• 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

Ask Andrew Burt, expert on extremism

Jan 21, 2014 7:47 pm By Robert Spencer

Andrew Burt

In celebration of the new Jihad Watch website design (and with heartfelt thanks to Marc, my ace tech expert, who made it all happen), and in recognition of the fact that we now have, for the first time in a very long time, a glitch-free comment section, it is time for an open forum of sorts. Not long ago, I received this email from journalist Andrew Burt, asking for an interview:

Dear Mr. Spencer,

My name is Andrew Burt, and I am a journalist and a third-year student at Yale Law School. I am writing a book on the history of political extremism in the United States, and was hoping I could speak to you for a recorded interview of 30 minutes sometime this week or next. I am hoping that you can help explain to me your views on the Muslim Brotherhood in America, in particular its connection to the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the Ground Zero Mosque, and how the American Laws for American Courts initiative does (or may not) address this threat. As one of the most respected voices on this subject, I would also like to know how you came to dedicate your time to such issues, and how your involvement has evolved.

A bit more about me: I previously worked as a reporter for U.S. News & World Report, where I interviewed high-ranking officials ranging from former President Jimmy Carter to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers. I have also written extensively for international publications, and my articles have been published and translated in publications around the world, including both in Europe and here in the United States. I have also spoken with David Horowitz and Robert Muise on this subject, both of whom were very helpful.

I understand, of course, that you may have reservations about speaking to a journalist (and a law student, to boot), but I would be more than happy to accommodate any concerns you may have.

Please feel free to contact me anytime via my information below.

Thanks, and best regards,

Andrew

There followed this exchange between Andrew Burt over just what he was after:

Spencer to Burt:

Thanks. In such an interview would I be cast as a “political extremist”?

Burt to Spencer:

Thanks for the quick response. I am attempting to understand the modern, so-called Anti-Sharia movement (whether or not that’s a fair term) — a movement that I believe, perhaps wrongly, is a type of political extremism, and one that I also understand you had an intimate hand in creating.

So in that sense, based on your connection to the movement, the answer may be yes. That being said, I am reaching out to you with the hopes that you will be able to provide insights into your thinking and the movement that I do not possess — and in that sense, I would do my best to give your thoughts as fair a viewing as possible.

If you are still willing, I would very much look forward to speaking.

Best,

Andrew

Now, I know that no less an authority than the British government of David Cameron has decreed that I am indeed an “extremist,” but since all my work is wholly and solely dedicated to the defense of the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of all people before the law, I respectfully take issue with Her Majesty’s Government’s characterization, which I believe to be politically motivated and manipulated by Islamic supremacist and hard-Left pressure groups that the Cameron government was afraid to anger. Since thirteen years of experience have shown me that mainstream media journalists are almost all far-Leftists with ethical standards just a notch above child molester (apologies to child molesters for comparing them to journalists), and because I don’t think defense of the principles enshrined in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be “extremist,” I responded to Burt in this way:

Spencer to Burt:

Your bias shows from the beginning. There is nothing extremist about resisting jihad terror or Sharia violations of human rights. I am thus reluctant to meet or to be interviewed, as I doubt very seriously that I’d get a fair hearing or fair presentation.

However, Burt persisted, until finally I agreed to be interviewed via email.

Spencer to Burt:

Why don’t you:

1. Explain why you think I am an “extremist”; and
2. Send your questions to this email address.

Burt to Spencer:

In regards to your first question, to the extent that you appear to advocate that there is something uniquely suspicious, perhaps even evil, about Islam among all the other world religions, I believe that that is an extreme point of view.

To that I answered:

Spencer to Burt:

So you think all religious traditions are equally capable of inciting violence? Is that why we see so many Presbyterians shouting “Jesus is Lord” and blowing themselves up in crowds of Methodists?

In any case, even granting your characterization, which I do not actually accept, if I hold such an opinion I still advocate no illegal or unconstitutional or genuinely extreme remedies, but only the enforcement if existing laws. Hardly extreme, no?

And he sent these questions:

Burt to Spencer:

1. When did you begin to speak out against violent jihad? And what role did the terrorist attacks of 9/11 play in your thinking?

2. Are you familiar with the efforts of the Stop the Madrassa Coalition, beginning in 2007? If so, were you involved with the organization?

3. I understand that you and Pamela Geller created Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) in 2009. How did the organization come about?

4. Beginning in Tennessee, in May of 2010, a number of states began to ban Sharia law in the form of the American Laws for American Courts (ALAC) initiative. How have you been involved in promoting ALAC?

Spencer to Burt:

1. I began to speak out publicly against violent jihad right after 9/11. 9/11 did not change my thinking at all; I’ve been studying Islam since the early 1980s. However, after 9/11, I first began to do this work publicly.

2. Yes. No.

3. SIOA is an initiative of our organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). This organization grew out of our common efforts, in which I aided in her work defending human rights, the freedom of speech, etc. Now that Egyptians and Tunisians in large numbers are rejecting Islamization explicitly, our SIOA name has been vindicated as referring to a rejection of the elements of Sharia that contradict accepted principles of human rights, and that millions of Muslims reject also.

4. I’ve written about such initiatives favorably. Here is one of those pieces: “The Necessity of Anti-Sharia Laws,” from the American Thinker, March 13, 2012: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/03/the_necessity_of_anti-sharia_laws.html

That same day (January 16), I sent Burt another email:

Spencer to Burt:

If you intend to send more questions, please answer these first:

1. Have you ever read the Qur’an? The Hadith (if so, which collections)? The Sharia compendium Reliance of the Traveller? If so, on what basis have you determined that it is “extremist” to think that the violent and supremacist aspects of Islamic teaching should be opposed?

2. What do you think of the many calls by Islamic jihadists and Muslim leaders to conquer the West and especially the U.S.? For example, Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself once said: “Have no doubt… Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world.” Sheik Ali Al-Faqir, former Jordanian minister of religious endowment, said this on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008: “We proclaim that we will conquer Rome, like Constantinople was conquered once…” Hamas MP and Islamic cleric Yunis Al-Astal said this, also on Al-Aqsa TV, on April 11, 2008: “Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad.” Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most prominent and renowned imam in the world, in writing about “signs of the victory of Islam,” said: “Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor.” I could adduce hundreds of other examples. Are these people “extremists” of which you believe I am the non-Muslim equivalent? If so, how do you reconcile that with the fact that I have never called for conquest, murder, or denial of anyone’s Constitutional rights and human rights, and opposed the “nation-building” projects in Iraq and Afghanistan?

3. The Muslim Brotherhood has stated in its own words, according to a captured internal document, that its goal in the US is “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house…so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” Are you including Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in your study of “extremist” groups in the US? If not, why not?

The next day, January 17, Burt sent me this response:

Thanks very much for your answers — I will address your questions before getting back to you with further questions from my end.

Andrew

It has been four days since then, and I have not heard again from Andrew Burt. To be sure, he is not writing an article, but a book, on “extremism,” and so presumably he has plenty of time to get back to me, and I await his answers. But I thought in the meantime, I’d throw the floor open to more questions for Andrew Burt. Journalists are forever analyzing and characterizing those whom they oppose and detest, dismissing foes of jihad terror as “bigots,” “extremists,” etc., without the slides on the microscope generally being given any chance to tell their side of the story.

