9 posts tagged “politics”

Here is the second post which is connected to the last one. Again, I found this on my friends blog, thank you Stefan. It is an article from The Washington Times, the link for this story is below. As always anything in ((and)) is my comment on the subject.

One other thing I want to say, completely off topic. I had this post already in the line up to put up. I had hoped to do some research over the last couple of days since this time of year finds most of us extremely busy until after New Year's Day. The series I am writing on takes a lot of research to get it right and cover everything. Anyway, on Saturday I started coming down with something, now its a full on head cold. The problem is, if it goes to my lungs, I could be in serious trouble. I have a preexisting lung problem and any other insult could not only cause me to have to go into the hospital, but it could kill me.

I'm telling you all this for two reasons; Number 1 is, I will do what I can with my blogs, but you know what its like when you have a head cold or don't feel well. #2 If I disappear for a week or so, it could be I am in the hospital, so just so you know, its not because I am quiting the blog.

Now, on with today's post:

Article published Sep 26, 2007an article from www.washingtontimes.com

By Willis Witter

Exiled Egyptian cleric Ahmed Subhy Mansour, whose teachings have earned him dozens of death “fatwas” from fellow Muslim clerics, uses the English translation for al Qaeda — meaning “the base” — to describe a plan to defeat Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, who he says have seized control of Islam.

”Suppose you have here [in the United States] a base to counter al Qaeda in the war of ideas?” Sheik Mansour asked during a recent luncheon at The Washington Times.

“You could convince a large number — millions of silent Muslims. We can convince them very easily that the real enemy is not the United States. It is not Israel. The real enemy is the dictators in the Muslim world and the culture of the Wahhabis and Muslim Brotherhood,” he said, referring to the dominant arbiters of Islamic orthodoxy in Saudi Arabia and Egypt respectively.

Sheik Mansour is the founder of a small Egyptian sect that is neither Sunni nor Shi”ite. They call themselves Quranists because they believe that the Koran represents the single authentic scripture of Islam. They especially anger Sunni Muslims by rejecting the Hadith and Sunna, purported sayings and traditions of the prophet Muhammad.

“Killing people just because they are not Muslims, they have a Hadith for this. To kill a Muslim like me after accusing him to be an ‘apostate,” they have a Hadith for this. To persecute the Jews, they have a Hadith for this.

“All this is garbage. It has nothing to do with Islam. It contradicts more than one-fourth of the Koranic verses,” Sheik Mansour said. ((one-fourth..Wow!))

A former professor of Islamic history at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, he was expelled in 1987 as the Muslim equivalent of a “heretic” and was briefly imprisoned by Egyptian authorities. After subsequent waves of persecution, he finally fled Egypt just months after the September 11, 2001, attacks and received political asylum in the United States the next year.

More recently, in May and June, Egyptian authorities arrested five leaders of the movement, including Sheik Mansour“s brother, on charges of “insulting Islam” and began investigations of 15 others, with the intent, he said, to destroy the entire movement.

From exile in the United States, he continues to attack the Islam of bin Laden and the Wahhabi Islam of Saudi Arabia that gave birth to bin Laden”s beliefs. Sheik Mansour also attacks the Islamist vision of Egypt”s Muslim Brotherhood, a group that rejects violence but shares the goal of a theocratic nationhood under Shariah, or Islamic law.

Though illegal in Egypt, the Brotherhood is allowed to operate openly in an uneasy truce with the government. Police round up its members whenever it delves too publicly in politics — for example, by holding anti-government demonstrations. But the Brotherhood”s interpretation of Shariah provides a benchmark for Egyptian law, which is based primarily on Shariah.

“We are not against the people. We are against this culture that will produce more and more generations of fanaticism. We go to the core of this culture and prove that it contradicts the Koran,” Sheik Mansour said.

“Few Americans understand that the battle against terrorism is a war of ideas,” Sheik Mansour said. “It is a war that is very different from the military in its tactics, its strategy and its weapons.

