1989

Islamic Terrorism Timeline

12/18/2006

- January 5, 1989: A stash of grenades were found hidden near a runway at the Athens Airport. They were closest to the parking spaces used by Pan American and Trans World Airways.

The same day, a detonator and explosives were discovered in a bathroom at Iraklion Airport on the island of Crete. The terrorist tools were accompanied by a note which read: "Hands off Qadhafi...if Qadhafi is harmed, the airport and the U.S. will pay for it.".

- January 5, 1989: In Thailand, the Soldiers of Justice, a joint apparatus of Abu Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council and Hezbollah, and the Islamic Holy War in the Hijaz, claimed credit for the assassination of a Saudi diplomat. The Islamic Holy War in the Hijaz claimed they murdered him in revenge for the execution of four of their jihadists in Saudi Arabia on September 30, 1988.

- January 6, 1989: Marxists like Muslims hate Christians and Jews. They are also immoral. As evidence, two American missionaries were kidnapped while attending a meeting in La Florida, Columbia. The kidnappers were Communists calling themselves "The Extraditables." They threatened to kill the Christians unless drug lord Carlos Lehder was released from a U.S. prison.

The Extraditables was formed by drug traffickers of the Medellín Cartel in order to prevent their extradition to the United States. The best known figure involved with the group was Medellín Cartel leader Pablo Escobar. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, Marxist terrorists turned to drug lords to support their addition to violence.

- January 16, 1989: A package containing explosives sent to the Israeli Embassy in London. The January 15 Organization, a group affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility.

- January 21, 1989: The Tripoli Martyrs Battalion, an AMAL brand, claimed responsibility for kidnapping three members of the Syrian occupation forces in Lebanon. The abductions were in retaliation for the kidnapping of Qasim Jabir, a leader in the Islamic Unification Movement, by the Syrians.

Three days later, the TMB claimed to have executed the men because the Syrians refused to free Jabir.

- January 27, 1989: Islamic terrorists bombed three American businesses in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey. In the coordinated attacks, five armed jihadists tied up office employees, spray-painted slogans, and set off explosives in the buildings.

- February 1, 1989: The Soviet Embassy in Beirut was hit by a rocket.

- February 5, 1989: A bus station bombing in Quetta, Pakistan killed three and injured five others.

- February 11, 1989: Shiite terrorists sponsored by the Iranian religious regime were responsible for bombing a West German university building in Cologne. Iranian opposition groups were meeting there at the time. Two people were wounded.

- February 12, 1989: An American Express office in Pakistan was set on fire amid protests over Salman Rushdie's book Satanic Verses. There were two interesting sidebars associated with this act of senseless terrorism. First, Satanic Verses was banned in Pakistan so the Islamic protestors hadn't read it. No form of free speech, political, religious, or otherwise, is allowed in any Islamic country. Islam is more afraid of the truth, and of being exposed, than it is of anything else - including armies and bombs.

Second, while Satanic Verses was a novel, the story was true. Had Muslims read their own scriptures and then Rushdie's book, they would have torched Islam, not those who offered it for sale.

- February 14, 1989: In Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the world's highest ranking Shiite cleric, issued a fatwa, or religious order, regarding the novel Satanic Verses by author Salman Rushdie. He told Muslims to assassinate the author and offered a million dollar reward for his head.

While they would not kill Rushdie, the author would have to go into hiding. And within a matter of a few years, Muslims would murder countless people associated with the translation and distribution of the book in a variety of Western countries.

Islam's Satanic Verses are manifest in the Qur'an and Hadith. Both reveal that Muhammad, like all Islamic prophets, spoke on behalf of Satan. Therefore, Islamic clerics were so afraid of the truth being known that they ordered Muslims to murder those with the courage to tell it.

The Satanic Verses provide the pivot upon which Islam was transformed from a demonic religion to being a terrorist dogma. They are thus the reason that there is an Islamic Terrorism Timeline, and the reason that documenting Islam's signature behavior requires 2000 pages.

While I could ask you to read the "Satan's Bargain" chapter of Prophet of Doom, most would skip over the link and move on - just as not one in a million Americans actually read Salman Rushdie's book. So, I've elected to include my review of Islam's pivotal moment within this review.

Those who have read Prophet of Doom know that I distilled a "Best of the Meccans" list of accusations against Muhammad and his claims from the hundreds that permeated the Qur'an. For your reading pleasure: "He is liar and a magician." "He is possessed by devils." "He is an insane plagiarizing poet." The Meccans called him "a lunatic, a farfetched forger, a fool, a specious pretender, and deceitful." "The unbelievers said: ‘He is a deceiving sorcerer, turning many gods into one deity.'" They saw an ulterior "motive behind the Qur'an. It is a fabrication." "They laugh at the Qur'an." "Allah hasn't sent down anything. You are only speaking lies." "This is nothing but pure sorcery." "The unbelievers say, ‘The Qur'an is nothing but earlier peoples' lore.'" "These are fables of antiquity which he has reinvented." "What sort of prophet is this? Why was no angel sent to him?" "These are only confused dreams. He has invented them. Let him bring a miracle to us as the earlier prophets did." "They say of the prophet, ‘He has forged the Qur'an.'" "We find him full of folly and a liar to boot." Therefore, the Qur'an itself proves that those who knew Muhammad best, described him as a demon-possessed fraud.

Rather than preach salvation to his tribe, Muhammad taunted his accusers: "Some of them talk ill of the Prophet. For those who offend Allah's Apostle there is a painful punishment. Anyone who opposes Allah and His Prophet will abide in hell forever." In a duet with Allah, Muhammad bellowed: my critics are: "despicable men, contemptible swearers, back-biters. They're feeble scandal-mongers." Carried away in the moment, the god of the Qur'an said that his creation were: "mischief mongers, faggots, apes, nail biters, donkeys, pigs, and tongue twisters." It was a war of words. The sticks and stones would come later.

Muslim apologists insist that their prophet's warmongering in Medina was a result of the Meccan verbal assault. But according to the Hadith, it was Muhammad who tongue-lashed first. The Meccan response was measured and reasonable. They sought peace through diplomacy and were ultimately terrorized, plundered, and conquered as a result. Their plight should scream out to us today.

The Islam vs. Pagan contest seldom rose above a war of words in Mecca. The following account was recorded in Hadith, or Oral Reports from Muhammad's Companions, as they were assembled by Islam's first biographer and earliest historian. You will find it in Ishaq's Sira (Biography of Muhammad) on page 130 and also in Tabari's Ta'rikh (History of Islam's formation) in Volume VI, page 101. "‘The nastiest thing I saw the Quraysh do to the Messenger occurred when their nobles assembled in the Hijr [the standing place in the mosque of the Ka'aba]. They discussed Muhammad, saying, "We have never seen the kind of trouble we have endured from this fellow. He has derided our traditional values, declared our way of life foolish, abused and insulted our forefathers, reviled our religion, caused division among us, divided the community, and cursed our gods."'".

Allah was their most revered idol. Saying that Muhammad insulted him is an indictment of Islam. And he couldn't have reviled their religion to any significant degree because he incorporated every aspect of Qusayy's scam into Islam. Therefore, the real problem lay elsewhere. This prophet made himself a societal nuisance. He destroyed traditional values, caused divisions among the people, and assailed both the living and the dead.

"‘We have endured a great deal from him.' While they were saying this, the Apostle walked up and kissed the Black Stone. Then he performed the circumambulation of the Ka'aba. As he did they said some injurious things about him. I could see from the Messenger's face that he had heard them. When he passed a second time they made similar remarks. When he passed them the third time, the Prophet stopped and said, ‘Hear me, O Quraysh. By Him who holds Muhammad's life in his hand, I will bring you slaughter.'".

The founder of Islam was performing pagan rites, kissing a rock idol and venerating a rock shrine. He had attacked the traditional values of his people, demeaned their ancestors, and caused division. He had built his "religion" of submission upon doctrines he had stolen from Qusayy, Hanif poetry, and Jewish oral traditions. And for what? So he could lay claim to Allah's Fountain of Kausar - the Ka'aba Inc.

If you think my summation is too harsh, consider what just happened. After enduring years of hate speech from Muhammad, the Meccans criticized him. They accurately labeled the prophet's religion "plagiarized madness and sorcery." In response, the founder of Islam turned to his accusers and said, "I will bring you slaughter." Not salvation, not good news, not a wonderful message from a loving God. No. "I will bring you slaughter." It was Muhammad's message to the world. And he performed as promised. It is why the Satanic Verses serve as the turning point where Islam moves from religious scam to terrorist dogma.

The Meccans were as stunned by this response to their verbal jousting as we should be today. They were in the presence of a covetous charlatan, and they knew it. Unfortunately, they didn't respond intelligently. They were wary of condemning a religion, no matter how corrupt. They were deluded into thinking that a tyrant could be appeased. As a result, the Meccans would lose everything by accommodating the evil that had grown up in their midst.

(Tabari VI:102) "They were gripped by what he had said. The word he used struck people so not one could move. It was as though everyone had a bird perched on his head. Even those who had been urging the severest measures against him, now spoke in a conciliatory way, using the politest expressions they could muster. They said, 'Depart Abu al-Qasim [Muhammad's real name]; for by Allah, you were never violent.'" At least he wasn't before he became demon possessed and poisoned by Islam.

Peace is not the absence of war; it is not obtained through accommodation. These men wanted to live in peace, so they capitulated. They strove to understand their menace, to talk nicely to their tormentor, to satiate his demands. They were politically correct and got pummeled for it. Their olive branches of kindness were turned into spears of reprisal. Within a decade or so of this peace initiative the entire Middle East - from Egypt to India - was stung by the Islamic war machine.

Appeasing tyrants is the surest path to war. Neville Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler in Munich using his nicest words. He, like the Meccans, caved in to the madman's demands. The Brits gave the Nazis Czechoslovakia. The deadliest war in human history was the result.

