Muslim Man Killed for Missing Prayers

Jihadis Follow in the Footsteps of Muhammad

Guest Post by B Kisan

Pakistan's Daily Times reports that the members of Lashkar-e-Islam (literally 'Army of Islam') shot dead a man, standing near a Mosque at the time of prayer, who refused to come inside for praying when ordered to do so by the mujahideen.

The newspaper reports:

Activists of the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) killed a man in Sarband Police Station jurisdiction on Saturday, police said. Sources within the police told Daily Times that Mukarram, son of Asadullah, was chastised by LI men for not offering Asr prayers and standing outside a mosque. When Mukarram told the men that it was his personal matter, the LI men shot him dead.

This may sound barbaric and cruel, but for a committed Jihadi, it is a matter of principle and pride, and following the commands of Islam. Using violence for enforcing prayers upon the faithful is a pious commandment in Islam, which was recommended by the favorite and final prophet of Allah.

First, children are to be beaten if they refuse to pray after they reach the age of 10:

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Command your children to pray when they become seven years old, and beat them for it (prayer) when they become ten years old; and arrange their beds (to sleep) separately.

Then Allah's final Prophet offers the following advice here:

The Prophet said, "No prayer is harder for the hypocrites than the Fajr and the 'Isha' prayers and if they knew the reward for these prayers at their respective times, they would certainly present themselves (in the mosques) even if they had to crawl." The Prophet added, "Certainly I decided to order the Mu'adh-dhin (call-maker) to pronounce Iqama and order a man to lead the prayer and then take a fire flame to burn all those who had not left their houses so far for the prayer along with their houses."

So, by the standards that the Prophet preached the above Jihadi must be considered to be practicing somewhat of a 'moderate' Islam, because he only murdered the man refusing to pray, but did not burn his house down too. Probably if the relatives lodge a police complaint they could expect the balance of the prophetic prescription.

Howsoever cruel and horrific the murder in question may appear by civilized standards, the Jihadis are indoctrinated to believe it to be an act of righteousness. They believe their deeds to be good (by the standards Islam sets), which reminds us of the atheist philosopher Steven Weinberg's famous quote:

Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

Muhammad exhorted his followers to attack non-believers and to subdue them for making his dogma supreme. The Qur'an presents this hateful incitement of violence against non-believers as good and as the ultimate message of God to the Muslims to follow:

[Following is quoted from the The Noble Quran, distributed for free by the Saudi Embassy's around the world, published by the King Fahd Complex For The Printing Of The Holy Qur'an - the author got his copy free from the Saudi Embassy in Singapore]

Oh you who believe (in Allah's Oneness and in His Messenger Muhammad saw)! Verily, the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolators, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah, and in the message of Muhammad saw) are Najasun (impure)[1]. So let them not come near Al-Masjidal-Haram (at Makkah) after this year; and if you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you if He wills, out of His Bounty. Surely, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.

[1] The footnote states that their impurity is both spiritual and physical, because they lack personal hygiene (filthy as regards urine, stools and blood).

My notes:

a) Even now the Islamic policy of not allowing impure kafirs to visit Makkah and Madina is to this very day enforced by the Saudi Govt.

b) Enriching out of Allah's Bounty refers to the new income to be had by Muhammad and his followers from attacking, enslaving, robbing non-Believers, i.e. the spoils to be had from Jihad.

Qur'an 9:29
Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the last day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah[2] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

[2] Footnote reads:

a) see footnote of 2:193 which reads: Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 2, Number 24:

Narrated Ibn 'Umar:

Allah's Apostle said: "I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that La ilaha illallah wa Anna Muhammmad-ur-Rasul Allah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle), and perform As-salat (Iqamat-as-salat) and give Zakat, so if they perform all that, then they save their lives, and properties from me except for Islamic laws, and then their reckoning (accounts) will be with (done by Allah."

b) Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah's Messenger said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight against the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him'" (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Vol 4, Hadith No 177)

c) Jizyah: a tax levied from the people of the Scriptures (Jews and Christians), who are under the protection of a Muslim government.

A few pages later in the very same King Fahd published Qur'an (p253) the Hadith above about burning people to death for not attending prayers is approvingly quoted. I hope readers can make the clear connection between these hateful teachings and the actions of the Jihadis.

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://Allans-Perspective.blogspot.com

Allah is Our God....... not yours!

It seems Muslims are digging themselves deeper into the hole that seperates them from all other religions and faiths.

We constantly refer to a Supreme Being as "GOD" or "FATHER" or "JEHOVAH" or "ALMIGHTY" or "LORD" or "THE CREATOR" or "ELOHIM" or "YAHWEH" but we can't call God "Allah" anymore! No sir!

We get this note from Malaysia:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A Roman Catholic newspaper cleared its first legal hurdle Monday in its fight against a Malaysian government ban on Christians using the word “Allah” as a synonym for “God.”

The Herald is seeking to reverse a government order that prohibits the paper from using the word “Allah” in its Malay-language section.

The government says the word refers only to the Muslim God and its use by Christians might confuse Muslims.

It has threatened to revoke the paper’s publishing license if it defies the order.

The Herald also wants a court declaration that “Allah” is not for exclusive use by Muslims.

“The court agreed that the church’s application is not frivolous nor vexatious nor an abuse of process. It deserves to be heard,” said Derek Fernandez, a lawyer for the newspaper.

The court will set a trial date later, Fernandez told reporters.

The Herald — which publishes in the English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil languages — insists that “Allah” is an Arabic word that predates Islam and has been used for centuries to mean “God” in Malay.

The case is an example of Malaysian religious minorities’ increasing complaints that their rights have been undermined by government efforts to bolster the status of Islam, Malaysia’s official religion.

(Ethnic Malays, virtually all of them Muslims, make up nearly 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people. The main minorities are ethnic Chinese and Indians, and most of them are Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.)

Dissatisfaction with court rulings over Muslims’ legal right to leave Islam — along with other religious issues like state authorities’ demolition of Hindu temples, contributed to the ruling government coalition’s poor performance in March elections — when it lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament.

In a separate case in Malaysia, the Sabah Evangelical Church of Borneo has also filed a lawsuit in an effort to be allowed to use “Allah” after officials last year banned the import of books containing the word.

Hearings in that case were still in the preliminary stages but I gues that it all boils down to the fact that Islam is trying to seperate itself from other mainstream religions and thereby drive a wedge between them.

To announce that your God cannot be refered to by none muslims suggests that Islam is either superior or that other religions are inferior and not worthy of consideration.

A very dangerous mind-set no matter how you look at it!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://Allans-Perspective.blogspot.com

Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders' film about the Quran

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Beat Up Western Tourists - Radical Muslim Cleric

I have said repeatedly on this blog that certain radical Islamic clergymen have a stranglehold on sections of the Muslim population and they won't give up their postitions of authority and power without a long and bloody fight!

This holds true in Indonesia as well as the Middle-East as witnessed by this Iman who is back to his old tricks!

Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has returned to his hardline rhetoric with a call for followers to beat up Western tourists and for young Muslims to die as martyrs.

“The youth movement here must aspire to a martyrdom death,” said the cleric, who was convicted of conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, but was later cleared and released from prison.

