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November 12, 2023

On October 7, some 3,000 Hamas fighters crossed into Israel.  There they killed roughly 350 Israeli soldiers and policemen.  They then murdered more than a thousand mostly unarmed Jewish men, women, and children.

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Hamas then crowded its own women and children into buildings it used to hide its fighters and store its weapons.  This supported its “victim” narrative by keeping its civilian deaths higher than those of Israel.

God’s Terrorists, a book by British historian Charles Allen, suggests that today’s war in Israel has little to do with the “occupation” of Palestine or Arab refugees.  It is instead part of a worldwide “modern jihad” that has been going on for nearly 300 years.  Allen wrote that book in 2006.  He did it to explain why “Islamic extremists” based in distant Afghanistan murdered nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001.

According to Allen, it began in the 1700s, when Muhammad al-Wahhab and other Islamic scholars in Arabia were angry and disgusted with their Muslim leaders.

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The core Muslim belief is that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad was his last messenger.  All humanity must obey the eternal and unchanging laws of Allah.  Those laws, the “sharia,” are understood, applied, and enforced by an “ulama,” a close-knit group of Islamic scholars, teachers, and judges.  Most are Arabs in and around Mecca and Medina.  That is because they naturally speak the language of the Koran and other books that teach the words and deeds of Muhammad.

Al-Wahhab believed that if all Muslims submitted to sharia and got all humanity to do the same, Allah would bless the world with peace and harmony.

However, Al-Wahhab thought this was not happening because most Muslims and their leaders had gone astray.  Some believed in un-Islamic local customs and superstitions.  Many wanted the freedom, wealth, and comforts of the modern Christian world.  Others wanted peace and friendship with Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists instead of jihad.

As a result, the “Nasrani” (Nazarenes) dominated the world.  Christians had reconquered the once Muslim lands of Spain, Portugal, and Eastern Europe.  Islam was also losing land and followers in India, Africa, and the East Indies.

Al-Wahhab and his colleagues formed a new doctrine and movement to purify Islam and save the world.  They called themselves “Unitarians” or “Salafis.”  Outsiders called them “Wahhabis.”

Wahhabis wanted to restore Islam to what they thought it was when Muhammad was alive.  That included subjugating women and suppressing music, dancing, literature, and free speech.