A friend sent me the above clip. I think it was supposed to convince me that Islam really is "compassionate and tolerant" religion. That it really is a "religion of peace". But, as Santa Claus would say around this time of year: "Ho, Ho, Ho". No, no, no, you're not going to convince me that easy!
The clip is of the Saudi Foreign Minister Al Jubeir handling a question which suggests that ISIS draws its inspiration from Islam. No, no, no, ISIS is not Islam, rebuts Al Jubeir.
He proceeds to unload a shovel-load of apologia. It's the sort of stuff that sounds superficially reasonable and persuasive. Problem is, it's pretty much all garbage. It's the sort of garbage that fools the willingly ignorant, those who deeply wish to believe that Islam is a "Religion of Peace". But it's garbage nonetheless.
I'll take Al Jubeir's case one-by-one. (Suggestion: watch the clip first. It's only about 12 minutes).
1. ISIS is no more Islamic than the KKK is Christian.
Not true.
Al Jubeir asks three rhetorical questions:
- "Don't the KKK have crosses?"
- "Don't the KKK do things in the name of religion and of Christ?"
- "Don't KKK think Christ compels them to kill people of African origin?"
The KKK is not a Christian-themed organisation. It took its inspiration from the Freemasons.
They don't "have crosses". They burn crosses. This is something they did at every major meeting. The burned the Cross -- and the swastika too, by the way.
So, Q2, they don't do things in the name of religion and of Christ, because they are not followers of Christ.
So, Q3, they don't think Christ compels them to kill blacks, because they don't believe in Christ. They want to kill blacks because of a perversion of Freemasonry, not a perversion of Christianity.
Ed Condon gives the background to KKK and its connection with Freemasonry in "KKK is not the Christian ISIS".
/Snip:
The Klan... began life in Tennessee as a guerrilla insurgency by former Confederate troops after the Civil War. Its first Imperial Wizard was the famous Confederate cavalry leader, Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Freemason, and the group spent its early years attacking African-American voters and white Republicans across the region. Secrecy, elaborate costumes, and intimidating symbols and ritual became a hallmark of the Klan, and the man who gave them their distinctive character was another former Confederate general, Albert Pike, who served as the Klan’s first Chief Justice.
Pike ... came into the Klan through his position as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry... Pike’s 800-page Masonic catechism, Morals and Dogma, and his time as Grand Commander were major factors in setting the ritual and philosophical tone for the higher degrees of American Freemasonry; it was this experience and authority that had the Klan knocking at his door as they looked to give their ragbag insurgency some ritualistic credibility and intimidating theatrics.A couple of other things: the KKK is a hate group; ISIS is a terrorist group. Different beasts. KKK at its height had far fewer members than ISIS had at its height. Now, KKK is tiny and insignificant. ISIS not so much.
The Klan’s signature calling card, a burning cross, far from being Christian, is an act of Christian sacrilege.
2. "You have your faith and I have mine", quotes Al Jubeir.
Sounds tolerant, right? In fact the verse (Koran 109) in context (context which Muslims are always saying we must take into account in quoting verses), is all about Muhammad rejecting offers from the Jewish Quraish tribe, in Mecca to join in joint worship. Muhammad rejected this early form of interfaith worship and said "you go your way and we'll go ours".
Moreover, this is a Meccan verse, which was later abrogated by a Medinan verse which enjoined the killing of idolaters. (Reference, and scroll down).
3. "Killing one person is like killing the whole of humanity".
This is an oft-quoted passage, to show just how wonderful and tolerant Islam is. Problem is, again, it's quoted out of context. The first bit of context is: it was aimed by Allah to the JEWS, not the Muslims. Second: the very next sentence says to MUSLIMS, if there is some "mischief in the land", such as people trying to hinder the spread of Islam, you must kill them. Not just kill them, but crucify them and then cut off their hands and feet. Wonderful tolerance! Which is never mentioned by the Islam apologists who hope and trust that their audience will suck it all up, which so often they do.
There are plenty of articles explaining this verse and its context. Here's one.
4. The Old Testament says "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth".
What if Jews or Christians acted on that verse? asks Al Jubeir.
Well, the simple fact is this: that for the vast majority of Christians, the Old Testament has been abrogated by the New Testament. Read the New Testament alongside reading the Koran. It's Light and Night. Cheese and Chalk. The NT is full of love and compassion. The Koran is full of hate and spite. As for the OT, both Jews and Christians have done detailed exegesis. They have specifically said "this verse and that passage are no longer relevant". They can do this because the Bible was put together by Humans (mainly men). The Koran, however, is the inerrant "word of GOD", and cannot be subject to exegesis. It cannot be changed, on punishment of death. Change the Koran and you commit blasphemy.
5. Islam preserved Greek knowledge, Aristotle and Socrates.
Western enlightenment wouldn't have happened if not for the preservation of this knowledge by medieval Muslims, claims Al Jubeir. I'm going to allow this for the moment. It's an overblown claim, and in any case is not a claim to creation of knowledge, just to preservation of knowledge from another culture. But still, for the moment, I'll leave it.
Final points:
ISIS is run by Al Baghdadi, a Muslim scholar of some note, with a PhD in Islamic studies, and a recognised Sheikh, that is to say, an acknowledged authority on Islam. Who is Al Jubeir to gainsay him? Al Jubeir who has spent most of his life in the Great Devil, the United States of America.
Al Jubeir represents Saudi Arabia. Let's not forget that Saudi murdered a journalist in Turkey and sent him in bits back to Riyadh. That was their latest duplicity. And this very Foreign Minister was the one who claimed his boss Prince MBS, had nothing to do with it. And we're supposed to take this man seriously? Because he speaks nice English?
The Saudi Constitution is the Koran. Not based on the Koran, or inspired by the Koran. It literally is the Koran. All that Saudi Arabia does -- the stoning of adulterers, the killing of homosexuals, the suppression of women, the funding of Wahhabi fundamentalis madrasas all over the world (where boys learn, not science, but to memorise the Koran), the non-allowing of anyone but Muslims into Mecca, the beheading of errant princesses, all of these things are done because Saudi has the Koran as its Constitution.
Not to mention: judge Islam by what it does around the world, not by the saying of a slickly duplicitous foreign minister in a medieval culture. Across the middle east Christians now hardly exist, when they used to be the only religion apart from Zoroastrians, who've also been destroyed by Islam.
So, no, Mr Al Jubeir, I don't buy your smooth duplicities. I don't buy your apologia. I don't buy your lyiing. And I don't by the "wait and be patient" line. Enough is enough.
