The Sermons on the Mount...practicing what they preach.

A official Syrian Radio sermon was broadcast from Anas Ibn-Malik Mosque in Damascus : "O God, annihilate the Zionists and make them destroy themselves" the preacher urged via Damascus Syria Arab Republic Radio in Arabic, official station of the Syrian Government.

Shaykh Dr. Ziyad al-Din al-Ayyubi delivered the sermon. It was devoted to Arab and Islamic unity and prayed for the success of Bashar al Assad as he led the country. Dr. Ayyubi also prayed, "O God, help our people in Palestine and the Golan. O God, annihilate the Zionists and make them destroy themselves."

Official Palestinian television broadcast a sermon live as it was delivered at Shaykh Ijlin Mosque in Gaza on July 19 2002 by Shaykh Ahmad Abd-al-Raziq. According to him, 'God has afflicted' the Palestinian people for listening to 'empty talk about peace' and not 'carrying on the jihad'.

"It is for this reason. . . that God has afflicted us with sedition and an enemy, who does not fear us, but sweeps our towns, kills our children, and imprisons our heroes." This would not have happened, he adds, "had we carried out God´s orders, especially jihad, and had Muslims carried out their God´s orders for jihad and not listened to this empty talk about peace. What peace is this when Al-Aqsa Mosque is being desecrated and curfew is being imposed on Muslim territories? The Muslim must carry out his God´s order." - Shaykh Ahmad Abd-al-Raziq, July 19, 2002

In Yemen the state-run television network broadcast a sermon delivered by Shaykh Akram Ahmad Abd-al-Razzaq al-Ruqayhi from the Grand Mosque in Sanaa, delivered on the same day as Raziq's sermon in Palestine.

The imam prayed, "O God, deal with Jews and their supporters and Christians and their supporters. . .O God, deal with the enemies of religion. O God, deal with Jews and their supporters and Christians and their supporters. Shake the land under their feet. Instill fear in their hearts, and freeze the blood in their veins. O God, scatter their ranks, make fate turn against them, and continue pressure on them."

On July 19, Saudi TV1 broadcast a sermon in Arabic delivered by Shaykh Abd-al-Rahman al-Sudays. The sermon was delivered live from the holy mosque in Mecca. "O God, deal with the aggressor Jews and all aggressive infidels", prayed this immam, before concluding with a prayer to God to support Islam and Muslims, humble infidelity and infidels, destroy the enemies of religion, and make this and other Muslim countries safe and stable."

He prayed for the success of the king and his crown prince in their work for the well-being of the country and people. He prayed: "O God, support our brother mujahidin for your sake everywhere. O God, grant them victory in Palestine, Kashmir, and Chechnya. O God, deal with the aggressor Jews and all aggressive infidels. O God, deal with them for they are within your power."

One can argue, perhaps, that a sermon inciting violence against Israel, being delivered by a Palestinian cleric from within Israel might be more reflective of the political situation on the ground than of the spiritual condition of its listeners.

It is true that the Palestinians, backed by the Arab world, have a political axe to grind with Israel, but these are not political manifestos being delivered to the UN. These are sermons being offered -- all on the same day -- to the faithful of Islam.

Sermons delivered from the mosques located where Islam claims are the three holiest places in Islam, the grand mosques of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.

To try and make a case that the destruction of both Israel and America runs counter to the teachings of Islam is an equivalent absurdity to claiming that preaching soul-winning is a perversion of the Gospel.

Without soul-winning, the Church would not have its reason for being -- the "Great Commission" given to us by Jesus and recorded in Matthew 28:19 --"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: "

There are denominations within Christianity that do not preach or practice soul-winning.

No representative of the United States government has ever stood to declare such a Christian denomination to be a perversion of 'true' Christianity.

Indeed, if one were to do so, then we would truly have our first actual case of the federal government violating the Constitutional Establishment Clause.

Just imagine if President Bush were to stand and declare Catholicism to be a 'perversion' of true Christianity as a consequence of the Vatican sex scandal.

Then ask yourself how is it different for President Bush to declare Saudi Islam a 'perversion' of the true faith of Islam?

President Bush is not a Muslim. If he has any Sunni Muslims in his Cabinet, or any Saudi imams on the federal payroll, I am unaware of it.

At best, President Bush is as qualified to pronounce militant Islam a perversion of 'true' Islam as is Jordan's King Abdullah to pronounce being Presbyterian a perversion of true Christianity.

Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam. Islam's two most holy places are in Mecca and Medina.