But Mr. Burt was kind enough to answer my first question, the one about why he thinks I am an “extremist,” and I have every confidence that he will answer my follow-up questions as well. So let’s give him some more. Write in the comments field here your questions for Andrew Burt — about Islamic jihad, about “political extremism,” about Islam, about what kind of pizza he likes — whatever. And I will send them on to him with a respectful request for answers. Come on, “right-wing extremists”! Let’s hear from you!

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: journalistic bias Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. No Fear says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 8:20 pm

    Robert has never advocated any form of violence or extreme behaviour. His views on Sharia are not extreme, on the contrary, it is Sharia which is extreme. Religions, especially religions that wish to impose a religious based legal system on non believers, should be open to critique. I am glad I have read the Quran and many biographies of Mohammed and some books on Sharia as a result of reading Robert’s work and others like Bill Warner and David Wood. I no longer consider myself “quranically challenged”.

  2. Matthys van Raalten says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 8:20 pm

    Dear Mr. Burt,
    There are 600.000 Blacks living in Mauritania as slaves currently*, serving their muslim masters. Have you ever written about this? What do you think of the fact that no journalists in the Wests seems to have time for problems such as this in the world of islam, but they have plenty of time to focus on where Jews want to live East of the green-line?
    *figure according to Wikipedia
    Yours respectfully,
    M. van Raalten

  3. Mo says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 8:21 pm

    Congratulations on the site redesign! It was quite a surprise when I when to open it this morning!

    As to this guy, wow. How annoying is this?

    “I am attempting to understand the modern, so-called Anti-Sharia movement (whether or not that’s a fair term) — a movement that I believe, perhaps wrongly, is a type of political extremism, and one that I also understand you had an intimate hand in creating.”

    Good thing you’re always on alert for this sort of thing. He almost had me going, thinking he might be fair-minded. Now, perhaps he may end up being so. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. But the fact that he already calls what you do “extreme” doesn’t give me too much confidence.

    “and in that sense, I would do my best to give your thoughts as fair a viewing as possible.”

    I wish I could believe that. But again, I’ve seen too much of the opposite (as you have!) to have expect much.

    “In regards to your first question, to the extent that you appear to advocate that there is something uniquely suspicious, perhaps even evil, about Islam among all the other world religions, I believe that that is an extreme point of view.”

    This reveals that has not the SLIGHTEST idea what Islam even teaches, not even the basics.

    If I think of any questions, I’ll post them. Right now I’m experimenting with the new comment system, which seems to make everything center-justified. (At least, as I’m typing. We’ll see how it looks when it posts.

    • graham turner says

      Jan 22, 2014 at 5:33 am

      Burt
      to see an accurate, objective analysis of Islam look at the videos by Bill Warner

  4. Dinesh says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 8:29 pm

    It is amazing why we have such journalists or politicians. I think any discourse about islam should start with asking the pro-islamic person if he/she has read the Koran, Hadith and Sira. The islamic trinity are its biggest nemesis, once you open them it is a death spiral for islam.

  5. Salah says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    Robert wrote: “Now that Egyptians and Tunisians in large numbers are rejecting Islamization explicitly,…”

    I’m so glad Robert wrote this statement. Unfortunately, many JW readers disagree, they are unable to understand that Muslims themselves are indeed rejecting Islam…ization!!!

    Islam is dying, It is slowly but surely dying. And, of course, like any mortally wounded beast, it’s making a lot of noise.

    http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-end-of-muslim-brotherhood.html

  6. Rod Neufeld says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 8:48 pm

    For a mother to proclaim PRIDE of her own son’s murder/suicide of innocent (ANY, even guilty) people and places it at the feet of her ‘god’ with HONOR tells me there is something DRASTICALLY wrong. Doesn’t it, you Andrew?

  7. Islam_Macht_Frei says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 8:57 pm

    I too am a bigot – a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth extremist anti-Nazi ….”bigot.”
    And, as it turns out, for the very same reasons that I am an anti-Islam “bigot.”

  8. Jim Heller says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    I’d ask this:

    Mr. Burt, do you have a publishing contract already? Is it premised on the expectation that you will advance these same (decidedly uninformed) presumptions and prejudices you’ve expressed? If not, is there an implicit agreement between you and your publisher to that effect?

    The issue is are you free to change your view and the theme and perspective of your book as you educate yourself on the subject? If not, why should anyone respect your efforts?

    I, too, was once a third-year law student. I prided myself then on appreciating some of the thinking and arguing styles I was learning. I’d suggest you apply these same critical faculties to your project. That’s not the same at all as simply swimming in the same direction as the other fish around you.

  9. Just asking says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 9:30 pm

    Do you consider “extremism” Someone whom wants to “fundamentally change America”? Especially with proven ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Just asking? Nice looking site Robert.

  10. Rob says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 9:51 pm

    And WS Churchill was an extremist ‘anti-NAZI’
    Love the new site RS.

  11. Frank Scarn says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 9:56 pm

    To Andrew Burt,

    (1) Do you think that the 1787 Framers were onto something in their quest for assuring individual freedom* by prohibiting the establishment of religion, no abridgment of the press or speech, and so forth? If yes, please explain why you believe the Muslim countries of the world (there are >50 of them) expressly prohibit such freedoms. In those countries the establishment of one religion and one religion only, viz., Islam, is not only officially established, it is fastened, quite firmly, onto the people whether they want it or not. Consent of persons living in Muslim countries never enters the equation.

    *Recall that the Declaration states the sole purpose of American government was to protect / guard individual rights; that is to say that rights that existed before any government ever came into being. “That to secure these rights [that is, the already-existing rights of individuals], Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed [i.e., those same individuals]”

    (2) America is the only country in the history of the world where the first act was to limit the created government, see e.g., Article I, Section 8; 10th Amendment, with the sole purpose of those limitations intended to protect already-endowed rights. History (including the living history of this very day) is replete with governments that take the approach that rights are conferred on the people by government, an approach with which the UN is quite comfortable.

    For example, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) (UDHR) boldly declares in Article 18 that the freedom of religion is assured,
    “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

    Article 19 (among other UDHR articles) also seems quite promising,
    “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

    All of this sounds pretty good. UNTIL you read** Article 29,
    “(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and 7the general welfare in a democratic society.”

    That Article is a playground for any totalitarian government. In the non-Framers approach to government then, government “gives,” but government can take away, and still be within compliance with the UDHR by simply referring to and relying upon Article 29. If a “right’ can be taken away, then no right ever existed. No counterpart of Article 29 exists in the US Constitution.

    **A basic rule of statutory construction is to read all the provisions of the statute.

    (3) Are you aware of the Law of Apostasy in Islam?

    That law is easily summed, Whoever changes his religion, kill him. (Go ahead, Google that for verification.) All 4 Sunni schools of Islamic law (Hanafi; Maliki; Shafi’i; Hanbali) support this position. (Shia Islam too has its own methods of interpreting the Shariah which also support death for apostasy.) Are you willing to do the research on this aspect of Islam? If not, how could you intelligently write about Robert’s work?

    (4) Are you familiar with the Shariah? If not, will you become familiar with it before you write your article? If not, how do you believe yourself equipped to write about extreme groups in America?

