Warfare 101: Know Thy Enemy

It seems like whenever the word “Islam” comes up post 911, politicians like President Bush always run towards a politically correct position that described Islam as a peaceful religion. Don’t believe the rhetoric. Someone once said, you cannot win a war unless you can rightly identify your enemy. And our enemy is not simply terrorists (as Bush finally admitted this past week), but radical, militant, fundamentalists MUSLIMS.

In an effort to help you practice discernment regarding our enemy, let me make a very important point regarding the religion of Islam. Muslims teach an Islamic principle known as the Law of Abrogation. Simply stated, this law means that whenever a contradiction emerges in Islamic teaching, the more recent teaching supercedes the older teaching, thereby resolving the issue. For example, early in Muhammad’s teachings, he said kind things about Christians and Jews. At the end of his life, however, he rejected those earlier teachings and resorted to violence. Consequently, true followers of Islam are to wage violence against anyone non-Muslim. In other words, true Muslims are violent people. (The crusades, by the way, were a reaction by the West to militant Islamic aggression brought about by Muhammad’s later teachings.)

So, when you hear people say that Islam is a peaceable religion, pay close attention to their rhetoric. When Hezbollah propagandizers get on our airwaves and call themselves non-radical Muslims who seek peace and understanding, and try to persuade you to question Israel’s war activities, don’t believe them.

Harvey Kushner seconds this point of our need to know our enemy in his editorial piece at Newsday.com.