A new report in The Independent on a small group of Muslim converts in San Cristobal de las Casas, gives itself away with its title: “Mexico’s Vibrant Muslim Community Lives in the Maya Heartland”:
A trip to Mexico’s indigenous Maya heartland showed me how a vibrant Muslim community had sprung up in this predominantly Roman Catholic country.
In the southern state of Chiapas, home to a lush mountainous landscape, I photographed members of a small Muslim community made up of hundreds of mostly indigenous Tzotzil men and women, many of whom converted to Islam from Catholic or other Christian denominations.
The Muslim men here are distinguished by their prayer caps, or kufis, and the women by their hijabs which take the form of traditional Maya shawls.
Locals say the conversions to Islam here began in the late 1980s, around the same time Mexico’s Zapatista movement was gaining traction in Chiapas, as institutions including Christianity and capitalism came under increasing criticism.
According to the last census, some 83 percent of Mexicans are Catholic. And although Muslims make up less than 1 percent of Mexico’s 120 million population [actually, they make up only 1/10th of 1 percent], a disproportionate number are indigenous [sic] clustered in and around San Cristobal de las Casas, a highland city in Chiapas that mixes both Maya and Spanish identity.
“People gave us a weird look when we converted, they thought we were terrorists and were scared of us,” said Mustafa, a member of the nearby Ahmadia community. “But with the passage of time and our own actions, that opinion has changed,” he added.
Umar, an indigenous former evangelical pastor, converted to Islam in the late 1990s and now serves as a bridge between local Christians and Muslims.
“Ours is a monotheistic religion,” he said. “But we don’t worship saints.”
“I later met 55-year-old Mohamed Amin who invited me to his home, offering me cookies and tea. He showed me where he prays five times a day and introduced me to his family. He asked me if I believed in God and I said no. That did not appear to bother him.
“He went on to explain the main reason behind his conversion to Islam.
“I like to be clean and change my clothes,” he said. “This is a clean religion and that’s what originally drew me to it.”
What, in the first place, is the effect of such a news story, which has been getting significant coverage online? It feeds a narrative of Islam On The March, of Islamic triumphalism. Here we are, far from the ancient centers of Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, far even from the latest centers of Islam in Western Europe, and yet here, in San Cristobal de las Casas, in Las Chiapas, in a remote region of rural — carefully described as “lush” — Mexico, we are brought news of local converts to Islam. We are further told, in loaded language, that these converts constitute a “vibrant community of Muslims.” No evidence is presented for this putative “vibrancy,” but it is insisted upon, and the word has its effect. These people who are converting have created not just a community, but a “vibrant” community, pulsating with energy, alive, energetic, vigorous, vital, full of vim and vigor, animated, sparkling, effervescent, vivacious, dynamic, stimulating, exciting, passionate, fiery — get the picture? Then, in unspoken contrast to this vibrant community of Muslims for which the reporter is also a cheerleader, there is the dead hand of the Catholic Church, handmaiden of political and economic reaction, working hand-in-glove with the capitalist class. No wonder that these conversions started in the 1980s, “around the same time [as] Mexico’s Zapatista movement was gaining traction in Chiapas. The implications clear: support for the Zapatistas, and conversion to Islam, were two versions of the same movement for justice, two ways for the downtrodden indigenous Indians, those Mayans and Tzotzils, to demonstrate their disaffection. For, we must surely realize — it need not be spelled out — Islam promotes social and economic justice. But does it?
We are given to understand that Muslims are converting in other parts of Mexico, but with especial fervor, apparently, in San Cristobal de las Casas. And just how many Muslims are there in this land of 120 million? In 2010, the Mexican government counted 3,760 Muslims; the Pew Research Institute came up with a much larger figure, 111,000. Even if we were to ignore the official Mexican census figures, and accept the Pew figures instead, and rounded up that figure — to 120,000, in order to reflect an increase over the last few years, that would mean only one of every thousand Mexicans is Muslim [and not, as the reporter says, “less than 1%”]. By way of comparison, in the Muslim state of Algeria, which has a population of 40 million, or one-third that of Mexico, by 2015 the number of converts to Christianity numbered 380,000. Isn’t that a figure that might be better known, so as to undermine Muslim triumphalism?
