May 11th, 2008 by Dr. Shabbir
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-871902797772997781
Video Footage Showing Arab Men And A Child Talking:
The footage is presented without reference to when, who and where, and hence, it hardly deserves any comment. A video like this can be produced only in a studio using some actors. In any case, it looks like a conversation between people not even remotely aware of the Islamic teachings.
Ms Bat Ye’or: The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam
Now, the infidel populations are seeing this war as a genocidal war since as it is described in the Muslim historians of Jihad as well as extremely numerous Christian sources. This war was conducted in great ferocity. Whole cities were given up to massacres, entire populations were deported into slavery or massacred.
Answer: Dear Ma’am, it’s not clear to me which genocidal war you are talking about.
Video Image & Voice:
Sahih Al-Bukhari,
Volume 4 Bk 53 Hadith 386
(The companion of the Prophet and the Second Caliph) Umar sent the Muslims to the great countries to fight the pagans. … When we reached the land of the enemy, the representative of Khosrau (Persia) came out with 40,000 warriors and an interpreter got up saying, “Let one of you talk to me!” Al- Mughira replied…. “Our Prophet, the Messenger of our Lord, has ordered us to fight you till you worship Allah alone or give Jizyah (tribute) and our Prophet has informed us that our Lord says: Whoever amongst us is killed (martyred), shall go to paradise to lead such a luxurious life as he has never seen, and whoever amongst us remains alive, shall become your master.”
Answer: Let’s reflect again on how much credibility a report generated on hearsay, centuries after the exalted Prophet, may have.
We have discussed the true nature of Jizyah in Rebuttal – 9
>>> Jizyah from ‘Jaza’ = Recompense, means War Damages or Reparations 9:29), and not Tribute or Poll Tax.
The Qur’an confirms this by using Kharaj for Tribute in verse 18:94.18:94 They presented a grievance, “O Zul-Qarnain! Gog and Magog are ravaging this land. They keep attacking and commit bloody crimes. May we, then, pay you a regular tribute that you will erect a barrier between us and them?”
9:29 Fight back against those (who keep violating peace treaties and commit aggression 9:1-10 and) who do not believe in God, nor in the Last Day, nor do they prohibit what God and His Messenger have prohibited (including aggression 2:190), nor do they acknowledge the True Religion - among those who were given the scripture, until they pay war reparations in humility. <<<
Had the exalted Prophet and his noble companions violated the Qur’an, they would have lost all credibility before friends and foes alike and the benevolent Islamic Revolution would have stalled instantly.
We may have to repeat a section of Rebuttal - 16 here.
One - Please recall the ‘No Compulsion’ Clause:
2:256 There is absolutely no compulsion or coercion in Religion. The right direction has been made distinct from error…
Two - Freedom of Religion:
3:20 If they argue with you (O Messenger), tell them, “I have submitted to God; I and those who follow me.” Say to the People of the Scripture, and to those who have no Scripture, “Would you submit to God?” If they submit, then they have been guided but if they turn away, then your duty is only to convey the message. God is Seer of His servants.
2:193 So, fight them (who compel) only until there is no more harassment, and Religion may be adopted for the sake of God alone…
Three - Protection of temples and monasteries:
22:39 Permission to fight is granted to those against whom war is wrongfully waged. God is Able to support them.
22:40 …If God had not enabled some people to repel others, Monasteries, Churches, Synagogues, and Masjids, where the Name of God is oft mentioned, would have been destroyed. And God will certainly help those who help Him. God is Mighty, Powerful.
Bat Ye’or: There have been, in fact, Two Big Waves of Jihad. The Arab Waves which started in the seventh century. And in the course of one century only, have Islamized huge territory, mainly Christian territory from Portugal till Armenia, but also Islamized Persia, which was not Christian, mainly Zoroastrian except for Iraq which was mainly Christian in the North and Jewish and Christian in the South.
The Second Wave of Islamization started in the 11th century with the Turkish tribes so all those regions of Eastern Europe: Greece, Anatolia, which is now Turkey which was the seat of the Christian Byzantine Empire and Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania were integrated into the Darul Islam, which is the Land of Islam. So, all the countries around the Mediterranean, which once had been Christian, became the Islamic Empire. This Turkish wave lasted from the 11th century till the 17th century, where the Turkish army were stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683.
Answer: Dear Ma’am, when we go into history, there are always two sides to the story.
The exalted Prophet Muhammad and his noble companions had created a model State for all humanity to behold. The visitors keenly observed the human equity and equality and respect for all human rights. So natural and simple was their life that no ambassador or visitor could tell the Islamic ruler apart from the common men.
