Professor Emeritus Dr Omar Farouk Sheikh Ahmad is a professor at the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS), Universiti Sains Malaysia. The current state and status of Islam in the world worries him. For Dr. Ahmad is a devout Muslim, but instead of denying the many attacks by Muslims throughout the world, he manfully owns up to them:
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States followed by a string of unconventional violent incidents have rocked the foundation of global and personal security raising concerns of the real prospect of a new civilisational war and the emergence of a world without peace. No country nor region has been spared and no one seems safe. Just to recapitulate, on the night of Friday, Nov 13 last year, gunmen and suicide bombers simultaneously attacked a major stadium, restaurants and bars in Paris, killing 130 people and wounding hundreds others. Almost a year earlier, on Jan 7 last year, the office of the weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked, killing 12 people. Recently, Brussels Airport and a metro station were attacked, resulting in scores of deaths. Earlier, in the US, in San Bernardino, it was an ordinary couple, Tashfeen Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, who shot and killed 14 innocent people on Dec 2 last year. Halfway across the world in Charsadda, Pakistan, on Jan 20 this year, gunmen attacked students and staff at Bacha Khan University, killing 22 people and injuring at least 20. In Jakarta, Indonesia, on Jan 14 this year, seven people were killed and many more were wounded in a brazen terrorist attack on civilians in an upscale shopping district. In Burkina Faso, on Jan 18 this year, a luxury hotel in Ouagadougou, popular with foreigners was raided by the al-Qaeda terrorist group, resulting in the deaths of 29 people with scores more maimed. In the Iraqi city of Iskandariyah, at least 29 people were killed at a football field while watching a trophy-giving ceremony. In neighbouring Thailand, a hospital in Narathiwat was occupied to stage terrorist attacks. Malaysia may appear lucky so far but the government has admitted that the threat of terrorism is real and that pre-emptive measures need to be undertaken to eliminate it…..
Dr. Omar Farouk Sheikh Ahmad cannot bear to believe that Islam, normative Islam, could possibly prompt these acts, and he worries about the damage being done to the image of Islam from “the perception of ultimate accountability [of Muslims for these terrorist acts]. Long-standing prejudices towards Islam have been reawakened.” Good Muslims, true Muslims very much like Dr. Ahmad himself are, he knows, horrified by all this: “Decent Muslims everywhere agonise at their inability to rationally explain the above phenomena apart from attributing them to a variety of complex factors.”
What “complex factors” might these be? Dr. Ahmad knows that it cannot possibly be Islam itself that explains the violent behavior of Muslims. After all, he assures us, “the word ‘Islam’ itself signifies peace and its message is clear, consistent, universal and inclusive throughout time.” (He chooses not to acknowledge the correction, for whenever the doctor-ahmads of this world offer up their “peace,” we must never grow tired of insisting that the word “Islam” signifies “submission.”) “Muslims believe that Islam is a blessing to all of mankind. They cannot accept the representation of Islam as a belligerent faith which was spread “by the sword and which continues to do mischief.”
Next Dr. Ahmad presents another staple of the apologists for Islam: a sanitized definition of “Jihad” and a soothing ranking of the “lesser Jihad” and the “greater Jihad”:
Jihad is an Islamic concept which has multiple meanings but is essentially about striving, struggling, persevering and fighting to defend the forces of good….Jihadul ashgar or “the little jihad” is the physical confrontation or fight in self-defence to protect one’s dignity and the honour of Islam but it is the Jihadul akhbar, the Greater Jihad, which is “the ‘fight’ within oneself for one’s spiritual enhancement and social development in line with the central commandment of Islam, which advocates “doing good and rejecting evil” ….It was reported that after returning from the Hunayn expedition, the Prophet had declared: “We are back from the lesser jihad”[effort, resistance, struggle for reform] to the greater jihad. A Companion then asked: “What is the greater jihad, Messenger of God?” He answered; “It is fighting the self [the ego].
Dr. Ahmad needs to believe all this, so as not to shake his Muslim faith. But we who are not Muslims feel no such need. We who are not Muslims are perfectly capable of reading the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira, and observing the behavior of Muslims toward non-Muslims through time and across space. What appears to you, and to me, from these texts and this observable behavior, more important in Islam? Is it really the “Greater Jihad” of “spiritual enhancement and social development,” or is it the “Lesser Jihad” of fighting and warfare that best characterizes Islam’s texts, and teachings, and history?
Dr. Ahmad, a kindly soul, obviously considers himself to be speaking for all those “decent Muslims” who share his sanitized view of Islam. They are deeply puzzled, unable to explain the terrorist attacks of their co-religionists, and thus incapable of preventing such incidents as they continue to believe “that Islam is a peaceful religion with a civilising and humanising mission. They must know that none of the acts [Muslim terror attacks] are in any way justifiable. The nature of violence that has been committed is unacceptable. The attempt by perpetrators and sympathisers of these acts to invoke the call of jihad to justify their actions is misplaced and does not represent the essence of Islam.”
For Dr. Ahmad, all over the world too many Muslims have been violating that essence — peaceful, civilizing, and humanizing – of Islam, the “Islam” that means “peace” and that puts the most stress on the Greater Jihad of spiritual self-improvement. Why they do so remains a mystery for him, as for all the peaceful Muslims who “agonise at their inability to rationally explain the [terrorist attacks] apart from attributing them to a variety of complex factors.” Dr. Ahmad never does offer even a partial list of that “variety of complex factors” that he claims explain Muslim terrorism. Should he ever get around to doing so, I am fairly sure the texts and teachings of Islam would not be among them.