“Suicide bombings are just one aspect of this war. They brainwash young men to blow themselves up, to kill randomly. Our mission is to convince him, to undeceive them, to convince them that what he is doing is against Islam. He will lose his life and lose his afterlife as well.”
Sheik Mansour claims about 10,000 followers in Egypt who accept his teachings, many of whom are part of his extended family.

"We find Islam has the same values as the West: freedom, unlimited freedom of speech, justice, equality, loving, humanity, tolerance, mercy, everything. This is our version of Islam, and we argue that this is the core of Islam according to the Koran.” ((Somebody tell me why people who believe like this are so feared by the powers that be in Muslim nations??))

He and his sons operate the Quranic Center in Northern Virginia, which includes an elaborate Internet site in Arabic and English. On its Web site at www.ahl-alquran.com, the organization is republishing dozens of Sheik Mansour“s books and hundreds of articles he has written over the years. ((the english version http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/main.php))

The campaign is not without risk. One can find a sampling of fatwas, or edicts by other Muslim scholars against the Quranists, including one saying, “We have issued our commands to the soldiers of God to worship God by pouring out their blood and burning their homes.” ((those of you who live in the West, be thankful for your religious freedom))

Sheik Mansour said in response: “I do not care about my safety, but I do care about my persecuted people in Egypt.”

Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute's Institute of Religious Freedom, said arrests of the Quranists reflect an attempt by Egypt's government to demonstrate its loyalty to Islam to fend off challenges from even more extreme Islamists who want to impose much harsher restrictions on the Arab world's most populous nation.

“These arrests are part of the Egyptian government’s double game in which it imprisons members of the Muslim Brotherhood when the latter appear to become too powerful, while simultaneously trying to appear Islamic itself and blunt the Brotherhood’s appeal by cracking down on religious reformers, who are very often also democracy activists,” Mr. Marshall wrote in a recent edition of the Weekly Standard.

The arrests of the Quranists received a brief mention in the latest annual report on International Religious Freedom by the State Department, which noted the arrests of five Quranists and defined the group as “a small group of Muslims who rely largely if not exclusively on the Qur’an as authoritative for Islam, to the exclusion of the prophetic traditions [Hadith] and other sources of Islamic law.”

One detainee told an Egyptian human rights investigator that he was beaten and threatened with rape by one interrogator, the State Department report says. ((This isn't the first time I've heard of this kind of punishment and interrogation torture. So here we have a man being persecuted, because he is considered a heretic towards Islam, and we have some Muslims, torturing him and others... Please somebody tell me how one man raping another, or if a man rapes a woman ... how 'Islamic' is that?? How is torture in any form Islamic??))

Since arriving in the states, Sheik Mansour has held a number of academic posts. In 2002, he was a Reagan-Fascell Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, where he wrote on the roots of democracy in Islam.

The next year, he received a visiting fellowship at Harvard Law School”s Human Rights Program.

He also briefly met Karen P. Hughes, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, last year in the office of Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican.The meeting, Sheik Mansour said, lasted for 10 minutes, barely enough for polite introductions.

“I said: ‘Please, let me sit down with you for more time. I have big plan,” ” he recalled. But there was no follow-up.

“We need official American help for our arrested people in Egypt,” he said. “We don”t want money. We are talking about releasing our arrested people, saving the lives of scholars, bringing them to the U.S., granting them asylum to help establish this new base for moderate Islam.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070926/FOREIGN/109260030/1003

Thanksgiving2

As we are going into Thanksgiving and I am very busy during this time of the year; I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get at least 3 posts out this week. I won't be putting up one on the topic I am currently working on however I found this on my friends blog. We will get back to the other series the first of the week (hopefully). But this post and the next one is just as informative and interesting as the series we are in, so I really want everyone to read it and the next one.

Again remember there is no compulsion in Islam... as long as you worship and/or believe the way your told. Anything else is subject to discrimination, jail, or death. Even if, or rather, especially if, you are a Muslim in a Muslim nation.