Judging by the report, it appears that there was nothing terribly profound about these conversions. There is the economic justice aspect, with the Catholic Church viewed as giving aid and comfort to the ruling landowner class, while Islam is presented by its proselytizers as the faith of the downtrodden. The report could have injected a note of skepticism, pointing out that almost all Muslim states have been ruled, for much or all of their histories, by despots, including ruling families whose members routinely help themselves, and their confederates, to much of the nation’s wealth. The most egregious are the Al-Saud, but the ruling families in Abu Dhabi (the Al-Nahyan), in Dubai (the Al-Maktoum), Kuwait (the Al-Sabahs), Qatar (the Al-Thani), Oman (the Al Bu Said) help themselves on a smaller scale. Then there are the non-royal despots, such as the Al-Assads in Syria, Al-Sisi in Egypt, the late Qaddafi in Libya, the oligarchs of the FLN in Algeria, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, who grab what they can. And Pakistan’s politicians are in a greedy class by themselves, for a former president, Asif Ali Zardari, has accumulated a net worth of $35 billion, and a former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, has $30 billion, remarkable sums given their official salaries. If this were known, perhaps those Mexican converts might be disabused of their belief that Islam stands for greater economic justice, as no doubt they were told by those converting them. The record shows quite otherwise. In the West, a government’s legitimacy depends on how well it reflects the will of the people, as expressed, however imperfectly, through elections. In Muslim lands, the legitimacy of the government depends on how well it expresses the will of Allah, as set down in the Qur’an. A ruler can be a despot, as long as he is a good Muslim. This, too, is unlikely to have been explained to would-be converts in San Cristobal.
We learn in passing that there is an Ahmadia community in San Cristobal de las Casas. As many know, the Ahmadis have tirelessly conducted campaigns of outreach and conversion in the West, but not in Muslim countries, where it would be too dangerous for them to try to convert anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, to Ahmadi Islam. An “Ask-A-Muslim” or “Open Mosque” event in the U.S. is most likely to be put on by Ahmadis. Their brand of Islam is indeed more appealing, because less violent, than mainstream Islam, no doubt because they are on the receiving end of so much Muslim violence; hence their success with conversions. The Ahmadis, of whom there are only ten to twenty million in the world, or about 1% of the world’s Muslims, are regarded with hostility by mainstream Muslims, because their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, claimed to be the Promised Messiah. In Pakistan, they are prohibited by law from claiming to be Muslims (and on their official papers are listed as non-Muslims); they have been subject to persecution and murderous attacks by Muslims, mainly in Pakistan, but also in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the U.K. What, one wonders, would these Mayan and Tzotzil converts think of Islam if they knew how the Ahmadis are treated by the mainstream?
Indeed, what do these converts know about the treatment of women in Islam, as set out in the Qur’an and Hadith? Would they be surprised to learn about the practice of polygamy? To discover that a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man, or that a daughter inherits half that of a son? Would they have been told that a Muslim father has the power of life and death over his daughters? That a Muslim husband can beat (lightly) a disobedient wife? Do you think these Mexican Indians were told before converting about how, as Muslims, they should no longer take Christians (or Jews) as friends, “for they are friends only with each other”? No one will have told them that they must love fellow Muslims but to disavow, that is hate, for the sake of Allah, all non-Muslims, the doctrine known as Al-wala’ wa-l-bara.
What will they have learned about the 109 Jihad verses in the Qur’an? Anything? Nothing? What will they have been told about verses in the Qur’an that command not just jihad warfare, but the need to “strike terror” in the hearts of the Unbelievers?
They will have been told nothing about any of this, at least not before conversion. They will not even have been told about the Hadith. They will have learned nothing about Muhammad’s marriage, and consummation of that marriage, to Aisha when she was nine years old. They will not have learned about Muhammad’s attack on the Jews of the Khaybar Oasis. They will have learned nothing about Muhammad’s taking the Jewish girl Saafiya as his sex slave the very evening of the day that he had her husband, father, and brother killed. They will not find out about how Kinana of Khaybar was tortured, on Muhammad’s orders, until he revealed where some treasure was hidden, and then, also on his orders, put to death after having given up the secret. They will learn nothing about Abu ‘Afak, Asma bint Marwan, and Ka’b bin al-Ashraf, who, because they had mocked him, were killed by followers of Muhammad — and Muhammad was pleased.
