Muslim appeaser politicians turning India into an Islamic State, Part 1

Origin of the politics of Muslim appeasement:

It has been mentioned in earlier articles that, though in a democratic country, an individual has the right, and also expected to cast his/her vote in favour of a political party of his/her personal choice, the Muslims do not follow this golden rule. On the contrary, they cast their votes according to the dictates of the religious and community leaders and as a result, all Muslim votes go for a single political party. As soon as this quantum of Muslim block votes becomes a deciding factor for winning and losing election, all the political parties start wooing the Muslims so that they may cast their votes in its favour and in this way, the politics of Muslim appeasement gains momentum.

In the political scenario of India, Muslim appeasement by the Indian National Congress (INC) is more than a century old- story and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, after his return from South Africa in 1915, began this nasty politics in a big way through extending the support of NIC for the so called Khilafat Movement launched y the Muslim Khan brothers. In 1947, the Congress leaders yielded to the Muslim demand for creation of Pakistan, as separate homeland for the Muslims, to please the Muslims. Not only that, after partitioning India on the basis of religion, the next appropriate step was to follow an exchange of population – sending the entire Muslim population to Pakistan and bringing back all the non-Muslim population of Pakistan to divided India.

But that vital step could not be carried out due to utter obstinate and stiff opposition of Gandhi. It is needless to say that Gandhi supported staying the Muslims back into divided India so that NIC could win election and stay in power with the help of Muslim block votes. In reality, NIC could have stayed in power, except for brief period from 1999 to 2004, when BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win 1999 election and came to power. For rest of the time, NIC could secure Muslims’ votes by constant allurement of concession and privilege for the Muslims.

Muslim appeasement by the Government of India:

In the West, the politicians who are engaged in appeasing the Muslims for their block votes, are identified as broad minded multiculturists, while those who oppose Muslim appeasement and try to uncover the true face of Islam, are designated as despicable racists. In Indian politics, politicians belonging to the first category are called secularists and those belonging to the second category, are called dirty communal people. So, in India, Muslim appeasement is going on under the dignified cover of secularism and the NIC and the Leftist parties are forerunners in the field secularism. India is the largest democracy in the world and the democratic Constitution of India sanctions equal opportunity for its citizens, irrespective of religion, caste, linguistic, regional and other differences. But the secular political parties and the secular politicians are trampling this sacrosanct principles of democracy and going on appeasing the Muslims with unlawful and undemocratic privileges and concessions.

For example, on December 18, 2009, the Central Government declared 10 per cent government job quota for the Muslims (The Statesman – Dec 19, 2009). In fact, NIC declared reservation of 15 per cent government jobs for the minority communities, 10% for the Muslims and 5% for the Christians. About 2 years back, the Central Government declared easy bank loans for the Muslims (The Times of India – Jan 18, 2007). About 6 months later, P Chidamvaram, the then Finance Minister, instructed the banks to speed up the scrutiny of loan application by the Muslims and disburse the loans.

In 2009 and 2010, the Central Government increased the funds allotments for the minority (read Muslim) affairs by 74%. A notification by the Minority Affairs Ministry, in this regard, said, “The Plan outlay for Ministry of Minority Affairs has been enhanced from Rs 1,000 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 1,740 crore in 2009-10 registering an increase of 74 per cent.” A report by the Indian Express, a leading Indian daily, on December 18, 2007, said, “Govt declared mega plan outlay for the Muslims- a package of Rs 3,780 crore for 90 Muslim dominated districts.” Another report appeared on November 9, 2007, in the Ananda Bazar Patrika, a leading Kolkata based Bengali daily, said, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared more additional funds for the Muslims.

The appeasement has also been introduced in the field of education. It is field where merit should be the only criterion for admission of students in reputed educational institutions, otherwise, the gross intellectual level of education must decline. Indian Institute of Technology or IITs are the most reputed and prestigious technological institutions in India. There are 5 IITs in the country where admission is done on the basis of stiff admission tests. On June 28, 2008, the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry issued an order to Directors of IITs for faculty quota, for the Muslims.

It is well known that the level of education in the Islamic schools, called madrasas, is very low and not job oriented. The students of these madrasas learn Koran, Hadiths and other Islamic subjects. On July 7, 2008, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then Railway Minister, declared that Madrasa degree would, now on, be valid for railway jobs. It is not difficult to understand that, such mindless job reservation would ultimately lead to appointment of inefficient people for responsible jobs. It is well known that, Muslims are fit for low grade jobs of unskilled laborers. That is the reason, a Muslim author has described the immigrant Muslim laborers in the Western countries as modern coolies. So, the Central Government is thinking of launching a program to improve the quality of education in madrasas by spending colossal funds. The goal of education in any country has to be creation of a socially conscious, educationally competent and professionally productive citizenry. But this target can never be achieved through madrasa education.

Muslim appeasement by the present UPA government:

With the help of the Muslim votes, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by the INC, has come to power for the second time after winning the Parliamentary Election in 2009. So, it has decided to intensify the policy of Muslim appeasement and go ahead with minority development programs as promised during the election campaign. As a consequence, Muslim representation will be increased in education and in government jobs.

The secular and democratic constitution provides equal opportunity for all citizens, irrespective of religious, linguistic, ethnic or any difference. But the Government of India by trampling the provisions of Indian constitution and disregarding the universally accepted democratic principles and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) in its Article 26 (recognized it as a fundamental Human Right), is shamelessly declaring more and more privileges for the Muslims. As a matter of fact, the Congress Govt. in India, which has been in power during most of the past sixty years, is busy deflecting attention from its dismal failure to assure education for all children by adopting preferential treatment for selected minorities (read Muslims and Christians). It is not difficult to understand that this politically motivated strategy was engineered for improving its chances of staying in power with the help of Muslim block votes. 

Preferential sanctions for Muslim Students:

Under this undemocratic and preferential system of the government, the scheduled cast students have been receiving lump sum grant as annual educational aid at the rate of Rs.140/- for lower primary level, Rs.220/- for upper primary level and Rs.330/- for the high school level. But the newly introduced plan of scholarships for minority students has elevated to Rs.10, 000/- per year limited to two students in a family whose annual income is less than one lakh rupees i.e. Rs 1,00,000).

More importantly, Muslim girls shall receive scholarship of Rs.3000/- at degree level, Rs.4000/- at post graduate level and Rs.5000/- for professional courses. Additionally, the Muslim girls shall receive stipend while preparing for competitive exams.

In case of higher studies like MBBS, PG courses and Research, the SC/ST students must get 60% marks to qualify for admission and are allowed a financial support of Rs. 3960 per year (Rs 330/ per month). But the religion based minorities need to have only 50% marks and the degree, PG students get Rs 6550/ per year while the M. Phil, Ph. D, students get Rs 35,100/ on yearly basis (attachment A). This inequality is extremely prejudicial to Hindu students and must be stopped immediately.

