"A Beautiful Pattern of Conduct"

"Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah."

- From IslamAwakened

"He demonstrated good examples in all aspects of life, Allah says: 'You have indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern of (conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day and who engages much in the praise of Allah.' (Qur'an, 33:21)."

- From the Nigerian Muslim's Network

It is a basic principle of Islam that a Muslim should follow the example of the Prophet Mohammad. This is stated in the Koran (Islam's holiest book) no less than 91 times. This is one of the most dangerous and misunderstood facts about Islam. How does a Muslim know how to be a Muslim? By following Mohammad as an example. A Muslim cannot read the Koran and discover how to be a Muslim. Not one of the "five pillars of Islam" is in the Koran. So it is almost impossible for someone to be a Muslim without considering Mohammad as an example to emulate.

What kind of example was Mohammad? He was kind to his fellow Muslims, and he was often cruel to non-Muslims, especially if they criticized Islam or hindered its relentless expansion. He was perhaps a typical seventh-century warlord — ordering assassinations of his enemies, torturing people for information, owning slaves and having sex with them, and killing enemies in mass executions — but his example is preserved in writing, and so is the Koranic encouragement to all devout Muslims to follow his example.

What should non-Muslims do about this? The first and most important action we need to take is the education of our fellow non-Muslims. It is unbelievable to me how ignorant almost everybody is about Mohammad. Many people I talk to — even "educated" people — aren't even sure what part Mohammad played in Islam. They ask me things like, "Is he one of the main Muslim leaders or founders?"

Talk to people about Mohammad and tell them this important fact: Muslims are supposed to follow Mohammad's example. Then enlighten them about Mohammad's behavior.

This is frightening information, and whenever you present scary information, I recommend you go out of your way to make it as unfrightening as you can so people will be willing to listen to you, and I also encourage you to tell people there are things they can do about it. Do not overwhelm them or leave them without any recourse.

And I would appreciate it if you let us know what happens when you talk to people about Mohammad. What do they say? How do they react? How do you respond? Give us the good, the bad, and the ugly in the comments below, and let us learn from your example.

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Modern Revelations About Islamic Revelations

A friend of mine, Phil, was in town to promote his new book. We went out to lunch with another friend of ours from this area, Stan, a man who runs a multi-station radio conglomerate. We were talking about this and that and then Phil mentioned an experience he had in a church in the Midwest.

At the church, for awhile they had a speaker from a different religion come speak to them. One week they had a Hindu teacher come speak to the congregation, and the next week it was a Buddhist priest (this is a very open-minded church), and the third week it was a Muslim imam, and Phil said, "I couldn't believe the imam. He scared the old ladies. Every other thing he said was about cutting off someone's head." Phil looked surprised.

Now I hadn't seen either of these guys for awhile and as you can imagine, I had a lot to tell them. I said, "Awhile back I read the Koran because I wondered about Islam."

"Wondered?" asked Stan. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I've heard terrorists quoting the Koran, talking about the obligation of all Muslims to subjugate the infidel and their responsibility to wage jihad, and then I've heard people quoting peaceful passages from the Koran and saying Islam is a religion of peace, and I just wanted to know what the real story was. So I read the Koran cover to cover.

"It's been a real eye-opener," I said. "First of all, the copy I first started reading jumped around and it was hard to follow and then I found out that the traditional way to print the book — the traditional order of the chapters — is simply from the longest to the shortest chapter. So I found a book (A Simple Koran) that prints it in the order it was actually written, in chronological order, and it's much easier to follow that way."

Stan looked puzzled. He has a curious, inquiring mind. "I wonder why they printed it that way? That seems like an odd order to print a book."

"Yes," I said. "A secretary for one of the caliphs, I think his name was Zayd, decided that's how to arrange the chapters. Even at the time, people argued with his strange arrangement. But he was the secretary and that's the way he wanted it. Now it's just traditional.

"But something is revealed by reading the book in chronological order that I don't think you could see in the traditional chapter order: You see a dramatic change in the kind of revelations Muhammad has over time."

"Muhammad is the main guy, right?"

"Yes, he's the prophet. He's the one who first recited the Koran."

"What changed?" Phil asked. "What do you mean?" They were both curious now. They leaned forward, interested.

Glad to be sharing something so important with two people I care about, I said, "The nature of the revelations changed. And the book I read (A Simple Koran) gives you some of the surrounding history too, so you can see why the revelations changed.

"Muhammad was originally in Mecca and he was in a minority. Obviously when he first started, he and his wife were the only Muslims on earth. Everyone else there in the city of Mecca already had their religions. Muhammad went around preaching his new religion and criticizing everyone else's. People didn't like that."

