Anne Aly’s statements are designed to comfort and reassure non-Muslims. And they no doubt do just that, unless the non-Muslims in question are knowledgeable enough about Islam to see through them. The assertion in the article’s headline, that “there is nothing Islamic about a beheading,” doesn’t appear in the article, but in any case it is another deception: beheading is mandated in the Quran. “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” (Qur’an 47:4)
“There is nothing Islamic about a beheading: Muslims v extremists,” by Aleisha Orr, WA Today, August 20, 2014:
Curtin University research fellow Anne Aly says there are a lot of misconceptions about people who follow Islam.
She said that in reality, the wide majority of Muslims did not support the extreme actions of groups such as Hamas, ISIS or the Taliban.
When I type “all Muslims are…” into Google on my smartphone, the first suggestion I get is “all Muslims are terrorists”. Another is “all Muslims are extremists”.
Several views have been aired across talkback radio since a controversial speech from a Muslim activist that had been planned in Perth was publicised and then cancelled.
Uthman Badar had been invited to speak at the university by a student group but when his controversial background was highlighted in the media, the invite was withdrawn.
Badar sparked outrage in Sydney recently when he planned to give a talk at an arts festival titled “Honour Killings are Justified”.
Dr Aly says just as the actions of Christians who carry out targeted attacks on abortion clinics did not represent most Christian views, terrorist actions carried out by extreme Muslims and associated views do not represent the beliefs or wishes of most Muslims.
Back on my mobile phone, an anti-mosque Facebook page provides me with a number of statements that I put to Dr Aly as questions.
Do all Muslims…
These questions are misleadingly framed. Of course all Muslims don’t support Hamas or promote the non-acceptance of religions other than Islam, etc. All Muslims can’t be said to do anything beyond believe that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Orr should have asked Aly whether there was anything in Islamic texts and teachings that supported gender inequality, Islamic supremacism, etc., and what Muslims like her who ostensibly rejected such things were doing to reform the general Muslim understanding of those texts and teachings.
Support Hamas? “No”
Promote the non-acceptance of religions other than Islam? “No”
“And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.” — Qur’an 3:85
Believe that men and women are not equal? “No”
“Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them” — Qur’an 4:34
“Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her” — Qur’an 2:282
“If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice” — Qur’an 4:3
Chant Hitler verses? “No”
Want Sharia law implemented worldwide? “No”
Believe in female genital mutilation? “No”
“Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) (by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the bazr ‘clitoris’ [this is called khufaadh ‘female circumcision’]).” — ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3, translated by Mark Durie, The Third Choice, p. 64
Support the Taliban? “No”
Support genocide in Sudan? “No”
Believe women have to cover their bodies from head to toe? “No”
Promote and accept marriage between young girls and men? “No”
Dr Aly pointed out that most of the things I asked about were cultural practices specific to different parts of the world, not the Islamic religion.
“Female genital mutilation is not a Muslim practice, it actually pre-dates Islam,” she said.
See above.
Dr Aly said the questions also brought up the issue of interpretation.
Muslims are people who believe in the five pillars of Islam; that there is one God and that Mohammad was his prophet, that they should go to Hajj at least once in their lifetime, in giving alms by contributing to charity or helping the poor, pray five times a day and fasting at Ramadan.
So if Muslims do not promote the non-acceptance of religions, how come one of their main principles is believing that there is only one God? Dr Aly said Islamic people believe that their God is the same God as the God of other religions.
“Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam.” — Qur’an 3:19
She said the Koran recognised men and women as equals, “but remember some societies where Islam is practiced in are also ancient societies, that haven’t recognised women’s rights”
See above. Also note the anomaly: Islamic law covers every aspect of life, every detail of human behavior, and yet Islamic apologists would have us believe that in the societies where it has existed for the longest time and has taken the deepest roots are rife with cultural practices that have nothing to do with Islam and actually contradict Islamic law.
Dr Aly pointed to the rule in Saudi Arabia, that women should not drive, as one of these cultural practices that was seen mistakenly by many as being part of Islam but did not exist in other mostly Islamic countries.