“The young must be first at the front line - don’t hide at the back. You must be at the front, die as martyrs and all your sins will be forgiven. This is how to achieve forgiveness.”

“Immediately after Abu Bakar Bashir was released from incarceration he was very cautious in spreading hatred,” said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“The remarks show that Abu Bakar Bashir has gone back to the pre-incarceration period where he was in a very similar way urging JI members, encouraging JI members to move in the direction of violence, especially violence including terrorism.”

The cleric has warned of retribution should the Bali bombers be executed by firing squad.

Bashir likened non-Muslims to crawling animals. “Worms, snakes, maggots - those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali … those infidel tourists. They are naked.”

He called for signs to be erected across Indonesia warning tourists they were entering a Muslim area, and directing they cover up appropriately.

But in east Java, he urged the Islamist youth to “beat up” foreigners.

“God willing, there are none here,” Bashir said. “If there were infidels here, just beat them up. Do not tolerate them.”

Bashir has never sought to hide his support for the Mujahideen, or holy warriors, who seek to wage jihad and die as martyrs in defence of Islam. However, he has in the past been careful to distance himself from the Bali bombings, praising the bombers’ intention but not their method.

Dr Gunaratna said the radical nature of Bashir’s current sermons showed that Indonesia’s legal system was still not equipped to police terrorism.

“The very fact that Abu Bakar Bashir is spreading hatred and ideological extremism is testimony to the fact that Australia has failed in engagement with Indonesia to build a robust Indonesian counter-terrorism legislation,” Dr Gunaratna said.


Bashir’s address contained many direct challenges to Indonesian secularism.

The cleric urged his supporters to reject the laws of the nation’s parliament and said following state laws that contradicted Islamic Shariah law was an act of “blasphemy.”

“Don’t be scared if you are called a hardliner Muslim,” Bashir said. “It must be like that. We can’t follow human law that is in conflict with Allah’s law.” (In other words, if they are not Bashir's laws then they don't apply!)

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

The Church of Allan - The Plain Truth About God

A serialization of the book, The Plain Truth About God.

Chapter 11. Jihad Inc.

The Arab Muslim.

** Women have three roles - obey the father, obey the husband, obey the son.
—Mid-East Proverb.

** It goes without saying that societies in the Islamic, Christian, and Judaic areas of the Middle East have always been, and will try to stay, patriarchal societies.
—Anonymous

** “The true republic; men, their rights and nothing more.” ”Women; their rights and nothing less.” -Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906)

In spite of some of the harsh words leveled at Arabs and Muslims in this chapter, we must not loose sight of the fact that this culture has given the world much throughout its history.

As well as the worlds second largest (and growing) religion it is also the ancestral home to the numerical and mathematical system that is now used throughout the world.

This culture has given us great literature and art as well as the birthplace of many of our theories on the human condition.

Given the Arabs love of logic and debate, the Human family has benefited enormously from their contributions to the humanities and sciences.

Sufism.

Even with the constraints placed upon Islam that give it a great inertia against any change, there are nonetheless great movements in the religion that have manifested itself in two very different ways.

The first of these, Sufism, can be described as the “mystic” version of Islam and its adherents refer to themselves as Sufis---people who see themselves on a spiritual journey toward God.

In order to guide spiritual travelers and to express the states of consciousness experienced on this journey, the Sufis have produced an enormously rich body of literature.

Suffice to say that the Sufi, while acknowledging they are on the pathway to God and will achieve oneness of spirit in Paradise, also believe that it is possible to become close to God in this life.

Furthermore, the attainment of the knowledge that comes in intimacy with God is the very purpose of creation---while the difficulties in following the path derive primarily from one’s self or ego.

(Sounds a lot like the Eastern Religions)

In other words, it can be said that if one is not recognizing or experiencing God’s “closeness” (or presence) the responsibility for this condition lies within.

Some of the effects of the dominance of the ego are that one may become overwhelmed by the need to gratify desires such as anger, lust, anxiety, boredom, regret, self pity, depression, and the many addictions that afflict us.

Hence, one of the emphases of Sufism is the struggle to overcome the dominance of one’s ego. A struggle that first and foremost involves choosing at each moment to remember and surrender actively to God— irrespective of whether the form in which God manifests is one of absence or presence, benevolence or severity.

The struggle with one’s own ego has been called the greater struggle or greater “Holy War” (al-jihad al-akbar) in contrast to the lesser struggle, “holy war” (al-jihad al-asghar), which is against injustice in this world.

The lesser struggle of Jihad is certainly against perceived injustices and oppression in the world, but the greater struggle is what Muhammad talked about whenever he officially declared a “Jihad!”

It was, in effect, a war against the “seven deadly sins.”

Numerous Muslim scholars have spoken favorably about Sufism while one of the criticisms often leveled at Sufis by their fellow Muslims is that they withdraw from social and political activity.

This is far from being true in Muslim central Asia, where in Chechnya for example,

Sufis were very active in fighting against Russian invaders.

Baha’i.

The regions (Middle East) distinction as being the birthplace of a great majority of humanities philosophical and religious endeavors means it should come as no surprise that there is another movement in the works today that could once again change the course of our spiritual development.

Here I am referring the advent of the Baha’i faith and its possible impact on future religious thought!

The practice of Baha’i has at its core some of the seeds of a religion that could one day unify all the “people of the book.”

Its philosophy is not only simple and elegant, but seems to have the fundamentals of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam within its framework.

It has the potential to become a world religion that is not driven by the old demons (pardon the pun) of the past!

It bears watching!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

The Chuch of Allan - The Plain Truth About God

A serialization of the book, The Plain Truth About God.

Chapter 11. Jihad Inc.

The Arab Muslim.

The Islamic State, as it has come to be known, exists in the Middle East on the principal of obedience being due to God only and that Muslims reject the Western, secular idea of separation of church and state!

This is a nice trick fostered by the Islamic clergy to hold on to as much power as possible in spite of the emergence of democratic and populist movements in the world at large.

One of the greatest drawbacks to Islam is that it operates on the surface as being infallible, much as Christianity does.

Among Muslims however, it is acknowledged that the Prophet Muhammad left no actual interpretation of the Koran, but rather said it should be read and taken literally as the word of God. This means we have a Divine text that is adding to the confusion by being interpreted differently from scholar to scholar and person to person.

This interpretation by individuals depends on every one’s personal understanding, experience, social, political, and economic environment.

In fact, this happened almost exactly the same way among the early Christians.

In Islam, no one, not an individual dictator, an elected national body, or a scholar of religion, theoretically has the right to make any legislation that contradicts what is stated in the Koran or the Hadith of the Prophet.

If they do so, they are committing an act of grave Shirk, or “putting themselves in God’s place.”

Naturally, the clergy interprets and decides which part of the Koran they want the general population to use. They are also the ones that give guidance as to “what it really means.”

It is also one of the greatest con-jobs in history since anything that goes wrong or not according to their particular plan is obviously “God’s Will.”

(It is also the one of the main reasons that a Muslims will end every second sentence with the phrase “Insh-Allah” - or –“ God willing!” Being as pragmatic as they are, this puts the onus back on God for whatever happens and absolves them of being in “Shirk.”)

As a believer, a man (remember this is a male dominated organization that would put the Catholic Church to shame) can offer his own proposals for the renewal of his religion, so it is always open to change.

The sad truth of the matter is that in Islam, as in every other religion in the world, there are no shortages of people who try and put themselves in positions of influence and power. This, for the purpose of spreading their own version of reality amongst the masses.

Another one of the other great threats to the Islamic state comes from a source that has been kept in check for the last 1400 years. Of course, we are talking about the subjugation of women throughout the Muslim world.

Men are concerned that any loosening of the reins that keeps their females in a position of subservience will lead to an all out revolution by women.

They also stand to loose face amongst their Arab brothers and be referred to as un-manly for not being able to control their women!

In light of this, it is interesting to note that women enjoyed an almost equal position with men in Arab society before the coming of Islam.

This makes us wonder how much of the abolition of rights for women was a cultural phenomenon and how much can be attributed to a misogynistic group of men using religion to undermine a woman’s place in society.

We are not just pointing the finger at Muslim society here, since it is a fact that the Christian community has also done its fair share in the subjugation of women.

(After all, it was Jesus who championed the cause of women, only to have it put on the back burner again by Paul!)

It might seem a bit unfair to bring this subject up in the section on Islam but the Muslims are, for the moment, the greatest perpetrators of injustice to women, and since the matter must be addressed, it may as well be here.

As we saw earlier in this book, throughout history it has been the men who waged war, made laws, and generally ran things according to their outlook. That was fine when the men went hunting while women stayed back at the campsite or early settlements.

Over the centuries, however, we have seen a gradual shift in responsibilities and division of work, with females taking an ever more proactive role in society, as they should!

Men, by their very nature of being the hunter-gatherers, have always had the inclination to “shoot first and ask questions later.” This might have worked well in the past, but society is at a point now where the more reasoned and analytical approach employed by women might be a lot better for us in the long run.

The natural balance that the female mind gives to a male deserves to be listened to much more than it had been so far in history.

Remember, in the jahili culture of old, women used to mix freely with men. They used to dress in the same way as women in the secular societies now dress themselves. It was only after the advent of Islam that it became the custom for Arab women to spend most of their time at home, to cover their bodies, and be kept away from other men.

You will now find some people who tell you that the hijab (women’s Islamic dress) is an Arab custom, and not an Islamic requirement. Wrong!

Arab society was at one time much more enlightened than now and it is through the diligence of a few religious extremists through the centuries that the population has become narrow-minded in their world and cultural views.

This is one of the first things that have to be changed for women to take their rightful place in Arab society.

But then again-the difference between the wishing and the doing is great.

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

The Chuch of Allan - The Plain Truth About God

A serialization of the book, The Plain Truth About God.

Chapter 11. Jihad Inc.

The Arab Muslim.

In this chapter we have referred to Muslims in general but that fact of the matter is that most of the people in the Middle East are Arabs who happen to be Muslim and who also happen to have oil on their land.

The decline of Islam has led down a road to where the modern Arab, for the most part, wonders how his faith and culture fits in with a rapidly changing world. This is a far cry from originally belonging to one of the greatest cultures in the history of human kind.

Whether it is acknowledged or not, the Middle East (because of Israel and oil) is a vital part of the modern world and as such has to make changes and concessions to its own religion and culture.

As of this writing in the early part of the twenty-first century, Arabs, and Islam, have one hell of a public relations problem in the Western world.

One of the main problems with the Arab-Muslim religion of the Middle East today stems from outright religious intolerance combined with an insular culture that is still stuck in the tribal twelfth century!

It is a curious situation where on the one hand the average Arab confesses to overwhelming piety and subservience to Allah; while at the same time he looks with arrogance down on everyone else as being “infidels” and inferior.

This, combined with the rage average Arabs have against perceptions of them in the West as being nothing more than camel herders living somewhere in the middle ages, makes for a truly schizophrenic outlook on their part.

Just as Christianity was stuck in the Middle Ages for a long time, so the religion of Muhammad has, among certain groups, been stuck in the past.

It needs to be dragged into the modern age, kicking and screaming if need be!

One of the best examples of this can be seen in the recent practices of the Taliban in central Afghanistan. They held a whole nation hostage to their religious zealousness and it took the intervention of outside forces to finally remove them.

To gather some insight into this volatile situation in the Middle East, (other than the never ending conflict between Arabs and Jews over the Palestine issue) we need go back only a few short years to discover how the situation got to the point it is at today!

It all revolves around the discovery of oil!

Oil is both a blessing and a curse for the people of the Middle East. It brought the region great wealth, and at the same time exposed them to the rest of the world on a scale never before experienced.

Gone is a centuries old way of life as their governments and population are thrust unto the world stage. Their religion and lifestyle has been given a millennium long drop kick from the eleventh to the twenty-first century. The cultural shock alone has seriously disrupted the social order and fabric of their society.

The fact remains that without oil, this situation would also not get nearly the attention it does.

It is now fashionable to blame Western colonization and economic domination for most of the woes and predicaments of the Muslim countries.

** Nevertheless, I would like to point out that Muslims themselves bear the most responsibility for the situation they are in right now.

Their complicity in the rise of militant Islam must be borne just as much by themselves as by their former colonizers.

When we look at the tensions between East and West in the light of day, religion is a handy way to rile the population against the “infidels” of the West.

The fact of the matter is that it is more of a fear of Western ideals and culture, combined with jealousy of Western affluence that drives the leaders in the Middle East into such fits of rage.

The Western influence is a direct threat to their authority, especially amongst the young!

Don’t forget that no matter what form of government a Middle East country has, outside of some large urban areas it is still largely controlled by the tribes and Imams!

By the end of the 1970’s America, Europe and various Arab regimes extended too many fundamentalist and extremist groups military, diplomatic, financial and logistical support for two main reasons.

The first was to deflect the attention of Muslims around the world from the anti-American Iranian understanding of Islam that was being fostered by the clerics under the Ayatollah Khomeini.

The second was of course to reduce American casualties in trying to counter the U.S.S.R. incursions into Afghanistan.

Sponsored by petrodollars, all aggressive interpretations of Islam were published and abundantly distributed in the Muslim world.

This was accompanied by a vigorous publicity campaign assuring Muslims that this was the only right path and correct understanding of Islam.

Other interpretations quickly disappeared amongst the uneducated masses. Religious and cultural tolerance was slowly eroded while fundamentalism was on the ascent.

However, literature and propaganda didn’t work alone amongst the frustrated Arab citizens living under totalitarian regimes for the better part of a century. The extreme interpretations of Islam that were circulating provided them with a fascinating religion based Utopia.

A dream that the Imams were only too glad to foster and spread.

The truth of the matter is that Islam now enjoys the same sort of power over the masses as Christianity displayed a thousand years ago.

Why should the power structure of Islam give up any of their perks? It does not matter whether it is Al-Qaida, the Taliban, the clergy running Iran or the militants in Egypt and half a dozen other countries. They all want to turn their little piece of Eden into an Islamic state.

