AN ETHICAL BASIS FOR WAR

by Bill Warner (Jan 2007)

KNOW THE ENEMY

This work is based upon Sun Tsu’s The Art of War

                                            a 2,500 year old Chinese book of strategy.

THE ENEMY

The word islam means submission. “Submission” is a political thought.

Islam claims that all who do not submit are unbelievers (kafirs). It is time to reject being named by Islam. We are not “unbelievers.”

Muslims are the slaves of Allah. We are not the slaves of Allah. We do not submit. We are the Free. Instead of Muslims and nonbelievers, it is Muslims and the Free. Muslims, therefore, are the un-Free.

[If you don’t know a word, look it up on the last page.]

The story of Islam starts with the Jews since Islam is a Jewish heresy. The Koran endlessly adapts Jewish stories such as those of Moses and Noah to show that Mohammed is the prophet of Allah. The Ten Commandments is a good place to start looking at Islam. They fall into two categories—religious and ethical.

Ten Commandments—Religious

1.       Do not have any other gods before Me.

2.      Do not make an image or any likeness of Me.

3.      Do not swear falsely by the name of the Lord.

4.      Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Ten Commandments—Ethical

5.    Honor your father and your mother.

6.    Do not murder.

7.    Do not commit adultery.

8.    Do not steal.

9.    Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10.  Do not covet your neighbor’s property.

The only religion that follows all the religious commandments is that of the Jews. Christians do not follow the Sabbath commandment and some would argue that the Catholics and Orthodox sects use images that violate the image commandment. Hindus, Buddhists and atheists don’t follow any of the religious commandments. There are no two religions that agree on the Ten Commandments.

Humanity can not agree on religion.

But let’s look at the ethical commandments. Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and most atheists agree that lying, theft, murder, destroying the sanctity of family, and lusting after other people’s property is bad behavior.

Upon reflection, all of these prohibitions prevent harm to others. We don’t harm others and we don’t want to be harmed. We all want to be treated well and this is the best way to treat others, hence the Golden Rule:

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.

The Golden Rule is an ethic of unity. Everyone is treated the same. One ethical system for all people.

This has been said in many ways in many religions and cultures. But there is a religion and culture that does not agree with these ethics—Islam.

Islamic Ethics

What are Islamic ethics and where do we find them? Everything in Islam is based upon the Koran (what Mohammed claimed that his god, Allah, said) and the words and deeds of Mohammed (called the Sunna). A Muslim repeats endlessly, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.” The Koran repeats again and again that Mohammed is the model or pattern for the ideal Muslim. A Muslim is not someone who worships Allah. A Muslim is someone who worships Allah exactly like Mohammed worshipped Allah. So every Muslim is a Mohammedan. There are absolutely no exceptions.

And where do we find Mohammed’s words and deeds?

1.    The Traditions (or Hadith) are collections of everything Mohammed did and said. The best and most honored Hadith is by Al Bukhari.

2.    The Sira is the biography of Mohammed and is written by Ibn Ishaq. The Sira is to Mohammed as the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are to Jesus.

There was not enough information in the Koran to create Islam. The Sunna (Hadith and Sira) define almost all of the doctrine of Islam.

The collection of Koran, Sira, and Hadith is called the Islamic Trilogy. The Trilogy contains the complete political doctrine of Islam. Christians have two sacred texts—Old and New Testament. Muslims have three sacred texts. For 1,400 years, these three texts have only been read by Islamic religious and political leaders, but today these texts have been made easily understood (see the Book List at the end of this pamphlet).

The Trilogy overflows with ethical statements such as these from Bukhari’s Hadith.)

B9,85,83 Mohammed: “A Muslim is a brother to other Muslims. He should never oppress them nor should he facilitate their oppression.”

B8,73,70 Mohammed: “Harming a Muslim is an evil act; killing a Muslim means rejecting Allah.”

B5,59,369 Mohammed asked, “Who will kill Ka’b (a Jewish poet), the enemy of Allah and Mohammed?”

Bin Maslama rose and responded, “O Mohammed! Would it please you if I killed him?”

Mohammed answered, “Yes.”

Bin Maslama then said, “Give me permission to deceive him with lies so that my plot will succeed.”

Mohammed replied, “You may speak falsely to him.”

A Muslim should be a brother to other Muslims (not the rest of humanity). A Muslim should not kill another Muslim. A Muslim may lie to non-Muslims to advance Islam.

So for Islam the ethical statements are:

Do not kill another Muslim.

Do not steal from another Muslim.

Do not deceive another Muslim.

Islam divides the entire world into Islam and nonbelievers and has two sets of ethics, one for Islam and another for the rest. The Golden Rule has the equality of all humanity as its basis. It is not: Do unto some people, as you would have them do unto you, but do unto all people as you would have them do unto you.

Islam denies the universality of the Golden Rule because Islam starts with the division of the entire world, all humanity, into two different groups—Islamic and non-Islamic. Every aspect of Islamic ethics is based upon this separation. Having two distinct groups leads to two different ethical codes. Said another way, Islam has dualistic ethics.

Deceit, violence and force are optional actions against the unbelievers. Believers are to be treated as brothers and sisters. Islam’s ethics are based upon:

Good is whatever advances Islam.

Evil is whatever resists Islam.

The Origin of the Politics of Islam

Mohammed preached for 13 years in Mecca and only acquired about 150 followers. Following the death of his protector and uncle, the wealthy class of Mecca ran him out of town. He left with his followers and went to Medina, a town located less than a hundred miles from Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. There he preached for another year and obtained a hundred or so more followers.

In order to support himself and his followers, he sent men out to rob caravans from Mecca and generously distributed among them the wealth they brought back, keeping a portion for himself. Part of the wealth obtained from these raids were captives which Mohammed also distributed among his men as slaves and in some cases as wives. Slaves who agreed to convert to Islam were freed. Mohammed was never motivated by money as much as by power. He considered money a tool that could be used to fund jihad and to support his followers. These are all political actions.

Mohammed moved into a profoundly political mode. Suddenly the new Islam became popular. It was not simply a religion that would assure the poor a place of honor in a gilded paradise, but a political system that could provide them with wealth, sex and power, all to be had for the taking from the Free.

The word of Allah, as received and reported by Mohammed, is divided into two records. The Koran of Mecca was based on religious precepts. The Koran of Medina, however, became clearly political in scope and direction.

The belief that only Muslims are protected by Allah meant that non-Muslims were not afforded the usual considerations of morality, such as equality, honesty and compassion. Examples we see from Mohammed’s life show that non-Muslims can be mocked, raped, cursed, threatened, tortured, killed, robbed, or enslaved to advance the cause of Islam.

This dual system of ethics paved the way to jihad: war undertaken as an Islamic duty, [See Page 7] and are reflected in the Islamic world view:

dar al Islam, land of submission

dar al harb, land of war

In contrast, the prevailing non-Muslim world view is that all people at some fundamental level are equal, although they are not necessarily the same. Not all people are of the same ability, although all deserve to be treated fairly, compassionately and honestly. The ultimate ethical statement is: “Treat others as you wish to be treated.” In this view “others” and “self” are equal and all of humanity is to be accorded the same consideration. This is the ideal. We frequently fail to live up to the ideal, but is the ideal nevertheless.

The dual ethics of Islam are not as simple as a separate set of ethics for the non-Muslim. What makes political Islam so effective is that it has two stages of ethics for the non-Muslim. It has the ethics of the Meccan Koran (early, religious text), and the ethics of the Medinan Koran (later, political text). Islam can treat the non-Muslim well, but as an inferior (Koran of Mecca), or treat him as an enemy of Allah (Koran of Medina). Both actions are sanctioned as sacred in the Koran. Islamic apologists always refer to the Meccan ethics.

