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Topic: The coming internal battle

topic by don 4/5/2002 (1:05)

reply top Since early December 1993, and especially in the aftermath of Vatican City's movement toward recognition of Israel, Islamist leadership and terrorist organizations have launched an increasing barrage of denunciations and attacks on the Church. As a result, the Islamists' self-proclaimed 'Holy War' against the West now encompasses an increasing attack on Christianity, attacks that go well beyond the historic repression of Christian minorities living in Muslim countries. The origins of contemporary Islamist opposition to Christianity, particularly from Tehran and Khartoum, are the product of a backlash against the Church's humanitarian efforts throughout the Third World. These Christian humanitarian efforts, usually associated with missionary activities and religious organizations, often involve providing a Western-style education to local populations, as well as obtaining scholarships for students to study in the West. Increasingly, the Islamists perceive these efforts as an attempt to develop a Western educated leadership class in the Third World that would be hostile to Islam. Furthermore, Hassan al-Turabi, Sudan's spiritual leader, has a personal grudge against Pope John Paul II because of the Pope's involvement with the Christian minority in Southern Sudan, a population to which the Islamists are strongly opposed. Indeed, the tension between the two was clearly visible during the Pope's visit to Khartoum, which Turabi anticipated would be a recognition of his own posture as a world leader of Islam, but which instead included a passionate call from the Pope for respecting the rights of Christian minorities in the Muslim world. Thus, Turabi developed an intensified preoccupation with Christianity and the Church as was clearly demonstrated in early December 1993, during the Popular Arab and Islamic Congress (PAIC) conference in Khartoum, in which Iran and Sudan committed themselves to establishing Islamist hegemony over the 'Hub of Islam' and, ultimately, over any place where Muslims dwell. Needless to say, the Islamists' struggle against the Church has been far more than just words. Answering the call from Tehran and Khartoum, there have been terrorist strikes against Christians in many places all over the world. The first, and most symbolically significant, strike took place in Bethlehem in early December, just as the PAIC conference was being concluded. Two Hamas terrorists shot at a Jewish couple shopping in the Manjar Street in Bethlehem, killing one and wounding the other. The significance of this attack was that the Hamas was allowed to operate in predominantly Christian Bethlehem. Prior to the attack, even at the height of the Intifada, the local elite had succeeded in preventing Islamist terrorist attacks in Bethlehem in order to avoid offending Christian supporters of the Palestinian cause, primarily those surrounding Archbishop Hilarion Kappucci. Subsequently, Hamas escalated the strikes against the Church on the eve of the Christmas season. For example, a small bomb was discovered and defused by the Israeli security forces in the square in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Several Islamist groups announced their responsibility for the bombing attempt, justifying the act as an effort to prevent the spread of Christian influence in what they call a Muslim land. Similarly, in mid-December, Islamist leaders throughout Somalia intensified their agitation campaign against the Christian charities, accusing them of missionary intentions under the guise of humanitarian assistance. They further warned that any celebration of Christmas would constitute a threat to the well-being. of the Muslim community in Somalia. At the PAIC Conference, special attention was paid to what is perceived as the oppression of Muslims minorities in Western Europe and the U.S. Turabi stressed that PAIC 'gives top concern to protect our minority Muslims in Europe [and] to defend their presence and rights in order to be a symbol for Islam there [and] to protect Muslims' issues.' Turabi emphasized that there was a growing oppression of Muslims by the Christian world and explained that 'the torture which Muslims in Europe and the U.S. is [sic] facing currently, particularly if they call for their special worships or freedom in their rights in culture, education or general rights, or they call for their sacred [sic] not to be insulted.' Turabi paid special attention to the U.S. where, he claimed, the oppression of Muslims is a government policy implemented from the White House down to virtually all levels of the establishment. The Sudanese spiritual leader argued that the President's meeting with Salman Rushdie was symptomatic of America's inherent hostility toward Islam. In official Washington, a contempt for the Islamic nation has reached such a point that a world leader no longer cares about what hurts Muslims' feelings, even in his protocol meetings.' This message of an intensified confrontation with the Christian West was echoed by the numerous delegates from the U.S. and West European states. All, without exception, criticized the oppression of their communities and their values, and all called for a popular uprising among Europe's Muslims, and for direct confrontation with their oppressors. In the aftermath of the PAIC conference, Tehran succinctly defined the new threat from the West, and articulated a strategy to respond to it. As Dr. Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior Iranian official, put it, the greatest threat to the entire Muslim world is the cultural onslaught of the West. Larijani explained that the West's 'political influence and economic plundering have very extensive cultural aspects. And it is against this Western onslaught that the world of Islam is defending itself. ' Against this backdrop, Larijani defined the role of Iran as that of the instigator and leader of the struggle against this growing Western influence. The reason why Iran is a target of this onslaught is because we have hoisted the banner of confrontation. Fortunately, this banner is now in the hands of all Muslims and will be handed over to the next generation.' However, it was none other than Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Hussayn Khamene'i, who clarified that Christianity constituted the essence of the West's cultural onslaught against Islam. In his X-mas Message (delivered on the eve of the holidays and then broadcast on Iranian TV on January 3, 1994), Khamene'i blasted the use of Christianity as an instrument of access into the Muslim world. The dominant powers and governments, under the pretext of Christianity but in truth materialist and ignorant of the teachings and traditions of His Holiness Christ, have made life difficult for the innocent nations and peoples, and commit all sorts of injustice against them,' Khamene'i explained. Several Iranian notables followed Khamene'i's example with a series of warnings about the evils of the Western-Christian 'cultural onslaught' on Islam and urged the launching of attacks against the West For example, in a late December sermon, the Speaker of Majlis (the Iranian Parliament), Natiq-Nuri, stressed that the 'West's cultural onslaught [is] a new war against the noble Iranian nation.' Natiq-Nuri explained that having failed to defeat the resurgence of Islam through military and economic means, the West adopted yet another type of weapon, namely the corruption of Muslims through acculturation and religious means. 'The world today is one of hegemonism and the sworn enemies of Islam are trying to find new ways to plot against the pure ideas of Islam; the least neglect in the fight against the cultural onslaught will inflict irreparable loss.' Needless to say, Vatican City's moves toward recognition of Israel have been defined by the Islamists as first and foremost an act of Christianity against Islam and the Muslim world. The essence of the Vatican's decision, in the Islamist view, is to remove Christianity from the anti-Jewish struggle. For the Islamists, this is proof of the duplicity of the Church and its inherent antiMuslim character. Indeed, the most virulent reactions to Vatican City's decision to move toward recognition of Israel have come from the HizbAllah, Syria, and of course, Iran, and have even taken on anti-Semitic overtones. 'We cannot but denounce this historic sin committed against Jesus and humanity in line with our stand that holds on to the holy and humanitarian rights to reject endorsing the oppressor,' HizbAllah announced the moment Israel and Vatican City signed the protocols moving toward mutual recognition. 'How could the call for justice and love be right when what considers itself as the permanent message of Christ accepts falsehood and is silent on oppression and even rewards it by recognition and normalization of ties?' In Damascus, the official media blasted the agreement as proof that Christianity is no longer an integral part of the struggle against the Jews, not just Israel. On January 2, Tishrin sharply criticized the Vatican's 'accord with those who betrayed Jesus and seized the holy places by force.' On January 3, even the English-language Syria Times, the government's propaganda front vis-a-vis the West, could not resist an anti-Semitic remark: 'The Vatican not only exonerates the Jews from the blood of Jesus but approved of their usurpation of the Holy Land and their grip on the territories.' Indeed, so widespread in the Muslim world was the condemnation of Vatican City that even Walid Jumblatt (who is Druze and a socialist) accused 'the Christian West of allying itself with Zionism against the Arabs and Muslims in a political, economic, and especially cultural offensive designed to destroy the Arab world and wreck all of Islam's lofty concepts.' He declared that consequently 'the Arab identity and Islam are in danger.' Beyond the initial reaction, the Islamic elite, particularly the Islamist leaders in Europe, began preparing their constituencies for an escalation of the 'Holy War' between Christianity and Islam. A most authoritative analysis of these developments was published in the London-based Islamist Al-Quds al-Arabi on January 5, 1994. The article defined the Vatican's impending recognition of Israel as a 'catastrophe' or 'holocaust,' terms that had previously been used only to describe the establishment of Israel and the Arab defeat in the 6 day war. However, Al-Quds al-Arabi stressed that this 'catastrophe' or 'holocaust' would not have happened if the Arabs were strongly unified and on the offensive against the Western onslaught: 'It is regrettable that the current state of Arab division does not encourage anyone to respect the Arabs and their causes or to take them and their interests into consideration. The picture was different when the Arabs were strong and united and when there was Arab solidarity. Others would have had to think a thousand times before taking a step that would anger any Arab state. 'We hope this fatal Vatican blow will serve as a lesson to those who are placing obstacles in the way of Arab reconciliation and the restoration of Arab solidarity, because the danger of these divisions which have weakened the Arabs and shaken their world image is getting closer to their own doorsteps. The coming days will prove that they are not safe no matter how much money, arms, and Western support they have... The Vatican's recognition of Israel on Israeli terms is an insult to all Arabs and Muslims, without exception, because the consequences of that recognition will be a catastrophe for all, without exception. Al-Quds al-Arabi concluded with a passionate call for resolute action against the Christian dominated West before its relentless cultural onslaught takes hold over the Muslim world. Later, in Tehran, President Hashemi-Rafsanjani delivered a sermon on January 7, 1994 in which he, in essence, predicted a marked escalation in the Islamists' Holy War. Hashemi-Rafsanjani started with an interpretation of the rise of Islam. Islam, the Iranian leader proclaimed, had surged in the aftermath of seven centuries of the failure of the message of Christ, who had been a prophet but who had proved to be incapable of bringing man to G-d, thus setting the stage for the rise of Islam. Hashemi-Rafsanjani went on to explain that in the aftermath of the rise of Islam there is no longer a validity to other religions, and that therefore all people should have adopted Islam long ago. However, the opposite is happening. The West, in a last desperate attempt to prevent the spread of Islam and its supplanting of Christianity, is trying to suppress Islam. These attempts are exactly identical to the futile attempt of the Christian world to block the surge of Islam: At present, history is witnessing the repeat of events that unfolded at the advent of Islam. The plight that the Islamic world faces today is the same as the one that the Prophet had to endure during the early days of Islam. A glance at the conditions of Muslims in various parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kashmir, Bosnia, and Palestine, and the silence of the West toward their plight, testifies to this reality. Therefore, Hashemi-Rafsanjani declared, Iran and the entire Muslim world must adopt 'the Prophet ... and Jihad as a model.' The Iranian leader concluded with the observation that just as the first Muslim community in Arabia, small and fragile, was ultimately able to surge and conquer the Christian world of the day, so will the contemporary Muslim world, currently once more besieged and suppressed by Christianity, ultimately and inevitably triumph over its oppressors. The recent Islamist attacks on Christianity and Judaism should not come as a surprise. They constitute the first overt adoption by the senior political leaders of the Islamist world of principles long studied and advocated by Islamist scholars, especially those preaching to the emigre communities in the West. This is significant because, traditionally, Islam had defined both Jews and Christians as Ahl al-Kitab [People of Scripture or People of the Book], and most Muslims use this definition of the common monotheistic character of the three main religions to justify coexistence and friendly cohabitation. However, since the late 1980's, there has been a growing trend in Islamist thought that seeks to transform this relationship into hostility and confrontation. Indeed, it is noteworthy that many of the scholarly publications on this subject have been published in English and French so as to more easily reach the assimilated emigre Muslim communities in the West. A milestone example of this is the 1989 book, Islam Versus Ahl al-Kitab, by Maryam Jameelah, an American woman who converted to Islam and now lives in Pakistan. The book is extremely popular among the Islamist communities in Western Europe. In her book, Jameelah explains why the prevailing conditions in the modern world make it impossible for Muslims and the Ahl al-Etab to coexist: Jews and Christians share with Muslims a common religious and cultural heritage.... Tragically, however, our common legacy has never been able to prevent the development of the most hostile feelings of enmity and strife. Although what divides us may be narrow, the gulf that separates us is so deep that as circumstances now stand, I fear it is unbridgeable. Our differences appear to be irreconcilable.' The primary reason for this sudden crisis, according to Jameelah, between the Muslims and the Ahl al-Kitab is the growing spread of Western, that is Judeo-Christian, values into the Muslim world. This onslaught is so pervasive that 'every other Muslim country is being increasingly contaminated by the most noxious dirt from Europe and America.' However, Islam remains the sole defiant and steadfast force capable of containing and reversing the spread of Western influence. 'Even today when Muslims have sunk into the most abysmal depth of degradation and decay, Islam still remains the most formidable potential rival to the modern West, boldly challenging all its hedonistic culture stands for.' In her conclusions, Jameelah is very pessimistic about a near-term solution to the problem of Christian-Muslim relations. 'On what foundations can a lasting reconciliation between Muslims, Jews, and Christians be based? We must realize that under the existing circumstances, no friendship is possible. Jewry and Christendom have joined hands to destroy us and all we cherish. They have combined to annihilate us religiously, culturally and even physically.' hus, according to Jameelah, the only viable option is a bold surge of Islam against its foes. 'Peaceful relations and mutual respect among us can only be achieved through strength. We must cease indulging in apologetic and present the Islamic message to the world honestly and forthrightly.... We must establish a full-blooded Islamic state where we will witness our precepts translated into action. Finally, we must crush the conspiracies of Zionism, free-masonry, Orientalism, and foreign missions both with the pen and with the sword. We cannot afford peace and reconciliation with the Ahl al-Kitab until we can humble them and gain the upper hand.' The thesis of Maryam Jameelah is significant because she defines and gives intellectual gravitas to the idea of a growing threat to Islam from Western cultural and religious influences. In the practical world, such a perspective is being used by the leaders of Iran, Sudan and numerous Islamist terrorist organizations to justify their own actions and give weight to their cause. That last point is significant because it means that, far from being a mere intellectual exercise, the new anti-Christian doctrine of radical Islam has a popular appeal and will therefore set the stage for a new wave of terrorism. Indeed, the anti-Christian terrorist attacks of the past X-mas season strongly suggest that this is indeed the case.

