Jews, Rocks and Trees

Islam haters love to bring up End Times prophecy and claim that Islam teaches an active campaign to exterminate Jews. The fact is that Just like Christianty, Islam has Prophecy about what will happen in the future. These prophetcies are not mandates , like they would mislead people to believing, but a peak at future events.

It is proven (in the Prophetic Sunnah) that when the leader of Muslims, the Mahdi, comes to lead them in praying Fajr, `Isa Ibn Maryam (Jesus son of Mary) will come down to them, and the imam will step back so that `Isa (Jesus) can come forward and lead the prayer, but `Isa will put his hand on his back and say, “Go forward and lead the prayer, for the iqamah was given for you.” So their imam will lead them in prayer, and when he has finished, then `Isa will head towards the Dajjal (The Anti-Christ), with whom will be seventy thousand Jews. When the Dajjal looks at him, he will melt like salt in water, and the Messiah `Isa (Jesus) (peace be upon him) will catch up with him at the gate of Lud (which is a town near Jerusalem) and kill him. Then Allah will cause the defeat of the Jews (the 70,000 army who followed the Anti-Christ), and there will be nothing that Allah has created that they hide behind, but Allah will cause that thing to speak. Rocks, trees, walls and animals will all say, “O Muslim, O slave of Allah, here is a Jew, come and kill him!”” except for the box-thorn tree (al-gharqad), for it is one of their trees and will not speak.

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Racist Extremists Use Bible

Racist extremists use Bible verses to justify killing.

How did the Creator become a white racist? This question lurks behind the recent shooting rampage by Benjamin Smith, who spent the July 4th weekend cruising in his car in the Chicago and Northern Indiana areas, taking random shots at Jews (visible by their garb), African-Americans and Asians. Two were killed and another nine wounded before Smith shot himself in a police chase. Smith was a disciple of the World Church of the Creator, a white supremacist group boasting a few thousand members across the United States, whose members have been involved in racist leafletting and violence since 1991.

The question occurs with new intensity in light of news reports about Buford O’Neal Furrow Jr., who opened fire in a Jewish community center in Granada Hills, Calif., and who later killed a Filipino-American letter carrier. Furrow likewise had ties to the underworld of white supremacists and allied far-right Christian

The World Church of the Creator was founded in 1973 and is currently led from the home of Matthew Hale of East Peoria, Ill. It teaches that only white Anglo-Saxons are true human beings, descendents of Adam and Eve. Jews, according to this teaching, are the illegitimate offspring of Eve and Satan. African-Americans and other people of color are descendents of inferior non-Adamite anthropoids. This church believes that the United States should be “cleansed” of all Jews and non-whites. Officially this church claims this should happen by deportation, but the church also harbors scenarios of a coming apocalyptic holy war between the races.

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Jesus was a practicing Jew

The majority in our western Christian culture have cast Jesus in a non-Jewish/Gentile mould. To the extent we have done this we fail to understand him and his teaching. Indeed, whole areas of Christian teaching and practice have become distorted and even downright non-biblical simply because we have viewed the Scriptures through the eyes of Greek philosophy and not through Hebrew eyes and with a Hebrew mind.

Jesus was born into a typical Jewish family of his day. “Joseph,” his earthly father’s name, was the second most common name of the period for Jewish men and his mother’s name, “Mary,” was the most common Jewish woman’s name. We learn from inscriptions of the first century that the name Yeshua, Jesus, was itself the fifth most common Jewish man’s name after the names Simeon, Joseph, Judah and John.1

Jesus and his family were observant Jews. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. We are told that Jesus’ parents went up to Jerusalem every year to observe the Feast of Passover. Moreover we find Jesus in Jerusalem regularly at the festivals such as Passover and Tabernacles and even Hanukkah.
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Fast Food Religion

Christianity in America, though not every sect of Christianity, seems to have taken a particular liking to this Fast Food mentality when approaching life’s issues and religious doctrine. A Fast Food approach to religion is an aggressive marketing approach that has as its goal to market theology, or other propaganda, to the masses with little concern for teaching in-depth spiritual truth. It is devoid of acceptance of any amount of responsibility for the actions of individuals or society. It teaches, what I term, Insurance Policy religion which claims to offer complete coverage against the hell-fire regardless of the sin one commits. The outcome being Mega-Churches that appeal to sensationalism through a theater-like environment.¹

Insurance Policy religion teaches moral and spiritual laziness when all one needs to do is accept the policy presented by a given church and there is no longer any consequences, or very little consequence, for actions in this life and/or the hereafter. My exposure of some of the ways, beliefs and hypocrisy of this type of Christianity is not for defamation but to better illustrate and open the minds of those who may have experienced these types of Churches.

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Who is a Muslim

Islam is a complete way of life. The word Islam is Arabic meaning obedience to the One God and to gain peace. It reveals and guides humanity in every area, personal, national, societal, scientific etc. Since God created all of these things, and more, nothing is exempt from His Law. Even every atom in the cosmos is subjected to the laws of Islam (obedience to God). Mankind’s duty is to worship God in everything he engages. Mankind’s duty is to educate and discover God’s great creation. His duty is to strive to glorify God as the mysteries of the Universe become revealed in his quest for knowledge. All of this is done in through Islam, ‘obedience to the One God’.

Islam, thus, is not merely a religion. It is God’s Way. It existed before mankind, during mankind and will exist after mankind. Mankind simply chooses to accept Islam (gaining peace through obedience and submission to God) or he chooses to reject it through vain innovations (as seen in many religions) or by outright denial (atheist belief).

The followers of Islam are called Muslims. The word Muslim is Arabic meaning ‘one who obeys God’. All that exists in the Universe obeys God by following the Laws He set in place. The Earth, Stars, Galaxies, etc. all follow His Laws in Islam. Thusly, they are called Muslims. The Prophets, Adam, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and others, all obeyed God in Islam and are called Muslims. Everything and everyone that obeys God is a Muslim and follows Islam. In the time of the Prophet Muhammad God officially declared in his Qur’an (Reading of His word revealed to Muhammad) that Islam is our religion! People mistakenly sought various religions, worshipping Prophets along with everything else thinkable to man, and God finally put His stamp of approval on the religion for mankind. God Himself said, “…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor on you, and have chosen for you Islam (in Arabic means Peace through the submission of your will to God) as your religion.” Qur’an 5:3.

Islam, existing as a religion for mankind, directly instituted by God Himself, is thus defined in the Holy Qur’an, which was revealed to the last Prophet, Muhammad. When God said, “this day I have perfected your religion for you…” He made no doubt that the advent of Islam, as a religion, is the final revelation and He will give no other nor will He alter it. It has been perfected until the Day of Judgment. Muhammad is His last Messenger and no other will be sent with another message.

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Nationalism should be abandoned

Nationalism has long been ignored as a topic in political philosophy, written off as a relic from bygone times. It has only recently come into the focus of philosophical debate, partly in consequence of rather spectacular and troubling nationalist clashes, like those in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet republics. The surge of nationalism usually presents a morally ambivalent and for this reason often fascinating picture. “National awakenings” and struggles for political independence are often both heroic and inhumanly cruel; the formation of a recognizably national state often responds to deep popular sentiment, but can and does sometimes bring in its wake inhuman consequences, including violent expulsion and “cleansing” of non-nationals, all the way to organized mass murder. The moral debate on nationalism reflects a deep moral tension between solidarity with oppressed national groups on the one hand and repulsion in the face of crimes perpetrated in the name of nationalism on the other. Moreover, the issue of nationalism points to a wider domain of problems having to do with the treatment of ethnic and cultural differences within a democratic polity, which are arguably among the most pressing problems of contemporary political theory.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nationalism/

Nationalism once had a time when nation states were not so enthically diverse. In modern times, the ethnic make-up of nations are increasingly mixed. The last major war fought in the name of nationalism was launched by Nazi Germany at the cost of millions of lives and roughly 6 million Jews and others in the most horrific of ways. Major crimes against humanity are overlooked in the name of nationalism since then. Nazi Germany taught Europe that nationalism simply does not work and is not a political theory that has anything to do in the way of human progress and has since worked to abndon it.

I believe that nationalism should be abandoned.

National pride and patriotism is something that can be shared by everyone of every ethnicity and religion born of a given nation or new immigrant. No one has a monopoly on patriotism.

Nationalism on the other hand goes beyond that as a easy vehicle used to deny or infringe on the rights of ethnicities, new comers, and religious groups rights under their nation and/or to exist.

