Jihad Watch writer Hugh Fitzgerald has gotten under Robert Azzi’s skin.
Hugh Fitzgerald, a writer for the online magazine Jihad Watch, has hounded Azzi in print, wondering in one piece why Azzi would equate Islamic fundamentalism with Christian fundamentalism.
“Hounded,” i.e., pointed out Azzi’s inconsistencies and dishonesty.
“Where are the tens of thousands of victims of Christian Fundamentalism all over the world?” Fitzgerald asks in a recent column. “Just as important, where are the Biblical texts that command Christians to wage war on all non-Christians, to ‘kill them wherever you find them,’ to ‘smite at their necks,’ to ‘strike terror in their hearts?’ ”
Azzi scoffs at the mere mention of Fitzgerald. First off, he doesn’t even believe the man is real. He’s checked online and says he can’t find him.
“This is reporting by a person who doesn’t exist, and I would eat my words (if he does),” Azzi told me. “I have Googled and his work has only appeared in two or three places. This is not journalism. Journalists call me and follow up.”
As for Fitzgerald’s claim, Azzi says those words were taken out of context. He says that’s the problem much of the time when he’s attacked verbally.
“The guy was taking a phrase, ‘kill them wherever you find them,’ but this was in the middle of a war,” Azzi responded, “and they were outnumbered and overrun and massacred.”
“Journalists call me and follow up.” There was nothing to follow up, nothing to discuss. Hugh Fitzgerald offered a critique of Azzi’s “Ask a Muslim Anything” presentations. If Azzi, a professional explainer, needs further opportunity to explain his explanations, he must not be very good at his job. In any case, it is also worth noting that the alleged journalist Ray Duckler of the Concord Monitor published Azzi’s claims about Hugh Fitzgerald without making any attempt to contact Fitzgerald for comment or follow-up. So by Azzi’s lights, Duckler is himself no journalist.
“Nowhere in the Quran,” Azzi said, “is there legitimacy for killing, period.”
Further darkening Duckler’s journalistic reputation is the fact that he let this wild claim of Azzi hang there unchallenged and unquestioned. It wouldn’t have taken much work for Duckler to discover that Azzi was lying, and lying brazenly. Let’s look at the Qur’an and see:
“And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from where they drove you out; persecution is worse than slaughter. But fight them not by the Holy Mosque until they should fight you there; then, if they fight you, kill them — such is the recompense of unbelievers, but if they give over, surely Allah is all-forgiving, all-compassionate. Fight them until there is no persecution and the religion is Allah’s; then if they give over, there shall be no enmity save for evildoers.” (Qur’an 2:191-193)
“They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore do not take friends from among them, until they emigrate in the way of Allah; then, if they turn their backs, seize them and kill them wherever you find them; do not take for yourselves any one of them as friend or helper.” (Qur’an 4:89)
“This is the recompense of those who fight against Allah and His Messenger, and hasten about the earth to do corruption there: they shall be killed, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall be struck off on opposite sides; or they shall be exiled from the land. That is a degradation for them in this world; and in the world to come awaits them a mighty chastisement.” (Qur’an 5:33)
“When your Lord was revealing to the angels, ‘I am with you; so confirm the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers; so strike the necks, and strike every finger of them!” (Qur’an 8:12)
“Fight them, till there is no persecution and religion is all for Allah; then if they give over, surely Allah sees the things they do.” (Qur’an 8:39)
“Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you can, to strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides them that you know not; Allah knows them. And whatever you spend in the way of Allah shall be repaid you in full; you will not be wronged.” (Qur’an 8:60)
“Then, when the sacred months are over, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way; Allah is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.” (Qur’an 9:5)
“Fight those who believe not in Allah and the Last Day and do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not practice the religion of truth, even if they are of the People of the Book — until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” (Qur’an 9:29)
“Allah has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of Allah; they kill, and are killed; that is a promise binding upon Allah in the Torah, and the Gospel, and the Koran; and who fulfils his covenant truer than Allah? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him; that is the mighty triumph.” (Qur’an 9:111)
“O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you; and let them find in you a harshness; and know that Allah is with the godfearing.” (Qur’an 9:123)
“When you meet the unbelievers, strike their necks, then, when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds; then set them free, either by grace or ransom, till the war lays down its loads. So it shall be; and if Allah had willed, He would have avenged Himself upon them; but that He may try some of you by means of others. And those who are slain in the way of Allah, He will not send their works astray.” (Qur’an 47:4)
How have Muslims throughout history understood these passages? They took them as meaning “My jihad is trying to make ends meet. My jihad is getting a great education,” right? Unfortunately, the historical record is not quite so full of laughter and sunshine. Find out how Muslims throughout history have actually understood the Qur’an’s exhortations to warfare in my new book, The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, which you can order here.