Islamic law forbids women to leave the house without permission of her male guardian — husband or brother or father. The ban on driving is extrapolated from that.
She said 95 per cent of Muslims were what she would describe as “moderate”.
Dr Aly said 0.01 per cent were “extremists” who took their belief of the religion to a radical scale – where they would be willing to break the law and resort to violence in the name of their religion.
If there are a billion Muslims, that’s 10 million people who are “willing to break the law and resort to violence in the name of their religion.” That’s an awful lot of jihad terrorists.
“They believe is the spread of Sharia law and Islamic law through violence,” Dr Aly said.
In addition to this she said the remainder were likely to support the spread of Islam but through peaceful means.
Including, presumably, its laws denying basic rights to women and non-Muslims.
Dr Aly described Sharia Law as “guidelines for life” which can and do exist in some places, alongside regular law enforcement processes.
These guidelines are a way of life to live by which cover things like, rules around how divorce can take place, such as a husband must ask for a divorce three times and it cannot be asked for in anger.
In terms of covering women’s bodies, she said that this came from the Koran, which talks about women being modest.
“The idea is that you cover your modesty but what’s interpreted as modesty is different, some cover their hair with a hijab, some extend that to their face and hands,” Dr Aly said.
“Others have the more modern look and wear tight clothes and tight jeans and wear a scarf over their head,” she said.
“Some think modesty is more about your demeanour and that’s how I interpret it.
“I don’t wear it,” she said (Dr Aly is a Muslim).
She said she has often been told that she “can’t be a Muslim”.
“They say: ‘you can’t be a Muslim, you don’t believe in subjugation’ or ‘if you were a Muslim you would wear a head scarf'” which she described as a narrow minded way of thinking.
Dr Aly said extremists exploited their connection to Islam.
“There are a minority of Muslims who turn it around and say it [certain practices such as those listed previously] is not culture, it’s religion, and that shows a lack of comprehension and a misinformed position about Islam,” she said.
“They are using religion to try to make them seem credible.
“Islam does not have a central authority like a Pope, we have many different schools of thought and debate is encouraged in Islam.”
We constantly hear this. Yet we never, ever see moderate Muslims explaining how the jihadists are wrong on Qur’anic and Islamic grounds, and working to convince them of their error. They tell credulous non-Muslims, but say nothing to their fellow Muslims.
She said nearly all Muslims would have been “absolutely disgusted” by the photograph of a young boy, believed to be the son of Sydney jihadist Khaled Sharrouf, holding up the head of a slain Syrian soldier that made headlines last week.
“Some of the Muslim leaders came out and spoke about it and said he’s a mad man, that is incomprehensible whatever your background,” Dr Aly said.
Liberal MP Liz Behjat has since called on all Muslims within Western Australian to actively speak out against those that support extremism in any form.
“My colleagues and I who regularly meet with and attend functions organised by the various Islamic groups here in Western Australia know full well that none of these people ascribe to the radicalism that is often highlighted in the media as portraying the way that all Muslims feel, but we do not hear their leaders speaking out in condemning these jihadists and radical Islamists, and the vile speeches that they make,” she said.
“I am now speaking directly to all the Muslims from so many ethnic backgrounds and urging you to make your peaceful voices heard to ensure that as true Australians you all come together and speak with one voice to condemn those who would seek to harm our way of life and do harm in our communities.”
voegelinian says
She said 95 per cent of Muslims were what she would describe as “moderate”.
Dr Aly said 0.01 per cent were “extremists” who took their belief of the religion to a radical scale – where they would be willing to break the law and resort to violence in the name of their religion.
Dr. Aly (a studied softening of “Ali”?) in this most crucial propaganda meme of the TMOE (the Tiny Minority of Extremists is the problem, not all Muslims) only differs from the likes of expert analyst Daniel Pipes or civilian know-it-all Philip Jihadski by degree, not qualitatively (where the “TM” differs only quantitatively among them). Same essential paradigm, different numbers. (Closely related to this, Dr. Aly does in another respect disagree qualitatively with those I mentioned — specifically in terms of whether to indict Islam itself; but this only makes their version of the same meme less coherent even than hers.)