    Muslim countries do not accept the UDHR, but rather have formulated their own version, called the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights (1990) which, as you will read, is based on adherence to the Shariah. Does it pique your curiosity that the Islamic view of human rights is different from the UDHR? Was the UDHR presumptuous to believe that human rights are in fact “universal?”

    The following provisions of the Cairo Declaration underscore why you must become familiar with Islam, the Quran, the Hadith, and the Shariah before you believe yourself qualified to pass judgment on Robert’s work,

    ARTICLE 16: Everyone shall have the right to enjoy the fruits of his scientific, literary, artistic or technical labour of which he is the author; and he shall have the right to the protection of his moral and material interests stemming therefrom, provided it is not contrary to the principles of the Shari’ah.

    ARTICLE 22: (a) Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Shari’ah.
    1. Everyone shall have the right to advocate what is right, and propagate what is good, and warn against what is wrong and evil according to the norms of Islamic Shari’ah.

    ARTICLE 24: All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’ah.

    ARTICLE 25: The Islamic Shari’ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration.

    The Shariah. Seems pretty important to Muslims, doesn’t it? Knowing it is essential to any author or researcher who wants to study those who study Islam. Are you prepared to do that?

    FS

  12. Jay Boo says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 10:21 pm

    Journalistic Integrity
    The greatest fantasy of leftist journalists is to label themselves as activists against anti-jihad ‘extremism’ in order to impress their like-minded PC pablum regurgitating acquaintances all the while simultaneously taking a ‘selfie’ as they proudly kiss the nearest radical Imam’s naked butt.

  13. RodSerling says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 10:36 pm

    Great article. Reminds me that this is such an excellent site. Good to see Robert asking these guys questions.

    Questions for Mr. Burt:

    Are you aware
    1) of poll/survey results that show that large minorities to majorities of Muslims in Western countries want sharia to be implemented in Western countries?

    2) of poll/survey results that show that, overall, a large majority of Muslims want sharia to be the law of the land in Muslim-majority countries, and want such countries to be unified under a single Islamic government (Caliphate)?

    3) of poll/survey results showing that the majority of Muslims in Western countries want those who criticize Islam or Muhammad to be criminally prosecuted and punished?

    4) that there are numerous sharia courts operating in Britain?

    5) that a study of a random sample of U.S. mosques showed that most had literature that promoted sharia-adherence and violent jihad?

  14. Jay Boo says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 10:37 pm

    Salah said

    Islam is dying, It is slowly but surely dying. And, of course, like any mortally wounded beast, it’s making a lot of noise.
    ——————
    I agree totally except, I can’t help to wonder if Islamists will not try to make a last futile effort to redefine Islam as new and improved to gullible PC liberals, but regardless the ugly truths of Islam keep leaking out and tainting Islam’s veil.

  15. Jay Boo says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 10:48 pm

    Is using and sharing Google+ a problem?
    I am not that familiar with social media stuff
    A note to JW’s sharing Google+ here is a link I am trying to decipher about this

    http://www.pcworld.com/article/2086722/how-to-prevent-strangers-on-google-from-flooding-your-gmail-inbox.html

  16. pdxnag says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 11:12 pm

    I would reiterate that the problem with Sharia is more than just the content. It is about jurisdiction. Hopefully Robert could dig up the provision where non Muslims are not supposed to rule over Muslims, and then explain how this animates the Muslim insistence on having their very own court for their state within a state.

    The Oklahoma Question 750 was about “jurisdiction.” The court reframed the question to the single issue of hate, which became sufficient in and of itself to void the law before it was ever put on the books. If it were still on the books another court could later take a different view. It was “extremist” for the court to prevent the law from being put on the books and declared the law of Oklahoma before acting to declare it void.

    Q: Is apostasy “extremist” enough to justify capital punishment? (in a Muslim controlled territory, under Sharia law)

  17. Elias says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 11:24 pm

    Clearly, this journalist comes at his subject with loaded ideological baggage or blinders. Conclusions are supposed to come after one completes the research.

    Since when is defending and upholding one’s way of life and the right of non-Muslim humanity (80% of humans) to live theirs as they see fit against the divine pretenses and nasty depredations of Muslims, using the mighty pen no less (rather than the bloody sword, in contrast to the adherents of Islam), “political extremism?”

    Robert, you might want to ask what other groups he’s looking at. Why he’s undertaking this in the first place (what’s his motivation, who’s behind him)? Even if he’s an “honest broker,” you can bet his editor(s) might not be – that’s my experience.

    How comprehensive is his research on “the history” of “political extremism” in the U.S.? Does it include bomb-throwing anarchists, environmental terrorists, Communist movements (of all variety) and Fascist groups, Fenians, Black Panthers, the KKK, etc. Or, is this really about those who see Islam and the threat its devout adherents pose to non-Muslim societies when they take their doctrines and prophet-example seriously?

    Why don’t you ask him how he defines “political extremism?” What criteria does that definition encompass? What’s the working title for his “book?” If he’s in law school, then one could assume he’s looking at some aspect(s) of the legal system, or not?

    Have him read Andrew Bostom’s book “Sharia vs. Freedom.”

  18. Rob Hermann says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 11:25 pm

    To Mr. Andrews:

    Rather seeking information from Mr. Spencer, why don’t you take off a few months and read for yourself the text and context of Islam. The material is readily available. Then, perhaps, you will have no need to interview Mr. Spencer.

  19. Rob Hermann says

    Jan 21, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    Correction:
    Question to Mr. Andrew Burt:

  20. RodSerling says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:00 am

    Andrew Burt wrote to Robert:
    “In regards to your first question, to the extent that you appear to advocate that there is something uniquely suspicious, perhaps even evil, about Islam among all the other world religions, I believe that that is an extreme point of view.”

    Among all the world’s major religions today, Islam is relatively unique in the following respects:

    -If you criticize it, you are typically accused of having a “phobia”.

    -It has a comprehensive set of laws regulating all aspects of life (sharia), which forms the direct basis for some, or most, of the laws in most Muslim-majority countries.

    -It has world conquest as an explicit religious goal. It requires its followers to participate in a permanent war (jihad, which includes violent and non-violent forms, which must be waged until judgement day) of believers against non-believers, until the latter submit to the rule of Islamic law and either convert to Islam or accept subjugation as dhimmis or slaves.

    -In many regions, it legally permits adult males to marry and have sexual intercourse with girls as young as, or younger than, nine years of age.

    -It mandates the death penalty, or other severe penalties, for blasphemy.

    -It mandates the death penalty, or other severe penalties, for apostasy.

    -It mandates the death penalty, or other severe penalties, for heresy.

    -It mandates the death penalty, or other severe penalties, for “sorcery”.

    -It mandates the death penalty, or other severe penalties, for atheism.

    -It mandates the death penalty, or other severe penalties, for homosexuality.

    -It mandates the death penalty, including by stoning to death, for adultery.

    -It mandates corporal punishment, including by the administration of 100 lashes with a whip or cane, for fornication (e.g., pre-marital sex).

    -It mandates a range of punishments including the death penalty, crucifixion, amputation of hand and foot on alternate sides, or banishment (or imprisonment) for crimes such as “War against Allah” and “spreading mischief/corruption.”

    -It mandates amputation of the hand for theft, and amputation of the remaining hand, then the foot, and so on, for each additional theft conviction.

