Chapter 14
Various mental malformations are usually at play when an individual goes ‘Postal’ and kills randomly, but those kinds of disorders do not represent the Islamic character. With one fifth of the world’s population Muslim, it is impossible to characterize the appeal of Jihad to hundreds of millions as a psychological disorder. On the other hand, mental and emotional forces at play leading to large groups becoming brainwashed to a single cause have been characterized in other gang, tribal, nationalistic, and religious cults, and extrapolations of those ‘cause and effect’ examples certainly appear to apply to Islam.
It is no accident that many rituals practiced in Islam are centered on violent or war-like activities. Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) is one of Islam's most important annual holidays where every family participates in the ritualistic slaughter of animals by slicing the creature’s throat. While western men might help a son with the distasteful task of cleaning a fish, Muslim fathers involve their young sons in the bloody gruesome practice of slaughtering a large animal. Such a spectacle desensitizes its participants to the sight of pain, blood and death, serving to prepare young Muslims to carry out the very nasty work of Jihad against human beings. A 10-day festival called Ashura also appears designed to prepare Shiites for martyrdom. In it, participants of all ages slash their foreheads with swords, beat their breasts in penance, and flagellate themselves with chains and whips until the streets are stained with their blood. An attempt to describe other factors that induce a devout Muslim to kill in the cause of Jihad will be further outlined in this chapter.
The Victim de-Humanization factor:
The principals governing Muslim relationships with others is vital to militant Islam because in all genocidal activities to date, grooming killers to first dehumanize victims in their minds is an important prerequisite. The indoctrination in sacred script and official publications and media creates the erroneous belief that Americans, Jews, Hindus, and other non-Muslims are not human beings in the same sense as Muslims, and can and should be slaughtered with impunity.
With regard to the concept of equality, the idea is unacceptable to Islam. For in all forms of Islamic thought and practice, the non-believer cannot be the equal of the believer. A basic principle of Islamism holds that humanity is divided according to a strict hierarchy of worth. At the top of this hierarchy are free Muslim males, the cream of humanity. Below them, in descending order of humanity, are: Muslim male slaves, free Muslim women, Muslim female slaves, the males of the "People of the Book" (Jews and Christians), and, then, the female of the ‘People of the Book’. Finally, the rest of humanity comes in dead last (excuse the pun); because they lack a soul they are regarded as worthless having no rights whatsoever. This unfortunate final grouping includes Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, and others. But before Jews and Christians celebrate escaping last-place in this uniquely Islamic popularity contest, the fine print should first be carefully studied. Quotes referencing Christians and Jews from the Qur’an include: – "Worst of Creatures, Perverse, and Friends of Satan". The clear direction from Muhammad appears to be that Muslims are not allowed to even be friends or take favors from Jews and Christians, unless that devotion/tax is extracted by force or threat of force. Christians and Jews then and now hold a special place in Islamic theology, and are presented in a hateful manner in the Qur’an and in modern Islamic theology today. In the end they were regarded with contempt by Muhammad, the final words reported from the mouth of the dying Prophet were a curse on them "Allah's damnation be on the Jews and the Christians …."
98:6 Verily, those who disbelieve (in the religion of Islam, the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad) from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikun will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.
5:51 O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as Auliya' (friends, protectors, helpers, etc.), they are but Auliya' to one another. And if any amongst you takes them as Auliya', then surely he is one of them. Verily, Allah guides not those people who are the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong­doers and unjust).
Many who have known devout followers of Allah have felt the distance between themselves and their associates. This anti-social philosophy also goes a long way to explain the experiences of many women who have married Muslims, only to be turned into slaves or otherwise treated harshly. In the officially ‘state sponsored’ Wahhabi controlled elementary schools in Saudi Arabia (our alleged ally in the war on terror), there is a fifth-grade lesson book that reads as follows: "It is forbidden for a Muslim to be a friend of one who does not believe in Allah and his Messenger or who fights the Islamic religion. God has severed the [link of] friendship between Muslims and infidels. The Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother-in-belief, while the infidel, even if he is your brother of kin, is your enemy by religion." It is the Qur’an itself that directs Muslims to break friendship and business ties and other allegiances. The Qur’an even takes this a step further.
58:22 You (O Muhammad) will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), even though they were their fathers, or their sons, or their brothers, or their kindred (people). For such He has written Faith in their hearts, and strengthened them with Ruh (proofs, light and true guidance) from Himself. And We will admit them to Gardens (Paradise) under which rivers flow, to dwell therein (forever). Allah is pleased with them, and they with Him. They are the Party of Allah. Verily, it is the Party of Allah that will be the successful.
This shows that even family blood ties are to be broken in the cause of Islam, sometimes causing orthodox Muslims to fight and kill their own relatives if they reject Muhammad’s rule. Family ties, devotions, and sensibilities form the backbone of Western civilizations, from which we derive our strength and teach morality. In Islam, even normal, natural family bonds are subservient and must yield to Muhammad’s vision of Islam. This explains why, in many Muslim communities and households, family member are expected to police the acts, thoughts, and expressions of other household members. On a slightly broader scale, communities are expected to monitor the conduct of families in their neighborhoods. So in Islamic lands, the control structure in place extends from the highest branches of the government (including the Judiciary), to the lowliest family member. The consequences imposed for failure to support the official family, neighborhood, tribal, national policy with respect to violent Jihad vary by tribe and region, but are often quite brutal. Here is some more supporting Muslim opinion on the subject:
"O believers, do not treat your fathers and brothers as your friends, if they prefer unbelief to belief, whosoever of you takes them for friends, they are evil-doers." (Repentance: 20)
"Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends.... whoso does that belongs not to God." (The House of Imram: 60)
"O believers, do not make friends with the Jews and Christians; whoso of you makes them his friend is one of them." (The Table: 55)
When one takes into consideration all that Muhammad asks of the faithful, the direction to have no Muslim friends makes perfect sense. It’s all part of the psychology of violence. Built-in natural human feelings of empathy and all impulses of conscience must first be overcome before an individual can perform an act of violence or treachery upon another. Normal feelings of affection, respect, and trust toward a friend would get in the way of a Jihadic action that might require the killing of that same friend. When Muhammad specifically tells followers not to develop personal relationships others it serves to dehumanize all non-Muslims. This philosophy and psychology, when internalized, is designed to groom the Muslim believer into becoming an effective, non-thinking, non-feeling Jihadist warrior (i.e. a killing machine). Objects of disdain are much easier to kill than real live, feeling human beings. Not exactly in line with their oft repeated claim that ‘Allah is most merciful, most forgiving, most loving and charitable’, but for some reason that contradiction does not seem to register. Certainly any personal dilemma resulting from such contradictions are easily dismissed once fully immersed in the blood-lust and lynch-mob mentality of Islamic militants. Apparently ‘most-merciful’ in their minds only applies to fellow Muslims and is not proffered to infidels, except perhaps to survivors who agree to pay the eternal ‘survivor tax’ (assuming you can wrap your mind around the concept of ‘kind enslavement’ or ‘merciful indentured-servitude’). From the perspective of non-brothers however, the Muslims personification of Allah seems awfully cruel, unforgiving, unmerciful, and unfeeling.
Islamic dehumanization of non-Muslims results in people innocently taking a tube in London, a train in Madrid, a plane in Washington, a bus in Jerusalem, or going to the theater in Moscow or a school in Beslan, to be wantonly murdered with nary a Muslim afterthought. Indeed videos like the beheadings of American civilians or mutilating their corpses invokes excitement, pleasure, and celebration in the Arab world, where they are replayed over and over to a demanding audience. The graphic video of the de-capitation murder of Nick Berg, while his faithful Muslim murders chant ‘Allah Akbar’ sickens human beings capable of empathy and normal human emotion, ...but is a spiritual religious experience to Islamists. It is pure stupidity to expect reform from individuals or cultures excited and thrilled at the images of such wanton violence and brutality as has been perpetrated by Osama and his ilk. One can study the culture and religion to understand in an abstract intellectual level the process of Islamic corruption of the individual psyche, but one cannot truly ‘understand’ the depth of animal depravity gripping the hearts and minds of these ‘new barbarians’ without trying to put yourself in their place and trying to think and feel as they do, but any attempting such methods of full immersion risk losing humanity in the journey, if not sanity.
The Full Immersion and Education factor:
The first step in any process wherein an individual surrenders personal will over to any cause is full immersion into the alternate doctrine and philosophy demanding the devotion, and separation from all competing realities. In keeping with this rule, the secrets of Islamic extremist group’s successes lie in the effectiveness of Islamic schools worldwide. The secret is embodied in millions of poor and impressionable boys kept entirely ignorant of the world and, for that matter, largely ignorant of all but one interpretation of Islam. These schools often manufacture young men who are the perfect Jihad machines. With support from governments, family, and cultural traditions, such schools continue to serve as Islam’s primary method of indoctrination. The Qur’an is recited, memorized, and then recited again. Considering the source material memorized, it is a simple, natural act for those so brainwashed to step out of such schools, pick up a weapon, and start killing infidels.