There are several additional discriminations against Hindu students. E.g.the Hindu students get educational loans at much higher interest rates i.e., 12 to 14 per cent per annum but minority students get student loan at 3 percent interest per annum from the National Minority Development & Finance Corporation under the Union Ministry of Finance.

In the field of commercial ventures for self-employment, a Hindu youth is entitled to get loans from commercial banks at 15 to 18 per cent interest rates and have to arrange ‘margin money’ of 15 to 40 per cent of the project cost from their private sources, balance comes from the bank. But minority youth have to put in only 5 per cent of project cost as margin money from their private source, other 35 percent is given by the National Minority Development & Finance Corporation at 3 percent interest,

As mentioned above, this division of Indian nation into religion based categories violates the sacrosanct principles of the Indian constitution. In fact, the irrational educational policy of the Govt. has now divided poor Indian students into three categories:

a) Preferred religious minorities (read Muslims and Christians) with high financial assistance;

b) SCs and STs on a lower level; and,

c) Total exclusion of students from poor Hindu families (all outside the first two categories) from the so-called upper castes, who don’t get assistance worth even a farthing.

“The preferential treatment to minority religionists – Muslims and Christians – while ignoring the poor Hindu students with similar economic status violates Article 15(1) which clearly stipulates that “The state shall not discriminate any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them”. The Govt. cannot and must not be allowed to enforce the constitution selectively for benefiting its prospective voters”, says an analyst.

“Recognition of the Madrassa certificates on par with the CBSE and the SSLC – by the Sonia- Singh regime and calling it ‘inclusive ‘development’ is against national interest as it encourages a two society mindset : Madrassas fundamentally negate the secular philosophy and inflict a devastating body blow to the principles of Secularism. These radical Islamic institutions are globally recognized as the nucleus–initiating stage for furthering a skewed mindset into jihadi terrorism”, he adds.

Conclusion:

In India, the policy of Muslim appeasement is a two-pronged instrument, one prong is operated by the central government in Delhi and the other by the state governments in the respective states. The unlawful and undemocratic preferences and privileges are turning the majority Hindu community into third or fourth grade citizens and elevating the Muslims, in the name of minorities, into the first grade ones. These developments are turning India virtually into an Islamic state. Many affirm that India has already become an Islamic state, but yet to be officially declared.

Recently, the UPA government has drafted a draconian law, called the “Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011” and if it becomes a law, the Hindus will be turned into slaves and the Muslims into the real rulers of the country. We hope to discuss this in a separate article.

Source : faithfreedom.org by Contributing Editor  Dr Radhasyam Brahmachari

Israeli police storm Temple Mount

Israeli security forces stormed Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Friday after Muslims there began hurling stones at Jews praying at the Western Wall below.
Non-lethal crowd control methods were used to disperse the dozens of Muslim rioters, and three young Arabs were arrested for taking a leading role in the violence.
No Jews were injured by the dozens of stones that were thrown down from the top of the Temple Mount.
Most weeks, Israel restricts access to Friday prayers atop the Temple Mount to Muslims over the age of 50 in order to avoid precisely this kind of violence. But, because the site had been quiet for many weeks, the police decided to lift the restriction last week. They likely won't make that mistake again any time soon.
In related news, a Muslim mob raided and razed a small Jewish community in the Jordan Valley following Friday prayers at a local mosque.
Apparently whipped into a frenzy by an anti-Jewish sermon (which are all too common in Palestinian mosques), an estimated 200 Palestinian Arabs arrived at the Gaon Hayarden outpost armed with clubs and metal chains.
The few Jewish youth who were at the outpost (one of many set up without government approval and in defiance of international pressure) resisted briefly before escaping with their lives.
The Muslim mob burned several tents and small structures, including one used for prayer and containing numerous Jewish holy books.
One of the Muslim leaders told Israel's Ynet news portal that the Jews of Judea and Samaria could expect more such raids in the future.

Ratko Mladic, killing 3,500 Christians near Srebrenica & Islamic jihad: Bosnia & Western hypocrisy!

The image of Srebrenica tells us more about the reality of the majority of the media and of course the “Muslim victim card” is being used in order to cleanse the Bosniak Muslims.  After all, from enslaving Orthodox Christians during their brotherly love with the Turkish slave masters of the Ottoman Empire to having Muslim SS units who supported Adolf Hitler; then “victimhood” is needed in order to justify their history and culture. 

Of course the wishy-washy brigade will tell us that the Ottoman period was enlightened and that the system of taking the eldest Christian boy (devshirme system) in the Balkans and converting them to Islam was noble.  Yes, slavery in the modern era being justified and not mere slavery because the system meant that they would kill their own people in the name of Islam after being indoctrinated by Islamists in the Ottoman Empire.

However, the liberal agenda tells us that Europe owes so much to Islam.  Strange because Islam took the sword to Europe and enslaved and colonized and this reality shames historians and commentators who manipulate history.  After all, if people stated that the Atlantic slave trade was enlightening then people would be rightly condemned. However, when scholars and journalist speak about a tolerant Islamic Ottoman Empire or about their man made multi-religious Bosnia then the elites clap in admiration while leaders in Mecca dream about Islamization by stealth jihad.

Of course even the Atlantic trade route is also manipulated because little is said about the Arab and Turkish enslavement of Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.  These tens of millions of slaves do not count and it would not suit the agenda to mention white slaves and Hindu slaves.

The Orthodox Christian world along with Africa and the Hindu world suffered so much at the hands of Islamic slavery and Protestant and Catholic imperialism which also enslaved.  This reality is forgotten and it appears that even in recent times that Orthodox Christians and Hindus do not count.

After all, three wars in the Balkans since the 1970s in Bosnia, Cyprus and Kosovo and every time the West supported Islam. Also, the Turkish genocide which killed millions of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks, is still not recognized despite several million Christians being slaughtered in 1915 and the following years (major pogroms took place also before this date).

Similarly, the de-Hinduization of Kashmir, Bangladesh and Pakistan does not seem to hit the headlines in modern times.  Therefore, while the Muslim population remains strong in India and is growing the Hindus of Bangladesh, Kashmir and Pakistan are in free fall in percentage terms.

Alas, it appears that Orthodox Christians and Hindus don’t count!

Turning back to Srebrenica and the reality or unreality of what really happened.  After all, Bosnian Muslims have to justify their past misdeeds and Western powers need to justify killing from the air during the bombing of Serbia.

You see, when NATO bombing attacks against mainly civilians took place in Serbia this was deemed to be “Western civilization.” Yes, the overwhelming majority of people killed were not military fighters in the army of Serbia but were civilians and bombing hospitals, the infrastructure and so forth was all justified in the name of “Western civilization.”

Strange, because when several million Africans who were mainly Christian or Animist were being killed in Southern Sudan by the Arab Muslim regime then nothing was done.  Therefore, “the double standards” or should I say “no standards” was at work once more and the twisting of history and reality was done in order to suit an agenda.