In the early 1990’s, I was invited by the Egyptian association for religious brotherhood to lecture in a church in Cairo to Muslims and Christians about tolerance. I was warned that there was a suspicious bearded man waiting for me in front of the church.We talked. He told me that he had spent two months trying to meet me. He told me that he had been a member of secret fanatic organization and was assigned to rebut my discourse, but that my words had changed his and his family’s life. He asked me to join my weekly Friday prayer meeting at my home, and if possible bring his family.

After a month they became Quranists.

Who are the Quranists?

The Quranists are intellectual Muslims who believe in Islam as the religion of freedom, democracy, tolerance, justice, peace and human rights. They fight the terrorists’ culture from within Islam, using Quran as the only source of legislation.

Why they are persecuted?

The Quranic movement started in 1979 by sincere Muslim scholars who specialized in the contradiction between the true Islam and the Culture of Muslims. Therefore they were victimized by terrorists and fanatic scholars.Being activists for human rights and democracy, and calling for peaceful reform from within Islam, the Quranists are also victimized by the Egyptian regime.

The Egyptian regime and Muslim Brothers are against each other but are usually united against Quranists.

Brief overview of the persecution of Quranists:

The Quranists have suffered three waves of arrest; in 1987, 2000-2001, and finally the third wave starting May 28th, 2007, when five of the Quranists were arrested, tortured for 37 days, interrogated, and suffered ridiculous accusations about their faith and prayers.

Their families were also persecuted in Egypt. Some moved to Upper Egypt and some stayed indoors. The Muslim Brothers used mosques, media and the education system, as well as their control of the streets to try to tarnish the Quranists as ardent enemies of Islam.

After the Egyptian regime officially accused the Quranists of insulting Islam, fanatics used the accusation to call for the Quranists’ death.

The five Quranists have been released in October 6, 2007, after more than four months in prison. Because of torture, my brother Abdellateef had to undergo surgery in his ear. Amr Tharwat needed surgery on his leg, while Ahmed Dahmash has damage in his backbone. The persecution continues. Every week, they must go to the same prison to be interrogated and humiliated by the security services. Any time they may be arrested and tortured again. They are ordered to pray the weekly Friday prayer in fanatic mosques, and are not allowed to contact me, or to write in our site.

In this way he Egyptian regime is seeking to make an example for the rest and keep the Quranists from continuing their reform movement.

Persecution in some detail:

As an assistant professor at Al-Azhar University, the oldest and most famous religious university in the Sunni Muslim world, I wrote five books in 1985 to reform Sunni religious life.. I was accused of being against Islam because I denied the intercession of the prophet Muhammad in the day of judgment, deny his infallibility, and deny that he is the best and the master of all the prophets. In March 1987, I was fired.In November 1987, I was arrested, along with 24 of my followers, and accused of being a denier of the Sunna, the sayings and the deeds of the prophet Muhammad. The government claimed that my writing were a call for Muslims to abandon Islam. After two months I was released.

To save my life, I escaped to the United States. When I returned to Egypt in October 1988 I was again arrested, and released after two days on the condition that I not defend myself whenever the fanatics of Al Azhar attacked me. In the period 1988-1995, I was attacked so severely, and received death threats so that I asked for court protection. From January 1996 until June 2000 I worked at the Ibn Khaldun Center as a Muslim scholar and moderator of the Center’s weekly forum. The Center is run by Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the famous sociologist, and leader of the movement for human rights, civil society and liberal culture in the Arab world. As an American citizen and part-time counselor of President Mubarak, Dr. Ibrahim has had great influence in Egypt in the 1990s.

My life was in real danger after I wrote a book as a project for the Center on reforming the Egyptian education system to make it more tolerant. I was severely attacked in the Egyptian parliament.

As a result of problems between Dr. Ibrahim and President Mubarak, Dr. Ibrahim was arrested in June 2000 and the Center shut down. Since I was in serious danger, and some of my relatives had been arrested, I contacted and explained the situation to officials in the US embassy.