reply by egyptian 4/5/2002 (2:18)

reply top So what do you think could be done to avoid the resulting aramageddon ? I would like to hear your thoughts on that. peace

reply by John Calvin 4/5/2002 (8:41)

reply top What is the source of this article: Pat Roberson? It's almost too nutty for that. In fact the Vatican and the Islamic Republic have very cordial relations, as does Iran with the patriarch of the Orthodox Church. They share common goals with respect to fighting imposition of materialist, secular, anti-religious 'Western' culture and propaganda on the 'Third' world, and reject the notion that 'national' and business interests supecede fundamental moral values as imbodied in the the Sacred texts and traditions of both Islam and Christianity. They are joined together in a common struggle against idolatry, bad science and empire. In order to understand what is going on and how the paranoid delusions contained in the above article are generated I could hardly do better than to recommend a little book written by Soren Kierkegaard more than 150 years ago 'Attack Upon Christiandom', especially in those chapters where he elaborates on the difference between militant Christianity- as represented by the determined followers of Jesus Christ- and Christian triumphalism- as represented by institutions of the Chritian Church hopelessly entangled in the power and prestige of nationalist interest. In regard to the situation in the Sudan ( and in other areas), these are primarily ethnic conflicts involving unreformed Christian and Islamic congregations- peoples still belabored by the horrible legacies and neglects of the Colonial period. In other words, people whose 'religion' is an attribute of their tribal identity in much the same way that JC's Judaism is an attribute of his Nationality. In these cases religion is the handmaiden of folk custom or national aspiration and thus very often perverted and corrupt as for instance, in some places in India where Koranic prescription for marriage and divource are totally ignored if not completely unknown though the people still think of themselves as Muslims. Or as in some places in Africa that practice clitorectomies on women (in the name of religion!) The Islamic Revolution has been, from its very inception, an attempt to lift so-called Muslims from such a morass of ignorance and self-deception. The truly sad thing to me is the lack of a similiarly cohesive and vigorous reform movement in the Christian world, though, of course, there are many instances and individuals working very hard to make things better. Martin Luther King Jr. is a good example of someone who tried to be a good Christian in his material and political relations and help reform oppressed and backward congregations.

reply by egyptian 4/5/2002 (11:34)