The sermon delivered from the Holy Mosque of Mecca by Imam Al-Sudays was as representative of Islam as a sermon delivered at St Peter's Basilica in Rome would be of Catholicism.

The Islam that calls for the destruction of Israel and the destruction of Western society is not a perversion of Islam -- it is Islam.

When I was in the Marine Corps in 1969, one of the first classes given to the troops about to be deployed to Vietnam was a course entitled, "Know Your Enemy."

The instructor warned us, "If you don't know who your enemy is going in, you won't find out until after he kills you."

Wahhabism (along with its political version, Salafism) is NOT a traditional Muslim sect. There are four major schools of jurisprudence in Islam, and Wahhabiyyah is not one of them.

As soon as Wahhabism first appeared in 1744, its founder Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and an Arab chieftain named Mohammed Ibn Saud (the founder of the modern House Saud) began the conflict within the Islamic world today. The Turks (who never seem to have been prone to Islamism) put the Wahhabis down in 1818 and for the next hundred years or so you'll notice that the Muslim world was at peace with the West.

Then the Turks fell from power after World War 1 and the Caliphate was abolished. In the absence of any kind of religious authority, Sunni believers could basically "shop around" for fatwas. And the Wahhabis knew it. Using basically the same mechanisms communism used to infiltrate the West's institutions, Wahhabism crept into the Islamic world and gradually co-opted its resources for the purposes of its masters in Saudi Arabia.

Back in the 1960s and early 70s, Gulf oil exports soured and the Wahhabis found themselves sitting on a huge financial market. And it is of no coincidence whatsoever that these were the decades when Muslim and particularly Palestinian terrorism spread onto every arena of the international stage.

By the time the leaders within mainstream Islam realized what was happening, it was already too late to stop. Saudi money and missionary programs were already too large to fight, though some (like Sheikh Kabbani, Tashbih Sayyed, and Sheikh Sayyid al-Tantawi) are trying to fight it. Instead of pumping funds into CAIR and its ilk, these are the people we need to be sending the cash to. Hell, Ayatollah Taheri (the high-ranking Iranian cleric who resigned a few months ago) has spelled out a number of fundamental truths about his country that seem rather nebulous to our own State Department.

And it isn't just President Bush who can say that Wahhabism is a perversion of Islam: it's other Muslims. So in my book (and their book) that makes it a perversion of Islam.

People who believe that Islam in its entirety (along with all of its adherents) is little more than a fanatical warrior death cult have the same problem in the end that people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have whenever they wake up to find that some Black guy hasn't been lynched or shot or oppressed by a White racist. Basically, these people have bought al-Qaeda's party line: their version of Islam is the true one.

There seem to be an awful lot of Muslims out there who disagree with this. Sheikh Abd al-Hamid al-Ansari, the head of Sha'riah and Law at Qatar University (who has published a number of articles recorded by MEMRI) is one such individual. Don't you think that he considers himself a good Muslim? Ditto for any number of US allies in the Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Bahraini, and Turkish governments and militaries. Are we supposed to believe that all of these people who backed the US even when it came to going against public opinion are bad or heretic Muslims as bin Laden says?

Sorry, but the idea that bin Laden and these Gulf clerics (who do you think finances al-Qaeda?) represent true Islam strikes me as about as credible as saying that the Shintoists who fought America tooth and nail in World War 2 represent true Shintoism. Somebody refresh my memory as to the last time there was a Shinto terrorist attack since 1945?

The War on Terror is not a war between the West and Islam. Al-Qaeda simply wants to destroy rather than to conquer or convert the West. They hope to be to us what the Visigoths and Ostrogoths of the 400s were to the Roman Empire. The real battle is over who is going to end up controlling Islam, the Wahhabis or the traditionalists. This is exactly why we need to begin helping people like Kabbani to reclaim their religion, just like we helped the people of Afghanistan reclaim their nation. Because the longer we continue to legitimize organizations and groups that advocate the destruction of America and Israel, the longer the War on Terror is going to last.

There, that's my $0.02 on the subject. Flame away.

Flame away.

I'm not going to flame away. The Sufi Muslims are a tolerant sect. Shaykh Abdul Hadi Palazzi is a very courageous imam who has issued fatwahs condemning suicide bombings and the exploitation of children in the "intifada." He has also urged his fellow Muslims to respect and honor their Jewish neighbors.

