Jeremy Heard was the Liberal Party candidate for Isaacs (an electoral division) in Australia until May 1, when some remarks he had made about Islam on the opinion page of the conservative journal Qantara back on February 14, 2018,, came to light. For those remarks, he was promptly unendorsed by his party; he withdrew from the race, and apologized, far too much.. For some in the Liberal Party, removing him from the race is not enough; they want him expelled from the Party.
The headlines registered horror at Hearn’s remarks: ‘Victorian Liberal candidate Jeremy Hearn sacked after appalling anti-Muslim rant; Melbourne Liberal candidate who posed a series of horrific anti-Muslim comments has been sacked. Appalling. Horrific. Rant. And many more headlines to the same effect.
What did Jeremy Hearn write to cause him to be consigned to the outer darkness? He wrote that Muslims subscribe to an ideology of “killing or enslaving the citizens of Australia if they do not become Muslim.” This is not wide of the traditional mark. According to the ideology of Islam (though not today’s practice) there are three options available to Unbelievers in lands conquered by Islam: death, conversion to Islam, or the permanent status of dhimmi, which Hearn describes, incorrectly, as “enslavement.” But the dhimmi status, if not slavery, is certainly an agonizing one. Dhimmis were prohibited from riding horses — donkeys were allowed — or carrying weapons, making them easy prey for Muslims who might attack them on some pretext; both Christians and Jews had to wear identifying marks on their clothes and in some places, to exhibit similar identifying marks on their dwellings; they had to step aside for Muslims on footpaths and to dismount from their donkeys when in the presence of Muslims. Dhimmis could not testify in court against Muslims; in cases involving recompense for murder, a dhimmi’s life was worth, depending on the school of Islamic jurisprudence, either 1/4 or 1/8 that of a Muslim.
But the most important requirement for dhimmis was payment of the Jizyah, a poll tax that was frequently crushing, such that some dhimmis converted to Islam in order to avoid the jizyah payment. The dhimmi condition was exceedingly onerous, but it still was not quite the “enslavement” to which Jeremy Hearn refers. He ought to have corrected that.
Hearn also claimed that Muslims were of ‘bad character.” His original post could not be found on-line so I don’t know if he wrote that “all’ or “many” or “some” Muslims or just “Muslims”were of “bad character.” And what did Hearn have in mind? I assume he means that we are entitled to assume, unless expressly assured otherwise, that people who identify as Muslims read the Qur’an as the uncreated and immutable word of God, and believe its commands must be followed. The Qur’an includes 109 verses that command Believers to take part in violent Jihad, to ‘fight’ and to “kill’ and to “smite at the necks of” and to “strike terror in the hearts of” the Unbelievers. There are also verses telling Muslims not to take Christians and Jews as friends, for they are “friends only with each other.” And among the other troubling verses is that in which Unbelievers — you and I, for example –are described as “the most vile of creatures.”
Someone who declares himself a Muslim is thereby indicating submission to the dictates of the Qur’an, with all its violence toward, and inculcated hatred for, non-Muslims. Would it be unreasonable to describe such people as of “bad character” as Jeremy Hearn did, for dutifully following such an ideology?
Or what about the figure of Muhammad, who consummated his marriage — i.e., had sexual intercourse –with Aisha, when she was nine, and he was 54? The same Muhammad ordered the torture and murder of Kinana of Khaybar, wished aloud for someone to “rid him” of three people who had mocked him — Asma bint Marwan, Abu ‘Afak, Ka’b ibn al-Ashraf — and all three were murdered by his loyal followers. This is the same Muhammad took part in the killing of 600-900 bound prisoners of the Banu Qurayza. The same Muhammad who in the hadith is recorded as saying both “war is deceit’ and “I have been made victorious through terror.” Yet despite this record, Muslims regard Muhammad as the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil) and the Model of Conduct (uswa hasana). I assume this was in Jeremy Hearn’s mind when he spoke of the “bad character” of Muslims.
And what about Hearn’s remark that Muslims should be prevented from getting Australian citizenship because they were trying to replace Australia’s system of government with sharia law? Is this a ridiculous worry? We do have some information about how many Muslims wish to live under sharia.
According to Pew Research:
“Acceptance of sharia as the revealed word of God is high across South Asia and most of the Middle East and North Africa. For example, roughly eight-in-ten Muslims (81%) in Pakistan and Jordan say sharia is the revealed word of God, as do clear majorities in most other countries surveyed in these two regions. Only in Lebanon is opinion more closely divided: 49% of Muslims say sharia is the divine word of God, while 38% say men have developed sharia from God’s word.
If very large majorities of Muslims regard sharia as the revealed word of God, of course they would wish it to be the law where they live — including Western lands such as Australia.
Very few surveys of attitudes of Muslims in the West toward sharia have been done.
“One was conducted in 2004 in the Netherlands, and it found that 51% of Dutch Muslims interviewed favored a Muslim political party, and 29.5% thought that its political program should be based on Sharia. The other two surveys were conducted in the UK, in 2006 and 2007. According to the 2006 survey, 40% of the 500 British Muslim respondents said that they would support the introduction of Sharia in predominantly Muslim areas of Britain. The 2007 study found that 28% of British Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia law. In 2016 support among U.K. Muslims for sharia had increased: 43% of British Muslims said they supported “the introduction of Sharia Law” and 16% “strongly supported” it — that is, a total of 59% of British Muslims support Sharia law in Great Britain.
