Robert L. Moore is a professor of anthropology at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. It is a good thing that he is not a professor of grammar, since he didn’t know to write: “As memories of colonialism fade, the idea that Islam is linked to violence will fade with them,” not “it.” That is not mere grammarian nitpicking; it is new confirmation of a fact that I have noted many times: in today’s politically correct culture, marching in the establishment lockstep, not ability, is what gets you ahead. The mainstream media lionizes people not because of their particular acumen, talents or intelligence, but because they parrot the establishment line that the media wants the public to adopt.” The inability of a college professor and major newspaper op-ed writer (not to mention that paper’s editors) to grasp basic grammatical concepts is a manifestation of their profound confusion of mind — of which another manifestation is their unwillingness to see and acknowledge the mountains of evidence that Islamic jihadists are motivated by the texts and teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah, not by “memories of colonialism.”
And to assert that the association of Islam with violence will fade with those memories of colonialism ignores the fact that it is not “Islamophobes,” but Islamic jihadists, who are responsible for the association of Islam with violence. Among the modern-day Muslims who have linked Islam with violence are these:
“Jihad was a way of life for the Pious Predecessors (Salaf-us-Salih), and the Prophet (SAWS) was a master of the Mujahideen and a model for fortunate inexperienced people. The total number of military excursions which he (SAWS) accompanied was 27. He himself fought in nine of these; namely Badr; Uhud, Al-Muraysi, The Trench, Qurayzah, Khaybar, The Conquest of Makkah, Hunayn and Taif . . . This means that the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) used to go out on military expeditions or send out an army at least every two months.” — Abdullah Azzam, co-founder of al-Qaeda, Join the Caravan, p. 30
“If we follow the rules of interpretation developed from the classical science of Koranic interpretation, it is not possible to condemn terrorism in religious terms. It remains completely true to the classical rules in its evolution of sanctity for its own justification. This is where the secret of its theological strength lies.” — Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd
“Many thanks to God, for his kind gesture, and choosing us to perform the act of Jihad for his cause and to defend Islam and Muslims. Therefore, killing you and fighting you, destroying you and terrorizing you, responding back to your attacks, are all considered to be great legitimate duty in our religion.” — Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his fellow 9/11 defendants
“Allah on 480 occasions in the Holy Koran extols Muslims to wage jihad. We only fulfil God’s orders. Only jihad can bring peace to the world.” — Taliban terrorist Baitullah Mehsud
“Jihad, holy fighting in Allah’s course, with full force of numbers and weaponry, is given the utmost importance in Islam….By jihad, Islam is established….By abandoning jihad, may Allah protect us from that, Islam is destroyed, and Muslims go into inferior position, their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligation and duty in Islam on every Muslim.” — Times Square car bomb terrorist Faisal Shahzad
“So step by step I became a religiously devout Muslim, Mujahid — meaning one who participates in jihad.” — Little Rock, Arkansas terrorist murderer Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad
“And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives, and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.” — Texas terrorist bomber Khalid Aldawsari
Men like these — and there are many others like them — are by their own words not motivated by resentment over colonialism, but by the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah. No matter how faded memories of colonialism will become, the Qur’an and Sunnah will still be there.
“‘The Muslims Are Coming’ — Bill Maher or not,” by Robert L. Moore in the Orlando Sentinel, April 1:
“The Muslims Are Coming!” Or so the recent film with that title warns us. This funny film includes an excerpt of Bill Maher saying about Muslims that “…We are dealing with a culture that is in its medieval era.”
Those who saw Maher’s 2008 documentary, “Religulous,” or who watch his HBO show, “Real Time With Bill Maher,” understand that his attitude toward religion is, let’s say, not supportive. In fact, he believes that all religions are idiotic, and that among religions in general, Islam is especially violence prone.
Now to give the devil his due (and I don’t think Maher would object to being compared with the devil), he does admit that in Europe’s Middle Ages, Christianity was more brutal and bloody than Islam. But today, he argues, Muslims are the main purveyors of terror.
That is false. Even at its most brutal and bloody, Christianity never was as brutal and bloody as Islam. The Crusades, to which Maher and/or Moore are evidently referring, were a 200-year-long response to 450 years of unanswered jihad violence against Christians and non-Muslims from Spain to India. There is nothing in Christian history to match that record of jihad conquest and subjugation.
…Since human life is never ruled strictly by logic, why pick on religion? Especially, why pick on Muslims? The concentration of terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Muslim countries today has much more to do with colonialism than it does with the Quran. People in the Middle East struggled for decades to find a basis to fight off domination by the West, and, finally, with the Ayatollah Khomeini’s takeover of Iran in 1979, they discovered that Islam could serve as a rallying point.
Is Moore unaware of the great Arab conquests of the seventh century? Is he unaware of the great Islamic empires that expanded as they cited the Quran’s teachings of war and conquest?
What we’re seeing now is the unfolding of recent history where, in some countries, fanatic Muslim leaders, by stirring up some fanatic followers, have been able to stick it to their former colonial masters.
As memories of colonialism fade, the idea that Islam is linked to violence will fade with it. Regrettably, this won’t happen in the next year or two….
…or 20, or 40, or 100, or 500.