Can we have Muslim Friends?

There has been a lot of debate lately regarding Muslim refugees and the possibility of radical Islamists infiltrating the ranks of those refugees with the intent of doing harm here in the United States. When you listen to the pundits talk the notion that “Moderate” Muslims need to get involved inevitably surfaces. Anyone who has read the Koran (Qu’ran) understands that there really is no such thing as a “Moderate” Muslim. There are those who believe that violence is warranted to bring unbelievers totally under Islamic rule and there are those who choose to use deception to gain an advantage in order to impose the dictates of the Islam on everyone. But make no mistake, either way they believe that everyone must be under Islamic rule.

The interesting thing is that American culture has adopted an “innocent until proven guilty” mentality to the degree of naivety. Americans have fallen for the progressive notion that people just want to be treated with respect and that they will respond in kind. It is only too sad when we find out that the naive American view of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is met with the religious zealots view of “do unto others because of what they believe”. The recent examples of Muslim violence, and let’s be clear these are Muslims, demonstrate the degree to which some are willing to go in order to destroy a way of life they hate. Not because they are poor, underprivileged, uneducated or politically persecuted but because they hate the fact that the United States, which is to the Muslim the great Satan, allows people to be free to live life as they desire, pursue happiness as they wish and worship or not worship as they wish. They hate any way of life that does not align with the strictest adherence to their totalitarian Islamic ideology.

It is interesting how the left embraces Muslims as though they are long lost pals without realizing that their political and moral positions would be completely eradicated under Islamic rule. All of the moral equivocation pursued by the left including their positions on marriage, choice, homosexuality and general moral abeyance would be met with anything but the embrace of love they perceive would be the case. The totalitarian nature of Islam would leave absolutely no room for personal freedom as provided and guaranteed by the Constitution of this great nation.

When I read the Bible I am struck by the over-arching theme of love and in particular God’s Love. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Though that verse, quoted so many times over the years, has become somewhat passé in today’s day and age it is still paramount in understanding how God feels about the world He created. Here is another quote from the Apostle John in 1 John 4:7-9 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” In these three verses the word ”love” is used six times demonstrating that God loves us and as Christians our responsibility is to demonstrate God’s love for one another. How is it that the progressive left can totally reject the love spoken of in these Bible verses in favor of something that would wipe their progressive ideology from existence? This is truly the most monumental oxymoron in the history of mankind! The left, in some completely twisted way, believes that if they embrace Muslims that these Muslims will become friends and comrades in the struggle against the intolerant, fanatical, Christians.

The real question that must be answered is this: “Do Muslims really consider unbelievers as friends?” Are Muslims our friends?

Like it or not, the answer is a resounding ”No”.  First we’ll need to understand the difference between believers and unbelievers and then we can evaluate what the Koran says about Muslim friendships.  Let’s open with a verse from the Koran to demonstrate clearly the difference between believers and unbelievers. Surah [9.29] ”Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.”

The first part of this verse, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah”, is refulgent. The notable thing about this statement is that it is a blanket statement to ALL Muslims (believers). But the methods by which believers choose to fight may be entirely different. The more serious Muslim would say they must take immediate and forceful action to bring the unbelievers to repentance or into subjection while the moderate Muslim would prefer building a political coalition that would bring the unbelievers to repentance or into subjection. While that seems like a big difference, it is really quite subtle. Both result in everyone being in subjection to the tenants of Islam at the expense of the freedom of those who are unbelievers. Why do the Moderate Muslims not demonstrate a concerted negative reaction against the violence perpetrated by their more serious brothers in faith? Because, in truth, they agree. While they may not choose to use the same methods the results are the same and perfectly acceptable to them.

So who is this fight against? It is against those “who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth”. So if you are not a Muslim, the directive is to “Fight” against you. Jews, Christians, Atheists, Buddhists, whatever your religion or irreligion the Muslims fight is against you! Still think they can be a friend? The next part is one that should give everyone the heebeegeebees. The verse ends with “until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.” So, whether you like it or not you have to obey Islamic law and pay tax to Muslims for unbelief. How can any competent, semi-cognizant, half-intelligent person not read these verses and be literally shocked into reality? How can progressives, liberals and conservatives alike ignore what the Koran actually commands Muslim believers to do? It is simply incomprehensible that our leaders purvey Islam as a religion of peace. To continue, this particular verse applies especially to Jews and Christians. Lets look at the next two verses which are quite self-explanatory: Surah [9.30] ”And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they! [31]They have taken as lords beside Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah son of Mary, when they were bidden to worship only One God. There is no God save Him. Be He Glorified from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)!” It is quite noteworthy that verse 31 acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah. But none-the-less they would bring Christians and Jews under subjection to the rule of Islam as unbelievers.

So you think you have friends who are Muslims. Think again! According to the Koran Muslims are not permitted to take unbelievers as friends. There are a number of verses in the Koran that make this same command but I will use this one: Surah [3.28] ”Let not the believers take the unbelievers for friends rather than believers; and whoever does this, he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully; and Allah makes you cautious of (retribution from) Himself; and to Allah is the eventual coming.”