Haven’t we learned from WWII?

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Muslim Male Privilege Checklist

As a Muslim man:

1. I can set foot in any masjid I like. No one will stop me at the door and tell me that I am not allowed in the masjid.

2. When I attend Jumah prayer I know that I will have full access to the main prayer hall. I can enter through the front door and I am not required to sit behind a partition, one-way mirror or placed in a separate room. Also, I can see and hear the Imam when he is giving the kutbah (sermon). I do not have to worry about a speaker or closed-circuit system malfunctioning thereby preventing me from hearing the kutbah or seeing the Imam.

3. My voice is not interpreted as being a part of my awrah (parts of the body that are not meant to be exposed in public.) I can stand up and speak freely in an Islamic gathering. I can ask questions or challenge statements made by the imam or visiting speaker without worrying that my actions will be viewed as inappropriate. I am not told that I must write any questions I have onto a piece of paper.

4. I can use my position as a sheikh, scholar or imam to perpetuate my own sexist, misogynistic beliefs as long as I incorporate those beliefs into my interpretation of the Quran and the Sunnah. When others challenge me about my beliefs I can use my Islamic education, command of the Arabic language and position in the community to effectively silence them. If the dissenters are women, I can always make them seem crazy, emotional or neurotic. I can also accuse them of being influenced by the West, Western secularism, Feminism or the Kufaar.

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Why can’t we just…

Why can’t we just all get along?

yes, the Crusades, Inquisitions, modern Jihadi movements, injustices on both sides.

Why cant we just let bygones be bygones and move on to advance humanity?

The history is there and we should not deny it. We should admit and learn from it instead.

Do you realize that if Chrsitians and Muslims mended their wounds and worked together we could actually SOLVE world hunger, racism, warmongering, dictatorships, and most of humanities problems?

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Let My People Leave

Avraham and I are both Orthodox Jews. He thinks that soldiers who feel they cannot participate in the evacuation of Israeli settlements should follow the dictates of their conscience. I believe that the military duty to follow orders should in this instance take precedence over their opposition to the withdrawal policy-just as I followed orders for many years to protect Israeli settlements in the West Bank, although I thought that it was wrong for Israel to have built them.

How can this be, if we both follow the same creed and we both live in accordance with its precepts? After all, Orthodox Jews believe that God made a gift of the Holy Land to the Jewish people. Therefore, Orthodox Jews must oppose handing over any part of that land to foreigners not as a practical matter of policy but as a matter of religious principle. And they must oppose removing Jews from their homes in these God-given territories. That is, indeed, the logic of a large majority of Orthodox Jews today. So on what basis can I argue that Avraham, and most of my fellow believers, are wrong?

To understand why the settlers and their religious supporters see disengagement as a violation of God’s precepts, one must understand their theology. Any modern Jewish theology must address the significance of the Jewish state in Zion. The Jews have returned to their land-and have established their rule over it-after two millennia of exile. To many believing Jews, it seems obvious that this fulfillment of prophecy and of age-long yearning must have religious meaning.

The lion’s share of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip identify themselves as part of a larger group of observant Jews who call themselves “religious Zionists” and “modern Orthodox.” Religious Zionism embraces a spectrum of religious approaches and philosophies. But in the 1960s and 1970s a large portion of the community’s younger generation was attracted to a particular religious Zionist philosophy associated with the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook. These two men developed a comprehensive theology that viewed the Jewish return to Israel as part of a divine process that would lead inevitably to the arrival of the Messiah.

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Copyright Law in Islam

Is it haram (forbidden) to violate copyright laws?

Look at it this way, Islamically if I buy something, it is mine. The manufacturer, sales folks, etc, have no right over it in any way or to charge me. It is my property, no one elses.

According to western law, and now many laws worldwide, of copyright, if I buy a CD, software, book, etc., the author or manufacturer/producers, have authority to limit my use of MY property AFTER the sale even in the privacy of my own home!

In the case of intellectual knowledge, charging for knowledge, education and the susequent establishment of copyright is a very recent thing (last hundred years plus). Prior to this, among the Greek, Persian, Islamic, and Roman empires, knowledge was free, universities, schools, etc were free insititutions.

Islamically knowledge isnt limited for only those with the money to purchase it, be it a book, CD, Software, University or School. Knowledge is for everyone equally, rich or poor.

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