Atlas Shrugs

Fatal Illusions ............ "Moderate" Muslims

Here is an ex-Muslim from Iran telling it straight in an essay about the impossibility of reforming Islam. It was written by Ali Sina, who has written the book Understanding Muhammad, which Fjordman reviewed previously at Jihad Watch:

 The Illusion of Reforming Islam Ali Sina (hat tip Fjordman)

Since, thanks to Islamic terrorism the interest to know Islam has picked and Islam has come under scrutiny, the westerners began asking where are the moderate Muslims. Well, there is none. The concept is absurd. Muslims view this issue differently. You are either a ‘good’ practicing Muslim or a bad wishy-washy Muslim. It’s the latter group that the westerners have misnamed moderate Muslims. As far as Muslims are concerned they are ‘hypocrites.’ Not surprisingly, the ‘moderates’ also confess of being hypocites. They will tell you they believe in Islam but they are not good Muslims. In the back of their minds however, they plan to become ‘good’ Muslims once they have done all the ’sins’ and enojyed life enough.

Islam is really a bad religion. The problem with Islam is with its sacred book and not just with its followers. Taking advantage of this confusion, a breed of Muslims has come up with the idea of “reforming Islam.” A few of these “reformers” have also gained some recognition among the unwary westerners who have placed their hopes on them , even though they are ignored and derided by fellow Muslims at large.

In this article I would like to discuss whether Islam can be reformed.

Read the rest here.

UPDATE: Even the moderates ain't moderate.

Zuhdi Jasser's Own Private Islam

UPDATE: Bear this in mind: Zuhdi Jasser made a last minute effort to quash Geert Wilders' appearance on Capitol Hill under the aegis of Senator Kyl, calling Kyl's office the morning of the day Wilders was supposed to appear stating another Jasser LIE -- that while Jasser had been in The Netherlands Wilders refused to meet with Jasser because Wilders quote "doesn't meet with Muslims". THAT NEVER HAPPENED.

KGS over at Tundra tabloids has been involved in "an ongoing exchange of emails between someone (not yet at liberty to state who) involved with the Clarion Foundation's promotion of Zhudi Jasser's film, "The Third Jihad".  I wrote here about why I wouldn't promote or support the film. Jasser's fallacious narrative is not reflective of Islam at all. And the film is misleading. Makes people think there are a lot of Jassers out there when there really aren't.

KGS wrote a response concerning the brouhaha that I thought boiled it down to its essential oils brilliantly. He distills what was revealed about Jasser in my radio show interview with him. By Jasser's own description of his faith, he is a "hypocrite". The word of the quran is allah's word. Uncreated (unlike the Bible). You cannot reform or reinterpret the word of the quran. It is immutable. Reformation or reinterpretation is punishable by death according to the Quran.

KGS writes in his post: Clarion Foundation Seeks Honest Answers Why Geller, Schlussel, Spencer, Bostom Are Not Thrilled With Zhudi Jasser....... (read it all here)

Now that I've returned from my trip (to Copenhagen) and have had a chance to resettle back into my regular routine, I can now devote some time and effort to your question. I believe that many who follow these issues are willing to throw their support behind any Muslim who is genuine and wants to reform Islam, but that they must be also willing to accurately depict the truth about Islam, warts and all, and not hide for an example, the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are indeed anti-semitic and hate Israel. And that they refuse to point to passages in the Koran to point out exactly where the jihadis are "getting it all wrong", and that their prophet's lifestyle should not be imitated in every respect in this day and age.

Many believe that Jasser provides a fantasy for Jews and others who want to believe that the majority of Muslims are really peaceful like him. I know for a fact that indeed, the majority of Muslims in the States as well as here in Finland, take a negative approach to both, while claiming all along that they have nothing against Jews..."it's just about Zionism", which is anti-semitic all by itself. Elie, I honestly believe that it's all a ruse. I had listened to the Jasser interview from a while ago on Geller's show, and being a person who is always willing to give any person (no matter what the background) the benefit of the doubt until proven wrong, I too was more than happy to think the best of Jasser.

I maintain good relations with the Muslims Against Sharia group, having them come from time to time to my blog registering comments, but I deem their outlook to be a bit more than naive and "spitting against the wind". Having blogged some very critical posts of their prophet, the MAS still maintains links with the Tundra Tabloids and for that I tip my hat to them. But make no mistake, the MAS is very open about what Islam, in its present form, is all about, and that they want to change it no matter how up-hill that will be.

They are under no illusion that when push comes to shove, the majority of Muslims will side with their co-religionists, in that they'll refuse to condemn the killing of Jews and Israelis simply because they're Israelis, they'll speak about "the murder of the innocent" as being bad, but Jews and Israelis never factor into their views as being innocent. Then there is the overtly anti-semitic passages of the Koran and the Hadiths that keep the Jew hatred burning...to the best of my knowledge, Jasser has not condemned these holy Islamic texts as being wrong and anti-semitic.

Now I wonder what Zhudi Jasser thinks about the Dutch politician Geert Wilders showing of Fitna to Congress? Does he think Geert Wilders is a populist politician who hates Muslims? What about the Mo-toons, does Jasser support the right to defame or criticize religions? Does he think that the Rights of Gods outweigh the Rights of Men? What does he think of Wilders' call for Muslims with dual citizenship who support the introduction of sharia into the West, as well as actively push for it...not be allowed to remain as citizens in the West, or be repatriated?

Very well said, I'd say.

Jasser's Jihad

In good conscience I cannot support the deception of Dr. Jasser. I was asked to promote the film, Third Jihad, but frankly there's enough garbage and smoke and mirrors out there on Islam, I will not assist in propagating more obfuscation.

If you missed my hour long interview with Jasser back in 2007 - listen to it. I exposed Jasser in this seminal radio show - taqiya and all:

Listen to RADIO click here: Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Chairman American Islamic Democracy Forum 

Jasser can not answer my questions on the "immutable" word of the Quran and the fact that  "reformation" or "reinterpretation" is punishable by death. In other words, you can't have your private little Islam. Period.

Of course, when he referred to Israel as occupied territory in the last five minutes of the interview, he blew his cover. Further, Jasser refutes Islamic antisemitism in the interview as well. He may be well intentioned, but his approach and theology is just plain unislamic.

The film is misleading. Makes people think there are a lot of Jassers out there when there really aren't. 

Debbie Schlussel has a lengthy indictment of the mendacity and deception of Jasser's own private Islam.

HOPE!

Springs eternal

ISLAM'S IMMODERATE TOTALITARIAN TRUTHS

Dr. Andrew Bostom picks up where I left off here.  He really drives it home. Incontrovertibly.

Geert Wilders and Totalitarian Islam Dr. Andrew Bostom

Jacob Burckhardt and Robert Conquest: Truth telling titans in the annals of Western historiography

During a thoughtful, revealing interview with the Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby (published March 8, 2009 [3]), Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders clearly unnerved the mainstream conservative journalist with this frank characterization of Islam:

I have nothing against the people. I don’t hate Muslims. But Islam is a totalitarian ideology. It rules every aspect of life - economics, family law, whatever. It has religious symbols, it has a God, it has a book - but it’s not a religion. It can be compared with totalitarian ideologies like Communism or fascism. There is no country where Islam is dominant where you have a real democracy, a real separation between church and state. Islam is totally contrary to our values

Wilders remained steadfast, dismissing Jacoby’s invocation of the hollow, if oft repeated trope “radical Islam is the problem, and moderate Islam is the solution.” This tired mantra—reiterated constantly for the past decade without a scintilla of supportive evidence—is defied by hard polling data from 2006/2007 [4], and their most recent follow-up reported February 25, 2009 [5]. Overwhelming Muslim majorities i.e., better than two-thirds (see the weighted average calculated here [4]) of a well-conducted survey of the world’s most significant, and populous Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries, want these hideous, immoderate outcomes: “strict application” of Shari’a, Islamic Law, and a global Caliphate.

Specifically, the World Public Opinion.org/ University of Maryland poll [5] (released February 25, 2009) indicated the following about our erstwhile Muslim ally nations of Egypt and Pakistan: 81% of the Muslims of “moderate” Egypt, the largest Arab Muslim nation, desire a “strict” application of Shari’a, Islamic Law; 76% of the Pakistan’s Muslims—one of the most important, and sizable non-Arab Muslim populations—want this outcome. Furthermore, 70% of Egyptian Muslims and 69% of Pakistani Muslims desire the re-creation of a “…single Islamic state or Caliphate.” Earlier, I detailed the totalitarian impact of these fulfilled Islamic desires [4] —based upon their doctrinal and historical application, across space and time.

The tenaciously held pieties of Mr. Jacoby and his ilk notwithstanding, Wilders’ keen, if blunt conceptions articulate contemporary realities irrefragably, while re-stating seminal insights on Islam observed by great scholars whose works antedate the present day morbid affliction of cultural relativism.

Jacob Burckhardt (d. 1897), an iconic figure in the annals of Western historiography, believed it was the solemn duty of Western civilization’s heirs to study and acknowledge their own unique cultural inheritance—starting with the culture and heritage of classical Athens. Burckhardt emphasized how the Western conception of freedom was engendered in Athens, where its flowering was accompanied by the production of some of history’s most sublime literary and artistic works. Moreover, while Burckhardt affirmed the irreducible nature of freedom, and upheld equality before the law, he decried the notion—a pervasive, rigidly enforced dogma at present—that all ways of life, opinions, and beliefs were of equal value. Burckhardt argued that this conceptual reductio ad absurdum would destroy Western culture, heralding a return to barbarism. And contra the Western legacy of Athens—epitomized by freedom—Burckhardt referred to Islam as a despotic, or in 20th century parlance, totalitarian ideology.

All religions are exclusive, but Islam is quite notably so, and immediately it developed into a state which seemed to be all of a piece with the religion. The Koran is its spiritual and secular book of law. Its statutes embrace all areas of life…and remain set and rigid; the very narrow Arab mind imposes this nature on many nationalities and thus remolds them for all time (a profound, extensive spiritual bondage!) This is the power of Islam in itself. At the same time, the form of the world empire as well as of the states gradually detaching themselves from it cannot be anything but a despotic monarchy. The very reason and excuse for existence, the holy war, and the possible world conquest, do not brook any other form.

The strongest proof of real, extremely despotic power in Islam is the fact that it has been able to invalidate, in such large measure, the entire history (customs, religion, previous way of looking at things, earlier imagination) of the peoples converted to it. It accomplished this only by instilling into them a new religious arrogance which was stronger than everything and induced them to be ashamed [emphasis in original] of their past

G.H. Bousquet (d. 1978), one of the foremost 20th century scholars of Islamic Law, explained how Islam’s unique institution of jihad war, and its eternal quest to impose the Shari’a on all of humanity, represented the quintessence of Islamic totalitarianism. Writing in 1950, Bousquet further warned that these ancient Muslim doctrines remained alive, and relevant to the modern era.

Islam first came before the world as a doubly totalitarian system. It claimed to impose itself on the whole world and it claimed also, by the divinely appointed Muhammadan law, by the principles of fiqh, to regulate down to the smallest details the whole life of the Islamic community and of every individual believer…Viewed from this angle, the study of Muhammadan Law (dry and forbidding though it may appear to be to those who confine themselves to the indispensable study of the fiqh), is of great importance to the world of today.

Robert Conquest, in the Preface to the 40th Anniversary Edition of The Great Terror, his seminal indictment of Soviet Communist state tyranny under Stalin, observed:

One of the strangest notions put forward about Stalinism [substitute Islamic Jihadism] is that, in the interests of “objectivity” we must be—wait for it—“non-judgmental.” But to ignore, or downplay, the realities of Soviet [substitute Islamic] history is itself a judgment, and a very misleading one. Let me conclude with Patrick Henry saying in 1775, “I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.” The corollary is that misreading of the past incapacitates us as regards our understanding of the future—and of the present too.

