| FrontPageMag.com | Articles By Robert Spencer | Articles By Hugh Fitzgerald | Books | Islam 101 | Qur'an Blog | Robert Spencer Bio |  |
|
|
|||||||||
|
|
"U.S. fights Islamic anti-defamation push" – the headline of this Washington Times article
The phrase "anti-defamation" puts one naturally in mind of the Anti-Defamation League, a group formed to fight group defamation of Jews. The word, in that case, fit.
But the word does not fit when it is used by members of the Islamintern International. For they are attempting not to stop "defamation" but to shut down any real study of Islam beyond the most transparent of apologetic toe-dipping (three abrahamic faiths, etc.), and to forestall any critical analysis of its texts, tenets, attitudes, and atmospherics.
What C. Snouck Hurgronje, Joseph Schacht, Henri Lammens, Charles-Emmanuel Bouquet, Edmond Fagnan, K. S. Lal, Samuel Zwemer, St. Clair Tisdall, and dozens of other dedicated scholars of Islam wrote about Islam does not constitute "defamation," but rather, scholarly and disinterested study. What defectors from the army of Islam -- Wafa Sultan, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ibn Warraq, Ali Sina, and hundreds of others -- tell us about the Islam they were born into, and raised within, does not constitute "defamation."
It constitutes, rather, the truth. Or rather, it constitutes a series of truths, both scholarly and simple home truths, that can easily be shown to have a basis in the Qur'an, the Hadith, and Sira. The worldwide effort is on by powerful Muslims to shut down any examination of Islam by the very people whose lives, whose laws, whose everything, are threatened by the march of those conducting Jihad. And that Jihad is nothing more, and nothing less, than the "struggle" to remove all obstacles to the spread, and then the dominance, of Islam.
And the greatest obstacle in the Bilad al-kufr, the Lands of the Infidels, to the spread and then the dominance of Islam is knowledge, detailed and deep, of what Islam is all about.
And therefore an essential part of the worldwide Jihad is this attempt to stifle all study and analysis and criticism of Islam. It is more of a threat to the wellbeing of Infidels than anything else, because unless those Infidels can somehow acquire -- or at least if a critical mass can acquire -- a knowledge of the meaning and the menace of Islam, there may not be time to diminish a threat that, at this point, is still manageable. It is still manageable despite the Money Weapon -- that can be cut down to size, in a hundred ways. It is still manageable despite the worldwide Campaigns of Da'wa. Those, too, can be exposed, and opposed, and quite successfully if a certain attitude is brought to bear on the making of policy. It is still manageable despite the demographic conquest in Western Europe, which can also still be opposed successfully if certain attitudes are brought to bear on the making of policy. It is still manageable if the tenets of Islam, the immutable tenets and the attitudes to which Islam naturally gives rise, are understood. Manageable, yes. Just.
One way to respond to this “defamation” is to go to your nearest university library, and check out "The Achenese" by C. Snouck Hurgronje. Turn to the last few pages in the book, where the great Dutch Orientalist (who visited Mecca, and even took photographs of the place, in the 1880s -- quite a feat, which may have required him to recite the Shehadah and pretend to be Muslim) discusses the concept of Jihad. Xerox those pages. Make many copies. Type it out as a document. Now email to as many people as you can those pages by C. Snouck Hurgronje. That is one way to respond to this “defamation.”
During the Cold War, the Herzen Center (Karel van het Reve, Director) was an important ideological outpost for the right side, along with such samaritan organizations as that one-man band (and the one man was Leopold Labedz) that magazine of East European affairs, Survey. When the real history of the Cold War is written, Survey and Encounter and those Dutch such as Karel van het Reve will be given pride of place, or should be.
Where are the anti-Jihad equivalents now, in London or in Amsterdam or Paris, of those people and magazines and institutions, that received generous backing from the American government, and helped wage that famous "war of ideas" that in the end did help wear out the Soviet system, and cause even those within it to begin to question whether the whole thing made sense?
If the Western world refuses to recognize the contents of Islam, the menace of Islam, of course it will never support a new Encounter, a new Survey, a new Herzen Institute. It will never stand up for long against these spurious claims of “defamation.”
Perhaps no Western government dares to be directly involved. Okay, then, what foundations, what maecenases, are ready to step into the breach -- if only in order to preserve the world more or less in acceptable form, for if it is not so preserved, all the money in the world will not be much recompense.
Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Maecenas: all the phones are open. We are ready to take your pledges. These calls may be monitored for quality control.
