An Open Letter to ‘Azzam the American’

In the Name of Jesus, the Truly Compassionate, the Truly Merciful!

Dear Adam

This weekend, I had the dubious pleasure of watching you rant and rave about the beauty of Islam on video, inviting the Americans to convert to Islam. You berated Western culture and civilization, and had the audacity to tell people that the only route to Paradise (Heaven) lay in conversion to “the one true faith” – Islam.

You went on and on about the beauty of Islam, and you went on and on about the wonderful characteristics of your prophet, the prophet Muhammad. It was sickening to hear you ranting on about that prophet and his ‘religion, the 'death cult' that is Islam.

I observed you very closely. You look like and Arab, talk like an Arab, dress like an Arab, and use an Arab’s gestures. Even your hand movements and your gesticulations were redolent of an Arab! Yet you had the audacity to tell us that Islam is NOT an Arabo-centric religion! If this is the case, then why do you have to dress like an Arab, and behave like one, too?

You went on to speak of the ignorance of the Kufaar (the infidels) of the faith that is Islam. Have you never asked yourself the opposite question? Why are Arabs so ill-informed about the religion of Christianity? They keep on calling Christians polytheists, simply because they believe in the Trinity. You guys just can’t get your heads around it, can you? The Trinity, I mean. Yes, the Trinity is but ONE God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But that’s beyond your limited comprehension, isn’t it?

It’s as if you guys were arrested in your development! Piaget, the specialist in child development, spoke of FOUR stages of development: the Sensori-motor stage; the Pre-operational stage; the Concrete operational stage; and the Formal operational stage.

The Formal operational stage - 11-15 years - distinguishes itself in the child's ability to relate to ideas.

I realize full well that it might be difficult for you to think in the abstract. It is difficult for many Muslim Arabs to do so. After all, Arabs are taught to think in terms of the literal and the concrete. But do try to make the quantum leap forward to being able to think in abstract terms, please. The safety of the world depends on it!

You see, Adam, it is really quite simple. The body has three parts: the mind, the body, the spirit. Similarly, the Godhead also has three parts: God the Father; God the Son; God the Holy Spirit. My body is ONE, despite its three parts; similarly, the Godhead is also ONE, despite its three parts.

I really wish you guys down there would begin to understand abstract ideas. You must find life rather hard without the ability to understand them. In a few words, it means that you are challenged! Mentally challenged!

Having THREE parts does not mean that God is three; rather, it means that God is One, but with three parts! Now surely that is not too difficult to understand, is it? Try getting your head around the concept. You might be surprised just how easy it is to understand, once you get the hang of abstract ideas!

You stated in the video that God (I think you meant Allah) describes the ignorance of unbelievers throughout the Qur’an, for they neither think nor understand. Well, it’s a funny thing, but we unbelievers think the same about you folks. To us, it is so obvious that you people don’t use the grey matter God has given you! I mean, how far have you ignorant people come in the past 1400 years?

If the Qur’an is made up of the inimitable words of Allah, then why on earth is the Qur’an replete with grammatical errors? Surely God knows His grammar, doesn’t He? And by the way, what is so inimitable about the Qur’an? Why, even I could write a sentence like the ones I have read in the Qur’an. But perhaps I wouldn’t be able to copy the grammatical mistakes. That, I grant you.

In that long, drawn out video, you accuse Christianity of being “anthropomorphic”. That means to say, ladies and gentlemen, that one attributes human qualities or form to God. Now that really is a big word to use for Adam. After all, he hasn’t reached the abstract phase of life yet. Good one, Adam!

Adam, please hear me out, will you? If Christians attribute human form or characteristics to God, then it is nothing more than symbolism. Man is limited in his comprehension. He has to have something to pin his ideas to. That’s all! I wouldn’t read too much into this if I were you.

It was interesting to note that you guys reject man-made governments and man-made laws. Now we have it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. So this obviously means that Westerners can expect nothing from Muslims who live in the West. They, too, will disobey man-made laws, and man-made governments, because the laws are not based on the Shari’ah. How sick you guys are! We allow you to come and live in civilized countries, but at the first opportunity, you kick your hosts in the teeth. Do you really think that your co-religionists deserve to be allowed to stay here in the West? ‘Cause I don’t. If you can’t respect our laws, then you guys have no business being here. Period! You go find countries where you can obey the primitive laws of the Qur’an and your prophet!

