Tag Archives: Islam

Muslims and Mormons: A case study in deception

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Muslims and Mormons: A case study in deception by Peter Burrows 6/24/25 

“Muslims and Latter-day Saints: Beliefs, Values and Lifestyles,” is a 35-page pamphlet published in January of 2022 by the Mormon church. Its stated purpose is to introduce Muslims and Mormons to each other.  

www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/muslims-and-latter-day-saints?lang=eng 

As is typical of interfaith efforts between non-Muslims and Muslims, there’s not one word criticizing Islam. The Muslims have done a wonderful job convincing members of other faiths that to be critical of Islam is to be a bigot or a racist, facts be damned. I think this pamphlet shows the Mormons are no exception.  

The introduction tells us pretty much everything we need to know about the pamphlet, namely, it’s an attempt to ingratiate Mormons with Muslims and foreclose any criticism of Islam by Mormons. It lists these important points about the pamphlet: 

  1. It is “a conscientious effort to provide dignity and tolerance” for Muslims; 
  1. “Does not interpret the Qur’an” but instead relies on “Muslim scholars and religious leaders” to explain the tenets of Islam; 
  1.  It seeks “– to portray these tenets in a positive and engaging manner.” 
  1. It “– does not make judgments regarding these beliefs or practices.” 
  1. It requests “forbearance and patience if any of its words or efforts fall short” of satisfying Muslims that Mormons are not doing their best to understand Islam in the way Muslims want them to. 

As I read the above, Mormons are virtually begging to be deceived. They won’t question anything Muslims assert, and by some strange reasoning they seem to think that’s a virtue. This raises a fundamental question, one we can ask of all Muslim apologists: at what point does willful ignorance turn into stupidity?  

The Mormons are making two fundamental mistakes, the first being to rely on Muslims to explain Islam, something that should NEVER be done because Islam obligates Muslims to lie to achieve Islam’s primary goal: a world ruled by Islam. (See Reliance of the Traveller(sic) A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, pgs. 745 and 600.) 

In that world there would be no Mormon temples. The Tabernacle in Salt Lake City would be turned into a mosque, and its magnificent organ smashed into a million pieces and spread in front of the new mosque so that Muslims can show their contempt for The Latter-Day Saints as they walk in to pray. That’s what conquering Muslims did to Hindu Temples and their contents when Muslims invaded India. (See Robert Spencer’s book, “The History of Jihad,” pgs. 177-178.)  

The second fundamental mistake is to stress apparent commonalities of Islam and Mormonism instead of the differences. This is like comparing a garter snake to a rattle snake. Yes, they have a great deal in common, but don’t you think we should concentrate on how they differ? In fact, don’t you think NOT being aware of the differences could be, literally, a matter of life and death?   

That’s very much true with Islam. If Mormons read the Koran, they would learn that Allah sent Muhammad the True Religion, Islam, with the guidance to “make it prevail over all religions, howsoever those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity might detest it.” (Verse 9:33) That’s probably an understatement, since Verse 9:5 directs Muslims to KILL such people “wherever you find them” unless they become Muslims.  

Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and other “people of the book,” i.e., the Bible, get a third option. Since they follow Allah’s pre-Koran revelations and Allah’s pre-Muhammad prophets, those backward souls are allowed to live in an Islamic society if they adhere to a very strict set of rules. 

This life-saving option, however, does not extend to “those who do not have a Sacred Book or something that could have been a Book. — As for the psuedoscriptures of cults that have appeared since Islam, such as the Mormons, they neither are nor could be a Book since the Koran is the final revelation.” (Reliance of the Traveller – pg. 607, slightly edited for brevity.) 

So, Islamic Sacred Law considers Mormons a cult and The Book of Mormon a psuedoscripture. I doubt if this little detail was mentioned in the “hours of conversation and study by religious scholars and others” that went into the making of “Muslims and Latter-Day Saints.”  

Admittedly, that’s not something that reading just the Koran would have revealed. However, the Koran is all anybody needs to show Muslim deceit in a couple of verses quoted in the pamphlet section, “Love for God and Humanity:”  

“Muslims and Latter-day Saints believe that by loving God and all humankind, peace and goodness will ultimately prevail. They devote their lives to living and teaching these principles. The Qur’an teaches Muslims, “Whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity” (5:32) and “Indeed, God is with those who are of service to others” (29:69).” 

Quoting Verse 5:32 out of context is one of the oldest tricks in the Muslim book. That they would do so shows their confidence in the gullibility of the Mormons. Here’s the quotation in context of both the complete verse AND THE FOLLOWING VERSE, slightly edited for brevity, my emphasis: 

Verse 5:32:  “We ordained for the Children of Israel that he who slays a soul unless it be in punishment for murder or for spreading mischief on Earth shall be as if he had slain all mankind; and he who saves a life shall be as if he had given life to all mankind. And indeed, again and again did our Messengers come to them with clear directives, yet many of them continued to commit excesses on earth.” 

Verse 5:33: “Those who wage war against Allah and his Messenger and go about the earth spreading mischief – indeed their recompense is that they either be done to death or be crucified” or have their hands and feet cut off.  

In other words, Allah warned the JEWS not to kill without reason, and Muhammad also gave them “clear directives,” which means he told the Jews to accept Islam. Most Jews refused and fought the Muslims. Muslims can kill anybody who wages “war against Allah and His Messenger” and have been doing so for 1400 years, not showing any love whatsoever for “all humankind.”   

Verse 29:69 also has a different meaning when quoted in full: “As for those who strive in Our cause, We shall surely guide them to Our Ways. Indeed, Allah is with those who do good.” “OUR cause” and” OUR Ways” refers to Islam.   “Strive in our cause” includes jihad in the name of Allah.  In other words, Muslims will kill Mormons when the time comes because that will be doing “good.”   

As an aside, in three of my four translations, 29:69 ends with “Allah is with those who do good,” the fourth ends with “Allah is with those who do right.”  I don’t know which translation the pamphlet quoted to get “God is with those who are of service to others,” but regardless, you can be sure “others” means “other Muslims.” Allah, you see, does not “love all humankind,” only Muslims. (See Verses 3:31 and 3:32.) 

Allah also warns Muslims not to befriend non-Muslims such as Mormons: “Believers!  Do nor take the unbelievers as your allies in preference to the believers.” (V4:144) That includes “People of the Book”: “Believers! Do not take Jews and Christians for your allies!” (V5:51) That’s understandable. After all, Jews and Christians are “the worst of creatures.”  (V98:6) 

I could find fault with many more things about the pamphlet, but I’m afraid it would be a waste of time. People briming with Beatific self-righteousness are fact-proof.  Hopefully, a Mormon here and there will learn the reality of Islam and begin the long process of educating other Mormons. We need strong religious as well as secular opposition to the spread of Islam. 

