• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Fitzgerald: CAIR’s Qur’ans, and ours

Sep 19, 2006 7:48 am By Hugh Fitzgerald

CAIR and other tireless conductors of Da’wa will never send out copies of the Hadith, unless of course they have carefully gone through them and left only the most anodyne or most impenetrable. They will not distribute, either, the life of Muhammad — that is, the life of Muhammad that Muslims learn about, with the decapitation of the 600-900 bound prisoners of the Banu Qurayza, the murders of Asma bint Marwan and Abu Afak, the marriage to little Aisha, aged nine, the attack on the inoffensive farmers of the Khaybar Oasis, the treachery — “war is deceit” said Muhammad — of the treaty made in 628 A.D. with the Meccans at Hudaibiyyah.

But the Qur’an they do distribute. They know that the recipients will scarcely be able to make their way through a work which is so confused, in parts so utterly incomprehensible (as Christoph Luxenberg and hundreds of other Western scholars have noted), so strange to Westerners in its arrangement, with passages that in English (or French for that matter) sound much milder than they are in the original, and of course, simply unlikely to be read all the way through, with proper understanding.
Take, for example, the Arabic phrase “Jihad fi sabil Allah.” Jihad in the path of Allah. Christian readers will immediately think that is a fine sentiment — just a Muslim version of “walk in the ways of the Lord.” But it isn’t, not at all. Those who know what the word “Jihad” means, and not only from the Qur’an itself, but from the gloss provided both by the Hadith and by the life of Muhammad, the sira that depicts the Perfect Man, uswa hasana, who must be obeyed, and emulated, in all things, will realize that “jihad fi sabil Allah” is a sinister phrase.

The Qur’an is unlikely to be read with proper comprehension, but just to ensure that the unwary Infidel, curious about Islam, is carefully directed, those who distribute the Qur’an are also careful to point out a handful of semi-plausible passages. No pointing out of 9.5 and 9.29 or indeed of Sura 9 at all. Much more 2.256 (“no compulsion in religion”) and 5.32 but without 5.33 (Bush fell for that — one wonders who’s been teaching him).

After all, they have to provide something. They provide the Qur’an, but do what they can to make it a case of directed reading, directed away from the essential meaning of the Qur’an, to a few bits, abrogated by later verses (but why point this out to Infidels?), that offer the thinnest of reeds on which to hang one’s hopes for a “good” Islam somewhere in the middle of all that “bad” stuff. (“But don’t the Jewish and Christian texts say terrible things” etc.) Muddy the waters, keep muddying them — isn’t that what you would do, if you were a Muslim? Of course you would.

So as the waters are muddied, it is our job to clear them. Why not give the Qur’an out yourself? But first, highlight the verses from sura 9 about war. Highlight 4:34 about wife-beating. Highlight the others that have been quoted here so many times (search the Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch archives for “Qur’an,” and you”ll find hundreds.) Print these verses out together. Make many copies. Keep them handy, possibly in your car.

When engaging others in conversation — the man at the meat-counter, someone standing behind you, or in front of you, at the checkout counter, the man who sells you the paper, the woman at the drycleaners, the parents with whom you carpool, the people at a party — use your wiles to bring the talk around to the subject of terrorism. Express your unhappiness at the failure of the government and media to speak the truth about Islam, or even to do so obliquely, by ceasing to call this, idiotically, a “war on terrorism” (terrorism is only one tactic, one instrument, of Jihad), but by calling it, not a “war on Islam,” but a “war of self-defense against the Jihad.” And then add (placing Muslims in an obvious bind as to whether or not they should object): “Of course not all Muslims believe in Jihad. Most do not. Most do not want to force Islam on the world, either by arms or by other means. Most are pluralists, and just as they want to enjoy equal rights here, they are doing everything they can to ensure that non-Muslims have equal rights in Muslim countries. But Bin Laden and the extremists are using texts like these to portray themselves as the exponents of the real Islam.”

Bush, given his reputation in Europe and elsewhere for being an ignorant cowboy, is perhaps just the man to carry this off with a straight face.

One becomes a bit tired about lecturing and advising — without being able to bill for consulting services — the grand panjandrums of Washington on what they should be doing. Can you please get on with it, all you well-paid consultants and civil servants in Washington? Readers of Jihad Watch should not have to be doing this for you. We did not volunteer to become the Johnny Appleseeds of information about Islam. We would all like to lead our own, potentially interesting and entertaining lives. Some of us need desperately to make a living. Islamic jihad is a real menace, but it is also rather a bore. Spare us. Please.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Uncategorized


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • janicevanguilder on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • Boycott Turkey on Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and UAE conduct joint military exercises amid rising Turkish threat
  • Yogi on EU Parliament members call for firing of border agency director for preventing illegal migrants from entering Europe
  • Hoi Polloi on Why so many Muslims can’t wait for Biden to get inaugurated
  • Hoi Polloi on EU Parliament members call for firing of border agency director for preventing illegal migrants from entering Europe

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.