288/434: Why Islam Cannot Reform
Posted on June 22, 2008
Following 9/11, in order to try to discover for myself the true nature of this purported Religion of Peace, whose ardent followers had just been responsible for the worst attack ever to take place on American soil, I began to research Islam. I started by reading the Qur’an, at the painfully slow rate of 5 hate-filled pages a day. It soon became apparent that this revered Book of Peace had more in common with Mein Kampf than with the New Testament. In fact, there were many similarities between the two. Both were filled with violence and threats of violence, both shared an arrogant contempt for those who dared to disagree with their authors, both advocated for the complete and utter subjection of all unbelievers, and sought an eventual worldwide hegemony.
Both are difficult books to endure. And basically for the same reasons: incessant redundancy, awkward literary style and structure, an annoying tendency to digress and wander off subject; and, although both books were written by undeniably powerful and charismatic leaders, both displayed a fundamental lack of basic literary ability.
However, for me, the most difficult part of the laborious challenge of the Qur’an was in wading through page after page of the incessant and obsessive hatred and violence — by this author’s count, of the 434 total pages in my Penguin Classics version of the Qur’an, 288 pages contained some form of usually quite graphic violence, invariable directed against the unbeliever or the apostate.
For me, the question had been resolved. Resolved by the power of unquestionable numbers. 288/434. No longer could anyone ever convince me that the Qur’an is a Book of Peace, that had merely been misinterpreted. Numbers don’t lie, people do.
However, as our recent unfortunate national divide so clearly demonstrates, many of us are still in a quandary about Islam and the Qur’an. We are still confused, still attempting to equate Islam with other religions. We still hold out hope that those Moderate Muslims can get in there and perform the necessary surgery and cut the malignant cancer of extremism from the suffering body of Islam.
The following excellent article from Jihad Du Jour, I believe, presents us with one of the clearest and most irrefutable arguments against this kind of comforting delusion. Only by understanding the true nature of our enemy do we have a chance of defeating him. — rg
cross posted from Jihad Du Jour.com
http://jihadidujour.blogspot.com/
There are deluded Jews and Christians who believe that the barbaric attacks against non-Muslims and even fellow Muslims alike throughout the world are being perpetrated by members of a small, extreme, perverted brand of Islam and that “true” Islam is probably just like modern Christianity or Judaism; that all that is needed is for moderate Muslims to take back their religion from the radicals. Then there are the deluded Jews and Christians who have actually read the Quran for themselves and realize that the barbarity of Muslim terror we see today is indeed rooted in the very essence of Islam and argue that we must not condemn the religion when all that is needed is for Islam to go through a reformation and modernization as Christianity and Judaism has done.
But an expert in religion disagrees:
The QandO Blog, 11 Jan 2006, Pope says Islam can’t reform
Now Pope Benedict XVI has let it be known that he does not believe Islam can reform. This we learn from the transcript of a January 5 US radio interview with one of Benedict’s students and friends, Father Joseph Fessio, SJ, the provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, posted on the Asia Times Online forum by a sharp-eyed reader. For the pope to refute the fundamental premise of US policy is news of inestimable strategic importance, yet a Google News scan reveals that not a single media outlet has taken notice of what Fessio told interviewer Hugh Hewitt last week. No matter: still and small as Benedict’s voice might be, it carries further than earthquake and whirlwind.
There are Muslims who believe that Islam can reform but they too are deluded:
FaithFreedom.org Why Can’t Islam be Reformed?
This is the position of many modern Muslims, including Irshad Manji the author of “What Is Wrong with Islam, Today”. A great number of Muslims realize there is something wrong with Islam, but they erroneously believe the problem can be solved through the miracle of reinterpretation; and that they can keep the Quran and believe in Muhammad but somehow do the opposite of what he did and said and still call themselves Muslims….You ask: “Can Islam be reformed?” No, it can’t! To reform Islam you have to first get rid of Muhammad and second get rid of the Quran. You have to take out a great portion of that book which is violent. The rest is nonsense and absurdity. But this you can’t do, because you have no authority to do such a thing. Muhammad said that he has perfected his religion (Q. 5:3). How can you improve something, which is perfect? You can’t change the Quran. You can’t reform it. All you can do is to reinterpret and, for example pretend, “slay the unbelievers wherever you find them” means something else.
Then there is the website Muslims Against Sharia who argue that the Quran is not the literal word of Allah; that Islam, in its present form, is not compatible with principles of freedom and democracy; that Muslims must remove all the evil passages from Islamic religious texts; that there is no one religion that is superior to another; that Sharia Law must be abolished; that Seventh Century practices such as stoning, cutting off body parts, marrying and/or having sex with children or animals must be condemned; and hundreds of other suggestions to make Islam more like Christianity or Judaism.
