[ExI] Arabs don't read

[John Clark]

On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 6:18 PM, Mirco Romanato <painlord2k at libero.it>
wrote:

I would say most Christians try to follow the Bible:
>

So do Christians stone to death their neighbor if they notice that they're
working on the Sabbath as the Bible commands them to do? Do Christians
murder their children if they talk back to them as the Bible advises them
to do?  Of course they don't! Instead Christians use their own moral
compass (that has nothing to do with religion) and cherry pick that vastly
overrated book. Christians and talk about some nice quotations that are in
the Bible and just ignore the many that are stupid, psychopathic or just
plain evil. Modern Christians may say that they believe every work in the
Bible but they most certainly do not behave as if they did. Unfortunately
most Muslims DO behave as if they believed every word in the Quran.

> The Quran is mainly centered about not Muslims and how Muslims must deal
> with them.
>

Yes. The following is from the Sam Harris book "The End Of Faith".

*" *Open the Koran, which is perfect in its every syllable, and simply read
it with the eyes of faith. You will see how little compassion need be
wasted on those whom God himself is in the process of “mocking,” “cursing,”
“shaming,” “punishing,” “scourging,” “judging,” “burning,” “annihilating,”
“not forgiving,” and “not reprieving.” God, who is infinitely wise, has
cursed the infidels with their doubts. He prolongs their life and
prosperity so that they may continue heaping sin upon sin and all the more
richly deserve the torments that await them beyond the grave. In this
light, the people who died on September 11 were nothing more than fuel for
the eternal fires of God’s justice. To convey the relentlessness with which
unbelievers are vilified in the text of the Koran, I provide a long
compilation of quotations below, in order of their appearance in the text.
This is what the Creator of the universe apparently has on his mind (when
he is not fussing with gravitational constants and atomic weights):"
















