THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
READERS' VIEWS -- EMAIL
RE: ISLAM, THE KORAN, & JIHAD
December 10, 2002
To whom it may concern.
I am a student from the United Kingdom. I have found your website very helpful with the research I need to do in my college project on politics.
First of all, I wish to ask you the translation of "Holy War" into Arabic, if you know. I do know that Jihad means "struggle" or "to strive," which I have found through basic critical analysis, as I am a media student. (To back-up arguments, I must have facts and evidence, not just my opinion, as my sources.) To distinguish the context of the term "Jihad" one must look to theology, especially the Koran, and not what we see in the media, which is targeted to the public. The public has an opinion, based on what? - The media. That is an agenda in itself. Christianity is a wonderful faith with great teachings, but, if we go back in time, one may think that we should be closer to the original social order--say, like the self-righteous men of the Crusades who looted every church they stood at on the mainland of Europe, as they went to fight all with a label, "Warriors Of God," fighting "The Holy War" and asserting that they could do whatever they wanted to do. Well, I ask, do we judge Christianity by the Crusaders? PLEASE don't change your mind when it suits you.
But of the cities of these people, which the lord thy God doth give thee for an inherit- ance, thou shalt SAVE ALIVE NOTHING THAT BREATHETH. Deuteronomy 20:16
He (Joshua the righteous) let NONE remain alive. Joshua 10:28
I came to set the earth on fire, and how I wish that it were ALREADY KINDLED. Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the world? No, NOT Peace, BUT DIVISION. Luke 12:49-51
People shouldn't frown on the faith because Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were Christian, or even Jimmy Swagart, the minister (may god forgive their sins).
Islam means peace and obedience to the will of God. What is God's will? It is tolerance with nature. Whosoever disrupts nature and peace is not of God--for example, the Crusaders, who slaughtered Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike because maybe they didn't fit in with the Caucasian / Roman ideal Europe. Had they followed the faith of Jesus (peace be upon him), they would not have thought and acted in this manner. I don't think Jesus looked like a Roman or a European-looking Jew. I am sure he would be classed as a Middle Eastern man who had a beard and clean white and long clothing, who wasn't omniscient, and who fell to his face in worship in the garden.
Is nature the plucking of thousands of Chinese in order to build an empire, using decep- tion, or taking thousands of African men and women from their home in order to enslave them? Is that what the Judaeo-Christian faith has taught us to do and point fingers to others who don't even follow the religion we label them as. I love America, its democracy and freedom of choice, and its choice of presidents such as Truman, who democratically NUKED Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Bushes, who set Saddam to walk free, as they bombed the people of Iraq and took their OIL Long live the capitalists, or whoever owns the banks. This is the opposite of peace
Truman, Arafat, Nukes, Stones, Democracy. No hands to raise.
Judge not that ye be not judged, HEY!
So, what has Hitler, Saddam, Mussolini, Yasser Arafat, Bush, Blair, and Sharon have in common? Well, they all are righteous religious leaders, of course, who represent their faiths. Or, are they not?
Well, Islam gave rights to women, while, even hundreds of years afterwards, women weren't allowed to talk in church, as prescribed by the Good Book.
Islam gave rights to Black people. This may burn the eyes and ears of many Americans.
Islam invented medicine and surgery (as in Cordoba), chemistry, and pharmaceutical science. Islam brought the works of the Greek philosophers to the modern world. In Spain, Jews and Christians were comfortable under the rule of Muslims, who treated Jews and Christians like the brothers that they are.
All in the name of God the Most Merciful most Kind.
If a man does something immoral, can he blame his faith? I know a Muslim can't, be- cause, if he were to kill, he is not a Muslim. But the people of the free Western media think otherwise. They are free, yet they are very uncritical in their thinking. The American people live a matrix.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, with mostly women converts in the United Kingdom. Islam is the fastest growing religion among university students, among normal people who are not couch potatoes or trailer trash, and among top scientists in Europe and in other places around the world. Those of you who give up alcohol, woman- ising, adultery and deception, all of which may often be linked to contemporary American presidents and other Western leaders, I recommend that you reconsider yous views and your groundless claims regarding the faith of Islam, which is not the same as the ideolo- gy of the leaders of the international terrorist movement, nor does Islam have any link to them. We Muslims are peace loving, but you Americans and Westerners have the audacity to sit back on your high horses and blame true Muslims for such occurrences as the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.A..
It is easy to POINT your finger at others.
PEACE BE WITH YOU
Ishtiaq Shah
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