If..Muslims..Serious About Presenting the Radiant Face of Islam They Must Acknowledge... Dark Past

Reformist Writer Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar: "If the Muslims are Serious About Presenting the Radiant Face of Islam… They Must… Acknowledge Their Dark Past"

In January 2006, the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development held its first conference on extremism and terrorism around the world, in Vienna. The conference was attended by Arab, Muslim and European researchers, intellectuals and diplomats. In the closing statement, the participants made the following recommendations: to present the humane and rational side of Islam which calls for co-existence and acceptance of the other; to condemn all forms of violence and terrorism; to promote dialogue and cooperation among all the world's cultures; and to call upon religious scholars to halt the spread of extremism. The participants also emphasized the Palestinian people's right to an independent state, and called to consolidate Iraqi national unity based on citizenship, democracy, and peaceful co-existence between all sectors of Iraqi society, while preserving the country's Arab and Islamic character.(1)

Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar, a reformist who writes on the reformist websites www.kitabat.com and www.elaph.com, expressed reservations regarding the validity of these recommendations.(2)

"The phenomenon of Arab and Islamic conferences has come to dominate activities in the Arab and Muslim world almost completely, especially since the tragedy of September 11, 2001 in the U.S... Experience teaches us that those who talk a lot do little, while those who act do not talk. I hope that the conference held by the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development is not an Islamic conference of that sort, but a look at its recommendations does not inspire optimism...

"The conference participants did not bother to explain what the humane side of Islam is. When was Islam humane, and when did it respect others and call for co-existence? Anyone who studies Islamic history discovers that Islam was tolerant only during the Mecca period, when it was weak. This is the period in which the tolerant verses were revealed, such as the verses... 'You have your religion and I have my religion [Koran 109:6]' and 'Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly preaching, and reason with them in the best ways [16:125].'...

"Later, the Prophet emigrated to the city of Al-Medina, and the first Koranic sura revealed to him there – the sura of Al-Baqara – starts with a rejection of the other... Later [verses] call to fight anyone who does not convert to Islam: 'And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out [2:191]'... Subsequently, the sura of Al-Tawba was revealed, and the 'verse of the sword': 'So when the sacred months have passed, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush [9:5]'... The 'verse of the sword' and all the [other] warlike verses of the Al-Medina period were revealed later than the verses of the Mecca period, and as the newer verses, they [come to] replace the Mecca verses. According to the religious scholars, the 'verse of the sword' abrogates at least 120 tolerant verses. So where is the tolerant side of Islam?...

"If we put aside the theoretical statements of the Koran and the hadith, and examine the actions of the Prophet and his companions... will we find anything that can be regarded as tolerance and acceptance of the other? The Prophet, after all, drove the Jews out of the Arab peninsula and made raids on the Arab tribes so that they would convert out of fear.

"[The First Caliph] Abu Bakr fought against the tribes who abandoned Islam, and [the Second Caliph] Omar [bin Al-Khattab] imposed his famous contract on the Christians, which forced them to cut their hair and wear special garments so they would be easily recognizable, and forbade them to ring their church bells. Islamic conquests of non-Muslim [lands] continued until the time of the Ottoman Caliphate during the 15th century, and even later. Can we find the radiant face of Islam in any of these statements or actions?"

Regarding the recommendation to condemn all forms of violence and terrorism, Al-Najjar wrote: "The problem with Islam is that violence is rooted in it from its very inception. Islam commands beating a 10-year-old child if he does not pray regularly. Islam permits beating a woman if she does not obey her husband...

"The [Islamic] states terrorize non-Muslim minorities, as occurs in Egypt. There is also the terrorism of the religious clerics... who carry a stick to beat women on their legs if any part of the leg is showing, and to beat the men in the marketplace on Friday so they hurry up and get to the mosque. There is the terrorism of religious groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, the Shi'ite groups in Basra, and the Sunni groups in Falluja which burned down shops selling computer diskettes and shops selling wine... Every day, we encounter the ideological terrorism of Al-Azhar [University] and other religious institutions, which ban books, newspapers and movies that do not conform to their views, and issue fatwas accusing Muslim intellectuals of heresy..."

"How Can We Call for Co-Existence Between Religions When the Religious Scholars... Say Every Day That the Bible and New Testament are Falsified, That Christians are Polytheists... and That Jews are the Descendants of Apes and Pigs?"

