 For almost a decade, American Muslims have seen a growing debate in their communities about the radicalization of Muslims in America and how to combat it. Since its inception in 2003, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) has been one of the lone voices publicly waging a contest of ideas with Islamist organizations in the U.S. The crux of our mission is that the ideology of political Islam (Islamism) is the root cause of extremism that threatens Americans' security as well as the faith of American Muslims.
Most major American-Muslim organizations hatched from the Muslim Brotherhood are advocates of political Islam and will always refuse to acknowledge the need to separate mosque and state. The recent Christmas Day airliner attack, the earlier December arrests of American Muslims in Pakistan, and the Fort Hood massacre moved that debate into a new phase. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) have begun to acknowledge for the first time that Muslim communities are facing a "radicalization" problem. These organizations recently announced they are pursuing "anti-radicalization" programs. This is certainly an important change in their rhetoric, but sadly, window-dressing. These Islamist groups have simply recognized that their post-9/11 apologetic messaging is not resonating with the general public. To solve the problem, they co-opted the rhetoric of curbing radicalization. But absent real, honest reform against political Islam, their rhetoric is vacuous. The question that begs to be asked of any Muslim group touting these programs is: What will be the structure and substance of your campaign, and will you confront, renounce and reform the ideology of political Islam? CAIR and MPAC have typically renounced the use of terror and violence, but they have never taken a position against the ideology of political Islam. They have also been constant antagonists to efforts by law enforcement to understand and mitigate the real stages of radicalization of Muslims in America. Just recently these groups called for government to naively "decouple religion from terror." If the root cause of Muslim radicalization is Islamism, what good is any counterterrorism effort that decouples religion from terror?
How can law enforcement effectively counter terrorism in our country without recognizing the slippery slope of political Islam and its separatist narrative is the core ideology that drives the mindset of the extremists as they radicalize? Pragmatically, and I say this with tough love for my co-religionists, many American Muslims need a 12-step program to recognize the driving separatism of political Islam. So many American Muslims have gone down that slippery slope of political Islam to radicalization that the connection cannot be denied. Until the majority of American Muslims can reform their theo-political ideas against the growing global power of the Islamist movement, home-grown terror will only increase as it has. There must be a public war of ideas within the Islamic consciousness promoting liberty over Islamism, freedom over theocracy and secular law over Sharia law. M. Zudhi Jasser 
 It is sad that President Obama and his team are still going through on-the-job training a year into their administration. Despite the fact that Janet Napolitano, our homeland-security secretary, bizarrely tried to nix the use of the term terrorism and despite the fact that his own White House dubiously dubbed this global conflict "an overseas contingency operation," the president has finally learned to use the most obvious term — terror— this week. Mr. President, if you are listening, here are a few more thoughts from a concerned Muslim. You cannot just stay hunkered down at your "beachhead" in Hawaii after another virulent byproduct of global political Islam attacked on our homeland. While no one was really hurt, you don't exactly look like you are taking the issue seriously when your photo of the day captures a romp on the beach.
It was not a coincidence that this was attempted on Christmas day, yet you ignore the religious struggles in this conflict. It is time that our commander-in-chief and the leader of the free world come to terms with the reality that this is the greatest conflict of the century and a battle of ideas between western liberal secular democracies and political Islam. While you and your colleagues are stymied by the question of whether to even use the term "terror," the ideology of al-Qaeda (violent political Islam) is spreading exponentially. Your systematic failure to advance American security against ideologies that threaten us may turn catastrophic. In fact the Christmas bomber said so himself, telling an investigator that "there are more just like me who will strike soon." By all means, Mr. President, fix the holes in our security that we know are there — but terrorists who are suicidal religious zealots and very creative will sadly very likely strike again soon. This year certainly proves that. Our nation is clearly becoming more and more anxious and concerned over the rash of radicalized Muslims. Is it not time for you to acknowledge that terror is a simply a symptom of a more profound deeper underlying disease? That disease is political Islam. Hopefully you will realize that we can only defeat an enemy we can name, describe, and understand. As Thomas Friedman and others have recently reminded us, the only answer to jihadists, Salafists, and Islamists is a narrative from within America, and most important from within Islam, that counters the global supremacism of political Islam. Until you say exactly that, we will continue to flail in this conflict. I hope after Nidal Hasan, after the American jihadis in Pakistan, and now after the Christmas bomber radicalized in London, that you see our need for clear leadership against political Islam and its ubiquitous permeating militant manifestations.
We need a leader who recognizes that this conflict is most significantly within Muslim communities as we Muslims struggle with the conflict between theocracy and democracy, sharia and liberty, Islamism and freedom, and salafism and modernity.
The longer you squander your leadership and stay silent on this, the more vulnerable we will be. M.Zudhi Jasser
At last a convention to openly speak
about what need to be spoken. Please
do participate in the convention.
This December 10th will mark the 61st anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Yet even today, Human Rights violations continue to take place, even where UN peace keeping forces are deployed. Facts about human rights violations that have been documented by peace keeping forces and human rights groups have been stamped "censored" and hidden in a dark corner of a document storage bank. The UN is proving its useless, as ongoing assaults on humanity continue.
The latest genocide is currently taking place in Darfur, and once again perpetrators have a free hand as UN imposed censorship is giving them the sense that no one is watching. Beside the UN's censorship, political excuses over cultural lines and an unwillingness to accept the suffering of others has created a fertile ground to harbor hatred, fanatacism, and impunity in the global society.
As the assault on humanity continues, a group of individuals that have either themselves faced genocide or are the descendants of genocide victims (including unrecognized genocides such as the Armenian genocide, Indian partition genocide, etc.) have decided to come out and cross social, ideological, national, religious, and cultural boundaries to stand up and give shape to a global convention. Initially sponsored by realcourage.org, we now have a few more organizations supporting our mission to hail human rights over other issues.
In our 'Stop Ideological genocide convention', we are not gathering to blame individuals but rather to point out the factors that are giving shape to systemic failures, due to which children are being raised in an environment of hate. Our stand is not against individual identity, but rather on cultures, states, religions, or political identities that eclipse our shared human identity. We see these policies giving shape to human suffering in the 21st century. We're victims as a result of the above, but none of us are bitter. We are however concerned about how politics are taking away the right of people to complete their grieving and start a new life.
Some of these global political policies of providing excuses for the action of perpetrators have not only marginalized the victims, but have also pushed the victims into a vulnerable state. This irresponsible attitude of mainstream politics has opened a totally new chain of global-organized crime in which political parties from all sides can hire global Jihadis to fight for their designated political goals, which can then jeopardize civil society, such as has been observed during theYugoslavian war, Iran-Iraq war, and Afghanistan war, sri-lankan LTTE conflict, or British PIRA conflict.
Further, a designated financial banking system has evolved to fund these genocidal projects, and has penetrated into our democratic system. These concerns and more will be the issues covered by speakers, experts and victims involved directly, and will reveal the realities on the ground.
Come with friends, and join us in recognizing people's suffering while trying to understand and discuss the problems. Hear Moderate Muslims speak of how their right to interpret their own religion is being denied to them strategically, forcing the entire 1.3 billion member society to either accept the Khomaeinist, salafist or Saudi sponsored Wahabi version of their religion. Hear the Darfuri describe the horror being visited upon the people of Darfur. Hear about Bangladesh genocide, discrimination of womens and Kashmir suffering, and much more.