The Two Civilizations

Ethics are of primary importance. Ethics determine how you treat someone else. The ethic of unity is the basis of democracy, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

It was the Golden Rule that lead to the end of slavery. All civil rights were based upon the Golden Rule. Notice this is about politics, not religion. The Golden Rule goes beyond religion.

There are only two types of ethics—unity and dualistic. And so there are two civilizations—those based upon ethics of unity and those based upon dualistic ethics.

This is the crux of the matter. Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, and most atheists subscribe to the Golden Rule. A Hindu has the same ethics as a Christian. Both are workers, hold family in high regard, and don’t lie, cheat, or steal. Of course, some do, but they can be judged, shamed, and condemned on the basis of the Golden Rule ethical system.

A Muslim is not subject to the Golden Rule, and so does not feel shame at the suffering of the Free. Take slavery—Christians can be shamed over slavery. Islam has a 1,400-year history of slavery, including running the slave trade that sold the Africans to the Christians. There are no Islamic books that recall the slave trade or express any regret.

There has never been a book written wherein a Muslim recalls the historic suffering of jihad and expresses remorse or shame. Every history of jihad is glorious. Mohammed killed and enslaved the Free and established the ideal pattern for all Muslims. Mohammed never felt remorse or shame, so a Muslim feels no remorse or shame over any suffering caused by jihad.

This lack of regret or sorrow is what should be expected of a dualistic ethical civilization.

The Free cannot unite on the basis of religion, but we are already united on the basis of an ethics of unity. We just need to understand our common ethical ground. If we understand that we are all members of an ethic of unity civilization, we can also unite to defend ourselves against the attack by the dualistic ethical system of Islam.

Islam and Political Islam

 Throughout the world, Islam is perceived as a religion, but it moved quickly from strictly religious teachings into one of the world’s most successful political systems. Political Islam has an unbroken 1,400-year history and continues to spread rapidly today through immigration and population growth as well as violence and terror. The most recent of these wars of conquest is that of the Islamic regime of Khartoum, which is actively engaged in a genocidal war against Sudanese Christians and Animists.

In its early years, the spread of Islam both as a religion and as a political and military force was explosive. Within ten years after Mohammed established an Islamic city-state in Medina he had absorbed the divided tribes of Arabia into one nation.

 Religious vs. Political Islam

Religious Islam is focused on Five Pillars:

Repeating the creed, “There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his final prophet.”

Praying five times a day facing in the direction of Mecca.

Contributing to charity to benefit other Muslims.

Fasting during the month of Ramadan.

Going on pilgrimage to Mecca.

None of the Five Pillars includes the non-Islamic world. Jihad, which is incumbent on all Muslims, is sometimes called the Sixth Pillar, but the first five pillars are religious and jihad is political.

Religious Islam strictly deals with Muslims. Political Islam is the doctrine that drives all Islamic policy about the Free.

Political Duality

In the Sunna—the part of the Trilogy that records Mohammed’s actions—jihad, slavery, killing, and oppression are clearly considered ethical when used to advance Islam. It is this “us” and “them” mentality that results in an ethical inequality, the duality, that is inherent in Islam. And, according to Muslims, the laws of Islam are eternal and cannot be changed, reformed or altered. It is permanent and universal. No one has the right to amend or reform it.

The Koran, the Hadith, and the Sira all emphasize that the only politics recognized by Allah are the politics of Islam. From that viewpoint, all governments must become Islamic in order to preserve peace, because Muslims can use the violence of jihad on any Free who do not submit.

Mohammed was a master of this dualistic thinking. He used the tribal jealousies and conflicts to convert, conquer, and unite on a global scale. Populations quickly recognized that they would fare better as Muslims under Islam, than as “others,” or unbelievers.

While the Free are unimpressed by Islam’s threats of Hell, they do care about how they are treated ethically and legally in this plane of existence. However, Islam declares that all non-Muslims are second-class citizens.

In the Islamic Trilogy, the Free can be treated well only if they submit to the demands of Islam. The sacred texts of Islam are adamant that the Free must submit to Islam.