I have indicated above, in brackets, where one could readily substitute Jihadism for Stalinism, and Islamic for Soviet.

This past August [6] (2008), in commemoration of Solzhenitsyn’s passing, Roger Kimball described the following anecdote related by Kingsley Amis, about the reception of Professor Conquest’s landmark study, which “for many years,” was “ignored where possible or dismissed as propaganda.” As Amis notes,

Then, in 1988, favorable references to it began to appear in the Soviet media. .. . . [A]n American publisher suggested a new edition of the book. “What about a new title Bob? We won’t pretend it’s a new book, but a new title would be good. . . ..Bob answered in terms that get a lot of his character into small compass. “Well, perhaps, I Told You So, You Fucking Fools. How’s that?”

Geert Wilders, alone among contemporary political leaders, stands on the shoulders of intellectually honest Western scholars such as Burckhardt, Bousquet, and Conquest, unabashedly addressing contemporary Islam, and the scourge of resurgent jihadism its mainstream religio-political leadership actively promotes. Wilders pellucid, uncompromised views on the threat of totalitarian Islam might be expressed in this formulation,

Islam is the problem; radical reform is the solution.

Let us hope Wilders moral clarity and wisdom counteracts what Robert Conquest described as “…the credulity of supposed intellectual elites,” who misunderstood and misrepresented Soviet totalitarianism, making, “…the pursuit of rational foreign policy difficult.” As Conquest underscored, aptly,

It hardly needs saying that we must do our best to avoid, or prevent, anything resembling a repetition—in fact that the lesson should be learned.

BTW, OT but related - in case you missed it. Geert Wilders was interviewed by radio talkshow host Laura Ingraham recently. Click on the link below to listen to the 10 minute interview using your media player (or download the file).

MP3: Geert Wilders on Laura Ingraham Show

Wilders, Islam and the Immoderate Moderates

There is an excellent Geert Wilders interview with Jeff Jacoby on Boston.com today here. Unlike the dhimmi media tools who do Islam's bidding on a daily basis, Jacoby gives Wilders the opportunity to explain and/or refute the popular memes the media and the Islamic propagandists throw at Wilders in the traitorous attempt to marginalize and smear him.

Please read it all.

There is one issue in this interview I would like very much to address because there has been little refutation or coverage of the viability and intellectual integrity of "moderate" Muslim.

Q: What do you say to Muslims like Zuhdi Jasser? He is an American, a former Navy officer, a doctor. After 9/11, he was so horrified by what was done in the name of Islam that he founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy: pro-American, pro-democracy, anti-violence, anti-Islamist. How do you answer Muslims like him, who say: "I love my religion. I also love freedom, democracy, Western values. I believe in separation of mosque and state. But how can I be an ally with someone who says my religion itself is evil?"

A: Well, I would tell him I wish there were more people like you. It didn't happen. I would not agree with [Dr. Jasser] about Islam, but I wish there were more like him.

Everyone loves the idea of Jasser and his "moderate Islam," without doing even so much as the most preliminary analysis or review of his position and many of the things he has said.

In May 2007, I conducted an  interview with Zuhdi Jasser. Jasser NEVER met Dr. Andrew Bostom or read his work -- let alone read an advance copy of The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism, the manuscript of which had just recently been completed and had only been viewed by a few close contacts, including myself.

"Empowering Moderate Muslims" Pamela Geller interviews Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Chairman American Islamic Democracy Forum

05-22-07

64:41

14.8MB

Alternative MP3 audio link here.

Jasser, in the interview linked above, had the temerity to claim that Muslim Antisemitism is a "Wahhabi" problem, which Bostom is “promoting.” I guess that makes it a combined Bostom-Wahhabi problem. Never mind that Muslim Antisemitism was fully functional without the Wahhabis for over 1000 years before the movement arose in the 18th century, or some 1300 years before Bostom was born in 1956.

Listen to ~ minutes 20-25. Also, Jasser makes a point of repeatedly referring to Judea/Samaria as "occupied" — (and he does not mean the historically accurate characterization Arab-occupied Judea-Samaria.). I strongly recommend you listen to the whole interview if you are buying into the moderate narrative.

It is also important to mention that Jasser was recently kicked out of his own "progressive" mosque because of his take on Islam, so who exactly is he representing? He's living in his own private Islam. Islam considers Jasser a hyporcrite, an apostate. There is no interpretation of Islam. Reform or reinterpret the Qu'ran and you are a "hypocrite" -- punishable by death.

Muhammad is to strike hard against the unbelievers (fight them with weapons and armaments—ibn Kathir. Fight them with swords—Jalalyn), hypocrites (punish them according to Sharia laws—ibn Kathir) and to be firm (harsh) against them; the abode for the unbelievers and the hypocrites is hell...66:9

Another force behind the fallacious "moderate" Muslim meme is noted scholar Daniel Pipes -- perhaps the most damaging propagandist of this impossible argument, because of his credibility.

Jacoby asks Wilders about Pipes as well here:

Q: What do you say to scholars of Islam like Daniel Pipes, who argues that radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution? Why should one accept what Geert Wilders says about Islam, rather than someone like Pipes?

A: I respect Daniel Pipes, but I fully disagree. There is no moderate Islam. It's like the [prime minister] of Turkey, Mr. Erdogan, said himself recently: There is only one taste of Islam, and that is the taste of the Koran.

Q: But he's an Islamist. You would expect him to say that. What about anti-Islamist Muslims, Muslims who reject the radicals?

A: Listen, the Koran is seen by Muslims, unlike all the other religions, as the word of God that can never be criticized. If you criticize the Koran, you are a renegade, an apostate. There are people who are moderate and call themselves Muslim. But moderate Islam is totally nonexistent. It will never have an Enlightenment as happened with Christianity.

Q: Why not?

A: Because unlike the interpretations of other holy books, Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God and can never be changed.

Q: Hold on - the New Testament today is the same New Testament as a thousand years ago. What's different is the way that book is read and understood. A thousand years ago, one could have said Christianity was a violent, militant religion; today one wouldn't.

A: Yes, there was a change in Christianity. It was possible because Christians don't believe that the Bible is literally the word of God - not like the Koran. If you really believe [the Koran] is the word of God, it will never have room to change

Pipes's mantra is tired. We have all been listening to it for the past ten years without so much as a scintilla of supportive data. But now, thanks to repeated polling, reality paints a vastly different picture -- here. for example is data from 2006/2007, reported by Dr. Bostom: The Muslim Mainstream and the New Caliphate.

The openly expressed desire for the restoration of a Caliphate from two-thirds of an important Muslim sample of Arab and non-Arab Islamic nations, representative of Muslims worldwide, should serve as a chilling wake-up call to those still in denial about the existential threat posed by the living, uniquely Islamic institution of jihad.

And with the most recent follow-up, reported at the end of February from World Opinion polls here, we can quantify how factually-challenged his formulation is -- unless one accepts the absurd notion that desiring "strict application" of Sharia, and global Caliphate, are "moderate". Overwhelming majorities i.e., better than 2/3 of the best conducted sampling of the world's most populous Muslim countries, want these hideous outcomes.

As Bostom has previously written,

A World Public Opinion.org/ University of Maryland poll released February 25, 2009 indicated the following about our erstwhile Muslim ally nations of Egypt and Pakistan—81% of the Muslims of “moderate” Egypt, the largest Arab Muslim nation, desire a “strict” application of Shari’a, Islamic Law; 76% of the Pakistan’s Muslims—one of the most important, and sizable non-Arab Muslim populations—want this outcome. Moreover, 70% of Egyptian Muslims and 69% of Pakistani Muslims desire the re-creation of a “..single Islamic state or Caliphate.”

Earlier, I detailed the totalitarian impact of these fulfilled Islamic desires —based upon their doctrinal and historical application, across space and time.

When I first came to study Islam post 9/11, I watched and waited and wanted very much to believe in the Moderate meme. But I am not a fool. You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

Wilders cites this Reagan quote frequently, "If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly."

BINGO.

MODERATE MUSLIM SOLUTION FOR LASTING PEACE: SHARIA! SWAT!

Imran Khan, the moderate muslim, is working to bring lasting peace to Swat. Ah, I feel better! Imran urged the government to institute sharia. His most significant political work has been to protest against ruling politicians such as Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari, and his opposition to the US and UK foreign policy.

SWAT militants are misunderstood Muslims who sawed off the head of a journalist (GEO TV JOURNALIST BEHEADED DAYS AFTER SHARIA RESTORED) after a peace deal was signed.

Imran Khan to hold talks with Swat militants  Mushtaq Paracha(hat tip Kasper)

NOWSHERA: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday said he would himself visit Swat to hold talks with Taliban to bring a lasting peace to the region. He said that he has directed his party leaders to initiate parleys with the Taliban in Swat to settle the issue forever.

In his speech to lawyers of Swat in Sheikh Maltoon Town, Mardan, internally displaced persons of Bajaur Agency in Jalozai camp and a press conference at the residence of PF-14, Nowshera PTI president Kifayatullah, Imran urged the government to immediately implement Shariah in Swat and halt military operation there, tribal areas and elsewhere in the country.

If you are unfamiliar with Imran - let me help you. He was an infamous Muslim playboy. From Wikipedia:

During the 1970s and 1980s, Khan became known as a socialite due to his "non-stop partying" at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp, though he claims to have hated English pubs and never drank alcohol He also gained notoriety in London gossip columns for romancing young debutantes such as Susannah Constantine, Lady Liza Campbell and the artist Emma Sergeant.^[5] One of these ex-girlfriends, the British heiress Sita White, daughter of Gordon White, Baron White of Hull, became the mother of his alleged illegitimate daughter. A judge in the U.S. ruled him to be the father of Tyrian Jade White, but Khan has denied paternity.^[9][10] About his lifestyle as a bachelor, he has often said that, "I never claim to have lead an angelic life."

 

On 16 May 1995, Khan married English socialite Jemima Goldsmith, a convert to Islam, in a two-minute Islamic ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond register office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey.^[11] The marriage, described as "tough" by Khan,^[5] produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999).^[12] As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khans had divorced because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan".^[13]

Veteran journalist Khalid Hasan reported in 2008 that Khan, beside regularly dying his hair, has had a hair transplant.^[14] Khan now resides in Bani Gala, Islamabad, where he built a farmhouse with the money he gained from selling his London flat. He grows fruit trees, wheat, and keeps cows, while also maintaining a cricket ground for his two sons, who visit during their holidays.^[5] Khan is also reported to be in regular contact with Tyrian Jade Khan-White, his alleged daughter whom he has never publicly acknowledged.^[15]

  

 UPDATE: MUSLIM MODERNITY Turnout low as schools reopen in Pakistan's Swat

The lasting peace is working out well. Education is an insult to Islam!

MINGORA, Pakistan (AFP) – Schools reopened in Pakistan's Swat valley on Monday but attendance was extremely low despite a fledgling truce between the government and insurgents, officials said.

"Our schools reopened today. The attendance was very poor. Only up to 10 percent attended," Swat education ministry official Sher Afzal told AFP.

Thousands of Islamist hardliners have spent nearly two years waging a terrifying campaign to enforce sharia law in Swat, beheading opponents, bombing girls' schools, outlawing entertainment and fighting government forces.

Last Monday, the government signed an agreement with a pro-Taliban cleric agreeing to enforce sharia in the valley in the hope of ending the insurgency.

UPDATE: ISLAMISTS TRIUMPH IN SWAT VALLEY

Bowing Down to the Taliban

Pakistan is capitulating to the Taliban in the picturesque Swat Valley, where the Islamists plan to introduce Sharia law. Now the militants' triumph threatens to encourage radicals throughout the region.

