Since the September 11th attack on America, we've been hearing some jargon about the 
Islam religion and how humane it is.  Though certain sects of Islam may be more humane 
than others, it is not to say that love and forgiving are consistent among all Islam sects.   
As with all religions of the world, the balances between love and hate are in the hands of 
who's interpreting it.  


Islam takes its origin back to the Prophet Muhammed.  He was born in Mecca Arabia 
around 541 A.D.  Muhammed was orphaned at an early age and was raised by a 
succession of relatives.   Eventually, a rich merchant uncle took over and sent him on 
trading excursions where he met old and new testament people.  


At age 25, he was proposed to by a wealthy widow of 40 named Khadja.  She bore him  
three daughters but no sons.  


By the time Muhammed was 40, he had developed mystical traits.  According to hearsay, 
he received a revelation compelling him to denounce paganism and polytheism in Mecca 
and to preach the existence of only one god (Allah).  His early followers were few and he 
called them, "Companions."  The Koran (Qur,an) was born from his revelation.   It listed 
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammed as prophets.  


Though the Koran forbids its true believers from committing aggression, it also calls on 
its believers to fight in the way of God against all those who fight against him.  It also 
recommends that those who ascribe partners to God (Allah) thereby denying the unity of 
God, should be destroyed.  This is known to all fundamentalist Muslims as Jihad (holy 
war), thus leaving these devout Muslims in a perpetual constant war against all religions 
who do not follow the Koran.   

The five pillars of Islam are as follows:

1.  There is no God but God and Muhammed is the prophet of God.

 2.  Muslims pray five times daily - at daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon, after sunset, and 
early in the night.

3.  During the month of fasting (Ramadan), Muslims must not eat, drink, or have sexual 
relations between dawn and sunset.

4.  All Muslims must give alms (zakat) no less than two-and-a-half percent of their income and certain kinds of property to charity.
 
5.  A true Muslim must make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca during a lifetime.

Muhammed made Mecca the place of his birth, the Capitol of all Islam before his death in 
632 A.D.  He was in his nineties.  

 Muhammed named no successors.  He was succeeded by two caliphs, Abu Bakr and 
Umar.  They were his Companions.

The birth of the Arab race came from the seed of Ishmael who was sired by Abraham 
through Hagar, a slave belonging to Abraham whose wife Sarah was barren.  After Sarah 
gave birth to Isaac, however, she forced Abraham to banish Hagar and Ishmael so her son 
Isaac wouldn't lose his firstborn privileges.  As the Old Testament tells us, the Jewish 
race was sired through the seed of Isaac making the Jews and Arabs half brothers.


No doubt, most of the background of traditional religions comes from hearsay or 
unwitnessed doctrines.  And although our historians do the best they can to verify some of 
the details, there can be no doubt that there are some biased exaggerations.

As for Islam being without prejudice or hate, I would say that it is no more or less than 
other religions. And verifiable history confirms this fact over and over again.  One such 
confirmation which history didn't have to confirm to me was what I saw firsthand during 
WW II.  During the war, our infantry unit had to handle a lot of German POW's.  On 
many of these POW's were their infamous Nazi belt buckles on which was embossed in 
raised letters, "Gott Mit Uns" (God's with us).  And in this regard, I'm sure you'd have a 
hell of a time proving that to the 6,000,000 Jews who were mercilessly exterminated by 
Hitler and his devout Christian followers.


And how about those benevolent Islam Ottomans who slaughtered 1,500,000 of our 
Armenian men, women, and children between 1915-1923 A.D.  Then, of course, there's 
King Leopold and the Belgium Congo - Biafra, Japan and the rape of Nanking, the 
Crusades, the American Indians, slavery, Stalin, the Inquisition, etc., etc., etc.


I could go on and on, but when we look at the bottom line, no religion, no matter how 
kind and forgiving its credo, the bottom line is in the hands of the interpreter.  As history 
points out, during times of conflict and upheaval, religion becomes only a tool in the 
hands of the propagandist.

 
Today, we find ourselves at war with terrorism.  It's a war that was inevitable.  But more 
than that, regardless of what the underlying circumstances are, it's a war that we have to 
win, and win we will.


Be that as it may, with all of its kinks and flaws, this is the world we live in.  And its 
problems are the outgrowths of the shortcomings of our past.  Those who established 
these shortcomings have long since passed on into eternity, but we are still here following 
without question.


In short, the ball is in our court.  We can go on following our separate beaten paths into 
extinction or we can, at long last, try to find some common ground.  But before we do 
that, we have a war to win.


Joseph Vosbikian