The security service kept us constantly in a state of terror. They arrested more members of my family in my village. Finally they arrested some of my friends who used to attend my weekly prayer at home. One told me that he expected them to arrest both of us along with more of my relatives. He said they would as usual force my friends to make false accusations about me and so I fled to the US on October, 15, 2001. (This is reviewed in the U. S Department of State’s 2002 International Religious Freedom Report)

Since coming to the U.S, I have found the same Wahabi influence, and founded the International Quranic Center, with a website, to organize Quranists.

So, we suffer the third wave of arrest.

For more details:

http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=126

http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/show_article.php?main_id=2048

How could the Quranists help the U.S in this war of ideas against the terrorists?

The war against terrorism is 90% war of ideas. This intellectual war has its unique aspects and rules. The Quranists are an Islamic group capable of defending the U.S in this ideological war against terrorism. Al Qaeda and all the terrorist organizations have real power in the war of ideas.

But they cannot debate us with logic and evidence, so they resort to brute force, with government accomplices. So we are jailed, tortured, driven from out homes and made refugees in other countries. They issue fatwas calling for our death; thus proving once more that the Wahabi ideology cannot stand on its own feet, but requires the power of authorities to force it on people.

The only way to confront and defeat Wahabis is by using our ways and methods. We are Muslims, sincere about our faith and very much attached to and adhered to the Quran, and for the past thirty years, we never wavered, never retreated, we stood alone and stood firm, and despite the persecution and the lack of means, we managed to succeed in producing a genuine change in the Islamic interpretation and practices among many Muslims.

In conclusion, despite many successes, we are still victims of the Wahabi ideology and persecution of a tyrannical regime in Egypt on one hand, and a total neglect and disregard from the American institutions on the other hand.

http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=2614

See :

Egyptian Human Rights Activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim Defies Threats, Arrests to Challenge U.S.-Backed Mubarak Government

And my next post, if you just can't wait. Or rather my copy/paste of Stefan's post lol. Oh well, it is a holiday after all.  

Terror11

8 comments

As most of you know, two of my blogs are completely up to date with all my posts.  Those two had a long series of posts in regards to Islamophobia/bigotry, which sadly gave me quite a bit of hate mail on one of them.  This post is not part of the series I am working on now, and not even written by me.  But I felt it was so important, that I am doing a complete copy/paste from the blog I found it.

Italian politician parades pig on mosque site: press ROME, Nov 11 (AFP): Italy’s former deputy education minister has provoked a scandal by parading a pig on the site of a planned mosque in the country’s north, news reports said Sunday. “We have ‘blessed’ the ground that the Padua authorities want to transfer for the mosque,” said Mariella Mazzetto, a member of the populist right-wing Northern League party in the city. She walked the pig on a lead accompanied by about 10 party members, Italian daily newspapers reported. (Posted @ 16:54 PST) source

Talk about nasty, malicious and hateful. I’d like to see how Islamophobes try to justify this sort of blatant hatred - it’s not even a “point” the Italian politician is trying to make, nor a “self-defense” action etc. On second thought, I don’t think I could palate even a singl comment trying to justify this sort of thing. It’s purely to hurt Muslim sentiment and offend them. Very reminiscent of anti-antisemitism in Europe when other types of fascists paraded donkeys with Jewish symbols on them.

And yet not enough people notice this growing Islamophobia and of those who do, even less are alarmed by it enough to condemn it.

Stop hating Islam. It is as “great” a religion as Christianity and Judaism. It has its flaws like any other religion so look at your own faith’s transgressions against humanity first and then point fingers at others. Better yet, go take out your anger at a punching bag at the gym or something. Get offline and stop surfing right wing blogs. I thank you on behalf of humanity.

