Ramadan is an expression of the Hope for civilization. A period of reflection and renewal of the values of society. Muslims across the world stop and cleanse their spirit to start fresh. My fellow Jews do the same with the two weeks coming up of High Holidays. First the New Year, then the ten days of reflection followed by Yom Kippur and a request for, first forgiveness and then renewal. My Christian friends wait a few more months for their renewal period but with Christmas, and the celebration of the birth of Jesus, it their time for Renewal. This is a wonderful period of time to relect, renew and start fresh, without the sins of the past year. I hope each one of us, uses our own tradition to cleanse and renew their spirit for the greater good.

I find it ironic that Muslims, such as Yanina above, speak of their abhorrence that there is all this alleged disinformation out there depicting Islam as a religion of violence, when from the inception of Islam and Muhammad’s violent strangling by the angel Jibril (Gabriel), Islam has been nothing but a violent, oppressive, warring religion. Reference after reference in the Qur’an speak of fighting and killing the infidel, along with commentary in the Hadiths promising that “‘Whoever amongst us is killed (i.e. martyred), shall go to Paradise to lead such a luxurious life as he has never seen, and whoever amongst us remain alive, shall become your master’” (4.386). Add to that Sharia Law which forbids anyone leaving Islam on the penalty of execution and one is taken aback over why there is such a lauding of Islam by anyone who knows better. Islam is a hopelessly violent religion! And to be whitewashing its history, holy books, and laws to make it something other than a violent religion, which promotes tyranny and oppression, is to engage in intellectual dishonesty and manipulative propagandizing. Nevertheless, since the “prophet” stated that “War is deceit” (4.267, 268, 269), and Islam is at war with not only the West, but the world, then maybe that is why we continue to see these types of deceptive articles pop up. Islam is not your friend, ladies and gentlemen. And if you don’t wake up to the deception, then before long it will be your “master” in the worst of ways, and you will not be able to do a thing about it.

Yanina chose Islam on her own. Her story is similar to thousands of others who become Muslim and start practicing Islam on their own. Almost all of them, like Yanina, talk of Islam bringing peace in their own life. One of the more famous of recent times was the singer Cat Stevens who is today known as Yusuf Islam. He talks about his past drug ridden life and how reading the Qur’an changed him and he practiced being a Muslim for over a year before actually talking to any Muslim. He became a Muslim in 1977. You can read about him at his website http://www.yusufislam.com/biography/ In November 2004 he was honoured with the “Man for Peace” award by a committee of Nobel peace laureates.

You are regurgitating what others have fed you and are completely mistaken about Islam. One important non-Muslim example is The Book of Jewish History which states that the Golden Age of Judaism was in Muslim Spain. 700 years which revived and helped flourish their faith and tradition under Muslim protection. Maimonides, one of the greatest Jewish scholar was heavily influenced by Islam and wrote almost all his works in Arabic.

It is a wonder and powerful. Thank you.

As a Christian, Easter and the resurrection is the renewal and high point of our calendar for me. Christmas marks the beginning of this.