We invite you to stand with us in our 'Stop Ideological genocide convention', as political correctness sight cultural sensitivity as an excuse to condemn Human killings.
Nurnberg, Germany.
12:00 – 15:45 Hrs
Chilli's Mexican Restaurant, Pfannenschmiedsgasse 1., D90402 Nurnberg.
15:45 Hrs - 16:00 Hrs
Candle light march to Human Rights street (Stra?e Der Menschenrechte)
Washington DC, United States.
12:30 PM ET to 2:45 PM
National Press Club News Conference, 529 14th Street, NW 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045 — Zenger Room
4 PM ET to 6 PM
Washington DC Public Outreach - Freedom Plaza, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Events also being held in:
New York, United States.
Los Angeles, United States.
Source: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2344061033&ref=ts&gid=169843290601#/event.php?eid=187767134797&index=1H/T: http://www.realcourage.org/2009/12/december-10-real-europe/
 By Ayaan Hirsi Ali The recent Swiss referendum that bans construction of minarets has caused controversy across the world.
There are two ways to interpret the vote. First, as a rejection of political Islam, not a rejection of Muslims.
In this sense it was a vote for tolerance and inclusion, which political Islam rejects.
Second, the vote was a revelation of the big gap between how the Swiss people and the Swiss elite judge political Islam. In the battle of ideas, symbols are important. What if the Swiss voters were asked in a referendum to ban the building of an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles as a symbol of the belief of a small minority? Or imagine a referendum on building towers topped with a hammer and sickle – another symbol dear to the hearts of a very small minority in Switzerland. Political ideas have symbols: A swastika, a hammer and sickle, a minaret, a crescent with a star in the middle (usually on top of a minaret) all represent a collectivist political theory of supremacy by one group over all others. On controversial issues, the Swiss listen to debate, read newspapers, and otherwise investigate when they make up their minds for a vote. What Europeans are finding out about Islam as they investigate is that it is more than just a religion. Islam offers not only a spiritual framework for dealing with such human questions as birth, death, and what ought to come after this world; it prescribes a way of life. Islam is an idea about how society should be organized: the individual's relationship to the state; that the relationship between men and women; rules for the interaction between believers and unbelievers; how to enforce such rules; and why a government under Islam is better than a government founded on other ideas.
These political ideas of Islam have their symbols: the minaret, the crescent; the head scarf, and the sword. The minaret is a symbol of Islamist supremacy, a token of domination that came to symbolize Islamic conquest. It was introduced decades after the founding of Islam. In Europe, as in other places in the world where Muslims settle, the places of worship are simple at first. All that a Muslim needs to fulfill the obligation of prayer is a compass to indicate the direction of Mecca, water for ablution, a clean prayer mat, and a way of telling the time so as to pray five times a day in the allocated period. The construction of large mosques with extremely tall towers that cost millions of dollars to erect are considered only after the demography of Muslims becomes significant. The mosque evolves from a prayer house to a political center. Imams can then preach a message of self-segregation and a bold rejection of the ways of the non-Muslims. Men and women are separated; gays, apostates and Jews are openly condemned; and believers organize around political goals that call for the introduction of forms of sharia (Islamic) law, starting with family law. This is the trend we have seen in Europe, and also in other countries where Muslims have settled. None of those Western academics, diplomats, and politicians who condemn the Swiss vote to ban the minaret address, let alone dispute, these facts. More at NER
 by Rod Dreher
Phoenix physician Zuhdi Jasser was particularly stung by the Fort Hood massacre. Like him, Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan is a Muslim, a son of Middle Eastern immigrants, a doctor and a military man. But there's a key difference: Hasan appears to have succumbed to the radical Islamist ideology that Jasser spends his time as Muslim activist fighting.
Jasser is shunned by mainstream U.S. Muslim organizations, in part because he insists that they're really cover organizations for the same kind of political Islam that poisoned Hasan's mind. Jasser spoke by phone last week to Rod Dreher. As a Muslim and a Navy veteran, what lessons do you think the Fort Hood massacre teaches us? Some have incorrectly tried to connect this to Columbine and other random shootings. How many events and terrorist incidents like this do we need before we realize that there's a common ideological threat?
Over and over, we see that the common thread is political Islam. It's an ideology that brings Muslims down a slippery slope. That slippery slope can claim a gentleman that, horrifically, reminds me of my path. My family came from Syria. I was taught about the values of America and decided I wanted to join the military. I went to medical school on a military scholarship. This gentleman, similarly, was on a military scholarship. He wanted to serve his country as a physician. Ultimately, though, what infected his mind was a violent form of political Islam.
The question is: why was he susceptible to this, but I wasn't? The difference is that I was blessed to have parents who taught me that I'm an American who happens to be Muslim, that my faith identity is important for my relationship with God, but my community identity is primarily related to being an American and having a faith and loyalty to the U.S. Constitution and our system of government. Never in my home did we refer to Syria as home, or say that our government was inferior to sharia law or the Islamic state. I joined the military because I felt a deep-seated obligation to give back to the country that gave me freedom that no other country gave. I was taught the value of liberty. I saw no conflict between the fact that I prayed five times a day and that I would be prepared to give my life to protect the freedom of every citizen of this country, whether they're atheist, Christian, Jewish or otherwise.
I'm confident that that's not the way or the reason that Dr. Hasan entered the military. In your activism, you've explained how political Islam dominates mosques and institutions of the American Muslim community. Would somebody like Hasan find an ideological home there? Absolutely. And this is the part that is so difficult to explain, but to me as a Muslim is so easy to understand. Political Islam is an outgrowth of modern secular fascism. In the Middle East, the mosque was the only place you could discuss politics safely, where the government wouldn't touch you, so Islam became politicized. That's the model that the Muslim Brotherhood followed and brought to the United States. They were the ones who built mosques. This has been a frustrating thing for me as a Muslim activist. Many Muslims disagree with political Islam, but they're not pressured to take on the mosque leadership. So you have discussions in the mosque going far beyond theology and the example of the Prophet; imams use the pulpit, or minbar as it's called in Arabic, to discuss politics. I've sent this over and over again in mosques I've attended. At the largest mosque in Phoenix, the imam took a picture that CAIR distributed, and made a poster – we think it was doctored – showing an Iraqi lady holding a sign next to an American soldier, saying, "I was knocked up by this soldier." The imam held that up in front of 500 people in the mosque. I later said to him, "Not only is that very offensive to me, but do you realize what you've just done to the minds of students here at Arizona State University by showing them that picture?" And you wonder how Hasans are created! They go to mosques, they open themselves spiritually to have a conversation with God. And that becomes infiltrated by a deeply anti-American sentiment.
This is where you get a guy like Hasan, a very intelligent guy, starting to make the connection between his identity as a Muslim and standing against America. It's no different than Lee Harvey Oswald, who was in the Marines becoming a Marxist.
