Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

While reading a report on rises in violence against Muslims, I was struck by the feeling that I had when I read "Peter and the Wolf" as a child and the lesson that is part of the story.  I felt sorry for Peter and in my child's mind cam bubbling up the question, "He was telling the truth. Why didn't you believe him?"  I still wonder why.

Then again, I had not lived through the decades where I became all too familiar with the lies the government -- and my family -- told me for my own good. I still do not agree that lying is the best policy, but the best policy is not what tripped up Peter when he lied the first time.  It was fear. Fear is at the heart of every lie, big and small, and why those who know the truth go along with the lie, a new version of the emperor who has no clothes.

Though we don't know it, and often don't find it out, most of the reality we allow is based on lies . . . and has been from the beginning. The lies begin with how Man came to be and how man owes his allegiance and submission to an All Powerful God. The names change as do the manner in which we pray and how often we pray. We get our visions of God from artists who chose people in the street to paint to serve as the model for our views of God and the prophets, sybils, Adam and Eve. The same is true of Hell and damnation, burning in a fiery pit for all eternity, a concept I could not understand and would not believe because I had not read Dante where he created the circles of Hell and who is tortured and punished at each level. Artists, poets, and writers fashioned the very Heaven and Hell we believe in. The artists and writers and poets of antiquity used their imagination to create the horrors and the pleasures that await us and we accept them because the ones that stick with us, the visions that remain, were fashioned by the most adept and most talented among us. We accept them, marvel at the visions, and take them with us through every hour of every day and night . . . and they are all lies. We base our whole existence on the pretty lies because we are creatures of mind and fear and we fear the punishment we deserve when we believe in the tenets and pronouncements of our leaders and teachers, parents and wo/men of faith who have fashioned the path we are to follow. Gods' retribution, Gods' punishment for disobedience will be swift and terrible and the rewards great . . . if we believe. And they are all lies.

Taqiyya is one technique that is part and parcel of one branch of faith.  Taqiyya is codified and is a keystone of the Islamic faith that allows adherents to lie to a friend or a foe secure in the knowledge that Allah will forgive. If the kaffirs (unbelievers) fall for it, so much the better for Allah and his followers. After all, everyone lies and everyone believes the lies even after they find out the truth. Look at all the countries where taqiyya has helped carve out a space for the adherents and faithful followers of Islam to understand how taqiyya works. If the kaffirs fall for it, so much the better. The kaffirs will either convert to the true religion, to submit themselves to Allah, or they will die and water the earth with their blood.

A child brought up in a devout household learns taqiyya and knows to lie to unbelievers, to kaffirs, and to keep the truth for only the submissive and devout Muslims who taught them taqiyya. A child learns taqiyya at the earliest moment of life, imbibing it with the mother's milk and reinforced with the father's and siblings' pride or condemnation. Children are natural liars and will use their Allah-given gifts to perpetuate the lies. In this modern world with cameras on every phone in every pocket, lying comes easily and frequently and the warm feeling that suffuses the body when submitting to Allah's will to further the cause of jihad and the earthly Caliphate are reward enough -- as long as the ultimate reward of Paradise will also warm you on cold nights for your loved ones after you have gone on to enjoy the virgins of Paradise and the warmth of Allah's regard.

Jesus Christ and Yahweh also promise their obedient followers a paradise of their own devout belief that will fade when the Final Battle is fought and the true and faithful warriors have been raised to Paradise to Gods' reward on a mountain of the skulls of kaffirs and sinners and Jews upon the bedrock of taqiyya.  How could the unbelievers be fooled? It is Allah's will.

When all is based on lies, what can we do but continue the lie and deceive the followers so they will not lose faith?

That is all. Disperse.

The Chameleon Effect

The eye has it.

Chameleons blend in with their surroundings to protect themselves against predators. Geckos and other insects and animals camouflage themselves for protection as well as stealth. The military industrial complex has adopted similar methods of hiding their weapons, transport, and some would say ideology. Any successful predator learns how to disguise intent, goals, and methods and replicates success without being affected by anyone and anything. In order to understand these human chameleons one must learn to think like them without being caught up in their ideology in order to defeat them. Such is the case with Muslims.