Hearn was wrong to claim –if indeed he did — that “Muslims” want to impose sharia in Australia. He ought to have written that “given what we know from surveys elsewhere in the West, and from the statements of Muslim leaders here, it is reasonable to conclude that many Muslims want to impose sharia in Australia.” He might then have noted that in 2010 the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad said many Muslims wanted aspects of sharia law to be adopted in Australia (though he thought it would be difficult to have the chopping off of limbs.accepted). Dr Zachariah Matthews, president of the Australian Islamic Mission, made a similar comment. It is not unreasonable for Hearn to have worried about those Muslims who want to see sharia imposed. Where he went wrong, and was vulnerable to criticism, was in his apparent claim that “all Muslims” rather than “a significant number’” of Muslims supported Sharia.
When his previous statements came to light, instead of instantly collapsing and issuing a mea maxima culpa, Hearn could have said something like this:
“When I mentioned the “bad character” of Muslims of course I did not mean all Muslims, but those many Muslims who take to heart the 109 Qur’anic commands to wage violent Jihad against Unbelievers. I don’t find it unfair to describe those who believe they must fight and kill and smite at the necks of, and strike terror in the hearts of, non-Muslims, as of “bad character.”And if they regard as a Perfect Man and a Model of Conduct someone who has sexual intercourse with a nine-year-old girl, who orders the torture of a man to make him reveal where he has hidden valuables, and then has that man killed, who calls for the assassination of three people who had mocked him, and his followers dutifully murder all three, who himself takes part in the killing of 600-900 prisoners of the Banu Qurayza, and proudly claims that ‘war is deceit’ and ‘I have been made victorious through terror,’ then there is something off in their moral compass, and I think it not unfair to describe such people as of ‘bad character.’”
“As for the question of sharia, we do know that in the U.K., the country that, culturally, is closest to Australia, about 60% of Muslims either “strongly support” or “support” the introduction of the sharia.
‘That’s a very large number. And since we have no way to identify, when they apply to enter our country, those Muslims who either are at the time, or are likely later to become, supporters of sharia, I suggested that to ensure our own freedoms, we should deny citizenship to Muslims. Many were outraged by this. But I do not think I was wrong.. Australian citizenship is a very great privilege. It should be available only to those whom we are certain will not work to undermine the state, undo our individual rights, spread misogyny, antisemitism, and homophobia, and little by little, transform this country, by demographic conquest and stealth jihad, into an Islamic polity, repellent examples of which are all about us.
“I regret that I did not, in my original remarks, make reference to specific Qur’anic verses. I do so now, because it is important that they be read and understood. Here are a dozen of the most disturbing: 2:191. 2:192, 3:110, 3:151,4:34, 5:51, 8:12, 8:60, 9:5, 9:29, 47:4, 98:6.
“After you have grasped the meaning of those verses, look at what has already been wrought, to our own secret dismay, by the Muslim Lebanese in Lakemba, where Unbelievers now fear to tread, and ask yourself why we in Australia should, after that experience, take any further chances?
CRUSADER says
Hey, that’s the same poster lady from recently before.
She’s quite popular!
There’s a whole lot of semantics going on in this article….
In more direct action news:
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Documentary proves 2015 US drone attack killed ‘Jihadi John’ (Fox News)
(Within 15 seconds a missile was launched to wipe out Emwazi. The unsuspecting terrorist was speaking on the phone when the missile hit him…)
The British ISIS terrorist dubbed Jihadi John was killed by a U.S. drone strike after he was given away by his beard and the way he walked, a new documentary claims.
The terrorist, whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi, became the face of the terror group, appearing in multiple propaganda videos where he beheaded innocent people, including Americans and Britons.
A documentary for British TV station Channel 4, which is airing on Monday, reveals that the extremist met his fate when U.S. forces identified him after a drone flew at night over Raqqa, at that point an ISIS stronghold.
Within 15 seconds a missile was launched to wipe out Emwazi. The unsuspecting terrorist was speaking on the phone when the missile hit him, The Sun reported.
Colonel Steve Warren, who was the Pentagon spokesman at the time, told the documentary that because it was dark and they couldn’t see his face, the military identified Emwazi by his beard and the way he walked.
“You can’t see his face but we could sort of see how he moved, the cut of his jib, so to speak. The angle of his beard, these things we could see,” he said.
“Eventually we were convinced that this is Jihadi John. And so the floor commander at the time orders, ‘Take the shot.’ Within 15 seconds a missile obliterated Emwazi.”
— Colonel Steve Warren
British intelligence apparatus worked tirelessly to identify Emwazi after he first appeared in an ISIS video back in 2014 with American journalist James Foley who was beheaded off-camera after reading a prepared statement criticizing the U.S.
