Wow, somebody touched a nerve!

According to the guest opinion by Arsalan Bukhari, an earlier letterwriter who questioned Muslim assimilation is bigoted, ill-informed and highly inflammatory. Bukhari said the Daily Inter Lake editor fanned the flames of hate crimes and prejudice by choosing to print the letter.

Bukhari babbled on, quickly claiming minority status and demanding the protections minorities deserve because American Muslims are victims of bullying and violence. He ended on a patriotic note stating that “American Muslims uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and share the same American values and freedoms that we all cherish.”

What Bukhari did not do was address the subject of the letter that set him off in the first place, Muslim assimilation.

 Bukhari’s response is typical of the organization he represents. The Council on American Islamic Relations relies on intimidation, knowing that many Americans fear being called bigots and some fear Islamic violence. Notice that there is no mention of assimilation and Islam or Islamic doctrine in Bukhari’s letter. Also, no reference to Allah, the Quran, Muhammad or sharia law. Odd for someone concerned about Islamic relations.

The other guest opinion published on the same day as Bukhari’s opinion, written by an American patriot, Admiral James A. Lyons, was spot on. He did get specific about Islamic doctrine, the Quran, Muhammad, sharia law and jihadi terrorism. My guess is that Bukhari isn’t too fond of that opinion either.

 Bukhari, and others of his ilk, count on you being uninformed. After 9/11, an investigation of Islamic charities operating in the U.S. resulted in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for funneling charitable donations, collected here in the United States, to the terrorist organization Hamas. The Council on American Islamic Relations was identified in the investigation as an unindicted co-conspirator. Bukhari and his fellow CAIR representatives are bullies who respond to criticisms of Islam or Muslims with insults, intimidation and misdirection.

Now some Islam basics: The Quran is the word of Allah (as revealed to his messenger Muhammad). Muhammad’s words and actions are called the Sunna, which is made up of two collections of texts — the Sira (the life of Muhammad) and Hadith (a collection of traditions or brief stories about what Muhammad said or did). Islamic doctrine is based on these three texts; the Quran, Sira and Hadith.

The Quran says 91 times that Muhammad’s words and actions are considered to be the divine pattern for humanity — a divine pattern to be emulated then, now and in the future. Knowledge of Muhammad is the key to understanding Islam.

After preaching the religion of Islam for 13 years, Muhammad only had about 150 converts. When Islam was weak, Muslims were not violent. Eventually, Muhammad and his converts were forced to flee Mecca and migrated to Medina. Muhammad preaching Islam as a religion had not been successful.

When Muhammad arrived in Medina, it was half Jewish. He did not allow assimilation. Instead Muhammad introduced the concept of jihad. As they grew in strength, he created political conflict and agitated against the host. Muhammad became a politician and a general. Migration became a tactic. He divided his neighbors and made war against them. Three years after his arrival, there were no Jews left in Medina. The remaining Arabs were given a choice to convert or die. Muhammad went on to slaughter the Jews at Khaybar and returned to conquer his rivals in Mecca.

Muhammad dealt with anyone who refused to convert to Islam by killing them, enslaving them or, for a handful of Christians and Jews, condemning them to live as dhimmi (second-class citizens who had no civil rights and were heavily taxed). He continued to wage jihad until he had conquered the entire Arabian peninsula. During the last nine years of his life, Muhammad personally engaged in 27 raids. There were 38 other battles and expeditions, for a total of 65 armed events, not including assassinations or executions. That is a violent event, on average, once every six weeks.

Muhammad had become successful by engaging in violent jihad. Islam had become a political system and culture as well as a religion.

When Muhammad died, every Arab was a Muslim (an estimated 100,000). According to Islamic tradition (the Hadith: Bukhari: 4,52,288) Muhammad’s last words were, “There should be no other religions besides Islam in Arabia” and that money should continue to be paid to influence the foreign ambassadors. This is the Sunna of Muhammad, the divine pattern for humanity.

The atrocities you read about that are committed by al-Qaida, ISIS or some other Islamic terrorist group are well grounded in Islamic doctrine. For example, remember the horrifying image of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, dressed in orange jump suits, kneeling on a Libyan shore, each with a member of ISIS behind them, dressed in black and holding a large knife as they prepared to behead the Christians? Can you conjure up that image? Well mass beheadings were countenanced by Muhammad (Sira Ishaq 690): The captives were taken to Medina. They dug trenches in the market place of Medina. It was a long day, but 800 Jews were beheaded that day. Muhammad and his 12-year-old wife, Aisha, sat and watched the slaughter the entire day and into the night. The Apostle of Allah had every male Jew killed. The only thing those 800 Jews were guilty of was not accepting Muhammad as their prophet.

I strongly urge you to educate yourselves. Start by learning about the life of Muhammad. Islamic doctrine does not allow assimilation, nor is it compatible with the “American values and freedoms that we all cherish.”

Tom Snyder, of Kalispell, is a retired Marine captain.