Saturday, December 13, 2014

RESPONSE - "A Message to President Obama from a Former Muslim"


Tony Boyd - @Muhammad… You've discussed many Muslim issues before so for that reason I am wondering if you are aware of the "A Message to President Obama from a former Muslim" video and are you going to blog about it or at least have a discussion about it?

Muhammad Rasheed - No link?

Tony Boyd - Sorry, I just saw it as a video posted to a FB page. Here you go:  [posts link from an article by a ‘Dave Huntwork’ who shares the vid]


Muhammad Rasheed - Thanks. That's the one I clicked on when I Googled it.

Before I even begin, in my experience, some of the people I can count on to know the least about what the religion of Al-Islam is about, are those former "cultural Muslims" ('I'm a Muslim because it's what I found my family doing, not what I deliberately chose for myself'). I see the typical traits of it all in this article.

Give me a minute because my Internet connection is acting funky and it's hard to watch video over here because they drag.

Muhammad Rasheed - Dave Huntwork wrote: "...and fantasies of a heavenly reward of seventy-two virgins."

Right-wing American conservatives invented this, thought it was funny and so kept repeating it, and now they forgot they invented it and people think it belongs to me for no other reason than because they keep hearing it oft-repeated. The only ones who actually believe in the '72 virgin' thing are my non-Muslim ideological enemies, ironically.

Tony Boyd - When I first saw the video I didn't see it on the website. I am more and more skeptical of what I see on the net. So I try not to always take stuff at face value. Basically, I'm seeking either verification, corroboration, or invalidation of what I heard from the video. Or some combination as the case may be.

Muhammad Rasheed - It will be my pleasure.

Muhammad Rasheed - Did you even watch this all the way through, Hype?  It really is typical anti-Islam propaganda with all of the usual talking points.



Brother Rachid - [the full transcripted message] Dear Mr. President,

With all due respect, sir, I must tell you that you are wrong about ISIL.  You say ‘ISIL speaks for no religion.’  I’m a former Muslim. My dad is an imam.  I spent more than twenty years studying Islam.  I hold a bachelors degree in religious studies.  And I’m in the middle of my master’s degree in terrorism studies.   I can tell you, with confidence that ISIL speaks for Islam. 

Allow me to correct you, Mr. President, ISIL is a Muslim organization.  Its name stands for ‘Islamic State.’  So even the name suggests that it is an Islamic movement.  Their leader Abu Bakr Baghderi, holds a PhD in Islamic Studies.  I doubt you know Islam better than he does.  He was a preacher and a religious leader in one of the local mosques in Bagdad.  ISIL’s ten thousand members are all Muslims.  None of them are from any other religion.  They come from different countries, and have one common denominator: Islam.   

They are following Islam’s prophet Muhammad in every detail.  They imitate him by growing their beards, shaving their mustaches, and in the way they dress.  They follow his command in the hadith to differentiate themselves from the infidels by wearing… by wearing their watches on the right instead of the left hand.  They implement sharia in every piece of land they conquer.  They pray five times a day.  They have called for a caliphate, which is a central doctrine in sunni Islam, and they are willing to die for their religion.  They are following the steps of Islam’s prophet Muhammad to the letter.  By the way, if you want to understand ISIL, read The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Hisham.  This is their model for action. 

You think that ISIL does not speak for Islam because they beheaded an American, and they kill those all they consider ‘infidels.’   In the same way, Islam’s prophet Muhammad beheaded in one day between 600 and 900 adult males in a Jewish tribe called Banu Qurayza.  In fact, beheaded is commanded in the Qur’an, in Sura 47 the 4th verse.  It says, “When you meet the unbelievers (in fight) smite at their necks.”  Ironically, this Sura is called “The Sura of Muhammad.”  Killing prisoners is also an order from Allah to Muhammad and to all Muslims.  It says, “It is not for a prophet to have captives of war” and told him to inflict a massacre upon Allah’s enemies in the land (Qur’an 8:67).  And by the way, three of Muhammad’s wives were Jewish girls he kidnapped from his raids upon the religious minorities, just as ISIL is doing today.   