The Koran is a good place to start. I strongly recommend the translation by Pakistani scholar and political leader Sayyid Mawdudi. It has extensive explanations of many verses from the perspective of a devout Muslim, not gullible non-Muslims, of whom Mormons are only a tiny fraction. It’s available on Amazon. It helps greatly if you know HOW to read the Koran. For that, go to Amazon and look for my book “How to read the Koran (and understand Islam).” 

On a personal note, my wife and I had never met any Mormons until we moved to Silver City. One of the first people we met was the Mormon lady across the street, the late Sharon Anderson. She quickly became the best friend we’ve ever had and we miss her every day. Other Mormons we’ve met are also wonderful people, and it’s distressing to see their church led astray.  

Addendum: Here’s a 30-minute video of two Elders in the Mormon church introducing the pamphlet when it was published. If you can find 30 minutes of sanctimonious ignorance that equals this, please don’t share it with me. This is enough to last a lifetime or two. 

www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/interfaith-relations-videos?lang=eng 

Remembering The Pulse Massacre

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Remembering The Pulse massacre  

Today marks 9th anniversary of the most murderous act of hatred in the history of this country. In the early morning hours of June 12, 2015, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American born Muslim, shot and killed 49 people and injured another 53 at The Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. 

As I scan the newspapers today, I don’t see any mention of this. Why not? If a white supremacist had gone into a black church and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more, there would be Memorial services all over the country, and politicians of both parties  would be gravely warning us of the moral imperative for America to stamp out bigotry, racism, etc., etc., ad nauseum.  

The reason The Pulse nightclub massacre is not being commemorated reflects the moral hierarchy of both victim and victimizer in woke America, as well as rank hypocrisy. Black victims and a white shooter, we’d be hearing a lot about it. So, too, if the gays had been shot by a straight, white Christian. Considering June is “Pride Month,” we can be sure that straight white Christians would be demonized.  

As it was, the shooter was a Muslim, and Muslims killing white gays will not be remembered in the press or from the pulpit, because Muslims, along with gays, are oppressed victims in America, and in fact are even MORE oppressed. Just a mentally disturbed individual who happened to be a Muslim. Move along folks, nothing to see here. 

This, despite Mateen declaring himself a devout Muslim on a 911 call while he was doing the shooting: “Praise be to God and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God.” On his Facebook page, he pledged allegiance to the leader of the then nascent state of ISIS, and wrote, “may Allah accept me.”    

Over the next two days ISIS declared Mateen an “Islamic State fighter” and “one of the soldiers of the Caliphate in America” who had “attacked a nightclub for homosexuals.” In this, he was only obeying Muhammad: “Kill the one who sodomizes and the one who lets it be done to him.” (Reliance of the Traveller(sic), A Classic Manuel of Islamic Sacred Law, page 665.) 

I’m reminded of all this because less than two weeks ago in Boulder, CO, Muhamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian-born Muslim, threw Molotov cocktails at a group of elderly Jews who were marching to free hostages held by Hamas, injuring 15. Soliman, like Mateen, left no doubt about his motivation, telling his family: “I attest before Allah and before you that Allah, His Messenger, and Jihad for Alice’s sake are more beloved to me than you and the whole world are.”     

Soliman, 45, had attempted to buy a gun but couldn’t because he is not a citizen. The background check worked and probably saved a lot of lives.  Soliman has lived in America since 2022 with his wife and five children, who now face deportation as their visas expired on March 28.  

There was nothing about Soliman’s behavior that suggested that he might be a threat to anybody, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT HE IS A MUSLIM. Right on cue, the Boulder police chief said, “We are not calling it a terror attack at this point. It is way too early to speculate on a motive.”  

What is there to speculate about when the attacker has made his motive perfectly clear?  I have wondered for many years when we’re going to start believing the Muslims. I’ve come to the conclusion that we never will, and that the only option for people who feel threatened by Muslims is to protect themselves.   

This is especially true for American Jews, most of whom, unfortunately, live in New York state, where it is extremely difficult to get a permit to carry a concealed gun. There are 26 states in which a concealed carry permit is not required for law abiding citizens, but New York is not one of them. (Nor is New Mexico.) 

To circumvent this, I would suggest to President Trump that he issue an Executive Order authorizing the FBI to grant concealed carry permits. This would bypass state laws that essentially make self-defense illegal. Self-defense should not be something law-abiding citizens forfeit to criminals, ever.   

Sadly. I’m afraid many liberal Jews would oppose this.     

Islam: Producing “psychopaths” by the millions

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Islam: Producing “psychopaths” by the millions – Peter Burrows 6/9/25 elburropete@gmail.com 

Religious Muslims have noted on more than one occasion that without the death penalty for apostasy, Islam would have vanished long ago.  This matter-of-fact observation does not seem to be made with any regret, but with approval, even pride. Check out this video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=153396989867227 12/7/2020 – “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment Islam wouldn’t exist.” – Yusuf al-Qaradawi 

That led me to conclude that Islam must welcome psychopaths because they are obviously the ones doing the honor killings, throwing gays from rooftops, and assassinating the apostates. After all, normal people wouldn’t commit such heinous acts, would they?  

That assumption seemed safe when I heard Jordan Peterson, who has a PhD in psychology, say in a number of videos something to the effect that thank God psychopaths are only two to four percent of the population, given the amount of damage they can do. 

The exact number of psychopaths hasn’t been pinned down, but it is not a trivial number. Various studies have put the percentage of psychopaths in the population as high as 4.5 percent or as low as 1.2 percent.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8374040/

Even using the lowest estimate, since there are over 1.5 billion Muslims, that works out to 18 million psychopaths. That seems like enough to do the nasty disciplinary work necessary to ensure Islam’s survival.  

That would include disciplining the Muslim who doesn’t observe the strict religious doctrines of Islam and those who want to keep a pet dog, or who don’t think their 9-year-old daughters are old enough to get married, or who enjoy listening to music. Do you think loving daughters, dogs and music should be celebrated as perfectly normal and not things to die for? Welcome to why I thought Islam needs psychopaths. 

Still, something about the psychopath narrative just didn’t add up.  How could Muslim leaders around the world just snap their fingers and thousands would be in the streets violently protesting when somebody had burned a Koran, or somebody had insulted Muhammad — like drawing a picture of him?  