Posted by Hugh at September 3, 2008 3:18 PM
Print this entry
| Email this entry
| Digg this
| del.icio.us
|
I am wondering more and more, as I read these editorials, if there mightn't be an identifiable reason for the failure, which seems so much like a refusal, to recognize the threat of Islam and to stand up to it, as Hugh describes doing. I can't read everything on Jihadwatch, but I don't think I've seen this commented on much. Is the reason for this failure identifiable? Can it be specifically combatted?
Posted by: Novalis![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 3, 2008 4:07 PM
I am wondering more and more, as I read these editorials, if there mightn't be an identifiable reason for the failure, which seems so much like a refusal, to recognize the threat of Islam and to stand up to it, as Hugh describes doing.
Novalis
It is very confusing until you come to understand that our MSM is primarily an organization that is trying to maintain their own power in concert with the Democratic Party. They operate with an information template that completely blocks out any real understanding of Islam. Their goal is their own power and that of their Democratic coherts. They are totally corrupt, which explains their inability to think of the good of their country. They look upon the ordinary citizens of our country as totally inadequate and inferior. In their minds, they are kings. God is their enemy.
Posted by: Spot on at September 3, 2008 4:24 PM
Novalis: My theory for the reason for the failure to recognize the threat of Islam and stand up to it does not require that the MSM, Democrats, educators, etc. are malevolent or power-hungry. I think that for a diverse society to function well, its citizenry must be socialized to accept and tolerate differences, therefore that has become a cornerstone of our educational institutions (K-12 and college) and our political institutions (civil rights legislation punishing intolerance even by private individuals.) This might be all well and good, except that it has gotten to the point that a person cannot even think out loud about how some differences should not be tolerated without coming under a great deal of social condemnation.
Islam has taken full advantage of our societal mores by using our institutions and our acculturation to insist that it is just another religion deserving of protection by our laws. It successfully demands us to be tolerant of the most intolerant of religious traditions/cultures and we have so far obliged. To do otherwise is to risk being called a bigot, or intolerant, and becoming an outcast from our society.
Worse yet, we realize that if we stand up and say something out loud, we are likely to not only come under condemnation generally from society, but might incur the wrath of a Muslim response that we might not like to live with(as in the case of Mohammed cartoonists threatened by cartoon riots and death threats.)
Even a majority can be intimidated into inaction so long as that majority remains divided and individual in the face of an organized minority.
In the meantime, we are all to willing to be fooled by the Muslims because we are afraid to look deeply at their doctrines, which after all are originally written in a foreign language, and because they lie to us so well.
After 9-11, our attitude should have become: "Fool me once, your mistake. Fool me twice, my mistake." Unfortunately, it instead became: "Gee, I wonder what I did wrong to piss them off? I better try harder to be nice and to be tolerant, and then everything will go back to normal."
Posted by: Karl2 at September 3, 2008 5:01 PM
Islamic scripture is self-defaming. Just read it...
Posted by: Henrik at September 3, 2008 5:39 PM
It is not PC to be critical of Islam. It's that simple.
Posted by: tanstaafl at September 3, 2008 6:53 PM
Over the last 30 years the American people have been subjected to every increasing amounts of Democratic political correctness often enforced with law suits, firings, administrative penalties and outright intimidation in the form of protests, harassment.
Our colleges and universities are studies in political correctness, anti-free speech and anti-western and U.S. propaganda run amok. And whose purpose is to inculcate thought stopping and opinion silencing dogma into their students.
Now many of these brainwashed college grads end up in the news business, gov't and public education where they can continue perpetuate political correctness and suppression.
To me its no surprise that we can no longer speak truthfully or openly about Jihad and other subjects.
Posted by: waltc at September 3, 2008 7:22 PM
Novalis: Whatever you do, do not listen to the ditto-heads and their wild "it's the Democrats fault" rants. The Conservatives have been running this country for 30 years, any responsibility falls on their shoulders.
We are the occupiers of two Islamic nations, both embedded deep within Dar al Islam. The neo-cons have thrown all their eggs into this basket, losing is not an option - even if it creates millions of Jihadists and bankrupts the country. The peoples of these nations are told that we are not there as conquerors or Crusaders, or even occupiers - but liberators. That we have no dislike of Islam and Arabs in general. We ask for their acceptance, understanding, patience, and assistance.
Now, allow the schools, the churches, the media, the politicians to educate the masses. Allow law enforcement, airlines, train and bus personnel to profile Muslims. Allow the courts to dismiss all claims of discrimination as frivolous attempts to force acceptance. Allow a ban on Muslim immigration, Mosques, Islamic charities, and Islamic studies in higher education.
