Islam and Jihad/Program 3

By: Dr. Emir Caner; ©2009

In this session, we’ll hear how many modern Muslim terrorists justify their acts using the writings of the Qur’an and Hadith. Some studies suggest 10 percent of Muslims worldwide hold to some aspects of Muslim extremism. This may appear a small number, but if this is true, this represents 150 million people, a number larger than the entire population of many nations. As a result, it is vital for us to understand the beliefs behind this radical element that drives its acts of violence.

Introduction

Today on the John Ankerberg show, Muhammad taught it, and the Muslim Caliphs practiced it for a thousand years. Now in our day Today Osama bin Laden the leader of al Qaeda, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the President of Iran, Hasan Nas­rallah the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Ismail Haniyah, the leader of Hamas in Gaza are all calling for jihad against the United States. What is Jihad? Where did it begin? Does Islam still teach it today? Why will Islam never accept Jesus’ teaching to love your enemy?

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Caner: Muhammad was the perfect example. He went on raids, three that he led himself, military expeditions by the dozens, the killing of Jews, beheading 800 Jews at once in one time at the Battle of the Trench. Muhammad was the personification, the embodiment of jihad.

Announcer: Islam is the world’s second largest religion with 1.5 billion adherents. Nearly 7 million Muslims live in North America. And every single day, 64,000 more people become Muslims worldwide. And people around the world are asking do increasing Islamic terrorist acts represent Islamic extremism or a return to Islamic roots?

Ankerberg: Would you say that Islam is reverting back to a purist view of what Muhammad taught? They’re going back to his time?

Caner: That’s exactly right. When you hear mass media speak of extreme Islam, this isn’t extreme Islam. The Wahhabis are not extreme Muslims just because they said other Muslims should die. That’s happened throughout history. That’s not extreme. They are purists. They want to revert back to the seventh century.

Announcer: Many politicians and television commentators have expressed different opinions about Islam and Jihad. But today you will learn what Islam’s most authoritative sources, the Qur’an and Hadith, teach about this subject?

Caner: Jihad defined sometimes as an internal struggle, sometimes for the betterment of the community; but it’s also defined as a, a military conflict, in both chapter 8 and chapter 9 of the Qur’an.

Announcer: My guest today is former Sunni Muslim Dr. Emir Caner, who turned away from Islam and placed his faith in Jesus Christ. When he told his devout Muslim father he had become a Christian, his father disowned him. He went on to receive his PhD in history at the University of Texas at Arlington and today he is the president of the Truett-McConnell College in Georgia. He is a best-selling author of 20 books including Islam and Jihad and has appeared on ABC, NBC, and CNN as one of the foremost experts in the world on Islam and Christianity. Join us for this special edition of the John Ankerberg Show.

Ankerberg: Welcome to our program. We were talking about one of the most important topics in our day, and that’s Islamic and jihad. What is The Truth about Islam and Jihad? Dr. Emir Caner and I have written this book that outlines and docu­ments from the authoritative sources that Islam has, namely the Qur’an and the Hadith, what Islam teaches about jihad, and that’s what we’re trying to present to you in this program. So this program and the book can go together for those of you that have a study Group.

Everybody remembers up when the Twin Towers went down. You can remember those pictures in your mind. You can re­member when the Pentagon was bombed. You can remember the London bombing. You can remember the Madrid bombings and the ones in Indonesia. You know about the threats that constantly come in to Americans overseas and Americans in this country. And when these things started to happen, Americans wanted to know, as well people around the world – we’ve got­ten calls from Europe and from Australia and from Indonesia

– people want to know, why are these people attacking us? And what is the relationship of these terrorists to the Qur’an? In other words, they’re quoting the Qur’an, so is there a rela­tionship? Are they quoting it wrongly? Are these extremists? Are they mainstream in terms of Islamic thought? Or are they just completely out of bounds and Muhammad himself would reject them?

In fact, here’s the question I’d like to ask. And my guest is Dr. Emir Caner. He is one of the foremost authorities in the world today on Islam and Christianity. He was a former Sunni Muslim, grew up in Turkey. He came to the United States, his father built Muslim mosques. And one day he converted that Jesus Christ, he put his faith in Christ, Christ save him. He went back and told his family that he became a Christian, and as a result, his family disowned him. So this man knows the whole background of Islam and what people that come from Islam into Christian­ity are facing. He also has his Qur’an basically memorized, as you will hear, and the Hadith.