This led me to do a little reading about psychopaths, and I learned that while Islam may welcome psychopaths, it certainly doesn’t need them. The Islamic religion creates an all-encompassing, highly authoritarian society that turns hundreds of millions of ordinary Muslims into zealots who will enthusiastically kill, torture and rape apostates or unbelievers, and they will do so with no regrets.  

Just like psychopaths.  

Whether such people are in fact psychopaths, or sociopaths or just temporarily deranged, or whatever, I don’t think is important. As a practical matter, if a crazed mob of Muslims chops off your head, you’re just as dead as if a lone psychopath did it.   

My research on psychopathic behavior is based largely on a book by psychologist Philip Zimbardo, “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding how good people turn evil,” published in 2007. Dr Zimbardo, who died in 2014, achieved everlasting fame, or perhaps infamy, as the psychologist who designed and carried out the Stanford Prisoner Experiment (SPE) in 1971 at Stanford University.  

A movie about the SPE, on which Dr. Zimbardo advised, was released in 2015 shortly after his death (4.4 out of 5 stars, 2,400 reviews): 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420293/

Zimbardo’s book, which I highly recommend, examines other psychological studies in addition to his own SPE, and he describes in detail examples in the real world that confirm the primary conclusion of those studies: ordinary people will behave atrociously, with very little encouragement, if their circumstances require it. An especially disturbing example, which mirrored the SPE, was how American soldiers behaved at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. 

If you can’t understand how Germans could participate by the hundreds of thousands in all aspects of the Holocaust, and if you think that it couldn’t happen here, you’re wrong. You and I and our neighbors are just like those ordinary Germans. 

In a section titled “The Nazi connection: could it happen in your town,” Zimbardo quotes another well-known experimental psychologist, Stanley Milgram: “If a system of death camps were set up in the United States of the sort we had seen in Nazi Germany, one would be able to find sufficient personnel for those camps in any medium-sized American town.” 

Zimbardo describes two impromptu experiments, one by a high school teacher and one by a third-grade teacher, showing how easy it is to Nazify nice, wholesome American kids. (I think the third-grade teacher should have been jailed.) Both created such publicity that each was made into a documentary:  

The Wave  youtube.com/watch?v=4qlBC45jk3I   

A class divided www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mcCLm_LwpE 

As the SPE, and too many real-world examples show, the environment we find ourselves in can lead us to do things we would normally be ashamed of, things that are against our basic values. We are influenced by our need to conform, our need for acceptance and, importantly, our fear of rejection, of being ostracized.  

We overestimate our ability to resist these external forces. “I would never do that,” is what we say, but the evidence says otherwise, especially if we are in a military environment where orders are expected to be obeyed without question.  As bad as the atrocities at the Abu Ghraib prison were, they pale in comparison to the Japanese rape of Nanking or, for that matter, the U.S. Army killing civilians at My Lai. 

During the Nuremburg trials the common excuse was, “I was only following orders.” and that’s a credible excuse. I have no doubt that for many Germans, the fear of punishment helped to overcome any moral objections they might have had. I also have no doubt that for many Germans there was NO moral objection to what they were doing.  

After all, Jews, Slavs, Russians, Gypsies and others were not part of The Aryan “master race.”  Zimbardo emphasizes that dehumanizing our enemies can remove any concern about how we treat them.  At Adolph Eichmann’s trial it became apparent that he had absolutely no guilt about what he had done. The only guilt he would have felt would have been if he hadn’t carried out his orders. 

By now you’re probably thinking, “What does this have to do with Islam, Burro?  

Quite a bit. A billion-and-a-half Muslims have been raised in a culture that requires them to behave as badly as Nazis against non-Muslims when the situation permits. This is not hypothetical. It’s happening every day, all over the world: 

https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

Like the Nazis, these Muslims will tell you they’re only obeying orders, and like the Nazis, if they refuse to obey those orders, they risk execution. Nazis who didn’t obey orders were traitors; the Muslim traitor is an apostate.  

The major difference between the two is that while many Germans could see that Hitler was a despicable human being, it’s a rare Muslim who can see that Allah is a despicable divine being. That’s a big problem when dealing with Muslim terrorists: Muslims believe they are obeying an infallible GOD. 

Furthermore, in a touch of diabolical genius, in some cases, Muslims are not just obeying God, they’re HELPING God. Two verses in the Koran bestow this honor on the terrorist: 

 “Make war on them. Allah will chastise the apostates through you — tell the unbelievers if Allah doesn’t visit you with chastisement, they will be chastised at your hands.” (Verses 9:14 and 9:52, condensed and edited.) 

And it’s not just acts of terror. There was a case in Texas a few years ago where a Muslim taxi driver killed his two daughters because they were becoming Westernized. He left their bodies in the backseat of his taxi and then proceeded to live within the Muslim community for 12 years before he was apprehended, and then it was by accident. Under sharia law, God’s law, there is NO penalty for a Muslim father who kills his daughters. (Reliance of the Traveller (sic)- A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law pg. 584)  

In fact, any Muslim who reported him to the police could be judged guilty of deferring to man-made laws over Allah’s law, which is an apostasy. Verse 5:47 in the Koran: “–those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed are the transgressors.” That’s why it’s almost never the case that Muslims report other Muslims who commit crimes, let alone acts of terror. 

Perversely, if a Muslim dies while committing some atrocity against the infidels, that is not something to fear but something to celebrate. This is what Allah/God says about dying in the cause of Allah: 

“Believers! What is amiss with you that when it is said to you: “March fourth in the cause of Allah” you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the worldly life to the Hereafter? Know well that all the enjoyment of this world in comparison to the Hereafter is trivial. If you do not march fourth, Allah will chastise you grievously —   

“Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their belongings and in return has promised that they shall have Paradise. They fight in the Way of Allah and slay and are slain. Such is the promise He has made — who is more faithful to his promise than Allah? Rejoice, then, in the bargain you have made with Him.” (Verses 9.38, 9,39 and 9,111, slightly edited, Mawdudi translation, my emphasis.) 

So, for a Muslim, “just following orders” is not an understandable but ultimately pathetic rationalization, it’s an act of worship. Following God’s orders trumps following any man-made laws, such as the Constitution, which Muslims obey only until they overthrow the infidel’s country. 

Unsurprisingly, Islamic indoctrination begins at a very early age. In Reliance of the Traveller on page 109 it says that when a child is seven “he is ordered to perform the prayer, and when ten, is beaten for neglecting it.” There’s no question that molding children at such a young age can have life-long effects. The third-grade experiment Zimbardo mentions showed how quickly children can become very hostile to one another based on a trivial difference, eye color. What would happen if, year after year, they were taught to not just hate non-Muslims, but to kill them?  

