I had high hopes for Glenn Beck’s new book, “It IS About Islam,” but they are fading fast. I am only half way through the book, so I am happy to hold out that the patterns of the first half could still change. However, given that Beck has intentionally inserted a false dichotomy into the forward to both Part I and Part II of this book, I do not have much hope that he will affect a meaningful change by the end of the book. But more than this, I am concerned that, unless his readers have actually studied Islam as I have, they may accept this distorted view of the truth that Beck is presenting. This is why I write: so that those who have ears to hear can know how they are being lead astray about Islam.
First, let me state that I have read the Qur’an. It is a mess. You cannot make a religion from this book; you must have the Hadith. The Hadith are the sayings and customs of Muhammad. There are thousands of them, but I rely on the three most respected collections, and by respected, I mean respected within Islam, itself. Even then, these three Hadith are like reading through three of the old Encyclopedia Britannica collections. In addition to the Hadith, I have read Muhammad’s official biography and the book from which most of Shari’a Law is derived. These are the Muslim holy books, and I listed them in the order of authority and importance. At this point, while his researchers may have done so, I am beginning to believe that Beck has not actually read the Qur’an nor much of the Hadith. I actually say this to be charitable. because, if he has read them, then he is intentionally and deliberately lying to his audience and reader for the purpose of creating the belief that there is a side to Islam that simply does not exist because it cannot exist.
This all starts and centers around Beck’s assertion that there are ‘good’ Muslims and ‘Islamists.’ This is a lie. I know that it is considered impolite to say such a thing, but I am not concerned with niceties at the moment. Beck is inserting a false dichotomy into the equation for the purpose of giving his reader an impression that is not true, and by any definition, this is the very essence of a lie. So I am going to call it what it is.
This lie is the notion that there are ‘good’ Muslims and ‘Islamists.’ He used to call them ‘moderate’ and ‘radical’ Muslims, but he can no longer do that — not now that he has learned that everything the ‘radical/Islamists’ believe is actually based on the Qur’an and Hadith. But — for whatever reason — Beck simply cannot bring himself to accept the Truth: there is only Islam, and if you do not obey Muhammad’s commands as he delivered them, then you are not a Muslim. One of those commands is that Islam does not change. So, if you try to ‘reform’ Islam, you are not a Muslim. Another command is that Muslims who either leave Islam after they convert, or who try to change his commands are hypocrites/apostates and should be killed. According to Muhammad, they commit the highest sin and this is why they should be killed. However, instead of explaining this to his reader, beck starts off in the forward to Part I by saying:
“There’s a crucial distinction to be made between Islam and Islamism. When discussing a topic this important, terminology is critical. Islam is the faith of 1.5 billion people around the world. Islamism is the supremacist political ideology that insists on imposing sharia, or Islamic holy law, on the world.” (pg. 8)
And in the intro to Part II, he doubles down by saying this:
“The faith of 1.6 billion people around the world is not inherently bad, but those who insist on a fundamentalist, outdated, supremacist reading of it are.” (pg. 90)
This is unbelievable. It is unbelievable for its arrogance and its utter foolishness — foolish to the point of being deliberately dangerous. I say this because he is advocating a change within Islam after he has already told his reader that it cannot happen:
“The Qur’an, unlike the Bible, isn’t a collection of stories or revelations written in the third person by humans; it is Allah’s direct word, in his first-person voice. It cannot and will not ever be changed.” [emphasis mine]
How can anyone who claims to have compassion for his fellow man, after reading this, then tell Muslims they should seek to reform their religion? First, if you listen to him regularly, you know that Beck has been very harsh toward those who tell him he is not Christian. ON at least two occasions, he has spent an entire opening monologue explaining that those who tell him he is not a Christian are ‘haters.’ Well, how dare he now tell the Muslims he calls ‘Islamists’ that they are not Muslim, but those who seek to violate Muhammad’s commands by changing Islam are? This, alone, makes Beck a hypocrite. But then, after he claims to have read the Qur’an and Hadith, he continues to tell these Muslims he calls ‘good’ to push for changes. So that you understand what Muhammad actually had to say about changing Islam:
Qur’an:48:22 “If the unbelieving infidels fight against you, they will retreat. (Such has been) the practice (approved) of Allah in the past: no change will you find in the ways of Allah.”
Bukhari:V9B88N174 “I heard the Prophet saying, ‘Islam cannot change!'”
