Posted by
Gino on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 10:17:55 PM
My western civilization class is very interesting, and the professor, a native Congo African, is very informative and entertaining. We are at midterm right now and I just have to share some of my thoughts concerning the things we have learned about Islam.
I now know that Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was born in Mecca around 570 A.D., and to a Quraish family. I now know that as a result of a conversion experience Muhammad transformed from polytheism to monotheism in the year 610. This conversion initiated because Muhammad heard a voice form Heaven instructing him about God. The voice declared that there is only Allah (God), and nothing else. There is no Father, Son, or Holy Spirit as in the Trinity. Muhammad kept receiving voice messages from Heaven that eventually he used to form the basis for Islam along with his knowledge of other well-known religions. Muhammad tried to convince his Mecca people to follow him into this new monotheistic religion and to shed their old polytheistic ways. However, Muhammad met resistance with his meteorite worshipping Mecca people. Years later, a town to the north of Mecca called Yathrib invited Muhammad to come there and serve as a neutral arbiter where local rivalries were in conflict. Muhammad, and his followers that included Abu-Bakr (father-in-law), Umar (close friend or relative?), and Ali (warrior, cousin and son-in-law) went to Yathrib. As an opportunity knocking, Muhammad quickly seized control of Yathrib then made himself ruler. Soon after, Muhammad and his followers forced Islam onto the Yathrib people, and with little or no resistance from the people. Muhammad then set his sights back on his hometown or the resistance. Muhammad led military raids against Mecca until he conquered Mecca. The Mecca people then submitted to Islam. Muhammad died at the age of 62 then Abu-Bakr took over. Abu-Bakr continued the military campaigns to force the rest of the world (Persia, Egypt, etc.) to bow to Islam. Abu-Bakr died then Umar took over, and with the same military campaigns to force the rest of the world to bow to Islam. Umar died and a weak ruler called Uthman, from the unpopular Umayyad family, took over the reigns of Islam. Uthman was weak and dissatisfying so he was assassinated. The Islamic following now wanted Ali to take the reigns because the followers knew of Ali’s warrior spirit; they wanted war in the name of Islam. They lifted Ali up to become their Islamic leader. Ali was assassinated soon after taking the reigns of Islam by “disturbances.” The Umayyad family then reclaimed Islamic leadership. However, some Islamic followers still sided with the dead Ali; they are known as Shiites. The other Islamic followers sided with the Umayyad family; they are known as Sunnis.
The “Pact of Umar” is an ancient document, written by Umar, that dictates how the conquered Christians and Jews will behave under Muslim rule. The following is a letter, in part, to Umar from the conquered Christians and Jews, 7th century A.D.:
“This letter is addressed to Allah’s servant Umar, the Commander of the Faithful, by the Christians of such-and-such city. When you advanced against us, we asked you for a guarantee of protection for our persons, our offspring, our property, and the people of our sect, and we have taken upon ourselves the following obligations toward you, namely: We shall not build in our cities or in the vicinity any new monasteries, churches, hermitages, or monks’ cells. We shall not restore…any of them that have fallen into ruin or which are located in the Muslims’ quarters. We shall keep our gates wide open for passerby and travelers. We shall provide three days’ food and lodging to any Muslims who pass our way… We shall not teach our children the Koran. We shall not hold public religious ceremonies. We shall not seek to proselytize anyone. We shall not prevent any of our kin from embracing Islam if they so desire. We shall show deference to the Muslims and shall rise from our seats when they wish to sit down. We shall not attempt to resemble the Muslims in any way…. We shall not ride on saddles. We shall not wear swords or bear weapons of any kind, or ever carry them with us…. We shall not display our crosses or our books anywhere in the Muslims’ thoroughfares or in their market places. We shall only beat our clappers in our churches very quietly. We shall not raise our voices when reciting the service in our churches, nor when in the presence of Muslims. Neither shall we raise our voices in our funeral processions…. We shall not build our homes higher than theirs….” This letter has the essence of the Jewish / Nazi relationship.
Our textbook, ISBN 0-393-92536-6, claims that the Islamic Arabs did not force conversion on the Christians and Jews. However they did force submission to Islam and oppression of other religions. Amazingly, the authors fail to comment that there is no difference between conversion and submission with religious oppression; the end result is the same.
In class, we learned that the Shiites are the most conservative and are Islamic fundamentalists (the warrior type) because they follow the most direct line of Islamic leaders to Muhammad: Abu-Bahr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, and with the emphasis on Ali because he was Muhammad’s warrior, cousin, and son-in-law (HELLO). The Shiites represent submission or death.
Also in class, we learned that the Sunnis are the most liberal, not as aggressive, and are accepting to other religions such as Christianity and Judaism. This all came about because the Umayyad family focused Islamic rule for a slightly different purpose in the 7th century A.D. called taxation.
With respect to the profiles of Shiites and Sunnis, the “Pact of Umar” reads like a combination of Shiite and Sunni rule because the Christians and Jews are first conquered by the sword and held captive under Islamic rule but then also allowed to practice their own religion as long as it is kept out of sight, and provided they pay taxes to Islam.
My thoughts: Does this “Pact of Umar” have any correlation with what we see happening in America today? Does the Muslim Barack Obama identify with the historical Shiite-Sunni relationship? Barack used the Koran to be sworn in to the Senate. Barrack is a liberal and liberals love taxation. And Barack wants America to withdraw and stop resisting (fighting) the Islamic ideology. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of Muslims in America are black or non-white Caucasians and they are planning to vote for Barack. And as an unspoken rule of thumb, and through Affirmative Action, American government hires mostly black people. Black people are increasingly holding political offices, in the judicial and legislative branches. And what about the ACLU? Are Muslims increasingly becoming members of the ACLU? The ACLU uses its judges to keep Christianity out of the public but I have yet to hear about them attacking Islam. And are the NAACP leaders enrolling Muslims? I have seen the people at NAACP meetings, many dress like Muslims and speak of the Koran.
In conclusion, Islam is expanding, specifically in America where organizations like the ACLU, Affirmative Action, and the NAACP are involved. And even though Shiites and Sunnis fight each other, blood is still thicker than Christianity, or Judaism, or Hinduism, or anything else. Moreover, the expansion of Islam in America can mean only one thing; American Christians and Jews will one day be sending a letter to the Islamic ruler of America promising that We The People shall not do or say anything that might offend you and we will support you by taxation, just don’t harm us.
My opinion and advice is that Islam does not belong in America and neither does its followers. Sooner than later, the U.S. Constitution needs amending in order force Islam out of America. And America needs a coherent conservative republican leadership to get the job done.
*As a final note, don’t vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton either because feminism and communism are destructive too (see my upcoming post). Vote conservative republican!