A Reply to a Muslim and a Question for Him to Answer

This post respresents my response to this comment from "Abdel":

CONCERNING the messages of attacking muslims everywhere,it is a rule of nature that the righteous must be always attacked by the villains.i hope tghey stop attacking islam in russia and america and also australia

Abdel, I am puzzled at your allegation that Muslims are being "attacked" in the United States. Can you give me an example? According to statistics there are more than 6 times as many hate crimes against Jews than against Muslims in the US. And even those numbers are very, very small.

America exists on the premise that all citizens are governed by the same civil laws established and protected by the US Constitution. Muslims are treated exactly the same under those laws as Christians, atheists, Jews, Hindus, etc. We are "one nation . . . with liberty and justice for all."

If one section of the population demands their own legal system (sharia, for example) and be treated under a different standard of civil law than other Americans then America would cease to be America. If portions of sharia are in conflict with American civil law it is foolishness to identify that as "persecution" or "attack."

By their own public statements it is clear that many Muslims (not just Arab) want to reclaim former Muslim territory by jihad, reestablish a caliphate and "submit" (which is the true meaning of the word, "Islam") the rest of the world to the Muslim faith.

It is neither persecution or "attack" on Muslims or their faith when a nation is forced to search out members of that particular religion who are plotting, financing or encouraging physical attacks on various targets within that country.

This situation puts all Muslims in a difficult place where their loyalties to their faith (which desires a one-world Muslim faith) conflict with their desire for peace with their non-Muslim neighbors and friends in a tolerant, free, secular society.

The real conflict here is within Islam itself. The non-Muslim world is being confronted with a conflict it did not choose to create but which has emerged from within the Muslim community both locally and from afar; articulated and organized by various diverse groups lead by various diverse leaders.

The United States, as a free and independent nation under constitutional law, is under attack. Bin Laden and others have publicly declared this to be "World War III." Government leaders in Iran have declared that they will intitiate Armageddon against the West unless the US President and others (including the military) convert to Islam.

It would be foolish and naive for me or my government to ignore these threats and do nothing to defend ourselves.

To label this defense an "attack" on Islam or an "attack" on Muslims is pure ignorance or delusion.

If you want to be "left alone" then reject those in the Muslim community who advocate and perpetrate violence in jihad. Expose them, identify them and turn them in. Speak against them and condemn them. Show no tolerance or sympathy for their actions.

If, on the other hand, you sympathize with their goals and believe that their actions are legitimate and righteous within the bounds of Islam under the authority of the word of Allah contained in the Qu'ran, then consider yourself an enemy of the United States and my enemy as well.

If you would feel no remorse or shame or disgust at my being blown to bits from a bomb planted by someone acting in the name of your God and your Prophet then you have set yourself up as my enemy.

If you have no problem in contributing your zakat to "charitable organizations" that seek to kill me, to kill women and children, to overthrow my government, to reclaim Spain for Islam through violence or to "wipe Israel off of the map" along with every Jew who lives there, to bomb Jewish synagogues, community centers and desecrate their cemetaries, to raise up "suicide bombers" and who then honor them as heroes and martyrs of the faith, then you have declared yourself to be my enemy and the enemy of my country.

It is not necessary for a Muslim to believe these things. It is a free choice that every Muslim can make before Allah, whether to accept this interpretation of Islam or to reject it. A person can be a good Muslim while rejecting such doctrines and teachings.

When a Muslim chooses to accept this understanding of Islam and jihad then they have taken upon themselves the role of my enemy. In response they are worthy and deserving to receive the full force of wrath and opposition of those they seek to destroy.

As a Muslim you must choose. The choice is yours. You cannot straddle the fence and have it both ways. You are either my true and sincere friend or you have chosen to be my true and sincere enemy. As an American (who happens to be a Christian) I am reaching out my hand to you (as a Muslim) in friendship and in peace. While I would like to see you accept the Good News of the Christian faith I will love and accept you should you continue to remain a Muslim. My hand of friendship will continue to remain extended in the hope that you will join me in that friendship.

But, should you choose to wage violent jihad against me, or support those who do, you will have rejected my sincere offer of friendship and, instead, offered me the threat of death in return.

The ball is now in your court. Are you my friend or are you my enemy? I have chosen to be your friend. What have you chosen to be?