The House of Saud must have been so pleased with both events.  After all, kill millions of African Christians and Animists in Sudan in order to Arabize and Islamize and the West does nothing.  At the same time create two Islamic dominated states in Europe with Kosovo being accomplished and Bosnia being the future hope after the enforced demise of the Bosnian Serb Republic. 

This is where Srebrenica suits the agenda in order to cover-up all the misdeeds of past history and this applies to Bosniak Muslim history and the Western bombing of Serbia which enabled a body organ transplanting leadership to take power.

SREBRENICA IN ALL ITS COMPLEXITY 

Before going deeper into what happened in Srebrenica it is important to clarify that thousands of Muslims were killed after Bosnian Serbian forces took Srebrenica.  This applies to not only Muslim soldiers who were killed but also innocent Muslims who were also killed during the mayhem of events. 

Srdja Trifkovic, who is an historian, foreign affairs analyst and respected author, states the following:

“During the Bosnian war between May 1992 and July 1995, several thousand Muslim men lost their lives in Srebrenica and its surroundings. Most of them died in July of 1995 when the enclave fell unexpectedly to the Bosnian Serb Army and the Muslim garrison attempted a breakthrough. Some escaped to the Muslim-held town of Tuzla, 38 miles to the north. Many were killed while fighting their way through; and many others were taken prisoner and executed by the Bosnian Serb army.”

Srdja Trifkovic continues by stating that “It is often pointed out that Srebrenica was an UN “protected zone,” but it is seldom noted that the enclave was simultaneously an armed camp used for attacks against Serb villages in the surrounding areas. Muslim General Sefer Halilovic confirmed in his testimony at the Hague Tribunal that there were at least 5,500 Bosnian Army soldiers in Srebrenica after it had obtained the “safe haven” status, and that he had personally arranged numerous deliveries of sophisticated weapons by helicopter.”

This statement is important because the Muslim General, Sefer Halilovic, confirms that you had at least 5,500 Bosnian Muslim Army soldiers in Srebrenica.  More important, these fighters had slaughtered more than 3,500 Christians prior to the fall of Srebrenica and this applies to young children, women and the elderly in surrounding villages.

Even worse, the so-called safe haven meant that Bosnian Muslim forces would attack outside of the main area of central Srebenica and kill Orthodox Christians. However, they would then return to Srebrenica in order to be protected and to re-enforce their stronghold and this applies to re-arming and so forth.   

General Philippe Morillon

The UNPROFOR commander, French General Philippe Morillon, testified that the crimes committed by Bosnian Muslim forces were “extraordinary” and made the Serbs’ desire for revenge to be “inevitable.”

Philippe Morillon clearly stated the name of the Bosnian Muslim commander Naser Oric who was known for being sadistic.  On February 12 in 2004 at The Hague Tribunal Philippe Morillon testified that Bosnian Muslim forces under Naser Oric “engaged in attacks during Orthodox (Christian) holidays and destroyed villages, massacring all the inhabitants. This created a degree of hatred that was quite extraordinary in the region.”

Philippe Morillon is clearly commenting about the massacres of thousands of Orthodox Christians who were killed in the surrounding region.  This applies to Christians being burnt alive, beheaded and so forth.

This Srebrenica is about two military forces being the Orthodox Bosnian Christian Serb forces and the Bosnian Muslim forces.  Therefore, the real Srebrenica is very different and if General Ratko Mladic did not have Bosnian Serb units in the region to stem the massacre of Orthodox Christians then the figure of 3,500 deaths would have been even higher.

Also, from a military point of view the Bihac Muslims in Western Bosnia under Fikret Abdic had supported the Bosnian Serbs but in time they would be crushed by Bosnian Muslim forces under the Islamist, Alija Izetbegovic. At the same time during the civil war in Croatia the Krajina Serbs would be forced out and many innocent Orthodox Christians would be killed and “cleansed.”

Srebrenica was part of a bigger battle and little is said about Serbian Christian areas in Sarajevo which were taken by Islamist military forces under Alija Izetbegovic. Therefore, not only had Srebrenica Muslim forces killed and slaughtered thousands of innocent Orthodox Christians in the surrounding region; but their brutality and numbers of more than 5,500 military Muslim soldiers meant that Bosnian Serb units were being pinned down.

It was a situation that was leading to vented up hanger and hatred.  After all, why wasn’t Krajina a protected area for Orthodox Christian Serbs and the same applies to Bihac where Muslims were moderate and wanted protection from Bosnian Islamist forces under Alija Izetbegovic….why weren’t these areas protected?

In fact, not only were the protected safe havens biased towards the Muslims who supported the Islamist Alija Izetbegovic; but at the same time thousands of international Islamists were allowed to enter Bosnia in order to slit the throats of Orthodox Christians and Catholic Christians because to international Islamists the war had a different meaning because it was an Islamic Jihad in their eyes.

Not only this, Bill Clinton who supported the Islamists who were given tacit approval to slaughter Orthodox Christians had a double agenda.  This applies to allowing thousands of international Islamists into Bosnia and at the same time to build up both Croatian Catholic units and the Bosnian Muslim Islamist leadership of Alija Izetbegovic.

Time was not on the side of the Bosnian Christian Serbs and in this sense General Ratko Mladic is being tried in the courts of The Hague because he had held out against a huge united and international agenda.  Indeed, for the Bosnian Serbs to have held out and maintain a vast area of Bosnia is remarkable given the fact that America, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and many others, alongside international Islamists like Al Qaeda, had all worked together in order to defeat the Bosnian Serbs.

Major General (Ret) Lewis MacKenzie

Major-General (Ret) Lewis Mackenzie who is a retired Canadian general also raises serious doubts about so-called “good” and “evil.” In his article called “The real story behind Srebrenica.  The massacre in the UN ‘safe haven’ was not a black and white event,” which was published in The Globe and Mail (July 14, 2005), he clearly highlights neglected areas.

Major General (Ret) Lewis MacKenzie states the following:

“As the Bosnian Muslim fighters became better equipped and trained, they started to venture outside Srebrenica, burning Serb villages and killing their occupants before quickly withdrawing to the security provided by the UN’s safe haven. These attacks reached a crescendo in 1994 and carried on into early 1995 after the Canadian infantry company that had been there for a year was replaced by a larger Dutch contingent.”

“The Bosnian Serbs might have had the heaviest weapons, but the Bosnian Muslims matched them in infantry skills that were much in demand in the rugged terrain around Srebrenica. As the snow cleared in the spring of 1995, it became obvious to Nasar Oric, the man who led the Bosnian Muslim fighters that the Bosnian Serb army was going to attack Srebrenica to stop him from attacking Serb villages. So he and a large number of his fighters slipped out of town. Srebrenica was left undefended with the strategic thought that, if the Serbs attacked an undefended town, surely that would cause NATO and the UN to agree that NATO air strikes against the Serbs were justified. And so the Bosnian Serb army strolled into Srebrenica without opposition.”