In the early Islam, delegates from the two super powers of the time, the Persian and the Roman (& Byzantine) Empires used to regularly visit the Islamic capital Madinah presenting their grievances how their ruling elite persecuted their own subjects. The exalted Prophet, and then his successors wrote to the tyrants that if they did not honor human rights, a popular uprising would take place and their own condition would become dismal like the subjugated masses… The visitors used to embrace Islam for its sheer nobility. (Simon Ockley)
Simon Ockley - History of the Saracen Empire 1823: A rugged, strife-torn and mountaineering people…were suddenly turned into an indomitable Arab force, which achieved a series of splendid victories unparalleled in the history of nations, for in the short space of ninety years that mighty range of Saracenic [Nomad Arabs] conquest embraced a wider extent of territory than Rome had mastered in the course of eight hundred. The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was affected by sheer moral force. It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran….
Let us listen to a couple of more top non-Muslim historians.
Giyani Balbir Singh - Navan Hindustan, 1947: Those who believe Islam was spread by force are fools who neither know the ways of Islam nor the ways of the world.
De Lacy O’Leary - Islam at the Crossroads London 1923: History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.
The Crusades
1095-1270 A D
Serge Trifkovic: The Crusades are not understood in Muslim world today very differently to the way they are understood in the Western academia and in the discourse of the western elite class. Both talk of the Crusades as an aggressive war of conquest by Christian Europe against peaceful innocent Muslims. One may ask however, what were those Muslims doing in the holy land in the first place? Well, what happened is that Muhammad and his successors waged a series of wars of conquest, and in one such onslaught in the fourth decade of the seventh century the holy land Palestine, Israel*was conquered by Muslims. And So when Seljuk Turks started interfering with the ability of Christian pilgrims to go to the holy land to go to Jerusalem. And when their physical safety was no longer guaranteed, the Western Christians acted not only as reconquerers of a land that had been once theirs, they also acted as, quite rightly, one might say, protectors of their holy places. Now a defensive war in the case of the Muslims is even a war of conquest, because they are obligated to spread Islam, because a land that had once been Muslims, in particular, must be reconquered and the Jihad is the rightful name of that war of reconquest so they could never accept the Crusader states in Antiochia and Jerusalem because they were Darul Harb reinstated into Darul Islam, and this is a contemporary aspect of the Isaeli Palestine conflict, of which many Westerners are not fully aware. Exactly the same psychology that prompted Saladdin and others to fight the Crusaders is now motivating Hammas. In both cases, it is not only a matter of the nationalistic desire of Arabs to expel European or Jewish settlers. It is also the Koranic obligation of all good Muslims to make sure that the land once ruled by Muslims will be reverted to their rule.
Answer: Dear Sir, how could you miss the universally recognized fact that the Holy Land is no less holy to Muslims than it is to Jews and Christians? The Qur’an makes it mandatory for Muslims to believe in all Prophets including Moses, Aaron, Jacob, Joseph, Isaac, David, Solomon, all the Tribal Israelite Prophets, John the Baptist (Yahya) and Jesus (our salutes to them all. Beyond the Bible, the Qur’an recognizes David and Solomon as Prophets as well). So, Palestine is the Holy Land for all three great Faiths. Comparing the most chivalrous Saladdin to Hammas is not only an insult to the great Sultan, but also to your own intelligence. He is the man on whom his contemporary foes, the kings of England, France and Germany, shower laurels, and so do countless Western historians in unanimity. How were Muslims treating the Jews and Christians? Let’s listen to some great Western historians. Reconquest: Which nation would not want to regain her lost territory? Why does China want Taiwan? Indeed, Sir, bias blinds all human reasoning.
Dr. William Draper - History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, London 1875: Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race…. To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, may justify the title of a Messenger of God…. The towering personality of Muhammad has left bright and indelible imprints on all mankind…. The man who of all men exercised the greatest influence upon the human race…. During the period of the Caliphs the learned men of the Christians and the Jews were not only held in great esteem but were appointed to posts of great responsibility, and were promoted to the high ranking job in the government….
F. J. C. Hearushaw - The Science of History:
The Christian World came to wage crusades against Muslims but eventually knelt before them to gain knowledge. They were spellbound to see that Muslims were owners of a culture that was far superior to their own. The Dark Ages of Europe were illuminated by nothing but the beacon of Muslim civilization.
James Addison - The Christian Approach to the Moslem:
Despite the growth of antagonism, Moslem rulers seldom made their Christian subjects suffer for the Crusades. When the Saracens finally resumed the full control of Palestine the Christians were given their former status as citizens. The Coptic Church, too had little cause for complaint under Saladin’s strong government, and during the time of the earlier Mameluke sultans who succeeded him, the Copts experienced more enlightened justice than they had hitherto known. The only effect of the Crusaders upon Egyptian Christians was to keep them for a while from pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for as long as the Frank were in charge heretics were forbidden access to the shrines. Not until the Moslem victories could they enjoy their rights as Christians.
Wassalam,
SA
SA