Today, the world is trumpeting another "land for peace" initiative in hopes of satiating a terrorist regime. But as before, if a nation is sacrificed to a hostile doctrine, if Israel is given to Islam, the world will erupt in global war. This time the weapons are better so a billion will die. Negotiating with tyrants simply fuels their fanaticism. No matter how much one gives, it is never enough. Evil must never be allowed to fester and grow - even if it's called a religion.

(Tabari VI:102) "The Prophet left and the next day they gathered in the Hijr. I [Abdallah] was again present. ‘You were talking about the unpleasantness which you endured and the things Muhammad has done, but when he said something disagreeable you shrank from him.'" As a result, the doves were consumed by the hawk.

The next incident in Muhammad's march toward the Satanic Verses was chronicled in Tabari's Ta'rikh, or History, in volume VI, page 103 and in Ishaq's Sira, or Biography on page 131: "Hamzah bin Abdul Muttalib came with his bow slung over his shoulder. He was a great huntsman and used to go out for game with his bow and arrows. When he came back from the hunt he would not go back to his family until he had circumambulated the Ka'aba. He was the strongest man of the Quraysh. A woman rose up and said, ‘If only you had seen what your nephew Muhammad had to endure just now before you came. Abu Jahl spoke to him offensively.'".

"Hamzah was carried away by rage, as it was Allah's will to honor him this way. [In Islam, it is an honor to be furious.] He went off quickly, not stopping to speak to anyone. Instead of circumambulating the Ka'aba, he was ready to attack Abu Jahl when he saw him. When he entered the mosque, [This is a reminder that the Ka'aba was a pagan mosque, or place of prostration, before it was the center of Islamic worship. Further, the prostration prayer, Islam's signature move, preceded the Qur'an.] he saw him sitting among the people. Hamzah raised his bow and gave Jahl a blow which split his head open in an ugly way. He said, ‘Do you insult him when I am a member of his religion? Hit me back if you can.'" Before Islam, Hamzah hunted for food. After Islam he hunted men for his god. While he was but a lone terrorist with a bow, he established the pattern that would soon rock the world.

The change did not escape notice. (Tabari VI:103/Ishaq:132) "Hamza's Islam was complete. He followed the Prophet's every command. The Quraysh recognized that by Hamzah's acceptance of Islam Muhammad had been made strong. Hamzah would protect him." Violence made a man's Islam complete. And a man made a prophet strong.

What comes next is only tangentially related to the Satanic Verses. But since so much is at stake, I dare not omit anything from the Ishaq's or Tabari's account or pull verses out of context as they build to Islam's pivotal moment, the change from demonic to violent, from deceptive to deadly.

Muhammad's first biographer and Islam's earliest historian revealed: (Ishaq:141/Tabari VI:104) "The first to recite the Qur'an aloud in Mecca after the apostle was Abdallah bin Mas'ud. One day the companions of the Prophet were assembled together [all five of them] and remarked, ‘The Quraysh have never heard this Qur'an recited aloud to them. Who will make them listen to it?'" This is an astonishing admission. Muhammad was fifty years old and a decade into his mission. Mecca was a tiny place, clustered around a miniscule shrine. Eighty out of one-hundred and fourteen, or 70% of the Qur'an's surahs had been revealed, yet "the Quraysh had never heard this Qur'an recited aloud to them." Then what, pray tell, was the source of war of words between Muhammad and his critics? If Muhammad wasn't preaching "god's" word, what on earth was he saying that was so obnoxious?

"Abdallah bin Mas'ud said, ‘I will.' They said, ‘We fear what they will do to you. What we want is a man who has a clan who will protect him against them if they seek to harm him.' He [foolishly] replied, ‘Let me do it. Allah will protect me.'" But alas, Allah was never in the miracle business.

Tabari didn't reference the surah Mas'ud elected to recite. Ishaq did. I was stunned to learn that it was the 55th, "Ar-Rahman." The Hadith claims Allah's protection yet Mas'ud was singing Ar-Rahman's praises. It's little wonder the Meccans were up in arms. Muhammad was venerating Allah's House, their Ka'aba, but was claiming that it belonged to a rival moon god.

(Ishaq:141) "The next day Ibn Mas'ud went to the Ka'aba in the late morning when the Quraysh were gathered in groups. He turned toward them as he recited: [Qur'an Surah 55, beginning with verse 1] "Ar-Rahman bestowed the Qur'an. He created man. He has taught man eloquent speech (and intelligence). The sun and moon are made punctual, following courses, they revolve to a computation." [According to the Islamic god, the sun moves, not the earth.] "Ar-Rahman created the herbs (or stars) and the trees all of which prostrate themselves.".

For those who are reading this excerpt from Prophet of Doom for the first time and may be confused as to the name of Muhammad's god, you are not alone. When the Qur'an is reordered chronologically, it becomes apparent that while Muhammad was in Mecca revealing the Qur'an's first 90 surahs his god was either nameless or Ar-Rahman. Allah was at the time one of 360 Meccan rock idols while Ar-Rahman was the top stone in a rival "prophet's" pantheon in Yemen. It wasn't until Muhammad moved away from Mecca and Allah and revealed the last 24 surahs in Yathrib that Allah would become Akbar - the Greatest.

Returning to Mecca in the seventh century, Mas'ud proudly proclaimed: (Qur'an 55:14) "He created man of fermented clay dried tinkling hard like earthen ware, and created jinn [demons] from the white-hot flame of fire. How many favors of your Lord will you both (men and jinn) deny?".

The first Meccan Qur'an recital turned nasty with these words: (Qur'an 55:31) "Soon We will dispose of you both (men and jinn) by applying Our two armies. How many favors of your Lord will you both deny?" A second translation reads, "We shall soon be free to turn on you, O weary caravans." Muhammad would soon prosper by raiding Meccan caravans. (Qur'an 55:35) "There will be let loose on you both white-hot flames of fire and smoke that chokes so that you will not be able to defend yourselves. How many favors of your Lord will you both deny?" Ar-Rahman makes jinn out of the same material he will use to torture men. That means the dark spirit of Islam intends to send his demons after us. And, lest we forget, this spirit considers torture a "favor.".

Mas'ud continued to recite the "Ar-Rahman" surah to the Meccans as a prelude to the Satanic Verses: (Qur'an 55:41) "The sinners will be seized by their forelock and feet. Which of the favors of your Lord will you then deny? This is the Hell the sinners called a lie. They will go round and round between its fierce fires and boiling water. Which of the favors of your Lord will you then deny?" Apart from Satan, can you imagine any spirit suggesting that burning and scalding were favors?

Having sickened the Quraysh with demonic torments, Mas'ud Qur'anic recital teased them with decadence - another devilish scheme. (Qur'an 55:46) "For him who lives in terror of his Lord are two Gardens containing delights: shade, two fountains flowing, fruits in pairs. Reclining on carpets lined with silk brocade, fruits hanging low. In them virginal females with averted glances (desiring none but you), undeflowered by men or jinn. Is the reward of goodness aught but goodness?" Ar-Rahman has just labeled decadence "good," and living in terror is the path to Paradise. The Qur'an even painted "paradise" in the form of a brothel.

(Qur'an 55:62) "And beside this, there are two other Gardens, rich green in color from plentiful watering. In them will be two springs, gushing forth, and fruits. And beautiful companions, virgins cloistered in pavilions, undefiled by men and jinn, reclining on green cushions and rich mattresses. Which of the favors of you Lord will you both deny?".

I would have liked to have seen the reaction on the Meccan's faces as they listened to Muhammad's "religious disciple" recite this demonic message. (Ishaq:141/Tabari VI:104) "The Meccans took notice of Mas'ud. ‘What on earth is this son of a slave's mother saying?' Then they said, ‘He is reciting some of what Muhammad has prayed.'" By using "prayed" in this context, these fantasies represented Muhammad's cravings - from decedent to demonic.

"They rose up and began to hit him in the face. [So much for Allah's protection.] He continued to recite as much as Allah willed that he should, and went back to his companions with the marks of their blows on his face. They said, ‘This is what we feared would happen to you,' but he replied, ‘The enemies of God [Ar-Rahman?] were never more despicable in my sight than they are now. If you wish, I will do the same thing to them tomorrow.' They replied, ‘No, you have done enough.'" It's the cause and effect of Islam. The religion causes Muslims to hate anyone who isn't a Muslim. It's a condition that persists to this day.

Ishaq's Sira or Biography of Muhammad transitions from this incriminating encounter to another. He revealed that Muhammad was afraid to recite the Qur'an in public so the Meccans eavesdropped outside his mud hut one night. (Ishaq:143) "When they heard the Qur'an they said in mockery, ‘Our hearts are veiled, we do not understand what he is saying. There is a load in our ears.' Then Allah revealed, ‘And when you recite the Qur'an we put between you and those who do not believe a hidden veil. They turn in aversion.' In secret counsels the mockers say, ‘They are following a man bewitched.'".

The next Ishaq encounter was omitted by Tabari. I can only assume that the historian couldn't find a credible supporting Oral Report or he had collected enough contrary Hadith to question its veracity. (Ishaq:143) "The Quraysh showed their enmity to those who followed the Apostle. Every clan which contained Muslims attacked them, imprisoning them, beating them, allowing them no food or drink, and exposing them to the burning heat of Mecca, so as to seduce them from their religion. Some gave way under pressure of persecution, and others resisted." Considering that Muhammad had threatened to slaughter the Quraysh, and that they now had evidence that his religion turned peaceful men into enraged killers, if this happened, the Meccans would have been justified. The doctrine Muhammad was espousing was a corrosive cancer - deceitful, destructive, deadly, and damning.

In a book which was dominated was a recounting of Muhammad's terrorist raids against defenseless civilians, Ishaq was able to provide only one example of the first Muslims being abused. (Ishaq:144) "A rock was put on a slave's chest. When Abu Bakr complained, they said, ‘You are the one who corrupted him, so save him from his plight.' ‘I will do so,' said Bakr. ‘I have a black slave, tougher and stronger than Bilal, who is a heathen. I will exchange him.' The transaction was carried out." Even when these boys did something right, it was wrong. Trading slaves wasn't religious, and calling a black man a "heathen" was racist. Moreover, think of the absurdity of Islamic apologists using this one Hadith as their justification for Muhammad's 75 terrorist raids.

(Tabari VI:103) "Umar bin al-Khattab [the Caliph who ruled during Islam's bloodiest conquests] was a staunch and mighty warrior. He accepted Islam, as had Hamzah before him. The Messenger's Companions began to feel stronger." (Ishaq:155) "Umar became a Muslim, he being a strong, stubborn man whose protégés none dare attack. The prophet's companions were so fortified by him and Hamza that they got the upper hand on the Quraysh. ‘We could not pray at the Ka'aba until Umar became a Muslim, and then he fought the Quraysh until we could pray there.'" The warrior's acceptance of Islam enabled the prophet to change his qiblah from faith to power, from religion to politics, from a war of words to a clash of arms. While the results of Umar aligning his sword with Muhammad's mission are undeniable, one question lingers. Why did he join the fledgling force?

Did Muhammad lure Umar into Islam with the Qur'an's promises of drunken orgies? "Delights in gardens of pleasure, on couches facing one another; a cup from a gushing spring of wine, white, delicious to the drinkers. None shall be made mad or exhausted thereby." "On thrones raised high, with maidens incomparable. Lo! We have formed their companions as a special creation, and made them to grow a new growth. We made them virgins - pure and undefiled, lovers, matched in age, for those on the right hand.".

Or did Muhammad terrorize Umar into submission with his Qur'anic depictions of hell: "Soon will I fling them into the burning Hell Fire! It permits nothing to endure, and nothing does it spare! It darkens and changes the color of man, burning the skin! It shrivels and scorches men." "Let him beware! If he does not desist, We will seize him, smite his forehead, and drag him by the forelock!" "For the rejecters is Entertainment with Boiling Water and roasting in Hell Fire." "Truly Hell is as a place of ambush, a resort for the rebellious." "Therein taste they neither coolness nor any drink save a boiling water and a fluid, dark, murky, intensely cold, paralyzing, a fitting reward." "They will eat thorns and fill their bellies with the heads of flaming devils. Then on top of that they will be given a mixture made of boiling water to drink especially prepared." "We have prepared the doom of Hell and the penalty of torment in the most intense Blazing Fire. When they are flung in, they will hear the terrible drawing in of their breath and loud moaning even as the flame blazes forth, roaring with rage as it boils up, bursting with fury, plucking apart his body right to the skull! Eager to roast; dragged by the head, Hell shall claim all who flee.".

Or do you suppose he tempted him with Qur'anic promises of booty? "As for the favor your Lord has bestowed upon you, Muhammad, announce it!" "Soon your Lord will give you so much you shall be pleased. He found you poor and enriched you." "Of the bounty of your Lord let your discourse be." "Muhammad claims that Allah has sent him as His Messenger with this religion so that the treasures of Chusroes and Caesar will be given to him by conquest." "I want them to utter one saying. If they say it, the Arabs will submit to them and the non-Arabs will pay the jizyah tax in submission." "The use of booty from the spoils of war are lawful and good." "Know that one fifth of what you acquire as booty is for Allah and His Apostle." "If they ask you of the benefits of accruing the spoils of war, tell them, ‘The benefits belong to Allah and His Messenger [and will be shared with Umar].'" I don't know if Umar is in Hell with Allah tormenting infidels or lounging in the Brothels of Bliss. But I do know Islam made the Islamic warrior king very, very rich!

Leaving the Sira and returning to the Sunnah we discover: (Tabari VI:106) "The revelation from Allah was coming to the Prophet continuously, commanding and threatening those who showed open hostility to him, and vindicating him against those who opposed him." Muhammad, Allah's lone messenger, was the opposite of the Messiah Yahshua (called Jesus Christ by many). Yahweh became a man to vindicate those who were hostile to Him by accepting their condemnation. For those who believe that we all worship the same god and that many paths lead to him, this is a good place to pause and ponder.

Reading the ninety Meccan surahs is like listening to a decade-long argument. They said, "You are a lying, plagiarizing, charlatan, a fraud and a sorcerer. There is surely a motive behind all of this madness." He said, "I am not a lying madman or a demon possessed sorcerer. And because you have mocked me, I will bring you slaughter." With that recap, we can dispense with the remaining score of Meccan surahs and move on with the story.

At this point, Ibn Ishaq reveals a stunning temptation - one which I have entitled "The Quraysh Bargain." It will form the basis of the Satanic Verses. (Ishaq:132-3) "Utba, who was a chief, said while sitting in a Quraysh assembly, ‘Why don't I go to Muhammad and make some proposals to him? If he accepts, we will give him whatever he wants, and he will leave us in peace.' They thought it was a good idea, because if they tried to negotiate with him they would no longer be blamed for his actions. So Utba went to the Prophet, who was sitting in the mosque by himself, and said, ‘O my nephew, you are one of us yet you have come to our people with a matter that is dividing the community. You are ridiculing our customs. You have insulted our gods and our religion. You have even declared that our forefathers were infidels. So listen to me and I will make some suggestions, and perhaps you will be able to accept one of them.' The Apostle agreed. Utba said, ‘If what you want is money, we will gather for you some of our property so that you may be the richest man in town. If you want honor, we will make you a chief so that no one can decide anything apart from you. If you want sovereignty, we will make you king. And if this demonic spirit which has possession of you is such that you cannot get rid of him, we will find a physician for you, and exhaust our means trying to cure you. For often a demonic spirit gets possession of a man, but he can be rid of it.' The apostle listened patiently." Wow! This is incriminating.

While Muhammad hesitated, the Meccans went on the offensive - hitting every one of his hot buttons. They charged: (Ishaq:134) "‘Muhammad if you don't accept our offer then ask your Lord to give us the land and water we lack, for we are shut in by these mountains, we have no river, and none live a harder life than we do." With this, they destroyed Muhammad's stated justification for preaching Islam. The Meccans weren't gluttonous as Muslims claim. "If you speak the truth, resurrect Qusayy for us for he was a true shaikh, so that we may ask him whether what you say is accurate." The Quraysh correctly identified the true patriarch of Islam, the founder of the Ka'aba Inc., and the man who invented the scam Muhammad coveted. "If you do this we will believe you and know that God has sent you as an apostle as you claim.'".

Muhammad did nothing, so..."Well then at least ask your god to send an angel to confirm your depictions of paradise and give you the mansions and gold you obviously crave. If not that, then send us the Day of Doom you threaten us with, for we will not believe you until you perform a miracle." The Meccans knew that a prophet devoid of prophecies and miracles couldn't be what he claimed. What's more, they knew that his god was powerless. "Why doesn't your god help you? Didn't he know that we were going to present you with these opportunities to prove yourself? Listen, Muhammad; we know the truth. Information has reached us that you are taught by this fellow in Yemen called al-Rahman. By Allah, we will never believe in Ar-Rahman." The Meccans even knew the source of the Qur'anic revelations, a Hanif named after their god. "‘Alright then, our conscience is clear.' When they said this the Prophet got up and left." The Quraysh saw right through Muhammad's prophetic act. They exposed him and laid him bare, just as we are doing today.

As you read these words, remember that the Sira's Hadith are not only considered to be divinely inspired scripture, they represent Islam's most essential writings. The Sira provides the lone chronology of Muhammad's words and deeds written within three centuries of his death - and its words came to us through the exact same people who brought Muslims the Qur'an.

The only written account of Muhammad compiled within 200 years of his death reveals: (Ishaq:135) "‘Muhammad, your people have made certain propositions.... They asked you for things so that they might know that your position with God is as you say it is so that they might believe and follow you, and yet you did nothing. They even asked you to hasten the punishment you are frightening them with, but you could not do it.' The Prophet went to Khadija, sad and grieving." Ishaq tells us that the Quraysh escalated their verbal assault, calling Muhammad a "sorcerer - spitting and blowing," an "insane poet - preaching in rhyme," and "demon possessed - whispering delirium." They said that his Qur'an was plagiarized "fairy tales of the ancients." Yet with each new iteration, his familiar spirit had a ready Qur'anic verse - ever escalating the war of words.

One of the most bizarre facets of this new game of "put up or shut up" involved some Jewish rabbis from Yathrib. The Quraysh sent emissaries to test Muhammad's claim that he was the last of the Biblical prophets. We're told that the rabbis laid down a challenge. (Ishaq:136) "Ask him about the Mighty Traveler who reached the confines of both East and West. Ask him what the spirit is. And ask him what happened to the men who disappeared in ancient days. If he does not know he is a rogue, a forger, so treat him as you will." While the Jews asked no such questions, the Meccans convinced Muhammad that they had. "So Muhammad said to the emissaries, ‘I will give you the answers tomorrow.' But the Apostle waited for fifteen days without a revelation from God on the matter, nor did Gabriel come to him, so the people of Mecca began to spread evil reports." Fact is, the Meccans had fingered the Yemeni Hanif (and thus God), and our hero couldn't ask the Yathrib Jews (and thus Gabriel) because he thought that they had composed the challenge.

Left to his own devices, Muhammad didn't do very well. He said that the answers finally came to him in the form of the 18th surah - aptly named "The Cave." The last time he was on his own searching for god in all the wrong places, Satan had met him there. This time his spirit friend said that the "Mighty Traveler" was a Muslim: (Qur'an 18:83) "They ask about Dhu'l-Qarnain [Alexander the Great]. I shall recite to you something of his story. We established him and gave him the means to do everything. So he reached the setting place of the sun and saw that it set in a muddy spring of hot, black water. Around it he found people. He asked if he might punish them." The story goes on to talk about extraterrestrials, mythical people, and to claim that the pagan Alexander was a Muslim. I presented this entire Quranic myth in the last chapter of Prophet of Doom because it ultimately points to our destiny.

The "men who disappeared," according to the Qur'an, were Moses and his servant. They went sailing looking for a fish and some buried treasure. The inane story unfolds at the 60th verse and continues until god sends Alexander off to preach to the extraterrestrials.

