ISLAM & THE MUSLIMS
Blessing or Burden? YOU be the Judge
The founding Document of Islam, The Koran,
Serialized by Four Common Americans

PART  FORTY TWO
Surah 23 - "The Believers"
By LTC Daniel Marvin, USASF (ret)

Muhammad begins this Surah telling the reader "Happy now the BELIEVERS,
Who humble them in their prayers, And who keep aloof from vain words [in
prayer and perhaps in idle talk also], And who are doers of alms deeds,
And who restrain their appetites," and Muhammad goes on to say in
parenthesis, "(Save with their wives, or the slaves whom their right
hands possess: for in that case they shall be free from blame: But they
whose desires reach further than this are transgressors:)"...  After this
rather matter-of-fact declaration that Muslim men do not have to
"restrain their appetites" when it comes to using their wives or their
slaves to satisfy their lusts, Muhammad goes on to tell of how man was
created, how he and others (see verse 17 and on) had created "seven
heavens" and brought water down from the Heaven, caused gardens, trees
and vineyards to "spring forth," and lastly (See verse 21) how they gave
to his people "drink of what is in their [cows] bellies."
Muhammad then turns to the time of Noah and the ark and tells his people
that it was he and others who ordered Noah to "Make the ark under our eye
(see verse 27), and as we have taught, and when our doom shall come on,
and the earth's surface shall boil up, Carry unto it of every kind a
pair, and thy family, save him on whose sentence hath already passed: and
plead not with me for the wicked, for they shall be drowned."
Verse 52 states unequivocally "And we appointed the Son of Mary [Jesus],
and His mother for a sign; and we prepared an abode for both in a lofty
spot, quiet and watered with springs."  Thus, I assume Muhammad does not
consider Jesus as the Son of God. In fact, he goes on to clarify his
position that Jesus is not part of the "triune God" by stating in verse
93, "God hath not begotten offspring; neither is there any other God with
Him: else had each god assuredly taken away that which he had created,
and some had assuredly uplifted themselves above others!"
More to come: You be the judge of it all!