As you can see, this is not the kind of behavior which is acceptable under any stretch of imagination.  It sounds more like a something a juvenile thug, than a grown adult who is suppose to be educated.  You can find the original story here.   We have been over this before, we all know that there are bad people out there, but please, try not blaming an entire religion for the acts of a few.  Should we kill all the Jews because they were to ‘blame’ for the death of Jesus?? (no I don’t believe that) Below is part of a comment I left on one of my other blogs, it speaks for itself. 

I have met Muslims from every sect, from conservative to liberal, and in my journey I have found a broad range of beliefs. Only the radicals are ridged. A lot of Muslims will tell you that they may be Muslim but they also have a brain. They are a joy to meet, and no different than you or I. They just worship God differently than what you may be accustomed too.  The best way I can describe it is this; Have you ever met or been told about a Cop who was a complete and total jerk? Who used his position of authority to lord it over others?? Did it at first make you think that all Cops were aholes?? The, “one bad apple spoils the whole bushel” thing??

You have a powerful tool in your hands right now. You can use it to learn, and to grow. You can use it to change hearts and minds. Or you can use it to be condescending, hateful or hurtful. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you are, I’m just saying the possiblities.

From my personal experience in the last 8 months or so, I have grown and learned. I have spent a great deal of time dealing with Islamist on their blogs (for material). But I have also met and became friends with a lot of good, God fearing, caring, and open minded Muslims. I have also met a fair share of close minded and bigoted non-Muslims.

It all goes to prove one thing… If we actually look below the surface, if Muslims in Muslim nations were given the freedom to live how they please… There wouldn’t be that much difference then in the West. There would be those who are devout, and those who are not. There would be those who choose to dress according to what they feel their scripture calls for, and those who don’t.  You can go on from there.  

We really aren’t that different when it comes right down to it. Most people just want to do their thing, free of strife. There are a lot of misconceptions about Muslims, and Muslims have a lot of misconceptions about Christians and the West. We can go on the attack, or we can go into explanations. Its all how you go about it in your heart. What is your true objective. Mine is to build brotherhood. 

 

The Entire Earth Must Be Subjected to Islam

"How can [he] possibly [accept humiliation and inferiority] when he knows that his nation was created to stand at the center of leadership, at the center of hegemony and rule, at the center of ability and sacrifice? How can [he] possibly [accept humiliation and inferiority] when he knows that the [divine] rule is that the entire earth MUST be subject to the religion of Allah - not to the East, not to the West - to no ideology and to NO PATH EXCEPT for the path of Allah?…"

 

"As long as this Muslim knows and believes in these facts, he will not - even for a single moment - stop striving to achieve it, EVEN IF IT COSTS HIM HIS SOUL... his time, his property, and his son, as it is said, 'Say [to the believers]: If your fathers and your sons and your brethren and your wives and your kinsfolk and the worth you have acquired and the trade, the dullness of which you apprehend, and the dwellings that you fancy are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving in His cause, then wait until Allah issues His judgment. Allah guides not the disobedient people…'

 

Part II: The Blow Against the U.S. Will Come from Where Least Expected

 

"…The [premises] on which we base ourselves as an organization, and on which we base our operations and our method of action, are practical and realistic… They are also scientific and [in accordance with] Islamic religious law, and they give us confidence and certainty… In writing them and in [publicly] revealing them, I do not intend to be apologetic for what was done; I lay [these arguments] before you so as to emphasize that we are continuing with our blows against the Americans and the Jews, and with attacking them, both people and installations [so as to stress] that what awaits the Americans will not, Allah willing, be less than what has already happened to them. America must prepare itself; it must go on maximum alert; … because, Allah willing, the blow will come from where they least expect it…"

"America is the head of heresy in our modern world, and it leads an infidel democratic regime that is based upon separation of religion and state and on ruling the people by the people via legislating laws that contradict the way of Allah and permit what Allah has prohibited. This compels the other countries to act in accordance with the same laws in the same ways… and punishes any country [that rebels against these laws] by besieging it, and then by boycotting it.  By so doing, [America] seeks to impose on the world a religion that is not Allah's…"

We Have the Right to Kill 4 Million Americans

"We have not reached parity with them. We have the right to kill 4 million Americans - 2 million of them children - and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, it is our right to fight them with chemical and biological weapons, so as to afflict them with the fatal maladies that have afflicted the Muslims because of the [Americans'] chemical and biological weapons." 