MALAYSIA: "MODERATE" MUSLIM NATION ... GOES EXTREME

So, help me out here. Does Malaysia fall under Bush's "small band of fanatics [that] demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience and marks unbelievers for murder" that he nonsensically spoke of in his farewell speech to the nation last night? Eight years and the man learned nothing? (full text of Bush's farewell address to the nation here)

Censorship of Non-Muslims in Malaysia Gathering Storm

You know those moderate Muslim dominated nations in Asia? You know the ones always held up as examples of Muslim tolerance of other faiths and ethnic groups? Well, there seems to be a change of heart in the government of Malaysia.

In a move that may hurt Malaysia’s multi-religious social fabric the government has announced that certain Arabic words like ‘Allah’ cannot be used in the literature, gospel and speeches of non-Muslims faiths.

Three other commonly used words ordered excluded from non-Muslim lexicon are ‘Baitullah’ (House of God), ‘Solat’ (prayer) and ‘Kaabah (Sacred House).

The decision has shocked Christians, Sikhs and Hindus, who have for centuries liberally used borrowed Arabic words in their religious practices, see the government decision as a serious infringement on their religious freedom.

While Malaysia's constitution says Islam is the ‘religion of the federation’ and that other faiths are freely allowed, non-Muslims increasingly fear freedom of worship is being curtailed by officials influenced by resurgent political Islam.

"Only Muslims can use (the word) Allah. It's a Muslim word. It's from the Arabic language. We cannot let other religions use it because it will confuse people," deputy minister for internal security Johari Baharum told presspersons explaining the rationale for the decision. "We cannot allow this use of 'Allah' in non-Muslim publications; nobody except Muslims (can use it). The word 'Allah' is published by the Catholics. It's not right," he said.

But followers of Sikhism -- which borrows heavily from both Islam and Hindusim and uses the word ‘Allah’ to refer to god -- are upset over the ban. "We have used the terms 'Allah' and ‘Rahim’ (most merciful) extensively in our writings and prayers to refer to God. The word Allah is used in our holy scripture," Malaysian Gurdwara Council chief Harcharan Singh told local media last week.

"Sikhs have used these terms for centuries and they are part of the Punjabi language we still use today," he said explaining the dilemma for followers of the faith, who are distinguished by their turbans and beards. "How are we going to fulfill our religious obligation if commonly used words are reserved for Muslims… I really don't know where we are heading as a nation with decisions like this," he said.

Compounding the confusion, church leaders have now filed a lawsuit against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the government for banning the import of Christian publications that contain the word 'Allah'. The suit has asked for a court ruling against any faith having exclusive right to use of any word. The case will be close watched by Malaysians and foreigners, including investors who fear that the country is sliding into a Taliban-style theocracy.

OT but related: A Malaysian Reminds President-Elect Obama About His Freedom of Conscience

Blah, blah, blah

Musaji over at American Muslim didn't like my defending Phyllis Chesler.

Geller attempts to make a point but her logic backfires.  She says ”Who better understands the subjugation demanded of shariah law than a Muslim woman?” I am a Muslim woman, and I would agree with her that I certainly understand shariah law and Islam better than she does (or Phyllis Chessler does), but I don’t think that is the point she was trying to make.

She doesn't think that's the point I am trying to make? Musaji knows better than me the point I am trying to make? huh?

Musaji goes on to cite terrorist in a fancy suit Tariq Ramadan, Ayatollah Sistani  and dar al Hudna to back up her arguments.  Idiotic...a "hudna" can be broken any time it is to the Muslims' advantage....Ramadan refuses to condemn stoning for adultery and  Sistani believes in najis and issued fatwas that resulted in the killing of gays in Iraq.

It's all deception, taqiyya- the deliberate dissimulation about religious matters that may be undertaken to protect Islam. And while this kind of double talk has the left doing the Islamists bidding, many of us know exactly what this shiz is. You can fool some of the infidels some of the times, but you can't fool all of the kufirs all of the time.

Musaji has had a problem with many of us fighting for our way of life.

I wish Musaji spent as much time on the SAID honor killings in America as she does defending Islamists. Tariq Ramadan indeed.

Police to Brit Christian Convert: “stop being a crusader, move to another place”

More evenhandedness and tolerance from the religion of you know what:

British Muslim 'bullied' for converting to Christianity The Times hat tip wolf

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspon

A British citizen who converted to Christianity from Islam and then complained to police when locals threatened to burn his house down was told by officers to “stop being a crusader”, according to a new report.

Nissar Hussein, 43, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who was born and raised in Britain, converted from Islam to Christianity with his wife, Qubra, in 1996. The report says that he was subjected to a number of attacks and, after being told that his house would be burnt down if he did not repent and return to Islam, reported the threat to the police. It says he was told that such threats were rarely carried out and the police officer told him to “stop being a crusader and move to another place”. A few days later the unoccupied house next door was set on fire.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a British human rights organisation whose president is the former Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken, is calling on the UN and the international community to take action against nations and communities that punish apostasy.

The islamified UN controlled by the OIC. Uh, yeah, you have a prayer.

Its report, No Place to Call Home, claims that apostates from Islam are subject to “gross and wideranging human rights abuses”. It adds that in countries such as Britain, with large Muslim populations in a Westernised culture, the demand to maintain a Muslim identity is intense. “When identities are precarious, their enforcement will take an aggressive form.”

"As a Muslim trying to help America....."

I hope he's nameless, or the fatwa will be swift and deadly.

As a Muslim trying to help America defend itself against the Islamist jihad, I am outraged that our government is letting us down so badly by cozying up to the enemy. I have seen this happen in my home country and in so many other places, but I never thought it would happen here. I don’t ever want to hear people asking me “where are the truly moderate Muslims” but the rest of us anti-Islamists are waiting (sadly and in a terribly frustrated way) for the next attack, which may (once again) force the “oh, let’s not hurt our enemy’s feelings” crowds to open their eyes and see the reality. I sincerely hope it won’t be too late by then. What I really don’t understand is what on earth happened to the Americans having the guts to stand up to evil? Why is America following in Europe ’s footsteps of appeasement? Is this what happened to all the good, decent and smart people who let Nazism take over, and then turned the blind eye to the Holocaust in their midst? So, never again is not really never again, huh? Is it too much relativism? Did Americans become too materialistic to recognize the power of destructive ideologies? It can’t be ignorance anymore since a lot of material is out there making the argument. Maybe faced with too much information and all the side effects of globalization, people simply lost basic common sense? I know the Islamists. There is no stopping until you all accept their rule. Of course, I’ll have to be taken care of a lot sooner than they come after you all!!"

Read it all at The Counter Terrorism Blog:The New American Lexicon: Jihad, We Hardly Knew You hat tip rut

O'Limbaracks

White folk they say “We’s with yo Mama,

Yeah, that’s why we vote you, Obama!”

But yo’ Ol’ Man, Barack

Was a po’ victim and black,

Per Wrighty Almighty, who screams "Damn A…..

merica! Damn A……..

merica! Damn A!"

 

Thanks to Jeremy Wright, that ol’ pastor,

Ol’ bama, sans glamour, will soon hear “Hasta

La Vista ! Goodbye!

You got caught in a lie!

No way shall you play now at bein' Masta!”

 

Barack’s middle name is HUSSEIN.

Announce it! Again and Again!

Maybe folk will wise up,

And realise their cup

Floweth over…. and straight down the drain!

 

Wright was wrong all along but, Obama,

You pretended ‘twas a form of high drama.

So you sat there and smiled,

Letting all be reviled.....

No excuse! Cooked your goose! Take this….WHAMA!

Soon for Sainthood, sweetsmellin’ Jeremiah,

Serenaded by Heavenly Choir.

Crucified for his views

On white folk and jews,

‘N resurrected by Barack, the ol’ |Liar.

man of letters, David :)

Pope to Baptize Prominent Muslim

Converting out of Islam, by the Pope, this man  is going to need secret service detail 24/7/365. G-d bless him and the work that he does. I love him.

Pope to Baptize Prominent Muslim NY POst hat tip Davida

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Italy's most prominent Muslim commentator is converting to Catholicism by being baptized by the pope at an Easter vigil, the Vatican announced Saturday. An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim, Magdi Allam has infuriated some fellow Muslims with his criticism of extremism and support for Israel.

The deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Allam often writes on Muslim and Arab affairs. He told the Il Giornale newspaper in a December interview that his criticism of Palestinian suicide bombing generated threats on his life in 2003, prompting the Italian government to provide him with a sizeable security detail.

[..]

Married to a Catholic, with a young son and two adult children from his first marriage, Allam indicated in the interview that he would have no problem converting to Christianity. He said he had even received Communion once - when he was 13 or 14 - "even though I knew it was an act of blasphemy, not having been baptized."

Allam also explained his decision to entitle a recent book "Viva Israel" or "Long Live Israel," saying he wrote it after he received death threats from Hamas.

"Having been condemned to death, I have reflected a long time on the value of life. And I discovered that behind the origin of the ideology of hatred, violence and death is the discrimination against Israel. Everyone has the right to exist except for the Jewish state and its inhabitants," he said. "Today, Israel is the paradigm of the right to life."

In 2006, Allam was a co-winner, with three other journalists, of the $1 million Dan David prize, named for the Israeli entrepreneur of the same name. Allam was cited for "his ceaseless work in fostering understanding and tolerance between cultures."

 

Apostate Like me

Bostom sees real danger in Obama's desire to tea down with ahmadi-nijad. Obama's an apostate and they'll cut your head off for that. Seriously.

Obama, Apostasy, and Ahmadinejad’s Iran

by Andrew Bostom

Dear Barry,

Apostasy is no laughing matter to your erstwhile negotiating partner Ahmadine-Jihad.

The intrepid Iranian ex-patriate Amil Imani has this stark warning for the terminally vain and naïve Barack “Barry” (Middle Name Which I Dare Not Utter Lest the PC-Police Cry “Racism” ) Obama: 

Obama boasted that he would embark on a personal diplomacy to solve our foreign policy problems with countries such as Syria and Iran. He said that he would meet their leaders without any preconditions to settle our disputes. Doesn’t that sound like change, a real change of great relief to us all? Never mind the fact that he has about zero experience in foreign policy matters, he is foolish enough to aim to negotiate with the ever-conniving Assad of Syria and masters of deceptions such as the Mullahs of Iran.

Okay Obama, don’t claim that no one warned you. If you get elected President and you receive an invitation from your fellow Muslim brother Ahmadinejad to make good on your promise and visit him in Tehran for a tête-à-tête, don’t you do it. BBC’s recent report ought to be enough for you to recant your foolish and naïve promise: 

“The European Union has criticized the new penal code being drafted in Iran, particularly a section that imposes the death penalty for giving up Islam…Death for apostasy already exists in Iran under Sharia or “Islamic - law.”

But the changes would for the first time bring the punishment into the criminal code. An EU statement expressed deep concern about what it calls the ongoing deterioration in the human rights situation in Iran. It singled out Section Five of the draft penal code currently before the Iranian parliament, imposing the death penalty for apostasy. In the past, Iranian courts have handed down the death penalty in such cases, but have done so relying on Sharia law. If the draft is approved by parliament, the sentence will be formalized in the country’s criminal code.Who is an apostate according to the legislation? Anyone in the world, not just Iranians, born to a Muslim parent; also, any convert to Islam who leaves it. Only one parent needs to be a Muslim at the time of conception for Islam to own that child for life. Islam is Ummehist. Islam doesn’t recognize nationalities and national boundaries. And these Islamist zealots are very serious and have no sense of humor. Some say they have no sense at all, and they may be right. What they certainly have is a thirst for blood, particularly for the blood of infidels and apostates.

