BOMBS AND THE NHS.
There can be very few people, who have not heard of the latest bomb attempts in London and in Glasgow. Most of us now also understand that all the suspects are Moslems, who work for the British National Health Service- most of them as doctors.
I am quite certain that the vast majority of Moslem doctors are honourable men, doing their utmost to save life. Having said that, however,I was not surprised to learn that there are a small number, who have chosen to break their vow to alleviate suffering, and have joined in the killing.
Here is an article, which appeared in an Egyptian newspaper a little over two years ago.
"The Emergency Relief Committee of the Arab Doctors' Association published, in one of the Egyptian papers, a communiqué showing a picture of an infant. Underneath, it said: 'Iraq will never surrender. The occupation is destroying homes and hospitals. The bodies of the martyrs [lie] in the streets, and there is no one to bury them. The world observes these crimes in complete silence. Iraq's citizens say that they [will attain] one of two good things: victory or martyrdom. [And you:] What is your contribution? What will you say to your sovereign? Solidarity alone is not enough!'
"The communiqué did not, of course, neglect to mention a bank account number for donations, at the Islamic Faysal Bank at its central branch in Cairo.
"This communiqué is not new to us. It has been published many times in the past, whether by the Arab Doctors' Association or the Egyptian Doctors' Union. I still recall these communiqués published in our Egyptian papers or in the Arab papers calling on Muslims to help their brothers in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, and other places...
"At the time, we welcomed the initiative of the Arab Doctors' Association, on the understanding that its aim was to support the Jihad warriors and those struggling for the sake of liberating their homeland from the hands of the occupiers who hold many [different] citizenships. [We understood that this support was to have been provided] through capabilities that only doctors have - that is, caring for the sick and saving the lives of the injured.
"But we were surprised later by the fact that the enthusiasm of the Arab Doctors' Association in sending 'volunteer' doctors to those blood-drenched regions was not for carrying out this sublime mission that only doctors [could carry out], but rather, to urge [those volunteer doctors] to fight, [to participate] in the Jihad war, and to manufacture explosives and to blow up places in which there were a number of 'infidels' and scores of innocent civilians...
"They could not care less that hundreds and thousands of innocent people were killed [in these operations], as long as one or two soldiers from among the invaders and occupiers were killed or injured.
"It suffices to mention in this respect the Egyptian doctor [and bin Laden's deputy] Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who, it must be assumed, took an oath to care for the sick and to save the injured, [but] became the No. 2 terrorist after the No. 1 terrorist Osama bin Laden..."
"I do not oppose the resistance that the Iraqis are waging against the continued occupation of their land... It is clear that the resistance there does need the participation of those who are not Iraqis...
"I understand that the Egyptian Doctors' Union and the Arab Doctors' Association are calling to establish convoys of doctors and brothers to go to the ruins of Iraq and to work in so-called hospitals ... but what I do not understand at all is how the Arab Doctors' Association, which is controlled by the two Egyptian doctors Dr. Abd Al-Mun'im Abu Al-Futuh, the association's director-general, and Dr. Ahmad Omar, the chairman of the Emergency Relief Committee, have published a communiqué similar to the declarations of Jihad, emphasizing that there is no solution but 'victory or martyrdom'..."
"Several days ago, a destructive earthquake struck a great many countries in Asia. The number of killed was about 100,000, and the number of injured was double that, and many times more was the number of those who became refugees, losing their homes and property and most of their relatives and acquaintances in this most terrifying of disasters, which we are following from moment to moment.
"How I hoped that the Egyptian Doctors' Union, which belongs to the Arab Doctors' Association, would act like the doctors' associations in most of the countries of the world, particularly like the [French] Medicins Sans Frontières. Everyone rushed to organize humanitarian medical convoys that hastened, one after the other, to the regions of the terrifying earthquake, in order to provide aid, as best they could, to treat the injured and to save those at death's door, without distinguishing between Muslim, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, and those not belonging to any religion or ethnic group...
"The television channels worldwide constantly showed us the donations from the angels of mercy from all countries of the world, who had volunteered to participate in taking care of the victims of the destructive earthquake in many countries in Asia despite the harsh living conditions there..."
"[Yet] there was no mention of any role played by the Egyptian Doctors' Union, or by the Arab Doctors' Association, in collecting donations, gathering the doctors waging the Jihad war and transferring them to the regions hit by the disaster and by epidemic, in order to participate in treating the injured and sick, as they did and are still doing in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, and Iraq.
