blogforjesus

This is a great websites that is very informative.

carm.org/islam

This website contains testimonials of Muslims who have had personal encounters with Jesus

www.answering-islam.org/Testimonies/index.html

 

Four Spiritual Laws

 

Jesus Film

 

New Testament/Bible

 

Audio Bible

When considering the sacredness of the Qur’an we must analyze it like any other piece of literature to authenticate its claims of origin.

The Qur’an is given such a high status within Islam that it has bordered on being an object of idolatry among many of the practitioners of the faith.

In addition to this Islam has made claims to its inspiration that go beyond the textual evidence of the script.

When studying Mormonism I saw some similarities to that of the traditions of Islam. Mormons believe in a heavenly inscription that was transcribed on golden tablets and through the directive of an angelic being these heavenly tablets were located and secured for transliteration.

Also Joseph Smith was committed to supposedly finding the one true faith and this led further to him having many supposed encounters and revelations of divine truth, likewise.

Yet in spite of these divine revelations the “Book of Mormon” like the Qur’an is less than a perfect document.

The Muslim may claim that the Qur’an is the most perfect and beautiful of all sources of literature which according to Islam authenticates its divine inspiration as a means of internal evidence.

Yet this was also the position of Joseph Smith concerning the Book of Mormon in which he stated that it is the most perfect of all books ever written.

However, both of these texts come up short in their claims to divine origin by lacking the polish of perfection that they both claim to have obtained. Claiming and being are two different things and a person must prove or at least give reasonable or plausible evidence that supports its platform for truth.

To begin the Qur’an derives its source from a single founder who is of a questionable character.

Muhammad from the onset of these revelations doubted his own sanity as he didn’t know whether he was a mad man or a poet. He questioned himself as being possessed by demons and this was because of the occultic manifestations related to him receiving these revelations such as the strange behavior of foaming at the mouth or roaring like a camel. Another question related to the prophet is why would Allah choose an illiterate to communicate a literate truth that wasn’t even compiled during his lifetime.

Anyway I discuss more of this in another blog that I posted at

jesusandjews.com/wordpress/2009/04/26/is-muhammad-a-false-prophet/

Also one of the concerns related to the Qur’an is the originality of the text considering that the Qur’an borrows its literature from secondary sources. These sources are the bible and various heretical teachings such as the Judeo Christian apocryphal literature which were outside the community of faith because they never measured up to divine inspiration. These apocryphal writings were relegated to the cultish fringes of both Jewish and Christian culture and were never taken seriously.

Alongside of this literature there was also the influence of the oral traditions of the Persian Zoroastrians that was included within the Quranic writings.

So how does Allah borrow his heavenly message from the fallacy of earthly messengers and human tradition?

What perfection or miracle can one achieve from the human invention of imagination which was rejected by the communities that originated the literature as being less than perfect?

If Islam is the supreme religion then why didn’t it originate its own source material rather than borrowing the leftovers of other religious movements that surrounded the culture of Islam at this time in history? How original is that?

Another question that comes up is the collating of this supposed sacred text which was dependent upon rudimentary and fragmentary pieces of perishable materials such as bone, wood, leather, leaves, and rocks.

The Qur’an was also assembled by obtaining testimony through the fallible intellect of memory and speech which would demand exactness and preciseness like some type of a total recall in order to ensure its infallibility.

Is this anyway to record or treat what was to be a monumental piece of literature in being described as the “mother of all books” or is it in reality no different than any other piece of ancient literature.

The Qur’an has never been proven to have been assembled either during the life of Muhammad or shortly after his death but rather the evidence shows that the Qur’an was compiled and evolved over a period of 150 to 200 years following the expiration of the prophet and it was finally canonized in the 8^th or 9^th century.

Scholars conclude that the sayings of the Qur’an were gathered not by one man but by a group of men over a period of a couple hundred years.

The oldest copy of the Qur’an was written in the Ma’il script dating it to about 790 A.D. which is about 150 years after the death of Muhammad.

Even the oldest manuscript fragments that are in existence are still a 100 years separated from the time of Muhammad.

In addition to this Uthman’s copies are  no longer in existence either and though Islamic scholars claim otherwise the reality is that the Kufic script which is contained in these controversial texts was not in use during the time of Uthman and did not show up until 150 years later after Uthman’s demise.