We all know (because it’s true and because it has been repeated so many times) that ‘repetition is the best teacher’. Repetition and consistency are indeed the best teachers, of which Islamic students receive heavy doses along with further reminders five times a day when called to prayer. For Muslims, daily prayers are not personal supplications where questions are asked or answers expected. The Islamic God is unapproachable and unknowable, and certainly above considering anything as mundane as individual needs or personal revelation. All instructions and answers are already contained in the scripture, word, and example of Muhammad, and it is the duty of Muslims to accept the Cleric or Imams explanation of how these unalterable revelations apply to their life issues today. As such daily prayers represent more declarations of compliance than typical supplications seeking help on a personal level. These personal devotionals, repeated five times a day, seem designed to be more chants to reinforce commitment to all Islamic principals and aims. Then there is the socio-emotional power of ‘group-think’ events. In many other Muslim group settings (Friday sermons, funerals, protests), the rapture of large gatherings raising arms and chanting ‘Allah Akbar’ have the same socio-emotional effect as the huge crowds in the early 1900’s raising arms, clicking heals and proclaiming ‘Heil Hitler!’ The otherwise weak and powerless individual gains power, acceptance, and respect by surrendering self to the group, thus cloaking that weakness with the perception of power that comes from affiliation with a group drunk on a sense of superiority and a divine mandate to make war.
The Overcoming Empathy factor:
Man is born with internal mechanisms intended to further both the individual and the species. Some of those mechanisms are emotional, including the natural tendency for empathy towards others. Empathy is the ability to see and feel things from the viewpoint of another. Empathy plays a critical role in persuading individuals to conduct their activities so as not to cause undo harm or pain in others. A person who has not lost the ability to feel empathy and compassion actually "feels" a portion of the anguish and pain experienced by a victim. A person so in tune with others responds by seeking relief for the victim, and in doing so also consoles his own empathetic suffering. Empathetic feelings are quite natural in children, increase with cognitive development, and are further sharpened when children are born and natural parental instincts become more active. A person who has lost the ability to feel empathy feels nothing at the sight and sound of fellow beings in anguish, and those who take pleasure at the suffering of others have deteriorated further into depravity and are said to suffer a dangerous form of mental and/or emotional illness (narcissism is a dangerous personality disorder characterized by the lack of empathy and self-deceit, which malady most of the worst despots in history have suffered from).
The Over-riding Conscience factor:
Other innate internal tendencies are also programmed in the human spirit, including longing for freedom, and our conscience. Conscience is defined as that internal moral sense which enables us to differentiate between right and wrong, and which lights the way for moral conduct. It is the gut feeling of rightness or wrongness, which grips ones heart as we act on the varied daily impulses that drive us. Normal empathy certainly plays a part in this internal compass, but conscience is cognitively and spiritually more significant than simple empathy. All these codes are ingrained in our minds and hearts and serve us individually and as a species, for without subjecting behavior to a common standard of vice and virtue, social evolution is not possible. This is the reason that even primitive societies have always had words denoting a differentiation between good and bad. Although societies do not all practiced universal standards of vice and virtue, yet it is well known that almost all communities have always had codes to acknowledge what was good and bad. Codes, for example, respecting others and their property, mutual fidelity, speaking the truth, keeping promises, respecting family ties, helping the poor, weak, and handicapped. These codes come into being in response to our innate conscience, and are generally considered signs of good morality. Since every one desires security of person and property, liberty to worship, fair trial, freedom of speech etc., these facts, over a period of time, rose to become what is called Human Rights. He who violates these rights is considered by developed nations to be an enemy of humankind.
The Islamic Superiority factor:
For a person to abandon internal standards guiding proper behavior towards others, forces or factors must first be applied to break down those natural internal clocks. There are many ways this can be accomplished in individuals and societies, and proven methodologies continue to be applied today with predictable results, as has indeed been the case with every political, national, or religious sect, which has ever behaved badly toward non-members or the non-privileged (including Islam). Islamic fundamentals preach innate superiority of Muslims over non-Muslims, social segregation, hatred of unbelievers, and elimination of dissenters through dominance, death and destruction. We turn to more quotes from the Qur’an to verify that conclusion:
Do not let non-Muslims enter mosques. They will go to hell. -Repentance: 17
ye who believe! The non-Muslims are unclean. So let them not come near the Inviolable Place of Worship. -Repentance: 28
ye who believe! Murder those of the disbelievers ...and let them find harshness in you. -Repentance: 123
Humiliate the non-Muslims. -Repentance: 29
Certainly, God is an enemy to the unbelievers. -The Cow: 90
God has cursed the unbelievers, and prepared for them a blazing hell. -The Confederates: 60
Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends.... whoso does that belongs not to God. -The House of Imram: 60
Moslems are hard against the unbelievers, merciful to one another. -Victory: 25
Muhammad has been sent by God with the religion of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religions. -Private Apartments: 28
Muslims are the best of all nations. -House of Imram: 110
A Muslim naturally believes in all such Qur’anic verses, pounded into his mind and spirit from childhood, which then warps his social outlook as he quickly becomes a narrow-minded sectarian. This psychological approach is the fountain of all fundamentalisms. It is a myth to say that Islam advocates good relationship with People of the Book (Jews and Christians). If this were not enough, one could refer the matter to the sayings of the Prophet. Hadith, Chapter 71 of SAHIH MUSLIM clearly states that Islam is the religion for all humanity and abrogates (overrides, replaces) all others. Simply stated it means that Muslims are superior to non-Muslims and have the birthright to dominate them. This is why Islam calls itself Din-e-Ghalib, the religion of dominance.
Obviously, believers from the best religion are superior to other people, and Muslim fundamentalists must fully assimilate this sense of superiority before they can act without natural conscience against inferior beings or objects. As previously mentioned, step-1 for any murderer is to first dehumanize the victim in his or her own mind. This fundamental Islamic sense of superiority, then, is step-2, and becomes the foundation of Islamic morality, over time supplanting or abrogating all superior natural or built-in instincts.
The Sex/Lust factor:
For the entire history of mankind, pirates, bandits, and armies have attracted young men to their ranks implicitly or explicitly advertising opportunities for rape and plunder, but Islam adds a twist to this base attraction. To succeed in Jihad is not only to gain honor, booty, and privilege in this life, but also in the next. To further illuminate the powerful force that is driving young men to Jihad we must ask …what is this hoped for paradise? Muslim scholars are usually embarrassed by this question and some even pretend that it is not physical but a condition of the mind. But in truth ‘Islamic Paradise’ is the chief temptation for enjoining active participation in Jihad, especially for young men. The reason that the Qur’an explains it so well and in such detail is that it was (and is) intended as a primary recruitment tool. The ‘revelations’ came at the beginning of Muhammad’s prophetic journeys, as he was starting the process of gathering young men into armies to do his bidding. Descriptions of Paradise describe luxurious surroundings dwelt in by Houris and also Ghilman. Houris are the most beautiful ever-young virgins with wide, flexing eyes and swelling bosoms. Ghilman are the immortal young boys, pretty like pearls, clothed in green silk and brocade an embellished with bracelets of silver (apparently to satisfy those preferring the 'alternate' lifestyle). Allah guarantees every believing man no fewer than seventy Houris and many Ghilmans. To make sure that the lucky fellow can cope with them, Allah will increase his virility a hundred-fold! Individual lust and desire to dwell in such surroundings is a driving force justifying Islamic morality, and why Muslims (usually depressed and deprived as a result of Islam), are ready to practice a twisted morality based on violence. Those who surrender their psyches to the seduction of Jihadic violence fully expect to eat celestial food, drink pure wine, and enjoy the carnal company of divine consorts. Their staunch belief in the intercessory powers of the Prophet Muhammad (his authority to accommodate his followers in paradise irrespective of what they may have done), inspire them to follow his example into the ranks of Jihadic warriors. It’s a win-win proposition … succeed and enjoy the carnal benefits of power, rape and plunder in both this life and the next, …or fail and enjoy all you lust after in the next life. Either way your reward is sure and guaranteed. Allah has promised all sorts of rewards, gluttony, and unlimited sex to Muslim men who kill unbelievers in his name. He promises that in the fight for His cause whether a man kills or is killed he will return to the garden of Paradise, where Allah will "wed us with Houris (celestial virgins) pure beautiful ones", and unite us with large-eyed beautiful ones while we recline on our thrones set in lines. In that glorious place Jihadists are promised to eat and drink pleasantly for what they did, and have sex with "boys like hidden pearls", and "youth never altering in age like scattered pearls". (See Qur’an 9:111, 56:54, 56:20, 56:19, 56:24, 76:19, and The Tidings: 30)
The only way to miss out on all this great stuff (and end up in fiery hell) is to fail to engage in Muslim violence against non-believers. Allah warned that: "Unless we go forth, (for Jihad) He will punish us with a grievous penalty, and put others in our place" (Qur'an 9:39). In these ways, through fear, false faith, greed, and lust, Islam is driven and inspired into the conscience of individuals, manifesting itself in gross crimes against humanity worldwide. After the people of Taif - the last major Arab City to resist Islam - surrendered in February, 631 C.E., to escape horrors of the siege, Muhammad was presented with three beautiful women; he gave one of them "to Ali, another to Usman and the third to Omar." To realize the significance of this episode, one ought to remember that both Ali and Usman were his sons-in-law and Omar was his father-in-law.
Muhammad constantly promised men fighting for his fledgling movement that if they die fighting Allah will reward them with a “virgin-rich” Garden (Suras 44:51-56; 52:17-29; 55:46-78). The more fighters he lost in battle, the more explicit the descriptions became. The heavenly trick worked then, and amazingly still works today, despite the impossibility of enjoying the physical sex act with no physical body. But will the God of all men comply with murderers demands for heavenly consorts upon their arrival into the spirit world after death, or will they simply be laughed at as they are escorted to their spiritual prison cells? You do the math.
The Self Loathing factor:
With their carefully cultivated sense of superiority, a gnawing sense of inferiority persists. As described in the chapter on Islamic Politics and Economics, it remains impossible for Islamic lands to compete with western economies and political freedoms. All attempts to 'catch up' within any Islamic context continue to fail. But for all their hatreds of the West, most Muslims are westernized to some degree, which leads to some degree of self-hatred. Western wear is the preferred dress for mass events involving chanting “Death to America”, and those same young men can be found cuing at embassies seeking a better life in Western lands. Even Osama dresses half-Western, with his reliance on Western inventions total. Islamists are totally dependant on Western inventions and even democracy itself for the means to organize, communicate, and attack its benefactors. So there is day to day humiliation of individuals, with no practical way out, whose rage and jealousies become further amplified by officially sanctioned conspiracy theories. Within these constructs and this mindset, an element of personal self-loathing exists and grows in Muslim minds. When combined with the idea that victims are always already guilty by virtue of unbelief and/or opposition to Muhammad, otherwise rational Muslims transform themselves into Jihadists when they readily accept that the correct response to this conundrum is murder.
Blind Allegiance to Muhammad factor:
As every student of psychology knows, the purpose of any fundamentalism is to secure blind following from its adherents. This is possible when one is conditioned to a certain object or goal which begins to rank as the sole purpose of their lives. As a result, the purpose begins to overrule the method of acquisition; whatever secures it is good and whatever obstructs it is bad. In a nutshell, people must stop thinking for themselves, especially in terms of morality. As the Marxists brainwashed people in the name of proletarianism and what it stood for, Muslims have been conditioned to the person of the Prophet Muhammad, who is projected as the savior of his followers, having complete power to find them permanent residence in paradise (the abode of luxury, love making and lasciviousness). For total obedience, they are at liberty to indulge in the most convenient morality such as dishonesty, rape, murder, theft, and treason without losing their chance of entering a paradise that has been absolutely guaranteed by their faith in the Prophet.
For those properly conditioned, the use of violence for securing territorial and political advantage over non-Muslims then becomes the sole standard of Islamic morality against which such acts can be favorably judged (which explains the Palestinian prison systems ‘revolving-door’ concept for fellow Muslims caught committing crimes against Israelis). Islam declares Muhammad as the final and greatest of all prophets, and reverence for him and his methods has become an article of faith. A Muslim unwilling to force Islam on others is considered deficient in belief. As a result, every Muslim looks for an opportunity to demonstrate the magnitude of his faith by molesting non-Muslims, and even attacking fellow-brothers who express less bigotry. More Qur’anic verses clearly states that Jihad is a definite exchange proposition for Muslims (i.e. paradise for killing non-Muslims or getting killed in the process of Jihad).
"Allah has bought from the faithful theirselves and their belongings against the gift of paradise; they fight in the way of Allah; they kill and are killed." (Repentance: 110)
A HADITH (the saying of the Prophet Muhammad) declares: "Know that Paradise is under the shades of swords." (Sahih Bokhari, Ch. 22: 73)
Islamic terrorist organizations are among the most self-defeating and destructive because they send their own young to be killed under the guise of martyrdom while attacking and murdering the innocent. Leaders and Imams promote such brutality consciously as a tactical tool, but the vicious psychological undercurrent supporting such vile behavior comes from strait from Islam.
The Group-think factor:
Because no good can come from outside Islamic tenants and peoples, without Islam a Muslim is in danger of losing his sense of belonging to anything of value. With everything else outside of Islam shut-out due to being unclean or unworthy, Muslims would be completely lost if deprived of their Islamic identity and connections, and so do not dare even think of abandoning their ‘faith’. Along with the threat of fiery hell, a possible death sentence in this life awaits Muslims who oppose Islamic methods and goals, which is why even the thought of such heresy invokes feelings of sheer panic to most Muslims. Being a member of the Islamic Umma gives him strength, confidence, and a sense of purpose and superiority that otherwise he wouldn’t have. This false sense of superiority then becomes an emotional and psychological trap. Those caught in this web are saddled with a self-image propped up only by words and bravado having no foundation in truth. When coupled with fear and insecurity, this image is what leads otherwise normal human beings into egregious thinking errors resulting in poor judgment, including decisions to engage in or support bigotry, and eventually …murder.
History teaches us that groups of people, or sometimes even an entire nation, can suffer from dangerous delusions. One need only cast a look back at the last century when millions of Germans believed they were the "Master Race" and the Japanese believed their emperor was a living god and the conquest of Asia was their destiny. For several decades, most Russians were brainwashed into believing that Communism was the ideal social/economic system, oblivious or ambivalent of the millions who died in Soviet gulags and their own spiritual bankruptcy. Now, despite an even longer history of defeat and despotism, fundamentalist Muslims around the world are experiencing pretty much the same kind of mass delusion, believing that it is Islam’s destiny is to dominate and rule the entire world.
The ‘Resistance is Futile’ factor:
As will be seen in subsequent chapters on Islamic politics and economics, there also exists within its economic and political structures, along with these psychological and social forces at play, a certain system of interdependency which guarantees the perpetuation of the Islamic order. These interdependencies act to compel continued individual participation in a society so organized. To put it another way, the entire social, political, psychological, economic, and religious structures and practices exert significant force to coerce involvement of its members, and to perpetuate its existence. It is literally a trap; in any way you view it, with options for escape nearly impossible. For poor Muslims who know no other way, it seems the only way to escape the kind of despair guaranteed to exist in Islamic societies is by and through the sword. Consider the following points collectively:
Hate is taught from birth, and Muslims are mandated to expand Islam.
You live in continual fear because someone might accuse you of collaborating, or of being a ‘bad Muslim’.
You must support and fund your cleric and his causes, because not supporting the organization will certainly mean your family being economically/socially cut off, if not brutally dealt with.
You can't leave the organization and ‘best’ social order to join another; such treason is punishable by death.
Any act or expression of dissent is tagged as an insult to Muslims, or blasphemous, with perilous repercussions.
Fear destroys faith, without faith nothing permanent is begun or built and everyone is guaranteed to live in a miserable impoverished fearful condition.
Unable to criticize the ‘best religion’ your miserable condition must be blamed on unbelievers.
The only way to remain safe, or to gain any advantage in Islamic lands, is to support and/or participate in the process of Islam’s often-violent methods of expansion.
Killing unbelievers (or bad Muslims) or being killed in the process is the only offer that guaranties paradise, and so is the only way out of your miserable existence.
In summary, Muslims suffer from a strong sense of superiority, despite technical and intellectual inferiority. This leads to Self-hatred caused by recognition of their actual state of inferiority as well as the impurity of their own desires. No practical means of escape from genuine and never ending humiliations, combined with the promise of rewards (monetary, honor, and sensual), in this life and/or the next.
So it is, with personal free agency surrendered to Islamic causes, Muslims find themselves between a rock and a hard place. In reality they can escape the spiral of despair, but they do not know it. They are held to their limited and perverse options by a combination of fear and ignorance. Did the one God of the universe create this social order that removes both personal choice and culpability for killing others, and which perpetuates misery and despair forever? Is this the final, best, and greatest religion Muslims claim it is? If not God, then who created this perfect secret society where you must kill or be killed to be saved?
Chapter 15
History occurred Jan 2005 in the Middle East with the initial Iraqi elections. Emotions ran high with the large turnout, with purple stained fingers now a symbol of democratic success. Iraqis and Americans alike sacrificed dearly for the future hopes of a suppressed, persecuted people. The chief question now is whether principals of freedom, tolerance, and equal rights can take permanent root in Islamic lands and reform Jihadists. Unfortunately, the possibility exists that such aspirations may be nave in the long term. The Mullahs in Iran continue to demonstrate that a violent, unpopular, ruthless minority can successfully frustrate the hopes and aspirations of the majority. Lebanon has also shown that it takes just a handful of Islamic anarchists to ruin a society, even when most citizens want progress and prosperity. Even the hold of secularists in Turkey remains tenuous. Democratic regimes built up in Afghanistan and Iraq will likely remain only as long as Western troops are present to protect them, and are in danger of quickly evaporating without that massive support. Any future prediction not firmly founded in actual history is simply a wish.