"The Arab Doctors' Association secretary-general, Dr. Abd Al-Mun'im Abu Al-Futuh, justified this by saying that this earthquake was divine punishment because of the Muslims' oppression by the infidels, invaders and occupiers, headed by the U.S., and that therefore we have no interest in what had happened! Chairman of the Emergency Relief Committee of the Arab Doctors' Association Dr. Ahmad Omar emphasized that aid to the Asia earthquake victims did not top the agenda of the committee - which was currently engaged in resisting the American invaders and occupiers in Iraq.
"Although I do not respect the reasoning of the Jihad warriors Dr. Abd Al-Mun'im Abu Al-Futuh and his colleague, the 'warrior' Dr. Ahmad Omar, I would like to draw their attention to the fact that the number of victims of the destructive earthquake in the state of Indonesia is no less than 80,000 killed, and that the number of injured is double that - and Indonesia is considered the largest Islamic country on the world's five continents!"
Editor Ibrahim Sa'dah, Akhbar Al-Yawm (Egypt), January 1, 2005
The Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri), a website that translates the Arab press into English, has recently produced these quotes:
"Not all doctors are angels, though theirs' is the most respected and most needed of professions… But still, our expectations were not so low as [to think] that some of them would stoop to the level of murder and terrorism. This is a more violent shock than anything in the past.
"The shock was not [just] the news of planned bombings in Britain, since [all] corners of the world are filled with news of violence. The shock that jolted everyone was that the suspected criminals were doctors and [individuals] from the health sector…
"How can those who give justifications [for these actions] explain the fact that a doctor could plan to kill innocent people who [just] wanted to travel with their children, or passers-by in a crowded square?
"These people are sick, even if the walls of their clinics are decorated with medical diplomas.
"I can say, sadly, that they have done more harm to their people than any of the [other] groups that Al-Qaeda, and the countries that fund it, have chosen in order to carry out impure missions…
"[Al-Qaeda and its sponsors] have not left the Muslims any area where they can be free of them. They have succeeded in presenting Islam as an evil religion that even uses doctors to kill innocent people - despite the fact that they spent years studying and training in order to save people's lives, without regard to their religion, race, or gender.
"If someone were to try to defame the image of the Arabs and the meaning of Islam, they could not succeed as much as those who, year after year, specialized in presenting a bad example, [as though] to emphasize that this is not a problem of poverty or personal lack…"
'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), July 5, 2007.
“While we admitted that chemistry and electronics had rendered invaluable services to terrorism, we were surprised a few days ago to discover the 'terrorism of doctors.' We are thus doomed to shake the dust off such moral evidence as that which Rabelais taught us nearly five centuries ago: 'Science without conscience is nothing but the ruin of the soul.'
"If we hadn't forgotten that Al-Qaeda's second-in-command is a doctor, the news would not have surprised us to this degree…
"The illusion that knowledge should be a sufficient bulwark against terrorism corresponds to that other mistake that manifests itself from time to time: that of believing that misery is the primary catalyst for terrorism. Misfortune certainly does often furnish the cannon fodder required by this ideology, but Islamist terrorism has had no lack of operatives from educated or wealthy backgrounds.
"A few decoys, put in place by the fundamentalist scheme, seem to be difficult to get rid of. This is the case with the idea that ignorance and poverty - because they weaken individuals and communities - constitute the sole ferment for terrorism.
"On the contrary: In Muslim countries, it is official education… that helps fanaticize the youth from among whom the sponsors of terrorism draw their ranks. They recruit among graduates in preaching, among engineers, and also among doctors…
"The persistent quest [to find] a non-violent Islamist lies at the origin of the invention of a 'moderate' Islamism. This attitude can be explained by the fearful refusal to confront Islamism, in its global and bellicose reality. The authorities always start out by fighting while in retreat, trying to disarm Islamism by promoting [its] purportedly 'moderate' spokesmen.
"Since the transition to an ideology of death is not always immediately accompanied by action, this tactic can deceive for a while. But the Islamist undertaking is, in reality, a point of moral rupture that has nothing to do with a simple political conversion…" Mustapha Hammouche: Liberte (Algeria), July 4, 2007.