“Robert Azzi wants you to understand what it means to be a Muslim,” by Ray Duckler, Concord Monitor, November 3, 2018:
Robert Azzi maneuvered a string of black coral beads through the fingers of his left hand and hit the table in the empty classroom with his right.
The beads provided comfort, rubbing softly against his skin. The contact with the desk was done with controlled power, hard enough to hear later on my recorder, yet soft enough to suggest restraint.
Call it a civilized exclamation point. It’s the way Azzi, a Lebanese-American Muslim, journalist and lecturer, believes he must live his life.
It’s also why he asked me my religion, and when I answered Jewish, it’s why he cited a Jewish mass-murderer named Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinian Muslim worshippers as they prayed at a mosque nearly 25 years ago.
“When Baruch Goldstein… killed … Muslim worshippers, did people come to you and say as a Jew you have to condemn that act of terrorism?” Azzi asked. “Of course not, because they know that Judaism doesn’t sanction that. But every time there’s a Muslim killing, people want me to own it.”
Azzi, who is 75 and lives in Exeter, is on a mission. Soon after our meeting, he’d address a classroom full of people at the Wiggin Memorial Library in Stratham, part of his “Ask a Muslim Anything” program. He visits libraries, schools, churches, synagogues, Rotary clubs – any place he can explain to people why pre-judging his religion and those who follow it is, well, prejudicial and harmful to everything this country is supposed to stand for.
His willingness to explain something that makes people uncomfortable, to take questions, hard questions, sometimes insulting questions, without turning defensive is why Azzi will receive the First Amendment Award, presented by the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, on Nov. 15 at the Palace Theatre in Manchester.
The award is named after the wife of the Manchester Union Leader’s late publisher, William Loeb, an ultra-conservative Republican whose stinging attacks on liberals (and some Republicans) made national news.
This was not lost on Azzi, who grew up in Manchester reading Loeb’s sardonic far-right editorials.
“I’m really touched and honored,” Azzi said. “I always found a publisher who was opposed to everything I believe in, and to come this far from the 1950s and ‘60s and honor a Muslim who writes about progressive issues might have been inconceivable.”
Azzi hopes his openness and candor, his effort to put a face and a voice and a mind to Islam, will help calm irrational fears that people at airports automatically feel when they see someone in a certain style of clothing. Like a headdress….
“Al-Qaida and ISIS will find specific portions of the Quran and distort it and twist it to create political justification for their actions,” Azzi said. “But people are not going to act politically who are not very literate, so this gives them a reason for doing it, by giving it a religious meaning so you are acting on God’s behalf.”…
And his defense of Islam certainly doesn’t go over well with people who associate the religion with the Twin Towers and beheadings on TV.
Hugh Fitzgerald, a writer for the online magazine Jihad Watch, has hounded Azzi in print, wondering in one piece why Azzi would equate Islamic fundamentalism with Christian fundamentalism.
“Where are the tens of thousands of victims of Christian Fundamentalism all over the world?” Fitzgerald asks in a recent column. “Just as important, where are the Biblical texts that command Christians to wage war on all non-Christians, to ‘kill them wherever you find them,’ to ‘smite at their necks,’ to ‘strike terror in their hearts?’ ”
Azzi scoffs at the mere mention of Fitzgerald. First off, he doesn’t even believe the man is real. He’s checked online and says he can’t find him.
“This is reporting by a person who doesn’t exist, and I would eat my words (if he does),” Azzi told me. “I have Googled and his work has only appeared in two or three places. This is not journalism. Journalists call me and follow up.”
As for Fitzgerald’s claim, Azzi says those words were taken out of context. He says that’s the problem much of the time when he’s attacked verbally.
“The guy was taking a phrase, ‘kill them wherever you find them,’ but this was in the middle of a war,” Azzi responded, “and they were outnumbered and overrun and massacred.”
The interview lasted about 90 minutes. Azzi gave long, often tangential responses. The black beads sliding through his fingers and the table hitting never left the classroom. At least not for long.