Any review of the Qur’an and history shows that Muhammad taught and led a totalitarian movement (enforced by the sword) strikingly similar to those led by other fascists and despots in recent history. Political Islam compares very well to any totalitarianism system of government including fascism, communism, and imperialism. It is simply indisputable that Islamist fundamentalism shares with other totalitarian movements a commitment to centralized political power and economic control. Islam, by its own definition and design, is a growth industry designed to mobilize the masses to score political victories, subvert host governments, and establish Islamic domination. Although it attempts to appropriate a particular religious look and feel, at bottom all forms of Islamist totalitarianism are not religious (spiritual) movements. Pure Islam is first and foremost a political movement – a quest for political power for the express purpose of physically subjugating all people everywhere. In both its totalitarian methods and global goals, fundamentalist Islam is even more intimidating than both fascism and communism, and so political Islam is the true successor to those largely spent movements. Militant Islam rises in full ascendancy from the ashes of earlier 20th century failed/discredited systems like the fabled Phoenix. This is happening before our eyes due in no small part to the fact that both good manners and the PC police prohibit disparaging certain religions, and Islam in particular.
Islamic totalitarianism is obsessed with worldly power and influence. Islamic governments desire not only to dictate regional politics, but also to dominate the West at every game of worldly success and power. Radical fundamentalists are not content with mere rejection of the West’s alleged vices. If that were all there was to it, they might simply do what the Amish have done and stage a retreat from wickedness. But the Islamic mandate is not about building a few mosques, schools, clinics, or community centers to meet the needs of Muslim congregations, but rather to change existing societies into Islamic societies, to make Islam both dominate and supreme. Islam’s totalitarian mantra and credo strikingly similar to pure secular ideologies more easily identified.
Islam’s goal is to overthrow all competing governments and establish the Khalifat. The utopian fantasy of one seamless totalitarian state is a common thread that unites all radical movements of all ages. The Islamic utopian blueprint calls for a Caliph (a glorified Mullah) to wield the Islamic sword of power in one seamless totalitarian worldwide state. This outrageous fantasy pre-dates and has survived all relatively more modern failed political experiments. Today, extremists easily extract the appropriate language (found throughout all Islamic sacred texts) to sell the concept that the Qur’an insists that all nations must be fought until they embrace Islam. Despite claims otherwise, the most violent passages have not been abrogated by more recent doctrine from Muhammad. The Qur’an is the immutable and unalterable word of God, so the movement has been permanently cast into the cement of an unalterable mandate, which is what has given it unusual durability. The doctrine of Jihad and Jizya essentially means building the Islamic Empire by denying infidels all rights except the right to serve their Muslim masters. The secret of Islam’s survival and longevity lies in both the deceptive cloak it wears in the form of a religion, and in the fact that economic weakness is always inherited by states based on its tenants. Up until the age of oil this has made Islamic countries appear relatively unthreatening compared to more modern industrialized countries with more powerful economies and the armies that can be built thereby.
By any historical definition, bin Laden, the Taliban, and all other Islamic militants can be accurately described as fascists. As violent devotees of Islam, they believe in the innate superiority of a fanatical elite, anxious to torture, jail, and kill any who disagree. Non-Muslims of any religion, women, homosexuals, are all dehumanized as their innate and natural inferiors. Hitler also believed he was the leader of the master race destined to rule the world, blaming all Germany's problems on Jews and Western governments. Hitler for a time managed to convince most Germans it was not a crime to kill all who did not fit into his Arian mold of the 'perfect human', because they were inferior and sub-human, thus leading to millions of deaths and destruction previously unimaginable. Hitler was a threat to the world many years before a world blinded by pacifism and relativism finally realized that self-preservation dictated he must be fought and destroyed. Hitler justified heinous acts in his efforts to make the Third Reich the ‘only’ Reich, just as Muhammad and militants justify anything to make the entire world bow to Islam. The Nazis cleverly manipulated the German people's collective frustration into a pervasive sense of victimization. Once this victimization psychosis was fully accepted, the Nazis then offered the answer; entitlement, under the guise of superiority and social justice. Properly indoctrinated and incited, Germans readily embraced their inherent superiority and forcefully claimed their entitled power, obliterating or enslaving all opposition. As Germany became more powerful and acted more and more irrationally towards neighbors, elitists and appeasers of the day refused to properly identify the gathering threat. Seventy years later ...it’s Deja vu, all over again. In the twentieth century, genocidal totalitarian maniacs wore swastika armbands and herded members of supposedly inferior races into death camps shouting, "Heil Hitler!" In the twenty-first century, they wear black pajamas and masks, decapitate civilians, shoot children in the back, and plow hijacked airplanes into buildings shouting, "Allahu Akbar!"
1400 years of history also demonstrate that Islam is imperialist, in that it seeks perpetual humiliation of non-Muslims through a system of everlasting subjugation and payment of tribute. This method of dominating and subjugating a people for national gain (through booty and tribute) is what is known as pure Imperialism …by definition! Imperialism is the campaign to establish of economic and political hegemony over her conquered. Murder and plunder of other nations for booty by the Romans, the Persians in Iran, the Mughals, the Turks, the Spanish in Central/South America, or the British, was horrific for the exploited. Though dressed in religious garb and chanting ‘God is Great!’ …the Islamic beast of Imperialism is just as ugly and evil as any other in the history of man. Though Islamic leaders claim to be pious representatives of God acting on divine instruction, it does not change the practical facts and consequences to the conquered peoples and lands. Of course, the practice of Imperialism is not an Arabian invention, murder and plunder of other nations for booty pre-dates Muhammad’s adaptation of the practice for ‘religious’ purposes. But where all other imperialist movements have waned with enlightenment, the decay of regional powers, or the death of individuals, Islam’s imperialist movement has amazingly survived and thrived these last 1400 years, which is the only thing that makes it unique. Everything about Imperialism is self-serving and at other nations expense, nothing about it is isolationist, self-protective, pacifist, or harmless. Though presenting itself in religious garb demanding respect and protection, Islamic Imperialists practice Jihad more to expand Islam than to protect it. Islam has one goal, and that is to overthrow all competing governments (including European) and establish the Khalifat. Nothing is more dangerous to weaker competing forms of governance than Imperialism.
There are also many similarities between fundamental Islamists and die-hard communists. Both of these groups abhor highly educated thinkers and scholars, essentially forbidding rational thinking that does not support their ideologies. In the early 1960s, as part of the ‘Cultural Revolution’, the Chinese Maoist regime killed many intellectuals and scholars, virtually suppressing most higher education for decades. In place of rational thought and real education, they set up institutions to study Marxism and Maoism. Mao’s "Red Book" became a Bible to his subjects, a focus of education with memorizations required. Contrast this with Iran, where Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime killed millions of intellectuals, scholars, and rational thinkers right after the Islamic revolution. Like the communist Chinese, the Iranian fundamentalist government closed universities for three years and in their place advanced schools emphasizing religious indoctrination. Memorization of the Qur’an became a national imperative. Because communists possess a hatred of the capitalist West, they supported the Iranian fundamentalists in their rage against America. Despite similarities in their methods and anti-western / anti-capitalist rhetoric, these two competing ideologies did get along very well once their common enemy was removed. In the aftermath of Shah’s removal from Teheran, the Mullahs and their Islamic henchmen killed nearly all communist who helped bring them into power, right along with other infidels and intellectuals. To Islamists in Iran, communism was simply a tool to be used to secure power. While they were being used by Islamists, poor communists did not imagine they would be killed by their Islamic ‘comrades’. Although most were killed, in a twist of irony a few were able to save themselves by escaping to the evil capitalist West. Remaining and emerging thinkers and intellectuals now struggle to escape their own homeland. [Note: Islamists are currently using liberal democrats in the same way in their efforts to bring down conservatives acting in opposition to Islamic hegemony.]
Though they differ in their methods of control, German Nazism, Italian Fascism, Japanese Imperialism, Stalinist/Maoist Communism, and now Islamic Fundamentalism are all cut from the same totalitarian cloth. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001 Sixth Edition defines totalitarianism as follows:
"A modern autocratic government in which the state involves itself in all facets of society, including the daily life of its citizens. A totalitarian government seeks to control not only all economic/political matters, but also the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population, erasing the distinction between state and society. The citizen’s duty to the state becomes the primary concern of the community, and the goal of the state is the replacement of existing society with a perfect society".
In Berlin in 1939, you would be hard pressed to find a German who did not sincerely believe in the superiority of Arian genetics. The Japanese similarly all originally truly believed in the divinity of their emperor and superior rights/standings of their native people, as did comrades following Iosif Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, and Genghis Khan at the peak of their influence. Another common thread in all these theologies is the fundamental belief of the superiority of their system of living -and- their inherit right to impose it on others by any means necessary. This thread is duplicated perfectly in the fundamental practices and beliefs of all of Islam, moderate and extremist. Such thinking errors are rampant, and unfortunately at this stage in cultural development, probably completely intractable.
