Questions from a 'Loyal American'

U.S. military spending equals that of all the rest of the countries in the world combined.

Yuram Abdullah Weiler

(TEHRAN Tehran Times) - This person goes on to demand responses to a list of questions on Islam, the answers to which may benefit those still in possession of their faculties.

Are you a follower of Islam?

I am an American convert to Islam. I first visited a masjid (mosque) here in Denver in November of 2003, and I will never forget the warm welcome I received. In the carpeted but otherwise austere masjid, I experienced a calm sense of truth and peace like never before and when I first prostrated on a disc of earth from Karbala, Iraq, I knew Islam was for me. Six months later after much soul-searching and study, I formally accepted Islam by reciting the Shahada, the Islamic creed, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad (S) is the Messenger of Allah”.

Have you read the Quran?

I have read the Quran in both English translations and the original Arabic. When I first read the Quran in English translation, I was struck by the first person narrative; it was as if God Himself was speaking directly to me. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (S) said, “The best of you is the one who learns the Quran and teaches it,” so I continue to study Quran and Arabic each day.

Do you therefore follow the teachings of Shariah law?

A common function of any government is establishing and maintaining order in a society by enforcing laws, using harsh punishments in certain cases. The U.S. leads the world in incarceration, with a privatized, corporate-run for profit prison system that jails 25 percent of the world’s prison population. 67 nations, including the United States, China, Japan, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, imposed the death penalty for specific crimes in 2010.

Islam with its code of law, Shariah, is no different in this respect. A Muslim is obligated to follow Shariah, which is derived from two primary sources: The Quran and the Traditions of the Holy Prophet (S) known as Sunnah. In Islam, the society is based on law and no one, not even the ruler is above it. A true Islamic government is obligated to legislate based on Shariah -- the Quran and Sunnah -- and the judiciary is obliged to pass judgment based on it without regard to the social standing of the litigants.

The Holy Quran says, “O you who believe! Be custodians of justice and witnesses for God, even though against yourselves or your parents or your relatives. Whether a man is rich or poor, God is his greater well-wisher than you. So follow not the behests of lust lest you swerve from justice; and if you prevaricate or avoid (giving evidence), God is cognizant of all you do.” (Surah al-Nisa, 4:135)

Do you believe that an adulterous woman should be stoned to death?

Islam rightly views adultery as a very serious offence that if not dealt with harshly, threatens morality and leads to the development of a corrupt society. Concerning adultery, the Quran says, “Do not even go near adultery. It is an indecent and evil act.” (Surah al-Isra, 17:32)

Adultery is one of six crimes considered to be such a grave threat to the society as to require a fixed penalty known as “hadd” upon conviction. Other crimes in this category include sodomy, defamation, drinking alcohol, theft and robbery. In other cases, the Islamic judge has some discretion in decreeing the penalty which is known as “ta’zir”.

To be convicted, the adulterer must be aware of the prohibition against the unlawful act, be free, an adult, and not coerced. There is no punishment to a woman who is forced to commit adultery; in fact, she must be paid compensation. Adultery can be proven by evidence or confession. The adulterer must confess four times or the act witnessed by four men for a conviction. Punishment for a married adulterer is stoning and for an unmarried man is whipping with 100 lashes.

In contrast to Islam, America has become a nation that views adultery and sexual promiscuity as the norm. Between 1987 and 2002, the percentages of women aged 35 to 39 cohabiting with men outside of marriage doubled from 30 to 61 percent. By housing male and female soldiers in shared quarters, the military encourages promiscuous behavior, with the result that three out of four female American soldiers is sexually harassed and one out of every three is raped. Finally, American-influenced “sexual freedom” is a major factor in the worldwide AIDS epidemic causing 1.5 million deaths each year, second only in number to the Black Death of 1348.

Do you believe that a thief should have his hands cut off?