Part I: Why We Fight the U.S.

"…Perhaps the [Islamic] nation is waiting for one Al-Qa'ida man to come out and clear up the many questions that accompany any communiqué, message, or picture [concerning September 11], to know the truth, the motives, and the goals behind the conflict with the Hubal [one of the pre-Islamic Ka'ba idols - referring to the U.S.] of our generation…"

 

"Why is the world surprised?! Why were millions of people astounded by what happened to America on September 11? Did the world think that anything else would happen? That something less than this would happen?!"

"In Islam, however, freedom is to be able to practice your Religion as much as possible, which includes establishing the Shari’ah (sharia law) and waging Jihad for the cause of Allah.

 

 Freedom is to be able to stand up to the tyrants and tell them, ““Verily, we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Allah.” Free from your wretched laws, methodologies, constitutions and values… free from your repugnant governments, courts, distinguishing characteristics and media…

 

 “We have rejected you, and there has become apparent between us and you, enmity and hatred forever, until you believe in Allah ALONE.” THEREFORE, WE WILL CONTINUE TO SHOW HOSTILITY AND HATRED TOWARDS YOU FOREVER UNTIL YOU BELIEVE IN ALLAH ALONE...and freely".....

All Who Believe in Democracy, The Religion of Godlessness, Are Infidels

by Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, a pseudonym for Asem Al-Burqawi

 

"[Democracy is] denying Allah the Almighty, associating [other deities] with [Allah,] the Sovereign of heaven and earth, and is contrary to the religion of unity [i.e. Islam] and the religion of the prophets, for many reasons, among them:

 

"First, [democracy] is legislated by the masses or the regime of tyrants, and it is not the rule of Allah the Exalted. Allah commanded his Prophet to act according to the law that Allah sent down to him, and forbade him from following the desires of the nation or the masses and warned him that they would divert him from part of the [precepts] sent down by Allah: 'Judge between them by that which Allah has sent down, and do not follow their wishes to deviate from it' [Qur'an 5:49]. This [appears] in the religion of unity and of Islam.

 

"With regard to the religion of democracy and association [of other deities with Allah, i.e. polytheism], those who worship it say 'Judge between them by that which the people wish; be wary of deviating from what they want, desire, and legislate'… This is what they say, and thus it is determined that democracy is unbelief and association [of other deities with Allah] if it is implemented…

 

"Second, the rule of the masses or the tyrants is in accordance with the constitution, and not in accordance with the law of Allah, and thus say their constitutions and their books, which they sanctify over the Qur'an. Evidence of this is that the law [of the constitutions and books] is preferred to the law [of the Qur'an], and the law [of the constitutions and books] is higher [to them] than [the Qur'an's] laws… According to the religion of democracy, the masses do not accept the judgments and laws … unless they are based on the precepts and articles of the constitution, because they see it as the father of the laws and the holy book. In the religion of democracy, there is no consideration of the Qur'an verses or the Hadiths [prophetic tradition] of the Prophet, and laws cannot be legislated in accordance with them unless they are compatible with the precepts of their holy book, the constitution…

 

"Third, democracy is the vile fruit and illegitimate daughter of secularism, because secularism is a heretical school of thought that aspires to isolate religion from life or separate religion from state … and democracy is the rule of the people or the rule of the tyrants. But in any event, it is not the rule of Allah the Exalted, and it does not take the unswerving legislation of Allah into account at all unless it is first compatible with all the articles of the constitution, and then with the desires of the people, and even before that with the desires of the tyrants or the masses…

I recieved at least one comment on my previous post, from a Muslim who was offended by my letter.  I don't blame this person for being offended, I would be offended too if a group of radicals took over my religion.  My problem is with "Moderate Muslims".  Obviously they should re-read the post and answer the questions I posed there.

