The headlines out of the Middle East in recent months have been horrifying -- American and British hostages beheaded, captured prisoners executed in the thousands, women forced or sold into a lifetime of sexual slavery, children brutally murdered and communities starved to death or murdered in cold blood for refusing to change their religion.

Much of the world is shocked by such brutality, and rightfully so. It seems incomprehensible to the Western mind.

What's driving such cruelty, a barbarism not seen in our lifetimes? If we are to understand, we need to cast off the blinders of political correctness and unflinchingly face the facts.

In reality, the answer is simple. Those who are behind these horrors share a common denominator. They are unapologetic in saying they are doing what they are told to do by their religion --  Islam.

And while it is true that many Muslims are peaceful, and are equally horrified by these events, all we have to do is look at the words of the perpetrators of such atrocities to understand their motivations. They clearly and proudly state that they are doing what their religion tells them to do.

A Religion of Peace?

For example, just six days after those attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans, then President George W. Bush, speaking at the Islamic Center of Washington D.C., said: "These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith...The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace" (emphasis added throughout).

In a speech on Sept. 3, 2014 -- ironically, the day after the Islamic State (IS) released a video showing the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry applauded Islam as a "peaceful religion based on the dignity of all human beings." He then explained that "the real face of Islam is...one where Muslim communities are advocating for universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the most basic freedom to practice one's faith openly and freely."

On Sept. 24, following the brutal decapitation of British hostage David Haines, British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted that his murderers "have nothing to do with the great religion of Islam, a religion of peace, a religion that inspires daily acts of kindness and generosity."

Who is a More Reliable Authority on Islam?

While these and other Western leaders repeatedly claim that Islam is a peaceful religion, we should also remind ourselves that those actively involved in committing these atrocities have spent their entire lifetimes immersed in Islamic belief and culture.

What, then, is the truth? Is Islam a religion of peace, as these politicians say, or is it something different? To understand the answer, we need to examine Islam's holy book, the Quran.

What are some of the teachings of the Quran that are leading to violence and bloodshed around the world?

The clear teaching of the Quran is that Islam is the supreme and only true religion, and that eventually the entire world will come under Islamic rule.

For example, Surah 61:9 states: "It is He [Allah] who has sent for His apostle [Muhammad] with guidance and the true faith [Islam], so that he may exalt it above all religions, much as the idolaters may dislike it" (all quotes from the Dawood translation, 1999). In the Quran, "idolaters" refers to all who practice non­Islamic religion -- including Christians and Jews.

In line with this belief in the supremacy of Islam, Surah 2:193 gives this clear command: "Fight against them until idolatry is no more and [Allah's] religion reigns supreme." Again, "idolatry" in the Quran refers to any religion other than Islam, which would include Christianity and Judaism and any other belief system. To those who follow this verse -- and there are millions who do -- if you don't worship Allah by the dictates of Muhammad, you are considered an idolater and therefore a legitimate target of this command.

In the worldview of Islamic scholars and leaders, the world is divided into two spheres -- the sphere or lands of dar al­Islam, meaning "the domain of Islam" (where Islam is dominant) and dar al­harb, meaning "the domain of war." A fundamental aspect of this worldview is that all non­Muslim lands must eventually be absorbed or conquered by Islam, preferably by peaceful conversion, but by force if necessary -- thus they are "the domain of war."

This is why Muslim leaders openly boast of their desire to liberate the land "from the sea to the sea" --  from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, meaning no more Israel. This is why the founding documents of terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah openly call for the elimination of Israel.

Western governments, failing to understand this Muslim belief, regularly pressure Israel to negotiate with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for a peaceful solution. But in fact there is no peaceful solution when the negotiating partners believe with all their heart and soul that Israel's land belongs to them and that it must be ethnically cleansed of Jews -- as stated repeatedly by Hamas and Palestinian Authority leaders.

If Islam is to become the supreme and only true religion in the world as taught by the Quran, how is that goal to be accomplished? The answer is jihad or holy war. The Quran commands violence and conquest to spread Islam. It contains literally dozens of such commands, but we'll quote just a few:

Surah 9:5 states: "When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them."

Surah 9:73 reads: "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate."

Surah 9:123 commands: "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that [Allah] is with the righteous."