Like adultery, Islam views theft as a serious crime against the society and if theft is proven by two confessions or two witnesses, the punishment would be to cut four fingers of the right hand of the thief. However, an Islamic court would only issue this ruling in the case of repeated and persistent theft in absence of any mitigating circumstances. For example, if someone steals food during a famine, this punishment would not be executed. Similarly, if an adolescent steals something even repeatedly, he would be disciplined but his hand would not be cut.

The U.S. leads in social inequality of corporate capitalism, in which the top 1 percent of the society has increased their wealth by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007, while the rest saw a decline of over 2 percent. Goldman Sachs, which received more government bailouts than any other investment firm, paid its CEO U.S.$250,000 a day and gave senior employees billions in bonuses for selling worthless securities, causing working people to loose their pensions and homes. What kind of strong message would be sent if one of these capitalist corporate thiefs, properly tried and convicted in an Islamic court, were to have his hand cut?

Do you believe in honor killings?

Islam forbids honor killings and I personally condemn them. Crossing religious and cultural boundaries, the practice of honor killings persists not only in some Islamic countries, but also in many other parts of the world and even in the “civilized” Western countries of Great Britain, Brazil and Sweden. In India, some 5000 women a year are killed on the pretext of insufficient dowries, while in Latin America, so-called crimes of passion are treated lightly.

Do you believe that all Jews should be killed?

Islam does not advocate genocide whereas the European nations colonized the New World on the blood of millions of the Native Peoples, prompting the late American historian Howard Zinn to ask, “Was all this bloodshed and deceit--from Columbus to Cortes, Pizarro, the Puritans -- a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization?” Jews have enjoyed religious freedom throughout the Islamic world. Concerning Andalusian Spain, historian Tim Wallace-Murphy writes, “For the Jews, the Arab invasion was a godsend,” adding, “The Jews not only welcomed the Muslims as saviors but also actively collaborated with the invaders.”

Regarding faithful followers of the other divine religions, the Holy Quran says, “Indeed the faithful, the Jews, the Christians and the Sabaeans -- those of them who have faith in Allah and the Last Day and act righteously -- they shall have their reward with their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.” (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:62)

Do you believe that all non-believers in Islam should be killed?

Islam does not teach this nor do I personally believe this and in fact, Islam teaches that we should be just not only to Muslims but also to the enemies of Islam and even in times of war. The Holy Quran says, “Do not kill anyone whom Allah has forbidden you to kill without a just cause. Whoever is killed unjustly, We have given the heir of that person the right to demand satisfaction or to forgive.” (Surah Bani Israil, 17:33)

Of course, self-defense against enemies and attackers is permitted. One prominent Islamic grand scholar writes that Allah has promised to defend Muslims, which is a promise that assures the existence of Islam until the Day of Resurrection. The Holy Quran says, “To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight) for they have been oppressed and verily Allah is well able to assist them.” (Surah al-Hajj, 22:39)

Do you believe that the destiny of Islam is to take over the world?

All Abrahamic faiths have traditions concerning the eventual establishment of a just world government. Judaism has its Messiah, Christianity has its second coming of Christ (AS) and Islam has its Imam Mahdi (AS). The inception of his rule will occur following a worldwide period of unprecedented lawlessness, injustice and turbulence.

According to Shia Islamic tradition, Imam Mahdi (AS) will appear and institute a worldwide government of truth and justice based on the Quran and Traditions of the Prophet (S) with its seat at the mosque in Kufa, Iraq. Among the features of this worldwide Islamic government will be as follows: The world will be filled with peace and tranquility, wealth will be distributed equally, everyone’s needs will be met, properties will be returned to the rightful owners, envy and deceit will disappear, and all ruins will be rebuilt.

There are large numbers of Islamic citizens living on a starvation diet in your rich countries today. Why don't you feed them?