I don’t think there’s much point in reminding the doctor-ahmads of this world that when Bin Laden and Al-Zarqawi and Al-Baghdadi used the word “jihad,” it was never conceived by them as a “spiritual struggle”; that killing and subjugation of the Unbelievers, the expansion of Dar al-Islam, has always been, since its earliest days some 1350 years ago, the duty of Muslims, the real point of Islam. The true “misunderstanders of Islam” are those who, like Dr. Ahmad, have managed to ignore the texts and the history in order to convince themselves that Islam is all about peace, that the “Greater Jihad” is the spiritual one of self-dominance. And greatest of all the forms of jihad is that of the heart: ”‘scholars identify four categories of jihad: jihad of the heart, jihad of the tongue, jihad of the hand and jihad of the sword. But it is the jihad of the heart that can be considered as the highest manifestation of pacifism and the search for excellence within Islam.”
Islam’s essence is “civilizing, and humanizing.” Dr. Ahmad simply cannot allow himself to look steadily and whole at Islam, and to draw the logical consequences, unlike such celebrated (and threatened) apostates as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Magdi Allam, and Ibn Warraq. He does not dare to quote any of the more than 160 “Jihad verses” in the Qur’an, or hold up for inspection and discussion incidents in the life of that exemplary Muslim warrior Muhammad, at Khaybar, or the Battle of the Trench, or with little Aisha, or in connection with the killings of Asma bint Marwan and Abu ‘Afak.
What should we make of the more-in-sorrow views of Dr. Omar Farouk Sheikh Ahmad? Some part of me – and of you, no doubt — wants to believe that he actually believes what he says, that he has found a way to substitute his own version of peaceable-kingdom Islam, a version that allows a decent man like himself to dreamily hew to this make-believe faith, and to convince other Muslims to misunderstand that faith in the same reassuring way. Wouldn’t it be nice if more than a billion Muslims could be persuaded to willfully misunderstand their own faith? In fact, isn’t what Muslims like Dr. Ahmad do exactly what so many non-Muslim leaders in the West — Barack Obama, David Cameron, and Angela Merkel all come to mind — have done, constructed a false but hopeful “Islam,” and asked us to follow their example and accept this comforting fiction, in order to avoid having to deal with an unpleasant and frightening reality?
But there is no textual basis for the Islam Dr. Omar Ahmad and Barack Obama have allowed themselves to believe. All the Islamic texts are with the jihadis. He quotes not a single Qur’anic passage, not a single Hadith, in support of his assertions. And Islam’s 1350-year history of conquest fits the Jihad of the Sword, not Dr. Ahmad’s treacly “Jihad of the heart.” As much as we would like to participate, along with so many others, in Dr. Ahmad’s game of make-believe, in the long run, as Samuel Johnson once said in another connection, the mind can only repose on the stability of truth.

Jaladhi says
Oh, there are “decent Muslims” ?? That’s a news to the world!! And that “agony” stuff is nothing but fake agony. Muslims never agonize over murdering non-Muslims!1
mortimer says
‘Decent Muslims’ are Muslims who are neglecting their collective and individual duty of jihad against the disbelievers. Such non-participating Muslims are called ‘hypocrites’ in the Koran.
Peter Ahlskog says
The wickedness is inside most of them, even if they never kill with weapons in hand. They can kill with selfishness. An example is the Syrian refugee woman’s comment in a documentary about the refugee crisis in Sweden. She was angry about having to wait 6 months for meeting a representative for the Migration Board. The reporter said: “But you get money every month from the Swedish government, an apartment, school and daycare for our children. You must know that the staff at Migration Board is occupied with the 1500 new refugees arriving every week. Why complain when your family have money and safety?” And the muslim Syrian woman replied: “Then the Swedish government must stop allowing new refugees to the country. WE WERE HERE FIRST!” And her veil friends nodded and agreed.
The Syrian refugees in Europe are Syrian middle class and gold diggers who don’t give a fuck about their poorer countrymen and fellow muslims starving and bleeding in giant refugee camps back in Syria. Obviously the Koran allows them to act and think like that. Ah, what a beautiful jihad by heart.
maghan says
The fact is that Ahmad is not a Saudi Arab so it should be easy for him to reject the conqueror’s imperial impositions of Islam and the Arabic names that go with such.
The puzzles is why is Ahmad agonizing over the fact that Islam is a violent and destructive religion. What the terrorists are doing is exactly what is prescribed by the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira.
Charlie in NY says
Perhaps not coincidentally, in his list of jihadist attacks, Dr.Ahmad omits every attack in which Jews were the intended targets and victims, including the attack on the kosher deli simultaneous to the Charlie Hebdo attack and the Jewish Myseum attack in Brussels to name only two. Nothing in Israel, needless to say, makes the lust. Nor did Mumbai but I suppose the general list of attacks is so lengthy that he limited himself to attacks only going back to 2014.
Ian H says
Nor has he mentioned attacks within majority Muslim countries, like the bombing of Christian families celebrating Easter in Pakistan recently.