Recap:    I am calling on you to condemn the terrorist actions of muslim extremest. If you cannot do that, then it leads me to think that you approve of their actions. Which is only a short step away from committing acts of violence and terror yourself, or encouraging others to do so.

I do not understand why it is so hard for muslims to speak out against violence, are they afraid for their safety, or do they condone it. Maybe you can explain it to me. And please explain why so many muslims feel the need to kill people for not believing the way they do.

Do I hated all muslims...NO. I hate the actions of extremest, I hate the silence of the so called moderates. I hate the double talk of some so called moderates that say one thing when the camera is rolling and something else when they think no one but like minds are listening. I have a problem with the fact that muslims are allowed to lie about their activity and true feelings about jihad to keep the kufar from knowing what they are doing.

Instead of being offended by my post, please answer it, as that was the reason I wrote it.  I visit jihadist websites and try to reason with them on why what they believe is wrong.  My biggest problem is that I don't see any "moderate Muslims" trying to do the same thing.  I don't see people in the street protesting against acts of violence being perpetrated in the name of Islam.  

Islam has a huge following, where are the people crying out??  Check out my photos to see the things that I see, in regards to Muslim protest.

Now, why do I have a problem with the word "kufar", because it is used as a means to discriminate against non-Muslims.  The rights afforded "kufar" are slim and none.  They (the kufar) have to pay a "jirzah" tax.   The following is a response from a Muslim on a jihadist website on my question:  If a person didn't have the "jirzah" tax on non-Muslims??   "If they don’t pay the Jizyah willingly, then they are killed."......Is this something that "moderate Muslims" adhere to??

In 1772 a Muslim scholar, was asked how Jews and Christians should be treated: 

"Those who agree to pay jizyah are to be treated as zimmîs who are allowed to live and work for the Islamic state under the following 20 disabilities: (1) they are not to build any new places of worship; (2) they are not to repair any old places of worship which have been destroyed by the Muslims; (3) they are not to prevent Muslim travellers from staying in their places of worship; (4) they are to entertain for three days any Muslim who wants to stay in their homes, and for a longer period if the Muslim falls ill; (5) they are not to harbour any hostility towards the Islamic state, or give any aid and comfort to hostile elements; (6) they are not to prevent any one of them from getting converted to Islam; (7) they have to show respect towards every Muslim; (8) they have to allow Muslims to participate in their private meetings; (9) they are not to dress like Muslims;(which by the way gives Muslim men the right to rape non-Muslim women, since they are not properly covered) (10) they are not to name themselves with Muslim names; (11) they are not to ride on horses with saddle and bridle; (12) they are not to possess arms; (13) they are not to wear signet rings or seals on their fingers; (14) they are not to sell or drink liquor openly; (15) they are to wear a distinctive dress which shows their inferior status, and which separates them from the Muslims; (16) they are not to propagate their customs and usages amongst the Muslims; (17) they are not to build their houses in the neighbourhood of Muslims; (18) they are not to bring their dead near the graveyards of the Muslims; (19) they are not to observe their religious practices publicly, or mourn their dead loudly; and (20) they are not to buy Muslim slaves."

Saudi sheikh Marzouq Salem al-Ghamdi concisely summarized the current consensus viewpoint of the major schools of Islamic jurisprudence in a television sermon he delivered in 2002:

"If the infidels live among the Muslims, in accordance with the conditions set out by the Prophet -- there is nothing wrong with it provided they pay the jizya (tolerance tax) to the Islamic treasury. Other conditions are ... that they do not renovate a church or monastery, do not rebuild ones that were destroyed, that they feed for three days any Muslim who passes by their homes ... that they rise when a Muslim wishes to sit, that they do not imitate Muslims in dress or speech, nor ride horses, nor own swords, nor arm themselves with any kind of weapon; that they do not sell wine, do not show the cross, do not ring church bells, do not raise their voices during prayer, they shave their hair in front so as to make them easily identifiable, do not incite anyone against the Muslims, and do not strike a Muslim ... If they violate these conditions, they have not protection."