*“It is the same whether or not you forewarn them [the unbelievers], they
will have no faith” (2:6). “God will mock them and keep them long in sin,
blundering blindly along” (2:15). A fire “whose fuel is men and stones”
awaits them (2:24). They will be “rewarded with disgrace in this world and
with grievous punishment on the Day of Resurrection” (2:85). “God’s curse
be upon the infidels!” (2:89). “They have incurred God’s most inexorable
wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits [them]” (2:90). “God is the enemy
of the unbelievers” (2:98). “The unbelievers among the People of the Book
[Christians and Jews], and the pagans, resent that any blessing should have
been sent down to you from your Lord” (2:105). “They shall be held up to
shame in this world and sternly punished in the hereafter” (2:114). “Those
to whom We [God] have given the Book, and who read it as it ought to be
read, truly believe in it; those that deny it shall assuredly be lost”
(2:122). “[We] shall let them live awhile, and then shall drag them to the
scourge of the Fire. Evil shall be their fate” (2:126). “The East and the
West are God’s. He guides whom He will to a straight path” (2:142). “Do not
say that those slain in the cause of God are dead. They are alive, but you
are not aware of them” (2:154). “But the infidels who die unbelievers shall
incur the curse of God, the angels, and all men. Under it they shall remain
for ever; their punishment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be
reprieved” (2:162). “They shall sigh with remorse, but shall never come out
of the Fire” (2:168). “The unbelievers are like beasts which, call out to
them as one may, can hear nothing but a shout and a cry. Deaf, dumb, and
blind, they understand nothing” (2:172). “Theirs shall be a woeful
punishment” (2:175). “How steadfastly they seek the Fire! That is because
God has revealed the Book with truth; those that disagree about it are in
extreme schism” (2:176). “Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out
of the places from  which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage. .
. . f they attack you put them to the sword. Thus shall the unbelievers be
rewarded: but if they desist, God is forgiving and merciful. Fight against
them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme. But if
they desist, fight none except the evil-doers”(2:190–93). “Fighting is
obligatory for you, much as you dislike it. But you may hate a thing
although it is good for you, and love a thing although it is bad for you.
God knows, but you know not” (2:216). “They will not cease to fight against
you until they force you to renounce your faith—if they are able. But
whoever of you recants and dies an unbeliever, his works shall come to
nothing in this world and in the world to come. Such men shall be the
tenants of Hell, wherein they shall abide forever. Those that have embraced
the Faith, and those that have fled their land and fought for the cause of
God, may hope for God’s mercy” (2:217–18). “God does not guide the
evil-doers” (2:258). “God does not guide the unbelievers” (2:264). “The
evil-doers shall have none to help them” (2:270). “God gives guidance to
whom He will” (2:272).""Those that deny God’s revelations shall be sternly
punished; God is mighty and capable of revenge” (3:5). “As for the
unbelievers, neither their riches nor their children will in the least save
them from God’s judgment. They shall become fuel for the Fire” (3:10). “Say
to the unbelievers: ‘You shall be overthrown and driven into Hell—an evil
resting place!’” (3:12). “The only true faith in God’s sight is Islam. . .
. He that denies God’s revelations should know that swift is God’s
reckoning” (3:19). “Let the believers not make friends with infidels in
preference to the faithful—he that does this has nothing to hope for from
God—except in self-defense” (3:28). “Believers, do not make friends with
any but your own people. They will spare no pains to corrupt you. They
desire nothing but your ruin. Their hatred is evident from what they utter
with their mouths, but greater is the hatred which their breasts conceal”
(3:118). “If you have suffered a defeat, so did the enemy. We alternate
these vicissitudes among mankind so that God may know the true believers
and choose martyrs from among you (God does not  love the evil-doers); and
that God may test the faithful and annihilate the infidels” (3:140).
“Believers, if you yield to the infidels they will drag you back to
unbelief and you will return headlong to perdition. . . . We will put
terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. . . . The Fire shall be their
home” (3:149–51). “Believers, do not follow the example of the infidels,
who say of their brothers when they meet death abroad or in battle: ‘Had
they stayed with us they would not have died, nor would they have been
killed.’ God will cause them to regret their words. . . . If you should die
or be slain in the cause of God,  God’s forgiveness and His mercy would
surely be better than all the riches they amass” (3:156). "“Never think
that those who were slain in the cause of God are dead. They are alive, and
well provided for by their Lord; pleased with His gifts and rejoicing that
those they left behind, who have not yet joined them, have nothing to fear
or to regret; rejoicing in God’s grace and bounty. God will not deny the
faithful their reward” (3:169). “Let not the unbelievers think that We
prolong their days for their own good. We give them respite only so that
they may commit more grievous sins. Shameful punishment awaits them”
(3:178). “Those that suffered persecution for My sake and fought and were
slain: I shall forgive them their sins and admit them to gardens watered by
running streams, as a reward from God; God holds the richest recompense. Do
not be deceived by the fortunes of the unbelievers in the land. Their
prosperity is brief. Hell shall be their home, a dismal resting place”
(3:195–96)."“God has cursed them in their unbelief” (4:46). “God will not
forgive those who serve other gods besides Him; but He will forgive whom He