Unlike Constitutional democracy in the US, there is no cultural or legal mandate for separation of church and state in Islamic states, making all forms of secular democracy an alien and hostile concept to Muslim culture and law. Women have few rights, even against their husbands, who may legally beat their wives and concubines. Enslaving infidels and raping infidel women are also justified under Qur’anic law (and still occur in some Muslim lands). Grotesque punishments for crimes (beheadings and such) are not medieval holdovers; on the contrary, they will forever be part of authentic Islam as long as the Qur’an is revered as the perfect Word of Allah. The problem is that for all its schisms, sects, and multiplicity of voices, Islam’s (often-violent) expansionist elements are firmly rooted in its central texts. Following these tenants strictly, Islam cannot be other than a religion of violence, and any system of governance based on it must always be oppressive by Western standards (no principles of tolerance, no religious freedom, and no laws protecting equality or individuality). In Islam, all aspects of personal, religious, and political life become merged. This template has resulted in a series of various despots, and corrupt monarchies or Mullahs, and a few Soviet-style state autocracies imposed on tribal societies in the Arab world. Any attempt to throw off the prescribed and accepted Islamic templates are fought vigorously by Jihadists. Beirut Lebanon was briefly a shining example of co-existence between Muslims and other ethnic groups, and a showcase of prosperity, until the fundamentalists took control and turned it into a nightmarish quagmire of terror and oppression. As the people slid backward in every way imaginable, affluent educated Lebanese seemed powerless to prevent the calamity. Few dared risked life, limb, and eternal Islamic hell to resist fundamentalist goals.
We seek out and fight terrorists, yet overall we ignore the religious infrastructure that created them. Three and years since 9/11, the theology remains largely immune from challenge because it calls itself a religion. If Adolph Hitler had called Nazism a religion, would we have been similarly disposed and refrained from criticizing Nazi credos? Note that in previous conflicts success meant we did not support or excuse ‘moderate’ Nazis, Fascists, Imperialists, or Communists …all followers and supporters of the dangerous philosophies were brought low in total war. From 1933 onward, anyone wearing a swastika and reciting from Mein Kampf would be immediately recognized as a potentially dangerous enemy of freedom and democracy. Americans need to become fully acquainted with the aspirations, methods, and political philosophy contained in the Qur’an adopted by those who worship the man who wrote that manifesto, which unfortunately are no less dangerous.
Another point that needs to be made is that Islam is not initially opposed to democratic processes in non-Islamic countries. To orthodox Muslims in non-Muslim lands, democracy represents a convenient tool, not an enemy. Remember both Hitler and Khomeini came to rule through democratic means, but once in power they killed the process that elevated them to power. Now, instead of opposing democracy, the Shiite Mullahs of Iraq have wisely made good use of the elections to secure near total power and control. Through democratic means Islam seeks opportunity through discontent, deception, conversions, and/or demographics to seize control of government institutions, and then gradually to introduce ‘reforms’ until the region is subject to every form of Islamic manipulation and governance. In democracies under siege, non-Muslims are not mistreated initially. But as Islamists power grows, freedoms and protections quickly erode and then persecution begins. This modus operandi is the template Muhammad taught by example in conquering the indigenous people in Medina and Mecca. This is peaceful Islam. Those countries that prove resistant to such methods are subject to more violent forms of Jihad to weaken them to the point that they accept and submit to the dictates of Muslim political ambitions. Ultimately, Islam offers only three options to non-believers …convert, pay Jizya (become slaves to superior Islamic masters), or die. The term "Islamic democracy" is an oxymoron, like "Tolerant Bigot", "Honest Falsehood", "Capitalistic Communism", or "Humane War". Although democracy has room for a defanged Islam not bent on destroying it, unfortunately real Islam leaves no room for democratic principals. When principals of free speech and human rights are genuinely adopted, the baby it delivers is free-will and free-enterprise, which then promotes and protects individual progress. All of these positive progressive concepts represent a direct threat to the elaborate control structures ensuring Islamic power over the masses.
Until it becomes the dominant political force controlling courts, police, and the military, the form Islam takes appears as a harmless religion to the uninformed, but in reality the faith is contaminated with all the perversions, lusts, and control mechanisms of its secular cousins. Cleverly masked by religious trappings, Islamic totalitarianism in democracies is easily able to hide behind the extended civil liberties and protections offered to actual religions. In this setting it has found fertile ground and has had a free hand to continue its mischief, since criticizing a ‘religion’ is considered ‘bad form’ and unacceptable in all societies. However, as its worldwide members continue in unison to act in treasonous and warlike ways, the movement will likely eventually be reclassified as the dangerous political movement it actually is. When that reclassification is finally made, it will signal the 'beginning of the end' to Islamic deception and expansion. As their prophet Muhammad correctly observed, "War is deception", and removing an opponent’s ability to succeed at deceit renders it much less potent and successful in warlike activities. The biggest deception of all being played out on the West is the claim that Islam represents a benevolent religion deserving of the usual respect and protections.
Once taking power through whatever means, the grip of Islamic politics is iron tight. Instead of clicking heals and proclaiming "Heil Hitler", Muslims must bow and recite requisite prayers five times a day and proclaim "Allahu Akbar" on demand (the prayers are not supplications, simply recitations designed to reinforce complete devotion to Islam and all her ways). The first things to go in conquered lands are certain freedoms of speech, writ, and religion. German Nazism, Italian fascism, Japanese militarism, Stalinist Communism, and now Islamic fundamentalism have always been and will always be enemies of free speech and religious tolerance, because those concepts represent a direct threat to indoctrination and control of the masses. Control and power are what is at stake, and evil knows very well that Truth and Knowledge are the antithesis and antidote of totalitarianism. Final and permanent victory in the War on Islamic terror cannot occur until the dangerous ideologically is recognized and fought with the same vigor Islamic militancy is opposed militarily. As a first step, schools and universities need to start teaching American kids (including Muslims) all about real history and real Islam, instead of the propaganda it currently sells our children. Tenured or not, Communist, Islamist, and all apologists promoting misinformation and propaganda need to be exposed and expelled. The last thing we need is colleges and universities pumping out more Islamic brown shirts. In the case of Islam, excessive diversity is irresponsible and means only one thing …national suicide.
Until -all- Muslims abandon the philosophy of violent Islamic Jihad, survival dictates that we must protect ourselves from militants committed to, and engaged in, such vile activities. To do so we must seek and apply the rule of law, but it would also be wise to present alternate social, religious, economic and political options to the many good, kind-hearted Muslims living among us still bound to what amounts to a totalitarianism system deliberately disguised as a religion of peace. But in its conduct with non-Muslims over time, that religious disguise is becoming paper-thin, becoming even more translucent daily as the evidence against it continues to mount.
The renowned scholar Bernard Lewis tells us that Arabia was once, by middle-age standards, a great civilization. For reasons to be explored here, the hard facts on the ground today are that economies in predominately Islamic lands have been in steady decline for at least the last four-centuries. It is common knowledge that the economic performances of Islamic lands are pathetic when compared to Western industrialized nations. The July 2002 U.N.'s "Arab Human Development Report," written by Arab intellectuals, painted a surprisingly accurate picture of Arabic societies. With a collective population roughly that of the United States, the 22 Arab states have:
A total GDP less than Spain's, with exports (without oil) less than Norway's, and per capita income less than one-sixth that of Western democracies (sorry, no credit for terror exports).
Fewer Internet connections per person than even Sub-Saharan Africa, and fewer books translated into Arabic over the past 100 years than even Spain translates in an average year.
No visible presence in main arenas of human excellence today — Nobel-prize winners, World Cup finalists, Olympic medal-winners, breakthrough scientists, leading historians, international business successes, internationally recognized leaders like Gandhi or Martin Luther King.
No democratic civil or political rights, sub-standard human rights for her own peoples, virtually none for women or infidels. No political visionaries of any kind. Instead what we see produced are more dictators and despots.
Dismal standard of living, few legitimate business or economic opportunities, poor health care, and education systems that churn out religious fanaticism and little else.
These sad facts are the hallmarks of a civilization devoid of legitimate, democratic government and free-market economies. Despite all the claims otherwise, neither quality nor longevity of life are by-products of fundamental Islam. The reasons for this poor performance is obvious to everyone except the poor inhabitants of these areas. Numerous human social experiments in communism and pure socialism have shown convincingly that when you remove freedom and economic incentive, productivity and innovation languish. If it were not for the oil in the ground, the productive output of Arab lands would be at the bottom of undeveloped third-world countries. Except for a handful of fortunate countries with massive natural resources (oil), all majority Muslim countries fall into the category of economically "less developed nations". But the reasons for this go beyond the lack of free-market opportunities and mechanisms. The continuing lack of Muslim economic success is a direct result of a culture and practices dictated by oppressive Islamic principals. The lack of innovation and growth is a direct result of incompetence, corruption, or over-regulation on the part of ‘religious’ governments. The condition is obvious, even to Muslims, but the root causes are not so easy for otherwise intelligent Muslims to identify. The usual reaction is both typical and predictable, …the West must be at fault, nothing bad could possibly come from the worlds ‘best’ religion. Within this construct, the only solution which can be proffered is to return to more pure Islamic values, and to attack Western hegemony with Jihad. As such, the erroneous diagnosis and prescription guarantees a continuation of the patients predicament. This culture of blame can not produce either introspection nor reform. Indeed, in terms of achievement, Arab leaders lack standing to criticize any country, culture, or society. Without excellence in any endeavors today, Arabs look silly as they continue to disparage others and export misery and terrorism. This destructive cycle continues endlessly, ensuring only the continuing economic disadvantage, frustration, and misery of its participants.