Harvard University professor of government Samuel Huntington, commenting on the disproportionate involvement of Muslims in warfare and terrorism around the globe, coined the phrase "the bloody borders of Islam" in his 1997 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. At that pre­9/11 time he had no idea how prophetic the phrase would be.

In the 2005 book Religion, Culture and International Conflict: A Conversation (Michael Cromartie, editor), Professor Huntington wrote:

"While groups from all religions have engaged in various forms of violence and terrorism, the figures make it clear that in the past decade Muslims have been involved in far more of these activities than people of other religions...

"If you look around the Muslim world you see that in the 1990s Muslims were fighting non-Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kashmir, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Middle East, Sudan, Nigeria, and other places. Muslims have been fighting one another also" (p. 5).

The Quran also says that Allah will punish those who do not wage jihad as he commands. Surah 9:39 warns: "If you do not go to war, [Allah] will punish you sternly, and will replace you by other men." In other words, if you're a Muslim and don't wage jihad, you will be punished and Allah will choose someone else to fight in your place.

Using Terror in Waging Jihad

The Quran even mentions specific methods to sow terror, which the Islamic State fighters use. Surah 8:12 states: "[Allah] revealed his will to the angels, saying: 'I shall be with you. Give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers!'"

So what the Quran tells them to do, they do. When their holy book tells them to strike off heads, they do exactly that.

Yet Western leaders assure us, as President Obama did in a Nov. 16 White House statement after the beheading of American hostage Peter Kassig, that such acts "represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith..."

Here Allah commands torture, crippling and maiming of prisoners. Crucifixion is a horrible form of torture and execution, and they practice it with relish. A brief search of the Internet will produce hundreds of photos showing Islamists carrying out and celebrating such practices.

Slavery and the Quran

What does the Quran teach about slavery? Although little is said about it in Western media, slavery remains alive and well in parts of the Muslim world. While the slave trade in the Americas during the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s has been rightfully condemned, the focus has largely been on the white slave owners and slave traders, with little said of the Arab Muslims who first enslaved Africans and sold them to whites.

This, too, was approved in the Quran. Surah 47:4 says: "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly." Those who follow the Quran literally have long understood this to mean that when Muslims defeat their enemies, they are allowed to either kill them or enslave them.

A particularly appalling aspect of recent Muslim conquests is women and girls being taken captive to be used as sexual slaves. This happened with the capture of Yazidi towns in northern Iraq by the Islamic State and the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls by the Islamic Boko Haram movement in Nigeria. This, too, is specifically allowed in the Quran. Notice these verses:

Surah 33:50 states: "We [that is, Allah speaking of himself in the plural] well know the duties We have imposed on the faithful concerning their wives and slave­girls. (We grant you this privilege [satisfying their sexual desires with slave girls]) so that none may blame you."

A Nov. 5, 2014, report by the International Business Times was headlined "Shocking: ISIS Official 'Slave' Price List Shows Yazidi, Christian Girls Aged '1 to 9' Being Sold for $172." The article went on to describe a price list for sexual slaves on an Islamist website: "In the name of Allah, most gracious and merciful. We have received news that the demand in women and cattle markets has sharply decreased and that will [affect] Islamic State revenues as well as the funding of the Mujaheddin [jihadist fighter] in the battlefield. We have made some changes. Below are the prices of Yazidi and Christian women."

An October online edition of Dabiq magazine (published by an Islamic State jihadist group) boasted after the capture of the Iraqi town of Sinjar that "the enslaved Yazidi families are now sold by the Islamic State soldiers." It then explained that "the Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the Shariah [Islamic law] amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations." Thus, as war booty, they were divided up and sold as pieces of property.

Turning a Blind Eye to the Grim Reality

The sad truth about the Middle East today is that we are seeing a revival of the original Islam Muhammad brought to the world in the seventh century.

Muhammad's new religion caught fire, fueled by power and plunder. The Islamic State is repeating Muhammad's early conquests -- burning churches, looting monasteries, enslaving and forcibly converting the powerless, and callously executing those who stand up to them. It is vigorously enforcing sharia law -- cutting off the hands of thieves, stoning adulterers and blasphemers, whipping criminals and banning anything that stands in the way of Islam.