And what Muhammad commanded be done to those who he calls hypocrites/apostates (Muslims who renounce or try to change Islam):
Qur’an:33:60 “Truly, if the Hypocrites stir up sedition, if the agitators in the City do not desist, We shall urge you to go against them and set you over them. Then they will not be able to stay as your neighbors for any length of time. They shall have a curse on them. Whenever they are found, they shall be seized and slain without mercy – a fierce slaughter – murdered, a horrible murdering.”
Now, by my understanding, if you love these people, you do not ask them to step up and volunteer to be murdered by ‘horrible slaughter,’ but this is exactly what Beck is doing when he advocates for an Islamic reformation. But it gets worse.
Throughout Part I, beck traces the rise and fall of the Islamic Caliphate, to its abolition and, eventually, to the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and the new Caliphate. In doing so, he paints those Muslims who had strayed from their faith but still considered themselves to be Muslim as ‘good’ Muslims. He does not point out that, according to Muhammad and Allah, they were no longer Muslims but hypocrites and apostates. Instead, he paints the ‘Islamists’ as perverting Islam.
One of the ways beck does this is by explaining that the Muslim Brotherhood was formed by Muslims who looked at the failures of Islam to defeat its enemies and the resulting decline in the Islamic Caliphate and concluded that it was because Muslims had lost their way. This is what Beck means when he says some Muslims are ‘not Muslim enough.’ The Muslim Brotherhood is the Islamic reform Beck wants — only in the true sense. They looked at Islamic history and Muhammad’s teachings and decided that the reason Islam had fallen into decline was because too many Muslims had become ‘Westernized.’ So they set out to return to true Islam — Islam as Muhammad had lived it. The problem for Beck is that this means Islam is going to be religious and political all at the same time it is violent — because this is what Muhammad did (something Beck actually explains in Part I, but only in the most superficial and apologetic of terms).
Well, once again, Beck ignores what the Qur’an and Hadith have to say on this matter. In truth, Muhammad did say that, if they have enough faith, a few Muslims can and will defeat many:
Qur’an:8:65 “O Prophet, urge the faithful to fight. If there are twenty among you with determination they will vanquish two hundred; if there are a hundred then they will slaughter a thousand unbelievers, for the infidels are a people devoid of understanding.”
Muhammad also said that those Muslims who will not fight in the Jihad will be punished by Allah:
Qur’an:9:38 “Believers, what is the matter with you, that when you are asked to go forth and fight in Allah’s Cause you cling to the earth? Do you prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? Unless you go forth, He will afflict and punish you with a painful doom, and put others in your place.”
Yet, after claiming he had read and studied the Qur’an and Hadith, Beck either forgets or intentionally refuses to mention any of these passages to his reader. Instead, he deliberately paints a picture that presents the ‘Islamist’ as perverting Islam for the purposes of political gain. Well, I have a news flash for Mr. Beck: the people he calls ‘Islamists,’ Muhammad calls MUSLIMS! And the people Beck calls ‘Muslims,’ Muhammad calls HYPOCRITES AND APOSTATES! What’s more, Beck’s ‘Islamists’ are following the Qur’an and Hadith as Muhammad lived them. they are doing exactly what Muhammad did, and Muhammad said:
Ishaq:467 “Allah addressed the believers and said, ‘In Allah’s Apostle you have a fine example for anyone who hopes to be in the place where Allah is.'”
In short: if Muhammad did it, that is what Muslims are supposed to do, too. But remember what Beck says in his book?
“The faith of 1.6 billion people around the world is not inherently bad, but those who insist on a fundamentalist, outdated, supremacist reading of it are.” (pg. 90)
Now I ask you, if there is nothing inherently bad in Islam, why does Beck tell Muslims they need to reform it at the risk of their own lives and violation of Allah’s expressed command? That doesn’t go over well when Christians tell Beck he is not Christian, but — for whatever reason — Beck seems to believe he is justified in telling Muslims to change their religion in direct disobedience to their god. I guess I need to add arrogance to Beck’s hypocrisy and lies. 😦
[NOTE: there is only one way to resolve any of this, and that is to have an open and honest discussion about the validity of all religions. But this is something neither Beck nor Islam dares do as both would quickly be exposed as what they are: cults. And this is by definition, not opinion. So rather than deal with what might lead many to the One True God, we chase our tails in circles by arguing that Muhammad didn’t mean what he said when he said that his words do not and cannot change and that those who try to leave or change his commands are to be killed.
Please, if you are a Christian, join me in praying for all Muslims and Mormons, alike. Ask the Father to show them their error and lead them to Christ so that they may accept Him for Who He truly is and be saved.]
The Oil for Your Lamp 