(Has Tony Blair lost it?): Mohammed was “an enormously civilizing force”

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Comment at end

23rd December, 2008

This questioning of Mr Blair’s words on Mohammed, you understand dear reader, goes against my every instinct. But I am seriously in search of The Truth, not making a clever Guardian Cif-type point – see here for a rant in that vein, especially from commenters.

Koran 17:46-47 Non-Muslims will never be allowed to understand the Koran
And we put coverings over their hearts and minds, lest they should understand the Koran, and we put deafness in their ears; when you commemorate your Lord (Allah) and Him alone in the Koran.

PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME, MR BLAIR, WHAT IS SO “CIVILIZING” ABOUT THIS (click to read verses from the Koran, referencing the Prophet Mohammed)

So don’t rush off in your search for the True Blair Supporter. You’re in the right place. I’m just having a

moment of doubt. And we’re all allowed them, now and again. Aren’t we?

I haven’t quite taken leave of my senses and joined Blair Bashers Online. Who ME? Never, never, NEVER!

Onward Christian ... er ... Religious Soldier? Middle East Quartet envoy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is greeted by foreign tourists as he tours the Church of the Nativity, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, during a visit to the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sept. 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

I preface this post by reassuring readers that I am still a believer. A believer in Mr Blair’s faith in faith and in his personal integrity and leadership skills. But I am concerned about his words here, and I cannot pretend otherwise.

Jump to read his article interview and then click the link to come back here

AM I JUST ANOTHER ANTI-ISLAMIST?

Well I don’t think so. I have never judged people on their religion, lack of religion, race, creed, nationality or on any other narrow humanity-denying basis. But I am anti-Islamicism. I believe that, Islamicism, is what terror fundamentalists are preaching and practising.

And Islamicism is NOT as I mentioned at an earlier post, repeat  NOT Islamism. Language IS important.

You may have noticed that in recent times my site has effortlessly morphed into anti-Islamicism, or at least when Mr Blair isn’t saying or doing something newsworthy. That is largely a consequence of my having made a study of the former prime minister and his record on fighting fundamentalism within Islam. He repeatedly referred to it and continues to do so as - “this terrorism” (watch him here and you may understand why I trust him implicitly.)

Quote from the video of his last speech at conference. Unmatchable, and so right.

“This is a struggle that I believe will last a generation and more. But I also believe this passionately. We will not win until we shake ourselves free of the wretched capitulation to the propaganda of the enemy that somehow we are the ones responsible. This terrorism isn’t our fault, we didn’t cause it, it’s not the consequence of foreign policy.  It is an attack on our way of life. It is global, it has an ideology, it killed nearly 3000 people including 60 British on the streets of New York before the war in Iraq and Afghanistan were even thought of. It’s been decades growing. And it preys on every conflict and it exploits every grievance and its victims are mainly Muslim. This is not our war against Islam. This is a war fought by extremists who pervert the true faith of Islam.”

Mr Blair opened my eyes fully to the threat and the truth of the history of the threat. But what I have since learned has left me in some confusion.  Does not Islam hold some responsibility for its errant followers? If so what have they done about it? About their Prophet’s words? About the Koran’s violent teachings?

But now Mr Blair, a man whose praises I cannot sing highly enough, is praising Mohammed, the unquestionable prophet, whose narrowness of teaching and preaching and ban on questioning resulted, arguably, in “this terror”.

So, it’s Mr Blair’s fault that I am today at odds with him. Well, of course it is! Isn’t it always his fault?

No, I am loathe to criticise Mr Blair and I concede that it is likely MY shortcomings rather than his which have led me to where I now stand on Islamicism and Mohammed, uncomfortable as it is. But if we are against the “very ideology also seeking the deaths of British people in planes across the Atlantic” [Blair Sep 2006] does not Mohammed and the ‘true faith of Islam’ bear some responsibility for this ideology? Doesn’t two and two make four any more?

BUY A NEW CALCULATOR – THAT ONE’S BUST!

Let me explain. My studies have led me to conclude that liberal, open, self-critical as we in the west are on religious matters, that option is not permitted in Islam. No man can question the Koran.

The terrorism that now dares not speak its name, even by those who understand it, is at least in some respects due to the unwillingness or inability of Muslims to examine their religious edicts and in so doing question and even alter them.

