Treatise: Personal Thoughts on Religion, Tolerance, and the Soul

After writing chapters, essays and a treatise about the world's religions, from the point of views of people of a particular religion I discussed, I would like to set aside some time to write about my conclusions concerning the spiritual aspect of life that many have turned into a religion.

First, I would like to say that it has confounded me that during a long period of history, that Christians and Muslims cannot seem to get along for any period of time – and too often demonstrated during that history that some Christians (groups) and Muslims look upon Hebrews (Jews) as a scapegoat and inferior “race”. With that concept in mind, it already begins with misinformation in that being Jewish is not a race, but a Hebrew religion that is much older than both Christianity and Islam. In regards to history, Islam is the newcomer on the scene. Literally, a "Jew" can be of any race believing in Judaism.

Jihad: UK Bans Americans Who Fight Against Islamic Fascism

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have been banned from the United Kingdom. Shocking news coming from a great ally that was formerly our enemy in the 18^th century. A people who fought against Nazi tyranny and invasion with admirable fortitude and strength, is succumbing to forces of Islam whose agenda is world domination and a world theocratic government whose power is sustained by a religious doctrine and keeping the people ignorant and fearful.

The crusade against the powers of the UK doing this is HERE in the form of a petition.

Jihad Watch also has an article about this affair.

Chapter 13: Sword of Islam

Phenomenology of World Religions ©

Chapter 13

Sword of Islam

ISLAMIC EMPIRE GROWS

Abu Bakr was the father-in-law of Muhammad and his first successor. He was given the command of the faithful as Khalifah (Caliph, meaning “deputy”). Several tribes refused to accept his right to rule and a war broke out called Ridda, fought by Abu Bakr and his general Khalid ibn al Walid. The success in that battle and battles thereafter against Persia and Byzantine initiated a series of war of conquest outside the Mohammed Arabian peninsula. Their army had become formidable with dedicated followers of Islam, swordsmen mounted on camels and able archers on horseback that came out of the desert and struck the heart of Persia and Byzantine empires. The two empires were already becoming weak and their army was not organized sufficiently to defeat the Arabs. The Arabs soon conquered Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, and Persia. The Caliph Umar conquered Jerusalem in 640 and guaranteed the preservation of the Christian holy places there.

Chapter 12: Islam - People of the Book

This chapter deals with the complicated history of a people, the brief history of a religion called Islam, which is further complicated by different factions (much like Christianity) within the groups of Moslems that is the second largest religion in the world. It is a religion founded by a prophet, deemed the Messenger of God, which was carried on by its followers who separated into factions due to philosophical disagreements, whose partial doctrine of conversion is violence (depending upon the faction), misunderstood and misrepresented by Moslem and non-Moslem alike; and whose doctrine under certain leadership within factions have led to fascism, religious fanaticism, death and destruction in the name of Allah, the Arabic word of God – despite the fact that they worship that same God as the Christians and Jews, to whom they often war with or persecute. It is because of doctrine differences that they do so, as well as believing that no person (not even their beloved prophet/founder Muhammad) or perceived deity should be worshiped instead of the one and true God; which pits them against the Christians who have deified their prophet, teacher, and reformer of the Hebrew faith, Jesus of Nazareth (Galilee) – the Christ. Other differences or similarities between the other two monotheistic religions of Christianity and Hebrew are in the rites performed, as in the Five Pillars of Islam prescribed by the founder, Mohammed.

Through the Looking Glass: Religious Perspective

The classic literature of Lewis Carroll (birth name: Charles Dodgson) has gone down through the ages reprinted into books, plays, and films. It began with the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, which was followed by Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There in 1871. Through the Looking Glass was about a world beyond a mirror (looking glass). If one looks into a mirror one sees a reflection that appears reversed; however, if one was looking from within or the other side of the “looking glass” it would be a natural view. As with the mirror, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is filled with symbolism – a world remarkably different than reality, and a world where nothing is as it seems. 

 

So it is for the so-called Religion of Peace ...

Islam: Religion of Peace?

