In PJ Media I explore five recent examples of the inspirational power of the Islamic holy book.
Last Tuesday, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) declared that the State Department “ought to hire one or two experts in Islamic jurisprudence,” so as to refute the ideology of the Islamic State. “One must be able to turn to the Quran, to turn to the Hadith and show how ISIS is making a mockery of a great world religion,” he said. This followed just days after Pope Francis characterized moderate Muslim spokesmen as saying, “They (Muslims) say: ‘No, we are not this [i.e., jihad terrorists], the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace.’”
The “prophetic book of peace” has been in the news recently, but not always in ways that show “how ISIS is making a mockery of a great world religion.” In fact, it has been quite the contrary:
1. Islamic State: Qur’an-waving gunmen murder 39 Indian workers
IndiaToday reported that in Mosul last summer, gunmen of the Islamic State murdered thirty-nine workers from India, after first inquiring to make sure they were not Muslims. All the while, in a vision rivaling the wildest leftist fantasies about “Bible-thumpers,” the gunmen were clutching copies of the Qur’an.
Somehow these gunmen got the crazy, Islamophobic idea that their actions were in accord with the teachings of the book they were holding. Yet Barack Obama and John Kerry and David Cameron and Theresa May and a host of others assure us that the actions of such people have nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. Who could be right? How to tell? It’s a conundrum!
Suggestion: how about read the Qur’an and see what it says? “Slay the pagans wherever you find them” (9:5) — ah, but only “Islamophobes” quote such verses. It’s a “prophetic book of peace,” and no doubt these Qur’an-thumping gunmen were making a mockery of its teachings, right?
2. Boko Haram leader: “We follow the Qur’an… in the land of Allah”
Well, maybe not – or at least it can be said that all too many Muslims seem not to have gotten the “prophetic book of peace” memo.
After recent reports that he had been killed, Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the Nigerian jihad group Boko Haram, roared back defiantly in a new video. “Here I am, alive,” he proclaimed, “I will only die the day Allah takes my breath.” Shekau added: “We are running our caliphate, our Islamic caliphate. We follow the Qur’an…in the land of Allah.”
He follows the Qur’an? After massacring Christians, torching churches, and taking hundreds of non-Muslim girls as sex slaves, he claims to be following the Qur’an? Brad Sherman, as well as Obama, Pope Francis, and the rest, better hope that he is wrong about that, but unfortunately, he has many Muslims on his side, agreeing with him.
3. Jihad group quotes Qur’an to justify massacre of ChristiansOne of them is the al-Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage. Last Tuesday, al-Shabaab jihadis raided a quarry inside Kenya, separated the Muslims from the Christians, and murdered thirty-six Christians.
In a statement justifying these murders, Rage exulted:
We are uncompromising in our beliefs, relentless in our pursuit, ruthless against the disbelievers and we will do whatever necessary to defend our Muslim brethren suffering from Kenya’s aggression.
“Ruthless against the disbelievers” is from the Qur’an. The full passage is: “Muhammad is Allah’s apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless against the disbelievers but merciful to one another” (48:29).
But perhaps Rage is blinded by his namesake vice – so blinded as to think that a command to be “ruthless against the disbelievers” means to be ruthless against the disbelievers, rather than to treat them to hummus and pita at outreach meetings. Yet unfortunately, others have read Rage’s guiding book, missed the “book of peace” passages, and come to similar conclusions.
Read the rest here.
noellsq says
As i am an infidel i decided to read the Quran. So i went out and bought one. Whoever says that it is a religion of peace is a liar or plain ignorant.
Zebo says
Calling quran a prophetic book means
acceppting Mohammed as prophet.
This jesuit pope must have a very strange understanding of christianity.
1)there are no prophets to come after Jesus
2)pope should explain how god could have sent a pedo&sociopath.
That’s 2x blasphemy in one sentence mr. popeman.
