AFTER 9/11, lots of things were said about Islam, some of them contradictory, and many of them by people with believable credentials. My wife and I didn't know what to think, so we started looking into it. We read lots of materials — pro-Islam books, anti-Islam books, and classic Islamic doctrines, like the Quran. We've been on an eight-year learning binge.
We have become disgusted by people whose criticisms of Islam are motivated by bigotry and racism. And we've also became frustrated by people who know nothing about Islam but are so vehemently against the racist bigots that they said and believed foolish things about Islam — things that anyone with even a smattering of knowledge would know is not true.
Islam is an active and vital religion, and it is growing. It is having an increasingly powerful influence on world affairs. And most people in the free world do not even know the most basic facts about it, and yet make the assumption that Islam must be similar to other religions they are familiar with. This widespread assumption could have unexpected consequences because Islam is different than all other religions in many important ways.
My wife and I are not Christians or Buddhists or Jews or Hindus. We are not the members of any religion. I thought this was important to point out. We don't have a religious ax to grind.
The purpose of this site is to begin the education process for non-Muslims who don't know much about Islam but are curious about it. Once your interest has been piqued, your next step is to read the Quran yourself. Fortunately, reading the Quran has been made relatively easy. Learn more about that here: An Easier Way to Read the Quran.
Below is a table of contents for this site. You will find the same table of contents in the upper right sidebar of every page. The pages can be read in any order. Here they are:
Prevent Bigotry and Racism
What Makes Islam So Successful?
An Eight Minute Video About Islam
Islam and Women's Rights
Do You Know Much About Islam?
A Muslim Woman Speaks About Islam
Gentle Jihad
An Easier Way to Read the Quran
Critique of Pure Islam
Criticism of Islam Versus Bigotry
Why Know About Islam?
Do Islamic Texts Encourage Violence?
What is Taqiyya?
Perfectly Legal Jihad
The Allegory of Pleasantville
A Conversation About Islam
A FRIEND of mine, Phil, was in town to promote his new book. We went out to lunch with another friend of ours from this area, Stan, a man who runs a multi-station radio conglomerate. We were talking about this and that when Phil mentioned an experience he had in a church in the Midwest.
Phil goes to church every week. And for awhile the church had speakers from various religions come to speak to them. One week they had a Hindu teacher come speak to the congregation, and the next week it was a Buddhist priest (this is a very open-minded church), and the third week it was a Muslim imam.
Phil said, "I couldn't believe the imam. He scared the old ladies. Every other thing he said was about cutting off someone's head." Phil looked surprised.
Now I hadn't seen either of these guys for awhile and in the meantime I had learned a lot about Islam and I hadn't really talked to many people about what I was learning. I said, "Awhile back I read the Qur'an because I wondered about Islam."
"Wondered?" asked Stan. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I've heard terrorists like Osama bin Laden quoting the Qur'an, talking about the obligation of all Muslims to subjugate the infidel and their responsibility to wage jihad, and then I've heard people like George Bush quoting peaceful passages from the Qur'an and saying Islam is a religion of peace, and I just wanted to know what the real story was. So read the Qur'an cover to cover.
"It's been a real eye-opener," I said. "First of all, the copy I first started reading jumped around and it was hard to follow. Then I found out that the traditional way to print the book — the traditional order of the chapters — is simply from the longest to the shortest chapter. So I found a book (A Simple Koran) that prints it in the order it was actually written, in chronological order, and it is much easier to follow that way."
Stan looked puzzled. He has a curious, inquiring mind. "I wonder why they printed it that way? That seems like an odd order to print a book."
"Yes," I said. "A secretary for one of the caliphs, I think his name was Zayd, decided that's how to arrange the chapters. Even at the time, people criticized his strange arrangement. But he was the secretary and that's the way he wanted it. Now it's just traditional.
"But something is revealed by reading the book in chronological order that I don't think you would see in the traditional chapter order: You see a dramatic change in the kind of revelations Muhammad has over time."
"Muhammad is the main guy, right?"
"Yes, he's the prophet. He's the one who first recited the Qur'an."
"What changed?" Phil asked. "What do you mean?" They were both curious now. They leaned forward, interested.
Glad to be sharing something so important with two people I care about, I said, "The nature of the revelations changed. And the book I read (A Simple Koran) gives you some of the surrounding history too, so you can see why the revelations changed.