We need to hear more from truly righteous Muslim leaders like Shaykh Palazzi

Abdul Hadi Palazzi: A condemnation of the abuse of children in the "intifadha"

Note: The following was written by Shaykh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi who is Secretary General of the Italian Muslim Association. Palazzi is a Sufi shaykh and an scholar of Islamic theology.

In the following piece he cites Islamic theological sources to courageously condemn the abuse of Palestinian children in the acts of violence that have been carried out against Israelis over the last 15 weeks.

As-salamu 'alaykum wa rahmat-Ullahi wa barakatuH.

Verily we seek refuge in Allah from the shameful hate propaganda of the People of Misguidance. We declare in front of Him our outrage at the atrocities in which these people are involved, and our outrage at the blood of our slain children with which they have defiled their unclean hands.

Know, and may Allah make us among the rightly-guided ones, that if Muslims are killed in 'fitnah' [sedition], they risk burning in the fires of Hell.

Muslims are being trained to be involved in 'faksha' and 'munkar',because the leaders of the P.L.O., the leaders of Hamas, the leaders of Qadariyyah and other criminal blood-traders earn their impure livelihoods by offering our children, brothers and sisters as human sacrifices (1) on the altars of their idolatrous rebellion and apostasy against Allah.

The People of Misguidance declare 'halal' [permitted] what Allah Ta'ala [God] declared 'haram' [forbidden], thus filling their pockets with blood-stained money.

The more children who are killed in riots, the more money these People of Misguidance receive as payments in reward from their animalistic masters, the Middle Eastern Petro Dollar Potentates, especially the woeful and evil Saudi Arabian Wahhabi dictators.

There is a big difference between pseudo-Islamic organizations in America and pseudo-Islamic organizations in the Middle East.

The criminals of the pseudo-Islamic organizations in America make their murderous blood money stealing our children alive and by selling them for adoption.

The criminals of the pseudo-Islamic organizations in the Middle East make their murderous blood money by convincing deviant parents to sacrifice their children in what is really 'fitnah' [apostasy and sedition], by convincing these parents that so doing is 'jihad' [Holy War], and by lying to the parents when they tell those parents that their slain children, who in reality are slain in acts of 'fitnah' [apostasy and sedition], have really become 'shuhada' al-Islam' [Islamic martyrs].

Subhan-Allah [G-d] majestically transcends what these wicked people conceive about Him and His 'Din' [Law].

Allah will punish those nations that dare to condemn the State of Israel, which is simply defending itself against savage riots and shaytanic [satanic] terrorism (and is then condemned for defending itself by evil world 'leaders', an evil world press and evil world organizations, such as the despicable U.N.), as every nation in this world would do, and would have the right to do, in the same situation.

Allah will bless the nations and true leaders who CONDEMN, in clear letters and without any compromise, those 'parents' and 'teachers' (how dare they call themselves Muslims!) who raise children on a poisoned diet of apostasy, hatred and violence.

Allah will bless the nations and true leaders who CONDEMN, in clear letters and without any compromise, those terrorist criminals (how dare they call themselves Muslims!), the most monstrous and evil of whom is Abdul Rauf el-Chodbi el-Husseini ('Yasser Arafat', may his name be blotted out!) who, while THEY lead fat, self-satisfied lives of material luxury and comfort, send our children to be sacrificed and slaughtered in acts of 'fitnah' [apostasy and sedition] while THEY direct the suicidal sacrifice and slaughter of these children from command posts safe, comfortable and far away from the fields of 'battle'.

Muslims must first of all explicitly condemn the wicked [Saudi King] Fahd, the wicked prince 'Abdullah and the entire Saudi Wahhabi criminal leadership, who spend millions of petro-dollars to support the sects of 'fitnah' and 'fasad' in the Middle East.

The criminal Saudi Wahhabis reject the true path of peace and prosperity that beckons the Muslim nations and the State of Israel.

They reject the path of the beloved Bani Hashim {Hashemites], the path of Shahid Abdullah, [the martyr King Abdullah of Jordan] Husayn Ibn Talal [King Husayn of Jordan] and Shahid Anwar Sadat [the martyr Anwar Sadat], rahimahum-Ullah [may Allah's mercy be upon them.]. The Wahhabi Saudis hate peace between the People of al-Haqq and the People of the Book [Children of Israel].

The Saudi Wahhabis know for sure that true Qur'anic based peace in the Middle East between Israel and the surrounding Muslim countries could represent an era of resurrection for 'Ahlu-s-Sunnah' [world Muslim community], and the end of the ultra-corrupt Wahhabi Saudi dictatorship, which currently occupies al-Haramayn, be it be liberated speedily and in our days.