In other words, a state that is run according to their own ideals, beliefs and benefit; and to hell with everyone else! (Literally)

The problems in the Middle East are not only religious, insofar as the clergy is all to glad to foster discontent to further their own ends, but is also cultural and political. It is what might be described as a:

“Political agenda seeking justification in religion!”

The Islamic State, as it has come to be known, exists in the Middle East on the principal of obedience being due to God only and that Muslims reject the Western, secular idea of separation of church and state!

This is a nice trick fostered by the Islamic clergy to hold on to as much power as possible in spite of the emergence of democratic and populist movements in the world at large.

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

The Chuch of Allan - The Plain Truth About God

A serialization of the book, The Plain Truth About God.

Chapter 11. Jihad Inc.

It would be a major mistake to think, as some people do, that Islamic fundamentalists form a homogeneous group with common beliefs, objectives and a united leadership!

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Even within the different groups, as with the Shiite and Sunni sects, there are disparate groups and movements. All of which are lumped together by the media as being fundamentalist.

The “fundamentals” that they go back to are an attempt to renew their religion once again by going “back to the basics.”

It is either that or watch their religion slide into secularism.

Now remember that all religions are capable of rise and fall. All cultures have their ups and downs over the course of their existence. Any religion, as well as any civilization, is always vulnerable to decadence and therefore has to be continually renewed.

One of the great strengths of Islam is that it does not have any one “official” person or institution. (Even though “unofficially” the Imam’s carry the same clout as the cardinals, or even the Pope, as they do in Christianity)

In theory every Muslim, every believer, has direct access to God and direct access to the sources of his religion.

Unfortunately, in practice they are all swayed by the hierarchy of the religion and affected by both the dogmatic and cultural forces at play.

There are many different man-made interpretations of the Holy Koran (just as in the bible), and this leads to the fact that many sayings and traditions were fabricated and attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in order to support one or more understandings of the Koran text according to the interpreters.

These understandings were constantly adjusted to fit the socio-economic situation as well as the political views of the time. As a result, they were in a constant state of flux, sometimes close to the intended message and at other times quite removed.

In spite of this, the Koran and the religious philosophy it espouses is arguably the most pristine and simple of all the major world religions with the possible exception of Baha’i.

(With the meaning that simple is less convoluted and therefore better and more to the point. As in “clear and simple”)

Where we run into a problem is that, as in the case of Jesus of Nazareth, there is no actual copy of the Koran that can be said to have come directly from the hands of Mohammed.

The earliest written record of the Koran (and the 45 scribes who supposedly documented it) was written in the biography of Mohammed by a certain Ibn Ishaq who wrote Sirat Rasul Allah, (The life of the Prophet of God) about 100 years after the death of the prophet Mohammed!

From this point on, it gets even hazier since there is no actual record of this document as well, but rather, it is extensively quoted in an even later work by al-Tabari who lived close to 200 years after the death of Ibn Ishaq. Suddenly we have a space of 350 years (close to 1000 C.E.) that cannot be properly documented.

With this in mind we can look back to about 620 C.E. when Mohammed, (or someone like him,) started on a campaign of dominance.

Here in less than 100 years Arab tribesmen, riding on horseback, emerged out of the Arabian deserts to conquer Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya and Spain.

Now the great question we have to ask here is whether the Arab armies were fuelled during their expansion by religious fever; or was the religion “spiced up” during the 350 years where it was not documented properly.

In other words, was this re-vamping of Islam the manipulations of a politically dominant group whose aim was to establish a religious justification for Arab imperialism?

Or was it based on a religion that advocated the expansion of its ideals by force?

Don’t forget, during the first 200 years of this great expansion Arab conquerors were a minority against a non-Moslem majority.

Then, once the Arabs had acquired a sizable empire—a coherent religion was necessary in order to hold that empire together.

(Note: in the long run, over the centuries, the main purpose of any religion, once it had gone beyond the “sect” stage, was to perpetuate itself and also act as a glue to hold the empire together.)

So once again, was the religion in place and acting as the fuel for Arab hegemony, or was it the glue that was manufactured “after the fact” to hold the whole empire together.

This is a question that will never be properly answered - as it is now lost in the mists of time.

However, we can draw certain inferences from it.

One of the facts that we have to consider is that while Christianity was founded on the premise of “love” for others, the main driving force behind Islam is that it was bound up in war and aggression from its very inception.

As a result, no matter how close or far from the intended message of the Koran it was, portions of it were always used to justify an Arab extremist and expansionist view.

History has now given us an almost unbroken string of militant Islamic movements from the “Assassins” of the 11th-12th century to the Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers.

(Even if he is technically a Persian and not Arab.)

The crusades were the first catalyst that got Islam to “rally round the flag” in Middle East terms and the second was the Mongol invasion shortly after.

Arab society became full of hatred to both Eastern and Western invaders. Many lives were lost and cultures destroyed before the infidels were defeated by the religiously mobilized Islamic armies.

The early result of this hatred was the emergence of Ibn-Taymeyah as one of the first Arab extremists. He was born in 1263 C. E. during the Mongol invasion and died in jail for his extremist views in 1328 C.E.

During his lifetime, almost all of the main Islamic schools of theology (to their credit) rejected his extremist views and he was constantly at odds with the authorities, but had a great and loyal following among the masses.

This seems to have set the tone for the following centuries with constant upheaval among theologians and clergy. (Much the same as in the early Christian church)

One of the modern day results of this dissension in the religion was the establishment of Wahhabism in the mid part of the sixteenth century.

This brand of ultra-conservative Islam, which we now loosely call fundamentalism, was established by Mahammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab around 1715.

Mahammad ibn ‘Abd Al-Wahhab’s ideas spread amongst the villagers of Dar’iyya and were adopted by their chief, Mahammad ibn Su’ud.

Those who accepted his ideals, which were termed Wahhabiyya, were called Wahhabis.

Al-Wahhab was very aware of the fact that he was not a mere preacher but the leader of a movement that sought to effect a real change in society.

Like all practical social reformers, he was convinced of the necessity of power for the realization of the goals that he advocated.

Unfortunately, like so many before him, he mistakenly turned the Divine message from God “outward” to try and influence others instead of turning it “inward” to effect personal betterment as he was supposed to.

Islam makes the same mistake that Christianity and most other religions make.

That is taking the “message” of God and applying it outwardly against people who are not in sync with their own personal idea of how things should be.

Rather, we should all be turning the message inward and changing ourselves for the better.

In other words our goal is to change “ourselves,” not to “get others to do what we think is best for them!”

*Take God’s message and turn it inward to attain a state of grace.

*Turn it outward to control others and it becomes corrupted.

*Lead by example; do not use the example to lead!

The Wahhabis main practitioners were the Bedouin tribes in the deserts of what is now Saudi Arabia.

The Wahhabis point of view is that anyone who does not follow their particular brand of Islam is a disbeliever and infidel.

As they increased in number, Wahhabism was firmly established by 1737 C.E.

It now forms the basis for most of the religious and political life in Saudi Arabia, and by extension of their money and influence, other areas of the Middle East.

It has slowly become the standard by which a lot of Islam is being held accountable to.

TOMORROW: The Arab Muslim

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Tehran, we have a problem!

Guest post by Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Wearing a brightly colored headscarf and high-heeled boots, the woman refused to be bundled into the police van without a fight.

Protesting loudly and even trying to escape, her standoff with Iranian police cracking down on women violating the Islamic dress code lasted several minutes.

But the outcome of the drama shortly after dusk on a cold winter's day on Tehran's most famous boulevard was never in doubt.

Two female police officers in head-to-toe black chadors pushed her into the white vehicle which then drove off into the bustle of tree-lined Vali-ye Asr Avenue.

"Hijab problem," one male onlooker said, referring to the clothes women must wear in Iran to cover their hair and disguise the shape of their bodies to conform with Iran's Islamic laws.

Based in Tehran for the past year, I have often written about police detaining women who challenge the dress codes that have been more strictly enforced under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But this was the first time I saw it happening.

To judge by the passers-by who stopped in the lamplight on the snowy pavement, or the people peeping out through the windows of the neighborhood grocery store where I was buying milk, my curiosity was shared.

The dark-haired woman, who appeared to be in her 30s, argued in a high-pitched voice with a burly, bearded male police officer towering over her in his green uniform.

When his female colleague put a hand on the woman's shoulder to lead her into the van, she angrily pushed it away and shouted. Then suddenly she turned and tried to run away.

She did not get far. The two female officers grabbed her and shoved her into the police vehicle. The door was slammed shut and the van disappeared into Tehran's evening rush hour.........!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site http://www.god-101.com/

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

The BOOK!

I ran across this article on the weekend and it deserves reading for some of the statistics they have compiled on religion. (I am one of the 72% who believe in God but don't like church!)

Tuscaloosa News, Guest Post by Sarah Bruyn Jones'

A majority of adults who don’t attend church say they believe in God, but they have other feelings about the institution of church.

A recent U.S. survey of adults who don’t attend church, not even on holidays, found that 72 percent thought the church ‘is full of hypocrites,’ but that 78 percent would ‘be willing to listen’ to someone who wanted to share their beliefs about Christianity. At the same time, 72 percent of respondents also said they believe God exists.

The survey results were published last week by Life Way Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. The organization surveyed 1,402 ‘unchurched’ adults last spring and summer. The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.

The survey defines unchurched as those who had not attended a religious service in a church, synagogue or mosque at any time in the past six months.

More than 1 in 5 Americans say they never go to church, the General Social Survey found in 2006. The survey is conducted every two years by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Other researchers have found similar negative opinions about church.

Researchers at Barna Group, a Christian survey organization, have found that young adults in particular are rejecting the institution — and Christianity in general — because it is perceived to be anti-gay, too political and hypocritical.

The implications, the researchers from both studies said, are seen when churches try to evangelize to and reach the unchurched. But the research also speaks to the way churches have communicated their messages, said Jerry Wilkins, director of the Tuscaloosa Baptist Association, the local Southern Baptist organization.

‘We’re just still struggling,’ Wilkins said. ‘I think the answer for this dilemma is for the church to better communicate that we are a hospital for sick people. We need to be helping [non Christians] understand what the church is. My feeling is we’ve done a poor job communicating that church is not for people who have arrived, but for people who are on a journey.’

The Barna findings were the basis for the book ‘unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why it Matters,’ released in October 2007.

‘There are a lot of different factors for it,’ said David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group and one of the authors of ‘unChristian.’

‘The reasons people come to negative conclusions about Christianity, churches or Christians is as diverse as the people you ask. But I think the media-saturated, fault-finding, skeptical society we live in is part of it. You see the mistakes of prominent [Christian] leaders broadcast and printed on pages, and that solidifies people’s perspectives about Christians as hypocrites or living hypocritical lifestyles.’

The recent headline-making stories of disgraced church leaders accused of lying, cheating and philandering have had their impact, but Kinnaman said people’s personal relationships also influence their perception of church, such as the neighbor who is heavily involved in his church, but also heavily involved with a mistress.

Some high-profile Christian leaders have also come under fire for alleged misdeeds, with their stories played out prominently in the media. Richard Roberts, son of evangelist Oral Roberts, resigned last week as president of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa amid allegations he misspent school money to support a lavish lifestyle. And six popular televangelists are under federal investigation for financial misdeeds.

In November U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking member of the committee on finance, requested financial information from the six ministries: Kenneth and Gloria Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Creflo and Taffi Dollar of World Changers Church International, Benny Hinn of Benny Hinn Ministries, Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Joyce and David Meyer of Joyce Meyer Ministries, and Randy and Paula White of the multiracial Without Walls International Church and Paula White Ministries.

Evangelical leaders have also come under fire for other personal sins that are contrary to the Christian message.

Ted Haggard, the former leader of the National Association of Evangelicals, resigned his post as pastor of the church he founded after allegations surfaced of a homosexual affair and methamphetamine use. And just this week, Georgia megachurch leader Archbishop Earl Paulk pleaded guilty to lying under oath about several sexual affairs and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

Scandal isn’t the only problem. Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, said in comments released with the survey that many unchurched don’t have a biblical understanding of God and Jesus. The survey found that slightly less than half, 48 percent, agree that God is the God described in the Bible, while 61 percent said they believe ‘the God of the Bible is no different from the gods of spiritual beings depicted by world religions.’

At the same time, LifeWay found that 78 percent of those surveyed were open to talking about spiritual matters with a friend. That number was even higher among young adults, aged 18-29, of them 89 percent said they were willing to listen to a Christian sharing his or her beliefs.

That openness should be used as a platform for holding conversations, said Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, in the news release.

‘Although we may not have the home field advantage we once did, people are open to spiritual conversations, open to hearing about a genuine faith, and God is still at work, using people and churches to share the Good News in an increasingly confused world,’ McConnell said. ‘That should propel us to action and help us move beyond fear to share our faith.’

Still, the perception that Christians are hypocritical is one that faith leaders say needs to be addressed.

Kinnaman said part of the problem comes from a misunderstanding that Christians believe they are perfect.

‘There is not a particular strategy or approach where a church can say we are no longer going to be hypocritical,’ Kinnaman said. ‘We are trying to become much more of a movement to restore, except, love and bless the community around us. That’s important when the only thing that a non-Christian sees from a church community is discussion of becoming a saved Christian and Christian morals and ethics or how we define family.

Those discussions have missed some of the larger needs that the community is looking for and shows how out of tune Christians can be with the real world.’

Now, after all this has been said, I would like to give a short rebuttal to the statement; ‘The reasons people come to negative conclusions about Christianity, churches or Christians, is as diverse as the people you ask. But I think the media-saturated, fault-finding, skeptical society we live in is part of it. You see the mistakes of prominent [Christian] leaders broadcast and printed on pages, and that solidifies people’s perspectives about Christians as hypocrites or living hypocritical lifestyles.’

No my friends, that is a cop-out and just plain bullshit!

The reason church leaders make "mistakes" and "errors in judgement" are the same reasons we can't trust anything written in the Bible to begin with.

People wrote the Bible. God didn't write the Bible, or the Koran, or the Torah, (Pentateuch) God only inspired them.