He talked about murder – committed by different people with different backgrounds at different times – coming in cycles, portrayed like momentum shifts in a ballgame.
“From 9/11 to Orlando, more Americans were killed by white supremacists than were by Muslims,” Azzi said. “Then, after Orlando, the Muslims got a bump. Then, after Las Vegas, the white guys were back on top again.”
He’s never felt threatened but says he’s received some vile messages, adding that he’s given some to the police for documentation purposes. He calls people who don’t face him with their views, who criticize without showing up to one of his workshops, “cowards.”
The Stratham audience was made up of middle-aged people and seniors, about 25 in all. They were inquisitive, articulate and prepared.
They wanted to know what Jihad meant. They were curious about how the schism between Sunni and Shia evolved. And what about the treatment of Muslim women and Iran’s creed to destroy Israel and what they saw as violent messages in the Quran?
A man in the back, who would not give me his name later in the parking lot, said Azzi’s view that we were wrong to invade Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction “lacked perspective. You skipped a lot of time,” he noted.
Azzi stood up front, leaning against a podium, a scarf around the collar of his sports coat, looking comfortable in jeans and loafers, his trademark walrus mustache extra silvery under the room’s bright lights.
He defended Islam all the way, citing that there are sanctions for committing murder, and those who kill are condemned to hell and not turned into martyrs.
The beads were still snaking through his fingers, comforting him. He chose not to hit the podium with his other hand. That was done in private.
“Nowhere in the Quran,” Azzi said, “is there legitimacy for killing, period.”
Michael Copeland says
‘kill them wherever you find them,’ was according to Azzi, “in the middle of a war,” so does not apply.
Ali Gomaa, Grand Mufti of Egypt, said “Muslims must kill non-muslims wherever they are unless they convert to Islam”. Azzi is needed to enlighten Egypt,
The “white supremacists” are a distraction.
“Then, after Las Vegas, the white guys were back on top again.”
Azzi omits to mention that the “white guy” killer was claimed by Islamic State as a muslim.
abu taleb says
Muslims are always at war with non muslims, except when the muslims are weaker
fil says
Old Arabic proverb: “When an anvil, be patient; when a hammer, strike.”
Gene says
“Nowhere in the Quran is there legitimacy for killing, period”
So true, unless you open it up and read it.
gravenimage says
Spot on, Gene.
Mark Swan says
Good One Gene.
mortimer says
The Koran’s 164 Jihad Verses: K 002:178-179, 190-191, 193-194, 216-218, 244; 003:121-126, 140-143, 146, 152-158, 165-167,169, 172-173, 195; 004:071-072, 074-077, 084, 089-091, 094-095,100-104; 005:033, 035, 082; 008:001, 005, 007, 009-010, 012, 015-017, 039-048,057-060, 065-075; 009:005, 012-014, 016, 019-020, 024-026, 029,036, 038-039, 041, 044, 052, 073, 081, 083,086, 088, 092, 111, 120, 122-123; 016:110; 022:039, 058, 078; 024:053, 055; 025:052; 029:006, 069; 033:015, 018, 020, 023, 025-027, 050; 042:039; 047:004, 020, 035; 048:015-024; 049:015; 059:002, 005-008, 014; 060:009; 061:004, 011, 013; 063:004; 064:014; 066:009; 073:020; 076:008.
mortimer says
Robert Azzi: “Nowhere in the Quran is there legitimacy for killing, period”
BUSTED!
(refer to 164 JIHAD VERSES in the Koran that justify KILLING KAFIRS … period)
gravenimage says
+1
mortimer says
– “Taqiyya permeates almost all the activities and dealings of Muslims with non-Muslim societies…” – a former sheikh Sam Solomon
There are SIX DIFFERENT WAYS of deception that are permissible in Islam:
1•Taqiyya (Shia) or Muda’rat (Sunni): tactical deceit for the purposes of spreading Islam.
2•Kitman: deceit by omission.
3•Tawriya: deceit by deliberate ambiguity.
4•Taysir: deceit through facilitation (not observing all the tenets of Sharia by ‘making things easier’).
5•Darura: deceit through necessity (to engage in something “Haram” or forbidden such as drinking alcohol to exploit non-Muslims).
6•Muruna: ‘flexibility’ or temporary suspension of Sharia to make Muslim migrants appear ‘moderate’ and blend in until Muslims are numerically strong enough to enforce Sharia.