And Emir, here’s the question that I want to ask you today, and that is that, if Muhammad was alive today and looked at Osama bin Laden, would he accept him? Would he applaud him? Would he say that Osama bin Laden is actually following what he taught? Would the rulers after Muhammad, his suc­cessors, the Caliphates in what they said and how they acted, would they accept Osama bin Laden? Would the people that wrote the Hadith, would they look and say to Osama bin Laden, “You are completely out of bounds; we never said anything like you’re saying”? Or would they say, “Yes, you have perfectly followed what we have taught in the authoritative sources of mainstream Islam,” which is the Hadith? I know this is a very controversial topic, but I mean, that’s the bottom line. Are these people out of bounds? Where are they at in terms of the authoritative teachings of the Qur’an and the Hadith?

Caner: Well, Western people may be surprised to see that Osama bin Laden is not only a hero in the past in what Muham­mad would say about him, but a hero to many in the present. His name, Osama, it was, a few years ago, the number one name given to infants born in much of the Islamic world. He literally quotes the Qur’an, Sura 9:5 in his February 23, 1998, engagement of America and its allies. Surah 9:29, he regularly falls upon the principles of the Hadith that you are to expand the House of Islam. And more so than anything, I think Muham­mad would commend him, because whenever something is taken by the Islamic military it must remain in Islamic hands. And his argument is that the West has conquered what used to be the House of Islam and it must be conquered back. And so he has fallen under the authority of chapter 4 and verse 59, that he’s a leader who’s calling people to war. The West just simply didn’t pay attention, because what can a man in a cave do half the world away? Whereas some scholars may argue of some of his methods, in particular suicide bombers, there’s no questioning his message was the same message for the first 1000 years of Islamic history. Islam is not something that is a defense of war when it goes itself to a military conflict. Like the Arabian Peninsula itself, all you have to do was declare yourself to be in war, not to say “I was wronged” in a way that Western society has now defined just war.

Ankerberg: Alright, we’ll come back to Muhammad in a mo­ment, but let me ask you this. Sometimes the terrorists have given statements, like Osama bin Laden and others, they have given statements where they have warned the enemy, they have warned America, they have warned Israel, that “you need to submit, you need to convert to Islam, or we are going to attack you.” And they give this warning ahead of time. Where in the world do those principles come from?

Caner: Well, there’s the call that you were speaking about, that we are speaking about earlier and previously, that you have to do a call to war, and that you have to warn them that at the end of this conflict there will be Islamic domination, because accord­ing to Hadith in volume 4, that Allah will bless it, [verse] 4315. And when the treaty comes, you either abide by their treaty or you face death, that’s according to the Qur’an, chapter 9 and verse 12; that the enemy is an open enemy, chapter 8 and verse 67. All of these come to play when you see a fully orbed picture of jihad, of holy war, of the fighting that goes on within Islam. There is a call, there is a fight, there is a conquering. When all of that is said and done, the spoils of war, the destruction of property, the unintentional killing of women, is all blessed by Allah, according to volume 19 of Muslim’s Hadith in numbers 4311 and following.

Ankerberg: Where did Muhammad actually practice giving the warning himself?

Caner: Well, he would warn, when he was coming up he would warn, when he went to Mecca and was going to instill conflict upon them, and that’s a fascinating thing, not only for the call that he had to conquer what was his town, but what was the aftermath. The aftermath played out where the Jews were separated from the rest of the Meccan pagans. And they decided to surrender. But even as they decided to surrender could fall under the treaty of Muhammad, it was Muhammad’s special revelation that was given to him, according to the Hadith, Mus­lim’s Hadith, number 4370 that said Allah specially revealed to him to kill the Jews and finally take care of the problem. And so the Islamic sources themselves speak about how that day Muhammad beheaded 800 Jewish men and adolescents, and put the women into captivity, slavery and concubinage.

Ankerberg: Alright. Later on the successors of Muhammad, following his teachings, they conquered the world, basically. I mean, the world at that time, they basically went country by country, and eventually got all the up to Spain, France. Now, when they did that there was, one of the Caliphates was Umar.

And the fact is, he established how you would treat those that you conquered. It was called the Pact of Umar. And the fact is, he practiced this on Christians and Jews and those that he conquered. And I would like you to explain what the rules to the road were: if the warning was given, Osama bin Laden gave America the warning; if we had submitted, what would be the rules that we live under, according to the Hadith?

Caner: Yeah. After the call of war, chapter 4 and verse 59, that authority give, then the war is on. Now, here an important facet to understand is, a lot of Christians are trying to say, “Well, how can I make a clear distinction between this which I hear, which is jihad, Islamic holy war, and Christianity?” A great way to see what actually happened, what Muhammad actually said, was to watch the first generation successors to which we are now speaking. Ask yourself this question: how the disciples of Jesus act, and how did the disciples Muhammad act? All of the disciples of Jesus, after His death and ascension, all of them were martyred for the faith, outside of the apostle John. And all of the disciples of Muhammad, all of them, went to war.

Now, if Islam is a peaceful religion and not in its inception violent, why would all of the successors from Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman and Ali and on and on it goes, go to war if there was no war except for defensive war and when Islam was wronged? It was an offensive engagement. So they conquered, and then the second leader of Islam, the second Caliph, Umar, set up this Pact of which we speak.

Here’s what you couldn’t do: you could not build churches any more in that territory; you could not rebuild churches in that territory; you could not sing too loudly in your churches; you could not clap, that is use the bells too loudly in the churches; you could not proselytize your faith to others. Simply put, you could not be a Christian as New Testament definition gives it if you were conquered by a Muslim.

Ankerberg: And that’s what you would have to submit to, or what were the consequences?

Caner: The consequences, if you did not submit to it, was death. Chapter 9 and verse 12 places it forward, that is, the breaking of the treaty makes you an enemy of Islam. And an enemy of Islam, whether that is the spiritual or a political one, a rebel or a bandit or an apostate and an infidel, must be removed from that Ummah, from that community to which he or she adheres.

Ankerberg: Sounds pretty stern. Doesn’t sound like there’s any middle ground here; you either submit or you’re killed.

Caner: There really is no middle ground. We were shocked with 9/11 or 7/7 in London or whatever those bombs were. The other side of the world has seen this for years, for some for centuries. This is not a shock. This is a normal life. They’ve watched cousins and aunts and uncles, moms and dads and sisters and brothers, die for nothing other but to say Jesus is the Son of God. Or for saying and “I should have the right to” any of our freedoms that are in society. Now it’s hit the West. And the aggravation to much of the Islamic world is, bin Laden has awakened a sleeping giant. The question is whether we follow the path.

Ankerberg: Alright, we’re going to come back, we’re going to take a break right now. We’re going to come back, and we’re going to talk about the warning that Osama bin Laden gave Americans and see if we can show the people now how that ties back to the Hadith and Qur’an. Stick with us, folks. We’ll be right back.

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Ankerberg: Alright, we’re back. We’re talking to my guest, Dr. Emir Caner, about Islam and Jihad. And what I want to get to is that so you have the threats of Osama bin Laden against America. And I’m going to read some of the quotes. You’ve heard what Emir’s been talking about from the Qur’an and the Hadith, let’s see if this makes sense to you now in terms of what Osama threatened America with, alright? And this was the declaration, the Fatwa, that was signed on February 23, 1998, by five Islamic leaders, declaring war against the United States. Here’s what he said:

Praise be to Allah, who revealed the book – that’s the Qur’an – controls the clouds, defeats factionalism, and says in his book [the Qur’an], but when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them; seize them; beleaguer them and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war. And peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad who said, I have been sent with a sword between my hands to ensure that no one but Allah is worshipped. Allah, who put my livelihood under the shadow of my sphere, and who inflicts humiliation and scorn on those who disobey my orders. The Arabian Pen­insula has never, since Allah made it flat, been stormed by any forces like the Crusader armies now spreading in it like locusts [talking about America], consuming its riches and destroying its plantations. All this is happening at a time when the na­tions are attacking Muslims like people fighting over a plate of food. No one argues today about three facts that are known to every one: first, for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam, and the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the peninsula into spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples. The best proof of this as the American’s continuing aggression against the Iraqi people, us­ing the peninsula as a staging post. Second, despite the great devastation inflicted on the Iraqi people by the Crusader Zionist alliance, and despite the huge number of those killed, in excess of one million, despite all this, the Americans are once again trying to repeat the horrific massacres. Third, if the American’s aims behind these wars are religious and economic [I think that’s a surprise to all of us – it’s religious and economic] the aim is also to serve the Jews petty state and divert attention from its occupation of Jerusalem and murder of Muslims there. All these crimes and sins committed by the Americans are a clear declaration of war on Allah, his messenger and Muslims. The ulema, the Muslim scholars throughout Islamic history, unanimously agreed that jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries.

He went on to say:

On that basis, in compliance with Allah’s orders, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims – the ruling to kill the Ameri­cans and their allies, civilians and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it, in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the holy mosque from their grip. And in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of almighty Allah who said, and fight the pagans altogether as they fight you altogether. And fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression and there prevail justice and faith in Allah. Almighty Allah said, O you who believe, give your response to Allah and his apostle when he calls you to that which will give you life. And know that Allah comes between a man and his heart and that it is he to whom you shall be gathered. Almighty Allah also says, O you who believe, was the matter with you that when you are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, you cling so heavily to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the hereafter? What little is the comfort of this life as compared with the hereafter? Unless you go forth, he will punish with a grievous penalty and put others in your place. But him you would not harm in the least, for Allah hath power over all things. There’s a ton of things in this declaration of war that was published in our newspapers, Washington Post, the New York Times, they published this statement. This was before 9/11. How does this go back to the Hadith and to Muhammad and the Qur’an?

Caner: Well, knowing he was attempting to re-establish not only Islam but the Islamic council, he wanted to be the voice, because he recognized the message he was saying was the proper message according to seventh century Islam. You saw the voluminous quotes, you’ve heard them. He quotes 9:5, “slay the enemy’s wherever you find them;” he quotes “the apostates,” that’s 9:29; he warns of the dangers if you do not abide, that you are not only are subordinate to those who go, in chapter 4 of the Qur’an, but the warning that you must go, it’s ordained for you, that fighting is, chapter 2 and verse 215. And so he declares this because, you’ll note seven years previous, that is 1991, when we liberated Kuwait from the Iraqi ruler, Saddam Hussein at the time, we then established military bases. The infidel cannot have sway over that which is the House of Islam. A lot of Americans or Westerners can’t understand it. They say, “But wait a minute, we’re there to help them; they’ve invited us there to have the bases there.” But to the Muslim the best way to equate this is to say, what would happen if you had a military base in Mecca? And a Muslim would absolutely denounce it. For Osama bin Laden, that is having a military base anywhere in the Arabian Peninsula, for all of the Arabian Peninsula is holy, not just because of the two holy sites, but because it represents all of what Islam should be – along with Jerusalem. There is a theological battle that was ensued on February 23, 1998.

Ankerberg: What is it?

Caner: Abraham was given a promise, was promised with his wife Hagar – according to the Qur’an, not Sarah – and that her son, Hagar’s son, Ishmael, chapter 37 of the Qur’an stipulates will be in the promised one. Whereas Judeo-Christian view is that it will be Isaac who was sacrificed and the promised one.

Ankerberg: Yeah. What you’re saying is 600 years after the New Testament, the fact is, then you have these words where you’re changing history.

Caner: Yes. That is, simply put, Muhammad revised the story of history while bin Laden is attempting to go back to the story as it was stated in the sixth and seventh centuries.

Ankerberg: By Muhammad in the Qur’an.

Caner: Yes. He wants a resurgence of Islam. Now, we do know that not everyone followed bin Laden, because he didn’t have the mantle that national leaders have. But he had the author­ity of the Qur’an and he had the authority of the Hadith. And he declared the war. And if there was no authority behind it, there would have been no 9/11, at least for those who adhere to his mind.

Read Part 4