I’m afraid the lesson would be learned all too well. Another study, also at Stanford, used nursery-aged children to test if aggression can be learned at an early age through observation and imitation. The study, called the Bobo Doll Experiment, involved 74 children and a Bobo Doll, a large inflatable clown. A subset of the children watched an adult verbally and physically abuse the doll for ten minutes. He then left the room and, left alone, the children proceeded to do the same to poor Bobo, some with an unexpected enthusiasm.  

Some Islamic grade schools also use dolls to teach aggression, specifically by cutting off the doll’s head. This prepares the children to be good warriors in the way of Allah when they get older. This is reinforced by teaching the appropriate commands from Allah in the Koran: 

“When you meet the unbelievers in battle, smite their necks —” (V 47:4), and “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, so strike at their necks –.” (V 8:12). Verse 8:13 then explains, “This is because they defied Allah and His Messenger. Whoever defies Allah and His Messenger must know that Allah is severe in punishment.” (Mawdudi translation.) 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG7Ct0EqTFI IS Teaches Children How to Do Beheadings 

Bible class for Muslims! Thus, it shouldn’t surprise us that a French secondary school teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded by an 18-year-old Muslim in France back in 2020, because Paty had, allegedly, shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, an act of blasphemy, during a class discussion on freedom of expression.  

Even though Paty’s attacker was sent to Paradise by the local police, this was probably just what he wanted: Rivers of wine and eager virgins awaited him. Not much of a deterrent, don’t you agree? On the other hand, I can’t imagine any teacher in France daring to criticize ANYTHING about Islam after that. 

The Press almost always characterizes these atrocities by individual Muslims as “lone wolf” acts committed by psychopaths, and not representative of the religion of Islam. This is true even when the Muslim openly, and proudly, declares his actions were in the name of Allah.       

The most recent example of this occurred on the first of June of this year in Boulder, CO, when a 45-year-old Muslim, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, threw Molotov cocktails at a group marching in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring 15. The married, father of five, recorded this message prior to his attack, ensuring we all knew why he did this if he didn’t survive:  

“If I told my wife and son every day to do something, but they didn’t do it, I would be angry. Maybe I would divorce my wife, maybe I would kick my son out of home. Then what about Allah, who says to us every day, dozens of times: ‘Allah Akbar.’ Do not forget: Allah Akbar. Do not forget that Allah is greater than everything. Not the Zionists, America, Britain, France, or Germany – only Allah has the right to be feared. I say to my mother, my wife, my children, my brothers, my people: I attest before Allah and before you that Allah, His Messenger, and Jihad for Allah’s sake are more beloved to me than you and the whole world are.”  (my emphasis)       

https://www.memri.org/tv/boulder-co-firebomber-sabry-soliman-video-declaration-jihad

I didn’t see his statement covered on any of the networks. Maybe I missed it.  

The failure to identify Islam as THE motivating factor is also true of media coverage of suicide bombers, who Muslims see as analogous to Japan’s Kamikaze pilots. That’s how we should view them, too. Not as psychopaths, but as an especially deadly tactic in Islam’s war against us, as were Japan’s Kamikazes.  

This means that to put a stop to the suicide bombers we must go beyond the individual and into the mosque, the font of these atrocities.  In other words, to get rid of suicide bombers we must get rid of the religion of Islam. That will be much more difficult than ridding the skies of Kamikaze pilots. The Japanese ended their war when their emperor ordered them to. Islam has no emperor to obey, at least not here on Earth.  

We can’t reason with people who believe they are obeying God when they kill us. We can’t reason with people who celebrate atrocities committed in God’s name. The most heinous acts, if done in “jihad for Allah,” are perfectly acceptable by the Muslim society, even celebrated. 

Muslim behavior during and after the October 7 attack on Israel is sad proof of that, e.g., they cheered when the caskets of dead hostages, including those of strangled babies, were paraded through the streets of Gaza. Jews, you see, are subhumans who have earned the wrath of Allah, and Allah has been known to turn them into apes and swine, and that’s according to Allah Himself. (Verse 2:65, 5:60 and 7:116) 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/middleeast/hamas-israel-hostages-release-bibas-intl-hnk

In short, Muslim society provides all the incentives for ordinary people to behave like Jekyll–and-Hyde psychopaths and none of the disincentives: group approval, camaraderie and no fear of consequences, just the opposite, all of it ordained and rewarded by Allah. Their justification of “just following orders,” is unassailable.      

Since Muslims will never police themselves to protect non-Muslims, to protect ourselves from them we must realize that for all practical purposes, ALL Muslims are complicit in EVERY act of terror Muslims commit.  

Ideally, we should close every mosque in America and deport every Muslim who objects. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. The non-Muslim population is simply too ignorant of Islamic fundamentals to support that, which is also true of many ordinary Muslims. Not so the imams at the pulpit or those heading Islamic organizations such as CAIR, ISNA and ICNA.     

At the very least, any national Islamic organizations that supports Islamic terrorism in any way should be banned. We should also authorize the surveillance and infiltration of individual mosques, something that will be opposed by the ACLU and anybody else who thinks that “freedom of religion” has no boundaries. At the very least, we should close any mosque terrorists are associated with.  

I’m afraid none of the above will happen until Muslims have killed enough of us to get our attention. So far, media coverage of Muslims killing infidels every day is virtually nonexistent.  

https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

One place they are NOT killing people is China. I wrote about China’s successful crackdown on Muslim terrorism in October of 2020, five years ago, but the lesson hasn’t been learned anywhere else. (See “How to read the Koran (and understand Islam): “China’s Muslims: a different perspective,” Essay 9.)   

Essentially, what China has done, and we should, too, is to declare Islam a terrorist organization. After all, that’s what it is. Ironically, in 2014, CAIR, The Council on American Islamic Relations, was designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates, which claimed that the organization has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Islamic group that would like to change the relatively secular government in the UAE.  

Until our nation wakes up, we as individuals must do whatever we can to protect ourselves, our families, our churches, and our synagogues from “jihad in the way of Allah.” Keep in mind that deadly violence can come without warning from ANY Muslim.  (See Essay 17 in the above: “Never trust a Muslim, especially a “moderate” Muslim.”)      

In those 26 states that have Constitutional Carry, which means if you pass the required background check to buy a weapon, you don ‘t need additional vetting to carry it concealed, arm yourself and urge your friends to do the same. Unfortunately, New York, where most American Jews live, is not a Constitutional Carry state. Many Jews will have to choose between breaking the law or going defenseless. 