    -It uses beheading as a legal punishment.

    -It legally permits slavery, which is still practiced in some Islamic countries.

    -It legally permits a husband to punish his wife by beating her.

    -It legally permits a man to rape his wife.

    -It permits , encourages, and justifies the rape of non-Muslim women and girls by Muslim males.

    -It permits, encourages, and justifies the use of rape as a punishment and as a method in warfare.

    -It permits, encourages, justifies so-called honour killings, which occur at rates far higher among Muslims than among any other group.

    -It permits, encourages, and justifies the practice of human trafficking for the purpose of selling people into sexual slavery.

    -It permits adults to beat children who don’t go to prayers or who don’t pray or recite the Qur’an correctly.

    -It requires more frequent prayers than any other major religion.

    -Its standard prayers involve the condemnation of members of rival religions (especially understood to be Jews and Christians)

    -Large numbers of its followers riot, kill, or threaten to kill and/or rape those who criticize or mock Muhammad, or who damage a copy of the Qur’an.

    -It has a developed doctrine permitting deception of non-believers for the purpose of defending and promoting the religion.

    -It has a prophet who declared such things as “I have been made victorious with terror,” and “Booty has been made legal for me.”

    -It has a clear doctrine, believed by almost all Muslims today (as shown in polls/surveys), that all non-Muslims are going to hell (no matter whether they do good works), and that Islam is the only possible path to salvation. (Islam differs from Christianity in having a much higher percentage of followers who subscribe to this doctrine).

    -It teaches that non-Muslims who reject or criticize Islam are demonic, the “worst of created beings”

    -It teaches that non-believers are najis–“filthy, vile,” literally in the same category as feces, urine, pigs, and other things.

    -It has separate drinking fountains for believers and non-believers

    -It teaches explicitly in its core text (the Qur’an) that the Creator made some people only to be the fuel for the fires of hell.

    -It promises a paradise filled with robot-like “houries,” whose only purpose is to perpetually satisfy Muslim males sexually.

    -It teaches explicitly in its core text (the Qur’an) that the Creator, the Judge, intentionally leads some people astray, makes them do evil things, causes them to be deaf, dumb, blind, etc.

    -It has a majority of followers today that agrees with and wants implemented some or most of the policies and laws mentioned above.

    -large minorities to majorities of followers claim to agree with at least one Islamic terrorist group.

    If all of that* is not enough to suggest that there might be something suspicious, uniquely evil among religions, etc., about Islam, as understood and practiced by Muslims today, consider the fact that it outlaws having dogs as pets.

    *I’m sure I’m leaving a lot out. It’s getting late, and Islam is a big subject.

  21. gravenimage says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:03 am

    I am attempting to understand the modern, so-called Anti-Sharia movement (whether or not that’s a fair term) — a movement that I believe, perhaps wrongly, is a type of political extremism, and one that I also understand you had an intimate hand in creating.
    …………………………………………..

    I have a few questions for Mr. Burt myself, beginning with this one:

    What, exactly, do you find compatible with civilized Western law about Shari’ah?

    The systematic oppression of women, of Infidels, and of “other sect” Muslims?

    The lack of proper courts of law and rules of evidence?

    Blasphemy laws outlawing any criticism of Islam, that would crush the First Amendment and all Western freedom of speech?

    The horrific penalties, such as amputation for petty theft and stonings for rape victims?

    Are any of the above things you yourself find “extreme”? And if so, what, exactly, do you like or even consider tolerable about Shari’ah law?

  22. Jewcat says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:26 am

    It would be great if Mr Burt is genuinely open-minded because he will get a very good education concerning Islam on this site even if Robert Spencer decides not to grant an interview. It beats me how anyone these days — given the stories of perpetual violence and infighting in so many Islamic states as well as in those countries unfortunate enough to have ‘restive’ Muslim populations that lead the news almost every night — hasn’t started to wonder if there is, actually, something very very wrong in the heart of this particular ‘religion.’

  23. Tayloch says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:29 am

    @Rob Hermann

    Yes, exactly! Funny how “a third-year student at Yale Law School” can’t figure out these new fangled concepts called the “Internet”.

    For cripes sake, you could spend the rest of your life watching YouTube videos of “hate”, “extremism”. It’s all right there.

    Oh, and that pernicious “hate site” called Amazon.com.

  24. JamesonRocks says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:34 am

    Mr. Burt, Perhaps a couple research excursions would be helpful for you. Would you consider spending a few months with polio workers in Pakistan? Perhaps some time with a group of Catholic nuns in northern Nigeria?

  25. George says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:56 am

    Dear Mr. Burt,

    Do you even know what Sharia Law entails? How it’s to be implemented? If so, do you find it compatible with Western values, rights, freedoms? If not…don’t you thnk you SHOULD know before attempting to discredit those who do know–and have the courage to speak-up about it? Caution, Mr. Burt: That knowledge could cause you to become (gasp!) an “extremist!”

    Oh, and Mr. Burt. About your little faux disclaimer to Mr. Spencer:

    “I would do my best to give your thoughts as fair a viewing as possible.”

    How good is your “best?” How fair is “possible” for you in this case?
    In fact, your equivocating makes you sound like a less-than-honest broker on this subject. Just saying, sir…

  26. Joe P. says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 1:24 am

    Mr. Andrews:
    As a law student, you may have some insight regarding the following questions.

    1. Considering that shariah law generally negates what we in the west consider to be human rights, can not an avowed supporter of shariah law be deemed to have waived those rights?

    2. If a shariah law supporter has been deemed to have waived his human rights, would he then have a valid complaint if one or more of those rights are violated?

  27. Elisabeth says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 1:54 am

    No one has thought of this question, one I have repeatedly asked at the OSCE and elsewhere:
    How do you define “extremist”? Who gets to define it?
    I want an answer to that before I consider any other question. And I want it NOW.

  28. zaba says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:45 am

    Andrew:
    Have you read islam 101 on Jihad Watch?
    Are you aware there have been 22,296 violent muzlim terror attacks since 9/11 and they are documented on
    thereligionofpeace.com?
    Do you know there have been 270 million deaths, cultures destroyed and humans enslaved, even until today during (so far) islam’s 1400 year bloody and violent conversion by the sword?
    Do you know that islam means submission?
    Do you fully appreciate the Freedom and Liberty we have in the West?

    Why have you not done your own research into islam?
    Have you discovered that islam is not a religion, but is an ideology akin to communism, socialism and nazism?
    Robert Spencer is a busy guy; are you able to respect that?
    Finally, as a law student, why are you not able to immediately see sharia for what it is?

    Go and study.

  29. Jeff Logan says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 3:46 am

    It is good to see more journalists raising their interest about Islam and Jihad and associated opinions/movements/campaigns/issues about it. Nevertheless, I could not call Robert Spencer as a political extremist because the definition of it is way too loose. Politics is all about a spectrum of ideologies/interests/beliefs and there is no central pole in it and no one has the authority to characterize anyone as extremist because there is no right/wrong in politics. I would rather call Robert as a civil campaigner, a scholar, a critic and a blogger focusing on Islam and its stature in the modern world. Being critical about Jihad isn’t islamophobia unless you admit that Jihad is the core essence of Islam. I think it is fair to say that Robert Spencer has been largely unbiased in his posts/speeches/opinions/words.

