Connect with us

Black Church News in Virginia

The Ink of the Scholar: Radical Islam, Radical Christianity and Radical Judaism


By Imam Vernon Fareed

I’m sure that the above title comes across as disturbing and upsetting to members of all of these faiths, and now that I have your attention let me quickly condemn this type branding of these religions. All three of the above religions are from the Abrahamic strand and the past Muslim scholar Imam W. Deen Mohammed, referred to them as “the heavenly religions.” By this expression he meant that they are religions based upon Revelation from the Great Creator to His Messengers and Prophets. Our hearts always go out to the innocent victims, their families and friends whenever we witness horrific and barbaric killings such as the one that just occurred in Orlando. We condemn in the strongest measure these acts of insanity!

I began this article with a captivating yet disturbing topic with the intent of drawing attention to something that feeds into the plan of terrorists. If you take note of history terrorists have always attempted to associate their acts with some noble and dignified cause in order to gain acceptability. One case in point is the “Christian Knights of the Klu Klux Klan.” So here is a group of terrorists that claim to be Christians, and who seek to point to Christianity as support for their actions. At some point in the history of America Christians got fed up with this with association and began to demand that the media stop referring to them as Christians. This outrage and protest from Christians was expressed overtly, but the behind the scenes protest was even stronger.

Now, you never hear the word Christian associated with the terrorist acts of the KKK. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “members of a large orchestra don’t accidentally play the same tune.” It is not a coincident that all of the major media establishments modified their language so as not to feed into the plan of the KKK. Despite the fact that one of the Klan’s founders was a Christian Minister, and that they frequently quoted from the Bible to give validity to their terrorism, the voice of reason said “no more!” This is the same outrage that Muslims are expressing when the media consistently refers to the acts of terrorists as, “radical Islam.” There is no such religion as radical Islam, just as there is no such religion as radical Christianity and radical Judaism! Again, just as with the KKK there will always be criminals, terrorists and insane people doing things in the name of religion – even when the authoritative sources in the religion condemns it.

It’s very easy for people to find passages and verses in scripture that when read by one with a heart inclined to hatred and injustice, are able to come away from it with support for their positions. This can be found in all scriptures! A couple of examples follow: Luke 19:27 “But as for those my enemies, which would that I should reign over them bring them hither and slay them before me.” In Leviticus 20:10 it says; “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

Let us suppose that people would suddenly begin acting on a literal interpretation of these passages from Bible scripture in large numbers, and that they would point to the referenced verses as support for their actions, how would the People of the Book respond? Let’s take it a step further and question whether we would likely hear the term “radical Christianity” promoted by the media – I think not! It would be the same if people in large numbers were carrying out such acts in the name of Judaism, you would not likely hear the term “radical Judaism” promoted by the media. The fact of the matter is that we should not experience an embracing of the language, “radical Christianity, radical Judaism nor radical Islam.”

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama and many others have pointed out that doing so, “plays into the hands of the terrorists.” There are many adjectives that we can use to describe people that commit barbaric acts such as what occurred in Orlando, and among them are criminals, terrorists, insane people, etc., but we shouldn’t dignify them by associating their acts with religion.

We have to have a united call by people of conscious to pressure the media to cease interjecting religion with the acts of criminals and terrorists. As long as the media continues to say, i.e. “radical Islam,” Islamists, Islamic terrorists, etc. no matter how loud Muslims raise their voices in condemnation, their voices will be drowned out by that of the big mass media!

Lastly, please take note of the language used by the mass media when they say, “this is the largest mass murder in the history of the United States in modern times.” I wonder how many people know what the largest mass murder was in past times, and by whom was it committed?

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Sale Ending Soon! Dismiss

Exit mobile version
Hide picture