Al-Najjar next refers to the recommendation that calls for cooperation between the world's cultures: "How can we call for co-existence between religions when the religious scholars of Al-Azhar, Najaf, and Qom say every day that the Bible and the New Testament are falsified, that Christians are polytheists because they worship the Trinity, and that Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs? [When] every Friday, the [Muslim] worshipers call upon Allah to eradicate the Jews, and when the Muslims ridicule the Hindus for worshiping a cow? Who are those who [supposedly] call for [dialogue]? Are they religious scholars who believe in the superiority of Islam?..."

Regarding the recommendation to recognize the Palestinians' right to establish an independent state based on U.N. resolutions, Al-Najjar said: "The hostility that both sides have instilled in their children will not allow them to co-exist peacefully in the near future. As long as there are religious scholars like Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi who permit Palestinian youths to blow themselves up among Israeli civilians, [and as long as there are] religious scholars and sheikhs from Hamas who recruit and train these youths, there is no use in emphasizing the need to establish a Palestinian state based on international resolutions."

About the recommendation to consolidate Iraqi national unity while preserving the Arab and Islamic character of Iraq, Al-Najjar wrote: "The homeland has no religion. Faith belongs to Allah and the homeland belongs to all [its citizens]. But since Islam does not recognize any other [religion], the conference participants called to preserve the Arab and Islamic character of Iraq. [However, it should be noted that] before it became Arab or Muslim, Iraq was Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Christian, and now most of its population is Muslim. So how can we preserve the unity of the homeland and say that it is [only] Islamic and Arab? [Additionally,] which Islam are we referring to [when we characterize Iraq as Islamic]? Shiite Islam and the rule of the religious scholars, or Sunni Islam which accuses the Shi'ites of heresy?..."

"Islam includes theoretical principles that the Muslims do not implement in practice. For example [the Koran says in sura 42, verse 38]: 'Those who... conduct their affairs by mutual consultation [shura].' But when the Taliban seized power in order to implement the laws of the Islamic shari'a, they did not come into power by means of shura and did not implement the principle of shura in governing [the country]. When Al-Turabi and Al-Bashir took over Sudan in the name of Islam, they [also] did not come into power by means of shura, and did not implement [this principle]. In the Gulf states, power is inherited, and not gained by means of shura...

"The Muslims are always boasting groundlessly of what they do not have, and claiming that Islam has [characteristics] that it [actually] lacks. Mr. Khaled Mash'al, head of the Hamas political bureau, said in Damascus: "Muslims are the nation of peace, and they extend their hand to anyone who wants to make peace.' Since when are the Muslims a nation of peace? Who spilled rivers of blood in Asia Minor, conquering its cities and enslaving its people?... Who conquered Spain and North Africa?

"If the Muslims are Serious About Presenting the Radiant Face of Islam, They Must Drop This False, Hollow Arrogance and Acknowledge Their Dark Past and Even Darker Present"

"If the Muslims are serious about presenting the radiant face of Islam, they must drop this false, hollow arrogance, and acknowledge their dark past and their even darker present. They must establish a global judiciary council whose function will be to punish any sheikh that issues a fatwa encouraging or permitting violence – whether physical or ideological... They must also re-interpret the Koran, putting the warlike verses – the verse of the sword and similar hadiths – in historical perspective as verses that are no longer valid... Perhaps they should take an example from those who follow the Koran alone and do away with all the hadiths and with the sunna..."

Endnotes: (1) For the full text of the closing statement in Arabic, see the website of the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development: http://www.aiad.at/Arabic/viewarticle.php?id=news_austria-20060202-39. (2) http://www.kitabat.com/i12887.htm , February 3, 2006. For further criticism of Arab conferences by Dr. Al-Najjar, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 721, "International Islamic Conference: Genuine Call for Tolerance or Reiteration of Hollow Slogans?" May 25, 2004, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP72104 .

What Arab Civilization?

This letter was sent to Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett Packard Corporation, in response to a speech given by her on September 26, 2001.

