In the early 1930s, Nazi brownshirts used to go to college campuses and heckle and intimidate anti-Nazi professors. Now the successors and ideological kin of those brownshirts, the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations, get support from professors — and they’ve won another victory over the freedom of speech and the resistance to jihad terror.
Why was Hamas-linked CAIR gunning for Hirsi Ali? CAIR in its press release quoted Hirsi Ali from a 2007 interview saying: “I think that we are at war with Islam.”
Ironically, CAIR spokesmen have said the same thing: “The new perception is that the United States has entered a war with Islam itself,” said then-CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed in July 2007. The only difference is that Hirsi Ali and CAIR are on opposite sides of this war. Is it unacceptable at Brandeis, a contradiction of its core values, to oppose the global jihad? Apparently so.
In the same interview, Hirsi Ali also called for the closing of Islamic schools in the United States. While that is indeed a severe and questionable recommendation, it should be remembered that Ayaan Hirsi Ali attended Islamic schools in her native Somalia. She no doubt also has seen the reports from all over the world showing hatred and violence being taught in all too many Islamic schools. In that same interview she said: “Asking whether radical preachers ought to be allowed to operate is not hostile to the idea of civil liberties; it’s an attempt to save civil liberties. A nation like this one is based on civil liberties, and we shouldn’t allow any serious threat to them. So Muslim schools in the West, some of which are institutions of fascism that teach innocent kids that Jews are pigs and monkeys—I would say in order to preserve civil liberties, don’t allow such schools.”
Is calling for the schools that teach hatred and contempt of an entire group of people against the core values of Brandeis University? Apparently it is.
Hamas-linked CAIR means to shut down any and every foe of jihad terror and Islamic supremacism. And supine, terrified officials at Brandeis and all over rush to do their bidding. No one seems to have the courage to stand up to these Islamic supremacist foes of freedom and truth. Dark days, and it is going to get worse.
Brandeis University President Frederick Lawrence’s email address is lawrence@brandeis.edu. Let him know, politely and courteously, what you think of his capitulation to fascist Islamic supremacists.
“Brandeis University withdraws planned honorary degree for Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali,” from Fox News, April 9 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Brandeis University in Massachusetts announced Tuesday that it had withdrawn the planned awarding of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a staunch critic of Islam and its treatment of women, after protests from students and faculty.
The university said in a statement posted online that the decision had been made after a discussion between Ali and university President Frederick Lawrence.
“She is a compelling public figure and advocate for women’s rights, and we respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world,” said the university’s statement. “That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.”
Ali, a member of the Dutch Parliament from 2003 to 2006, has been quoted as making comments critical of Islam. That includes a 2007 interview with Reason Magazine in which she said of the religion, “Once it’s defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful. It’s very difficult to even talk about peace now. They’re not interested in peace. I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle ground in wars.”
Ali was raised in a strict Muslim family, but after surviving a civil war, genital mutilation, beatings and an arranged marriage, she renounced the faith in her 30s. She has not commented publicly on the issue of the honorary degree.
In 2007, Ali helped establish the AHA Foundation, which works to protect and defend the rights of women in the West from oppression justified by religion and culture, according to its website. The foundation also strives to protect basic rights and freedoms of women and girls. This includes control of their own bodies, access to an education and the ability to work outside the home and control their own income, the website says.
More than 85 of about 350 faculty members at Brandeis signed a letter asking for Ali to be removed from the list of honorary degree recipients. And an online petition created Monday by students at the school of 5,800 had gathered thousands of signatures from inside and outside the university as of Tuesday afternoon.
“This is a real slap in the face to Muslim students,” said senior Sarah Fahmy, a member of the Muslim Student Association who created the petition said before the university withdrew the honor.
“But it’s not just the Muslim community that is upset but students and faculty of all religious beliefs,” she said. “A university that prides itself on social justice and equality should not hold up someone who is an outright Islamophobic.”
Thomas Doherty, chairman of American studies, refused to sign the faculty letter. He said it would have been great for the university to honor “such a courageous fighter for human freedom and women’s rights, who has put her life at risk for those values.”
Bernard Macy, a 1979 Brandeis graduate, sent an email this week to university President Frederick Lawrence and several members of the faculty saying, “Thank you for recognizing Ayaan Hirsi Ali for defending Muslim women against Islamist honor violence.”
But Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group, said, “It is unconscionable that such a prestigious university would honor someone with such openly hateful views.”
The organization sent a letter to university President Frederick Lawrence on Tuesday requesting that it drop plans to honor Ali.
“This makes Muslim students feel very uneasy,” Joseph Lumbard, chairman of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, said in an interview. “They feel unwelcome here.”
Christian A. Beltram says
In response to Joseph Lumbard, Muslim students and Muslims as a whole would not have to feel unwelcome if the extremist elements within their community would stop advocating terrorism, honor killings and other forms of abuse against women along with other atrocities against innocent human beings.
Jay Boo says
SHOUT IT OUT
The Muslim Student Association created the petition
Ban Islam
Lee says
Ban Islam. Ban the building of any new mosque. Monitor existing mosques from within. Ban the burqa. Treat Moslems living in the West as they treat Jews and Christians living in the East.
Evil personified, that is Islam.
Jon Sobieski says
Lumbard is a Muslim, converted from Episcopal in the 90s. Really into the Sufi ‘mysticism’ bs stuff. He has those naive colleagues in his pocket.
Why stop with witch burning Ali? Why not start a petition to disclose who voted for Ali to get a honorary degree? Those who voted for Ali are the real witches and I think Brandeis should name them. The MSA can raise crosses at the center of campus, the other professors can lash the witches (who like Ali) to them and the dhimmi kuffar students can be required to bring a full burlap bag of twigs to use as kindling, and then as they clap, the MSA leadership can ride in triumphant on their high petard and light the witches on fire. it’s the right thing to do, that way, everyone will understand that criticism of Islam is so wrong.
dumbledoresarmy says
Joseph Lumbard, eh?
He has ‘form’.
He (along with a number of other equally suspect converts to Islam) was one of the 138 Islamic ‘scholars’ who signed off on the sweetly-sinister “A Common Word” da’wa offer/ threat that was sent by the Muslims to the leaders of all the main Christian groups on the planet, in October 2007.
Further, he had appeared on the jihadwatch radar two years prior to that date.
Here – from October 21 2005, in this thread (just scroll down through the comments)
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2005/10/moderate-jordan-airs-antisemitic-ramadan-tv-series
is the erudite “Hugh Fitzgerald”, then a regular contributor and member of the jihadwatch board, taking Joseph Lumbard to pieces (metaphorically speaking).
Hugh
October 21, 2005 at 8:54 pm
“If Abdullah {king of Jordan} thinks being a nice guy, with fond memories of Deerfield, and having a pretty wife, is enough to blind Americans to the nature of the country he happens to rule, thanks to the British doing unnecessary favor for the Hashemites booted out of the Hejaz by the Al-Saud, he’s got another think coming.
“And if his “adviser” on how to present Islam to the non-Muslims, a certain Joseph Lumbard, thinks he can present his sanitized version of Islam and continue to have it accepted by unwary Infidels — whose numbers decrease every day — he too has another think coming.
“It will be fascinating to see how Lumbard deals, for example, with the contents — those dozens of Western scholars of Islam, from decades ago, on the subject of Jihad, whose articles do not date but acquire even more force and pith and relevance now — of “The Legacy of Jihad.”
Chances are he will not dare to read it. For what then can the Lumbards of this world say in response?”
Lumbard’s involvement in and endorsement of this disinviting and dishonoring of Ayaan Hirsi Ali by Brandeis U has just been noted and included, next to his name, in the dossier that I have been compiling upon those 138 ‘scholars’ (having that list of names of signatories has been *very*, very useful!).
voegelinian says
All individuals who try to fob off an Islam — or a type of Muslim — that is not pernicious and lethal to us, are doing what Lumbard is doing. The only distinctions we can make depends on their motive and relative degree of knowledge of which they speak. It becomes particularly and acutely galling when it emanates from within the Counter-Jihad, a vocal passenger in the otherwise Counter-Jihad vehicle. As a fellow passenger of this bus we’re all in, I refuse to go along and not be disquieted when certain individuals, now and then, to my left and right prattle on, sometimes, about one way or another by which not all Muslims are equally suspect given our increasingly, metastatically perilous situation.
Defcon 4 says
Have you ever considered that what you’re proposing is against the core tenets of the death cult called islam? Do you think even discussing your proposal would be acceptable in ANY islamic state?
