Allah Had No Son

I normally refuse to pick up the various religious pamphlets and flyers that end up sitting around or being handed out by street evangelists but this one was on a shelf in the Barnes & Noble Bookstore and I just shoved it in my pocket to get it out of there.

I decided to take a critical look rather than just throwing it away.

This Chick Publication is titled "Allah Had No Son" and it begins with a father and son walking by a mosque where Muslims are seen kneeling in the courtyard. The boy asks what they are doing and the father replies, "They are worshiping their moon god."

So, the pamphlet starts off with a lie. Sure, it goes on to explain how the Islamic symbol of the crescent moon is a hold over from prehistoric moon worshiping but Allah is no more a moon god than the Judeo/Christian God is a sun god. Each has its roots in paganism but each has also evolved. In point of fact, the crescent moon is a relatively modern invention, I think from the post-Ottoman Empire and the founding of modern Turkey.

Standard propaganda techniques right off. Demonizing the Muslims by reducing them to deluded pagan worshipers. Don't even admit that they worship the same god.

Back to the pamphlet. . .

A worshiping Muslim has overheard the man calling Allah a moon god and leaps up, threatening "The holy Koran says I could KILL you for saying that!" A footnote directs users to reference Sura 5:33.

Of course, most people are going to just assume that, since the Koran is being referenced chapter and verse, then it is being attributed correctly. And few people have a copy of the Koran to check and wouldn't be inclined to read it anyway.

This is another lie. The passage actually reads: "Those that make war against Allah and His apostle and spread disorders in the land shall be put to death or crucified or have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, or be banished from the country. They shall be held to shame in this world and sternly punished in the next: except those that repent before you reduce them. For you must know that Allah is forgiving and merciful."

The passage does not give the faithful permission to kill for a simple insult; it directs them to mete out various levels of punishment to those that make war upon them. This is the right of self defense and is repeatedly mentioned in both the Torah and the Bible.

Another propaganda technique is to misquote the enemy's own documents. In this case, further demonizing the Muslims by taking a passage that refers the right to defend oneself in warfare and twist it into an extremist view that kills at the slightest provocation.

Next, follows more demonization. The Muslim declares that they expect a Muslim flag to fly over the White House by 2010, that it will end Christianity in America and they have already bringing England to its knees.

Now it's time to make the reader even more afraid. Oh, and more lies. The Muslim says that the Koran condemns the Bible and that Jesus did not die on the cross. But, in this case they don't footnote to a passage in the Koran, they attribute a rampantly racist modern book "Islamic Invasion" by Robert A. Morey. In fact, most of this pamphlet seems based on this piece of crap.

You can tell, I'm starting to loose my objectivity as I study this more and more.

The pamphlet goes on to "prove" that Allah is a moon god, that the so-called Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the one true god and how the Muslims are doomed to hell.

Then, using another tried and true propaganda technique, the Muslim comes to his realization that Islam is a lie, he repents, accepts Jesus as his savior and asks how he can save others. There follows a form the reader can fill out to affirm his faith and get more stuff in the mail to distribute.

But what frightens me more that the contents of this document and that people actually believe this garbage is that MORE people are believing this. I even remember that for several weeks in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration used the word "Christendom" as if this were a new religious crusade against Islam. Thankfuly, some advisor told Dubbya not to use that word anymore but it shows the fundamental beliefs that our president has.

Is it any wonder there are Muslims willing to blow themselves up to defend their faith and homelands from western imperialism. They have every right to be afraid. Hell, I'M afraid because I'm not a Christian. When will I be called a traitor or un-American becuse I'm not a Christian?