reply top I wished don would have gotten a chance to give us his version of a solution. I wanted to see how he is going to structure his reasoning for modern day colonialism. And how many people he is welling to kill to satisfy his Holly War! After that I would have given him that address .. ( The source of his garbage ). Any ways To read what he posted you would never imagine that these are the actual beliefs of The quoted author. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Maryam+Jameelah&btnG=Google+Search http://www.thetruereligion.org/mjameelah.htm Interview with Maryam Jameelah (formerly Margaret Marcus) - Taken from The Islamic Bulletin, San Francisco, CA 94141-0186 Q: Would you kindly tell us how your interest in Islam began? A: I was Margaret (Peggy) Marcus. As a small child I possessed a keen interest in music and was particularly fond of the classical operas and symphonies considered high culture in the West. Music was my favorite subject in school in which I always earned the highest grades. By sheer chance, I happened to hear Arabic music over the radio which so much pleased me that I was determined to hear more. I would not leave my parents in peace until my father finally took me to the Syrian section in New York City where I bought a stack of Arabic recordings. My parents, relatives and neighbors thought Arabic and its music dreadfully weird and so distressing to their ears that whenever I put on my recordings, they demanded that I close all the doors and windows in my room lest they be disturbed! After I embraced Islam in 1961, I used to sit enthralled by the hour at the mosque in New York, listening to tape-recordings of Tilawat chanted by the celebrated Egyptian Qari, Abdul Basit. But on Jumha Salat (Friday Prayers), the Imam did not play the tapes. We had a special guest that day. A short, very thin and poorly-dressed black youth, who introduced himself to us as a student from Zanzibar, recited Surah ar-Rahman. I never heard such glorious Tilawat even from Abdul Basit! He possessed such a voice of gold; surely Hazrat Bilal must have sounded much like him! I traced the beginning of my interest in Islam to the age of ten. While attending a reformed Jewish Sunday school, I became fascinated with the historical relationship between the Jews and the Arabs. From my Jewish textbooks, I learned that Abraham was the father of the Arabs as well as the Jews. I read how centuries later when, in medieval Europe, Christian persecution made their lives intolerable, the Jews were welcomed in Muslim Spain and that it was the magnanimity of this same Arabic Islamic civilization which stimulated Hebrew culture to reach its highest peak of achievement. Totally unaware of the true nature of Zionism, I naively thought that the Jews were returning to Palestine to strengthen their close ties of kinship in religion and culture with their Semitic cousins. Together I believed that the Jews and the Arabs would cooperate to attain another Golden Age of culture in the Middle East. Despite my fascination with the study of Jewish history, I was extremely unhappy at the Sunday school. At this time I identified myself strongly with the Jewish people in Europe, then suffering a horrible fate under the Nazis and I was shocked that none of my fellow classmates nor their parents took their religion seriously. During the services at the synagogue, the children used to read comic strips hidden in their prayer books and laugh to scorn at the rituals. The children were so noisy and disorderly that the teachers could not discipline them and found it very difficult to conduct the classes. At home the atmosphere for religious observance was scarcely more congenial. My elder sister detested the Sunday school so much that my mother literally had to drag her out of bed in the mornings and it never went without the struggle of tears and hot words. Finally my parents were exhausted and let her quit. On the Jewish High Holy Days instead of attending synagogue and fasting on Yom Kippur, my sister and I were taken out of school to attend family picnics and parties in fine restaurants. When my sister and I convinced our parents how miserable we both were at the Sunday school they joined an agnostic, humanist organization known as the Ethical Culture Movement. The Ethical Culture Movement was founded late in the 19th century by Felix Alder. While studying for rabbinate, Felix Alder grew convinced that devotion to ethical values as relative and man-made, regarding any supernaturalism or theology as irrelevant, constituted the only religion fit for the modern world. I attended the Ethical Culture Sunday School each week from the age of eleven until I graduated at fifteen. Here I grew into complete accord with the ideas of the movement and regarded all traditional, organized religions with scorn. When I was eighteen years old I became a member of the local Zionist youth movement known as the Mizrachi Hatzair. But when I found out what the nature of Zionism was, which made the hostility between Jews and Arabs irreconcilable, I left several months later in disgust. When I was twenty and a student at New York University, one of my elective courses was entitled Judaism in Islam. My professor, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Katsh, the head of the department of Hebrew Studies there, spared no efforts to convince his students--all Jews, many of whom aspired to become rabbis--that Islam was derived from Judaism. Our textbook, written by him, took each verse from the Quran, painstakingly tracing it to its allegedly Jewish source. Although his real aim was to prove to his students the superiority of Judaism over Islam, he convinced me diametrically of the opposite. I soon discovered that Zionism was merely a combination of the racist, tribalistic aspects of Judaism. Modern secular nationalistic Zionism was further discredited in my eyes when I learned that few, if any, of the leaders of Zionism were observant Jews and that perhaps nowhere is Orthodox, traditional Judaism regarded with such intense contempt as in Israel. When I found nearly all important Jewish leaders in America supporters for Zionism, who felt not the slightest twinge of conscience because of the terrible injustice inflicted upon the Palestinian Arabs, I could no longer consider myself a Jew at heart. One morning in November 1954, Professor Katsh, during his lecture, argued with irrefutable logic that the monotheism taught by Moses (peace be upon him) and the Divine Laws reveled to him were indispensable as the basis for all higher ethical values. If morals were purely man-made, as the Ethical Culture and other agnostic and atheistic philosophies taught, then they could be changed at will, according to mere whim, convenience or circumstance. The result would be utter chaos leading to individual and collective ruin. Belief in the Hereafter, as the Rabbis in the Talmud taught, argued Professor Katsh, was not mere wishful thinking but a moral necessity. Only those, he said, who firmly believed that each of us will be summoned by God on Judgement Day to render a complete account of our life on earth and rewarded or punished accordingly, will possess the self-discipline to sacrifice transitory pleasure and endure hardships and sacrifice to attain lasting good. It was in Professor Katsh's class that I met Zenita, the most unusual and fascinating girl I have ever met. The first time I entered Professor Katsh's class, as I looked around the room for an empty desk in which to sit, I spied two empty seats, on the arm of one, three big beautifully bound volumes of Yusuf Ali's English translation and commentary of the Holy Quran. I sat down right there, burning with curiosity to find out to whom these volumes belonged. Just before Rabbi Katsh's lecture was to begin, a tall, very slim girl with pale complexion framed by thick auburn hair, sat next to me. Her appearance was so distinctive, I thought she must be a foreign student from Turkey, Syria or some other Near Eastern country. Most of the other students were young men wearing the black cap of Orthodox Jewry, who wanted to become rabbis. We two were the only girls in the class. As we were leaving the library late that afternoon, she introduced herself to me. Born into an Orthodox Jewish family, her parents had migrated to America from Russia only a few years prior to the October Revolution in 1917 to escape persecution. I noted that my new friend spoke English with the precise care of a foreigner. She confirmed these speculations, telling me that since her family and their friends speak only Yiddish among themselves, she did not learn any English until after attending public school. She told me that her name was Zenita Liebermann but recently, in an attempt to Americanize themselves, her parents had changed their name from 'Liebermann' to 'Lane.' Besides being thoroughly instructed in Hebrew by her father while growing up and also in school, she said she was now spending all her spare time studying Arabic. However, with no previous warning, Zenita dropped out of class and although I continued to attend all of his lectures to the conclusion of the course, Zenita never returned. Months passed and I had almost forgotten about Zenita when suddenly she called and begged me to meet her at the Metropolitan Museum and go with her to look at the special exhibition of exquisite Arabic calligraphy and ancient illuminated manuscripts of the Quran. During our tour of the museum, Zenita told me how she had embraced Islam with two of her Palestinian friends as witnesses. I inquired, 'Why did you decide to become a Muslim?' She then told me that she had left Professor Katsh's class when she fell ill with a severe kidney infection. Her condition was so critical, she told me, her mother and father had not expected her to survive. 'One afternoon while burning with fever, I reached for my Holy Quran on the table beside by bed and began to read and while I recited the verses, it touched me so deeply that I began to weep and then I knew I would recover. As soon as I was strong enough to leave my bed, I summoned two of my Muslim friends and took the oath of the 'Shahadah' or Confession of Faith.' Zenita and I would eat our meals in Syrian restaurants where I acquired a keen taste for this tasty cooking. When we had money to spend, we would order Couscous, roast lamb with rice or a whole soup plate of delicious little meatballs swimming in gravy scooped up with loaves of unleavened Arabic bread. And when we had little to spend, we would eat lentils and rice, Arabic style, or the Egyptian national dish of black broad beans with plenty of garlic and onions called 'Ful'. While Professor Katsh was lecturing thus, I was comparing in my mind what I had read in the Old Testament and the Talmud with what was taught in the Quran and Hadith and finding Judaism so defective, I was converted to Islam. Q: Were you scared that you might not be accepted by the Muslims? A: My increasing sympathy for Islam and Islamic ideals enraged the other Jews I knew, who regarded me as having betrayed them in the worst possible way. They used to tell me that such a reputation could only result from shame of my ancestral heritage and an intense hatred for my people. They warned me that even if I tried to become a Muslim, I would never be accepted. These fears proved totally unfounded as I have never been stigmatized by any Muslim because of my Jewish origin. As soon as I became a Muslim myself, I was welcomed most enthusiastically by all the Muslims as one of them. I did not embrace Islam out of hatred for my ancestral heritage or my people. It was not a desire so much to reject as to fulfill. To me, it meant a transition from parochial to a dynamic and revolutionary faith. Q: Did your family object to your studying Islam? A: Although I wanted to become a Muslim as far back as 1954, my family managed to argue me out of it. I was warned that Islam would complicate my life because it is not, like Judaism and Christianity, part of the American scene. I was told that Islam would alienate me from my family and isolate me from the community. At that time my faith was not sufficiently strong to withstand these pressures. Partly as the result of this inner turmoil, I became so ill that I had to discontinue college long before it was time for me to graduate. For the next two years I remained at home under private medical care, steadily growing worse. In desperation from 1957 - 1959 my parents confined me both to private and public hospitals where I vowed that if ever I recovered sufficiently to be discharged, I would embrace Islam. After I was allowed to return home, I investigated all the opportunities for meeting Muslims in New York City. It was my good fortune to meet some of the finest men and women anyone could ever hope to meet. I also began to write articles for Muslim magazines. Q: What was the attitude of your parents and friends after you became Muslim? A: When I embraced Islam, my parents, relatives and their friends regarded me almost as a fanatic, because I could think and talk of nothing else. To them, religion is a purely private concern which at the most perhaps could be cultivated like an amateur hobby among other hobbies. But as soon as I read the Holy Quran, I knew that Islam was no hobby but life itself! Q: In what ways did the Holy Quran have an impact on your life? A: One evening I was feeling particularly exhausted and sleepless, Mother came into my room and said she was about to go to the Larchmont Public Library and asked me if there was any book that I wanted? I asked her to look and see if the library had a copy of an English translation of the Holy Quran. Just think, years of passionate interest in the Arabs and reading every book in the library about them I could lay my hands on but until now, I never thought to see what was in the Holy Quran! Mother returned with a copy for me. I was so eager, I literally grabbed it from her hands and read it the whole night. There I also found all the familiar Bible stories of my childhood. In my eight years of primary school, four years of secondary school and one year of college, I learned about English grammar and composition, French, Spanish, Latin and Greek in current use, Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, European and American history, elementary science, Biology, music and art--but I had never learned anything about God! Can you imagine I was so ignorant of God that I wrote to my pen-friend, a Pakistani lawyer, and confessed to him the reason why I was an atheist was because I couldn't believe that God was really an old man with a long white beard who sat up on His throne in Heaven. When he asked me where I had learned this outrageous thing, I told him of the reproductions from the Sistine Chapel I had seen in 'Life' Magazine of Michelangelo's 'Creation' and 'Original Sin.' I described all the representations of God as an old man with a long white beard and the numerous crucifixions of Christ I had seen with Paula at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But in the Holy Quran, I read: 'Allah! There is no god but He,-the Living, The Self-subsisting, Supporter of all. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is thee can intercede in His presence except as He permiteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).' (Quran S.2:255) 'But the Unbelievers,-their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds Allah there, and Allah will pay him his account: and Allah is swift in taking account. Or (the unbelievers' state) is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: depth of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hand, he can hardly see it! for any to whom Allah giveth not light, there is no light!' (Quran S.24: 39-40) My first thought when reading the Holy Quran - this is the only true religion - absolutely sincere, honest, not allowing cheap compromises or hypocrisy. In 1959, I spent much of my leisure time reading books about Islam in the New York Public Library. It was there I discovered four bulky volumes of an English translation of Mishkat ul- Masabih. It was then that I learned that a proper and detailed understanding of the Holy Quran is not possible without some knowledge of the relevant Hadith. For how can the holy text correctly be interpreted except by the Prophet to whom it was revealed? Once I had studied the Mishkat, I began to accept the Holy Quran as Divine revelation. What persuaded me that the Quran must be from God and not composed by Muhammad (PBUH) was its satisfying and convincing answers to all the most important questions of life which I could not find elsewhere. As a child, I was so mortally afraid of death, particularly the thought of my own death, that after nightmares about it, sometimes I would awaken my parents crying in the middle of the night. When I asked them why I had to die and what would happen to me after death, all they could say was that I had to accept the inevitable; but that was a long way off and because medical science was constantly advancing, perhaps I would live to be a hundred years old! My parents, family, and all our friends rejected as superstition any thought of the Hereafter, regarding Judgment Day, reward in Paradise or punishment in Hell as outmoded concepts of by-gone ages. In vain I searched all the chapters of the Old Testament for any clear and unambiguous concept of the Hereafter. The prophets, patriarchs and sages of the Bible all receive their rewards or punishments in this world. Typical is the story of Job (Hazrat Ayub). God destroyed all his loved-ones, his possessions, and afflicted him with a loathsome disease in order to test his faith. Job plaintively laments to God why He should make a righteous man suffer. At the end of the story, God restores all his earthly losses but nothing is even mentioned about any possible consequences in the Hereafter. Although I did find the Hereafter mentioned in the New Testament, compared with that of the Holy Quran, it is vague and ambiguous. I found no answer to the question of death in Orthodox Judaism, for the Talmud preaches that even the worst life is better than death. My parents' philosophy was that one must avoid contemplating the thought of death and just enjoy as best one can, the pleasures life has to offer at the moment. According to them, the purpose of life is enjoyment and pleasure achieved through self-expression of one's talents, the love of family, the congenial company of friends combined with the comfortable living and indulgence in the variety of amusements that affluent America makes available in such abundance. They deliberately cultivated this superficial approach to life as if it were the guarantee for their continued happiness and good-fortune. Through bitter experience I discovered that self-indulgence leads only to misery and that nothing great or even worthwhile is ever accomplished without struggle through adversity and self-sacrifice. From my earliest childhood, I have always wanted to accomplish important and significant things. Above all else, before my death I wanted the assurance that I have not wasted life in sinful deeds or worthless pursuits. All my life I have been intensely serious-minded. I have always detested the frivolity which is the dominant characteristic of contemporary culture. My father once disturbed me with his unsettling conviction that there is nothing of permanent value and because everything in this modern age accept the present trends inevitable and adjust ourselves to them. I, however, was thirsty to attain something that would endure forever. It was from the Holy Quran where I learned that this aspiration was possible. No good deed for the sake of seeking the pleasure of God is ever wasted or lost. Even if the person concerned never achieves any worldly recognition, his reward is certain in the Hereafter. Conversely, the Quran tells us that those who are guided by no moral considerations other than expediency or social conformity and crave the freedom to do as they please, no matter how much worldly success and prosperity they attain or how keenly they are able to relish the short span of their earthly life, will be doomed as the losers on Judgement Day. Islam teaches us that in order to devote our exclusive attention to fulfilling our duties to God and to our fellow-beings, we must abandon all vain and useless activities which distract us from this end. These teachings of the Holy Quran, made even more explicit by Hadith, were thoroughly compatible with my temperament. Q: What is your opinion of the Arabs after you became a Muslim? A: As the years passed, the realization gradually dawned upon me that it was not the Arabs who made Islam great but rather Islam had made the Arabs great. Were it not for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Arabs would be an obscure people today. And were it not for the Holy Quran, the Arabic language would be equally insignificant, if not extinct. Q: Did you see any similarities between Judaism and Islam? A: The kinship between Judaism and Islam is even stronger than Islam and Christianity. Both Judaism and Islam share in common the same uncompromising monotheism, the crucial importance of strict obedience to Divine Law as proof of our submission to and love of the Creator, the rejection of the priesthood, celibacy and monasticism and the striking similarity of the Hebrew and Arabic language. In Judaism, religion is so confused with nationalism, one can scarcely distinguish between the two. The name 'Judaism' is derived from Judah-a tribe. A Jew is a member of the tribe of Judah. Even the name of this religion connotes no universal spiritual message. A Jew is not a Jew by virtue of his belief in the unity of God, but merely because he happened to be born of Jewish parentage. Should he become an outspoken atheist, he is no less 'Jewish' in the eyes of his fellow Jews. Such a thorough corruption with nationalism has spiritually impoverished this religion in all its aspects. God is not the God of all mankind but the God of Israel. The scriptures are not God's revelation to the entire human race but primarily a Jewish history book. David and Solomon (peace be upon them) are not full-fledged prophets of God but merely Jewish kings. With the single exception of Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement), the holidays and festivals celebrated by Jews, such as Hanukkah, Purim and Pesach, are of far greater national than religious significance. Q: Have you ever had the opportunity to talk about Islam to the other Jews? A: There is one particular incident which really stands out in my mind when I had the opportunity to discuss Islam with a Jewish gentleman. Dr. Shoreibah, of the Islamic Center in New York, introduced me to a very special guest. After one Jumha Salat, I went into his office to ask him some questions about Islam but before I could even greet him with 'Assalamu Alaikum', I was completely astonished and surprised to see seated before him an ultra-orthodox Chassidic Jew, complete with earlocks, broad-brimmed black hat, long black silken caftan and a full flowing beard. Under his arm was a copy of the Yiddish newspaper, 'The Daily Forward'. He told us that his name was Samuel Kostelwitz and that he worked in New York City as a diamond cutter. Most of his family, he said, lived in the Chassidic community of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, but he also had many relatives and friends in Israel. Born in a small Rumanian town, he had fled from the Nazi terror with his parents to America just prior to the outbreak of the second world-war. I asked him what had brought him to the mosque? He told us that he had been stricken with intolerable grief ever since his mother died 5 years ago. He had tried to find solace and consolation for his grief in the synagogue but could not when he discovered that many of the Jews, even in the ultra-orthodox community of Williamsburg, were shameless hypocrites. His recent trip to Israel had left him more bitterly disillusioned than ever. He was shocked by the irreligiousness he found in Israel and he told us that nearly all the young sabras or native-born Israelis are militant atheists. When he saw large herds of swine on one of the kibbutzim (collective farms) he visited, he could only exclaim in horror: 'Pigs in a Jewish state! I never thought that was possible until I came here! Then when I witnessed the brutal treatment meted out to innocent Arabs in Israel, I know then that there is no difference between the Israelis and the Nazis. Never, never in the name of God, could I justify such terrible crimes!' Then he turned to Dr. Shoreibah and told him that he wanted to become a Muslim but before he took the irrevocable steps to formal conversion, he needed to have more knowledge about Islam. He said that he had purchased from Orientalia Bookshop, some books on Arabic grammar and was trying to teach himself Arabic. He apologized to us for his broken English: Yiddish was his native tongue and Hebrew, his second language. Among themselves, his family and friends spoke only Yiddish. Since his reading knowledge of English was extremely poor, he had no access to good Islamic literature. However, with the aid of an English dictionary, he painfully read 'Introduction to Islam' by Muhammad Hamidullah of Paris and praised this as the best book he had ever read. In the presence of Dr. Shoreibah, I spent another hour with Mr. Kostelwitz, comparing the Bible stories of the patriarchs and prophets with their counterparts in the Holy Quran. I pointed out the inconsistencies and interpolations of the Bible, illustrating my point with Noah's alleged drunkenness, accusing David of adultery and Solomon of idolatry (Allah Forbid) and how the Holy Quran raises all these patriarchs to the status of genuine prophets of God and absolves them from all these crimes. I also pointed out why it was Ismail and not Isaac who God commanded Abraham to offer as sacrifice. In the Bible, God tells Abraham: 'Take thine son, thine only son whom thou lovest and offer him up to Me as burnt offering.' Now Ismail was born 13 years before Isaac but the Jewish biblical commentators explain that away be belittling Ismail's mother, Hagar, as only a concubine and not Abraham's real wife so they say Isaac was the only legitimate son. Islamic traditions, however, raise Hagar to the status of a full-fledged wife equal in every respect to Sarah. Mr. Kostelwitz expressed his deepest gratitude to me for spending so much time, explaining those truths to him. To express this gratitude, he insisted on inviting Dr. Shoreibah and me to lunch at the Kosher Jewish delicatessen where he always goes to eat his lunch. Mr. Kostelwitz told us that he wished more than anything else to embrace Islam but he feared he could not withstand the persecution he would have to face from his family and friends. I told him to pray to God for help and strength and he promised that he would. When he left us, I felt privileged to have spoken with such a gentle and kind person. Q: What Impact did Islam have on your life ? A: In Islam, my quest for absolute values was satisfied. In Islam I found all that was true, good and beautiful and that which gives meaning and direction to human life (and death); while in other religions, the Truth is deformed, distorted, restricted and fragmentary. If any one chooses to ask me how I came to know this, I can only reply my personal life experience was sufficient to convince me. My adherence to the Islamic faith is thus a calm, cool but very intense conviction. I have, I believe, always been a Muslim at heart by temperament, even before I knew there was such a thing as Islam. My conversion was mainly a formality, involving no radical change in my heart at all but rather only making official what I had been thinking and yearning for many years. Also read Maryam Jameelah's Open Letter to Her Parents in which she invites her mother and father to embrace the one true religion. peace