In the meantime, somebody should suggest to President Trump that he issue an executive order authorizing the FBI to issue Constitutional Carry permits. That would bypass stare laws and allow Jews to protect themselves at all times. Sadly, I suspect this commonsense move would be opposed by New York’s liberal Jews.  Sigh.  

If Iran gets nuclear weapons, they will use them

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If Iran gets nuclear weapons, they will use them by Peter Burrows 4/30/25 elburropete@gmail.com 

On August 8, 2006, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Bernard Lewis, a British American historian who was regarded as one of the foremost experts on the Middle East. In that article, published almost 19 years ago, Lewis pointed out the dangers inherit in Iran having nuclear weapons. 

Namely, while other nations are deterred from using nuclear weapons because of the threat of nuclear retaliation, known as the MAD doctrine, mutually assured destruction, this is NOT a deterrence for Iran.  In fact, given Iran’s Islamic dogma, “MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement.”  (Emphasis in original.) (1)  

This is as true today as it was then, and the fact that so many Western leaders still think it is possible to negotiate a lasting peace with Iran shows how little we’ve learned. The results could be catastrophic.  

One of the rules of warfare, emphasized 2500 years ago by Sun Tzu in The Art of War, is to know your enemy. I don’t know of any Western leader who has said anything that indicates they know our enemy. This is what they should know: 

Our enemies in Iran are Shia Muslims who believe that the twelfth and last Shia Imam was 5-year-old Muhammad al-Mahdi, a direct descendent of Muhammad, who was rescued from Sunni persecution by Allah in 854 A.D. The still living Mahdi, now 1,160 years old, has been in a state of occultation waiting for Allah to send him back to lead the Shias in their conquest of the world.   

Sometimes called the Hidden Imam, his followers are known as Mahdaviats or Twelvers. Millions of them have made a pilgrimage to a well at the Jamkaran Mosque near the city of Qom, where it is believed Allah hid him.  

The sad truth is that the little boy was probably kidnapped and murdered by the Sunnis as part of the nascent Sunni-Shia struggle for dominance, and perhaps his remains were thrown down that well. We’ll never know. The Shias and Sunnis have been fighting each other ever since, something non-Muslims can be thankful for. 

The Shias are only about 15 percent of all Muslims in the world but virtually 100% of the Muslims in Iran, of which about 90% would be considered Mahdaviats. Whatever theological differences might exist between Sunnis and Shias or between different sects of Shias, is irrelevant considering it’s the Mahdaviats who could have their finger on the nuclear trigger.  

That is why it is so important that we know that the Mahdaviates believe the return of the Twelfth Imam will occur in a time of great chaos, and if they can initiate that chaos, they will be simply hastening the day of Shia rule and world salvation. What better way to be proactive in such a holy cause than to use nuclear weapons against the unbelievers, starting with Israel? 

It is immaterial if this results in the death of the Iranians because they will be in Paradise, their promised reward for dying in the cause of Allah, something true for all Muslims, not just Shias. From the Quran, Mawdudi translation: 

Verse 9:38: “Believers! What is amiss with you that when it is said to you: “March forth in the cause of Allah,” you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the worldly life to the Hereafter? Know well that all the enjoyment of this world, in comparison with the Hereafter, is trivial.” 

Verse 9:111: “Surely Allah has purchased of the Believers their lives and their belongings and in return has promised that they shall have Paradise. They fight in the Way of Allah and slay and are slain. Such is the promise He has made incumbent upon Himself —. Rejoice then in the bargain you have made with Him.” (Slightly edited for brevity.) 

While those verses apply to all Muslims, the Mahdaviates believe in a specific apocalyptic event, the return of the Hidden Imam, believed by no other Islamic sect. This means they are uniquely dangerous. To that point, here’s what the founder of the Iranian Shia theocracy, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is quoted as saying: 

“I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers (the infidel powers) wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another’s hand in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom.  In both cases, victory and success are ours.” (2) 

Let that sink in: “IN BOTH CASES, VICTORY AND SUCCESS ARE OURS.” I don’t think it’s necessary to note that in both cases, whether defeated or not, a helluva lot of death and destruction will be visited upon the non-Muslims, us infidels, by these fanatically religious Muslims. 

The Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989, but his successors have not deviated from Mahdi orthodoxy.  The current Supreme Leader of Iran is the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who last year said that any retreat from punishing Israel for assassinating a Hamas leader when he was in Tehran would risk “divine wrath.” (3)  

Trump has been elected since then and is spouting a lot of tough talk about Iran’s nuclear program. He says it’s unacceptable for them to ever get a nuclear weapon, yet he’s negotiating with them. Why? There’s nothing to negotiate.  Is his rhetoric merely a gambit in “the art of the deal?” 

In the short run, risking Trump’s decidedly undivine wrath may be something the Ayatollah wants to avoid, but in the long run we can be sure that it’s avoiding the “Divine wrath” that matters. This means he’ll play Trump’s ego and negotiate a deal for the self-anointed world’s greatest deal maker, a deal which might even get Trump nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. All that such a deal will do, unless it has on-site monitoring and on-demand access to anyplace in Iran, is buy more time for the Iranians to continue developing nuclear weapons.   

After all, they have been waiting for almost 1,200 years for Muhammad al-Mahdi to lead the Shias to eternal victory in the cause of Allah, so a few more years or decades is of little consequence. As one Muslim famously said, “You’ve got the watches, we’ve got the time.” 

I haven’t given up hope, though. Trump just appointed Mark Levin to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and Levin is smart, tough and Jewish. You probably know him from his TV show, “Life liberty and Levin” which airs twice a week on Fox. This past Sunday, April 27, his guest was Alan Dershowitz, another smart, tough, Jew, and they talked about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran would pose to Israel. 

They both agreed that Iran should never have nuclear weapons, that negotiating is a mistake, and that anybody advising Trump to make a deal is simply wrong. I hope Trump takes their advice.  

1) www.wsj.com/articles/SB115500154638829470  

2)  ibid  

3) www.iranintl.com/en/202408148230 

Other sources: 

www.raymondibrahim.com/2023/12/21/mahdism-the-apocalyptic-ideology-behind-irans-nuclear-program/ 

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-401858/Why-man-nightmares.html 

www.americanthinker.com/articles/2006/01/ahmadinejad_awaits_the_hidden.html  

en.radiofarda.com/a/ap-was-there-iran-s-1979-islamic-revolution-sweeps-nation/29765359.html 

www.breakpoint.org/preparing-for-the-mahdi/ 

My Islam essays now available on Amazon

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I’ve been studying and writing about the religion of Islam for over 10 years. Some of my essays have gotten very favorable critical reviews.  