Jay Boo says
Islam’s filth is indefensible.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s opponents therefore resort to deception by attempting to provoke a response to twist her words against her yet they come up frustrated when she does not take the bait. JW’s should use her as an example in confronting Islam.
NOTE:
The AHA Foundation was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. State Department for our support and guidance in assisting victims of forced marriage.
Jay Boo says
Correction
(their) support and guidance in assisting victims of forced marriage.
john spielman says
are you sure the state dept didn’t intend the award for ‘”assisting the forced marriage of victims”
Rocky Lore says
It’s sad that a school named after a Jewish Supreme Court Justice would cave to the demands of Islamofascists.
Salah says
“..I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle ground in wars.”
Indeed, there’s no middle ground in wars.
For our safety, jihadists must be defeated, but for our children’s safety, Islam must be defeated.
The best way to defeat Islam is to tell the truth about the founder of Islam.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfect-man-of-islam.html
CogitoErgoSum says
“But it’s not just the Muslim community that is upset but students and faculty of all religious beliefs,” she said. “A university that prides itself on social justice and equality should not hold up someone who is an outright Islamophobic.”
Do these “students and faculty of all religious beliefs” understand what Islam teaches its followers to do to them? Have they ever read the Quran or tried to understand what it says? Apparently they have not and are living comfortably in their ignorance….for now. But one day they…or their children…will wake up and realize how the most pious Muslims interpret the Quran. And yes, it will be the most pious who eventually take charge and bring the other “moderate” Muslims in line with the unchangeable words of Allah.
So…..anyone at Brandeis want to take a shot at explaining just one verse from the Quran to me? Try this one:
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.” (Sahih International translation) Please include what is meant by “fight” and “humbled” and “give the jizyah willingly” and how it all relates to freedom of religion, social justice and equality.
A humble infidel awaits the wisdom of the learned. Oh….am I using the word “infidel” correctly? I am one who does not believe in Allah or his messenger. Maybe you have some other names to call me…..like “Islamophobe,” or “kafir”……..or worse.
Mannie Sherberg says
This is what happens when a once-respectable college is taken over by an administration of terrified twerps and a faculty of pusillanimous punks. Ms. Ali can consider herself lucky that Brandeis made the decision it did. Had she accepted an “honorary” degree from such craven cowards, she — one of the world’s most courageous people — would only have dishonored herself.
Hannah says
Well said!!!
Jay Boo says
QUOTES:
“However, some things must be said, and there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali
“Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Islam was like a mental cage. At first, when you open the door, the caged bird stays inside: it is frightened. It has internalized its imprisonment. It takes time for bird to escape, even after someone has opened the doors to its cage.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel
“I lived in countries that had no democracy… so I don’t find myself in the same luxury as you do. You grew up in freedom, and you can spit on freedom because you don’t know what it is not to have freedom.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali
“The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world; it restrains them, confines them, grooms them for docility. A mind can be cramped just as a body may be, and a Muslim veil blinkers both your vision and your destiny. It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of a sex.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations
Defcon 4 says
Mrs. Hirsi certainly isn’t afraid to pull her punches. I wonder if she has any death fatwahs hanging over her head?
vickie says
“It is unconscionable that such a prestigious university would .. listen to someone like Ibrahim Hooper!!
http://cairhateandterror.blogspot.com/2009/04/ibrahim-hoopers-former-employer.html
Elise says
If this woman had been an ex nun or sexual abuse victim, complaining about the Catholic Church or an ex Mormon complaining about the Mormon Church, she would have been hailed as a wonderful feminist and deserving of the honorary degree. Why are women who speak the truth about their lives as a Muslim so hated? The treatment of this woman is so telling about the education and closed minds on college campuses in America. Where are the students who support Hirsi Ali for her bravery to leave the tribal mindset and speak out against the atrocities force on women in Islamic culture? Where is the NOW?
Bradamante says
I’ve sent an email, very polite, to the president of this dhimmified institution.
jihad3tracker says
Hello Bradamante —
You are reading my mind… I got on here at JW to see if anyone has done that very essential step — letting Brandeis’s highest official know of this surrender.
ALSO THX TO JAY BOO FOR ROUNDING UP THOSE ELOQUENT QUOTES BY MS. ALI.
I notice that Linda Sarsour is one of the happy tweeters. Be sure to check out a posting at David Wood’s Answering Muslims website about the latest Megyn Kelly vid on “Honor Diaries”.