My advice, Obama: Elected President or not, don’t you hazard a trip to the Islamic Republic of Iran. In fact, don’t you go anywhere near where the crazed Islamists can get their hands on you. You don’t even rate a fatwa from one of the many bloodthirsty crafty Ayatollahs or Moftis, asking for your head. Your fate is already sealed. You are on automatic, so to speak– a person who was given the gift of Islam and who ungratefully turned his back to the one and only faith of Allah, so the Muslims believe. The punishment for this kind of betrayal is prescribed as haad (most severe), meaning death.

You may protest that you are free to choose your religion and that you have chosen to be Christian. Nothing doing! You are stamped as Muslim at conception because your father was Muslim. Further, you have been doubly-stamped by your middle name Hussein. Muslims name their sons Hussein in honor of one of Islam’s most revered saints. Hence, the Muslims want what is theirs and you either repent and return to the fold or prepare yourself for the ultimate punishment: Death.

UPDATE: Iran to Punish Apostasy with Death

 

MUSLIMS DECRY TERROR

How big is this movement? Can we help build it? Will they speak out loudly? Will thousands take to the streets? They were inspired by the Taleban? I'm confused. Live in hope .......

India has one of the world's largest Muslim populations

An influential group of Muslim theologians in India have denounced terrorism, saying it is completely against the teachings of Islam.

Their statements were made at a meeting held at the Darul-Uloom Deoband, a powerful Islamic school more than 150 years old.

Scholars from 6,000 religious schools attended the meeting.

The Deoband school promotes a brand of Islam which some say was an inspiration to Afghanistan's Taleban.

The school has always denied this. (More here) hat tip Sphinx

Ibn Warraq in NY! Defending the West: A Reading and Book Signing

Ibn Warraq, Defending the West: A Reading and Book Signing
Celebrated Muslim apostate and Koranic scholar Ibn Warraq will discuss his new book

Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism    

Starts: Monday, February 11^th at 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location: Columbia University Bookstore, Alfred J. Lerner Hall - Lower Level, 2922 Broadway at West 115th Street

Celebrated Muslim apostate and Koranic scholar Ibn Warraq will discuss his new book,  Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism published by Prometheus Books, at the Columbia University Bookstore. The reading will be followed by a book signing, Warraq's first in New York. Store telephone: (212) 854-4131.

Be there. Not to me missed

Lunch:Knights of the Roundtable

When it rains it pours blue heaven today

Pamela, Ibn Warraq and Andy Bostom

Bat Yeor and Andrew Bostom

Ibn Warraq and    David Littman

Pamela, Leading scholar Ibn Warraq, UN specialist David Littman

Bat Yeor (AUTHOR OF Eurabia), David Littman, Ibn Warraq

Ibn Warraq and me. I will be attending his book signing at Columbia on Monday. Will vlog his remarks. He is without peer, the leading scholar on Islam. Read his books, he is joining me next week on my radio show.Go here and read Ibn Warraq on how to debate a Muslim.

the gang in the pantheon of warriors in the fight against the tsunami of islamic jihad

Books at the table

Bat, Atlas and the man among men Dr. Andy Bostom

LOVE HIM! Andy! Andy! Andy!

MWAH!!!

BOSTOM! Brilliant scholar, wonderful husband, fabulous wife, gorgeous children. He is all that and a bag of pork rinds. He is the dearest friend I have. I am blessed.

Andy Bostom will be on WABC Radio with John Batchelor Sunday Evening Discussing “Rampant Islamic Jew Hatred in Europe” at 8:50 pm (Eastern Standard time).
The John Batchelor Showcan be heard on 77 WABC-AM in New York, and KFI-AM in Los Angeles.

Join me Monday for a very special book event for Ibn Warraq at the Columbia book store ..........6 pm Buy Warraq's book here: Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism    

Reform the Koran

I am so behind this. Muslims against Sharia mean to reform the Koran;

With the help of our readers we went through the Koran and removed every verse that we believe did not come from Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. However, it is possible that we missed something, and we could use your help. If you find verses in the reformed version of the Koran that promote violence, divisiveness, religious or gender superiority, bigotry, or discrimination, please let us know the number of the verse and the reason why it should be removed. Please email your suggestions to koran-AT-reformislam.org.

When we finish editing process, we would like to publish Reform Koran in as many languages as possible. If you could help with translation or distribution of the Reform Koran, please email us at koran-AT-reformislam.org. If you could provide financial support, please visit our support page.

In Memoriam of Aqsa Parvez.   

Ibn Warraq on Edward Said

As of last April, the late Edward Said's "Orientalism," originally published in 1978, was no. 2 on the best-seller list in Cairo. No. 1was a book arguing that Saddam Hussein hadn't really been executed — all cell phone video evidence to the contrary, the writer argued, was a fabrication of the CIA

Michael Weiss has a terrific review of the new book by Ibn Warraq, the preminent scholar of Islam,  Defending the West: A Critique of Edward Said's Orientalism. Warraq is the Islamic scholar's scholar and if you have not read his work, start now.

THE BERTRAND RUSSELL OF ISLAM Michael Weiss, NY Sun hat tip Andrew Bostom

And what about Tariq Ramadan, the "moderate" Islamic philosopher, son of the Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, who is Buruma's preferred dragoman for liberal Europe? Mr. Warraq debated him in London last month on the question of the superiority of Western values. "When [Ramadan] gives interviews in English, he's incredibly evasive. He's not the kind of guy I'd buy a secondhand car from. If you ask him, 'Do you think lapidation for adultery should be banned?,' he never says 'yes' categorically. He says things such as, 'At this moment, it is not applicable' or 'it is not advisable.' Always this prevarication."

Mr. Warraq's beef with Said, however, is more a matter of reductionism than prevarication: that "Orientalism" misses two crucial points about human nature in its discussion of relations between East and West. The first is that even the worst offenders aren't always motivated by bigotry or grand imperial designs. The second is that the institutions they erect are often more significant and enduring than their venality and greed.

Mr. Warraq praises the British of the 18th and 19th centuries for their role shepherding India's cultural renewal — not to mention in combating the corruption of British colonialism. Edmund Burke led the moral and legislative charge against Warren Hastings, the notorious head of the East India Company. James Prinsep, a secretary of the celebrated Asiatic Society of Bengal, drained the malarial swamps of Calcutta, restored the collapsing mosque of Aurangzeb stone by stone, and discovered that once-indecipherable rock inscriptions were made by the Mughal emperor Asoka Maurya. Mr. Warraq relies on several modern Indian historians, such as A.L. Basham and Nirad Chaudhuri, to emphasize the great esteem in which British Orientalists are still held — men such as Henry Thomas Colebrooke, who agitated for the end of the East India Company's monopoly and composed a systematic study of Sanskrit and Hindu law as well as the only authoritative analysis of the Veda; Sir William Jones, the "father of Indian history" and one of the early discoverers of the Indo-European linguistic nexus (he thought Sanskrit "more exquisitely refined" than Latin or Greek), and William Carey, the "father of Bengali prose," who single-handedly restored a lost literature.

Mr. Warraq is no admirer of the "clash of civilizations" thesis, and — as if to prove his own point about self-criticism — he says he absorbed a lot of the negative feedback on "Why I Am Not a Muslim." This is why, in the current volume, he employs a useful tripartite distinction of Islam borrowed, he says, from Bernard Lewis: Islam One is the Koran, Islam Two is the hadith, or oral tradition relating to the words and deeds of the prophet, and Islam Three is Muslim civilization, which is as variegated as it is large. One and two, Mr. Warraq says, are incompatible with democracy and human rights. As for three, "many Muslim feminists try to re-interpret or ignore Koranic passages in order to improve the lives of all Muslim women. Only time will tell if such strategies will work." Mr. Warraq tells me: "We're not going to eradicate Islam from the face of the earth, and I have no wish for it to be… Islam Three is going to require a lot of sociological and empirical research. One has to be careful when we talk about Islam, one has to be more specific." This is a courtesy Said botched, or simply failed to accord, in his examination of the West.

Morning Coffee Talk

Interesting thread over at Muslims Against Sharia. It is curious to me that there has been such  a hostile reaction to a group, "Muslims against Sharia." Why? It's a good thing. Liberals and rad fundies (of course) despise the notion of a more moderate Islam. Stupefying.

Read the whole thing here.

- Muslims are born into Islam not by choice
- Islamic terrorism is a creation of Petro-Islam and since Petro-Islam is a creation of the West, you are partly to blame. Especially because even after 9/11 you keep pumping billions of dollars into radical Islamic governments and supporting radical Muslims like CAIR and MPAC at home. What chance moderate Muslims have in the war of ideas with radicals when the West is (de facto) on radicals' side?

By the way, I am not "Muslims Against Sharia." I was asked to join them. That's it. This attempted meme to syggest I am behind it is more liberal, Islamic lies. I love what they are doing but I am not the source.

Ban Islam? Uh .......... yeah

Daniel Pipes is wrong, much as it pains me to say it. I wish, in fact, he wasn't.  But in his article in the  NY Sun, Ban Islam? he closes with;

Islam is not the enemy, but Islamism is. Tolerate moderate Islam, but eradicate its radical variants.

What variant? The Koran is a violent document. The call to jihad, to  kill non believers and  Islamic Jew hatred in the Koran is well documented. This is not a variant, this is a tenet of Islam and Islamic jihad. To imply or state differently is simply inaccurate.

I would like to feel all warm and fuzzy and embrace the moderate Muslim/ meme but they show no evidence of their existence - not in any real number anyway. The only voices of reason in the Muslim world are lapsed Muslims or apostates. Many of Pipes' "moderates" speak out of both sides of their mouths and if perhaps we could point to one rally, one incident, one moment when we saw Muslims in any number come out and protest against terror, jihadi violence - perhaps then we might believe in Muslim miracles. Why hasn't there been one, ONE, Muslim rally denouncing the attacks of 9/11?  We can pretend or we can strategize on how to defeat our mortal enemy.

This is not rocket science. The problem with Pipes propagating such pablum is he is perceived to be a hard right guy, tough on Islam. Well schooled, scholarly. So this kind of well, taqiya, is dangerous. American waking up to the imminent threat  go searching for answers, which they will never find in the media, but they will find Pipes and a man of his stature can do enormous harm to understanding Islam.

We will not defeat an enemy that we can't identify, that we don't understand or whose motivation is utterly misinterpreted. Personally I think Geert Wilders, Pim Fortuyn, and other singularly brave voices were right.

The coordinator of Italy's Northern League, Roberto Calderoli, wrote in 2005: "Islam has to be declared illegal until Islamists are prepared to renounce those parts of their pseudo political and religious doctrine glorifying violence and the oppression of other cultures and religions."

Amen.

UPDATE: Ah, this post has generated more than the usual commentary so I will elaborate. It isn't moderate individuals. Pipes says moderate "Islam", which does not exist, although with gargantuan effort it might evolve over many, many years

Closer perusal of the Calcutta Koran Petition is much needed.The "riots" were by one group: hair-trigger "moderate" Muslims. Pipes' article doesn't make that clear at all.