General Morillon bluntly states that “Naser Oric was a warlord who reigned by terror in his area and over the population itself. I think that he realized that these were the rules of this horrific war, that he could not allow himself to take prisoners. According to my recollection, he didn’t even look for an excuse. It was simply a statement: One can’t be bothered with prisoners.”

Morillon also recounts how “the Serbs took me to a village to show me the evacuation of the bodies of the inhabitants that had been thrown into a hole, a village close to Bratunac. And this made me understand the degree to which this infernal situation of blood and vengeance [...] led to a situation when I personally feared that the worst would happen if the Serbs of Bosnia managed to enter the enclaves and Srebrenica.”

 “I feared that the Serbs, the local Serbs, the Serbs of Bratunac, these militiamen, they wanted to take their revenge for everything that they attributed to Naser Oric. It wasn’t just Naser Oric that they wanted to revenge, take their revenge on; they wanted to revenge their dead on Orthodox Christmas.”

It is clear that the Bosnian Muslim forces and Srebrenica is not the “innocent Muslim lamb” which is being told; on the contrary “Srebrenica was a fortified Islamic stronghold which butchered and slaughtered innocent Orthodox Christians in the surrounding region.”

Also, events on the ground were changing rapidly and this applies to Bihac, Mostar, Krajina and many parts of Bosnia and Croatia. In the ensuing mayhem massacres on all sides took place and in Bihac it was local Muslims who were killed by Islamic forces which supported Alija Izetbegovic.

Indeed, it is strange that Alija Izetbegovic and Muslim units cared so much about crushing the moderate Muslims of Bihac when it was claimed that they were overstretched and facing genocide.  However, this is a different issue but interesting all the same because it shows you the limitations of many journalists who followed the “Islamist Alija Izetbegovic party line” and it shatters the myth because Serbian forces had helped the Muslims of Bihac.

Lord Owen also vindicates what General Morillon stated because on page 143 of his book, Balkan Odyssey, the respected Lord Owen comments that “On 16 April I spoke on the telephone to President Milosevic about my anxiety that, despite repeated assurances from Dr. Karadzic that he had no intention of taking Srebrenica, the Bosnian Serb army was now proceeding to do just that. The pocket was greatly reduced in size. I had rarely heard Milosevic so exasperated, but also so worried: he feared that if the Bosnian Serb troops entered Srebrenica there would be a bloodbath because of the tremendous bad blood that existed between the two armies. The Bosnian Serbs held the young Muslim commander in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, responsible for a massacre near Bratunac in December 1992 in which many Serb civilians had been killed. Milosevic believed it would be a great mistake for the Bosnian Serbs to take Srebrenica and promised to tell Karadzic so.”

In a past article I state that “I have given quotes from people who were on the ground and from people who know a lot about the real events of Bosnia and Srebrenica.  It would be difficult to claim that Lord Owen, General Morillon, and Lewis MacKenzie, are pro-Serbian or that they are holocaust deniers.”

“Therefore, it is clear that “the real Srebrenica” is not being told and the same applies to the “hidden Islamic jihad” which took place during the civil war and how ex-President Bill Clinton gave the green light to Islamists from all over the world to enter Bosnia.”

Srebrenica should be remembered but it should be remembered in its duality and this applies to thousands of innocent Orthodox Christians and Muslims who were killed by both sides.  It also should be remembered that Bosnian Muslim forces had slaughtered thousands of Christians first in the surrounding region of Srebrenica and that the “safe haven” was abused and generals from the international community who were on the ground state this clearly and Morillon testified in court.

Lewis MacKenzie comments that “two wrongs never made a right, but those moments in history that shame us all because of our indifference should not be viewed in isolation without the context that created them.”

With this powerful comment in mind and the complex nature of Bosnia and Croatia and the inner-struggle between the Muslim community in Bihac against the Islamist Alija Izetbegovic; alongside the international Islamist movement and Al Qaeda being involved; and the arming of Bosnian Muslim forces and Croatia by America, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and others. Then Srebrenica can’t be talked about by one single event because what happened before and the complexity of the civil wars means that the entire picture must be seen and the “evil and hatred” which existed was based on events prior to Bosnian Serb forces entering Srebrenica. 

In all civil wars you have massacres and no side is innocent and anybody who says differently is biased to the extreme.  If you view Hiroshima and Nagasaki and ignore events prior to this and the carpet bombing of Germany and Japan where millions were killed; then all the massacres which took place by Germany and Japan will not be viewed and in isolation you have a mass distortion of reality.

This is what is happening about Srebrenica; a huge distortion of reality and past events are being ignored and manipulated to an extreme point of view and which is anti-Serbian. 

Ratko Mladic from a Bosnian Serb point of view held out against multiple forces and this applies to the Bosnian Muslim forces, Catholic Croatian forces, international Islamists and nations like America, Iran, and Saudi Arabia who were re-arming the Croatians and Bosnian Muslim forces who supported Alija Izetbegovic.

If genuine healing is to take place or if the truth counts for anything; then Srebrenica should be remembered for the fallen on all sides.

It is not good enough to say that the deaths of more than 3,500 Orthodox Christians don’t count and to ignore the fact that the main massacres which took place in the region had been started by Bosnian Muslim forces. 

A joint memorial would indicate that both sides killed innocents in and surrounding Srebrenica.  The massacre of innocent Christians and Muslims is a fact but the “Muslim victim card” and the “international community” desire to “cleanse their role in Srebrenica.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lSRFC-jVPw (Islamists in Bosnia because of USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Islamist Alija Izetbegovic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03DQJ7skClg&feature=related (Islamists in Bosnia because of USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Islamist Alija Izetbegovic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyl5wxJPIQs (Muslim massacres of Christians)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/rival-muslims-battle-on-in-bihac-1422695.html  (Inter Muslim fighting – Serbs supported moderate Muslims)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onbxpq3qI0c  (Henry Kissinger)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1w4p1J9fyg&NR=1 (Henry Kissinger)

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and hell are in the news and on Americans’ minds a lot lately. Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back is currently number one on The New York Times Best Seller List for nonfiction. It details a four-year-old’s near-death experience as told to his pastor father. The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life beyond This World describes the similar experiences of a six-year-old after he awoke from a two-month coma caused by a car accident. Rob Bell’s controversial Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived has provoked much debate, especially among evangelicals, by arguing that hell might not exist. Meanwhile, the death of Osama bin Laden has prompted considerable speculation about his eternal destiny.

Despite the secularity of our era and the assault of new atheism on orthodox Christian doctrines, large majorities of Americans still believe in heaven and hell. Many, however, are reluctant to consign anyone to hell except for the perpetrators of horrific evil like bin Laden and Adolf Hitler. In this age of tolerance and relativism, failure to believe in Jesus’ atonement on the cross for human sin or to live by traditional moral standards does not seem like a valid basis for anyone going to hell. To many, the concept of everlasting suffering is unjust, offensive, or even absurd.