The comments after the post include a lead to Linda Sarsour’s foul mouthed “comedy” monologue which is up on Youtube. Spencer has plenty of postings here about her — just use the keyword searchbox.
John Stefan Obeda says
Bradamante, I worked on one too, but it didn’t go through. The address I used: Lawrence@brandeis.edu. I guess he’s been getting so much mail that he cancelled his address. Isn’t it a sad situation in our world. Our institutions of learning are to be exemplary in the freedom of speech and upholding democracy and honouring courageous souls and to emphasize the truth, but they’re failing the American people and it’s the same in Canada where I live.
RodSerling says
I don’t agree with honorary degrees; I think degrees should be earned. Yet if honorary degrees are going to be given, people like Ayaan should be among those who receive them.
Brandeis’ all-too-ready capitulation here to Islamist groups tied to the Muslim Brotherhood (MSA) and the terrorist group Hamas (CAIR) is but one more indication as to how clueless and compromised our institutions have become.
RodSerling says
“That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.” –Lawrence
Which statements?
Kalliope says
At this point, I’d ask which values?
Because apparently, speaking out against misogyny and brutalization of all non-Muslims isn’t one of them.
Gary Simpson says
In the end, it is believed “evil would be perceived as good and good as evil” – this is just another example. Islam is a warped fanatical cult based on 7th century folklore and the adventures of Muhammad who by all accounts was a pedophile, rapist and murderer! World domination is their goal, they have no desire to co-exist with others. Non-believers (Infidels) can be used as slaves or to assist Islam or they can be killed according to the tenets of the Quran. There is “no such” thing as a moderate Muslim. People better wake up because they are winning. In America, we have a Muslim sympathizer with deep Islamic ties. How could this happen? America has fallen so far, can it ever recover?
Champ ✿ says
Ali, a member of the Dutch Parliament from 2003 to 2006, has been quoted as making comments critical of Islam.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aw, yes–being critical of islam means that Ali spoke the Truth!
CAIR & company can’t silence the truth forever …
Twostellas says
She will always be one of my heroes, no matter what CAIR and Islamists decide is the correct way to think of her. Brave, beautiful woman, inside and out. She’s a shining light in the darkness, and she will never cover her light, it would be impossible for her to even try Im sure.
And ya know what? I doubt after all she’s been through in her life she really cares much about cowardly Brandeis, she’s dealt with people and ignorant organizations, such as Brandeis, her whole life through. They are pests to her I’m sure, to be shooed away. What are they, what victory is this for them, when she lives under death threat her whole life through? They are pests, she will write a paragraph or two about the incident and show who she is with grace and devastate their ignorant and, in the case of CAIR; shrouded, position. It’s just who she is. CAIR should be scared of her. She is a very beautiful, brilliant, bright light. This they despise.
veryneat says
I am sure the cowardly president of Brandeis is already regretting his craven decision. The fact that he didnot foresee the negative publicity his action would attract shows that he is stupid as well as cowardly. Brandeis had better get itself a new president….one who has guts and a brain…..both lacking in the current incumbent.
jewdog says
I’m very happy Brandeis cancelled her talk. This will result in far more publicity for her message than if she had been permitted to speak, and will generate sympathy for her. In addition, CAIR assumes the role of the bully who is afraid of any criticism.
Brandeis can join the long list of institutes of higher debt and sterilized learning that increasingly blight our educational landscape.
jihad3tracker says
Yes, jewdog — you are spot on about more awareness caused by a withdrawn honorary degree offer.
That error and other obvious gaffes in thinking strategically — which CAIR and its associates do over and over again — is why I shake my ancient head in disbelief at their “press conferences” and media “statements”.
How dumb can they be — telegraphing their hatred of freedom and love of fascism every time such events happen ?
But here is an explanation : CAIR has only one pair of cards in a deck that should hold 52 — Joker #1 (Islamophobia) and Joker #2 (dimestore thug Nathan Lean’s head on one end and pussy-whipped husband Reza Aslan’s head at the opposite) …
BlueRaven says
Hirsi Ali is a great person in my mind and in the minds of billions of others, with or without a Honorary Degree.
Politely, my middle finger sticks way up to the Dons and Deans of the Brandeis University who didn’t let her speak. A bunch of losers.
BlueRaven says
I guess the ban didn’t come cheap. How much did you pay the Brandeis CAIR to silence “free speach”?