If somehow one could actually change one letter of a book whose wording letter for letter was fixed by no one but Allah, and dutifully followed the advice of Muslims Against Sharia and actually purged Islam of all of its barbarity then we would have in our hands a slim book with the Title “The Quran” and a sole, blank page bound in leather.
But this would not be enough, the other leg of Islam, the Sunnah is the second source of Islamic jurisprudence without which one cannot practice Islam. The Sunnah: the way of the prophet, his sayings, deeds, etc. One could compare these two legs of Islam to Christianity: the Quran, or the word of God, is like the Old Testament, and the Sunnah, or the deeds and sayings of Mohammed, are like the Gospels: the sayings and deeds of Jesus.
But while the deeds and sayings of Jesus are of humility, love, and peace, the deeds and sayings of Mohammed are of narcissism, hate, and military conquest. While the message of Jesus is “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” the message of Mohammed is “Stone all those who disbelieve.” No, I’m afraid that all of the Sunnah must be purged as well.
“But,” you may protest, “if we remove all the evil from the Quran and excise all that is vile in the Sunnah, then there will be nothing left to follow in Islam!”Precisely.As to what happens to Muslims who try to practice even the slightest deviation from the absolute written word of Allah:
Reuters, 28 Apr 2008, Hardliners torch “heretical” Indonesian mosque-police
Hundreds of hardline Indonesian Muslims burnt a mosque early on Monday belonging to a sect that has been branded heretical by most Muslims, police said.The attack in West Java’s Sukabumi district came after a government team recommended this month the Ahmadiyya sect be banned because its teachings deviate from the central tenets of Islam.I believe that the government in Indonesia has a perfect right to ban a religious group because its teachings deviate from the central tenets of Islam. I believe we in America and Europe should follow their example and likewise ban all of Islam because its teachings deviate from the central tenets of modern civilization.
Cross-Posted at Planck’s Constant
A final note: It would be great sin of omission on the part of Radarsite to post an article such as this without acknowledging the tireless efforts of our good friend and Islamic scholar Ben from A Newt One, who has been proclaiming these same warnings of the enormous dangers that this cult of Islam presents to the West. Hopefully our present and future leaders will come to these same conclusions and protect our vulnerable nation from this evil onslaught. We shall see…
» Filed Under Communism, Islam, Islamicfascism, Liberal Media/Bias, Multiculturalism/PC, News, War On Terror, terrorism
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13 Responses to “288/434: Why Islam Cannot Reform”
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Thanks for the good word, Roger, and for spreading the truth. Not only is Islam perfected beyond improvement, but Allah’s word can not be changed 6:115. Neither can the ‘religion’ be changed 30:30.
In the Sunnah, Abu Dawud Book 23, Number 3455, Moe curses any who would abandon Jihad in favor of agricultural production. Warmongering is the official Islamic way of life.
The reformation of Islam would destroy the whole message of Mohammad: To conquer the world. That is the basic tenets of Islam.
I suggest that everyone read the Koran. I just finished it for the third time (each time it gets harder to swallow) and found it the lunatic ravings of a madman.
Great post Roger. You put into print my scrambled thoughts on the subject of Islam. I too read the postings by Ben and have recognized the redundancy of the Quran (or whichever way it’s spelled) and the violence distributed over those 288 pages you took the time and effort to count.
Too many of our politicians don’t have a clue to the falacies of Islam as a religion and I think we’re long overdue for calling it what it is…it is a force to be reckoned with; an evil force at that.
Hooray! I’ve been waiting for someone to compare and contrast Islam and Christianity. You could not find two more diametrically opposed philosophies. Christiainty teaches one to live from the inside out with patience, compassion and conscience. Islam is brainwashing, pure and simple.
Roger, you hit another one out of the ballpark and Ben, we owe so VERY MUCH to you for your patience in educating us into the truisms of this vile, despicable, societal ideology. Katie,I love how you post your take on each of Ben’s posts, bringing into sharp clarity the ludicrousness of the verses he posts. That didn’t come out properly. Ben posts actual verses from this hate filled book and Katie posts a comment on those verses illustrating how awful they are.
Roger, can Ben or someone cross this to my page?
Thanks everyone. And Miss Beth — thank you and I’ll send you the html in an email.
rg
You may not be stupid enough to believe “Muslims Against Sharia”, but you’re gullible enough to think such a neo-con psyop is anything but a hoax…
Ah yes, ljp. I’m glad you enjoyed that retraction so much. You write such interesting and informative commentary. Keep up the good work.
rg
This is such a powerful post Roger, that I’ve added 288/434 to my template so that it appears (along with a little Mohammad/bomb turban) at the bottom of every post at GM’s Corner. Required reading methinks.
Oh, and the 288/434 is linked to this post too.
Thank you GM Roper. I am honored.
rg
Once again.. GREAT JOB ROGER!!!
Thanks so much for linking to my article, it’s greatly appreciated. I’m honored to have some of my words included in your post.