  30. SKG says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:19 am

    After receiving the counter questions from Robert he realized that he must read and understand the quran and other islamic texts for continuing with the interview. So I think he is busy reading those books.

  31. Larry A. Singleton says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:28 am

    Dear Burt,

    Have you read Sheikh Abdullah bin Humaid’s article on jihad? What do you think about the fact that this is the first article in the Summarized Sahih Al-Bukhari acting almost as an Introduction? Can you tell me, “statistically” speaking, what’s the ratio of jihad being used as “war” and “inner struggle” in the original full Sahih Al-Bukhari? (Hint: 97% is war/jihad and 3% is inner struggle.)

    Jihad in the Qur’an and Sunnah by ‘Sheikh Abdullâh bin Muhammad bin Humaid
    ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?233460-Jihad-in-the-Qur-an-and-Sunnah&s=4df3fc2e4e0596eb3b38115ef4b8f506 ),

    (Note to editor: What’s with this center allignment stuff?)

  32. S Basu says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:29 am

    I would like to ask . Mr. Burt
    1) whether he considers criticism of Islam as ‘Islamophobia’ or ‘hate speech’ or ‘racism’ or ‘bigotry’ or ‘religious extremism’? If not, why not?

    2) whether criticism of Islam comes under freedom of expression as guaranteed by US constitution (and constitution of many other countries)?

  33. Liam1304 says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:35 am

    Mr Burt, why is thorough research and fair criticism of Islam considered to be an extremist position? Because the results of such research and criticism seem to hurt someone’s feelings? Do the feelings of those you term “extremists” matter then?

    From you own reading of the Qur’an and Sira do you consider Sharia quite compatible with Western concepts of freedom & justice? (If you’re unsure how to interpret these I recommend the leading historical & contemporary Muslim scholars}?

  34. Larry A. Singleton says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:43 am

    I’d like to know if Burt can answer the four questions that came up in Robert’s debate with his old professor Peter Kreeft:

    Do Muslims believe that peaceful Surahs in the Koran are abrogated by the verses of the sword?

    Is the program of military expansion in jihad, the conquests from Arabia to Spain to India, etc. to be resumed if possible?

    Do they believe that the “Democratic” majority of Muslims in Europe would impose Sharia/Islamic law?

    Can we discuss Islamic history, even the hermeneutical files on the origins of the Koran, without threats of violence?

  35. mortimer says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:58 am

    Andrew Burt starts with the typical, postmodernist, flaky idea that there is no truth and therefore we can make our own viewpoint and even our own facts. He is not concerned about ‘facts’ (the hallmark of good journalism), but about agenda and ‘tone’. His approach appears to be to lure Robert Spencer into the corner of the boxing ring where he can punch and Robert can’t swing. Nice try, pal.

    I have a message for Andrew Burt:

    Mr. Burt, Islam is a difficult subject. You are truly way over your depth. It is far more complicated than you can realize with ZERO knowledge of this convoluted and irrational parallel world called ‘Dar Islam’. To use a comparison you will get, Muslims are like Klingons. They have totally different values than your postmodern ones. They want your submission, not admiration. So, Mr. Burt, if you want to learn about Islam, it will take 15 to 20 years to gain a mastery of the subject.

    DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN CONDENSE 20 YEARS OF LEARNING INTO ONE INTERVIEW? ARE YOU THAT NAIVE?

  36. Felix Quigley says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 5:28 am

    The focus of this article and discussion is too narrow. The comment above by Elisabeth get to the heart of the matter by asking what is meant by an “extremist”, and this is what the discussion needs to centre on, and not on the agenda of somebody seeking to write a Spencer and Geller hating book.

    I will therefore pose a number of issues which show that this discussion is too narrow.

    1. As in Spain at this moment is it extremist to have perhaps 80 percent of youth on the dole and with growing robotization in capitalist production methods, to say to these youth you have no hope. Is that extremist?

    2. The US Government and others have been collecting 2 million texts per day of ordinary unsuspecting people so … Is that extremist?

    3. Jews some 70 years afte the Holocaust are being forced to live under the shadow of annihilation again, by this US Government. Is that extremist? And so on.

    Finally to say that Sharia is not extemist, but those who fight it are, is itself a Nazi type position to take.

  37. Nodrog says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 5:43 am

    I am having a good laugh imagining the look on Mr. Burt’s face as he gets to the second last comment. Mr. Burt, why don’t go to Doha or Dubai for a well-earned rest and walk around some streets full of muslims while wearing the cross of a Christian and carrying a well-displayed Bible. Get back to JihadWatch with your experiences of being a dhimmi.

  38. Matthew says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 6:06 am

    To Andrew Burt,

    Of all the world’s religions, why is it that the one religion who’s teachings and traditions are at the heart of countless social, cultural and political backlashes in almost every country on the planet, is so fiercely defended and even shielded by law from criticism, scrutiny and opposition?

    How and why exactly it is “extremist”, “intolerant”, “bigoted”, “racist”, “ant-Muslim or “Islamophobic” to criticize and oppose a violent, supremacist and intolerant ideology such as Islam?

    Why is it that the establishment of political correctness of the left targets and smears people such as Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller as “extremist” whilst remaining silent and NEVER taking into serious account the opinions and testimonies made by former Muslims about Islam?

  39. Pumbar says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 6:06 am

    Hi Mr Burt
    I’ve heard it said that a cat always lands on its feet and that buttered toast always lands butter side down. Could you tell me if we taped a piece of buttered toast, butter side up, to the back of a cat, would we create a perpetual motion machine? As neither could possibly land it would simply spin in space? I’m hoping that this might work as I, and other “right wing extremists” don’t really want to fund the Wahabbist regimes with our money any more. Your learned opinion would be very well received. Ta.

  40. LemonLime says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 6:22 am

    Question for Mr. Burt: When did you stop beating your wife?

    Follow-up question: Would you like a way out of the first question? Convert to Islam (and read Koran 4:34).

  41. Ed says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 7:43 am

    Mr. Bert,
    When Muhammad entered Medina in 623 AD it was a Jewish-majority city. Large tribes had existed there for centuries and were known for their industry, culture, and agriculture. Muhammad’s own grandfather was sent there by his father as a young boy to learn religion and horsemanship from the Jews.
    Ten years later they were all gone. The men and boys were exiled or beheaded and the women sent across the desert to be traded for weapons and horses. All because they did not accept Muhammad as their political and military leader.
    Do you consider it extremist to look at this history and its ramifications today in the attitudes of many (not all) Muslims towards Jews with concern?

  42. nadir_ahmed says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 7:57 am

    of course Spencer is an extremist. He fools people by saying he is just against terrorism. However, he mostly attacks peaceful Muslims as he sees them all part of the “global plan” which the enemy has. He encourages mosques to be shut down across America and encourages religious hatred. Robert Spencer’s religious hatred is worse than Al Qaeda.

  43. nacazo says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:01 am

    questions for andrew burt:
    1- Are all belief systems equal?

    2- If a muslim is oppressed by another muslim based on islamic ideology, does the oppressed muslim have the right to oppose islam? or are belief systems more important than individual rights?

    3- if a belief system opposes women rights, gay rights, free speech, religious freedom and it’s xenophobic to boot; is it extremist to oppose such belief system?