The verses which precede these "answers," focus on Satan, "hell fire, punishments, deceptions, and annihilations." Rational readers with thus conclude that the "spirit" was the Devil himself. In fact, "The Cave" surah ends with: "We have prepared Hell for the hospitality of the infidels...because they disbelieved and mocked My Signs and Messengers.".

Ishaq's Hadith collection suggests that the "men who disappeared" were "the dwellers of the cave of Raqim." Beginning at the 18th verse, Allah claims that some men stayed in a cave for 300 years and argued about dogs. Ahmed Ali, in his translation of the Qur'an says that the cave is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. That's hilarious in that the Qumran scrolls prove that the Qur'an is a complete farce because they prove the foundation of Islam wasn't true.

What this all means is, without Jewish and Hanif inspiration, Muhammad didn't do very well. The 18th surah is the Qur'an's most foolish. Muhammad needed some inspiration and in a hurry. To the chagrin of a billion Muslims he found it in the worst possible place.

Tabari, Islam's first historian, picked up the trail of the Quraysh Bargain by suggesting that the Meccans understood Muhammad's motives. In one of Islam's most revealing Hadiths, we discover: (Tabari VI:106) "The Quraysh promised Muhammad that they would give him so much wealth that he would become the richest man in Mecca [money], they would give him as many wives as he wanted [sex], and they would submit to his commands [power]." They didn't bother tempting him with an acknowledgment of his prophetic claims - by agreeing that he really was Allah's Messenger. The Meccans knew that the prophet gig was just a means to an end.

"The Quraysh said, ‘This is what we will give you, Muhammad, so desist from reviling our gods and do not speak evilly of them.'" This bargain was proposed on the basis of accommodating the Meccan gods. The deal was clear; the stakes were high. Sex, power, and money were being offered in exchange for total capitulation. The oneness of god was all that separated Muhammad's Islamic doctrine from Qusayy's religious scam. If the messenger accepted, he was through as a prophet, and Islam was finished as a religion.

(Tabari VI:107) "‘If you will do so, we offer you something which will be to your advantage and to ours.'" The prophet was evidently intrigued, tantalized perhaps. They held the keys to the Ka'aba Inc. and were offering him a founder's share. This could be good..."‘What is it,' he asked. They said, ‘If you will worship our gods, Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, for a year, we shall worship your god for a year." Once again, it's both perplexing and incriminating that the Quraysh don't name Muhammad's god. After all, Allah was their god. In fact, Allah was supposed to be the proud poppa of Al-Lat (the female form of Allah) and Al-Uzza.

There is but one explanation for this omission. Muhammad was still referring to his god as Ar-Rahman, the deity of the Yemeni Hanifs. Those who codified the Qur'an decades later simply swapped Ar-Rahman's name out of some of the later Meccan surahs and replaced it with Allah. This change is confirmed by a Hadith contemporaneous to these events: (Ishaq:162) "Abu Jahl met the Apostle and said, ‘By Allah, Muhammad, you will either stop cursing our gods or we will curse the god you serve.' So the Qur'an verse was revealed, ‘Do not insult those [gods] to whom they pray lest they curse God wrongfully through lack of knowledge.' [Qur'an 6:108] I have been told that the Apostle then refrained from cursing their gods, and began to call them to Allah [rather than Ar-Rahman]." The critical word is: "began.".

(Tabari VI:107/Ishaq:165) "Walid, As, Aswad, and Umayyah said, ‘Muhammad, come and let us worship that which you worship and you worship what we worship. We shall combine in the matter and shall make you a partner in all our undertakings. [The Ka'aba Inc. - the legacy of Qusayy's religious scam was still the principle game in town.] If what you have brought is better than what we already have, we will be partners with you and take our share, and if what we have is better than what you have, you shall be a partner with us in what we have, and you shall have your share of it." Their schemes were virtually indistinguishable. They were only squabbling over ownership.

Muhammad's immediate response to the Quraysh Bargain should tell us all we need to know about Islam's lone prophet. He didn't say no. He hesitated, and was clearly tempted to worship Al-Lat and Al-Uzza if it meant money, sex, and power. "Let me see what revelation comes to me from my Lord [not Allah],' he replied." Remember this response because you will soon discover that the next revelation which came to Muhammad was from Satan. It thereby revealed the identify of Muhammad's Lord.

Although I can't prove it using the Islamic Traditions, in my opinion, Muhammad went to his aging wife Khadija and asked her what she thought he should do. After all, she had been the founder of Islam - the inspiration behind the Profitable Prophet Plan. I think Khadija scuttled the deal. More wives would have been competition. And although she would have relished the prestige of being a shareholder in the Ka'aba Inc, what was she going to do with more money? She was over seventy years old and near death.

So Khadija nixed the deal: "Then, the following inspiration came from the Preserved Tablet: ‘Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which you worship; nor do you worship that which I worship, And I shall not worship that which you worship, nor will you worship that which I worship. To you your religion and to me my religion.'" Sorry Tabari, I know that is what the Hadith says but it just ain't so. The 109th surah, from which this revelation was quoted, was among the first handed down. It was revealed a decade before this bargain was struck. So what really happened and why did the Qur'an's most revered commentator intentionally deceive his audience?

The answer is: Khadija died (or was killed), and Muhammad accepted the deal. The very next line in The History of al-Tabari, Muhammad at Mecca, confirms my theory: "Satan Cast a False Revelation on the Messenger of Allah's Tongue." Possessed by the Devil, Muhammad chose poorly. He succumbed to his demonic urgings and began to worship Al-Lat and Al-Uzza. He was finished as a prophet.

While the Islamic spin-meisters in Baghdad tried their best to put lipstick on this camel, the whole affair was as ugly as it was deadly. No matter how valiantly they attempted to excuse Muhammad's behavior, a pig in makeup is still a swine. (Tabari VI:107) "The Messenger was eager for the welfare of his people and wished to effect reconciliation with them in whatever way he could. It is said he wanted to find a way to do this, and what happened was as follows:".

Before we wallow in what follows, I'd like to poke a hole in the excuse. Muhammad's people were long gone. He had sent them off to Abyssinia for fear they would be seduced. And the notion of reconciling himself to the pagans is laughable. Muhammad had done nothing but harangue them for a decade now, calling them names barely suitable for print. When they teased him he said, "I will bring you slaughter." Sorry, Muslim apologists, I don't think so.

The isnad, or chain of reciters, introducing the Hadith reads: "Ibn Mumayd-Salamah-Muhammad Ibn Ishaq-Yazid bin Ziyad al-Madani-Muhammad bin Ka'b al-Qurazi:" I share this because of what happened to Salman Rushdie. As you know he wrote a novel based upon what these champions of Islam had to say. Muslims went berserk. They had Rushdie's book banned and panned. They nailed Satanic Verses to crosses and burned it during hostile rioting. The Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic world at the time, put a fatwa on Rushdie, offering his fellow Muslims a million dollars for the writer's head.

Yet Rushdie had merely exposed Islam's own Traditions. So why get mad at him? Was Muhammad so perverse and Islam so corrupt that modern clerics had to hide the truth for their doctrine to survive? Apparently, yes.

This is what follows: (Tabari VI:108/Ishaq:165) "The Messenger saw his tribe turn on him. He was pained to see them shunning the message he had brought from Allah. So he [abandoned both his message and his god because he] longed for something that would reconcile his tribe to him. With his love for his tribe and his anxiety over this it would have delighted him if the obstacle which had made his task so difficult could be removed [so he could accept their generous offer of power, sex, and money]." The only points of contention, thus obstacles to reconciliation, were: Ka'aba custodianship, the number of gods, and the top god's identity (Allah or Ar-Rahman).

"So Muhammad debated with himself and fervently desired such an outcome. Then Allah revealed: ‘By the Star when it sets, your comrade does not err, nor is he deceived; nor does he speak out of his own desire. [In truth, he did all three and was about to prove his guilt.] And when he came to the words: ‘Have you thought about Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat,' Satan, when he was meditating upon it and desiring to bring reconciliation, cast on his tongue, because of his inner longings and what he desired, the words: ‘These are exalted high-flying cranes (goddesses). Verily their intercession is accepted with approval." Simply stated, Muhammad said, "I accept the Quraysh Bargain."

But at what cost? The Qur'anic recitals had been filled with assertions that there were no intercessors. And four gods were at least three too many for a monotheistic religion. Muhammad had therefore abandoned what would become the central plank of his mission: "There is no ilah (god) but Allah." Islam was no longer monotheistic. What's more, the prophet's grandiose and Messianic claim of being god's intercessor was pummeled, stoned by a trio of rock idols. And that wasn't the worst of it. Islam's lone spokesperson had just aligned himself with Satan.

It's little wonder the Ayatollah wanted Rushdie's book burned. It's little wonder the Qur'an urges Muslims not to pry too deeply into Islam or ask questions. The truth is devastating. The Quraysh Bargain and Satanic Verses confirm that Muhammad was demon possessed and that the Qur'an was "inspired" to advance his personal agenda. These Hadith prove Islam was a fraud, as counterfeit as a $3 bill. What's more, the Profitable Prophet Plan has been elevated from highly probable to undeniable.

But the Islamic Hadith was not finished burying its prophet. (Tabari VI:108/Ishaq:166) "When the Quraysh heard this, they rejoiced and were delighted at the way in which he spoke of their gods, and they listened to him. While the Muslims, trusting their Prophet in respect to the messages which he brought, did not suspect him of a vain desire or slip. When he came to the prostration, having completed the surah, he prostrated himself and the Muslims did likewise, obeying his command and following his example." Now you know the reason why the world is in such a mess. A demon-possessed man sought to satiate his vain desires, and billions, failing to suspect his fraud, followed his example and obeyed his commands.

If you are a Muslim reading these words, flee this delusion before it's too late. This despicable man and his demonic spirit are not worthy of your soul.