By contributing to order, honesty, and fairness, a progressive religion can be an asset to the economic well being of citizens. But when a ‘religion’ propagates ignorance, inefficiency and poverty it becomes a liability to host societies. Like other totalitarianism systems, Islam acts as an economic hindrance, placing barriers to ambition, prosperity, and fulfillment of human potential. With Islamic education focused (as a political necessary) on indoctrination, and with other Islamic control mechanisms in society, the kind of education which might lead to significant economic reform is not offered. Only a tiny minority of the most privileged escape to western institutions, and then usually choose to stay in the open societies who host them. Then there is the fact that half the population (women) are prevented from getting an education, entering the workforce, and contributing to industry. Instead women are regulated to being nothing more than servants to their husbands and baby factories for Islam.
Paying large percentages in alms is also a heavy burden, as is the personal and social burdens associated with caring for large numbers of minors. Contributing to support local and distant Jihads is also expected. In fact the opportunity to donate sons and money is irresistible to many Muslims, the following reveals why;
Allah will give "a far richer recompense to those who fight for him" (Sura 4:96). The Prophet said: "Whatever one spends to facilitate Jehad, Allah shall give him a reward which will exceed his contribution 700 times." (Tirmzi, Vol.1, p.697) "He who reared a horse for the sole intention of using it in a Jehad, then he will be rewarded one virtue for each grain he gave the horse as a feed." (Ibn-E-Majah, Vol. 2, p. 172) "A martyr (in Jehad) is dressed in radiant robes of faith: he is married to Houris and is allowed by Allah to intercede for seventy men (i.e. he is authorized by God to recommend seventy men for entry into paradise, and his intercession is sure to be granted.) (Ibn-E-Majah, Vol. 2, p. 174)
Consider also the productivity effects of a limited workforce who are interrupted 5 times a day for rather lengthy compulsory prayers, and who fast all day for weeks on end (40 days/year). Then for merchants, there is undoubtedly fear of providing services or products not in complete conformity with rigid, canonical Islamic restrictions. Such realities are not exactly conducive to market expansion and employment.
Because of the Islamic prohibition to usury (interest rates attached to monetary loans), any who manage to acquire wealth in Islamic lands have no incentive to invest in or otherwise finance new businesses ventures. This prevents the flow of capital to fund other companies or start-ups, effectively killing the entrepreneurial spirit.
Of even more significance is the general Islamic disrespect when contracting to non-Muslim entities. Non-Muslims quickly learn of the propensity of Muslims to break contracts for self gain, and act instead to protect their own capital investments by avoiding such adventures in financial recklessness. Opportunities for cooperation and profit disappear when comes to be known that Muslims are taught my Muhammad himself that covenants with infidels can be broken with impunity if it serves the best interest of Islam. But business behavior between Muslims also suffers from an Arabic culture which is tribal and hegemonic. All such self-destructive business conduct flows as a natural extension of the example exemplified by the caravan raiding Muhammad. The Islamic and/or Arab morality that glorifies dishonesty and cunning to get gain results in suspicion instead of trust. It is a fact that when you remove trust from business relationships, nothing much will happen. Because personal or institutional risk becomes untenable, things like long-term-investment, shared-vision, common-goals, cooperative-projects, and group-achievement become impossible.
The net result of all these Islamic cultural effects on markets and industry make economies based on it much less than competitive in a world economy based on open markets, freedom, and business law not based on the Qur’an. Lands hamstrung by Islamic principals and culture seem guaranteed to fail competitively, producing only the kind of desperate uneducated, unenlightened core material required to produce ever more Jihadic foot soldiers. Another consequence of the Muslim model is that the trappings of superior economic models in adjoining non-Muslim lands are thereby guaranteed to be superior, which more often than not produces jealousy and bitter animosity, if not fodder inspiring conquest and plunder. It is a bitter pill for Muslims to see inferior ‘Infidels’ enjoying bountiful fruits of their industry while large numbers of ‘brothers’ and their families flounder in relative poverty. Such feelings of jealousy and outrage also further stoke the flames of angry, expansionist Islam. The restricted, repressive economic model of Islam is the root cause of poverty and economic stagnation in societies based on it, but the blame is easily shifted to ‘repressive’ neighboring peoples and religions. So Islam itself seems designed to perpetrate both the root neediness, and the goals and methods which the political movement must employ to satisfy those needs (conquest and plunder) …how terribly convenient.
But what else can we hope from the example of a man who could only show his followers how to assassinate and plunder enemies to get gain. Muhammad never created wealth through legitimate means, yet he became very wealthy, but only at the expense of a host of hard-working innocent victims. His example and revelations were intended more to help himself in recruitment efforts aimed at men he sought to participate in his core business. His cut of the exploits were profitable whether he participated in the murder and plunder or not. Of course, not everyone can be a bandit, much larger numbers must toil the soil and produce/improve the lands and merchandise to make the system work for the few thugs who benefit from such an unsustainable system.
If good-hearted, intelligent, and hard-working Muslims can not quite find enough humanistic reasons in the example of Muhammad and his devout followers worldwide to leave the religion, then one might hope that pure economic self-interest will do the trick. On almost every plane of human existence (spiritual, economic, intellectual, emotional, physical) Islam is a heavy ball-and-chain preventing both individual and economic progression. Forced obedience to any cult through fear, coercion, ignorance, and lust creates vice instead of virtue, stagnation instead of growth. My heart goes out to all the good families trapped in Islam. May they all find the means and support necessary to survive the ordeal until enough of their fellows gain sufficient enlightenment and strength to wrest their lands and families from the blight.
We have seen clearly into the mind and heart of male Islamic terrorists and the ‘moderate’ Muslims who actively or passively support them, but what about the women of Islam. What could possibly drive them to continue their allegiance to the causes of Muhammad? There are many women who have escaped Islamic bondage who have written quite eloquently about the ordeals of women in the Muslim world. The author must defer to those numerous testaments and will not explore the details of living as a Muslim woman in Muslim lands. This work is dedicated to understanding the motivations of Muslims on Jihad, and so Muslim men in particular. The author admits that his insights into the feminine Muslim culture is very limited, and that he is not qualified to say what makes Muslim women become or remain devoted followers of Muhammad. I will, however, express an opinion without the usual evidentiary backing.
A former Muslim woman has provided care for my young children, and her good nature and strong sense of family values are beyond reproach. She sacrifices and works for her family, and genuinely cares for others in general. Her work ethic and dedication to family seems to exceed the maternal instincts of many Christian women I have known. My suspicion is that Muslim women participate in Islam out of necessity, because there are no alternate options, and because they have a strong natural maternal instinct and have great love for their children. Beyond that, I can’t imagine why they practice the religion, as it seems to this author that Islam has little to offer women. It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma, but I hope to understand it one day.
Islamic paradise, that very carnal place envisioned by Islamic Jihadists, does not seem to apply to Muslim women. Indeed, it would seem that even if their husbands virility were increased a hundred fold, that the 70 virgins, all the pretty little boys running around, the other wives, and the slave-concubines, might leave a Muslim girl wondering if she will be the beneficiary of any attention at all from an adoring (if not exhausted) husband. When you speak of paradise to Muslim women, they seem at a loss to characterize their afterlife in any but very nebulous abstract terms. What is very carnal, visual, and well defined for men is much less than clear for poor Muslim women. Muhammad’s revelations were obviously intended more to help in his recruitment efforts, aimed at men he sought to participate in his exploits. Another potential problem in the logic of Islamic paradise is this; as Muslim men practice their new found virility on the Houris (celestial virgins) there would seem to be a constant need in Muslim heaven for replacement untouched young girls to replenish the somewhat more soiled originals, but in any case most Muslim women would certainly not qualify for that particular position as described. Once you scratch the words ‘untouched, unspoiled virgin’ off your resume, my understanding is that it’s near impossible to put them back.
