“The
mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our
bayonets and the faithful our soldiers…” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Many Americans believe a mosque or Islamic Center is simply a “Muslim
church.” This could not be further from the truth.
In Islam, Mohammad is considered the al Insan al Kamil – the perfect
example of a man. Anything he did is considered the example for
all
Muslims to follow for all time. Muslim men can marry girls as
young as
six years old because Mohammad did. Mohammad beheaded Jews at the
Battle of the Trench, so this is an “excellent example” for Muslims to
follow. And Mohammad built mosques.
Islam defines itself as a “complete way of life (social, cultural,
political, military, religious)” governed by sharia (Islamic
Law).
There is no separation of politics, religion, or military
operations.
Mohammad was a political, religious, and military leader. The
mosque
was and is a place where politics, religion, community, and military
affairs are all combined.
Mohammad
used mosques as a place for the community to gather and learn about
Islam. It was a place to store food, water, weapons, and
ammunition.
It was a place where jihadis lived and trained. It was also the
place
where battles were planned and the place from which battles were
launched. So, thats what a mosque is.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s (MB) strategic plan for North America entitled
“An Explanatory Memorandum” was discovered during an FBI raid in
Annandale, Virginia in 2004 at the home of a senior Hamas/Muslim
Brotherhood leader. This document was entered into evidence in
the
largest terrorism financing and Hamas trial ever successfully
prosecuted in American history – US v Holy Land Foundation (HLF),
Dallas, 2008.
Regarding mosques/Islamic Centers, An Explanatory Memorandum states:
“Understanding the role and
the
nature of work of “The Islamic Center” in every city with what achieves
the goal of the process of settlement (Civilization Jihad): The
center
we seek is the one which constitutes the “axis” of our Movement, the
“perimeter” of the circle of our work, our “balance center”, the “base”
for our rise and our “Dar al-Arqam” to educate us, prepare us and
supply our battalions in addition to being the “niche” of our prayers.
(emphasis added)
“This is in order for the Islamic center to turn – in action not in
words – into a seed ‘for a small
Islamic society’…Thus, the Islamic center would turn into a place for
study, family, battalion, course, seminar, visit, sport, school, social
club, women gathering, kindergarten for male and female youngsters, the
office of the domestic political resolution, and the center for
distributing our newspapers, magazines, books and our audio and visual
tapes…Meaning that the “center’s” role should be the same as the
“mosque’s” role during the time of God’s prophet…when he marched to
“settle” the Dawa’ in its first generation in Madina…From the mosque,
he drew the Islamic life and provided to the world the most magnificent
and fabulous civilization humanity knew. This mandates that,
eventually, the region, the branch and the Usra turn into “operations
rooms” for planning, direction, monitoring and leadership for the
Islamic center in order to be a role model to be followed.” (emphasis
added)
In 2002, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan quoted a famous muslim
refrain: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets,
the
minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers…” further
highlighting the understanding among Muslims of what a mosque it.
(“Turkey’s Charismatic Pro-Islamic Leader.” BBC News. 4 November 2002)
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