Jaladhi says
>”What should we make of the more-in-sorrow views of Dr. Omar Farouk Sheikh Ahmad? Some part of me – and of you, no doubt — wants to believe that he actually believes what he says, that he has found a way to substitute his own version of peaceable-kingdom Islam, a version that allows a decent man like himself to dreamily hew to this make-believe faith, and to convince other Muslims to misunderstand that faith in the same reassuring way.”<
I would not agonize to just call him a fake, hypocrite, and a liar! Why should waste our time on this nonsense of "decent" Muslims – whatever does that mean. Same thing with a "moderate" Muslims. None of these people exist or have ever existed!1
Angemon says
Yup.
vcragain says
You are justified in feeling the way you do, and I feel like that too, but you have to acknowledge that there are millions of people who happened to be born into Islam who really have no idea how their brethren are becoming so extreme as to believe in 7th century behavior ! Unless & until they are exposed to radical concepts and extreme behavior, justified with Islamic text, they go on believing it’s just a few people who got sidetracked into this behavior, you know most humans only want a quiet life and really do not want to have to kill themselves for anybody’s reason, so they just lay low and get on with their daily lives. Once they get preached at by the radicals or read their ideas online, they can get ginned up to join into that view and then become dangerous to any common sense view of the world. The problem is until that point is it fair to condemn everyone who ‘follows along’ without being radical as a problem, just because they ‘follow’ the cult they were born into ? This makes it very difficult for the rest of us to be fair-minded and not judge everyone as dangerous just because they profess to be Muslim. Unfortunately we may have to eventually be that drastic for our own survival, that is what Muslims need to understand – if they are NOT truly ‘into’ the radical views of their cult, they must take serious steps to stop this stuff THEMSELVES, or risk us ALL becoming so distrusting that we are forced to discriminate against all of them – that is what is now happening, so who is to blame for that ? How much trust are we expected to have before we finally have had enough of THEIR cult’s hatred & killing ???
mortimer says
Robert Spencer wrote: “Dr. Omar Farouk Sheikh Ahmad cannot bear to believe that Islam, normative Islam, could possibly prompt these acts”
But normative Islam has several doctrines that lead to TERRORISM: 1) the kafir doctrine 2) the jihad doctrine 3) the vigilantism doctrine 4) the misogyny doctrine 5) the revenge doctrine 6) the world conquest doctrine 7) the taqiyya doctrine.
It seems that Dr. Omar Farouk Sheikh Ahmad is practicing the taqiyya doctrine…against himself. To believe in the harmlessness of Islam, the doctor must first convince himself of the non-Islamicity of the first six doctrines mentioned above (kafirs, jihad, vigilantism, misogyny, revenge, world conquest).
Since the doctrines are all normative Islam, Al Ahazar University is not going to ban those doctrines or reform them.
Supremacism and terrorism remain fully Islamic…the doctor’s wishful thinking counts for nothing.
Champ says
Robert Spencer wrote: “Dr. Omar Farouk Sheikh Ahmad cannot bear to believe that Islam, normative Islam, could possibly prompt these acts”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wrong.
This was written by Hugh Fitzgerald, not Robert Spencer.
dom107 says
This is the strange effect religion(not only Islam) has on people. They persist in believing whichever religion they were born into no matter what the observable facts are, no matter what their co-religionists do and no matter what their IQ and educational/ career achievements are. Logically they cant all be right and equally logically with the level of scientific knowledge we have today they are ALL wrong.
Its like a virtually indelible tribal mark few can remove!
Jay Boo says
dom107
You state that:
“Logically they cant all be right and equally logically with the level of scientific knowledge we have today they are ALL wrong.”
Sorry but,
Your premise “Logically they cant all be right ” is very sound.
However, your conclusion, “with the level of scientific knowledge we have today they are ALL wrong.” is a separate unproven opinion that is not proven by your premise.
I will concede though that aside from the hint of false equivalence, your other sentences are reasonable enough generalities.
mortimer says
Dr. Omar Ahmad is creating his own personalized, modernized, non-jihadic version of Islam.
Dr. Ahmad’s version could be called ‘Islam-à-la-carte’ or ‘cafeteria Islam’.
No one has the right to pick and choose doctrines and make then ‘friendlier’. To change essential Islamic doctrines (such as jihad) to be ‘easier’ or ‘less offensive’ is called a ‘hypocrite’. Hypocrites should be executed when Muslims are under attack.
The doctrines Dr. Ahmad contradicts are:
-Kufrul-Istibdaal: one who rejects or tries to reform Allah’s laws to suit the changing zeitgeist or for their own personal needs.
-Kufrul-I’raadh: one who avoids for their own convenience practicing the religion of Islam yet is informed about its truth
-“If someone dies without participating in Jihad and not having the Intention of ever doing Jihaad, he has died on a branch of Hypocrisy (Nifaaq)” – Ibn Taymiyyah
TheOldOligarch says
I imagine it actually is pretty agonizing for people such as this. I think that mostly what causes them to stick with Islam is simply loyalty to ancestors. How difficult must it be, psychologically, to accept; my civilization is the bad guys of history. That said, so many westerners seem to love to the idea, despite it being demonstrably false in their case, that perhaps it is not as difficult as I imagine.
Islam :- the religion of con artists says
all our ancestors at some point in time were the bad guys, Islam is the only one that still worships the discusting achievements of the past, All the little kingdoms and fiefdoms had to fight for survival at some point ..
However westerners organised themselves enough to create democracy, womans rights, science, freedom, which of course lead to a quality of life Islam could have never achieved on it’s own …
Kepha says
I get your point. So, it seems that the task is to get people to recognize that the violence is present in Islam’s foundational documents, and systemic rather than incidentally.