When it comes to the Qur’an, they will have been told about 2:256 (“There is no compulsion in religion”) and 5:32 (which superficially seems to condemn killing, but read carefully, with 5:33, actually provides rules for when killing is licit). They will not have been told about 9:5, 9:29, 3:151; 8:12, 8:60, 47:4, or another 100 jihad verses. They will not learn that Muhammad said “war is deceit,” or that his last words were apparently “I have been made victorious with terror.”
They will not learn that Unbelievers were offered three choices by triumphant Muslims: conversion, death, or the status of dhimmi, that required them to pay the Jizyah, and endure other onerous requirements, in order to be protected from the Muslims themselves. They will be told that Muslims have a special relationship with the other two “Abrahamic faiths,” and that Muslims revere both Moses and Jesus as prophets, but not told how, for example, both figures are quite different in their Islamic versions.
One Tzotzil gave as his main reason for converting to Islam that by doing so he could better “keep clean and change my clothes.” That gives you some idea of how theologically profound was the conversion process. And those who have endured life in a Muslim society may question this misguided belief connecting Islam and cleanliness. Wudu (the pre-prayer ablutions) aside, the hygiene is not impressive. Unfortunately, as with “prison conversions,” sometimes the practical consequence is that the convert, as he slowly is allowed to learn more, is not necessarily repelled, but may sink ever deeper into the morass of Islam.
It would be interesting to know why the three converts mentioned felt they had to take Arabic names — Mustafa, Umar, and Mohamed. Indeed, that could prompt a conversation on all the ways that Islam is a vehicle for Arab supremacism. A Muslim must prostrate himself five times a day in the direction of Mecca, in Arabia; he should make the hajj, to Mecca, at least once in his lifetime; he should ideally read the Qur’an in Arabic; many Muslims take Arabic names as more appropriate to the faith; some have even given themselves false Arab lineages, as with the many Pakistanis who call themselves “Sayids,” indicating descent from the Prophet Muhammad.
One hopes that the Christians in Mexico, most of them Catholics, will not merely observe whatever inroads are being made by Islam, but will offer a campaign to counteract the proselytizers. No need to wait until the few become many. The Christians need to identify those communities where conversions to Islam are being made, as in San Cristobal de las Casas, to send out teams of Christians who have prepared themselves and can speak knowledgeably about Islam, and thereby to push back against the previously unopposed proselytizers for the Prophet. These Christians should meet with those recently converted, or who seem to be on the path to conversion, and stage what might be called an intervention. They should hold up for careful study a representative sample of the more than one hundred Jihad verses in the Qur’an, explain such concepts as dhimmi and Jizyah, compare the claim that Islam furthers economic justice with the reality of rich and poor in Muslim societies, examine the differing treatments of women in Islam and Christianity, and convey the contents of a dozen of the most disturbing episodes in the life of Muhammad, as reported in the Hadith. Finally, these well-informed students of Islam should present aspects of Islamic history that the converts almost certainly would not have been told about, including the vast Arab slave trade involving as many as 80 million black African victims, the killing of 70-80 million Hindus under Muslim rule in India, the false “convivencia” of Islamic Spain, and the ways in which Islam has been a vehicle for Arab supremacism, with particular attention to how non-Arab Muslims — such as the Kurds, Berbers, and Sudanese blacks — have recently suffered under Arab rule.
Then perhaps Umar, Mustafa, and Mohamed, having been given food for thought from the Qur’an, and Hadith, and Islamic history, material which had been skipped over by their converters, might rethink their allegiance to Islam, shed those names so redolent of Arab supremacism, and find a way back to Christianity which, considering the apparent alternative, hasn’t done so badly after all.
mgoldberg says
Simple, decent people, can be fooled by people and movements that tell them they are a dignified, downtrodden people worthy of being amongst the best of people in the world.
Now… the Ahmadi’s, the spokesman for them, all oer the west, are indeed willing to lie about the 99% of Islam that despises them, that commands much submission, homicidism, and for which ahmadhyi’s are happy to dispell as non Islamic teachings. In other words, they are as simply capable of deception of others as other muslims; of making absurd statements of denial about Islam’s commands and actions.
And for this they perform acts of deception upon these poor simple folk of indian mayan ancestry.
The ahmadhi don’t march against the homicidal actions commited worldwide by muslims- they simply say it’s not real Islam.