I admit to having discovered this inherent weakness in Islam mainly as a result of my interest in Tony Blair the politician, and the causes of Blair. As for Islam I had always assumed some sort of ongoing adaptation process as in most religions, reflecting society. But it seems my assumption was wide of the mark. The general conundrum and circular argumentation that is the “interpretation” of Islam allows many to make their own readings, and also permits them to act on those readings. Its repeated dogma of “do unto others before they do unto you” makes The Ten Commandments seem like a fairy tale for the innocent. The lack of top-down structure within Islam is a murderer’s charter and a terrorist’s permit. Or so I have concluded.

DOES BLAIR SEE NO LINK?

In an attempt to work out WHY he seems to be unwilling to make a link (he must SEE one) I pose these questions:

Why has Mr Blair not chosen to make the link between Mohammed’s preachings and the current terror mindset? Is it because he believes that moderate Muslims DO pick and choose the elements within Islam to follow as we in Christianity or Judaism ignore the fire and brimstone parts of our Holy books?

If so, is he right, or has he gone native in his search for the needle in the haystack – peace in the Middle East? And even if right, HOW does this help with today’s problems of western liberal denial, and brainwashed, brainwashing extremism?

Or does he reckon that most Muslims need to be led to the place of reckoning by an outsider they feel they can trust. Someone like him? If so he is taking a HUGE personal and political risk. But then he has always lived dangerously.

Or does he realise that the liberal west in its dhimmitude has him backed into a corner on this and is thus changing tack? Is it a political tactic in a wider strategy?

Or has he always believed that Mohammed was a civilising influence?

It’s odd that Mr Blair has actually chosen at this Christmas time to praise Mohammed so wholeheartedly. So here with my tuppence worth of spanner in the Blair works I’d like to ask him:

Mr Blair, Sir … what are you up to? And why?

NO APPEASEMENT. NOT NOW. AFTER ALL YOU HAVE ALREADY SACRIFICED.

• Do you think you are you the voice of reason in a harsh and discordant cacophony of baseless irateness?
• Do you truly understand and respect, not ‘just tolerate’, all other religions, even if they may not all deserve respect?
• Are you mending fences for history’s sake, your own, or even God’s?
• Is this an attempt to show that with understanding peace-making IS possible if its root causes are dealt with at source, since this threat from fundamentalist Islamicism is rife worldwide and needs to be destroyed before it destroys the rest of us?
• Is the spread of Islam today just too big and potentially too big a threat to deal with in any other way than holding out an olive branch?
• Are you laying down a marker for a future job?

If any of the above are correct, I’m relieved, more or less. I am convinced, by the way, that you are incapable of being brainwashed.

But if your thoughts on Mohammed are for another reason – for instance appeasement, I am bitterly disappointed.

You, me and the rest of the unbelievers are according to Koranic interpretation under pain of death if we choose not to abide by Mohammed’s teachings to unquestioningly believe and accept. In other words  – keep our mouths shut or else.

So far, Mr Blair, so good. All you need do now is jump ship to Islam and you can continue to inhale. Personally I’d rather jump overboard.

You have often spoken of the need to embrace the modern world’s way of thinking. The Koran it seems to many of us is manifestly outside this category. If, Mr Blair, you are not attempting to encourage and ease the modernisation of the Koran’s interpretation amongst its followers, what ARE you doing? You will know that changing and modernising Koranic interpretation has stumped Islamic scholars for centuries.

The future of freedom of religion, democracy and the right of believers and unbelievers to ask questions may be in your hands.  Hold this trust gently. Please.

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Video: Do not Question the Quran Part 148

“ISLAM IS AN INFORMATION-CONTROL CULT”

From the video:

The cult of Mohammed & Islam is an information control cult like all cults.   Theocratic officials represent the biggest threat to any nation’s future in particular and to human civilization in general . They pave the way for the establishment of a religious state that considers having a different opinion to theirs a sin deserving of death thus giving the religious elite divine sanctification to murder any and all opposition as we have seen with the Taliban of Pakistan and as we see with the Mullahs of Afghanistan.

The Prophet: “Ask not questions … some people did ask questions and as a result lost their faith.”

The Prophet: “All ye who believe, ask not about things which, if made plain to you may cause you trouble.”

Mohammed’s Allah was always waiting at Mohammed’s beck and call whenever he needed a convenient and made-to-order revelation.

The prophet said, “The most sinful person among the Muslims is the one who asked about something which had not been prohibited but was prohibited because of his asking.”

