Secular Leaders in the West insist that the Islamic religion is a “Religion of Peace” that is being hijacked by extremists. In fact, this message has been preached for decades after 9/11. However, is this the truth, or is this what we want to believe. Former Al-Azhar Student Mark Gabriel who later served as a professor at Al-Azhar asked this very question during his Freshman year to Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman. Sheikh Abdel-Rahman served as Mark Gabriel’s Professor of Qur’anic interpretation at Al-Azhar during his Freshman Year in the early 1980’s. A long-time supporter of Jihad & opponent of secularism, Sheikh Abdel-Rahman made no attempt to sugarcoat his views. During class one day when Sheikh Abdel-Rahman was once again giving a lecture about Jihad & denouncing the West, Mark Gabriel worked up the courage and asked the Sheikh this Question:
“Why is it that you teach us all the time about Jihad? What about the other verses in the Qur’an that Talk about Kindness and Forgiveness?
Sheikh Rahman was angered by the question, but he answered it with honesty: “My Brother there is an entire Surah in the Qur’an called ‘Spoils of War,’ (Surah #8) there is no Surah called ‘Peace.’ Jihad and Killing are the Head of Islam. If you take them out, you cut off the Head of Islam.”
Sheikh Rahman lived his life by this belief. He continually referred to Christians as “Infidels,” Jews as “Sons of Pigs,” and preached about bringing back the “glorious Islamic Empires of the past.” Rahman not only waged a campaign to help eradicate all forms of secularism in Egypt, but also expanded his movement in the nations beyond. He traveled to the Sudan and endorsed the transformation of the nation into an Islamic State & supported the ongoing Genocidal campaign launched against the South Sudan. He then came to the U.S. and openly preached about the necessity of Jihad against the West in American Mosques & held seminars & training programs. It was here that Sheikh Abdel-Rahman masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing. He was convicted for is involvement in the attack & was sentenced to life in solitary confinement, where he ultimately died in Feb. 2017.
In his book Islam and Terrorism: Dr. Mark Gabriel, who has since left Islam & accepted Christianity, revealed that Islamic Jihadists like Sheikh Abdel-Rahman see themselves as surrounded by infidels and they use Surah 4:65, 3:22, & 5:44 as their reasoning. Islam to them is all or nothing, you have to accept everything Muhammad said, without question, and this includes waging war on the Infidel as well as any form of hypocrisy. There is no room for partial obedience. In his works, Dr. Gabriel further stated that contrary to what Western leaders say, Sheikh Rahman is not distorting Muhammad’s teachings. They’re following them the way they were always intended to be followed.
Source:
Gabriel, Mark. Islam and Terrorism: The Truth about ISIS, the Middle East, and Islamic Jihad. Front Line: Lake Mary FL, 2015.