illiterate way. As you point out, it goes down from there… but Arabs love the way this book sounds to their collective ears as they listen to “classical Arabic”. So they are very proud of this book that was pieced together somewhere in history much after the “fact” of this false prophet. The trouble is, it is so tortured as a real language, that many Arabs can’t even read it because of their latent illiteracy. Much less the rest of the Moslem world that is forced to use this same unintelligible mode of communication, not being the home tongue. And you cannot find a translation into English that isn’t riddled with a continuous stream of italicized words that must be added (as well as parenthetical phrases) to even begin to understand the very simple ideas found therein. Which are repeated again and again, and basically all sound like the screaming diatribe of a mad fish wife when the nets come home empty…(;~))
Beagle says
Similarly, we should provide bibles to everyone in the Dar al-Islam to help them get over their Chrstophobia. Start with Saudi Arabia and work our way out. We’ve found that converting Muslims to Christianity helps reduce their tendency to genocide.
This is daw’ah. CAIR is part of the pen and tongue jihad.
http://www.faithfreedom.org/jihad-the-four-forms-and-the-west-2/
(jihad bil lisan/qallam) is concerned with spreading the word of Islam with one’s tongue or writing and the verbal (or written) defence of Islam.
Beagle says
Can I buy a vowel in Christophobia?
Michael Copeland says
Steady. Possessing a Bible is an offence in Saudi Arabia, Kyrghistan, and the Maldives, quite possibly a capital offence (“Mischief in the land”, Koran5:33).
Beagle says
Why do you cling to your hands and feet? And yes, I’m a troublemaker in the Dar al-Islam.
john spielman says
“research has shown that antiislam prejudice goes down when people interact with ordinary muslims”…. that’s because people who are antimuslim get killed off by “ordinary muslims” so the stats look like people are biased in favor of islam!
Beagle says
“it might also be a good idea for Americans of other faiths to borrow a Quran from a Muslim friend, neighbor or co-worker. In that way, knowledge may be increased as bonds of friendship are formed.”
Worst. Advice. Ever.
Naji kufr touching the Quran could spark an international incident and lead to hundreds killed. Online Qurans ONLY!
Michael Copeland says
Only the Arabic is the genuine untouchable article. Translations are “interpretations” only: they are not the real thing.
restorationgirl says
I would highly recommend Dr Bill Warners books on his website & also free videos on his website & on You Tube as well. I ordered 14 books. I’ve only read one & perused another & watched every video online I could – and already I’m not falling for the comments I see online by people. Also a group of videos on You Tube is ‘Islam Exposed’ with a black background and white words on the screen – audio only. There are 200 and they are GREAT.
shrugger says
I wasn’t able to get through the entire koran. I had no feelings one way or the other concerning Islam before the attempt. I believe we all know how I feel about it afterwards though.
So yes, I urge everyone please try reading the barely coherent hateful thing and understand it.
Michael Copeland says
For those who feel daunted: start at Chapter (“Sura”) 9, the “Sura at-Tawba” cited by the Woolwich killer of soldier Lee Rigby. It is unashamedly violent, commanding killings and subjugation. Sura 9 is the latest complete chapter. Because of this it overrides and “abrogates” all peaceful verses elsewhere: they are rendered void, so are of academic interest only (but useful for Islamic deception, “taqiyya”).
See Robert Spencer’s site http://www.TheReligionOfPeace.com
commonsense says
I believe that every non-Muslim should indeed read the Qur’an (as well as Muslims who have not actually done so!), but it’s absolutely essential that it be read with full annotation. Otherwise, much of it will seem relatively innocuous. Meccan verses should be identified, as well as the later Medinan verses, with the reader being provided with an understanding of the principle of Naskh (i.e. abrogation) to make sense of the Quran’s numerous inconsistencies and contradictions. Also, references to Jews and other non-Muslims are often not obvious; again, good annotation is necessary. To illustrate, the very first sura of the Qur’an refers to those who have left the Straight Path (i.e. Islam) – those who have lost their way, and those who have incurred Allah’s wrath. Readers of this sura who are unfamiliar with Islam will not realize that most Muslim exegetes have concluded that the former group refers to the Christians, while the latter group -those who have angered Allah – refers to the Jews. There are a number of passages elsewhere in the Qur’an that support these conclusions. Also, the reader of the Qur’an must be made aware, through proper annotation, that all its exhortations to fight unbelievers are open-ended and not just situation-specific. The more understanding non-Muslims – and prrhaps
commonsense says
I was trying to say that the more one understands how to read and interpret the Qur’an, the more readily its inherent malevolence will be grasped.
Marken says
It is a tough read, boring, often incoherent, a literary mess, so I recommend, particularly for Christians/Messianics to find an online pdf version, search ‘Jesus’ and then read those particular verses scattered throughout the suras. Even in the translations that soften the violent verses or turn virgins into raisins, the anti-Christian tenets remain clear and the reader can easily understand the spiritual viciousness against the Christian faith without having to wade through the repetitiveness and gobbledygook.
WhatsUpDoc says
I can relate to this very well. I had a Muslim co-worker from Syria, a real gentleman and a good person around twelve years ago. Shortly after 911 we were discussing religion in general. Me being an agnostic had a negative view of religions in general. My Muslim friend told me I should not look at Muslim world and judge Islam I should read Koran to know what real Islam is. I thought its a fair enough argument.
Couple of weeks later he gave me a Koran and asked me to read it. It did help me a lot, after reading 7 chapters it explained me very well as to why the Muslim world is in such a mess.
