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• Tuesday, August 19, 2008 06:59 PM

  Debunking debunkers

  Debunking a scurrilous email should not include errors, else the debunking loses credibility.

  "The basic question the e-mail poses, "Can a good Muslim be a good American?" is blatantly racist . . ."

  Islam is not a race, it is an ideology. If it were a race, which would it be? White, like Balkan Muslims? Black, like African Muslims? Arab, like Saudi Muslims? Southeast Asian, like Indian, Malaysian and Indonesian Muslims? Pacific Islander, like Filipino Muslims? This knee-jerk accusation of "racism" simply shows ignorance.

  "And mainstream Islam considers Christians and Jews to be fellow "People of the Book." Their religions are acceptable, being monotheistic . . . "

  It depends on which part of the Koran you read, the Meccan Koran (created by Mohammed when he did not have power) or the Medinan (created by Mohammed when he later became a warlord, raiding, looting and taking slaves from the surrounding tribes of Jews and Christians). The Medinan Koran contains the famous "Verse of the Sword," which is regarded by many Islamic scholars, under the doctrine of naskh (al-Nasikh wal-Mansoukh) to abrogate all earlier Koranic verses urging peace with non-Muslims.

  This verse declares: "When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way. God is forgiving and merciful." Many other verses in the Medinan Koran urge aggressive violence against unbelievers so that "religion is only for Allah."

  Finally, non-Jews and non-Christians might be a little nonplussed to find that their beliefs are not "acceptable" to Islam, and that under Sharia they are to convert or be killed.

  "There are lines in the Quran warning Muslims not to be allies with Christians or Jews, but others also say Muslims should treat non-Muslims equitably and kindly, as long as they aren't actively fighting against Islam."

  There sure are lines like that. There are also a lot more "lines" (I imagine the writer is referring to verses) that call unbelievers (including our "protected" Jews and Christians) the "vilest of creatures," hated by Allah, condemned to hellfire, the "sons of apes and pigs." And what "actively fighting against" Islam actually encompasses is never clearly stated by Muslim apologists. Many scholars regard any resistance to Sharia law, including gender apartheid, as "actively fighting against Islam."

  "There are some lines elsewhere that appear to suggest beating wives if they don't obey their husbands, but there are also lines in the Bible that mandate animal sacrifice and the murder of adulterous women.)"

  This is probably the funniest of the writer's active misrepresentations of Islam. The verse in question is 4:34, which reads: "Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Surely God is high, supreme." (Dawood's version of the Koran, Quran, 4:34)"

  That doesn't "appear to suggest" that men beat their wives. That's a mandate. A simple Google of "Islam + wife-beating" (try YouTube too, if you like video) will give you hundreds of scholarly interpretations explaining how to Islamically beat your wife. A recent Pakistani report showed that over 70% of Pakistani wives have been Islamically beaten, over things like an unsatisfactory meal. And it's hard not to point out that the only people stoning women for adultery anymore are -- gulp -- Muslims.

  "Islam does allow freedom of religion (if you're monotheistic)"

  Does this writer read the paper? People all over the world are being arrested, imprisoned, tried, and even killed for converting away from Islam. (Once again, the non-monotheists are out of luck on that one. Conversion or death for you, bud.) Further, whatever "freedom" non-Muslims have under Muslim rule is strictly limited by the rules of dhimmitude, which declare that non-Muslims are to pay jizya (an extortion tax) and "know themselves subdued." Restrictions on religious rituals and church building, as well as such items as non-Muslims' clothing, are part and parcel of Muslim dhimmitude regulations (see, e.g., Egypt.)

  All this is because an authentic hadith (a scholar-approved tradition of Mohammed) reports that Mohammed said, "Whomever leaves his religion (i.e., Islam), kill him." The unrelenting hatred against nonbelievers in the Medinan Koran and the hadith also can't help but create a hostile atmosphere as well.

  The emails against Obama are crap, that I'll give you. But it doesn't do any good to replace misrepresentations with more misrepresentations.

  —Kasimira Read Kasimira's other letters
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