A Perspective On Islam
By Avner Boskey
I. Is Islam a monotheistic major world religion?
A. YHVH Is God's Own Name
B. YHVH Calls Himself The God Of Israel
C. Messiah Yeshua Loves His Bride
D. YHVH Has Chosen Jerusalem
E. The Pre-Islamic Allah
F. By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them
G. Are Islam's claims to be tolerated and respected?
II. Are Most Muslims Peace Loving And Not Terrorists?
III. "Jihad doesn't mean holy war - Muhammad never taught holy war
A. The Arabic word 'jihad'
B. How the understanding of 'jihad' has evolved
C. The Return to Classical 'jihad'
D. The Koran and Hadith on 'jihad'
E. Future 'jihad"
IV. Is the West prepared for 'jihad'?
V. Prophetic possibilities
VI. How shall we then respond
Terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the WTC have shocked and shaken America. Violent Middle Easterners hijacked civilian aircraft, yet sought no hostage negotiations. Their purpose was to murder, to wreak destruction and terror on America's economy, society and democracy. Are these mujahidin (jihad warriors) a lunatic fringe element of Islam, or do they represent one of the real faces of that religion? How are believers to relate to Islam in light of coming prophetic events on the earth? And how can we keep the mind and heart of Messiah as we interface with our Muslim neighbors?
The clearly Islamic aspects of the recent terror attacks have prompted public scrutiny and discussion of the nature of Islam. In past days Muslim advocates have repeatedly stressed similar themes: Islam is a monotheistic major world religion; most Muslims are peace loving and not violent; Islam doesn't believe in jihad as holy war, but in jihad as an ethical movement for self betterment. Are these statements all true? Let's carefully examine each one of these assertions.
I. Is Islam a monotheistic major world religion?
Islam is a major world religion, with more than one billion followers, including five million in the United States. The five largest Muslim nations are Indonesia (180 million), Pakistan (125 million), Bangladesh (109 million), India (84 million) and Iran (66 million). Further on down the list, 12th through 15th in size are Sudan and Afghanistan (22 million), Iraq (20 million) and Saudi Arabia (19 million).
Is Islam a monotheistic religion? That all depends on how one defines 'monotheism'. Monotheism refers to the belief in one god. But belief in any one god is not exactly the same as belief in the One True God. While the Bible teaches monotheism, it does not teach a generic monotheism (i.e., that it is possible for any spirit to be considered the Supreme Deity). The Bible teaches that the God of Israel whose personal name is YHVH (commonly known as Jehovah) He alone is God Most High.
The same Scriptures also clearly teach that the gods worshipped by the pagan nations are in fact demons (1Ki.18.39; 2Ki.19:18; 1Chron. 16:26; Psa. 96:5; Zech.14:9; 1Cor.8:4-6; Gal.4:8). This may not be a politically correct viewpoint today, but the Bible focuses on eternal truths and does not try to be a spiritual chameleon.
Many people today believe that religion's job is to promote moral and ethical behavior. According to this viewpoint, different religions with their different spirits, names of god or gods, avatars etc., all should be tolerated because these are simply different ways of expressing the same divine and ethical truths. "Why argue about whether He is called YHVH or Allah," they question with exasperation; "Stop quibbling about words!" The Bible does not agree with this argument and draws a clear line in the sand: righteousness and strength, justification and salvation are to be found only in the name of the God of Israel (Isa.45:23-25). From the Bible's perspective, a false god is a demon, and he who follows a false god engages in idolatry and participates in counterfeit worship.
So the question must be asked: is the name of Allah an interchangeable name for the One True God, or is Allah in fact a demonic spirit?
A. YHVH Is God's Own Name
The Bible uses the personal name YHVH to describe the One True God. God declared to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations" (Exod.3:15). If the Bible is true, then God has just stated that the name YHVH is the personal name of God. It is unchangeable and it lasts forever. This name which God has chosen for Himself is used nearly 9,000 times in the Bible but not even once in the Koran.
Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) said that the Hebrew Scriptures are so reliable that even the smallest letters, the jots ("yod" in Hebrew) and the tittles (the protrusions or bumps on the Hebrew letters themselves) are accurate. His point? We all can depend on the reliability of the Hebrew Scriptures (Matt.5:17-18; 2Tim.3:15-17). In those Scriptures God has given mankind His own name so that we will all be able to recognize that name (whenever it appears) as His own signature in history, His personal trademark.
