Jonathan Brown, director of Georgetown University’s Saudi-funded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), brooks no disagreement. Having expelled this writer from a February 7 apologist lecture on Islamic slavery that provoked nationwide outrage, Brown ejected me from another Georgetown event on March 16.
I achieved infamy as a “Jihad Watch correspondent who had written sensationalist pieces about Georgetown events” according to Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of the über-establishmentarian Foreign Policy in her March 16 online article, “Islamophobia Inc.” Jihad Watch publisher Robert Spencer comprehensively rebutted this “lurid fantasy.” (For the record, I also report regularly for Campus Watch.)
Brown was visibly surprised when I entered Georgetown’s Alumni House for the opening dinner of the Peace Requires Encounter Summit. The summit ostensibly sought to “build relationships” — apparently only with those approved by Islamic supremacists — co-sponsors included the Muslim Brotherhood-derived Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Franciscan Action Network (FAN), and Unity Productions Foundation (UPF), a producer of pro-Islam films.
UPF’s Daniel Tutt, of Marymount University, invited me via email to the Friday-Sunday summit after I registered for the screening of UPF’s latest production, The Sultan and the Saint. Upon spotting me at Friday evening’s kick-off, an agitated Brown demanded that I leave the invitation-only event before summoning Tutt, who obsequiously acknowledged his mistake in having invited a “noted Islamophobe” who had “slandered” Brown. Tutt apologized to me before I left, but at Saturday’s screening he asked if I would disrupt the showing, a paranoid inquiry I denied.
Tutt’s previous writings demonstrate why he holds such a sinister perception of Islamic supremacism’s critics or as he puts it, a “growing right-wing populist reactionary neo-Fascist network.” He maintains that the current “intensification of Islamophobia must be understood and diagnosed primarily, but not exclusively, as the outcome of capitalist exploitation.” This false view excuses Islamic supremacist behavior and blames “the system.”
Alas, the feature film presented an equally whitewashed view of Islamic history with an examination of the 1219 meeting between St. Francis of Assisi and the Egyptian sultan al-Malik al-Kamil in Egypt during the Fifth Crusade. The film — as narrated by actor Jeremy Irons — falsely contrasts St. Francis “preaching about the Lord of love” while the “medieval Church still holds to the vision of a ferocious, vengeful God who summons believers to war.” Various scenes show al-Kamil as a boy reciting Quran 2:256, a verse often misunderstood by non-Muslims as documenting Islamic tolerance, and Muslims praying the Fatiha (Quran 1:1-7) with the key omission of its last verse. According to numerous authoritative Islamic interpretations, its terms condemn Jews and Christians. Irons avoids any such disquieting analysis as he concludes the film, stating that “angry, dehumanizing words sparked violence today as before. Transcending differences, the road to peace runs through the common humanity that we all share.”
This approach ignores facts documented by many historians, including Frank M. Rega. In his book on the St. Francis-al-Kamil meeting, Rega noted that St. Francis understood the Crusades as “part of an ongoing just war in response to Muslim invasions of Christian lands,” including the 846 Muslim sack of Rome. University of Nantes historian John V. Tolan traces the historiography of this encounter over the centuries to show that twentieth century scholars “presented the two as men of peace far above the fray between fanatical crusader and jihadists.” Francis becomes “a sort of spiritual forebear to…those who oppose colonial violence and war in the Middle East — up to and including the two Iraq Wars of George Bush father and son.” These insights, coupled with UPF’s past distortions about modern Muslims, Muslims fighting Nazism in World War II, and Muslims enslaved in America, place The Sultan and the Saint firmly within this politicized, apologetic historiography.
Following the Georgetown screening before an audience of around seventy, the panelists stressed interfaith relations, while avoiding disquieting inquiries into Islam. UPF co-founder and film director Alex Kronemer focused on the film’s psychological analysis of violence and made evolutionary arguments about how humans “are wired to see differences and fear them.” As he has previously written, he is the “product of a Jewish-Christian marriage” who, after a life of spiritual seeking, converted to Islam’s “message of compassion and tolerance.”