"Muhammad originally lived in Mecca and Muslims were a minority. Obviously when he first started, he and his wife were the only Muslims on earth. Everyone else in the city of Mecca already had their own religions. Muhammad went around preaching his new religion and criticizing everyone else's. People didn't like that."
My friends laughed. Of course people didn't like that. "So after about thirteen years of preaching," I went on, "Muhammad had gained 150 converts, but they were still a minority, and the Muslims' relations with leaders of other religions had become increasingly hostile over the years. It was getting pretty hot around there, so Muhammad moved to Medina, where he had some friends.
"And that's when the revelations really started changing," I said. "For the first three-fourths of the book, the revelations were mostly about heaven and hell and how if you are a good Muslim and follow the rules you'll go to heaven and if you don't follow the rules or if you doubt Muhammad is really the Prophet, you'll burn in hell and the only thing you'll have to drink is boiling water, etc.
"But the last fourth of the book is very different. Once Muhammad gets to Medina, his group starts raiding caravans that are going to Mecca."
"Muhammad did that?" Phil and Stan both looked surprised.
"Yes. Muhammad went on some raids himself, and sometimes he just sent some of his Muslim followers on raids. And they would sometimes kill the men and take the women as slaves, and of course take all the valuable goods in the caravan."
Again, both of them looked shocked. Astonished. Surprised. And yet, it looked as if years of accumulated confusion vanished in an instant. Stan said, "So that's where the terrorists got the idea." Stan has a great sense of humor and he was making a joke, and we all laughed, but that's the light bulb I could see go on in these guys' heads.
I went on. "So they started doing pretty well, financially. Muhammad kept a fifth of the booty from the raids and the rest of the Muslim raiders split up the four-fifths. Muhammad started getting more recruits because this was a pretty sweet gig. He started growing an army. And the revelations changed accordingly.
"Up until this time, Muhammad had been trying to get the Christians and Jews to admit that in their own scriptures, Muhammad's coming had been foretold. His arrival was prophesied in their holy books. He was sure of this, and he wanted the Jews and Christians to say so. He wanted them to validate his legitimate prophethood as one of a long line of prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc.) but the Christians and the Jews wouldn't validate him.
"So in the first three-fourths of the Qur'an, the revelations are relatively tolerant of Christians and Jews. He was trying to curry their favor. But once Muhammad had an army, and once he realized they would never acknowledge him as a prophet, his revelations became less and less tolerant, and then they became violent.
"Now here's one of the strangest things," I said. "When the nature of the revelations changed, the Qur'an started accumulating contradictions. It had these tolerant passages earlier and then less tolerant passages later. But the Qur'an itself, conveniently enough, has a passage that tells Muslims what to do about this. In the Qur'an, Allah says, 'If something I say now contradicts something earlier in the Qur'an, the later revelation overwrites the earlier one. The earlier one is null and void, and the newer one is the better one.'
"The bad news is the tolerant passages are earlier and the intolerant, violent passages are later.
"So finally I realized how it was possible to have peaceful quotes and violent quotes, both from the Qur'an. The Qur'an is not like the Christian Bible. It isn't written by different people at different times. There are no vague analogies or symbolic passages given to multiple interpretations. It is written by one man and is very direct, straightforward writing. So how could it contain contradictions? Now I know."
"So, wait a minute." Phil looked concerned. "You're saying the peaceful passages don't count any more?"
"Right. They don't count. They have been overwritten by passages that say things like, 'Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them,' which is a passage from the very last revelation of Muhammad.
"Not only that," I said, my head now swimming with things I've discovered that these guys didn't know, "but they're supposed to follow Muhammad's example. It says in the Qur'an, and says it more than seventy times, that Muslims should follow Muhammad's example. He is the model. He's the one to imitate."
"That's not good," said Stan.
"No, that's not good. Muhammad didn't think well of 'monkery.' He didn't think it was a good thing for devoted religious people to seclude themselves in a monastery. He didn't believe in asceticism. He thought that was the lazy coward's way out. According to Allah, you show your devotion — you demonstrate your faith — in the real world by fighting in jihad, fighting for Allah, doing things you're afraid to do, fighting against the unbelievers, working to make sure all governments follow the law of Allah.
