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The Interceders Encourager No. 23

Islam in Britain : What should we do about it? : 1) The problem

Some of you may be wondering why I am dealing with the subject of Islam, when our purpose is to pray for revival and awakening. The reason is that Islam already has a significant influence on the religious, social and political life of Britain, and this influence will grow at an alarming rate if we do not take it seriously. If we do not confront the situation, and take decisive action about it, we will find it increasingly difficult to control the predicament we will find ourselves in, and our country that we are so concerned about, will be lost, not to atheists or secularists or a spirit of lawlessness, but to Islam

Many Christians are confused about the true nature of Islam. Some Muslims, especially those advocating Islam on radio and television, insist that Islam is a religion of peace, and that is what the word Islam means; whereas others describe Islam as a violent, ruthless, dictatorial system that persecutes Christians, stifles all dissent, commits acts of terrorism and engages in war, and will continue to do so until all who have not submitted to their religion are either killed or made to submit.

Does this mean that there are two kinds of Islam, two sides of Muhammad and two interpretations of the Koran? Yes, it does, and we need to understand this, and realize the historical reasons for it.

Muhammad, (c.570-632 AD), was born and brought up in Mecca in Arabia. After claiming to receive a vision of the angel Gabriel, which most people around him did not believe, he fled to Medina. There, his character changed, and he became what we would probably call a highwayman, robbing and plundering caravans until he was strong enough to return to Mecca and enforce his rule there.

In the early years in Mecca, (we will call this Time A), Muhammad sought to persuade people to believe him and submit to his religion. In Medina and in the later years in Mecca, (what we will call Time B), Muhammad used the threat of the sword to compel people to accept him and his demands.

In Time A, Muhammad had a hard time seeking to stop idol worship, and exempted Christians and Jews from his demands.

In Time B, He persecuted idol worshippers, Christians and Jews as infidels.

In Time A, Muhammad led the life of a teacher and prophet, and followed the disciplines of prayer and fasting.

In Time B, he was a political ruler and military commander. During the ten years in Medina, he personally led at least 27 military attacks, (some say over 70), and before his death he had conquered most of the Arabian Peninsula.

After his death, his followers continued in the same way, until they had militarily overrun about 50% of the Christian world, and had extinguished almost all of the Christian witness in those lands.

This aggressive, warring side of Islam continued in phases; and in Europe, on three occasions, in 732, 1529 and 1683, the whole Christian civilization of Europe came close to extinction, and was saved, many believe, only through the prayers of God’s people.

There have been quieter periods in history when a temporarily defeated or tired Islam lay like a sleeping tiger, but during the 20th Century, the tiger began to wake up again. The First World War and its results in the Middle East played a part in this, causing anti Western feelings to arise. The formation of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 had a very significant effect, as did the break up of the old Turkish Empire, the independence of Middle Eastern countries, combined with the increasing political power given to the area through the supply of oil, the establishment of the state of Israel on what Muslims perceive as Arab soil, the collapse of the British Empire, the establishment of Pakistan and Indonesia as independent countries with large Muslim majority populations, the ousting of the Shah of Persia, and the setting up of the Muslim Republic of Iran in 1978.

As the power of these countries and others in the Middle East and Central and Western Asia have increased, we have seen the tiger flex his muscles more and more. The spreading of revolutionary, jihadist ideas has been facilitated by the use of radio, television, telephone and the internet, the gullibility of Western nations in allowing the immigration of millions of Muslims from Islamic countries to their own, aided through the advent of cheap air travel, which has also enabled millions of Muslims to travel to Mecca on pilgrimage, thus strengthening the feelings of solidarity of all Muslims against the corrupt West. These Western nations with their immorality, their drunkenness, their breakdown of family life, etc., are wrongly equated with Christianity, in the minds of Muslims, and consequently leads to stronger anti Christian feelings all over the Muslim world.

We are, therefore, living in a time of increasing Muslim influence and power, shown in the extension of the imposition of Sharia Law, an intensification of the persecution of Christians, an increase in kidnappings, abductions, forced marriages and revenge killings, a greater imposition of the wearing of Muslim clothes even in Western nations, a greater use of the horrors of suicide bombings, the spread of terrorism, an increase in wars and genocides, the multiplication of death threats to anyone who dares to criticise them or their founder, or who contemplates leaving them or even befriending infidels; as the belligerent side of Islam rears its head.

