By Theodore Shoebat

Benjamin Netanyahu defended Islam today in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, in which he said, in regards to the terrorism problem, that “It’s not Islam.” Netanyahu said:

The people of Israel pray for peace.

But our hopes and the world’s hope for peace are in danger. Because everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march.

It’s not militants.

It’s not Islam.

It’s militant Islam.

He went on to say,

Typically, its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds — no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights. And it’s rapidly spreading in every part of the world.

While he is correct they kill other Muslims, this does not all of a sudden exempt Islam from blame. Sorry Netanyahu, the problem IS ISLAM. For Netanyahu, I will give the same correction I gave to Obama and Kerry, ISIS is Islam.

A little knowledge on Islamic history and ideology confirms this.

An Islamic scholar could take the violent verses of the Koran and easily interpret them as to only signify self-defense, or at least limit them to the single historical context of Muhammad’s day. But this is not the case. For there are two sources to the theological framework of Islam: the Koran and the Hadith.

The Koran contains the spiritual teachings, in that (according to Islam), it comes directly from Allah’s mouth to Muhammad’s ear. The Hadith is the application of the spiritual teachings, in that it illustrates how Muhammad utilized the verses in real life. The Hadith is the practical application of the Koran, it shows how Muhammad, and his earliest followers, carried it out.

So lets first take a look at the Koran, the Hadith, and some examples from later Islamic history, and see how they compare with ISIS.

The Koran is inherently anti-Christian and anti-Jewish, this is the first point we must stress, for it indicates the main goal of Islam, and this is to destroy Christianity and the Jews. To understand this, is to understand ISIS. It wants to destroy Christianity because Muhammad’s primary aspiration was to replace Trinitarianism with unitarianism. It wants to destroy the Jews because they rejected Muhammad being their messiah and their prophet.

One of the most quoted Koranic verses that people use to prove Islam’s terrorist nature is Surah 9:29:

Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture and believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the religion of truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.

But when you read further, going beyond the verse, what you will find is that the two targets specified are Christians and Jews, since the violent injunctions aims particularly against those who follow Jesus and monks (Christians) and those who follow Ezra and rabbis (Jews):

Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture and believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the religion of truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low. 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! 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)! (Surah 9:29-31)

The anti-Christian and the anti-Jewish spirit of the Koran provides us with a clear point of explanation as to how an escalation and intensification in hatred toward these two peoples can occur within the Islamic soul. The Koran may not say, “take Christians and cut them to pieces” or “rape their women,” but it does not put a limit to rage and to how far one can go in violence.

In other words, it commands to fight against Christians and Jews, but it does not truly set a limitation to brutality.

One of the most severe forms of brutality exhibited by ISIS was when they butchered hundreds of Iraqi soldiers, making such a slaughter that they formed a river of human blood:

In the video the narrator exclaims:

Here was the spark ignited in Iraq. It will arise Allah willing until they burn the armies of the cross in Dabiq

As Walid Shoebat wrote, explaining this line:

According to Islam, Dabiq is a prophetic battle which speaks of the Last Hour (Day of Judgment) would not come until the Christian masses would land at Dabiq (in Syria) and they will be defeated and then the cross is finally destroyed and all Christian survivors that are left will convert to Islam.

The reason for throwing victims in the river stems from Khalid bin Walid. When the Christians and Persians from Ullays turned down a peace offer by Khalid bin Al-Walid, the most respected Muslim general in Muslim history.

The story goes that when Khalid made a vow to Allah during the battle that if he defeated these resistors, he would make the canal that surrounded their village literally run with their blood. When the outcome was in Khalid’s favor, it actually took a day and a half to behead all of the captives. The obstacle for Khalid was that the ravine of blood coagulated and Khalid’s troops were forced to eventually release water into the canal in order that it would run red with the blood of the slain lest Khalid’s vow be left unfulfilled.

Some of Khalid’s men wanted to meticulously fulfill his wishes:

“Even if you were to kill all the population of the earth, their blood would still not run… Therefore send water over it, so that you may fulfill your oath.”

Khalid had blocked the water from the canal. Now Khalid brought the water back, so that it flowed with spilled blood. Owing to this it has been called Blood Canal to this day.

No Muslim be they ISIS or just the average follower, would ever reject Khalid bin Al-Walid, or his actions in Persia, as non-Islamic, and I would like to see Netanyahu try to find one who would. Khaldi and his actions perfectly exemplify the violent nature of Islam.