November 7, 2001

Carly Fiorina
Hewlett-Packard
3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185

Dear Madame Fiorina:

It is with great interest that I read your speech delivered on September 26, 2001, titled "Technology, Business and Our way of Life: What's Next" [sic]. I was particularly interested in the story you told at the end of your speech, about the Arab/Muslim civilization. As an Assyrian, a non-Arab, Christian native of the Middle East, whose ancestors reach back to 5000 B.C., I wish to clarify some points you made in this little story, and to alert you to the dangers of unwittingly being drawn into the Arabist/Islamist ideology, which seeks to assimilate all cultures and religions into the Arab/Islamic fold.

I know you are a very busy woman, but please find ten minutes to read what follows, as it is a perspective that you will not likely get from anywhere else. I will answer some of the specific points you made in your speech, then conclude with a brief perspective on this Arabist/Islamist ideology.

Arabs and Muslims appeared on the world scene in 630 A.D., when the armies of Muhammad began their conquest of the Middle East. We should be very clear that this was a military conquest, not a missionary enterprise, and through the use of force, authorized by a declaration of a Jihad against infidels, Arabs/Muslims were able to forcibly convert and assimilate non-Arabs and non-Mulsims into their fold. Very few indigenous communities of the Middle East survived this -- primarily Assyrians, Jews, Armenians and Coptics (of Egypt).

Having conquered the Middle East, Arabs placed these communities under a Dhimmi (see the book Dhimmi, by Bat Ye'Or) system of governance, where the communities were allowed to rule themselves as religious minorities (Christians, Jews and Zoroastrian). These communities had to pay a tax (called a Jizzya in Arabic) that was, in effect, a penalty for being non-Muslim, and that was typically 80% in times of tolerance and up to 150% in times of oppression. This tax forced many of these communities to convert to Islam, as it was designed to do.

You state, "its architects designed buildings that defied gravity." I am not sure what you are referring to, but if you are referring to domes and arches, the fundamental architectural breakthrough of using a parabolic shape instead of a spherical shape for these structures was made by the Assyrians more than 1300 years earlier, as evidenced by their archaeological record.

You state, "its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption." The fundamental basis of modern mathematics had been laid down not hundreds but thousands of years before by Assyrians and Babylonians, who already knew of the concept of zero, of the Pythagorean Theorem, and of many, many other developments expropriated by Arabs/Muslims (see History of Babylonian Mathematics, Neugebauer).

You state, "its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease." The overwhelming majority of these doctors (99%) were Assyrians. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries Assyrians began a systematic translation of the Greek body of knowledge into Assyrian. At first they concentrated on the religious works but then quickly moved to science, philosophy and medicine. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, and many others were translated into Assyrian, and from Assyrian into Arabic. It is these Arabic translations which the Moors brought with them into Spain, and which the Spaniards translated into Latin and spread throughout Europe, thus igniting the European Renaissance.

By the sixth century A.D., Assyrians had begun exporting back to Byzantia their own works on science, philosophy and medicine. In the field of medicine, the Bakhteesho Assyrian family produced nine generations of physicians, and founded the great medical school at Gundeshapur (Iran). Also in the area of medicine, (the Assyrian) Hunayn ibn-Ishaq's textbook on ophthalmology, written in 950 A.D., remained the authoritative source on the subject until 1800 A.D.

In the area of philosophy, the Assyrian philosopher Job of Edessa developed a physical theory of the universe, in the Assyrian language, that rivaled Aristotle's theory, and that sought to replace matter with forces (a theory that anticipated some ideas in quantum mechanics, such as the spontaneous creation and destruction of matter that occurs in the quantum vacuum).

One of the greatest Assyrian achievements of the fourth century was the founding of the first university in the world, the School of Nisibis, which had three departments, theology, philosophy and medicine, and which became a magnet and center of intellectual development in the Middle East. The statutes of the School of Nisibis, which have been preserved, later became the model upon which the first Italian university was based (see The Statutes of the School of Nisibis, by Arthur Voobus).

When Arabs and Islam swept through the Middle East in 630 A.D., they encountered 600 years of Assyrian Christian civilization, with a rich heritage, a highly developed culture, and advanced learning institutions. It is this civilization that became the foundation of the Arab civilization.

You state, "Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration." This is a bit melodramatic. In fact, the astronomers you refer to were not Arabs but Chaldeans and Babylonians (of present day south-Iraq), who for millennia were known as astronomers and astrologers, and who were forcibly Arabized and Islamized -- so rapidly that by 750 A.D. they had disappeared completely.