Defcon 4 says
“That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.”
So does that mean Brandeis University finds the core values of pisslam
acceptable? I wonder how much money they’re hoping to receive from
islam0nazi NGO’s for their faux morality?
Champ ✿ says
So does that mean Brandeis University finds the core values of pisslam
acceptable?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great question, Defcon 4 …and I had the same thought. Perhaps they accept the “core values” of islam (ironically islam HAS no values); or they are completely ignorant to what those core values are, or they’re operating out of the pc/mc mindset.
RodSerling says
Given their revoking of their offer to Hirsi Ali, perhaps Brandeis might also wish to consider revoking honorary degrees that they already granted to the following individuals, who’ve all been tried and found guilty of “Islamophobia”:
Albright, Madeleine K. Laws 45th Commencement 1996, 05-19
Laqueur, Walter Humane Letters 43rd Commencement 1994, 05-22
Oates, Joyce Carol Humane Letters 56th Commencement 2007, 05-20
Sharansky, Natan Humane Letters 41st Commencement 1992, 05-24
Wiesel, Elie Humane Letters 29th Commencement 1980, 05-25
http://www.brandeis.edu/trustees/hdr/recipients.html
————-
Re: the Reason mag article that people are citing in the speculation over which statements Brandeis used as justification for this action against Hirsi Ali, it looks to me as though the interviewer is attempting very hard to put words in her mouth throughout much of the interview:
http://reason.com/archives/2007/10/10/the-trouble-is-the-west/singlepage
At no point does Hirsi Ali advocate wiping out Muslims or anything like that.
From CAIR’s page:
“For example, in her acceptance speech for the Axel Springer Award, Ali seemed to express sympathy for mass murderer Anders Breivik, who included her writings in his manifesto. …”
False. Hirsi Ali noted that strict politically correct policies preventing people from expressing any critical thoughts about Islamization in public had created a situation where some people will resort to violence to get their views heard. That’s certainly not advocating violence, or expressing sympathy with Breivik
“During the course of a single 2007 interview with Reason Magazine Ali said, ‘I think that we are at war with Islam,’ called for the closing of ‘all Muslim schools’ in America and urged that Islam be ‘defeated.'”
Islam is an ideology, and as such it is no more offensive to say that it should be defeated as any other set of ideas should be defeated. A military response is needed against the Islamic militants, and an ideological response is needed against the Islamic ideologues.
Of course, many people, possibly including the officials at Brandeis, believe that religions per se should be off-limits for criticism.
“Also in that interview, Ali claimed ‘there is no moderate Islam’ and suggested that the U.S. Constitution should be amended to allow for discrimination against Muslims saying, ‘There were no Muslim schools when the constitution was written. There were no jihadists.’. …”
There is no evidence that Muslims schools are themselves in compliance with the constitution, and plenty of evidence that the contents of their teachings run counter to laws and values of the United States.
“Would you, as head of a university named after the first Jewish justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, remain silent if a similar honor was offered to an individual who said ‘we are at war with Judaism,’ that all Jewish schools in America should be closed and that the Constitution should be changed to deny rights to members of the Jewish community?”
We don’t find ourselves in a war against Jews or Judaism (because they aren’t warring against us), and Jewish schools aren’t teaching that the West is evil and needs to be replaced by Judaism through violence and establishing Jewish law.
“I hope that after reviewing her intolerant, inflammatory and unconstitutional views, you will agree with us that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is unworthy of the great honor Brandeis University plans to bestow on her.”
You could pick any set of statements from practically any individual that are deemed by others to be “intolerant, inflammatory, and unconstitutional,” and exclude a person from some honorary award based on those statements. Today it happens to be Islam that is the number one ideology you are not allowed to oppose or criticize, even if you are criticizing the rape, murder, mutilation, torture, persecution, etc., that is approved by that ideology and by much of its followers throughout the world today.
ma says
My Letter to Brandeis University:
Dear Mr. Lawrence
I’m disheartened to learn of your institutions capitulation to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and others who are intolerant of any and all criticism of Islam regardless of how factual the criticism may be.
My question to you is: what past statements attributed to Ms. Hirsi Ali are “inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values”?
I have read her books Nomad and Infidel where she documents her path from being a true believer to realizing the tremendous social harm that Islam continues to cause. She is a true voice for millions of powerless women oppressed by a 7th century ideology and yet white privileged men like you join together with those who want to maintain the denial of that oppression. As a university educated white man of privilege myself, I’m in a good position to see the hypocrisy of your actions.