(Tabari VI:108/Ishaq:166) "Those polytheists of the Quraysh and others who were in the mosque likewise prostrated themselves because of the reference to their gods which they had heard, so that there was no one in the mosque, believer or unbeliever, who did not prostrate himself. Then they all dispersed from the mosque.".

In the context of the Quraysh Bargain, this passage proves that Islam was nothing more than Muhammad's scheme to take what rightfully belonged to others. It was his personal gateway to money, power, and sex. The Ka'aba Inc. - the religious scam of the patriarch Qusayy - was being cashed in by a covetous and amoral man. The evidence is undeniable. Islam was a plot, not a religion. Allah and Satan were one.

Independent Islamic scholars, even those sensitive to the religion, know that this Satanic indulgence destroyed Islam. They recognize that nothing in the Qur'an can be trusted if the prophet can't distinguish between Godly and Satanic inspiration. And while they have a point, they miss the point. Apart from the initial cave demon, there never was any spiritual inspiration. The Qur'an, cover to cover, is too foolish, violent, demented, and immoral to be Godly. The Meccans were right: it was from "a madman, a plagiarizing poet, a far-fetched forger, a demon possessed sorcerer. There is surely a motive behind the Qur'an.".

Within the context of these Islamic Hadith from the oldest sources we must also deal with the lesser issues. The passage confirms that Allah was one of many gods. Muhammad promoted a pagan rock idol. The prostration prayer, the performance that distinguishes Muslims from other religious practitioners, was pagan too. So was the mosque, the cradle of Islamic submission. And the Ka'aba, the center of Islamic obedience, was a pagan shrine. All five pillars of Islam crumbled in the wake of the prophet's Satanic indulgence. There were ilahs beside Allah. Muhammad was Satan's messenger. The prostration was a pagan ritual rather than an Islamic obligation. And everything was rendered naught by a devilish bargain. Even the religious tax became suspect as it was orchestrated by a prophet tempted and trumped by the love of money.

The religion of Islam died that day along with its founder, Khadija. But out of its ashes the political doctrine of Islam emerged - and it was a war manifesto. While the prophet failed, the profiteer soared to ever-greater lows. Acquiescing to temptation, accepting Satan's Bargain, Islam turned from gray to black. As the sun set on the pagans mooning the Meccan moon god, it also set on the religion of Islam, never to rise again.

As much as Muslims would love to absolve themselves and their prophet of the Quraysh Bargain and Satanic Verses by claiming that these Hadith, or Oral Reports from the Prophet's Companions, were "unauthorized," they are unable. Both history and their cover up render their objections moot. Without the reconciliation that followed the accepted bargain, there was no way to explain: (Tabari VI:109/Ishaq:167) "The news of this prostration reached those of the Messenger's Companions who were in Abyssinia. The people said, ‘The Quraysh have accepted Islam.' Some rose up to return. Then angel Gabriel came to the Messenger and said, ‘Muhammad, what have you done?'" While that's what the Hadith says, the prophet first mentioned Gabriel's name two years later in Medina. But that's not to say he didn't have visitors. A trio of men, Bakr, Umar, and Hamzah, took their prophet to the woodshed - or at least that's where they would have taken him if Mecca had wood.

Islam's dark spirit was quoted saying: (Ishaq:166) "‘You have recited to the people that which I did not bring to you from Allah, and you have said that which He did not say to you.' The Messenger was grieved and feared Allah greatly. So Allah [not Gabriel] sent a revelation to him, consoling him and making light of the affair [of worldly bargains and Satanic indulgences]. He informed him that there had never been a prophet or messenger before who desired as he desired and wished as he wished but that Satan had cast words into his recitation, as he had interjected them on Muhammad's tongue and into his desires.".

To hell with truth - literally. Desperate to save his prophetic mission, Muhammad retreated to familiar ground. He claimed that he was as covetous, immoral, demented and ill-advised as every other prophet. He was just dabbling in a little demonic delusion to satiate his cravings for power, sex, and money. It was no big deal.

Only the Jewish scriptures couldn't bail him out this time. Neither the Torah nor the Talmud contained devilish tales that could be twisted to salvage his sorry soul - so none were given. There were no names dropped, Biblical or otherwise. Muhammad was on his own. No other prophet had ever "desired and wished as he had desired and wished.".

The founders of Islam said: (Ishaq:166) "Then Allah annulled what Satan had cast, and established his verses by telling him that he was like other prophets and messengers." Muhammad's lord revealed: "Every Messenger or Prophet before you recited the message Satan cast into his recitation. Allah abrogates what Satan casts. Then Allah established his verses. Allah is Knower, Wise." [Qur'an 22:52].

One lie has been refuted with another. The 22nd surah would not be revealed for another decade. In fact, it was one of the final Medina surahs. But by reciting it, Muhammad destroyed his only alibi - denial. Now that the Qur'an has verified the Satanic Verses, Muslims cannot whisk them under the carpet without impugning Allah's credibility along with Muhammad's.

Let's take a quick look at the surah to better understand Muhammad's mindset. But so as not to compound the prophet's error and take the passage out of context, I want you to know that the 47th verse of this late surah speaks of Allah's intended punishment on the Day of Doom. The 48th is about Allah overtaking townships, the 49th speaks of warnings, the 50th forgiveness, and the 51st demeans the inmates of the flaming fire. Somehow that brings us to: (Qur'an 22:52) "Never did We send a messenger or a prophet before you, but, when he framed a desire, Satan threw some vanity into his desire: but Allah will cancel anything (vain) that Satan throws in." A second translation reads: "He recited (the message) Satan proposed. But Allah abolishes that which Satan proposes." Another claims: "Satan made a suggestion respecting his desire; but Allah annuls that which Satan casts." And we have: "whose recitations Satan tampered with, yet Allah abrogates what Satan interpolates; and Allah will confirm His Signs/Revelations: for Allah is all-knowing and wise.".

It was such a devilishly delicate matter, so everyone seemed to have a little different take on what Allah allegedly revealed, albeit ten years late. But no matter how you slice it, the Qur'anic excuse confirms that the Satanic Verse episode actually occurred. The Hadith cannot, therefore, be "unauthorized." Muhammad is said to have allowed Satan to throw "some vanity into his desires," (The Quraysh Bargain) and to have allowed Satan to "tamper with the recitations" (The Satanic Verses). Allah then canceled Satan's toss, abolished the Devil's proposal, annulled Satan's cast, or performed an abrogation - the ultimate miracle of the Qur'an. He never denied the Quraysh Bargain nor the Satanic Verses. Therefore, Muslims can't either.

Allah abrogating the Devil aside, the Qur'anic justification for the Satanic Verses ends with this treasure of spiritual inspiration: (22:53) "That He may make the suggestions thrown in by Satan, the Devil's proposals, but a trial and temptation for those in whose hearts is a disease. Verily the wrong-doers are in a schism. And those on whom knowledge has been bestowed may learn that the (Qur'an) is the truth from your Lord, and that they may believe therein, and their hearts may submit lowly before it, for verily Allah is the Guide of those who believe, to the Straight Way." Muhammad succumbs to temptation, sides with the Devil, and it's everyone's fault but his own. His indulgence was convoluted into a trial for the infidels - our schism. Then, after saying that Satan's proposals often slip into scripture, we are asked to trust the Qur'an, to submit lowly before it. While this is revolting, it is also convicting. Muslims who try to deny the existence of the Satanic Verses must deny the Qur'an, for it clearly acknowledges them.

That leaves Islam in an impossible position. Muslims must either admit that Muhammad was a power-hungry, money-grubbing, sex-crazed charlatan in cahoots with the Devil, or they must deny the validity of the Hadith and Qur'an. One leaves them without a prophet, the other without a god. Either way, they no longer have a religion.

(Tabari VI:110) "Thus Allah removed the sorrow from his Messenger, reassured him about that which he had feared, and cancelled the words which Satan had cast on his tongue, that their gods were exalted high-flying cranes (goddesses) whose intercession was accepted with approval. He now revealed, following the mention of ‘Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat,' the words: ‘are yours the males and his the females? That indeed is an unfair division! They are but names which you and your fathers have given,' to the words: ‘to whom he wills and accepts." [Qur'an 53:21].

Not only does this mean that Allah copyedits Satan, it proves Muhammad didn't know where he was - or even who said what to whom, when. The aforementioned quote was from the 53rd surah, which came before the 22nd. In fact, the 53rd was the forty-sixth surah handed down. It preceded the Satanic event by many years. The 22nd surah was 107th out of 114 in order of revelation. The Hadith says that these spiritual revelations followed one another, yet that is impossible. Not only is their order reversed, they are separated by a sea of words, hundreds of miles, and a decade of time.

So Islam has a fatal problem. If the rationale for dismissing the Satanic Verse/Quraysh Bargain episode isn't valid, or even plausible, Muhammad's motivations for establishing the submission religion were about vain desires, not godly revelations. There is no way for Muslims to differentiate between spiritual guidance and satanic deception - an acute problem considering how much of the Qur'an is fixated on Satan's realm, pain, and punishment. Whether the Quraysh Bargain and Satanic Verses occurred or not, the Qur'an cannot be trusted, for it claims they did. Further, a "perfect and eternal tablet" cannot be out of order, inverted, or grossly disjointed - especially on an issue of this magnitude.

The entire validity of Islam pivots around the Satanic Verse/Quraysh Bargain. They are the basis behind the transition from the failed Meccan religious scheme to the successful political doctrine propagated at Medina - one advanced almost exclusively by terrorism. If Muhammad was enticed by sex, money, and power and capitulated, as these Hadith testify, Islam is finished as a religion. The credibility of its lone prophet is tarnished beyond redemption. His motivations are exposed for all to see. As a result, Qusayy becomes the founder of Islam; Muhammad is simply a self-serving promoter. And Khadija's Profitable Prophet Plan suddenly becomes the only viable explanation.

More devastating still, these events do not stand alone. Muhammad admitted that Islam was designed to enrich himself at the expense of others. We have examined his confessions. And his behavior from this point on, as chronicled by the Hadith, becomes entirely focused on sex, power, and money. As for Satan, Muhammad confessed to being demon possessed. According to the Qur'an, his neighbors recognized the signs. They even offered to help him exorcise his demons.

