Hi Uberhun,
Originally posted by uberhun
I don't know why we even give them the time of day actually. If these people want to be "The faithfull followers of Islam". They need to be able to read their freaking book. The Quran speaks of co existance not Jiad. I mean really WTF?? 70 Virgins totally taken out of context. All this Urban myth B.S. Perpetuated by uninformed and the Media.
Presumably we can assume that Muhammad understood Islam, and that even if we should not necessarily judge a religion by the actions of those who profess to be
followers, we can and should judge a religion by the actions and writings of its
founder.If we examine the life of Muhammad we find that he ordered the assasination of those who wrote things against him (Bint Marwan and Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, etc.) and after the Meccans rejected Islam led the first Jihad in order to impose Islam upon them. In fact, Muhammad told his followers that their prior peace treaties and alliances with the Meccan tribes need not be kept as they were unbelievers (Westerners take note). This Jihad started with raids on Meccan trade caravans and then progressed to the "Battle of Badr" the first Islamic victory an attack ordered by by Muhammad on a large Meccan caravan. This was followed by Muhammad leading the fight against a Medinan Jewish Tribe that refused to accept Islam, the Banu Qaynuqa, they were defeated, their property was divided and they were expelled, later the Jewish Banu Nadir who also refused to convert suffered the same fate, after a later battle all the men of the tribe were killed and their women and property divided by the prophet as spoils. The Prophet also commanded the same fate for the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe. Their extermination is detailed as follows:
"Then they surrendered, and the apostle confined them in Medina in the quarter of d. al-Harith, a woman of B. al-Najjar. Then the apostle went out to the market of Medina (which is still its market today) and dug trenches in it. Then he sent for them and struck off their heads in those trenches as they were brought out to him in batches. Among them was the enemy of Allah Huyayy b. Akhtab and Ka`b b. Asad their chief. There were 600 or 700 in all, though some put the figure as high as 800 or 900. As they were being taken out in batches to the apostle they asked Ka`b what he thought would be done with them. He replied, 'Will you never understand? Don't you see that the summoner never stops and those who are taken away do not return? By Allah it is death!' This went on until the apostle made an end of them. Huyayy was brought out wearing a flowered robe in which he had made holes about the size of the finger-tips in every part so that it should not be taken from him as spoil, with his hands bound to his neck by a rope. When he saw the apostle he said, 'By God, I do not blame myself for opposing you, but he who forsakes God will be forsaken.' Then he went to the men and said, 'God's command is right. A book and a decree, and massacre have been written against the Sons of Israel.' Then he sat down and his head was struck off." (HADITH: IBN ISHAQ)
That evening Muhammad took the widow of the man he killed, Safiyya bint Huyayy, as wife, which was no doubt quite a wedding night for her.
In any event later Muhammad sent the first Jihad expedition against the Byzantines, convinced that Allah would give Islam an early victory over the Christians. This was not to be and the force was defeated at Mu'tah. [Several years after his death, Jihadis would win a series of great victories over the Byzantines eventually taking over most of the Empire's Eastern dominions. In time, the vision of Muhammad would be realized with the Byzantine's final defeat at the fall of Constantinoplel to the Ottoman Sultan (who styled himself Caliph, defender of Islam and the Holy Places) in the 15th century.]
In 630 AD Muhammad lead the final attack on Mecca which captured the city, this was followed by a successful Jihad campaign against the Arab Christian Ghassanids which effectively left the Arabian Peninsula entirely Islamic by the time of Muhammad's death.
Now why did I spend all this time rehearsing the life of Muhammad?
1) Because while I could have shown that violent Jihad for the spread of Islam is a duty taught in the Quran and Hadiths, inevitably Westerners would attempt to say "that's your interpretation" and dismiss any number of quotes.
2) Therefore, I chose to simply show the fact that the first violent Jihads were ordered and lead by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. If Jihad is not a duty taught in the Quran, then it's author didn't understand or practice the religion he created, which is simply absurd.
Let us face it, Islam always has been and is
supposed to be, spread by the Sword. We may not like the Jihadis, we may prefer liberal revisions of Islam, but let's not pretend that the Jihadis don't consistently understand the fundamentals of Islam and practice Jihad in a manner that follows the example of Muhammad. When we do that, we are telling lies about them and lets leave the "dissimulating" to them.