Dr. Andrew Bostom very recently discussed Sita Ram Goel's book concerning the petition and the two relevant cases;

As described by the late Indian scholar Sita Ram Goel, Koranic sanctioning of violence and hatred was the subject of a formal Petition filed in the Calcutta High Court on March 29, 1985. The plaintiffs maintained that the Koran, in violation of the Indian Penal Code, incited violence, disturbed the public tranquility, promoted feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will between different religious communities, and insulted other religions or the religious beliefs of other communities in India.    Their request for proscription of the Koran included three “annexures” documenting such Koranic injunctions, and divided into the following three categories:

• verses which preached cruelty, incited violence and disturbed public tranquility (i.e., 2:193; 8:39; 2:216; 9:41; 9:123; 66:9; 9:73; 8:65; 8:66; 47:4—15; 8:12; 69:30—33; 8:15—18; 25:52; 9:39; 9:111; 3: 169—171; 4:100; 48:29; 49:15; 2:154; 3:157—158; 8:59—60; 9:2—3; 9:29; 8:67; 4:84; 29:6; 29:69; 61:9—13; 9:36; 9:5; 9:14; 9:20—22; 4:95—96; 8:72—74; 3:142)
• verses which promoted, on grounds of religion, feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will between different religious communities in India (i.e., 4:101; 60:4; 58:23; 9:7; 8:13—14; 8:55; 25:55; 5:72; 9:23; 9:28; 3:28; 3:118; 4:144; 5:14; 5:64; 5:18; 5:51)
• verses which insulted other religions as well as the religious beliefs of other communities in India (i.e., 5:17; 4:157; 5:116—118; 98:6; 68:8—13; 38:55—57; 22:19—21; 22:56—57; 5:36; 15:2; 72:14—15;41:33; 4:125; 25:27—29; 26:96—99; 3:85; 8:38; 31:13; 29:41—42; 37:22—25; 37:26—32; 25:17—19; 7:173; 21:66—67; 21:98—100; 16:20—21; 6:22—23; 6:40—41; 6:148; 2;221; 24:3)

"The Indian plaintiff’s “Calcutta Koran Petition” was ultimately dismissed on a legal technicality June 21, 1985"

Apparently,  a lower court case WAS in fact decided of the Hindus favor when they were defendants under India's version of "laws not defame (Islam)" perhaps soon to beapplied (if not already) in the US: More at Frontpage here:

In 1986, Sita Ram Goel published “The Calcutta Qur’an Petition” a brilliant analysis of the mid-1980s peaceful protests and legal actions by Hindus—which sparked predictable and pathognomonic acts of violence by enraged Muslims. Such non-violent acts of protest by Hindus served to educate the Indian public about Koranic doctrines. Despite the brutal Islamization of India—dating back to the initial 8^th century Arab Muslim jihad ravages, and the subsequent more extensive campaigns under the Ghaznavids through the Delhi Sultanate period (1000—1525 C.E.) during which an estimated 70-80 million Hindus were slaughtered—due to India's bowdlerized educational system and public discourse on Islam, many modern Hindus were ignorant of both this history, and the Koranic injunctions which inspired the brutal waves of jihad conquest and Muslim colonization of India. (As such, perhaps Americans aren't that relatively uninformed, after all.) Ultimately, these mid-1980s efforts made public the incitement to violence and hatred contained in Islam's “holy” book, which contributed to unending, unprovoked Muslim on Hindu violence, followed by tough Hindu retaliation—so- called “sectarian violence.”.

One particularly successful action stands out, as described by Goel. Two Hindus were arrested—under Indian penal code sections exploited by Muslims to prevent public criticism of Muhammad or other aspects of their creed—for publishing a poster which cited 24 Koranic verses (* read them at the links below), with a caption, “Why riots take place in this country.” The protesters added their own editorial comment that these verses,

…command the believers (Muslims) to fight against followers of other faiths…so long as these ayats [verses] are not removed [from the Koran], riots in the country cannot be prevented…There are numerous (other) ayats of the same sort. Here we have cited only 24 ayats. Obviously, these ayats carry commandments which promote enmity, ill-will, deception, fraud, strife, robbery, and murder. That is why riots take place between Muslims and non-Muslims, in this country as well as [the rest of] the world. In the above mentioned 24 ayats of the Koran, Muslims are commanded to fight against the followers of other faiths. So long as these ayats are not removed [from the Koran], riots in the country cannot be prevented.

The ruling magistrate sided with the accused Hindus, and in dismissing charges against them, observed,

...a close perusal of the Ayats [verses] shows that that the same are harmful and teach hatred, and are likely to create differences between Mohammedans on one hand and the remaining communities on the other [emphasis added]

THOMAS MORE WANTS TO STOP THE NY PUBLIC SCHOOL MADRASSA

Thomas More has stepped in ........

New York City’s Khalil Gibran International Academy An Incubator For Islamist Radicalization—Thomas More Law Center Enters Fray 

ANN ARBOR, MI – Claiming it is nothing more than a thinly disguised incubator for Islamist radicalization, the Thomas More Law Center, a national Christian public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it will represent a group of citizens opposed to the September 4 opening of the publicly funded Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) by the New York City Department of Education. KGIA, which will immerse its students in Islamic culture, has three fundamentalist Islamist imams on its Board of Advisors, as well as other promoters with connections to militant Islamic organizations.

“This proposed public school is nothing more than an incubator for the radicalization that leads to terrorism, as a NYPD Intelligence Report warned Americans just about two weeks ago,” cautioned Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center. “Rather than use the public school system to assimilate Muslims and other immigrants into American culture, New York City is doing everything it can to keep them isolated – a target rich environment for recruiting potential new homegrown terrorists and a recipe for a future 911 disaster, according to my read of the NYPD Report,” said Thompson.

Continued Thompson, “As uncomfortable as it makes one feel, we must understand that the political goal of radical Islam is to destroy our Judeo-Christian culture. And the KGIA is a Trojan Horse New York City is building for radical Islam with taxpayer money. That the Quran calls for Muslims to subjugate the world, especially Christians and Jews, is a fact that anyone can look up.”

Keep reading here.

 

Hirsi Ali: Islam vs. Liberal Democracy

"They problem is they are not a minority. The problem is actually the other way around..... What we have now come to call the radicals, a term  , by the way, does not exist in the Muslim world, if  you compare that in numbers, what you will see, and that the frightening thing, what you will see is those truly liberal Muslims are seen to be freaks in the Muslim world. Among the 1.5 billion they are a minority." Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The Atlas Interview: Bat Yeor

JULY 6TH***UPDATED TRANSCRIPT*** MORE TO FOLLOW***

I spent the most extraordinary afternoon with Bat Yeor. I am overwhelmed. Much love and thanks to Andrew Bostom for suggesting it.

Diminutive. powerful, clear - I hold Yeor most dear. Her bravery is daunting. The difficulty she faced from "our" side is difficult to grasp. Listen to this brief conversation about the opposition sher faced and the boycotts. Download batyeor_chat.mp3 (Any transcribers out there?))

The Baron transcribed Bat Yeor's speech in Toronto here,

I am loading, compressing the video now. The bad news? I lost half the video file (don't ask - I am not tech girl!) I am crestfallen but I do have 40 minutes of video.
The good news? I have all the audio (just call me back up girl.) I will convert the hour into an MP3 file.   So not one word was lost. All  of the intel is here. Listen to every critical word.

I have a lot to say on this subject - stay tuned. Meanwhile don't miss the  speech she gave in Toronto yesterday. BUY HER BOOKS.

Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis
The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam
Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide      

On dhimmitude, the Palestinization of Europe,  Sarkozy, Bush, Olmert, Nazis, Moderate Muslims, the weakening of Bush  and the failures of the people of Israel .........all of it

Download the interview on my radio show here.

Terrorism must be seen as the ultimate attack on the human being, on human rights and freedom, as a modern expression of physical and intellectual enslavement.

If anyone wants to help transcribe Yeor's interview with me, please email AtlasShrugs2000 at aol.com.

"The Western media is aligned with the terrorist force"

"The BBC is an enemy of peace"

"The media is responsible for our defeat if there is still a defeat it too early to say...."

"we are in a new age....we are new an age of Global jihad"

POSTED JULY 1, 2007 5:03 pm. UPDATED Transcript JULY 6th

UPDATE: Magnus transcribes the video! Pims Ghost does the really heavy lifting on the audio.
CLICK BELOW FOR FULL TRANCRIPT.

"MODERATES":SHATTERING OUR ILLUSIONS

In my interview with Eli Lake last night we debated, rather heatedly too I might say, the reality of a moderate Muslim movement in the Middle East. Adding to this highly contentious argument is the preeminent scholar Andrew Bostom. Clearly none of us want to believe the worst, but if, sadly, the worst is what we are dealing with, then should we not actually deal with it? Lake insists there is a majority of Muslims that liberal, peace loving,  quasi-secularists. The latest survey say the opposite. And frankly every Muslim Lake cited, was a "lapsed" Muslim or apostate (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan, Shoebat etc.)

Add to that Barry Rubin's, COMPARING THREE MUSLIM BROTHERHOODS: SYRIA, JORDAN, EGYPT. The new change is Bush policy is a frightening turn for the worst.

Andrew Bostom writes, "Nearly a century later, the preponderance of contemporary mainstream Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia, apparently share with their murderous, jihad terror waging co-religionists from al-Qaeda the goal (if not necessarily supporting the gruesome means) of re-establishing an Islamic Caliphate. Polling data just released (April 24, 2007) in a rigorously conducted face-to-face University of Maryland/ WorldPublicOpinion.org interview survey of 4384 Muslims conducted between December 9, 2006 and February 15, 2007-1000 Moroccans, 1000 Egyptians, 1243 Pakistanis, and 1141 Indonesians-reveal that 65.2% of those interviewed-almost 2/3, hardly a "fringe minority"-desired this outcome (i.e., "To unify all Islamic countries into a single Islamic state or Caliphate"), including 49% of "moderate" Indonesian Muslims. The internal validity of these data about the present longing for a Caliphate is strongly suggested by a concordant result: 65.5% of this Muslim sample approved the proposition "To require a strict [emphasis added] application of Shari'a law in every Islamic country."

Please go back and read Andrew Bostom's column in The American Thinker  (April 27th) here

The Muslim Mainstream and the New Caliphate

Writing in 1916, C. Snouck Hurgronje, the great Dutch Orientalist, underscored how the jihad doctrine of world conquest, and the re-creation of a supranational Islamic Caliphate remained a potent force among the Muslim masses:

...it would be a gross mistake to imagine that the idea of universal conquest may be considered as obliterated...the canonists and the vulgar still live in the illusion of the days of Islam's greatness. The legists continue to ground their appreciation of every actual political condition on the law of the holy war, which war ought never be allowed to cease entirely until all mankind is reduced to the authority of Islam-the heathen by conversion, the adherents of acknowledged Scripture [i.e., Jews and Christians] by submission.

 

ATLAS ON THE AIR: DR ZUHDI JASSER

Broadcasting LIVE from the capital of the world, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Form for Democracy, will be on Atlas Radio, 9PM EST. Dr. Jasser is the voice of "moderate Muslims" and takes CAIR on singlehandedly. He has responded vigorously to the CAIR lawsuit against US Airways and the Jane and John Does that reported the militant behavior of the six Imams. M. Zuhdi Jasser, director of American Islamic Forum for Democracy, told the Times his group will raise money for the unnamed peoples' defense.

Read Dr. Jasser's latest column: Islamism, not Islam is the Problem;

An anti-Islamist devout Muslim like myself - and so many others who believe we are in the majority - can only shout in the wilderness for so long, before there becomes a need to begin to address some of the most difficult but central questions, which many Muslims ignore either out of pride, self-righteousness, or impatience. Whether many pious Muslims acknowledge it or not, non-Muslims who believe that ‘the religion of Islam is the problem’ are growing in numbers. I can either dismiss their arguments as “Islamophobic” as so many do, including the Islamists, or I can begin to address some of the central issues raised positively in the spirit of understanding, logic, and most importantly in the spirit of American security.
[...]
The question remains-- who or what defines Islam, and under what authority? Islam has no clergy and is represented only by a book, the Holy Qur’an (what Muslims believe in Arabic, is the communication from God to Muslims). Islam’s naysayers by accepting radical interpretations of scripture are thus handing the militants the mantle of religion with hardly the benefit of the doubt or patience toward long term opportunities for reform by anti-Islamist Muslims within the general Muslim population.