Americans have long been fascinated with the nature of the afterlife, and many have provided detailed pictures of heaven and hell. While Americans’ visions of heaven are often rooted in religious traditions and scripture, they have been closely connected to what was happening on earth. As Alan Segal argues, Americans tend to imagine an afterlife containing what they judge to be the “best, most lasting, virtuous, and meaningful” aspects of this life and “eliminating those things” they consider “the most difficult, frustrating, evil, and inessential.” Depictions of the afterlife, he adds, “are mirrors of our cultural and social needs” that can be promoted and manipulated. The types of heaven people hope for, historian Paul Carter contends, provide an “unconscious commentary on what they cherish or regret in this world.” The general political, economic, and social climate has helped shape various conceptions of heaven as reflected in literature, sermons, art, and music.

At various times, Americans have pictured heaven as an unparalleled paradise, an unending banquet, a celestial city, a refuge of the redeemed, a glorious kingdom, a magnificent home, a haven from the world’s ills, a posh vacation resort, a perpetual playground, and a therapeutic center.

The Puritans depicted a God-centered heaven where the redeemed constantly worshipped the Trinity in a beautiful, blissful environment. While Jonathan Edwards agreed that heavenly life revolved around glorifying God, he also accentuated the communion of the redeemed. During the Victorian age (1840 to 1900) perceptions of heaven shifted from a God-centered heaven that focused on worshipping and serving the Trinity, to a more human-centered heaven revolving around family and fellowship. Deeply affected by the nation’s increased emphasis on individualism and voluntarism, during the mid-19th century heaven was depicted principally as a heavenly home where relationships with earthly family members were extremely important. During the antebellum years, Southern slaves combined African and biblical ideas to produce a distinctive portrait of the afterlife that emphasized God’s punishment of cruel owners and rewarding of faithful slaves, which supplied them with hope and comfort.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many depictions of heaven emphasized service, education, and personal growth as these concepts, promoted by progressivism and the Social Gospel movement, became dominant in American society. By 1900, these themes had replaced rest and worship as the principal occupations of heaven’s residents and realizing earthly dreams became as important as glorifying God. After 1930, the increasing growth of theological liberalism, the fundamentalist counteroffensive, and the rise of neo-Orthodoxy produced disagreements among Protestants over the reality and nature of heaven.

Beginning in the 1960s, many African-American, feminist, and liberation theologians echoed the arguments of Social Gospelers that Christians must work primarily to establish a just society on earth rather than help individuals get to heaven. Recently, evangelicals, Mormons, and New Agers—groups that espouse very different perspectives—have most discussed the nature of the afterlife.

Increased anxiety, the impact of the therapeutic worldview (which exalts self-fulfillment and personal happiness), the emergence of an entertainment culture, concerns about the breakdown of the family and the impoverishment of personal relationships, and the growing acceptance of a postmodern, relativistic perspective on life have prompted many Americans during the past decade to portray heaven as a place of comfort, self-actualization, bliss, amusement, and robust fellowship.

As Americans continue to ponder and discuss the nature of heaven and hell, understanding our history and recognizing that contemporary conditions affect our portraits of the afterlife can be quite helpful.

Pastor, Church Official Shot Dead in Nigeria

Muslim extremists from the Boko Haram sect on Tuesday (June 7) shot and killed a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) pastor and his church secretary in Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state.

The Rev. David Usman, 45, and church secretary Hamman Andrew were the latest casualties in an upsurge of Islamic militancy that has engulfed northern Nigeria this year, resulting in the destruction of church buildings and the killing and maiming of Christians.

The Rev. Titus Dama Pona, pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Maiduguri, told Compass that Pastor Usman was shot and killed by the members of the Boko Haram near an area of Maiduguri called the Railway Quarters, where the slain pastor’s church is located.

Pona said Christians in Maiduguri have become full of dread over the violence of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia (Islamic law) on northern Nigeria.

“Christians have become the targets of these Muslim militants – we no longer feel free moving around the city, and most churches no longer carry out worship service for fear of becoming targets of these unprovoked attacks,” Pona said.

Officials at COCIN’s national headquarters in Jos, Plateau state, confirmed the killing of Pas-tor Usman. The Rev. Logan Gongchi of a COCIN congregation in Kerang, Jos, told Compass that area Christians were shocked at the news.

Gongchi said he attended Gindiri Theological College with Pastor Usman beginning in August 2003, and that both of them were ordained into pastoral ministry on Nov. 27, 2009.

“We knew him to be very gentle, an introvert, who was always silent in the class and only spoke while answering questions from our teachers,” Gongchi said. “He had a simple lifestyle and was easygoing with other students. He was very accommodating and ready at all times to withstand life’s pressures – this is in addition to being very jovial.”

Gongchi described Usman as “a pastor to the core because of his humility. I remember he once told me that he was not used to working with peasant farmers’ working tools, like the hoe. But with time he adapted to the reality of working with these tools on the farm in the school.”

Pastor Usman was excellent at counseling Christians and others while they were at the COCIN theological college, Gongchi said, adding that the pastor greatly encouraged him when he was suffering a long illness from 2005 to 2007.

“His encouraging words kept my faith alive, and the Lord saw me overcoming my ill health,” he said. “So when I heard the news about his murder, I cried.”

MotivesThe late pastor had once complained about the activities of Boko Haram, saying that unless the Nigerian government faced up to the challenge of its attacks, the extremist group would consume the lives of innocent persons, according to Gongchi.

“Pastor Usman once commented on the activities of the Boko Haram, which he said has un-dermined the church not only in Maiduguri, but in Borno state,” Gongchi said. “At the time, he urged us to pray for them, as they did not know how the problem will end.”

Gongchi advised the Nigerian government to find a lasting solution to Boko Haram’s violence, which has also claimed the lives of moderate Muslim leaders and police.

The Railway Quarters area in Maiduguri housed the seat of Boko Haram until 2009, when Nigerian security agencies and the military demolished its headquarters and captured and killed the sect’s leader, Mohammed Yusuf, and some of his followers.

The killing of Pastor Usman marked the second attack on his church premises by the Muslim militants. The first attack came on July 29, 2009, when Boko Haram militants burned the church building and killed some members of his congregation.

On Monday (June 6), the militants had bombed the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, along with other areas in Maiduguri, killing three people. In all, 14 people were killed in three explosions at the church and police stations, and authorities have arrested 14 people.

The Boko Haram name is interpreted figuratively as “against Western education,” but some say it can also refer to the forbidding of the Judeo-Christian faith. They say the word “Boko” is a corruption in Hausa language for the English word “Book,” referring to the Islamic scripture’s description of Jews and Christians as “people of the Book,” while “Haram” is a Hausa word derived from Arabic meaning, “forbidding.”

Boko Haram leaders have openly declared that they want to establish an Islamic theocratic state in Nigeria, and they reject democratic institutions, which they associate with Christianity. Their bombings and suspected involvement in April’s post-election violence in Nigeria were aimed at stifling democracy, which they see as a system of government built on the foundation of Christian scripture.