Again and again and again the Hadith demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mohammed’s revelations were actually his own creation as and when he needed them but very cleverly projected into the mouth of the unsuspecting Allah to give them divine sanction.

The Holy prophet himself forbade people to ask questions. So do not try.

All false belief systems react negatively when basic common sense questions are asked of them and Mohammed and Islam is a prime example.

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Back to the Plot – WAS MOHAMMED A CIVILIZING FORCE?

Perhaps Mohammed WAS a civilizing force.  But that begs the question – just how uncivilised was Islam before the prophet’s arrival? And Blair’s analysis raises further questions. For instance, WHY do many of today’s Muslims accept seemingly uncritically all that was written in the Koran, in Mohammed’s name, when so much of it has little to do with the inclusivity, love and forgiveness that we in the west associate with religion? It seems to have much to do with destroying “unbelievers” in Allah’s name. There is little hope for infidels, that is clear. There is also a violent undertone, even overtone in much that is written in The Koran. That I find entirely unacceptable.

Perhaps, in the Christmas spirit of continuing goodwill to all men and former prime ministers, I should still conclude that the Koran has much more that is good than bad. But to reach this conclusion I have to take the word of  disinterested and even interested scholars and students, such as Mr Blair. I do not have the time nor the personal inclination to read and absorb the Koran. (Learning about the Koran)

Tony Blair has his work cut out to persuade the non-Muslim world that Mohammed was undeniably a force for good. In comparison I recall the many parables of Jesus. Even if he were no more than a prophet, he answered many, many questions put to him, by followers and critics.

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Here this critique of the ownership of the Koran, with many references arguing both sides, concludes:

‘The Fallacy of Appealing to Motives in Place of Support or the Appeal to Force attempts to persuade the reader to agree by force, i.e. if you don’t believe the Koran is divine, we will kill you. The worst expression of this fallacy is surely something one actually sees in the newspapers: “If you say the Koran preaches violence against infidels, we will kill you.” A book that requests murders in order to defend its truthfulness could not be from Almighty God.’

My thoughts on this critique:

There is a contradiction between Islam’s God and the God of Love.  How can they be the same God? Here, “Allah The One True God” circuitous, abstract argument tries to convince the People of The Book , Christians that the whole idea of Jesus as the Son of God is weak and unacceptable. Coming from Christians, where religious debate and discussion is to be expected and is accepted this argument holds water. Coming from the followers of The One True God it is self-serving.

The Christian God’s forgiveness abounds and is there for ALL, at ANY time. With such a good God, WHY does Mr Blair study the Koran and accept so much of it, perhaps all of it?  He above all in Britain, stood against the “corruption of Islam – terrorist fundamentalist – when all about were calling “foul”.  He paid the price.

It may be the only way forward, to try to mend bridges between communities, and/or he may honestly believe ALL of it. I have never doubted his sincerity. But I am concerned as Christmas approaches that Mr Blair’s innate goodness will rebound badly on him and the rest of us.

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EXAMPLES OF ISLAM’S APPROACH TO UNBELIEVERS , ACCORDING TO THE KORAN

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 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. . . . [I]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).

The compiler of these verses (more here) finishes thus:

This is all desperately tedious, of course. But there is no substitute for confronting the text itself. I cannot judge the quality of the Arabic; perhaps it is sublime. But the book’s contents are not. On almost every page, the Koran instructs observant Muslims to despise nonbelievers. On almost every page, it prepares the ground for religious conflict. Anyone who can read passages like those quoted above and still not see a link between Muslim faith and Muslim violence should probably consult a neurologist.

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More Koran quotes here at Suras of The Holy Koran, Part 2 – (can’t wait to read Part 1)

Koran 17:16-17 Allah will commit genocide
When we decide to destroy a population, we send a definite order to them who have the good things in life and yet transgress; so that Allah’s word is proved true against them: then we destroy them utterly. How many generations have we destroyed after Noah? And enough is thy Lord to note and see the Sins of his servants.

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K 8:012 Gods terrorizes those who can’t understand / believe in the supernatural!
Set 28, Count 62
…make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.

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Koran 8:37 The “All-Merciful Allah” isinstructs Islamics to heap up a mountain (of corpses) of non believers
In order that Allah may separate the impure from the pure, Put All the impure ones (Non-Muslim — atheists, Jews), one on top of the another in a Heap and cast them into Hell. They will be the ones to have lost.

