Alabama evangelist challenges, questions Islam in book

Alabama evangelist challenges, questions Islam in book

As news of worldwide terrorist attacks floods the media, many Americans are afraid of the religion that seems to encourage its followers to kill in the name of their god.
   
In his newest book, “Islam: A Threat or a Challenge,” Alabama Baptist evangelist Anis Shorrosh answers many difficult questions about Muslims, the Quran and Islamic beliefs and explains how Christians can influence the culture with the gospel.
   
Islam “is a threat by the fanatics who are determined to disrupt the world order and seek to dominate the world,” Shorrosh said. “The challenge is the rest of the Muslims who need to be won to Christ with the truth of the gospel.”
   
One of the most visible evangelists to the Muslim world, 72-year-old Shorrosh heads the Anis Shorrosh Evangelistic Association and travels the world debating famous Muslim scholars. Born in Nazareth when it was part of Palestine (now Israel), he has survived 11 attempts on his life while confronting what he said are discrepancies at the heart of the Islamic religion.
   
“When the word got into Indonesia that I was behind ‘The True Furqan,’ which is a challenge to the Quran itself in Arabic and in English, I received 50 threats on my life in one day on our Internet Web site,” Shorrosh said. “The Lord protects me because I know He has His time for me. My life is not in the hands of the Muslims or anybody else. It’s in the hands of the Lord.
   
“My conviction is to tell the truth in love because Jesus died for the Muslims, too. Eighty to 90 percent of them have never heard a clear message of the gospel,” he added.
   
Shortly after the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, Shorrosh mailed a copy of the video “Islam: A Threat or a Challenge,” an audio of the book “Islam Revealed” and a copy of “The True Furqan” to President George W. Bush and every member of the U.S. Congress.
   
“It was a labor of love,” Shorrosh said. “(It) was a demonstration of the deep love and appreciation the Shorrosh family has for the United States of America, its leaders and its people, their fellow American citizens.”
    In his book, he expresses his opposition to the belief that Islam is a peaceful religion and Muslims are a non-violent peace-loving people. He asks, “Is truth being sacrificed for tolerance and is the soul of America being sold for cheap crude oil?”
   
“It is incredible that the bloody history of Islam for the past 1,400 years is glossed over,” Shorrosh said. “The naked and absolute truth is the realization that the Quranic injunctions and General Mohammed’s orders to Muslims everywhere is that they should never rest until the whole earth is subjugated to Allah and the Quran by deception, persuasion, immigration and military invasion.”
   
Shorrosh said he believes democracy and Islam cannot coexist. “Historically whenever Muslims are small in numbers — as they are currently in the United States of America — they are docile, delightful and dedicated citizens,” Shorrosh explained. “However, when they grow in numbers, one had better look out.”
   
In a chapter called “The Two Faces of Islam,” he describes the religion as a coin with two sides. “Muslims can become, according to their interpretation of the Quran, either peacemakers or warmongers.”
   
Shorrosh offered a historical account of the foundations of the Islamic faith, including the influence of Mohammed, to whom Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by Allah. According to Shorrosh, Mohammed waged 66 battles in the final 10 years of his life to persuade Arabs to follow only his religion.
   
After winning a crucial battle for Mecca, Shorrosh said Mohammed “obligated the entire citizenship to bow down to ‘Allah’ and the new religion of Mohammed, now named Islam. Subsequently Mohammed became the absolute authority for religious faith and practice of Islam by the violence of the sword, not the volitional will of the people. Dictatorship became the system to rule in Islam — not democracy.”
   
Other chapters in the book include “Qaeda’s History and Goals,” “September 11, 2001 and the Aftermath” and “Iraq — Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” In the book, Shorrosh highlights Iraq’s brilliant past, bright future and current need for “a new government, which respects as well as represents all of the cultural and religious members of the population.”
   
Admitting that America is often accused of acting as the world’s policeman, he said he supports the country’s involvement in Iraq and other foreign crisis situations.
   
After personally observing political, educational, industrial, manufacturing and export improvements in Iraq, Shorrosh noted that the media’s depiction of life in Iraq is untrue.
   
“The incidents of bombings, explosions, killings and disruption of the activities of normal daily life are exaggerated,” he said. “People seem to be carrying on with their daily lives in a very natural way, although some exceptions exist.”
   
Shorrosh said he feels people will come to appreciate the progress made in Iraq. 
   
Until then, he said he believes that a “peaceful coexistence and tolerance will result when we fundamentally and sincerely love our Heavenly Father, then express that love to our fellowman through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true peacemaker.
   
“We can and must forgive each other,” Shorrosh said. “We can and must start living here and now with a heartfelt commitment to building a new future of love and peace for our children and grandchildren, instead of destroying them with hateful hearts and vengeful attitudes. True love can conquer all.”
   
For more information, visit www.Islam-in-Focus.com.