Over seventeen years after the September 11 attacks, it is still commonplace to hear Islam called a religion of peace. Muslims and non-Muslim Islamic apologists in the West routinely characterize the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, as a champion of human rights. The Muslim writer Farida Khanam portrays him as meek, mild, and full of love and compassion: “His heart was filled with intense love for all humankind irrespective of caste, creed, or color.” Muhammad “was, by all accounts,” says Islamic scholar Carl Ernst, “a charismatic person known for his integrity.” Karen Armstrong, in her Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, claims that Muhammad “abjured violence and pursued a daring, inspired policy of non-violence that was worthy of Gandhi.”
In his new documentary film Muhammad In His Own Words, Randall Terry exposes all this hagiography for what it is by doing what Islamic apologists most dread Americans doing: quoting Muhammad’s words and recounting his deeds from the earliest Islamic sources. What those sources reveal is startling to those who assume that Muhammad, as the founder of what is blandly included among the “world’s great religions,” taught benevolence and magnanimity: Muhammad was a warlord who led battles, order the assassination of his enemies, and amassed multiple wives and sex slaves, including a nine-year-old girl.
Why does the prospect of quoting Muhammad’s own words, as is done so effectively in this film, so frighten Islamic apologists, who themselves for the most part avoid doing so? Because of statements such as these, which are found in hadiths (traditions reporting Muhammad’s words and deeds) that Muslims consider reliable.
Muhammad said: “I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” (Muslim 1:33)
There is a threat attached in another version of that hadith, which has Muhammad saying: “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’ And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally.” (Bukhari 8:387) Their blood and property will be sacred to us – that is, left undisturbed, instead of their being killed and their property seized.
Muhammad said: “Striving in the path of Allah (jihad) is incumbent on you along with every ruler, whether he is pious or impious.” (Abu Dawud 14:2527)
Muhammad said: “Know that Paradise is under the shades of swords.” (Bukhari 52:73)
Muhammad said: “Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war… When you meet your enmies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them… If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them.” (Muslim 19:4294)
One of Muhammad’s followers asked him, “Messenger of Allah, which of the deeds is the best?” Muhammad answered: “Belief in Allah and Jihad in His cause…” (Muslim 1:149)
Muhammad said: “There is another act which elevates the position of a man in Paradise to a grade one hundred (higher), and the elevation between one grade and the other is equal to the height of the heaven from the earth.” One of his followers asked, “What is that act?” Muhammad replied: “Jihad in the way of Allah! Jihad in the way of Allah!” (Muslim 20:4645)
Muhammad said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.’” (Bukhari 52:177)
Muhammad said: “I have been made victorious with terror.” (Bukhari 52:220)
All this is extremely important because these are not statements without contemporary resonance. The Qur’an and Islamic tradition are clear that Muhammad is the supreme example of behavior for Muslims to follow. He is “an excellent model of conduct” (Qur’an 33:21). He demonstrates “an exalted standard of character” (68:4), and indeed, “he who obeys the Messenger [Muhammad], obeys Allah” (4:80). The Qur’an frequently tells Muslims to obey Allah and Muhammad: while the Muslim holy book takes for granted that Muhammad is fallible (cf. 48:2; 80:1-12), it also instructs Muslims repeatedly to obey him (3:32; 3:132; 4:13; 4:59; 4:69; 5:92; 8:1; 8:20; 8:46; 9:71; 24:47; 24:51; 24:52; 24:54; 24:56; 33:33; 47:33; 49:14; 58:13; 64:12).
Policymakers and pundits generally do not want to examine the evidence that Terry has amassed in this film because its conclusions could be frightening. If the terrorists have not “hijacked” a peaceful religion, if they have not perverted Islam’s substance, then what? Do you want to see a global war? But if Muhammad’s own life and teachings are the source of jihad violence, identifying that truth will allow for clear-minded policymaking, make possible honest reform within Islam, and have the advantage of being based on the facts.
Muhammad In His Own Words takes us from politically correct fantasy about Muhammad to harsh reality. The implications are enormous. If America is to survive the contemporary global jihad onslaught as a free society, it will be due in large part to eye-opening doses of truth such as this one. The film can be ordered at www.RandallTerryFilms.com.
FYI says
And let us not forget…since Armstrong seems to have completely missed it…{Did she miss Abu Dawud 4390 too??It looks like it}
“I have been made victorious through TERROR”
Bukhari 4:52:220
When you remind the muslims of muhammed’s statement about fabricating things against God in al-Tabari 6:111 they say ..using the usual dissembling tricks{Kitman etc}of islamic sophistry..
ah but you see “allah cancelled what satan hath cast upon the prophet’s tongue”.How convenient!
So on that basis the muslim can say regarding Bukhari 4:52:220…but…but..you see satan made him say that and anyway the word terror doesn’t mean terror,it means ….tourism..and allah surely cancelled it…
BC says
I do not know much about Christianity but as far as I know what is alleged to be the truth about
Jesus is that he never acted with violence towards anybody except the money changes in the temple. He had no army and he massacred no non Muslims. What can Muslims say in response to that? Were Islam’s armies greeted joyously and people converted en masse? That is not what I have heard.
BC says
Sorry should have said ‘massacred nobody who did not follow him.’
mortimer says
Modern Muslims create an ‘airbrushed’ or ‘photoshopped’ image of Mohammed by leaving out his offensive traits and enhancing any qualities that appeal to our modern concerns for human rights and civil liberties.
