Mark A. Gabriel - Islam and Terrorism: The Truth about Isis, the Middle East and Islamic Jihad

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I SLAM AND T ERRORISM R EVISED AND U PDATED by Mark A. Gabriel, PhD

Published by FrontLine

Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof my not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwisewithout prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Quotations from the Quran marked Ali translation are from The Quran Translation , 7th edition, by Abdullah Yusef Ali (Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Quran, Inc., 2001).

Quotations from the Quran marked The Noble Quran are from The Noble Quran , English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary published by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in Medina, The City of Light, Saudi Arabia in 1998. The translators were Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan.

Copyright 2002, 2015 by Mark A. Gabriel, PhD

All rights reserved

Cover design by Vincent Pirozzi

Design Director: Justin Evans

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015945093

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-62998-668-5

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62998-687-6

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication.

I N THIS SECOND edition of Islam and Terrorism I want to bring you, my dear readers, answers to the primary questions people are asking today about violence in the name of Islam: Where does this violence come from? and What has inspired this global movement of angry men and women to leave everything behind and take up armsfighting, killing, destroying in the name of Allah?

This edition will help you to understand the historical and the current roots that are contributing to this chaos our world is controlled by. In the end you will find ideas for the most important questions: What is the solution? Is there any solution at all? Is there any hope for peace to be established in the Middle East? With the pages of this book I try to provide the dimension of understanding that is difficult to find in the world of secular and politically correct media.

In this book I will introduce you to teachings that are widely taught throughout the Islamic world because these are the teachings from Al-Azhar University, the most influential university in the Muslim world. In order to grasp the position and influence of Al-Azhar, we can say that for Muslims it is what the Vatican is for Catholics. It can be considered the brain/educational center of Islam. So the teaching presented in this book is the Islamic teaching according to the worlds leading Islamic scholars.

You may wonder how I can be so confident that I understand the mind-set of the radical Muslim. The reason is that with my background, I could have become one of those radicals. I grew up in a conservative Muslim household in Egypt. I started memorizing the Quran at the age of five and finished when I was twelve years old. I went on to earn a doctorate degree from the famous Al-Azhar University and was given a teaching position. I had several friends and students in my classes who were active in jihad. Personally I preferred to focus on the peaceful side of Islam, but I was unable to ignore the violent side I saw in the Quran and Islamic history. This inner struggle ultimately led me to question the basis of my faith, for which I was arrested and tortured by the Egyptian secret police.

Another important part of my story is that I am no longer a follower of Islam. This allows me to speak more freely about the teachings of Islam, but it also puts me at risk of punishment from the radicals. I have been stabbed, shot at, and threatened multiple times. I used to even receive death threats in reviews of my book that were posted online.

These issues are a fact of life for me and many others like me who have exercised their freedom of religion and have faced judgment from the Muslim world.

However, I want to make it very clear that Muslims are not my enemies, and this book does not want to talk bad about Muslims in any way. My family in Egypt and all my friends I had to leave behind when I left Islam are still Muslims. I still love them, despite all that I have gone through, and my heart is crying out for all those sincere people who are working hard during all their lives trying to do good, hoping that at the end of their lives Allah might admit them to Paradise. My heart cries out for them because I know about the sufferings that the teachings of Islam can cause. And most Muslims are born into this religion. It was not their choice. I grew up as one of them, memorizing the Quran as a child and studying Islam for many years. I know about the sufferings, the discrimination, and the lack of freedom that the teaching of Islam are causingnot only to non-Muslims but first of all to the Muslims themselves.

When you read about the very challenging teachings of Islam that bring so much pain and violence to this world, please keep in mind that I am not trying to make Muslims look bad. What I am trying to do is to help them and others see what motivates an Islamic radical. I am a free person, and today I am living in a free country. I can ask the hard questions about Islam, but the Muslim people I left behind cannot question their beliefs.

I want you to see this very, very important distinction: Islam is the religion. Muslims are people who are following the teachings of Islam according to many different interpretations. Muslims are also the ones suffering most from Islamic radicalism. Radical Muslims who are committed to live, die, and kill for jihad are the minority. By far the greatest majority of Muslims wish to live peaceful lives, to enjoy their family life, and they work hard to provide a good future to their children.

If you have Muslim friends, neighbors, or acquaintances, please be kind to them and treat them with respect. They are probably nice people living in a peaceful way and not wanting to cause trouble for you or anybody else. Do not treat them as your enemies. The best thing you can do is to enjoy your friendship and learn about their culture.

If you ever discuss religion with someone else, please keep a good attitude and be very sensitive. You dont want to hurt their religious feelings. It is normal that every person wants to defend his faith. It is very helpful to always keep in mind that above all we are all brothers and sisters in humanitywe are all searching for the truth.

I N THIS CHAPTER I will explain how the hope of the Arab Spring resulted in a new level of Islamic extremism as radicals took advantage of a vacuum in leadership to gain new ground for their cause.