Edgar Allen says
To all the Dr. Omar’s out there, if you are truly a decent person, and not a taqqiyya artist. we tell you this, form the Good Book of Our Lord:
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32.
Read your books. Read the life of Muhammad and ask yourself: Do I approve of what he did? If you don’t, it’s time to leave Islam.
Sam says
I just tried to educate a liberal “friend” on Islam. I was telling him the difference between Islam and Christianity and the difference between Jihadis and other Muslims in that the Jihadis are the real Muslims and the others are either ignorant or not interested in their religion.
After an hour of discussion I ended up with my liberal friend telling me “are you really sure that Islam is bad as we have a bilion and a half Muslims in the world as they can not be all bad.
In summary, it was like he did not hear anything I said about Islam.
I am beginning to think Allah is really playing tricks on the brains of people so they can not understand what Islam is. It is still mind boggling the refusal of to learn about Islam.
Jay Boo says
Islam is and was built on a foundation of an excuse.
Not all Muslims are pedophiles, murderers, and gang rapists.
However, as soon as we point out that Islam is a breeding ground for such behavior to a Ben Affleck – Leftist or a Muslim, they gleefully assume we are referring to all Muslims and use that assumption as an excuse to willfully ignore any Muslims who are doing such in the name of Islam.
BTW This is precisely why the Lemon Lime /voeg/ Fess theory of defeating Islam by — (my paraphrase) — labeling all Muslims as the same is domed to failure.
Pong says
“I was telling him the difference between Islam and Christianity…”
As soon as you did that, none of your arguments had any value.
firefoxhits says
Mohammed was a psychopath with a god complex and it is crystal clear that he poorly plagerized most of what is the koran, and twisted the rest to justify this demented thoughts & behaviors. If he was receiving any revelation, I have no doubt it was from Satanic forces because everything from the Medinan time onward was evil in its dictates. Allah has no similarity to the Christian God, but is near direct in comparison to Satan as ‘the great deceiver’, ‘the god of the world’, etc etc.
Even a cursory study of Islam reveals this and that makes our liberal leaders thinking even more suspect with their apparent ignorance of the Islamic teachings and their constant declarations that Islam is peace.
Liberals have long ago realized the power of the migrant vote, and I believe it was this impetus that started the migrant movement under the guise of multiculturalism.
Multiculturalism is a proven excercise of doom.
The continued acceptance of Islamic migrants is treasonous, as the end result is cultural and societal murder.
There have to be laws that prevent the migration of elements that are a danger to the country. Why arent those being enforced?
William says
When a Moslem woman (she was wearing a hijab, thereby displaying her fidelity to Mohammedanism) on a street in England was asked by a Croydon man what she thought of the terrorist attacks in Belgium, she replied that it had “nothing” to do with her. I guess that means it had absolutely nothing to do with her in that she was not directly involved with the terrorist attacks. But to say it had nothing to do with her, while sporting a garb of the religion in whose name the killers killed, is incredulous. She adamantly refused to be associated in any way with the murderers. Yet she was declaring to all, by her attire in the least, to share the same religious beliefs as the Mohammedan murderers. Dr. Ahmad is doing the same by attributing complex factors as causes of Islamic violence and terrorism. According to these two Mohammedans, Jihad violence has nothing to do with them. Perhaps assured themselves, they insist on assuring us too it has nothing to do with Islam. And so, confronted with the dirty facts of their religion, peaceful Mohammedans like these two only desire to sweep it under the rug.
Walter Sieruk says
Dr.Omar Ahmad may worry about “The agony of the ‘decent Muslim.’ ” Still how about Christians worrying ,or better yet praying, about and for deluded Muslims. In the sense that all Muslims are deluded by the book of Islamic deception that is the Koran. For a more full understanding of the actual nature of the Koran a person need to look back in time before the coming of Muhammad and then the Koran. Back to the First Century AD which was the time of early Christian church. For the Early Christian Church had and now in modern times the Christian church still has the Gospel of Christ, First Corinthians 15:1-4. Much later, in time, came Muhammad and he gave much information, that many believe to be divine, some of which is said to have been obtained from an angle from heaven. This information was written down on different objects and things Those written words in different objects was then compiled together and then eventually went into the composition of what is now called the Koran, As some also call it the Qur’an. The Koran is actually, that is in reality, another gospel, apart and greatly different from the Gospel of the Christian Church. Such a thing was predicted in the Bible. For the Bible does warn about those who will come and offer to people another gospel other than the one shown above, First Corinthians 15:1-4. For it is warned about any other “gospel” in the Bible. For it is written in the Bible “Though we or an angle from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so I say now again, if any man preaches any other gospel unto you than ye have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8, 9. [K.J.V.] Therefore, the Koran is the result of the deception of a false prophet, Mathew 7:15., who may have come in contact wait a fallen angle, a demon, So the imams and mullahs who preach it a truth to other are accused of and by God.
Jay Boo says
IMHO
I might be mistaken but 90% of your long comment seems to be Chapter/Verse proselytizing with a bit of Christianity vs Islam as a study in comparative religions .
With respect, this ironically gives the impression of insecurity in your faith.
Carolyne says
Mohammed (May poop be upon him) did indeed have an “Angle.” I don’t know what the bible “Predicted” about another religion coming along, but there have been others in addition to Islam. Taker Mormonism for instance. The Garden of Eden, they say, was in Missouri. Christ, after having risen in Jerusalem, came to North America to convert the Indians. A man may have as many wives as he can get, etc.
