I appreciate the reply and have a better understanding of the context. In the end I don’t believe a singe word of it unfortunately. I find it amazing that Muslims on the outer fringe of Islam are trying to humanize a religion that kills women in brutal ways and endorses the lopping off of limbs for the sake of Islamic law enforcement.
I’m not trying to be mean spirited in this reply but I must be honest and say that Muhammed is an (obvious) false prophet and Islam is made an obvious false religion when looking at the enviroment it produces when allowed to come to it’s total fruition in controling a national government.
If God is going to deliver an enemy into an armies hands it will be in a way that echoes divinity like the army of Pharo consumed in the red sea, or the walls of Jerico coming down, or in David killing Goliath. God has a tendancy to make his presence (totally) known in such a situation.
Taking head shots and targeting peoples hands would fall under the catagory of military tactics, and not divine revelation. What it reads like is bad fiction. I think Muhammed was good at convincing people he was a prophet. Then again so was David Koresh. What I’m realy curious about is if these tactics would actually work or not in that type of battle in that time period. Any military historian types here who can pick apart this military scenario for effect?
-D
Jesus brought a newer message, one of bringing the world to the entire world. He also stated that a person heard the word but was not interested we were to leave them alone. By using this approach mostly, by the time of Muhammad, Christianity had spread all through the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. It is inconceivable to me, that God would then have sent another prophet and give commands that were 180 degrees in the opposite direction.
When I read accounts of Muhammad what I see is a man who becomes violent once he has enough supporters to fight for him. He has people executed. This people raid caravans. That alone is enough for the local authorities in Mecca and Media to attack him and his band. They had the authority to protect the population.
The world did not need one more excuse for war and bloodshed. What it needed is many more reasons for people to NOT fight.
If Muhammad hand continued the message that Jesus started I might take him a bit more seriously. If he had found a way to use his charisma to bring peace between people I’d be impressed. Instead he used it for personal gain and power.