Emwazi was dubbed “John” by a group of hostages, in reference to John Lennon of the Beatles, because the four-man terrorist cell all appeared to have English accents. He was subsequently nicknamed “Jihadi John” by the media.
Emwazi is understood to have taken extensive measures to avoid being detected, including wiping every computer he used to send messages. But despite his best efforts, British intelligence agency GCHQ quickly established his identity after using voice recognition technology and comparing his voice to the recordings from previous wiretaps taken during a surveillance operation.
The intelligence agencies also looked at the pattern of the veins in his left hand and matched it with an archive picture of him.
“We had a race to find out who he was — his size, his hands, but, above all, his voice, made identifying him quite easy,” Robert Hannigan, a former director of GCHQ, told the Sunday Times.
Richard says
Chris in NH Hooded Merganzer • 4 hours ago
Man: “I believe women should have no rights, and LGBT people should be executed”
Woman: “You disgusting pig. You must be a Republican”
Man: “No, actually I’m a Muslim and those are my religious beliefs”.
Woman:”OMG! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you!”
CRUSADER says
آمين صحيح
amiyn sahih
amen
veritas
jarmanray says
To add to the double standard on some websites, I wrote the following statement concerning an incident on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: During a recent event celebrating the birth of the Jewish State of Israel on the campus of U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a student was displaying a sign with swastikas and other anti-Semitic writings and yelling obscenities such as “gas the Jews” at the celebrators seems to have been condoned. The student, Kristian Gresham, has not been disciplined. Can one imagine the out cry if he had attacked Muslims or gay rights activists? Anti-Semitism is reaching new heights on campuses.” I was told by someone at http://www.YOUGOV.com it was hateful and vulgar and I defy anyone to show one word of hate of vulgarity. The website claims to offer its users the opportunity to express opinions on unlimited issues but it seems that any condemnation of Islam or support for Israel is taboo. I do understand the frustration of Jeremy Hearn who simply stated the truth. Thank the Lord for men like Robert Spencer who are not afraid to speak the truth.
DHazard says
Pretty much all he did was quote Muhammad then make a reasonable, generalized judgment call about Muslims. You can’t follow Islam and be of good character.
thebigW says
“when some remarks he had made about Islam on the opinion page of the conservative journal Qantara back on February 14, 2018”
from what I read it was a comment he wrote on the online magazine “Quadrant”. can’t find it there either. Seems odd, ’cause I can find another comment he made on that same magazine, guess they’re cowards too like Jeremy’s “conservative” party.
Aussie Infidel says
This article by Hugh illustrates the major political problem in the Western world – a profound ignorance of Islam by our political leaders and an inability or unwillingness to confront this pernicious ideology which is proliferating in our midst like wildfire.
Today is election day in Australia, with a dozen or so political parties all vying for our votes. The irony is that only the two major parties – Liberal/National (conservative) or Labor (socialist) – will have a chance of forming government. All the other parties are offshoots from the two majors. Of those, five have split from the LNP, mainly because they have been too gutless to oppose Islam, and have succumbed to leftist HR legislation limiting freedom of speech. For all its high sounding ideals the LNP has refused to repeal HR legislation which has destroyed our freedom of speech; to confront the pernicious nature of Islam; to stop the halal certification scam; to curb Muslim immigration; and to stop the live export of sheep and cattle to Islamic countries, where they are slaughtered in accord with the Sharia under barbaric conditions. These are all major issues for many Australians.
Labor and the Greens are in bed with the Muslims, so we cannot expect any change from them. But is it any wonder why there have been so many minor parties splitting off from the LNP? The Liberal-Nationals have simply abrogated their duty of care to their constituents.
Because of our preferential system of voting, some of the minor parties will win some seats in both the House of Reps and the Senate. The minors will take some seats from the LNP, possibly relegating it to second place numerically, but will no doubt support most of its legislation. Then again if the polls are correct, Shorten and his socialists might win.
I will be voting for four of the minors before the LNP. I like our local LNP candidate, but he is constrained by the political correctness of his leaders. Probably my vote will finally go to him – but it will be a protest against current LNP policy.
The LNP will not regain the confidence of conservative Australians until they confront this elephant in the room to which they are at present cognitively blind.
J D.S says
Our political leaders may seem to know nothing about islam and probably don’t know much…butv FEAR, one of the THREE THINGS, that has held Islam together these many centuries ( FEAR, FORCE and THE APOSTSTE LAW) is what holds political leaders from speaking out against Islam.
As far as Islam forcing itself upon the public….They have no war machine to attack the west but what they are using today seems to have the same effect..AND THE WESTERN WORLD STANDS STILL!!!
gravenimage says
In Australia, Jeremy Hearn Is Consigned To The Outer Darkness
……………….
For not wanting to be killed or enslaved by Muslims? Oh, the “Islamophobia”! sarc/off
the hermit says
Coalition has won the Australian election….
gravenimage says
Yes–good news!
emergency cake says
Get your RA Infidel apparel NOW! …because it’s only a matter of time before muslimes start crying about how it offends them sooooo much and demand our politicians block the site and ban it’s sales straight away! Soon wearing my RA Infidel hoodie will be classed as a hate crime.