"Muhammad believed anyone could talk a good story or say a good prayer, but jihad is putting your money where your mouth is. Do you really believe? Prove it: Risk your life in combat. If you really believe what the Qur'an says then you know when you die in jihad you will go straight to Paradise without judgment, and all your sins will be instantly forgiven. If you are afraid of fighting, war, or death, it proves your unbelief.
"Fighting jihad is so highly valued by Allah that dying in jihad is the only way to guarantee your passage to heaven. You may have a chance to get into heaven if you do good works and do not sin. But if you die fighting against unbelievers, you are guaranteed passage to heaven."
"Wow," said Stan. They both looked amazed. Stunned, really. These are grown men. They read a lot. Both of them are educated, well-informed, successful people. Both are very bright, intelligent men. And they didn't know any of this.
These guys have known me for a long time, so they trusted what I said. They know I'm not a racist or a bigot, and they know I am not prone to fanatacism and I am not a hater. So they accepted what I said with open minds. And what I told them was accurate, as they assumed. But people who hear about it from someone they don't know well might easily dismiss this kind of information. So I recommend to everyone to just read the Koran themselves. That's really the only way to know for sure.
I'm sure I don't have to remind you that this is deadly serious business. It makes a huge difference what people know about Islam. The Jihadis don't want non-Muslims to be made aware this information (they can go about their Jihadi business with less interference if most people remain ignorant of the political goals of Islam) and they now have an "internet jihad" going on, hacking in and trying to shut down sites that alert people to their plans and methods.
Just the two pieces of information — that later passages overwrite earlier ones and that a good Jihadi will deliberately deceive non-Muslims — is enormously clarifying and damaging to their cause. But they can’t hack into your one-on-one conversations, and that’s really where the rubber meets the road.
So read the Koran and share what you learn. And share articles from this site. Let's have an informed population so we can figure out how to peacefully and effectively protect ourselves from the fundamentalist Muslims without being jerks to the peaceful Muslims. Let's stop listening to everyone's opinions and read the Koran ourselves.
If you'd like to do more, start here: What Can You Do About It?
WHENEVER WE HEAR something unflattering about Islam, most Westerners will tend to hear it through the filter of "racism" or "bigotry," and we have a natural, instinctive desire to protect Muslims from unjustified bias and hatred.
We envision lynchings. We don't want to see racial profiling. We don't want interment camps like the Japanese suffered during WWII. Since we see the criticism as bigotry or racism, we can be reflexively opposed to a perfectly normal and legitimate activity in a free country: Political and religious criticism.
One of our most treasured guaranteed rights is the right to talk about, and even criticize, the doctrines of any political or religious group. The fact that it might be offensive to someone is exactly why free speech has to be protected (if it didn't bother anyone, there would be no need to protect it; read more about that here.)
Hopefully you are not a bigot or a racist, but whether you are or not, Islam is not a race or an ethnic group. There are Muslims of every race. There are more non-Arab Muslims than Arab Muslims.
This racial issue is an important reason for all of us to learn more about Islam as soon as possible. Many people who have already learned about some of Islam's most basic principles want to tell others what they've learned, but they find many people don't want to listen, and they've told me it'll take a dirty nuke going off in Chicago or Paris before people will be willing to listen.
But after a tragedy or a major attack, people are angry and afraid, and decisions under those circumstances aren't always the sanest decisions. In times like those, people can overreact. In times like those, they do things like put Japanese people into internment camps. That was a fear-based, ignorant reaction, and it was bigoted and racist.
We can avoid that kind of overreaction if we talk about Islam now, in calmer times. In other words, talking about Islamic teachings now can help prevent racism and bigotry by making sure everyone understands what Islamic teachings are about, and that Islam is a doctrine, not a race, and not all Muslims follow the doctrine.
If even non-racist people think criticizing Islam is racist, it proves an important point. Namely: It is vital for more people to understand Islam.
To put it another way, if someone thinks criticizing Islam is racist, she is demonstrating that she don't understand what Islam is, and illustrating exactly why we need to talk about it and learn about it, because if someone so strongly against racism thinks Islam has something to do with race, then how are racist people going to react if a nuclear weapon goes off in downtown Houston and kills a million people?
The world needs to know about Islam — needs to know what it is and what it is not — and this needs to happen as quickly as possible.