It may be objected that most Muslims are peaceful people, and that it is only the extreme lunatic fringe that are causing all the trouble. Now it is true that there are many gentle and friendly Muslims, but the situation is changing, and the existence of peaceful Muslims may soon become irrelevant, for it is the fanatics, the hard liners, the extremists who are gaining the upper hand in country after country. It is they who are taking over mosque after mosque. It is they who are insisting on all Muslim women wearing burkas and being in subjection. Just recently I heard of hundreds of Muslim women in Iraq being killed by men because they were not completely covered. It is they who insist that all the children of Muslims, even in the West, learn the Koran in Arabic for hours every week. It is they who are setting up Islamic schools and madrassahs. It is they who persecute Christians, especially MBBs, (Muslim background believers), even here in Britain. Even in the so called "moderate" Muslim countries such as Egypt and Turkey, Christians are still persecuted, are not given the same rights as Muslims, are denied opportunities to train and get jobs, and are not allowed to change their religion. Islam and freedom cannot coexist.

Moreover, in September 2007, The Times reported on an investigation which found that almost half of Britain’s mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect whose leading preacher loathes Western values, and has called on Muslims to distance themselves from the "evil influence" of their non Muslim British neighbours, and be ready to shed blood for Allah. His name is Riyadh ul Haq, who supports armed jihad, and preaches contempt for Christians, Jews and Hindus, and who is in line to become the leader of the Deobandi sect in Britain. This movement, that gave birth to the Taliban in Afghanistan, now runs more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques. Having been educated and trained at an Islamic seminary in Britain, he pours scorn on any Muslims who say they are proud to be British, and states that friendship with a Jew or a Christian makes a mockery of Allah’s religion. It is important to note that 17 out of Britain’s 26 Islamic seminaries are run by the Deobandis, and they produce 80% of home trained Muslim clerics; the training, incidentally, being mostly funded by local education authority grants! Khaled Ahmed, a commentator on religious radicalism in Pakistan, where Deobandis wield significant political influence, was amazed that "blind ignorance on the part of the British government had allowed the Deobandis to become the dominant voice of Islam in Britain’s mosques. You have allowed the takeover of the mosques. You can’t run multiculturalism like that, because that is a way of destroying yourself, especially as in Britain the Deobandi message has become even more extreme than it is in Pakistan."

Those who do not believe this, need to ask themselves the following questions:

a) Why do we not hear of widespread Muslim denunciation across Britain of all the violence perpetrated by Muslims all round the world?

b) Why do the so called "Moderate Muslims" who speak on radio and television complain of Muslims being the victims and not the perpetrators of violence?

c) Why are the radical Jihadist imams in Britain not thrown out by the "moderates"?

d) Why are all the converts from Islam to Christianity in Britain persecuted by Muslims?

It is of interest to note that that the Islamic group "Tablighi Jamaat," which prides itself as peaceable and moderate, was linked to the London and Glasgow car bomb attempts.

We should also note the comments of Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani, who stated that Muslims should live peacefully in countries such as Britain, where they have the freedom to practise Islam, only until they gain enough power to engage in battle. They are playing a waiting game, for all Muslims, just like all true Christians, are committed to winning the world, and will not rest till they have done so.

Muslim jurists have instructed Muslim immigrants into Western countries:

i) to place religious identity above any national or ethnic identity, and to promote the interests of a global Islam

ii) to affirm their religious identity, and to distance themselves from anything that is contrary to Islam.

iii) to establish and patronize mosques, Muslim schools, cultural centres and shops.

iv) to champion the cause of one Muslim nation in the political as well as the religious sphere.

v) to spread Islam in the declining spiritual void of Western countries.

A new film by the Dutch politician Geert Wilders called "Fitna" has recently been released. In it Wilders demonstrates the threat that radical Islam poses to the West. Even before the official release, Wilders was threatened with death for daring to tell the truth; but no "moderate" Muslim voice was raised in defence of the truth. This again underlines the truth that there is no such thing as moderate Islam, for whenever non Muslims point out the truth about Islam, even so called "moderates" respond by claiming that these writers are guilty of hatred, of bigotry, of racism of Islamophobia etc. They will not accept the truth. If they really were moderate and wanted Islam to be perceived as such, they would be spending all their time denouncing the atrocities, and the persecution and the abductions and the killings and the bombings, and trying to stop them, but they do not.

It is not possible to believe that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance until all Muslims are willing to face up to the truth about themselves, their history and what they are doing all round the world; until all Muslim countries allow the free circulation of Bibles and Christian literature into their countries; grant the freedom to broadcast Christian radio and television programmes inside their countries; allow the building of Christian places of worship in their countries, especially in Saudi Arabia; allow their people the freedom to change their religion and believe what they want; allow their daughters to marry whomever they choose; give equal educational, political and job opportunities to all people, regardless of their religious persuasion, etc., etc., and we know they will never allow that, for their aim is world domination by suppression and violence.