You can't deny that his Marxism played a role in his hatred for this country. Read more here at Dr. Jasser's site
 by Shoaib ChoudhuryEditor & Publisher, Weekly Blitz Fundamentalists are men who emulate the looks and actions of the Prophet Mohammed. They claim to be speaking in the name of Allah and acting like the Prophet, yet, they give the Prophet and Islam a bad name. They perpetuate, and even add to, the Western perception that Islam was won by force or the sword - - not by conviction.
They try to thwart any positive action for peace, not only by undermining it, but by trying to kill those who oppose them, the better to create their vision of a totalitarian theocracy that will allow no free exchange of ideas, no development of thinking such as ijtihad [critical questioning], and no free speech.
The golden age of Islam was built on an efflorescence of ideas that helped it prosper and give so much to the world -- it even kept and preserved philosophy. But under new forces, the Islamic world is being led into the Dark Ages instead of the Renaissance and beyond, where discovery, science and even technology have flourished.
Among the strengths of the Muslim world have been two types of shared power: one secular, led by the governing Caliph or Sultan, and the other religious, led by the Ulama or the religious faction. The two balanced each other out: one cared for the body, the other for the soul. In a fully secular world, whether socialist, communist or capitalist, there can an absence of religious principles or of God; it is believed that man knows best.
In a theocracy, however, men speak in the name of God; people become ruled over by men who believe they have all the answers, or by men who believe they speak for God -- without any constraints. A despotic type of governance results and the people suffer. The despotic types of governance hinder those who know the difference between personal faith and politics.
Radical movements, whether religious or secular, have a trend: over time, their intensity increases. Their adherents demand equal time. You cannot say this or that on the air. You are not allowed to speak of us in a bad way. You are a racist. You fear my religion. We are the religion of peace.
When these tactics do not work, they go after one person and start harassing him. They go over the head of the person and complain. They meet with his bosses, demand an apology. They use pressure tactics to get their way. They are after power and control, so the media and journalists are not safe.
The radicals flood inboxes, telephone lines and faxes with letters of demand. They order their people to write, to call, to make their demands heard. But the majority of these callers are uninformed; they never heard of or read the offensive article. They react blindly to an order that comes from above, from the earthly leader who claims to speak in the name of God. The aim of the radicals is to get the person fired.
If this fails, they go the Human Rights Commission, or start lawsuits to try to get money. For they are not just after power and control, but above all money, the mighty dollar. All of this is done in the name of God.
Let me ask you, since when does God ask for money? Since when does God ask people to harass, lie, and control others into doing His way?
God gives us Freedom of Choice; those radicals, in the name of God, take this freedom away.
 par Vijay Kumar
Le 11 septembre 2001, une guerre a débarqué sur nos rivages avec un meurtre de masse commis par une bande d’hommes liés par une idéologie militante. Les États-Unis ont répondu par ce qu’on a appelé la « guerre contre le terrorisme », un réflexe qui s’est avéré aussi inefficace que coûteux.
Nous avons dépensé plus de mille milliards de dollars dans les invasions de l’Afghanistan et de l’Irak. Plus de 5000 soldats américains ont été tués au cours des huit dernières années, et des dizaines de milliers ont été blessés.
Que nous ont apporté ces flots de sang et d’argent ?
Il n’y a pas eu de victoire durable des États-Unis. Il n’y a pas de victoire, ni stratégique, ni politique, ni morale. Et il n’y a pas de paix. Le terrorisme islamique continue à travers le monde comme si de rien n’était.
L’administration Obama veut maintenant éviter toute connotation déplaisante de l’expression « guerre contre le terrorisme » et s’enfonce encore davantage dans l’ambiguïté en parlant désormais des « opérations de contingence à l’étranger ». Mais c’est toujours la même guerre perdante, toujours aussi coûteuse, toujours aussi inefficace.
Lire la suite...
Source: Political Islam (Traduction par Poste de veille)
 Bruce Welt Whether or not Islam is of the devil is impossible to know. What is well known is that wherever Islam and Islamic Sharia law control society there is abhorrent abuse of women and intolerance of "infidel" non-Moslems, homosexuals and others. Contrary to the good-natured, letter-writing defenders of Islam, opposition to Islam does not require hatred of Moslems.
Similarly, opposition to communism does not require hatred of Chinese or Cubans. Islam means "submission" and when Islam forms the rule-of-law in society, submission to Allah and recognition of Mohammed as his sole and final prophet becomes the ultimate law. Islam does not permit recognition of other religions, which is why countries like Saudi Arabia bars open non-Islamic religious symbols or worship. It is also why non-Moslems have been and continue to be mercilessly persecuted to the verge of extinction in many Islamic countries, including those that receive copious amounts of U.S. aid money (e.g. Coptic Christians of Egypt). Islam is a religious and political ideology that, in its currently broadly practiced form in the Islamic world, is antithetical to western values.
Islam cherishes submission to Allah and his prophet, not free-speech, tolerance and equality. With that said, Moslems, like all people, should be judged by their deeds alone, not their religion or private beliefs. It is not bigotry to oppose communism, fascism or Islam, but it is bigotry to hate people because of their religion or race. Source: Europe News
 by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz A new organization dedicated to fighting what it sees as an encroaching Islamic takeover of the U.S. is set to launch later this month with a gathering in Washington, D.C. - on the same day as a massive Muslim prayer rally in the U.S. capital. The Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) group has declared its mission to be educating Americans "about the threat that Islamic doctrine and those who support it present to our freedoms, and the future of our democracy and country." The organizers call themselves "scholar warriors/ideological warriors in the cause of American freedom and Constitutional government," as well as in "the defense of... our society of liberty, knowledge, and human decency." SIOA believes that political Islam is opposed to American values of "freedom, tolerance, or human rights." They seek to raise the issue of what they call "brutal, misogynist" Islamic law and jihad in America, because "tolerance for ideologies that are opposed to our principles of individual freedoms and our Constitution is indefensible," the group declares in its online manifesto.