The Bible says that YHVH is what the God of Israel wants to be called. Considering these biblical ground rules, it is highly significant that the Islamic Koran neither recognizes nor uses the name YHVH. Instead, 2,100 years after YHVH revealed His name to Moses, Muhammad arose and declared that God's unchangeable name YHVH is unimportant, and that believers should now use another name, a different name Allah.
B. YHVH Calls Himself The God Of Israel
YHVH describes Himself repeatedly in the Bible as the God who is bound by everlasting covenant to Israel. He is the God who loves Israel (Deut.7:7-9; Hos.2:14-23; 11:1-4,8; 14:4; Amos 9:8-9; etc.). He is the God who chose Isaac (not Ishmael Gen.17:18-21) and Jacob as heirs, and the God who promises to save the Jewish people and restore them to their homeland, the land of Israel (Isa. 49:5-6; Lk.2:67-77 etc.).
Yet the Koran describes its god as having a different agenda. The first major surah (chapter) in the Koran, "The Cow" (Surah 2) describes Allah's hatred, rejection and cursing of the Jewish people (see also Surah 5:64,82; 9:30). The Koran gives priority to Ishmael and not to Isaac (Surah 2:125,127,133,136,140; 3:84; 4:164; 14:39,163; 19:54) and it is silent about YHVH's choosing of Isaac and Jacob.
The Koran teaches that some Jews, as punishment for their sins, have been changed into apes and pigs (Surah 5:60), Islamic teaching also announces that the Jewish people will be destroyed by Muslims at the End of Days.
The Hadith, a compilation of Muhammad's teachings written down after the completion of the Koran, and considered authoritative by Islam, teaches: ". . . the prophet...said: 'The Hour (the Day of Judgment) will not begin until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. A Jew will hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will say, "O Muslim, O slave of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!" except for the gharqad (box thorn), for it is one of the trees of the Jews." (al-Bukhari 2926; Muslim, 2921-2).
Incidentally, this verse from the Hadith was recently quoted in its entirety with approval by Osama Bin Laden in his May 28 1998 interview with John Bell of ABC News, "We are sure of Allah's victory and our victory against the Americans and the Jews as promised by the prophet, peace be upon him: 'Judgment day shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews fight the Jews, whereas the Jews will hide behind trees and stones, and the tree and the stone will speak and say "Muslim, behind me a Jew come and kill him", except for the al-Ghargad tree, which is a Jewish plant'. We are sure of our victory." Muhammad taught and prophesied that a future holocaust would be carried out by the Islamic world against the Jewish nation.
If the God of the Bible is the One called YHVH, if He loves and has chosen the Jewish people for eternity then Allah cannot be the same as this God!
C. Messiah Yeshua Loves His Bride
Yeshua (Jesus) is not only the Messiah of Israel; He also offers the free gift of salvation to the world (John 10:14-16). All who embrace Yeshua (Jews and Gentiles) are part of the Bride of Messiah and are deeply loved by Him (Eph.3:1-6; 5:22-27). Yet Allah of the Koran commands Muslims to have a radically different attitude to Christians and Jews from what the Bible commands:
"Take not Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people!" (Surah 5:51)
"O believers! Do not take my enemy and your enemy for friends. Would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth, driving out the rasul (ed., Muhammad) and yourselves because you believe in Allah your lord? If you go forth in jihad on my path and seeking my pleasure, would you manifest love to them? I know what you conceal and what you manifest; and whoever of you does this, he has indeed gone astray from the straight path" (Surah 3:28; see also Surah 60:1).
Not love, but suspicion, rejection, condemnation and enmity towards Christians and Jews is a foundational part of Islam.
Islamic art can be the servant of Muslim theology. On the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, inside the Dome of the Rock, an engraved Arabic inscription runs along the inside rim of that Golden Dome, proclaiming in beautiful gold leaf calligraphy: "O People of the Book, do not overstep proper limitations ... and speak only the truth about Allah. The Messiah Yeshua, son of Mary, is only a messenger of Allah... Believe therefore in Allah and his messengers, and do not say 'Three'. . . Allah is only one Allah. Far be it from his glory that he should have a son."
This quote from the Koran (Surah 4:171; see also 5:75) clearly denies the deity of Messiah Yeshua, His incarnation, and the deity of the Holy Spirit. In this sacred shrine of Islam, the central place afforded to this anti-Messiah declaration is no accident.
D. YHVH Has Chosen Jerusalem
YHVH has chosen Jerusalem out of all the cities of the world to be His own. This truth is reflected in one of the strongest rebukes addressed to Satan in the Scriptures: "And YHVH said to Satan, 'YHVH rebuke you, Satan!