Muslims imitate Allah ‘THE BEST OF DECEIVERS’.
Allahu khayru l-makireena – Koran. 3:54; cf. 8:30
Takiyya Definition:
Takiyya is defined as dissimulation about ones Muslim identity. It comes from the verse in the Quran that says, “Let believers not make friends with infidels in preference to the faithful – he that does has nothing to hope for from Allah – except in self-defense (illaa an-tattaqu minhum tuqah) (Surah 3:28). This “self-defense” justifies dissimulation. Islamic Sharia Law provides, “When it is possible to achieve an aim by lying but not by telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible, and lying is obligatory if the goal is obligatory.” (Reliance of the Traveler, Para r8.2) Examples include lying to protect Islam or a Muslim.
-MUDA’RAT
Muda’rat is a Sunni doctrine of deception. It is another name for Takiyya.
Muda’rat means flattery, adulation, conformity with deceit, trickery, keeping pace with, wrap, conceal or hide. This deceptive behaviour can be practiced with anybody when necessary. Sunni scholars have identified ten categories of people who are to be REGULARLY TARGETED by Muda’rat:
1. Kufaar [non-Muslims].
2. A tyrannical ruler.
3. Those whose hearts have been recently reconciled to Islam. [converts/reverts].
4. One who has deviated from the truth of Islam to win him back.
5. A Muslim who has gone astray in imitating the non-believers.
6. A learned scholar or scientist to benefit from his knowledge.
7. A friend.
8. One’s enemies.
9. One’s spouse.
10. A person who may be ill [by giving them hope that he will be well and looks well].
– Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), another prime authority on the Qur’an, writes, “Whoever at any time or place fears … evil [from non-Muslims] may protect himself through outward show.” [As proof of this, he quotes Muhammad’s close companion] Abu Darda, who said, “Let us grin in the face of some people while our hearts curse them.” [And another companion, simply known as] Al-Hasan, who said, “Doing taqiyya is acceptable till the Day of Judgement [i.e., in perpetuity].”
FYI says
And what one wonders,does the islamic apologist have to say about..?
SAHIH MUSLIM #6985;islam’s final solution for the Jews..
Abu Dawud #4390 perfect mo’s mass-murdering spree
Did he miss..”I have been made victorious through TERROR” Bukhari 4:52:220
Oh I Know what{sarc}:the words of muhammed are taken “out of context”,like in Al Tabari 6:111 where mo admits to being a fraud but ..ta da!….allah cancels out what he said…and besides very few people really understand 7thc arabic….
Perhaps azzi should READ his koran..as he seems to have forgotten its contents.
“WE shall make thee read o muhammed so thou shalt not forget”
Koran 87 v 6
If the illiterate muhammed could do it,anyone can …
Wellington says
My take: Fitzgerald is real; Allah is not.
CogitoErgoSum says
Good observation, Wellington. For that matter, did Muhammad exist? Robert Spencer has written a book concerning the question.
Wellington says
Yes, CES, of the three—Allah, Mohammed and the Koran—the only one we know for absolute certainty that has existed is the last one, made up by who knows who as we have it today in the seventh and/or eighth century.
P.S. On a technical grammatical note, all the experts assert that one should not use “and/or” but I rather like it because of the nuance involved with it and thus I use it on occasion, as here. Besides, my contrarian nature rebels against being told what is proper and what is not (in sundry areas of life and not just grammar). But I digress.
Hope you’re doing well. Always welcome your posts here at JW. Take care.
gravenimage says
🙂
Spiro says
First Muslims are under no moral requirement to tell the
Truth to a non Muslim
Second he knows what’s in the Koran he also knows non Muslim have not and most likely will not read the Koran so they will just take his word for what B S he preaches
After all the west is doing all it can to help Islam success
Even so called Christian church’s don’t stand. Up for themselves
Emilie Green says
“Nowhere in the Quran,” Azzi said, “is there legitimacy for killing, period.”
Apparently there’s a problem with literacy in New Hampshire.
Norger says
“From 9/11 to Orlando, more Americans were killed by white supremacists than were by Muslims,” Azzi said. “Then, after Orlando, the Muslims got a bump. Then, after Las Vegas, the white guys were back on top again.”
