In theory, a Muslim is a believer in the fundamental Islamic precepts brought to the world in the seventh century by Allah. So what produces a peace-loving Muslim, versus a violent one?

By Shira Sorko-Ram

MAOZ, PO Box 535788

Grand Prairie TX 75053

www.MaozIsrael.org

True Christians understand the description of a devout follower of Yeshua - a person who loves and studies the word of God, and endeavors to live each day of his life as a disciple of the one and only True God.

On the other hand, a nominal Christian who may call himself a Christian, but knows little of the word of God and does not follow the commandments of Yeshua is the norm today in western civilization. At funerals, nominal Christians speak of their loved ones who are now in heaven, but on earth these people live as any other non-believer. The center of their universe is not God.

So it is with Islam. Many Muslims are not really interested in being “religious.” They know they were born a Muslim, and revere Islam, but know little of the precepts of their faith, don’t go to the mosque, don’t pray five times a day, don’t look forward to a “haj” - a once-in-a-lifetime religious sojourn (pilgrimage) to Mecca.

On the other hand, a devout follower of Mohammed, a person who loves and studies the Koran and other Islamic holy books, endeavors to live each day of his life as a disciple of the “one and only true god, Allah.”

Born-again, devout Christians are often called “fundamentalists.” ... Many Christians like to explain that their faith is based on “original Christianity” which in turn is based on “early Christian” belief based on the Old and New Testaments.

In a way, the same adjectives apply to devout Muslims. Instead of the misnomer “radicalized,” these Muslims are fundamentalists. Their belief system is based on “mainstream Islam” because they are following “original Islam” based on “early Islamic” belief of the three pillars of Islam, the Koran, the Hadith (stories about Mohammed) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed).

The difference between the two faiths is that the closer a Christian or a Messianic Jew is in a personal relationship with God and His Son, Yeshua, the more he or she studies and practices the Word of God, the more like the Messiah of Israel this person becomes. Through the Holy Spirit, the Christian aims to exude these qualities: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Because of the incredible role-model of Yeshua who gave His life for us, the true Christian/ Messianic aims to be a giver and a blessing to his world.

On the other hand, the more devout a Muslim, the more he adopts the lifestyle of his role-model Mohammed and studies and practices the chief doctrines laid out in the written words of Islam. Some of the most important laws of Islam are:

1. The penalty for leaving Islam is death. Freedom of religion is not an option with Islam.

2. Human rights for women are all but non-existent.

3. The goal of Allah and all true Muslims must be to conquer all nations and create a global caliphate (a world super nation - under Islamic control).

4. Sharia will be the law for all human beings.

5. The sword is to be used, if necessary, to reach this goal.

6. Every Muslim is obligated to spread Islam. Devious methods are obligatory when necessary. These tactics are particularly suitable to the methods of the Muslim Brotherhood.

7. Although there is no promise in Islam that a Muslim will be selected to go to heaven, there is one exception: If a Muslim becomes a martyr while fighting for Islam, he is guaranteed a place in heaven, with the well-known hope of 72 virgins at his service, and “eternal virginity” for women martyrs.

8. The Jihadist is stimulated in this world by the knowledge that women he captures in war are his sex slaves. (Part of the great attraction of ISIS.)

9. Christians and Jews must convert to Islam, pay a tax or be killed. No new buildings of any other religions can be built.

The Muslims-in-name-only cannot successfully argue against these Islamic standards because it’s all written down in clear and forceful language in the books they supposedly believe are sacred.

MAINSTREAM VERSUS NOMINAL ISLAM

But the raging question among westerners is just how many fundamentalist Muslims are there? The usual figure given is about 15%. Out of 1.6 billion, that’s about 240,000,000 Muslims who are bent on conquering the world.

But then, 85% of all Muslims are thought to be peace-loving people. That’s the usual benchmark given by experts and only some 15% are considered died-in-the-wool Jihadists.

But the percentage of “nominal” Muslims worldwide who say they desire Sharia law is actually much higher. Among the Palestinian population, 89% want Sharia (Islamic) law according to a Pew poll. (www.pewforum.org) No wonder an 11-year-old Palestinian child who grabbed a knife and seriously wounded an 11-year-old Jewish boy on a bike told the police, “I wanted to be a martyr.”

In Europe, according to the Pew poll, 13% of Muslims believe that Muslims who convert to Christianity should be executed. In South Asia, 76% believe the same way.

THE SEAT OF SUNNI ISLAM SPELLS IT OUT

The Islamic university, Al Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, is considered by Sunni Muslims the most prestigious university in the world. It has 450,000 students and 9,000 schools. Within this university, there rages great controversy over the above violent laws.

Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah Nasr is a scholar of Islamic law and graduate of Egypt’s Al Azhar. When asked why Al Azhar, which regularly denounces secular thinkers as un-Islamic, refused to denounce the Islamic State (ISIS),(www.al-monitor.com) Sheikh Nasr explained,

"The Islamic State is a byproduct of Al Azhar’s programs. So can Al Azhar denounce itself as un-Islamic? Al Azhar says there must be a caliphate and that it is an obligation for the Muslim world [to establish it]. Al Azhar teaches the law of apostasy and killing the apostate. Al Azhar is hostile towards religious minorities, and teaches things like not building churches, etc…Al Azhar teaches stoning people. So can Al Azhar denounce itself as un-Islamic?" (meforum.org)

One press report spoke of the similarity between ISIS thought and Al-Azhar University’s curriculum, which “allows for killing a Muslim who does not pray, one who leaves Islam…gouging their eyes and chopping off their hands and feet, as well as banning the construction of churches…” (www.al-monitor.com)

A sermon delivered by popular Saudi Sheikh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid clearly demonstrates why Western secular relativists and multiculturalists - who currently dominate media, academia, and politics - are incapable of understanding, much less responding to, the logic of Islamic intolerance. Journalist Raymond Ibrahim explains the thinking of the Saudi Sheikh:

“Some [Muslim] hypocrites wonder why it is that '[Muslims] don’t permit them [Christians] to build churches, even though they allow mosques to be built.' Any Muslim who thinks this way is “ignorant” and wants to equate between right and wrong, between Islam and kufr [non-Islam]…and gives to each side equal weight, and wants to compare this with that, and he asks: 'Why don’t we build them churches like they build us mosques? So we allow them this in return for that?' Do you want another other than Allah to be worshiped? Do you equate between right and wrong?... And Prophet Muhammad said: 'By Him in whose hand is the life of Muhammad (By Allah) he who among the Jews or Christians hears about me, but does not affirm his belief in that which I have been sent, and dies in his state (of disbelief), he shall be of the residents of Hellfire."

If, as Munajjid points out, a Muslim truly believes that Islam is the only true religion, and that Muhammad is its prophet, why would he allow that which is false (and thus corrupt, cancerous, misleading, etc.) to exist alongside it? Such gestures of 'tolerance' would be tantamount to a Muslim who 'wants to equate between right and wrong,' as the sheikh correctly deplores."

(www.raymondibrahim.com)

EGYPT CALLS FOR ISLAMIC REFORMATION

It is true that the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sissi has made a call for reforming Islam. And there are voices within Islam that are taking up his cry for a religious revolution. Al-Sissi has gone further to protect Christians in Egypt than any other recent ruler. But he has a tremendous uphill challenge. Primarily, he must avoid assassination by Jihadists who believe he has made himself an apostate to Islam.

Al Azhar University in Egypt of course has different theological movements within its walls. There are voices within Al Azhar trying to remove from textbooks such subjects as sex slaves and the spoils of war, saying they were applicable during the Muslim conquests but are now considered out of date. They are insisting that students should not read old religious texts without guidance. On the other end are the Salafists [considered the strongest “fundamentalists” or followers of original Islam] who are fighting reform with all their might. They claim that the “reformers” within Islam “are seeking to destroy the university’s important role in protecting Egypt.” (www.haaretz.com)

In short, the phenomenon known as “ISIS” is not a temporal aberration within Islam but rather a byproduct of what is considered normative thinking for Al Azhar - the Islamic world’s most authoritative university. (www.meforum.org)

Many western military experts, not impeded by political correctness, say the West could easily defeat ISIS. Islamic expert Daniel Pipes says, “It’s a little bug that the powers could quash at will if they put their minds to it.”

But mainstream fundamentalist Islam among 1.6 billion people is the evil weapon that no human force can defeat. There are hundreds of fundamentalist Islamic groups who are fighting for a worldwide caliphate. When ISIS is defeated, if it is, many other mainstream Islamist movements will continue to rise up out of the womb of original Islam.

From the book of Revelation, where it speaks of multitudes of believers in heaven that were beheaded, it appears that worldwide Islam will continue to grow until the Lord himself with His two-edged sword smites the evil one. However, there is no doubt in my mind that there is power now in the universe that can stop Islam today in specific local areas. God’s people must wage a war in the Spirit and cast down the evil forces that are bent on taking our neighborhoods, our towns, our states and our nations.