The Politically Incorrect Guide to the War on Terror

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Learning about Islam

• Nearly everyone remembers where they were on
  September 11, 2001.
• We have all learned more about Islam in the last
  five years.
• But often political correctness has clouded clear
  thinking about Islam.

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Books and Resources
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The Clash of Civilizations

• Samuel Huntington
• Three major civilizations
• Western universalism
• Chinese assertion
• Muslim militancy

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PC Statement 1Muhammad is just like every
other religious founder.
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Muhammad

• Muhammad, it will be recalled, was not only a
  prophet and a teacher, like the founders of other
  religions he was also the head of a polity and
  of a community, a ruler and a soldier.
• Bernard Lewis, The Roots of Muslim Rage,
  Atlantic Monthly, September 1990.

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Muhammad

• Was born AD 570 and received revelations in AD
  610 which were recorded and became the Qur'an
  (recitation).
• He was rejected for his preaching in Mecca and
  his rage began to surface.
• His uncle rejected his message and Muhammad
  singled him out for judgment in hell
  (Sura 1111-5).

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Muhammad

• After being rejected for his preaching in Mecca,
  fled to Medina in 622.
• He raided caravans and fought a number
  of battles while in Medina (especially the
  Battle of Badr).
• Led 10,000 men in taking Mecca.
• Died in 632.

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Muhammad and Jesus

• Muslims believe that Muhammad is the seal of the
  prophets (Sura 3340).
• The Quran teaches that he was a man like us
  (Sura 18110), and Allah told Muhammad that he
  must repent of his sins (Sura 4055).
• Jesus claimed to be God (John 858).
• The Bible teaches that Jesus lived a perfect and
  sinless life (2 Corinthians 521).

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PC Statement 2Christians and Muslims worship
the same God.
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Islam and Christianity

• The foundational doctrine of Islam is monotheism.
• The Quran teaches that Allah is one God and
  anyone who rejects this is guilty of the sin of
  shirk.
• Christianity teaches that there is one God in
  three persons (the Trinity).

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Islam and Christianity

• Allah is exalted and removed from mankind.
• Allah deals with the world through his word (the
  Quran) and his prophets (Muhammad).
• Jesus came into the world that we might know God
  (John 173).
• God so loved the world (John 316) that
  He sent His son.

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Islam and Christianity
Allah Yahweh

• Unitarian Monotheism
• Master/Slave Relationship
• Allah determines all
• Allah is author of good and evil

• Trinitarian Monotheism
• Father/Son or Daughter Relationship
• Sovereign and Free will
• Always good

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The Love of God

• Seminary conducted a survey of 600 former Muslims
  who had become Christians.
• One of the factors involved in the conversions
  was the emphasis on the love of God and the
  intimacy that believers can have with God as
  their heavenly Father.
• When you witness to a Muslim, make sure you share
  the love of God.

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PC Statement 3Islam is a religion of peace
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The Spread of Islam
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The Sword of Islam

• After Muhammads death in AD 632, Muslim armies
  swept east through the Fertile Crescent and west
  through Northern Africa.
• They would have taken all of Europe if the Muslim
  armies had not been repelled by Charles Martel in
  AD 732.
• Muslim armies were defeated at the gates of
  Vienna on September 11, 1683.

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What Does Jihad Mean?

• (Sura 973) Strive hard against the unbelievers
  and the hypocrites, and be firm against them.
  Their abode is Hell, and evil refuge indeed.
• Strive hard in Arabic is jahidi, which is a
  verbal form of the noun jihad.
• The traditional interpretation was that this
  striving was to be on the battlefield.

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Muslim Interpretation

• Islamic theology divides the Qur'an into the
  Meccan and Medinan suras.
• The Meccan suras come from Muhammads career as a
  prophet.
• In Medina, his positions hardened and are also
  filled with matters of law and ritual.
• And this includes exhortations to jihad.

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Muslim Interpretation

• The verses in the Qur'an that talk about peace
  and tolerance date from the Meccan period.
• The Islamic doctrine of abrogation (naskh) which
  means that Allah can change or cancel what he
  tells Muslims (Sura 2106).
• Thus, the verses of the sword abrogate the
  peaceful verses.

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PC Statement 4The Quran and the Bible are
both violent books
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The Quran

• Sura 95 Fight and slay the pagans wherever
  you find them, and seize them, beleager them, and
  lie in wait for them in every stratagem.
• Sura 929 Fight those who believe not in Allah
  nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which
  hath been forbidden by Allah and His Prophet, nor
  acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they
  are) of the People of the Book, until they pay
  the jizyah with willing submission, and feel
  themselves subdued.

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Old Testament

• 1 Samuel 152-3 Thus says the Lord of hosts,
  I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel,
  how he set himself against him on the way while
  he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike
  Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and
  do not spare him but put to death both man and
  woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and
  donkey.

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Key Difference

• In the Old Testament, there was a direct and
  specific command to fight against a particular
  group of people.
• These commands given during the Old Testament
  theocracy apply only to those people at that
  time.
• The passages in the Quran apply to all
  unbelievers at all times.

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New Testament

• Contrast this will the many commands to believers
  in the New Testament.
• Believers are called upon to love their enemies
  (Matthew 544) and to turn the other cheek
  (Matthew 539).
• A literal interpretation of the New Testament
  calls for Christians to be peace-loving.

