Muslim dogma lists humans as the third spiritual creature created, behind that of angels and jinn. Most Christians are familiar with angels. For example, angels guard the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:24). Angels worship the Lord by singing his praises (Isaiah 6:3). Angels carry messages from God, such as Michael (Revelation 12:7-8) and Gabriel (Luke 1:19). Islamic tradition indicates that angels do not have free will. Their purpose was to serve God’s will, be it

This is a video of Sufis conducting a worship service. Sufis seek a close personal experience with God and believe they have acquired a special mystical knowledge from Allah. To achieve this mystical state, many adherents dance or twirl to allow the body to become emancipated. Many Sufis define their belief as a “religiosity” rather than a religion because it revolves around personal experience rather than doctrine and involves contemplation, awareness, and a quest for purity

Covert operations have become a hallmark of warfare. Special Forces are certainly nothing new. Everyone is familiar with the "Green Berets," the US Army's Special Forces, but elite units would include Army Rangers, Delta Force, and the Navy Seals. For thousands of years, armies have maintained highly trained elite troops to perform only the most dangerous and specialized missions. The earliest elite warriors on record were an Egyptian tribe from Nubia. They were a clan of nom

I was perusing some blogs about Islam and came across an article published by the Guardian, a UK newspaper that prints sensationalist type articles. The author, Harriet Sherwood, wrote the article "Islam set to become world's largest religion by 2075, study suggests," back in 2017. In my forthcoming book, Muslim Mechanics, I dispute that outcome for reasons I'll identify a little later on. What got my attention about the article are the comments that were listed. The people w

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament were scripted centuries before the Qur'an was. Yet, Islamic scholars can point to scriptures in the Bible that indicate the Prophet Muhammad's coming. Muslim scholars argue that there are prophecies of Muhammad in the Bible that predate his birth and his teachings. Muslims have expanded on these viewpoints and have claimed that they can recognize references to Muhammad in the Jewish Torah and the Christian New Testament. Christians

According to a Pew research report dated Dec 3, 2020, approximately 60% of Americans will take the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. Roughly half of the remainder of adults (18%) said that if more information becomes available about the vaccine's safety, they will reconsider their decision. Assuming the vaccine is as safe and effective as its promotion, we can expect that approximately 80% of the American adult population will voluntarily take the vaccine. For Musli