Color me skeptical. I am one of those that believe Islam and the teachings of Muhammad are very much the problem

Dr. Jasser's message is the one the mainstream should be giving voice to not terrorist propaganda organs. I have written extensively in his organization, scroll this category link, Empowering the Moderate Muslims.

Let's talk to Dr. Jasser and find out how real the  "moderate Muslims" movement really is and if it is compatible with Islam.

CALL IN:(347) 996-3944

UPDATE: Glenn Beck will be interviewing M. Zuhdi Jasser, AIFD Chairman on "Glenn Beck" on the CNN Headline News Channel today, Thursday, May 22, 2007.

The Glenn Beck Show airs from 7PM-8PM EST (4PM-5PM PST) and from 9PM-10PM EST (6PM-7PM PST) and from 12AM-1AM EST (9PM-10PM PST). The exact time of the segment with Dr. Jasser's interview is not known at this time.

The segment will discuss the recent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press out this week showing that "One in four younger U.S. Muslims support suicide bombings at least rarely." The study summary is linked here.

UPDATE: Listener Helen points out;

Just downloaded the podcast, in between 56-57 minutes of your show, Jasser mentioned "The occupied territory" (or) territories" during yours, the caller and Jasser's discussion of Hamas Mouse and "Teach Kids Peace".

The occupied territories? That says it all. Jasser refutes Islamic antisemitism and then refers to "the Occupied territories?" Taqiya. Thanks Helen.

UPDATE: The podcast is up - click on the show button (the little green ball) on the Dr Jasser show here. He is well intended but his approach and  theology is just plain unislamic.

Or click on this button:

Brilliant Idea Gone Horribly Bad

To Charles Jacobs pointed questions, it seems we lack the courage of our convictions.

BETRAYING MODERATE MUSLIMS Charles Jacobs

There is a lot of talk in Boston, as elsewhere, about how to help moderate Muslims defeat the extremists in their communities. The Muslims I know who fight against Islamist Fascism are among the bravest people on the planet. Ahmed Mansour, Irshad Manji, Wafa Sultan, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Mohammed Yayha to name a few, fight for air time and platforms to press their case.

And so it was with great hope when in February 2004 the U.S. government launched the Al Hurra satellite TV channel.

Al-Hurra was designed to be an alternative voice in the Middle East broadcast landscape dominated by Arab nationalist heavyweights like al-Jazeera, al-Arabiya and state-run propaganda outfits. And for a while it was.

In its first few years, al-Hurra succeeded in carrying real information about human rights and corruption in the Middle East, raising the ire of Arab regimes and bringing praise from liberals.

But as journalist Joel Mowbray has shown since late last year, under the leadership of former CNN producer Larry Register, the network has joined the ratings game and now features traditional Middle Eastern crowd pleasers like interviews with al-Qaeda operatives praising bin Laden, live coverage of Hamas’ anniversary celebrations, and live broadcasts of Hassan Nasrallah’s call to kill Israelis and humiliate America.

Muslims March Against Islamic Rule

Hope springs eternal.

200,000 March Against Turkey's Leader FOXNews hat tip Helen

ANKARA, Turkey _ More than 200,000 Turks protested against Turkey's Islamic-rooted prime minister Saturday, demonstrating the intense opposition he could face from Turkey's secular establishment if he decides to run for president next month.

Protesters called on the government to resign and chanted slogans including, "We don't want an imam as president."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has brandished his strong religious convictions while at the same time pushing Turkey toward European Union membership, represents a challenge to secularists' traditional approach to government in this 99-percent Muslim country. Many fear that if he or someone close to him wins the presidency, the government will be able to implement an Islamist agenda without opposition.

But with Erdogan's popularity and firm control over parliament, his opponents may have little power to stop him if he does decide to run. His party was elected to an overwhelming majority in parliament and can appoint whomever it wants to the presidency.

The pro-secular military retains a strong influence over politics, however, and in 1997 generals pressured Erdogan's mentor out of the prime minister's office because he was viewed as excessively religious. Any serious tensions between the government and the military could have a serious effect on the economy, analysts warn.

PBS SILENCES MODERATE MUSLIMS

Regular Atlas readers are fully aware of  my admiration for the brave hero Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. I have blogged on him and his organization in a  relentless effort to get his mission to the peeps.  He speaks out at great personal risk. I rail against Bush and Co. and various government agencies for not freezing out CAIR (and identifying their terror ties) and making AIFD the go-to organization for empowering moderate Muslims. Just look at the stand AIFD took on the six imams and CAIR's lawsuit against the John Does here. AIDF comes out AGAINST CAIR.

I asked CAIR's congressman Sestak last night here, why he would would shill for terror supporting CAIR and not a group like AIFD - espousing the same values as those that make American great. He is a dhimmi tool and could not give me a straight answer. He lied as well (more on that here.)

The latest setback in educating the American people is from the infamously leftarded PBS. Maker of Documentary Cries Foul. This documentary should be mandatoruy viewing. MUST SEE TV. Why would we sanction silencing the modrate Muslims? The left is so timid and afraid. Not afraid to kick Papa Bush and the right for fighting for our way of life, but scared shitless to confront the enemy. File this under the leftist/islamist alliance. This is same reaction the lefrt has towards Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Wafa Sultan among other daring truth tellers.

Carolyn wrote," a documentary "Islam vs. Islamists" about the abuse of moderate Muslims by extremists has been refused airing by PBS next week.  PBS gives the usual bullshit excuse - the documentary was late, it wasn't up to standards, etc. - but specifically PBS ordered the director of the documentary to fire two of his producers because they were "affiliated with a conservative think tank".  (It's not clear whether it's the conservatism or the thinking that offended PBS.)  The director refused - then accused PBS of leaking portions of his documentary to radical Islamists who then threatened to sue if it were aired."

Producer: PBS dropped 'Islam vs. Islamists' on political grounds Arizona Central

The producer of a tax-financed documentary on Islamic extremism claims his film has been dropped for political reasons from a television series that airs next week on more than 300 PBS stations nationwide.

Key portions of the documentary focus on Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser of Phoenix and his American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a non-profit organization of Muslim Americans who advocate patriotism, constitutional democracy and a separation of church and state.

Martyn Burke says that the Public Broadcasting Service and project managers at station WETA in Washington, D.C., excluded his documentary, Islam vs. Islamists, from the series America at a Crossroads after he refused to fire two co-producers affiliated with a conservative think tank.

"I was ordered to fire my two partners (who brought me into this project) on political grounds," Burke said in a complaint letter to PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supplied funds for the films.

Burke wrote that his documentary depicts the plight of moderate Muslims who are silenced by Islamic extremists, adding, "Now it appears to be PBS and CPB who are silencing them."

UPDATE:  Cinnamon Stillwell, over at Camous Watch, weighs in on the bullying and capitulation here; Paul University Director of Islamic Studies and Finklestein Ally Helps Sabotage PBS Documentary on Moderate Muslims

In an example of Western academia trying to stifle the voices of reform from the Islamic world, it seems that Aminah Beverly McCloud, the director of the Islamic World Studies program at DePaul University, helped sabotage the airing of a documentary on moderate Muslims.

The documentary, Islam vs. Islamists, was to air on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) next week as part of a taxpayer-funded series called America at a Crossroads, but was canceled by managers at the PBS station WETA in Washington, D.C. for what the film's producer, Martyn Burke, believes were political reasons. And one of these appears to have been linked to Aminah Beverly McCloud. According to an Arizona Republic article on the subject:

WETA appointed an advisory board that includes Aminah Beverly McCloud, director of World Islamic Studies at DePaul University. In an "unparalleled breach of ethics," Burke says, McCloud took rough-cut segments of the film and showed them to Nation of Islam officials, who are a subject of the documentary. They threatened to sue.

Go. Read it all.

AIFD: EMPOWER THESE MUSLIMS!

CAIR should be banned, outlawed - labeled what it is, a terrorist organization. And groups like AIFD (American Islamic Forum for Democracy) should be empowered, consulted, exalted. Someone alert Karen Hughes.

M. Zuhdi Jasser is an incredibly brave, courageous man. Book his site.

Exclusive: The Flying Imams: A Defining Moment in American Values?
M. Zuhdi Jasser

Since I last wrote in December about our now infamous local Phoenix ‘political’ imams, the story has developed even further. It is now entering the court system as the next venue for the victimization agenda. While in November I was chagrined by the imams’ choice to trumpet to the public their own victimization in the name of all Muslims, now with the filing of their lawsuit, I found it necessary that Muslims who are not of like mind must push back publicly and break down this false assumption of a monolithic American Muslim community.

The inappropriateness I expressed about the way the imams and their handlers at CAIR (Council of American-Islamic Relations) exploited political correctness within seconds of being released from detention from their US Airways flight on November 20, 2006 now pales in comparison to the further damage which this drawn out litigious agenda is causing and will cause to American Muslims. Our only hope in salvaging what is left of our credibility is to mount a public response which will demonstrate to the American public that not all Muslims agree with these tactics and their public commentary. It is pure demagoguery to postulate that Muslims who do not tow their line must not respect civil liberties. Quite to the contrary, one can certainly be a proud American Muslim civil libertarian and yet not remotely believe in the wisdom of suing the airlines and also ‘John Doe’ passengers for anonymously reporting their fears.

Now, after almost 4 months of reflection and with cold-blooded determination, the imams and their CAIR handlers have retained the New York City firm of Mr. Omar Mohammedi who also happens to be President of CAIR’s New York Chapter. On March 4, 2007, Shqeirat et.al vs. US Airways, John Does, and the Minneapolis Airports Commission was filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. The media attention upon the imams, their history, and their lawsuit has been wide but not necessarily as deep as it should in such a publicized case.

Make no mistake. This lawsuit forces our courts and our community to firmly clarify our rules of engagement and the tools we can and cannot use to stay safe and maintain our freedoms. If this case is not thrown out early by the courts it stands to chill civilian reporting of suspicious behavior which will further embolden those who target our American citizenry—Muslim and non-Muslim. Frankly, it will also create a deeper wedge and greater fear whether based on reality or ignorance between the Muslim and non-Muslim community. Contrary to the CAIR spin machine and their sympathizers, this case is about much more than a few Muslim imams from Phoenix who felt their rights (to fly) were infringed by U.S. Airways and some passengers (John Does) who passed notes to the crew. It is about much more than such a simplistic view of the known facts.

AJC AVENGES AYAAN

The New York Times continues it's role as the jihad's ho. Not its bitch, its ho. There are no journalistic standards at the Times. They have set out to destroy the truth tellers. Tools. hat tip Jerry

The New York Times
Book Review
Sunday, March 25, 2007

'Infidel'

To the Editor:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her new book, “Infidel,” deserved better than Ian Buruma’s review (March 4). While expressing admiration for her “courage,” he rejects her “descriptions of life in the West” as “idealized,” with an “almost comic-book quality.” Elsewhere, he derides her view of the West as “a caricature of sweetness and light.” Meanwhile, he challenges the notion, presumably Hirsi Ali’s, that “Europeans who argue ... that Muslims might feel more at home in the West if we offered a modicum of respect for their religion, instead of insulting them at every turn, are ‘stupid’ or worse.”

Given her background in repressed societies, Hirsi Ali’s infatuation with the principles of Western societies — including gender equality, religious freedom, scientific inquiry and the rule of law — is easily understood.

