Brother Rachid a Morracan Soul Surfer, who risked everything by converting to Biblical Christianity; adds his fresh perspective to the Global Narrative of the Wars, and Rumors of War between the Terrorists, and the Terror-US!
Transcript of the Video; A Message to President Obama from a Former Muslim:
Dear Mr. President, with all due respect, Sir, I must tell you that you are wrong about ISIL. You said, “ISIL speaks for no religion.” I’m a former Muslim, my dad is an imam, I spent more than 20 years studying Islam, I hold a bachelor degree in religious studies and I’m in the middle of my master’s degree in terrorism studies. I can tell you with confidence that ISIL speaks for Islam. Allow me to correct you, Mr. President. ISIL is a Muslim organization. Its name stands for “Islamic State,” so even the name suggests that it is an Islamic movement.
Their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, holds a PhD in Islamic studies. I doubt you know Islam better than he does. He was a preacher and a religious leader in one of the local Mosques in Baghdad. ISIL’s 10,000 members are all Muslims. None of them is from any other religion. They come from different countries and have one common denominator: Islam. They are following Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in every detail—they imitate him by growing their beards, shaving their mustaches, and in the way they dress. They follow his command in the Hadith to differentiate themselves from the infidels by wearing their watches on the right hand instead of the left.
They implement Sharia in every piece of land they conquer. They pray five times a day. They have called for a Caliphate, which is a central doctrine in Sunni Islam. They are willing to die for their religion. They are following the steps of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad to the letter. (By the way, if you want to understand ISIL, read the oldest biography of Muhammad by Ibn Hisham; this is their model (for action.) You think that ISIL does not speak for Islam because they beheaded an American and they killed those whom they consider infidels. In the same way, Islam’s Prophet Muhammad beheaded in one day between 600-900 adult males in a Jewish tribe called Banu Kurayza. In fact beheading is commanded in the Quran in sura 47, the 4th verse. It says, “When ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks.” (Ironically, the sura is called the Sura of Muhammad). Killing prisoners is also an order from Allah to Muhammad and to all Muslims. It says, “It is not for a prophet to have captives [of war] until he inflicts a massacre [upon Allah 's enemies] in the land.” (Quran 8:67). And by the way, three of Muhammad’s wives were Jewish girls he kidnapped from his raids on religious minorities, just as ISIL is doing today.
Mr. President, I grew up in Morocco, supposedly a moderate country, yet I still learned at a young age to hate the enemies of Allah, especially Jews and Christians. These are represented today by Israel and the West, especially the “Great Satan” America. I prayed five times a day, repeating Al Fatiha, the first chapter in the Quran, asking Allah to lead me not in the way of those who went astray and those who have the wrath of Allah upon them. We all knew that it meant Jews and Christians. We have been brainwashed to hate all of you, in our sacred texts; in our prayers; in our Friday sermons; in our educational systems. We were ready to join any group that one day would fight you and destroy you and make Islam the religion of the whole world, as the Quran says. This is what I and millions like me have been taught. Mr. President, this is an irrevocable fact. Fortunately, when I grew up I chose to leave Islam and became a Christian, because I believed that God is love. Others also left, and still every day they are leaving Islam and choosing different paths for their lives. All of them are suffering today because again, Islam’s prophet Muhammad said, “Whoever changes his religion—kill him.” I left Morocco under persecution. I was fortunate. Others throughout the Muslim world do not have the same opportunity. They are paying a heavy price in different ways, in order to get their freedom one day. I ask you, Mr. President, to stop being politically correct, to call things by their names: ISIL, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabab In Somalia, the Taliban, and their sister brand names are all made in Islam.
Unless the Muslim world deals with Islam and separates religion from state, we will never end this cycle. Until you deal with the root of the problem, you will just be dealing with the symptoms. ISIL is just one symptom. If it disappears, other ISIL’s will be born under different names. You might ask, then why does ISIL kill other Muslims? The answer is that they consider them infidels, not Muslims. Do you know that all four schools in Islam agree that if a Muslim stops praying he should be asked to repent, and if he does not he should be killed? Do you know that Muhammad tried to burn his own companions when they stopped coming to prayers? So, anything that qualifies a Muslim to be an infidel can be a reason for killing him, even neglecting to pray.
If Islam is not the problem, then why is it that there are millions of Christians in the Middle East, and yet none of them has ever blown himself up to become a martyr, even though they live under the same economic and political circumstances and even worse? Why have many Muslims in the West also joined ISIL if Islam is not the reason? Why have even new converts to Islam become terrorists?
Mr. President, if you really want to fight terrorism, then fight it at the root. How many Saudi sheikhs are preaching hatred? How many Islamic channels are indoctrinating people and teaching them violence from the Quran and the Hadith? How many Friday sermons are made against the West, freedom, and democracy? How many Islamic schools are producing generations of teachers and students who believe in jihad and martyrdom and fighting the infidels? And finally, how many websites are funded by governments—your allies—that have sheikhs who issue fatwas against basic human rights?
If you want to fight terrorism, start from there. By the way, I do not give my full name because “Islam is a religion of peace.” I am known around the world as Brother Rachid and I implore you to take a stand for international human rights and the future of democracy and speak the truth about the real threat that is facing all of us. Best Regards – Brother Rachid
