Muslim Association of Puget Sound

MAPS 2014

http://youtu.be/jj29FTlds9Q
http://youtu.be/rnMJRv-8F4E?list=UUpvpku8O928I6bRiqbGvzeg

Islam and the Embarrassing Croissant

Nabonidus Cylinder

The most common symbol in the world of Islam is the crescent. It is seen atop minarets, mosques, postage stamps and flags of Muslim countries. Some Muslims will argue that it merely points to the days of the Ottoman Empire when it was popularized. Critics of Islam will often make the claim that it ties Islam with a pre-Islamic pagan deity, a moon god.

Religious symbols usually have some historical significance as in the symbol of the cross seen on Christian churches which obviously has something to do with the crucifixion of Christ.

In order to wrap ones mind around the meaning of these symbols it is often necessary to dig deep into history and archeology. Both the Bible and the Qur’an refer to Abraham as a key character of their origin. The history of the Qur’an however dates only to the sixth century after Christ. Its references though claim to be revelation of the prophet Mohammed, it is clear that his information came from much earlier religious traditions.

Manuscripts of the Tenach, or Old Testament of the Bible, as well as the gospels predate Islam by hundreds of years and the archaeological discoveries validate many of the ancient stories recorded in those religious texts.

It is claimed that Abraham migrated from Ur in Mesopotamia in the lower Euphrates River valley, north to Haran, then eventually south Canaan in what later came to be called Israel by his ancestors.

In Babylon there is record of numerous gods but in Haran there is a well documented history of the worship a moon-god called Sin. A contemporary of  King Cyrus (who recorded some events on what is called the Cyrus Cylinder) was a king named Nabonidus. Nabonidus was the father of the Babylonian king Belshazzar who the bible portrays as seeing the famous writing on the wall regarding future events. Now Nabonidus recorded some events himself on some clay cylinders which were found in 1854 by J.G. Taylor at the ruins of a pyramid like ziggurat in Ur. Others were found in 1881 by a Syrian archeologist at Sippar, near the present city of Baghdad. On these cylinders there is record of Nabonidus doing construction work on the temples of Sin in Haran as well as Ur. There are many references to the god Marduk and Sin, the luminary of heaven and the netherworld.

According to the late archaeologist William F. Albright and translations by A. Leo Oppenheim, this moon-god was glorified by Nabonidus wherever he went. He traveled for a time south to Tema in Arabia where he beautified the city and elevated the moon-god Sin. Much of what Nabonidus built was later destroyed by king Cyrus who was friendly toward the Jews. But fortunately for the sake of history these clay cylinders are quite revealing regarding what was going on while Nabonidus was king of Babylon from 556-539 BC.

References to the crescent moon is recorded in the bible story about Gideon as well. In the Book of Judges we read that Gideon rose up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna and took the crescent ornaments which the kings of Midian wore as well as those on their camels' necks (Judges 8:21&26). A separate book of the bible, Psalm 83, further reveals how the Arabs and Assyrians strove to destroy the nation of the Jews, and Zebah and Zalmunna are again mentioned.



"Taqiyyah" the Trojan Camel

"Taqiyyah" the Trojan Camel
by Dale Brown

18x24 oil
Taqiyyah is a term used by Shiite Muslims that has to do with
pretending to agree or get along with unbelievers (kafirs) for the
sake of gaining an advantage.  It is a form of lying or deceiving
for the cause of Allah or the Muslim faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZPyiA7LdSQ&feature=share&list=UUpvpku8O928I6bRiqbGvzeg

Beware of anything boasting the crescent.
Trojan Elephant

American Crescent

American Crescent by Imam Hassan Qazwini

A Review by Dale Brown

The subtitle of the book “A Muslim cleric on the Power of His Faith, the Struggle Against Prejudice and the Future of Islam and America” lays the ground work for its introduction.

