A Christian evangelist and former Muslim says she is not concerned about the news that a radical Islamic group is offering free Korans to anyone who wants one. USA Today recently reported that the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR, plans to distribute as many as 25,000 Korans this week.
W.L. Cati, founder of Zennah Ministries, believes most Americans would probably find the Islamic sacred text hard to decipher.
"If you really try to read that book," she says, "it's very confusing. The Koran was put together not by chronological events, like [in] the Bible; it's all sporadic. It was put together from the largest sura [or chapter] to the shortest sura, vice-versa."
Besides, Cati contends, a reading of just a few key verses would likely scare off most rational readers.
"All they've got to do is read suras like 'Take not Jews and Christians as your friends,'" she suggests, or "Sura 47:4, that says, 'When you meet the unbelievers, smite at their neck and make a great slaughter of them.'"
According to the evangelical ministry leader, the Koran instructs followers of Islam that if they encounter any nonbelievers, a good Muslim may "strike their necks." And, she notes, the Islamic faithful are instructed, "If you take them as captive, you may ransom them until the war ends."
Cati says while the inspired words of the Holy Bible are meant to move hearers to repent and seek salvation, the Koran encourages Muslims to use aggressive means, even violence if necessary, to compel others to become followers.
"The majority of those who converted to Islam were converted by force -- not by free will," she asserts, "not because they loved what they were doing, but because they were commanded to [convert]. It was either death, pay taxes, or whatever."
The Zennah Ministries founder says she doubts that CAIR's massive distribution effort will have a great effect on most Americans who do receive a free Koran.
Cati believes out of those who do read the Islamic holy book as a result of this campaign, many will be turned off by what they find in its pages.
Zennah Ministries (http://zennahministries.com)
(c) 2005, Agape Press, All rights reserved. Used with permission.