Mr. President I grew up in Morocco, supposedly a moderate country, yet I still learned at a young age to hate the enemies of Allah, especially Jews and Christians.  These are represented today by Israel and the West, especially the “Great Satan” America.  I prayed five times a day, repeating the Al-Fatiha, the first chapter in the Qur’an, asking Allah to lead me not in the way of those who went astray, and those who have the wrath of Allah upon them.  We all knew that it was Jews and Christians.  We have been brainwashed to hate all of you in our sacred texts, in our prayers, in our Friday sermons, and in our educational systems.  We were ready to join any group that one day would fight you and destroy you and make Islam the religion of the whole world as the Qur’an says. 

This is what I, and millions like me, have been taught.  Mr. President this is an irrevocable fact.  Fortunately when I grew up I chose to leave Islam and became a Christian, because I believe that God is love.  Others also left and still every day are leaving Islam and are choosing different paths for there lives.   All of them are suffering today because again, Islam’s prophet Muhammad said, “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”  I left Morocco under persecution; I was fortunate.  Others, throughout the Muslim world, do not have the same opportunity.  They are paying a heavy price, in different ways, in order to get their freedom one day.  I ask you, Mr. President to stop being politically correct, to call things by their names.  ISIL, Al-Qaeda, Booku Haram, Al Shabeb in Somalia, the Taliban, and their sister brand names, are all made in Islam, and unless the Muslim world deals with Islam, and separates religion from state we will never end this cycle.  Until you deal with the root of the problem, we will be just dealing with the symptoms.   
ISIL is just one symptom.  If it disappears other ISILs will be born under different names.   You might ask, “Then why does ISIL kill other Muslims?”  The answer is that they consider them infidels not Muslims.  Did you know that all four schools of Islam agree that if a Muslim stops praying, he should be asked to repent, and if he does not, he should be killed?  Did you know that Muhammad tried to burn his own companions when they stopped coming to prayers?  So anything that qualifies a Muslim to be an infidel can be a reason for killing him, even neglecting to pray.  If Islam is not the problem then why is it that there are millions of Christians in the Middle East and yet none of them has ever blown up themselves to become a martyr, even though they live under the same economy, political circumstances, and even wars.  Why have many Muslims in the west also joined ISIL if Islam is not the reason?   

Why have even new converts to Islam have been terrorists?   

Mr. President, if you really want to fight terrorism, then fight it at the root.  How many Saudi Shias are preaching hatred?  How many Islamic channels are indoctrinating people and teaching them violence from the Qur’an and the hadith?  How many Friday sermons are made against the west, freedom, and democracy?  How many Islamic schools are producing generations of teachers and students who believe in jihad, martyrdom and fighting the infidels? 

And finally, how many websites are funded by governments – your allies – that have sheikhs who issue fatwas against basic human rights?  If you want to fight terrorism start from there.  By the way, I do not give my full name because Islam is a ‘religion of peace.’  I’m known around the whole world as ‘Brother Rachid’ and I implore you to take a stand for international human rights and the future of democracy and speak the truth about the real threat that is facing all of us.   

Best regards, 

Brother Rachid

Muhammad Rasheed - Brother Rachid wrote: “Dear Mr. President, With all due respect, sir, I must tell you that you are wrong about ISIL.  You say ‘ISIL speaks for no religion.’  I’m a former Muslim.”

In my experience it is the former Muslim, the transgressor of faith, who possesses some of the least understanding of what Al-Islam is all about.  The “cultural Muslim” who reluctantly practiced an Islam only because it is what he found his family doing, and in general had to be made to do it, had a surface understanding of the religion at best.   The declaration “I’m a former Muslim” doesn’t automatically come with strong wisdom and insight into the knowledge base. 

Brother Rachid wrote: “My dad is an imam.”

What does that have to do with you?  So your dad cared and took the time to understand the faith to show himself approved in the eyes of his Lord.  He’s the Muslim.  Does that automatically mean you care about it and want to master it at the deepest levels?  Obviously not.

Brother Rachid wrote: “I spent more than twenty years studying Islam.”