reply by newcomer 4/5/2002 (12:20)

reply top A Muslim Converts to Christianity In the Valley of Tears I am Ibrahim who, for the sake of my family's security, go also by the nickname Timothy Abraham. I am a simple Egyptian from the Delta region. Farms surrounded me from every side with streams of the luxurious Nile River endowing life with fertility. I had a strong Islamic upbringing in my childhood, studying in the village shop for teaching the Quran (al-Kutaab). They taught me to fear God (Allah in Arabic) who created the Heaven and the earth in six days. There was not a single reason to doubt a religion which emphasized fearing God, doing good work and living a moral life. The recitation of the Quran was meant to produce a sense of tranquillity. I enjoyed the Sufi circle of worship, as they adored the person of Muhammad. This was Abu-al-Azayem's group. I was searching for more closeness with Allah Almighty. One evening around 7:00 p.m. in al-Mahatta mosque, having finished praying al-Maghrib prayer, I was introduced to Muhammad Imam and Sulleiman Kahwash. They were vitally influential in incorporating me into their group 'The Muslim Brotherhood -- i.e., al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin.' They encouraged me to be a devout Muslim and fast on Monday and Thursday of every week and break the fast with them in the mosque where we ate bread, cheese, palm dates (tamr), and delicious salad. I diligently imitated every thing the Prophet Muhammad did, even the sitting posture of the Prophet as he was eating. They were so kind to me. They also saw in me the potential of being an eloquent speaker. Therefore, Sulleiman Hashem, the leader at the time, approached me gently, 'Ibrahim, you are called by the Quran's teaching to proclaim the message of Islam 'da'awah.' 'My Allah!' I pondered. 'I am just 14 years old and I am easily intimidated.' Nevertheless, Sulleiman gave me a stack of books to study in preparation for the sermon I was to deliver the next day. From then on, it became customary for me to preach a sermon on the first Monday of every lunar month. I was filled with zeal as my leaders had arranged for me to go across the neighboring towns, preaching from mosque to mosque. I zealously wanted everyone to follow the Tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, and subsequently, my sister had no choice but to obey my Quranic command and wear the veil which indicated modesty. I needed my father's approval. I wondered if he had ever heard his son, the 14 year old Muslim evangelist preach. To my astonishment my father was sharply criticized by people for having a son who was now a 'fanatic.' The Islamic Brotherhood was regarded as a religious gang by the majority of regular Muslims. My father, therefore, became wrathful over my Islamic radicalism and thoughtlessly punched me in the teeth. Today my front tooth is a fake one. It reminds me of my former perseverance to the point of death to be a zealous Muslim fundamentalist and my willingness to be persecuted for my commitment. My father burnt my Sunni (mostly wahabi and salafi) Islamic library. He knew quite well that Mohammad Mansour, a security police informer, was recording my sermons from the bathroom in the mosque. I was so strict in the fashion of the sunnah of Muhammad that I did not shake hands with women. I simply wanted to be a devout Muslim. Having finished their prayers in the mosque, my father stopped one of the leaders in my group, Sulleiman Hashem and asked him pleadingly to leave me, his son, alone. When my father swore an oath of divorce(hilif alaya bi al-talaaq) that I will not be permitted to enter the mosque where the Islamic Brotherhood is praying, I obeyed my father, but asked for mercy in letting me hear their sermons while sitting outside the mosque. I was never daunted by any of this and continued to preach Islam everyday in the morning parade (taboor as-sabah) as well as in every mosque where I went to teach. It never occurred to me for a second that Islam could be wrong. In my pursuit to propagate Islam everywhere, a magazine came into my hands which had pen pal addresses from the United States. I chose one at random and wrote, hoping to convert the man into Islam. I wrote to John from Pennsylvania, USA back and forth for two years, each trying to convert the other. I read every book I could get hold of to refute the Bible. To make things worse, I had no respect for the Bible as I put my feet and shoes on it since the Quran taught me it was corrupt. Then John surprised me by coming to visit me in my village. That was the first time I saw a real Christian. His sincerity, frankness, genuineness, and openness impressed me. John stayed with me for two months. He had an amazing prayer life which served as a model for me in my latter life. I did not know that Christians prayed until I saw a 'living epistle' right in the middle of my house, a man from a far off land who became one of us and genuinely incarnated the love of Christ. John had an amazing prayer life, for he prayed more than he talked, speaking the words of the Bible. I became jealous of John's intimacy with God and increased my recitations of the Quran. Islam is a religion that has to be credited for teaching its followers to be virtuous, chaste, and benevolent. There is no doubt that Muhammad remains a genius in history. One has to also note that a Muslim may do as many good works as possible in this world and on the Day of Judgment God weighs the deeds of every individual in a 'balance.' The good deeds will be placed in one pan of the balance, and the evil deeds in the other. If the good deeds are heavier, then the believer will go to the paradise described in Quran as a place of sexual pleasure and frolicking with the wide-eyed huris (sura al-Waqia 56:20-23). However, Christ our Lord said 'For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven' (Matthew 22:30). My Muslim friend, according to Islam, if your evil deeds are heavier, you will be cast into the fires of hell. It looks like you would need to be only fifty-one percent good to get into paradise. Yet you remain absolutely unsure whether or not you are going to heaven. All you say, my Muslim friend, is, 'Only God Knows!' You hope for the mercy of Allah and hope that the angels or the Prophet will intercede for you in the last day, so you will be saved from Hell. I was like you, my Muslim sister or brother, right in the same boat until I knew that you can be absolutely sure of going to Heaven. Tears well up in my eyes just to recall how lost I was and now that I am found. While trembling in tears, seeing the majesty of God, I rejoice to know that I have eternal life for certain. God in the Bible is both just and merciful. His justice requires that everyone be punished in Hell, for He is perfect 100 percent. No matter how hard we try to please God, we always fall short of His perfection. Our good works will not bring us closer to God. God saw our insufficiency, and decided to pay the penalty Himself. He sent His Word Isa Al Masih (Jesus Christ), who is absolutely sinless and faultless to carry the punishment of our sins on the cross. What can you say to the Judge when He chooses to pay your penalty for you? The Bible says in John 3:16 'For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.' It is because God loves us that He sent His Word, Jesus Christ, to die for us. Islam never grants us the assurance of going to Heaven, but Christ absolutely does! Praise God! Thank you, my Lord, for sovereignly choosing to pay the price Yourself in the Person of Your incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the express revelation of the nature of Allah Almighty. After John left, his influence stayed. I thought I would depress John by saying, 'John, your visit made me a stronger Muslim in the faith and do not try to convert Muslims anymore.' Yet John prevailed in his supplication and prayers. His intercessory prayer moved the LORD to wake me up in the middle of the night as I had no sleep or rest. Inner conflict reached its zenith. Restless, I reached out to my Bible and opened it at random. I found, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' I remember one day in the heat of a debate between me and John, I made fun of the Bible and said, 'John, your Bible is the most absurd thing! How can you believe the story of Saul who became Paul, the servant of the Gospel?' John said, 'The story is true, and that is why I am patient with you. You will be another Paul one day!' I replied, 'John, you must be out of your mind to think for a second that I could leave the religion of all religions, Islam!' Reflecting on 'Saul, Saul ...' I said Lord! Me? Me persecute You? I did nothing to You in person ... I remember I turned in a female medical student to the police ... but I did nothing to You. Is it true that He who touched one of Your people touches the apple of Your eye?' Islam denies the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ because the Quran intended to deprive the Jew of the victory they claimed was their in Jesus' death. The Quran asserts that God put somebody who looked like Him on the cross in the place of Jesus. Now my Muslim friends, God is not in the business of fraud, for if he had wanted to deliver Jesus from the cross, He could have done it miraculously without having to deceive and put Jesus' likeness on someone else. This Quranic error is too blatant, and proves that the Quran has no divine origin. What is more, the Quran is self-contradicting, for while it claims that the Jews did not really kill Jesus it also affirms very distinctly the reality of Jesus' death in the sura of the family of Imran 3:47/54 - 48/55 as it states: When God said: 'OH JESUS, I SHALL CAUSE YOU TO DIE, AND THEN I SHALL RAISE YOU UP TO ME.' My Muslim friend, my goal is not here to proselytize you, but to raise the ultimate questions, Who is Christ? Was he crucified? And how does this affect you? If the whole history of humanity revolves around Christ, then my entire life and existence should revolve around Him too. Denying the cross of Christ is contradicting history itself. Muhammad himself is claimed in the Quran to have been urged, by God, to refer to the People of the Book (the Jews and the Christians) is he in doubt concerning the Quran?: 'And if thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which we reveal unto thee, then ask those who read the Scripture (that was) before thee.' Sura Yunus 10:95 For the first time in my life, I began asking the question 'why?' and challenged everything I took for granted. All postulates were critically examined. This got me into trouble in an authoritarian society. Questions, they say, fly in the face of Allah. Obey. That is All. In the Islamic Brotherhood, our motto was 'samaana wa ataana' i.e. 'we have heard and obeyed.' After years of study, I came to two logical conclusions: The Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and Jesus is the Word of God. I began to see it was possible for Jesus to be God. Intellectually, I accepted all the claims of the Christian faith, but in my heart I still feared being struck dead for calling the Almighty God 'My Father.' I needed a miracle! The Bible teaches us that no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). No wonder every Salvation experience is one of a miracle of birth out of death into eternal life! From the depth of my heart, in the midst of inner conflict, I cried out to Allah, even in the mosque, 'Lord, show me the truth! Is it Jesus or Muhammad? Could it be that You are my Father? Show me the truth, and the truth you lead me to I will serve all my life whatever the cost may be!' I burst into tears since I knew the cost could be outrageously too high for a weak, thin person like me. For how could I afford to be cast out of my family and sleep on the streets like a homeless person? And what if my leaders in the Islamic Brotherhood would find out about me? And what if they, in their Islamic righteousness and zeal, rush on to defend Islam and kill me? According to the Islamic religion, an apostate should be given a three day opportunity to recant, and after that the infidel's blood is legitimately shed in the name of Allah! The words of the Prophet Muhammad kept ringing in my ear, 'Any person (i.e., Muslim) who has changed his religion, kill him.' This tradition has been narrated by AbuBakr, Uthman, Ali, Muadh ibn Jabal, and Khalid ibn Walid. Yet I persisted in asking God to guide me. Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but Thou art mighty. One night Christ appeared to me in a dream and said with a tender sweet voice, 'I love you!' I saw how obstinately I had resisted Him all these years and said to Him in tears, 'I love You, too! I know You! You are eternal for ever and ever.' I woke up with tears all over my face filled with abundant joy, believing that Christ Himself touched both my mind and my heart, and I yielded. I was filled with great passion for Christ, jumping up and down, singing praises to His name and talking to Him day and night. I would not even sleep without God's inerrant Word, the Bible, next to my chest. I experienced what a 'spoiled child' of God would: God would give me anything I ask for in prayer. But then the Lord wanted me to love Him and worship Him for His own sake, not for what I get from Him. I tried to keep my faith secret and so was baptized secretly in a pastor's house. Filled with the joy of salvation I could not hide or deny Christ anymore. Therefore, when my childhood friend asked me if Christ was crucified, I answered, 'Yes!' and explained why. He prayed with me to receive Christ. He was shaking and perspiring every time he prayed with me. He could see how mighty the name of our Lord Jesus was. My former leaders in the Islamic fanatical group, desiring to know who the spearhead was, threatened to kill him if he would not tell them everything about my evangelism. Sadly, he betrayed me and I was beaten up in front of the mosque where I had formerly preached Islam zealously. In their sight I was a blasphemous infidel who deserved to be killed unless I would recant. They regarded my conversion as the most horrendous form of desecrating Islam and the Quran. Since my secret conversion was now made public and Muslims plotted to kill me, I had to flee. I was hunted by Muslims from my village in the Delta, to Ismailia until I arrived in Cairo where my Christian friends lived. Yet Christians were not willing to shelter me and I had to go back to the village, seeking refuge in His protective hands. I came back from Cairo and found an angry mob of Muslims filling up our house. My mother was wearing the garment of mourning, dressed in black as is the custom in Egypt. To them by deserting Islam, I was dead!!! Muslim women yelled at me, 'Your mother doesn't deserve all this from you. Why cause her all this grief?' Another woman lamented, 'Poor mother! Her son left her for the Christian infidels. If I were her, I would kill my son for running after the infidels like a dog.' I received a letter from a friend in Jordan who reported that my father was walking down the streets in Jordan weeping bitterly as Muslim laborers there reproached him severely. He stayed sick in bed for a month because of this until he and I talked on the phone. It is absolutely unforgettable that outraged Muslims broke into our house barbarically. My mother knelt down at the feet of our neighbor 'Sayed' begging him to spare my life and kill her instead. In such indescribable agony, my mother disowned and disinherited me before all people in my village. I love my mother more dearly than any person in this world, but no human power, regardless of how gigantic it is, can separate me from the love of Christ. I will always live for Jesus. My Bible, all my Christian books, and music tapes were confiscated and burnt. I decided to flee from the Delta region to Cairo. Even though the police were tracking me down, the Lord blinded their eyes and protected me. In Cairo, I was hiding at M.'s, an Egyptian Baptist friend who was comforting me all the time. I broke down when he read, 'So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name' (Acts 5:41) I am grateful to God for providing this friend, M., who discipled me, teaching me to live a victorious life rich in worship and thanksgiving. He gave me a pocket Arabic New Testament and told me frankly that his parents were afraid. Also I was told that if they continued to hide me they would be in jail forever. I had nowhere to go. So, upon the advice of my secret pastor, I went back to the village, hiding the Arabic New Testament in my socks, praying that it would not fall out. I was eventually arrested and released repeatedly. I learned what it means to have God as my only Hiding Place. In prison, my Savior knows I have come to experience true peace. I was not shaken because I saw Christ in prison, not myself. I sang songs of joy in the midst of tears, anticipating the shining Morning Star to come and deliver me. I decided to hide the Bible in a place where the police could not confiscate it -- in my heart by memorizing it. I have since made it a habit to sleep with my Bible by my side. Five years later, I managed to flee Muslims' attempts to kill me and I was shocked to find out that there are some professing Christians in America who attack the Bible for which I was willing to die. God's word has given me promises of faith which I apply as a little child and pray them through in confidence. The gates of Heaven open as we pray through God's Word. His word speaks life!!! Once when I went to give my mother a Mother's Day gift, she asked me rhetorically, 'Mother's Day gift?' I answered, 'Yes' every time she repeated the question. She looked at me with such crushing grief and said, 'My son, whom I waited 15 years to have and finally was born is now dead. I disown you till the day of judgment, Ibrahim.' I cried but Christ touched my heart and said, 'I am your family now! I am your father, brother, mother, sister, friend, and everything to you, Timothy, now.' I cannot forget those days when my mother would call the police to arrest me. She even went to a witch to put a curse on me and bring me back to the fold of Islam. The witch said, 'Your son is following a path which he will never forsake and he will be victorious all his life as long as he walks in it.' These words, from the mouth of a witch, brought my younger brother to know Christ. The testimony of demons about our victorious Lord renders skepticism and unbelief absurd (Please read Romans 8:35-39). You also can be more than a conqueror through Christ, your Victor who loves you! Believe it! I lost my Bible and all my Christian books were confiscated. All I had was the radio. I went sneakily to get my radio to listen secretly to Voice of Hope, searching for some comfort-songs in the night. (By the way, I speak now publicly over Voice of Hope since I live in a free country, America). Yet my mother caught me and she immediately snatched the radio out of my hand and beat me on the head with her shoes. I was just 20 years old at that time. I prayed for a Bible and the Lord heard me. I went to pick up a Bible package from the post office. The head of the post office, Kamal, slapped me forcefully and punched me in the face. I saw all kinds of terror...I was crying from the intensity of pain. He said to me,'You just go after these Christian infidels, leave Islam and we will wipe you out. We will send you behind the sun!' I felt trapped praying fervently to leave Egypt and practice my faith in Christ. Father of comfort, you never left me. Please remind me of your Son hanging on the cross crying out in the depth of agony,' My God, my God why have you forsaken me?' Lord Jesus, they all forsook you, and yet You found rest in Your Father. I need to depend on the Father as you did'. After 3 years, I decided to move to Cairo which was not any safer. The last time the police had arrested me they said, 'According to us, you are an infidel who has committed high treason. Next time we arrest you, it will be capital punishment.' To make it worse, the 'Christian' landlord told me he could not shelter a fugitive criminal anymore. I was not welcome in my own country anymore. Nevertheless, the Lord intervened, and a Palestinian evangelist, Anis Shorrosh, introduced me to Dr. Paige Patterson. He began to help me apply for a visa to the United States. At first, I was denied the visa, but Dr. Patterson did not give up. Finally, I was granted an entry visa, and I was supernaturally able to leave Egypt. Lord, You never deliver your children out of bondage to bring them back into it...Help me to live somewhere to practice my Christian faith without the police harassment. Lord, please do whatever it takes so I don't have to live in an environment where people would force me to go into the mosque. You want your children to worship freely even if this means fleeing for their lives like me so that Christ becomes all in all. If it had not been for Dr. Patterson, I would have been history today. I was scheduled to be executed, and God saw that He had more work for me to do. So, he used Dr. Patterson in supernaturally rescuing my life. God Almighty is a Father of the fatherless (Psalm 68:5), and when my father and mother forsake me, as David declares, the LORD holds me to Himself. Is God the Almighty, Your Heavenly Father, my friend? (Galatians 4:6) God the Almighty and Majestic One delights in you personally (Proverbs 8:31). Having fled to the United States, I was still afraid that I would have to face the Egyptian police authorities someday, especially in view of the fact that I came on a student visa, which could expire any day. According to the Egyptian government I am an infidel who has defamed Islam as well as caused national disunity. Allah alone knows how I have no hard feelings towards either Egypt, the motherland, or Islam. Preachers offered to hide me in ranches, if worse came to worse. I just wanted to live and not to be the scapegoat of somebody's religious wrath. One ministry organization sponsored me and sent a petition for my permanent residency. After six long years of waiting, the Lord honored my request by giving me permanent residence a few days before the wedding day, April 18,1998. I did not want anybody to falsely accuse me that I married a woman so that I may get a green card. I have married Angela for her own sake, and not for the sake of getting a green card. I give Angela all of me, for the source of our love is divine. It is never a fleeting emotion, but a covenant in which the LORD is the Witness between me and the wife of my youth, my partner and my best friend. (Malachi 2:14) Here it is the time for me to praise God for the gift of marriage. It is when I abandoned myself to God and the godly desire of marriage that he brought along Angela. Angela is the angel of God to my heart. She is beautiful both internally and externally. We both share the same vision in manifesting the love of Christ to our Muslim brothers and sisters. I did not compromise for less than what I knew Allah wanted me to have: Angela is a woman of prayer, caring affectionate, hospitable, giving and gregarious. She is perfect for me. I revel in the fact that she loves my parents and gives sacrificially to them. Lord, what did I do to be treated with such extravagant kindness of yours that you give me a wife who loves me and my family? The Lord honored me for putting Him above my desire to have a wife, and now we are a praying couple. Indeed, our Creator and Redeemer is our ultimate Matchmaker. Lord, may I never be secure or seek easiness in life at the expense of union with You. Didn't you tell us Lord, 'And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved' (Mark 13:13)? Please don't let me rush your salvation, Lord, in the midst of trouble, but please give me patience so I can endure hardships as a soldier of the cross of Christ! Lord, may Your love consume me to such an extent that the doing of your will would be the real bread of my life. In Christ's name, amen! My friends, please feel free to contact me through my email at JesusVictr@aol.com