Also supposedly the Arabic language is the heavenly tongue of Allah and if the Qur’an originated with Allah then why does the Quran borrow its communication through the use of foreign words or languages such as Acadian, Assyrian, Persian, Syriac, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Ethiopic.

If the Qur’an is so authentic then why is there not a Textus Originalis or original text still available especially since we have documents that predate the advent of Islam that have survived completely intact? Surely Allah in his sovereignty could preserve his own sacred text.

Concerning the history of the Qur’an it was supposedly collated under Zaid ibn Thabit who was a personal secretary to Muhammad. Zaid under the directive of Abu Bakr was to take and make a document from the sayings of Muhammad.

Consequently, during the reign of Uthman, the third Caliph, a deliberate attempt was made to standardize the Qur’an and impose a single text upon the whole Muslim community which led to the making of other copies to Zaid’s codice while in turn destroying all other competitive documents.

Who is to say that this text was standard since one man was to be the final authority versus the community of believers some of which were personal companions to Muhammad?

Now we have copies upon copies alongside of this previously existing text. How do we know that what we have really represents the true Qur’an and would Muhammad even have recognized all of its content?

Also since much of the manuscript evidence was destroyed we do not have an accurate way of reconstructing a purer text.

The differences between all four of these co-existing codices of Zaid, Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, Abu Musa, and Ubayy, contain deviations and deletions between them and yet the originators of the text were credible individuals in relation to Muhammad.

Abdullah Mas’ud was appointed by Muhammad as a teacher of Quranic recitation and Ubayy was a secretary to the prophet.

My question is whose manuscript was right or more authoritative among the personal disciples of the prophet?

Who was Uthman to be the final authority of correctness since there was other authoritative texts of which were recognized by other communities?

Also when Zaid compiled the text he forgot to include some of the sayings as related to “stoning”.

Now after all of this struggle to unify the text it was later reviewed and revised by al-Hajjaj who was the governor of Kufa.

He initially amended 11 of the texts and finally his changes were later reduced to seven.

Following upon this action the Hafsah text, which was the original document from which the final text was taken, was later destroyed by Mirwan, the governor of Medina.

Also another phenomenon in the Qur’an is one of abrogation’s which is a way of dealing with internal contradictions which are explained as an improvement upon the text.

I am wondering how you can correct something that is already perfect since this revelation only covered a period of 20 years and didn’t need any improvement yet to facilitate the evolution of cultural standards?

The number of abrogations is said to be between 5 to 500. Others say it stands closer to 225. What this shows us is that the science of abrogation is an inexact science indeed, as no-one really knows how many of the verses are to be abrogated.

In addition to the internal contradictions there are also scientific as well as grammatical errors as well.

In joining to all of these discrepancies is the growing number of Hadiths which suddenly appeared in the 9^th century which is 250 years after the fact.

Of the original 600,000 hadith sayings that were in circulation at this time only a little over 7,000 of them survived leaving 99% of these traditions as being classified as erroneous.

Yet if 99% are inaccurate then how can we trust this 1% that Al Bukhari approved of?

The Muslim tradition also evolved through oral transmission of the storytellers or Kussas whose works were finally compiled no earlier than the 8^th century. These stories were taken from common folklore and embellished thus bringing a greater distortion to Islam.

Also if you have ever been involved in the game of telephone or passing on a story to a large group of people one at a time  you often end up with a whole different story once the final person has had the story passed on to them.

Now spread this out over a couple of hundred years and what do you think is the end result to this practice?

For the Qur’an to be regarded as Allah’s blueprint or the greatest wonders of wonders without literary equivalent  is sounding more like an exaggeration that is unfounded on many fronts.

The Qur’an leaves more questions than it does answers.

Is the Qur’an a superb piece of literature par excellence or does it fall short of its claim to fame?

Does it possess a beauty in the text unequaled to any other piece of literature? This is an opinion left to the ear of the beholder as there are plentiful pieces of classical literature, of which the Qur’an borrows from, that surpass this literary genre based on the opinions of others.

For a book that is supposed to be second to none it has often been described as incoherent and badly edited at points and also it is not able to stand up to the criticism and scrutiny of others who are able to take more of an objective view to its authenticity.

For others within the movement it is to be obediently embraced with an unquestioned bias of mindless submission which keeps the worshipper from thinking critically about its content.

To question the text would be to question Allah and his prophet which is beyond the scope of Muslim thought which would see this as an act of betrayal and defiance resulting in dire consequences with eternal repercussions.

You may say it’s a miracle for the Qur’an to survive after all of these transitionary phases of Islam and yet I say based upon the evidence it would take a miracle for me to believe that this message is a divine revelation.

In conclusion I really don’t have any other comments regarding the Qur’an. The only thing I have left to say is that I hope I have not overstated my case by my direct wording and therefore have shown disrespect towards my Muslim friends.

This is difficult to do because when a religion is so engrafted within a personal faith than anything that is offered as a challenge to the mindset of religious thought then it is often viewed as a threat or a form of hostility.

I ask that you please forgive me if all I have done was to only rouse your anger rather than your suspicions towards the text that you hold as being sacred.

Again my intent is not to offend but to defend truth and to walk its path wherever it may ultimately lead us.

Lastly for more information on this subject you can refer to the articles as written by Jay Smith of which I related to when posting this blog

How to know God

Muslim Resources of Jesus

Islam and Jesus

Though the Quran denies the torturous execution of the Christ it is nonetheless confirmed by the secular and religious contemporaries of Jesus time.

These reporters of current events were not Christian in origin nor were they sympathetic to their cause or view and in some cases they were opposed or hostile to the person and work of Jesus and His followers.

The first reference to the crucifixion outside of the bible is the first century Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus who documented in Annals XV, 44 that the death of the Christ was ordered by Pontius Pilate who was the procurator of Judea.

Another first century historian is Flavius Josephus who referred to Christ as being condemned to the cross which is recorded in Antiquities XVIII, 33.

Next there is Lucian of Samostate who was a Greek satirist who made reference to the crucifixion of Christ in “The Death of Peregrine, 11-13”.

Lastly the Babylonian Talmud, which negatively portrays Jesus as a sorcerer, indicates that Jesus had been “hanged” which is synonymous with the crucifixion and is found in the tractate Sanhedrin 43A.

So does the Quran which was compiled 800 years after the fact hold to the truth of the matter or does the unbiased claims of credible historians and rivals tell the real story?

The problem that Islamic thought has in dealing with the death of the Messiah would be in the question concerning the necessity of a righteous life that was offered upon this evil human implement namely the cross.

Yet this act served as a ransom or payment for sin whose purpose was of eternal significance in having its basis under the first covenant law as given in Leviticus 17:11 which states ¹¹ For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Under the Mosaic covenant sacrifices were made as a type of substitutionary atonement given on behalf of the worshipper as a means of associating the death of the innocent victim as an exchange given on behalf of the guilty party in making peace with God. This may seem to be a primitive practice but it was to portray and foreshadow an ultimate sacrifice that would one day be given once and for all.

The prophet Isaiah in chapter 53 talks about the Messiah as being the fulfillment of this sacrifice par excellence

Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

Like one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows,

yet we considered him stricken by God,

smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression^d and judgment he was taken away.

And who can speak of his descendants?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was stricken.^e

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes^f his life a guilt offering,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,

he will see the light of life^g and be satisfied^h;

by his knowledgeⁱ my righteous

servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,^j

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,^k

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus crucifixion is also portrayed by the Psalmist in chapter 22 and it is strikingly similar to the gospel narratives.

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from the words of my groaning?

² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, and am not silent.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the praise of Israel.^a

⁴ In you our fathers put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

⁵ They cried to you and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by men and despised by the people.

⁷ All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

⁸ “He trusts in the Lord;

let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;

you made me trust in you

even at my mother’s breast.

¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you;

from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

¹¹ Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

¹³ Roaring lions tearing their prey

open their mouths wide against me.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax;

it has melted away within me.15

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

you lay me^b in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me;

a band of evil men has encircled me,

they have pierced^c my hands and my feet.

¹⁷ I can count all my bones;

people stare and gloat over me.

¹⁸ They divide my garments among them

and cast lots for my clothing.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, be not far off;

O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dogs.