    4- do you think jihad is a hijacking of islam or do you think jihad is a fundamental part of islam?

    5- Do you find acceptable Mohammed’s pedophilia, killing of poets that opposed him, anti-semitism, slave-ownership, jihad, tyranny?

    6- Do you agree that Mohammed should be an example of conduct for the modern person as Islam predicates?

  44. vickie says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:04 am

    Maybe, just maybe Andrew is reading the Qur’an, Hadith, and Reliance of the Traveller. We can hope.

    Lol!! nadir_ahmed – You commedian! Thank you for the good laugh!

  45. Montedoro44 says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:11 am

    Per a comment I just left on the 1/20 article, Sharia in action in Syria, I would ask if Mr. Burt will admit that as Islamic sharia is admittedly the law of the Islamic god, and Western law is the law of Man (and that Islamic sharia exists to release people from the law of Man) that the center of Islam is incompatible with Western civilization, that the obligation of jihad upon Muslims is then an obligation to destroy Western civilization, that to defend Western civilization — certainly, by Western-approved methods, such as learning, discussion, legislation — is not in any way “extreme”, unless “extreme” means something new. I would ask Mr. Burt what he means by “extreme”, since he entered the word into this conversation.

    Re the new website — very nice, and great to have more than 30 seconds to post a comment. But what about Preview? Using html now is iffy.

    Test: italic and boldface.

  46. nacazo says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:29 am

    nadir_ahmed said

    “Robert Spencer’s religious hatred is worse than Al Qaeda.”

    yes. we are witnesses to Robert Spencer’s multiple flying into buildings and other despicable mass murder attacks…

    /sarc off

  47. Bob says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:45 am

    Mr, Burt, You state ” I am attempting to understand the modern, so-called Anti-Sharia movement (whether or not that’s a fair term) — a movement that I believe, perhaps wrongly, is a type of political extremism, ….”

    It appears you would support Sharia based on that statement. Therefore, as a supporter of Sharia, does that not classify you as a political extremist? It would be very interesting to hear why you support such a extreme point of view.

    This, of course, assumes you understand what life under Sharia would mean.

  48. mortimer says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 9:46 am

    Dear Mr. Burt, Please spend only two hours looking at the beheading videos from Syria. If you cannot see what Islam is after two hours of beheadings and gleeful shouts of ‘Allah Akbar’, there is no hope for you to understand the idea of counterjihad…to counter and stop this sort of jihad everywhere and bring about human rights and the rule of law.

    Mr. Burt, please find out the meaning of this one word: “TAKFIR”.

  49. Mitch says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 10:24 am

    Dear Mr. Burt,

    *Why* haven’t you read the Qur’an? The Hadith? The Reliance of the Traveller?

    (The question is sincere, not rhetorical.)

  50. cranky.white.woman says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I would ask this gentleman to get in touch with Eric Allen Bell, and interview him to determine why he went from being pro-Islam to anti-Islam while working on his documentary.

  51. [FA] says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 10:59 am

    Mr. Burt,
    Before we could discuss anything of substance I think we must verify that you live in the land of logic and reason. If I have 2 cookies on a plate and I place two more cookies on the same plate how many cookies do I have? Would we agree that no matter how one interprets this question it does not change how many cookies are on the plate?

  52. Dave says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 11:12 am

    Ask this Law student (who clearly knows nothing about sharia law but wants to smear those who do) why the various Muslim countries concocted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, rather than just signing onto the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ask him why the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS was not acceptable to the 56 countries of the OIC. Ask him what did those countries object to.
    A quick comparison of these two Declarations of Human Rights makes abundantly clear that sharia law is inimical to women, non-Muslims, gays, etc. Every group has fewer rights than Muslim men. There is no such thing as equal rights in Islam. Even a quick perusal of these two documents makes this overwhelmingly clear. So why is he acting as if standing in opposition to the spread of sharia law is an extremist position?

  53. KrazyKafir says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 11:13 am

    I would like to ask Mr. Burt if he can give us an equivalent scenario where any other religion has created 750 no-go zones in the country they’ve immigrated to? The government of France has dedicated a page of their 750 no-go zones for the protection of its indigenous peoples.

    Please browse at your leisure.

    http://sig.ville.gouv.fr/Atlas/ZUS/

  54. Dave says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 11:24 am

    Amusingly, Andrew Burt writes:
    I am a journalist and a third-year student at Yale Law School . . .
    As one of the most respected voices on this subject, I would also like to know how you came to dedicate your time to such issues, and how your involvement has evolved.
    Could someone please explain to this journalist and Yale Law student what a dangling participle is? Does he not know that he just pronounced himself to be “one of the most respected voices on this subject”? Eli, Eli, how far you’ve fallen.

    • Marbran says

      Jan 23, 2014 at 9:40 am

      Thanks, Dave. I spotted that error, too. Burt made it sound as if HE were the respected voice. What do expect from our college educated these days?

  55. Connie says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 11:40 am

    Assuming he has Muslim friends,
    is it unfair to ask Mr. Burt if
    he knows the definition of
    TAQIYYA?

  56. zaba says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:41 pm

    Missed it.
    What’s the question?

  57. Luke from Poland says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:46 pm

    Hi Robert,

    Your posts and comments are as great as ever and I’ve been using your site for research and analysis since 2005.

    I regret to note that the new layout isn’t as good as the old one. The main reason for this is that the website now is much slower to navigate through. Also, I haven’t been able to use the search widget as well as the categories.

    While perhaps the content hasn’t been that much affected by the change, the original charm of your blog is gone now. It used to be much cleaner, less messy.

    I hope there will be other unhappy readers with complaints!

    All the best from the snowy Poland.

    Luke

  58. Pedro A Bigay says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 12:49 pm

    Former president Jimmy Carter?……LOL

  59. Connie says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 1:52 pm

    With all due respect to Luke of snowy Poland, the new format allows us quiet folks to enter our thoughts quickly and with more ease! I never did cotton to the need to stay up until midnight or later to get my comments into the next thread.

    P.S. Since 2005 you have found a valuable treasure in JihadWatch! Lucky man!

  60. Martin Grimes says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:01 pm

    Ask for an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Having a chapter dedicated to a Somali, exmuslim, woman and advocate for freedom of speech should help destroy any preconceived, stereotypical idea of what an extremist sounds like.

    • hulagirl says

      Jan 26, 2014 at 11:31 am

      Yes, let’s not forget Ayaan! Excellent source for Mr. Burt. Also, re the comment format, I like it when there’s a “like” tabulator at the bottom of the comment, or a thumbs up and down.

  61. Dag says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:14 pm

    Working today?

  62. mortimer says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:14 pm

    Mr. Burt, is the following an ‘extremist’ statement?

    “Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” – Thomas Mann

    • marclouis says

      Jan 22, 2014 at 5:15 pm

      test reply

  63. Dag says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:17 pm

    WOW! At last I can comment.

    Now, to think of something to say after all these years ….

  64. Jacksonl03 says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    Test

  65. Jacksonl03 says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:26 pm

    Comment

  66. desertdweller says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:26 pm

    “I am attempting to understand the modern, so-called Anti-Sharia movement ”

    … I would start by asking if Mr. Burt can define “Sharia.”