A recently-released film, The Third Jihad, warns that radical Islam is working on a non-violent, cultural takeover of the United States. "We are now in a new phase of a 1,400-year-old jihad against the kafirs (all non-Muslims everywhere); we are not prepared to meet the threat," SIOA says. "[I]gnorance about Islam, its doctrine and purposes is a moral and ethical failure whose consequences can be nothing short of national extinction." The official launch of the SIOA is slated for September 25, 2009, at an as-yet unknown venue in the U.S. capital. The timing and location appears to be far from coincidental. A massive Muslim prayer gathering is planned for for the same day in front of the Capitol building. Spearheaded by the Elizabeth, New Jersey Dar-ul-Islam Mosque, organizers are expecting 50,000 people to attend the first-of-its-kind national event. The gathering will be limited to prayer, according to Hassen Abdullah, president of Dar-ul-Islam. SIOA sees the event as a "big-budget... soft jihad," fought through "marketing and cultural/ideological warfare." D.L. Adams of SIOA wrote of the planned Muslim prayer gathering, "It is impossible to see this event as anything but what it is, taqiyya (sacred deception), jihad (endless universal war against the unbelievers), and dawa (conversion)." The SIOA's own event is planned to conclude with a "saunter" around the streets of Washington DC, on the day of the Muslim prayer rally, in order to "engage in conversations with our fellow citizens who might happen to be there on the same day on matters of moment." However, more confrontationally, the SIOA website calls for "every protest of this takiya-jihad-dawa event... [to] include some component of donkey, dog, and women." The reason for this unusual suggestion is made clear on the SIOA site as well: Muslim doctrine, according to the SIOA, says that "Islamic prayer is nullified if a dog, a woman, or a donkey are present." At the same time, the SIOA promotional literature for the organizational launch emphasizes, "We are an entirely non-violent organization. Our sauntering is planned to be more a polite conversational engagement rather than a demonstration." Organizers "look forward to a pleasant several hours chatting with our fellow Americans in the Capitol on the issue at hand." Speakers at the SIOA launch are slated to include expatriate Egyptian activist Nonie Darwish, Islam scholar and author Robert Spencer, journalist Pamela Geller, and Christine Brim, Senior Vice President for Policy and Program Management at the Center for Security Policy. Source: INN
 By Vijay Kumar On September 11, 2001, a war was brought to our shores by a band of men, bound by a militant ideology, in an act of mass murder. The response by the United States was a so-called “War on Terror,” a reflex that has proved to be as ineffective as it has been costly. We have spent more than a trillion dollars on invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. More than 5,000 American soldiers have died in the last eight years, and tens of thousands of American soldiers have been wounded. What has this flood of blood and money bought us? There has been no sustainable victory for the United States. There is no strategic victory; there is no political victory; there is no moral victory. And there is no peace. Islamic terrorism continues around the globe unabated. The Obama administration lately wants to avoid any taint by the phrase “War on Terror,” papering it over with even more ambiguity, calling it now an “Overseas Contingency Operation.” It’s still the same losing war, just as costly, just as ineffective. The Bush and Obama administrations’ “War on Terror”-by any name-has failed for a simple reason. It is because there is no such a thing as war on terror. Terrorism is a technique, a method, a weapon, a means to an end. Terrorism is not an enemy that can be named or identified, much less fought effectively. A “War on Terror” is a war on shadows, a war on nothing and on no one. It is a fool’s errand. Yet there is a war raging. It is a war that already had raged for 1,400 years before it was brought to our shores, a war that has laid waste to entire nations, cultures, and civilizations. The war is Universal Jihad: the eternal worldwide war on all infidel nations. Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt were Christian nations before Christianity was supplanted by Political Islam. Afghanistan was Buddhist, Iran was Zoroastrian, and Pakistan was Hindu before Radical Islam consumed their civilizations and cultures. The long-running Israeli and Palestinian conflict is not some unique standalone dispute over real estate or factionalism or any of the other wrong reasons given for it. It is simply another front in Universal Jihad’s imperialistic war for the minds and souls of man. There has never been a lasting peace there because Political Islam has no interest in making peace with infidels-and every man, woman, or child anywhere in the world who is not Muslim is branded as infidel. The crisis in the Middle East never ends because Political Islam never yields to another ideology. It does not believe in or permit of peaceful co-existence. The problem is not Jews or Israel. The only thing keeping the conflict in endless, irresolvable foment is a universal supremacist ideology that demands the conquest of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Chinese, the West and sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of Universal Jihad, its mandate, its raison d’etre is conquest of the infidels and their nations-all of them-whether by conversion, domination, or death. In Political Islam, there is no fourth choice. It does not countenance any form of permanent peace with infidels.
Read more here,,,,
Source: Western Front America H/T: DF
 The Islamic fire, fueled by immense oil income, is raging in certain regions of the world, smoldering in others, and is ready to ignite in yet other parts of the world. It is imperative for the free people of the world to abandon all illusions about Islam and put out its fire, once and for all. Multiculturalism, live and-let live, is a delusion of kind-hearted naïve people. Islam, as fractured as it is, is a non-compromising mono-culture; a cruel culture of a primitive people handed down by Muhammad some 1400 years ago. It is true that most religions are intended to attenuate human fears. They are based on natural fears, many of which are irrational...but natural nonetheless.
For example, many pagan religious practices were focused on the seasonal cycles related to the harvest. Why? Because if the harvest was poor, their entire civilization could perish, or be weakened to the point where a neighboring tribe would kill them off.
While they misunderstood the scientific basis for weather, they created natural (yet irrational) religious beliefs about weather and harvest. In this sense, religions were psychologically useful and inevitable in addressing natural conditions.
But some religions establish for themselves fears of things which do not exist...which the religion itself invented in order to create and perpetuate fear, and then artificially addressed it in order to establish a political regime.
The political nature of Islam transcends personal spiritualism and becomes a cult of oppression. This is fraud. This is evil. This is Islam.
Islam essentially invents the idea that Christians, Jews, and pagans are abominations and offensive to Allah, and that their very existence represents an attack upon the self-defined Islamic right to reign over the world.
Allah thus enlists Muslim believers to eradicate by force those who offend him and by disbelieving, prevent his rule. True Muslim believers therefore become the enforcers, hit men and mercenaries for their god, in order to establish a global Caliphate for their parasitic clergy.
Their targets are artificially constructed adversaries. Believers are instructed to fear the “great Satan.” and are told that if they do not live up to Allah’s calls to Jihad, they are themselves offensive to Allah and to their families. It’s a “you’re either for me or against me” strategy.
Contrast this with say, Christian fears. Christians too fear offending God, because they believe that God will judge their lives when their bodies die. So their fears are reduced by atoning in personal alignment with the teachings of the Bible.
So, as a political religion, Islam creates artificial fear of alien groups, and then eliminates the fear through war and coercion. Islam pleases Allah with brutality and Jihad. Islam seeks to instill a political regime to enforce its provisions.
When such a political doctrine declares that “resistance is futile”, it is referring to corporeal enforcement by people. Read more here,,,, Source: Amil Imani
The lessons that Muslims must learn from the Iranian model: Islam is NOT the solution
Thursday, June 25, 2009 - posted by Dr. Tawfik Hamid
For decades the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated Islamic groups such as Hamas used the expression “Islam is the solution” as their slogan. They used it in a way to convince Muslims that Islam will bring solutions to all their problems. Many young Muslims became attracted to Islamism because they believed that using Islam in politics and implementing Sharia would bring a solution to the problems they face in their societies. The economic success of Saudi Arabia, which implements Sharia Law, and the success of early Muslims in building a huge powerful Islamic empire, were two powerful examples that attracted many of our young Muslims, myself included, to this “Islamic Solution”. Failure of many Islamic societies to succeed in several fields, including economic state, has fueled the feeling that adopting the Islamic solution is the only answer for our problems.
The Iranian Revolution was seen by many Muslims as a proof that Islam is the solution. On the contrary, the failure of the Iranian regime in bringing prosperity to its people can debunk this concept. The recent demonstrations against the Iranian regime are clear evidence that Islam is NOT the solution, as the government has not brought success and true justice to its people. not having brought success and true justice to its people.
The Muslim world also needs to look to other failures of the Islamic systems and regimes. Sharia laws have been implemented in Sudan, parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, parts of Nigeria, and in Somalia. This has not brought wealth and prosperity to people as many Muslims expected. On the contrary it has brought poverty and misery to their populations. The best evidence for this is that we see tens of thousands of young Muslims applying to immigrate the West but we do not see many of them trying to immigrate to Somalia or Taliban-controlled areas!