Charles Johnson says
So 95% are moderates and 0.1% are extremist. What are the the remaining 4.9%? Somewhat moderate or somewhat extremist? I think the numbers came from the top of her head and are not based on any rigorous studies. Eitherway, it suggests that 49 million Muslims could be easily lead to extremism and THAT is an extreme cause for concern.
tpellow says
She’s in deep denial:
Islam’s ‘debate in the desert’
– minus your head.
john spielman says
she needs to move to Saudi Arabia for 6 months and then report back about equal rights for women! Also just yesterday JW reported that 90 % of Saudis view ISIS as simply your basic islam at work and play( beheading and playing soccer with the heads)
Champ says
Wow Dr Aly has a PhD in LYING about islam! …what a useful tool for islam, she is.
richard sherman says
Her email is: Anne.aly@curtin.edu.au
EDUCATE HER FOLKS!!!
David says
This is what you get for doing that : she sees it as hate – no doubt some emails were beyond the call, if that was from you, shame on you:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24860539/muslim-academic-draws-hate-fire/
richarx sherman says
I just said educate her…She is an expert at taqiyya…People should simply remind her that Muhammad was a sociopath who personally decapitated. 600-900 unarmed Jews in 627 and sexually enslaved and kidnapped 1000 Jewish girls and women…and had sex with a nine year old…These are facts as described in The Koran and the Hadith..
I see nothing wrong if ten or twenty thousand people remind her of these facts
wolfgang says
Nope, I didn’t e mail the bitch ! ……..thought about it, but this only proves how tame the media is in Australia , of course its all you lot with “extremest views on here that are the problem ! its never ever the Pedophile prophets followers is it ? I would guess that this bottom feeder will be asking the WA Police and ASIO to see if any Aussies can be prosecuted under the anti discrimination laws….remember this piece of work is well paid to perform the con job of educating the cops and security services in WA and probably the Commonwealth [ see the new file of people who are on this site ? ]
Got to say though…….she looks like a blunt shovel hit her in the head…..
Champ says
Evil comes in all forms ..
*see photopraph above*
Michael Copeland says
Here we go: “the wide majority of Muslims ….wishes of most Muslims”, 95 per cent of Muslims were ..“moderate” …nearly all … would have been “absolutely disgusted”.
All these statements – personal opinions – are designed to mollify a Western audience.
Please note, Aleisha Orr and other reporters, Islam is not defined by “a majority of muslims”: it is defined by its core texts, regardless of what any majority is said to “think”.
Chabuco says
researcher—
Please Robert, put that in quotation marks otherwise is truly offensive, no joke.
Angemon says
Does she personally know the wide majority of muslims? She must, because I don’t see her giving any source to back that claim.
Really? I don’t, and considering the searches I do and the websites I visit I should be seeing that, if not worse.
That talk was canceled? What a shame. I, for one, would love all Australians to hear the reasons to why honor killings are justified.
The difference is that Christians who carried out attacks on abortion clinics belong to microscopic fringe groups, have no christian basis for their actions, and AFAIK their actions were condemned by mainstream christian sects.
That kind of black and white view is terribly misleading. The questions shouldn’t start with “do all muslims” but with “What percentage of muslims worldwide…” or “According to islamic orthodoxy…” (where applicable).
So does pilgrimage to Mecca, circling the Kaabaa and kissing the black stone.