Without question the journey of Imam Qazwini who has become one of the most influential Muslims in America, is a fascinating one.  His life begins in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was systematically eliminating any opposition to his authority and the Qazwini family came under suspicion.  When Hassan was six years old his father loaded up the family early one morning in 1971 and fled to Kuwait where he was exposed to a more western environment.  The family heritage comes from a long line of Shiite scholars from the town of Karbala.  They claim their lineage to the prophet Mohammed himself.

In 1976 they were visited by a family friend visiting from San Francisco who had established the Islamic Society of California.  Hassan was encouraged by this man to consider becoming an imam.  Two years later he attended a lecture by another visitor from America where he learned that Islam in the states was like an infant in need of nurturing.  This visitor Imam Chirri (Shur'-ee) was the founder of the Islamic Center of Detroit and had connections with many high political leaders.
In 1979 it became clear that Saddam Hussein's thugs were reaching out far and wide in arresting and eliminating Shia's and anyone else who might be a threat to him.  Many friends and relatives of the Qazwini family in Karbala became targets of his terror and those that could fled for their life to Kuwait and some to Iran.  About this time Hassan's father decided it was time to move to the town of Qum (Kohm),Iran, a place famous for its large seminary.  The Ayatollah Khomeini was the big name at the time and Islamic Revolution was the buzz word.  It was here that Hassan broadened his linguistic skills from Arabic to the more local Persian Farsi.

Graduating from a seminary which claimed the most eminent Shia faculty in the world he was also exposed to a different climate, terrain and political scene.  The Shah had been forced into exile in 1979 and Saddam went to war against Iran.  Iran's Islamic Revolution was causing U.S. officials to get concerned that it might spread to Kuwait or Saudi Arabia where it had oil interests.  The U.S. was stuck between a rock and a hard spot trying to figure out who to trust and who to sell weapons too.

While Qazwini buddies up to liberal ecumenical church leaders he is quick to condemn Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham on page 164 as “stuntmen in clerics' garb, not true arbiters of the faith”.  In the same breath he lists others such as Jerry Vines, past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, for being critical of Islam. Then in 1983 a short time after he was married he made his first hajj to Mecca, and became more aware of the differences between the Saudi Arabian Wahhabi form of Islam and his Shia tradition. A times he uses the history of Shia persecution by Wahhabis as a platform to appease Christian and Jewish complaints regarding their persecution by Muslims. He points out that the Shiites are not allowed to build mosques in Saudi Arabia much like the ban on churches and synagogues suggesting that we have much in common. Blaming the relatively recent Wahhabi movement for persecution of Shiites and non-Muslims is a rather simplistic rewrite of history however. The split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to shortly after the death of Mohammed and he admits how those related to the prophet were pressured out of power and eventually Imam Ali was murdered. The power struggle between these two factions continues to this day.

The book has many photos of Imam Qazwini with George W. Bush, Al Gore, Colin Powell, Nancy Pelosi as well as Congressman John Dingell. Because of his background he has been a sounding board for those seeking advice about not only the Middle East but American Muslims as well. Dingell invited him to give the opening prayer for the 108^th Congress in 1997. This is the same Dingel who voted against solidarity with Israel in 2001.e condemned Christian evangelism during war, because the people are desperate and easy targets.  I guess the history of conversion to Islam at the point of the sword should have been mentioned as well but that was conveniently avoided.  It might be worth pointing out that the Ayatollah Khomeini was a Shiite who taught at Qum and called America the Great Satan.  And it was he that issued a fatwa in 1989 to kill Salman Rushie for his book that was offensive to Islam.By 2006 Qazwini had spoken to more than 230 churches, colleges and civic groups.  He often quotes the Hadith to make his points and is mystified by the fact that Americans still have a negative view of Islam.  Maybe it is because Americans are becoming more familiar with the Quran and it is more difficult to blow smoke up our pants leg.  Then, aside from the book, in an interfaith dialogue with some Lutherans he claims that hunting for sport is un-Islamic and eating fish without scales will upset the equilibrium of the ocean.  This kind of nonsense is laughable to the thousands of hunters and fishermen in our country most of which are excellent stewards of God's creation and our government goes to great lengths to monitor the harvest of wildlife.  Those that own guns might take his message to mean we should all give up our guns as well.  Good luck with that.