²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;

save^d me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare your name to my brothers;

in the congregation I will praise you.

²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained

the suffering of the afflicted one;

he has not hidden his face from him

but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;

before those who fear you^e will I fulfill my vows.

²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;

they who seek the Lord will praise him—

may your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth

will remember and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

will bow down before him,

²⁸ for dominion belongs to the Lord

and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;

all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—

those who cannot keep themselves alive.

³⁰ Posterity will serve him;

future generations will be told about the Lord.

³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness

to a people yet unborn—

for he has done it.

In conclusion I decided to use these Old Testament quotes in establishing my proof text in order to reduce any bias that would be strictly sympathetic towards a Christian interpretation.

Amazingly many Jews who initially rejected Jesus have come to faith in Him just by simply reading these sacred texts as found in the Tanakh. My wife is one of those testimonies in which she had at one point firmly rejected the person and work of Jesus as the Messiah but upon closer observation God convinced her of the truth regarding these passages of scripture and their correlation to Jesus.

Regardless whether or not one chooses or wants to believe the significance of the historicity of this redemptive event the fact still remains and is undeniably verifiable being confirmed by the testimony of millions of lives that have been transformed and changed by the impact of Christ’s saving work.

My challenge to you is what do you do with your guilt? Who represents you concerning the trespasses you have committed against God? Have you done enough to earn for yourself a heavenly home while avoiding the pitfalls of hell?

Jesus reduces this tension of human guilt by stating to “Come unto me all you who labor and who are heavily weighed down and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy and my burden is light.”

How to know God

Muslim Resources of Jesus

Islam and Jesus

Islam claims freedom from any type of pagan influence yet are there still symbols and practices  leftover from it’s ancient past of polytheism and have they been integrated into the social fabric of Islam?

I have previously discussed the Ka’ba and now I am addressing another aspect of Islamic representation which comes in the form of the crescent moon and star.

These symbols are associated with several Islamic countries who have adopted this insignia on their national flags and it also appears as well on their minarets and mosques.

This symbolism predates the advent of Islam and was perhaps connected with the worship of the celestial bodies such as the Arabic deity Hubal or the moon god which was associated with the Ka’ba .

These images may have originated from foreign culture or from Arab descent but nevertheless it is more than likely inspired by means of a pagan icon.

To claim that Islam is distinguishable from pagan cultural values seems to be questionable. This practice of borrowing from what others revered as deified objects seems ironic in the face of the “One God” view.

This same phenomena exists in many other Islamic regions as well where local beliefs and folklore are often combined in a syncretistic manner with the teachings of Muhammad giving a mixture versus a purity of belief to the religion of Islam.

Well anyway just look at this website that I have posted along with the archaeological evidence that is provided and I will allow you to be the judge of the matter concerning the case for the moon god.

How to know God

Muslim Resources of Jesus

Islam and Jesus

Though the Arab religion has embraced the worship of Allah as the one true God of Islam it still hasn’t separated itself from its devotion to its polytheistic past.

The Ka’ba which is a cube like building located in Mecca is the most sacred site of Islam yet before the advent of Islam it was used as a pagan shrine.

The cornerstone of this structure is a black meteorite that was said to have fallen from heaven and its blackness was associated with the darkness of human sin. Today Muslims kiss this stone as an act of veneration or worship during the Hajj.

In preislamic culture ancient Arabs were under the influence of a cultish rock fetishism  which valued these black stones as a part of their own ritualistic practices.

The Arabs were stone worshipers in which their tribal groups had their own Ka’ba sanctuary which housed their own black rock in which they worshipped.

One of the rituals associated with the Ka’ba is the encircling or circumambulation of the shrine. A theory on how this pagan practice originated was that these tribal groups would circle the Ka’ba which was likened to the movement  of the heavenly objects with regards to the worship of the moon,sun, and stars. This practice would also include these tribes kissing the stone which was believed to be inhabited by a god or spirits. This kissing of the rock and touching of this stone was thought to bring a blessing.

Also in connection with the black rock of the Ka’ba was the worship of the moon god Hubal.

