This week, a friend showed me a photo that he took recently of a Navy ship being escorted by two small, heavily-armed Navy boats. A person mentioned it was necessary because of the potential for terrorism, claiming Islam and the Qur'an have a lot of verses promoting violence. The person who took the photograph objected. He reasoned that every text requires intrepretation and claimed the Qur'an requires interpretation too and is open many different interpretations. Who could argue with such a reasonable approach to a sacred text? Many college professors teach students, words only mean what you want them to mean.  

I wonder what the intended meaning of Qur'an 8:12 is when it states, "When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them."

How should we understand the purpose of the Khilafah Conference of the Hizb ut-Tahrir in Rolling Meadows, IL? The program title is ‘Revolution: Liberation by Revelation - Muslims Marching Toward Victory’. It will be held on Sunday, June 17, 2012 at The Meadows Club. Since it is all a matter of interpretation, how should we interpret the phrase Revolution: Liberation by Revelation (or Liberation by the Qur'an) How would following the directives of the Qur'an change the governance of the USA and Canada? What would North America look like once Muslims attain victory, and Shari'a is the law of the land? More to the point, what does this tell us about ourselves when we put so much effort to dismiss the clear intend of a statement?