So,
Can a devout Muslim be an American patriot and a loyal citizen? Consider this:
Theologically, no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.
Scripturally, no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran (Koran).
Geographically, no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.
Socially, no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Politically, no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the great Satan.
Domestically, no, because he is instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34).
Religiously, no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)
Intellectually, no, because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically, no, because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression.
Democracy and Islam cannot co – exist.
Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually, no, because when we declare “one nation under God,” the Christian’s God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as our heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran’s 99 excellent names.
Therefore after much study and deliberation….perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country.
They obviously cannot be both good Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish…it’s still the truth. If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above, perhaps you will share this with your friends.
The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country.
Pass it on Fellow Americans……The religious war is bigger than we know.
Thought-provoking stuff…..Here’s my 2 cents….I’m not sure I want to pass this on….after all, would it not be contrary to all that OUR religions espouse (or even the poem that we have always believed in on the Statue of Liberty) to be intentionally suspicious of ALL Muslims? Muslims have co-existed with us for a long long time before the terrorists struck here. I think there are good guys and bad guys in all religious and non-religious cultures….. and it is all the bad guys we need to worry about, regardless of their religion. As an agnostic, I tend to base some of my reasoning around the concepts of good and evil, which means I would probably most likely evaluate an individual based upon what his or her thoughts and statements contain with respect good or evil, and not based upon that person being a member of any particular group.
To me, another example might be the increasing incidences (or at least knowledge of) of Priest abuse upon children. Though it distresses me, and seems to point to an additional weakening of the ethical base of our society, I would be hard-pressed to condemn or suspect the whole of the religious members for it.
I AM going to pass this to the Expert in our family, as I am interested in his thoughts on it……
Mike
Dad,
Thanks for passing this on to me. Your response was dead-on, as far as how we should treat people as Americans. It really made me happy to know that you feel that way.
I’d recommend passing my response on to as many people that have seen this as possible, as the original forward is filled with inaccurate information. I’m going to take it apart piece by piece.
> Can a devout Muslim be an American patriot and a loyal citizen? Consider
> this:
This question came up in Europe during the Jewish emancipation. It used to be common practice, all over Europe, to automatically put Jews in ghettoes, because they were perceived as not being able to be loyal to the nation, because they were loyal to their god and Jews over other citizens of the nation. They refer to themselves as “the nation Israel” or “the people Israel” long before that nation was created after WWII. I -thought- that we were beyond this, but apparently not.
> Theologically, no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of
> Arabia.
Allah is the Arabic word for “the God.” Al=”the” Lah=”god”. This word is used to contrast against the previous Arabic religions, that worshipped idols and multiple gods. Muslims beleive that they worship the same god that Christians and Jews do.
Allah is no more a moon god than The Judeo-Christian god is a thunder god. (This is where Yahweh originated, historically, BTW.) This statement is attempting to equate Islam to “primitive” religions that worshipped bits of nature.
Ascribing to one of those “primitive” religions, myself, I can only chuckle at this.
The moon and star in Islamic art refers to the nighttime ascension of Muhammad, where he recieved his revelation from god.
> Scripturally, no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam
> and the Quran (Koran).
By this logic, a Christian cannot scriptually be a loyal American, because his allegiance is to the Ten Commandments, Jesus, and the Bible (New Testament and Old). Also, a Jew cannot be a loyal American, because his allegiance is to the Torah (Hebrew Bible), and the Mitzvot (commandments of daily life).
Any scripture-based religion is out at this point, because they do not worship… what? The Constitution?
> Geographically, no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he
> turns in prayer five times a day.
What in the world is geographical allegiance? Again, this would apply to Jews, whose “geographical allegiance” would be to the nation of Israel.
I know that since my home and family live in the United States, I hold geographical allegiance to the United States. I think it’s fairly reasonable to say the same of anyone who makes their home here.
> Socially, no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make
> friends with Christians or Jews.
This is simply wrong. No such forbiddance exists in any of the holy texts of Islam. Jews and Christians are considered fellow “People of the Book” (which is a quote from the Qur’an).
> Politically, no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual
> leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the
> great Satan.
Most sects of Islam do not beleive that the United States is the Great Satan. They are smaller sects of extremists who use the book to their own ends, just like sects of Christians have done throughout history.
Also, not all Muslims submit to a “mullah.” Their societal structure varies from area to area. You’ll find that Arabian Muslims have a very different societal structure than Muslims in Southeast Asia. In fact, only 15% of Muslims are Arabic.
Also, Catholics submit to the Pope. Where do their loyalties lie? Perhaps we should bomb Vatican City.
> Domestically, no, because he is instructed to marry four women and beat
> and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34).
This is a terrible, terrible, mistranslation of the Arabic. This is NOT what it says there. It says, MUCH LIKE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, that multiple wives are permissable, and it is permissable to beat your wife, if she disobeys the husband. There is nothing different in the Qur’an here than in the Torah or the Old Testament (the New Testament does not address multiple wives or wife-beating). The “Rule of Thumb” comes from the Christian idea that it was only okay to strike your wife with a rod that was smaller than the size of your thumb.
> Religiously, no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah
> except Islam (Quran, 2:256)
This is the only correct line in the whole e-mail. But then, we have to ask ourselves, is there a religion that is American? Can we equate giving a religion allegiance to giving our nation allegiance? Our Constitution clearly says no.
No other religion is accepted by Christ, but Christianity. “There is no other way to the Father but through me.” Once again, by the writer’s logic, a Christian cannot hold allegiance to the US.
> Intellectually, no, because he cannot accept the American Constitution
> since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be
> corrupt.
This is a giant pet peeve of mine. The American Constitution, AS QUOTED BY THOSE WHO SIGNED IT, is not based on the Christian Bible. In treaties that were signed at the same time, not to mention the seperation of church and state, the founding fathers made it clear that religion and government had no business mixing.
If this logic were sound, than no one but Christians would have intellectual allegiance to the United States. I take personal affront to this, as a non-Christian and an American.
> Philosophically, no, because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow
> freedom of religion and expression.
Neither do Christianity nor Judaism. The Ten Commandments forbid freedom of religion and expression, actually. So, the Christians and the Jews are anti-American. Looks like the Monotheists get booted out.
> Democracy and Islam cannot co – exist.
> Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Not true at all. Sunni philosophy and law say that the community decide the leaders, the laws, and the policies, within the boundaries of Muhammad’s revelation. They beleive in direct Democracy, unlike the United States, where we practice (and I use the word loosely) Democratic Repuclicanism.
> Spiritually, no, because when we declare “one nation under God,” the
> Christian’s God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as
> our heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran’s 99
> excellent names.
This sentence makes no grammatical sense, first off. What does “spiritual” have to do with “loving and kind” have to do with how god is addressed?
The declaration of “one nation under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance during the McCarthy era. This was done in contrast to those “godless reds.” The same is true of “In God We Trust” on our currency. The phrase itself actually fits quite well into Islamic philosophy.
Also, the Christian’s god has not always been loving and kind. Read the Old Testament. Pillars of salt? Laying waste to your enemies? Plagues of locusts and killing firstborn? (That means that the Christian god mercilessly slaughtered innocent children for the actions of their parents.) The Old Testament, by the way, is an almost-accurate translation (from Hebrew into Greek) of the Torah. That translation was originally called the Septuagint (Greek for Five Books), which alluded to the 5 books of Moses.
> Therefore after much study and deliberation….perhaps we should be very
> suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country.
> They obviously cannot be both good Muslims and good Americans. Call it
> what you wish…it’s still the truth. If you find yourself intellectually
> in agreement with the above, perhaps you will share this with your
> friends.
This is not the truth. This is, at best, a misunderstanding of the most widely-practiced religion in the world. This is, at worst, an attempt to breed fear and hatred in the hearts of those who strive for acceptance and tolerance of those different than ourselves. THAT is what it meanst to be an American.
> The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country.
I would hope that the person who wrote this would go back to his Bible, and his copy of the Constitution, and do a better job of “understanding” what is written there.
> Pass it on Fellow Americans……The religious war is bigger than we know.
There is no religious war. The United States can only be at war with another nation. The United States does not equal Christianity. Christianity is not at war with Islam, nor Judaism, nor Pagans, nor Hindis, nor Buddhists, nor anything else. Christianity, as I understand it, is about helping those less fortunate than you, having strong faith, and following the personal tenets that your god has handed down to you. Funny, that’s exactly what Judaism and Islam are about.
It took me quite a few edits to remove as much anger and frustration as I could from my response.