Thoughts on Islam

By Kerry Duke

02/08/2005
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Debate on Islam?

Weeks ago I challenged the Muslim community to debate the question of Islam being a violent religion. That offer was reported on Nashville television, on radio stations across the country, and on websites throughout the world. Not one Muslim has sent me a proposition for debate.

Muslims have debated in the past, so why won't they debate this topic? Part of the reason may be the fear of the post 9/11 backlash in this country. A good number of people are still outraged, and Muslims know it. But there is irony in their refusal to address this issue. Muslims have debated preachers who say that Islam is a false religion, but they don't want to debate someone who says Islam is a violent religion! They will deny that Islam is false, but they will not deny that it is violent! Why? Because all an opponent has to do is read from the Quran to prove his point! The Quran is full of commands for Muslims to fight infidels, and those commands are clearly literal! Muslims would rather risk having their religion exposed as being a hoax than as a dangerous military operation. You see, the whole strategy of Islam is to deceive. The deception used by the 9/11 hijackers is the very method of Islam itself. The religion is pure subterfuge. Those hijackers hid their intentions until they took over the planes and killed thousands. Islam presents itself as a peaceable religion until it gains power, and then it unleashes its reign of terror. It capitalizes on fear and gullibility, and it is finding both in politicians and media spokesmen who claim that Islam is a peaceable and loving religion that has been abused by radicals and extremists. Are these voices in America that naïve? They can read the Quran just like the rest of us. If they were honest, they would say what millions of Americans know in spite of these claims – that Islam itself, not the abuse of Islam by radical Muslims, teaches violence against non-Muslims.

Why the Fear?

Why are people in the media so reluctant to tell the truth about this? Are they afraid that their stations might become a target for terrorist attacks? Are they just trying to be popular or politically correct? Have they been cautioned by the government not to stir this issue because it might cause unrest in our streets, which is compounded by the fact that many in our National Guard are in Iraq? Whatever the reason is, it is obvious to many average Americans that even conservative talk shows are avoiding this issue. And they are extremely frustrated. That's why more and more are turning away in disgust from the mainstream media to the internet. Websites can't be bombed like television and radio stations and it doesn't cost much to get the message out to people tired of the watered-down, politically-correct discussions about Islamic terrorism on the major media. People are turning to a source of information which, at least for now, is not controlled and colored by political and media propaganda.

I urge everyone to do some studying of Islam. You can get the Quran and read it yourself. Hundreds of other good sources are available on the internet. When you read Islamic material itself, especially the Quran, you will see a religion that is far different than what politicians say about it, and you will realize that it is far worse than anything you've ever imagined. Researching Islam is like digging a hole. The deeper you dig, the darker it gets.

The Quran in English?

Muslims say that no language can adequately express the meaning of the Quran but the language in which it was written – Arabic. This is a convenient excuse. It is another example of what Muslims do so well – hide their real intentions. It gives them the perfect cover for any objection you raise about something the Quran says. "Oh, you're reading from a translation, so you don't really understand the true meaning of the Quran." Well, the translations they themselves pass out to Americans, no matter how imprecise they may be, still teach violence toward infidels. More than that, the translation of the Quran into their lives for fourteen hundred years has been read by the whole world, and that translation is consistent and clear: Muhammed was a thieving terrorist who teaches his followers to use violence and deceit to spread the reign of Islam.

But Muslims may be right in another sense. The versions of the Quran they recommend are often diluted translations in which passages about warring against unbelievers are deliberately softened in order to convert Americans by stealth. For instance, compare these translations of Surah 47:4 of the Quran:

"Therefore, when ye meet the unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; at length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them)." This is from The Meaning of the Holy Quran, translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872-1948). When I visited a mosque, this was the translation given and recommended.

"When ye encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads, until ye have made a great slaughter among them: and bind them in bonds." This is from The Koran: Commonly called the Alkoran of Mohammed translated by George Sale in 1883. Not surprisingly, Yusaf Ali condemned Sale's translation in the preface to his own (p. xix).