IT IS A SANE, rational, sensible goal to know more about Islam. Why? Why bother to learn about it when you have no intention of becoming a Muslim? Here are twelve good reasons:
1. Your education will be more well-rounded. Most of us have some knowledge about Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. We've heard quotes by their founders, we know some of what they teach, we know a little of their history, etc. But almost every Westerner is unfamiliar with the most basic teachings of Islam.
2. It is interesting. Do you know, for example, why Osama bin Laden chose September 11th as the day to attack America? Because the last high-water mark of Islam occurred in 1683 on September 11th.
Islam had expanded and conquered for centuries, and was finally stopped at the gates of Vienna when 40,000 soldiers arrived just in time to stop the Muslim siege of the city.
Islam's spread has been repressed by superior military force ever since then. Their dominance has been receding since that day, and almost all Muslims know this, and many resent it. But the new resurgence has set out to finish the goal (worldwide Sharia law), so they chose September 11th to kick off the new era.
Before I started learning about Islam, I didn't know about the gates of Vienna. I didn't know why the Crusades happened. I didn't know why Middle Eastern countries have seemed so dead-set on destroying Israel. I didn't know what the hijacking of planes and the holding of hostages was all about when I was a kid. I have learned so much, and a lot of it has been very interesting.
3. Knowledge can immunize us. Have you ever gotten what looks like an official email from Amazon or PayPal or Gmail, asking you for account information? For those who don't know this kind of thing can happen, they are vulnerable to giving away their personal account information to a criminal.
The email usually says something like, "There has been a problem with your account and we need you to update your account information." And they provide a link. When you follow the link, it looks every bit like the official web site. If you give your information, you just gave it to a scam artist.
If you've heard of the scam, you are immune to it. If you want to check it out just in case, you will not use their link. You will type in "amazon.com" or "paypal.com" into your browser and go check your account to see if anything is really wrong.
With that little bit of knowledge, you avoided a potential catastrophe. Knowledge makes the difference.
It is exactly the same with knowing about Islam. Once you have a pretty good grasp of what's going on, you are less afraid, less paranoid, and less vulnerable to what is called "religious deception" (taqiyya ).
If you don't know about Islam, you will not be able to tell the difference between orthodox and heterodox Muslims, so you will have to either distrust them all (which isn't cool) or trust them all (which would be stupid). Educate yourself and you won't have this dilemma.4. You'll be ahead of your time. In the future, everyone will know about Islam. It is a quickly-growing faith with more and more influence on world affairs. By learning about it now, you will be among the vanguard of a new era.
5. You can help your fellow non-Muslims understand. This is a nice benefit of learning about Islam. Your understanding can help you shed some light and help eliminate the confusion you see in the people you know. It is a valuable service you can provide your fellow citizens.6. Confusing current events will become understandable. Once you learn what's really going on, the scary terrorist events that make you think, "Why are they doing this?!" are suddenly illuminated, and you know exactly why they're doing it.
Learning about Islam makes world events less upsetting. You will no longer feel as exasperated or wonder what is happening to this crazy world. You will finally understand.
Of all the benefits of learning about Islam, this had the most impact on me. Political events that have been happening since I can remember — the hostage situations and hijacked planes and bombings — all seemed so unnecessary and confusing. And you can watch the news all day long and get no clarity whatsoever about why these things are happening and what they all have to do with each other. It's a relief to finally comprehend the bigger picture.
7. Orthodox Muslims are immigrating to Western democracies. From within those democracies, including the one we are living in, some of these super-devout Muslims are setting up terrorist cells right now. Their spokesmen are delivering fiery tirades at mosques in our own country, calling the faithful Muslims to rise up against the infidels (you and me), telling the Muslims in their congregation (called an ummah) it is their holy duty to sabotage the government and establish Sharia law. They are recruiting native-born Westerners into groups working toward these goals, as I'm sure you've seen on the news. And it is becoming more common.
Not all Muslims follow these Islamic teachings (find out what the basic teachings are by clicking here). But some do, and they are in free countries now, preaching hatred. And most Western democracies allow more in all the time. Why? Because most Westerners don't know much about Islam.
8. Some of the orthodox Muslims will relentlessly try to change our laws, from within and from without. They have already done so throughout Europe and parts of the United States. Islam is partly a political ideology. It is the duty of orthodox Muslims to work toward making every government on earth follow Allah's law (Shari'a law).