Now allow for these actions to be broadcast to the entire world. First and foremost, Iraq and Afghanistan would be lost. No American presence would be allowed in any OIC country. Trade agreements, economic and military pacts, food, oil and gas contracts, would be shredded. No American would even be safe to visit Europe. We would be seen as nothing more than imperialists and indeed the Crusaders that Osama claims. Think of the unimaginable economical damage that would result to our county. This is why we must get out of the Middle East and be free of their influence. So that we can be free to say and think as we please. That the MSM can report the truth and not fear the administration's and advertisers backlash. To act upon that which we know is right.
at September 3, 2008 9:03 PM
And yet, such actions would be quantifiably no worse than anything done to indigenous religious minorties the length and breadth of dar-al-islam. Human hubris knows no bounds. Even the most liberal muslim I've debated with had no trouble with the forcible expulsion of thousands of Jews from Egypt in the 1950s; there is an inability of perspective in islam, and it is an unapologetic one.
My advice? Spread the word about this site. Advertise it everywhere you can, on every other place you visit on the web. Scrawl it or spray-paint it on wall. Make posters. Signs. Leave no stone untouched. Make the people aware. Get them coming in their droves. Let them see.
Posted by: Geoff at September 3, 2008 10:44 PM
"... they are attempting not to stop "defamation" but to shut down any real study of Islam ..."
=========================================
The unfortunate truth (for Islamic apologists) is that any critical inquiry into Islam, or into Islamic thought/ history/ motivation, must inevitably cause "defamation"... Islam is, in a word, ugly. Muslims have clung for 1400 years to their belief in a "perfect prophet" who revealed a "perfect book" that is the literal and absolute word of God for all time-- a "perfect plan for humanity". Just a little analysis shows this prophet was a megalomaniac whose "revelations from Allah" are self-serving justifications for a cult of power and control rooted in fear, vengeance, greed, lust, and treachery; the result has been essentially an eternal war on "the other".
The honor/shame based culture of Islam can't tolerate the knowledge that the West will see the lie they've been clinging to for all these centuries.
But the Islamic religion/culture, in claiming itself perfect and eternal, has closed itself off from the possibility of change: Muslims can't acknowledge even to themselves that any part of Islam might need to change (because it would no longer be perfect and eternal)... they can't look inward, they don't dare, because they MUST NOT see imperfection. They must constantly look outward, for signs of hostility or mockery or disrespect (*), for any trigger at all that they can employ as a means to divert their focus to "the other", the external. Islam's primary survival mechanism is to create a scapegoat and then destroy it. Islam projects its cultural pathologies onto outsiders; in a surprising analogy with auto-immune diseases, anything that is not recognized as "self" is defined as a threat that must be engulfed and consumed. Islam creates pathology and feeds on pathology. Islamists just can't stand that we know what they are and what they do, and that everything they claim to stand for is a fraud.
(*) look up the term hypervigilance; it's a common aftereffect of post-traumatic stress disorder, in which the sufferer maintains an unusually high level of tension and alertness, staying "primed" or "tuned" to any hint of danger even when it's illogical and counter-productive to keep doing so.
at September 4, 2008 2:05 AM
"The unfortunate truth (for Islamic apologists) is that any critical inquiry into Islam, or into Islamic thought/ history/ motivation, must inevitably cause "defamation"."
Yep. When something is ugly and dangerous, there's no pretty way to talk accurately about it. Islam is a defamation of itself.
Posted by: DenverRodeo at September 4, 2008 3:43 AM
"It is very confusing until you come to understand that our MSM is primarily an organization that is trying to maintain their own power in concert with the Democratic Party. They operate with an information template that completely blocks out any real understanding of Islam."
Thanks! So George "Islam is a religion of peace" Bush and John "I admire the Islam" McCain and Donald "The vast majority of Muslims are moderates" Rumsfeld are all Democrats! That explains everything...!
Posted by: DenverRodeo at September 4, 2008 3:46 AM
DenverRodeo
Fox uses a different template more suitable to the Repubs. They have their own set of problems that require they don't criticize illegal immigration, abortion, or Bush et al. I think that they mirror the opinion of the Wall Dtreet Journal. They have nore diverse, pro business, and are less corrupt, but I am still waiting for them to do their job and criticize Bush.
These are my thoughts but why not take a stab at it yourself. It would be good to hear some opinions.