Christians as well as Muslims suffered many casualties after supporters of Muslim presidential candidate Muhammudu Buhari lost the April 16 federal election to Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian. Primarily Muslim rioters claimed vote fraud, although international observers praised the polls as the fairest since 1999.

Nigeria’s population of more than 158.2 million is almost evenly divided between Christians, who make up 51.3 percent of the population and live mainly in the south, and Muslims, who account for 45 percent of the population and live mainly in the north. The percentages may be less, however, as those practicing indigenous religions may be as high as 10 percent of the total population, according to Operation World.

The Gypsy Pilgrims

 Pope’s discourse to the Gypsy pilgrims

“You are in the Church not on the margins, but in certain aspects you are at the centre, you are in the heart of the Church” said Pope Benedict XVI, meeting the 2000 odd gypsy pilgrims from all over Europe gathered Saturday in the Vatican Paul VI audience hall. He was quoting the words of his predecessor Pope Paul VI pronounced in 1965. Earlier Archbishop Antonio Maria Vegliò, President of the Vatican Pontifical Council for the pastoral care of Migrants and itinerant peoples had welcomed the gypsy pilgrims and thanked all those Church groups that had made this event possible. . The Pope in his discourse recalled all the travails endured by the gypsies in particular under the Nazis. Present among the pilgrims was a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp. May you in future never more be subjected to such outrages, the Pope fervently wished. You seem to be without any fatherland, and thus precisely the entire European continent is your home. And the Pope invited them to write a new chapter of their own history and that of Europe. The gypsy family has to be integrated into the context of the Eureopean family, sharing equal rights and duties. The Pope held up for their imitation the faith and love for the Church of the gypsy Christian martyr, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth and 75^th of the martyrdom, of Blessed Ceferino Gimenez, of Spanish origin, Bl. Gimenez lived from 1861 to 1936 and was beatified by Bl. Pope John Paul II in 1997. The Pope invited them to contribute their share to the evangelising work of the Church and he warned them against certain sects that would try to wean them away from the Church. Four gypsies addressed the Pope and gypsy performances enlivened the meeting

Pope receives Gypsies at Vatican
Pope Benedict XVI listened to Gypsies recount their way of life at a first-ever papal audience for them at the Vatican on Saturday, decried their persecution by the Nazis during World War II and called on Europe to help end centuries of rejection for the Roma people.
About 2,000 Catholic Gypsies gathered in the Vatican's auditorium to hear Benedict speak.
"Your history is complex, and, in some periods, painful," Benedict said. "You are a people who over the past centuries never held nationalistic ideologies, never aspired to possess a land or dominate other peoples. You have remained without a homeland and have ideally considered the entire (European) continent as your home."

Holy Spirit miracles - Power of God

A great power from above is ready to descend upon us. This power is the power of God that is ready to transform our lives and the lives of others.
Like a hidden treasure, the power of God is an offering that most of us ignore.  It is because of our limited knowledge of God that we may spend our lives in misery, we may lack things, we may want to see people being healed but it never happens, we may need our own healing but we don’t seem to get any answers. In order to have that divine power acting on our behalf, we need to activate it otherwise it will be wasted.
We are pure spirits hidden by our intellects; we are immortal children of God hidden in our human nature. We are very powerful beings, whose power is annihilated by our lack of faith.
The power of God that He gives is not restricted to any human being. It does not depend on our age or education. God gives this power to everyone, conditions applied of course.
God has revealed His Word to us in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has given us all this knowledge of God His Father so that through our faith in Him we can become God’s children.
As God’s children, the treasures of Heaven are open to us even while we are here on earth; they are like a reward to those who are willing to follow Jesus.
Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.
As we become disciples of Jesus, we receive His instructions on how to do the Will of the Father and we are given the power to act as his instruments.
The writings we are about to read are a lived testimony attesting to the power of God, to the Holy spirit miracles being manifested through prayer. Miracles have proven the reality of the following lines, so for your sake, for the sake of others and for the Glory of God, please open your heart and share the power from above.
The knowledge of this book is really a treasure that has made spiritually rich all the saints, it is a beautiful guide that will inspire you to know, love and serve God as never before. The result will be the supernatural power of God being released in ways never imagined.
Words simply don’t describe the joy that is encountered living in communion with the Spirit of God. The gift is not like any earthly gift that perishes, the gift from above is God Himself.
These inspirations were given to Joseph of Jesus and Mary, who also has received Messages from Jesus, Mary and God the Father. These writings are done for you, they are waiting for you to read them, rejoice and discover the powerful gift that you have as a child of God.
The Holy Spirit miracles speak to our hearts through these writings. We experience great peace when we realize that He is the great power that sustains the universe, the power of God that is so close to us when we are close to him.
These unique experiences with the power of the Holy Spirit will become a treasure for anyone desiring to grow in the faith and to learn how to pray for the Holy Spirit miracles. The teachings shared here will mold the soul of anyone with a humble attitude and a desire to have an intimate relationship with God, they are a true spiritual guide that can be imitated to call upon ourselves the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Power from above - Holy Spirit Miracles -  The power of GodThese writings about the power of the Holy Spirit are a beautiful gift to your spirituality, they will improve your religious motivation and your relationship with God.
These words inspired by the Holy Spirit will touch your heart and soul, they will awaken your spirit to learn to live in God's Presence, to trust in His word and in the power of our faith. They will help you to discover the hidden spiritual meaning conveyed in the Holy Scriptures.

Holy Spirit miracles - Power from above Many good reasons why you should read about the      "Power from above - Holy Spirit miracles":
Holy Spirit miracles - Power from above

You will learn that the power of God goes to waste, He wants to share it with us in the form of miracles but not many people know how to ask

 You will learn that miracles are as real as the need for them - Learn how to askDiscover how to live in the  presence of God

Learn the secrets of the saints as revealed to someone who has received miracles from the Holy Spirit

Enjoy beautiful inspired prayers that open your heart to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit 

Become more aware of your power as a child of God, know that your can become a powerful instrument of the Holy Spirit 

Grow spiritually through the teachings of wisdom revealed in these writings 

Learn from this complete treatise on the Holy Spirit 

Understand the plan of God for your life, learn to know Him, love Him and serve Him in accordance to His Will 

Have a more profound understanding and appreciation of the Holy Scriptures and  the  Sacraments of the Church Prepare yourself to do the will of God, learn to open the gates of the power from above, have faith that will make you pray with confidence for miracles 

Be better prepared to preach the Word of God to others, be a witness of Jesus, be a powerful instrument of the power of the Holy Spirit 

Learn to pray constantly even when you are working or doing something else 

Learn to have more concentration, learn to be still to enter into the presence of God, learn to pray to the Holy Spirit 

Discover how intimate the Holy Spirit is, how eagerly he is expecting you to open your heart to him 

Learn more about our Blessed Mother and her role as the spouse of the Holy Spirit 

Learn to listen to God and to know his will 

Unleash the potential of your faith and learn to please the Lord by becoming his instrument 

Discover that holiness is just around the corner, it is not just something for religious or especial souls. With the grace of God be holy in your own state of life and learn what is required to merit miraculous answers to your prayers 

Have Jesus as your best friend, receive the motherly protection of Our Lady and the guidance of the Holy Spirit 

These writings and testimonies about the power of the Holy Spirit are excellent teachings for everyone who wants to grow spiritually, they were given to Joseph of Jesus and Mary, but the Lord wants you to read them because they are for you too.

