Islam on Capitol Hill
Filed under Culture, News on September 20th, 2009 by Marcus FrenchOn September 25th, organizers of a rally called Islam on Capitol Hill expect 50,000 Muslims to converge on Washington, D.C to “express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam” and “manifest Islam’s majestic spiritual principals.” According to Robert Knight:
Hassen Abdellah, president of Dar-ul-Islam, and a main organizer, told the Washington Post that the event was inspired by President Obama’s inaugural address and his speech in Cairo, Egypt in June. The latter was where Obama noted that Islam was “first revealed” in the Middle East, thus implying divine origin. He may have also inspired some Muslims when he told journalists in Turkey in April that America “is not a Christian nation.” The event’s Website proclaims in large block letters: Our Time Has Come.
The organizers of the event state that:
* The Athan will be chanted on Capitol Hill, echoing off of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and other great edifices that surround Capitol Hill
* Thousands of Muslims from all races, creeds, colors and ethnicities will gather for the sole purpose of prayer
* Bonds of friendship will be formed between those in attendance, both Muslims and Non-Muslims
* Muslim youth will experience tours of the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.
* The peace, beauty and solidarity of Islam will shine through America’s capitol.
The “peace, beauty and solidarity of Islam will shine through America’s capitol”? Nice words, but if Islam is such a religion of “peace” and “beauty,” how is it that Islamic republics are invariably among the most repressive in the world (with atheistic regimes coming in a close second)? And how is it that the majority of international terrorism has at its root Islam? Unless the leaders of events such as these distance themselves from the evil manifestations of Islam seen in Iran, Al-Qaeda, etc… by showing definitively that their peaceful/loving manifestation of Islam is the true one (or a different one altogether), claims such as “we shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin,” however sincere they may be, will ring hollow as far as they relate to revealing Islam’s true nature.
Lou Engle, founder of The Call and Bound4Life, had this to say:
This is the exact word of one of the Sheikhs who is leading this historic gathering, “Muslims should march on the White House. We are going to the White House so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will become into a Muslim house.” These are not empty words. They speak of a dark spiritual intent and a coming day of great trouble to America .
…
On Friday, September 25th, the Muslim Day of Prayer, we are calling the Church of America to fast and pray that Muslims would be moved by the Holy Spirit, convicted by the testimony of Christ, and even be visited by Jesus in dreams. We must pray that God would restrain the spiritual powers behind Islam and grant us the great awakening that we desperately need for America.
Tags: capitol hill, congress, Islam, Muslims, supreme court, Washington DC
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Marcus,
I think if American Muslims can gather peacefully, then that’s a good thing.
Remember that there was a point in time when believers in Jesus committed great offenses too, and it didn’t take away from the love in good believers getting together.
Also, I have read the Koran, and agree that it is not a loving book.
However, the Old Testament has the exact eame problems, if not worse. In the Koran, there was no command to exterminate other races who didn’t believe in Allah. We can’t say the same thing about the Old Testament.
In the Koran, there isn’t a required death penalty for people who violate a weekly Muslim prayer rule (though rules like that were added in the Haditha later). The Old Testament cannot claim the same thing.
If you look at both texts fairly, you’ll see that the Koran is very similar to what Judaism was like thousands of years ago. A sense of divine superiority over other religions, and the right to push their agenda over others, though less violently than the child killing commanded by Moses.
A big reason why the Jewish Community is so peace minded is that all the divine enemies of Israel are dead. There are no Hittites, or Amelakites, or Midianites around. If they were, we’d have the issue of having not exterminated the people God commanded to be killed.
In the Koran, however, the Jews and Christians are spoken badly of, and they’re still alive today. This creates a very awkward modern relationship, because either the Koran is wrong, or the Jews/Christians are disliked by God. That’s difficult for Muslims to reconcile with.
We can’t improve relations with Muslims if we dont’ open dialogue and encourage their self expression. If you try to push them out of sight, then they feel oppressed, and we all know what oppressed feeling people do after too long.
–Dan
Dan,
I was delighted by your insightful comments. We need more people like you to speak out.
A point of contention however, from my reading of the Koran, it does not come across as virulently anti Christain or Jewish rather it condems groups within Christainity/Judaism and not the both religions in their entirety.
The impression that the Koran lambasts both religions completely is always wrongly disseminated.
But is it that some have taken the message or interpreted the message to refer to both religions in their entirety? I would agree with you.
In that case however, it is a problem of interpretation and the case that interests take advantage of this for their own ends.
Great post Dan.
[...] September 25th, 50,000 Muslims will be gathering in Washington D.C. for a historic event called Islam on Capitol Hill. A small group of Jesus-followers will also be there, handing out over 1,500 copies of “More [...]