One Cannot Serve Two Masters

Many of our current political leaders like to claim “Islam is a religion of peace.” They are mistaken; Islam is not a merely a religion nor is it peaceful. Islam is more than a religion - it is a complete way of life that combines religion, politics and law. Islam is unique among things calling themselves religions because it allows the use of violence, coercion and deceit to spread itself and to take control over other beliefs and systems[1]. Islam recognizes no other authority on Earth. It’s actually a supremacist system[2] which asserts that Muslims should rule over all other peoples by force if necessary. Islam lays claim to the whole of the earth as a gift from Allah to the ummah ( the nation of Islam)[3]. Jihad [holy fighting to further Allah’s agenda on earth] is compulsory for believing Muslims. Because of this, U.S. citizens who practice the whole of Islam are treasonous and those preaching Islam in its entirety are seditious.

Comparing the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights to Islam and sharia law shows they are antithetical and irreconcilable.

For instance:

Amendment I - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Contrast this with the Islamic law. People who leave Islam must be killed[4] by Muslims in authority. Muslims can also be tried and punished for not performing religious duties ( praying five times a day, attending Friday prayers at Mosques and so on.) Today in Saudi Arabia all religious texts other than Islamic ones are illegal to possess. The press has no guarantee of freedom or protection in any Islamic nation. Those Jewish and Christian people living under sharia are known as dhimmis, translated ‘protected peoples’, who must submit to the rule of Islamic law and must pay a protection tax called jizya[5] to remain in the good graces of their Muslim master. Religious minorities have no permanent protected rights under this arrangement if they fail to pay the jizya. No one, Muslim or otherwise, has the right to assemble or file grievances against the Islamic ruler. Disobeying the ruler amounts to disobeying Allah and that carries a death sentence.[6]

Property rights? We have Amendment 4 - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Sharia provides none of this type of protection for Muslims, let alone dhimmi minorities.

Amendment 5 and 6 limit legal power against the defendant in legal matters.
Amendment 5 - […]nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.


Amendment 6 - In all criminal prosecutions […] a public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, […]and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

In historic and current sharia practice evidence takes the form of the direct testimony of two male witnesses of good character (four in adultery cases). Circumstantial evidence and documents were usually inadmissible. Female witnesses were not allowed except in cases where they held special knowledge, such as childbirth. In such cases, two female witnesses were needed for every male witness and non-Muslims couldn’t testify against Muslims at all. Crimes against Muslims received harsher penalties than crimes against non-Muslims.

Amendment 7 guarantees trial by jury. Jury trials don’t exist in the Islamic system.

Amendment 8 prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. On the other hand, Allah commands crucifixion, amputation or exile for ‘mischief’ against Islam.[7] Stoning women for adultery is still carried out today under sharia in ran. Hands continue to be amputated on thieves in Saudi Arabia as they have been since the seventh century. Other martial punishments like whipping are given for more minor offenses like alcohol use, an illegal substance under sharia. Islamic law also prohibits the charging of interest, music, gambling, representational art, photographic images of women and women themselves. Women are banned from complete participation in public life and are to be covered in various degrees according to geography and tradition.

Amendment 9 says the constitution shall not deny rights and Amendment 10 says - The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Not so in Islamic nations. Power is concentrated in either the ruler[8] or the ulema, or the ruling council of Islamic scholars. They are the arbiters of Islamic law which comes from either the Qur’an, which is claimed to be the eternal, unchangeable word of Allah himself or from the Sunnah, or the body of Mohammed’s deeds and commands from either the Sirat e Rasullah [Mohammed’s biography by Ibn Ishaq] or the Ahadith [collections of reported sayings of Mohammed by, Bukhari, Muslim, Tabari and Ishaq]. All powers and rights belong to Allah alone.

Amendment 13 - Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. […]

Sharia law continues to see slavery as valid, since the example of Mohammed and the Qur’an still show it as valid.

Also, Muslim men may have forcible sex with women they capture in jihad with Islam’s blessing.[9] In fact, slavery is the basic relationship of Islam. Humans are Allah’s slaves and Submission to the will of Allah is the purpose of life as stated in the Qur’an.[10] Indeed the name of the religion itself, Islam, means “Submission to the will of Allah”[11] as commonly understood in the Islamic world today.

Freedom of conscience to interpret, argue, discuss, criticize and debate are missing from Islamic tradition. Divine command theory, robot mentality, literalism, paranoia and conspiracy theories dominate Islamic traditions and thinking to this very day. Religious training and education on the whole amounts to rote memorization using the Islamic method. Mohammed actually told the people “Allah hates you for asking too many questions.”[12]

Separation of Church and State: This fundamental division of power began with Jesus of Nazareth and his “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.” Islam has the example of Mohammed, considered perfect, who had combined religious/ political/legal/social powers which came directly to Mohammed from Allah. Hence, political traditions in Islam stress authoritarianism and theocracy.