Other aspects of Arab culture that are associated with their ancient pagan past regarding Arab society is “The stone throw” at Mina, “The Run” Safa and Marwa which is just a reenactment of the pagans that used to run in between two idols, and lastly “The Praise” which mimics the ancient ritual of  praising their dead ancestors and now this act has been redirected with praise towards Allah.

Arab culture seems not to have made a clean break from its pagan past even though it lays claims to this  under their new banner of monotheism. This syncretistic practice of incorporating Arab culture into the religion of Islam has created a mixture rather than purity to its religious component and for the Ka’ba to be a prominent fixture as a pillar of Islam reveals that there are some cracks to the edifice of this religious structure.

So how far has Islam really come in bringing about its own unique identity as being the one true faith? It is obvious that it has borrowed its structure from Judeo Christian beliefs and has decorated and filled its interior from the likes of its pagan past.

Is this really the true faith or just a borrowing of a conglomeration of various ideas uniting the practice of local religion alongside of incorporating other religious world views?

Are you willing to swear  allegiance and submit towards a religion that has not purified its association with its cultic past? Has Islam just remodeled and reorganized the same structure of idolatry by covering it with a thin venner and marketing it as a new religion based on a  revelation given from an angelic being? Perhaps what is hidden behind the veil of Islam is simply just a one headed idol versus a totem pole of gods.

In writing this blog I  have pooled together many different resources concerning this matter and I have tried to make an honest and fair assessment of this information while compiling the data.

I  would just ask you not to merely dismiss the content of this blog as just a smear campaign of defamation. I would encourage you to do your own research regarding this matter while keeping an open mind.

Through this blog I have offered a challenge to Islamic belief while attempting to avoid needless slander and false accusations towards Muslims and what they hold to be sacred. I recognize many of my Muslim friends are zealous in their devotion and sincere to their conception of God and I respect that. Yet what I am asking them to do is to allow factual information to guide  them in making better decisions regarding their allegiance and submission.

In closing if you are a Muslim  I would encourage you through prayer to  ask God regarding the truth behind  Islamic faith and practice.

How to know God

Muslim Resources of Jesus

Islam and Jesus

There are perhaps different rules on the rights of women in Islamic societies yet based on the testimony of the Quran and the Hadith women to some degree have a subservient and diminished role in life.

The Islamic view is primary patriarchal and it allows for the unnecessary exploitation and treatment of women in some cases.

In Quran 4:34 there are allowances given towards the beating of women.

The very basis of human instinct in achieving an intimate relationship of love with a spouse is by providing an environment that is conducive to trust which centers on the protection and care for ones partner. So how can this corrective action lead to a legitimate expression of love? If this is the situation then how is the husband to be corrected when He is at fault. Wouldn’t this necessitate a need for reciprocation as a counter response unless of course He is never at fault or in need of discipline/ correction because of his moral supremacy?

Perhaps there is a moral glitch of inferiority in women which might explain why the Hadith sees a need for disciplinary action towards the feminine gender. After all the Hadith tends to provide a viewpoint of women as being spiritually  and morally depraved having a predisposition towards evil. The Hadith states that women are the majority of those who take up residence in hell with only a minority occupying a heavenly home. Muslim, vol. 4, hadith 6597, p. 1432 and Muslim, vol. 4, hadith 6600, p.1432

Also Islamic ideals are centered on hedonistic values that revolve around the expression of male sexuality. The god fearing Muslim male is given the pleasures of intercourse in paradise with as many as a 100 virgins in a single day Surah 55. Will the minority of women who make it to their heavenly home be equally rewarded? How is a wife that is committed to a life long marriage able to view herself with dignity knowing that her husband will one day be groping strange women in a heavenly palace filled with the pleasures of  ecstasy and eroticism as found in this conceptual idea of eternal bliss. If this is his future goal in making it to paradise then what is his short term goal in relationship to you his wife? If he is willing to be entertained by the likes of physical pleasure in eternity then are you for sure that this doesn’t help serve his purpose now in your relationship with Him. Perhaps once He is finished and satisfied with you in this life there will be no purpose for you to follow Him into his  paradise since his needs will now be administered and fulfilled by others.

Also the Quran and Hadith hold a somewhat demanding view on the sexual gratification for the  husband without regard for the wife Quran 2:223, Mishkat Al-Masabih p.691: Tirmidhi, Bukhari vol. 7, hadith 121, p.93.