The Imam cites the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) often as a reference,which is not likely to help him much given their dubious record.  Toward the end of the book under “Muslim Empowerment” he lists a recommended strategy for advancement of Islam in the west which includes establishing more media connections and working to get more positions in government.  He suggests that Muslims should work to make America a pro-Muslim country as the Jews have done with their religion.  He fails to see that Jews and Christians share the same Old Testament scripture and are pro-Israel, unlike our Muslim friends.  The Bible tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem while the Quran does not even mention Jerusalem. 

If the events in Dearborn over the past few years with Muslims harassing Christian evangelists such as David Woods and Terry Jones are any indication of the future, we might pay close attention to these not so friendly Shiites as well as other Muslims.  The only thing that seemed to get their attention was taking the Sharia friendly officials to court.


Jesus said “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matt. 7:15)
http://youtu.be/KI0mZ-TsltU

http://youtu.be/rnMJRv-8F4E?list=UUpvpku8O928I6bRiqbGvzeg

Mohammed being Trampled in 1685

You have to love this beautiful wood carving of Mohammed clutching his Quran being trampled by angels. It dates to 1685, a couple years after the battle of Vienna. The art piece by Mattheus van Beveren is in the Church of Our Dear Lady in Dendermonde, Belgium.

Polish Hussars, some with wings attached to their backs, were led by King Jan Sobieski in this battle against the Muslims. These wings are depicted in a painting of the battle by artist Wojciech Kossak in the late 1800's. The painting entitled "Sobieski at Vienna" is displayed in the Vatican.

http://youtu.be/L-VFK-CGLp8

Boise Muslims reject Christmas Greeting 2011

The follow statement is from a Boise Mosque

Can a muslim celebrate a non muslim holiday like Christmas?

Praise be to Allaah.Greeting the kuffaar on Christmas and other religious holidays of theirs is haraam, by consensus, as Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, said in Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah: "Congratulating the kuffaar on the rituals that belong only to them is haraam by consensus, as is congratulating them on their festivals and fasts by saying ‘A happy festival to you’ or ‘May you enjoy your festival,’ and so on. If the one who says this has been saved from kufr, it is still forbidden. It is like congratulating someone for prostrating to the cross, or even worse than that. It is as great a sin as congratulating someone for drinking wine, or murdering someone, or having illicit sexual relations, and so on. Many of those who have no respect for their religion fall into this error; they do not realize the offensiveness of their actions. Whoever congratulates a person for his disobedience or bid’ah or kufr exposes himself to the wrath and anger of Allaah."Congratulating the kuffaar on their religious festivals is haraam to the extent described by Ibn al-Qayyim because it implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of kufr, even if one would not accept those things for oneself. But the Muslim should not aceept the rituals of kufr or congratulate anyone else for them, because Allaah does not accept any of that at all, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):"If you disbelieve, then verily, Allaah is not in need of you, He likes not disbelief for His slaves. And if you are grateful (by being believers), He is pleased therewith for you. . ."[al-Zumar 39:7]". . . This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islaam as your religion . . ." [al-Maa’idah 5:3]So congratulating them is forbidden, whether they are one’s colleagues at work or otherwise.
http://youtu.be/L-VFK-CGLp8

A kafir is someone who rejects the teaching of Muhammad.

Harvard, Georgetown & Islam

Saudi Prince buys American University

Both Harvard and Georgetown University each received $20 million donations from a Saudi Prince in 2005. And both universities named a new program on Islamic studies after the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. The University named after “Christian” John Harvard now supports the publishing of Muslim kid stories. Amin G. Aaser co-founder and author of Noor (Light) Kids claims “I am a Muslim because of September 11th”. He and his brother Mohammed, graduate of Harvard Business school, pitched their Noor Kids books idea to the Harvard Business School and won a sponsorship. So now their second book “Noor Kids go to Hajj” is on the market. This is pure proselytizing propaganda because the only way one can go on the Hajj is to become a Muslim.

http://youtu.be/L-VFK-CGLp8