There was a time when educational institutions led the way in social justice. Sadly, those days are well over. Instead, you have allied yourself with CAIR, an organization that even my Canadian government publicly acknowledges has “documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas” (Jason MacDonald, the prime minister’s director of communications, January 16, 2014).
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room here: Islamophobia. Charges of “Islamophobia” and the implied threats of violence that accompany this by organizations such as CAIR is a sure way to shut down all rational discourse. Isn’t that what’s really going on here? Brandeis, like many other institutions, fail to challenge the Islamist narratives that continue to produce hate-filled Jihadists like Nidal Malik Hasan (fort Hood), the Tsarnaev brothers (Boston), and the many other domestic terrorists acting in the name of Islam. Organizations like CAIR don’t want thoughtful, knowledgeable experts like Ms. Hirsi Ali to have a venue to even talk about this problem. And Brandeis is all too happy to comply because to do otherwise would be “Islamophobic” and “racist”?
You, sir, and your likeminded colleagues are the true Islamophobes for acting out of fear against the values that Ms. Hirsi Ali represents: women’s rights, non-violence, freedom, and other ideals that CAIR and other Islamists decry. “Islamophobia” is the new McCarthyism of the politically correct – only worse because people like Ms. Hirsi Ali are living under constant death threats by true believers from the “religion of peace”. A fate to which her former colleague, Theo van Gogh, already succumbed. Your actions placate the militant outspoken minority of Muslims and alienate the larger silent Muslim majority that dare not speak their mind as Ms. Hirsi Ali has. You just gave the oppressed one more reason to keep their mouths shut!
For shame! Ms. Hirsi Ali is a remarkable woman who should be celebrated. Instead, you have chalked one up for the pro-Jihad thugs: congratulations!
Sincerely,
MA
Champ ✿ says
Bravo, MA!!! …what a great letter.
Blueraven says
100% agree with your letter MA.
jihad3tracker says
Agreeing with Champ and Blueraven —
THX THX THX to you, MA, for taking the time to create & send that superb encapsulation of so many essentials regarding Islam.
Herewith is sent a “virtual” dozen roses for your living room…. Please keep posting at JW.
Clare says
@ma – Me, too. What a great letter.
I was reviewing this pamphlet I have “Muslim Hate Groups on Campus” by Daniel Greenfield which he wrote in 2011. This is from the section ‘the Muslim face on campus”:
…MSA generally presents itself as the organization of all Muslim students on campus, and treats criticism of its actions as attacks on Muslim students as such. This is a standard tactic of the Muslim Brotherhood, which invented the term “Islamophobia” to stigmatize its critics. …In assuming the role as the official face of the Muslims students on campus, the MSA has positioned itself as as an identity group, protected under prevailing campus sensitivity for multiculturalism. This posture has brought it the power to discourage individual Muslim students from speaking out against the organization, despite its history of terrorist affiliation and extremist positions.”
So my thoughts are on your last two paragraphs regarding the silent Muslim students on campus who “dare not speak their mind”. CAIR and MSA as a block intentionally usurp individuals free thought, free choice and free speech under authoritarian Islam. Your conclusion is just right, as painful as it is.
RodSerling says
Ma
I have to disagree with you on this point:
“Your actions placate the militant outspoken minority of Muslims and alienate the larger silent Muslim majority that dare not speak their mind as Ms. Hirsi Ali has.”
1. Brandeis’ actions don’t placate the “outspoken minority”; rather, they whet their appetite and set yet another precedent for more and more appeasement.
2. The majority of Muslims are not a silent lot who oppose the militant minority. Polls over and over again show that the majority of Muslims want sharia, and want critics of Islam and Muhammad to be punished. This is even true among the relatively “moderate” Muslim population of the U.S., 58% of whom do not think criticism of Islam should be protected under the constitution as free expression.
How many polls must be cited here, over how many years, before some JW readers grasp that we are dealing with more than a tiny minority of extremists?
Defcon 4 says
I haven’t noticed any scuzzlums, anywhere, putting forth any effort to stop the islamic persecution of non-muslims that is SOP in every islamic state on the face of this earth today, or any effort to compensate the victims of islam0nazi terrorism, ethnic cleansing, genocide and persecution. Why is that?