It appears that First Corinthians 15:1-4 says that anyone who follows any other gospel …(That had been preached by angels from heaven or even “We” one supposes meaning the Christian God) shall be accursed. Does this mean that there are renegade angels who might be opposing the Christian God living in His own heaven? And that He, Himself might preach an opposing religion?
I really don’t like this other religions being accursed bit as it sounds a tad too much like Islam. In fact, they all do. A bit like “When you meet the unbeliever, strike their neck.”
Jack Diamond says
Kindly Dr. Omar is horrified by certain terrorist attacks. Is he horrified or or thrown into theological quandaries by a cursory look at headlines in Malaysia in recent years?
“KUALA LUMPUR― Apostasy is not a constitutional right, a Muslim lawyer claimed today as he argued that freedom of religion does not include the liberty to leave a faith.”
A decree to prohibit non-Muslims from using certain words–
“A Penang Mufti’s Department spokesman said besides prohibited from using the (40) words, non-Muslims were also forbidden to write or publish any of the words in any form, version or translation in any language or for use in any publicity material in any medium, including print, electronic and any form, that could insult the sanctity of Islam…The decree was enforced on April 29, 2010. Those found flouting the decree would be charged under Section 3 of the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment (Penang) 1996″…the prohibited words include: ‘Allah’ , ‘Al Quran’, and ‘As Sunnah.’
40 Shades of Dhimmitude?
And who could forget the former Prime Minister of Malaysia? Was he also painful for Dr. Omar?
“PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (CNN) –Malaysia’s prime minister has urged Muslims to unite against Jews who, he says, rule the world by “proxy” — comments criticized by Jewish leaders as an invitation to violence.
In his attack at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Mahathir (Mohamad) said Jews ruled the world and got others to fight and die for them, but added that they would not be able to defeat the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims.”
Which part of this is or isn’t Islam’s “civilising and humanising mission”? Apostasy as a crime; criminalizing giving offense to Muslims; or defeating the hated Jews who rule the world by proxy?
If Dr. Omar did speak out against such things it is to his credit though it would further demonstrate how truly marginal he is. If he did not, why not?
Jihad of the heart sounds harmless enough until you remember “we must deal with our enemies with smiles on our faces and curses in our hearts” Bukhari 5780.
A Muslim’s first duty is to protect the reputation of Islam. That is the daunting task of Dr. Omar. To exonerate Islam from blame. To create a false narrative of Islam, to absolve Islam. The only thing missing here is blaming the Jews/Zionists/Crusaders/Americans/pigs & monkeys. Or…the Wahhabis, the legalists, even the hadiths. Whatever it takes.
Carolyne says
Are these words forbidden to be spoken in any language, Malay, Arabic, French, English, etc? “Sticks and stones my break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
balam says
Dr.Omar is a typical apologist for the CULT OF ISLAM like HUSSEIN OBAMA.They present ISLAM, which is nothing but a deadly poisonous snake, as a harmless worm to deceive the gullible Western people who have never lived under the Muslims to know them and understand the Muslim psyche. In fact, Islam and terrorism are the two sides of the same coin-the coin minted by Mohammed who claimed: I HAVE BEEN MADE VICTORIOUS WITH TERROR. Sahih Bokhari 4:52:220.Mohammed was first and foremost a TERRORIST PAR Excellence-and his followers are not far behind.
.
Janwaar Bibi says
The motto of the Pakistani army is “Jihad fi sabilillah” which means “Jihad for the cause of Allah.” No doubt this is because they get up in the morning every day and struggle spiritually with themselves while assuming the lotus position.
Fessitude says
“Dr. Ahmad knows that it cannot possibly be Islam itself that explains the violent behavior of Muslims,”
How can Hugh Fitzgerald know what Dr. Ahmad knows? The answer, of course, is that he can’t; he must infer it. Given the veritable mountains of data we have already about Islam and about the Islamic culture and psychology of Muslims, and given the terrible danger we are in due to Muslims following Islam by hook (overt violence) or by crook (various forms of deceit & disinformation), it would be reckless of us to wield the double-edged sword of Inference in such a way as to favor its bias toward erring on the side of generosity, rather than on the side of unforgiving, ruthless suspicion.
I.e., the proper analysis begins – and concludes – with the gimlet-eyed and infinitely jaded conviction that:
“Dr. Ahmad knows damn wellthat it is Islam itself that explains the violent behavior of Muslims.”
We move quickly from there, having recovered our breath & sanity, to posing the ruthlessly rhetorical question:
“Why then is it that Dr. Ahmad is wringing his hands so in his earnest show of feeling our pain…?”
A rhetorical question whose answer we already know, and against whose consequences we have already been steeling ourselves. To wit: Dr. Ahmad is a “Better Cop” – upping the game of the standard-issue garden-variety Good Cop which the Muslim world (usually inside the West) has been trotting out since 911 to assure us that “Islam is peace” and that “Islam does not believe in killing the innocent” – a game which many Westerners, most especially its still minuscule, but growing, nucleus of an increasingly restive and impatient Counter-Jihad, are no longer playing.
