UCLA Prof Khaled Abou El Fadl Condemns ISIS, But Does He Condemn Stealth Jihad?
By Cinnamon Stillwell and Adelle Nazarian
Given the apologias for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) barbarism from the ranks of Middle East studies, it was encouraging to find the University of California, Los Angeles hosting the recent lecture, “ISIS’s Enslavement and Trafficking of Women.” The speaker, Khaled Abou El Fadl, Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA, has a history of equivocating on Sharia (Islamic law) and other aspects of stealth jihad. Yet, in this instance, he provided insight into the regional, cultural, and ideological influences underlying ISIS’s crimes, albeit in a rambling, disorganized manner.
A room reserved for 150 people at UCLA Law School swallowed the thirty who attended, a mix of students, parents, and faculty members. Perhaps embarrassed at the low turnout, Abou El Fadl stated at the outset: “There are tons and tons of people who believe they know and speak as if they know” about Islam, “but have very little interest in actually learning anything.” He further assured the audience that, “numbers do not reflect quality, so I will believe as a matter of conviction that you are worth a thousand because you are special people.”
These “special people” soon discovered just how elusive was the subject of Abou El Fadl’s lecture, for he spent the entire first half discussing human trafficking, only occasionally referencing ISIS. After explaining that, “It’s not very effective to take an issue out of the totality of its context,” he promised to eventually “get to the Muslim context of these things.”
Shifting from human trafficking to the “legitimizing culture” in Gulf countries and among “wealthy families and the ruling elites around the region” of virtual slavery (domestic workers), bride shopping, and the sex trade, Abou El Fadl explained the connection:
ISIS doesn’t invent the idea out of thin air. One of the videos in which ISIS is auctioning off women after a battle . . . the ones who are enthusiastically bidding on the product are clearly from the Gulf region.
While this claim would need confirmation, it’s certainly true for wealthy men visiting cities in Egypt and refugee camps in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan to purchase girls. The ideology underlying ISIS’s mistreatment of women has much in common with Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and other such actors throughout the region. Accordingly, Abou El Fadl noted:
If the jurists [Muslim scholars trained in Islamic law] tell ISIS enslaving people is wrong, the response will be, “You’re hypocrites, you engage in it all the time.” . . . ISIS is a very particular and specific animal that is symptomatic of much larger ideological movements that are problematic in their core.
On ISIS’s enslavement of Yazidi women, Abou El-Fadl described how, “ISIS trafficked in minorities that were not people of the book [Christians, Jews, or Muslims], hence they were declared booty of war.” “For ISIS, Shia aren’t Muslim, either, so that’s okay,” he added, while its Sunni victims fall under the rubric, “If they didn’t pledge allegiance to us, they are apostates and fair game.”
At this promising juncture, Abou El Fadl began a tedious and minutiae-ridden analysis of the ideological relationship between ISIS and its forbearer, al-Qaeda, causing the audience to become impatient. Conceding as much, he stated, “We can talk until tomorrow and I’m sure you don’t want to stay until tomorrow.” Minutes later, after an audience member departed, he acknowledged:
Once people start sneaking out, it’s a sign that everyone is getting bored. I could lose myself in this stuff forever. I promise you I’ll try to contain myself.
Then, after a beeping sound interrupted his resumed soliloquy, he said to no one in particular, “This is my pill alarm,” but “I’m not going to take my medicine right now.” He was met with uncomfortable silence.
There were exceptions to Abou El Fadl’s forthrightness. After invoking two books that “have become critical for ISIS and al-Qaeda,” Managing Barbarity by Abu Bakr Naji and Abu Mus’ab al-Suri’s The Global Islamic Resistance Call, he remarked that the latter reminded him of:
Islamophobic books that compile what they describe as every grievance committed by Muslims against Christians or against Jews, whether historical or not historical. Al-Suri does the exact same thing, but from the Muslim side.
After the question and answer period concluded and, with it, the podcast recording, Abou El Fadl spoke candidly for another forty-five minutes with a small group of people. He raised the subject of human trafficking in Israel, which, according to the U. S. State Department’s 2014 annual report on the subject, the country has made a concerted effort to combat. When pressed on Israel’s superior human rights record in the region, Abou El Fadl replied, “Well, not as far as the Palestinians are concerned. You know, they’re an occupying country.”
