Islamic origins and conflict with The West
Reader comment on item: The Islamic Invasion: Confronting the World's Fastest Growing Religion

Submitted by Alaistair Campbell (United Kingdom), Feb 13, 2003 at 08:45

I heard Mr Morey on a late night phone radio show in the UK last year and out of curiosity, checked out his Islamic Invasion website.It is clear from the other topics discussed on it it,that he is coming from a "Born Again" Christian angle,but quite a few of the points he raises about the origins of Islam and its inclusion of many, what are politely called pre-Islamic traditions,(but are,lets face it, pagan beliefs dating from the start of civilisation in the Arabian peninsula and worthy of scholarly study in their own right) are worthy of debate. What I understand Mr Morey is saying,is that Islams assertion that its concept of the Godhead is identical to Christianity and Judaism,long held by this religion,is fundamentaly wrong and by comparing and contrasting Islamic beliefs with Christian,he believes he can show that "Allah" is a totally different deity from "God",in the same way that "Osiris" from the Egyptian pantheon is not the same as "Thor" from the Nordic.Religions have never simply appeared with a fully formed set of beliefs and mythology.They develop gradually,evolving to suit cultures and societies needs,subsuming beliefs and traditions already sacred to members of that society.Deities often change names-Istar of Sumeria became Astarte of Babylon became Aphrodite of Greece and Isis of Egypyt.(Some would say this Mother Goddess later became the deified Mary,mother of God but thats getting a bit close to the bone for some people)What Mr Morey seems to be saying is that Allah was already worshipped as a Moon god in the Arab pantheon and later transformed into The One true monotheistic deity of present day Islam.The Kabbah,the holy stone of Mecca is in reality an iron meteorite which impacted in the desert millenia ago and was worshipped by local people,no doubt highly impressed by this amazing rock that fell out of the sky,for centuries before Islam.This is integral to the Islamic faith.Late pagan beliefs absorbed into Christian tradition eg:Christmas,Halloween,etc,are merely cultural celebrations and in no way part of the Christian faith.

Mr Morey is simply debunking Islams tenous link to the main monotheistic faiths and its claim that Mohammed was the last of Gods prophets.The Koran simply borrows personallities from the Bible and writes them into a different setting and interpretation of monotheistic belief and very kindly includes Jews and Christians as "People of the Book"This gives credence to its message,especially when we read that Adam,Moses and all the other Prophets weren't Hebrew proto-Jews at all,but Moslems all along,thousands years before Mohammed.

In regard to the devoutly and sincerely believed by Moslems,peaceful nature of Islam,I would say this. In the 650s when Islamic Armies swept out of Arabia,the lands to the north(Syria,Palestine Persia) had been scorched by decades of war between the Roman Empire the Empire of the Sassanid Persians.The war rolled one way and the other until every city between Byzantium and Baghdad lay in ruins.Civilisation was in tatters with refugees living in hovels built from the stones of ruined temples,churches and villas.It was in this desolation Islam made its appearence and offered a different outlook of life. In a great battle with the Imperial Roman forces(Christian for three centuries by now) Islam established dominance over the Christian lands of the Middle East and the oldest Christian land, Egypt. From there they overran all Roman North African provinces and in the next century occupied Spain and into France as far north as Poitier before being turned back into Spain, large areas occupied until the fifteenth century. In the Eastern Med after centuries of wars,the city of Constantinople, the last Imperial city of the Roman Empire fell to the Islamic invaders in 1453 and as late as 1641 Islamic cannon were shelling the city of Vienna,Austria.

So,from the day Islam started as a politico-religious force,it has been at war with Christian Europe.Islam attacked the Christian West in the seventh century NOT vice versa,and has been bent on its subjugation ever since.The uncomfortable truth is that the Islamic Invasion started long,long ago.

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