There have been those who object using the phrase of two words to describe the terrorists – Islamic fascists. Whether this is a PC [i] thing or whatever, there is good reason to use those two words to describe the fundamentalists whose interpretation of the Qur'an, their celebration of Shari’a law, and their revelation of Hitler because of his hatred of the Jewish people and it is correctly descriptive. The big book seller in Palestine is Mein Kampf, (Qur'an being #1 bestseller) was the favorite reading of the deceased Yasser Arafat. A terrorist organizer turned head-of-state and who was given a Nobel Peace Prize!
During World War II, the Grand Mufti, Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini recruited Muslims from all over the world to fight with the Nazis. However, there are those who deny this, despite surmountable evidence. If association is indicative of just what type of person Arafat was, look at the photo above.

Bibliotheca: Lost Forbidden Texts Found After Scholar's Death

I am a book collector, however my library isn’t what it used to be because of a series of events and circumstances – but I love books, especially old books, texts, et cetera. Thus, my interest was sparked when I ran across the excellent article by Andrew Higgins in the Wall Street Journal entitled The Lost Archive. A section of my library contains books on theology – world religions and scholarly works on ancient and contemporary religious texts. One of the books in this category is one of my treasured volumes: A 1936 rare copy of the Qu’ran written in Arabic and English complete with footnotes in English. While stationed in Turkey I befriended the local bookstore proprietor and became a regular there, while also making regular stops at the Stars and Stripes bookstore in the American PX building in Izmir, Turkey where I obtained (through special order) a book containing Burl and Ives famous lithograph collection complete with its history from the time they opened their doors to the sad day they closed them. There, the proprietor, of whom I forgot his name (no, it wasn’t Mustafa, that was another Turkish friend), informed me one day that he had the rare 1936 bilingual Qu’ran. After examination, I was hesitant as to what it may cost. After a cup or two of Chi, Turkish tea, we discussed price. I ended up purchasing it for the equivalent US dollars in Turkish lira of $20.00. Actually, I should be ashamed – it was a steal. But I digress ...

Sharia Law by Tom Carew

Tom Carew, guest writer from Dublin, Ireland writes about the concerns of Sharia Law being introduced through subversive actions upon a nation. Our traditional ally, the United Kingdom is facing crucial internal problems while keeping the basics of democracy and still retaining liberal ideologies. In this, America and our European counterpart are facing a conundrum. Mr. Carew writes via email [edited]:

America: Break the Silence on Islam by Amil Imani

Editor’s Introduction

I have not posted yet at Veritas et Theologium the chapter in The Phenomenology of World Religion about Islam yet; it will consist of two chapters, and will follow four chapters concerning Christianity and its founder, Jesus of Nazareth. [*] 

This essay by Amil Imani, a guest writer at Lighthouse Journal in the past, is a must read for those interested in theology, as well as concerned about the state of affairs globally.

Mr. Imani came to America as a boy from Iran and is an American citizen who is grateful for the freedom he has in America, and today as an adult, advocates the freedom of Iranians from the grip of Sharia Law and the oppressive caliphate/mullah system of government. The success of the infiltration of Islamic Fascism in the Western world is dues to Europe’s and America’s tolerance of religion in the name of freedom of religion. It is also, in part, due to fear – either fear of insult or fear of retribution. 

We can thank the political progressives who have adopted socialist Marxism and political correctness and their hate crime and hate speech laws that make the majority of the populace to stand up against Islamic fascism; and as Mr. Imani points out in the essay after this introduction.

Turkish Theologians Begin Hadith Research Project

The Turkish Republic may be in for a Religious Reformation according to Daniel Pipes, Jerusalem Post, May 22^nd 2008 …

Accounts from Turkey suggest that the government is attempting a bold re-interpretation of Islam. Its unusually named ministry of religion, the "Presidency of Religious Affairs and the Religious Charitable Foundation," has undertaken a three-year "Hadith Project" systematically to review 162,000 hadith reports and winnow them down to some 10,000, with the goal of separating original Islam from the accretions of fourteen centuries. The hadith reports contain information about the sayings and actions of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. They augment the Koran and have had a major role in shaping the Shari‘a (Islamic law), thereby deeply influencing Muslim life. Despite their importance, Muslim reformers have devoted little scrutiny to them, due to their vast size, unwieldy nature, and the challenge of discerning "sound" from "weak" hadiths.
One of the project's 85 theology professors, Ismail Hakki Unal of Ankara University, explains its goal: "The Koran is our basic guide. Anything that conflicts with that, we are trying to eliminate." The project website explained that its work is "an important step for carrying the universal message of the Prophet of Islam to the twenty-first century."