I received an interesting communication by an author who gave his name as John Bull about the issue of Islamic reform. I asked him if he would consent to his communication being used as the basis of a guest post and he agreed and the piece below entitled ‘We need to talk about Islamic ideology’, is the result.
As the editor of this blog I have seen many many reports from the Islamic world and from within the Islamic diaspora, about the depredations and horrors that Islam has brought to humanity. These reports have made me become increasingly pessimistic about whether Islam can be informed either in my lifetime or that of my child’s. However, reform of Islam would be morally preferable to the bloodshed that may very well come in the future between non-Muslims and Muslims if things continue on the same path as they have before. Therefore, we should consider at least what would be needed to reform the ideology of Islam.
The author, John Bull seems to have grasped the fact that in the long term Islam must reform. As he says the vast majority of victims of Islamic violence and oppression are those born into Islam themselves and there are those who can see problems with Islam but cannot leave Islam without being put at risk of being killed. Mr Bull is correct, we need to challenge at every opportunity, the Islamic shariah apostacy law because that is the key to bringing about reform. If people born into Islam no longer fear death for apostacy then they may be more willing to examine critically, as many Christians and Jews have done, those aspects of their scripture that due to advances in human culture, should no longer apply.
‘We need to talk about Islamic ideology’ by John Bull
When considering the statement “Islam is just another religion” please be aware that Islam can most accurately be described as an ideology as it seeks to dominate and control every area of human existence; religious, legal, governmental, military, social and cultural. Islam allows no separation of church and state, it is an ideology that encompasses a religion.
When considering the statement “Mohammad was just another holy man” please be aware that Mohammad led armies, he was a conqueror, he broke peace treaties, he had prisoners of war executed en masse, he had people tortured, he owned and sold slaves, he married a six-year old girl and consummated the marriage when she was nine-years old. Please also be aware that nothing in that statement is in the least bit controversial and is all confirmed in the Islamic holy scriptures.
When considering the statement “The Koran is just another holy book” please consider these verses;
(Quran 8:12); “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”
(Quran 8:67); “It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war until he had made a great slaughter in the land.”
Alternatively look up these (helpfully categorised) verses;
Jihad; Quran 2:191-193, Quran 2:244, Quran 2:216, Quran 3:56, Quran 3:151, Quran 3:169-170, Quran 4:74, Quran 4:76, Quran 4:89, Quran 4:95, Quran 4:104, Quran 5:33, Quran 8:12, Quran 8:15-16, Quran 8:39, Quran 8:57, Quran 8:59-60, Quran 8:65, Quran 8:67, Quran 9:5, Quran 9:14, Quran 9:20, Quran 9:29, Quran 9:30, Quran 9:38-39, Quran 9:41, Quran 9:73, Quran 9:88, Quran 9:111, Quran 9:123, Quran 2:207, Quran 17:16, Quran 17:33, Quran 18:65-81, Quran 19:70-72, Quran 21:44, Quran 25:52, Quran 33:60-62, Quran 47:3-4, Quran 47:35, Quran 48:17, Quran 48:29, Quran 61:4, Quran 61:10-12, Quran 66:9
Torture; Quran 5:33, Quran 9:73, Quran 48:29, Quran 22:19-22, Quran 24:2
Slavery; Quran 33:50, Quran 23:5-6, Quran 4:24, Quran 8:69, Quran 8:71, Quran 24:32, Quran 2:178, Quran 16:75,
Freedom of Expression; Quran 6:93, Quran 33:57, Quran 33:61
Freedom of Religion (Apostasy); Quran 2:217, Quran 4:89, Quran 5:54, Quran 9:11-12, Quran 9:66, Quran 9:73-74, Quran 88:21
Forced conversion to Islam; Quran 2:193, Quran 3:83, Quran 8:38-39, Quran 9:5, Quran 9:11, Quran 9:29,
Homosexual Rights; 7:80-84, Quran 7:81, Quran 26:165-166, Quran 4:16
Women’s Rights; Quran 2:223, Quran 2:228, Quran 2:282, Quran 4:3, Quran 4:11, Quran 4:24, Quran 5:6, Quran 24:31, Quran 33:50, Quran 53:27
This website is very helpful for getting to grips with Islamic doctrine as laid out in the Islamic holy texts; https://thereligionofpeace.com/. So are the videos on YouTube of Dr Bill Warner, Robert Spencer and David Wood. Please see them. Please see www.equalandfree.org for information on how the application of Sharia Law discriminates against women and girls right here in Britain. Look at Pew Research and Chatham House for recent opinion polls.