Appearing flustered after further questioning, he betrayed his true feelings:
I see this a lot among young, American, enthusiastic Zionist activists. . . . It’s time for American Jews to confront the fact that Israel has a human rights problem. . . . They are among the systemic users of torture and humiliation against people in the prisons.
Despite such prevarications, Abou El Fadl’s lecture was, in the end, illuminating. However, like the 126 Islamic scholars who penned an open letter to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi disputing the theological basis for the group’s heinous methods while sharing goals such as implementing Sharia law in the West, he is not disinterested. While ISIS terrorizes and conquers Middle Eastern populations, the Khaled Abou El Fadls of academe work to undermine Western culture from within, whether through soft-peddling Sharia, pushing blasphemy laws, or branding critics of these aggressions “Islamophobes.” As such, a condemnation of ISIS does not necessarily extend to the much broader problem of stealth jihad. As Zuhdi Jasser, founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, put it:
[T]hey haven’t changed the drug, and the drug is Islamism, the Islamic state [concept], caliphism, and jihadism. Until we as Muslims condemn them as a whole, they are always going to end up feeding into radical groups.
Adelle Nazarian is a journalist and contributor with Breitbart News, who has reported extensively on politics, national security, Asia, and the Middle East. She co-wrote this article with Cinnamon Stillwell, the West Coast Representative for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum. Stillwell can be reached at stillwell@meforum.org.
Walter Sieruk says
As for the subject of stealth jihad. Much can be said and written about it. One of which is that stealth jihad is a very subtle scheme that is based on the strategy known as “Gradualism.” This sly and subservience technique is an insidious way of gaining more influence and power for Islam. So the Muslims who employ this stealth jihad method for achieving their goal in their agenda for their cause of Islam can is very disingenuous and deceptive. In some ways it’s similar to what is written in THE ART OF WAR by Tzu Sun which teaches “At first then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening ; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to opposes you.”
spot on says
Works great on politicians. Also works well on people just like a snake sneaking up on a bird in a tree.
gary fouse says
Maybe somebody should introduce El Fadl to a lesson plan.
Angemon says
Khaled Abou El Fadl , eh? I’m going to assume “No”. If, for no other reason, because the article isn’t titles “Khaled Abou El Fadl condemns ISIS and stealth jihad” 😛
So what kind of “ideological movements” are we talking about? Humanism? Capitalism? Christianity? Judaism? Buddhism? Islam?
Huh, the “people of the book” can also be, and historically have been, fair game.
Did El Fadl argued they shouldn’t be considered apostates, quoting from islamic sources to back his claim, or did he just apologized for the islamic state?
OK, he just apologized for the islamic state. We get it, mate – the islamic state shares similarities with its parent organization al-Qaeda, and I bet it shares similarities with any other give muslim terrorist group picked at random from anywhere in the world. That’s because they’re all based on islamic doctrine. They all want to restore the caliphate. They all read the same books. They all abide by the example of muhammad. They’re all islamic, period.
Pffft. As if. Exactly what country are the Israelis occupying?
Should we start replacing “Turkish Prison” with “Israeli Prison” then?
Mahendra Singh says
“Condemn” is empty of any constructive meaning. Muslims are eager
to cite certain passages of Koran purportedly declaring its noble intent.
One of these quotes is (Allah says) “If you have killed one
innocent person you have killed whole humanity”, blah blah blah. And would
you believe they are blowing up Mosques by the dozens during prayer if the
brand of Islam theydo not like. I have strong suspicion the clause was
entered into the Koran much much later than Mohammad in an attempt to
make it look human. Nice try!
Islam = sheer hypocrisy.
RonaldB says
UCLA Prof Khaled Abou El Fadl is what I’ll call a “Pretty Good Guy” (PGG). A PGG is a muslim who shows the basic instincts we take for granted in a civilized society and who still identify as muslims. Kind of like the old observation on seeing a dog walking on his hind legs…”he doesn’t do it well, but the fact that he is doing it at all is remarkable.”
UCLA Prof Khaled Abou El Fadl is mentioned quite prominently in the book “The Trouble with Islam Today” by Irshad Manji, also a PGG. El Fadl claims that there is nothing in Islamic canon mandating the horrible treatment of dogs generally associated with Muslims, and actually has some dogs himself. So, he can’t be all bad.
