Free Islam and Terrorism by Mark A Gabriel Page A

war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides whom you may not know, but whom Allah knows.
    —S URAH 8:59–60, A LI TRANSLATION, EMPHASIS ADDED
    The Noble Quran includes some interesting commentary. Notice the words in parentheses:
And make ready against them all you can of power, including steeds of war (tanks, planes, missiles, artillery) to threaten the enemy of Allah . . .
    —S URAH 8:60, EMPHASIS ADDED
    This commentary should confirm for the reader that Muslims are practicing this verse in modern times.
J IHAD S TAGE
    This stage is when Muslims are a minority with strength, influence, and power. At this stage every Muslim’s duty is to actively fight the enemy, overturning the system of the non-Muslim country and establishing Islamic authority.
    This stage is based on the final revelation that Allah received concerning jihad, which is Surah 9:5. Though I quoted this verse earlier, it is so significant in Islamic thinking that it bears repeating:
Fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every strategem (of war) . . .
    —A LI TRANSLATION
    Muslims are commanded to kill anyone who chooses not to convert to Islam. The verse says “wherever you find them.” There are no geographical limits.
M UHAMMAD ’ S E XAMPLE
    These three stages are exactly what the prophet Muhammad lived out. At first he showed no animosity to his enemies (Phase 1). After he left Mecca, he spent his first year inMedina preparing his army (Phase 2). Then he declared jihad, went back to fight his enemies, completely conquered Mecca, and brought it under his authority (Phase 3).
L EBANON
    The recent history of the modern nation of Lebanon can provide us a good example of the three stages in practice.
    Stage 1: Muslims cooperate with the Christian majority.
    If you had visited Lebanon before their civil war, you would have seen the Hawaii of the Middle East. The capital, Beirut, was called the Paris of the Middle East. Lebanon was the most beautiful natural setting around.
    The Muslim minority lived in harmony with the Christian majority. That was because the Muslims were a weak minority with no power. There were no talks about jihad, or holy war, those days in Lebanon.
    Stage 2: Muslims get outside help to prepare for attack.
    Slowly but surely in the 1970s the Islamic minority started the preparation stage by getting support from Libya on one side and Iran on the other. Not too long after that the Lebanese civil war began.
    Stage 3: Muslims wage war against unbelievers.
    The world watched as the beautiful country of Lebanon was divided into many pieces. Muslims denied any loyalty to their Christian brothers and sisters. They started militant groups that were after one goal—overturning the government and establishing an Islamic country.
    One Islamic group was called Amal and was led by Nabih Bary; there was another Shiite group called Hizbollah, which was led by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.
    Twenty years of war followed, but Muslims did not succeed in their mission.
    Compromise (back to Stage 1)
    Right now Lebanon has a secular government, but it has postponed presidential elections for two years now. The term of its Christian president, Michel Suleiman, ended in May 2014 and since then its Muslim prime minister, Tammam Salam, has been the acting president. There had been peace because Lebanon established a government that included all the warring parties. They even made the founder of Amal the president of the parliament and allowed Hizbollah to exist in South Lebanon because, they said, “We must have them there to defend against Israel.” But now the world is watching to see whether the government upholds democracy or continues to move toward oligarchy, where a handful of men make decisions for the nation
J USTIFYING D ECEIT
    The three stages of jihad show how circumstances are used to determine correct behavior. Another