Stages of Duality

Islam has two modes of Koranic behavior—the Koran of Mecca and the Koran of Medina. In Mecca, Mohammed was weak and Islam was beginning and the Koran of Mecca is religious.

Bear patiently with what the unbelievers say, and leave their company without recrimination. Leave to Me those that deny the Truth, those that enjoy the comforts of this life; bear with them yet a little while.

Koran of Mecca 73:10

Mohammed is the perfect Muslim. At first he was nice, then demanding, then violent. Demanding as in: if you don’t do what Islam dictates, first come the threats and then comes the violence.

So the “good” Muslim is a Meccan Muslim.

In Medina Mohammed transformed the religion of Islam into a political system. Killing, theft, and rape became sacralized. He became powerful and the Koranic message changed. A terrorist follows the Koran from Medina, a Medinan Muslim.

Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and deal sternly with them. Hell shall be their home, evil their fate.

Koran of Medina 66:9

These Koranic verses contradict each other. How do you tell which one to follow? Simple. According to the Koran, the later verse replaces the earlier verse. And wherever there is contradiction, the later Koran of Medina abrogates (annuls or cancels) the earlier Koran of Mecca. [This rule of abrogation is given in the Koran]

But knowing which verses to follow is much more complicated than that. The “nice” Koran of Mecca is still to be used if Islam is weak in political power. When Islam has the strength—force is the answer; use the Koran of Medina. All verses can be used as needed. The Koran is dualistic.

The Koran also establishes a different form of logic. Since the Koran is both true and contradictory it violates the normal rules of logic. In unitary logic if something is contradictory it is false. But the Koran is contradictory and true. This is dualistic logic. So Islam operates under a different form of reasoning than the rest of the world.

 The Practice of Islamic Politics

The practical outcome of this dualistic political thinking is the following:

Force, pressure, demands, and violence are always options.

Sharia (Islamic) law must replace all other forms of law and government.

Jihad must be practiced by all Muslims.

Jihad must be everywhere, in all aspects of private and public life in the dar al harb (land of war).

The jihadists must imitate history’s model of the perfect political Muslim: Mohammed.

Islam is not just the faith of another immigrant group. No, political Islam is here to “Islamicize” us. Our culture must submit to the culture of Islam. That has been Islam’s mandate towards every other culture for 1,400 years, and here and now it’s no different. Islam is devoted to an unchanging doctrine, to follow Mohammed’s plan until all the earth is Islamic. This goal is repeated again and again in the Koran, the Sira, and the Hadith.

In short, all Muslims agree with the goal; they just differ on which method of their dualistic ethics—peaceful tactics or violent ones—is the most efficient way to reach the goal of dominance.

The political nature of Islam is to control 100% of the public sphere: the news media, books, poetry, music, art, the law, constitutions, dress, food, the courts. If something is in the public domain, then Islam must control it. That means this book or anything else that stakes out the fundamental rights of the Free is forbidden by Islam.

Political Islam has another feature: it never acknowledges and never apologizes. In the last 1,400 years jihad has killed more than 270 million of the Free, yet political Islam denies having killed a single soul. Islam denies its role in slavery, even though every black slave sold to a white man was wholesaled by a Muslim. Islam has even carried on the slave trade in the 20th and 21st centuries and has never made a single acknowledgment or apology; there is no guilt. Muslims feel shame if they fail but never guilt about their successes in war and slavery. After all, their ethical doctrine supports all of their positions.

Dualism and Jihad

The dualistic ethical system of the Islamic Trilogy prepares the foundation of jihad with one set of ethics for Muslims and another set of ethics for the Free. The ethics for the Free include two ways to behave. One is to think of them as inferiors but act in a kindly way. The other is pressure, threats, and violence—jihad.

Jihad is a unique word. Its actual meaning is struggle or effort. Islam speaks of two types—the lesser jihad and the greater jihad. The greater jihad is spiritual effort or internal struggle, to stop smoking, for example, or control one’s greed. Only 3% of the Hadith refer to the greater jihad, inner struggle. The remaining 97% are about war, the lesser jihad.