Is there any islamic country who willingly and officially recognized women’s rights or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Probably by other muslims…
Beagle says
Notice the comely Dr. Aly concedes nearly all Muslims believe in spreading Islam somehow. I would term her a tongue and pen jihadi. How she figures to survive if her side wins given her many problematic lifestyle choices, I have no idea.
nacazo says
Islam’s equality of the sexes is shown in the value of testimony in islamic courts. two female witness have the value of a male one… ok maybe not a good example, but the inheritance laws where daughters receive half of what brothers receive…. ooops maybe not, the woman must be covered because men can get too excited by the sight of a woman but if a woman gets excited by the sight of a man there is no cover requirement…….mmmm let me rethink that one, how about according to the qur’an a husband can beat his wife if he “fears” disobedience but there is no entry for the case where the woman fears disobedience…..wow stay tuned, there must be an example somewhere.
SpiritOf1683 says
A better example is of rape victims being stoned to death or hanged in Muslim countries. If a woman gets raped, then under Sharia law, she has to produce four male witnesses to testify on her behalf. Where is she going to get four male witnesses from? There can only be four male witnesses if she’s gang raped or raped in the middle of the day in the town square. And they won’t testify on her behalf, thats for sure.
Keith says
I did at first think that if she was with her 4 brothers they might testify for her but then rationality set in and I thought most likely they would be to busy collecting stones or sharpening their knives so they could restore the family honour
PJG says
Muslim women are given lots of “equality” when they are in the West. They are given equal time and opportunity to lie about Islam. Why not? The lies work even better when they come from a woman, especially a young woman with lots of make-up and a startling hijab. In fact it’s pretty grand all round being a Muslim woman in the West. You can get great academic jobs, everyone is terribly respectful of you and extra nice because they think you are “oppressed”, and if you put the black niqab over your face, you get an extra serving of respect.
And you can give free rein to your female capacity to complain.
Hey…I’m giving myself ideas…
Jaladhi says
First rate liar and hypocrite!!
mariam rove says
I swear these people are on drugs. I don’t which version of Islam they are studying. M
Beagle says
It’s the lives in the Dar al Harb / Kufr, outside the grasp of religious police, permitted to dissemble in order to struggle in Allah’s cause via the tongue and pen version of Islam.
nacazo says
Did she go to the famous Goebels University of Gaza?
AnneM says
Where has she been the last 12-13 years?
SpiritOf1683 says
When prominent so-called intellectuals, journalists and politicians have to defend Islam 24 hours a day every day, 365 days a year, 366 days in a leap year, and 100 years a century, to hide the truth, it shows how rotten to the core that cult is. No other religion gets defended in this way. You never hear of them queueing up to say that Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism are religions of peace – only Islam, and the West must have almost limitless supplies of whitewash when it comes to disguising that cult.
EYESOPEN says
Tells you all you need to know right there. In fact, the academic “establishment” does all it can to tear down Jesus Christ and Christianity – or take them to the “make-up” artists so that they (Jesus Christ and Christianity) reflect the “establishment’s” world view. Just about every year, at Easter, specifically, some raving idiot comes out with “The Jesus Seminar” or some such rot. It makes me sick, yet I do not see rioting in the streets, maiming or killing of other people over it.
Daniel Triplett says
Satan’s Press Secretary.
Champ ✿ says
…that comment made me burst out laughing!! ..good one 😀
Joseph says
Islam by the numbers:
95% are moderate? If you say so.
That still leaves 5% who are jihadists.
There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, right?
And 5% of 1.2 billion = 60 million, right?
In 1939, at the beginning of WWII, the Nazi Party in Germany had less than 6 million members. And they were all in one country, on one continent.
So, even granting this liar’s own [low-ball] numbers, today (spread all over the world) there are more than TEN TIMES the number of Muslim jihadists than there were Nazis in 1939.
I propose, therefore (given her numbers) that our response to Islam should be TEN TIMES harsher than our response to Nazism. Probably a good start anyway. What say ye?
richard sherman says
Educate her folks. Her email is..
Anne.aly@curtin.edu.au
IcallBS says
Bingo!
enwhitenment says
As soon as they identify as muslim it should be taken as a sign that they are not of sound mind and therefore will likely just be a burden to our country.