A main aim in photo editing is the removal of unwanted objects in the photo. Before photoshopping, this was done by airbrushing.
Stalin routinely airbrushed his enemies out of photographs. The term “airbrushed out” has come to mean rewriting history to pretend something was never there.
The ‘objects’ modern Islamists want to remove are Mohammed’s …
…authoritarianism
‘It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision.’ Koran 33.36
…megalomania
‘While I was sleeping, the keys to the treasures of the world were brought to me and put in my hand.’ Bukhari:V4B52N220
…misogyny
“Hang up your scourge where your wife can see it.” Kash-shaf (the revealer) of al-Zamkhshari (Vol. 1, p. 525)
…intolerance
“No two religions are to exist in the Arab Peninsula”, The Sira, pp. 50, 51
…compulsion
“The apostle of God defeated the people until they entered Islam by hook or by crook.” “The Ordinances of Qur’an”, Al Shafi, page 50
…supremacism
“Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God’s religion shall reign supreme.” K. 8:36
…terrorism
“How many a township have We destroyed! As a raid by night, or while they slept at noon, Our terror came unto them.” K. 7:4
Just after 9-11, the late Anwar Awlaki, mentor to notable terrorists, said, “There is no way that the people who did this (9-11) could be Muslim, and if they claim to be Muslim, then they have perverted their religion.” Awlaki’s later terrorism proved he did not believe his own definition.
By Awlaki’s definition, many leading Muslims of history are excluded from the religion of Islam:
Osama Bin Laden was not a Muslim when he cast terror into the hearts of Americans on 9-11.
Sayeed Maududi was not a Muslim when he wrote: “Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam.” Sayeed Abdul A’la Maududi, Jihad in Islam, p.9
Sultan Mehmet V was also not a Muslim when he signed the Universal Fatwa of 1915 sanctioning the genocide of three million of his Christian subjects.
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), was not a Muslim when he wrote, “the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force.” (emphasis added)
Tamurlane was not a Muslim when he wrote glowingly of his mass murders: ‘I had crossed the rivers Ganges and Jumna and I had sent many of the abominable infidels to hell, and had purified the land from their foul existence….Thanks to almighty Allah.”
Hajjaj, the governor of Iraq was not a Muslim when he ordered his general Qasim to “behave in such a way that no enemy of the true faith is left in that country”.
Mohammed’s successful general Khalid ibn Walid was not a Muslim when Mohammed sent him to destroy all the pagan temples of the neighboring tribes of Mecca. Khalid reached the Jazima tribe and asked them to say, “We are Muslims”. But they said, “We are Sabians” – whereupon Khalid slaughtered the whole tribe.
Mohammed could not be a Muslim either. The Sira (his official biography) is filled with violent acts initiated by Mohammed. In the Sira, Mohammed orders or leads a violent act every six weeks resulting in assassination, plundering, enslavement, rape, genocide, ethnic cleansing and territorial conquest.
Sons of Liberty says
Exactly , mortimer !
Walter Sieruk says
As the reader had seen the first sentence of the first paragraph of the top maim article states with the words “Over seventeen years after the September 11 attack it is still commonplace to hear Islam called a religion of peace.”
Therefore, its very important to stay aware and in keeping within reality that we don’t let them fool us for ,the many apologists for Islam is have a will continue endeavor to set up a smokescreen to hide the reality of the truth about the violence and deadly essence of Islam by making the bogus claim that the al Qaeda operatives mass murderer on 9/11 were not real Muslims and that they were breaking the laws of the Qu ‘ran by their violence and deadly actions.” The apologists for Islam will further make the totally false claim that “Those terrorists on 9/11 were only criminals who hijacked the peaceful religion of Islam for Politics.” Those outrageously false claims are weak attempt of damage control for the image of Islam to the West. For the “holy book” of Islam the Qu ‘ran. For the Qu ‘ran instruct in Sura 9:111. Muslims who are engaging the jihad that “The believer’s fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain ,they kill and are killed “ That’s just what happened on September 11, 2001 the jihadists of al Qaeda “killed and were killed” in those 9/11 jihad attacks against both humankind and America. The Quran also teaches in Sura 9:123 to that jihad –minded Muslims behavior towards non-Muslims “let them find harshness in you…” Those Islamic attacks on 9/11 were indeed very “harsh.” As Sura 2:191 instructs “kill the disbeliever wherever you find them.” That’s a very strange kind of “peaceful religion” if there ever was one. Just to site one more out on many from the Qu ‘ran about the instruction of deadly violence is Sura 47:4. Which instructs “Whenever you encounter unbelievers strike off their heads until you make a great slaughter among them …” Let’s face it, using jet planes a missiles as those jihadist/ Muslims did of September 11, sure made a greater “slaughter among them” then sword can. Wake up West to the actual nature of Islam before it’s too late.
gravenimage says
Muhammad Speaks – and It’s Not Pretty
………………………….
No, it’s not. Great to hear about “Muhammad In His Own Words” by Randall Terry.
Any idea where we will be able to see it?
Mark Berlinger says
I watched the first half this morning. It is a brilliant production. The history and dialogue of the Muhammad story is told for the concerned patriots who are somewhat aware of the Islamic Jihad threat to Western Civilization, as well as for the clueless infidels who have been told that Islam is a “religion of peace.” Armed with this knowledge, the multicultural propaganda of leftist media is exposed as lies.
A copy goes to my parish. The parish priest is acutely aware of the persecution of Christians by observant Muslims.