Not many people - especially those with no spiritual, or religious experience, understand the commitment that has attached to Radical Islam. It is woven into the fiber of their being because the tenets of the religion call them to destroy or subjugate the non-believers. It is central to the writings of their major religious texts and has emerged as the central theme in the admonishments of their current day holy leaders.

For Example, from the Hadith (http://islamworld.net/nawawi.html) Translation of Imam An-Nawawi's Book.


Abdullah bin Omar narrated that the messenger of Allah said:

"I have been ordered to fight against people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammed is the messenger of Allah and until they perform the prayers and pay the zakat, and if they do so they will have gained protection from me for their lives and property, unless [they do acts that are punishable] in accordance with Islam, and their reckoning will be with Allah the Almighty."

related by Bukhari and Muslim.


As the Quoran is considered the "word" of God, it is infallible and cannot be interpreted but must stand on its face as far as the Radicals are concerned. Sure there are some rare voices positing a more moderate tone to the writings, but their influence is diminished by their very postulations to those whom need to consider a more moderate tone. They become the apostates. In light of the radicals commitment to death as a reward and their willingness to kill innocents in advancing the breadth of Islam, the voice of the moderates is weak indeed and growing weaker.

Further substantiating this:

from the Hadith (http://islamworld.net/nawawi.html) Translation of Imam An-Nawawi's Book.

On the authority of Abu Najih Al-Erbadh bin Sariah, who said :


The messenger of Allah gave us a sermon by which our hearts were filled with fear and tears came to our eyes. We said: "O Messenger of Allah, it is as though this is a farewell sermon, so councel us." He said: "I councel you to fear Allah and to give absolute obedience even if a slave becomes your leader. Verily he among you who lives [long] will see great controversy, so you must keep to my sunnah and to the sunnah of the rightly-guided Khalifahs - cling to them stubbornly. Beware of newly invented matters, for every invented matter is an innovation and every innovation is a going astray, and every going astray is in Hell-fire."

Related by Abu Dawud and Al-Tirmithi, who said that it was a fine and true Hadith.

So there is little within the teachings to support and extend the voices aimed at moderation and reformation and indeed the writings admionish against any reformation or interpretation of the "word".

Consequently, the momentum is all towards conflict and violence in the confrontation between the West and Islam. Currently, no common interest unites the culture in reasonable dialog. This is a repeating theme in Islamic culture and history and nothing really new.

By: Mike Bourne
http://www.nearingcriticality.com
Mike Bourne is the Pen name for a 52 year old American with a keen sense of world events and a strong opinions. His writingsare meant to stimulate critical thinking and considered argument.

Republished by Resources For Attorneys, a Law and Lifestyle resource directory.

Editors Note:
By: David G. Hallstrom, Sr.
In our opinion, the same could be said at one time for many Christian religions and for Jewish religion. It seems that the younger a religion is the more extreme it is. The Catholic religion was an extreme religion up untill a few hundred years ago and the word zealot was at one time used for Jewish extremists. It is our hope that eventually, Islamic extremists will soon realize that words written in a book are solely the interpretation of events as written by humans and therefore not to be laken literally. In the mean time the world would do well to remember what extremists of the past were like and deal with the current extremists accordingly. Ie: Realize that they mean to exterminate us and that we should meet force with force.