will for other sins. He that serves other gods besides God is guilty of a
heinous sin. . . . Consider those to whom a portion of the Scriptures was
given. They believe in idols and false gods and say of the infidels: ‘These
are better guided than the believers’” (4:50–51). “Those that deny Our
revelation We will burn in fire. No sooner will their skins be consumed
than We shall give them other skins, so that they may truly taste the
scourge. God is mighty and wise” (4:55–56).“Believers, do not seek the
friendship of the infidels and those who were given the Book before you,
who have made of your religion a jest and a pastime” (5:57). “That which is
revealed to you from your Lord will surely increase the wickedness and
unbelief of many among them. We have stirred among them enmity and hatred,
which will endure till the Day of Resurrection” (5:65). “God does not guide
the unbelievers” (5:67). “That which is revealed to you from your Lord will
surely increase the wickedness and unbelief of many among them. But do not
grieve for the unbelievers” (5:69). “You see many among them making friends
with unbelievers. Evil is that to which their souls prompt them. They have
incurred the wrath of God and shall endure eternal torment. . . . You will
find that the most implacable of men in their enmity to the faithful are
the Jews and the pagans, and that the nearest in affection to them are
those who say: ‘We are Christians’” (5:80–82). “[T]hose that disbelieve and
deny Our revelations shall become the inmates of Hell” (5:86)."“[T]hey deny
the truth when it is declared to them: but they shall learn the
consequences of their scorn” (6:5). “We had made them more powerful in the
land than yourselves [the Meccans], sent down for them abundant water from
the sky and gave them rivers that rolled at their feet. Yet because they
sinned We destroyed them all and raised up other generations after them. If
We sent down to you a Book inscribed on real parchment and they touched it
with their own hands, the unbelievers would still assert: ‘This is but
plain sorcery.’ They ask: ‘Why has no angel been sent down to him
[Muhammad]?’ If We had sent down an angel, their fate would have been
sealed and they would have never been reprieved” (6:5–8). “Who is more
wicked than the man who invents falsehoods about God or denies His
revelations?” (6:21). “Some of them listen to you. But We have cast veils
over their hearts and made them hard of hearing lest they understand your
words. They will believe in none of Our signs, even if they see them one
and all. When they come to argue with you the unbelievers say: ‘This is
nothing but old fictitious tales.’ They forbid it and depart from it. They
ruin none but themselves, though they do not perceive it. If you could see
them when they are set before the Fire! They will say: ‘Would that we could
return! Then we would not deny the revelations of our Lord and would be
true believers’ (6:23–27). “But if they were sent back, they would return
to that which they have been forbidden. They are liars all” (6:29). “Had
God pleased He would have given them guidance, one and all” (6:35). “Deaf
and dumb are those that deny Our revelations: they blunder about in
darkness. God confounds whom He will, and guides to a straight path whom He
pleases.” (6:39) “[T]heir hearts were hardened, and Satan made their deeds
seem fair to them. And when they had clean forgotten Our admonition We
granted them all that they desired; but just as they were rejoicing in what
they were given, We suddenly smote them and they were plunged into utter
despair. Thus were the evil-doers annihilated. Praise be to God, Lord of
the Universe!” (6:43–45). “[T]hose that deny Our revelations shall be
punished for their misdeeds” (6:49)." “Such are those that are damned by
their own sins. They shall drink scalding water and be sternly punished for
their unbelief” (6:70). “Could you but see the wrongdoers when death
overwhelms them! With hands out-stretched, the angels will say: ‘Yield up
your souls. You shall be rewarded with the scourge of shame this day, for
you have said of God what is untrue and scorned His revelations” (6:93).
“Avoid the pagans. Had God pleased, they would not have worshipped idols. .
. . We will turn away their hearts and eyes from the Truth since they
refused to believe in it at first. We will let them blunder about in their
wrongdoing. If We sent the angels down to them, and caused the dead to
speak to them, . . . and ranged all things in front of them, they would
still not believe, unless God willed otherwise. . . . Thus have We assigned
for every prophet an enemy: the devils among men and jinn, who inspire each
other with vain and varnished false- hoods. But had your Lord pleased, they
would not have done so. Therefore leave them to their own inventions, so
that the hearts of those who have no faith in the life to come may be
inclined to what they say and, being pleased, persist in their sinful ways”
(6:107–12). “The devils will teach their votaries to argue with you. If you
obey them you shall yourselves become idolaters. . . . God will humiliate
the transgressors and mete out to them a grievous punishment for their
scheming” (6:121–25). “If God wills to guide a man, He opens his bosom to
Islam. But if he pleases to confound him, He makes his bosom small and
narrow as though he were climbing up to heaven. Thus shall God lay the
scourge on the unbelievers” (6:125)."*
" Yes, the Bible contains its own sadistic lunacy—but the above quotations
can be fairly said to convey the central message of the Qur’an—and of Islam
at nearly every moment in its history. The Qur’an does not contain anything
like a Sermon on the Mount. Nor is it a vast and self-contradictory book
like the Old Testament, in which whole sections (like Leviticus and
Deuteronomy) can be easily ignored and forgotten. The result is a unified
message of triumphalism, otherworldliness, and religious hatred that has
become a problem for the entire world. And the world still waits for
moderate Muslims to speak honestly about it."

 John K Clark
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