Jihad

The following hadith summarizes all the key elements of jihad.

B1,7,331 Mohammed: “I have been given five things which were not given to any one else before me:

1.       Allah made me victorious by awe, by His frightening my enemies for a distance of one month’s journey.

2.      The earth has been made for me and for my followers a place for praying and a place to perform rituals; therefore, anyone of my followers can pray wherever the time of a prayer is due.

3.      The spoils of war has been made lawful for me yet it was not lawful for anyone else before me.

4.      I have been given the right of intercession on the Day of Resurrection.

5.      Every prophet used to be sent to his nation only but I have been sent to all mankind.”

Only the fourth item, the Day of Resurrection, is purely religious in nature. It tells us that the whole world must submit to Islam; nonbelievers are the enemy simply because they are not Muslims. To achieve this dominance, Islam may use terror and violence. It may use psychological warfare, fear, and theft. It may take the spoils of war from non-Muslims. Violence and terror are made sacred by the Koran. Peace comes only with submission to Islam.

The story of the Trilogy culminates in the dominance of political Islam through jihad. The Trilogy teaches that Islam is the perfect political system and is destined to rule the entire world. The governments and constitutions of the world must all submit to political Islam. If the political systems of the unbelievers do not submit, then force (jihad) may be used. All jihad is defensive, since refusing to submit to Islam is an offense against Allah. All Muslims must support the political action of jihad. This may take several forms—fighting, proselytizing or contributing money.

The Trilogy lays out the complete strategy, tactics, and vision of political Islam and jihad. Most of the Trilogy is about how Mohammed dealt with those people who disagreed with him. Over half of the Koran is about how to treat the Free. Violent political action with a religious motivation was taken against non-Muslims. Under Islam, their only route to political freedom was to submit. This legal inferiority of the Free is sacred, eternal, and universal.

Duality of ethics was the basis for Mohammed’s greatest single innovation—jihad. Jihad is dual ethics with sacred violence. The key religious element of the dual ethics is that Allah sanctifies violence for complete domination. A non-Muslim must submit to Islam.

Jihad as Civilizational War

Jihad uses every aspect of civilization as an element of war. Violence, education, fear, psychology, sociology, sex, population, immigration, public relations, corruption, and religion are all used in jihad. Military force and terror are the smallest aspects of jihad. The second reason that jihad is civilizational war is that the purpose of jihad is to annihilate every aspect of the non-Islamic civilization. Every single detail of a culture must become Islamic.

The greatest error in understanding jihad is to think of military force and terror. Jihad does not have to fit the Geneva Convention’s rules. A jihadist is a civilian in the army of Allah and can move back and forth from soldier to citizen. Giving money to an Islamic “charity” is jihad. Writing a letter to the editor about how well Islam treats women is jihad. Having eight Muslim children is jihad.

The Koran could not be more clear—every Muslim is to be a jihadist. Jihad is laid out in all three of the Trilogy texts. There is no Islam without jihad.

 Islam has been waging civilizational war for centuries. Before the Muslims arrived, Egypt and North Africa and the southern coast of the Mediterranean were Christian. There was a Buddhist monastery in Egypt. Turkey was Buddhist and Christian. Persia—now Iran—was Zoroastrian. The Hindu culture covered an area of the world twice as large as it is now.

When Napoleon invaded Egypt, he discovered that the Muslim population knew nothing about Egypt before Islam. The 5,000-year-old culture of the Pharaohs had been annihilated. There are no Buddhists in Afghanistan. Baghdad was once home to the oldest community of Jews in the world, brought there as Babylonian captives. Today it is estimated that there are no more than a few dozen Jews left in Iraq. All cultures living within the borders of Islam are annihilated. People either leave, convert or die. Languages disappear to be replaced by Arabic. There are no exceptions over time.

Once jihad has conquered a civilization, there is never another revolution. Even if the form of government changes, it remains Muslim. The only time Islam has left an occupied territory has been because it was forced out by an outside army.

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