People, on the other hand, wrote what was relevant to them, at that time, and in those circumstances. Then it was further clouded by the writers own prejudices, inclinations, personal beliefs, hang-ups and morals.

In other words, anything in "The Book" had the taint of the authors personal agenda on everything they did. Some of it done consciously, and some unconsciously.

So, we are not practising the "Word of God" when we go to church, or the Mosque, or the Synagogue, but rather the Gospel of "The Word of Sam," or "The Word of Ishmael," or better yet, "The Word of Job's Mother!"

And that's why I don't go to church!

If I have something to say to God, I say it myself.

(This, by the way, is what the Gnostic's were all about and what Jesus might well have been!)

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Muslims vs Islamists!

This is almost like a "Tale of Two Cities" except it's a "Tale of two Ideologies!"

Let's talk about both for a bit. On the one hand we have the "Canadian Islamic Congress" (CIC) and on the other hand there is "The Muslim Canadian Congress" (MCC) and the "Canadian Muslim Union" (CMU) which were organized to provide a voice to Muslims who support a "progressive, liberal, pluralistic, democratic, and secular society where everyone has the freedom of religion." (Wikipedia)

We will deal with the MCC and CMU first. MCC was formed in 2002, in the wake of 9/11 by a group of Toronto area liberal Muslims. Then in 2006 eight executive members resigned and formed the new CMU whose philosophy of Liberal Islam is similar to the MCC's but with an intention to work "with and within the Muslim community."

These are the only Muslim organizations in Canada to ask for a "separation of religion and state in all matters of public policy."

The groups gained prominence by opposing the implementation of Shariah Law in civil law in Ontario and supporting the country's same-sex marriage legislation.

They also promote gender equality and were involved in organizing a Muslim prayer session in which the prayers were led by woman.

They have also been critical of Islamic fundamentalism and urged the government to ban donations to Canadian religious institutions from abroad, arguing that doing so will curb extremism.

In 2007, the MCC came out against a Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint made by several youths associated with the Canadian Islamic Congress against Maclean's Magazine for publishing an allegedly Islamophobic column by Mark Steyn saying that; "The reaction of the CIC has only given credence to his premise - that Muslims in the West cannot accept the values of individual freedom, a free press and the right to offend!"

Earlier that year, the MCC came out against a proposal by John Tory and the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party to publicly fund faith-based schools accusing the Tories of "pandering to clerics."

The MCC has also been outspoken on the issue of women wearing the hijab saying "It is not a requirement of Islam that Muslim women stay covered completely" and that women should be assured that not wearing the hijab is not a sin. (The MCC is associated with the Progressive Muslim Union of North America.)

Then we have "The Canadian Islamic Congress" (CIC) which refers to itself as Canada's largest national non-profit and wholly independent Islamic organization without affiliation to any foreign group, body, or government and says it represents -- Sunni and Shi'a, men and women, youth and seniors. (Wikipedia)

It has been described as "conservative and traditional" in outlook, particularly when compared to two liberal Muslim groups, the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) and the Canadian Muslim Union. (CMU)

The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) supported recommendations by Marion Boyd that the government of Ontario permit sharia tribunals to which Muslims could voluntarily submit civil disputes and whose findings would then have legal weight under the Arbitration Act.

The proposal was opposed by the Muslim Canadian Congress, (MCC) the Canadian Council of Muslim Women and non-Muslim women's groups.

(The provincial government ended up rejecting the proposal and scrapping existing religious arbitration tribunals for Jews and Christians in the process.)

The CIC raised controversy when CIC President Elmasry wrote that Canadian Muslims; "Should not to make a cause of publicly deriding their religion, badmouthing the Prophet, ridiculing the Qur'an and mounting uninformed crusades to smear their Islamic Law, the Shariah."

In the aftermath, the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) demanded that the CIC apologize for "false" accusations that those who criticize sharia are "smearing Islam, ridiculing the Koran and badmouthing Muhammad."

The MCC stated that CIC President Elmasry accused the group of blasphemy, a crime that carries the death sentence in several Islamic countries, leading some MCC members to fear they will be arrested if they travel to certain Islamic countries...."

Arif Raza, MCC's lawyer wrote that "Your [Elmasry's] false and utterly irresponsible accusations of blasphemy have exposed these active, dynamic and prominent members of the Canadian Muslim community and their families to enormously dangerous consequences" and that "you [Elmasry] have defamed their good reputation and exposed them to ridicule and hatred within their own communities in Canada."

Elmasry responded by stating that Islam has no punishment for denouncing the religion, its holy book or the Prophet Mohammad. (Tell that to any Islamic Fundamentalist)

He dismissed as "nonsense" the notion that his words could be construed as a death sentence.

Unfortunately, Elmasry is incapable of grasping what freedom means -- he is on public record for insisting all adult Israelis are legitimate targets for Palestinian suicide bombers, only apologizing under duress -- since he comes from a culture where freedom is mostly non-existent.

Freedom comes with cost, and the cost of freedom of expression enshrined in Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms is finding someone occasionally offended, yet this cannot be the basis for bridging or censoring the most fundamental right of an open society.

Also, since 9/11 it is transparently clear the assault against the West by Islamists is not limited to indiscriminate violence or the curtailing of freedom of expression!

Islamists are also "using our own legal system as a weapon against us" as Professor John Yoo at the law faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, recently noted.

The case brought to the Federal and Provincial (Ontario and British Columbia) Human Rights Commissions against Maclean's magazine for publishing Mark Steyn's essay on "The future belonging to Islam, a growing faith;" Is an example of "lawfare" being used to undermine the fundamental values of liberal democracy.

It was launched by Mohamed Elmasry and the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC).

On top of this the CIC has been outspoken in its criticism of a perceived increase in Islamophobia since the September 11, 2001 attacks. (I wonder why? -ED.)

It has accused governments and school boards of failing to address harassment and discrimination against Muslims and Arabs and has called for the province of Ontario to launch a public inquiry.

At a press conference at Queen's Park, CIC official Wahida Valiante said that "Islamophobia does exist and it's growing." and that "since 9/11, there has been no effort on behalf of the Ontario government, including the Ministry of Education, to have a comprehensive policy to address the growing isolation and marginalization of Muslim and Arab youth."

Well, let me tell you something folks.......... it's not up to the Government to "have a comprehensive policy to address the growing isolation and marginalization of Muslim and Arab youth!" Rather it is up to the CIC and any other Muslim organization to publicly denounce any and all acts of terrorism and religious fanaticism!

Islam has a hell of a public relations problem in the West and an "Us versus Them" attitude by ANY Muslim group will not help the matter!

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Killing of Non-Muslim's is O.K.

It's Sunday and you're in Church. Doesn't matter whether it's Catholic, Anglican, Protestant, Baptist, Mormon or Jehovah's Witness. The Priest, Minister, Deacon or whatever comes up to the pulpit and starts to give his sermon.

The First thing he says is that Muslims don't accept God and it is O.K. to kill them!

That, my friends, is what the article the other day was all about when I said that Islam is not at fault for atrocities by Muslims, but rather the Imam's, Mullahs, Ayatollahs and the Madrases Schools were the true culprits of Islamic extremism for what they taught the masses.