From 9/11 to Orlando, more Americans were killed by “white supremacists” than Muslims. Only if you begin the count the day after 9/11 and use a ridiculously expansive definition of “white supremacists.” Begin the count one day earlier and Muslims killed more Americans from 9/11 to Orlando by a 62 to 1 ratio. And let’s be sure to ignore the fact that Muslims make up 1% of the population in the US, while the pool of alleged “white supremacists” is many orders of magnitude larger.
“No justification for killing;” what a bold faced lie. Just for starters, what’s the penalty for apostasy in Islam Mr. Azzi?
gravenimage says
Moreover, Muslims make up less than 1% of the population here in the United States–so they are many times more likely to murder than are Infidels–including white people.
Anton Filipenkov says
John Lott recently mentioned that there are 0,4% middle-easterners. The overall amount of Muslims should be bigger. The number of 1% sounds plausible.
Mark Swan says
Muslims in the U.S. A. is about 3.3 million or 1% of the population.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/01/06/a-new-estimate-of-the-u-s-muslim-population/
Walter Sieruk says
That man Robert Azzi is either knowingly and knowingly lying the hide the truth about violence and killing the the Quran instructs ,as seen in Surah 2:191. 5:33. 9:4,111. 47:4. Or he is a very ignorant man on the subject of the Quran and Islam.
For information for a real expert on the Quran and Islam is the Muslim scholar and Imam Ayatollah Khomeini who would feel nothing but contempt for Azzi and other people, like him, who make this claim of the Quran does not teaching violence and killing .For this supreme Ayatollah, of Iran declared “Islam grew with blood….Islam is a religion of blood for the infidels” He also said “Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war….I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.” [1]
So, in other words Ayatollah Khomeini felt nothing but arrogant contempt for those people, as Robert Azzi, who say that his religion “Is a peaceful religion” and understand that they in ignorant and uninformed. .
Therefore, if Ayatollah Khomeini was still and well and he met Robert Azzi the ayatollah would spit on him.
In conclusion , the West needs to wake up to the reality of the truth about the actual violent essence of this religion.
[1] THE ISLAM IN ISLAMIC TERRORISM, pages 336,339.
Guy Macher says
Robert Azzi, you are a liar. Sue me.
mortimer says
Robert Azzi is a TAQIYYA ARTIST. Period.
DBM echo says
“O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you; and let them find in you a harshness; and know that Allah is with the godfearing.” (Qur’an 9:123)
Yep, nothing in the Qur’an about killing for Islam and for Allah. Nothing at all. Good to know.
Walter Sieruk says
When Robert Azzi makes such outstanding and bogus claims as “The Quran doesn’t instruct in killing for Islam .” he probably as a apologists and propagandist for Islam is knowingly and blatantly lying For he is attempting the hide and cover-up the ugly truth about the violent and deadly essence of Islam from the naive and uninformed people of the West.
This is what such a lying statement ,about “the Quran not instructing in violence and killing” he is engaging is what a sociologists would call “Impression management” in order the protect the reputation and image of Islam . Likewise when Azzi speaks such lies he is also engaging in the Islamic doctrine of Taqiyya, which is the Muslim teaching that lying and deception are good things to do as long as they lying and deception is done for the advancement of Islam
Agostino Armo Pellegrini says
Well said, my friend. Azzi ain’t fooling me and he ain’t fooling you, but he surely is fooling himself.
Peter says
Clearly, an idiot, propagandist or illiterate.
Walter Sieruk says
When Robert Azzi is speaking in deception and lies in his false claim that “the Quran doesn’t instruct of violence and killing .” Azzzi is practicing of Taqiyya which is the Islamic doctrine the lies and deception are good things to do as long the lies and deception are done for the advancement of Islam.
This is in strong and great contrast to instruction found the Bible which teaches against speaking lies and deception .For example,, in Proverbs 11:18 the reader is informed that “The wicked man does deceptive work….” [N.K.J.V.] Likewise, Proverbs 12:5 reads ” The counsels of the wicked are deceitful.” Further, in the New Testament epistle of Ephesians 4:25 in is written “Therefore putting away lying, let each of of you speak truth…”
Shame of Robert Azzi for his deception and lies
Terry Gain says
Azzi lies even as Muslim mobs in Pakistan demand the death of Asia Bibi for refusing to submit to Islam. No lie is too big for Robert Azzi.
gravenimage says
Yes, Terry–this is an example of the Big Lie.