You state, "its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things." There is very little literature in the Arabic language that comes from this period you are referring to (the Koran is the only significant piece of literature), whereas the literary output of the Assyrians and Jews was vast. The third largest corpus of Christian writing, after Latin and Greek, is by the Assyrians in the Assyrian language (also called Syriac; see here.)

You state, "when other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others." This is a very important issue you raise, and it goes to the heart of the matter of what Arab/Islamic civilization represents. I reviewed a book titled How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs, in which the author lists the significant translators and interpreters of Greek science. Of the 22 scholars listed, 20 were Assyrians, 1 was Persian and 1 an Arab. I state at the end of my review: "The salient conclusion which can be drawn from O'Leary's book is that Assyrians played a significant role in the shaping of the Islamic world via the Greek corpus of knowledge. If this is so, one must then ask the question, what happened to the Christian communities which made them lose this great intellectual enterprise which they had established. One can ask this same question of the Arabs. Sadly, O'Leary's book does not answer this question, and we must look elsewhere for the answer." I did not answer this question I posed in the review because it was not the place to answer it, but the answer is very clear, the Christian Assyrian community was drained of its population through forced conversion to Islam (by the Jizzya), and once the community had dwindled below a critical threshold, it ceased producing the scholars that were the intellectual driving force of the Islamic civilization, and that is when the so called "Golden Age of Islam" came to an end (about 850 A.D.).

Islam the religion itself was significantly molded by Assyrians and Jews (see Nestorian Influence on Islam and Hagarism: the Making of the Islamic World).

Arab/Islamic civilization is not a progressive force, it is a regressive force; it does not give impetus, it retards. The great civilization you describe was not an Arab/Muslim accomplishment, it was an Assyrian accomplishment that Arabs expropriated and subsequently lost when they drained, through the forced conversion of Assyrians to Islam, the source of the intellectual vitality that propelled it. What other Arab/Muslim civilization has risen since? What other Arab/Muslim successes can we cite?

You state, "and perhaps we can learn a lesson from his [Suleiman] example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions." In fact, the Ottomans were extremely oppressive to non-Muslims. For example, young Christian boys were forcefully taken from their families, usually at the age of 8-10, and inducted into the Janissaries, (yeniceri in Turkish) where they were Islamized and made to fight for the Ottoman state. What literary, artistic or scientific achievements of the Ottomans can we point to? We can, on the other hand, point to the genocide of 750,000 Assyrians, 1.5 million Armenians and 400,000 Greeks in World War One by the Kemalist "Young Turk" government. This is the true face of Islam.

Arabs/Muslims are engaged in an explicit campaign of destruction and expropriation of cultures and communities, identities and ideas. Wherever Arab/Muslim civilization encounters a non-Arab/Muslim one, it attempts to destroy it (as the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan were destroyed, as Persepolis was destroyed by the Ayotollah Khomeini). This is a pattern that has been recurring since the advent of Islam, 1400 years ago, and is amply substantiated by the historical record. If the "foreign" culture cannot be destroyed, then it is expropriated, and revisionist historians claim that it is and was Arab, as is the case of most of the Arab "accomplishments" you cited in your speech. For example, Arab history texts in the Middle East teach that Assyrians were Arabs, a fact that no reputable scholar would assert, and that no living Assyrian would accept. Assyrians first settled Nineveh, one of the major Assyrian cities, in 5000 B.C., which is 5630 years before Arabs came into that area. Even the word 'Arab' is an Assyrian word, meaning "Westerner" (the first written reference to Arabs was by the Assyrian King Sennacherib, 800 B.C., in which he tells of conquering the "ma'rabayeh" -- Westerners. See The Might That Was Assyria, by H. W. F. Saggs).

Even in America this Arabization policy continues. On October 27th a coalition of seven Assyrian and Maronite organizations sent an official letter to the Arab American Institute asking it to stop identifying Assyrians and Maronites as Arabs, which it had been deliberately doing.

There are minorities and nations struggling for survival in the Arab/Muslim ocean of the Middle East and Africa (Assyrians, Armenians, Coptics, Jews, southern Sudanese, Ethiopians, Nigerians...), and we must be very sensitive not to unwittingly and inadvertently support Islamic fascism and Arab Imperialism, with their attempts to wipe out all other cultures, religions and civilizations. It is incumbent upon each one of us to do our homework and research when making statements and speeches about these sensitive matters.