It is because of this that the wicked 'House' of Saud funds the criminals who martyred Shahid Sharif 'Abdullah [the martyr King Abdullah] of Transjordan and Shahid Anwar Sadat, [the martyr Anwar Sadat] may Allah be merciful to both of them.

It is because of the defense of the Najdi-Wahhabi [Saudi] regime that innocent, ignorant, illiterate children are sent to be massacred in criminal actions. The Najdi-Wahhabi regime even dares to declare that these criminal acts 'approved by Islam', and compares them to 'jihad fi sabili-Llah' [jihad in path of Allah].

The Ulema of Ahlu-s-Sunnah in Yerushaliyim, [Islamic clerics of Jerusalem] who have the courage to declare that sedition against the State, disobedience to the ruler, shooting, stabbing and throwing stones at Israelis and involving children in 'fitnah' [sedition] are 'haram' [forbidden] actions deserving Allah's punishment, risk their lives and the lifes of their children in doing so.

W-Allahi, I personally know a noble Sunni 'alim, [cleric] a Shaykh in al-Quds [Jerusalem] who sits with me on the Council of the Islam-Israel Fellowship of the Root & Branch Association. This brother is praying and fasting for the peace of al-Quds. He is ready to say the truth against those who declare anti-Israeli 'fitnah' [sedition]permissible and dare to compare it to 'jihad'.

A child of his family was invited by that child's ten and eleven year old schoolmates to go and throw stones at innocent Israeli civilians. As soon as his child declared that 'doing so is 'haram'', [forbidden] that child was savagely beaten by other children. A brother of his was beaten for saying that one who dies as a suicide bomber risks dying the death of 'jahiliyyah'. [ignorance]

Since we here in Italy and the free nations are not in the situation of our brothers in the 'Muslim' lands of darkness and dictatorship, since no one until now prevents us to speak, we must condemn in absolutely clear and uncompromising voices the people of 'fitnah' [sedition]. We must identify by name the criminals who spread Jew-hatred ('Anti-Semitism' and 'Anti-Zionism') among Muslims.

Know, and may Allah prevent you and us from being accounted among 'al-mufsidun', that Allah prescribed to His servants 'al-islah', and forbade them 'al-fasad'.

In the noble Shari'ah of Islam, as long as a government is established, and as long as this government does not prevent Muslims to abide by their 'Din' [Law] and to raise the five 'salawat' [daily prayers] in 'jama'at' [congregations], obeying the ruler is 'wajib' [obligatory], except when the ruler compels Muslims to commit 'haram' [forbidden acts]. Even in that case, disobeying the order is 'wajib' [obligatory]. Rebelling against the government is even in this case 'haram', [forbidden] while committing acts of sedition against the government is the sin of 'fitnah' [sedition] which is worse than murder.

A day is coming when 'Iman' [faith] will be close to disappearing from the earth. On that day nothing 'haram' 'halal' (the prohibited, permitted) and visa versa will be common. On that day those who do so will earn a reputation as 'learned ulema' (learned clergymen). On that day only forty men in the whole 'Ummah' [community] will abide by the limits of Allah and will be saved from deviation.

Since that day is now clearly approaching, we must educate Muslims to avoid 'fitnah', and cease every act of sedition against the government which is established in the territory where they live, be it the State of Israel or any other State in the world which does not prevent Muslims from raising their 'salawat' [daily prayers] in their 'masajid' [mosques].

Believing that acts of sedition, such as throwing stones and Molotov cocktails or shooting at the Israeli army, police or civilian population are permissible according to Islamic Shari'ah [Law] is even more dangerous than committing them while convinced that they are 'haram' [forbidden].

The one who confuses 'fitnah' [sedition] with 'jihad' [Holy War] is excused if he does so out of ignorance, but the one who is learned is really risking to make his Islam 'batil' [nullified], a risk against which we seek refuge in Allah.

Rasul-Ullah, sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam [the Prophet Muhammed], said: 'There will be a huge 'fitnah' [sedition, apostasy] within my Community. There will not remain one house of the Arabs where 'fitnah' will not enter. Those who die because of it are in the hellfire. The harm of the tongue in it [Hell] will be greater than that of the sword'.

That day is rapidly approaching now, and especially in 'Bilad as-Sham' [the Levant] the innocent, ignorant and illiterate masses are completely poisoned, perverted and pervaded by it ['fitnah' = sedition, apostacy].