Burquas symbolize to westerners the outwardly manifestation of repression for tens of Millions of Muslim Women living in what amounts to Islamic bondage. This all-encompassing garment separates women from all but close relations. They may not speak to others, travel alone or in the company of non-relations, hold leadership positions, vote, drive, attend school, or speak freely. Their lives consist of servitude to their masters, at deadly peril. Some societies are less limiting, with women only confined to wearing a hair covering and veil with other restrictions less pronounced, but even in these societies’ women’s rights and opportunities cannot be compared to western standards. All women in Islamic lands subject to Sharia are subject to horrific punishments for promiscuity or adultery. Even in Saudi Arabia, one of the more advanced, wealthy, and educated Arab Islamic lands, it is a common ploy for husbands to end arguments with their wives by raising their finger and proclaiming "I divorce you, ...I divorce you, ...I .…" Usually at about the second invoking of the official ‘three strikes and your out’ Islamic method of divorce, women are on their knees begging the angry man for forgiveness and imploring them not to repeat the fateful third ‘I divorce you’. These poor women degrade themselves because they know full well how utterly alone they are in Islamic society without the benefits of property, rights, and substance that they enjoy only through their continued association with their husband. At-Talaq is the title of Sura #65 dealing with divorce. In its primitive sense, the Arabic word 'talaq' means ‘to dismiss’. Instant divorce by uttering the word three times is a rampant practice in many Muslim lands. Under Muslim law sending a talaqnama (a statement of divorce) is also enough to end the marriage, without seeking the wife's opinion or consent, similar to saying talaq thrice. In an ever so subtle concession to worried wives, in August 2001 Singapore's highest Islamic authorities declared that Muslim men may not accomplish ‘talaq’ via cell phone text messages. However, July 27th 2003 the Malaysian government decreed that a man may indeed divorce his wife via text message.
Are there women who join Islam without either being born into the cult, forced into the organization, or deceived into believing it is something entirely different? What inspires women to join? I really can’t imagine.
As for women, the Qur’an 4:34 states that "men have authority over women". Sura 4:34 instructs that that woman must be obedient to their husbands or be admonished (verbally abused), banished from the bed (psychologically abused) and beaten (physically abused via wife-beating). This and other passages clearly claim that women are inferior to men and their husbands have the right to scourge them if they are found disobedient. It advises men to take a green branch and beat their wives (because a green branch is more flexible and inflicts greater pain). (Qur’an 38:44). It teaches that women will go to hell if they are disobedient to their husbands (66:10). It maintains that men have an advantage over the women (Qur’an 2:228). It not only denies women equal rights, it decrees that their witness is not admissible in courts of law (Qur’an. 2:282). This means that a woman who is raped cannot accuse her rapist unless she can produce a male witness.
There are further suras that make a woman's inheritance (4:11-12) worth half of a man's. These are actual Islamic teachings which provide the basis for numerous misogynic cultural practices. The Qur'an also states that if a women becomes captive in a war, her Muslim master is allowed to rape her (33:50), and that women are "tilth" (property to cultivate) for their husbands (2:223). There are also numerous hadiths which reflect poorly on women, including one in which Muhammad declares that most of hell's population is female and that women are deficient in intelligence and piety (Bukhari, I:6:304). The Holy Prophet allows men to marry up to four wives, and is licensed to sleep with slave maids and as many 'captive' women as he can acquire (Qur’an 4:3) even if those women are already married (as He himself did). Furthermore, by the example of Muhammad, a man may take a pre-pubescent wife as young as 9 years old to his marriage bed. Although most countries limit such marriages to children 11-13 years old, the practice of bedding younger girls is not unknown in some regions. Further, the insane practice of genitalia mutilation and honor killings continues today in many Islamic lands and families.
[A word of warning for those who find their version of the Qur’an translated differently than the verses quoted herein. Almost all English translators of the Qur’an have deliberately tried to soften many harsh verses. Yusufali in particular goes out of his way to twist words to hide the harshness of the real Qur’an. For example he translates the verse (Qur’an 38:44) that says plainly in Arabic "take a green branch and beat your wife" to "take a little green grass and strike therewith". He translates a different verse (Qur’an 4:34) that states "beat your wife" correctly, but he cannot help but add the word (lightly) in parenthesis.]
Since the Qur'an can not be altered, these practices are not likely to be influenced by Western norms. As the preceding text demonstrates, Muslim women are often considered by Westerners to be victims of Islam, and as such receive almost blanket immunity from the more violent and inhumane acts of their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers. However common sense tells us that nurture, instruction, encouragement and support by the women folk must play some role for an entire culture to support such vile activities. Although not generally true for all Muslim women, the following article speaks volumes of the feminine mindset fully immersed in Islam.
The Guardian - Jul 20, 2004 - Arab women singers complicit in rape, says Amnesty report. (www.guardian.co.uk) While African women in Darfur were being raped by the Janjaweed militiamen, Arab women stood nearby and sang for joy, according to an Amnesty International report published yesterday. The songs of the Hakama, or the "Janjaweed women" as the refugees call them, encouraged the atrocities committed by the militiamen. The women singers stirred up racial hatred against black civilians during attacks on villages in Darfur and celebrated the humiliation of their enemies, the human rights group said. "[They] appear to be the communicators during the attacks. They are reportedly not actively involved in attacks on people, but participate in acts of looting." Amnesty International collected several testimonies mentioning the presence of Hakama while women were raped by the Janjaweed. The report said: "Hakama appear to have directly harassed the women [who were] assaulted, and verbally attacked them." During an attack on the village of Disa in June last year, Arab women accompanied the attackers and sang songs praising the government and scorning the black villagers. According to an African chief quoted in the report, the singers said: "The blood of the blacks runs like water, we take their goods and we chase them from our area and our cattle will be in their land. The power of [Sudanese president Omer Hassan] al-Bashir belongs to the Arabs and we will kill you until the end, you blacks, we have killed your God." The chief said that the Arab women also racially insulted women from the village: "You are gorillas, you are black, and you are badly dressed."
The Janjaweed have abducted women for use as sex slaves, in some cases breaking their limbs to prevent them escaping, as well as carrying out rapes in their home villages, the report said. The militiamen "are happy when they rape. They sing when they rape and they tell us that we are just slaves and that they can do with us how they wish", a 37-year-old victim, identified as A, is quoted as saying in the report, which was based on more than 100 testimonies from women in the refugee camps in neighboring Chad. Pollyanna Truscott, Amnesty International's Darfur crisis coordinator, said the rape was part of a systematic dehumanization of women. "It is done to inflict fear, to force them to leave their communities. It also humiliates the men in their communities."
The UN estimates that up to 30,000 people have been killed in Darfur, and more than a million have been forced to flee their homes. Peace talks between the Sudanese government and two rebel movements broke down on Saturday when the rebel groups walked out, saying the government must first disarm the Janjaweed. Another human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, today publishes alleged Sudanese government documents showing that it was much more closely involved with the Janjaweed than it has so far admitted. The documents, which Human Rights Watch said it had obtained from the civilian administration in Darfur and are dated February and March this year, call for "provisions and ammunition" to be delivered to known Janjaweed militia leaders, camps and "loyalist tribes". One document orders all security units in the area to tolerate the activities of Musa Hilal, the alleged Janjaweed leader in north Darfur interviewed by the Guardian last week. Peter Takirambudde, the executive director of Human Rights Watch's Africa division, said: "These documents show that militia activity has not just been condoned, it's been specifically supported by Sudan government officials." The official government line is that it did not arm or support the Janjaweed, though its presence was useful in helping to combat rebels in Darfur.
BBC- 18 June, 2002- The Gaza Strip, Israel: By Middle East correspondent Orla Guerin. The mother of a Palestinian suicide attacker who killed two Israelis before being shot dead has spoken of her feelings about her son's actions. A video released by Hamas shows a proud mother taking up arms beside her favorite son. First a warm embrace, then a loving kiss. Naima al-Obeid was saying goodbye to her 23-year-old Mahmoud, a college student on his way to carry out a suicide attack. "God willing you will succeed," she says. "May every bullet hit its target, and may God give you martyrdom. This is the best day of my life." Mahmoud says: "Thank you for raising me".
Naima got her wish... Mahmoud was shot dead attacking the Jewish settlement of Dugit in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the ambush. Their deaths are being celebrated near Mahmoud's home. We found crowds coming to the mourning tent - and not just because of him. People here aren't just remembering Mahmoud - they are honoring his mother. She has become a heroine, being talked about on the streets, praised in the local papers. Some Palestinians are taking a great deal of pride in a mother who saw her son go to kill and die without shedding a tear. They are already saying she will inspire other women to do the same. In her home, in Gaza, she showed me pictures of the son she calls "my heart". She had no sympathy for the dead Israelis, no regrets over the loss of her own son. "Nobody wants their son to be killed. I always wanted him to have a good life. "But our land is occupied by the Israelis. We're sacrificing our sons to get our freedom," she told me. I asked her if it mattered whether her son killed women and children. "The women and children are also Jews," she said, "They're all the same for me. "And I want to tell Jewish mothers - take your children and run from here because you will never be safe. We believe our sons go to heaven when they are martyred. When your sons die they go to hell." Naima is surrounded by well-wishers, no one asking why she gave her son a license to kill. She has nine more children, whom, she says, all have a duty to fight the Israeli occupation.