Marie Denis, the co-president of Pax Christi, a leftist, anti-Israel Catholic pacifist group, chided Catholics for “pointing to imagined violence in another community.” Rather, they should reflect upon the film’s depiction of well-known Crusader atrocities (e.g. the 1099 sack of Jerusalem) that ignored the brutality of Muslims like al-Kamil’s uncle, the renowned Crusader opponent Saladin. Meanwhile, along with FAN Executive Director Patrick Carolan, Denis signed a 2014 letter opposing American military strikes against the all-too real violence of the Islamic State.
Former UPF employee and Muslim writer Laila Alawa, a “huge fan of being politically correct,” evoked her past radical tweets, including the illiberal admonition that “free speech has consequences.” Ahmed Younis, former national director of the radical Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and current Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, and Washington Post writer Elizabeth Bruenig completed the panel. Bruenig has written approvingly of President Barack Obama’s 2015 politicized remarks concerning the Crusades and promoted the falsehood that Israel threatens Middle East Christians.
With prominent attendees enjoying catered buffets undisturbed in Georgetown’s hallowed halls, the summit made a mockery of its “Islamophobia” hysteria. Meanwhile, Brown benefits from Saudi largesse, while promoting his views at events to which critics have no entrée. Clearly, those who feel besieged by nefarious “Islamophobes” are demonstrating a case of projection. Such behavior confirms Spencer’s analysis of “Islamic culture” as “extremely brittle and insecure.” Yet there will be no escaping this writer in the future.
Andrew E. Harrod is a freelance researcher and writer who holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He is a fellow with the Lawfare Project. Follow him on Twitter at @AEHarrod. This article was sponsored by Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
Mike9a says
Mo Brown, what is the taste 30 pieces of silver?
mortimer says
The FBI should investigate how Brown has been paid by foreign governments and how he receives his orders from the Muslim Brotherhood.
john spielman says
is that the price of prostituting one’s self to a Saudi Prince? as well as buying a slave
Brown is simply another academic whore who has sold his eternal soul to the devil (allah)
Brown is following the path of islam – to his eternal destruction
jihad3tracker says
HELLO MIKE — I urge all readers of this JW post to email Joseph Ferrara, one of the top persons in Georgetown’s administration. You can reach him here: jaf@georgetown.edu.
When infant-disguised-as-adult Professor Brown threw his first tantrum over Andrew Harrod’s attending that February 7 presentation, Ferrara probably got some reaction from Jihad Watch readers, because I also suggested contacting him then.
Read Dr. Harrod’s account of the incident and consequent happenings by clicking on one of his hotlinks in the post above.
If you are feeling generous with the amount of time devoted to Mr. Ferrara (because Easter weekend in coming tomorrow, with perhaps some hours of freedom from obligations) include in the email a short biography with your own path from cluelessness about the Religion Of Shredded Pieces on over to knowledge and shattered illusions that it is an “Abrahamic monotheism” like Judaism and Christianity.
You could mention, too, how completely Jonathan Brown’s antics disgrace whatever standing Georgetown has as a true exemplar of Jesuit intellectual integrity. And that ACMCU’s existence on campus is a corruptive cancer, an echo-chamber of denial about the essence of subjugation and violence embedded in the Qur’an, Hadith, and Sira.
THAT SICKNESS AROSE DECADES AGO WHEN PRINCE ALWALEDD BIN-TALAL GAVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO ESTABLISH THE CENTER.
Finally, there are two websites of the news/press variety on that campus: http://www.gureview.org, plus http://www.thehoya.com. The first is done by non-students, the second by students. Both have covered the issue of non-diversity in opinion and inquiry at Georgetown, and GUREVIEW did at least one item on Professor Brown’s lecture which Dr. Harrod was kicked out of. Consider getting in touch with them via email as well.
jihad3tracker says
If we want to contact a few of the Allah fan club members who are mentioned specifically in hotlinks at Dr. Harrod’s article above, consider — if you do not already have one — creating an email address just for such correspondence with such persons, so, if they get royally p*ssed off, a mountain of threats and spam does not deluge your main email resource.