After some turmoil with a self-publishing company, there is now a compilation of these essays available on Amazon.com. Just search “Peter V. Burrows” under “Books.” It’s titled “How to Read the Koran (and understand Islam) and other essays about ‘The Religion of Peace.’ ” 

I just received a copy and I’m pleased with how it came out. A couple of very minor things to correct, but all in all, I’m good with it. (The initial ebook that Publishing Mojo, my publisher, put on Amazon had some critical errors, since corrected, and the one-star rating I gave it is now deleted.) 

The paperback is $15 and I doubt very much if I’ll ever cover my costs. It was never my hope to make any money and I care not a whit if I’m plagiarized. The back cover states: “Readers are free to use anything in this publication without attribution.” 

The purpose is to educate about Islam. Even if I win a Nobel Prize, either Nonfiction or Peace, maybe both, I plan on giving the proceeds to the home for unwed mothers. Right.  

TIA to those of you who buy a copy.  

When genocide is justified

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When genocide is justified by Peter Burrows – elburropete@gmail.com – 5/23/24 

The lies and disinformation about Israel’s war in Gaza are appalling. If we had journalists and a media that were worth a damn, these lies wouldn’t get very far. As it is, pro-Hamas and anti-Jewish riots in America and around the world are a direct result of people believing those lies. That’s for the most part. The Muslims know better. 

What lies am I referring to? Let’s start with the one that Israel is an apartheid state, a reference to when South Africa was ruled by whites and black people were very much second-class citizens.  

Israel is a tiny country of only 9.9 million which most people think is 100% Jewish. In fact, only 73% are Jewish, 21% are Arab and 6% “other.”  Most of the Arabs are Muslims and they are full citizens who vote and have elected representatives in the Israeli Congress, the Knesset.  You didn’t know that? Gosh I wonder why that is. 

I also found at least nine mosques in Israel, there are probably more, which got me to wondering how many Jews live in Gaza and how many synagogues there are in Gaza. There are NO Jews and NO synagogues in Gaza, which means that GAZA is the real apartheid state.  

Personally, I think the Jews are foolish to allow Muslims to live and worship in their country. You can never trust a Muslim, especially if you’re a Jew. In fact, I think Israel SHOULD be an apartheid state as far as Muslims are concerned. But hey, that’s just me and I’m a horrid racist Islamophobe.  

Another lie is that Israel is a colonizer country, settled after WW I by Jews after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of WW I. This is ridiculous. There were thousands of Jews living in that area after WW I and there had been for 3,000 years. The kingdoms of Judah and Israel existed 1600 years before Muhammad was born and were once ruled by Kings David and Solomon. David and Solomon were Jews, did you know that? You should. Jews whose history dates back to ancient times are called Old Yishuv.  

It’s the Arab Muslims who are the colonizers, something educated college students should know. (“Educated college students” is getting to be an oxymoron.) The Crusades, again something college student should know, were unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the Arab-Muslim colonizers.   

But the biggest lie is that ISRAEL is committing genocide when civilians in Gaza die in the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The irony of this is astounding. When the Muslims say, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” what do you think that means, especially after October 7? 

It means they will kill every Jew “between the river and the sea,” after raping and torturing them, of course; after beheading babies, after burning people alive, after mutilating bodies; all the while honoring their god by shouting “Allahu Ackbar.” October 7 was a preview, not an aberration. 

The resulting Muslim state won’t have any synagogues, nor will it have any churches because the Muslims won’t stop with the Jews. Muslims, and Gazans are Muslims, have been ordered by Allah to wage war, jihad, until the world is ruled by Islam. Here’s a review of jihad doctrine, my emphasis in caps:  

“Jihad, holy fighting in Allah’s cause, with full force of numbers and weaponry is given the utmost importance in Islam and is one of its pillars on which it stands. By Jihad Islam is established, Allah’s Word is made superior (which means none has the right to be worshiped but Allah) and his religion is propagated. — JIHAD IS AN OBLIGATORY DUTY IN ISLAM ON EVERY MUSLIM —.” (1)  

“Jihad is a communal obligation.” — “The ‘obligatory’ is that which the Lawgiver STRICTLY REQUIRES be done.” (2)  

“Jihad is personally obligatory upon ALL those present in the battle lines —.” (3)  

“Jihad is also personally obligatory for everyone able to perform it, MALE OR FEMALE, OLD OR YOUNG, when the enemy has surrounded the Muslims —  having entered our territory, EVEN IF THE LAND CONSISTS OF RUINS — for non-Muslim forces entering Muslim lands is a weighty matter that cannot be ignored but must be met with effort and struggle to repel them BY EVERY POSSIBLE MEANS.” (4)  

In Gaza, rapidly becoming a “land of ruins,” “by every possible means” would include putting important military assets in places like hospitals and schools or building tunnels under densely populated civilian areas, as well as giving adolescents weapons. The charge that Hamas is deliberately endangering the civilians of Gaza is true, but the implication that these civilians are being coerced is not true. They are Muslims engaged in jihad and if they resist Hamas in any way, they would be considered apostates and duly executed in accordance with Sharia law. 

The word “Hamas,” by the way, is an Arabic acronym for “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Repeat that: Islamic Resistance Movement. The War in Gaza is NOT a political war. It’s the continuation of a 1400-year religious war that Islam is waging against non-Muslims.  

This means there can’t be innocent “civilians” in Gaza because they’re all Muslims, and, in fact, there are no innocent Muslims ANYWHERE! In the words of one brilliant apostate: 

“Every Muslim, regardless of whether, on the one hand, they joined in the slaughter, rushed in for their share of the spoils, abused the people taken captive, rejoiced in the streets around the world and all over social media, or on the other, they were conflicted about what they saw their co-religionists do, none of this would have happened were not for the existence of the religion they all adhere to. — 

“My point here is that if there are a billion Muslims in the world today, then for as long as they remain Muslim, every single one of them bears one billionth responsibility for every killing, every rape, every torture, every mutilation motivated by the religion they keep alive by continuing to belong to it.”  

https://www.murtaddtohuman.org/every-single-muslim-is-responsible-part-1/

No one knows how manty civilians joined Hamas in the October 7 massacre and tsunami of rape, murder and torture because Hamas soldiers don’t wear uniforms, which is intentional. They are indistinguishable from civilians, or to put it another way, the civilians are indistinguishable from Hamas, but for all practical purposes it doesn’t make any difference since they’re all jihadists.  

