EDITOR, The Tribune
The Bahamas’ very own Muhammadan apologist, The Graduate, has fallen into the same egregious error as former US President George W Bush, when he mischaracterised Islam, the second largest religion in the world, as a religion of peace. I recall Bush bending over backwards to accommodate Muslims living in the US following the 9/11 attacks on America by Al-Qaeda terrorists. Assuming The Graduate is either Catholic or Anglican, he would undoubtedly have some knowledge about the Battle of Tours in 732, between the Frankish and Burgundian forces of Charles Martel and the Islamic forces of the Umayyad Caliphate. Had the latter prevailed, all Europe and Western civilisation would’ve been Islamised. There would’ve been no “Great Satan” for Bahamians to travel to. Worse still, there would’ve been no Bahamas.
According to a 2015 census, Islam claims a membership of 1.8 billion adherents, with approximately 1.5 billion or 85 percent belonging to the Sunni denomination. Between 240 - 340 million Muslims are Shiites. When an informed non-Muslim expresses grave misgivings about Islam, he isn’t necessarily seeking to tar every Muslim with the same brush as he would a terrorist. Indeed, I believe that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are peaceful people, in spite of Islamic theology. What informed non-Muslims are saying is that Islamic terrorists and terrorist organisations, such as Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Muammar Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, Boko Haram, the Taliban, ISIS, Indonesian Mujahedeen Council, Hamas, Fatah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Muslim Brotherhood, to list a few, have simply carried out Islamic ideology and its attendant dar al-harb sectarianism to its logical conclusion. Consequently, the non-Muslim, while in some cases is relegated to dhimmi status in some Islamic countries, is considered an “infidel” by all Muslims, be they peaceful or otherwise. At the risk of offending the sensibilities of The Graduate and Bahamian Muslims, the Osama bin Ladens of the Islamic world are drawing their inspiration from the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad. No credible historian of Islam would deny that Muhammad was a man of war, especially during a time of peace.
Sura 9:5 reads, “When the sacred months have passed, kill the polytheists (non-Muslims) wherever you find them. And capture them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them at every ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayers, and pay the alms, then let them go their way. Allah is most forgiving, most merciful.” Sura 61:4 says that Allah loves those who fight in his cause. Of the 114 suras in the Qur’an, sura 9 is one of the the most violent. Of particular note to human rights organisations is sura 4:34, where Muslim men are given divine permission to beat their wives. Muslim apologists have attempted to explain this verse away by clumsily arguing that the word “beat” in the original Arabic simply means to tap lightly on the wrist, which is laughable. And not to be outdone by the Qur’an, the Hadith, the other authoritative source in Islam, says in volumes one and eight that Muhammad tortured people. The Graduate accused me of casting aspersions on the founder of Islam for alluding to his little-known racism which has incredulously escaped the notice of many students of comparative religion. While black people are assigned to hell on the basis of their skin colour in sura 3:106, white people are assigned to paradise because they’re white in sura 3:107. What’s more, while the Hadith goes to great lengths in declaring that Muhammad was white, black people are derogatorily labeled “raisin heads” in volumes one and nine and as “slaves” in volume nine. Additionally, Muhammad, according to the Hadith in volume six, owned black slaves -- something most Nation of Islam adherents are not aware of. In fact, while close to 11 million Africans were enslaved by the Europeans during the Transatlantic slave trade era between the 16th and 19th century, Arab Muslims had enslaved a staggering 17 million East Africans during the same period. In light of the foregoing, if there’s anyone who should get their “facts straight lest he becomes a purveyor of the same kind of fake news and misinformation that passes for fact,” it is The Graduate.
KEVIN EVANS
Grand Bahama
January 29, 2020.
Comments
Porcupine 4 years, 2 months ago
Kevin, What was the Inquisition? The Crusades? Kevin, are you out of your mind? Your claim is that Islam is worse than Christianity? For god's sake Kevin, walk outside your door. The Bahamas is a "Christian Nation". Kevin, you have lost your flucking mind and I truly hope other so-called Christians can see through your hollowness, xenophobia, and enmity for other minimally thinking people. What a walking advertisement against Christianity you are!!!!!!!!!!!!
joeblow 4 years, 2 months ago
... the Catholic Church has been the greatest adversary to the true message of biblical Christianity which is centered on relationship with God, not on metastasizing the cancer of religion for power and control!!
Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 2 months ago
Ditto that @joeblow.......you're on a roll!
joeblow 4 years, 2 months ago
"What informed non-Muslims are saying is that Islamic terrorists and terrorist organisations, such as Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Muammar Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, Boko Haram, the Taliban, ISIS, Indonesian Mujahedeen Council, Hamas, Fatah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Muslim Brotherhood, to list a few, have simply carried out Islamic ideology and its attendant dar al-harb sectarianism to its logical conclusion."
Truer words have not been spoken! Islam is a religion of peace through subjugation!
hrysippus 4 years, 2 months ago
People who spread hatred and religious or racial intolerance are despicable. The Tribune is not doing our country a favour in continuing to print the rather twisted and very questionable opinions of this letter writer.
Porcupine 4 years, 2 months ago
Though, as a staunch defender of free speech, I have to agree, since the Tribune regularly chooses not to print my letters. Of course, if you are obtuse and wordy, the editors don't seem to mind exposing the most gullible to this warped world view.
melwood19 4 years, 2 months ago
The people of The Bahamas aren't stupid, Kevin Evans. Why should they or anyone else stick their necks out for Trump? And why should they go along with your factually challenged assertions about Islam and Muslims? Because some Christian apologist like you insists?
You erroneously claim that Charles Martel saved "Western Civilization" from being Islamised. But you forgot to mention that he spent most of his time spreading Christianity by the sword. Between 718 and 723, he subjugated Bavaria and Alemannia. In 734, he slew a duke who had expelled Christian missionaries, destroyed every pagan shrine, forced pagan Saxons to convert to Christianity, and murdered those who wouldn't in what became known as the Massacre of Verden.
You dishonestly claim that the specific allusions in 9:5 and 61:4 to past conflicts are actually general exhortations to future conflicts. You interpolate the word "non-Muslims" in parentheses of 9:5 because it doesn't exist in the Arabic text. And you pretend that these verses, even when taken out of context, are any more violent than New Testament verses like Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:51, where Jesus said he came not to bring peace but a sword, or Matthew 26:51 and Mark 14:47 and John 18:10 where one of his disciples cuts off an ear, or Luke 19:27 where Jesus says that those who do not accept him should be brought before him and killed. And that's just in the New Testament. . . don't even get me started on the Old Testament!
You say the human rights organizations should take note of 4:34, which you falsely claim gives permission for Muslim men to beat their wives. But having witnessed your dishonesty related to 9:5 and 61:4, why would anyone trust your claims regarding 4:34? Perhaps human rights organizations should look into the Christian Domestic Discipline (CDD) movement instead. Its an Evangelical Christian movement which claims scriptural justification for beating disobedient wives.
You misleadingly say that 3:106-107 assigns people to heaven or hell based on skin color. But, again, having witnessed your dishonesty related to 9:5 and 61:4 and 4:34, why would anyone trust your claims regarding 3:106-107? In reality, 3:106-107 uses figurative language. It's describing the countenance of their faces, not the color of their skin, similar to the "dark" countenance on the face of misogynistic Arabs when they give birth to a girl in 16:58-59.
And last but not least, you insult people's intelligence by feigning concern over slavery, knowing full well that many people reading this are the descendants of enslaved Africans dragged over here by Christians like you using New Testament verses like Ephesians 6:5-8, 1 Timothy 6:1-2, Titus 2:9-10, and 1 Peter 2:18 as justification. And that's just the New Testament. . . don't even get me started on the Old Testament!
Porcupine 4 years, 2 months ago
melwood, Thanks for taking the time to show this Evans guy what a true Christian hypocrite looks like. In any other forum, he wouldn't be given the time of day. There are many things holding The Bahamas back. Kevin Evans dishonesty and xenophobia, spread far and wide is a major stumbling point for this nation.
Sickened 4 years, 2 months ago
It should be clear to everyone now that blindly following any religion or so called God, or leader for that matter, is a sign of lunacy. Believing in any all powerful fictional character that is watching and judging our every move in the hopes that we will ascend to the clouds and live in glory is crazy at best.
Oh and by the way Superman and Green Lantern are just men acting a super heroes.
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