How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!
and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! Proverbs 16:16
Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day
and who do not consider unlawful
what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful
and who do not adopt the religion of truth
from those who were given the scripture (Quran)-
until they give the Jizyah willingly while they are humbled.
Quran 9:29
(Surprisingly, this call to slaughter Chrisitans & Jews
can sound rather soothing when an Arab sets it to music.)
__________________
Same verse-different translation:
Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger [Muhammad] have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth [Islam], out of those who have been given the Book [Christian and Jews], until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection [this subjection is a source of Islamic law’s institution of dhimmitude, i.e., third-class legal status for non-Muslims].
(It really sounds so much better when you hear it in it's musical form.)
RE: THE LAW OF ABROGATION:
MOST MUSLIMS WHO CLAIM THAT ISLAM IS A ‘RELIGION OF PEACE’ DISINGENUOUSLY AVOID MENTIONING THE ISLAMIC 'LAW OF ABROGATION' WHICH IS STIPULATED IN 4 QURANIC VERSES. BRIEFLY, THESE VERSES COMPEL THE BELIEVER TO DISCOUNT THE SCRIPTURES OF 'PEACE' THAT MOHAMMED HAD WRITTEN WHILE STILL IN MECCA AND TO PLACE THEIR FOCUS ON THE LATER, MORE BELLIGERENT, VERSES THAT CAME AFTER HE MIGRATED TO MEDINA. ACCORDING TO VARIOUS HISTORIANS, MOHAMMED WAS VASTLY OUTNUMBERED MILITARILY DURING HIS EARLY QURANIC DICTATIONS-HENCE, THE ISLAMIC VISION OF 'PEACE' AND COMPROMISE AMONG NEIGHBORS. HOWEVER, THE SCALES OF MILITARY DOMINANCE WERE TIPPED IN MOHAMMED'S FAVOR WHEN HE LATER MOVED INTO MEDINA WHERE THE TRUTH OF ALLAH'S IMPERIALIST INTENTIONS WERE ULTIMATELY REVEALED.
(AMERICANS-ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?)
THE FOLLOWING EXCERPT IS TAKEN FROM THE 'MIDDLE EAST QUARTERLY-FALL 2007':
The Qur'an is unique among sacred scriptures in accepting a doctrine of abrogation in which later pronouncements of the Prophet declare null and void his earlier pronouncements.[9] Four verses in the Qu'ran acknowledge or justify abrogation:
When we cancel a message, or throw it into oblivion, we replace it with one better or one similar. Do you not know that God has power over all things?[10]
When we replace a message with another, and God knows best what he reveals, they say: You have made it up. Yet, most of them do not know.[11]
God abrogates or confirms whatsoever he will, for he has with him the Book of the Books.[12]
If we pleased, we could take away what we have revealed to you. Then you will not find anyone to plead for it with us.[13]
Rather than explain away inconsistencies in passages regulating the Muslim community, many jurists acknowledge the differences but accept that latter verses trump earlier verses.[14] Most scholars divide the Qur'an into verses revealed by Muhammad in Mecca when his community of followers was weak and more inclined to compromise, and those revealed in Medina, where Muhammad's strength grew. Classical scholars argued that anyone who studied the Qur'an without having mastered the doctrine of abrogation would be "deficient."[15] Those who do not accept abrogation fall outside the mainstream and, perhaps, even the religion itself. (end of excerpt)
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