Religion and Racism

Racism is a dirty word today. If you call someone a racist, he will take it as an insult. But if someone is a religious fanatic, and you call him that, he will deny being a fanatic and proceed to try to defend himself by saying that he is not really a fanatic but a staunch Muslim or a Staunch Hindu or a staunch Christian. But the truth of the matter is that anyone who thinks that his religion is superior to another religion is guilty of prejudice just as a person who thinks that his race is superior.

In the U.S. and indeed in the West, many white people consider their race to be superior even though they may not say so in the public.  They justify this erroneous thinking by rationalizing that the countries that are the most powerful and the richest are those that have a white majority. But fortunately, the popular media in the West does not propagate or condone this sort of thinking, and if someone, who is in a position of authority, says that his race is superior, he will be reprimanded and scolded by his colleagues as well as by the media.

But the same sort of situation does not exist when dealing with religion. Just like a man does not become superior just because he was born in a certain race, a man does not become superior just because he was born in a certain religion. Most people belong to a certain religion because they were born in a family that belonged to that religion. So, why feel proud to belong to a religion that you did not accept after careful investigation and research?

In fact the truth of the matter is that all religions stand on pretty shaky foundation. They are all based on the concept of God whose existence has not been proven. In fact God is a product of human imagination. Had it not been so, there would not have been so many different kinds of Gods. We have Allah, the God of the Muslims. Then we have the Christian God whose son is believed to be Jesus Christ. Hindus have many Gods though all are considered manifestations of one true God known as the Ultimate Reality or Brahman. The Jains and the Buddhists do not even believe in a God and still their claim to be religious is pretty valid. The Jews believe in one God and they consider themselves as belonging to the chosen race.

Some religionists will claim that everything in this world has to have a creator and that this world of ours running so smoothly calls for the existence of a creator. This creator called God is assigned all the superlatives such as being omnipresent (present everywhere) omniscient (knowing everything) and so on. But if God created this universe, then he has done a very poor job. This earth of ours and man’s life is riddled with problems. Previously we had diseases such as cholera and small pox that killed millions. Now that man has found cures for these diseases we are ravaged by new ones like AIDS. Actually, it is man who has succeeded in unlocking the secrets of this universe and nature and has found cures for diseases and has invented machines to make life bearable and manageable.

Though man has created nuclear weapons and countries like USA and Russia have enough weapons to destroy this earth many times over, somehow we have learnt to manage these weapons and stop ourselves from destroying this Earth. If God existed, he would have stopped man from creating these weapons in the first place. But man is curious and aggressive by nature and the fact that he has created these weapons is because of this curiosity and the desire to master technologies and the desire of one nation to become more powerful than other nations. Sigmund Freud has studied this aggressive nature of man in depth.

Some people say that the fact that everything in this world has a purpose and that the fact that the planets and the stars revolve in perfect orbits points to the existence of a creator. But the truth lies elsewhere. When our earth needs rains we get it not only on populated areas but also in the seas and oceans that do not need them. If God was such a perfect designer he would have arranged things so that only areas that have vegetations or that really need rains get it.

Various prophets and saints who have founded religions or that have authored major scriptures have given their own theories in their books, and the faithful are required to believe in what is written in those scriptures, without question. Once you start questioning what is written in a holy book of your religion, you are no longer a faithful and are considered an outcast by those who believe. An apostate is one who has renounced his religion, and Islam and Judaism have the concept of death penalty for apostasy but only Islam enforces such a punishment.  In many Islamic countries, even today the punishment for apostasy is death, which is ridiculous.

Apostasy is often punished though such a punishment goes against the principle of free will and freedom of religion which includes the freedom to not believe in any religion or God.  Many religions and some theocratic states punish apostates. Apostates may be shunned by the members of their former religious group or subjected to formal or informal punishment. A Christian church may in certain circumstances excommunicate the apostate, while some Abrahamic scriptures like those of Judaism and Islam  demand the death penalty for apostates. The death penalty is still applied by some Muslim states like Iran and Saudi Arabia, but not in Christianity or Judaism.

To conclude, it is this author’s belief that those who consider their own religion to be superior to another religion, should be considered guilty of irrational thinking and society should treat such persons with the same ridicule as it treats racists.

Only the West can take the lead in creating an atmosphere all across the world where religious fanatics, extremists and fundamentalists are considered perverse, just as racists are treated. The reason for this is that the West has a long history of secularism where people of various religious beliefs are considered equal before the law. Western society also does not suppress religion like China does.

However the Western governments must treat religious extremists, fanatics and fundamentalists as enemies of society. The best way to defeat such enemies of society is to carry out public education by encouraging writers and public speakers to preach religious tolerance. Writers who speak the truth and explain clearly that God is merely a product of human imagination, and who encourage their readers to question the irrational and false statements written in the scriptures of various religions should be protected and rewarded. The battle against religious fanatics and fundamentalists must be fought in the battlefield of ideas, through essays, articles, books, videos, songs, lyrics, and movies. This is the best way to defeat these enemies of society.

Freedom from Religion

I was born to Muslim parents. A mother who had been very religious all her life, and a father who had become zealously religious (coming from a relatively liberal background) after his marriage to that woman.

As with every child born to Muslim parents, the adhan was recited into my ears and thus it was decided. My religion, my deen, was to be Islam, Islam was what I was supposed to be holding true till the day I die. Allah was the one whom I was supposed to be worshiping till my last breath.

Growing up, I was learning to read the Quran in Arabic, Allah’s language, I was learning to pray, fast and do everything Allah’s Prophet Muhammad taught the Muslim ummah to do. I loved the look on my mother’s face every time I recited a new surah for her, every time she was praised for bringing up a good Muslim girl. At the age of 12, I told my parents I wanted to observe hijab. They were so proud of me, everyone was. I was told Allah was pleased with me and that made me very happy at that time. To please my creator so he would save me from hellfire, the scariest thing I’d ever heard of, that was my goal.

Like any other child I was curious and I had many doubts and questions. My mother used to read to me stories of prophets: Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Yusuf, Musa, Isa and all the others. It was these stories that created first doubts in me back then. Why, for example, did Allah create Satan if He knew what he was going to do? Why did Allah have to test Ibrahim? Didn’t Allah see the future? Didn’t Allah himself determine the future? And how about us? Has Allah also determined which of us go to Heaven and which of us go to Hell? How was this life a test, if the result is what Allah wants it to be and is in fact predestined from the very start?