What then does Netanyahu do we do with the verse in the Koran that says:

I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them. (8:12)

The command to behead or strike with the sword is applied by the Hadith to Catholic monks with tonsures, or the form of shaved head done within the traditional monastic life. When Abu Bakr, the successor to Muhammad, was about to conquer Syria, he commanded all of his soldiers to strike with the sword Catholic monks:

You will meet people who have shaved the crowns of their heads, leaving a band of hair around it. Strike them with the sword.

This would explain why al-Nusra, another jihadist group no different from ISIS in violence and brutality, just last year beheaded the Catholic Franciscan monk, Francois Murad, as we read from a report on the brutal murder:

According to sources close to the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop, it was confirmed that the incident does actually involve a Syrian Catholic priest Father François Murad 49, and two of his assistants. This video shows militants believed to be Chechen gunmen speaking Arabic with a broken accent, slaughtering three people in the countryside of Edlib, including Father François Murad, who was patron of Sumaan al-Amoudi Monastery.

Father Francois and two assistants were brutally executed – beheaded with a small combat knife. Echoing previous beheading recorded by insurgents, the head is held up to the cheers of onlookers and then placed on the body.

So then, how could ISIS’ beheading of people be seen as non-Islamic when the Koran and the Hadith themselves specifically prescribe beheadings and killings of Christians?

ISIS took a young Christian boy, the son of an Anglican cleric, and cut him in half.

You could say that this is not Islamic, but such a claim would be impossible when put against the Hadith.

Tell me, Mr. Netanyahu, how can ISIS be un-Islamic when Was Zyad bin Haritha, one of the closest and earliest companions to Muhammad, took Umm, an old woman, and split her body in two by tying her to two moving camels? As the Hadith witnesses:

Allah’s Messenger sent Zayd to Wadi Qura, where he encountered the Banu Fazarah. Some of his Companions were killed, and Zayd was carried away wounded. Ward was slain by the Banu Badr. When Zayd returned, he vowed that no washing should touch his head until he had raided the Fazarah. After he recovered, Muhammad sent him with an army against the Fazarah settlement. He met them in Qura and inflicted casualties on them and took Umm Qirfah prisoner. He also took one of Umm’s daughters and Abdallah bin Mas’adah prisoner. Zyad bin Harithah ordered Qays to kill Umm, and he killed her cruelly. He tied each of her legs with a rope and tied the ropes to two camels, and they split her in two. (Tabari Vol.8:Page.96)

In April of this year, Jihadists invaded the Christian village of Maaloula in Syria, and when they took control they crucified two Christian teenagers for refusing to convert to Islam.

The story was reported on a Croatian Catholic website. According to Sister Raghida, former head of the Christian school in Damascus, the Muslims came to the two youths and said:

So you want to die as a teacher in whom you trust? Please choose: either to renounce ( faith ) or you will be crucified!

One of them was crucified in front of his father, who was afterwards killed.

Now of course Netanyahu would say that this is also non-Islamic, but his words are found to be vain when put against the Koran itself, which commands crucifixions against non-believers:

The punishment of anyone who fights against Allah and His apostle and do mischief in the land is to be killed or crucified or to have their hands and feet from opposite ends or be banished from the land. (Quran: The table spread)

As we wrote in a former article, ISIS believes in the ritual of human sacrifice, where they shed the blood of their victims with the belief that it will appease Allah. In one instance an ISIS fighter slaughtered a number of Iraqi soldiers, and before killing them, said this prayer:

In defense of the Sunnis O Lord, O Lord, We bring these offerings to you, O Lord. Please accept this sacrificial offering, O Lord. O Lord, accept this from us, accept this from us. In the name of Allah. Bismillah (In the name of Allah). Allahu Akbar

ISIS is simply following the Islamic belief in human sacrifice as it was illustrated by the Islamic figure, Khalid Abdullah al-Kasri, who ritually sacrificed Jaad bin Durham in the place of an animal on the Islamic holiday of The Festival of Sacrifice. He dragged Durham into a mosque, and before spilling his blood, proclaimed:

O people, sacrifice, Allah accepted your sacrifices. I am now sacrificing Jaad bin Durham.

So Mr. Netanyahu, does al-Kasri misrepresent true Islam? Or what about all of the Islamic authorities, Al-Shafi’, Ibin Tayymiya, Bukhari, Dhahabi, Ibin Al-Qiyam, Darami and Ibin Katheer, who accept the story as orthodox? Are they, who no Sunni Muslim would reject, also non-Islamic?

No Sunni Muslim, be they layman or ISIS member, would denounce the infamous Islamic leader of the 13th century, Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari (mostly known as simply Baibars).

One of the greatest figures in Islamic history is the great Mamluk warlord, Baibars, who is most famously known for defeating the Mongols. Baibars butchered and tyrannized the entire Christian population of Antioch, slaughtering priests, selling women, destroying crosses and churches, ripping up Bibles, and feeling very proud about doing such evil. Tell me, Mr. Netanyahu, did Baibars, who is praised by the entire Muslim world as a hero, misrepresent true Islam when he, with great boasting, wrote these words to the Christian leader of Antioch, Bohemond VI, of his bloodshed:

Death came among the besieged from all sides and by all roads: we killed all that thou hadst appointed to guard the city or defend its approaches. If thou hadst seen thy knights trampled under the feet of the horses, thy provinces given up to pillage, thy riches distributed by measures full, the wives of thy subjects put to public sale; if thou hadst seen the pulpits and crosses overturned, the leaves of the Gospel torn and cast to the winds, and the sepulchres of thy patriarchs profaned; if thou hadst seen thy enemies, the Muslims, trampling upon the tabernacle, and immolating in the sanctuary, monk, priest and deacon; in short, if thou hadst seen thy palaces given up to the flames, the dead devoured by the fire of this world, the Church of St Paul and that of St Peter completely and entirely destroyed, certainly thou wouldst have cried out “Would to Heaven that I were become dust!”

When ISIS controls Christian lands, they impose a brutal tax, called jizya, upon them. When they took control of Mosul they ordered Christians that they must pay $250 or more, or be slaughtered. According to one report:

The semi-official channel Al-Iraqiya quoted sources as saying that “The terrorist gangs of ISIL imposed Jizya on Christians in Mosul, so as not to be killed,” Al-Manar reported.

“The Jizya amounts start from $250 and end up at large sums imposed on the traders. ”

ISIL launched a wide offensive in Northern Iraq in June, committing a massacre against more than 1000 Iraqis in Nineveh province.

Netanyahu may argue that this has nothing to do with Islam, but the Koran disagrees:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (9:29)

This verse was utilized by the Muslims when they, under Khalid and Abu Bakr, two of the most closest companions of Muhammad, conquered Christian Syria, which is exactly what ISIS is trying to do now.

The Muslims invaded Roman Syria with an army of seventy thousand. The caliph Abu Bakr sent a letter to all of Muhammad’s followers expressing his intent “to send the true believers into Syria to take it out of the hands of the infidels. And I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of obedience to God.” At 633 the invasion began, and in 639 the Christians were subdued to the sound of these words from the mouth of Khalid:

Ye Christian dogs, you know your option; the Koran, the tribute, or the sword. (1)

This is exactly what ISIS tells Christians: convert to Islam, pay the Jizya, leave, or be killed.

After the Muslims took control of Egypt in the 7th century, they did the same thing as what ISIS is doing, and wants to do.

At the beginning of the eighth century Egypt became under the governorship of the Muslim Asabah, whose main liaison consisted of a deacon turned apostate named Benjamin. From this heretic, not surprisingly, Asabah learned methods on how to reduce the Christian population with the purpose of making it powerless: he taxed every monk in Egypt one piece of gold, ordered a census to document their numbers, decreed that no man was to become a monk unless first accepted by the government, and imposed a tax of two thousand gold pieces on bishops. (2)

These tyrannical edicts should remind us of what the progressives in the West wish to do to Christianity and to society as a whole: destroy the church and control the population through a census. One day Asabah entered a church in Helwan, and when his wicked eyes saw a magnificent painting of Mary with her Son Jesus, he asked a bishop on the significance of the portrait. After receiving the meaning, he spat upon the picture and swore that the time would come that he would “exterminate Christianity from the country.” (3)

These last words are the aspiration of ISIS and any true Muslim, to destroy Christianity, to obliterate the Orthodox teaching of the Trinity and replace it with unitarianism.

Regardless of this dark history, we have people like Dennis Prager who writes, “During some of the Western world’s darkest periods, Islam was a religious light in the monotheistic world. The seeds of ethical monotheism are deeply rooted in Islam. ” (Prager, Ethical Monotheism)

Prager, like Netanyahu, is promulgating the concept that Islam is inherently good. But tell me, how was Islam spreading the light “ethical monotheism” when in its earliest history they were killing and tyrannizing Christians?

I believe that this article has sufficiently proven the words of Netanyahu to naught.

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REFERENCES

(1) In Gibbon, Decline and Fall, vol. v, ch. li, pp. 947-948, ed. Hans-Friedrich Mueller, see the editor’s annotations; Alfred J. Andrea, Christendom and the Umma, in Thomas F. Madden’s The Crusades, part 1, p. 19

(2) Butcher, The Story of the Church of Egypt, vol. i, part ii, ch. iii, pp. 398-394

(3) Ibid, p. 394