Gmail, in my humble opinion, makes such an endeavor very easy. To really get under their skins, reference the post above in a link, plus its concluding sentence (“Yet there will be no escaping this writer again.”) and WHAT AN IMBECILE JONATHAN BROWN IS FOR STRATEGIZING THAT REMOVING DR. HARROD FROM LECTURES IS A GOOD WAY OF HANDLING THE SITUATION.
Shmooviyet says
@Mike9a: Excellent!
Mr. Harrod must be terribly threatening to Brown the Saudi stooge, that he trembles and whimpers at the sight of him.
“No! I won’t speak til you remove him, you can’t make me!”
Perfect photo above: the face of a classic gutless wonder if there ever was one.
jihad3tracker says
HELLO SHMOOVIYET — Great nom-de-plume, by the way ! ! !
I mentioned in a comment about the first of Brown’s “Get out!” tantrums posted by Dr. Harrod that he was generous enough to give up an hour of time for a chat with insignificant me several years ago at a mall near both of our homes.
ANDREW HARROD IS A BIG GUY — over 6 feet if my ancient memory is accurate. I doubt that this Allah-loving academic comes close to that stature, which probably brings out the infantile slice of his personality even more.
mortimer says
The Muslim Brotherhood (of which Jonathan Brown is obviously an operative) is using a new stratagem: ‘GET TO KNOW A MUSLIM… and your prejudice will disappear’.
What this ‘break bread with us’ event CONCEALS is the METHODS and GOALS of Islam… which are discriminatory and totalitarian.
Jonathan Brown is disguising his totalitarianism, but it slips out when he talks about SLAVERY. He doesn’t say that the SLAVES in his ISLAMIC UTOPIA are all CHRISTIAN SLAVES, JEWISH SLAVES, ZOROASTRIAN SLAVES, HINDU SLAVES, but no MUSLIM SLAVES or agnostic slaves or animist slaves. Why?
Because Sharia law doesn’t allow Muslims to be enslaved and agnostics and animists will simply be killed without qualms or discussion.
What Jonathan Brown CONCEALS is his belief in JIHADISM: Islam’s mission of WARFARE against the DIRTY KAFIRS.
Jonathan Brown’s jihad is verbal jihad, a war of words, books, lectures and articles that DISGUISE his TOTALITARIAN, DISCRIMINATORY, DRACONIAN goals of crushing the life out of the dirty kafirs and their successful free culture.
Tara says
They’re all slaves of Saudi money. I’m surprised Georgetown should have such a centre at all. They’re merely propagating the most vile Wahabi faith.
Boston Tea Party says
“intensification of Islamophobia must be understood and diagnosed primarily, but not exclusively, as the outcome of capitalist exploitation.”
And I think this is one of the most telling statements. For those people who scratch their heads and say “Hmm…I just can’t figure out why those on the left so often side with (often openly radical) Muslims. Doesn’t the left claim to be about women’s rights, freedom of expression, secularism, gay rights, etc? Those Muslims are often some of the fiercest foes of those things–it doesn’t seem to make sense.”
And indeed, it does NOT make sense if those leftists really cared about women’s rights, secularism, freedom of expression, etc. But it makes PERFECT sense if one understands that for large swaths of the left, their primary motivation is a pure, unadulterated hatred of Western civilization–they hate Christianity, capitalism and individualism. They see the history of the West as consisting primarily of racism, colonialism, exploitation, slavery, etc. And conversely, they fetishize and elevate the non-Western “other”–and see non-Western peoples and cultures as a priori good. Once you understand that this is the worldview of many on the left, then it makes perfect sense that they would team up with another group that shares so much of their worldview–namely the bulk of Muslims. (And it should be noted that for that small minority of Muslims who are genuine liberal reformers and are openly critical of Islam, the left will drop them like a hot potato.)
pinchas baram says
excellent analysis and explanation of the paradox as to why the Red Left and the Green Jihadis have more than a marriage of convenience. Their HATE of the West is the binding glue.
Barry says
I’m wonder how this bozo would feel about someone taking him as a slave and/ or his wife. Seems to me that would be ok….
Henry jones says
Robert,
Sorry for the dumb question, but why did Tut want you to.disrupt Saturdays meeting? Did he secretly want you to speak unbeknownst to Brown, or did he want you to make a scene… setting you up to say “look at Islamaphone Spencer forcing his way into this summit” for publicity, to cause a stunt, etc?