Bev says
It’s not really a religion. It is instead a totalitarian theocracy that uses religion (Muslim) and law (Sharia) to control the adherents 24/7/365 from cradle to grave. It’s a bit like Hotel California, you can check in, but you can never check out. And if you do check out there is a Fatwa placed on your head. Please don’t be fooled by the guise of religion. This is an ideology that wants to rule the world.
Agostino Armo Pellegrini says
“Nowhere in the Quran,” Azzi said, “is there legitimacy for killing, period.”~Robert Azzi’s
People like this aren’t even worth taking seriously, they’re flaming with absurd falsehoods. They have the compassion of a serial killer with their lying indifference to the truth, the real life suffering and death for islam should shock the hardest heart. But not for Azzi apparently, he doesn’t have the slightest reservations about looking heartless and idiotic for islam. To me this guy is no smarter or honest with historical truths than a Holocaust denier. I often wonder what drives people like this to be so callous toward the suffering of others, what compels them to defend a belief system that is so immoral and ungodly that it shocks the mind of a child ( a child that hasn’t been brainwashed for islam). Everything I’ve read by Hugh Fitzgerald about islam has been intelligent, truthful, and moral. Then this guy Azzi comes along and makes outrageously false statements as some kind of rebuttal. My first impulse is to laugh, but I can’t because his actions are too dark and disgusting for humor. I feel very lucky that I was blessed with the good sense to know who’s right and wrong about islam. I know that when I listen to people like Fitzgerald and Spencer and Geller and Wilders and David Wood and Marie Waters and Jamie Glazov that I’m hearing good people working to improve the human condition, truthfully and with compassion. The best I can say about people like Azzi is that they are lost souls, too ignorant in morals or knowledge to think and act like decent and caring people. If I were religious I’d pray for such a man, for surely such people lack the human compassion and love that makes a person healthy and whole. His “interfaith” presentations are nothing more than pseudo intellectual nonsense for ignoring the hardcore facts about islam. I have zero respect for your superstitious beliefs, Azzi, because they’re tied to “slay the infidel” and “I have been made victorious by terror.” I don’t care that you’re a gentle elderly guy at the podium, you’re just a soft-spoken promoter of ignorance, bigotry, and violence. Sorry, but someone had to tell you.
My biggest hope is that we can get people like Azzi to see the light, and help them achieve empathy and compassionate understanding for islam’s murdered and suffering. And to me that’s what Hugh Fitzgerald and every other good contributor to JW is trying to do, educate others about the crimes and sins of islam and the need to stop it. To good and decent people like myself that could never be a bad thing to criticize, only an honorable thing worthy of the highest praise and support.
Rubiconcrest says
“Nowhere in the Quran,” Azzi said, “is there legitimacy for killing, period.” Everything I have read and seen tells me this statement of Azzi is false. It really does not matter, however, what one Muslim thinks or what I think. Why do we see endless articles such as this with Muslims living in the West who ‘have no standing’. All we have to do is go online and at NEMRI tv, for example, which translate Imams in the Middle East talking about killing Jews etc. to see how Muslims think and interpret their scripture. This man should go to Pakistan and educate his fellow Muslims. We don’t need to hear his version of Islam, they do.
gravenimage says
The problem is that well meaning Infidels in the West are apt to believes these lies that Islam is peaceful.
rubiconrest says
“Nowhere in the Quran,” Azzi said, “is there legitimacy for killing, period.” Everything I have read and seen tells me his statement is false. It really does not matter, however, what one Muslim thinks or what I think. Why do we see endless articles such as this with Muslims living in the West who ‘have no standing’. All we have to do is go online and at NEMRI tv, for example, which translate Imams in the Middle East talking about killing Jews etc. to see how Muslims think and interpret their scripture. This man should go to Pakistan or Malaysia or Indonesia or Egypt and educate his fellow Muslims. We don’t need to hear his version of Islam, they do.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
A comment Robert Azzi made to the reporter included mention of Baruch Goldstein that was not included in the slightly abridged version above of the original article.
I’ve quoted that part below, and commented on Azzi’s use of Tu-Quoque:
“Robert Azzi maneuvered a string of black coral beads through the fingers of his left hand and hit the table in the empty classroom with his right.
“”The beads provided comfort, rubbing softly against his skin. The contact with the desk was done with controlled power, hard enough to hear later on my recorder, yet soft enough to suggest restraint.
“Call it a civilized exclamation point. It’s the way Azzi, a Lebanese-American Muslim, journalist and lecturer, believes he must live his life.