Applied to Britain, this means that their aim is to bring our nation under Islamic rule. Sam Solomon, a former imam and Islamic lawyer, has warned that Britain has become the number one target for Islamic strategics, and they are seeking to establish Sharia law in the United Kingdom.

Stephen Green has pointed out that one way they are doing this is by concentrating Muslims in a particular area. When a critical percentage of that area is inhabited by Muslims, a demand is made to the local authority to allow the erection of a mosque. To them, a mosque is a statement that Islam rules that area. The mosque is built with a minaret to make it dominating, ready for the day when the call to prayer goes out over the whole area. Muslims then continue to migrate to that area, eventually applying pressure on non Muslims to leave or to modify aspects of their behaviour that Muslims do not like. Muslims, according to Green will walk into a church building even during a service, and arrogantly claim the building for Allah.

Another aspect of this is to be involved in the political process at local levels. A mosque is a command centre from which the takeover of the local area is directed. It will usually include a madrassah, a school for teaching the Koran and Islamic practices. The borough of Tower Hamlets in London gives an illustration of what is possible. The population is, or was, 36% Muslim. They now control the borough council. They eliminated references to Christianity in the names of wards in the borough, allocated funds to advance Islamic projects, set up a madrassah with Arabic being the medium of instruction, forced the closure of Christian schools, and now control the complete religious education for 8-14 year olds in all the schools. This is Britain today. Does this not disturb you? In this land we are sitting on a time bomb, especially those of us in cities with a large Muslim population.

Moreover, concession after concession has been given to Muslims in Britain. Mosques have been built inside prisons, because Muslims object to using the chapels, even with the cross covered up. There is even a Muslim chapel within the House of Lords. Muslims are seeking to rearrange examination timetables to avoid clashing with their festivals, and already keep their children away from school at such times. Mosques have been allowed to be built at every university in the U.K.

Muslims then believe that they have been given the keys to that area in the spiritual realm.

Our government is falling over backwards to accommodate things for Muslims, not daring to say a word against them, even denying that terrorists are Muslims. "Any attempt to identify a murderous theology with a great faith such as Islam is wrong, and needs to be denied,!" declared Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary. Such a blatant denial of the truth is beyond comprehension, and must be due to the influence of the devil, the father of lies. How we need to pray for our government, that their eyes will be opened to the truth. In their naivety, they have not understood the first thing about the true nature of Islam and its doctrine of at taqqiya, in which lying to non Muslims is allowed. The government have believed what Muslims have told them, yet it has often been pointed out that "if the Islamist preachers statements in Arabic are translated, they will show a vast difference from their pacific statements in English," says Charles Soper. "Even senior clerics in Government appointed positions share these tendencies," continues Soper. "They are, after all, simply following the dictates of their founder, who said that such deceit to infidels is allowable."

How will the Muslims achieve their objectives? Firstly, as we have seen, by lying and deception. Secondly, by their policy of moving into and taking over certain areas until they control them politically, thirdly by immigration, and fourthly by their large families. One Muslim leader gave a speech to the United Nations in which he stated, "What we have not accomplished by war over the past thousand years, we will now do from the loins of our women." This country, along with other Western nations, is undergoing a huge demographic change, due to: a) Western women wanting fewer children; b) Western women practising contraception and abortion; c) In Islam, the women are told to have many children; d) In Islam, contraception and abortion are either prohibited or not recommended; e) In Islam, men can have up to four wives, and even though bigamy is not allowed in Britain, our government allows extra wives to come into the country, and several thousand Muslim men have already taken advantage of this; f) Our government actually paying out generous allowances to Muslim parents for all the children they have! Already in Britain the second most common name for a new born child is Muhammad!

I am convinced that the vast majority of Muslims in Britain did not come here to take over this country, They came here to better themselves and their children, and to be part of a stable society. But they are being used by the radicals to further the aims of those seeking world domination. They are being encouraged to have large families, and to have them all taught Arabic and the Koran, while their radical clerics are doing their work, telling ordinary Muslims not to integrate, but to distance themselves from decadent Western society, and to feel more and more a part of World Islam, until their numbers, plus those who are deliberately coming to Britain for the purpose of jihad, become large enough for the radicals to take over, first locally and then nationally.

