Help, please

Islam

Islam is a religion few of us Americans know much about. It is the fastest growing religion in the world, and since the 9-11 attacks it has been near the top of our awareness.

The so-called radical Muslims are terrorists and murderers. That much we all know. But we are told that Islam is really a religion of peace, despite the plain fact that the “good” Muslims mostly give lip service in denunciation of the foul deeds of their evil brethren. But Muslim leaders are not actively trying to dissuade them.

This deafening silence has led me to conclude that Islam is not the peaceful religion some would have us believe it is, and that we are now in the early stages of an all-out religious war pitting Islam against everyone else.

I am therefore asking for comments from readers, and for you to also seek to get others who have information or opinions on this subject to comment on this page to help me fully form my opinions on Islam.

Serving to confirm my present concepts about Islam is a new book, The Sword of the Prophet , by Serge Trifkovic, which I have not yet read, but which I have read reviews of and comments about. Conservative columnist Don Feder had this to say about the book: "Like communism and Nazism (mere blips on the historical radar screen, by comparison), the foe this time is as much an ideology as a religion. It’s an all-encompassing dogma that regulates the lives of its followers down to the most minute detail. It’s an ideology which cannot coexist with other creeds. Its a worldview which sanctions -- nay, glorifies -- mass murder to advance its goal of world conquest."

Below is a series of what are termed “politically incorrect” facts about Islam. If these points are true, and the gist of Trifkovic’s book is correct, we are in for a long battle, and we had better step up our fight if we hope for our way of life to survive.

However, I am interested in contrary points of view, particularly those with some basis other than just opinions.

Thanks in advance.

• The Koran sanctions pillage, looting, ransom, and the rape of captive women as an incentive to join in jihad or "holy war."
• Mohammed kept one-fifth of all spoils of war for himself.
• The Koran allows a man to have up to four wives -- at any one time. He can divorce a wife by simply saying so 3 times.
• Mohammad had as many as 25 wives. One was six when they married; he was 54. He consummated the marriage when she was 9.
• At least 27 people were murdered on Mohammed's orders.
• Mohammed allowed temporary marriage "for three nights" or more, so that soldiers in the field could "marry" prostitutes.
• The Koran assures the Muslim the right to own slaves by purchasing them or as a bounty of war
• Mohammad had dozens Almsgiving and mercy is commended in Islam -- but the beneficiaries have to be Muslims only.
• In Islam, the definition of what is "right" or "just" is not fixed, but changeable by divine decree -- enabling the most heinous sins and crimes to be declared "the will of Allah."
• The joys and glories of the Islamic "paradise" are tangible and sensual and include sex with virgins -- and young boys.
• As Mohammad progressed from visionary and teacher to warlord and ruler, his style and message became more depraved, violent and intolerant.
• It is these later "revelations" that are considered definitive by Islamic authorities when they conflict with earlier ones often cited for Western consumption.
• The Crusades were a belated military response to three centuries of Muslim aggression against Christian lands and peoples.
• Islam divides the world into the House of Islam (where Islam rules) and the House of War (where it doesn't).
• The two are permanently at war; there may be temporary truces, but peace will come only upon the completion of global conquest.
• When Muslims are a minority community, the Koran permits them to adopt a peaceful attitude to deceive their neighbors, until they feel strong enough to dispense with the pretense.
• The massacres perpetrated by Muslims in India are unparalleled in history, bigger in sheer numbers than the Holocaust.
• Muslim persecution of Christians has caused suffering and death for millions over 13 centuries -- and continues today.
• The myth of Islam's "tolerance" of religious minorities contradicts its teaching, history, and present reality.
• Islam's "golden age" was parasitic on the Christian cultures and peoples it conquered, and ended when it "killed the host."
• In 1993, Saudi Arabia's supreme religious authority declared that the world is flat, and that anyone who disagrees is an infidel to be punished.
• Like Communism, Islam cannot foster prosperity, and is always reliant on plunder or unearned wealth (e.g., from oil) .
• Islam recognizes no distinction between temporal and divine authority; the only "legitimate" government is a theocracy.
• America's "ally" Saudi Arabia remains the most intolerant Islamic regime in the world, where the practice of any religion besides Islam is as strictly prohibited as in Mohammed's day.
• The first imam to deliver a Muslim prayer for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1991, declared in 1997 that Muslims will eventually elect the president and replace the constitutional government with an Islamic caliphate.