Indeed, YHVH who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!'" (Zech. 3:2) Jerusalem is called the City of David over 40 times, and the Bible is full of Messianic promises that the Son of David will rule over the entire world from Jerusalem, sitting on David's Throne.
Yet the Koran asserts that an oasis in the Arabian desert Mecca is actually Allah's chosen city (Surah 2:125-27; 3:97), and that the God's temporal ruler comes not from David's seed but from Ishmael's Arabian descendants (Surah 33:40).
The God of the Bible wants to be recognized by His name and His many loves (the Jewish people, the Church, the city of Jerusalem, the land of Israel and David's descendants). Islam stands opposed to all of the above.
On this evidence alone one can clearly conclude that Allah is not the God of the Bible. He does not have the same heart and passions as YHVH. He does not have the same thoughts as the God of Israel. He is not the same God.
E. The Pre-Islamic Allah
Most Muslims believe that Allah has always been the One True God (Surah 2:136: 29:46). They believe that Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael, Moses, David and Yeshua were all Muslims (e.g. Surah 2:135, 140; 3:67; 22:78). The Koran believes that Jews and Christians have forged and distorted the Scriptures (Surah 3:71,99).
Islam believes that originally, the Bible was full of references to Allah, Mecca and the Kab'a (the black cube, an ancient pagan center of pilgrimage in Mecca) but that nearly all these references have been deliberately removed from the Bible by non-Muslims. But a brief look at Arabian history prior to Muhammad reveals that the origins of Allah worship are to be found in pagan polytheism.
In approximately 430 BC Herodotus the Greek historian refers to the fact that various deities were worshipped in Arabia, including a female deity known as al-il-Lat (The Histories, Book iii this word could well be the female form of Allah). The Koran, written down nearly 1100 years later, refers to the fact that three female deities named al-Lat (the same word as al-il-Lat), al-Uzza, and Manat were worshipped in Arabia. People would often turn to these goddesses in intercession (Surah 53:19-20).
These three deities were also known as "the daughters of Allah", as the edited text of Surah 53:21-22 explains. These three deities were only some of the many spirits and demons worshipped by Arabs in the centuries before Muhammad.
Another such deity was Hubal a Moabite/ Nabatean/North Arabian demon known from stone inscriptions dated to 1-5 AD, whose idol was a giant stone placed atop the Ka'ba (according to Ibn al-Kalbi.). Other deities included Isaf and Na'ilah (two lovers who were turned to stone for cohabiting in the Ka'ba, and whose idols were placed on two little hills, Safa and Marwa, near the Ka'ba), Awf (a great bird), and Allah.
A book called 'Siratu'l Rasul' ("The Life of the Messenger" - originally written by Ibn Is'haq in the 600's AD and later revised by Ibn Hisham) recounts a story about Abdu'l Muttalib, Muhammad's grandfather. He was preparing to sacrifice one of his sons to "the god at the Ka'ba". This god's name is known from other Muslim sources as Hubal - possibly a form of the Semitic 'Ha-Ba'al' - 'The Lord'. Hubal was known as 'rabb al-bayt' or 'lord of the house'. According to Ibn Is'haq, the idol of Hubal was originally brought from al-Balq'a in Syria to the Ka'ba in Mecca by an Arab named Amr bin Luhayya.
In the above account divination was then used to determine Hubal's will (by casting arrows to the ground). Muhammad's father Abd'allah (Arabic for 'slave of Allah' - an indication that Allah was only one of the many deities worshipped at the Ka'ba) was chosen by divination to be sacrificed. The grandfather then consulted a sorcerer who counseled him on how to obtain an answer (through divination) which would satisfy the deity yet leave Muhammad's father alive.
This was the religious background that shaped young Muhammad's spiritual world view sacrificing children, consulting sorcerers, and worshipping tribal idols. When he was approximately 40 years old, Muhammad received a spiritual revelation, ostensibly from the angel Gabriel ('Jibril' in Arabic; see Siratu'l Rasul 5:152; Mishkat 4:356-57).
This spirit revealed to him that Allah (the local god of his father Abd'allah) was not just one deity of many being worshipped in the Ka'ba, but that Allah was actually the supreme deity. Further, Jibril told him that Allah wanted Muhammad to become his 'rasul' his apostolic prophet. Muhammad's reaction was anxiety and fear that he might be going mad. His wife Khadija and her cousin Waraqa reassured him that his prophesying was similar to what Moses had received. Eventually Muhammad became convinced of this as well.
