Another follow-up from an acquaintance

Here's the dialogue:

Thanks for writing. I'd like to respond to a few of your comments.

you probably know Osama is Saudi as well correct?

Yes.

Osama then took verses from the Quran saying they described the current situation, declaring war on the US, and saying things about foreigners defending the land of two holy mosques.

Something like: "It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattib that he heard the Messenger of Allah . . . say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim" (Muslim Book 019, Number 4363-4366)?

Then do you know what the religious figures did? They dismissed what he said and told him he had no right to declare war.

Why? Because offensive warfare against non-Muslims is forbidden by Islam's authoritative texts? Because Saud wants no rivals -- especially devout ones -- to his authority? Or is it because OBL himself did not have the authority to declare war, which right is reserved for the Caliph, the office of which was abolished by Ataturk in the early twentieth century?

I thought it's funny how you and him both quote verses from the Quran as a call to arms against the US or whoever it may be.

You are speaking falsely about me. I do not quote Qur'an and Hadith "as a call to arms against the US . . . ;" I quote Qur'an and Hadith to quote Qur'an and Hadith. Islam's texts, jurisprudence, and history speak for themselves.

Do I err in telling the truth?

And since -- as you admit -- the "extremists" can appeal effectively to Islam's "holy" texts, where does that leave decent Muslims of good will opposed to offensive warfare against non-Muslims?

And what does that say about the god and prophet commanding and practicing such barbarity?

The same way Americans have blind hate for Arabs, Arabs have blind hate for Americans.

Perhaps some Americans blindly hate Arabs. I think many of those who have a negative opinion about Muslims hold it because they recognize the death and destruction perpetrated by followers of Mohammed in the name of Allah.

And even if Americans can't cite sura and ayah, they recognize the impetus for such carnage appears inherent to the faith.

I cannot number how many Muslims (not Arabs) blindly hate the US, but I would venture that much of that hatred in not blind nor even the result of government propaganda. It certainly seems reasonable that if your god and prophet command the subjugation and humiliation and death of non-Muslims, you will probably have a less-than-positive opinion about non-Muslims.

I can't tell you how much disrespect I've received for being Muslim when the people know nothing of Islam, even my friends and family have said things to me of my conversion.

Have I treated you disrespectfully, or have I addressed Islamic texts and your arguments?

And when I first converted I believed what the terrorist did was right and became a stereotype of what many Americans think of Muslims

So, then, there's truth to the stereotype?

What moved you away from terrorism?

How can the acts of extremists speak for all Muslims when they're not true Muslims themselves? Their actions have disgraced Muslims for many years to come.

Here is a point where I differ with many people. I do not look first to the behavior of self-professed Muslims to judge the religion; I am aware that Christians often behave in a way contrary to Christ's commands.

What I do -- and this is how we know that a Christian's immoral behavior is immoral -- is judge what the texts say.

Who is the only authority on what makes a true Muslim? On what makes true Islam? Allah and his apostle.

Their commands and example are recorded for all to see. That is why the "extremists" war against innocents. That is why I expose what those texts say.