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PC Statement 5The Quran and the Bible are
basically the same
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Similarities

• Islam and Christianity are both religions of the
  book.
• The Quran and the Bible both claim divine
  revelation.
• Both religions claim that the book of their
  revelation has been accurately preserved through
  the centuries.

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Differences

• The Quran teaches (Sura 5116) that Christians
  worship three gods the Father, the Mother
  (Mary) and the Son (Jesus).
• But the Bible actually teaches that there is one
  God in three persons (the Trinity).

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Differences

• The Quran says (Sura 37100-111) that Abraham
  was going to sacrifice Ishmael.
• The Bible teaches that Abraham was going to
  sacrifice Isaac.

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Differences

• The Quran teaches (Sura 4157) that Jesus was
  not crucified.
• The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was
  crucified on a cross.

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Christianity Islam

• God is three persons
• Jesus is second person in the Trinity.
• Jesus rose from the dead.
• Bible is Word of God.
• Humans are sinful by nature.
• Salvation by grace.

• God is absolute one
• Jesus was a major prophet but not God.
• Jesus did not die on the cross or rise.
• Bible is corrupted.
• Humans are good by nature.
• Salvation by works.

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PC Statement 6We are fighting a war on terror
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War on Terror?

• We are fighting a war without a name.
• We are not engaged in a war on terror.
• We are not even engaged in a war against Al
  Qaeda.
• We cant win if we cant name the enemy.

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War on Terror?

• Current conflicts involving Islam Afghanistan,
  Chechnya, Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Philippines,
  Somalia.
• Attacks have been against the UK, Spain, France,
  the United States, etc.
• The war is more than just a military battle in
  countries in the Middle East.

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Islam and the Mosques

• Of the 1400 mosques
  in America, 90 have
  been built in the last
  20 years with
  Wahhabi funds from
  Saudi Arabia.
• The 9/11 hijackers received support from at least
  seven U.S. mosques.

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Islam and the Mosques

• The zarat that are collected usually goes to
  various Muslim groups that are frequently
  involved in terrorism.

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PC Statement 7There are lots of moderate
Muslims
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Moderate Muslims?

• The Qur'an is in difficult, classical Arabic, and
  most Muslims are not Arab.
• Many Muslims contextualize the message of the
  Qur'an.
• One American Muslim spokesman often presented as
  a moderate is Siraj Wahhaj, who was the first
  Muslim to give an invocation to the U.S. Congress.

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Siraj Wahhaj

• After the attack of September 11 he said,
  I now feel responsible to preach, actually to go
  on a jihad against extremism.
• That was just what the media and the American
  people wanted to hear.
• But he has also warned that the U.S. will fall
  unless it accepts the Islamic agenda.

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Siraj Wahhaj

• He also lamented that if only Muslims were
  clever politically, they could take over the
  United States and replace its constitutional
  government with a caliphate.
• He also sponsored talks with Sheikh Oman Abdel
  Rahman who was later convicted for conspiring to
  blow up the World Trade Center in 1993.

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PC Statement 8We are doing all we canto
secure our borders
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Border Security?

• Each day 4,000
  illegal immigrants
  enter the U.S.
  through Americas
  back door.
• This is equivalent to 60 jumbo jetliners.
• A significant percentage are OTMs (Other Than
  Mexicans).

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Border Security?

• The U.S. has 16,000
  ships entering its ports
  every day.
• Very few containers are even inspected and
  questions have been raised about those providing
  security.

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PC Statement 9We no longer face a nuclear
threat
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Nuclear Black Market

• During the 1990s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union
  began to withdraw nuclear weapons from sites.
• The Russians began moving 22,000 nukes when the
  Soviet Union was falling apart.
• Is it reasonable to believe all of these were
  safely transported and secured?
• Cesium-137 was selling for 1 million.

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Nuclear Black Market

• The Chechen Mafyia became a
  dominant force in
  trafficking of nuclear weapons.
• Dzokhar Dudayev (Chechen leader) provided
  protection of weapons of mass destruction.

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Nuclear Black Market

• He later notified the State
  Department that he
  possessed tactical
  nuclear suitcase bombs
  he was willing to sell to
  rogue states.
• He sold 20 suitcase bombs to Osama bin Laden and
  al Qaeda.

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Nuclear Terrorism

• Senator John Kyl said that terrorists would need
  no more than 9 pounds of plutonium or 35 pounds
  of highly-enriched uranium to create a nuclear
  explosion.
• International Atomic Energy Agency between 1993
  and 2004, there were 662 confirmed cases of
  smuggling of nuclear and radiological materials.

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PC Statement 10Christian teaching rejects
warfare
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Christian Perspective

• Timothy Demy and Gary Stewart evangelical
  chaplains in different branches of the military

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Key Biblical Passages

• Ecclesiastes 31,8
• Matthew 544 247
• Acts 101-23
• Romans 131-7
• 1 Timothy 22
• 1 Peter 213-17

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Principles of a Just War

• Just cause
• Just intention
• Last resort
• Formal declaration
• Limited objectives
• Proportionate means
• Noncombatant immunity

jus ad bellum on the way to war jus in
bello in the midst of war
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