In addition to this there are variant and sexual aberrations that are found in various Islamic cultures which includes the practice of genital mutilation by circumcising girls in order to help maintain chastity by means of  restraining   their sexual drives. There is some debate to whether or not Muhammad mandated this act of violence nevertheless it is still practiced in several countries.

Secondly some Muslims have a legalized  form of prostitution or Muta which is permitted under the charade of it being a temporary marriage in order to satisfy the need for the sexual impulses among Muslim men.

One other thing that  perhaps is more subtle in form yet can create some cultural dysfunctions is the practice of  polygamy which can cause social problems within the network of the family.

It doesn’t take an expert sociologist or anthropologist to realize the degenerative effects to humanity based on these cultural experiences. One might argue against establishing ethical norms for any given society yet we are talking about the basic needs which define human existence universally.

Perhaps you are caught up in the cultural web of Islam where you feel trapped or isolated or sadly enough maybe you dont know any differently. Don’t you see that some women are being victimized due to the crimes of Islam by means of emotional and physical abuses. Perhaps if you aren’t willing to face these realities then perhaps you have developed a codependency with Islamic culture. Maybe you have been taught to submit to the point that  you are mindless on these issues which brings me to the next objection.

According to the Hadith women have a limited or diminished intellectual capacity. Women from this viewpoint are seen as  half wits who are limited in making judgments.  When people are led to believe they are inferior then they are easier to manipulate and control. This is what you get from a male dominated religion where physical prowess rules rather than integrity

Bukhari, vol.3, hadith 826, p.502

I know this blog seems harsh and pointed and I hope that I have not over stated my case through my direct approach. In all fairness I do appreciate the modesty of Islamic culture yet the ends doesn’t justify the means of taking women captive to a pattern of life that reduces their humanity.

Men I would like to challenge you to critically look at the claims of Islam and their treatment and attitude towards women. Even if you do not practice these forms of oppression it is  still  supported and upheld by the practitioners of Islam who justify it by means of what is considered sacred texts. Remember these women are our mothers who brought us into this life and nurtured us when we were helpless. They deserve the respect that God has rightfully given them in their elevated role as the stewards of our personal care and development as men.

I want you to know that Islam has created their god and though I respect your devotion I do challenge the truth claims that are founded under a religion that has left a path of destruction in its wake.

The basic definition to the character of God in the bible is love and Islam has stood as the antithesis to this godview. God is just but He is likewise merciful, kind, gentle, compassionate, long suffering, and peaceful. These might be traits that you have attributed to Allah yet where is the proof among his disciples. Even though a small portion of funds is contributed to the poor yet you generally do not see Islamic humanitarian agencies especially towards other societies that would be considered of the nature of being infidels. Islam is not about divine inspiration but rather terror filled violence and domination using force and coercion in facilitating and imposing their worldly influence. It doesn’t care about you but rather its real interest is world domination. You might claim to be a moderate Muslim which in and of itself is a oxymoron in comparison to Islamic faith and practice. It is  Islam that  dictates and moderates your behavior independent of your self serving opinions.  If you claim that you do not follow this kind of Islamic viewpoint  then perhaps you are nominal Muslim and subconsciously you are rejecting submission to Allah. Perhaps you  know somewhere deep in your heart that something is amiss and I believe this could be an open door to experiencing God’s real love.

For God so loved the world that He gave Jesus that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Now ladies I believe that you have the mental faculties and capacity to make a fair judgment in this case by discerning the truthfulness regarding a loving God versus a counterfeit religion.

Lastly again I pray that I have not violated you in such a way as to lose your respect for what I am saying. I didn’t do this to  attack you or hurt you and even though my presentation is confrontational I have not offered it in hatred. I do have a genuine concern for your spiritual well being and sometimes when you are landlocked in a society you are unable to peer beyond the boundaries of cultural attitudes.

Finally all I am asking of you is to be open and honest before God.  I know at first that it might be scary because devoted people do not want to be undevoted to their cause yet I challenge you to ask God to reveal His love to you in a tangible and real way in the person of Jesus.

How to know God

Muslim Resources of Jesus

Islam and Jesus