The Muslim world must face the reality that Islamic and Sharia-based solutions for countries have failed to bring prosperity to people in most parts where they have been implemented. The media has a role to play in showing the failure of many Islamic systems in several parts of the world. The Muslim world must wake up from its dream that applying Sharia will solve all their problems and recognize the reality that “Islam is NOT the Solution”. Source: http://www.tawfikhamid.com/ The Silent Holocaust: Why Humanity Must Achieve Victory over Islam
by Azam Kamguian What I am going to talk about is Islam; contemporary Islam in Iran. I will describe some episodes of Islamic carnage and pass you briefly through what happened and still is happening in Iran. I will talk about those who have nurtured Islamic movements or have tried to justify Islam. I will conclude by emphasizing the urgency of achieving the victory of humanity over Islam and the practical steps that should be taken to achieve this.
The final decades of the 20th century witnessed another Holocaust - an Islamic one, in which millions have been and continue to be shot, decapitated and stoned to death; in which people have been slaughtered and displaced by Islamic states, political Islamic movements and Islamic terrorists in Iran, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Central Asia, and now in America. The robe, turban and Koran continue to victimize people. Any voice of dissent or freedom has been silenced on the spot. The oppression maintained by Islamic movements primarily takes the form of opposition to the freedom of women, by crushing women's civil liberties, by curtailing freedom of expression in the cultural and personal domains, by enforcing brutal laws and traditions, and by the mass killing of people from young children to the elderly.
Essentially, Islam is a set of beliefs and rules that militate against human prosperity, happiness, welfare, freedom, equality and knowledge. Islam and a full human life are contradictory concepts, opposed to each other. Islam under any kind of interpretation is and always has been a strong force against secularism, modernism, egalitarianism and women's rights. Political Islam, however, is a political movement that has come to the fore against secular and progressive movements for liberation, and against cultural and intellectual advances. Violence and disregard for human dignity are inherent in the manifestos of political Islamic groups.
“The very statement that an Islamic republic exists somewhere means that brutal violence exists within it.”
After political Islam took power in Iran, creating an Islamic Republic, this movement came out of the margins in other Middle Eastern countries. It was in Iran that political Islam first organised itself into a government and thus turned into a considerable force in the region. In Iran, under an Islamic state, violence has had another dimension: one that is based on Islam. The very statement that an Islamic Republic exists somewhere means that brutal violence exists in it. The mere fact that people are forced to abide by laws based on something some god is believed to have said somewhere, or that some prophet has said, itself represents a form of violence. If anyone protests against such laws, they are subject to punishment and suppression. Islam means the worst and the most ferocious kind of violence. Iran is the most transparent picture of what Islam is capable of. I will try to pass you briefly through this period of violence, atrocities, and misogyny - a bloodbath committed by Islam in power.
In Iran, I lived through thousands of days when Islam shed blood. Since 1979, a hundred thousand men, women and children have been executed in the name of Allah. I have lived through days when I, along with thousands of men and women throughout the country, looked for the names of our lovers, husbands, wives, friends, daughters, sons, colleagues and students in newspapers which daily announced the names of the executed. Days when the soldiers of Allah attacked bookstores and publishing houses and burned books. Days of armed attacks on universities, killing students all over the country. Weeks and months of bloody attacks on workers' strikes and demonstrations. Years of assassination of opponents inside and outside Iran. Years of suppression and brutal murder of atheists, freethinkers, socialists, trade union leaders and activists, Marxists, Bahais, women who resisted the misery of hijab and the rule of sexual apartheid, and many others who were none of these, who were arrested in the streets and then executed simply because of their innocent non-Islamic appearance. And to the hundred thousand murdered in Iran must be added the millions who have died in Algeria, the Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. A silent holocaust about which the civilised world does nothing.
I, along with thousands of political prisoners, was tortured by order of the representative of Allah and Sharia; tortured, while the verses of the Koran about nonbelievers were played in the torture chambers. The voice reading the Koran was mixed with our cries of pain from lashes and other brutal forms of torture. They raped women political prisoners for the sake of Allah and in expectation of his reward. They prayed before raping them. Thousands were shot to death by execution squads while Koranic verses were recited. Prisoners were awakened every day at dawn to the sound of gunshots aimed at their friends and cellmates. From the numbers of shots you could work out how many had been murdered that day. The killing machine did not stop for a minute. The fathers and mothers, husbands and wives who received the bloody clothes of their loved ones had to pay for the bullets. They created an Islamic Auschwitz. Many of the best, the most passionate and progressive people were massacred. The dimensions of the horror are beyond imagining.
From that time, love, happiness, smiling, any free human interaction was forbidden. Islam took over completely. This is what happened to my generation. But it was not limited only to my generation, It had bloody consequences for our parents’ generation and for the next generation. During those years, millions of children were brainwashed and manipulated. The crimes committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and political Islam in the region are comparable to the crimes committed by Fascism in the 1930s and early 1940s, and to the genocide in Rwanda and Indonesia.
Yet these are events that humanity around the world has been largely unaware of. A Holocaust which, if humanity knew of its dimensions and intensity, would certainly cause it to weep. With the downfall of such regimes, the world will finally be given an opportunity to know the truth - victims will speak out, prisons and torture chambers will be exposed, torturers will make heart-wrenching confessions, Islamic prosecutors and judges will reveal what they did to their victims behind prison walls. Then people all over the world will see what a despicable phenomenon Islam is. They will finally find out the truth about those governments that backed the Islamic movements and the Western mainstream media that deliberately blocked people's access to the truth.
The aftermath of September 11 exposed some of the reality of what is happening to people living under the constant terror of Islam. It exposed something of the tragedy that befell women under the Taliban. It revealed, to some extent, the true substance of Islam. But it became plain to see that this carnage is Islamic. It became evident that it is all about Islam.
When I came to the West in the beginning of the 1990s, I was faced by the fact that the majority of intellectuals, the mainstream media, the academic world, and many feminists, in the name of respecting other cultures and religions, were trying to justify Islam by dividing it into fundamentalist and moderate, progressive and reactionary, Medina's and Mecca's, folksy and non-folksy, poisonous and edible. For people like me, first-hand victims of the Islamic Holocaust, it was suffocating to listen to and to have to refute endless tales to justify this terror, atrocity and misogyny. Parallel to this Islamic carnage, apologists for Islam try to divert people's righteous loathing for Islam and for the political Islamic movement, to limit it to a hatred of fundamentalism'. They attempt to reduce the anti-Islamic struggle to anti-fundamentalism. They keep telling us that what we loathe is fundamentalism, not the 'true', the 'real' Islam. They pledge 'reform in Islam' and the application of a 'positive interpretation of the Koran' to women's rights by ‘linguistic turn’. They raise the idea of Islamic feminism and try to attach a human face to the monstrous face of Islam against women.
“The rights of freedom of expression, equality of men and women, and a secular state apply to people in the 'Third World' too. Isn't it shameful that we have to argue about it?”