For this, they are betraying these people who deserve better.
underbed cat says
This is truly scary….If the Pope is accepting of Islam and describes it a beautiful, when it is the root of Islamic terror the Mexican people are in grave danger not only from the Cartels but now jihadist who may have similar goals. The seductions of Islam starts with the white robes, claiming to their targets they are the oppressed but best of all people, fib up a storm and lay low until they can be murderous undetected. They show up in all countries as minorities and refugees and as terror starts it is always innocent they have been corrupted the jihadi’s that is….always the chime..
mgoldberg says
They are deeply involved in the mexican drug business, and importing jihadi’s into the US thru the border. They have offered their services to the rottenest of criminal gangs, and no doubt inserting their theologic clemency into their business dealings for about 15 yrs now.
Jaladhi says
>“I like to be clean and change my clothes,” he said. “This is a clean religion and that’s what originally drew me to it.”<
Ha, ha, ha,..what a BS – the dirtiest and terror filled religion is looking the cleanest to this moron! Either he has no brain or Islam just killed his brain cells!
MTNew Mexico says
You have to understand that many of these indigenous people have no other basis of comparison than the area they have been living in there in Chiapas. If he is Tzotzil then he is probably coming from a remote village out in the jungle where there is no hot and cold running water. Trying to keep things clean is a real effort. It’s such an effort that probably lots of people just give up after awhile. I went to some of those villages during the time of the Zapatista Guerillas and they are remote and neglected by the Mexican government. They are neglected by the Catholic Church and exploited by them. Those are perfect areas for Islamic proselytization. There’s a reason the Zapatista Guerillas started there. The article mentions San Cristobal de las Casas. That’s a city, but most of the indigenous people of Chiapas don’t live there. They live in villages out in the highland jungles and only trek to San Cristobal for market days.
Eur says
Can we create an isolate country without Islam?
notmoron says
If I were in Mexico, I would have bought a one way ticket to any muslim of his desire.
He would be shock the level of FILTHY of Muslims lives
underbed cat says
Thanks to the Pope….he misinformed a country he should have protected.
Voytek Gagalka says
Thus in open defiance and rebellion against former oppressors of Catholic Church, they are now converting to Islam? And what they think would happen to them, how then they would be persecuted if, instead of Christopher Columbus, some emissary of Caliph would discover America? Would natives of America survive such invasion? And by the way, they should better reference themselves as descendants of Aztecs rather than Mayas: when the latter created sophisticated calendar which in precision to this day amazes scientists, those first forever embedded themselves in history as engaging in torture and human sacrifices, in quite similar way ISIS enjoyed to do so recently, which is much closer to spirit of Mohammed than anything else.
Darryl Kerney says
i have been asking people the question you also asked,
if it had been muslims who colonized the americas instead of europeans,
would there be any indigenous peoples left at all by now ?
not likely.
and also, based on islam’s doctrines and history, especially back then when the notion of “moderate” islam was unknown and unthinkable, would the indigenous have fared better or worse ?
i think it’s quite obvious it would have been much worse.
generally i don’t even get a reply when i ask those things, but sometimes i think i detect whiffs of smoke coming from their heads haha !
and so far, i haven’t had anyone say it would have been better.
i have asked some of my aboriginal friends those questions, they saw my point immediately,
but they aren’t the ones who say the white man ruined everything, and their lives, forever,
they are ones who are glad to live in the modern world and still be able to enjoy the natural world as well, they see that islamic conquest would have been far worse.
MTNew Mexico says
The Tzotzil indians of Chiapas are the descendants of the Mayans–not Aztecs. The Aztec empire did not reach that far south. There are other indigenous groups in Chiapas, the Tzetzal, Tojolobal, and others that are also descendants of the Mayans. Scholars know this by studying the language and I believe the DNA of the people. I’ve been there and I’ve been to their villages.
mortimer says
“VIBRANT MULTICULTURALISM” in Mexico?
“El mito del paraíso andaluz”, un nuevo estudio del profesor Darío Fernández-Morera sobre el mito del paraíso andaluz termina con un breve recuerdo del Greco. El gran pintor, efectivamente, pasó de Creta a Italia y acabó en Toledo, como un recuerdo de la experiencia de otros muchos compatriotas suyos que encontraron en la Cristiandad europea occidental refugio frente a la represión que padecían en su tierra por parte de los musulmanes conquistadores.
http://www.libertaddigital.com/cultura/libros/2016-07-21/jose-maria-marco-el-mito-del-paraiso-andaluz-79601/
The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise, Reviews
Book by Dario Fernandez Morera
Japetto Donatelli says
“Mexico’s Vibrant Muslim Community Lives in the Maya Heartland”
I think it’s good that nations and communities maintain a welcoming attitude to newcomers and neighbors. However, it becomes a problem for me when it’s done to distort or hide facts that encourage crimes against humanity. We see this all the time for islam. It’s as if every bad thing we know about islam doesn’t exist for these people. These fawning displays of respect for muslims are at the expense of life saving truths and will only lead to more crime and jihad against us. This mawkish view of islam by The Independent is an example of what I’m talking about: Islam isn’t about jihad or murder or rape, it’s about “cookies and tea.” How could we have all been so stupid not to know this?
