Many Muslims throughout the world were affected by the attack against the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11th, 2001.  Although the United States and other countries of the West were obviously affected nationally, how did these 9/11 attacks affect Muslims individually, especially those living in the United States and other countries in the West?

The United States has been called many things, such as the "Melting Pot", the "Land of Opportunity", and the "Golden Mountain".  (Many Orientals call it the "Golden Mountain", because of the belief by some that those who have the opportunity to go to America can quickly earn "mountains of gold".)  Nevertheless, to many Muslims internationally, the United States could also be called by some rather "choice" names of a negative nature.

Nevertheless, not all Muslims have had angry words or even angry hearts against the United States or against the West in general.  Many Muslims living in the United States and other western countries endured personal insults and taunts during the many years since those 9/11 attacks.  Many Muslims have had their personal freedoms compromised, have been "shown the door" (deported), or else have decided to leave voluntarily rather than endure such emotional "abuse".

Instead, some Muslims were angry to hear about what Osama Bin Laden had done to the United States back in 2001.  The fact that there was dancing in the streets of many Muslim nations on that day did not mean that every Muslim was happy to hear that thousands of Jews, Christians, and other Americans had been murdered by those Muslim terrorists.  Still other Muslims had mixed feelings about what had happened.  Some had outstretched arms and were happy to hear that the United States had been "punished" by Osama Bin Laden, but some were sad to hear that innocent people had died in such a punishment.  Also, reactions to 9/11 among Muslims varied from individual to individual as well as from nation to nation.

Nevertheless, many people who appeared to be "Middle Eastern" did indeed suffer at least some reproach after 9/11, even though many of these "Middle Eastern" people were not even Muslims.  (Many people from Syria, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries are "Orthodox", or have differing religious backgrounds other than Islam.)  It is sad that one man or woman should have to endure suffering because of the actions of another person.

Even though few were surprised to hear that many Muslims in the West had to endure suffering for the acts a few Muslim men, human nature is often like that.  Nevertheless, the real question is not why individual Muslims did or did not suffer as a result of these 9/11 attacks.  The real question is this: "Why has there been so little outcry among Muslims in the West over this heinous crime?"

Instead of a huge outcry, many Muslims in the West and elsewhere spent time and effort after 9/11 telling non-Muslims that Islam is "not a violent religion", and that "these terrorists were not representative of Islam as a whole".  Still other Muslims used the 9/11 attacks as an opportunity to try to persuade non-Muslims to embrace Islam, using peoples' natural curiosity about things that they know little about, (as was the case with most Westerners concerning Islam before the 9/11 attacks.)

Just about everyone would agree -- especially "religious people" -- that murder is evil.  Who would deny this?  Therefore, it does seem a bit strange to be discussing these terrorists as if they were just "a few Muslim men".  Were these Muslim men actually "martyrs" for Allah, or were they murderers?  Are these Muslim men now enjoying eternal life in "Paradise", (a reward for their having committed an "holy act" of murdering thousands of innocents?)  Are these men rather at the bottom of Hell with Judas and other wicked men who helped to murder the innocent.  How do we describe such Muslim men who kill Jews, Christians, and others?  Are they good men or are they evil men?  Are they "Muslim Saints" or are they men who are who are now burning in Hell for their premeditated mass murders?

Since these men believed that they did their acts in obedience to the Muslim book, the Koran, then this begs the next question: "Is Islam a peaceful religion or a violent religion?"  This is very much a central question, a question that keeps "popping up" every time a Muslim murders yet another non-Muslim in the name of Allah and the Koran.  Does Islam indeed promote such violence?

The Koran, which is called by Muslims the "Holy Book" of Islam, was written by Mohammed, who was the founder of the religion of Islam.  Does Mohammed's Koran instruct peace or violence?  Does it promote love or the sword?  In fact, the Koran is quite specific about such acts of violence.  The Koran specifically commands all good Muslim's everywhere to commit the murder of non-Muslims.  The Koran commands that Jews, Christians and others be murdered, in large numbers if possible, by beheading or through the use of other means: ("Strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them." - Koran: Sura 47:4).