Marylou says
Also, there’s nothing sinful about lying to infidels, because we’re all just sons of apes and pigs.
dumbledoresarmy says
A bit more about her.
https://www.dfat.gov.au/caar/about-us/a_aly.html
Quite probably an Ikhwan operative.
voegelinian says
Yes, she’s an operative of the Ikhwan — i.e., of mainstream Islam.
And yet another indication of how prevalent PC MC is in the West:
“In 2011 she was inducted into the inaugural WA [Western Australia] Women’s Hall of Fame in recognition of her work in national and international security.”
PJG says
Groan….ASIO want to give more jobs to Muslims who apparently can help us enormously in countering terrorism. Famous creatures like her could apply for the top job. The rewards for telling lies are truly phenomenal.
enwhitenment says
Probably only open to “Asian” applicants.
Don’t you like the way all the middle eastern scum are called “Asian” now.
If i was Asian i would be pissed.
PJG says
Enwhitenment: I know they are called “Asian” in Britain but not here in Australia.
GP says
yep, more taquiyya for the kuffir.
jewdog says
Go into debt for an education from people who need an education. Bad deal.
richard sherman says
Tell her how you really feel: Anne.aly@curtin.edu.au
jewdog says
I did, and provided a url link to here. Thanks.
sidney penny says
cut off the head= classical Islamic practice.
The fourteen-year old Akbar, at the bidding of Bairam Khan, had certainly cut off the head of the defenceless Himu in 1556, confirming thereby the classical Islamic practice.
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/jihad/app4.htm
This version of the story is extremely interesting, and, as an indication of Akbar’s mind at its maturity, is far more valuable than the true story itself.
The reader of the present work would understand that in jihãd there is absolutely no room for chivalry to the fallen enemy.
In 627 AD the Banu Kuraizah in chains were cut off at the market place of Medina with nauseating cruelty and little consideration for norms of chivalry.
The fourteen-year old Akbar, at the bidding of Bairam Khan, had certainly cut off the head of the defenceless Himu in 1556, confirming thereby the classical Islamic practice.
But his court historians knew enough of the Emperor’s mind at its maturity to realise that this story would never do in a general history of his reign.
They paltered with the truth of history, or rather Akbar himself did so, but they did reveal, as if in a flash, the aging emperor’s contempt for the doctrine of jihãd and the glory of ghazihood that went with it.
ghãzî (=slayer of infidels)
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/jihad/ch7.htm
Those who defend the Prophet should reflect on the fate of the millions of infidels for whose heads the mujãhid’s knife is being sharpened in all Islamic countries right at this moment.
Foreward:
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/jihad/for.htm
In the present study, Professor Suhas Majumdar has seen through this scholarship, (defenders of jihãd have been forced to develop an apologetics) and demolished it brick by brick. He has rescued the doctrine of jihãd from under the mass of pretentious verbiage, and made it stand in its pristine purity.
Let no one say any more that jihãd does not mean what it has meant all along in the blood-soaked history of Islam, and what we are witnessing today in Kashmir.
Generally:
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/jihad/index.htm
JIHÃD THE ISLAMIC DOCTRINE OF PERMANENT WAR
Suhas Majumdar
Why are people too dense to read the Islamic scriptures, and to study the history of Islam (start with this book ) or any of Robert Spencers)?
This includes Curtin University research fellow Anne Aly who have time to do it.
Why do people say we should not watch the daily orgy of beheadings because it might encourage others?
PJG says
She knows the truth all right. Her lies are too standard-form. An ignorant person would probably hesitate sometimes before answering, or say “I don’t know” occasionally.
enwhitenment says
I just cannot understand why muslims do not rush to live in muslim countries.
If only their noses would grow when they lie.
ICallBS says
Even Joseph Goebbels and Jay Carney would be embarrassed
by this ridiculous white-washing of the obvious truth.
Myxlplik says
Mohammed sawed plenty of necks, even committed genocide and ethnic cleansing. How many abortion clinics did Jesus bomb, idiot?
William says
Here are some more questions the good lady professor can answer:
Do all Muslims drink no alcohol?
