Holy war, the holy core of Islam

Here, originally posted in November 2008, is a concise statement of the Islam problem, “Separationism, restated”:

And what about the clean-cut, wholesome appearance of the Bombay killers, so different from that of Muhammad Atta’s inbred-looking crew? It is the clearest demonstration of the eternal power of Islam over its followers. Even Muslims who seem entirely normal and “mainstream” might be terrorists. But we already knew that, didn’t we? Remember the photo of one of the July 2005 London bombers that was taken when he was on boating vacation a couple of weeks before the attack? A smiling, happy-looking, athletic young man. Yet he was a mujahadeen prepared to mass murder non-Muslims and die in the act. Such is the power of the jihadist mandate over the souls of Muslims. It has nothing to do with poverty, grievance, mistreatment, inequality. Their readiness and desire to kill are purely a function of the Koranic commands themselves, efficacious throughout the centuries:

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. (Koran 9:5)

And fight against all the polytheists, as they all fight against you. (9:36).

Fight against those among the People of the Book who do not believe in God and the Last Day, who do not forbid what God and His Messenger have forbidden, and who do not consider the true religion as their religion, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (9:29).

O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard against evil. (9.123)

O Prophet! wage jihad against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination. (9:073)

O True believers, when you encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads. (47.4)

We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they set up with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and their abode is the fire, and evil is the abode of the unjust. (3:151)

Prepare for them whatever force and cavalry ye are able to gather, to strike terror, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies. (8:60)

Therefore let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world’s life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or be he victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward. (4.74)

This is the song that the Koran has sung to the souls of Muslims for 1,400 years and sings to them still. This call is for them the most sacred, the most holy, the most beautiful. So it doesn’t matter if they seem assimilated into the modern world—it doesn’t matter if they are clean-cut, well-educated, athletic, and with charming personalities. As long as they are Muslims, their souls are liable to thrill to that song.

And that is why the only way the non-Muslim countries can make themselves safe from jihadism is by excluding Muslims and quarantining them in their own lands. If non-Muslim humanity is to be safe and free, Muslim humanity must be permanently separated from the rest of mankind and be deprived of any means of having any effect on the rest of us. There is no other way.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 24, 2010 11:31 PM | Send