Sure you did.  You spent more than twenty years half-assing a faith you never really cared about that you dropped like a hot potato the second you came across something that matched the lifestyle you wanted to live.

Brother Rachid wrote: “I hold a bachelors degree in religious studies.”

I know a lot of people with bachelor degrees.  So?  Does that mean you have a deep insight into the religion of your people, or that is where you were introduced to the faith you picked up later and focused all of your attention towards?

Brother Rachid wrote: “And I’m in the middle of my master’s degree in terrorism studies.”

It must be a piss-poor program then. 

Brother Rachid wrote: “I can tell you, with confidence that ISIL speaks for Islam.  Allow me to correct you, Mr. President, ISIL is a Muslim organization.”

Although composed of primarily self-identifying Muslims, ISIL is a militant organization with a military agenda.  It is not a “Muslim organization” and you can tell that by way of all the high profile actions they have demonstrated under the org’s name being patently un-Islamic.  There are strict battle rules in Islam (that someone who’d been studying Islam for 20 years should be aware of, I would think) and the fact that this militant group doesn’t adhere to a single one of them clearly shows that they uphold the militancy of ISIL over the Islam of the individual members.  ISIL is not a Muslim organization.

Brother Rachid wrote: “Its name stands for ‘Islamic State.’  So even the name suggests that it is an Islamic movement.”

The Christian Knights of the Klu Klux Klan had the word “Christian” in their name.  What am I supposed to infer from that?  That Jesus hates n1ggers? 

Brother Rachid wrote: “Their leader Abu Bakr Baghderi, holds a PhD in Islamic Studies.  I doubt you know Islam better than he does.”

You’re supposed to have a degree in religious studies and working on one in terrorism, but you can’t tell a military organization from a religious one.  I’ll hold the president’s knowledge and ability to learn over both yours and Baghderi’s combined.  

Brother Rachid wrote: “He was a preacher and a religious leader in one of the local mosques in Bagdad.  ISIL’s ten thousand members are all Muslims.  None of them are from any other religion.  They come from different countries, and have one common denominator: Islam.”

It doesn’t mean over much if none of that combined believer knowledge makes its way into any ISIL action items though, does it?  

Brother Rachid wrote: “They are following Islam’s prophet Muhammad in every detail.  They imitate him by growing their beards, shaving their mustaches, and in the way they dress.”

So tell me, Mr. I’ve-Studied-Islam-for-20-Years, if they are indeed following the prophet in “every detail,” how come they are growing beards & trimming mustaches which lends not a jot or tittle towards saving their immortal souls, but are not following the prophet’s examples for Islamic warfare which absolutely will determine the state of their souls?  Cutting facial hair isn’t a sin.  Slaughtering the innocent and especially fellow believers absolutely is a sin. 

 Brother Rachid wrote: “They follow his command in the hadith to differentiate themselves from the infidels by wearing… by wearing their watches on the right instead of the left hand.”

Sure.  Backwards Arabs from 1,500 years ago didn’t have a toilet or electricity, but they made sure to keep their Rolex’s on the fashionably correct wrist.  Do you hear yourself?  lol 

This is the point where I’m confident the president’s aid deleted your email message. 

Brother Rachid wrote: “They  implement sharia in every piece of land they conquer.”

Do they?  Al-Qaeda told them to tone the atrocities down because it was embarrassing.  Let that sink in for a minute.  

Brother Rachid wrote: “They pray five times a day.  They have called for a caliphate, which is a central doctrine in sunni Islam, and they are willing to die for their religion.”

That’s the personal practitioner of Islam part of their individual lives before they even formed the organization.  They were already doing that since they were young.  What does it have to do with ISIL?  Do you still pray to Jesus before you go into your place of employment?  Does that instantly turn 7-11 into a Christian store? 

Just an example since I don’t know where you work because of your advanced secrecy. 

Brother Rachid wrote: “They are following the steps of Islam’s prophet Muhammad to the letter.  By the way, if you want to understand ISIL, read The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Hisham.  This is their model for action.”