The Israelis don’t see it that way and are taking unprecedented steps to avoid civilian casualties. In my opinion, this is a mistake. They’re simply ensuring there will be that many more jihadists in the future and besides, they aren’t getting any credit for it.  Instead, they’re giving advanced warning to Hamas, which is why Hamas has a civilian-shield strategy. Sure enough, as of May 22, only 30-35% of Hamas’s forces have been killed. (5) 

Which leaves more jihadists to fight another day. And will there be more conflict in the future, more jihadists to kill? Oh yes. The Muslims have promised there will be more October 7s, hundreds of them. (6) 

The double standard and the hypocrisy are disgusting. Ceasefire? One will occur instantly if Hamas stops fighting. By the way, the Muslims still have 128 hostages. I think Israel should kill every Gazan they can until those hostages are released. It’s possible that most of them are dead, which is probably why Hamas rejected an “incredibly generous” ceasefire offer last week. (7) All the more reason to spare no Gazan.  

Anyone whining about the civilian casualties in Gaza is either ignorant of the facts or is someone with a lopsided view of justice, someone with no sense of moral outrage at what the Muslims did on October 7.  Of course, we expect such whining from Muslims, the most despicable people on earth.  

Even if Israel were to kill all 2 million Gazans, this would hardly constitute genocide as there are still 1.8 billion Muslims in the world who will continue their war on civilization until they, too, are annihilated or renounce their religion. Unfortunately, after 1400 years, neither outcome is likely. 

Most people don’t know that we were conducting a genocide in WW II against Japan. That’s not what it was called, but that’s what it was. As an aside, if the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had inflicted damage proportional to what Hamas did to Israel, they would have killed 15,800 Americans and kidnapped another 2,600. As it was, they killed “only” 2500 Americans, almost all military.  

The war that followed in response to “only” 2500 deaths wasn’t going to end until the Japanese surrendered, and it didn’t look like that was going to happen. We defeated their armies, destroyed their fleet, and killed their civilians by the hundreds of thousands, all to no avail. It took two atomic bombs to make them surrender.  

Surprisingly, as bad as the civilian tolls in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, one night of fire-bombing Tokyo was just as devastating. (8)  There was no talk then about innocent civilians, disproportionate force or genocide. Like the Gazans, Japanese civilians were ready to die in defense of their homeland. Japanese soldiers, like Muslims today, fought with suicidal intensity. There were, for example, more pilot volunteers for Kamikaze flights than airplanes.  

Before the first nuclear bomb was dropped, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945. Here is the final paragraph: We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.  

In other words, we threatened them with genocide and when they didn’t surrender, began to do just that. I think a similar ultimatum should be given Hamas: Surrender and turn over the hostages or face prompt and utter destruction.  

Fortunately for the Japanese, Emperor Hirohito put a stop to the war and the fighting ceased. Unlike the Japanese though, the Muslims have no Hirohito to tell them to surrender and they never will have. Their jihad is in the name of Allah and no mortal can countermand Allah. They will stop only when there are no more Muslims in the world — or no more non-Muslims!  

When the Japanese surrendered, they ceased to be a threat. Since the Muslims will never surrender, they will always be a threat and will continue to kill non-Muslims every day until we stop them. Every day? Yes. Check this website to see what CNN et al is NOT telling you: 

.https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/ 

As a matter of self-defense, genocide against Muslims is justified! We should turn their religion against them by taking a verse out of the Quran, the Verse of the Sword, Verse 9:5, and change the wording so it applies to Muslims, instead of “Slay the pagans wherever you find them,” it should read: “Slay the Muslims wherever you find them.” 

This, of course, won’t be necessary If they renounce their religion and abandon their quest for world domination. There really is no other option.  There is a real possibility that if Iran develops nuclear weapons that they will believe they have a religious imperative to use them. Is that what it will take to wake us up? I hope not. 

The idea of a mutually assured destruction, MAD, is not the deterrent to a devout Muslim as it would be for anybody else. In fact, because of the glories promised in the Quran for those who die engaging in Jihad for Allah, the prospect of such a death might actually be an incentive. (9) 

Verse 9.38 in the Quran says: “Believers! What is amiss with you that when it is said to you: “March fourth in the cause of Allah,” you cling heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the worldly life to the hereafter? Know well that all the enjoyment of this world, in comparison with the Hereafter, is trivial.” (10)  

Verse 9:111 leaves no doubt. It is called “The Verse of the Bargain.” Slightly edited for brevity: “Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their belongings and in return has promised that they shall have Paradise. They fight in the way of Allah, and slay and are slain. Such is the promise He has made.” (11)

Thus, we know why the devout Muslim “loves death” more than we love life. How should Israel respond to an enemy who “loves death” and has promised hundreds more October 7s until “Palestine is free from the river to the sea”?  

The place for Israel, and the world, to start is to identify the enemy: Islam, period. Not “radical” as opposed to “moderate” Islam, but just Islam. Maybe we should listen to what the Muslims themselves tell us. In 2007, Recep Erdogan, the President of Turkey said, “These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.” (12) 

The Chinese have recognized this simple fact of life and responded to widespread Islamic terrorist attacks 10 years ago by cracking down on Muslims around their nation. Their efforts have drawn criticism, but they’ve also stopped the terrorism. (13)  

We should follow their example, because if we don’t the Muslims will continue to kill us. Their religion demands it. 

Footnotes 

(1) Interpretation of the Meanings of The Noble Quran in The English Language by Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan and Dr Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilal. Published by Darussalam, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Revised edition March 1999, page 50 footnote (1). 

2011 edition at Amazon: www.amazon.com/Noble-Quran-Interpretation-Meanings-Language/dp/996074079X/ref=sr_1_21? 

(2) Reliance of the Traveller – A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri. In Arabic with facing English text, commentary and appendices edited and translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller, amana publications Beltsville, Maryland U.S.A. Revised edition 1194 reprinted 2015, pg. 600 and pg. 30.  

(3) ibid, pg. 601  

(4) ibid.  

Available at Amazon: www.amazon.com/Reliance-Traveller-Classic-Islamic-Al-Salik/dp/0915957728/ref=sr_1_1? 