There’s not much to add here, Fitzgerald’s essay covered it so well. To me Islam is a spittoon of bilious hate and immorality with a few nicities thrown in for perfume. When muslims are “vibrant” then it’s time to worry, their moral and social base isn’t like ours. We don’t worship a demon that condones murder and bigotry and misogyny as a spiritual teaching. That’s why I reject islam and don’t want muslims. Because I know full well the profoundly bad effects they and their “religion” will have on our communities and nation. I just wish our media and politicians cared as much about our rights as they do for islam’s violent and hateful agenda. We non-muslims also have a “vibrancy,” we’re human too with our own values, hopes, and religions. So please, media and politicians, don’t pretend your defense of islam is some kind of good will gesture. There’s nothing good in destroying our hopes and freedoms for the bigoted aspirations of a violent and hateful creed. Vibrant does not necessarily equal “good.” A serial killer can be vibrant. We want peace and freedom, not vibrancy for an evil religion that condones murder and intimidation as the primary means of proselytisation. In short, don’t shill for evil.
Vic says
I lived in Mexico for six years and had the opportunity to do development work with many rural communities and interact with the people in order to understand their issues. As quoted in the article, the predominant majority of the population in the country is Roman Catholic, but many within that same majority could not tell you why they choose to be Christian. Many will be devoted and profess their faithfulness to the Virgen de Guadalupe and understand the suffering of Christ and relate it to their own lives, but not understand the work of redemption is finished or that the work of sanctification is ongoing until we do. Most of the homilies are all about works and being good, not about grace.
So if a person is born into a religion and has not a good foundation on why he/she believes, is it any wonder that such persons might choose the superficial “cleansing” rituals of Islam as an outward sign of the profound human longing to be reunited with our Creator? To learn about the narrow path that Jesus Christ offered by “taking away the sin of the world” that we might be called sons and daughters of God once again.
Hugh is right. The Christian community needs to make a trip and visit San Cristobal deals Casas and start preaching the gospel. Sola Fide.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
Preaching the Gospel, yes, but also holding Islam up for inspection. Those Christians wiling to take on this task should prepare themselves, so that they are thoroughly acquainted with the Qur’an’s Jihad verses, with selections from the hadith (Aisha, Saafiya, Kinana of Khaybar, the Banu Qurayza, Abu ‘Afak, Asma bint Marwan, Ka’b bin al-Ashraf), with the history of Islamic conquest and subjugation of many different peoples. And they should pre-empt, by explaining, how Muslims selectively use, and misrepresent, such Qur’anic verses as 2:256 and 5:32 without 5:33. It will take work, but be well worth it. I can’t think of anything that would, at this moment in history, be more worth it.
gravenimage says
Exactly, Hugh.
Vic says
Of course, Hugh, the effort would need to be made by a team with a very good understanding of Islam in order to be effective. In our Latin American countries the tenets of Islam are not well understood or even spoken about.
I have personally learned more in the last 5 years than I ever knew. My friends have wanted to engage in discussion after the bombing in Buenos Aires to try to understand why it happened. Most people chuck it to corrupt leaders, but we did not know how to even look for other motives. And at that time Msg Jorge Bergoglio came to the defense of the Muslims and Islam. It has not been until these last five years that people are asking questions about the religion of peace. We see much more infiltration in Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Paraguay, Bolivia, and the Caribbean Islands–due to the affinity with the drug cartels and human trafficking gangs as well as the high levels of poverty.
I forwarded your article to a friend pastor in Guatemala and asked him to call me after he reads it so we can discuss. His note back was that this was a timely article…he said he sees the need and believes he needs to prepare his teams for battle. We can’t fight in ignorance.
Thank you for your great work through JW that helps us understand the ideology and gives us the tools to help us fight the good fight wherever we find it.
PS–I am also sending my friend your Ask a Muslim Series.
gravenimage says
Vic wrote:
And at that time Msg Jorge Bergoglio came to the defense of the Muslims and Islam.
…………………………
This is *appalling*, Vic. Do you know if the future pope was claiming that Muslims were not responsible for the horrific bombing at the Jewish center–or was he *defending* it?
Darryl Kerney says
islam’s “image” has undergone an amazing transformation, looking back to when i was young, i recall a time when, although people didn’t seem to know a lot about it, they knew from observation, from the stream of horrific news from the middle east, that “those people” were dangerous and not our friends (oh how hateful of them for trusting their own observations !)
it seems to me, most people knew that “arabs”, as was the “correct” term at the time, were very fanatical and made very little sense to the western observer, and the constant violence of the middle east was seen as pretty good indicator of the truth. the old people i knew had no use for islam or its followers, and had no qualms about calling it evil, i never even bothered to look into it back then, it seemed inconceivable that it would ever stand a chance here, even as a wide eyed kid enjoying our secular (semi) capitalist earthly paradise, that of course i didn’t see in those terms yet, i couldn’t have imagined what i’m seeing now.
islam is SIMULTANEOUSLY being the source of escalating ; jihad attacks ; demands for special treatment all the way up to criminalization of criticising it ; widespread strain on law enforcement and social services across europe that perfectly coincides with the immigration of muslims and we could list much more,
all of this while it’s reputation has soared !
the media is full of stories of how great islam is, while it’s followers have been rampaging and raping and rioting and killing infidels, wherever they find them……..
i’m so glad my elders aren’t here to see it, they would be appalled, they’d say, what is wrong with you idiots letting this happen ? don’t you know an evil belief system when you see one ?
gravenimage says
Good post, Darryl. Most Westerners have actually become *more* ignorant about Islam over the past twenty-five or thirty years. This is not just ignorance–it is *willful* ignorance.
Darryl Kerney says
and/or denial, not even a Madison Ave Dream Team could have done a better job of polishing the obvious piece of …. that islam is, it’s like a crowd of people looking at some exotic food and thinking it looks great, while ignoring the awful stench coming from it.
Chand says
Thanks, Hugh, for this very informative and interesting essay.
But isn’t the root problem economic, as always? Why have they renounced Christianity? Why did Liberation Theology not work? Why is there grinding poverty there?
And I’m not being cynical. Just curious. Guess I’ll have to study more………………………..
Anyway, I value your insights.
Donald R Laster Jr says
Socialism never works and “Liberation Theology” is Socialism. That is why the a prior Pope condemned it and the priests and nuns promoting it. Of course, we appear to have a Pope who helped create it now i charge of the Roman Catholic Church. And in the US we have “Black Liberation Theology” which is focused on Blacks and is creating nothing but problems since it is same routine of “blaming others”. The government Mohammad created, Islam, knows how to use and manipulate people. It has been doing it for 1400 years. Hopefully, people will wake up and stop the invasion but it does not look god.
Donald R Laster Jr says
Hopefully, people will wake up and stop the invasion but it does not look good.
Inadvertently missed an “o” while typing.
gravenimage says
Muslim apologist Chand wrote:
Thanks, Hugh, for this very informative and interesting essay.
But isn’t the root problem economic, as always? Why have they renounced Christianity? Why did Liberation Theology not work? Why is there grinding poverty there?
…………………………..
What tripe. It has been proven over and over again that poverty is a particular marker for converting to Islam, nor for turning to violent Jihad.
Moreover, the idea that Islam presents a cure for poverty is utter claptrap.
Islam rejects productive labor, reason, and reasonable interest–*none* of this is a recipe for pulling anyone out of poverty. In fact, most of the Muslim world–save a few nations with unearned oil wealth–are cesspits of ignorance and poverty.
Why would Chand think we don’t know this?
As for “Liberation Theology”, this is Communism lite. Communism has, of course, never raised people out of poverty, either.
John S. Obeda says
We are celebrating the Reformation at this time. On Oct 31, 500 years ago Martin Luther posted the theses on the door inviting anyone to debate him on those sentences. We Lutherans like to summarize the main message of the Bible which Luther in due time emphasized: We are justified, declared righteous in the sight of God by His grace for the sake of Jesus through faith in Him and it is Scripture alone from which we receive God’s truths of salvation.
notmoron says
Cartels are beheading people, I wonder where they learned that barbaric of killin?
