Iran is Closer to America Then We Think, And That's Not Bad
by Christopher Patrick Nelson

In the Salvation Army Store on El Camino and Montague Expressway I found a used book for sale with lots of large, glossy pictures and few words that dated back to the first Persian Gulf War in 1991. It told of the fourth largest army in the world in Iraq and soldiers “ready to fight and die for Allah.”

Fast forward to the American conquest of Afghanistan. Lt. General William Boykin said, “I know that my god is bigger than his.   I know that my God is a real God and his is an idol.”   Legendary televangelist Billy Graham's son and ministry heir Franklin Graham says, “The God of Islam is not the same God….It's a different God, and I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion.”   James George Jatras says, “In short, Islam is a self-evident outgrowth not of the Old and New Coventants, but of the darkness of heathen Araby.”

Now the Empire buzzes with the discussion of whether or not we should conquer Iran, and a movie like the 300 show a noble Greco-Roman civilization taking down the Persian Empire's hordes. Today we call Persia by the name Iran; I do not believe in coincidence. A film like Persepolis, currently in theaters, shows us a picture of how Anglo-American culture soothed an Iranian girl suffering under the dastardly villainy of her Muslim government. It swept the awards at the film festivals. I expect that any time now, the Empire's propaganda machine will once more crank out the vision of how the Muslims worship some strange foreign God.

The more Imperial propaganda paints Muslims as Alien and Other, the more momentum builds for conquest of Iran – and Syria – and Turkey. So, to do my duty and make peace, I'll write a little bit about our common heritage. After all, I'm Muslim, and the three-letter root for the Arabic words “Muslim” and “Islam” is SLM, which means “peace” – a Muslim (one who follows Islam) is a “peace-maker.”

They wrote the Bible's Old Testament in Hebrew, and in that language, you may refer to God by the word ‘el.”   However, you may also refer to another god by it, even though other gods don't exist, according to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. To refer to God by the plural of majesty, or to refer to a whole bunch of false gods, you use the Hebrew word “elohim.” Finally, the Proper Name of God in Hebrew remains Ellah, which occurs many times in the Jewish Bible. Bible scholars say First Century Jews like the Prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) spoke Aramaic. Aramaic forms a sister language to Hebrew, so instead of “Ellah,” the Proper Name of God in First Century Israel was Allaha. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) preached in Arabia in the same Middle-Eastern part of the world as Israel, and he pronounced God's Proper Name “Allah” in Arabic. Millions of Arab Christians refer to God as Allah. So, there is only One God for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Can't we all get along?

Religion	Judaism	Christianity	Islam
Prophet	Moses	Jesus Christ	Muhammad
Scripture	Torah	Gospel	Koran
Language	Hebrew	Aramaic	Arabic
God	Ellah	Allaha	Allah