I hope you found this information enlightening. For more information, refer to the web links below. You may contact me at keepa@ninevehsoft.com for further questions.

Thank you for your consideration.

Peter BetBasoo

Web resources:

Brief History of Assyrians
Assyrian International News Agency
Assyrian American National Federation
Assyrian Academic Society
Zinda Magazine
Beth Suryoyo
Nineveh Online
World Maronite Union
Maronite Research Council
World Lebanese Organization
Coptic Web

Hosted here.

I read the Speech by the female CEO of Hewlett Packard, here is part of it, it is a real puker.

"I’ll end by telling a story.

There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.

It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.

One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.

And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.

Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.

When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.

While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.

Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to this other civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians. Sufi poet-philosophers like Rumi challenged our notions of self and truth. Leaders like Suleiman contributed to our notions of tolerance and civic leadership.

And perhaps we can learn a lesson from his example: It was leadership based on meritocracy, not inheritance. It was leadership that harnessed the full capabilities of a very diverse population–that included Christianity, Islamic, and Jewish traditions.

This kind of enlightened leadership — leadership that nurtured culture, sustainability, diversity and courage — led to 800 years of invention and prosperity.

In dark and serious times like this, we must affirm our commitment to building societies and institutions that aspire to this kind of greatness. More than ever, we must focus on the importance of leadership– bold acts of leadership and decidedly personal acts of leadership.

With that, I’d like to open up the conversation and see what we, collectively, believe about the role of leadership."

Islamic genocide
by Reza F. Safa
22 Mar 2006

Why is everyone afraid of Islam? It appears that the religion of "peace" is really a religion of "piece" as it attempts to reduce us to pieces. While checking out a theory on Islamic genocide, I discovered that Islam, in the 20th century alone, may in fact be 4th in genocide behind Nazism, Stalinism and Maoism. A quick search of Islamic slaughters includes the following: Bangledesh (3 million Hindus), Sudan (2 million Christians), the Turkish/Muslim slaughter of Armenians (1.5 million), East Timor (300,000 Christians), Indonesian Muslim slaughter of ethnic Chinese (500,000), Idi Amin, a pious Muslim enjoying the good life in Saudi Arabia, slaughtered 400,000 Uglandis. 7,700,000 innocent people murdered by Islam.

A professional researcher could easily add millions more to my short list of Islamic religiously induced genocide. No religion has killed more people than Islam. Why doesn't anyone bother to expose the truth? The Germans have been forced to acknowledge their painful history and role in a war that consumed 50 million lives. Yet, the mere mention of dastardly Islamic deeds is forbidden, politically incorrect and avoided by all. Even Christianity has been forced to admit its horrific persection of Jews and many Christians have been forced to endured a painful truth.

The truth alone possesses the capacity to effect change. Many ex-Mislims attribute their exit from Islam to discovering the truth--they have been shocked into reality.

Reza F. Safa, an ex-Muslim, has stated that Saudi Arabia has poured $87,000,000 into Europe and America to advance its extremist ideology. Not only are the Saudis the most effective propaganda machine on earth, did is ever occur to anyone that the only state sponsored religion in America is Islam? That which our constitution specifically forbids is being accomplished on a grand scale, with foreign money no less!

Based on my own observations, most Iranian and Iraqi Muslims who practice Shiite Islam in America are decent people who revere America and its values (excepting Hezbollah and terrorist agents). It appears that the corruption of moderate Islam in America and elsewhere is attributable solely to Saudi Arabian Wahhabism. Wahhabi hatred is infused in mosques, texbooks, Islamic centers, imans, videos and tapes.

Closing down the Wahhabi lobby in America will cleanse this nation of a growing evil, including organizations like CAIR who are financed by the Saudis.

Keep up the good work. Americans remain clueless and have largely bought into the theory that "Islam is a religion of peace". Since when is religiously induced genocide labeled a peaceful activity? Only in America and the halls of the United Nations.

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HP High School Quarterly Report Card
Student: Carly Fiorina

Class	Teacher	Grade
Political Correctness	Ms. Streisand	A+
Propaganda	Mr. Achmed	A
World History	Mr. Inclass	D
Research skills	Mrs. Thepoint	F