MTNew Mexico says
Yes, exactly. I have relatives in Chihuahua where there are lots of cartel operatives and people there imply that there is a connection between the cartels and the jihadists and that it is from them that they have learned the practice of beheading.
gravenimage says
News From Mexico: “A Vibrant Muslim Community”
…………………..
In other words, it won’t be long before Muslims start setting off bombs in Mexico City…
Lydia says
And they blend in so well over there due to appearances.
Donald R Laster Jr says
So these people have rejected Christianity for the Islamic theocracy and the worship of the Arab moon god Hubal. Islam is rooted in a polytheist religion and is not monotheist. Islam honors the daughter gods of Hubal which are represented by stars. We can expect the violence to start as they are indoctrinated in the requirements of the laws of Islam.
Infidel says
Another infestation now South of the border… as if the infestation to the North (thanks to the Turd) is not enough…!!!
Eugene Kowalzki says
ISIS (ISIL/IS) or Islamic State or Daesh, Al Qaeda, Islam and Muslims are now in the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America like Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Central America Northern Triangle, Panama Canal, Colombia, Andes, Amazon, Guyanas, Triple Border Region and Patagonia. Southern Mexico is now the land of the Mayan Muslims. Islam is now the religion and will become an official religion in Chiapas, Mexico. Muslim groups and peoples from all over the world will come to Chiapas and intermarry with the local Maya tribes. The vengeance of the Maya with the help of Islam and groups like ISIS will wreck havoc on Mexico, Central America and the United States of America. Jews will never be safe in America anymore. Also the Indigenous Native Americans with United States, Canada, Caribbean, Greenland and the other native tribes of Latin America will embrace Islam too. But also the Indigenous Peoples in Europe like the Sami (Laplander) People in the Lapland Scandinavia and the Indigenous Roma / Romani (Gypsy) People of the Balkans. The Ainu and Ryukyu (Okinawan) in Japan. The Papuans of Papua New Guinea. The Mansi and Yakut in Russia. The Aborigines in Australia. The Maoris and Polynesians in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands in the year 2020 to 2070 (1500 in the Muslim Calendar). Also the Igorots, Aetas, Lumads, Mangyans and Palawan Tribes in the Philippines. The Gurkhas of Nepal and Himalayas. The Tibetans of Tibetan Plateau. The Zulu, Congolese and others in Africa. The Mongols of Mongolia and the Eurasia steppes. And the Guanches of the Canary Islands.
https://isisandislaminlatinamericablog.wordpress.com/
Chand says
So the non-white peoples of the world will convert and will battle the Judeo-Christian Caucasian races for world domination?
So then who’s gonna win this one?
gravenimage says
Islam is savage to any non-Muslims. The idea that all “indigenous peoples” are going to be drawn to this barbarism is pretty questionable.
Valkyrie Ziege says
; I seriously doubt that Central/South American women will “tolerate” the total removal of their exteriour genitalia without a fight. So, there’s that. I already knew about the invasion of Muhammdanism into to Central/South America years ago, e.g., https://youtu.be/bhQpt8Mk_A4
rbla says
Just one more reason for the Wall.
Michael Copeland says
Thank you for this article. Just a point:
“That a Muslim husband can beat (lightly) a disobedient wife?”
There is no “lightly” about it. “Lightly” is not in the Arabic: it has been ADDED by the oh-so-helpful translators.
The man can beat the wife if he FEAR disobedience from her. There is no requirement that she actually be disobedient. She could be entirely obedient and dutiful: he can still beat her.
Donald R Laster Jr says
That is why one wants to get a Qur’an that has been translated back in the early 1900s or further. Also, people need to understand the Qur’an is ordered longest to shortest, not in the order written. Which may be a means of deception. All of the text which promoted cooperation were superseded by text requiring war and subjugation of those who rejected the government of Islam and its god.
gravenimage says
True, MIchael.
gravenimage says
Michael
Don Taylor says
Ask a muslim what an Infidel is and what they are supposed to do them as outined in theQuran
UNCLE VLADDI says
They’ll soon be back to conducting human sacrifices from atop their step pyramids in no time!
Larry says
Mr. Fitzgerald, could you write an article explaining why jihad is not an inner spiritual struggle (as some people claim), please? It would be very useful in refuting islamic propaganda. Thank you and good luck!