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Koran 21:11 Allah is boasts about His as genocide
How many were the populations we utterly destroyed because of their inequities, setting up in their place other peoples.

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Koran 2:8-10 Allah not only exhorts Muslims to kill all the non-believers; strikes down the surviving ones with disease and pain
In their (Non-Muslims) hearts is a disease; and Allah has increased their disease and grievous is the penalty they will incur, because they are false.

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Koran 58: Infidels be crushed to death by the edict of Allah
Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be crumbled to dust, as were those before them: for we have already sent down Clear Signs and the Unbelievers will have a humiliating Penalty.

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Koran 44:43-50 Sinners, eat Zaqqum to intensify the torment of the Khati’un (Koran Sura 69:36-37);  it tastes like Like molten brass… then boiling water to quench it
Verily the Tree of Zaqqum will be the food of the sinful. Like molten brass it will boil in their insides, Like the boiling of scalding water Seize Ye Him and drag him into the midst of the blazing Fire. Then pour over his head the penalty of Boiling Water.

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Koran 2:39 You will rot in Jahannam (Hell — a valley south of Jerusalem) see Qur’an, Al-Isra (17:60)
Those who reject  faith (Islam) and belie our signs, They shall be Companions of the Fire and abide in it.

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Koran 2:89-90 Allah curses Jews, Christians, Buddhists and atheists
The Curse of Allah is on those without  faith (in Islam) Thus have they drawn wrath upon wrath on themselves and humiliating is the punishment of those who reject faith (in Islam).

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Koran 5:33 Bilateral Amputation!
The Punishment for those who oppose Allah and his messenger is : Execution or Crucifixion or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides or exile from the land.

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Koran 9:35 Beware All Ye Capitalists of the world!
On the day when Heat will be produced out of the wealth in the Fire of Hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their sides and their backs- “This is the treasure that ye buried for yourselves, taste ye then the treasures that ye buried.”

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Koran 8:50 Angels will kill atheists
If you could see when the angels take the souls of the Unbelievers at death. How they smite their faces and backs saying “Taste the penalty of the blazing Fire” .

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Koran 17:46-47 Non-Muslims will never be allowed to understand the Koran
And we put coverings over their hearts and minds, lest they should understand the Koran, and we put deafness in their ears; when you commemorate your Lord (Allah) and Him alone in the Koran.

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Koran 4:100-104  Set 19, Count 48-52 Atheists and Jews are Islam’s enemies

Verily, the infidels are your undoubted enemies!

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Koan 4:100-104  Set 19, Count 48-52 Verily, atheists and Jews are Islam’s enemies

[4.100] …Verily, the infidels are your undoubted enemies! …surely Allah has prepared a disgraceful chastisement for the unbelievers.

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Koran 47:035  Set 71, Count 138 Invite not the infidels to peace

Rodwell: Be not fainthearted then; and invite not the infidels to peace when ye have the upper hand: for God is with you, and will not defraud you of the recompense of your works…

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Koran 3.90 : Surely, those who disbelieve after their believing, then increase in unbelief, their repentance shall not be accepted, and these are they that go astray.

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Koran 2:190-191  Set 2, Count 3+4

[2.190] And fight in the way of Allah with those who fight with you, and do not exceed the limits, surely Allah does not love those who exceed the limits. [2.191] And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.

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Further analysis of WHY the world is being terrorised and attacked by Islamist fundamentalists

Excerpt:

Muslims all over the world have been known to point their fingers at Western society and comment on how degenerate westerners have no sense of family, and that as a consequence, crime, immorality and violence are rampant all over the West. The implication is that Western society is ridden with the consequences of their “descadent and immoral” liberality and irreligious attitude.

The truth is something completely different. The fact is that the highest incidences of violent crimes such as murder, rape, child molestation, dismemberment and armed robbery happen in Islamic countries. In Non-Islamic countries, wherever terrorist and subversive activities take place, one is sure to find the presence of Muslims.

This pattern is so obvious that it leads one to wonder what exactly is it that makes Muslims so viciously engaged in violent crimes against the rest of humanity. Why are all terrorist activities that target innocent Non-Muslim victims always abetted by Muslim terrorists? What is it that makes the Muslim mind so subject to criminality and the display of such violent tendencies right from his/her childhood days?