But along comes the New-and-Improved Used Car of Reformist Islam – sold by the Better Cop in a snazzier plaid suit and a whiter-toothed smile. Now he has a chance to fool the harder-to-fool Westerner. And one way to fool them is to make them think that Muslims like Dr. Ahmed don’t know damn well that mainstream Islam necessarily entails a global jihad against the West — that Muslims like Dr. Ahmed don’t positively slaver in anticipation of the prospect of the success of that perennial jihad coming at last to its fruition, to climax some day in the not-too-distant future (perhaps not in Dr. Ahmed’s lifetime, but that is all right, Mashallah, Inshallah, he can rest in peace knowing that his grand-children, or their grand-children, will finally taste the sweet, sweet fruits of the Destruction of Ar-Rum (the Romans, i.e., us – cf. Sura 30 of the bloody Koran…); and that he, Dr. Ahmed will have done his small, humble part in this great endeavor — Astaghfirullaaha Allaahumma ‘Antas-Salaamu wa minkas-salaamu, tabaarakta yaa Thal-Jalaali wal-‘Ikraam!!!
Jay Boo says
good to see you here with your “mountains of data”
I can’t read Dr. Ahmad mind — although you may very well (happen) to be correct.
A problem arises when this leads to over-generalization.
As I wrote above — in the following
“BTW This is precisely why the Lemon Lime /voeg/ Fess theory of defeating Islam by — (my paraphrase) — labeling all Muslims as the same is domed to failure.”
Hugh says
When I wrote “Dr. Ahmad knows….” I assumed readers would understand that I meant “knows.” You and I agree about Dr. Ahmad; I just had a different way of expressing things.
Angemon says
“Fessitude”, a.k.a. “voegelinian”, a.k.a. “LemonLime”, a.k.a. “Cantor”, a.k.a. “Hesperado”, is a long time JW regular whose shtick is that you, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Ibrahim, and the rest of the brave forefront figures of the CJ movement don’t “get it”. Only he “gets it”, and therefore it’s his mission to come here and undermine you so he can stand out.
Mr. Spencer correctly described him as a “a poor thinker, and an unfair judge“, and “a relentless and indefatigable fault-finder” who spends “all his time sniping on false pretenses rather than doing something positive”. He’s the guy that ran the blog “Jihadwatch watch”, a blog dedicated to – and I bet you guessed it – explaining how JW contributors got it wrong and he got it right. All that one needs to know about “Fessitude” is that he went on PalTalk and asked someone to come here and defend him:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/10/france-radical-prisoner-on-the-run-after-getting-temporary-leave-from-prison-shoots-policeman-in-the-head#comment-1308385
Champ says
Angemon wrote:
“Fessitude”, a.k.a. “voegelinian”, a.k.a. “LemonLime”, a.k.a. “Cantor”, a.k.a. “Hesperado”, is a long time JW regular …
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And “remote_control” was another moniker that he used. He’s had so many that it’s hard to keep track of them all. And he’s been banned 4 or 5 times, but he keeps coming back …sigh.
Angemon says
“remote_control”? That’s like the best possible username for him, since it accurately explains what he wants to do to other users: “remote_control” them to jumping in to defend him and insult his detractors.
Godless says
Nobody is saying why Fessitude is wrong.
Angemon is the first person to point out that we can’t tell peaceful Muslims from ones that pose a threat. So if we don’t assume they are all a threat why wouldn’t the ones that are keep killing and terrorizing us to the point of us subduing us?
Angemon says
Godless (the person voeg met on PalTalk and coaxed to come here to harass me) posted:
“Nobody is saying why Fessitude is wrong.”
If you think that lying and insulting others is “right” then there’s nothing I can do for you. But feel free to tell us why voeg is wrong though.
“Angemon is the first person to point out that we can’t tell peaceful Muslims from ones that pose a threat.”
Nope. I can’t take credit for that. I bet many people said that before I did.
“So if we don’t assume they are all a threat why wouldn’t the ones that are keep killing and terrorizing us to the point of us subduing us?”
Which brings the other thing I often ask you and your puppet master and for which I have yet to have an answer to: how do you tell who’s a muslim and who isn’t? Voeg ranted on and on about not trusting muslims because of taqqyiah (thus showing his limitations – any lame-assed muslim apologist would wipe the floor with him simply by saying “taqqyiah is a shia concept and is only limited to hiding their faith when persecuted”), and yet, you two seemingly expect, in your seditious “total deportation” scenario (again, where would you “deport” a Native American convert to islam to?), muslims to go like “yes, I’m a muslim”.
I hope you’re not planning to go “deport” people because of their skin colour or beard size…
Fessitude says
“knows” what?
Dr. Ahmad knows that it cannot possibly be Islam itself that explains the violent behavior of Muslims.
That this isn’t merely rhetorically sarcastic is indicated by another claim about Dr. Ahmed’s mind, a little later:
“Dr. Ahmad needs to believe all this, so as not to shake his Muslim faith.”
I.e., the bias here seems to lean toward the notion that a Muslim who seems — through his rhetoric to the Kuffar through Kuffar media — tortured in Denial really is wrestling with Denial; rather than, as I argued we should assume (pivoting the other way from that double-edged blade of our occasional agnosticism about the Muslim mind), slyly upping the game in order to wheedle the warier among his Enemy.
Fessitude says
“…slyly upping the game in order to wheedle the warier among his Enemy.”
And, apparently successfully wheedling (some of the warier…).
Jay Boo says
Fessitude mocks Hugh’s obvious (sarc) as if Hugh is unaware of Fessitude’s “(mountains of data)” in order to do his one-up-manship routine, yet again
I have to believe that Fessitude is doing that deliberately because even with Fessitude’s mountain of narcissism he could not possibly be so daft of a ding bat to miss that (sarc) given his years of comments.