[From the introduction to The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Hisham] “It is always extremely difficult to be objective about the life of the founder of a great religion - his personality is inevitably blurred by an aura of the miraculous. Early biographers are preoccupied, not with historical fact, but with glorifying in every way the memory of one they believe to have been a Messenger of God or even God Himself. Consequently, there is a rich accretion of myth and miracle, mysterious portents and heavenly signsof residues from other religious beliefs and traditions, the propaganda, in fact, of an expanding faith. All these will be found in the biography of Muhammad which follows.”

So the obvious absurdities and foolishness that ISIL performs are part of those, right?  That’s why none of their actions find support within the Qur’an?

Brother Rachid wrote: “You think that ISIL does not speak for Islam because they beheaded an American, and they kill those all they consider ‘infidels.’”

I’m sure he thinks it because they attack the innocent unprovoked which is 100% against God’s command for warfare in the Qur’an because as a constitutional scholar from Harvard he has better reading comprehension than you.

Brother Rachid wrote: “In the same way, Islam’s prophet Muhammad beheaded in one day between 600 and 900 adult males in a Jewish tribe called Banu Qurayza.”

The warring soldiers of Banu Qurayza broke their treaty with the Muslims and sided with their sworn enemies in pagan Mecca, and acted again and again to destroy them.  After being given chance after chance to do right they preferred to be the Muslims' enemies. They were beheaded because they were at war and they were the enemy who chose that death.  

Brother Rachid wrote: “In fact, beheaded is commanded in the Qur’an, in Sura 47 the 4th verse.  It says, ‘When you meet the unbelievers (in fight) smite at their necks.’”

A clean death by beheading is a mercy from God during a battle, Rachid.  Perhaps you would prefer instead to be sliced through the arm and partially into a lung?  You must be pretty gangsta.  I would opt for the beheading rather than writhe in agony for hours and hours and hours in the filthy sand until I finally expired from some very horrifying gangrenous infection, but that’s me.

Brother Rachid wrote: “Ironically, this Sura is called ‘The Sura of Muhammad.’”

So?  It’s called that because it mentions the prophet by name in the second verse… one of the few that does.  It is also known as “The Fighting” because of the actual content of the chapter. 

Brother Rachid wrote: “Killing prisoners is also an order from Allah to Muhammad and to all Muslims.  It says, “It is not for a prophet to have captives of war” and told him to inflict a massacre upon Allah’s enemies in the land (Qur’an 8:67).

The Holy Qur’an 8:67-69
67. It is not fitting for a prophet that he should have prisoners of war
until he hath thoroughly subdued the land. Ye look for the temporal
goods of this world; but Allah looketh to the Hereafter: And Allah is
Exalted in might, Wise.

68. Had it not been for a previous ordainment from Allah, a severe
penalty would have reached you for the (ransom) that ye took.

69. But (now) enjoy what ye took in war, lawful and good: but fear Allah:
for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.

By the context, the taking prisoners during the conflict was of economic important and God said that was inappropriate, basically a distraction from the whole point of the conflict, which was to get the enemy to stop fighting so the believers could know peace and focus on their community building.  “Inflicting a massacre” is only the default if you are biased and have a really poor knowledge of the Qur’an.  He commanded the believers to cease fighting should the enemy cease fighting, and allow there to be peace. 

Brother Rachid wrote: “And by the way, three of Muhammad’s wives were Jewish girls he kidnapped from his raids upon the religious minorities, just as ISIL is doing today.”  

Islam was the religious minority of that time.  The Jewish tribes had the backing of the resources of the powerful pagan Meccans that they sold the Muslims out for, remember?     

Brother Rachid wrote: “Mr. President I grew up in Morocco, supposedly a moderate country, yet I still learned at a young age to hate the enemies of Allah, especially Jews and Christians.”

Does Allah say that the People of the Book are His enemies in the Qur’an?  If He considered them His enemies, why would He bid them to call to cultural remembrance His favor onto them in the past, and to remember the covenant they made with His previous messengers? 

Brother Rachid wrote: “These are represented today by Israel and the West…”

Oh?  Do the secular Zionists of modern Israel represent the Jews, or do the actual Jews represent the Jews?


Do the manipulations of US intelligence agencies for the benefit of mega-corporate interests represent Christianity?