In defiance of the major Western powers, it has brutally butchered American and British citizens, decapitating them and posting videos of the murders on the Internet for the world to see. The message is unmistakable: Allah is on their side, and they have nothing to fear from the major world powers.

Until Western leaders wake up from their willful blindness and face the grim reality of the jihadist worldview that is motivating the Islamic State as well as Hamas, Hezbollah and countless other groups and movements, that part of the world will remain a powder keg waiting to explode and take down much of modern civilization with it. And shockingly, Bible prophecy indicates that is the likely outcome to which events in that region are heading.

Confusion Over What the Quran Teaches -- Peace or War?

Those who state that Islam is a peaceful religion usually point to several verses in the Quran to support their view. Those most commonly cited are:

• "There shall be no compulsion in religion" (Surah 2:256, all quotes from the Dawood translation, 1999). This is often quoted to say Islam doesn't compel conversions to Islam or prevent people from leaving Islam for another religion.

• "Whoever killed a human being, except as punishment for murder or other villainy in the land, shall be regarded as having killed all mankind; and that whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as having saved all mankind" (Surah 5:32). This is often cited to show that Islam condemns violence and holds human life in high regard.

• "Say, 'Unbelievers [non-Muslims], I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I shall never worship what you worship, nor will you ever worship what I worship. You have your own religion, and I have mine" (Surah 109:1-6). This is often quoted to say that Islam takes an accepting view toward others being able to practice their own religions.

• "If they incline to peace, make peace with them, and put your trust in [Allah]. It is surely He who hears all and knows all" (Surah 8:61). This is often cited to say that Islam teaches living at peace with others.

Some even say that the word Islam means "peace," though this isn't true. Islam means "submission" -- submission to Allah, Islam's deity. The meaning of Muslim, a person who practices the religion of Islam, is "one who submits" -- who submits to Allah and his religion.

While the verses quoted here seem fairly clear, what the Quran actually teaches isn't so straightforward. Dozens of verses, a few of which are quoted in the main article "The Jihadist Worldview," clearly advocate warfare, violence and brutality. So why the clear contradictions?

Much of the confusion stems from the circumstances under which the Quran was written. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was illiterate, so he didn't write a word of the Quran. The 114 chapters of the Quran, called surahs, record the supposed revelations of Muhammad as written down or memorized by his followers after Muhammad came out of trance-like states during which Allah supposedly disclosed his divine thoughts.

In the years following Muhammad's death in A.D. 632, his closest companions compiled these writings into the Quran, which Muslims consider to be the divine and authoritative words of Allah.

However, unlike the Bible, the Quran isn't organized historically, chronologically or thematically. It's organized based on the length of the chapters, from longest to shortest, regardless of content or timing. Thus, when verses conflict, no one can really tell for sure which verses were written earlier and which were written later (and thus presumably the "final word" on a given subject).

Such inherent contradictions led to the Muslim doctrine of abrogation, meaning earlier verses were abrogated -- nullified or overridden -- by later verses. This doctrine is based on two verses that Muslims believe Allah inspired to be included in the Quran:

• "If We abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten, We will replace it by a better one or one similar. Did you not know that [Allah] has power over all things?" (Surah 2:106).

• "When We change one verse for another ([Allah] knows best what He reveals), they say: 'You [Muhammad] are an imposter.' Indeed most of them have no knowledge" (Surah 16:101).

Islamic scholars and teachers are well aware of this teaching, though they seldom discuss it openly because of its inescapable implications -- that Allah, far from being an all-wise and all-knowing deity, can and did change his mind in what was supposedly divinely revealed to Muhammad.

What are the practical conclusions that result from the doctrine of abrogation?

Most scholars who have studied the Quran believe that the Quran's verses advocating peaceful coexistence and tolerance were written in the early years of Muhammad's movement when he and his small number of followers didn't wish to antagonize potential enemies who greatly outnumbered them. But as Muhammad gained more and more power and a greater following, the chapters of the Quran written later increasingly advocated warfare, violence, intimidation and enslavement of those who opposed him.

Thus, Allah's later revelations command fighting and subjugation of "infidels" -- non-Muslims -- so that Islam would gain its rightful place as the dominant (or only) religion in lands it controlled.

Which is exactly what we see playing out in headlines all around the world.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Proclaiming the Good News of the Soon-Coming Kingdom of YEHOVAH God Here On This Earth!

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