My friends laughed. Of course people didn't like it. "So after about thirteen years of preaching," I went on, "Muhammad had gained 150 converts, but they were still a minority, and the Muslims' relations with leaders of other religions had become increasingly hostile over the years. It was getting pretty hot around there, so Muhammad moved to Medina, where he had some friends.

"And that's when the revelations really started changing," I said. "For the first three-fourths of the book, the revelations were mostly about heaven and hell and how if you are a good Muslim and follow the rules you'll go to heaven and if you don't follow the rules or if you doubt Muhammad is really the Prophet, you'll burn in hell and the only thing you'll have to drink is boiling, stinking water, etc.

"But the last fourth of the book is very different. Once Muhammad gets to Medina, his group starts raiding caravans that are going to Mecca."

"Muhammad did that?" Phil and Stan both looked surprised.

"Yes. Muhammad went on some raids himself, and sometimes he just sent some of his Muslim followers on raids. And they would sometimes kill the men and take the women as slaves, and of course take all the valuable goods in the caravan. But sometimes they held the people for ransom."

Again, both of them looked shocked. Astonished. Surprised. And yet, on their faces it looked as if years of accumulated confusion vanished in an instant. Stan said, "So that's where the terrorists got the idea." Stan has a great sense of humor and he was making a joke, and we all laughed, but that's the light bulb I could see go on in these guys' heads.

I went on. "So they started doing pretty well, financially. Muhammad kept a fifth of the booty from the raids and the rest of the Muslim raiders split up the four-fifths. Muhammad started getting more recruits because this was a pretty sweet gig. He started growing an army. And the revelations changed accordingly.

"Up until this time, Muhammad had been trying to get the Christians and Jews to admit that in their own scriptures Muhammad's coming had been foretold. He thought his arrival was prophesied in their holy books. He was sure of this, and he wanted the Jews and Christians to say so. He wanted them to validate his legitimate prophethood as one of a long line of prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc.) but the Christians and the Jews wouldn't validate him.

"So in the first three-fourths of the Koran, the revelations are relatively tolerant of Christians and Jews. He was trying to curry their favor. But once Muhammad had an army, and once he realized they would never acknowledge him as a prophet, his revelations became less and less tolerant, and then they became violent.

"Now here's one of the strangest things," I said. "When the nature of the revelations changed, the Koran started accumulating contradictions. It had these tolerant passages earlier and then less tolerant passages later. But the Koran itself, conveniently enough, has a passage that tells Muslims what to do about this. In the Koran, Allah says, 'If something I say now contradicts something earlier in the Koran, the later revelation overwrites the earlier one. The earlier one is null and void, and the newer one is the better one.'

"The bad news is the tolerant passages are earlier and the intolerant, violent passages are later.

"So finally I realized how it was possible to have peaceful quotes and violent quotes, both from the Koran. The Koran is not like the Bible. It isn't written by different people at different times. There are no vague analogies or symbolic passages given to multiple interpretations. It is written by one man and is very direct, straightforward writing. So how could it contain contradictions? Now I know."

"So, wait a minute." Phil looked concerned. "You're saying the peaceful passages don't count any more?"

"Right. They don't count. They have been overwritten by passages that say things like, 'Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them,' which is a passage from one of the last revelations of Muhammad.

"Not only that," I said, my head now swimming with things I've discovered that these guys didn't know, "but they're supposed to follow Muhammad's example. It says in the Koran, and says it 91 times, that Muslims should follow Muhammad's example. He is the model. He's the one to imitate."

"That's not good," said Stan.

"No, that's not good. Muhammad didn't think well of 'monkery.' He didn't think it was a good thing for devoted religious people to seclude themselves in a monastery. He didn't believe in asceticism. He thought that was the lazy coward's way out. According to Allah, you show your devotion — you demonstrate your faith — in the real world by fighting in jihad, fighting for Allah, doing things you're afraid to do, fighting against the unbelievers, working to make sure all governments follow the law of Allah.

"Muhammad believed anyone could talk a good story or say a good prayer, but jihad is putting your money where your mouth is. Do you really believe? Prove it: Die in combat. If you really believe what the Koran says, if you really believe Muhammad is the Prophet then you will have faith that when you die in jihad you will go straight to Paradise without judgment, and all your sins will be instantly forgiven. If you are afraid of fighting, war, or death, it proves your unbelief.

"Jihad is so highly valued by Allah that dying in jihad is the only way to guarantee your passage to heaven. You may have a chance of getting into heaven if you do good works and don't sin. But if you die fighting against the infidels, you are guaranteed passage to heaven."

"Wow," said Stan. They both looked amazed. Stunned, really. These are grown men. They read a lot. Both of them are well-informed, successful people. Both are very bright, intelligent men. And they didn't know any of this.

