Study – Grow – Know

Islam Means “Peace”

September 18, 2010 at 10:12 AM

What Does Islam Want?

I have been enjoying the book I recently purchased by Peter Hammond called Slavery, Terrorism & Islam.  Dr. Hammond has spent over 25 years as a Missionary to restricted access areas of Mozambique, Angola, and the Sudan.  In other words, what he shares in his book is information from his own personal experience, eye-witness accounts of others on the scene, and his own personal study.  This book can easily slip under the radar, but it should be read by everyone as a primer on Islam.  I want to take some time over the next few days to highlight more of Dr. Hammond’s insightful presentation of Islam, in light of today’s culture clashes.

“Islam in Arabic means submission, surrender, or subjugation.  A Muslim is one who submits.  The Arabic word for peace is Salam.  Islam is the active form of Salam.  Muslims see themselves as a ‘peace-keeping force’ using argument, intrigue, commerce, threats, terror, warfare and every means possible to secure Islam as the only religion in the world.” [1]

What is particularly helpful about Hammond’s book is the amount of time he spends dealing with the origins of Islam and the Qur’an, as well as the historical atrocities committed by Muslims in the name of Allah.  Immediately though, we come to a fork in the road.  That fork is the gap between so-called moderate Muslims and their terrorist counterparts, radical Muslims.  If the history of Islam is correct, then one can only wonder where moderate Muslims gained their peculiar understanding of Islam.  Obviously, the Muslims that Hammond and many others throughout the world encounter are Muslims bent on pushing their agenda forward with any available means.  That agenda, with Islam as the world religion, and Sharia Law as the means of enforcing it, is only seen as an “inner struggle” by Muslims who claim to be moderate and are living far from their radical Muslim counterparts.  Somewhere along the line, something has been lost in translation.

As we indicated yesterday, the first few sections of the Qur’an present a compassionate Muhammad, one who seems to be born along by his own desire to get along with people and live in tolerance.  This seems to only last a for a short length of time in the Qur’an, because soon, we have evidence of a much more angry and brooding Muhammad.  If history tells us anything about this time, it seems clear enough that this is after his first wife died, and his life changed.  He at one point needed to escape to Medina, and from that point, he began collecting wives, including the 9 year-old Aisha.  History also shows us that he began to savagely attack and destroy those who did not accept him as their prophet.

But is this just an anomoly or does it speak of an overall view of Islam, one that has been carried into today’s world?  If we look outside the borders of America, and into parts of Africa and elsewhere from Dr. Hammond’s vantage point, it certainly appears that this latter form of Islam is alive and well today.  Under the power of its adherents, this brutal form of Islam is being touted as the only way, and it is being foisted upon people of all faiths.  Christians are being especially hard hit by the tenacity and level of violence of many of these Muslims.  The amount of violence perpetrating by Muslims onto non-Muslims is something that is rarely mentioned in the media, yet from those who are there, we learn the truth.

I could list the many occasions in parts of Africa where Muslim men ran through the streets yelling “Allah Akubar!” as they destroyed anything that stood in their way – people, stores, animals – it didn’t matter.  They were on a mission to defend Allah from oppression, real or perceived.  Some of the main hotspots are the aforementioned Mozambique and Sudan, as well as Nigeria.  “Nigeria is a country of contrasts and conflict.  Like Sudan, Nigeria has a Muslim north and a Christian south.  However, unlike Sudan, in Nigeria it is the Christians who are the majority.” [2]

Though a minority, Muslims have not stood still.  They have created opportunities for themselves by creating the Islam in Africa Conference.  At this conference (1989), a Resolution was created and “issued at the conclusion of the conference [that] declared their determination ‘to show the whole world that Nigeria is truly an Islamic nation…to support the establishment and application of the Shari’a…to ensure the appointment of only Muslims into strategic national and international posts of member nations.  To eradicate in all its forms and ramifications all non-Muslim religions in member nations (such religions shall include Christianity…) to ensure that only Muslims are elected to political posts of all member nations.” [3] (emphasis in original)

Because of this attitude and intolerance for other religions, Muslims have gone on the offensive against anything that they see as opposing Islam.  A Christian who is doing nothing but living his life in Nigeria and doing no harm to anyone is still considered a threat to Islam and must be destroyed.  There have been many assaults on churches and Christians, including the bombing and/or burning of church buildings, attacks on Christians, who have been shot, hacked with swords, or had their hands and/or feet lopped off.  Of course, many have been killed as well.  These atrocities continue because law enforcement (such as they are) in these areas are either afraid to get involved (outnumbered), or they themselves are Muslims who turn a blind eye to the mayhem.

Islam means peace only when it rules.  Until then, they cannot exercise peace or employ peaceful means to push their agenda.  Indeed, their very agenda goes against the tide of peace.  We need to wake up and we need to realize that the only solution to this growing problem is evangelization.  Christians must take seriously the Great Commission when it comes to witnessing to those of Islam.  As Muslims convert to Christianity, the tide will turn against radical Islam.

We must be about the Father’s business of introducing lost souls to Him.

[1] Dr. Peter Hammond, Slavery, Terrorism & Islam, 22

[2] Ibid, 31

[3] Ibid, 32

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