The truth should be spoken. We shouldn't let apologists for Islam play with people's lives any more. We should say clearly and loudly that it is all about Islam. What we have seen is the reality of Islam in power. The fact is that Western liberal and left-wing intellectuals feel guilty about past colonial history and are apologetic to the ‘Third World’. They consider the 'Third World' a given entity, where people are keen to suffer under the rotten rules of Islam, where people are happy to be deprived of the achievements of human civilization in the 21st century. According to them, women desire sexual apartheid, girls love to be segregated from boys, and people hate civil rights and individual freedom. In their view, people are the allies of Islamic movements and Islamic governments. This is indeed a distorted image of the realities. This is an inverted colonialism. In this picture, people who are fighting for civil rights, secularism and against political Islam do not exist. This self-centered mentality in which everything should revolve around the guilt of Western pseudo-intellectuals is appalling. The rights of freedom of expression, equality of men and women, and a secular state apply to people in the 'Third World' too. Isn't it shameful that we have to argue about it?
Contrary to this view, there is a fight going on - and it has been going on for over 20 years - between progressive movements in the Middle East and in the West on the one side, and political Islam on the other. The records of the daily struggle of people and the non-Islamic opposition in Islam-ridden countries, and the news of the daily resistance of the youth and women in Iran, demonstrate the reality of peoples' demands in the 'Third World'. Since 1979, Iranian society has changed dramatically and deeply. The movement for secularism and atheism, for modern ideas and culture, for individual freedom, for women's liberation and civil liberties has been widespread and deep. Disgust for religion and the backward culture of those in power is immense.
Secularism must be defended actively and resolutely in Islam - ridden countries. Universal human and civil rights must be the standard. Secularism is not only realizable, but also, after the experiences of Iran, Afghanistan, the Sudan and Algeria, is an urgent and pressing need and demand of the people of the region. The demand for secularism must push for absolute and complete separation of religion from the State; complete separation of religion from education; freedom of religion and atheism; laws free of religious content; and for religion to be declared the private affair of individuals. A conscious struggle must be conducted against the power of organised religion. All religious denominations and sects should be officially registered as private enterprises, subject to regulations and laws.
To realise these ideals and demands, we need a massive joint force. Despite the struggles of the non-Islamic opposition in the Middle East and in the West in the past decades, all that has been visible has been occasional reports of the barbarity of political Islam and the reactions of Western governments, media and 'intellectual' apologists for Islam. But, there is a third force, a sleeping giant who can turn the situation around. If this giant awakes, this era could see the beginning of positive changes and the realisation of ideals that were almost abandoned during the final decades of the 20th century. Humanity must rise up and defend itself against the barbarity of Islam.
The ranks of civilised humanity form a massive force that has, so far, sadly been silenced. It can come to the fore. For the future of humanity, it must come to the fore. If there is to be a future, it is in the formation of an active, progressive and freedom-loving policy at the forefront of the ranks of the people. Otherwise, the stage is left open to terrorism and barbarism. I finish my speech with the hope that in the coming years of the 21st century, we will witness the victory of humanity, of humanism, over Islam. All freedom-lovers and secularist forces around the world should come together in a joint effort to combat political Islam; to promote secularism, egalitarianism and freedom, in the societies that Islam oppresses.
Adapted from the speech delivered at the session on Humanism and Islam at the IHEU World Congress 2002. [Email: azam_kamguian@yahoo.com ] Source: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/isis/islamic_viewpoints/the_silent_holocaust_why_humanity_must_achieve_victory_over_islam/
In June 2009 millions of people came out on to the streets of Iran for freedom and an end to the Islamic regime. Whilst the June 12 election was a pretext for the protests - elections have never been free or fair in Iran – it has opened the space for people to come to the fore with their own slogans. The world has been encouraged by the protestors’ bravery and humane demands and horrified by the all-out repression they have faced. It has seen a different image of Iran - one of a population that refuses to kneel even after 30 years of living under Islamic rule. The dawn that this movement heralds for us across the world is a promising one – one that aims to bring Iran into the 21st century and break the back of the political Islamic movement internationally. This is a movement that must be supported. DeclarationWe, the undersigned, join Iran Solidarity to declare our unequivocal solidarity with the people of Iran. We hear their call for freedom and stand with them in opposition to the Islamic regime of Iran. We demand: 1. The immediate release of all those imprisoned during the recent protests and all political prisoners 2. The arrest and public prosecution of those responsible for the current killings and atrocities and for those committed during the last 30 years 3. Proper medical attention to those wounded during the protests and ill-treated and tortured in prison. Information on the status of the dead, wounded and arrested to their families. The wounded and arrested must have access to their family members. Family members must be allowed to bury their loved ones where they choose. 4. A ban on torture 5. The abolition of the death penalty and stoning 6. Unconditional freedom of expression, thought, organisation, demonstration, and strike 7. Unconditional freedom of the press and media and an end to restrictions on communications, including the internet, telephone, mobiles and satellite television programmes 8. An end to compulsory veiling and gender apartheid 9. The abolition of discriminatory laws against women and the establishment of complete equality between men and women 10. The complete separation of religion from the state, judiciary, education and religious freedom and atheism as a private matter. Moreover, we call on all governments and international institutions to isolate the Islamic Republic of Iran and break all diplomatic ties with it. We are opposed to military intervention and economic sanctions because of their adverse affects on people’s lives. The people of Iran have spoken; we stand with them. See first Signatures and sign here: http://www.iransolidarity.org.uk/iscommit/iscom186.php?nr=97158834&lang=en
 By Diana West As the U.S. military slogs on, confused, trying to win the "trust" of the Afghan people; as the Obama administration, illogically, attempts to explain its way through Pakistan's "uneven" record of fighting jihad to a new $7.5 billion aid package (on top of $12 billion spent by the Bush administration), it is great luck to come across a book like Moorthy S. Muthuswamy's "Defeating Political Islam: The New Cold War." It contains all the answers to the questions looming over our widening and deepening presence in "AfPak," and more. In short, the United States fails to understand Pakistan - whose army, not incidentally, sports the motto " Faith, piety, and holy war in the path of Allah" - for what it is: a member state of what the author calls "the axis of jihad," which also includes Saudi Arabia and Iran. These three nations - with their arm's-length proxy armies of the Taliban, al Qaeda and Hezbollah - are the most aggressive purveyors of what the book describes as "political Islam," the jihadist creed based on Islamic doctrine that is destabilizing the world, from India's Kashmir region to Britain's old mill towns, from all of Israel to Parisian banlieues. Read more ...Source: Washington TimesH/T: Jihad Watch
What does it mean if 61% of the Koran talks hatefully of unbelievers -- and only 2.6% of it talks about the overall good of humanity? By Jamie Glazov Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Moorthy Muthuswamy, an expert on terrorism in India. He grew up in India, where he had firsthand experience with political Islam and jihad. He moved to America in 1984 to pursue graduate studies. In 1992, he received a doctorate in nuclear physics from Stony Brook University, New York. Since 1999 he has extensively published ideas on neutralizing political Islam's terror war as it is imposed on unbelievers. His new book is Defeating Political Islam: The New Cold War. FP: Moorthy Muthuswamy, welcome to Frontpage Interview. Muthuswamy: Thank you for the opportunity, Jamie. FP: We’re here today to talk about statistical Islam. First, introduce for us the context of statistics in a scientific analysis. Muthuswamy: Statistics is a tool of science. In doing a scientific analysis of a large pool of data, statistical analysis is by and far the most effective way of interpreting or extracting useful information. Especially in the social context, data may often represent views or outlook in varying or even in opposing directions. The statistical synthesis consists of representation of data in certain percentages that clearly bring out the overall thrust of what should otherwise be a confusing set of information. Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