Every time I asked I got the same answer: Islam is blind faith, Islam demands blind faith Allah doesn’t want you to question (5:101). Besides, Allah knows best.

So the questions were left unanswered and I was forced to bury them, because Allah apparently didn’t want me to think about them. There was one question I didn’t ask, I somehow understood it was controversial and I kept it to myself. Though I couldn’t help wondering, what if we have the wrong God? What if Allah wasn’t God, what if it was Krishna or Jesus or some other God unheard of? What then?

Whenever I thought of this, I felt guilt, shame and disgust towards myself. I asked Allah to forgive me for having such thoughts and guide me, I tried doing every thing I could to please Allah, so that he’d be pleased and let me into Paradise. It became an obsession.

At 15 I had read the Quran several times in Arabic, but I felt the need to read it in a language I understood. I felt it imperative to understand what Allah was commanding mankind to do in His final book. So I took to reading the Quran in English.

At first I was fascinated, thrilled even by Allah’s words, but that died out soon enough. As I read on, I was surprised to find absurd, illogical stories, barbaric laws and more misogyny than I had ever come across. All those questions I had as a child and many more began to race through my head and I repeated to myself the same sentence my mother told me as a child: Allah knows best.

No I didn’t think a man should be permitted to hit his wife or even have more than one wife, to control them and ‘use’ them whenever and however he wanted to.

No I didn’t think a woman’s testimony was worth half of a man’s, or that men were better than women or that her period was dirty, an illness.

But it didn’t matter what I thought, this was what the Creator of the Universe had decided and this is how it was suppose to be. So once again I buried my doubts and continued reading.

Around this time I heard of EDMD – Everybody Draw Muhammad Day – on Facebook. I had never been more outraged. These people were mocking Prophet Muhammad, the noblest man to ever walk the surface of the Earth, the man Allah Himself chose as His Messenger, the best among the best of mankind. And these people, these ignorant people wanted to mock and disgrace this great man?

EDMD was something of a reality check for me. Up until now I assumed everyone in the world either belonged to one the Abrahamic religions or was a Hindu, those were the only religions I had seen. And as a good Muslim would, I hated them. I hated the Jews and Christians because they were enemies of Allah, of the Prophet and of the Ummah, constantly conspiring to destroy us. I hated the Hindus because they associated partners with Allah.

But on EDMD I found that not only people had myriads of very different religious ideas, but also that there were people who didn’t worship any god, or even said god didn’t exist at all. Atheists. I thought they were crazy, absurd for saying that the Universe wasn’t created. Where did it come from then? At that time, they were another group of people for me to hate. Another group of people who denied the true religion, Islam and had strange ideas I’d never heard of.

I was there, defending Islam, conveying its meaning to these delusional people, whose ideas came from Allah knows where. Here I was forced to confront the doubts and questions I pushed at the back of my closet, that I didn’t want to think about and so much more.

I heard of things about the Muslim Ummah I was unaware of. How Theo Van Gogh was brutally killed in the middle of the street by a Muslim for making a movie critical of Islam. How people were killed in Islamic countries for converting to other religions. How homosexuals were executed in public and so much more that Muslims never spoke of. All we cried about is how the West was destroying our countries and killing our people or how the Jews were torturing the Palestinians or how the Hindus discriminated against us in India but we never, ever spoke about how so many Muslims were being killed by Muslims themselves, how Muslims were killing non Muslims in so many places. All of that just didn’t matter. It was only important when we were victimized by someone else. That’s all we cared about.

I was questioned about Prophet Muhammad’s lifestyle. The man I held to be the perfect example to follow didn’t seem so perfect anymore. His marriage to 9 year old Aisha when he was 53 (it doesn’t matter if it was a custom then, Muhammad was supposed to the ultimate example for all times), his massacre of the Banu Qurayza tribe, his multiple wives and concubines and they way he “acquired” them. The robberies, rape and murders his men carried on by his command disgusted me. I was ashamed of looking up to this man but I was also afraid of admitting it. So I found myself trying to justify all of it and the more I tried, the more I realized I didn’t think it was right.

I decided to read the Quran again and not shut my thought process this time. When I did, I felt like the whole religion was falling apart. I found the story of the cow in Surah Baqra absolutely ridiculous, the story of Solomon and his talking ants silly to the maximum, the story of the elephants in Surah Feel absurd. None of it made sense. I was afraid to admit it to myself, but it was becoming undeniable. So I prayed to Allah to help me out of it. I thought He was testing me and I asked for help. But none came. Slowly I did admit that I didn’t agree with what the Quran had to say, I didn’t agree with Allah’s law and His Prophet’s teachings. I began viewing the Quran critically and now became bold enough to point out errors, in grammar; Allah is very confused when it comes to using pronouns.

I started to question the very core premises of Islam: for example, Allah’s hell clearly didn’t seem to be a form of justice, but a threatened eternal, unlimited, brutal punishment for a limited “crimes”

committed in a limited and short lifetime, the gravest of which was disbelief, the most heinous deed a person could do, in the eyes of Allah. Forget genocide, child rape, atrocious things like that – disbelief and/or shirk is what Allah cares about the most.

Allah’s dislike of, hatred even, for women, His own creation, and constant discrimination against them, was another thing that repulsed me. His constant calls for war against those who “deny” Him when He doesn’t bother to provide any meaningful proof of His existence … I could continue on and on and on.

I began studying the origins of Islam and it did seem very blatantly man made, created by Muhammad to control the Arabs and make them dance to his tunes.

Islam’s obsession with controlling every single thing, from how you position your feet while you pray, to how you clean yourself after defecating, to how men grow their beards, to how one should position himself while sleeping, to literally making regulations about passing gas, all this small-minded pettiness pointed towards an origin in a mind of an obsessive man, a petty control-freak, hardly a God who created the whole Universe. It seemed to me that such a majestic creator of something so vast would not be weirdly fixated on one tiny planet in one corner of a Galaxy and bothered to send “guidance” only to a single, geographically firmly constrained region of this tiny planet, the Middle Eastern deserts. An impotent God, because not only did He fail to protect the books He supposedly sent earlier but also the “final” book He swore to protect. It isn’t true that the Quran is in its original from, the way Muhammad apparently ‘revealed’ it, one needs to do very little research to realize that, but Muslims choose to ignore that and rant about how their perfect book is “unchanged” and “perfect”. As if it meant anything at all to begin with.

Islam isn’t divine, Allah isn’t a god and Muhammad was a liar, it took me a while to realize that but I did. It is not rocket science, all you need is a little rational thinking and honesty, it is difficult to let go of something you’ve been holding to be true for as long as you can remember but it doesn’t feel good to believe a lie and it can be a great relief to finally let go of ghastly and primitive desert superstitions.

Source : Posted by Editor of FaithFreedom.org