One thing I must agree with you on, however: Your dislike of ‘interfaith dialogue’. There is no place for interfaith dialogue with you guys. It’s a waste of time. In fact, I even wrote an essay recently, entitled, You ‘interfaith’ if you want to. This gentleman is not for ‘interfaithing’! I think you might enjoy reading it, Adam. It will show you that not all Westerners think alike; and it will show you, too, that many of us also think that it is a waste of time to engage in dialogue with blockheads.

You went on to state that democracy does not equal freedom. Indeed, you showed nothing but contempt for the concept of democracy. So, my friend, stay there, exactly where you are and live in slavery, in slavery to your god, Allah. Worship the Ka’aba, that stone edifice which you believe is the ‘house of god’. May you find peace and fulfillment in your prayers. But please, please, don’t bring your barbaric practices here to the West. We don’t want them. Further, we don’t need them. It should be obvious to you – but it is probably not – that the West has got along very nicely without you guys for many, many centuries now. We haven’t needed you to show us the way at all. In fact, were you not to be so blind, then you would see that the West has surpassed the Islamic world: in ideas, in material goods, in medicine, in art, in music, in everything. You guys are so, so backward. If you really are Allah’s chosen people, then why has he kept you from achieving success in this life? Why? Answer me that simple question, please?

You see, Adam, the fact remains that you Muslims think about one thing, and one thing only: your religion. There are only twenty-four hours in a day. Every minute you spend thinking about Islam is one minute less you can spend thinking about achievement and worldly success.

You say that God recognizes no separation of religion and state. Speak for your god, will you? My God does. He makes a big separation between the two. That’s why my world – the West – is so civilized, and your world is not. Where there is no separation between religion and state, then everything becomes the business of the state, even being critical of religion. Hence you get people being beheaded for the minor crime of renouncing their faith.

You asked the West to convert to Islam. Well, I dare say that you will get a few crackpots (both Americans and other Westerners) here and there converting to your backward faith. But the vast majority will have more sense. Then you went on to say that if we don’t wish to convert, then we should keep our poison to ourselves. Now, Adam, you’re speaking some sense at last! I go along with that. But there is ONE proviso: You keep your poison to yourselves, too! We don’t want Islam here in the West, no more than you want Christianity there in the East.

You said that “Christianity is a hollow shell of a religion”. You went on to say that “Pauline Christianity” is the worst form of Christianity of all, because you said it was unbelievable. Well, as I said before, maybe there’s a stage of development missing there somewhere – the abstract stage.

I liked your modern turn of phrase “you’ll go to the hell-fire directly, without passing ‘go’”. Gosh, Adam, I am impressed! Are you showing us that your religion allows you even to play ‘Monopoly’? Can you really engage in diversions like that? Is this allowed?

I found it particularly interesting that you described the ‘American Dream’ as “debt, debauchery, and doubt”. Well, Adam, I've got news for you. This might have been your own, personal experience of the ‘American Dream’. But for many it is not. In a free country such as America, YOU can choose what the ‘American Dream’ means to YOU. If you want to get yourself into debt, then you can do so. If you want a debauched life, then you can have one. If you want to choose doubt over faith, then you can choose that, too. I guess what you're saying in so many words is this: You were not mature enough to handle the ‘American Dream’. I’ll grant you that not all people are mature enough to be able to do so.

Then you went on to say that “eternal happiness” is better than the fleeting delights of this world. Well, Adam, now you are guilty of judging the world by your own Islamic yardstick. There are plenty of people out there who believe that this life is the only life they have. After all, who has been to Paradise and returned?

You know, one of the problems with you folks is this: You haven’t learned to live and let live. You believe that your own truths and verities are applicable to all. But they are not.

If you go on in your way, my friend, the Islamic world will find itself embroiled in a world war in no time at all. The free world has been here before. It has already been in the position of having to rid the world of tyranny, and not so many years ago. Your ‘religion’ is tyrannical. If you don’t start playing its tyrannical side down, then we shall all have to suffer the consequences of a world war sooner than we might wish or imagine.

Respectfully

Mark Alexander