After informing us of what Hugh can’t know; “he must infer it” and overlooking the sarcasm, Fess goes on to the other extreme implying he knows that Dr. Ahmed is 100% aware just as all Muslims and to instruct us of what we must infer lest we be fooled.
Angemon says
Fessitude posted:
“How can Hugh Fitzgerald know what Dr. Ahmad knows? The answer, of course, is that he can’t; he must infer it.”
Unlike you, Mr. Fitzgerald never acted as if he possessed magical mind-reading abilities. I’d take Mr. Fitzgerald inductions over any of your magical mind-reading skills or so-called “deductions” any time, though.
jewdog says
Such comforting illusions would be harmless were the consequences harmless. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen countless times, one terrible example being Israel’s Oslo Accords, Islam does not give suckers an even break. Take heed, Angela.
Rob says
Other Muslims are bolder and tell it like it is.
These from MEMRI over recent months:
.”‘The Muslim World is Going Backwards – and the West isn’t to Blame’ (Al Arabia March) and
‘Saudi Writer Asks How Muslims Would Act If Christian Terrorists Blew Themselves Up In Their Midst? (Al-Rai February).
Even the Egyptian President has told his Imams that there is clearly something wrong with a religion that most of the world is fearful of.”
This ‘Bama-lite’ version of Islam must be called out for what it is!
Walter Sieruk says
With Islam so much in the news and in such great power in some countries, as Saudi Arabia and Iran, it’s a good thing to define what Islam really is .Of the many ways Islam may be described, one of them is that a religion of denial. Meaning that Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God. As in the Son of God Who is God the Father. Furthermore, Islam denies the Jesus is God the Son. In addition, Islam denies that Jesus is God. Before going over these three denials of Islam it first should the stated the Bible instructs the way to tell if a prophet or religious teacher is really from and of God or not is do the teachings and doctrines of that prophet of teacher really fit in accord what is found in the Bible ? For if that prophet or teachers and teachers doctrines that are in contradiction to the Bible then that prophet is a false prophet and that religious teacher is a false teacher and thus in doctrinal error and darkness. Likewise if a religion had teachings and doctrines that are in contradiction that is religion is in error also part of the world of darkness and is therefore a false religion. As the Bible instructs in Isaiah 8:20. “To the law of the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” [K.J.V.] With this clearly stated, three things should be known. First, that Islam denial that Jesus is the Son of God is in great contradiction to the teaching of the Bible . Which reveals the Jesus is the Son of God? As seen in ,for example Matthew 3:16,17. 16:15,16. Luke 1:35. John 3:16, 17, 36. First John 2:22,23. 4:14,15. 5:12,13. Second, that Islam denies that Jesus is God the Son is in strong contradiction to the Bible. As found in Hebrews 1:6-8. With emphasis on verse 8. Third, Islam’s denial that Jesus is God is in great contrast to the doctrine and teaching of the Bible. That Jesus is God may be found in ,for example, John 1:1;3. Colossians 1:15-17. Romans 9:5 Second Peter 1:1. Titus 2:13. First John 5:20. Moreover, to further discover that the Bible teachings that Jesus is God all a person has to do is to compare the Old Testament with New Testament to see that Jesus is God. As in comparing Isaiah 45:22,23. with Philippians 2:5-11. Also by comparing Psalm 89:8,9. with Mathew 8:23-27. will reveal that Jesus is God. Likewise , by comparing Psalm 62:5-7 . with First Corinthians 10:4. shows the Deity of Jesus. Even by comparing the News Testament books together will show that Jesus is God. As in comparing Romans 14:12. with John 5:22. will show Jesus to be God. The list can go on but this should be enough, for all who are willing to see the truth , that Jesus is, indeed, the Son of God. That Jesus is God the Son and that Jesus is God. The imams and mullahs as well as the other apologists for Islam will try to “explain’ this all away by making the claim that the Bible had been corrupted by Christians ,through time, and that’s way the Bible reads as it does. This claim, very much, underestimate the Power of God to protect and preserve His Word ,through time , and to keep in intact and away from the corruption of men. In conclusion, in light and information of the Bible in can be seen that Islam is a awful and terrible doctrinal error concerning it teaching about the Nature of Jesus and therefore Islam is part of the world of darkness. So Islam with its strong contradictions to the Bible is a false religion, Proverbs 14:12. So all dear Muslims are thus invited to leave the false religion of Islam and come the and receive the Jesus of the Bible who is the only way to heaven ,John 14:6. And the True Light of the world. John 8:12.
Pong says
There are some posts almost as boring as yours, but at least they are shorter.
Champ says
Indeed! Great comment, Walter.
linnte says
Good read Hugh! Clearly the Dr. is writing to ausage his guilt and (a double edged sword) convince Westerners of the “peacefulness” of Islam. ACH phooey!
Shmooviyet says
“… fighting to defend the forces of good…”
Sounds as though he’s using a quote from a 1930s Superman radio episode.
emmett says
Dr. Ahmad does not include in his list of terrorist attacks any of the attacks against Jewish establishments or people. Does he not want to focus direct attention to the inherent nature of anti semitism present in the Koran, Hadith etc.?
Pong says
Decent moslem is an oxymoron. By misrepresenting islam this “doctor” makes his own contribution to jihad. After all – war is deceit. Many christians, this blog included, arguing against islam from a religious platform. I have been fighting this position for many years. By arguing with moslems about theology of islam, those people, unwillingly, put both religions at the same level and narrow the problem to which religion is the real truth. At the end it looks like the argument of who’s god has a bigger dick. It comes to the point of such confusion, that the churches accepting islam as one of the paths to god (catholics are particularly “good” in doing that).
