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Islam in America 
By M. Irtaza 
  
[1:1] In the name of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
 [2:62] Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the
 Christians, and the converts; anyone who (1) believes in GOD, and (2)
 believes in the Last Day, and (3) leads a righteous life, will
 receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear,
 nor will they grieve.
 
 Peace be upon you Mike,
 
 
 "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to
 become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be
 the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted
 religion on Earth."
 
 
 I agree with you that the above statement is one of the most anti-
 Islamic, arrogant, bullying statement made in behalf of Islam.
 
 According to the Quran, the faith of Islam or Submission cannot be
 imposed forcibly upon a person or a nation.
 
 [2:256] There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is
 now distinct from the wrong way. Anyone who denounces the devil and
 believes in GOD has grasped the strongest bond; one that never
 breaks. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.
 
 
 The Arabic word "Islam" simply means Submission (to the will of
 God). The concept of Islam can easily be derived from this verse of
 the Quran (42:13)
 
 [42:13] He decreed for you the same religion decreed for Noah, and
 what we inspired to you (Mohammad) , and what we decreed for Abraham,
 Moses, and Jesus: "You shall uphold this one religion, and do not
 divide it." The idol worshipers will greatly resent what you invite
 them to do. GOD redeems to Himself whomever He wills; He guides to
 Himself only those who totally submit.
 
 The word "Muslim" is an Arabic word which simply means Submitter to
 God Alone. Anyone who submits to the will of God is Muslim in the
 Quranic context. According to the Quran, a righteous Jew, a righteous
 Christian, a righteous Muslim or any righteous person is Muslim in
 the eye of God(2:62, 5:69).
 
 [2:62] Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the
 Christians, and the converts; anyone who (1) believes in GOD, and (2)
 believes in the Last Day, and (3) leads a righteous life, will
 receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear,
 nor will they grieve.
 
 The above Quranic verses, along with numerous other verses, confirm
 the truth that as far as God is concerned, there has always been one
 religion Islam, which was decreed for Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and
 Mohammad. All the scriptures revealed to mankind from God advocate
 one and the same religion. This religion God calls Submission or in
 Arabic Islam. It is a mistaken concept among Muslim and non-Muslim
 alike that Islam was founded by Mohammad, who was happened to be an
 Arab. Satan successfully duped majority of people on earth including
 majority of ignorant Muslims by making them believe that Islam is an
 Arabian religion or a religion of Mohammad!
 
 Submission to God as a religion is also described as Monotheism (in
 Arabic Hanifeyah) (3:67, 6:79, 10:105, 98:5) The principal command
 from God in all scripture is to worship God Alone, devoting all the
 religious practices to Him and rejecting all other idols
 (example:Jesus, Mohammad, Mary, Ali, St. Judah, Pope, Priest and so
 on)
 
 Old Testament: "You shall have no other gods besides Me" (Exodus
 20:3)
 New Testament: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only
 you shall serve." (Luke 4:8)
 Final Testament: "You shall know that: "There is no other god
 beside God." (Quran 47:19)
 
 Submission to God (in Arabic Allah) is the religion whereby we
 recognize God's absolute authority, and reach an unshakable
 conviction that God alone posses all power; no other idol possesses
 any power that is independent of God. The above Quranic verse (42:13)
 confirms that the religion that was revealed to Mohammad through the
 Final Testament (Quran) is not different from what was given to the
 previous prophets.
 
 The Quran is the final message of God to all the people, not just
 Muslims or Arabs. The Quran has message for Jews, Christians, idol-
 worshipers, Arabs, Muslims, atheist, and for all the people on earth.
 One of the messages about righteous Jews or Christians is stated
 above (2:62, 5:69) One of the messages about unrighteous Arabs is
 (9:97).
 
 [9:97] The Arabs are the worst in disbelief and hypocrisy, and the
 most likely to ignore the laws that GOD has revealed to His
 messenger. GOD is Omniscient, Most Wise.
 
 A few hundred years after the death of Moses, the majority of Jews
 fabricated Misnah(hadith) and Gemarrah(sunnah) , which are the
 traditions attributed to their prophet. Misnah and Gemarrah jointly
 called Talmud, is the source of their religious guidance instead of
 the Old Testament or Torah, which is the revealed word of God. Three
 hundred years after the death of Jesus, the so-called Christian
 scholars fabricated the concept of Trinity. The fabrication of
 Trinity is the primary source of belief for the majority of
 Christians today, in defiance of New Testament, which advocates the
 absolute worship of God Alone. History repeats itself! Majority of so-
 called Muslims follow the same path of the majority of so-called Jews
 and so-called Christians! 200 years after the death of Mohammad,
 Bukhari wrote the first book of hadith and attributed it to Mohammad.
 Today, all religious teachings of majority of so-called Muslims comes
 from these man made books of so-called hadith and
 sunnah instead of the Quran!
 
