Islam as Perpetual Predation

Gordon Osmond, writing at Open Salon, discusses "Islam as Religion"  His second paragraph raises an important issue and fails to settle it.

Even if this bridge is crossed, however, and even if Islam is characterized as a religion, it certainly does not follow that parts of that religion which comprise "law" should be given any degree of precedence over or protection from United States law and basic United States values.  The United States has earned the right to consider those laws and values sacrosanct.

    That bridge between Islam and the First Amendment's free exercise clause must not be crossed.  Islam is a way of life, not a religion. Everything Allah and Moe commanded is law.  Examine the table of contents  of Sahih Bukhari, considered to be the most authentic of the six canonical hadith collections.

1. Revelation
2. Belief
3. Knowledge
4. Ablutions (Wudu')
5. Bathing (Ghusl)
6. Menstrual Periods
7. Rubbing hands and feet with dust (Tayammum)
8. Prayers (Salat)
9. Virtues of the Prayer Hall (Sutra of the Musalla)
10. Times of the Prayers
11. Call to Prayers (Adhaan)
12. Characteristics of Prayer
13. Friday Prayer
14. Fear Prayer
15. The Two Festivals (Eids)
16. Witr Prayer
17. Invoking Allah for Rain (Istisqaa)
18. Eclipses
19. Prostration During Recital of Qur'an
20. Shortening the Prayers (At-Taqseer)
21. Prayer at Night (Tahajjud)
22. Actions while Praying
23. Funerals (Al-Janaa'iz)
24. Obligatory Charity Tax (Zakat)
25. Obligatory Charity Tax After Ramadaan (Zakat ul Fitr)
26. Pilgrimmage (Hajj)
27. Minor Pilgrammage (Umra)
28. Pilgrims Prevented from Completing the Pilgrimmage
29. Penalty of Hunting while on Pilgrimmage
30. Virtues of Madinah
31. Fasting
32. Praying at Night in Ramadaan (Taraweeh)
33. Retiring to a Mosque for Remembrance of Allah (I'tikaf)
34. Sales and Trade
35. Sales in which a Price is paid for Goods to be Delivered Later (As-Salam)
36. Hiring
37. Transferance of a Debt from One Person to Another (Al-Hawaala)
38. Representation, Authorization, Business by Proxy
39. Agriculture
40. Distribution of Water
41. Loans, Payment of Loans, Freezing of Property, Bankruptcy
42. Lost Things Picked up by Someone (Luqaata)
43. Oppressions
44. Partnership
45. Mortgaging
46. Manumission of Slaves
47. Gifts
48. Witnesses
49. Peacemaking
50. Conditions
51. Wills and Testaments (Wasaayaa)
52. Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihaad)
53. One-fifth of Booty to the Cause of Allah (Khumus)
54. Beginning of Creation
55. Prophets
56. Virtues and Merits of the Prophet (pbuh) and his Companions
57. Companions of the Prophet
58. Merits of the Helpers in Madinah (Ansaar)
59. Military Expeditions led by the Prophet (pbuh) (Al-Maghaazi)
60. Prophetic Commentary on the Qur'an (Tafseer of the Prophet (pbuh))
61. Virtues of the Qur'an
62. Wedlock, Marriage (Nikaah)
63. Divorce
64. Supporting the Family
65. Food, Meals
66. Sacrifice on Occasion of Birth (`Aqiqa)
67. Hunting, Slaughtering
68. Al-Adha Festival Sacrifice (Adaahi)
69. Drinks
70. Patients
71. Medicine
72. Dress
73. Good Manners and Form (Al-Adab)
74. Asking Permission
75. Invocations
76. To make the Heart Tender (Ar-Riqaq)
77. Divine Will (Al-Qadar)
78. Oaths and Vows
79. Expiation for Unfulfilled Oaths
80. Laws of Inheritance (Al-Faraa'id)
81. Limits and Punishments set by Allah (Hudood)
82. Punishment of Disbelievers at War with Allah and His Apostle
83. Blood Money (Ad-Diyat)
84. Dealing with Apostates
85. Saying Something under Compulsion (Ikraah)
86. Tricks
87. Interpretation of Dreams
88. Afflictions and the End of the World
89. Judgments (Ahkaam)
90. Wishes
91. Accepting Information Given by a Truthful Person
92. Holding Fast to the Qur'an and Sunnah
93. ONENESS, UNIQUENESS OF ALLAH (TAWHEED)

Three of those "books" are critical: 52, 53 & 59; they show us how Moe exemplified  obedience to the Jihad imperatives.

Reliance of the Traveller is the all purpose handbook of Islamic law. [1251 pgs, 30.4mb] Examine its table of contents.

A. Sacred Knowledge 1
B. The Validity of Following Qualified Scholarship 15
C. The Nature of Legal Rulings 27
D. Author's Introduction to 'Umdat ai-Salik 47
E. Purification 49
F. The Prayer 101
G. The Funeral Prayer 220
H. Zakat 244
I. Fasting 277
J. The Pilgrimage 297
K. Trade 371
L. Inheritance 460
M. Marriage 506
N. Divorce 554
O. Justice 578
P. Enormities 649
Q. Commanding the Right and Forbidding the Wrong 713
R. Holding One's Tongue 726
S. Delusions 777
T. A Pure Heart 796
U. The Gabriel Hadith 807
V. Belief in Allah and His Messenger 816
W. Notes and Appendices 826

"Book" O is the book of "justice", its table of contents spans several pages. Examine these samples, noting a few emphasized titles. .