Posted by: Spot on at September 4, 2008 5:48 AM
Fitzgerald: Defamation of Islam?
The reporting on this website is essential to understanding the contemporary meaning of Islam. If we had such reporting in the MSM, Islam would be stopped in its tracks.
Until our govenment identifies the enemy we face, as "Islam" itself, we will only be "kicking the can down the road", with ever increasing expense.
Posted by: Spot on at September 4, 2008 8:21 AM
When you study anything your initial motivation will skew what you go looking for and what you find.
When a person is obsessed, no matter what you show them of proof and balance, they are unable to listen because of the obsession.
This of course can be said for both sides, as I have a desire to learn the truth, not just smear. And when I oppose the smear tactics, I am often labelled "apologist!"...a very weak comment that is fast loosing it's worth.
There is only One God, and that is the bottom line.
Peace
Posted by: Abdullah Mikail at September 4, 2008 1:44 PM
For the benefit of any non-Muslim who may be new to this site, here is what Jacques Ellul, the great French sociologist and lay theologian, scholar of the history of law and institutions, who had taken part in many 'inter-faith' 'dialogues', and knew many gifted French Islamophiles and scholars of Islam, had to say about Islam:
"There is so much talk nowadays of the 'tolerance' and fundamental 'peacefulness' of Islam, that it is necessary to recall its nature, which is fundamentally warlike".
I trust his judgement.
Joseph Schacht, who spent his life studying Islam and the laws of Islam, in 'An Introduction to Islamic Law', wrote:
"The basis of the Islamic attitude toward unbelievers is the law of war; they must be either converted, or subjugated, or killed".
I trust his judgement.
And so I regard Political Islam - the jihad which seeks to impose temporal Muslim despotism and blatant Arab supremacism upon the entire planet and forcibly subject every human being on earth to that living hell which is sharia - as a Clear and Present Danger.
Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at September 5, 2008 12:53 AM
For the benefit of any non-Muslim who may be new to this site, here is what Jacques Ellul, the great French sociologist and lay theologian, scholar of the history of law and institutions, who had taken part in many 'inter-faith' 'dialogues', and knew many gifted French Islamophiles and scholars of Islam, had to say about Islam:
"There is so much talk nowadays of the 'tolerance' and fundamental 'peacefulness' of Islam, that it is necessary to recall its nature, which is fundamentally warlike"
Posted by: dumbledoresarmy
Tolerance of those who would war on us with their criminal jihad and Sharia enslavement may not be tolerated by civilized society, politically correct or otherwise. We have a duty to educate the world of this fundamental threat to our natural freedoms, our freedom of thought, of privacy in our feelings and beliefs, and of being allowed the freedom to be natural human beings with room to question, to disbelieve, to be as we wish to be within the legal norms that protect our freedoms, with reciprocity for the ‘other’. This includes Muslims who had chosen of their own free will to live amongst us, because though they may have escaped the mind stifling total control ideology of the Islamic world, they may not import it, whether knowingly or foolishly, into the civilized modern world of our constitutionally protected freedoms. Jihad and Sharia have no place here. Tolerance of necessity goes both ways, and if they are intolerant of our natural freedoms with their war-like total control system of a primitive 7th century Arabia, then our tolerance of their war-like beliefs have no legitimacy in our world of universal freedoms and human rights. Tolerance stops there.
BTW, I had occasion to visit an art gallery opening last night owned by husband and wife of Iranian descent, showing beautiful paintings, and their illustrated books of poetry, where food and wine was served, and we talked about Buddhism, which they find very appealing. All is not lost. There are people of Muslim origin who are natural human beings and who, through no fault of their own, were born into that mind stifling cult. Meeting them was pure delight, and their life history of living in Africa and Europe before migrating to the US showed a wide diversity in their thinking and intelligence. Human beings can be salvaged from Islam, and this is why it is so important to practice tolerance without bigotry, but at the same time to educate and liberate human beings from the slavery of Islam. Call me an optimist, but I believe it can be done. But it cannot be done with tolerance for the intolerable, and a necessary reciprocity of decent humanity is an absolute must. There can NEVER be tolerance for criminal behavior, Jihad, and slavery, Sharia. Tolerance stops there.
at September 5, 2008 12:18 PM
(Note: The Comments section is provided in the interests of free speech only. It is mostly unmoderated, but comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying stand a chance of being deleted. The fact that any comment remains on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch, or by Robert Spencer or any other Jihad Watch or Dhimmi Watch writer, of any view expressed, fact alleged, or link provided in that comment.)