Jewcat says
Excellent letter MA
John Stefan Obeda says
Thank you much MA! As the people in the world that constantly work for evil and for the subjugation of man, so may God bless all of us to courageously and constantly work and pray for truth and freedom and democracy. God bless Ms. Ali.
CallMeIshmael'sSis says
On its website Brandeis New is claiming that unknown to them before Miss Hirsi Ali has made several statements that the university cannot support. They don’t say what the statements were. I emailed them that maybe they should publish them so that people don’t think that they simply caved in to Muslim intimidation. My feeling is that this liberal arts school has liberal leanings and that they, like most progressives, see “Islamophobia” as a terrible sin. I can’t understand how after almost 1500 years of Islamic cruelty and aggression Westerners can still believe that there are moderate Muslims. Is a “religion” which has killed 270 million people in those 1500 years worshipping the real God? Was Turkey moderate in 1915 when they murdered teenage Christian girls who were stripped naked and crucified? (This was witnessed by Americans) and you can find it online. See if you can also find online at http://www.godofmoralperfection.com a picture of a 5 year old Syrian Christian girl — with her heart cut out. Allah has told Muslims that they are the best people because they worship him in the way he wants them to. Almost 20 years ago, before I learned so much about Islam, I was horrified to hear an old Serbian woman defend the war against Albanians taking over their lands by saying that Muslims were the worst people. Now I firmly agree with her. Muslims are the ones who are heartless — even towards their own. Makes you laugh when they say they are defending innocent Muslims from Western aggression while they are laying bombs for each other and cutting off their Muslim rivals heads.
Jerry says
There is no honour left in Brandeis, therefore, Hirsi-Ali should refuse to accept the award from such an Islamo-Fasict collaborating entity even if they reinstatedd the offer!
Brian Hoff says
In the Reason story she support the murder of all muslim includeing women and childern which is than war crime.
duh_swami says
That’s highly doubtful, Abu.
RodSerling says
swami,
Hirsi Ali never said that or anything like it. It is fabrication, by people who think peaceful conversion out of Islam = genocide, or that defensive military action against the jihadists who slaughter women and children = genocide.
“Brian Hoff” is lying, to the extent that his incoherent productions can even be categorized.
duh_swami says
A victory by evil is not really a victory at all. It is a tragic loss. Evil is like a yo yo, as long as you keep the string on your finger, you can’t get rid of it. You throw it away and it comes right back. If you want to be free from evil, get rid of that string.
If you want to be free from the evils of Islam, cut the cord. That means ban it wherever you can, stop mosque building wherever you can, resist sharia wherever you can.
Bud says
It’s too bad she didn’t insult Christianity or the Tea Party instead. They would have given her 2 awards for that.
dumbledoresarmy says
From the article –
“More than 85 of about 350 faculty members at Brandeis signed a letter asking for Ali to be removed from the list of honorary degree recipients…
“Thomas Doherty, chairman of American studies, refused to sign the faculty letter. He said it would have been great for the university to honor “such a courageous fighter for human freedom and women’s rights, who has put her life at risk for those values.”
If ‘more than 85’ out of 350 people signed the letter asking for Hirsi Ali to be removed from the list, that means that something like 260 people *didn’t* sign it.
I’d like to know who they were.
It’s good that they refused to sign that letter.
But it’s a pity that they *all* did not then speak up as loud and clear as did just one of their number, Thomas Doherty – “Thomas Doherty, chairman of American studies, refused to sign the faculty letter. He said it would have been great for the university to honor “such a courageous fighter for human freedom and women’s rights, who has put her life at risk for those values.”
Bravo, Thomas Doherty!
Letters of complaint to Brandeis U should make a point of mentioning – and quoting! – Thomas Doherty and commending his stand.
If there is anyone else left on Brandeis university campus who retains the love of freedom, they should be organising a public reading aloud of all of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s books – “The Caged Virgin”, “Infidel” and “Nomad” – on campus and showings of her and Theo Van Gogh’s excellent short film, “Submission”.
Charles P says
HOW MANY of the signers of the petition were MUSLIM WOMEN???????????
Were they ALL MUSLIM MEN????
I wonder.