Islam allows no criticism of a man who had sex with a nine-year old girl. In Islam a woman (her testimony, her inheritance) is worth half that of a man, and gays and those who leave Islam are sentenced to death.
Muslims are people. Islam is an ideology. And it is Muslim people who have suffered far and away the most under the ideology of Islam. In Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, there are regular public beheadings for non-violent crimes such as adultery and being a practising homosexual. Look at the most oppressive and un-free societies on the planet, look at the FGM, look at the fact that over 90% of the victims of Islamic terrorism are fellow Muslims. In order to help Muslims we must help encourage the reform of a belief system they are born into and cannot leave upon pain of death. Needless to say, reforming Islam will also be in the interests of non-Muslims worldwide as well. Islam must be reformed. We must address the Islamic Apostasy Law.
We need to encourage Islam’s reform, modernisation and de-literalisation.
We need to help, celebrate, support and protect those who choose to leave Islam.
Above all else we need to focus on the Islamic Apostasy Law (death for leaving Islam) – we should talk about it constantly, and explain why we consider it unacceptable.
Islam must be reformed and the world needs to help Islam reform. Encouraging Islam’s reform should be the overwhelming priority for all of us. We should raise awareness of Islamic doctrine so that people are clear on the need for reform.
You might find these verses of interest;
Quran (2:223) – “Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will…”
Quran (3:56) – “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”
Quran (4:11) – (Inheritance) “The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females”
Quran (4:3) – “Marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess.”
Quran (4:24) – Also (forbidden are) women already married, except those (captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess. Thus has Allah ordained for you.
Quran (4:34) – “Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.”
Quran (4:89) “if they turn back (from Islam), take (hold) of them and kill them wherever you find them”.
Quran (4:104) – “And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy”
Quran (5:32-33) – “For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah’s Sovereignty), but afterwards lo! many of them became prodigals in the earth. The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom.”
Quran (5:38) – As to the thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime. And Allah is exalted in power.
Quran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them”
Quran (8:60) – “Strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah”
Quran (8:67) – “It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war until he had made a great slaughter in the land…”
Quran (9:5) – “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them.”
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
Quran (9:73-74) “O Prophet (Muhammad)! Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell, – and worst indeed is that destination.
Quran (18:26) – “Allah… makes none to share in His Decision and His Rule”
Quran (24:2) – The [unmarried] woman or [unmarried] man found guilty of sexual intercourse – lash each one of them with a hundred lashes, and do not be taken by pity for them in the religion of Allah, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a group of the believers witness their punishment.
Quran (24:32) – “And marry those among you who are single and those who are fit among your male slaves and your female slaves…”
Sahih Bukhari (6:301) – “[Muhammad] said, ‘Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?’ They replied in the affirmative. He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her intelligence.'”
Sahih Bukhari (11:626) – [Muhammad said:] “I decided to order a man to lead the prayer and then take a flame to burn all those, who had not left their houses for the prayer, burning them alive inside their homes.”
Sahih Bukhari (52:177) – Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. “O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.”
Sahih Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Sahih Bukhari (84:57) – [In the words of] “Allah’s Apostle, ‘Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.'”
Sahih Muslim (1:33) – the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah
Abu Dawud 1:142 – “Do not beat your wife as you beat your slave-girl”
Abu Dawud (14:2526) – jihad will be performed continuously since the day Allah sent me as a prophet until the day the last member of my community will fight with the Dajjal (Antichrist)
Abu Dawud (2142) – “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife.”
Ibn Ishaq/Hisham (484) – “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.'”
Ibn Ishaq (693) – “Then the apostle sent Sa-d b. Zayd al-Ansari, brother of Abdu’l-Ashal with some of the captive women of Banu Qurayza to Najd and he sold them for horses and weapons.”
Ibn Ishaq/Hisham (819) – “…Two singing-girls Fartana and her friend who used to sing satirical songs about the Apostle, so her ordered that they should be killed…”
Ibn Ishaq/Hisham (992): – “Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah.”
Tabari (9:69) – “Killing Unbelievers is a small matter to us” The words of Muhammad, prophet of Islam.
Tabari (Vol 9, Number 1754) – “Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves.”
al-Tirmidhi, Sunan 1:152 – [Muhammad said] “Whoever is found conducting himself in the manner of the people of Lot (homosexuals), kill the doer and the receiver.”
al-Muwatta of Imam Malik (36.18.15) – “The Messenger of Allah said, “If someone changes his religion – then strike off his head.”
