The day is sunny and hot, the hamburgers are on the grill, the kids are jumping on the moon bounce and about 400 people are milling around the brand new Dar Al Noor mosque in Manassas, Va.
Neighbors and members of the congregation are here ”” even Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is coming. James Dade, a non-Muslim who lives nearby, is manning the grill. As he hands a burger to a Muslim friend, he turns and gives this assessment of his new neighbors.
“They’re very friendly, very helpful, very community-oriented,” he says, noting that his best friend attends Dar Al Noor. “If there were more Christians like my friend, we wouldn’t have any problems in this world.”
I don’t see anywhere that the American Muslims are speaking out against the Muslim countries that don’t allow religious freedom for Christians.
Nice puff piece…I am reminded of the parable of frogs and boiling water. Warm and welcoming at first… Before we are so quick to welcome…most Muslims have given tacit approval of their Jihadist brethren and the atrocities committed in the name of Allah. As long as you submit to Islam all will be fine, don’t and suffer the consequences. I’m inclined to think that Islam and Shiria Law are incapatible with Western civilization and democracy.
The problem is that Islam has two faces.
There is the one that is shows when everything is going its way. Like in the article. This is Islam following its prophet’s example when things were going good for him. He too was all sweetness, light, love, charity, family etc etc when he was on top of the world.
Then there is the face that it shows when in crisis. In this, Islam again follows its founder. When he faced crisis, all that sweetness and light went out the window.
For individual Muslims, the idea is the same. People being what they are, most are unlikely to turn into raving jihadists themselves. But even the mildest Muslim harbors sympathies and excuses in common with their violent co-religionists.
Like most people, the non-Muslim in the story wants to believe so bad that there is nothing wrong with Islam, that is all that he is going to see. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him converting at some point. The line “My best friend is a better Christian than some Christians” is a dead give away. Taken in by the exagerated and formal hospitality and the warmth and humanity of his new friends at the mosque, he will “fall in love” with Muslims and their lifestyle and then with Islam itself.
Then when he has, he will feel the threat to them personally. He will also rationalize the problem and pass the blame. If he comes to see the threat as urgent and existential, then he will also go to war to save “the light” of Islam and his beloved sisters and brothers as many others already have before him.
PS.
I really have to wonder at the sameness of several phrases used by non-Muslims in this situation.
In particular, I wonder about the one that I mentioned. I have a strong feeling that the fellow at the grill has been hearing that idea in all sorts of subtle forms coming from his new friends.
This is not to imply something sinister, but only to point out a fact. Muslims do in fact believe that they are better Christians than Christians and that their faith is the restoration of the true message of Jesus. They make much of the notion that they are more morally serious, and more serious about Christian values than most Christians. Hang around with them long enough without a compass and it doesnt take long before this idea seems to come from the non-Muslim themselves.
It mostly derives from a very erroneous understanding of Christianity being all about being a good person and living a good life. Not that this isnt a component, but too many people think this is the whole show. Its these that are vulnerable to the “show” of benevolent Islam. Before long, they become more than willing to accept the “hard” and much inferior teachings of Islam in order to have the parts that they believe is better than Christianity.
Pray for this guy and if anyone knows him, step up and try to help him before he is too far gone to save.
My apologies: “incapatible” should read “incompatible.”
Also, consider that most Westerners view Islam from a Western perspective…it’s hard to quantify, and having lived in a Muslim country one realizes quickly that they do not think like us at all.
The posts above leave me nothing to say that would not transgress Godwin’s Law.