To her credit, she has used this newfound freedom to focus on those less fortunate. She discovered that some of these victims were living right under the noses of the guardians of democratic societies, who, it seemed, were too busy defending tolerance, even when it extended to protecting intolerance. Thus, she shouted from the rooftops about Muslim women who endure female genital mutilation, forced marriages at young ages, “honor” killings and denial of education to ensure subjugation. And she went up against obscurantist Islamic religious leaders who use democratic freedoms to pursue antidemocratic goals. In doing so, Hirsi Ali ruffled feathers and stepped on toes, especially those of Dutchmen (and other Europeans) whose deafening silence was exposed.

As to Buruma’s claim that Europe must show greater respect for Islam, the reality is that many European nations have done just that, in some cases bending over backward to accommodate religious beliefs and needs. And where there have been lapses, many have rushed to protest. But Hirsi Ali’s key point is that this must be a two-way street. Newcomers must respect and adapt to their host societies’ defining principles. If not, she contends, Europe will wake up one day and no longer recognize itself as a bastion of Enlightenment values.

David A. Harris
New York
The writer is the executive director of the American Jewish Committee.

Muslims for Christ

Takes a whole of balls to take this path. I mean really. It's a death sentence. But check this out - I love the site Ex-Muslims.com Hat tip John Galt

كتب يصعب الحصول عليها Watch Muslims Testimonies   شاهد أختبارات مسلمين عرفوا المسيح

Muslims: Respect Australian Values or Leave Afghan convert freed from prison Afghan on trial for Christianity Hail the Danish People Death Threat to the Prophet of Doom Author Islam: Murder of Free Speech - Theo van Gogh    Watch Submission Human Events Online: Why Must Ex-Muslims Live in Fear -- In America? The Washington Times: Muslim peril in a new faith FrontPage Magazine: Living in Fear in Falls Church Resources on Ministry to Muslims Khaled report on his visit to his country Iraq after 13 years Iraqis Says: Thank You America Declaration by the Christian Converts of Egypt War In Iraq: Stories From Around the Web

The Forbidden Fruit of Truth

Youssef Ibrahim hits it out of the park again. These ought to be the voices shaping policy in DC.

Dangerous Knowledge In The Acadame - From the New York Sun:

By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM

Remember "Orientalism," that landmark book by the late Columbia University professor Edward Said?

The 1978 work put the fear of God into any Western scholar who dared to discuss Islam, Muslims, or Arabs in anything less than superlatives — and it has succeeded beyond Said's wildest dreams.

In a prescient new book, "Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents," author Robert Irwin notes that "because of the possible offense to Muslim susceptibilities, Western scholars who specialize in the early history of Islam have to be extremely careful what they say, and some of them have developed subtle forms of double-speak when discussing contentious matters."

What goes for academia has been happening in a more dramatic fashion in the press, literature, and the creative arts, where death threats, death sentences, and actual murders of writers, artists, and intellectuals have taken a toll.

Bottom line: You can't talk about Islam, not really.

Those transgressing are hounded like hunted animals.

How To Spot A Decent Muslim

Hi, my name is Pastorius. I am new here. Thanks to Pamela for inviting me to help.

I'll start off by saying, believe you me, you ain't gonna find me to be a defender of Islam.  As far as I can tell, there is not a single moderate Muslim political organization, academic institution, media outlet, or government, or any appreciable size, anywhere in the world.

In other words, while there may be some decent people who are Muslims, they have absolutely no political representation;  no voice at all.

And honestly, that is their own fucking fault. We had to fight many, many wars for Freedom to establish our civilization here in the West. We have Freedom because we conceived the notion, and we fought for it.

Muslims have not done that, and while I feel bad that most every Muslim on the face of the Earth lives in slavery to Allah, I do not believe that it is our responsibility to fix their problems. They are adults, whether they act like it, or not.

All that being said, I do believe that there are, as I said, decent people who happen to be Muslims, and when I meet one, I like to acknowledge them, and I like to call attention to them, because they can, perhaps, be allies, and hell, maybe we can help them out a bit.

For the past year or so I have been running a blog called Infidel Bloggers Alliance. Last night a Muslim came to IBA and left the following comment:

"I am so ashamed, as a muslim man, I am tired of the pain in this world, I live in London and I envy the American's. I live amongst animals..we all hate Jews because they know love and peace, they kow medicine, and art...we know pain and destruction...and our hosts, the British are too stupid to see this. The British and their BBC happily feed Anti Semitism to make me feel good about myself, forget it, and realize, the JEWS are good for this earth, until we make a commitment to be a positive force in the world, and stop celebrating every murder on behalf of Allah, until this point of progress, we are doomed!!!"
By Anonymous, at Thursday, February 15, 2007 1:45:57 AM

One thing Pamela and I are in absolute agreement on is that the Jews are the canary in the coalmine of our world. When Jews are threatened, the peoples of the world need to understand that that means they are next. Only madmen threaten Jews. The list of Jew-haters is legion and sickening, Hitler, Stalin, Ahmadinejad, Khomeini, etc. The worst people in the world.

Those who stand against Jew-hatred are very likely to be good people, and good friends.

Here is my response to this, seemingly, decent human being, who happens to be a Muslim:

Anonymous,

Don't just be ashamed.

Be proud that you are a good man.

And, maybe, you ought to move to America, open a business, and contribute to society. There are opportunities here in America that just don't exists in other parts of the world.

Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of anti-Semites here too, and many of them happen to be Muslims. And, most of our Mosques are Saudi-funded, but I think there is a real opportunity for growth here that I don't see anywhere else.

I hope this guy can somehow remove himself from his miserable situation. And, let us all hope that people like him begin to speak up in large numbers. If they don't then the solutions with which we will be forced to solve our problems are going to be ugly, bloody, and sad beyond belief.

Muslim Queen: The Veil Aint Real

Muslim woman do not have to take the veil, it is not in the Koran - a point vigorously made by Mark Steyn is his book America Alone,  "there is no evidence that any Muslim woman anywhere ever wore the jilbab before the disco era, when it was taken up by the Muslim Brotherhood and others in the Arab world. It is no more ancient and traditional than platform shoes, bell bottoms and cheesecloth shirts." (BTW Steyn will be on my show Tuesday night at 9pm - we will be tearing down da hous.)

But coming from a Queen (Palestinian, no less) of a Muslim country is a big deal. The veil is a political statement. It's all about the power (and the weapon - click here)

Muslim women don't have to wear veils: Queen Rania AFP hat tip Bruceth

ROME (AFP) - Islam does not require women to wear veils, Queen Rania al-Abdullah of Jordan has said in an interview, calling on Muslim moderates to "make their voices be heard."

"Islam neither requires one to be practising, nor to dress in one way or another," the stylish 36-year-old queen told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera during a visit to Rome on Friday.

"So imposing the veil on a woman is contrary to the principles of Islam," said Queen Rania, who is in Rome for the launch of a Group of Seven (G7) programme to develop vaccines against diseases that are endemic in poor countries.

"Unfortunately, after all the suspicion weighing on Islam, many people have begun to consider the veil as a political problem, but this is not the case," she told Corriere. "Wearing the veil is a free personal choice."

Queen Rania urged "all moderates to stand up and let their voices be heard."

She added: "Many people are frustrated in the Arab world. Many give in to the anger because they are accused of violence. But instead we should get up, explain who we are and what we believe in.

"Over the last three years, most victims of terrorism have been Muslim. So there's not a war between Muslims and non-Muslims, but between extremists and moderates of all the religions," the queen said.

Stylin'. Say it loud and say it proud. And pretty too.

Why Are American Muslims Not Enlisting in Our Military?

I received this from my favorite Muslim group in the United States, the AIFD (the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.) Hear, once again, from the Muslim groups we should be supporting. More on AIFD here and here.

M. Zuhdi Jasser challenges the stereotypical Muslim response to the fact that there are few Muslim soldiers in the U.S. military.

Why Are American Muslims Not Enlisting in Our Military? Family Secuity Matters

A story out of Reuters this week, carried by the mainstream media (MSM), and then soon thereafter distributed widely by American Islamist organizations makes the pronouncement that a ”Fear of bias keeps U.S. Muslims out of the military,” (February 6, 2007 by Bernd Debusmann). This dismissal of American Muslim responsibility for military service is preposterous. Reuters found immediate approval from Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). He is always too willing to confirm all claims of anti-Muslim bias substantiated or not from a naïve reporter.

Why then have American Muslims not rushed to enlist in the frontlines of our national defense? If not “fear of bias”, then what is it?

CAIR, and its victim echo chambers including the ADC (Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee), MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council), and MAS (Muslim American Society), to name a few, have made a franchise industry, since 9-11, out of the amplification and exploitation of Muslim minority fears, real or not.

Mr. Hooper irresponsibly deflects the realities blaming the military and not Muslims stating, "The military have the same problem as civilian government agencies, such as the FBI; there is a general reluctance to join because Muslims think there is bias against them and career prospects are limited." The piece notes that Muslim military numbers barely exceed Wiccans in the Marines but not in the Air Force.

The approach by CAIR and the MSM enablers obfuscates the realities of Muslim disenchantment with the American military. As a nation, we cannot exaggerate the importance of understanding all of the cultural and ideological barriers to military enlistment from within the American Muslim community. Understanding this problem intimately relates to how we conduct public diplomacy, ideological engagement of our enemies, and the battle of ideas. Our greatest assets in this war are the nationalistic American Muslims who identify the enemy by name and by ideology. We cannot allow the propagation of deception which attributes Muslim absence in our national defense erroneously to a “fear of bias”.

[...]

The seeds of nationalism are planted in youth.

The first step to understanding why American Muslims would or would not enlist is to look genuinely at what molds the minds and national consciousness of American Muslim youth. Most Americans who serve will tell you that they felt the call to serve long before the time to enlist came.

My own family escaped to the United States in the mid-1960’s away from the horrible oppression of the despotic Baathists of Syria. They came seeking personal and religious freedom which the nation of Syria was in no way able to provide them. Syria’s unchanged government to this day only provides its people with oppression, corruption, and despotism.

Read it all.

American Muslims Against CAIR Bauer Vs Cair

I  brought the organization, American Islamic Forum for Democracy,  to your attention, many many times in the past. Why these folks are not the go-to guys when addressing issues Islamic is just beyond me. The media, the government always run to terror front, CAIR. It seems to me that if you are a Muslim in America the only way to get respect and attention is to front for Hezb'Allah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. These are the folks that Karen Hughes, the White House, State and particularly the media should be empowering. CAIR must be shunned. Good on NRO for running Zuhdi Jasser's article.

Why Do They CAIR about Jack Bauer? 01/29 NRO

Yet again, the old, tired “major” American Muslim organizations have come out in full force to object to something unobjectionable. This time, they’re angry about the storyline of 24, the highly popular TV drama on Fox: When the recent premiere episode ended with a terrorist network detonating a nuclear device in a Los Angeles suburb, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced its fear that “this would serve to increase anti-Muslim prejudice in American society.” The show had begun with a depiction of an America gripped in fear after an eleven-week run of suicide bombings, apparently by radical Islamist terror cells, in cities across the country.     

The show addresses a real concern. While the U.S. has not been the victim of an attack since 9/11, a vast array of networks have been dismantled around the world — including a plot run out of London that was targeting the U.S. And, since 9/11, there have been a number of successful attacks upon civilian populations in other parts of the globe — in Bali, Istanbul, Spain, London, Egypt, Jordan, and other places.

As an American and as a Muslim, I find 24 to be not only a profoundly engaging program, but one whose portrayal of Muslims in quite fair. In the show, the president’s sister works for a “leading” Muslim civil-rights organization in D.C.; she is portrayed as a protector of constitutional freedoms. The head of this Muslim organization, who is in detention, reports to authorities on prisoners’ terrorism-related conversations that have alarmed him.