Allah, the spirit who for centuries had seemed content to take his place in the Ka'ba pantheon along with 359 other demons (that number comes from Waqqidi's biography of Muhammad, written 120 years after Muhammad's death), was suddenly describing himself as the 'only true god'.
A deity who had been content to receive worship in a polytheistic shrine for centuries was now advocating strict 'monotheism' on his own terms. Allah's accommodation to polytheism is totally different from what the Bible teaches about YHVH's response to a polytheistic context (when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Philistine shrine of Dagon in 1Sam.5:1-12)!
And so Islam (Arabic for 'submission' [to Allah]) was born. One of the many demons of the Arabian desert would now become famous as "Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, The Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment" 'The One True God'. Monotheism had been suddenly redefined by Muhammad to mean the worship of a desert spirit as the One True God.
F. By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them
The spirit known as Jibril would later give Muhammad many revelations, including the following God has rejected and cursed the Jews and the Christians (Surah 2:89,105,213; 9:30); Yeshua is not God's Son (Surah 4:171; 5:72-75; 19:88-93; cf. 1 John 2:18-23); there is no Trinity (Surah 5:116-18); the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, has been deliberately distorted by Jews and Christians to the point where it is no longer the word of God (Surah 2:113,120,159; 4:46; 5:41; 57:27); Yeshua never died on the cross (Surah 4:157); it is a 'divine' commandment to persecute Jews and Christians, to defeat them in battle and then to consign them either to slavery or to death (Surah 8:39; 9:5,29: 47:4).
These Koranic teachings mentioned above cannot be biblically described as 'good and peaceful'. They are anti-Jewish and anti-Christian. And they are not teachings which only represent 'some extreme sect of Islam'.
These are Muhammad's own words in the Koran and the Hadith! The spirit who communicated these teachings to Muhammad was neither the God of the Bible nor His messenger. Allah is not Jehovah, and Islam can not be described as a biblically monotheistic religion. Though Islam worships a spirit whom it calls 'the one true God', the Bible classifies that spirit as a demon. Islam is not true biblical monotheism. It is actually a demonic counterfeit of true monotheism.
At Washington's National Cathedral a memorial service for the victims of the terror attacks was held on September 17. One Christian minister prayed "O God of Abraham, God of Muhammad ..." In light of the above referenced Islamic teaching, one point must be emphasized: the God of Israel is the Lord of every man, and in that sense He is the God of Muhammad, Buddha and Bin Laden. But if the prayer quoted above meant to say that the God of Muhammad (Allah) is the same deity as the God of Abraham, then this is bearing false witness, biblically speaking. Allah is not the God of Abraham, and Allah is not the God of the Bible.
G. Are Islam's claims to be tolerated and respected?
Islam is one of the world's major religions, but it fails the biblical test of being considered true monotheism, since Allah and the revelation he gave to Muhammad are fundamentally opposed to the Bible. This should not be surprising to Bible believers, since paganism and demonic worship are the spiritual matrix out of which Allah was elevated.
In a pluralistic world, all religions (whether true or false) are to be tolerated and afforded legal protection. It is not the primary concern of a secular state to judge the truth-claims of any one religion. Judaism and Buddhism, Satanism and Christianity, Islam and Wicca all have the right to exist and propagate their beliefs. In that sense, in a secular society Islam is to be tolerated and respected. Its teachings should not be mocked; its mosques and madrasas (Islamic seminaries) should be free from attack; its adherents should be treated with courtesy, friendliness and respect.
At the same time, it should be remembered that the Koran claims that only Islam's religious positions are true, and that Christianity's and Judaism's claims are distorted or even willfully misleading. Since Islam is free to preach and teach according to that religious perspective, it is only logical that Christians and Jews should exercise their own freedom of religion when it comes to pointing out where Islam departs radically from biblical truth. Bible believers should also not be ashamed to point out where Islam's origins fall under the biblical description of being pagan and demonic.
A few pages from now the question of jihad (holy war) will be considered. It will be seen that Islam teaches about a future world battle between Islam on the one hand, and what we now call Western Christianity and secular democracy on the other. Islamic forces will conquer the West and, in this future Islamic dictatorship, Christians who willingly submit to Muslim rule will have limited civil rights and a nearly slave status. However, if they oppose Islam they are to be massacred. Secularists will be given a simpler choice conversion to Islam or the death penalty. The fate of the Jews is the clearest they will simply be slaughtered.
