"The smoke from that city ascends forever and ever!" - Rev 19:3 |
Again and again, we are told that Muslim jihadis, who consistently cite as their inspiration and marching orders Islamic scriptures from the Quran, the hadith, and the life of Muhammad, have "hijacked" the "great religion" of Islam.
Time, once again, to remind readers what Islam commands.
From the Quran:
Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Sura 9:29)
Kill the mushrikun [unbelievers] wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. (Sura 9:5)
I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes. (Sura 8:12)
Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the enemies of Allah and your enemies. (Sura 8:60)
So, when you meet those who disbelieve, smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly on them... Thus you are ordered by Allah to continue in carrying out jihad against the dis- believers till they embrace Islam. (Sura 47:4)
From Muhammad:
Allah’s Messenger said: “I have been ordered [by Allah] to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah... so if they perform all that, then they save their lives and property from me.” (Hadith from Sahih Bukhari, 1:2:25, also Sahih Muslim, 1:10:29-35)
From Islamic Theology and Doctrine:
The Islamic Doctrine of Jihad as holy war against non-Muslims is consistently represented in the same manner across all major schools of Islamic jurisprudence in both Sunni and Shia Islam. This excerpt from Reliance of the Traveller, published by Al-Azhar University in Cairo Egypt, one of the foremost centers of learning in all of Islam, sums up key highlights of the doctrine of jihad:
Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada signifying warfare to establish the religion.
The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7) is such Koranic verses as:
“Fighting is prescribed for you” (Koran 2:216); “Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89); “Fight the idolators utterly” (Koran 9:36);
and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet said:
“I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Mes- senger of Allah, and perform the prayer, and pay zakat. If they say it, they have saved their blood and possessions from me, except for the rights of Islam over them. And their final reckoning is with Allah”;
and the hadith reported by Muslim,
“To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.”
Jihad is a communal obligation. (o9.1)
The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians... until
they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax. (o9.8)
The caliph fights all other peoples until they become Muslim. (o9.9)
(Reliance of the Traveller, o9.0, o9.1, o9.8, o9.9)
Why does Islam command its adherents to fight against non-Muslims, especially Christians and Jews, until they convert to Islam or submit? Why did the Muslims, immediately after the death of Muhammad, set out to conquer the Christian world, and within a few decades, through war and bloodshed, spread across the Middle East and Central Asia, North Africa, and even into Spain? Why did Muslim armies, less than a century after Muhammad's death, lay siege to Constantinople, and did not cease to target the capitol city of Eastern Christendom until it finally defeated her in 1453?
Why do Muslims to this day attack, behead and slaughter Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims? Why are they invading Europe under the guise of immigration? Why is Saudi Arabia spreading its Wahhabi form of Islam in mosques in America and around the world?
Because Islam is the "forerunner of the antichrist," as St John of Damascus did not hesitate to say. Islam is the hellish spawn of the enemy of mankind, that same enemy who has been waging war against the Lord and against His Christ and against mankind from the creation of Man in the Garden.
The Lord Jesus Christ was speaking of Islam when he told this parable:
Another parable He put forth to them, saying:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn".’”
Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
He answered and said to them:
“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
"Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
(Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)
An enemy has done this.
Indeed an enemy has done this.He who claims Islam is a "religion of peace" is spreading a lie, and is denying the Truth.
He who defends Islam is siding with the enemy and sowing the seeds of apostasy.
In closing, I again offer one of the most important sayings about Islam ever written by an Orthodox Christian:
"Among those who call themselves Orthodox, I have met such strange people who say that Fr. Daniel [Sysoev] should not preach to Muslims, that one must respect their religion, and that there is no benefit from his preaching. But Fr. Daniel thought, as did the Lord, the Apostles, and all the saints, that one must respect mistaken people but not their mistakes. Truth is one, that which contradicts and negates truth is a lie, and respect for a lie is contempt for the truth."
— Fr George Maximov, speaking about New Martyr Fr Daniel Sysoev of Moscow, killed by a Muslim in 2009 for converting some 80 Muslims to the Orthodox Christian Faith.
Let us stand firm in our most holy Orthodox Christian Faith, and refuse to deny Jesus Christ, and refuse to honor and respect the lies from the enemy.