The harm of the sword is in committing crimes of sedition and rebellion by using weapons. The even greater harm of the tongue is in declaring this behavior permissible (!), and even deserving a 'thawwab' from Allah.

May Allah Ta'ala [God] save Muslims from being involved in 'fitnah', and from the risk of mingling their tongues with the tongues of those who commit that harm which is even greater than the harm of the sword.

Praise be to Allah and Allah knows best.

Wa-s-salamu 'alaykum wa rahmat-Ullahi wa barakatuH.

[Peace and Allah's mercy and blessings be upon you.]

Shalom/Salaam from Rome,

Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi Secretary General
Italian Muslim Association;
Director, Cultural Institute,
Italian Islamic Community

In 1991 he was asked to act as Director of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community (ICCII), with a program based on the development of Islamic education in Italy, refutation of fundamentalism and fanaticism, and deep involvement in inter-religious dialogue, especially with Jews and Christians.

In 1997 Prof. Palazzi's essay entitled 'The Jewish-Moslem Dialogue and the Question of Jerusalem' was published by the Institute of the World Jewish Congress.

Sure, Wahhabism is important here. It did not, however, arise in a vaccum, and it has orthodox precursors. Their own line teachers and leaders runs Hanbal to Taymiya to al-Wahhab. Hanbal was recognized by the Ash'arites and rejected only by the Mu'tazilites, who have sense become nearly extinct. Taymiya has no tolerance for Ash'arite theology or for sufi mysticism, but does have supporters besides the Wahhabis.

From Duncan McDonald's book "The Development of Muslim theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory -

"In this long conflict, the most prominent figure was certainly that of Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He was the trust and strength of the orthodox; that he stood fast through imprisonment and scourging defeated the plans of the Mu'tazilites (innovating, reasoning theologians, in power and willing to persecute for their new dogmas)... Scholastic theology (kalam) was his abomination. Those who disputed over doctrines he cast out. That their dogmatic position was the same as his made no difference. For him, theological truth could not be reached by reasoning (aql); tradition (naql) from the fathers (as-salaf) was the only ground on which the dubious words of the Koran could be explained. So, in his long examinations before the officials of al-Ma'mum and al-Mu'tasim, he contented himself with repeating either the words of the Koran which for him were proofs or such traditions as he accepted. Any approach to drawing a consequence he utterly rejected. When they argued before him, he kept silence...

"Ahmad ibn Hanbal, saint and ascetic, was the idol of the masses; and he, in their eyes, had maintained single-handed the honor of the Word of God. For his persecutors there was nothing but hatred.

(After explaining the doctrines of one of a long line of neo-platonic mystics, collectively "sufis", not a sect but a "calling", like "monk") - "To Ibn Taymiya all this was the very abomination of desolation itself. He had no use for mystics, philosophers, Ash'arite theologians, or, in fact, for anyone except himself. A contemporary described him as a man most able and learned in many sciences, but with a screw loose... He was the reviver for his time and the transmitter to our time of the genuine Hanbalite tradition, and his work rendered possible the Wahhabites... He was the champion of the religion of the multitude as opposed to that of the educated few... His bases were Koran, tradition from the Prophet and from the Companions and analogy. Agreement, in the broad sense of the agreement of the Muslim people, he rejected. If he had accepted it he would have been forced to accept innumerable superstitions... The agreement of the Companions he did accept, while convicting them right and left of error as individuals...

"Wahhabism... is a branch of the school of Ibn Taymiya. Manuscripts of the works of Ibn Taymiya copied by the hand of Ibn al-Wahhab exist in Europe. So the Wahhabites refused to accept as binding the decisions of the four orthodox sects of canon law (i.e. they are a law unto themselves). Agreement as a source they also reject. The whole People of Muhammad can err and has erred (despite a direct Koranic verse to the contrary - any principle of consent contradicts their principle of omnipotent literalist tradition, so it must go, even if literalism and tradition themselves both support it, as they do). Only the agreement of the Companions has binding force for them (thus they finesse the verse, while abolishing any sort of consent on the part of their modern contemporaries).

"It is, therefore, the duty and right of every man to draw his own doctrine from the Koran and the traditions; the systems of the schools should have no weight with him (no theology)... They profess to be the only true Muslims... Like Ibn Taymiya, they reject intercession of saints with God (no devotional mysticism)... All such ceremonies are idolatrous. Whenever possible the Wahhabites destroy and level the shrines of saints...