Consequently, the number of Muslims in Britain needs to be carefully assessed. According to the 2001 Census, the number was 1.8 million. By now, that figure, bearing in mind the immigration and the demographic trend we noticed, must be well over 3 million. According to some people, it is probably well over 4 million. (We know there are at least 1.3 million just in Central London.) If the present rate of growth continues, within 20 years, there will be about 25 million Muslims in this country, which will be about 30% of the population, (even more than that, if the rate of non Muslims leaving the country increases.) That will be enough to win a General Election, if they haven’t already got control of everything at the local level by then. The threat is real, and needs to be faced.

Those who are in touch with the facts, and know what is happening, are warning of the consequences. According to Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, where there are large concentrations of Muslims in England, no go zones are being established, and non Muslims who trespass in such neighbourhoods risk attack. Nazir-Ali, who is a native of Pakistan, and a convert to Christianity, wrote in "The Sunday Telegraph" that a spiritual vacuum in Britain, along with its indifference to the rise of Islamic extremism, and a growing multi faith society, is robbing the nation of its Christian identity, and putting its future in jeopardy. He warns of attempts to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by allowing the Muslim call to prayer, and condoning Sharia law courts. He is critical of the government’s response to immigration, and blames its philosophy of multiculturalism as the cause of deep divisions in British society.

Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights believes the country is sleepwalking into segregation, while David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, has accused Muslims of promoting "voluntary apartheid" by shutting themselves off from surrounding culture, and demanding immunity from criticism.

Bishop Nazir-Ali, having come from an Islamic society, and having studied it for years, knows that segregation and subjugation of non Muslims is the norm in such societies, and is not the behaviour of an extremist fringe. Other former Muslims have also issued dire warnings about the intentions of these immigrant invaders. According to Cal Thomas, a Christian writing in the Jewish World Review, "Segregation and intolerance are the first fruits of what they intend to impose on everyone, but political leadership in Britain turns a blind eye to such things", because they do not understand the seriousness of the threat, which would end democracy in this country. Those who have studied the history of Britain, especially over the last 50 years, know that it has been a sad story of a nation blindly walking into disaster, turning its back on God and His word, thinking it knew best, with one government after another letting in all and sundry, being ashamed of the country’s culture, language and history, and thereby losing its identity, all in a cowardly attempt to appease those who cannot and will not be appeased.

As a result, many thousands of Britons are growing increasingly uneasy and even despondent about life in this country. A poll, conducted by the respected You Gov organization, published in The Times in December 2007, found that more than 50% of men and 40% of women said they would rather live abroad if given the chance, due to antisocial behaviour and the immigration of people who do not integrate. Three British cities already have high Muslim populations. The percentage figures quoted are: 17% in London, 14.6% in Luton and 14.3% in Birmingham, though these figures are almost certainly out of date. On the other side, lack of religion in the rest of the population is also increasing.

In a 23 page report published in February 2008 by The United Nations, the 2001 Census findings, in which 72% of the population claimed to be Christian, can no longer be regarded as accurate, it affirms, as 66% of the British people now do not admit to any religious adherence. The nation is sleepwalking into a Muslim takeover. "Multiculturalism,…..hedonism and greed," says Thomas, "are contributing to the decline of the West, just as paganism, hedonism and greed undermined past empires. Rather than learn from its mistakes, the West thinks it can engage in such practices without consequence.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed concern about the loss of Britishness and the failure to learn English, and embrace the national heritage. But his government has created those problems, and unless those policies are reversed and Muslim immigration is reversed, Britain, as we’ve known it, will be lost, and radical Islam will remake Britain in its own image."

Liberal Christians seem unaware of the threat, or are unwilling to face it. Most notable among these is the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, who asserted that "some form of Sharia Law in Britain seems unavoidable." This was an incredible statement to come from one to whom, as the head of the Church of England, is entrusted the maintaining and strengthening of the Christian faith in Britain. It was also an inexplicable concession to a religion whose adherents, even allowing for the larger estimate, constitute only about 6%-7% of the population. Far more importantly, Dr. Williams showed incredible ignorance and naivety regarding the consequences of such a possibility. "Seemingly innocent and gracious concessions to such demands as Sharia, contribute to building up an Islamization trend which would become unstoppable," claimed Patrick Sookhdeo of The Barnabas Fund.