The answer lies in the systematic brainwashing that Muslims are subjected to since birth. The majority of the Non-Islamic world has deluded itself into believing that the principles of Islam are tolerant in nature. This misconception is heightened when people think that the fault lies with only a handful of misguided Muslims who are not adhering to Islamic principles and hence indulge in terrorism. It is time for the entire world to realise that Islam by its very nature and through its essential principles openly supports, encourages and propogates Terrorism of the worst kind. Therefore the Islamic terrorist is in fact the most devout Muslim, because he is following exactly what Islam teaches through the Divine Koran. It is this very Koran which is considered by Muslims to be the holy word of their Allah himself. The Koran functions as the central terrorist manual that urges them to slaughter, rape, torture,pillage, mutilate and molest all Non-Muslims.

The Muslim is exhorted by their GOD to kill, mutilate, molest, rape and steal. This repetitive conditioning of the mind is performed by indoctrinating the Koranic Surahs in every Muslim child at Madarsas (Islamic schools). The Muslim child daily memorizes the Koranic Surahs which exhort him/her to murder, violence, hatred and crime against every Non-Muslim. The Muslim child learns to hate Non-Muslims, before he loses his first tooth. The doctrines that are forced down his throat are so deeply embedded in the child’s mind, that he cannot view the world in any other perspective except as a composition of Muslims and Kafirs (Infidel). It is also made clear to the child that ALL Kafirs (Non-Muslims) are evil by their very nature and that it is every Muslim’s moral and religious duty to either convert all the Kafirs to Islam by force or Kill each and every one of them.

That, Mr Blair, means YOU and yours too.  You say you are NOT about to convert, thank all that’s Holy.  Are you now standing up and fighting for the God of Love? Is this your way of doing it? Or God’s way? I hope so, sincerely. I DO hope your strength and determination to fight for what is right has not been replaced by desperate gullibility. We, over 60% of the country, did not support you in your efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan because we saw you as a soft touch.

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Tony Blair interview with “Zeit Online”: I regularly read the Koran, practically every day,’ Blair told the interviewer. He said the Prophet Mohammed had been ‘an enormously civilizing force.’ Report source here

Tony Blair converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism after the end of his term of office as Prime Minister. He has a deep interest in Islam © EMILIO MORENATTI/AFP/Getty image

ORIGINAL SOURCE OF ARTICLE

From Monster & Critics referencing this Die Zeit story:

Berlin – Religious faith – any faith – is needed in order fully to grasp the Middle East conflict, former British prime minister Tony Blair said Tuesday in an interview with a German weekly, Die Zeit.

‘If religious faith were not to play any role in the 21st century, which I cannot imagine, something decisive would be missing,’ he said, according to the German version of the interview.

Blair, 55, said his own Catholic beliefs helped him in his current role as envoy for Mideast peace.

‘In the first place, you understand what it means to believe. What you often find is that you immediately have something in common with another person of faith, even if he belongs to a different religion.

‘As well as that, one is interested in other religions. One’s motivation is greater. I regularly read the Koran, practically every day,’ Blair told the interviewer. He said the Prophet Mohammed had been ‘an enormously civilizing force.’

But when asked if he planned to convert to Islam, he smiled and said, ‘No, let’s not start on that,’ Die Zeit reported.

Asked about a perception among Muslims that they are oppressed, he said, ‘You tell me who oppresses the Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq.

‘We have overthrown two brutal dictatorships. Then we let the people decide for themselves who to have as a government. The people went to the polls and voted. Then we provided 20 billion dollars in aid.

‘Then Muslims incite other Muslims to kill their fellow Muslims. Now tell me, who is oppressing Muslims? Them or me?’

Blair’s remarks were translated from German back to English by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Blair is mediating between Israel and the Palestinians as envoy for the Middle East Quartet, a consortium of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

(A literal online Babel translation can be found here)

• Muhammed – Wikipedia & further sources
• Wjho wrote the Koran? The book which is claimed to have a powerful effect when read aloud. [Note to Cherie - if you hear Tony doing this, kindly remove it from him. Brainwashing is best left for those whose critical faculties are already destroyed.]

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BlairSupporter’s THOUGHTS on this -  FOR WHAT THEY’RE WORTH

It’s not my instinct to question Mr Blair’s judgement or integrity. I have much faith in this man. Here comes the ‘but’ … But, with much of the current fears over Islam, his words bring to mind several issues that as yet remain untackled.