(5) https://www.agenzianova.com/en/news/lintelligence-usa-israele-da-ottobre-ha-ucciso-solo-il-30-35-per-cento-di-miliziani-di-hamas/ 

(6) https://www.jns.org/palestinian-official-warns-israel-of-multiple-oct-7-massacres/ 

(7) https://centerforsecuritypolicy.org/biden-ends-the-us-israel-alliance-at-a-fortuitous-moment/ 

(8)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo 

(9) https://nationalpost.com/holy-post/we-love-death-more-than-you-love-life 

(10) Towards Understanding the Quran, Abridged version of Tafhim al-Quran by Sayyid A ‘la Mawdudi, Translated and edited by Zafar Ishaq Ansari. Published by the Islamic Foundation Leicester, UK, 2007, hardcover, pg. 390. 

(11) Ibid pg. 411 

Available at Amazon. www.amazon.com/Towards-Understanding-Quran-Abridged-2007-07-15/dp/B017PONNUC/ref=sr_1_7? 

(12) https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/moderate-turkeys-moderate-pm-erdogan-explains-there-no-moderate-islam-andrew-c/ 

(13) https://wordpress.com/post/silvercityburro.com/722 

Addendum

Remember, Muhammad spoke for Allah, so Muslims believe this hideous message is from God: “Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: ‘The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.’” (Sahih Muslim 2922) 

Islam 101, Part 4

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Islam 101, Part Four by Peter Burrows elburropete@gmail.com 1/18/15

This series has examined the Koran, the Hadith, and the Sunnah, bedrocks of the religion of Islam, for any proof that “Islam is peace,“ as President George W. Bush asserted, or that it is “a religion that preaches peace” as President Obama said. So far, the evidence is incontrovertible that Islam advocates war against non-Muslims.

In this column, we discuss the fourth pillar of Islamic fundamentalism, the complex set of laws passed down through the centuries that Muslims, and everybody subject to Muslim rule, must obey:  Shariah, or Islamic Law.  Shariah is derived from the Koran, the life and sayings of Muhammad, called the Sunnah,  and precedents set through centuries of Islamic jurisprudence based on Ijma‘ and Qiyas (consensus and analogy.)

Since Shariah is based on the word of Allah and the examples set by His Messenger, it can’t be changed or overruled by laws passed by mere mortals.  Sharia exemplifies the absolutism of Islam, which allows for no compromise, no accommodation for other beliefs. This is important to know when dealing with Muslims today.

Unsurprisingly, Islam views the only proper government as one ruled by the teachings of Allah, i.e. Islam is inherently theocratic. The idea of separation of church and state makes no sense to the vast majority of Muslims.  This dooms attempts to “nation build” Islamic nations around democratic principles.  Turkey was once an exception, but that looks increasingly like a false hope.

Since Sharia has its roots in Seventh Century tribalism, the punishments prescribed for breaking laws reflect the barbarism of the time.  What appalls today, was common then.  While most of the world has advanced from pre-Middle Ages concepts of punishment, Islam has not because it cannot.  The Word of Allah has cemented them in place for all time.

(Infidels might note that Allah changed His mind frequently in His revelations to Muhammad, and it would be interesting to know how Islam would look today had Muhammad passed along his revelatory gift to a successor.)

For an overview of Sharia, a good source is the Fourteenth Century compilation of Islamic laws, Reliance of the Traveler and Tools for the Worshiper, usually shortened to Reliance of the Traveler, the travel meaning life’s journey. I downloaded a copy from the Internet, 336 pages, including translator notes.

It contains 22 chapters of Islamic jurisprudence, A through V, some mandating in excruciating, mind boggling detail the proper execution of various aspects of Islamic life, from personal hygiene to how to prepare for and conduct prayer, as well as more traditional legal areas such as marriage, divorce, settling estates, etc.

It also has punishments for various transgressions, e.g. if a sane person voluntarily commits sodomy or fornication, then “he or she is stoned to death.”  (O 12.0) (In Saudi Arabia, people are still being stoned to death, something verifiable on the Internet. Also on the Internet, Saudi death sentences by beheading, the executioner using a sword.)

Some examples of Shariah: The first offense for theft is amputation of the right hand, the second the amputation of the left foot, and so on. (O 14.0)  This is a refinement of sura 5:38 in the Koran: “As to the thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah.”

A sane adult who becomes an apostate “deserves to be killed” (O 8.1) and there is no penalty for killing an apostate. (O 5.4) Interestingly, Reliance of the Traveler equates blasphemy with apostasy, as evidence of the rejection of Islam. Section O 8.7 lists 20 examples of blasphemy/apostasy and concludes: “There are others, for the subject is nearly limitless. May Allah Most High save us and all Muslims.”

(The Hadith has numerous stories of Muhammad ordering the death of people because they mocked him or showed disrespect, including an old woman and two of his women slaves .  Muhammad would certainly have approved the murder of the 12 staffers at the Paris-based satire magazine, Charlie Hebdo, for their disrespectful, blasphemous cartoons.)

Treatment of women is another subject found in The Reliance of the Traveler.  For example, the Koran’s sura 4:34 directs men to discipline their wives in three steps, first to scold, second to not cohabit with and, if all that fails, to beat her. The Reliance of the Traveler expands on that with admonitions not to break a bone, cause bleeding, or hit her in the face. (M 10.11) How kind.

One of the Hadith has Muhammad personally ordering an adulteress stoned to death (Bukhari 8:82:806), which set a precedent still followed today, with appalling results when combined with other Sharia.  Since the charge of rape requires four MALE witnesses (Sahih Bukari Vol 9 Bk97, 7409; Reliance of Traveler, P 18.1.2), many rape victims end up being charged with adultery.  Such was the sad case of a 13-year -old Somalian girl who was gang raped and then stoned to death in front of a thousand people at a soccer stadium.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Reliance of the Traveler leaves no doubt that jihad means war against non-Muslims for the purpose of establishing the supremacy of Islam. It cites three suras from the Koran and three hadiths from both Sihah Bukari and Sihah Muslim as justification. (O 9.0)   While the Koran, sura 4:95 says Allah favors those who fight “with their good and persons” over those who “sit (at home)” the Reliance of the Traveler elevates it to a sin not to have engaged in jihad if possible. (O 9.1)

The Reliance of the Traveler represents one of four schools of Sunni jurisprudence, and Sunnis can pick and choose among them as they wish.  Sunnis represent about 85 percent of the Muslims in the world, Shias most of the rest, but both advocate jihad against the unbelievers.

Anyone who thinks Islam is a religion advocating peaceful coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims only needs to study, just a little bit, any of Islam’s defining writings, those being the Koran, the Hadith, Muhammad’s biographies, and Reliance of the Traveler.  Bear in mind that the Koran is the eternal word of Allah, not subject to change, and that Muhammad’s Seventh Century conduct and the Shariah are appropriate for today and always.

Welcome to Islamophobia.