The trail of terror continues with cricketers as the latest target. The Mumbai and Lahore attacks, public executions and the murder of over a thousand civilians in the Swat valley by Taliban style terrorists are horrifying examples of atrocities committed by militant groups thriving on political Islam. Global Muslim communities require urgent measures in condemning the agenda of political Islam that distorts religious scriptures to legitimise violence. This ideology of Islamism is threatening to replace a moderate and spiritual Islam, leading to the destruction of society, particularly oppressing women and minorities. Muslims have a moral responsibility to engage in the social, political and economic development of the societies they live in. Global Muslim societies would do well in following the exceptional efforts of the Indian clerics in denouncing terrorism and de linking it with Islam. Sincere moral outrage needs to be expressed at Taliban atrocities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, political kidnappings and assassinations, militancy in Kashmir, Shia Sunni killings in Iraq and Pakistan, fatwas that condone suicide bombings in the Israel Palestine conflict and other such atrocities that effect innocent lives. Muslims require the consensus of the international in combating extremism but our credibility is lost when we demonstrate selective outrage as in the aftermath of the Danish cartoons. Political Islam draws its lifeblood from the ideology of fighting the oppressor, but has clearly become the oppressor. Even though some Islamist groups have renounced violence and accepted the principles of democracy, marginally improved their stand on women and minority rights, they remain socially conservative. In Jordan, the Islamist party does not support the rights of women to file for divorce. In Kuwait the Islamists fought against the right of women to vote. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood will not allow a woman or a person from a minority community to become head of state. Unfortunately, militant Islamist groups thrive in the political vacuum created by oppressive regimes in most Islamic countries. Muslims must stop blaming the problem of extremism on catastrophic foreign policies for two wrongs simply do not make a right. Islamism is primarily a Muslim problem, threatening both Muslim and non- Muslim societies. We need to acknowledge there is a problem of theology when extremists talk of going straight to heaven after taking innocent lives. The roots of all modern militant Islamic movements can be traced to one man called Abdul Wahab from Nejd in the Arabian Peninsula. He set out to ‘purify’ Islam, believing that Muslims had drifted away from true religion. Wahab’s followers destroyed many sacred sites he considered idols. Attacking the arts for being frivolous and dangerous, Wahab sanctioned the rape; murder and plunder of those who refused to follow his injunctions. He was considered a heretic by most, for Makkah and Madinah were then centres of contemplative Islam, inhabited by Sufis from all over the world. In 1774-5 Wahab negotiated a deal with the then nomadic tribe of Saud, forebears of the current royal family in exchange for support in their quest for political domination. Most Saudi’s reject the name Wahabbi; they either call themselves Muwahuddin- Unitarians- or Salafi, refering to salaf, the venerated companions of the Prophet. In this blinkered view, no other version of religious truth can exist. This new face of Islam has nothing to do with Sufis, music, poetry, miracles or the countless devotional customs of Muslim cultures across the world. Under the patronage of the Saudi Arabia, Wahabism went from strength to strength. Abul Ala Mawdudi, a journalist who translated the Quran outside the paradigms of classical propagated the Wahabi ideology. He founded the political party Jamaat e Islami in Pakistan, making jihad central to Islamic discourse. Addressing non-Muslims as infidels, he grouped Muslims into ‘partial’ and ‘true’ Muslims. Mawdudi’s ideas of Islam as a revolutionary doctrine to take over governments and overturn the whole universal order deeply influenced Syed Qutub of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. These groups have been motivated by political upheavals and the rejection of traditional scholars. Syed Qutub’s brother happened to be among the teachers of Osama bin Laden. The extremism now found in Makkah and Madinah, the heartland of Islam, is the Wahabi ideology that the Saudis have spent millions in promoting through their outreach programs. There is no tolerance for Shias, Sunni Sufis or other Muslim traditions, leave alone non -Muslims. Unfortunately, there is no collective Muslim protest against the Saudi regime for bulldozing graveyards, destroying cultural and religious heritage in the holy cities, imposing a certain sexual segregation of the sexes inside the Prophets mosque at Madinah, radical sermons, or the distribution of radical literature outside Saudi mosques, many of them issuing calls for death to whoever they view as infidels or innovators of Islam. The problem of Muslim extremism began in the Muslim world and the responsibility of resolving it lies with us. The inability to present a picture of Islam as a peaceful religion is a collective failure of global Muslim communities. We could begin with increasing the decibel in condemning violence, sectarianism, standing up for the rights of women, stop demonising the other as kufaar (infidels) and show increased support for democratic movements in Muslim countries. It is time for the devout, silent peace-loving Muslim majority to speak for Islam. Let us become louder than the radical voices that claim to represent us. Sadia Dehlvi is a Delhi based writer and author of the forthcoming book, “Sufism: The Heart of Islam” published by HarperCollins India. Source: Indian Muslims
Sarajevo, 19 March (AKI) – Croat groups in Bosnia have denounced what they call the 'Islamisation' of the Muslim-Croat federation and have prepared a document demanding their own entity, local media reported on Thursday. “Bosniacs (Muslims) are the main political problem in Bosnia-Herzegovina, because they openly strive for hegemony, counting on their majority, " Croat activist Leo Plockinic told journalists. Plockinic said Croats had the worst deal of all of Bosnia's three main groups and were being subjected to assimilation by majority Muslims. He is president of the 'Alternative Government' Croat association and the non-governmental organisation Croatia Libertas. Read more ...Source: AKIH/T: Jihad Watch
 DOHA: Nearly 50 percent of Arabs living in the Middle East believe that Islam is heading for a clash with the West, according to the latest poll commissioned by the Doha Debates.
A further 30 percent of respondents felt that “political Islam” poses a threat to the West, with a majority identifying the promotion of jihad as the principal threat.
The results mirror the vote at a recent session of the Doha Debates, where audience rejected a motion questioning whether political Islam is a threat to the West by 51 percent to 49 percent. The poll, conducted by YouGovSiraj, was carried out between January 26 and February 1 and surveyed the views of 970 Arabs in the Gulf, North Africa, and Levant.
Forty seven percent of the respondents believe that the current political climate is encouraging support for political Islam. A similar proportion is also of the opinion that Islam is heading for a clash with the West. However, opinions on this are largely divided with an almost equal number of people (42 percent) disagreeing with this notion.
Eighty five percent of those polled stated their perception of political Islam groups as either popular or extremely popular. As for the reasons of their popularity, 25 percent believe that they are the only alternative to the regimes while 23 percent said that they are not corrupt.
When asked which groups they consider as representative of political Islam, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah were most commonly cited. Interestingly, 26 percent of those interviewed didn’t see any of the listed groups as examples of political Islam.
A majority of the respondents- 60 percent- believe that Islam has been hijacked by extremists. One quarter of Arabs think political Islam is more of a threat to Muslims than it is to the West, with nearly a half believing it is tainting the religion’s good name.
Sixty eight percent of the surveyed said that they didn’t believe politics and religion should be separated in the Muslim world. Source: The Peninsula
By Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens
The Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) can reveal that SOAS, which is part of the University of London, is planning to pay Islamist extremists to teach a course on political Islam between 23 and 27 March 2009. The CSC has been informed by SOAS that the course is aimed at educating Government officials and the Police. Source: The Centre for Social CohesionFull Press: The Centre for Social Cohesion [.pdf]
 December 15, 2008 | Wafa Sultan
If we consider the Islamic texts, their content and the devotion that so many Muslims - including in America - attach to them; if we consider the tragic upshot of these teachings in terms of our current world’s security, is it not a duty for each one of us to view Islam not frivolously but in a most serious manner?
There was an episode during the current Presidential election that greatly disturbed me. It was former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s interview on “Meet the Press.” For me this interview was a defining moment. He expressed his displeasure at some of his colleagues’ accusations that Obama might be a Muslim, and stated: “And what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim?”
Mr. Powell’s admonition at others who dare questioning Muslims, or Islam and its implications, in particular, people like me, who suffered immensely precisely because there is “something wrong with being a Muslim,” would indeed be disheartened. If Powell doesn’t understand what may be the dire consequences for being a Muslim, then who should understand? The man, who once held the post of American Secretary of State, asserts categorically that there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim, even though the country he led has been suffering immensely from Muslim terrorism and has paid a high price because of it.
I appreciate that Powell, who has been nurtured by the American moral code, refuses to judge people on the basis of their religious affiliation. That is his right. But he does not have the right to nonchalantly disregard people’s apprehensions of Muslims, especially at those of us who have lived in Muslim countries. We have risked our lives to escape from them, and are now risking our lives again to speak up against the harm they cause, induced by Islamic theology and culture.
In order to understand my perspective one would have to be a woman, living in Syria, my birthplace, or any other Arab Muslim country.
Since immigrating to the United States more than five presidential elections ago, I always regarded American politics as a luxury that did not concern me. Living in the US was enough to satisfy me emotionally, physically and intellectually. Anything beyond that was more than I required.
I came to regard America’s might as much greater than any president that happened to be in power - Democratic or Republican. Hence, I assumed that any person, who attained the rank of presidential candidate, regardless of party affiliation, was capable of safely leading this great nation. Because of that, I never took the trouble to inquire which candidate was more worthy of victory; for me it was a mere toss-up.
However, the events of September 11th, 2001 stripped away my confidence. I began wondering how well Americans understand Political Islam - the underlying cause of this and other heinous attacks and how willing are we to probe into its ideology or comprehend its objectives. The events surrounding the most recent election have increased my doubts and my concerns for this country, which I love with all my heart.
So what is the problem? During and after the recent election, my fear for America was that Obama’s victory could breathe fresh life into the further rise of Islamism, including Islamic terrorism.
Why?
Islamists’ psychology is worlds apart from that of Westerners. They believe in absolute terms in their divine mission to submit the world to Islam. They are engaged in a constant search for divine meaning and inspiration - even in mundane matters.
First, there was Senator Obama’s Muslim background. It is well known that Mr. Obama was born to a Muslim father, spent part of his early life in Indonesia - a Muslim country - and attended a Muslim school there. Almost every day my inbox was flooded with e-mail rumors about Obama which reflected many American citizens’ fears regarding the Democratic candidate’s Muslim background.
But Mr. Obama reassured us that he is a Christian and that was enough to dispel the doubts I might have had about him being a Muslim. I let go of my fear for America should Obama win. For now, I regained my confidence in him.
However, Salafists interpret even daily events in a way that may not necessarily appear significant to Westerners. In this context some Islamists go so far as viewing the Islamic background of Obama as a heaven-sent confirmation of the first step in realizing the dream of submitting the West to Islam. The mere fact that American president bears a Muslim name like Hussein is enough to assure them that Islam is marching into America and has already infiltrated the White House.
Once, I was browsing through a website in Arabic and came across a news item announcing that the American actress Halle Berry gave birth to a daughter whom she named Nahla; an Arabic name meaning “bee”. I then read readers’ comments on this piece of news. A considerable number of them were jubilant, since they regarded this report as a God’s sign that Islam had begun to advance into America, because the word nahla is mentioned in the Koran.
As for Mr. Powell, does he understand that Islam is not just a religion but a political doctrine that seeks to impose itself on non-Muslims even by force? If he does, why should people not be doubtful?
This is not an Islamophobic prejudice I present. Muslims, like any other national group, can be either good or bad, and the best among them do not act in accordance with Islam’s political ideology, either because they are not familiar with it, or because they have deliberately progressed beyond it. But how are we to scrutinize the good from the bad when a high level political official like Mr. Powell undermines the questioning of any concerns related to this issue?
Certainly, Mr. Powell knows that Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, is most revered among Muslims. Does Mr. Powell realize that it is incumbent upon every devout Muslim male to emulate Muhammed’s ways? If so, has Mr. Powell studied the life of Muhammad as it is recounted in the original Arabic sources, as I learned it in my schooldays?
One particular part of the prophet’s historical account I studied in third grade at primary school. We read with pride how Muhammad beheaded eight hundred Jews from the Bani Quraiza tribe in one night, then took their wives and children hostage and spent that same night with a Jewish woman Safia, whose husband, father and brother he had just killed. This wretched story is only a drop in the ocean of numerous Arabic narratives written about Muhammad’s misconduct.
Moreover, according to Islam’s most revered jurists, a true Muslim must believe in Islam as both religion and a political entity. A committed Salafi Muslim does not recognize the American constitution. His willingness to live under that constitution is, as far as he is concerned, nothing more than an unavoidable step on the way to that constitution’s replacement by Islamic Sharia law.
The Koran states: “Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends. They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship shall become one of their numbers. Allah does not guide the wrongdoers” (5:51). Is it legitimate for Christians and Jews to be concerned about this tenet?
American government officials must spend funds to interpret Arabic texts word for word, without distortion or falsification. Among other illuminating tenets they may find, is the concept of taqqia (literally, “caution, prudence, dissimulation”). It allows a Muslim to conceal his true cherished beliefs when he feels that non-Muslims around him have the upper hand, while at the same time working secretly to achieve his “noble” objective, so that he can attack them when the time is ripe.
Did Mr. Powell ever contemplate that what he heard from countless Muslims he met throughout his career was not necessarily what they truly meant?
I always considered Mr. Powell one of the giants of American politics. To me he was as majestic as the American eagle. But in that moment, sadly, I saw the eagle topple from its lofty peak and tumble down in front of me like a little sparrow; and with it tumbled many of my convictions.
After the events of September 11th, I watched a press conference with an American general whose name I can no longer recall. In the course of the conference, he shared that he had read the Koran twice. One of the reporters asked him, “What conclusion did you reach after you had read it?” He bowed his head for a moment before replying, “We have to defend ourselves.”
It is clear to me and many others who have lived in Islamic countries that a military man - a general - understood our perilous situation better than Mr. Powell - a politician - who held a high level government position. Had Mr. Powell done any thorough research into the study of Islam, as the general did, he may also have come to the conclusion that his question, “What’s wrong with being a Muslim?” was indeed unwarranted. Source: Hudson New York H/T: LGF2
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For almost a decade, American Muslims have seen a growing debate in their communities about the radicalization of Muslims in America and how to combat it.
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