The fact that Muhammad admitted to having been inspired by Satan has caused many to say that Islam is Satanic, and not without just cause; the evidence is overwhelming. The symbols used throughout the Islamic scriptures are from the Occult. A snake, the personification of Satan, led Abraham to the Ka'aba and revealed its foundations. A snake is the only creature said to have lived in the Ka'aba. The darkened or crescent moon, another Satanic symbol representing counterfeit light, is the religion's logo. Allah was a moon god. He swore by the moon. His stone was black. The darkness of night was the best time to worship him and recite his message. The Qur'an was endorsed by jinn, demons from Satan's tribe. Muhammad listened to soothsayers. He believed in magic spells. An occultist saved his father's life; another wanted to lay with him. Even the seal of prophethood on Muhammad's back was said to look like an apple - the image of Satanic temptation. And Satan played a starring role in the Qur'an, being named ten times more often than Muhammad.

Then there's the Qur'an's depiction of Allah. He spends time in Satan's realm, tormenting the inmates of hell. He is never shown playing with the virgins in paradise. Allah, like Satan, is sadistic. He leads men astray, shackles them, and drags them into hell, where he's personally involved, using their bodies as fagots for his fires. He turns men on a spit, makes them eat thorns, and pours boiling water on them for what he calls "their entertainment."

Some will protest that the same book and prophet call Allah merciful, and that they claim Satan to be their foe. But that is the greatest proof of all. Satan never identifies himself; he is the master of camouflage. The Qur'anic orders to "crucify unbelievers" and "wipe infidels out to the last," followed by "Allah is merciful and kind," is perfectly transparent. It's exactly what the Devil would do - appear divine while inspiring devilish behavior. In fact, the behavior in Allah's heaven would lead men to the Biblical hell. Satan is the master of deceit. Black is white, the lie becomes true, and everything leads away from a relationship with the one true God.

There are but three differences between Satan and Allah. And those differences cause me to believe that Islam wasn't wholly Satanic. Satan is real. He is powerful and brilliant. Allah was imagined. He was impotent and foolish. Much of Islam was Muhammad's doing. He is to be despised, not pitied. He, like the demonic spirit that inspired him, must be exposed and rebuked.

The Hadith claims that Qur'anic remedy for Muhammad's Satanic indulgence is in the 53rd surah. Let's see if Team Islam gets itself out of trouble or if it digs itself in deeper. "The Star" is named after Halal ben Shachar (Lucifer). (Qur'an 53:1) "I call to witness the Star when it dips [a.k.a. the "Morning Star"]. Your Companion (Muhammad) is neither confused, deceived, nor misled. Nor does he speak out of (his own) desire [unless he is tempted with money, sex, and power]. It is a revelation revealed, He was taught (this Qur'an) by the Supreme Intellect (Gabriel [actually Lucifer]), One free from any defect in body or mind: for he (Gabriel) rose and became stable (in stately form), clear to view. While he was in the highest part of the horizon, then he approached and came closer, then he prostrated. He was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer." The claim that he bowed is telling. Neither Gabriel nor Lucifer would have bowed to any man so Muhammad is adlibbing here.

Since the Hadith says Gabriel was the source of Qur'anic inspiration, Islam has tumbled into the abyss no matter how this verse is interpreted. (Bukhari:V1B1N4-5) "Allah's Apostle used to listen to Gabriel whenever he came, and after his departure he used to recite the Qur'an as Gabriel had recited it." "Gabriel used to meet him every night to teach him the Qur'an." But we have been told that Allah was the "Supreme Intellect," that he was "Most Wise, All Knowing," and that he had no partners. Since Allah's Gabriel would never claim a superior position to Allah, this cannot be Gabriel. So who might it be?

Here are some clues. The surah is named after Lucifer, and it's presented in conjunction with the Satanic Verses. By way of witness, the "Star" is calling himself the "Supreme Intellect, one free from any defect in body or mind." The only angel who considered himself to be superior to God was Lucifer. For such blasphemy, Lucifer was thrown out of heaven. So now he says that he not only landed on his feet in perfect stately form, he has risen. As clearly as words allow, he has just told us that he has fulfilled Biblical prophecy and transformed himself into an angel of light to deceive a gentile messenger with a new "gospel" and prostration. (You'll find a complete analysis of Isaiah's and Paul's prophecies and their Islamic fulfillment in the "Mein Kampf" chapter starting on page 380.)

The Satanic Verse goes on to say: (Qur'an 53:10) "So He did reveal to His slave whatever He revealed. The (Prophet's) heart did not falsify what he perceived he saw. Will you then dispute with him about what he saw? For indeed he saw him [him who] at a second descent. [Oops. A "descent" is a journey down.] Near the Lote Tree beyond which none may pass. Near it is the Garden of Abode (the Seventh Haven). [Therefore, Muhammad's heaven is down, not up.] When that covered the Lote Tree which did cover it. [Say what?] The sight turned not aside, nor did it go wrong! ["I really did see him. At least I perceived I saw him. Why don't you believe me?"] Indeed he did see of the greater signs of his Lord!" Methinks - no, meknows - he doth protest too much - especially since we are in the realm of the Satanic Verses and pagan gods.

(Qur'an 53:19) "Have you then seen or thought upon Al-Lat and Al-Uzza (two idols of the pagan Arabs), and considered another, the third (goddess), Manat (of the pagan deities)?" Manat was an afterthought because she was not part of the Quraysh Bargain.

Now, for Allah's copy-edits: "What! for you sons, the male sex, and for Him, daughters, the female? Are yours the males and His the females? Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair!" Muhammad just jumped from the Devil's frying pan into the hell fires of sexism and discrimination. He is saying that Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat can't be Allah's daughters nor goddesses because they are girls. In plain English: "It would be an injustice for men to have sons and gods to have daughters because women are worthless." It's little wonder that the Islamic politicians and clerics who depend on Islam for their status, power, and wealth threaten to kill anyone willing to expose this nonsense.

(Qur'an 53:23) "These are nothing but names which you have invented, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority." Yes they are names, names given to them by Muhammad's forefathers - just like Allah's name.

Projecting one's flaws onto an opponent is standard political fare: "They follow nothing but conjecture and what they themselves desire! Whereas guidance has come to them from their Lord! Nay, shall man have anything he hankers after, whatever he covets?" It seemed to work for Muhammad. The career move from prophet to profiteer would satiate his every craving. For example, when Muhammad wanted more women, Allah said: (Qur'an 33:51) "You may have whomever you desire; there is no blame.".

Fortunately, we have ratted him out. This surah is as transparent as it is incriminating. (Qur'an 53:26) "And there are many angels in heaven whose intercession does not avail except after Allah has given permission to whom He pleases and chooses. Those who believe not name the angels with female names." This is Qur'anic waffling. Muhammad is trying to please both Meccan and Muslim. He's saying that the female goddesses could be angels, and that Allah might consider allowing them to be intercessors after all.

The next eight verses can be summarized by: "The Meccans know nothing and want everything and Muhammad knows all and wants nothing." Then (Qur'an 53:36) "Nay, is he not acquainted with what is in the Pages (of the Books) of Moses - and of Abraham who fulfilled all that?" Muhammad is admitting that the Torah was the source of his "inspiration," but he doesn't know much about "all that."

A dozen verses ramble nowhere with lines like: "It is He who makes you happy and morose (miserable, depressed and pessimistic)," before heading back into the world of pagan astrology and mythological people. (Qur'an 53:49) "He is the Lord of Sirius [the Mighty Star the pagan Arabs used to worship]. It is He Who destroyed the (powerful) ancient Ad (people) [who never existed], and (the tribe of) Thamud He spared not; And before them, the folk of Noah, for that they were (all) most unjust and rebellious; and He destroyed the Overthrown Cities (of Sodom and Gomorrah). [Allah didn't know their names but the translator did, so he helped god out.] So there covered them that that which did cover (making them ruins unknown)." The writing quality was as impoverished as the message.

Yahweh's Word (The Bible) says that the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah will serve as visual confirmation of Yahweh's judgment and salvation. The Qur'an says that the ruins are unknown. Since archeologists have found Sodom and Gomorrah, their brimstone should serve as a visual confirmation that Allah is a liar. And please don't be troubled by the slur. Now that we know that Allah was modeled after Satan, it's a compliment.

(Qur'an 53:56) "This is a Warner, of the Warners of old! The threatened Hour is nigh. None besides Allah can remove it. Do you then wonder at this recital? And will you laugh at it and not weep, wasting your time in amusements? [That's a hoot. With countless wives, sex slaves, and child concubines, Islam's prophet was the king of frivolity.] So fall you down in prostration to Allah, and serve [me]!".

Since neither the 53rd nor 22nd surah redeemed Muhammad, we are left with the Profitable Prophet Plan being the only viable explanation for Islam. (Tabari VI:110) "When Muhammad brought a revelation from Allah canceling what Satan had cast on the tongue of His Prophet, the Quraysh said, ‘Muhammad has repented of [actually, reneged on] what he said concerning the position of our gods with Allah. He has altered [the bargain] and brought something else.' Those two phrases which Satan had cast on Muhammad's tongue were in the mouth of every polytheist. They became even more ill-disposed and more violent in their persecution of those of them who had accepted Islam and followed the Messenger." The pagans had the prophet on the ropes and they knew it. Not only had he lied and broken a promise for personal gain, he had destroyed his credibility and abandoned the central pillar of his "doctrine" - the oneness of a spirit that only spoke to him.

"The Muslims who had left Abyssinia [Ethiopia] upon hearing that the Quraysh had prostrated themselves with the Prophet, now approached. When they neared Mecca, they learned that the rumor of the Meccan people accepting Islam was false. They returned to their families and said, ‘You are more dear to us [than Islam, is the implication].' The people reversed their decision...." Considering the distances and the speed upon which news and people traveled, Muhammad may have gone as long as a year before he bailed out on the Quraysh Bargain and Allah's little girls. The indulgence cost him most of his converts.