Feeding the poor and orphans is an obligation in Islam, as commanded by the Holy Quran, “And they feed for the love of God, the poor, the orphans and the captive; we feed you for the sake of God alone. No reward do we desire from you nor thanks.” (Surah al-Insan, 76:8-9)

Excepting Iran, none of the 40-odd countries with Muslim majorities has a political system qualifying as a true Islamic government. Many countries, like Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen, have suffered under corrupt U.S.-supported dictators, some of whom have been ousted in the “Arab Spring”. Others, like Iran and Iraq, have suffered under years of U.S.-imposed economic sanctions which caused upwards of a million deaths in Iraq alone.

Worldwide hunger is caused by a Western corporate-dominated food supply chain resulting in over 9 million deaths annually despite an abundance of food supplies. In America, one out of every four children is born into poverty with one out of every eleven living at less than one-half the poverty level. The U.S., with a political system designed to keep the poor in poverty, has almost 17 million families who are “food insecure”, political gibberish for malnourished.

Your Quran says, "Kill all Jews. Kill all apostates. Kill all non-believers." That does not sound very peaceful to me. Islam is a violent religion and has been for 1400 years.

I can find no verse in the Holy Quran that commands such a thing. Those who bring verses to justify any such act are misguided and will be called to account for their actions by Allah.

In your oil-rich countries, you have about 50% illiteracy. What does that say about Islam?

The poverty and high illiteracy rates in some Middle Eastern countries say very little about Islam but speak volumes about the legacy of European colonialism and now American support of dictators and economic sanctions in the region. Beginning with a CIA military coup in Syria in 1949, a CIA coup in Iran in 1953, supporting a coup by Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party in 1963 in Iraq, through the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the 2001 Afghanistan invasion, the 2003 Iraq invasion and lately the NATO operation in Libya, the U.S. has a long history of creating chaos and disruption in the Middle East. How could these war-torn countries be expected to prosper?

The contributions to science and civilization by Islam are practically non-existent. Islam has contributed practically nothing to modern science.

The above statement is patently false. The Islamic world has always encouraged learning and in fact preserved the scientific knowledge of the ancient Greeks through the European Dark Ages. From 750 to 950 CE, the caliphate in Baghdad supported a massive translation effort of Greek scientific works in to Arabic, without which there would have been no European Renaissance.

Islamic scholarship was the foundation upon which European culture was built. Where would Western civilization be without al-Khwarizmi’s algebra? Al-Battani catalogued 489 stars and accurately calculated the solar year to within minutes. Al-Uqlidisi, a little-known Syrian mathematician, introduced decimal fractions. Other highlights of the contributions of the Islamic world to the West include Avicenna’s medical text, “Cannon”, the astrolabe navigational device, optical quality glass and lens making, and the so-called Gothic arch.

Islam granted women the right to buy and sell property, manage her own money and to inherit, long before the enlightened West, which only did so grudgingly in the 19th century. For example, women did not have the right to own property until 1870 in Great Britain, 1900 in Germany and 1907 in France. Individual states in the U.S. only began passing laws granting married women the right to own property in the 19th century.

To conclude, let us look briefly at some of the contributions of so-called enlightened Western civilization and in particular those of the United States:

War on a massive scale never before seen with over 150 million deaths in the 20th century.

The threat of nuclear war, with over 20000 nuclear warheads stockpiled worldwide.

Nuclear disasters at Fukushima, Tokaimura, Mihama and Tsuruga, Japan; Chernobyl, Ukraine; Kyshtym, former Soviet Union; Three Mile Island, U.S.; Windscale, U.K.; and many others.

The United States is the only nation in the world to have used nuclear weapons in war, with atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing over 150000 people.

The U.S. is awash in 104 million cubic meters of radioactive waste left over from nuclear weapons manufacturing activities.

U.S. military spending equals that of all the rest of the countries in the world combined.

The U.S. operates 11 large nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, while no other country in the world has even one such ship, which is comparable in size and capability.

The U.S. pollutes the environment with over 3 million tons of toxic chemicals each year.

May Allah save us from the perpetrators of these abominations and hasten the arrival of His promised Mahdi (AS) to deliver all humankind from its injustices.

Special thanks to Tehran times

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index.php/opinion/92750-questions-from-a-loyal-american

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