Jihad 09.0
Meaning o fJihad 09.0(0:)
Scriptural Basis for Jihad 09.0(0:)
The Obligatory Character of Jihad 09.1
A communal obligation 09.1
When it is personally obligatory 09.2
Surrender when overrun 09.3
Who Is Obliged to Fight in Jihad 09.4
Those who are not permitted to fight 09.5
Caliph's Permission Required If He Exists 09.6
Non-Muslim Allies 09.7
The Objectives of Jihad 09.8
Regarding Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians 09.8
Regarding others 09.9
Rules of Warfare 09.10
Those Unlawful to Kill in Jihad 09.10
Non-Muslims under a Muslim's protection 09.11
Those who enter Islam before capture 09.12
Women and children captives 09.13
Adult male captives 09.14
Destruction of enemies' trees etc. 09.15
Truces 09.16
Permissible 09.16
Preserving the status quo is not a valid reason 09.16
The Spoils of Battle 010.0
Who Is Entitled to Spoils of Battle 010.1
Dividing Collective Spoils 010.2
Personal Booty 010.3
Dividing the First Fifth Taken (Khums) 010.4
Who is entitled to it 010.4
Non-Muslim Subjects of the Islamic State (Ahl al-Dhimma) 011.0
Who May Enter a Citizenship Agreement with Muslims 011.1
Idolators and Post-Islamic Sects Excluded 011.2
Conditions Imposed on Non-Muslims 011.3
The Non-Muslim Poll Tax (Jizya) 011.4
Collected with leniency 011.4
Not levied on women or children 011.4
Rules for Non-Muslim Subjects 011.5

    Islamic law encompasses all of human life, it is not limited to religious issues.  That is because Islam is a complete, all encompassing way of life, not a religion.  That way of life is predatory, and its pray are  those who disbelieve.  Book O defines jihad, describing its obligatory nature and objectives.  Did you notice the two classes of people  upon whom war is waged?  Did you notice the rules regarding spoilation  and the  division of spoils?   For those who can not connect the data points, I present links to a few relevant ayat and one relevant hadith.

• 8:1
• 8:41
• 8:67
• 48:20
• Sahih Muslim 19.4327

Why does the "religion of peace" have laws fixing the allocation of spoils?  Why did Allah give Moe special dispensation to collect spoils?   For those who can not connect the data points, I present another saying.

Sunan Abu Dawud Book 23, Number 3455:

Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
I heard the Apostle of Allah, (peace_be_upon_him) say: When you enter into the inah transaction, hold the tails of oxen, are pleased with agriculture, and give up conducting jihad (struggle in the way of Allah). Allah will make disgrace prevail over you, and will not withdraw it until you return to your original religion.

    Two alternative ways of life are presented, agriculture and jihad. What is the consequence of rejecting jihad in favor of agriculture?  What is their "original religion"?

    Osmond's concluding paragraph brings up an extremely important issue; I added emphasis to the critical clause.

Religion is basically a matter of believing in spooky people and things, and there's probably nothing spookier than Islamic spooks.  But as long as these beliefs do not threaten the concepts of human dignity and freedom, there's probably no harm done in considering Islam, as a general matter, a religion.  But strings attached there certainly are. 

    Does Islam threaten human dignity and freedom?  Two ayat contain jihad imperatives:

• 8:39
• 9:29

Those commands to wage war are codified in Reliance of the Traveller, Book O9.8-9.   I will show you enough to  confirm what I have already stated and arouse your curiosity. Click the links for full documentation.

The caliph (o25) makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians (N: provided he has first invited them to enter Islam in faith and practice, and if they will not, then invited them to enter the social order of Islam by paying the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya, def: o11.4)
http://www.crusadersarmory.co.cc/RelianceO9-8.html

The caliph fights all other peoples until they become Muslim (O: because they are not a people with a Book, nor honored as such, and are not permitted to settle with paying the poll tax (jizya) ) http://www.crusadersarmory.co.cc/RelianceO9-9.html

Does waging war  against us impair our dignity and freedom?  Consider  what Moe said about the matter,  paying special attention to the clauses I emphasized.

Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 8, Number 387:
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Allah's Apostle said, "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah." Narrated Maimun ibn Siyah that he asked Anas bin Malik, "O Abu Hamza! What makes the life and property of a person sacred?" He replied, "Whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah', faces our Qibla during the prayers, prays like us and eats our slaughtered animal, then he is a Muslim, and has got the same rights and obligations as other Muslims have."

Are our blood and property sacred to Muslims?  How do we obtain human rights?    If you can accurately answer those two questions, you will understand how Islam conflicts with our dignity  & rights.   It will then be clear to you exactly why Islam can not fit under the umbrella of  the free exercise clause.