Though these future jihad actions may now be explained by Muslim clerics to be an Islamic expression of respect and tolerance for defeated non-believers, the rest of the world may not so willingly appreciate or embrace these same definitions. A look around the planet at the turn of the 21st century reveals that respect and toleration for other religions tend to characterize democracies.
Such religious freedoms are not found in countries ruled by Islamic dictatorships today (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, etc.). Islam cannot have it both ways it cannot simultaneously portray itself in the West as a champion of democratic principles of respect and toleration for other religions, and still remain true to Muhammad's call for jihad.
Islam foresees and calls for a violent armed clash between Muslims and the other nations. Watchmen who point this out are not fostering religious hatred or hatred of Islam. To point out these Islamic teachings is to speak the truth and to deliver a prophetic warning.
II. Are Most Muslims Peace Loving And Not Terrorists?
Part of this question can be answered quickly and positively. Many Muslims are peace loving and desire nothing more than to raise their families and lead a quiet life. Muslims are human beings made in the image of the God of Israel. They share a common humanity with all other descendants of Adam and Eve, and no one should forget that their hopes and joys are very similar to every other person's hopes and joys. As well, most Muslims are not terrorists. Only a small percentage of Muslims would be classified by Western or Israeli intelligence services as terrorists.
But this is only part of the story. What the West considers terrorism, many Muslims consider Islamic heroism. There is great support internationally in the Muslim street for Osama Bin Laden, for anti-American and anti-Israeli terror, for Sadaam Hussein and for violent jihad. Spurred on by calls to jihad, the Islamic masses can be very quickly roused to uncontrolled riots and frightening displays of pro-terrorist violence. Recent riots in Pakistan, Kashmir, Indonesia and Gaza are current, frightening examples.
Much violence has also occurred in the Islamic world when Muslims fight against Muslim (e.g., when Islamic military dictatorships with a more secular world view attempt to crush Muslim fundamentalist organizations, or when radical Islamic groups try to destabilize and overthrow Muslim military regimes). Though Muslims are not necessarily violent, an unusual degree of violence does characterize many Islamic societies. A brief description of recent Muslim violence in various Islamic countries brings this point home.
Algeria has been reeling from a war between GIA (Armed Islamic Group radical Muslim terrorists) and its established government (a more secular Muslim military dictatorship) since 1992. Gruesome reports of entire villages having their throats slit, famous pop singers assassinated for singing Western influenced music, government instigated massacres of regions whose loyalties are suspect these have left more than 70,000 murdered over the past 9 years. GIA cells are believed to have cooperated in Bin Laden's September 11 attacks.
Libya is an Islamic dictatorship under Muammar al-Qaddafi. It has been one of the chief training centers for world terrorism, and has executed many attacks such as the bombing of a Berlin discotheque in March 1986 where US solders were murdered, as well as the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988.
It has cooperated with Pakistan in the funding and development of an Islamic nuclear bomb, as well as developing chemical warfare abilities. Libya has been a main supporter of such terrorist groups as the Columbian M-19, Red Brigades, IRA, Ahmed Jibril's PFLP, Arafat's PLO etc. In the 1970's Qaddafi awarded Yasir Arafat $5 million in recognition of his terror operation at the 1972 Munich Olympics which led to the massacre of Israeli athletes.
Egypt's President Sadat was assassinated by terrorists associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad in October 1981. This group was later co-planner of the World Trade Center bombings in 1993 and seems to have been involved in the September 2001 attack as well. Its top leader was Ayman al-Zawahiri (one of the planners of Sadat's assassination) who now functions as Osama Bin Laden's top deputy for military operations. In the 1950s Egypt originally financed, trained and ran the first terrorist raids of the fedayin, and in 1964 helped establish the PLO as a terrorist organization. Egypt was also the first Islamic country to use poison gas against fellow Muslims in the North Yemen war of 1962-67. The Christian Copts of the Egyptian Nile Valley have been subject to decades of torture, murder, raping and destruction of property on a regular basis, with a blind eye being turned by Muslim authorities.
Sudan is considered one of world terrorism's main centers. Osama Bin Laden has a strong network in that country. According to the US Grand Jury indictment against Osama Bin Laden, the bombers of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania were trained and sent out from that country.
The Islamic dictatorship 'National Islamic Front' ruling Sudan has been overseeing the massacre, enslavement, rape and murder of the Christian and animist inhabitants of Southern Sudan, forcibly converting survivors and prisoners to Islam. Years ago the NIF proclaimed a jihad against its 'domestic enemy', and since 1983 more than 1.9 million people have been murdered or have been caused to die as a result of the actions of the NIF in southern Sudan and the Nuba mountains.
Syria and Lebanon are also a world center of terrorism, as well as of opium and hashish cultivation. Between 1975-82 over 100,000 Lebanese were killed in the Lebanese civil war between the PLO, the Shiite and Sunni Muslims, the Druze and the Maronite Christians. In the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley the Hezbollah terrorist groups train and send out forces to attack Israel.
According to the US State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Counter-terrorism's 2000 report, Syria oversees the following terrorist networks operating and training in Lebanon's Bekaa: Hezbollah, Osama Bin Laden's al-Qa'ida (Arabic, 'The Base') network, Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, George Habash's PFLP-GC, Asbat al-Ansar, and several local Sunni extremist organizations. Other sources would add the names of the Japanese Red Army and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Syria not only controls Lebanon's terrorist training camps, but allows Islamic terrorists to base out of Damascus. In February 1982 the Syrian city of Hama was subject to a 27 day siege. The Syrian Army under the command of Rifa'at Assad surrounded the city and trapped possibly 100 members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were opposed to President Assad's regime. Artillery shelling of that city caused between 10,000 and 38,000 civilian casualties. Fifteen thousand people were untraceable as a result of the massacre. In September 2001 two PFLP terrorist were arrested crossing into Israel from Jordan, having been trained in Syria to blow up the two towers of Tel Aviv's Azrieli Center.
Jordan became a base of PLO terror operations against Israel between 1964 and 1970. When the PLO tried to overthrow King Hussein's government in September 1970 to set up a terrorist dictatorship in its stead, the king responded by unleashing his Bedouin Legionnaires against the PLO. Approximately 3,500 were killed during those weeks in 'Black September', with many terrorists actually escaping to Israel to request asylum.
The Palestinian Authority continues to engage in open terrorism. Of the 176 Jewish terror victims in the past year, 71 of them were committed by members of the PA security forces. Calls for a jihad against the Jewish people and for the destruction of the State of Israel are regularly broadcast on PA controlled radio and television.
On September 11, the day of the World Trade Center bombing, the PA controlled newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida declared, "The suicide bombers of today are the noble successors of the Lebanese bombers, who taught the US Marines a tough lesson. These suicide bombers are the salt of the earth, the engines of history. They are among the most honorable people among us." The PA appointed Mufti Ekrima Sabri gave a sermon at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem in late August 2001, in which he called on Allah "to destroy the United States and Great Britain, as well as those who help the two countries".
Saudi Arabia continues to bankroll many terrorist groups, though the funding mostly comes through private individuals. Many terrorist organizations receive substantial chunks of their funding through the government-tolerated generosity of the Saudis. Jews are forbidden to set foot in Saudi Arabia, and anti-Jewish literature is readily available. Christian houses of worship are illegal, and Christians who are discovered practicing their faith are often arrested, tortured and sometimes beheaded.
Iran is the center of Shi'ite Islam, and a world leader in exporting terrorism. It is a haven for many terrorist organizations, and funds Hezbollah's and Islamic Jihad's activities against Israel. Iran also supports and offers safe haven to Algeria's GIA, Egypt's Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Hamas, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, PFLP-GC, Kurdistan Worker's Party, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, etc. Iran's government held US embassy personnel hostage for 444 days in 1979-80, and has been linked to many top terror attacks around the world. It has continually called for the destruction of the Great Satan (USA) and the Little Satan (Israel) through jihad.
Hezbollah's former leader is Imad Mugniyeh, the planner and mastermind of Hezbollah kidnappings, suicide bombings and many especially violent airplane hijackings. He is also the man who oversaw the torture to death of William Buckley (the CIA station chief in Beirut) and the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aries in 1992. At present he resides in Iran and in recent months has had significant contact with Bin Laden's top leadership, including Ayman al-Zawahari. The September 11 hijackings show strikingly similar tradecraft to Mugniyeh's methods.
Iraq is perhaps the most well known country which both exports terrorism and murders its own citizens. In March 1988 Sadaam Hussein launched a chemical warfare attack against the town of Halabja in northern Iraq. Mustard gas and nerve gases were deployed. Between 5,000 and 12,000 Iraqi Kurds were killed immediately, and an estimated minimum of 40,000 were injured. His brutality against the Kurds, the Iranians and the Kuwaitis have earned him the Arabic title 'the butcher of Baghdad'.
Sadaam has stirred up riots across the Muslim world by his declarations that he is leading a jihad against the forces of the godless West and of Israel. His drive to obtain non-conventional weapons (atomic, biological and chemical) coupled with his cruel invasion of Kuwait, triggered the Gulf War of 1991. Sadaam was one of the few world leaders who publicly applauded the recent attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon.
Afghanistan's non-Arab country is ruled by the Islamic Taliban dictatorship. It is a center for training some of the most radical and violent Islamic terrorists, and the center of Bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network. The cruelty of this Islamic regime against its own people is internationally known and documented. Eight Christians working for the humanitarian aid organization "Shelter" are facing the death penalty for the alleged crime of sharing their faith with Afghanis.
Pakistan is a non-Arab Muslim country. Christians accused of sharing their faith in Pakistan have been jailed, tortured and lynched. Osama Bin Laden has many contacts with Pakistan's intelligence community and has received active support from many sources in Pakistan. Over 30,000 Pakistanis fought as jihad warriors against Russian forces in Afghanistan.
Recent violent anti-American riots and calls for jihad against the West show the volatile nature of many Pakistani Muslims. Recently President Musharraf publicly accused Hindus and Jews of plotting against Pakistan. This was partially done in an effort to divert Muslim anger away from Pakistan's leaders, who are cooperating with America against fellow Muslims in Afghanistan and the mujahid Bin Laden.
Indonesia, a non-Arab Muslim country, has recently seen horrendous Muslim instigated riots against Indonesian and immigrant Chinese Christians. A campaign of targeted rapes, murders and church burnings throughout Indonesia has garnered world media attention.
This brief survey of violence and terrorism in Muslim countries, and the solid evidence of widespread Islamic support for Muslim terrorist organizations, refutes the accuracy of the mantra that many are repeating today, that Islam is simply 'the way of peace' and that there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism. There are a sizable and active number of Muslim organizations and Islamic countries which support, export and engage in terrorism against Western targets. They are not a lunatic fringe. They are following Muhammad's command to engage in jihad Islamic holy war (more on this in a few pages).
Though not all Islamic terrorism is sponsored by Arabs, the lion's share of it brings together two potent elements Islam and the Arab people. An example: of the 26 terrorist organizations whose identities have been published and whose financial holdings in the US have been seized, all are Islamic and most are Arab-led. Part of the key to this volatile mix may be found in the Bible, in Genesis 16:10-12. There the Angel of the Lord prophesies to Hagar concerning her yet to be born son Ishmael. "I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count . . . Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. And you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. And he will be a wild donkey of a man. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him, and he will live to the east of (ed., or in opposition to/against) all of his brothers."
This prophetic word has shaped much of the destiny of the greater Arab nation and its relationship with the world.Fierce independence, a wild and untamable soul, and arrogant animosity can characterize Arab dealings (at their worst) with the world.
But the Arab world at its best manifests freedom of abandoned worship, generosity, graciousness and sacrificial zeal. When Messiah Jesus is allowed to transform their hearts, the descendants of Ishmael will find God bringing sweet out of the bitter, and they will discover the beauty of their Abrahamic connection in a totally new way. Peace and cooperation will supplant wildness and strife, and love between Arab and Jewish cousins will bloom again.
We must remember that God has a heart overflowing with compassion and saving love for the multitude of Ishmael's sons and daughters. The Living One who saw Hagar and her son dying of thirst in the wilderness, has preserved Ishmael's line for redemptive purposes as well. Great revival will break out throughout the Arab world but prior to this, believing Jews and Gentiles need to be willing to pay the price in prayers, tears and blood to see the Arab world set free from the demonic deception known as Islam.
Another biblical passage that may have some bearing is Psalm 120. The Jewish psalmist complains that he has become exasperated in his having to deal with deceitfulness and warlike strife in the tents of Kedar (an ancient name for an Arabian tribe). "Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war" (Psa.120:6-7). It seems that not much has changed in 3,000 years. The Arab people have long had the tendency to see themselves at war with the world. The Bible indicates that this tendency goes back not only to the jihad of Muhammad's day, but even to the days of Ishmael and King David.
A third passage which helps to explain the spiritual dynamic of Islam is Hebrews 12:15-17. This passage is based on two scriptures in Gen.25. In Gen.25:22-23 YHVH prophesies to Rebecca that the right of firstborn inheritance (physically and spiritually) will rest on Jacob the second born. In Gen.25:31-34 Esau fulfils the prophetic word by selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of red lentil pottage.
The Book to the Hebrews notes that a root of bitterness sprang up in Esau's heart after God affirmed that Jacob would indeed possess the promise. "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears".