“It’s also why he asked me my religion, and when I answered Jewish, it’s why he cited a Jewish mass-murderer named Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinian Muslim worshippers as they prayed at a mosque nearly 25 years ago.
“When Baruch Goldstein … killed … Muslim worshippers, did people come to you and say as a Jew you have to condemn that act of terrorism?” Azzi asked. “Of course not, because they know that Judaism doesn’t sanction that. But every time there’s a Muslim killing, people want me to own it.”
Baruch Goldstein had been a doctor in Kiryat Arba, the Jewish village on the outskirts of Hebron, the only place near Hebron — the second holiest city in Judaism — where the state of Israel allows Jews to live, so solicitous is it of Muslim sensibilities. Goldstein treated many severely wounded Jewish victims, and saw many others die, from attacks by Muslims in the West Bank. Over time, so much suffering got to him. By all accounts he finally snapped, went heavily armed to a mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and started shooting. He murdered 29 and wounded 125 “Palestinians” before being beaten to death. He was a semi-demented lone wolf, not part of any group or cell. And he did not rely on any Jewish texts that could sanction such killing, because there are none — as Azzi himself admits, “Judaism doesn’t sanction” what Goldstein did. There is nothing in Jewish reigious texts akin to the repeated Qur’anic commands to “kill the Unbelievers wherever you find them.” Goldstein’s is a unique case of Jewish terrorism.
Compare Baruch Goldstein, acting entirely on his own, after he had clearly suffered a mental collapse, to Muslim terrorists who are often members of, or inspired by, large terrorist groups — Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Al-Shebab, Islamic Jihad, Al-Nusra Front, Boko Haram, Hamas, Hezbollah. These groups rely on the textual authority of both the Qur’an and the Hadith to justify their attacks against the Unbelievers. Yazidi girls have testified that their Muslim rapists quoted Qur’anic verses both before and after raping them. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, with a doctorate in Islamic studies from the Islamic University, is known for quoting — not misquoting — from the Qur’an to justify his, and the Islamic State’s, actions. When the two Muslims who butchered Drummer Rigby were taken out of the courtroom after their sentencing, one of them, Adebolajo, kissed his Koran and raised it in the air.
The Muslims responsible for terror attacks in New York (many times), Washington, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, Fort Hood, Little Rock, Chattanooga, San Bernardino, Orlando were complying with, not ignoring, Qur’anic commandments about the duty to conduct violent Jihad.. These terrorists have been “killing the Unbelievers,” “smiting at their necks”; they have been “striking terror” in their hearts. They are emulating Muhammad, the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil) and Model of Conduct (uswa hasana), who in a famous hadith claimed that “I have been made victorious through terror.” The Qur’anic commandments on Jihad and “striking terror” have been followed by the Muslim terrorists in Europe as in America, when they have attacked non-Muslims in Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Paris (many times), Toulouse, Magnanville, London (many times), Manchester, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Malmo, Turku, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Beslan. As for the off-his-rocker Baruch Goldstein, he had no accomplices, he had no program, he was not carrying out some duty found in the Talmud. His was a unique attack. But Robert Azzi uses the example of Baruch Goldstein to divert attention from Muslim terrorists, and to obliquely suggest that just as Judaism does not sanction Goldstein’s attack, so Islam does not sanction the thousands of attacks by Muslim terrorists since 9/11, on both non-Muslims and on those deemed to be the wrong kind of Muslims and therefore not Muslims at all. . But it does. Shall I repeat the short list, one more time? Why not? Here it is: 2:191-193, 4:89, 5:33,, 8:12, 8:39,8:60, 9:11, 47:4.
Taqiyya is one arrow in Azzi’s quiver; Tu-Quoque is the other. He doesn’t leave home without them..
Agostino Armo Pellegrini says
You said that well. The ideological ties these muslim terrorists have to islam is unmistakable and impossible to miss for honest thinking people. Azzi comes across as a mild mannered and kindly old man. But what does he really stand for? I just watched a vid of him speaking at First Church in Salem where he said,
“The koran is to muslims what Jesus is to Christians, it is a sacred presence, it is the gift that they have been endowed with. We don’t question that, we don’t challenge that.