reply by JC 4/5/2002 (12:32)

reply top These theological arguments are a bit beyond my area of expertise, but I'd just like to let everyone know that while Jews don't actively prostelytize and recruit converts, the doors to the temple are open to any who seek to convert to Judaism. Just last week the first African-American female Rabbi was ordained in Denver. Many Christians in the Southern United States are converting to Judaism. On their own accord and not through active recruitment. Similary, a group of Ugandans who have been practicing Judaism for several hundred years recently went through a formal conversion ceremony in Uganda. 21st Century Judaism will likely be even more diverse than its predecessor. What this means for Israel and the Palestinians I don't know, but as a Jew I welcome in all the new converts who seek peace and co-existence with others.

reply by egyptian 4/5/2002 (13:05)

reply top Dear JesusVictr@aol.com : You think your sense of God persuit would allow you to spend 5 minutes reading in http://wings.buffalo.edu/sa/muslim/library/jesus-say/contents.html then put another 5 minutes .. in http://www.bibledesk.com/Documents/Spiritual_Warfare/Battle_Spiritual_Warfare.htm Then form your own opinion on what is a god relegion and what is a scam!? peace

reply by newcomer 4/5/2002 (13:18)

reply top The following article works from the presuppositional perspective of the Christian worldview, presenting a comparative critique of the Islamic doctrine of Allah, as well as a critique on the grounds of Islam itself. We believe and know, by God's grace and mercy, that the biblical Christian worldview alone forms a coherent worldview, and is alone fully correspondent to reality, as it is the God of the Bible who is the One True God. In contrast the Allah of the Quran and Islam cannot truly be God, and is rather a misrepresentation of the One True God, who is holy, and who in Christ Jesus is both perfectly merciful and perfectly just. In his groundbreaking article The Theological and Apologetical Dimensions of Muslim Evangelization, Samuel P. Schlorff states that 'for far too long evangelical missions have been limping along without an effective apologetic to Islam.'(1) Since his article was published in 1980, some work has been done,(2) yet there remains a great void in the area of the development of thorough and effective apologetics directed towards Islamic theology and worldview. The Christian approaches to Islam in the 20th century have shifted from the polemical method of the 19th century to the approach of simply focussing on the positive presentation of the Gospel. Schlorff states, “many evangelicals seem to have concluded that all apologetics are out of place in Muslim evangelization.”(3) Greg Bahnsen concurs with this analysis, stating, “it is imagined, [that] Islam can counterfeit each move in the Christian’s argument.. this is an inaccurate preconception.. the two worldviews are dissimilar in pivotal ways when one reflects on Islam’s unitarianism, fatalism, moral concepts, lack of redemption, etc. Islam can be internally critiqued on its own presuppositions.”(4) Following in the footsteps of Schlorff and Bahnsen, this paper will continue the presuppositional apologetic approach in the internal and comparative critique of several crucial areas of the Islamic doctrine of Allah. Islam presents one of the great historical challenges to the truth of Christianity. Arising from the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, Islam took hold of North Africa, the Middle East, and now continues to expand in the 21st century, overwhelming and attacking other religions, Christianity in particular. Throughout this history of expansion,(5) and to the present, the rallying cry of Islam remains, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Apostle.” Samuel Zwemer, the great missionary to Muslims of the early 1900’s, showed that two key Islamic doctrines flow from the shahada. These are the doctrines of revelation and of Allah.(6) The shahada is the basic presuppositional claim of the Islamic worldview. Flowing out of it are the doctrines which form the foundations for the radical dissimilarities between the Christian and Islamic worldviews. In revelation, Muhammad is considered the sole, final channel of revelation, through whom the Quran has abrogated all former revelations. The doctrine of Allah flows primarily from the teaching of the Quran.(7) Fazlur Rahman, a prolific Muslim scholar at the University of Chicago, spends the first chapter of his work Major Themes of the Quran discussing what he views as the Quranic teaching regarding the doctrine of Allah. His opening paragraph provides an important qualifier, which is essential in grasping orthodox Islamic theology: The Quran is a document that is squarely aimed at man; indeed, it calls itself “guidance for mankind” (hudan li’l-nas [2:185] and numerous equivalents elsewhere). Yet, the term Allah, the proper name for God, occurs well over 2,500 times in the Quran (not to count the terms al-Rabb, The Lord, and al-Rahman, The Merciful, which although they signify qualities, have nevertheless come to acquire substance). Still the Quran is no treatise about God and His nature: His existence, for the Quran, is strictly functional - He is Creator and Sustainer of the universe and of man, and particularly the giver of guidance for man and He who judges man, individually and collectively, and metes out to him merciful justice.(8) The fact that the Quran is primarily addressed to the life of men, rather than being a revelation of who Allah is presents a basic and profound difference with the purpose and teaching of the Bible as the Word of God.(9) This difference creates a serious epistemological void in the very foundation of the Islamic worldview, and is an important influence in the ensuing incoherence of the Islamic doctrine of deity.(10) The Islamic doctrine of Allah is typically divided into two sections: the unity of Allah, and the attributes (or names) and works of Allah. The great stress laid upon the former is in large part due to the historical contexts which Islam found itself it from its earliest days: pre-Islamic tribal Arabia was a hotbed of polytheism, Jewish communities, and wandering mystics and monks who at least nominally fell under the category of Christianity, and taught of the Triune God. In describing the doctrine of the unity of Allah (tauhid), Maulana Muhammad Ali(11) states: The unity of God according to the .. Quran, implies that God is One in His person (dhat), One in His attributes (sifat) and One in His works (af’al). His Oneness in His person means that there is neither plurality of gods, nor plurality of persons in the Godhead; His Oneness in attributes implies that no other being possesses one or more of the Divine attributes in perfection; His Oneness in works implies that none can do the works which God has done, or which God may do… This is summed up in the Quran: “Say, He, Allah is One; Allah is He on Whom all depend; He begets not, nor is He begotten; and none is like Him.”(12) The principle of the unity of Allah, as described by Ali, is deeply rooted in the Islamic religion, and in the mindset of the general Muslim. This undoubtedly is due in large part to the fact that shirk, the associating of gods with Allah in persons, attributes or works, is considered the greatest of sins.(13) “The belief that there are three persons in the Godhead, and that the Son and Holy Ghost are eternal, omniscient, and omnipotent.. all fall under this [the teaching of the sin of shirk]… the most palpable form of shirk is that in which anything besides God is worshipped…”(14) Schlorff states “the doctrine of the Trinity contradicts the Islamic concept of the Absolute Oneness of God. God is stripped (Tanzih) of personity and every knowable attribute to become an abstract metaphysical Unity.”(15) The attributes and works of Allah form the second major area of theology proper in Islam. A century ago Samuel Zwemer noted that to a large degree the attributes or nature of Allah are expressed by negation.(16) Schlorff concurs stating that the basic Islamic assumption regarding Allah is that he “is Absolutely Other (or Transcendent).”(17) The application of this in the area of semantics brings about a serious epistemological problem. Schlorff explains: Transcendence implies on the one hand that language used in describing God has no positive connotation whatsoever; there is absolutely no relationship (or analogy) between the connotation of a word when predicated of God and its connotation when predicated of men. For example, we cannot understand God’s mercy by the analogy of mercy in man; God’s mercy and that of man are completely dissimilar. Thus Islam has a negative theology; it cannot say what God is, but only what He is not… God is unknown and unknowable to man, both in this life and the next. Apart from “tanzil” (sending down revelation) man can know nothing about God or His requirements of man… There is an uncrossable gulf between man and God which makes a personal knowledge of God a metaphysical impossibility… The Bible does teach a creator-creature distinction which will never be erased, but does not carry this to the extent of complete dissimilarity or unknowability. Islam makes this distinction to mean that God is completely unknowable to man.(18) Evidences of this problem abound in Muslim writings. Ali prefaces his section on the attributes of God with the following comment: Before speaking of the Divine attributes it will be necessary to warn the reader against a certain misconception as to the nature of the Divine Being. God is spoken of in the Holy Quran as seeing, hearing, speaking, being displeased, loving, being affectionate, grasping, controlling, etc., but the use of all these words must not be taken in any sense as indicating an anthropomorphic conception of the Divine Being… It is laid down as a basic principle regarding the Divine attributes that “He does not resemble His creatures in anything, nor do any of His creatures resemble Him.”(19) Despite this core Islamic belief, certain things about Allah are held to be indubitable. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.(20) He is all powerful.(21) He is just. He is merciful.(22) This mercy includes that Allah is the “giver of guidance for man.”(23) Further attributes are based on the names of Allah.(24) While there is a major epistemological problem in Islam rooted in the conflict of the doctrine of the transcendence of Allah with all other teaching regarding Allah, there are further problems found within the teaching of the attributes of Allah. A serious conflict is found between the justice and mercy of Allah, in regards to the ethical relation between Allah and man. Izutsu states “the God of the Koran shows two different aspects that are fundamentally opposed to each other [concerning the ethical relation between God and man]. For a pious believing mind, these two aspects are but two different sides of one and the same God, but for the logic of ordinary reason, they would seem contradictory, and, in fact, many thinkers have been at pains to reconcile these two aspects with one another.”(25) The problem is for Allah to remain perfectly just and righteous sin must be punished. If all men are sinful and have committed sin, and Allah is infinite and perfect in his attributes, there can be no mercy. For mercy then would function as a negation of his justice. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that in order for Allah to be both merciful (in the Quranic sense of ignoring the sins of some) and just, he must be an arbitrary and changing being.(26) Schlorff points out that this is indeed the teaching of Islam: God is absolutely free, and unrestricted even in the realm of truth and morality. He is free to “abrogate” the truth or obligations of earlier revelations by subsequently revealed truths and obligations. He is free to judge the same act to be “good” in one circumstance and “evil” in another according to the situation, although in principle acts are “good” or “evil” according to whether they are commanded or forbidden in the Quran. The criteria by which God judges and assigns man his destiny are unknowable to man. He is free to forgive the sinner or to condemn him. He is free to do opposites as He pleases.(27) Muslim writers agree. Fazlur Rahman states, “God.. becomes the friend of and cooperates with a person who has “discovered” Him. Yet, God’s friendship may not be presumed at any point by either any individual or any community, even though the Quran speaks of God’s promises to individuals and communities.. One cannot take God for granted, since no individual or community can at any time appropriate Truth.”(28) The conclusions regarding the Islamic doctrines of Allah, even from a brief and cursory study are stark. The very foundations of the Islamic worldview are rife with contradiction. As Schlorff has stated in his article “from a biblical perspective, as elaborated in Romans 1 and 2, the Islamic doctrine of God represents a thoroughgoing repression of the Truth and the substitution of a false concept of God in its place.”(29) The consequences are that man is cut off from a personal relationship with, and knowledge of, God; man is cut off from true rationality having lost the transcendent point of reference found in the God of the Bible; and since Allah is absolutely free and unknowable, the Islamic worldview cuts man off from true morality.(30) The Islamic worldview brings itself crashing to the ground in its emptiness and folly. Truth and the basis for an accurate and renewed knowledge of reality are to be found only in God’s Word - the Bible. Here the powerful and transforming answer to the futility of Islam is found. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.”