1. Verses in the Koran calling for ‘death to unbelievers. Many non-Muslims find Mr Blair’s commendations hard to swallow when this call to arms is either ignored or glossed over. It is this facet of Islam, rather than any fault of western leaders in invading Iraq, which is cause of the continual terror attacks worldwide. Mr Blair agrees with this diagnosis and has often accused Islamicists of using Iraq and the war  on terror as a pretext for completing their long-believed purpose – to destroy the infidel and bring a caliphate to this world. This sits uncomfortably with the idea that Islam is a peaceful, tolerant religion when its peaceful leaders seem impotent to set the facts straight to their wayward followers.

I do not read the Koran daily. In fact, not at all. But there as some verses here from the Koran which seem to indicate the approach expected of Islam’s followers to we non-believers (examples here). How Mr Blair can read this, almost daily, knowing that he and non-Muslims are all regarded in this way, is beyond me, I have to confess.

2. Repeated accusations that Mohammed was a child molester and paedophile by today’s western standards. See discussion and comments here. Here the common occurrence of sexual relations with children were said to be accepted as normal (Aisha child-bride). That may be a cultural explanation for Mohammed’s ‘wedding’ of a 6 or 7 year old, consummated when she was 9.  NINE!?  But will Mr Blair grab this bull by the horns and explain that the use and by today’s standards abuse of children in this way was common 1500 years ago and does not denote paedophilia? Someone must, if historical context is to be understood. Yet somehow I don’t think even Mr Blair will wish to enter these murky waters.

3. I am not convinced that (any) religious faith is “needed” to fully grasp the Middle East conflict. I believe I understand it, and I have not been seen fit to be touched by religious faith in my adult life. I understand (some of) its complexities, religious, cultural, political, historical.  And I realise that we need to be able to embrace these differences in order to reach common ground with Islam and the non-Muslim and secular world. I do NOT accept that we should abandon common sense, suspend our unbelief, or freeze our political faculties or analysis of the historical root causes in order to do so.

Tony Blair certainly makes some points that even I can believe in. But then my faith is in humanity for all its shortcomings. And still, strongly in Mr Blair.

But how on earth he, as a righteous and tolerant man of God can swallow this junk whole and not tell it like it is, is beyond me.

This banner has just been raised in Nazareth, where Jesus was born.

Thanks to this site for the above picture and information.

As Nazareth’s Christians prepare to celebrate Christmas, they are playing down the appearance of a confrontational Islamic banner that challenges a elemental Christian belief.

Journalists visiting the city saw two large banners – one in English, one in Arabic – hanging in the plaza in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation, with a verse from the Koran (112:1-4) contradicting the New Testament proclamation that Jesus is the “only begotten” of God.

“In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful, Say (O Muhammad): He is Allah, (the) One and Only. Allah, the Eternal, the Absolute. He begetteth not, nor was begotten, and there is none like unto him,” the banner reads.

Pity they can’t find it in their hearts to greet other religions as kindred believers at this time of celebration, as does Mr Blair regularly.

GOT TO GO AND WRAP SOME PRESENTS.

This ’secular Christian’, Blair Supporter, not militant in any sense, wishes you and your family a very Merry Christmas while you read the Christian Bible, practically daily, presumably.

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ASSOCIATED

• Visit this anti-New World Order site with its thoughts on a statement by the President of the EU Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering. See what we are up against? New World Order? Fine with me, if the civilised of the world are running it. Or perhaps the writer who is afraid of the EU/American NWO would rather his enemy ran it? A New World Order is DEFINITELY on the cards. Get used to it.
• More than 30 rockets launched from Gaza into Israel is response to Israel’s threats to respond! Smart move!
• Swedes & Canadians – “Trouble wherever Muslims are”
• Zimbabwe ripe for invasion? “It is NOT Tony Blair’s … Britain’s fault“
• One of the more balanced responses to Mr Blair’s words

A picture reportedly showing the American rabbi & his pregnant wife killed by the Mumbai terrorists. This website says that they were tortured and mutilated sexually. I have no corroboration of this, but if true, who or what inspired them to do that? Mohammed’s guidance? Surely not.

Excerpt: “The above photo depicts that very same civilising force. It has recently been discovered that besides being viciously murdered, the Rabbi and his pregnant wife, along with other victims in the hotels, were sexually tortured and had their genitals mutilated as well by their attackers in Mumbai. I am sure that Mr. Blair feels that this is just an isolated case of radical fringe lunacy and has nothing to do whatsoever with islam.”

More here

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