This bitter root based on jealousy of Jacob has spiritually defiled the majority of the Arab peoples. Satan has complicated matters by using Islam to fan the flames of hatred toward the Jewish people first among the Arabs, and then through them to the rest of the Islamized world. Islam has perpetuated this spiritual striving, elevating it to the level of a religious commandment.
Another spiritual factor concerning the Arab people is found in Isaac's prophetic word over Esau, given after Jacob had received the right of the firstborn: "'I have made [Jacob] lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. . . Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.' Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." When Rebecca was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you" (Gen.27:37,39-42).
Isaac says that Esau's descendants would eventually move away from the land of Israel and make their home in the deserts. This process began when Esau moved to Edom, the desert area between southern Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Isaac adds that they would not make their living so much from agriculture as from the sword from conquest, and from pillaging and plundering desert caravans. The Bedouin of the Arabian desert, and specifically Muhammad's followers from Yathrib/Medina, began the expansion of Islam by raiding peaceful trading caravans.
Islam's first military exploits did not involve spreading the religion of Allah, but they were simply piracy attacking and despoiling other Arabs on their way to the pagan shrines of Mecca. These raids were known in Arabic as razzia, and were an old pre-Islamic Arabian custom. Muhammad himself organized 82 raids, leading between 19 and 26 of them personally. Within a short time robbing, raping and murder would be elevated to a spiritual commandment called 'jihad for the sake of Allah'. Isaac's prophecy over Esau was about to come true with devastating results for the startled inhabitants of Africa, Asia and southern Europe.
But God has not only spoken hard words over the Arab people. The Hebrew prophets proclaim that a radically different prophetic vision will transform many Middle Easterners at the End of Days. Isaiah speaks of a day yet future when many Arabs will turn to the God of Jacob and find His healing. This will not be considered a day of defeat for the Arab nations, but rather an entrance into true victory and blessing as the rift in Abraham's family will finally be healed. Ishmael and Esau will at last find joy and covenantal blessing as they embrace their Jewish cousins, accepting them as the ones who have received the right of inheritance which belongs to the firstborn.
"In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord . . . In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance'" (Isa.19:19,21,23-25).
One of the keys to peace between the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Israel lies in the hands of the Jewish people. When God grants Israel grace, humility and revelation, the Jewish people will be able to honor and respect Ishmael and Esau as Abraham and Isaac's physically firstborn sons though God's 'promise of the firstborn' will always remain Isaac's and Jacob's inheritance.
Even though Abraham's earthly family remains very dysfunctional, believers should remember that the Arab nation is the Jewish people's elder brother. Pray that the fractured physical family of Abraham will be healed in fullness, Even today, honor and slighted honor is a powerful dynamic among Arab people and the source of much conflict.
Pray that the Jewish people grow deep enough in grace to bless and honor their Arab brothers, bringing healing and restoration. Pray that God will so transform Arab and Jewish hearts that Jews will request wise and godly counsel from their Arab brothers, and that Arabs will gladly share their "older brotherly" wisdom and protection with younger brother Jacob, the Jewish people whom God calls "the firstborn son among all the nations" (Exod.4:22-23).
III. "Jihad doesn't mean holy war - Muhammad never taught holy war."
The recent focus on jihad and mujahidin has caused some Islamic spokesmen in the West to declare that Islam does not believe in holy war, and that anyone who believes this is defaming Islam and is ignorant of Arabic. Most Westerners are ignorant about Islam and Arabic, and are also committed to a form of secular pluralism. When accusations are levelled at them, many Westerners simply step back, lower their heads and mumble, "I'm sorry! No offense intended to you or your religion!"
Ever since the terror attacks occurred on the Pentagon and on New York City, Hollywood and the State Department have stepped into the gap, attempting to lower tensions and dissipate American anger against Islam.
Pop stars and politicians, movie stars and TV show hosts have suddenly become authorities on Islam, reading from prepared scripts which quote from the Koran (usually out of context) and describe Islam in glowing terms as a peaceful religion which only wants to worship its God in peace and quietness.
The Koran and Hadith (authoritative Muslim commentary) describe jihad very clearly, and their description does not jibe with what many talking heads are confidently proclaiming. These next sections set forth Islamic teaching on jihad from the source documents, explain how these teachings are reflected in both the Muslim view of the End of Days and in the terror and violence of the 'mujahidin of the apocalypse', and suggest some prophetic possibilities as to how this rapidly developing crisis may play out.