"…The Western countries are currently reaping, in these terrorists, what they sowed when they flung their doors open wide to every malevolent fundamentalist and failed in putting in place a mechanism for managing and controlling immigration in an appropriate manner…
"The West's generosity in allowing the organizations of political Islam to penetrate into Islamic societies [in Europe], spread among their youth, and enlist them in order to achieve their own ends and realize their agendas, was a mistake, and was the prelude that led to the appearance of these disastrous consequences now. He who sows the wind reaps the storm…
"The forces of political Islam that were chased out of the East… have control over a wide swath of Islamic societies in Europe. Things that are forbidden and are lines that cannot be crossed in Arab countries, and lead to the one who says them… being [kicked out] way beyond the sun, are permitted here in the West: fiery sermons and takfiri pamphlets, meetings that openly discuss overturning governments and hanging the rulers, the conditions of carrying out the death penalty against an apostate, and imposing the jizya [poll-tax] on the dhimmis…
"[Religious] reform and putting things right is a great and serious task, and the Arabs and Muslims cannot undertake this alone. It is necessary that help be given to all of the liberal reformist forces in the Arab and Islamic worlds in order for this project to succeed…" Kurdish Journalist Tariq Hemo: http://www.elaph.com/, July 5, 2007.
"Countries have the right to defend themselves and assure their citizens' safety from terrorism. Likewise, it is clear that the source of the terrorist crimes in Europe and America is the Muslims who live in these countries.
"The security services cannot know people's intentions and sort out who is the noble immigrant and who is a terrorist criminal. [But] wherever there are Muslims, their presence has produced crimes of terrorism and murder.
"Among those Muslims in Europe and America who do not practice terrorism, most of them do not have loyalty and sincere attachment to these countries that have offered them all of the means of life in dignity - housing, studies, work, and citizenship…
"The legitimate question is this: Since the security services cannot sort out the good immigrant from the bad terrorist… why don't these countries deport all Muslims, of all races, from Europe and America, and [thus] find rest from the danger of terrorism, and protect their peoples?
"I, as an Arab Muslim immigrant, sincerely call on the countries of Europe and America to deport all Muslims from their territories - including myself, despite my love and my sincere attachment to the U.S…" Khudayr Taher, an Iraqi Shi'ite writer living in the U.S: http://www.elaph.com/, July 4, 2007.
The people, who wrote these pieces in the Moslem press, have showed an unusual level of courage. It takes an extremely brave Moslem to speak out openly against the evils of Islam, as the consequences can be very serious. Several years ago, to give just one example, an Arab female reporter wrote a piece that offended a particular Moslem group. They kidnapped her and sawed her to bits with a chainsaw, one piece at a time, refusing to kill her until they could hack off no more.
While most Moslems would not dare to speak out openly (any more than most of us would if we were in that situation) countless numbers of them are becoming completely turned off by Islam and are secretly looking for something else. Some of them are even furtively looking to the West and to the Christian church for answers.
What do we in the West have to offer? If the average Moslem looks at our society as a whole, they will see that we do offer a free, tolerant society, in which they are allowed to practise their religion safely.
But what else does our society offer disaffected Moslems? We offer them broken marriages and shattered homes; we offer them disrespect for their parents and for any kind of authority; we offer their children harmful, life-destroying drugs and alcohol; we offer their daughters teenage pregnancy; we offer them AIDS and many other diseases; we offer them a society without values, a sick society that freely invades their homes through their televisions and their radios- indeed, through most of the newspapers and magazines that they pick up. We offer them a society in which it is becoming virtually impossible for Moslems- or for anyone else- to bring up their children with any values whatsoever. Our society not only tolerates these evils but it actively encourages them.
And what is the Christian church doing to fight this? Not a lot.
This is, unfortunately, true of our society as a whole, but let us look at things from another angle. "Society" and "the Church" are not amorphous blocks. They are made up of people like us. Any one of us can make a difference to a Moslem, who may be secretly wondering how to escape. We don't have to preach at them; we just have to be christian. We just have to be living the lives we should be leading as Christians. We need to be showing them genuine love and concern. You never know; You might find that the small kindness you show a Moslem, when or she needs it, could change a life.
Mathew 22:35 and one of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to trap him with a question. "Teacher," he asked, "which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus answered, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and the most important commandment.
39 The second most important commandment is like it: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments."
One person can - and sometimes does - make a huge difference.
TO THE MOSLEM ARABS.
TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN ISRAEL.
TO THE BRITISH PEOPLE.
BOMBS AND THE NHS.
HOW WILL IT ALL END?
IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT.
For further, more detailed information click on www.adespicabletruce.org.uk