Beagle says
If you stopped at seven you missed Spoils of War, Booty – Sura Eight and the Jihadi’s favorite Sura Nine. Though you did see 2.191-3 and 3.151, a strike terror verse. For non-Muslims reading to understand the IS or terrorists I’d suggest reading Nine over and over versus the abrogated Meccan suras.
I ended up reading the Quran from searching quotes in Bin Laden’s 1996 and 1998 fatwas. Once I hit the Quran a dozen times I figured I might as well read the whole thing. At least it doesn’t take long to skim it. Understanding the meanings in application takes much longer. It gets worse the more you know. Allah’s cause might sound fine until understood.
ECAW says
Those who insist on seeing everything in political terms are puzzled by the actions of ISIS. Those who are familiar with the life and blood soaked career of Mohammed are not. But Robert Spencer spells it out in great detail. Where would we be without him?
As for everyone reading the Koran, what a great idea. Here’s an example:
http://ecawblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/antidote-4/
paddy says
That is the thing about the koran…..it’s all conscious-stream waffle unless you put interpretation and context to it in a particular time and place (good luck with that). I’d suggest that muslims try and read/understand the bible but I guess the Christian message of love and compassion would be lost on them.
Personally, I’d burn every last ‘holy’ text ever written and be done with it.
Religion? Shove it….
BlackCats&Pat says
YES! Read the koran! I did and was APPALLED at the hatred, murderous hatred against Christians, Jews, apostates, gay folk, non-believers, Kafirs (everyone that is, unless dhimmis) – mockers of Moha, mockers of islam, then add in that Moha didn’t like dogs, or pictures (people, animals, trees, flowers – i.e. all representational art), alcohol, pork, raped women are adulteresses (stone them)…Oh and by the way ….NO SINGING or listening to MUSIC with singing, or molten lead would be poured into the ears of the listeners, or molten lead poured into the songstresses throat.
Is there NOTHING that this hate-filled 7th century barbarian actually liked besides other men’s women, free women, other people’s wealth (attack, kill and steal), other people’s property, and including his adopted son’s wife (now that is just creepy as a child bride)??
Then stick women in BLACK GAG BAGS and only their faces and hands should show.
Check out ACTS17Apologetics with Dr. David Wood and in answeringmuslims.com (CATCH DAVID’s educational videos and the satire is worth every minute – I’ve seen the ALL) and his friend Nabeel and his website.
politicalislam.com with Dr. Bill Warner (his books on islam are CORRECT)
My conclusions after reading the koran? Mohaha made up this drivel which is a bit of hearsay and twisting Talmud stories to make himself or indicate that muslims were there (oh please!) and the Gospel and name dropping – this crap about PEOPLE OF THE BOOK the newsies throw out that is supposed to making us Jews and Christians to feel be all warm and fuzzy, but what islam means is CHRIST IS NOT DIVINE, CHRIST WAS NOT CRUCIFIED AND CHRIST DID NOT RISE on the 3rd DAY. WHY does MOhaha say this? Because he announced that HE WAS the latest and greatest prophet after Jesus and he was the Jewish Messiah that they Jews are awaiting for. So Mohaha elected himself the RIGHT HAND OF HIS MADE UP PRETEND ALLAH-MOON god in order to be in charge. And even his child bride knew enough to tell him (Sahih el Bukhari, I think) that allah sure drops everything to grant Moha his every whim and wish. Just another indication that he was making up this so-called pseudo religion political system.
Anyway, while reading, I took copious notes and couldn’t believe how a few Old Testament Bible stories were remade by Moha to put himself in charge. He used the Angel Gabriel – that went to Mary in the Gospels to announce the birth of Jesus – and said that this angel told Moha to recite what he told him from allah (remember the fake moon god allah here). THEN Moha makes up this story about ascending to heaven – get this – riding a white donkey with the face of a person. ANd Moha makes sure that he ascends from JHerasalem also so he can claim it as his own holy site as he did Mecca with the little black meterorite they those clueless people journey to see and circle. I’m sure he used donkey story as Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on a donkey’s colt. So Mohaha is always trying to ‘one up’ Jesus or the people in the stories in the Old Testament.
NEVER BELIEVE any pseudo-Bible story in the koran because they are Moha’s version, not the the Talmud, i.e. Old Testament or New Testament. Throw in some Zoroaster the Persian, and some rantings similar to Charles Manson = islam! Only a halfwit could believe this drivel. No kidding! Look at those idiots in the mid-east! They believe this crap! I read the drivel and understood exactly what it was – Moha wanted OPM (Other’s People’s Money, women and wealth).
I am so delighted when I read the comments and know others have read the koran and come to exactly the same conclusions that I did. I tell people at church and anyone who’ll listen about the koran = hatred = islam = hatred = mohaha = insane hatred = murderous hatred.
Brian Ozzy says
Well said BlackCats&Pat , you are spot on. I haven’t read the whole disgusting farce that is the koran. I couldn’t stomach that much drivel but I have read “the Prophet of Doom” by Craig Wynn which is an excellent expose and displays Islam for what it is, and many other books by converts who have escaped the hideous ideology.
It is mind numbing to try and comprehend how anyone could believe such trash. Those that have been brainwashed from birth and cowed into never questioning or doubting anything about Islam on pain of death one can perhaps comprehend, but those that have converted as adults stun me. I know there are a lot of psychopaths out there that would find the contents striking a resonant chord, but how could a female abrogate all her rights and humanity to such a bizzare cult!
I have reached the conclusion that the vast percentage of Muslims have never read the koran, have little understanding of it and live a life of cowed servitude under the yoke of Muhammad’s made up drivel. Really quite extraordinary when you think of the turmoil, suffering and death this monstrous creature has foisted on the world for 1400 years.