Do all Muslims eat no pork?
Do all Muslims believe Mohammed is the best example?
richard sherman says
Anne.aly@curtin.edu.au…why doesn’t everyone write to her…and remind her that in 627 the sociopath Muhammad personally decapitated 600-900 unarmed Jews…and therefore decapitation is FOUNDATIONAL to islam
fair_dinkum says
a university dedicated to islam … cant research its own doctrine with any accuacy.
what are they saying? that they CANT FIND the references in the koran?
not much of a university.
Cliff Hanger says
And the Pope ain’t Catholic…
bicky says
I want to share my experience in Sydney,My brother in law was driving , i was sitting next to him.It happened in a place called Permatta.A car just overtook us from the right. The driver was Lebanese most probably in his 20s, his wife was fully covered in black with just a slit for the eyes.
We just glanced at him, he began staring at us and then he was suddenly threatening us with expletives. We just kept our cool, slowed down , allowed him to overtake.
This was in early 2012, we did not understand the reason for his behaviour, i guess it was some sort of Sudden Jihad syndrome.You should have seen his face, menacing , and ready for Jihad.
What this Ane Ali is saying and the reality on the ground is not matching
We could not believe that this was Sydney, not a Muslim street.
wolfgang says
Ha !…………..you can’t believe its a Sydney street ?……… my friend ! that is NORMAL around Sydney now, I used to be in removing building refuse in heavy trucks around Sydney, got out because we could not compete with the Muslim Lebs who were and are undercutting all Kaffir from the trade, they would offer lowest dollor to win contracts and then dump the rubble in national parks or vacant blocks of land, nearly always the rubble contained Asbestosis, no one ever complained because it was done in the middle of the night and or people get intimidated.
Its well know that the Mosque in Lakemba has semi auto guns buried on the grounds, but the cops don’t dare go there for obvious reasons, of course no one will tell you this offically, but ask around and the Muslims will tell you.
So yes Sydney is a place that is dangerous for Kaffir.
sidney penny says
Congratulations Robert
You made it into an Australian newspaper.
I did not know that you ran a right wing anti Islamic hate group?
Do you?
Another “Nothing to do with Islam” narrative.
I do not think she read your article. (She must have-but it is easier to answer in the way she did).If she did read it, she did not answer it.
She focused on the comments and not the substance.Labels are not a good way to argue.She would know that.
“false assumptions”
What are they? She is an Muslim academic, and she does not say.
“shatters the basis for their arguments.”
Does it shatter the basis of your arguments if she replies, “Islam is not about terrorism and Islam is not about beheadings or female genital mutilation.”
Notice she does not say how it is not.
Just Saying Islam is not about terrorism and
Islam is not about beheadings and
Islam is not about female genital mutilation
does not make it so.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24860539/muslim-academic-draws-hate-fire/
Muslim academic draws hate fire
GRANT TAYLOR The West Australian September 1, 2014
Anne Aly. Picture: Ian Munro/The West Australian
As a proud and outspoken Muslim, Anne Aly has also become a target for anti-Islamic hate groups.
The Curtin University lecturer – who chooses not to wear a hijab and denounces Muslim extremists – has been bombarded with hate mail after a recent interview in which she defended Islam as a religion of peace.
Her quotes were republished on a right-wing website called Jihad Watch, along with her work email address.
“I was just really speaking out against some of the false assumptions about my religion,” Dr Aly said. “But what they (the hate groups) really want is for me to denounce my religion.
“By saying that Islam is not about terrorism and Islam is not about beheadings or female genital mutilation, they can’t cope with that because it shatters the basis for their arguments.”
Dr Aly said some of the messages she had received had been unnerving, while others had sought to “educate” her about her own religion.
“It is upsetting and, yeah, it is worrying, but in some ways I get where they are coming from because a lot of these people just assume what they see on the news is typical of all Muslims,” she said.
JIMJFOX says
Don’t see any contact details either for her or the West Australian “journalist”
Tried Google search…