That many Muslims in the West are inwardly repulsed by such violent instructions contained in the Koran can be seen in the relatively low incidence of such murders of Jews, Christians, and others by Muslims in the United States and other Western countries.  Why is this the case?  Why do so many Muslims in the West who claim to believe the Koran not violently commit the murder of non-Muslims as commanded by the Koran?

This lack faith in and obedience to the Koran by such Muslims proves that the vast majority of Muslims in the West do not really agree with the Koran that such murders should be committed.  Such Muslims, while claiming to remain true to the Koran, prove that they reject in their conscience such a teaching by the Koran, since they do not go about beheading Jews, Christians, and others around them as the Koran has directly and explicitly commanded them to do.

Of course, I am not saying that it is a bad thing that almost all Muslims living in the West inwardly reject the Koran and its instructions to commit the mass murder of non-Muslims.  One murder is one too many.  There have already been hundreds of thousands of murders in the world "in the name of Allah" in obedience to the Koran.

Thousands, if not millions of Christians, Jews, and others have had their heads stricken off from their shoulders, or were killed in other ways during "great slaughters" of "infidels" over the centuries by Muslims who were obeying the Koran.  The devout Muslims who committed these acts of murder were, after all, just following the Koran, which told them to commit such murders.  Hitler's "SS" men in World War II claimed that they were also just following Hitler's orders when they committed their murders.

This then brings up an even more important point:  If the Koran teaches people to commit murder, then can Islam be truly called "One of the World's Great Religions", or a "Religion of Peace"?  Actually, the Bible says that no murderer, including a Muslim who commits murder, will obtain "eternal life" in Heaven:

"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer:  and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15)

"But...murderers...shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone:  which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)

Therefore, those who commit murder as commanded by the Koran must go to Hell when they die.  This is because they are murderers and therefore The Bible says they do not have "eternal life abiding" within them.  Jesus spoke about murder.  Jesus said:

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:  for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)

Deep down, do you really believe the Koran?  Do you believe that God has commanded you to commit murder?  Don't you rather in your heart reject the Koran, because you know that God could not possibly tell people to commit such murder, as the Koran clearly commands Muslims to do?  Isn't murder, after all, a "wicked sin"?  Isn't Satan, not God, the one who teaches people to commit murder?  Cain (the firstborn son of Adam) was in fact Satan's first "convert" to murderous, salvation-by-works religion.  Satan is still seeking his converts today.

One of the Devil's lies is that you can commit murder and still go to Heaven anyway when you die.  This is what the 9/11 terrorists believed.  They believed that they would go to Heaven and not Hell as a reward for such murders.  Since the Koran teaches people to commit murder, this means that the Koran is clearly not inspired by God, but is rather inspired by Satan, who is behind all murders.  Another one of Satan's many lies is that you can reject Jesus as your savior and still go to Heaven and not Hell when you die.

Perhaps you have not committed murder in obedience to the Koran.  That you have not believed and therefore have not obeyed the Koran in this way is a very good thing, since if you did obey this point, your doing so would make you a murderer.  Nevertheless, you still have committed many other sins in your lifetime.  The reason for your committing such sins is that deep down, you are by nature a sinner.  You need your sins paid for by someone else who is NOT a sinner as you are, so that such an one can pay the penalty and punishment for your sins that you would otherwise have to pay for yourself.

The "Good News" ("Gospel"), is that Jesus is such an One!  Because Jesus, (being both man as well as being The Son of God), is sinless, He does not need to pay for His own sins, since He has never committed any sins at all.  He can therefore pay for your sins.  The fact is, Jesus has already paid for your sins by dying on the Cross in your place.  Jesus is not just a "Great Prophet".  He is the perfect, sinless Son of God.  Jesus said that:

"...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father;  and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?..." (John 14:9-10)

"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God;  that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:13)  Also, see John 20:31.

Trust Jesus, the Son of God.  Jesus did not stay in the tomb after He died on a wooden cross almost 2,000 years ago.  Instead, Jesus rose from the grave and came back to life!  He then ascended up into Heaven where He is now sitting on a throne.  Jesus wants you to trust Him so that His death on the cross can pay for your sins.  You do not have to follow the Koran, die in your sins, and then go to Hell when you die.  Trust Jesus instead.  Only Jesus can save you from your sins:

"Neither is there salvation in any other:  for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

[The Way to Find Jesus]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *