The Islamic Antichrist (20 page)

And today, we see the power of beheading on the Indonesian island of Borneo, where Muslims have been using beheading as a means to drive out the Christian majority. Nearly half of the Christians have fled the island.

And beyond all of these very incriminating examples there are the government-sanctioned beheadings that take place weekly in Saudi Arabia after Friday prayers just outside the mosques:

The Saudi government beheaded fifty-two men and one woman last year for crimes including murder, homosexuality, armed robbery, and drug trafficking.… A condemned convict is brought into the courtyard, hands tied, and forced to bow before an executioner, who swings a huge sword amid cries from onlookers of “A
llahu Akbar
!” Arabic for “God is great.”
¹⁶

Allahu Akbar
was also the phrase screamed by the murderers of Nicholas Berg, the Jewish-American contractor, and Kim Sung-il, the Korean translator and evangelical Christian whose dream of one day preaching the Gospel to Muslims was both fulfilled and brought to an end in the very same moment.

So while it is clear what the
history
of Islam teaches, we also need to look at what the sacred books and scholars of Islam have to say about this subject.

THE VALUE OF A NON-MUSLIM LIFE

Whenever a Muslim “extremist” carries out a horrifying act in the name of Islam, most Muslims that I know are very quick to state, “That is not Islam! Islam is not to be judged by the behavior of a few, but needs to be studied to see what it really teaches.” Fair enough. So the question then is: What does Islam really teach about the killing of non-Muslims?

The first thing that should be pointed out is that according to Islamic law Muslims are, for all practical purposes, allowed to kill non-Muslims. This is based on the law of
qisas
.
Qisas
is essentially the law of reciprocity. It is the Islamic version of “an eye for an eye.”
Qisas
, for instance, states that if a Muslim murders another Muslim, then that Muslim will likewise be executed. Amazingly, this law does not apply to a Muslim who murders a non-Muslim. This teaching is found in a hadith from Sahih Bukhari:

Narrated Ash-Sha’bi: Abu Juhaifa said, “I asked Ali, ‘What is [written] in this sheet of paper?’ Ali replied, ‘It deals with the
diyya
[compensatory blood money paid by the killer to the relatives of the victim], the ransom for the releasing of the captives from the hands of the enemies, and
the law that no Muslim should be killed in
qisas [
equality in punishment
]
for the killing of
[
a disbeliever
].’”
¹⁷
(emphasis mine)

In some cases of course, the murderer might receive other penalties such as prison or a fine. But sadly, reality bears out that in a culture that does not value the life of non-Muslims as much as that of Muslims, a blind eye is most often turned to the murder of non-Muslims. If you go to the Web site of the Voice of the Martyrs at
www.persecution.org
, or of the Barnabas Fund at
www.barnabasfund.org
, you can read hundreds of stories, updated daily, of Christians mistreated or murdered without any legal repercussions for the Muslim murderer. The following statement is a perfect example of the mentality that I have often encountered when talking to many Muslims from the Middle East. This statement was made on an Internet interfaith discussion group. Notice the attitude toward the killing of non-Muslims (
kaffirs
):

The
kaffirs
[unbelievers] have been attacking Muslim countries killing Muslim people from the beginning of time…when we have done nothing. Like the people of Israel attack the Muslims from Palestine because they do it for the land and because they hate Arabs/Muslims…we defend them for Allah. We try and spread Islam, the one and only true word of Allah. They rejected it, therefore we are allowed to kill them.
It is not
haram [
forbidden/illegal
]
to kill a
kaffir. Of course we want to
inshallah
[by the will of Allah] peacefully live with them and
inshallah
teach them about the beautiful religion.
¹⁸
(emphasis mine)

Do you see the altogether twisted mentality expressed in that comment? The “beautiful religion” that allows the killing of those who do not belong to it?

THE QUR’AN ON KILLING INFIDELS

Perhaps the Qur’anic verse most often quoted by Westerners to demonstrate the violent nature of the Islamic religion is the verse known within and without Islam as “the verse of the sword”:

So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the obligatory charity, leave their way free to them; surely Allah is forgiving, merciful. (Sura 9:5; Shakir)

Each time this verse is quoted, a Muslim states that this verse is not applicable today. While I would certainly love to believe that, the real question that needs to be asked is: How do the teachers and scholars of Islam interpret this verse? Do they say that it still applies today? The overriding majority of modern and classical Muslim scholars agree that it does. Remember the concept that the behavior of all Muslims is dictated by both the Qur’an and the Sunna (the sayings, actions, and behavior of Muhammad). From Ibn Kathir, the renowned eighth-century scholar, we learn the true Islamic interpretation of this verse. Kathir begins his interpretation by citing for support several eminent early Muslim hadith narrators/scholars: Mujahid, ‘Amr bin Shu’ayb, Muhammad bin Ishaq, Qatadah, As-Suddi, and ‘Abdur-Rahman. Kathir then explains the meaning of the verse:

The four months mentioned in this verse refer to the four-month grace period mentioned in an earlier verse: “So travel freely for four months throughout the land.” Allah said next, “So when the Sacred Months have passed,” meaning upon the end of the four months during which [Allah] prohibited you from fighting the idolaters, Muslims are to “fight and kill the idolaters wherever you may find them.” “Wherever you find them” means on the earth in general.… Allah said here to execute some and keep some as prisoners. “Besiege them and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush” means do not wait until you find them; rather seek and besiege them in their areas and forts, gather intelligence about them in the various roads and fairways so that what is made wide looks ever smaller to them. This way, they will have no choice but to die or embrace Islam.… Abu Bakr [Muhammad’s closest friend and successor upon Muhammad’s death] used this and other honorable verses as proof for fighting against those who refrained from paying the obligatory charity tax. This verse allowed fighting people unless and until they embrace Islam and implement its rulings and obligations.
¹⁹

This doesn’t leave any room for debate. Ibn Kathir lays it out as clearly as anyone could. We see that Muslims are allowed and even commanded to fight against the unbelievers (
mushrikun
) and even seek them out where they are in order to force them to convert to Islam or accept death. Again it must be noted that Kathir is not an “extremist” Muslim but is perhaps one of Islam’s most universally received classical scholars.