The problem is that understanding Muslims has nothing to do with accepting the belief that most Muslims are peaceful and just want to get along, to be a part of their community or country, and are not bent on destruction and sublimation of their adopted culture. That is wrong-headed thinking. To believe so is to fall into the trap of the chameleon effect. Muslims who have turned their backs on Islam and repudiated Mohammed's teachings will say the same thing. Reformed Muslims will tell say that Islam can be modified from within and can be reformed. They are lying to themselves and to everyone around them. There is only one god and that is Allah. To say anything else is part of the camouflage. It is hiding from themselves and from the rest of the world because the goal of Islam is to convert or kill. There is no other option.

I say this with sadness and not a small degree of remorse. Remorse because writing off an entire group of people goes against my grain. I am adaptable. I am willing to give unbelievers space and time to come around to my way of thinking and they are welcome to dispute and ignore my beliefs without fatal repercussions. I cannot do this with followers of Islam because I now understand how Islam works. It is in their five times daily prayers: There is only one god and that god is Allah. There is only one belief and that belief is that Allah is the all, the creator of the universe, the creator of all who exist in the universe. There is only Allah.

The world I grew up in and in which I live is malleable and changes from moment to moment. Islam is not malleable and does not change. There is no god but Allah and Allah is all. Muslim tactics have changed, but the words have not changed except as they changed in Mohammed's mind and in his practice. The Quran states that the first writings of Mohammed, the sutras of the Quran, are superseded by the later writings (teachings). As Mohammed changed, so changed his writings, his understanding, and his practices, but now codified in the Quran nothing else may be changed. Allah must be obeyed and his teachings are not to be changed not in any manner, not, as the Hebrews state, by one jot or tittle. It is the same for the Torah. When Hebrews copy the Torah, one small error means the whole will be destroyed. A jot or a tittle out of place and the whole Torah must be destroyed. There is no room for error. In that the Quran is the same as the Torah; nothing must be changed.

Hebrews, or Jews as they are currently called, make new copies of the Torah in the same way old copies of the Torah were made, by copying exactly what was originally written without a single error. The Torah is copied with mindful prayer and obedience to G_d and without error. Muslims, also called Mohammedans, Moslems, and other iterations, believe and practice the same with their reproduction, copying, of the Quran. No error is tolerated or allowed and mistakes are burned. There is only one god and that god is Allah and Mohammed is his prophet whose writings are sacred. Followers of Allah need no other books. All that is necessary for life is found in the Quran. Nothing else is needed or allowed. A faithful follower of Allah learns the Quran, committing all its sutras (lessons) to memory so that if the book is destroyed, Allah's words will remain in the heart and mind of believers. If all books are destroyed, only Allah's words will remain written on the hearts and minds of believers. All who believe in Allah and practice his teachings will be rewarded; all others will be destroyed until only Allah remains.

Judaism has changed through the centuries since its teachings were codified by Moses in the Torah, but the Torah has not changed. The same is true of Islam and the Quran. What has changed is Man. Man/humanity has evolved and adapted with the times. Islam has not adapted and has not changed. The goals of Islam are as they were when Islam emerged into existed in the 6th century: to convert all on this planet to Islam and to worship and belief of Allah. Nothing else matters.

As I've said before, taqiyya is an honored practice. Lying and camouflage are part and parcel of the practice and belief system of Islam. A true believer may say whatever is needed as long as the end result is Allah is the only god and all who believe in Allah remain. Islam is the quintessential proof that the ends do indeed justify the means. As long as Allah is the god of all and all believe, everything else can pass away because Allah is god and the only god is Allah. To believe otherwise is allowed for followers of Islam as long as the keep Allah in their hearts. Whatever a true believer says or does is permissible as long as the end result is to convert the nonbeliever to Allah. An apostate, a believer who repudiates Allah in heart and mind and turns against Allah, will be killed just as practicing homosexuals and Hebrews/Jews will be killed without mercy and without fail. In the end, there is no god but Allah.

To believe otherwise, to give Muslims the benefit of the doubt, to give them space and time to adapt, to believe that there is any god but Allah is to die forever, a chameleon unmasked, unprotected, and unwilling to continue living -- or to be a Hebrew/Jew. It is not xenophobia or intolerance, but wisdom to take Islam at its word that there is no god but Allah. To believe there can be peace between Israel and the followers of Islam is to court destruction. To believe that Allah will give space to Yahweh or Christians or anyone who does not follow Islam is folly.

That is all. Disperse.