(Naturally if you're an un-educated Muslim teenager with no real knowledge of the outside world, or even a middle-class, jaded and disenchanted Muslim, you're going to listen to him and believe everything he says!)

This is an interview on British TV with a radical Mullah and believe me when I say that for this interview he has toned-down the rhetoric compared to what he says in the Mosque when no outsiders are present!



(Note! Muhammad originally wanted all Muslims to pray twelve (12) times a day but a few of his buddies talked him down to five (5) times! Rather a shame really, since if the radicals WERE all praying twelve times a day, it would afford them less time to get into mischief!!)

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Teach the Bible in Schools…Please!

Since this issue hasn’t gone away yet, I just wanted to register my opinion that the Bible should be taught in public schools.

I’d love that.

In fact, just to help facilitate this, I thought I’d do a favor to any local school board weighing the issue and come up with a course curriculum for them.

The History of the Bible - Course Curriculum:

First quarter: Students will study the historic context of the old testament, including slavery, the inferiority of women, etc., and develop an understanding of how these social attitudes are mirrored by the main character, God, in his rules regarding exactly how slaves should be treated and how best to own your women. Exercises will include female students shutting up and baking pies for the male students, while male students create a deity and decide whether or not that deity approves of the pre-established pie-baking and shutting-up system.

Second quarter: Students will study the historic context of the new testament, including reviewing the history of the gospels; namely the men who wrote them and how they could have done so having never knew Jesus. Discussion will include an exercise known as the “telephone game”.

Third quarter: Students will study the creation of the modern-day bible by the Roman Empire. Topics will include the merging of Christian holidays with Pagan traditions and other marketing techniques employed in the selling of Christianity to the empire’s subjects, as well as a lesson on the books that the Romans omitted from the bible because they didn’t fit with the rest. Discussion will include students presenting ideas on how the Romans might have decided for God which books were His word and which were fiction, as well as ideas on what the Roman’s previous god Saturn might have thought about this process.

Fourth quarter: Students will study the various translations of the bible and learn to draw relationships between the results of translation and the goals of the translators. Discussion will include a review of substantial differences in various translations and students will compare key passages and how they appear in the Hebrew, King James, Good News, Esperanto and Klingon versions of the bible.

Goal: Students will come away from this class with the understanding that the Bible was never handed down to man from the ether, but rather a collection of books written by men, edited by other men, translated by more men and interpreted by even more men, with vastly divergent results and agenda's.

For their final exam they will be asked to write three page essay on why a flawless and perfect being might choose such a retarded method for communicating such important ideas when such direct methods as sky-writing and speaking through flaming shrubbery would be readily available.

(Of course we can also extend the same religious instructions to the followers of the Koran, and especially to the Madrasa of Pakistan and other parts of the Middle-East!

Madrasas provide free religious education, boarding and lodging and are essentially schools for the poor. Over one and a half million children attend madrasas.

These seminaries run on public philanthropy and produce indoctrinated clergymen of various Muslim sects. Some sections of the more orthodox Muslim sects have been radicalised by state sponsored exposure to jihad, first in Afghanistan, then in Kashmir.

However, the Madrasa problem goes beyond militancy. Students at more than 10,000 seminaries are being trained in theory, for service in the religious sector. But their constrained worldview, lack of modern civic education and poverty make them a destabilising factor in Pakistani society.

For all these reasons, they are also susceptible to romantic notions of sectarian and international jihads, which promise instant salvation.)

Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com

Visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Top Islamic Cleric says women without veils must die!

In the name of Islam countless Muslim fanatics use any and every opportunity to stage violent protests, issue death threaths, destroy property, murder, and commit other acts of terrorism.

They go nuts (yes, nuts) over cartoons and teddy bears, while they generally keep quiet over acts of terrorism and other human rights violations commited by fellow members of their so-called Jihad.’(Jihad bis Saif)

A top Muslim cleric in Iran, Hojatolislam Gholam Reza Hassani was quoted on Wednesday as saying; “Women who do not respect the hijab and their husbands deserve to die!”

Hassani leads Friday prayers in the city of Urumieh, in Iranian Azerbaijan. He is the representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for Eastern Azerbaijan.

“I do not understand how these women who do not respect the hijab, 28 years after the birth of the Islamic Republic, are still alive,” he said.

Hassani’s statements came after two Kurdish feminists in Iran were accused of being members of an armed rebel group and of carrying out subversive activities threatening the security of the state.

It is believed that his statements and the arrests could spark a fresh crackdown on women who do not repect the Islamic dress code in Iran.

Thousands of women in Iran have already been warned this year for their “un-Islamic dress” such as wearing tight, short coats and skimpy headscarves and the hubris of these mysogynist pigs is almost without bounds or shame.

I keep saying that only education will fix these attitudes in the Middle East and elsewhere but I am also starting to think that some of these people need to be sent to an out of the way island somewhere so they can do no more harm.

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at http://www.god-101.com/ and visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Why one Muslim girl became a born-again virgin!

Guest Post by Diana Appleyard

The Daily Mail, UK

When Aisha Salim marries her fiance in Pakistan next March, it will be the wedding of her dreams.

Wearing a veil and gown, she will be every inch the fairytale virgin bride and as befits her strict Muslim religion, after the ceremony, she will hand her blooded wedding-night sheets to her in-laws as proof of her virginity.

But far from being the traditional untouched bride that many Muslim families demand, she is a modern-day university graduate who has smoked, drunk, made love to - and even lived with - a previous English boyfriend.

To disguise the fact that she has had sex, she has paid for painful surgery to “restore” her virginity.

Aisha, like many Muslim women. has taken pains to ‘restore’ her chastity. It is a drastic and costly measure but as she takes her husband’s hand in marriage, she knows it is one which may - quite literally - save her life.

The horror and outrage that would ensue if it was discovered she had already slept with a man would be so damning that her own strictly religious relatives might kill her rather than face public shame.

“My virginity was restored in a delicate operation just last week, and I honestly view it as life-saving surgery,” says Aisha.

“If my husband cannot prove to his family that I am a virgin, I would be hounded, ostracised and sent home in disgrace. My father, who is a devout Muslim, would regard it as the ultimate shame.

“The entire family could be cast out from the friends and society they hold dear, and I honestly believe that one of my fanatically religious cousins or uncles might kill me in revenge, to purge them of my sins. Incredible as it may seem, honour killings are still accepted within our religion."

“Ever since my family arranged this marriage for me, I’ve been terrified that, on my wedding night, my secret would come out. It has only been since my surgery last week that I’ve actually been able to sleep properly. Now, I can look forward to my marriage.”

Aisha is far from alone in seeking such drastic - and almost barbaric - surgery.

The rise in Islamic fundamentalism is being blamed for the growing trend for hymenoplasties, where the hymen is re-created from the already torn tissue, or a new membrane is inserted using a gelatine-like substance.

In some cases, the vaginal lining can also be used to create a “false” hymen. A blood capsule can be inserted into the lining to ensure realistic blood flow when the false hymen is broken.

Twenty-four women in the UK had the procedure on the NHS between 2005 and 2006, but it is thought that hundreds or even thousands more - Aisha included - have plundered their savings to pay up to $10,000 to have private surgery.