This admission of failure is followed by a second variant of the Satanic Verses. It ends with this admission: "The Messenger said, ‘I have fabricated things against Allah and have imputed to Him words which He has not spoken.'".

The Quraysh Bargain and Satanic Verses served to conclude my case against the religion of Islam in Prophet of Doom. As I had promised to demonstrate, the doctrine destroyed itself. Yet the rest of the story is both entertaining and foreboding. While these confessions from Muhammad and Allah enable us to close the books on the religious scam, accepting their guilty pleas, a new scam was about to unfold. This one was political, and it was based on terror. Its legacy is the reason behind most every act depicted in the 2000-page Islamic Terrorism Timeline.

- February 15, 1989: In Israel, two weeks after the disappearance of an Israeli paratrooper, a group calling itself the "Arab Palestinian Army," and thus promoting themselves from terrorists to soldiers, claimed responsibility for his abduction. They sent a videocassette of the soldier to the U.N. in Israel. The Arab Palestinian Army demanded the release of 1,500 convicted Palestinian terrorists in exchange for the soldier - suggesting that one Jew was worth a thousand Muslims.

Then proving that they were terrorists not soldiers, the Arab Palestinian Army murdered their prisoner in May and dumped his decapitated body along the side of a road.

- February 15, 1989: Gail Harfouche, an American citizen, was murdered by AMAL Shiite jihadists as she drove through a small Lebanese town with her infant son. Harfouche was married to a local Sunni Muslim.

- February 18, 1989: An Israeli youth was killed near Jerusalem by Palestinian terrorists.

- February 22, 1989: In Israel, the Fatah Intifada, or Victorious Uprising, claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on Israeli police in Jerusalem. While Fatah was Arafat's terrorist political party, and while it had been Arafat who had called the intifada against the Jews, the Fatah Intifada was a gang of dissident, Syrian-supported Palestinians opposed to Arafat.

- February 22, 1989: In London, AMAL Shia terrorists firebombed a Sunni mosque. While Shiites were rioting around the world in protest of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, Sunnis were less irritated initially. So pro-Ayatollah Iranian terrorists attacked these Sunni Muslims to demonstrate that they weren't intolerant or violent enough.

- February 26, 1989: In Pakistan, the British Council library in Karachi was bombed, killing a security guard. The attack was carried out by Islamic fundamentalists protesting a book they had not seen, much less read: Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses.

- February 28, 1989: In the United States, two Berkeley, California bookstores and a New York newspaper office were firebombed as part of the international protest against Salman Rushdie and Satanic Verses. The Riverdale Press in the Bronx had recently published an editorial which supported Rushdie's book.

- March 5, 1989: Five Italian bookstores in Padua were set ablaze after displaying Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Before the fires were set, someone claiming to represent Islamic Jihad called a newspaper office in Padua and threatened to "launch a wave of bombings against Italian bookstores if Rushdie's book were not removed from shelves.".

- March 6, 1989: Muslim militants tried to bombing the American and British Cultural Centers in Egypt in protest of Satanic Verses.

- March 9, 1989: Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a roadside bomb in Lebanon which wounded two Israelis and four others in what was called the "security zone.".

- March 13, 1989: Two seedless red grapes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania were said to contain traces of cyanide. This prompted a ban on all imported Chilean fruit in the U.S.

Ten days earlier, the U.S. and Japanese embassies in Santiago had received telephone warnings asserting that exported Chilean fruit products had been contaminated. Canada, Hong Kong and Japan placed embargoes on the produce, costing Chile about $3 million a day in lost exports. Ultimately the terrorist contamination cost Chile an $300 million in lost sales.

On March 14, a caller to Radio Cooperativa in Chile claimed credit for the poisoning in the name of the unknown "Israeli Ultranationalist Movement." The caller stated that the sabotage was intended to harm the United States, because that country "closed its ears to the Israeli warnings against the U.S. decision to hold talks with PLO leaders.".

In December 1994, the WSJ published transcripts of a June 1989 call to the U.S. Embassy in Santiago from the same person who phoned in the warnings. The anonymous caller said that the whole thing was made up to scare the government. This testimony strengthened the Chilean grape growers' claim that no cyanide-laced grapes were ever found.

- March 15, 1989: A car-bomb exploded in front of the Swiss Embassy in West Beirut wounding a Lebanese civilian.

- March 15, 1989: In Syria, Colonel Clifford Ward, an American Military attaché and his aide, Major Peter Seagal, were kidnapped. Following the abduction in Damascus, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) claimed credit. Ahmad Jibril's gang said that the officer and his aide were spying on one of its training camps outside Damascus and that they were apprehended while taking photographs of terrorist positions.

- March 17, 1989: Two members of the Fatah Uprising crossed into Israel from Jordan and attacked Israelis. One Jew was killed and another was injured. The jihadists said that their attack was designed to embarrass the Jordanian regime.

- March 17, 1989: A car bomb exploded in East Beirut killing twelve people and injuring 120. The British consulate was heavily damaged. This target was chosen because Salman Rushdie was being protected by the British government - precluding Muslims from beheading him and colleting their reward.

- March 20, 1989: A bomb exploded in front of the United Arab Emirates airline office in Istanbul, Turkey.

- March 21, 1989: Three Irish soldiers serving in the U.N. peacekeeping force were killed when a roadside bomb exploded under their jeep near the Israeli security zone.

- March 25, 1989: In Israel, an Arab Muslim stabbed and killed an elderly Jewish man in Tel Aviv.

- March 26, 1989: In Mozambique, Renamo Marxists attacked a theological college, killing three Italian missionaries.

- March 27, 1989: A Yugoslav tourist office in Brussels, Belgium was firebombed by Croatian Ustashi Fascists in consort with Albanian Muslims.

- March 28, 1989: A bomb exploded near the British Council library in Islamabad, Pakistan. Islamic fundamentalists were once again protesting a book which they had not read.

- March 29, 1989: In Belgium, two Islamic imams were assassinated in Brussel's main mosque. The victims included a Saudi Arabian cleric and his Tunisian deputy. The Soldiers of Justice, a collaborative mission of the Abu Nidal Group and Hizballah, claimed credit.

The Saudi imam had previously received a death threat following his public criticism of Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie. It wasn't that the Saudis didn't want the book banned, they did, but that they thought issuing a religious order to murder an author was embarrassing to Islam.

- March 30, 1989: A bomb damaged the Moroccan Consulate in Lyon, France. The Western Sahara's Islamic jihadists were responsible.

- April 2, 1989: Islamic fundamentalists in Turkey bombed a British Embassy vehicle and detonated another bomb at the British Cultural Center. The attacks followed continued threats against British interests in connection with the Salman Rushdie book Satanic Verses.

- April 7, 1989: A Lebanese gunman in Canada hijacked a Greyhound bus en route to New York and forced it to drive to the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. The man claimed to be a member of the Lebanese Liberation Front and demanded that Syrian forces withdraw from Lebanon.

- April 8, 1989: The Israeli navy sank a rubber dinghy full of Palestinian terrorists on their way to carry out a terrorist operation. The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front, led by Samir Ghawshah, bragged that their jihadists, shooting from an inflatable boat, had held the Israeli navy at bay for nearly five hours.

- April 10, 1989: Malaysian Muslims used a bomb to protest Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. The British High Commission office in Kuala Lumpur was bombed, injuring four people.

- April 10, 1989: In the United Kingdom, Collett's Penguin bookstore and Dillon's bookstore were targeted in London. The firebombings were associated with the sale of Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses. The stores had received threats promising violence if their demands were not honored.

- April 16, 1989: In Israel, a bomb containing nearly forty pounds of dynamite was discovered at a water pumping station near Moshav Ramon. Had the bomb been detonated, it would have destroyed the agricultural land beneath it.

- April 19, 1989: An explosive device was found in the Zion Square section of downtown Jerusalem.

- April 21, 1989: A vehicle bearing U.S. diplomatic plates was firebombed in Islamabad, Pakistan.

- April 27, 1989: In the Dominican Republic, a bomb exploded in the U.S.-Dominican Binational Center in Santo Domingo. The blast killed an infant and injuring her mother. Three other bombings against domestic targets were reported the same day. Authorities said that the lead suspecs had received terrorist training in Libya.

- April 28, 1989: A car bomb was detonated outside of a police station in Jerusalem.

- April 30, 1989: The Abu Musa organization, and Fatah Uprising, claimed credit for bombing a bus stop two miles east of Tel Aviv.

- May 3, 1989: The newly-formed Islamic Resistance Movement, known by the vocalized acronym, HAMAS, conducted its first terrorist act. A fundamentalist Sunni Muslim and Hamas member sliced the throats of two Jews, killing them, while stabbing three others. The assault on private Jewish citizens occurred in a Jerusalem shopping area.

During the bloody assault, the jihadist confessed to the crime by shouting, "Allahu Akbar, Allah is the Greatest." It is the same Islamic Prayer of Fear first professed by Muhammad as he was terrorizing the Jewish faming community of Khaybar. It is the same Islamic Prayer of Fear professed more recently by all of the 9/11 suicide bombers.

While America ignored the confession and alleged that the terrorists had corrupted their religion, the motivation for the World Trade Center bombing was the same as that which caused this Muslim to slice the throats of two Jewish civilians.

HAMAS is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawammah al-Islammiyya. It means Islamic Resistance Movement. The terrorist group is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood - the same organization that has spawned most fundamentalist Islamic hate groups. The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni, Salafist, Islamist, religious movement that originated in Egypt. It seeks the forced imposition of fundamentalist Muslim social, moral, legal, religious, and political mandates on the world.

Throughout the late 1960s, HAMAS's founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was actively engaged in the Muslim Brotherhood. He was an Islamic preacher, educator, and charity/social worker. In 1973, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin established al-Mujamma' al-Islami as an umbrella organization overseeing Muslim Brotherhood projects in Gaza. By the early 1980s, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's fundamentalist Islamic ideology caused him to include jihadist acts along with his preaching and educating duties. He openly espoused violence against Israel and America.