Another pertinent verse from the Qur’an that applies to our discussion is the infamous “beheading” verse:

If you encounter [in war] those who disbelieve, you may strike the necks. (Sura 47:4; Khalifa)

When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads. (Sura 47:4; Rodwell)

Ibn Kathir explains that the purpose of this verse is to:

[Guide] the believers to what they should employ in their fight against the idolators. Allah says, “So when you meet those who disbelieve [in battle], smite their necks,” which means when you fight against them, cut them down totally with your swords. “Until you have fully defeated them” meaning you have killed and utterly destroyed them. This is referring to the prisoners of war whom you have captured.
²⁰

So when we look at these verses we see that Muslims are commanded to behead (or at a bare minimum “smite the necks”) of those non-Muslims they fight. Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad, judge of the
shari’ah
(Islamic law) court in Great Britain, as well as the secretary general of the Islamic World League and the
spokesman for the International Islamic Front, however, has a slightly different opinion:

What’s the verdict? “The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.”
²¹

After examining just a sampling of Islamic texts as well as the opinions of Islamic scholars, spokesmen, and ordinary Muslims, we see that Islam not only commands the killing of non-Muslims but also supports a culture where killing non-Muslims has become an acceptable practice. But before we finish this discussion, there is one more very specific tradition that will surely come into play if indeed the person of the Mahdi ever becomes a reality.

DEATH TO THOSE WHO DISPUTE THE AUTHORITY OF THE CALIPH

The leadership role of a caliph in Islam is a very powerful concept. The caliph is viewed as the successor of Muhammad and the leader of all Muslims. He is, in a sense, the Pope of the Muslim world. The last caliph that both Sunnis and Shi’a accepted as justifiably elected was Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law. Ali died in AD 661. Since then, many other caliphs have held office, but none that held the universal sway that the first four caliphs held. Muslims have awaited the restoration of the caliphate to bring unity and leadership to Islam worldwide. As we have already seen, the Mahdi is expected to fulfill this role. From a hadith in
Sahih Muslim
we read of the punishment for those who dispute the authority of the caliph:

Whoever wishes to be delivered from the fire and enter the garden should die with faith in Allah and the Last Day.… He who swears allegiance to a caliph should give him the pledge of his hand and the sincerity of his heart [i.e., submit to him both outwardly and inwardly]. He should obey him to the best of his capacity.
If a man comes forward, disputing his [the caliph’s] authority, they
[
the Muslims
]
should behead the latter
.
²²
(emphasis mine)

The Saudi Arabian government holds this opinion as well. On the official Saudi Arabian Islamic Affairs Department (IAD) Web site, we find a similar declaration:

The Noble Prophet said: “It is obligatory upon a Muslim to listen and obey [to the authority of the caliph] whether he likes it or not…one who has already taken an oath of allegiance to one leader [imam] and has committed his hand and heart to him, should obey him as much as may be possible for him.
If somebody else opposes and contests the authority of that leader [imam], the said opponent should be beheaded
.”
²³
(emphasis mine)

According to Islamic law, anyone who disagrees with the authority of a seated caliph should be beheaded.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Now let us review the points that have been made. First, we have seen that the end times as described in the Bible will be a time when Christians will face persecution and martyrdom for their faith. The specific manner of death that the Bible mentions for Christians is martyrdom by beheading. As we have most clearly demonstrated, it is quite undeniable that beheading is a tradition that stretches throughout Islamic history. Islam itself has thoroughly documented the fact that Muhammad and his immediate successors practiced beheading as the specific means to kill “the enemies of Islam.” This practice has continued in certain quarters of Islam to this very day. The Qur’an itself actually encourages beheading, or at a bare minimum, “smiting the necks” of “idolaters” and any “prisoners of war.” We noted some examples of the beheadings of such “prisoners of war” recently in Iraq and elsewhere. The death sentence is also prescribed for those who do not submit to or agree with the authority of the caliph. As
such it is actually very fair to assume that in the Islamic vision of the last days, if a caliph, specifically the Mahdi, comes forward and accepts the notion that all Christians, Jews, Israelis, and any who support them are considered “enemies of Islam,” then it would be universally lawful and indeed obligatory for all Muslims to “make war” and “smite the necks” of all Christians, Jews, or Westerners, as well as any who dispute the authority of the caliph.

Once again, Islam, its practices, and its teachings fulfill exactly the description of the forces that will gain power and dominate the world in the biblical end-time scenario. Having seen the murderous nature of the Islamic texts, as well as the proper Islamic interpretation of them, let us see the reality of how this mentality plays out in the mind of an ordinary Muslim from the Middle East. Following is a post from an Islamic/interfaith Internet message board. It is the kind of post that is only too common on such forums. We end this chapter with one Muslim’s thoughts regarding the murder of Daniel Pearl, the slain American journalist: