May 2, 2003

From : James Whisler

poweredbychrist.com

To : Ibrahim Hooper/CAIR

Dear Mr. Hooper,

While I was reading a WorldNetDaily article recently ( Time Magazine Targets Christian Missionaries, dated April 23rd) I just couldn't believe the words that I read there that were attributed to you, representing the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in reference to Christians evangelizing in Iraq. I've reproduced them here again for the sake of discussion.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, warned that evangelical groups use humanitarian concerns as a cover for their true motive – to convert Muslims to Christianity.

"They go after them when they're most vulnerable and hope they can get them to leave their faith," he told Beliefnet. "It's a very despicable practice."

The first thing I did after reading that was look in my trusty Webster's Collegiate Dictionary to see if I had somehow over the course of my life developed an incorrect understanding of the word 'despicable'. Sure enough, I wasn't too far off. It said:

despicable: deserving to be despised : so worthless or obnoxious as to rouse moral indignation <~ behavior> syn see CONTEMPTIBLE

First of all, Ibraham, did you really say those things? And secondly, is that seriously your idea of a despicable practice? How much more outraged would you feel if these Christians were going over to Iraq and instead of handing out food and blankets, they were pointing guns at the heads of Muslims, demanding they 'convert or die'. It kind of reminds you of the despicable mugger who shoves a knife at your throat and says "Your money or your life!" doesn't it? That is just plain contemptible to put a man in a NO-WIN situation like that, wouldn't you agree Mr. Hooper?

Yet this type of NO-WIN situation is precisely what Christians and peoples of other faiths suffer on a daily basis in the predominantly Islamic controlled countries of the world. I come across sad stories regularly which describe the atrocities perpetrated by Muslims in their shockingly violent efforts to force non-Muslims to "convert or die" or place a death sentence on someone who leaves Islam for another religion.

Please allow me to share a couple fairly fresh examples of Muslim tolerance for your edification:

Jihad attacks on non-Muslims in Nigeria claim thousands of lives

(from Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

April 11 2003

Violence in predominantly Christian Plateau State in Nigeria has continued unabated since the first major outbreak in Jos, in 2001 when over 2,000 people are thought to have died in orchestrated inter religious violence.

Non-Muslim settlements now suffer attacks on an almost weekly basis in what appears to be part of a deliberate attempt to alter the ethno-religious make up of the state in order to facilitate the institution of Shari'ah Law in this key state in the Middle Belt.

Armed Muslims attacked the village of Fobur in Langtang at 2am on April 4, killing a woman and burning several houses. The group attacked again the following day and is thought to have gone on to raid the village of Zambwar where 30 homes were set on fire. On April 7 it was reported that Wereng village near the Vom suburb of the State Capital Jos had been attacked by armed insurgents.

At least 22 villagers were killed, over 16 were injured and 28 are said to be missing following an attack on the town of Kadarko in neighboring Wase Local Governemnt Area (LGA) on March 18 by armed Hausa Fulani Muslims.

Survivors of the attack on Kadarko described how they were woken at 5am by shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘we are going to finish off the infidels’. (more on website)

Muslim Extremist Murders Kurdish Christian
Martyred Convert Leaves Widow, Five Children in Northern Iraq

by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, March 14 (Compass) -- Kurdish Christian Ziwar Mohammed Ismaeel was shot dead in front of his taxi stand last month in Zakho, the northern-most city in the Kurdish safe-haven of Northern Iraq.

According to local security authorities, the Kurdish convert's self-confessed murderer believed he was "fulfilling the will of Allah" by killing an apostate from Islam. "I don't feel guilty for doing it," the killer told police investigators after his arrest.

A taxi driver, Ismaeel was waiting in a line of taxis on the morning of February 17 for his turn to load up passengers for the drive from Zakho to Dohuk. About 8:30 a.m., a stranger approached the station and began talking with him.

Fellow taxi drivers said that Ismaeel offered a cup of tea to the man, who then began to demand loudly that Ismaeel deny his faith in Christ and come back to Islam.

When Ismaeel refused, saying he could not stop believing in Christ, the stranger asked him to step aside and talk privately with him. Just seconds later, eyewitnesses said, the man pulled out a machine gun and started shooting point-blank at Ismaeel. A total of 28 bullets were pumped into Ismaeel's head and chest before he fell to the ground, dying on the spot.

Throwing his gun at the slain Christian's body, the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greater," the first words of the Muslim call to prayer in Arabic) and fled the scene on foot. (more on website)

Stories of this kind of appalling religious genocide, even manifestly more tragic than the above two, are not only commonplace in Algeria and Iraq, but also occur in Iran, Saudia Arabia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and many other Muslim countries. But why? That's the question. This I found somewhat bewildering until a couple verses in the Qur'an were pointed out to me.

"And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you, for persecuting people to sway them from the religion of Allah is worse than slaying." (Qur'an 2:191)

"and fight them until oppression is no more and belief in Allah is complete and universal;…" (Qur’an 8:39)

This is where I realized that Muslims and Christians have a totally different understanding of the words oppression and persecution. Christians call it persecution when they are tortured, imprisoned and murdered. Islam calls it persecution when Christians try to witness to Muslims about their faith. Yet for us, all we are doing is what our Lord Jesus Christ/Yeshua ha Mashiach told us to do in Matthew 28:19 " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: "

You say " They go after them when they're most vulnerable..." and the question begs to be asked "Why are they vulnerable?" What are you afraid of? After all, the only weapon Christians carry is the Word of God which as Hebrews 4:12 says is " quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. " So what makes them vulnerable? What does the gospel message have that Islam lacks? We have nothing of significance to share other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And what does Jesus offer that Islam can never compete with? Well, he offers unconditional love, mercy, grace, complete forgiveness of sins, and eternal life to all who come to him. His Holy Spirit freely bestows love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23).

We are routinely told (even by our own deluded president) that Islam as a whole is a peaceful religion, but I have yet to see the evidence. There are nonviolent Muslims, to be sure, but they show little concern in wresting control of their religion from the dominant radical elements. The fact is that Islam is a religion seeking to conquer the world through forced submission and with violence whenever necessary. Islam means submission and a Muslim is one who submits. Yet in many places around the world, those who submit to Islam are not doing it of their own free will. We're back to the despicable mugger with the knife at your throat. I find it curious that Islam's adherents tend to regard themselves as being under oppression whenever it is not the dominant religion of a country, even when they are treated kindly (see Qu'ran 8:39 above). From what newsman Daniel Pipes reported, it seems that even Omar Ahmad, the chairman of your organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations, has made public statements to the effect that America has not been overlooked in the Islamic agenda.

Aggressive ambitions. As reported by the San Ramon Valley Herald, CAIR Chairman Omar M. Ahmad told a crowd of California Muslims in July 1998, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth." ( see http://www.danielpipes.org/article/394 )

The above stated goal is in direct contradiction to the 1st amendment to the Constitution for the united States of America. This amendment basically safeguards us from any one religion usurping power over the others. Hence, I am curious to see how this can be accomplished peacefully.

Islam, just like the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6:2, who 'went forth conquering and to conquer', is vulnerable. Who is the real conqueror?

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ---- Romans 8:35-37

in the sincere love of Christ Jesus, which has been made available to all,

James E. Whisler