More of these kinds of conversations need to happen. I would love to hear about your experiences (and your listener's reactions to what you say). Leave them in the comments so we can all benefit from your trials and successes.

I'm sure I don't have to remind you that this is deadly serious business. It makes a huge difference when people know about it. Just the two pieces of information — that later passages overwrite earlier ones and that a good Jihadi will deliberately deceive infidels — is enormously clarifying and damaging to their cause. Plenty of Jihadis are hacking websites to stop this kind of information from spreading, but they can't hack into your one-on-one conversations, and that's really where the rubber meets the road.

Share what you learn. If you want to curb the spread of jihad, if you want Jihadis to run into the impenetrable wall of an informed population, share what you know. The sooner the better.

For those peace-loving Muslims who don't like what I've said here, please read the article: A Message to Peaceful Muslims.

This article was excerpted from the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam.

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Blueprint for Jihadists

If you excerpted the parts of Islamic texts on jihad, you would get a short how-to book. That is what follows. The article below might be called, How To Wage Jihad in a Nutshell, Updated For The 21st Century, taken from the pages of Islam's texts.

In the texts, it is clear that if you're a believer, it is your duty to spend your time and money getting the whole world to follow Islamic law, no matter how long it takes and even if you have other things you'd rather be doing. It is your duty. Allah expects it of you, and there are serious consequences in the afterlife if you don't. For those who choose to accept Allah's mission, here are the instructions:

1. As a formality, always invite infidels to convert to Islam before you do anything else. They just might choose conversion rather than hostilities, and if they do, you've saved yourself a lot of time and money.

2. Probably they won't take you up on your offer, so if you already have your own Islamic state, find a way to provoke a hostile response from an infidel country. Keep provoking until you get a hostile response. Don't start outright war. Just provoke.

3. When you get a hostile response, use it as an excuse to escalate hostilities with that country. But make sure you call it "defending Islam." Never think of it (or portray it as) an aggressive war, either to your own people or to the infidels. Only do this when you are sure you will not be wiped out by the enemy's aggressive response.

4. When you aren't in a position to defeat the infidel country militarily, make peace treaties with it, without actually intending to keep the treaties. Use a treaty as a way to prevent the country from attacking you while you gain enough strength to defeat it later. Pour any extra money you have into building up the power of your Islamic state and military prowess.

5. Use deception against the infidels. Lie to them. Pretend to be their friend, but never actually allow yourself any friendly feeling toward an infidel. Portray yourself in such a way that prevents them from trying to suppress you while you gain strength. Always remember, every Muslim in the world, wherever he is, is your brother. Every infidel is your enemy.

6. Do whatever you can to increase the ratio of Muslims to non-Muslims. For example, have lots of children. Try your best to convert infidels peacefully to your religion. Men can marry up to four wives. Try to marry widows and convert infidel women to Islam and marry them. Gain a Muslim numerical advantage.

7. Undermine the infidels in any way you can without weakening your position. This is your most important activity when not actually in battle. In modern days, this might mean using the press to your advantage, trying to capitalize on any division you might perceive within the infidel country, immigrating to the country and trying to undermine their laws and pressing for Islamic concessions, strongly suppressing any criticism of Islam, giving money to organizations that will lobby for Muslim rights and organizations that will use the laws to put legal pressure on anyone who might slow down your jihad from within, using the internet to your advantage, infiltrating and invading into every place you can use to your advantage, taking full advantage of any freedoms and rights available in that country to eventually use them to undermine those freedoms and rights (by establishing Sharia law) once you gain the reins of power. All of this is jihad. Jihad is not only fighting on the battlefield and killing. Jihad is total war.

8. Make jihad your overarching mission in life, but keep it a secret from the infidels, because revealing it would weaken Islam. In fact, try to convince the infidels that you only want peace. Devote your life to jihad, and use all the time and money you can spare to forward the cause. Nothing is more important than jihad. It is the supreme act of religious devotion, it proves your faith, and it is Allah's favorite act of worship, and that's why the only way a man can guarantee himself a place in heaven is if he dies while fighting in jihad.

9. If you cannot fight on the battlefield, fight in anyway you can, including giving money, or giving support to jihad of whatever kind. In modern days, it might include going on web sites that criticize Islam to make comments that persuade the infidels it's not true, or at least confuse them enough they won't be motivated to do anything about it, going into the streets and protesting loudly whenever anyone criticizes Islam, even for something minor like a cartoon, etc.

10. Find any infidel allies, even unwitting ones, and use them to advance the cause of Allah. Later, when the country has become an Islamic state, you can hang the infidels who helped you if you like. But for now, use them. For a modern example, if there is a prevailing notion in infidel lands that all belief systems must be respected, then use that to try to get Islamic propaganda into infidel schools, on their public television programs, etc.