By arguing a religious dogmas of islam with many long passages from the nt, legitimize islam, though not good one, but still a religion. Those arguments are very poor from an intellectual point, always boring and give an impression of islam as just another faith. It is also distorts the essence of islam as an ideology, with such definitions as a devoted, moderate, militant, fundamental and so on. The definitions, which are totally foreign to islam and as such, not applicable.
Recent events (not so recent for those, not blinded by faith) show how easily faith brings them close. That is why interfaith dialogs are so popular among the clergy and fundamentalists.
I predict that with islam gaining strength in western world, conversions will increase and the ones, who have faith now, will be at the forefront of this movement.
David says
I must agree with the majority on this one. Just where are all these decent muslims hiding? I live in a small city in the northwestern USA. Local college has brought about a thousand muslims into town to”study” here. None of them ever leave! We are now over run.
And they are very intolerant of anything not halal. I’ve had them threaten me with a knife.
Is useless to report this to the cops. “After all, their just students”.
Many citizens are getting concealed carrying permits.
I’ve resorted to full time stun-gun and mace carry. Just for personal protection. These savages are dangerous! There is nothing decent about them.
خَليفة says
This brings to mind the fictional character of Camille, aka Marguerite Gautier, who some have described as a mythical creature known as A hooker with a heart of gold.
Oh, Muslim, refrain from your silly thoughts, forget everything Islamic as that is the path to the center of Hell.
gravenimage says
Generally speaking, I’d take a hooker over a follower of Islam any day. You might get an STD or even rolled, but you aren’t dealing with someone who adheres to a creed that specifically calls for your subjugation or death.
sidney penny says
“But there is no textual basis for the Islam Dr. Omar Ahmad and Barack Obama have allowed themselves to believe.”
The words again
“textual basis”
vcragain says
“Islam is all about peace” – this is what most are taught as children and they grew up accepting this wonderful enlightening concept because it sounds lovely and makes everybody feel good. The problem is that if these Muslims never have the literal book fed to them – as some kids do in other places- they never really understand that version of the books. They are in a euphoric state of beatitude, the same thing happens in all religions, the mind is convinced of a certain reality and they are happy in that reality. While in that state of mind those people do not present a threat to anyone else – if you talked with them they might try to convince you that their belief system was wonderful and we should all join too. The problems come from those who read their books literally, so other leaders are teaching the very worst of sayings in these books and some sections of the faith are learning hatred and murder – THEY are the problem, and anyone else who meets these teachings and changes to that view of Islam. They are a threat to everything that humans have learnt about being civil and loving. We in the West now have the horrible problem of trying to determine who is and how many are the problem. Now we feel we have to distrust the very religion itself and survival may dictate that laws are changed to protect ourselves. What a shame – this is not about a failure in the West, it is about a resurgence of a side of Islam that is a danger to all of us. I am concerned mainly that this problem does not appear to be dealt with by ordinary Muslims in their mosques – when those radical Imams preach does anybody ever argue with them, or is the ‘submission’ so endemic that any little band of Muslims can be radicalized at any time ? I really hate this cult, but I do understand that you cannot blame millions of peaceful people for the crimes of a smaller percentage of their peers. Trouble is we are the target and need to be careful who we trust, so we are now beginning to wake up to the reality facing our western civilization. I am very sorry for the ones who ARE peaceful and have no intent of violence, but THEY should now be speaking up and controlling their OWN problem – if they do NOT they cannot blame the target population for their feelings of distrust.
patriotliz says
You can’t blame ALL Nazis for the crimes committed by the small percentage who murdered millions in concentration camps. You can’t blame ALL KKK for the small percentage that lynched blacks. In other words, it’s the IDEOLOGY, Stupid!. Islam is their inspiration, their foundation and Mohammed is their prime example of what a Muslim should be-a pedophile, warmonger who chopped off heads, rapist, hater of Jews and all non-Muslims and misogynist. We are at war with Islam. Anyone who is a Muslim by accident of birth, by forced conversion or chosen conversion should renounce this ideology of hate in order to become a decent human being.
Dacritic says
If the Hadith is incidentally healthy for Islam’s image, they would very eagerly refer to it. “Oh, a Hadith here says this… oh, a Hadith here says that.” When the Hadith is damaging to Islam’s reputation, then they all start becoming “Quran only” Muslims, or they start pulling a wool over your eyes with the “isnad”.
I’ve had enough of Muslim apologists.
gravenimage says
Dr. Omar Ahmad and The Agony of the “Decent Muslim”
………………………..
Given his name, Dr. Ahmad is almost certainly Ahmadi. The do not believe in violent Jihad (although they still believe in the imposition of brutal Shari’ah law).
But they know that rejection of violent Jihad is *not* mainstream Islam. Ahmadis are, in fact, savagely persecuted and often murdered for just this reason. They are considered “heretics” by orthodox Muslims.
None of these sad facts–as Robert Spencer has often noted–have kept Ahmadis from whitewashing Islam for the credulous Infidels, though.
Here is just one story of dozens here:
“Ahmadi propagandist claims foes of jihad, not jihad terror, responsible for suspicion of Islam”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/03/ahmadi-propagandist-claims-foes-of-jihad-not-jihad-terror-responsible-for-suspicion-of-islam