  67. LemonLime says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:28 pm

    Looking over the comments again, including the new ones, and mulling over Mr. Burt’s cannily polite query, it dawns on me that the most acutely cogent response has come from one “Elisabeth” in the comments, who politely demands that Mr. Burt first clariy what he means by “extremist”. I would expand that and require him to explain — to our satisfaction — all his velvet-gloved implications, including that Sharia is unobjectionable. This clarification and explanation by him would have to be done before any further communication transpires.

  68. LemonLime says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    “in recognition of the fact that we now have, for the first time in a very long time, a glitch-free comment section”

    At least two glitches remain:

    1) the “Reply” button does not work

    2) one cannot tell from the main page how many comments attach to each article.

    General Recommendation: Spencer should create a feature on the top or side panel — an ongoing open comments forum, always visible and available on the front page — for any and all thoughts by readers about any issue generally related to the theme of jihad and Jihad Watch. It would be an easy way to create the rough nucleus of a general Command Center for Civilian Commentary.

  69. prman says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:20 pm

    It is a shame that many of the current crop of “journalists”–whether print or electronic–have no grounding in the areas they purport to cover. I was amused to read Robert’s query of Mr. Burt as to his knowledge of the Qur’an, the Hadith, etc. The answer, most likely, was he has little or none. And untutored guys like these go on to publish articles that reach lopsided conclusions–stirring the waters and ultimately misinforming the public. It’s one thing to listen to the prattling of zombie imams; it’s quite another to confront the bilge coming from supposedly college-educated “journalists” who ought to know better.

    • Larry A. Singleton says

      Jan 23, 2014 at 3:37 am

      Unfortunately there might still be a few bugs in this comment function.

      Anyway, thanks for nailing it when it comes to these college educated morons. I was exchanging emails with a Professor Cohen. I think he was a professor. Anyway, he poo-pooed the idea of “non-educated” people addressing Islamic issues. Needless to say Bostom, Ye’or, Horowitz and Kramer immediately come to mind when it comes to exposing the so-called “experts” in Academia and the “non” academics who are filling the big gaping hole that is today’s Middle Eastern studies here and Europe.

  70. Geppetto says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 4:27 pm

    Getting the word out on the intimate association between Islam and terrorism around the world has been agonizingly slow and frustrating in the extreme. Jihad Watch and other similar sites are mostly “speaking to the choir” while those immersed in the legacy media, leftist, elitist, hubristic, “know it all’s,” dismiss any article written by those on their list of extremists before getting past the author’s name.

    In my humble opinion these close minded individuals are not inherently prejudiced but have been so well indoctrinated that they dismiss out of hand any opinions or articles that might challenge their preconceived views.

    That Mr Burt might be among them should not preclude any attempt at dialogue. As evidence around the world amply demonstrates, what I refer to as the followers pf orthodox Islam have very successfully created this notion that Islam is a religion of peace despite massive evidence to the contrary. How was this accomplished? By dialogue and infiltration, most especially in academia, the media, politics and every major venue of mass communications. That they lie through their teeth with impunity demonstrates the strength of the grip they have on opinion. The massive expose on the deception that pervades around the world will require no less an effort.

    As a journalist Mr. Burt should be afforded every opportunity to demonstrate whether of not he has the courage to express a view of Islam diametrically opposed to that of his contemporaries.

    Ask him if he’s prepared to face the condemnation of his friends, family and peers for having the courage to portray the truth about Islam and its connection to all of the brutal and horrific acts of terror being perpetrated around the world in its name.

    • Aubryn says

      Jan 24, 2014 at 3:06 am

      Geppetto writes above that infiltration, most especially in academia, the media, politics and every major venue of mass communications has occurred using taqiyya, the Quran instruction to lie to the enemy infidel. I would add the education system and the libraries as well. That is true. What is also true is that the reason these lies are so indiscriminately swallowed as truth (contrary to all the abundant evidence) with no thought or investigation is found in The Art of War: The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. This infiltration and lying resulting in blind bias is because these entities were already biased against the enemy of Islam according to Islam: Christians and Jews. They want to believe the lie that Islam is innocent and we are the extremists.
      I would ask Mr Burt: Is it extreme to mutilate the genitals of all female toddler children of adherents to this ‘religion’ or is it extreme to oppose this genital mutilation?

  71. Mo says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    @ nadir_ahmed

    “of course Spencer is an extremist. He fools people by saying he is just against terrorism. However, he mostly attacks peaceful Muslims as he sees them all part of the “global plan” which the enemy has. ”

    Liar. Provide the evidence.

    “He encourages mosques to be shut down across America and encourages religious hatred. Robert Spencer’s religious hatred is worse than Al Qaeda.”

    Liar. Provide the evidence.

    Show me who Robert has murdered.

    Liar.

  72. Vivienne Leijonhufvud (goldie) says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 5:07 pm

    I couldn’t have put it better myself. ‘Prattling Imams’ leads me to believe large numbers of Imams are unable to read. Majority of Muslims lack national broad curricular. I would guess 70% of Muslims are unable to read. The Koran parts of which I have read read like an inferior version of Fitzgerald’s translation of the epic poem by Omar Kahyam! Wahabbi is around 200 years old, this version of the Koran is extreme. It is quite clear to any analytic mind the Koran is made up of parts of the Talmud, Torah and New Testament with remnants of the pagan worship of the old Fertility Goddess whose names are many. Struck me this law student gave an American name when in fact he is Muslim. I personally would have sent him a letter along the lines of my comment. Then I don’t have patience with kids who think they have something to say!

  73. Connie says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    Mr. Luke, I’m new to this method of commenting so you may have to do a little searching to find my comment to your comment!

    • marclouis says

      Jan 22, 2014 at 10:58 pm

      there are account recovery and login button on the right sidebar now

  74. Tony says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 6:14 pm

    One can’t credibly call a person an extremist for opposing Sharia if one can’t define Sharia. Mr. Burt, to date, has not demonstrated that he knows anything about what Sharia entails. He appears to know something because he is able to determine who the extremists are. Now if he would kindly share with us what he knows perhaps with additional explanation as to why he believes opposing Sharia is extreme.

  75. gravenimage says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    nadr_ahmed wrote:

    of course Spencer is an extremist. He fools people by saying he is just against terrorism.
    …………………………………….

    Standing against Jihad terror is a major focus of Mr. Spencer’s—but not the sole one. The purpose of Jihad terror is conquest to establish an Islamic state, and that means the imposition of brutal Shar’ah law.

    Are you yourself an advocate of the imposition of Shari’ah on Infidels?

    More:

    However, he mostly attacks peaceful Muslims as he sees them all part of the “global plan” which the enemy has.
    …………………………………….

    Despite the sneer quotes, this is a clear reference to the imposition of Shari’ah law, which all pious Muslims adhere to. Again, I ask if you would like to see Shari’ah imposed in the free West as well?

    More:

    He encourages mosques to be shut down across America and encourages religious hatred.
    …………………………………….

    He has only questioned Mosques which preach Muslim supremacism, Jihad, and the imposition of Shari’ah. What are your views on Mosques that preach such violence?

    More:

    Robert Spencer’s religious hatred is worse than Al Qaeda.
    …………………………………….

