As A Caribbean Christadelphian with close relatives who are Moslems, want to warn my brothers and sisters how serious is the present world situation. Most Christians, especially western Christians, do not understand Islam at all. The teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and the teachings of Muhammed are so fundamentally opposed, and their entire modes of thinking are so different, that they cannot possibly be reconciled. Issa (Jesus) is mentioned frequently in the Quran, Islam’s holy book, but although he is called “Messiah” and the holy child of Mary, his personality and doctrines as represented in the Quran bear no resemblance to the historical Jesus of the Gospels.
In the following passages the contrast can be seen immediately.
Jesus: “Ye have heard that it bath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies” (Mt. 5:43-44). Muhammed: “Prepare against the infidels whatever weapons you can lay your hands on, so that you may strike terror in the hearts ofyour enemies. Kill them wherever you find them and drive them out from where they drove you out” (The Spoils of War 60, The Cow 191).
In Islam love must be restricted to fellow-Moslems only, while infidels who scorn Islam and refuse to be converted must be made objects of hate and targets of terror. Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies is totally incomprehensible to a Moslem.
This contrast is based upon another. Christians are not to avenge themselves (Rom. 12:19). Vengeance is the prerogative of God and based upon His unerring knowledge, justice, and above all, mercy. The coming Day of Judgement will reveal the hidden motives of men. On the other hand, Moslems are frequently urged by the Quran to be instruments of God’s wrath and to wage holy war here and now. Deliberate rejection of the Prophet is all that is needed to justify a jihad or holy war.
War, as proclaimed by Islam’s holy men, is not at all like war as understood by the rest of the world. It is fought essentially by totally dedicated individuals, not by armies. For a Moslem, defeat, and even strategic retreat, are not options. They are unthinkable. A Moslem who turns his back on an enemy goes straight to Hell. “Anyone who turns his back on the infidel in the day of battle will go to Hell, to be passed through boiling water and roasted in the fire, with their intestines cut to shreds” (The Spoils of War 15, Sad 59).
The infuriating and seemingly “devious” behaviour of Yasser Arafat is puzzling to Israelis but entirely explicable when you know what he believes. A suicide bomber is not a young man who is tired of life, mentally deranged or manic-depressive. He is sane, often with a happy personality among his Moslem friends, but with a profound religious conviction — somewhat like many early Christian martyrs. And the incentives for the suicide terrorist are very attractive indeed: beyond the momentary fatal blast lies a wonderful eternity in Paradise: there is pleasure for them, paired with graceful, comely virgin girls with big, beautiful dark eyes, reclining on green cushions and rich carpets, goblets full to overflowing, food served on golden plates – and they will not know any death (The Announcement 30, Ar Rahman 72, Smoke 54).
If Americans — Christians, Jews or atheists — believe that television pictures of a mighty war machine on the move has any deterring effect upon Moslems, they are in for a shock. Muhammed insisted that enemy numbers or military might are completely irrelevant. The warriors of Allah must inevitably overwhelm the infidels, however well armed. Jesus also promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against his church. The big difference is that during his absence in heaven winning the world for Christ is by loving not fighting.
The most troublesome aspect of Islam is that right here and now it demands that all Moslems must only be ruled by Moslems, never by unbelievers. However small a minority Moslems form in any country or society, they are obligated to scheme and plot relentlessly to overthrow the existing political and religious order and establish a Moslem regime to which all non-Moslems must then capitulate and submit. This is, of course, the reason for Abu Bakr’s initially successful coup in Trinidad a few years ago, an island where committed Moslems make up not much more than 10 per cent of the population! And it is the reason for the vicious persecution of Christadelphians in the Philippines, where Moslems are in the same proportion. According to the Quran, Allah decreed fourteen hundred years ago that all the world must eventually be made subject to Islamic law, preferably by conversion, but if there is resistance, then by irresistible force. However, and this is important, in war Moslems must never be the initial aggressors. But when infidels attempt to stop Moslem expansion or attack a holy shrine, such as the El-Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem, then the call for jihad or holy war must be made by religious leaders everywhere.
Talking with my Moslem relatives, I see no end to the present war before the return of the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem to raise the dead and judge the world. Before then, terrorism will only end if Christians, Jews and atheists submit to Islam and all its demands, including the right of Moslems to rule themselves under Islamic law in any country in the world, including all western countries.
Islam, like Judaism when Jesus was on earth, is based upon the maxim, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.” Bible Christianity, following the commandments of Christ, is based upon the principle, “Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God: for God is love” (I John 4:7-8).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One