Chapter 16
An increasingly popular trend among Islamic terrorists worldwide is to post videos of Muslims beheading infidels. Non-Muslims have been beheaded in the Philippines, Chechnya, Kashmir, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere. The Qur’an’s Sura 47:4, has been cited as the theological basis for such acts: "When you meet in battle those who have disbelieved, smite their necks; and after the slaughter fasten tight the bonds, until the war lays aside its burdens. Then either release them as a favor, or in return for ransom." Sura 8: The Spoils of War, section 12 also states that Allah will throw fear into the hearts of the disbelievers, and directs faithful Muslims to ‘smite their necks and fingers’, with section 67 informing that "A prophet may not take captives until he has made a slaughter in the land".
The beheading of Daniel Pearl in 2002, followed by the killings of Nicholas Berg, Paul Johnson Jr., Kim Sun-Il, and Eugene Armstrong, as well as the killing of other nationals and threats to behead a growing list of captives, have garnered major media attention for the terrorists as Arab satellite channels rush to air the pictures and videos to customers eager to see them. Yet Saudis Arabia's Prince Sattam issued a statement to Westerners that Johnson’s beheading was a malicious crime rejected by Islam, declaring, "This has happened for the first time in the Kingdom". But according to a Jun 25 2004 CBS News report, the Saudi government ordered and carried out 52 beheadings in 2003, for crimes including robbery, drug smuggling, and homosexuality. In the kingdoms largest cities such beheadings (with other gruesome punishments) are regularly performed in the courtyards of mosques following Friday prayers.
The terrorists are not primarily using the various beheadings as a technique to make us cower and drive us out. The beheading films are first and foremost a recruitment tool, and have been around for a long time. The first generation of vile home-movies depicting the gruesome slaughter of infidels were circulated in North Africa decades ago. The purpose, now and then, is to demonstrate to orthodox Muslims their bona fide status as true emissaries of Muhammad, and to excite homicidal fanatics and lure them into the local Islamist gang. These recruiting films are aimed at subhuman homicidal maniacs who revel in bloody brutality, an emotion that passes for spirituality to them. Thanks to the Internet and comrades at Arab satellite stations, Muslim Jihad marketing and distribution methods have now improved dramatically.
Today’s Jihad movement, like so many before, continues to draw its foot soldiers from people who dream of beheading infidels, a fantasy that flows naturally after receiving a proper education consisting of memorizing the Qur’an and studying the life, words, and example of their ‘prophet’. It is quite clear that they see us all as animals deserving slaughter. These vile sub-human acts discredit any notion that our enemies are normal human beings driven to desperation by injustice, misery, and oppressive US hegemony. It is pure folly to think terrorists and their masters are people trying to avenge some injustice or remedy old grievances, yet some people still fall for this sort of complete rubbish. The only way sensible people could possibly begin to believe such garbage, is to first carefully censor all evidence showing the true nature and source of terrorist acts. Islamic propagandists (including our own left leaning liberal media elitists) accomplish this by taking the scenes of 9/11 and the beheading videos off the air, and journalistically by filtering the utter barbarity of these people through the use of ‘sensitive’ words designed to have no emotional impact. This censor effort has become an imperative of Islamists and their apologists because they know the beheadings truly define and bring into clear focus not only the hearts and minds of terrorists, but also the core values of the parents and communities who raised them, not to mention the ‘religion’ that inspires them.
The scenes we saw Sept 11 were every bit as horrible as the beheadings, which briefly unified us in the realization that we were facing an enemy that would have to be fought to the finish. Videos of the people who jumped to their death from the Twin Towers, or those burned or crushed in New York and Washington provide clear documentation of what awaits us all if we fail to win. Now the beheading videos both confirm and deepen that evidence. We cannot wage an effective war unless we understand the true nature and objectives of our enemy. We jeopardize prolonging the agony if we do not grasp that terrorists' ranks are full of people who are there primarily because they are thrilled by the prospect of beheading us, and who believe such acts are pious and will win them a ticket into Muslim heaven where scores of virgins await, anxious to provide them an orgasmic eternity. Survival dictates we not be over-sensitive to the point we avoid viewing the actual history being played out before our very eyes. To ‘Know Thine Enemy’, we need to see, feel, and understand these creatures, to solidify national support and bring our full military might to bear to end this thing as quickly as possible.
The fact that Jihad means obligatory war for devout Muslims has been previously discussed in earlier chapters, proved using authentic Islamic sources. Muslims who commit acts of violence and terror against infidels can find ample justification for their actions, based on the teachings of the Qur’an and, more importantly, the example of their prophet. The prophet himself left a trail of assassinations and other bloody acts behind him until his own death, all of which are recorded by Muslim historians, which become a tradition among Muslims in the early centuries of its development. The growing body of Islamic internet site proud postings of violent videos/pictures makes it disgustingly clear the practice is continuing through today. We now attempt to further clarify the mind and rational of Islamic militants carrying out so many terrible instances of beheadings. Unfortunately these cruel rituals are neither new, nor isolated incidents or aberrations.
It is a perilous fact that the practitioners of the Muslim religion are taught a philosophy that encourages terrorism against civilians, and does not differentiate between innocent civilians and soldiers. The Geneva Conventions and conventional rules of war have no validity and are simply rejected by Jihad warriors, who believe they are immune because they operate under a higher law. Accordingly, all infidels without a treaty of protection (i.e. not already subdued and paying the Jizya tax) can be dealt with at the pleasure and discretion of the fighter. Options at his disposal include kidnapping and ransom, slavery (including sex slavery), or to simply torture and kill the poor soul.
This review highlights some additional Islamic direction on the subject. The citations herein are but a small portion of the enormous amount of evidence indicating that killing noncombatants or captives appears supported by both Islamic principles and history. What is outlined herein should give Westerner civilians caught up in Jihad a clear idea of what he/she can expect from Islamic warriors, as well as what prisoners of war can expect from their Muslim captors.
Many of the remaining citations were taken from an article by Andrew G. Bostom, Jihad Killings of POWs and Non-Combatants, first published September 9, 2004 at frontpagemagazine.com.
W.H.T. Gairdner, the renowned early 20th century scholar of Islam, wrote the following discussion of Muhammad’s treatment of POWs, based exclusively on Muslim sources:
"After Badr, especially, the greatest vindictiveness and bloodthirstiness were manifested. Many prisoners were slaughtered in cold blood, at least two of them at the personal insistence of Muhammad who had a special grudge against them. The most famous Companions (except Abu Bakr) were then the most truculent. One of them was for burning the prisoners en masse! [Gairdner’s emphasis] The Prophet checked these excesses. But the very words in which he did so, the very limits set up, show clearly that defenseless prisoners might always be slaughtered in cold blood if they could not get anyone to redeem them. The Sura produced after the event (Q.8:67-68) explicitly commands the slaughter of prisoners on occasions when it is advisable to make an impression by ‘frightfulness’: on such occasions the sin would be to grow rich by accepting ransoms! And there is a whole series of traditions which make out that the ‘leniency’ shown at Badr was a sin, that Mohammed had been against that sin, humane Abu Bakr was the chief offender, and that had that sin been punished, only the whole-hoggers who had urged the slaughter of all the prisoners (‘Umar and Sa’d) would have escaped…the Koran itself recommended the ransoming of war-captives as a form of charity suitable for rich Muslims. But the Badr alternative is always there in the background, and on suitable occasions may always be brought into the foreground. The prisoner of war is mubah damuhu: his life’s essentially forfeit." [33]
A review of Egyptian high school textbooks in 2002 reveals the classical exegesis on these Qur’anic verses which is still being taught to students in non-Azharite (i.e. non-religious) as well as Azharite schools.
"Studies in Theology: Tradition and Morals, Grade 11, (2001) pp. 291-92 ...This noble [Qur'anic] Surah [Surat Muhammad]... deals with questions of which the most important are as follows: 'Encouraging the faithful to perform jihad in God's cause, to behead the infidels, take them prisoner, break their power, and make their souls humble - all that in a style which contains the highest examples of urging to fight. You see that in His words: "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take a ransom from them, until war shall lay down its burdens.'"
"Commentary on the Surahs of Muhammad, Al-Fath, Al-Hujurat and Qaf, Grade 11, (2002) p. 9 …When you meet them in order to fight [them], do not be seized by compassion [towards them] but strike the[ir] necks powerfully.... Striking the neck means fighting, because killing a person is often done by striking off his head. Thus, it has become an expression for killing even if the fighter strikes him elsewhere. This expression contains a harshness and emphasis that are not found in the word "kill", because it describes killing in the ugliest manner, i.e., cutting the neck and making the organ - the head of the body - fly off [the body].' "
Although chilling to our modern sensibilities, particularly when being taught to children, these are merely normative interpretations of the rules for jihad war, based on over a millennium of Muslim theology and jurisprudence. And the context of these teachings is unambiguous, as the translator makes clear that:
"[the] concept of jihad is interpreted in the Egyptian school curriculum almost exclusively as a military endeavor… it is war against God's enemies, i.e., the infidels… it is war against the homeland's enemies and a means to strengthening the Muslim states in the world. In both cases, jihad is encouraged, and those who refrain from participating in it are denounced."