    Since Robert Spencer has never once advocated violence, and Al Qaeda is horrifically homicidal, I can only conclude that you consider Mr. Spencer worse than Al Qaeda because you consider peacefully opposing Jihad and Shari’ah worse than violently waging it.

    I await your reply—but I won’t be holding my breath.

  76. Dave Braheny says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    “In my humble opinion these close minded individuals are not inherently prejudiced but have been so well indoctrinated that they dismiss out of hand any opinions or articles that might challenge their preconceived views.”

    *********

    Uh, yah.

    You’re quite correct they are not ”inherently prejudiced” they learned it. And they continue in this “learned” state by expending much energy denying all contrary facts and logic, to maintain their willfully ignorant state.

  77. Infovoyeur says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 8:21 pm

    Yeah, that’s probably how (1) the natural human tendency facing danger is to READ resist evade avoid deny, that is to Flee or Freeze not Fight, is regrettably accelerated by (2) the world-view(s) of liberal, utopian, progressive, politically correct, steamroller-egalitarianism (etc., etc.)

  78. Eric V. Snow says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 9:17 pm

    Isn’t “extremism” a relative term? For example, an American politician who opposed the welfare state and social democracy in 1880 would be considered “mainstream.” Today, someone who advocates laissez-faire capitalism (like that in America c. 1880) is an “extremist.” If is it a relative term, and “extremists” are believed to be wrong because the majority is right, how do we know that the majority must be right? If the majority (at least in the elite) thought that laissez-faire was fine in 1880, but now reject it, how do we know that they are right now? The bottom line is that truth isn’t necessarily the property of the majority, whether of elite opinion or that of average people.

  79. Rob says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 9:47 pm

    He would cower in fear from AHA.
    I think Burt has come up with an idea to get him noticed by his Professors and achieve some kind of grade advantage.

  80. Dave L says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 9:48 pm

    Excellent and most succinct point, Sir DesertDweller. Burt clearly has no idea of what sharia is. He should not opine until he has read Reliance of the Traveller. And he should not take lazy short-cuts such as reading lame bromides of Noah Feldman in the NY Times op/ed page. Just go to the source!
    Dave L.

  81. Dave says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 10:03 pm

    Mr. Burt,

    Here is an interview of a very articulate man of the left who used to share your views, and then he started investigating and learning first-hand:

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=eric+allen+bell+islam&FORM=VIRE7#view=detail&mid=BAA46398D6B1CE07D6E4BAA46398D6B1CE07D6E4
    p.s. Every time I listen to this interview, I get more out of it.

  82. Dave says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 10:05 pm

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=eric+allen+bell+islam&FORM=VIRE7#view=detail&mid=BAA46398D6B1CE07D6E4BAA46398D6B1CE07D6E4

  83. RodSerling says

    Jan 22, 2014 at 10:56 pm

    Burt’s brief (and inadequate) answer to what constitutes Spencer’s “extremism”:
    “In regards to your first question, to the extent that you appear to advocate that there is something uniquely suspicious, perhaps even evil, about Islam among all the other world religions, I believe that that is an extreme point of view.”

    In addition to the other things, which I mentioned earlier, that make Islam unique or significantly different, how about the obvious fact that the United States and its allies have been for the past 13 years, and are currently, in a war against the self-declared representatives of true Islam, a small sampling of whom attacked us on 9/11. We are not at war with the representatives of Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. The fact is that no religion’s “extremists” are currently attacking us and incurring huge costs on us, except Islam’s. Are there any other religions that have large percentages of members that currently regard the West as Satanic, and the United States as “the Great Satan,” the arch enemy?

    To this we can add Huntington’s point, that the Islamic world has bloody borders, to a far greater extent than any other religiously-defined set of regions.

    What else? Let’s see. Traditional Islam forbids music (except for jihad a limited religious purposes). It forbids representational art. If I’m an “extremist” for noting that Islam is the only religion, to my knowledge, that generally forbids music and representational art, then count me an “extremist” according to Andrew Burt’s absurd, ill-considered classification scheme.

    FGM (female genital mutilation). Islam is not unique in authorizing and justifying FGM (it is approved according to all major schools of Islamic jurisprudence), but again, is significantly different in that most of the FGM that happens in the world is due to Muslims following Islam, and most (if not all) of the FGM that occurs in the West is due to some Muslim immigrants bringing the practice with them in their cultural baggage.

  84. Chuck says

    Jan 23, 2014 at 1:06 am

    Questions for Mr. Burt:

    Which one is extremist – the religion that says those who leave it should be killed, or the person who points this out?

    Which one is extremist – the religion that says homosexuals should be killed , or the person who points this out?

    Which one is extremist – the religion that says a woman’s testimony in court is worth half that of a man’s, or the person who points this out?

    I could go on at length with questions like these, but I think everyone (with the possible exception of Mr. Burt) gets the point.

    • Larry A. Singleton says

      Jan 23, 2014 at 3:20 am

      When I see comments like yours I automatically look for a “thumbs up” feature.

      Yeah, I would really like to see him address these posers. Posers for him anyway.

  85. Al-Kaafir Min-SanFrancisco says

    Jan 23, 2014 at 1:47 am

    Andrew,

    As a left-wing gay man in San Francisco who used to live in an Arab state based upon Sharia, who has read the Quran and innumerable Hadith, who has spoken to countless Muslims about their understanding of Sharia, and who has been in accord with Robert Spencer’s work for a decade now, am I an extremist for being informed, experienced and in opposition to Sharia?

    Al-Kaafir Min-SanFrancisco

    • Dave says

      Jan 24, 2014 at 12:19 am

      Al Kaafir,

      I would really like to hear Burt try to answer your question. I would be even more ammused to hear Barack Obama, that champion of gay marriage and women’s rights here in the U.S., who is an even greater champion of the Muslim Brotherhood through out the world (the Brotherhood which seeks to impose sharia death sentences on gays and sickening punishments on women, including lapidation), I would just love to hear a journalist finally ask the Prez to reconcile these two positions. Let the stammering and stuttering begin. But alas no such journalists exist anymore, or at least none would be allowed anywhere near the taqiyya master.

  86. Larry A. Singleton says

    Jan 23, 2014 at 3:50 am

    I guess I spoke too soon. I was singing the praises of the comments and… ….what a bummer.

  87. isntlam says

    Jan 23, 2014 at 5:14 am

    Mr Burt, will you be including interviews with Muslim extremists in your book? Or are extremists only to be found among Christians?

  88. toni says

    Jan 23, 2014 at 2:28 pm

    somehow this useless troglodyte, dredged up from the depths of surplus humanity, one Burt , reminds me of the words in Dr J. Goebels diary, after asking the the German people if they wanted total war at a Berlin rally when all was lost. the Germans to a man all stood up shouting Heil Hitler. Dr Josef Goebels wrote utter schwachsin (feebleminded). Friend Burt would have no doubt screemed Heil Hilter in all his perverted sense of logic, had he been there.
    It is a pity about the money his parents wasted on his college days.

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

  • Infidel on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • gravenimage on Al-Qaeda Calls on Jihadis to Kill Non-Muslims With Poisoned Coronavirus Masks
  • Infidel on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • gravenimage on Israel At A Crossroads?
  • Infidel on Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and UAE conduct joint military exercises amid rising Turkish threat

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.