Jay Boo says
QUR’AN BONFIRE
Early Muslims burnt conflicting Qur’ans in order to get the fable of Allah’s so-called messenger to be accepted.
rev g says
You were not supposed to read the quran, you infidel! That, and especially when in concert with understanding of it’s chronology and the concept of abrogation, totally destroys the facade!
noellsq says
Are their different Quran’s? The one that I am reading is approved by AL-Azhar University. I kind of like the treatment of women but I think my wife would not approve so maybe I should stone her
Kieran Pavlick says
I as a Christian have sat down many times with Jews with Mormons with Seventh-day Adventists and on and on and had dialogues. I am still alive, the people I had the dialogues with our still alive. I had a dialogue with a fellow the converted to Islam and commented about the violence and he threatened to go to management and report me if I kept speaking about it. What you will find is what the creator of the religion practiced and preached is in fact what followers of the religion will practice and preach. The Jewish religion seems to be in a Abraham, Moses kind of time lock. So much of what they believe is rooted in the past but it is not a violent belief system. Jesus did not claim to be a rabbi nor was he ever made a rabbi by anyone and he always preached peace and love and he himself was crucified, after he designated his successor. The man that started Islam claims a visit from an angel which can’t be proven and claimed he was told by Allah how things should operate in the religion of Islam. He was a warrior not a man of peace and did not preach peace and love. I do not believe he was divinely chosen because he did not designate a successor but died without doing so leaving the religion to become fragmented and divisive not the sign of a wise leader. Now if you dialogue with those last few sentences it is quite possible that you will not win the argument because you will likely be killed for criticizing the founder of Islam. This is why various people tried to say it is the religion of peace because the alternative will find them hunted down or their families hunted down and eventually killed by the followers of the religion of peace. How can a religion of peace these as such if Sounnis kill Shiites?
Dennis J Barron (@djbarro) says
I totally agree. Mohammed left a very dysfunctional family. is that something a prophet would do? I guess he couldn’t prosthesis that.
mortimer says
Congressman Brad Sherman is quite an authority on the ‘peaceful verses’ of the Islamic Trilogy without having read it.
‘Authority’ or 99% UNACQUAINTED???
Congressman Sherman, do you know that… or ARE YOU GUESSING?
mortimer says
Message for Congressman Sherman:
Re Abrogation
Muslim doctors have hitherto compiled a list of about 225 Quranic verses that have on this principle been abrogated by chronologically later verses:
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/List_of_Abrogations_in_the_Qur'an
Most of the abrogated verses are the ‘peaceful verses’ Congressman Sherman wants to enlist in the ideological struggle against ISIS. Please note that ISIS already understands that the ‘peaceful verses’ are abrogated.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
In each of Spencer’s five examples the Holy Ko-Ran was used properly. This speaks well of the Ulema; the Imams are doing a good job of teaching Islam to its flock, and the men of the flock are acting on the commands in the Ko-Ran.
I wish I could say the Judeo-Christian priests, rabbis and preachers did as good a job as the hairy Imams. It’d be a better world if they did. But they don’t, mainly because they won’t.
The catch, though, is that the Imams are teaching violence to help achieve repugnant, immoral and illegal goals. This is why the U.S. taxpayer helps pay for the mosques by giving them tax free status status as a religion. Islam is much more than just a religion. If you don’t believe me, read a newspaper to see.
Jay Boo says
From satanic verses to syrupy excuses it is not easy for Muslims to wash off the Serpent of Satan’s ideology.
Yet, Obama said of Christians
“They still cling to guns and religion.”
Steve says
What it really boils down to is if you have to violently force people to adopt a way of life then the that way of life cant sustain its self on its own merits. Admittedly Christians did this in the middle ages however I like to think we have learned from our mistakes.
Salah says
“5 Recent Inspirational Uses of the Qur’an”
Some ex-Muslims have discovered four other “not-so-inspirational uses” of this book.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.ca/2014/01/egyptian-muslims-tear-up-quran.html
Notta_allah_followa says
What is that little brainwashed future killer have on his head? Are we supposed to believe those are night-vision goggles? Yeah right. Yet another of the mighty technical achievements from the Muslim world: a plastic faucet strapped to a kid’s head and passed off as cutting edge tech! News flash: you don’t invent anything in Islam, you only destroy. It is all you know how to do since while we were learning, you spent your time praising your filthy pig-god and his pedophile prophet. All hail Mo-ham-head!
citycat says
I steps Brad Sherman et al have not read the Koran.
You don’t need a weatherman.
It wasn’t written for professors