Brother Rachid wrote: “…especially the “Great Satan” America.  I prayed five times a day, repeating the Al-Fatiha, the first chapter in the Qur’an, asking Allah to lead me not in the way of those who went astray, and those who have the wrath of Allah upon them.”

Too bad you weren’t sincere in your prayers, chief.  Now nothing will save you.  Tsk.

Brother Rachid wrote: “We all knew that it was Jews and Christians.”

Those who go astray are those who decide to no longer believe in God, and prefer to sow mischief in the earth over good.  Your “20 years of study” consisted of everything BUT Islam, and now you’ve dedicated yourself to preaching foolishness.  

Brother Rachid wrote: “We have been brainwashed to hate all of you in our sacred texts, in our prayers, in our Friday sermons, and in our educational systems.  We were ready to join any group that one day would fight you and destroy you and make Islam the religion of the whole world as the Qur’an says.”

And where does the Qur’an say this?     

Brother Rachid wrote: “This is what I, and millions like me, have been taught.”

It would certainly help explain why the Golden Age of Islam is behind us.  Because the people of today are fools. 

Brother Rachid wrote: “Mr. President this is an irrevocable fact.  Fortunately when I grew up I chose to leave Islam and became a Christian…”

We’ll see how fortunate you feel when you are dangling over the Pit for your transgressions and slander.  Good luck!

Brother Rachid wrote: “…because I believe that God is love.”

God loves, and He is FAR more than merely that.  Do you think you can sum up the Supreme Creator of all reality with your little mind?  

Brother Rachid wrote: “Others also left and still every day are leaving Islam and are choosing different paths for there lives.   All of them are suffering today…”

You think they are suffering now?  Hm.

Brother Rachid wrote: “…because again, Islam’s prophet Muhammad said, ‘Whoever changes his religion, kill him.’”

For one, that’s your first time quoting that, so I guess you must be remembering something you said from an earlier take.  Second God said that there is no compulsion in religion, so honestly… granted you’ve proven honesty to be kind of difficult for you… what are the chances that the prophet of Allah would command the believers to do the opposite of what his Lord said? 

But you studied Islam for 20 years, right?  Interesting.

Brother Rachid wrote: “I left Morocco under persecution; I was fortunate.”

We’ll see how fortunate you’ll turn out.  You yet have opportunity to repent of your transgression and submit to the One who made you.  Will you heed and save your soul or nah?

Brother Rachid wrote: “Others, throughout the Muslim world, do not have the same opportunity.  They are paying a heavy price, in different ways, in order to get their freedom one day.”

Do you think leaving the Path of God is a “freedom?”  You are a fool, and your degrees mean nothing.

Brother Rachid wrote: “I ask you, Mr. President to stop being politically correct, to call things by their names.  ISIL, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabeb in Somalia, the Taliban, and their sister brand names, are all made in Islam…”

Nay, they were made within the terrors inflicted by decades of the west’s interventionist foreign policies and meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations.  Where were these groups in the decades before Zionist colonialism backed by the west’s resources?

Brother Rachid wrote: “…and unless the Muslim world deals with Islam, and separates religion from state we will never end this cycle.  Until you deal with the root of the problem, we will be just dealing with the symptoms.”

In addition to the cessation of the west’s interventionist foreign policies, the Muslim world needs to embrace true Islam again and return to the mindset of the Golden Age when they put God and the thirst for learning before material greed.  The LAST thing they need to do is abandon Islam.

Brother Rachid wrote: “ISIL is just one symptom.”

Indeed.

Brother Rachid wrote: “If it disappears other ISILs will be born under different names.   You might ask, ‘Then why does ISIL kill other Muslims?’  The answer is that they consider them infidels not Muslims.”

And what does God consider them?  If you know that God said that the killing of a Muslim is a great sin, why would you risk that and rely on your own inferior understanding as to whether God would consider this person you plan to kill a Muslim?  Does that sound like Islam?