11. Do not try to convert people to Islam by force. Your goal is to convert governments to Islamic law. Once a government becomes an Islamic state, if the population converts to Islam, fine. If not, then the new Islamic government will make a lot of money on the "infidelity tax" (the jizya — a tax on dhimmis, the subjugated non-Muslims). This is a good source of revenue you can then use to fund further Islamic expansion. The goal is universal Sharia law rather than trying to force every person to be a Muslim.

There it is. That's the blueprint in a nutshell. That's what it says very clearly in the Islamic texts, along with repeated warnings that if you don't believe, and if you don't put your faith into action, you're going to burn for eternity.

So now, what should infidels like you and me do about this? What good does it do to know the game plan of the devoted Muslims following strict Islamic teachings?

First of all, now that you know about it, you can help thwart their plans, in many different ways and in many different places. There is no need to list every possible action you could take (although here's a start). The number of possible actions are almost infinite and new opportunities will arise constantly. The knowledge of the game plan lends itself to innumerable possible ways to thwart it.

The important thing is to know what is being planned, and that they are deliberately hiding their intentions — that's part of the plan.

The most important thing you can do about the jihad threat is inform your fellow infidels. That's one of the hardest things to do, and it is also something the jihad warriors are trying to make even harder with their cries of Islamophobia, hate-speech, and racism. But it needs to be done, and you need to be one of the ones doing it. There aren't many of us right now, and we're in a race against time. Jihadists are recruiting new warriors every day. It is crucial that each of us who are "in on the game" alert those who aren't. And the sooner the better.

When all of us are in on the game, it will be very difficult for the jihadists to fulfill their goals. Until that time, it is relatively easy for them.

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Casually Talk About News — And Then Make a Good Point

In a comment on Talk About Islam Among Non-Muslims, someone going by the name of "Western Feminista" left the following description of what she does to educate her fellow non-Muslims. This is an intelligent and creative approach:

I have generally had the most success with using articles in the news, and mentioning things casually...one great example was when a Muslim lady was sentenced to six months jail for falsely accusing a policeman of forcibly removing her veil. I agreed that it was terrible that she had been sentenced and explained that "man-made laws" are not recognised by Muslims, so really, she had done nothing wrong in perjuring herself and making a false complaint...the people I was speaking to couldn't believe what I was saying, and it gave me the ideal opportunity to explain Sharia law to them — something that they had no knowledge of before.

The right to wear a burqua has been another situation — citing the above case again, the woman claimed that it was impossible for the policeman to prove it was her as she had only her eyes showing, and so she should not have been in court. Again, I agreed that in fact, we should all be able to wear a balaclava to enter a bank, shopping center, or government office — the government has no right to make me recognizable in any instance. The people I was speaking to suddenly began arguing against my rights to do that, and I was able to speak about other concessions to Islam that have been recently made — again, things that they had not thought "important" were suddenly placed in a context where they became very important.

Hopefully other instances will come up, and I can keep getting the message out there, slowly and gracefully.

I asked Western Feminista if I could publish her comment here, and she said yes. Then she emailed me more intelligent ways to educate our fellow non-Muslims:

Another example I have used is regarding the illegal asylum seekers arriving here, and rioting in our detention centres (yes, I am from Australia). So many people are of the opinion that we should accept them immediately (to stop the rioting) as we have much to spare, and have prided ourselves on accepting immigrants over the years.

I agree, citing the wonderful way that the Italians, Greeks, Vietnamese, etc. have assimilated into Australia, and how they enriched our country...and isn’t it unfortunate about the Global financial crisis at the moment that is making it so difficult for governments to be able to afford to give as much as in the past? Especially as there are so many Muslims that really seem to want to make Australia their new home, and how they may actually become a majority in the future...it’s not an unreasonable assumption, really. I haven’t had anyone dispute it yet.

Then I ask them how much they would be willing to pay per month so all the Muslim asylum seekers could be released immediately into the community. $50? $100? $200? Of course this brings looks of disbelief, or a small token amount is mentioned...I then casually mention that it would be like paying jizya — and am always asked to explain in more detail...no one has ever heard of it, and it scares people to think that it will hit them where it hurts — the wallet.

I suppose you could call it Islamic Education by Stealth (lol).

This is excellent. She has obviously thought about what she was going to say and how she was going to say it ahead of time, and presented her information for maximum impact and surprise. With enough of us doing this kind of thing, we would see a massive change in public opinion about Islam in short order.

If you have an approach you have used successfully, please make it known to others trying to accomplish the same thing by posting it on the Talk About Islam Among Non-Muslims page.

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