Now to me that is someone who is promoting violence and bigotry in the name of god. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t explicitly tell people to “go kill infidels” and “unbelievers,” it’s enough that he calls it a sacred gift that we don’t challenge. If one doesn’t “challenge” the murder and bigotry in islam then isn’t that the same as saying you’re for the murder and bigotry in islam? if one doesn’t challenge sharia and its abuses then aren’t you in effect saying you’re for sharia and its abuses? To me that’s on par with someone saying they don’t challenge the murderous antisemitism of Hitler’s Nazis. If they then said that Hitler’s words were a “sacred presence” and a “gift” then what are we to think? All I know is that the koran and hadith are filled with hate and bigotry toward non-muslims, and muslims have been using those doctrines for centuries to justify every evil act imaginable. If Azzi considers those writings a sacred gift that he can’t challenge then I believe I’m reasonable in thinking he supports the violent and bigoted taint within. He apologizes for islam with kind words of praise and affection, but he sidesteps the issue of islamic jihad like a draft dodger on the run. To me he is like a man who apologizes for the KKK with words of praise while totally ignoring the lynchings and ideological underpinnings that caused them. I don’t care how kind acting such a man might be, he’s still rotten inside with little love for humanity if he defends doctrines of bigotry and hate.
Terry Gain says
Hugh Fitzgerald
Thank you.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
You are welcome.
gravenimage says
Fine post, Hugh.
tim gallagher says
What an outrageous liar Azzi is. As Mortimer’s long list of calls for violence and killing in the Koran(up above) shows, Azzi is telling the most extraordinary lies. The sad part is that there are still people in the general population who buy this type of disinformation. Even if you don’t know about all the calls for violence in the Koran, all you need to do is look at all the violent, murderous acts being committed continuously by Muslims all over the world. When I think of the endless violence committed by Muslims, I am reminded of the quote from the poet Tennyson when he spoke about “nature, red in tooth and claw” I think it describes the nature of Islam very well. “Islam, red in tooth and claw”. Aziz’s saying the Koran has no calls for killing is like saying up is down, black is white, and so on. I guess it is taqiyya and he knows he is lying. Otherwise, he is a complete lunatic who is living in a parallel universe.
gravenimage says
Islamic apologist Robert Azzi: “Nowhere in the Quran is there legitimacy for killing, period”
…………………
What a bald-faced lie. Good for Hugh Fitzgerald for calling this Taqiyya artist out.
Here he is, citing the “Prophet” Muhammed reacting peacefully to a critic:
https://www.concordmonitor.com/Stand-Ramadan-strong-against-terror-10897351
He does not mention,of course, that once Muhammed had gained a position of power that he had all of his critics assassinated.
Also in the article, he claims that the ‘real terrorists’ are polluters and anyone opposed to single payer health care…
James Lincoln says
Thank you Hugh Fitzgerald!
To all Jihad Watch readers:
Look up some of Robert Azzi’s past articles in the Portsmouth Herald, a very liberal New Hampshire newspaper. It would be a full-time job to carefully refute his articles with evidence-based fact. There are occasional letters to the editor – but it is an uphill battle because the paper is so biased.
The general public is being severely misled – and I’m very afraid that there are many gullible people in the southern New Hampshire region who may actually be falling for the constant propaganda that Robert Azzi pushes.
Someone with the expertise necessary should take this on.
Mirren10 says
Azzi doesn’t mention the death penalty for apostasy, either. I did though ! 🙂
gravenimage says
+1
James says
I have three Korans, one of them a translation published in the US. They all contain the same threatening and violence and murder. Not one of them contains anything resmbling the Golden Rule. Maybe Mr Azzi should try reading the thing sometime ?
gravenimage says
Good post.
Frank Thiboutot says
Azzi is a real piece of work. Several of us went to hear him speak at a library in Berwick, Maine. He was gruff and tried to be intimidating. A bit weasely but no chance of that happening except to the spineless libs in the audience of @30.
When asked why he converted from Christianity and following Jesus to Islam and following the warrior ProMo, he really became agitated. He is a typical suit-wearing jihadist, but to his credit he is proselytizing for Islam. He probably doesn’t realize the extent that we do the same thing with small groups but just don’t make it public.
SK says
If they want to tell us it was “just during a war where they were overrun”, they need to tell us where these wars stopped.
When EXACTLY did these wars end? They need to be as specific as they can.
gravenimage says
Good point, SK. The Muslim war against the Infidels never ends.
Linde Barrera says
There is doctrine and there is human behavior. In my opinion, Azzi is confusing the 2.
gravenimage says
Sadly, I think this is more deliberate Taqiyya than innocent cluelessness, Linde.