Aisha’s story illustrates the intense pressures on young British Asian women caught between the strict moral code of their own community and the laxer, permissive attitudes of their white contemporaries.

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and visit the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Aqsa

Over the course of the last fifty years Canada has become one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world and the City of Toronto is far and away THE most social, cultural, ethnic, racial and religiously diverse city on the planet.

We get people from all over the world coming here to start a new life for themselves and the only thing that is asked of them is that they leave their old religious and cultural hang-ups behind.

No, we are not the great "Melting Pot" that the United states is, we are instead more of a soup that uses all the ingredients from the many immigrants who come here to flavour the Canadian mentality with it's distinctive character.

Gone are the days when each culture kept to themselves and did not intermingle with other groups and beliefs.

Now all that is required of our new arrivals is a basic respect for Canadian institutions and rule of law.

Several years ago there was a concerted effort by Muslims to implement "Sharia Law" into the fabric of Canadian Society and thank God for cool heads who rejected this attempt at changing the face of Canada and it's legal system.

Accommodation's can and are made for cultural and religious practices, but only in the context of fitting in with the generally accepted parameters of what it considered the "Canadian Norm!"

In other words, we don't like first generation immigrants trying to change what "was" and "is" into what they believe it "should be!"

The reason for this will be explained in a little story I am about to tell you.

Aqsa Parvez came over to Canada from the Middle-East with her family and is a second generation Canadian.

Her father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, is a first generation immigrant who still holds the customs and beliefs of his home country dear and "religiously" follows them at home and in the community.

Aqsa Parvez's friends told authorities that the teen had been having arguments with her father because he allegedly wanted her to wear a traditional Hijab. >(Head Cover)

"She kinda wanted to go a different way from the way her family wanted her to go," said one friend. They also said that she wanted to escape the family conflict by running away.

All this came to a head yesterday afternoon when her father caught her walking around the neighborhood without her Hijab on and dragged her home with him.

We are not sure what happened next, but when it was all over Aqsa lay dying on the kitchen floor.

It's safe to say that she will be buried wearing her Hijab!

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Belgian doesn't waffle!

A Belgian anesthetist has filed a complaint against a Muslim who blocked him from entering the operating theatre where his wife was to undergo emergency surgery.

The woman was operated with the male doctor shouting instructions from a hallway to a female nurse

Doctor Philippe Becx from Bree, Belgium, was called to the hospital in the middle of the night because a woman had to undergo an emergeny caesarean section.

However, her husband blocked the door and demanded a female anesthetist. The latter was unavailable.

After a two-hour discussion proved fruitless, an imam was summoned. The imam permitted the doctor to apply an epidural injection, but only if the woman was fully covered with only a small area of skin showing.

During the surgery itself, performed by a female gynecologist, the anesthetist was to remain in the hallway. Through a door that was slightly ajar, he shouted instructions to a nurse who was monitoring the anesthesia.

According the hospital’s directors, the doctor acted with ‘admirable understanding.’ He would have been in his right to have the man removed by police.

The anesthetist has now filed a complaint with an investigate judge, charging that he was hindered in fulfilling his fuctions, and that he was discrimanated against since he was not allowed to do his job merely because he is a man.

The doctor further claims moral damage, since he could not fulfill his medical duties while he would still be liable should any complications have occured.

The Belgian organization of anesthetists says there have been other incidents between Muslims and male doctors. The organization demands clear guidelines from the government. “Tolerance is nice, but it may not jeopardize safety,” says chairman René Heylen.

The Muslim is also charged with endangering the lives of his wife and child.

The caesarean section was succesful, and mother and child are doing fine.

Click HERE

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Turkey: Radical Islamists Call For Destruction Of Israel!

Thousands Of radical Islamists in Istanbul call for Jihad and the destruction Of Israel over the weekend.

This from a country that is trying to get into the E.U. (European Union)

The International Quds (Jerusalem) Meeting convened in Istanbul Saturday and called for armed struggle until Jerusalem is ‘liberated.’

Representatives of all Islamic countries, as well as organizations such as Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad and Jamaat-i Islamia are attending the giant meeting.

Speeches of condemnation of Israel and determination to continue the armed struggle until Israel is eliminated were interrupted by loud calls of “Allah-u Akbar.” (God is great!)

Turkey is a country that is 90% Muslim and 90% in Asia, not Europe, so why are member countries even toying with the idea of letting them in to the European Union?

It would make a lot more sense to integrate Russia into the E.U. and NATO.

This might curb some of their more bellicose actions and smooth relations by converting an adversary into a willing partner.

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Let's show a bit of maturity and tolerance!

What's wrong with this picture?

About the same thing that's wrong with the picture further down!

Both of these pictures take unnecessary cheap shots a people's religion and is a sign of disrespect for other people's beliefs.

Now don't get me wrong, I have run down religion quite a lot on this blog, but, it has always been about something that is wrong or perverted about a belief system, not the religion itself.

When people publish pictures like these it reduces us to the lowest common denominator. In other words, this sort of action is no better than the people they are trying to denigrate.

For example, I have made quite a few comments about Muslim Fundamentalists and Extremists and will continue to do so because I believe that these people are as misguided and delusional as some of the Christian Fundamentalists who infest North America.

There is no place for these "Children of God" in modern society and they have to be ostracized in one way or another, otherwise they will continue to infect others with their crazy ideas.

Muslim Extremists like Osama Bin Laden hate not only "Western" society, but all "Modern" society in general because they like things the way they were in the twelfth century and anyone who disagrees with them is an "infidel."

The same can be said for the Christian Extremists who are still fighting a war with Charles Darwin and Scientists in general because it doesn't conform with their interpretation of a two thousand year old document.

I really don't have any ideas about how to address and contain these wayward souls except by possibly trying to educate them. After all we can't just eradicate them because then we would be no better.

Until human society as a whole is more tolerant, and everyone has a chance to learn the reality of this world and not just the delusional rantings of a religious shaman I am afraid that we are going to continue to have a rough time of it!

(That is why documentaries like "The Day the Universe Changed" are so refreshing to watch because it reminds us that a lot of us are taking a reasoned and enlightened approach to the world in general!)

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com

Multi-culturalism running wild!

In a follow-up to the article below teachers at a primary school in Britain have been ordered to dress up as Muslims to promote multi-culturalism.

The West Midlands school is belatedly celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid and told its pupils and teachers to don traditional Muslim dress for the day.

All 257 pupils, most of whom are Christians, and 41 teachers - two of whom are Muslims - dressed up.

Teachers were told to dress as Muslims to promote diversity at a primary school

A morning assembly was held to mark the event and an afternoon party was strictly for women only, because Muslim husbands object to wives mixing with other men.

Sally Bloomer, head of Rufford primary school in Lye, West Midlands, told The Sun: “I have not heard of any complaints. It’s all part of a diversity project to promote multi-culturalism.”

But a relative of one of the staff reportedly said: “Who would put their job on the line? They have been told they have to embrace the day to show their diversity.

But they are not all happy.”

Allan W Janssen is the author of The Plain Truth About God at www.God-101.com and the blog "Perspective" at http://God-101.blogspot.com