This is why I hate the word "kufar".  If you have doubt about how at least some Muslims believe, maybe you should watch the following movie.  It is amazing what people say, when they think like minds are listening.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2668560761490749816&q=undercover+mosque

This is what I fear.  This is what we need to wake up too, and not just us, but the "moderate Muslim" as well.  Examine the ways of the Taliban.  That is what these people are fighting for!!  More to come.

An open letter to muslims:

Before 9-11 I didn’t know anything about islam, since then I have learned plenty. I have learned how muslims kill hundreds daily…many of them other muslims, for not believing the way the killers believe. I’ve learned that even though the koran calls Christians and Jews “people of the book”, islam wants nothing more than to convert them or kill them. I’ve learned that while Christianity is a message of love and forgiveness, islam is a message of hate, vengeance, and “awful doom”

You want people to think differently about you, maybe you should stop with all the death fatwas. Maybe you should mind your own business and let other people mind theirs. Maybe you should stop beheading people and teaching children the fine art of beheading. Maybe you should stop indoctrinating little children in hate and death. Maybe you should stop trying to get 6 year old kids to become suicide bombers.

You are under the misguided impression that the west gives two sit’s about your religion. Unlike you, the west has freedom of religion, the freedom to choose and worship without threat. Muslims can worship in the US, but Christians cannot in the majority of arab countries.

I am not calling you terrorist, but I am calling on you to condemn the terrorist actions of muslim extremest. If you cannot do that, then it leads me to think that you approve of their actions. Which is only a short step away from committing acts of violence and terror yourself, or encouraging others to do so.

I do not understand why it is so hard for muslims to speak out against violence, are they afraid for their safety, or do they condone it. Maybe you can explain it to me. And please explain why so many muslims feel the need to kill people for not believing the way they do. Why behead monks and priest’s and nun’s, are these people deserving of this treatment??

Why rape women for showing an interest in the bible?  Why “honor” killings?  Why do you care if someone decides to leave the muslim faith? They are called apostates and are threatened with death. Do you think that this type of behavior will make people want to apart of your religion, or respect it? I certainly have a hard time respecting anyone who believes these things. Please explain to me why I should.

Do I hated all muslims...NO. I hate the actions of extremest, I hate the silence of the so called moderates. I hate the double talk of some so called moderates that say one thing when the camera is rolling and something else when they think no one but like minds are listening. I have a problem with the fact that muslims are allowed to lie about their activity and true feelings about jihad to keep the kufar from knowing what they are doing.

I hate the "kufar" terminology, nothing like a religion that blatantly calls for slavery, discrimination and murder. As I have said, Christianity is based on love and forgiveness. Islam is based on hate, discrimination, death and "awful doom". You can cherry pick verses from the koran that say you shouldn't kill, but when you look at it in context or as a whole, the koran is all about death.

 The Christian bible says nothing about killing everyone who doesn't believe, the bible says of enemies:" Bless them that curse you, pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smacks you on the one cheek, offer him the other, and him that takes away your cloak, give him your coat also. It says to love your enemy and pray for them. And when asked of the Lord how often to forgive those that offend you, He said until seventy times seven." The koran and the bible are polar opposites. 

As I said I didn't know anything about islam before 9-11, I know a lot now. And if I was in a situation where so many others have been in, of convert to islam or die....your gonna have to kill me, cause it ain't happening. I will never understand why anyone would want to be in a religion that is so hateful. And as far as muslims condemning the acts of terrorist, I'm sorry but I don't see enough of it, to think that they really do. 

Here is a little eye opener:

http://moderatesrefuted.wordpress.com/