We need to be clear as to how Sharia law operates. In contrast to British law, Sharia is completely unfair and unjust. It has one set of laws for "believers" and one set for "infidels." Non Muslims are regarded as second class citizens, and have to pay extra taxes to Muslims, while all rights and privileges are taken away from them, and they are victimised. They are not allowed to demonstrate their religion or promulgate it. Sharia law favours the rich and is against the poor. A person is assumed guilty, not innocent. If witnesses to a crime cannot be found, a lesser penalty can still be imposed. Adulterers are stoned, thieves have their hands amputated. It favours men. Divorce is easy for men, very difficult for women. Bigamy is allowed. A Muslim man can marry a non Muslim, but a Muslim woman cannot marry a non Muslim man. A community under Sharia law is filled with spies who report anything of which the leaders do not approve. Such a community, full of spies, injustice, lies and deception is the very opposite of Western freedom, privacy and democracy.

"Yielding to such demands," continued Sookhdeo, referring to the archbishop`s statement, will gradually erode the hard won freedoms and rights which are, at present, part of British society. It will open the door to a totalitarian and discriminating system that denies individual rights, and seeks to control both the public and the private spheres in ways typical of Muslim states." "Christians all round the world have found that Sharia law, even if initially implemented only in part, will soon lead to atrocities as the law expands," explained Ralph Webb, Director at the Institute of Religion and Democracy in Washington, D.C. This is echoed by Archbishop Ben Kwashi of the Diocese of Jos in Nigeria, who, fully aware of what is happening in the northern states of his country, said "Any partial implementation of Sharia law will inevitably lead to its complete implementation, including imprisonment without trial, beatings, torture, kidnappings, forced marriages, annulments of marriage, disinheritance, death for Muslims who dare to leave their faith, and, at the very least, second class citizenship for infidels, who will unofficially be subjected to all kinds of harassment and persecution."

We have seen, therefore, that once Muslims are allowed to have any kind of parallel or substitute legal system, that would be the thin end of the wedge, and demands would soon be made for its fuller implementation. Commenting on what Dr. Williams had said, Stuart Dool of Intercessors for Britain wrote, "The Jihadists must be emboldened by what the Archbishop stated, to think that Christianity in Britain is so weak, so morally bankrupt and without backbone, that it is actually considering the introduction of Sharia law."

It is understandable that liberal Christians do not understand the threat posed by Islam, but the tragedy is compounded by the fact that many evangelicals do not seem to be aware of the real situation. "All we are called on to do," they say, "is to present Christ and love everyone." Now it is true that we are called to do these things, but in these critical days we are called to do much more. We need to understand the true nature of Islam, and not be deceived either by the politically correct platitudes of the government, nor the deliberate perversions of the truth by the Islamists. "Islam," writes Sookhdeo "is a totalitarian ideological system which will not accept criticism or opposition….This is evidenced daily by news of what is happening in most Muslim majority countries, as Christians face growing restrictions on their freedom, and suffer from harassment, persecution, violence and death. Those who think that Islam is peaceful and tolerant are either being deliberately blind and deaf, or have been misled by propaganda and lies. Moreover, they are showing an astonishing lack of concern for their Christian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and killed for their faith." Even here in Britain, church buildings have been burnt down in Leicester and in Bradford, but the media have not publicised these events for reasons of political correctness.

"Christians here," continued Sookhdeo, "need to remember "the tragic history of large segments of the Church in Nazi Germany, who long applauded Hitler as the saviour of Christian Germany against Bolshevik atheism , and firmly shut their eyes to the evil of Nazi ideology and practice. A similar blindness to the negative aspects of Islamic ideology and practice could well have similar consequences in our times." Patrick is here stating very eloquently what I have heard from many others. The warning must be heeded. Whether we like it or not, another age of Jihad is upon us. The jihadists will not stop until they conquer the whole world for Islam; and Britain, as we have seen, is their first major target.

Those of you who are older, and who read that in so many years this or that will happen, may be tempted to think like Hezekiah, who, when he was told that judgment was coming on the land, was not concerned because he knew it would not come in his time. (2 Kings 20:19) Resist that temptation. Make sure you are like Josiah, who, when he heard that the coming days of evil were to be after his time, promptly repented of his own sin, got the whole people to repent of theirs, and set about putting the nation back into accordance with the will of the true God. That is the example to follow. God expects you to do all you can with all the time you have left. We do not know how long that is. Remember Moses, who was not fully used by God until he was 80 years old, and Caleb, who was not fully used till he was 85.

Some of you may be tempted to think negatively, and to fear the worst; but the bleaker the outlook, the more revival and awakening are needed, and the greater the opportunity to believe God for the impossible. Our God remains the same. "He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or dismayed. (Deut.31:8) "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." (1 Jn.4:4)

We have seen something of the challenge that is facing us. How do we respond? We will look at that later. In the meantime, continue to pray for this land, and pray for wisdom. "Who knows whether we have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14)