After the outbreak of the first Palestinian intifada (armed Islamic uprising) in December 1987 (called by Fatah and the PLO), HAMAS was established as the political/religious/militant arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel. HAMAS members began actively terrorizing and killing Jews.

In August 1988, HAMAS released its official charter. It stated that HAMAS was "committed to creating an Islamic state in the territory of Palestine" which it took to be all of Israel. According to the HAMAS charter, "the land of Palestine has been endowed to Islam, and it is therefore the duty of all Muslims to liberate Palestine through violent jihad." In this regard, the charter of HAMAS is indistinguishable from that of the PLO and it differs only in respect to scope with that of the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Jihad, Islamic Jihad, Hizballah, and al-Qaeda.

Hamas remains zealously dedicated to its violent, fundamentalist Islamist goals and seeks to destroy Israel and replace the Palestinian Authority with an Islamic state. While HAMAS and the Palestinian Authority/PLO do cooperate occasionally, HAMAS has generally presented itself as a pure Islamic alternative to Arafat's Marxist Muslim Fatah. HAMAS has violently opposed any political compromises with Israel and has frequently used suicide bombings and rocket attacks against to derail the peace process.

As part of its Islamist ideology, HAMAS maintains an active network of social services within the Palestinian Territories. They are funded by the OPECers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran (somewhat surprising since Iran is Shia, not Sunni) and are designed to bribe Muslims into compliance with fundamentalist, jihadist, Islam. If you were a Palestinian, the choice would be between starving and submission.

Hamas's substantial financial support comes with strings attached. Children mus attend their schools and mosques and parents must sign oaths of allegiance. Hamas provides financial, food, housing, education, health care, religious, and recreation services that the Palestinian Authority has been unable to provide because they are more interested in enriching themselves than indoctrinating the populous in Islam. These inducements have substantially increased popular support for HAMAS, drawing political support away from Fatah, the PLO, and the Palestinian Authority. HAMAS has been able to leverage this support into an increased barrage of terrorist activities.

In January 2006, HAMAS ran candidates for Palestinian parliamentary elections for the first time. Shocking everyone in the West besides those who had read Tea With Terrorists, HAMAS won a landslide victory, winning over 65% of the vote and garnering 76 out of a possible 132 seats. While Western politicians and media spokespeople claimed that this negative turn of events could not have been predicted, I actively predicted this very outcome in the book and on radio shows beginning in 2002. Read the opening and title chapter of Tea With Terrorists if you'd like to know what other predictions I got right.

In a public address given on Wednesday evening, October 11th, 2006, George Bush's Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said: "Palestinians deserve to live better than they do, and to be free of the humiliation of occupation in a state of their own." She was therefore saying that the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas was the victim of humiliating oppression rather than the oppressor of the Palestinian people, the opposite of what is actually true. She was also fabricating history. Before the Fatah and Hamas intifada against Israel, back when Muslims were integrated into the Israeli society, the "Palestinian people" were the best educated, most prosperous and most free Muslims in the world. But after their violent terrorist uprising, the Palestinians who were now separated from Israel became as indoctrinated, oppressed, humiliated, impoverished, hateful, and violent as all of the other Muslims who surround Israel's oasis of relative civility.

But worse than all of her revisionism and deceit, there is the moral question. To say that the "Palestinians deserve...a state of their own" is to say that terrorism is a valid and justified political strategy. The Palestinians are second only to the Pakistanis in the application of terror. And the only moral response to terror is rebuke, not reward.

America's second-most prolific and deadly liar went on to tell the audience of Palestinians: "I promise you my personal commitment to that goal." At the dinner marking the third anniversary of the American Task Force on Palestine, Rice preached: "There could be no greater legacy for America." The legacy of looting Israel, of thinning the nation at its waist, of giving her land to her enemy, is vividly portrayed by the prophet Isaiah. He says that such a nation will be pruned back and that its cities will be laid waste.

Let's examine some of the people who contributed to the rise of the Islamic Resistance Group - one of the world's most vicious and deadly terrorist associations. It's important to know the nature of those to whom America wants to turn over the keys of the Promised Land. We begin with the Islamic Resistance Group's founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He was born in the late 1930s and became paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a childhood accident. During his teenage years, he was heavily influenced by Muslim Brotherhood teachers. Thereafter, Sheikh Yassin began training as an Islamic teacher in Cairo.

In the late 1960s, Yassin began efforts to encourage pious Islamic religiosity and ritual observances among Gaza youth. He was briefly imprisoned by Egypt in 1966 and became disillusioned 1967 following Israel's rout of Team Islam in the Six-Day War. Thereafter, Sheikh Yassin focused on preaching and teaching fundamentalist Islam.

This focus on Islamic religiosity prompted Yassin to revive Muslim Brotherhood activities in Gaza. In 1973, he founded the Islamic Center which coordinated Muslim Brotherhood activities in the Gaza Strip. He was arrested in 1983 and 1984 after arms caches were discovered in his home. Such weaponry, therefore must have been part and parcel of his preaching and teaching fundamentalist Islam, and central to the mission of the Muslim Brotherhood.

For accumulating weapons whose purpose was to kill Jews, Yassin was given a 13-year sentence. He was released in May 1985 following a prisoner exchange. He was arrested again in May 1989 and sentenced in to life imprisonment. He was again released in a prisoner exchange in October 1997. The Palestinian Authority tried to place Yassin under house arrest in December 2001, leading to widespread clashes. Finally, he was killed in an Israeli missile attack on March 22, 2004.

Abd al-Aziz Rantisi was another influential Hamas member. He was born in 1947 in Yabna and grew up in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. He was educated as a pediatrician at Alexandria University starting in 1972. That is where he first came into contact with the Muslim Brotherhood. He helped establish the Islamic Center in Gaza in 1973 and became a bona fide member of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1976. He worked at Khan Yunis hospital as head of pediatrics but was dismissed by Israel in 1983 and was imprisoned multiple times for jihadist activities.

Abd al-Aziz Rantisi led Hamas starting in April 1989 but was deported by Israel to Lebanon in 1992 for inspiring and planning terrorist attacks. There he served as the spokesperson for other deportees. On his return, he was rearrested by Israel in December 1993 and held until April 1997. He was then held by the Palestinian Authority in detention for 21 months until February 2000. He was arrested again in July 2000 after calling the Palestinian participation in the Camp David talks an act of treason. He was released in December 2000, but has been rearrested multiple times since. He currently operates out of the Shaykh Radwan area of Gaza City where he served as a spokesman for Hamas. Following the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Rantisi was elected as the group's commander. Rantisi was killed by an Israeli missile strike on April 17, 2004.

Mahmud al-Zahhar is one of Hamas's most senior political and religious leaders. He was educated as a surgeon and served as a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza. He became Hamas's chief recruiter and publicist in April 1989. He then served as Hamas's representative to the PLO from January 1990. He was also deported to Lebanon in December 1992. Al-Zahhar was the target of an unsuccessful Israeli assassination attempt in September 2003 in Gaza City. The raid killed his son and a bodyguard in addition to injuring members of his family. With Hamas's victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections, al-Zahhar joined the government as their Foreign Minister. His first major initiative was a tour of neighboring Islamic countries where he was able to garner substantial aid from OPECers in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Ibrahim Ghousheh was born in Jerusalem in November 1936. He was trained as a civil engineer in Cairo and then worked as an engineer in Jordan between 1962 and 1966. He served the Kuwaiti Emirs in 1971 and 1972. He toiled in Hamas public relations beginning in late 1992, operating out of Amman, Jordan. In 1999, he was arrested and held by Jordan, but was eventually deported to Qatar. In June 2001, Ghousheh attempted to return to Jordan, provoking an international dispute with Qatar. Jordan finally permitted him to stay on the condition that he curtail his work with Hamas, seeing that it was a terrorist organization.

Mahmud Abu Hanud was born in 1967 and graduated from Islamic College in Jerusalem. He was an active participant in the 1987 intifada, being wounded in a raid during that time. In 1992, he was deported to Lebanon where he is believed to have acquired military training. Following his return to the Palestinian Territories, he became the West Bank commander of Hamas's ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades. In 1994, he was detained by the Palestinian Authority for firing on settler vehicles near Nablus, though he was released soon after his arrest. Israel attempted to assassinate him in Asira al-Shamaliyya in September 2000. He surrendered to Palestinian Authority forces and was detained until May 2001 when Israel bombed his prison in Nablus. He was finally killed on November 23rd 2001 when an Israeli missile hit his van. Keep in mind that the only reason that Israel was interested in this man was that he, like his comrades, was inspiring and equipping suicide bombers.

Musa Abu Marzuq was born in 1951 in Gaza. He studied engineering at Ayn Shams in Cairo and worked in the United Arab Emirates until 1981. He was a student in the United States from 1981 through 1991, receiving his PhD and gaining residency rights. After returning to the Middle East, he became the head of Hamas's Political Bureau. Musa Marzuq was expelled from Jordan, where he was in charge of public relations, in 1995. He was arrested at New York's JFK airport, though the U.S. dropped all charges against him in 1997, allowing him to return to Jordan. Marzuq was expelled again from Jordan in August 1999 when Hamas's offices there were closed by the Kingdom because of their terrorist affairs. Marzuq is now a Yemeni national and operates out of Damascus, Syria. He has been cited as a leading terrorist figure in assaults against Americans, and yet, Musa Marzuq uses Islamic charities in the United States to raise money for Hamas.

Ismail Abu Shanab was born in 1955. He was educated as a construction engineer at Colorado State University, where he received his Masters degree. He taught engineering at Gaza's Islamic University and served as deputy to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas. For his involvement in Hamas terrorist acts against Israel, he was imprisoned for seven years. After his release in 1996, he served as Hamas's observer to the PLO Central Council and toiled as Hamas's representative to the Committee of National and Islamic Forces. He was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza on August 21st, 2003.