reply by John Calvin 4/5/2002 (13:40)

reply top I can see Jesus now, out in some caves by the desert- food and water available for an extended stay- gathering the apostles around him every day by the first light of the rising sun and beginning his indefeagible instructions on all the finer points of his dogma. Of course he has collected together all the volumes of sacred text plus sheaths of all the necessary commentaries, as well as all the details of the changes he plans to make, and countermeasaures that will be necessary to defend it against the challenges of future prophets! They study, meditate, discuss, argue through-out the long hot days and well into the chilly twilight hours of the late evening, retired at last, exhausted from the labors but eager to 'rise again' the next day. Weeks pass by, perhaps months, maybe years but in due course, his followers have learned the complex and difficult lessons. Perhaps Jesus gave them a test- just to make sure they were paying attention and actually came to undertand what he meant, not just mouthing a few routine formulas to get by. I leave the rest to you guy's fertile imaginations for, in my book, brevity is the soul of descretion.

reply by egyptian 4/5/2002 (13:56)

reply top If you are a muslim you are supposed to say ' peace upon him' every time you mention the name of a god prophet .. Just wanted to mention it.as a form of respect to god. peace

reply by truth 4/5/2002 (14:03)

reply top Chapter 7: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospel of Barn p1 Many of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity which have been for many centuries accepted on blind faith (those which differ from the beliefs of Muslims) are now beginning to be challenged by some of the foremost scholars and religious leaders of Christianity today. As we have previously seen in section 1.2.3.1, only one of the most glaring example of this can be found in the British newspaper the 'Daily News' 25/6/84 under the heading 'Shock survey of Anglican Bishops' We read that a British television pole of 31 of the 39 Anglican Bishops in England found 19 to believe that it is not necessary for Christians to believe that Jesus (pbuh) is God, but only 'His supreme agent' (his messenger) Indeed, this was testified to by Jesus in John 17:3 'And this is life eternal, that they might know YOU the ONLY true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.' With every passing day, the learned among Christendom are drawing ever closer to Islam 'I shall turn away from my signs those who are arrogant in the earth unjustifiably, and if they see all the signs (in creation) they believe them not, and if they see the path of righteousness they do not take it as (their) path, and if they see the path of misguidance they take it as (their) path. That is because they deny our signs and are used to disregarding them' The noble Qur’an, Al-Aaraf(7):146. 'They are not all alike. Of the people of the book are a portion whom stand (for that which is right), who recite the revelations of Allah throughout the night while prostrate (before Him)' The noble Qur’an, A'al-Umran(3):113. 'And Lo! Of the people of the Scripture are those who believe in Allah and that which was sent down to you and that which was sent down to them, humbling themselves before Allah. They purchase not a trifling gain at the price of the revelations of Allah. Verily, their reward is with their Lord, and Lo! Allah is swift to take account.' The noble Qur’an, A'al-Umran(3):199. The choice of the present four Gospels (including the writings of St. Paul who is credited with single-handedly writing the majority of the books of the New Testament) was imposed in the conference of Nicea 325 C.E. under the auspices of the Pagan Emperor Constantine for political reasons. Literally hundreds of gospels and religious writings were considered 'Apocrypha' (which actually means 'hidden from the people') and destroyed. Some of these were written by disciples of Jesus (pbuh), and not disciples of disciples who had never met Jesus (pbuh), such as Paul. If they were not more authentic than the current selection then they were at least of equal authenticity. Some of these are still available, such as the 'Gospel of Barnabas' which agrees with the Qur'an and even mention Muhammad (pbuh) by name. Modern discoveries such as the discovery of the dead sea scrolls (Qumran scrolls) have also confirmed the claims of the Qur’an (such as their claim that no nail shall touch the Messiah). The most ancient copies of the Greek Gospels available today date fully three to four centuries after the departure of Jesus(pbuh). The Dead sea scrolls, however, coincide historically with the time of John the Baptist. They were quickly dated from the 2nd century BC through the 1st century C.E. by the script in which they were written and by archaeological investigations of the settlement near the Qumran caves. They were discovered alongside the most ancient copy of the Old Testament available today. In an effort to defend the teachings of the current Greek gospels, Mr. F.F. Bruce has the following to say in his book 'The New Testament documents. Are they reliable?': 'It is worth mentioning here that striking affinities of thought and language have been recognized between the Gospel and the Qumran texts. These affinities must not be exaggerated; the Qumran literature comes no where near presenting us with such a figure as the Jesus of this Gospel (John)' Christian scholar of history readily confirm that after the famous council of Nicea (325 C.E.), the church of St. Paul (The Trinitarian Church) selected out of the over three hundred Gospels in their possession the four that most closely conformed to their doctrines. All others, including the Gospel of Barnabas, were ordered completely destroyed. They also ruled that all Gospels written in Hebrew were to be destroyed. This practice continued until at least the year 1616 C.E. Well then, how did the Gospel of Barnabas reach us? It is well known and recorded that the Gospel of Barnabas was accepted as Canonical in the Churches of Alexandria till 325 C.E. Pope Damasus (304-384 C.E.) issued a decree that the Gospel of Barnabas should not be read. This decree was supported by Gelasus, Bishop of Caesaria who died in 395 C.E. Pope Demasus, however, did secure a personal copy of the Gospel of Barnabas for himself in 383 C.E. and placed it in his private library. Many decrees make mention of the Gospel of Barnabas, such as the decree of the Western churches in 382AD, Pope Innocent in 465C.E., the Glasian Decree of 496C.E., Pope Hormisdas, and it is mentioned in the Stichometry of Niceophorus. There are many others who made note of this Gospel throughout history or obtained their own copies. In 478AD, the fourth year of Emperor Zeno, the remains of Barnabas were discovered and there was found on his breast a copy of the Gospel of Barnabas written by his own hand. (Acia Sanctorum Borland Junii Tom II, pages 422 and 450. Antwerp 1698) The famous Vulgate Bible appears to have been based upon this Gospel. Among the early Christians was a man named Irenaeus (130-200 AD). According to the book 'Jesus, Prophet of Islam,' by Muhammad Ata’ Ur Rahim, Irenaeus quoted extensively in his writings from the Gospel of Barnabas. In the sixteenth century C.E. a close friend of Pope Sextus (1589-1590) called Fra Marino, became extremely interested in the writings of Irenaeus. One day he was invited to visit the Pope and lunch with him. After eating with him, the Pope became drowsy and fell asleep. Father Marino took to browsing through the various books and manuscripts in the private library of Pope Sextus and happened upon an Italian translation of the Gospel of Barnabas. Father Marino concealed it in his sleeve and left the Vatican with it. This Gospel passed through many hands until it reached the hands of 'a person of great name and authority' in Amsterdam 'who during his lifetime, was often heard to put a high value on this piece.' After his death, it came into the possession of J.E. Cramer, Councilor of the King of Prussia. In 1713, Cramer presented this Gospel to the famous connoisseur of books, Prince Eugene of Savoy. In 1738, the library of the Prince, including this Gospel was incorporated into the Hofbibliothek in Vienna where it now rests. Mr. Sale in his preface 'To the Reader' of his translation of the meanings of the verses of the noble Qur’an says: '… the discoverer of the original M.S., who was a Christian monk called Fra Marino, tells us that having accidentally met with a writing of Irenaeus (among others), wherein Irenaeus spoke against Paul, alleging, for his authority, the Gospel of St. Barnabas, he became exceedingly desirous of finding an existing copy of this Gospel, and that God of His mercy, having made Fra Marino an intimate friend of Pope Sixtus V, (pope 1585-1590), one day, as they were together in the Pope’s library, his holiness fell asleep, and the monk, to occupy himself, reaching down for a book to read, the very first he laid his hand on proved to be the very Gospel history that he was seeking. Overjoyed at the discovery, he scrupled not to hide his prize discovery in his sleeve; and, on the Pope’s awakening, took to leave of him carrying with him that celestial treasure, by reading of which he became a convert to Muhammedanism [sic]' The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Gospel of Barnabas, and the New Testament, by M. A. Yusseff, p. 119) (also see Jesus a Prophet of Islam, by Muhammad `Ata ur-Rahim, pp. 39-44, 76-77) Only the popularity of this copy of the Gospel of Barnabas saved it from the fate of most other copies. Most copies of the Gospel of Barnabas had a tendency of mysteriously disappearing into oblivion. This was the case with a Spanish copy which mysteriously disappeared from the College Library in England around the same time period. The Gospel of Barnabas was translated into English by Mr. and Mrs. Ragg and published in the Clarindon Press in Oxford in 1907. Dispite the fact that the authors disallowed the authenticity of this Gospel, still, mysteriously all copies disappeared from the market. Only two copies are known to have escaped this mysterious fate. One copy is housed in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The other is located in the British museum. A new printing has been made off of these copies and this printing is available today. Many attempts have been made since the Gospel of Barnabas was first inadvertently smuggled out of the Vatican vaults and unveiled to the public to disprove it’s authenticity. This Gospel was found to support the Muslim Qur’an so strongly that it was quickly recognized that Father Marino must have stumbled upon a fabricated Gospel written by Muslims which Muslims had later managed to cleverly conceal in the Christian Vatican. Much has been written on this topic, however, for those who would like to see strong evidence of the great antiquity and authenticity of this Gospel, they are directed to obtain a copy of the book 'The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Gospel of Barnabas, and The New Testament', by M. A. Yussuff. Some quotations from the Gospel of Barnabas: In reply to a question by Philip, Prophet Jesus said: 'God alone hath no equal. He hath had no beginning, nor will he ever have a end, ... He hath no sons, nor brethren, nor companions.' Gospel of Barnabas:17 '... Verily ye have erred greatly, O Israelites, in calling me(Jesus), a man, your God. ... I confess before heaven, ... that I am a stranger to all that ye have said; seeing that I am man, born of a mortal woman, subject to the judgment of God, suffering the miseries of eating and sleeping, of cold and heat, like other men,. Whereupon when God shall come to judge, my words like a sword shall pierce each one (of them) that believe me to be more than man,' Gospel of Barnabas: 93 Regarding the apostle Barnabas himself, the Bible commands: 'if he comes to you, receive him.' Colossians 4:10 (For more quotations from the Gospel of Barnabas, please read the end of the following section titled …) The Dead Sea Scrolls: I have just alluded to the Dead Sea Scrolls in the quotation by Mr. F. F. Bruce. Even with his staunch defense of the text the New and Old Testament, even with that, we find him saying 'It is worth mentioning here that striking affinities of thought and language have been recognized between the Gospel and the Qumran texts. These affinities must not be exaggerated; the Qumran literature comes no where near presenting us with such a figure as the Jesus of this Gospel (John)' What is so noteworthy about this quote? Well, to answer this question we need to begin with the story of the scrolls themselves: In 1947 a group of children stumbled upon the first set of scrolls in a cave on the shores of the Dead Sea. These scrolls were immediately identified as the work of a very devout sect of the Jewish community that lived centuries before the birth of Jesus (pbuh). Hershel Shanks says in his book Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: 'Such was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, manuscripts a thousand years older than the oldest known Hebrew texts of the Bible, manuscripts many of which were written a hundred years before the birth of Jesus and at least one of which may have been written almost three hundred years before the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem' Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hershel Shanks, pp. 7-8 An immediate frantic search ensued through the remaining caves in the region in order to find what other ancient scrolls could be discovered therein. A small group of 'international' scholars in Israel were given exclusive access to them and the rest of the world was all but totally barred from gaining even the slightest glimpse of the texts (Prof. Eisenman observes that one of the major stumbling blocks for the publication of the scrolls was that 'in the first place, the team was hardly international') . Prof. Robert Eisenman was one of the key players in the drama that finally lead to the release of the scrolls. In his book 'The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered' we read: 'In the spring of 1986, at the end of his stay in Jerusalem, Professor Eisenman went with the British scholar, Philip Davies of the University of Sheffield, to see one of the Israeli officials responsible for this - an intermediary on behalf of the Antiquities Department (now ‘Authority’) and the International Team and the Scrolls Curator at Israel Museum. They were told in no uncertain terms ‘You will not see the Scrolls in your lifetimes’' This stung them into action, and as a result of this statement, a massive effort was launched and five years later through a whirlwind of media publicity, absolute access to the scrolls was attained. Prof. Eisenman eventually received 1800 pictures of the previously unpublished scrolls. The book goes on to describe how 'Eisenman was preparing the Facsimile Edition of all unpublished plates. This was scheduled to appear the following spring through E. J. Brill in Leiden, Holland. Ten days, however, before it’s scheduled publication in April 1991, after pressure was applied by the International Team, the publisher inexplicably withdrew and Hershel Shanks (author of Biblical Archeology Review) and the Biblical Archeology Society to their credit stepped in to fill the breach'. However, finally in September 1991, the archives were officially opened and two months later the 2-volume Facsimile Edition was published. We have already read the words of Mr. Tom Harpur in the preface to his book: 'The most significant development since 1986 in this regard has been the discovery of the title 'Son of God' in one of the Qumran papyri (Dead Sea Scrolls) used in relation to a person other than Jesus.....this simply reinforces the argument made there that to be called the Son of God in a Jewish setting in the first century is not by any means the same as being identical with God Himself.' For Christ’s Sake, Tom Harpur, pp. xii. So why don’t we study these scrolls in a little more detail and see what else we can learn ? The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of fragments from many manuscripts, however, some of the most interesting among them are the Pesher texts. The Pesher texts are strings of interpretations of Biblical verses compiled by the most knowledgeable among the Jews. The word itself is derived from the Hebrew root word p-sh-r, which means, 'to explain'. The texts consist of Biblical passages followed by the words pesher ha-davar 'the interpretation of the matter is,' and then the interpretation itself. The basis of all of these texts is the notion that all of history is preordained by God. In other words, God is not restricted to looking at matters as 'past', 'present', or 'future', rather, all of time is an open book to God (please read the verification of this concept in Islamic belief in chapter 11). Indeed, this is the essence of how prophets receive 'prophesies', because God 'sees' the future. So, remembering that we are henceforth quoting from texts that have been carbon dated at about 100 years or more before the coming of Jesus (pbuh), and that this dating is confirmed by literary analysis, and that the authors were a sect of very religious and devout Jews, considering all of this let us see what they have to say: Those who have studied the scrolls have noticed a common theme prevalent throughout these manuscripts, that is, most of the pesher texts prophesise the coming of a 'Teacher of Righteousness' who will be sent by God to the Jews. This 'Teacher of Righteousness' will be opposed by the 'Teacher of Lies' and the 'Wicked Priest.' These scrolls also predict the coming of TWO messiahs. These two messiahs are referred to as a priestly and a temporal messiah. What we had here was a society of very devout Jews who were convinced that the time of the coming of the two messiahs was at hand, therefore, they set about preparing for their advent by detaching themselves from the mainstream society, and dedicating their lives to their worship and the preparation for their imminent arrival. 'According to the dominant view in the sectarian texts from Qumran, two messiahs were to lead the congregation in the End of Days, one priestly, and the other lay' Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, pp. 321-322 In The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, by Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, we read that the early scrolls spoke of TWO messiahs, but that later on, the communities of the Jews began to combine them into one messiah: 'As we have suggested, contrary to the well-known ‘two-Messiah’ theory of early Qumran scholarship, these references to the ‘Messiah of Aaron and Israel’ in the Damascus Document are singular not plural... and one possible explanation for it is that it is evoking a Messiah with both priestly and kingly implications, like the somewhat similar recitations of Hebrews' The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, p. 162 The Jews had prophesies of two messiahs. The first was best known to them for his 'priestly' or 'ecclesiastic' works which he would perform. The second was best known to them for his 'kingly' or 'military' works. These two prophesies refer to Jesus (pbuh) and Muhammad (pbuh). Jesus (pbuh) was best know for his 'priestly' works. However, unlike prophets such as David and Moses (pbut), he never lead an army, he never established a kingdom or a government, nor did he call his followers to wage war. Quite the opposite, he always called to peace and submissiveness and to leave the rule of the land to others (Matthew 22:21). He told his followers that he yet had many things to teach them but they could not bear them yet and that another would be coming after him who would teach them the complete truth (John 16:7-14). Muhammad (pbuh) too began by preaching submissiveness and passiveness. However, his ministry was allowed by God Almighty to mature to a point where it was able to defend itself and establish justice in the earth and abolish evil. Thus, just as many Old Testament prophets had waged many wars against the pagans of the surrounding nations, so too Muhammad’s followers fought many wars in the name of God and the Islamic empire finally stretched from China to Spain. Even those who did not follow Muhammad (pbuh) knew him well. However, what did they know him for? They knew him for his 'kingly' actions and not for the 'priestly' side of him that his followers knew. 'And fight against them until persecution is no more and religion is for God alone. But if they desist then let there be no hostility except against wrongdoers' The noble Qur’an, Al-Bakarah(2):193. 'Those unto whom We gave the Scripture recognize him (Muhammad) as they recognize their sons. But verily, a party of them conceal the truth while they know it' The noble Qur’an, al-Baqarah(2):146 Over time, the prophesies of the Jews began to become a little blurred, and this in addition to the continuous persecution of many nations towards the them eventually lead to their blending of these prophesies such that we find them in our present day to have combined them into one single prophesy wherein they await this one all-conquering wondrous event that would finally relieve them of their persecution and pave the way for them to march forth conquering all nations and establishing themselves as the protectors of the kingdom of God. However, as we can see from their prophesies, it was the second messiah who was to be known for his 'kingly' works, not the first. For this reason, when we read the Gospel of Barnabas we find that when the Jews ask Jesus (pbuh) whether he is 'the messiah' he responds to them that he is not 'the messiah' that they are expecting. This appears to be because Jesus understood their question to be deeper than a mere search for a title. They were not asking how to address him, rather, they wanted to know whether he was the one who would lead them in fulfillment of their hopes for leadership, power, and grandeur that they had been waiting for for so many centuries. For this reason, he told them that he was not 'the Messiah', but that 'the Messiah' they were waiting for would not come until later. He was referring to the SECOND messiah in their prophesies (please go back and read chapter 6.1 of this book). Indeed, both Muslims as well as Christians are unanimous that Jesus was the 'Messiah' of God, however, Jesus appears in his response to have applied his wisdom and knowledge of his people and their expectations when answering their question. Lawrence Schiffman says regarding Pesher Habakkuk: Table of Contents | Next Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Muslim-SA@acsu.buffalo.edu Last modified: Mon Nov 18 13:57:33 EST 1996

reply by John Calvin 4/5/2002 (22:35)

reply top Well, peace upon Jesus, not my absurd satirical characterization of 'Jesus' in the minds of the fools who make him into the figurehead and leader of their 'clash of Civilizations.

reply by John Calvin 4/5/2002 (22:59)

reply top That some nominally Christian scholars and artists have been 'infected' with Islam is nothing new. I believe even Milton was accused of it, and not a few others as well. In fact, alot of the ideas and institutions that arose in Europe after the end of the dark ages- commencing in the high middle Ages, the Rennaissance and the Reformation can be traced to the influence of Islamic Culture and Empire. It is especially the case that many of the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans were only preserved in libraries and Palaces of the (Islamic)East, especially in matters of science ( math, astronomy and medicine.)Often, humanists in Europe like Erasmus originally obtained them through Arab translations. The idea of a University was borrowed directly from Islam. The idea of a Social Contract seems to have substantial roots in Islamic polity. Needless-to say, this legacy- these foundations of what the pundits call 'Western Civilization- are not something which Europeans or Americans were every anxious to admit. In fact the whole 'Orientalist' orientation of much of historical scholarship- as described by such as Edward Said- was developed to deflect recognition of the substantial debt Europe owed to Islam for helping it to overcome the abyss into which their cultures had sunk after the collapse of the Roman Empire beginning in the 4th century AD. A good source for some of the intricacies of the cultural relations between Islam and Christiandom over the last five hundred years is Martin Bernal's 'Black Athena'.

reply by ozzie hooper 4/6/2002 (22:37)

reply top The way I see it, it's not a war on terrorism but a war against any stable religion. By demoralizing the religion, seekers of the world order weaken the common drive of their opponents. (that's my observation)