Both El Fadl and Manji claim to represent the silent majority of Muslims who do not wish to live by terrorism or personal repression. The biggest problem is that by and large, muslims do not simply come in and act like any other group. The non-violent Muslims oppose any measures to protect the country and its culture. It’s true that as far as personal persuasion, they attempt to tone down violent Muslims…but suppose, the genuinely non-violent Muslims will always be in and minority, and more importantly, will always be ideological outliers in the Muslim community.
Irshad Manji advocated reform in Muslim thinking, but was taken down quite forcefully by Fjordman, who showed that Islamic reform led to more repression, and that Manjis reliance on Ijtihad was just a fantasy.
http://gatesofvienna.net/2006/12/the-trouble-with-irshad-manji/
More recently, Raymond Ibhrahim made the same point that Islamic reform makes things worse, not better:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/05/raymond-ibrahim-islams-reformation-is-already-here-and-its-called-isis
So, the net effect of people like El Fadl and Manji, painting a human face on Islam while being unsuccessful in changing it, is to make it more difficult to recognize and address the specifically Islamic threat, including non-violent but observant Muslims, who cannot as Muslims support American freedoms as currently observed.
Manji in her current reincarnation, appears to have lost her focus on Islam completely: you can search her website in vain for any hint she has an issue with Islam:
http://irshadmanji.com/
IS in Iraq is less of a threat than the tens of thousands of Muslims the Obama administration is actively working to bring into the United States as refugees.
http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Refugee_Resettlement_Hijra.pdf
My point is that the PGGs are not only irrelevant, but a red herring. We need to know that Islam is a deadly threat inside our borders and that Islam is not going to reform. The question of how Islamic the present-day Islam and its manifestation in the IS is, is not at all relevant.
Jack Holan says
At no point does El Fadl condemn deny or otherwise dispute nor object to the Stealth Jihadism. It doesn’t matter which brand it is i.e. Muslim Brotherhood the concept remains the same. So, far in the 25-30 years here they’re excelling because they have a plan and were under the radar and now have apologists working on their behalf. The approach has been quite simple and flexible. It has changed over time for succeeding generations. Go into business and have unlimited potential. Once the Umma took root education became the number 1 priority, with professions in Education or academic production such as creating text books, positions in the Civil Service or Military, Media, Law, Politics and Medicine. By positioning themselves in these areas they can leverage their influence fully. Recently the MB founded their Political Party in Chicago with State and National Ambitions. They plan to bet on both Parties is some type of concept to gain a foot hold in both. The greatest stealth achievements have been gaining support from State and the White House for the MB in Egypt, The MB meeting with the President at the WH and Sec of State at the State Dept, filling Universities with Muslim Professors who have not only influenced student but faculty and text book writers revising history, politics and social/cultural disciplines
Tom W Harris says
” Does He Condemn Stealth Jihad?”
Of course not. If he did, they’d have to kill him.
mortimer says
Does Khaled Abou El Fadl condemn vigilante murder of apostates and blasphemers which has the full approval of the fatwa department of Al Azhar University? Does Khaled Abou El Fadl condemn Al Azhar University for allowing vigilante murder?
duh_swami says
The Prof is just another one of ‘them’…He needs to take lessons on how to keep the audience attention…Professor Irwin Corey used to make hour long speeches in which he said absolutely nothing, and he never lost his audience…
Mark says
https://youtu.be/o_qYcJ-GSZc
particolor says
Any wonder Muslims are Brain Addled !! 11 minutes of that Wailing Barbarian would send anyone to the Nut Factory ! 🙁
I just cannot Imagine Being FORCED to listen to that Crap 5 times a day and then pointing My Arse to the Sky !?? Good,day !! …Give Me a funny little biscuit and a Slug of wine any day !! 🙂
Better still, Ban all Religions and leave every person alone to carry on with their lives as Nature and Karma Intended !
This World is Buggered !
There is very little Honesty left in it !
Its Time to push the RESET Button ..
G.C
FredvanH says
I suppose this honorable professor of law is a professor in SHARIA law.
particolor says
A Degree in Butchery Essential ..