Here the Muslim believer is told that if he takes a friend, truly a friend, that is not a believer “he shall have nothing of (the guardianship of) Allah”. However, it allows for deception. Muslim believers are directed to “guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully;”. Now many would argue that this is not deception. However, if you think you have Muslims who are your friends they are doing a good job of “guarding themselves against you”. But isn’t that lying?

Not to the Muslim. Muslim believers are taught that deceiving unbelievers is permissible. The axiom under which this is permitted is called al-Taqiyya which is the Islamic principle for concealing or disguising one’s beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies. Let’s look at the most heinous of these deceptions which has been used many times by Muslims to demonstrate that the Koran does not teach violence and that is the verse in Surah 5.32. This verse was read from the podium in the Washington National Cathedral after 9-11 and more recently used in a CNN article to address the Forth Hood shooting. That article begins with the quote “Most of the world’s 1.57 billion Muslims know that the Holy Quran states quite clearly that, ‘Anyone who kills a human being … it shall be as though he has killed all of mankind. … If anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he has saved the lives of all of mankind.’”

The striking thing here is that the reference to the verse in the Koran (Surah 5.32) is omitted and much of the verse itself is deprecated as well (notice the … twice in the quote but there should have been three). More importantly, the following verse was not mentioned either in the CNN article or at the 9-11 Memorial Service. Let’s look at the entire verse highlighting the parts that were omitted and then we’ll look at Surah 5.33.  Surah [5.32] ”For this reason did We prescribe to the children of Israel that whoever slays a soul, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he slew all men; and whoever keeps it alive, it is as though he kept alive all men; and certainly Our apostles came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land.” The interesting thing here is that this quote is actually from the Jewish Talmud. Here is the quote from Sanherdrin 4 – MISHNA III: “Therefore the man was created singly, to teach that he who destroys one soul of a human being, the Scripture considers him as if he should destroy a whole world, and him who saves one soul of Israel, the Scripture considers him as if he should save a whole world.”

Let’s pick apart Surah 5.32. If you read the prior verses for context you’ll note that it is talking about the story where Cain killed Able and Surah 5.32 starts with a question: “For this reason did We prescribe to the children of Israel that…”. The question precedes the quote from the Talmud which is quoted here with the intention of mocking the Jewish belief that life is sacred. The Talmud does not list any qualifiers as to reasoning behind killing someone but Surah 5.32 does provide a qualification ”unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land”, which is not mentioned in the CNN article, followed by the rest of the quote from the Talmud. But the intriguing part follows. The verse continues with the fact that there were arguments against the Jewish practice ”and certainly Our apostles came to them with clear arguments” and that it continued in the land ”but even after that many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land”. In other words; ”This is what the Jews think and we warned them about it but they kept doing it anyway.” Now, reading the next verse, it suddenly becomes clear why Surah 5.32 concluded in such a manner.  Surah [5.33] “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”. Here those who ”strive to make mischief in the land”, such as Jews who believe ”that he who destroys one soul of a human being, the Scripture considers him as if he should destroy a whole world, and him who saves one soul of Israel, the Scripture considers him as if he should save a whole world” are considered as waging war against Allah and are worthy of severe punishment.

What? Surah 5.32 states that “Anyone who kills a human being … it shall be as though he has killed all of mankind. … If anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he has saved the lives of all of mankind.”

Right! Well, get over all of the dots in the middle of the Surah 5.32 quote and realize that this is al-Taqiyya or in English terms artifice a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile.

The verse is deliberately used out of context in order to present a picture that is exactly the opposite of reality. They understand that most westerners will not bother to read the Koran and that many will simply take them at their word adopting their sordid position as fact. What is the reality? Well Surah 5.32 ends with “certainly Our apostles came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them certainly act extravagantly in the land” and the next verse begins with “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this” and continues with the prescription for such “acts of extravagance”. That prescription is to murder, crucify, cut off the hands and feet or imprison such people who engage in what Muslims believe to be ”mischief in the land”.

At this point the real question is not: ”Are Muslims my friends?” but: ”Are people who believe these things really people I want to have as friends?”

The clear goal of the Muslim is to deceive and ultimately dominate everyone who is not a Muslim such that everyone in the world must either repent and become Muslim or be killed or brought under total subjection to Islamic rule. Now it should be clear that when Muslims speak words of peace those words are intended to deceive unbelievers in order to gain a strategic advantage from which they will be able to force their Islamic law upon them.

There are several points that should be crystal clear:

• Muslims are to fight against unbelievers
• Unbelievers are those who do not subscribe to the Islamic faith
• Muslims cannot take unbelievers as friends
• Muslims are permitted to use al-Taqiyya with unbelievers
• If you believe you have a friend who is Muslim it is only pretense
• When they speak peaceful words it is artifice
• The Muslim’s goal is to bring everyone, they do not kill, under the rule of Islam, including Jews and Christians

So let me ask the question again:

Are Muslims Our Friends?