I received an email yesterday pointing out how much of Old Testament history happened in or referred to the area that is today’s Iraq. That part of the email was fairly accurate. Then it added this alleged quotation from the Koran, the holy book of Islam.
Quran (9:11) “For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; and there was peace.”
So I dug out the copy of the Koran I got off ebay a year ago and looked up 9:11. We’ve been mislead.
Koran 9:11 actually says,
if they repent,
establish regular prayers,
and practice regular charity,
they are your brethren in Faith …
So I think:
- Wow. There may even be hope for US leaders?
- Who makes up this stuff (the false quote above)? Who keeps circulating it? It’s REALLY offensive! Do you see why? (If this were one of my classes, I’d press that question a bit. Why do I take offense at this? What is it that would be so offensive in this quote to many people – and not just to Muslims? Point something out to me.)
Urban Legends says this about the ‘quote’:
No, this isn’t a legitimate quotation from the Quran (or Koran), the sacred text of Islam. The chapter and verse citation quoted above is a leg-pull, an obvious play on the USA’s (the Eagle) launching of military action against Afghanistan and Iraq (the “lands of Allah”) in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks on America organized by Osama bin Laden (the “son of Arabia awakening a fearsome eagle”). That the chapter and verse selection match the date of the terrorist attacks (9:11) is another giveaway to the joke.
Depending upon which translation of the Quran one uses, the section corresponding to chapter 9, verse 11 actually reads something like this:
But if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith; and We make the communications clear for a people who know.
(“The poor rate” is a tax, not on income but on holdings. It was a welfare provision, and by taxing holdings it would (at least in theory) affect people year after year even if they managed to hide their income.)
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Ben, you can’t reclaim one evil by committing another, neither on the personal level nor between nations and cultures. You may only, possibly, plead that we should not so overly focus on the lesser evil (i.e. our own) while ignoring the greater one committed against us, when both, ostensibly, are a reaction upon one another and so people imagine (vainly!) one cannot be reproached without the other lauded.
But then, here I guess your surmise to be totally wrong that America’s war in Iraq or Middle East is anything but a (just) war for the sake of Christianity. It is not. Just like any other of (offensive) imperial wars ever waged. Read PNAC; it is a war for all-out world domination by pilfering (and continuing to squander) the world’s (last) resources. And it will fail, that much is for sure. (Its very success would be the worst of failures some few years ahead.) The tiny question remaining is, will we allow it to go on discrediting Christianity alongside with this insane lust for power? Or will we stop pointing fingers on others? I do not, by the way, I chastise greed, not certain Americans. If now you answer, “And my strictures are against Islam, which wastes the souls of its believers!” you may be right. But it’s just my impression that you should not let yourself be turned so much away from the ethic of the Sermon on the Mount just for the sake of witnessing to this danger in Islam.
Otherwise you may fight for Christianity, but end to vindicate a travesty on it.
P.S. Your argument about political correctness doesn’t lead anywhere. In my eyes, Larry Harvey (admin) is the epitome of political incorrectness (i.e. “salt of the earth”, in biblical language). But yet he tries to keep in touch with decency, be it political or not. The same applies to your original intention, as I take it to be (and applies, hopefully, to me and many other commentors). PC or non-PC is far too vague a definition to earn being anything, proud or ashamed of it. By that rule, you may only exclude the extremes.
Well, it seems everyone has taken my post in the wrong way. Let me rephrase. Lets not focus on how BAD it is that this email has been circulating. The reason being, we have every right to circulate propaganda as muslims do so constantly (this DOES NOT mean that we SHOULD) I am simply trying to point out to people who take offense at this email to cool it and quit being so PC. Instead, we should applaud the intentions of the person who started it but suggest other methods. I am simply tired of everyone thinking that just because we are Christians automatically means we cannot fight back. Jesus did say to turn the other cheek but he did not say to roll over and play dead. Any more issues?
It seems that the person started this hoax e-mail have a sense that we are loosing in Iraq , looking to numbers we are
not loosing ,and the war for freedom is a war of a great idea – we cant loose.
When Ben says, “Don’t act like its a huge deal for the Muslims to have their book twisted. They do it to the Bible all the time,” my blood runs cold.
As a Christian, I expect our speech (and e-mails) to be truthful and factual beyond reproach. This is not political correctness. It is mere honesty. Brushing aside the facts in the name of righteous indignation is exactly the type of behavior that earns us no respect and causes the world to turn a deaf ear to our witness. Why should they beleive a bunch of liars?
Excellent, Nuvit. Thank you.