Robert Spencer says
Henry jones:
I wasn’t there at all. This article was written by Andrew Harrod.
Richard Paulsen says
It ought to be obvious to anyone, islam is as dangerous for everyone, neither you pretend that it is not dangerous nor whether one criticizes or supports it.
Richard Paulsen says
Correction: Islam is as dangerous for everyone. The same thing whether one pretends it is not, criticizes it or supports it.
JawsV says
Brown is a convert to Islam. That right there proves he’s a moron.
mortimer says
Brown is a COWARD afraid to have his credibility removed by Robert Spencer in debate.
RUN, BROWN, RUN. Brown is yellow.
Karen says
Jonathan Brown, congratulation on the massive amount of water you carry for the Saudi royal family. An institution, and country, that has zero tolerance for any religion other than Islam.
Number of Christian churches in KSA: 0
Number of Jewish synagogues in KSA: 0
Number of Hindu temples in KSA: 0
Tony says
Islam is a cult religion and is to be never protected as a religion.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
A linguistic question about this historical figure “the Egyptian sultan al-Malik al-Kamil”…
Muhammad (pbuh) is described as “al-insan al-kamil, i.e., “the person who has reached perfection”, “the perfect man”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ins%C4%81n_al-K%C4%81mil
What is the relationship between this title and the name of
https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Malik-al-Kamil ?
Andrew E Harrod says
This came up at the panel with Alex Kronemer. Ahmed Younis discussed, noting that al Malik means king or ruler, while al Kamil is perfect, so al Malik al Kamil is the perfect ruler.
gary fouse says
The perfect marriage of academia with the inter-faith kumbaya crowd=the Land of Oz.
They should have shown the videos of the massacre of an Ahmadiya student at a Pakistan university yesterday for “blasphemy”.
FYI says
There is nothing more idiotic than a supposedly western educated convert to islam.
Perhaps Mr Brown should adopt an Arab name while he is at it (How about Farouk Faisal Saddam Hussein or Barack bin Laden or something like that?)given the islamic supremacist devotion to their diabolical arab allah,that anti-Christian,anti-Jewish,commandment-breaking great sultan in the sky who can only communicate in Arabic(Unlike Almighty God of the Bible who speaks ALL languages fluently and gave us a series of commandments which allah- ludicrously and laughably – forgot to put in his pefect book,the koran).
As a follower of muhammed(the perfect man.Really??)and having espoused the cult of islam, a convert is surely under an obligation to follow the example or Sunnah of the “prophet” of islam.His medical advice surely must be taken seriously….
“If you so like,you may go to the camels of saddaqa and drink their milk and urine”
Sahih Muslim 16:4130
Feel free if you are a convert to islam to follow this sage advice,and enjoy the marvellous health benefits that come from drinking the liquefied waste product of a revoltingly foul-smelling animal.Only allah and God know what use muhammed made of the camel dung.Flapjacks?Dung-flavored cookies?Facial cream?
But seriously…
Converting to islam is really,realty stupid as there is no salvation in allah.
There is certainly in Almighty God.And the reason Almighty God allows allah(the diabolus simius Dei) to exist in opposition to Him is to separate the wheat from the chaff…
Folow allah /mahomet to perdition if you wish but don’t expect salvation or mercy…
Rob says
Funny how, in reading the Koran, you constantly come across phrases like “Allah, the merciful”, and yet the god of Islam does not preach mercy. His followers shout “Allah Akbar” (Allah is greatest), but the god they follow uses them as tools for vengeance and crusade, cares nothing for them as individuals unless they kill themselves or others, offers them no love, forgiveness or personal relationship, and provides them with precious little hope. Actually it is a pretty sad situation.
Carolyne says
It would be strange that this man doesn’t want to hear the truth about Islam–of course there’s the Saudi money.
Barry Goldberg says
It is quite ironic that Saudi billions, which have financed and spawned thousands of Wahabbi-based churches and academic centers around the world, has also spawned ISIS, which is directly linked to Wahabbism, and of which the Saudi princes are deathly afraid. Dr. Harrod, we salute you!