 Killing innocent people is forbidden according to God's teaching
 (6:151). And this is one of God's rulings on righteous Jews(2:62,
 5:69)
 
 [5:69] Surely, those who believe, those who are Jewish, the
 converts, and the Christians; any of them who (1) believe in GOD and
 (2) believe in the Last Day, and (3) lead a righteous life, have
 nothing to fear, nor will they grieve
 
 Mohammad preached the above teaching. But, the following so-called
 hadith attributed to Mohammad promotes hates against Jews and crimes
 against humanity- Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said,"The
 Hour will not be established until you fight with 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." (Vol 4, Book 52, no. 177)!!!
 
 We witness that people adopted man made teachings for their
 religious guidance instead of God's scripture. We witness fighting
 between Catholic and Protestant, Shia and Sunni in the name of their
 so-called man made religions. In any so-called Muslim country, if any
 one preaches Quran based true Islam, he/she might be harassed, or
 oppressed. We witness intolerance or oppression from this kind of so-
 called Muslims right here in the New York city, when another group of
 Muslims performed their Jummah prayer under the leadership of a
 woman. According to the teaching of the Quran, there is no compulsion
 in religion. But, they ignored the teaching of the Quran and acted
 violently against the woman led prayer.
 
 Majority of the western countries believe in the freedom of
 religion, which is one of the Quranic law. Sadly, it is very rare in
 the majority of so-called Muslim countries around the globe who
 follow hadith or hearsay and not the Quran.
 
 The problem is not the Quran and not the Muslim who follow the
 teaching of the Quran. The problem is the politically or culturally
 based man made teachings adopted by the majority of people on earth.
 We need to read, understand and follow the scripture of God, the
 Quran to enjoy the benefit of Jihad. Take the example of flushing the
 Quran down the toilet by some unrighteous soldiers. What should have
 been the role of a true Muslim regarding this matter? A true Muslim
 submits to God Alone and seeks guidance from the Quran. According to
 the Quran(42:37- 43), he should suppress anger and forgive. If he
 cannot do that, an equivalent retribution is suggested in the Quran.
 Now, what would be the equivalent retribution for flushing the Quran
 down the toilet? Is it flushing a Torah or a Gospel down the toilet?
 Certainly not, simply because the soldier cannot be a follower of
 Torah or Gospel but the follower of devil. So, what would be the
 equivalent retribution? Is it staging a
 riot and killing innocent people like some so-called Muslims did?
 Certainly not. So, what is the right thing to do to please God?
 According to the Quran(42:37- 43), they should have decided their
 affairs after due consultation. They should have advocated
 righteousness and forbid evil. This action would have strengthen
 their faith and pleased God. That is called true Jihad. Killing
 innocent people or staging a riot to bring an anarchy is not a Jihad
 but terrorism and would not please God. The soldier who flushed the
 Quran cannot be a righteous Jew or a righteous Christian but a
 follower of devil. Sadly, unrighteous Muslims around the world
 followed the same path of devil, ignored the teaching of the Quran,
 staged a riot, victimized innocent people!
 
 We witness the massacre of Jews in German and Muslims in Bosnia in
 the name of religion. What the suicide bomber does is not a jihad but
 commit a gross injustice by killing himself and innocent people.
 Sadly, on the other hand, when a country takes a retaliation for the
 same by bulldozing the houses or air campaign over the innocent
 people of the other party, that is also gross injustice. Sadly, no
 party cares to follow the laws of God narrated in the scriptures.
 
 Islam is represented by the Quran. Islam is not represented by Bin
 Laden, Saddam Hussain or Saudi King. Islam is not represented by the
 Arab world. It is very unfortunate that the western media still
 labels anything related to Arab world with Islam. They prefer to
 chose the phrase "Islamic militants" instead of "Saudi militant".
 Instead of saying a "radical Iraqi", they prefer to say a "radical
 Islamist". Instead of using the words "troublesome Afghani", they
 prefer to use "troublesome Islamist".
 
 James Carroll recently wrote an article on Billy Graham on June 28,
 2005 in the Boston Globe and appropriately labeled him as
 an "American crusader " instead of a "Christian crusader". It makes
 a lot of sense, because what Billy is preaching is his own agenda.
 Is it fair when we see that the western media label Osama bin Laden
 as a "Islamic militant" rather than a "Saudi militant"? What Osama
 has been doing so far has nothing to do with Islam but upholding his
 own agenda.
 
 It is a big misconception among Muslim and non-Muslim alike that
 Islam is an Arabian religion. Because of such misconception, Billy
 Graham's son and successor Franklin made an irresponsible remark that
 Islam is "very evil and wicked religion"! Bin Laden's irresponsible
 action as well as Franklin's irresponsible remarks bring nothing good
 to our live.
 
 How can some one who does not care to follow the book of God is
 Muslim by faith!? Muslim is not the name of a race, or a nationality
 but a faith. A Muslim can be a Jew, Christian, White, Black, Arab,
 non-Arab, Asian, African, Chinese or Japanese and only God Almighty
 knows who is Muslim.
 
 [28:69] Your Lord knows the innermost thoughts hidden in their
 chests, as well as everything they declare.
 
 Thanks and may God guide us,
 
 M. Irtaza
 
 
 
 
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