Muhammad's Legacy

In America today, many topics dominate the debates that never cease to end on Capitol Hill.  These topics can be anything from the national debt to foreign policy or anything in between.  However, there is one debate that, while not verbalized, is central to many decisions involving acts of terrorism that America’s government is required to deal with.  This debate is whether or not the notorious terrorist group known as ISIS is truly Islamic as they claim.  While President Obama says that “[n]o religion condones the killing of innocents,” Mohammed is recorded as having said otherwise in the book that Islam is based upon, the Quran.  The truth of whether ISIS is truly Islamic and fighting a “holy war” will be found in one of these sources.  It is time for America to know the true nature of Muhammad’s legacy.

With the debate regarding the religious legitimacy of ISIS, it seems like everyone has an opinion, including the president of the United States, Barack Obama.  Here is what he had to say on ISIS in his speech regarding their nature on September 11, 2014, “At this moment, the greatest threats come from the Middle East and North Africa, where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain. And one of those groups is ISI[S] -- which calls itself the "Islamic State.  Now let's make two things clear: ISI[S] is not "Islamic." No religion condones the killing of innocents.”  Our president believes that Islam is a religion of peace, and that ISIS is merely a radical group that has taken Quran teachings out of context, making Islam appear to be a monster that it really is not.  He went on to say that, “[i]n a region that has known so much bloodshed, these terrorists are unique in their brutality. They execute captured prisoners. They kill children. They enslave, rape, and force women into marriage.”  Much of this is correct.  They eliminate their prisoners.  They kill children.  They degrade women.  What he was wrong about is the idea that these are unique concepts.  As a matter of fact, these are common practices in Islamic communities all across the Middle East.  But it would seem to be logical to assume that President Obama would know that due to the fact that in a speech that was given in Cairo to hundreds of Muslims, he quoted the Quran at least four separate times saying that, “the holy Quran tells us.”  For someone that calls the Muslim book “holy” he seems to understand very few of its teachings.  In fact, it is in the Quran itself that the true religious basis for ISIS can be found.

The Quran, the holy book of Islam, was “inspired by Allah” and penned by Muhammad to direct Muslims in the laws that they must follow in order that they might earn the right to enter paradise.  It also contains instructions on how to deal with “infidels” that will not proclaim themselves as Muslims.  The required response to such people, according to the Quran, is known as Jihad.  While the media tries to explain it as an “internal struggle for piety,” the true definition is much more terrifying.  For those who practice it, it is ongoing warfare.  This may sound familiar.  It should sound like what ISIS is doing.  Sura 4:89 of the Muslim doctrine says “Seize them and slay them wherever you find them: and in any case take no friends or helpers from their ranks,” while sura 4:101 says “For the Unbelievers are open enemies to you.” And while the president of our nation thinks that there is something special about the methods of this terrorist group, the Quran would say otherwise.  In response to what Obama said about killing prisoners and children, the “holy” book of Islam makes it very clear whether this is acceptable or not.  Sura 8:13-17 says “I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips of them.  It is not you who slew them; it was Allah.”  Obviously the Quran “condones the killing of innocents,” in opposition to what Obama says, as long as they are kafir (infidels).  As for the place of women it says in 2:223 “Your wives are a tilth [a field to be plowed] unto you, so approach your tilth when and how you will.”  This leaves room for all of the actions that our president has accurately identified within ISIS’ behavior as legal in the sight of Allah.  Enslavement, rape, and being forced into marriage are therefore just natural extensions from the teachings of the Quran.  So the next question that needs to be answered is this: who is right about ISIS?

Does ISIS fall into the category of a radical terrorist group that dirties up the name of a respectable religion of peace, or is it a group of true followers that will stop at nothing to ensure the goals of Islam are reached?  Obama says that ISIS is not Islamic because “no religion condones the killing of innocents.”  Unfortunately that is not true, and will never be true in the case of the Muslim faith.  As evidenced by sura 4:102, which says, “For the Unbelievers, Allah has prepared a humiliating punishment,” we can see that ISIS is avidly following the instructions they believe to be given by their god through their prophet Muhammad.  And while the president holds to his statement that the “terrorists are unique in their brutality,” even ISIS knows what the Quran truly says and lives by it with every murder, every rape, and every act of terror that they commit.  They are true believers in the way of Allah, and they will not back down.

While American politicians are debating over whether the most prominent terrorist group currently at large is truly Islamic as they claim and title themselves, basic research can prove that they are telling the truth about what their foundation is.  Just because the man in the highest seat of office in America says something, does not make it true.  ISIS knows what they are.  Muslims know what they are.  The only people that can’t see what kind of monster ISIS is are people that are actively deceiving themselves.  Obama says one thing, while the Quran and its disciples say another.  Which one is true?  It is whichever one that adheres to Muhammed’s legacy.