Brother Rachid wrote: “Did you know that all four schools of Islam agree that if a Muslim stops praying, he should be asked to repent, and if he does not, he should be killed?  Did you know that Muhammad tried to burn his own companions when they stopped coming to prayers?  So anything that qualifies a Muslim to be an infidel can be a reason for killing him, even neglecting to pray.”

lol And what did God say?  If God sais in the Qur’an that the believers are admonished to get back onto the Path, but your mysterious “schools of thought” say, “No admonishment!  KILL THEM!!” which of these should I take as the truth of my Lord, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful?  Not ONCE have I encountered a transgressor of faith who possessed even a rudimentary understanding of Islam, and you are no exception.   

Brother Rachid wrote: “If Islam is not the problem then why is it that there are millions of Christians in the Middle East and yet none of them has ever blown up themselves to become a martyr even though they live under the same economy, political circumstances, and even wars.  Why have many Muslims in the west also joined ISIL if Islam is not the reason?   Why have even new converts to Islam have been terrorists?”   

Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism and How to Stop It by Robert Pape offers a wealth of new knowledge about the origins of suicide terrorism and strategies to stop it. Robert A. Pape and James K. Feldman have examined every suicide terrorist attack worldwide from 1980 to 2009, and the insights they have gleaned from that data fundamentally challenge how we understand the root causes of terrorist campaigns today—and reveal why the War on Terror has been ultimately counterproductive. Through a close analysis of suicide campaigns by Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Israel, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka, the authors provide powerful new evidence that, contrary to popular and dangerously mistaken belief, only a tiny minority of these attacks are motivated solely by religion. Instead, the root cause is foreign military occupation, which triggers secular and religious people alike to carry out suicide attacks. ~Amazon.com; book description

Brother Rachid wrote: “Mr. President, if you really want to fight terrorism, then fight it at the root.  How many Saudi Shias are preaching hatred?”

Does the Qur’an preach hatred?   If a militant Christian organization preaches hatred should I then hate Christianity?  Wouldn’t it make more logical sense to go to the source and find out why there is a discrepancy between what these groups say and do and the informal title “Religion of Peace?”

Brother Rachid wrote: “How many Islamic channels are indoctrinating people and teaching them violence from the Qur’an and the hadith?  How many Friday sermons are made against the west, freedom, and democracy?  How many Islamic schools are producing generations of teachers and students who believe in jihad, martyrdom and fighting the infidels?   

And finally, how many websites are funded by governments – your allies – that have sheikhs who issue fatwas against basic human rights?  If you want to fight terrorism start from there.  By the way, I do not give my full name because Islam is a ‘religion of peace.’  I’m known around the whole world as ‘Brother Rachid’ and I implore you to take a stand for international human rights and the future of democracy and speak the truth about the real threat that is facing all of us.  Best regards,  Brother Rachid”

Your anti-Islam propaganda, with all of the usual talking points, reeks of indoctrination and a lack of critical thinking into what you claimed to study, Rachid.  Stop going around telling everyone you are a “former Muslim” when you’ve so clearly never had any idea what Al-Islam really is.

Tony Boyd - First of all, thanks for taking the time and the effort it took to respond to my request. So one of the main things I got from your response was the ISIL is to Al-Islam what the KKK and to a slightly lesser extent, Westboro Church is to true Christianity?  Also there was a couple sections that I was not totally clear on. One of them was a little hard to find so I will have to bring that up later. But here is the one I did find. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around what the relationship between the kidnapping of Jewish women and whether or not it was supposed to be done or it was okay because there was a shortage of Islamic women...?: Brother Rachid wrote: “And by the way, three of Muhammad’s wives were Jewish girls he kidnapped from his raids upon the religious minorities, just as ISIL is doing today.”

Islam was the religious minority of that time. The Jewish tribes had the backing of the resources of the powerful pagan Meccans that they sold the Muslims out for, remember?

Muhammad Rasheed - Yes, it's a group of militants responding to the war machine, the members of which happen to subscribe to Islam individually. Exactly like the original KKK, they are guerrilla militants fighting against a bigger force using whatever methods they can to secure victory... and they don't care if they violate the tenets of their religion to do it either.

The Westboro Church folk aren't in that category. They function more like those picketing house wives who resented our generation being bussed out to their schools.

Tony Boyd - Sorry I hit the enter button before I was finished with my original post. I included the Westboro Church because of what I feel to be their many un-Christian-like so-called Christian acts.

Muhammad Rasheed - Yeah, but in the case of the terrorist groups, the war part of it is the major factor. The KKK formed and destroyed Reconstruction efforts, led a successful guerrilla terror strike against occupying Northern troops until they withdrew, reclaimed all of their abandoned plantation lands, and pretty much returned us to slavery with the slightly better jim crow/sharecropping package.

Muhammad Rasheed - The KKK was a response to war -- representing a regroup and change of battle tactics designed to rescue their preferred way of life -- that repeated itself on the middle eastern war torn sands of those countries.

Muhammad Rasheed - Also having in common the fact that neither militant group were composed of members who were morally strong enough to live up to high ideal battle tactics of their individual religions.

Tony Boyd - That does shed quite a bit of light. For the many out there looking for an understanding of the why of it all, Brother Rachid's rant gives a lot of easily acceptable explanation. I have come to believe strongly in the concept of there being three sides to every story, yours, mine and the truth. That's why I decided to seek a second, hopefully knowledgeable, opinion.

Tony Boyd - Did you see my question about the kidnapped Jewish women?

Muhammad Rasheed - There's nothing he said in this clip that didn't reflect the same ole GOP FoxNews talking points we've been hearing since 2001, other than the "I'm a former Muslim" part that is supposed to provide an artificial weight.

Muhammad Rasheed - Under Islam's battle rules, you don't kill the innocent non-combatants. So when they took out those tribes, they absorbed the remaining children and women into their own community. Some they enslaved, some they freed, some they married/adopted, depending on the whim of the people involved.

Tony Boyd - So kind of like when some African tribes have been attributed with slavery when it was later considered to be more like indentured servitude and they could earn their freedom?

Muhammad Rasheed - There is no permanent chattel slavery class under Islam. In fact, based on how the Qur'an, the prophet, and the prophet's best friends (who later became the First Four Rashidun Caliphs of Islam), slavery was just an opportunity to help get your soul right by freeing the enslaved. The one slave the prophet ever had he freed, adopted and made his legal heir (tell me again about ISIL following the prophet's example "in detail?"). The wealthiest of his friends would go around freeing slaves every Friday and stuff like that. And the concept of the Golden Rule applied to slaves, too, so most people who cared about their religion found it easier economically just to free them anyway rather than attempt to uphold the old slave system since Islam insisted you clothe them, feed them, and provide for them no different than you would provide for yourself and your children.

In the Qur'an, God says if your slave asks you for permission to enable him to buy his freedom, you are obligated to grant him that opportunity.

Tony Boyd - So what's your theory on how organizations like ISIL and the KKK come to the conclusions they do about their respective religions? How do they decide violence, murder, and their other heinous acts are prescribed for by their religion? My guess is that they decide within themselves what they want it to be and then go about recruiting and brainwashing others into agreeing with their interpretation.

Muhammad Rasheed - Tony Boyd wrote: "So what's your theory on how organizations like ISIL and the KKK come to the conclusions they do about their respective religions? How do they decide violence, murder, and their other heinous acts are prescribed for by their religion?"

They don't. No one thinks about that stuff when they are responding to the war machine. They grab their weapons, have a meeting about the best way to attack, and go do it. During the blood thirst of battle they get ugly and full of hatred based... not on their religions... but on their traditional feelings and hyped up emotions around whoever they are fighting.

Muhammad Rasheed - During the quiet moments in between violent skirmishes is where they attempt to justify the atrocities they committed. "Bah! Those n1ggers aren't really people any way." "Death to the enemies of Allah!" They just make it up so they can sleep at night.

Tony Boyd - Yeah but before they gather for the meeting there is some kind of rallying point, some commonality. Some of those idiots ready to kill and die never had the nerve before they were bolstered by bigger idiots, in my opinion.

Muhammad Rasheed - Tony Boyd wrote: "Yeah but before they gather for the meeting there is some kind of rallying point, some commonality."

In both cases that would be the greater war machine that threatens their way of life by an outside force they have zero respect for.