Islam is the concentration of religious/political/legal power into a person or persons ‘divinely chosen’ and this is the very thing the patriots of 1776 fought against. Islam is not compatible with the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the whole of American Experience. The Constitution and its Bill of Rights are designed to separate political powers, limit them at the federal level, defend individual and minority rights, ensure property rights, separate religion from government and provide protection for the freedoms of religion, conscience and expression. Islam and sharia law protect the rights of the Muslim collective at the expense of religious minorities and institutionalize unequal treatment under the law based on gender or religious belief. Islam does not protect the individual or minority in their physical well-being or in property rights. Sharia attempts to regulate everything, from trivial details of how to use the toilet all the way up to how a Caliphate should be established to rule the world. Islam is an all-encompassing rule for life to be followed without question. This is the exact opposite of a system which protects the individual’s rights of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ Islam stands for slavery while the U.S. Constitution stands for liberty. They are diametrically opposed and incompatible. A person can’t simultaneously believe in Islam and the founding principles of the United States.

Endnotes


[1] Qur’an 8.39 PICKTHAL: And fight them until persecution[al-fitnah or disbelief and worshipping things other than Allah] is no more, and religion is all for Allah.[…]


Hadith Sahih Bukhari:V7B67N427 “The Prophet said, ‘If I take an oath and later find something else better than that, then I do what is better and expiate my oath.’”


Qur’an 9:3 YUSUFALI: And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger, to the people (assembled) on the day of the Great Pilgrimage,- that Allah and His Messenger dissolve (treaty) obligations with the Pagans.[…]
Hadith Sahih Bukhari:V5B59N369 “Allah’s Apostle said, ‘Who is willing to kill Ka’b bin Ashraf who has hurt Allah and His Apostle?’ Thereupon Muhammad bin Maslamah got up saying, ‘O Allah’s Apostle! Would you like me to kill him?’ The Prophet said, ‘Yes,’ Maslamah said, ‘Then allow me to say false things in order to deceive him.’ The Prophet said, ‘You may say such things.’”

[2] Qur’an 3.110 YUSUFALI: Ye are the best of peoples [Muslims], evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah. If only the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] had faith, it were best for them: among them are some who have faith, but most of them are perverted transgressors.

[3] In his Sahih, Imam Muslim recorded that Thawban quoted the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) as saying: “Almighty Allah has gathered the earth for me so that I could see all its corners. My nation will rule over all that which Almighty Allah has gathered for me.” http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503545004

[4] Hadith Sahih Bukhari, V4B52N260: Ali burnt some people alive [former Muslims][..] the Prophet had said, 'If somebody [a Muslim] discards his religion, kill him.' "

[5] Qur’an 9.29 YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the Jizya [protection tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

[6] Hadith Sahih Bukhari V9B89N251 Whoever obeys me , he obeys Allah, and whoever disobeys me, he disobeys Allah, and whoever obeys the ruler I appoint, he obeys me, and whoever disobeys him, he disobeys me."

[7] Qur’an 5.33 YUSUFALI: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world […]

[8] Hadith Sahih Bukari V9B89N258: The Prophet said, "A Muslim has to listen to and obey (the order of his ruler) whether he likes it or not, as long as his orders involve not one in disobedience (to Allah), but if an act of disobedience (to Allah) is imposed one should not listen to it or obey it.
Hadith Sahih Bukhari V9B89N256: Allah's Apostle [Mohammed] said, "You should listen to and obey, your ruler even if he was an Ethiopian (black) slave whose head looks like a raisin."

[9] Qur’an 33.50 YUSUFALI: O Prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee […]

[10] Qur’an 51.56 PICKTHAL: I created the jinn [magical beings made from fire, i.e. ‘Genies’] and humankind only that they might worship Me.”
Qur’an 35.31 PICKTHAL: As for that which We inspire in thee of the Scripture, it is the Truth confirming that which was (revealed) before it. Lo! Allah is indeed Observer, Seer of His slaves.

[11] Islam is `the religion of peace' because: the Arabic word Islam is derived from the Arabic word "Al-Salaam" which means peace.
It might seem strange to think of this as a misconception, but in fact it is. The root word of Islam is "al-silm" which means "submission" or "surrender." It is understood to mean "submission to Allah." http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/notislam/misconceptions.html#HEADING1

[12] Hadith Sahih Bukhari:V2B24N555 “I heard the Prophet say, ‘Allah hates for you for asking too many questions.’”