The show also shows the darker, extremist side of Islam — for example, an Arab-Muslim youth, a previously beloved neighbor in suburban L.A., turns out to be a terrorist thug who provides a key part of the nuclear device while terrorizing his friend’s family. This is another, undeniable part of today’s Muslim reality: While suitcase nuclear devices have yet to be used, the threat is there, and such characters are probably quite true to life in their depiction of members of al Qaeda cells or other jihadist networks in the West.

Any ethnic group can, of course, voice complaints regarding its portrayal in pop culture. From the frequently maligned American Italian community in organized-crime dramas to the Russian community that was the focus of last year’s 24, no ethnic group is entirely safe from the silver screen. But the sad reality is that such crime rings or “networks,” which exploit ethnic and religious communities, exist; and they do affect our security.

For American Muslims, though, 24 offers an opportunity to address a key question: To the extent Muslims have a bad image on TV, what can we do to change that?

[..]

Condemnatons by press release and vague fatwas are not enough. We need to create organizations — high-profile, well-funded national organizations and think tanks — which are not afraid to identify al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah by name, and by their mission as the enemies of America.

If Muslim organizations and the American Muslim leadership were seen publicly as creating a national, generational plan to fight Islamism — rather than searching for reasons to claim victimhood — then the issues and complaints surrounding such TV shows would disappear. The way to fight the realities of 24 is to create a Muslim CTU, a deep Muslim counterterrorism ideology and a national action plan for our security.

Please read it all

Empower these Muslims, Not CAIR

The Antidote to CAIR  - AIFD - America Islamic Forum for Democracy

Muslims urged to complain, by Audrey Hudson,Washington Times, December 13, 2006 (news story)

From a Muslim outlook, imams have missed the point on flight behavior, by M. Zuhdi Jasser, Arizona Republic, December 10, 2006. (op-ed)

CAIR rails against 'extremist right-wing' American media in Saudi daily: CAIR seeks comfort in Saudi media from legitimate recent American Muslim criticism of them   by M. Zuhdi Jasser. (December 14, 2006, Arizona Republic PluggedIn op-ed)

CAIR SUPPORTS ISLAMOFASCISM?

CAIR refuses to support a march against Islamofascism. The enemy in our midst. The second Rally Against Islamofascism Day is announced here. A prominent educational and action group today announced the date set for a second annual Rally Against Islamofascism Day, with rallies planned for various locations across the United States, as well as around the world. CAIR vs Righteous Muslims. hat tip Helen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Second annual Rally Against Islamofascism Day

(LOS ANGELES, CA, 12/13/2006) - With the successful execution of simultaneous rallies against Islamic militancy held across the United States in early 2006, the United American Committee today announced a second Rally Against Islamofascism Day (R.A.I.D.), this time international, set for Saturday March 31st, 2007.

The event, described on the UAC's website at  will be a joint effort of organizations in a common goal of educating others to the dangers posed by radical Islam. “This is an opportunity for people of all walks of life to come together, setting aside political or religious differences.” remarks United American Committee Chairman Jesse Petrilla, who also noted that Muslims are especially encouraged to join in the rallies.

Prior to the announcement, the UAC reached out to an array of organizations to build a coalition to ensure the success of the rallies. While many organizations joined in support, one organization in particular refused to unite in the effort. CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, when asked by the United American Committee if they would join in the rallies, refused by not answering e-mails from the group's members, and even hung up on UAC officials when the United American Committee attempted to contact CAIR's Washington DC offices.

CAIR has been criticized by many prominent individuals including U.S. Senators Richard Durbin, and Charles Schumer, due to CAIR's documented ties to the militant group Hamas as well as their engagement in what many view as suspect activities. Some individuals have gone as far as stating that CAIR is a front for supporting Islamic terror.

The UAC has engaged in past activities which it will tie into the March 31st rallies. In July of 2006, the United American Committee issued a challenge to patriotic American Muslim leaders to issue a fatwa, or Islamic edict, calling for condemnation and denunciation of Osama bin Laden and other terrorists by name. This was in response to a previous fatwa supported by The Council on American Islamic Relations which according to the UAC ambiguously defined terrorism without naming specific terrorists. CAIR was personally sent the challenge for the new fatwa by the UAC, and has as of yet not issued a letter of support for such an edict. “Why won't they [CAIR] issue a fatwa against bin Laden? Against Ayman al-Zawahiri? Or against other terrorists by name? They issue a fatwa condemning the killing of innocents, but who is innocent? Are the infidels innocent to them?” said homeless activist and UAC Board Member Ted Hayes.

When the UAC's challenge was taken to the Saudi funded King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California the leaders of the mosque refused to entertain the idea, so on September 10th, 2006 the United American Committee staged a protest outside of the mosque where they hung an effigy of Osama bin Laden from makeshift gallows, inviting all of the mosque's members and leaders to join in the rally. While some members of the mosque came out and stood alongside UAC members hitting and throwing shoes at the dummy, the leadership of the mosque remained on the opposite side of the road where a counter protest was staged. “The hanging of bin Laden in effigy was an opportunity to hold the mosque leaders' feet to the fire for not supporting the fatwa, and I believe this Rally Against Islamofascism Day will be an opportunity to hold CAIR's feet to the fire.” said UAC Chairman Petrilla.

The UAC stated that by CAIR's refusing to support the fatwa, and by their nonsupport of the Rally Against Islamofascism Day, that CAIR has unwittingly chosen the location of the rallies. The United American Committee plans on setting the location of the March 31st rallies to take place in front of many of CAIR's 32 nationwide offices. “I want to see effigies of Osama bin Laden hung at all of these rallies, let the terrorists know we are on the offense, and let those who are with us join with us.” said Petrilla, urging those who will be organizing rallies to include a hanging of bin Laden in effigy at each event if possible.

Individuals are encouraged to organize rallies in their areas on the date of the Rally Against Islamofascism Day, and may contact the United American Committee via the UAC's web page which will post the locations of rallies as they are formed at www.UnitedAmericanCommittee.org

Wafa Sultan on the Danish Cartoons

Wafa Sultan, incredible woman of courage speaks out again. I have written of her breathtaking  bravery and look forward to everything she writes, every word she speaks. I stand in awe of her. Wafa and those voices like hers must be empowered, encouraged and given much greater visibility in the media and the court of world opinion.  This is must see video

Wafa Sultan: We, as Muslim people, have been hostages of our own belief system for too many centuries. We have been hostages of our own prison. We have never heard other voices outside of our box. We are not use to hearing other voices. We barely are allowed our own voices. So I see publishing the cartoons was the first crack in the walls of our prison. Because as a prisoner it is almost impossible to break the wall of your prison. You need someone outside of your prison to help you break it.
[...]
Publishing the cartoons and the criticism again and again will push Muslims to take a deeper look at their religion and this is the only way to improve our culture, to improve our religion.
[..] We have to be grateful to hear how others feel about our religion.

Question: You are very critical of Islam even though you were born and raised as a Muslim. What is it about Islam that you are so critical about?

Wafa: I believe the trouble with  Islam is deeply rooted in its teachings. Islam is not only a religion, Islam is also a political idealogy that preaches violence and applies its agenda by force.
I have never criticized the religious part of Islam. I respect the religious part of Islam as much as I respect any other religion. But I believe we have to take the political power out of Islam and confine it as a religion to worship places and homes.
This is only the solution.

Question: How strong do you think moderate Muslims are in the Arab World?

Wafa: I believe, wrongfully they were called moderate. I don't believe there is  moderate Muslim. I believe they are moderate in terms of culture. Not in terms of religion. Because in Islam you have to believe in every teaching as a holy teaching. You can not change. You have to accept it the way it is otherwise you are not a Muslim.

Wafa receives death threats on a daily basis. She believes in what she is doing so much so she is willing to sacrifice her life.

Wafa: I will never give up hope under any circumstances.

Previous Related articles:
Atlas Shrugs: EUREKA! A Moderate Muslim Voice of Reason
Atlas Shrugs: Wafa Fatwa?
Atlas Shrugs: Wafa Sultan: Applause good, Money Better
Atlas Shrugs: This Purim, Gd Bless Wafa Sultan

UPDATE: Watch out Wafa! Stay out of Saudi Arabia.
MEMRI reports here Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abd Al-'Aziz:

We Will Cut Off Tongues of Those Who Try to Distort Islam With Reform and Progress - They Are Serving the West

UPDATE 10/4: More on reforming Islam from down under.  Article from The Australian;

Prophet not perfect: scholar Richard Kerjab

A LEADING adviser on Islam, Ameer Ali, has attacked Muslims who "blindly" follow their faith and fail to question the veracity of the Koran, saying that even Mohammed had "flaws".

The chairman of John Howard's Muslim advisory board yesterday warned that Islamists would continue to breed jihadis unless the Koran was "reinterpreted" for today's society. He also said mosques were increasingly being used by imams to deliver sermons that were not open to discussion.

Dr Ali said the majority of Muslim clerics had for centuries imposed a "literalist" teaching of Islam, telling their followers that deviating from the written message would ultimately lead to their admission into hell.

"The times are changing and with the change of times, you also have to reinterpret the Koran," he told The Australian.

"Because if you believe that it's a book for all the times and all the nations, then that book must be yielding new meanings.

"There are verses about slavery, and the Koran says you must be kind to the slaves. So are the Muslims saying we must have slavery to be kind?

Empowering Moderate Muslims

Over at the Center for the study of Islam and Democracy there is an open letter President Bush urging him to reaffirm his America's commitment to democratic reform in the oppressive Arab world. To add your name to the list of signatories, please e-mail name, organization, and country to:  Sherif@islam-democracy.org. Click on the bottom link and get a glimpse of the signators (all Muslims btw);

Open Letter to President Bush re: Democracy Promotion

Dear Mr. President:

As Arab and Muslim intellectuals and activists concerned about the promotion of democracy in our region, we urge you to reaffirm-in words and actions- America 's commitment to sustained democratic reform in the Arab world.  It is our belief that the main problem with U.S. policies in the Middle East (in particular in Iraq , Palestine , and elsewhere) is precisely their failure to live up to America 's democratic ideals of liberty and justice for all. We have been heartened by the strong commitment to liberty you had expressed in your November 2003 speech at the National Endowment for Democracy and then your second inaugural address, when you said that "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

Despite some initial skepticism, those statements nurtured hope in our region. We realize that democracy is not easily attained and must ultimately come from within. But it can receive encouragement and support, both of which it badly needs today in Arab countries. The minimum support the people of the region yearn for is precisely what you have undertaken in your NED speech: to break with 60 years of US support for non-democratic regimes in the region, and to make that known to the world in unequivocal terms. This would be more consistent with the principles of the United States, which has, since its birth, been intimately connected with the ideals of democratic governance enshrined in its founding documents-ideals that speak to all generations and peoples everywhere.

We know that some in the United States , worried by recent Islamist gains among voters in Palestine and Egypt , are having doubts about the wisdom of pushing for freedom and democracy in the Middle East .  These worries are exploited by despots in the region to perpetuate the untenable status quo. However, there is no way to advance liberty without inclusion of all elements that are willing to abide by democratic rules, and reject violence. Democratic participation is the only way to combat extremism and pressure all groups, including Islamists, to moderate their stance in order to maximize their share of the vote.  The US should continue to press for an end to regime repression of democratically spirited liberal and Islamist groups, and to emphatically distance itself from such repression and condemn it in the strongest terms whenever and wherever it occurs. We are confident that if Arab citizens are able to have their choice, they will choose democracy, freedom, peace and progress.

A return to the pre-9/11 status quo is not the answer.  It will only embolden ruling autocrats, hurt Arab reformers, and damage America 's credibility.  In the end, it will probably strengthen the very forces that America fears.  The shore of reform is the only one on which any lights appear even though the journey demands courage, patience, and perseverance.