"...the controversy throughout all Arabia (in 1903!) is whether Ibn Taymiya and al-Ghazzali (the great Ash'arite theologian, in a way the Acquinas of medieval Islam) can be called sheiks of Islam. The Wahhabites hold that anyone who thus honors al-Ghazzali is an unbeliever, and the Meccans retort the same of the followers of Ibn Taymiya."

Yes, there is a struggle over the future of Islam - which is hardly a new situation. There generally is a struggle over the future of an entire civilization, and there has been in Islam perennially. It is not simply Wahhabis vs. orthodoxy, however. Wahhabi doctrines have wider echoes in traditional Islam, heard outside their own sphere. We can certainly recognized from evangelical protestants the power of the idea of literalism, every man with his sacred book his own judge of what is right, seeing themselves as the only real believers amid a cloud of pettifoggers masking unbelief behind high flown theories of theology, or chasing mystic trendies of dubious orthodoxy.

What can crack this appeal? Not aggressive secularism, which only convinces those who take their religion seriously that reason leads straight to unbelief. Not defenses of rationalism so thinly covered with a mere veneer of religion that you can see the greek philosophy sticking out on all sides. But Ghazzali is another matter. He is no unbeliever. Nor is he an intellectual or historical lightweight. For those who can think, the richness and greatness of Ghazzali's thought shows what is missing in the Wahhabis and everything like them.

Scholars in the west have been too incliend to attack Ghazzali, trying to defend the medieval Islamic Aristotelian philosophers he argued so forcefully against, thinking they are thereby furthering "reason" within Islam. It is the wrong approach, far too "ambitious", and insufficiently respectful of the faith of the audience. Thinking that tearing down "theology" would reduce "religion" in favor of "secularism", they have only driven the religious to literalism. The only antidote to literalism is a theology that is not a mere veneer, but sincerely religious.

Ghazzali is a great enough historical figure, and a learned enough writer, to rally a moderate but believing Islam around. It may be that afterward, the Muslim world will have things to say to modernity , or things to learn from it. But a conversation rather than a holy war is possible, between modernity and followers of al-Ghazzali. The same cannot be said for Ibn Taymiya. You will however find Ibn Taymiya's standing rather higher just now - only partially for the reasons you state (Saudi funding e.g.). Partially it is for the same reasons evangelicals are rather more popular than Thomists. Partly it is because some are waving around Islam like a flag for political purposes and think "the more intransigent the better", without caring a wit for truth or religio. Partly it is because a defensive desire for "authenticity" seeks refuge in more blatant and more extreme marks of distinction, and strident literalism seems more anti-secular, anti-western than scholastic theology.

For what it is worth...

Sure, but not just them. That is my point. You will find his books everywhere on the streets of Cairo - but you couldn't find e.g. an Ibn Rushd text to save your life. Those are studied in western universities, but Ibn Taymiya is read across the Muslim world.

http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/it/default.htm

Compare -

http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/gz/default.htm

Look at Ibn Taymiya legalistically bootstrapping bigotry in "Criterion between the allies of the Merciful and the allies of the devil" - one wonders how he can say "Merciful" without blushing at what he writes there - and then compare al-Ghazzali in "the Alchemy of Happiness".

Ghazzali will say things like "real self-knowledge consists in knowing the following things: What art thou in thyself, and from whence hast thou come? Whither art thou going, and for what purpose hast thou come to tarry here awhile, and in what does thy real happiness and misery consist?

"...Such imperfect knowledge of God as we can attain to is not a mere speculative knowledge, but must be accompanied by devotion and worship. When a man dies he has to do with God alone, and if we have to live with a person, our happiness entirely depends on the degree of affection we feel towards him. Love is the seed of happiness, and love to God is fostered and developed by worship."

In other words, real piety, inwardness, consolation - in a word, religion.

Taymiya will say things like "He will extract revenge from those who oppose His allies as a fighting lion takes his revenge. The reason for this is that the awliyaa' (allies) of Allah are those who believe in Him, and give their full loyalty to Him...

"Also, some of the hypocrites, who put on an outward display of Islam, acknowledging publicly the testimony of faith: that there is no deity other than Allah, and that Muhammad is His Prophet and messenger, and that he was sent to all of the people, no, to both humans and jinns, but they believe in their hearts things which invalidate that. Examples of beliefs which invalidate the testimony of faith:

"1) One who does not truly believe that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, but believes that he was a great and respected ruler who, like other great kings, led his people based on his own intellectual efforts and opinions."

In other words, "God loves me but he can't stand you", legalistic justifications for capital punishment of the merely lukewarm as heretics - in a word, bigotry.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.