Tony Boyd - So you're saying the militancy comes before the whitewashing of their actions with religion?

Muhammad Rasheed - Yes, that's 100% my entire point, and why Rachid is wrong.

Muhammad Rasheed - If it were otherwise, then from the beginning ISIL would adhere to the battle rules of Islam. They absolutely do not. Therefore the military aspect of the group is paramount to them, and any "Islam" is a distant after thought/lip service.

Tony Boyd - Okay. I see your point. I guess it seems that the religion came before the militancy to me because by the time I (and maybe its the same for others) hear about the atrocities, they've been whitewashed already.

Muhammad Rasheed - Tony Boyd wrote: "Okay. I see your point. I guess it seems that the religion came before the militancy to me because by the time I (and maybe its the same for others) hear about the atrocities, they've been whitewashed already."

Well, if you simply don't know then these people can say whatever. They SEEM like what you think of when you hear the word "Islam" or "Muslim," right? But if you don't know what Islam is really about... and why would you if that's not your thing?...then they become the face of it. And when ignorant and hateful "former Muslims" echo the same nonsense, for literally the exact same reasons that a Sarah Palin would -- it just reinforces what you thought.

By contrast, even though I am not a Christian I KNOW Christianity. I know what the teachings are, and what makes a Christian and what doesn't make a Christian. And I don't have a problem discerning a "good" one from a "bad" one. So when some atheist jackass wants to slander the entire faith because of what European colonialists did in the distant past, or what some breaking scandal from a modern mega-church pastor did, I know for a fact that he's just talking out of his ass and only thinks he's expressing a truth.

Muhammad Rasheed - Rachid is only presenting it that way because of his narrow-minded, anti-Islam propaganda train. How can you say they are following the prophet in "every detail" and yet know for a fact -- based on his claims of having studied Islam for 20 years -- that they aren't following the prophet's battle field example?

Does "every detail" mean something different now when new Christians say it, or just this retard?

Tony Boyd - Guess he doesn't deal in semantics?

Muhammad Rasheed - lol In Rachid's clip he made a very big show of pointing out that the ISIL members meticulously shape up their facial hair in the very way they felt the prophet did because they wanted to make SURE they followed the prophet's example in "detail."

That's not semantics. That's an attempt at brainwashing the listener.

Muhammad Rasheed - He deliberately wants the president to believe that every single act they commit it following the prophet's example in "detail."

That's the every point of his clip. That Islam is fundamentally evil, and if Obama REALLY wants to solve the "real problem" he's going to have to stamp out Islam itself once and for all.

Tony Boyd - Brainwashing, all too common a tool. The fact that I know that makes me more and more cynical.

Tony Boyd - "That's the every point of his clip. That Islam is fundamentally evil, and if Obama REALLY wants to solve the "real problem" he's going to have to stamp out Islam itself once and for all." - I interpreted it to mean all the "bad" Muslims but I guess I don't think in terms of genocide.

Muhammad Rasheed - Look at it this way:

Being a Muslim is ALLLL about getting into paradise. Everybody knows that. If I'm really following the prophet's example in strict detail, then why wouldn't I do all of the stuff that represented the Good Deeds that would count towards getting into heaven? Why would I waste all that time trimming facial hair but literally ignore the good deed/bad deed part?

Muhammad Rasheed - Tony Boyd wrote: "I interpreted it to mean all the "bad" Muslims but I guess I don't think in terms of genocide."

I don't think he necessarily meant genocide, just a campaign to get rid of the religion itself. The whole point of his message is that Muslims are supposed to follow the prophet's example, and ISIL members are supposed to be doing that, therefore ALL Muslims are ISIL. That we're all terrorist because we subscribe to a fundamentally terrorist religion. That's his point.

Tony Boyd - Hey, it makes sense to me but maybe Brother Rachid was taught from a different Quran?

Muhammad Rasheed - lol

Muhammad Rasheed - Everybody uses the same Qur'an. Every single sect.

Tony Boyd - Ha! I was being facetious suggesting his Qur'an must have been the one with the violence and killing in it.

See Also:

Wait... You Converted to Christianity Because of What the Qur'an Said About Jesus???

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