If Westerners knew what was going on, we would surely find a peaceful way to prevent it. But our ignorance makes their job easy for now, and violence more likely in the future.
9. They are having more children than most of us. There are many ways to wage jihad and establish Sharia law. One is through violence. Another is through sheer reproductive superiority.
Orthodox, extremely devout Muslims are immigrating in large numbers into Western democracies, having as many children as they can, and teaching them to be devout Muslims.
If they are strictly following Islam, Muslims will try to turn any country they live in into an Islamic state, no matter how long it takes. They have to. It is their religious duty to do so, whether they want to or not. The main method many are using in the West is to gain small concessions to Sharia law.
10. The teenage children of heterodox Muslims are vulnerable to being persuaded by terrorist recruiters. Even though many (probably most) of the Muslims who immigrate into Western democracies are heterodox (ignore many Islamic teachings), their children will be vulnerable as the recruiters help these young, idealistic Muslims see through the hypocrisy of their parents' incomplete worship.
The children of Muslims have heard all their lives from everyone in authority that the Quran is a direct message from the Almighty Himself. As teens, if they hear a recruiter tell them what's actually in the Quran, they might be surprised. Being young and idealistic, they may become dedicated to the foundational principles of Islam. The Quran contains clear instructions to work toward the goal of creating a world that follows Sharia law. It is the primary goal of Islam. And it is the primary religious duty — the primary religious practice — of a devout Muslim to strive toward this goal with his money and his life.
The teens will look at their parents and feel disgusted. Their parents — the ones who have told them repeatedly that the Quran is the perfect word of Allah — ignore much of the book.
Plus, we cannot ignore the added benefit of dying while slaying infidels: You go straight to Paradise, and have 72 beautiful wives ready to do your bidding. Critics of Islam did not make that up. What 15 year-old boy wouldn't find a harem of beauties an attractive proposition?
If he reads the Quran, we'll discover the recruiters are right: It says quite clearly he is supposed to fight non-Muslims. He will discover that mainstream Islamic scholars agree that if he dies while killing infidels he will go straight to Paradise without having to be judged, and because he's done such a fine thing, he will be empowered to bring many of his family members to Paradise too.
11. Your vote on this issue is important. If you vote, you are helping to elect representatives and leaders who make legal and political decisions (like what kind of immigration policies we should employ, or whether an imam who encourages his followers to overthrow the government should be charged with sedition). When you understand more about Islam, you will be able to know which leaders have a grasp on this subject and which do not, and vote accordingly.
12. Our survival as a free society is at stake. I know that sounds very dramatic and rabble-rousing, but it is quite literally true. All the different orthodox Islamic groups have a single goal in mind: The establishment of Sharia law in every country. They didn't make this up. They didn't "interpret" their holy book that way. They didn't have to guess. That is what it says, directly and clearly.
These people are not joking. This is not a casual hobby for them. They have dedicated their lives to it. And oil-rich Islamic governments are pouring money into the project.
This struggle has gone on for 1400 years, and as far as the devout ones are concerned, it will go on for another 1400 years, or as long as it takes to win. They are acquiring the advantages of new technologies. And they are well-funded.
I don't know how the West will ultimately deal with it, but I know this: Until enough of us face and understand what we're up against, we don't have a chance. Cheerful obliviousness will always be easily defeated by grim determination.
THOSE ARE THE TWELVE most important reasons you should want to know about Islam. Most Westerners make the assumption that all religions are basically alike. And we have a deep-seated respect for other cultures and the right of everyone to believe what they want. We have a profound distrust of any hint of arrogance or any feelings of superiority of our own culture. It is almost at the level of a taboo.
This distrust is almost entirely a good thing. It's one of the reasons we are able to have such a rich, diverse society with people of all kinds getting along with each other.
But Islam is unique, doesn't reciprocate tolerance, and its influence is spreading. We should learn more about it. A good place to start is to stop relying on second-hand sources, and read the Koran yourself.
If you'd like to do something more, start here: What Can You Do About It?
AFTER 9/11, lots of things were said about Islam, some of them contradictory, and many of them by people with believable credentials. My wife and I didn't know what to think, so we started looking into it. We read lots of materials — pro-Islam books, anti-Islam books, and classic Islamic doctrines, like the Quran. We've been on an eight-year learning binge.