RodSerling says
Why are you so incredulous? Are you not familiar with polls showing that Muslim women are generally just as much in favor of sharia as the men? Are you not familiar with the practice of FGM, which typically involves women cutting or overseeing the cutting of their own daughter’s genitals? Why not have a look at the names of those who’ve signed it? I just looked through a sample of about a hundred names. Looks like about half female names.
http://www.change.org/petitions/brandeis-university-administration-speak-out-against-honoring-ayaan-hirsi-ali-at-brandeis-2014-commencement
RodSerling says
Also, the petition was started by a woman.
RodSerling says
dda,
I’d like to think that the remaining 260 or so of Brandeis’ faculty “refused” to sign the petition against Hirsi Ali, but I doubt that that’s the case. Probably most of them didn’t even see it; or if they did see it they ignored it or briefly skimmed it without paying too much attention, or deemed that they didn’t know enough one way or another to endorse or consciously refuse it. Academics gets floods of email, plenty of paper mail, etc., on a daily basis. Various political activists are constantly clamoring for attention. Most of this attention-seeking stuff most of the time gets ignored, mainly because most academics are swamped with teaching, research, and administrative-related matters and don’t have time to look into various political causes that are outside their purview.
Of those who did sign the petition against Hirsi Ali, I would not be surprised if most had barely a clue, if any, as to who she was or what they were signing.
Larry says
We need to remember that 1) Muhammad worked to silence all his foes before he died, and he is THE role model of CAIR. And 2) Jihadist/Islamist forces worked together with Hitler during WWII to help massacre Jews, and especially after Israel regained her status as a nation.
JerseyDevil says
Let Cair know… EVERYTHING _I_ needed to know about Muslims/Islam _I_ learned 6/September/1972, Munich…
Bill Smith says
Who would want any kind of degree from that university anyway?
Melissa Farmer says
So, if this lady was to be honored for her humanitarian efforts for all muslim women who are treated worse than an animal, why would the muslim students be upset by her past comments of islam? Being in a family that practices that “religion,” wouldn’t she have first hand knowledge of how it really is? Seems to me the only reason these people are attacking it is because they try to make people believe that this religion is a peaceful one. If that is the case, why would they attack this women who is trying to help the women of the radical muslims? Being a Christian, I have no problem when groups of people are being called out/reported on when they are doing awful inhumane things to other people in my religions name! Just doesn’t make sense to me. Plus, what happened here in America when we could say things and Univerties could honor whowmever they wanted too?
William Hausman says
Whoa, everybody is overlooking the invisible forces. First, you have to realize that the total faculty of Brandeis brings in hundreds of millions of dollars from sundry U.S. government agencies for research grants and administrative operations. Can Brandeis afford to jeopardize the lost of so much money? Well,why would they lose it? Well, who’s in the White House? What’s his name? Who’s in the Dept of Education? Who’s in the State Department? What are the names of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and in what federal agencies are they embedded? I can imagine that Brandeis had a government knife at its throat. The possibility of a prestigious Jewish university giving platform to an anti-Islam speech is to create Palestine-Israel and Arab-Jewish conflicts in Waltham, Mass. Not going tohappen.
John Stefan Obeda says
Two things: 1) I have written a letter to president Frederick Lawrence and it did not go through, that there is not such an address. I used:
Lawrence@brandeis.edu. So I suppose he’s getting so much mail that he cancelled his address.
2) I wrote the following paragraph to ‘National Post’ newspaper here in Canada. I think it’s the most conservative of all papers even though I have not read all papers. I’ll be surprised if it’s printed. Here it is: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, reared in a strict Muslim family, experienced the life of a female Islamist: genital mutilation, beatings, and an arranged marriage, etc. And she wants us to know what the Koran and Islam stands for. She’s written: ‘Infidel’ and ‘Nomad.’ But in the eyes of the Islamists she’s an infidel and must not be honoured, rather silenced! The university in Massachusetts has capitulated to Hamas-linked CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). CAIR had written to the university to drop plans to honour Ms. Ali. Thomas Doherty, chairman of American studies, said that it would have been great for the university to honour “such a courageous fighter for human freedom and women’s rights, who has put her life at risk for those values.” Universities should honour people who courageously fight for “human freedom and women’s rights,” and not capitulate to those who disagree with her views such as CAIR.
Lord Paper Clip says
In April 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham Jail. Among other subjects, he spoke out against the bitterness and hatred of some Black Muslim groups. In August of that year, he gave his “I had a dream speech.” If he had been treated like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the world would have never heard that speech.