The terrorist attacks that took place in France and Austria because a French teacher had used Muhammad cartoons as an example of freedom of expression brought the issue of Islam and its compatibility with other societies back to the fore.
But it also highlighted the topic of Muslims’ ability to assimilate and embrace the basic foundations of the Western societies that are founded not only on concepts that contradict Islam, but are in conflict with Islamic laws, too.
Ironically, Islamic imams in Europe have been guaranteed freedom of expression, allowing them on occasions to engage in hostile Islamic rhetoric, to criticize Western concepts, and to issue fatwas that have incited violence. It was actually as a result of a fatwa that the French teacher was decapitated.
This situation also created a clear paradox for Muslims, who find themselves caught between the overdue steps they need to take to distance themselves from such controversies and their sense of obligation to align their views with what their clerics propagate.
Campaigns launched against France in particular and the West in general exposed the urgency to address these issues, not only for fear of their recurrence, but also to identify what can make Muslims reject such acts.
Because of alleged Islamophobia, Western societies have not asserted their basic civic principles when dealing with Islamic violence within their borders. They failed to send a clear message that Islam is on equal terms vis-a-vis other religions when it comes to civil laws in their countries. This is what the French president said about Islam being in crisis, which led to great hostility toward France and the West.
During recent Friday prayers in Paris, images demonstrated how Muslims protested against Macron’s criticism and at the same time, how local authorities failed to prevent such behavior. Is there any other religious group that does such things in order to send a political message?
It is worth noting that at the joint press conference between Presidents Sisi and Macron, held in Paris recently, the leaders showed significant differences over the ideology and political views of secularism versus Islamic religious laws, which Sisi insisted were superior to any other laws. Sisi firmly rejected secularism and repeated what appeared to be some carefully prepared talking points: “Religious values are higher than human values because they are divine.”
The Islamic belief that the superiority of Islam cannot be questioned is the most dangerous of all. What complicates matters even further are the laws in most Islamic countries that emphasize these concepts.
Many Muslims believe that other religions can exist because of “the tolerance of Islam.” This concept that provides a sense of superiority and drives them to reject civil laws. The vast majority of religious Muslims believe that the right to a good life and to paradise solely belongs to them.
In the video below, a Muslim imam who graduated from Al-Azhar University in Egypt argues that the life of a Christian or a Jew is inferior to that of a Muslim. A Muslim who kills a follower of another religion must be punished, but capital punishment cannot be applied, as a Muslim cannot be killed for killing an infidel.
“You want to call Muslims racists, feel free to say so,” the imam states emphatically.
In defining the relationship that prevails in an Islamic country between its citizens, Islamic law explains that a non-Muslim citizen is subordinate and has fewer rights than a Muslim citizen. A non-Muslim cannot assume any leadership position within government institutions.
An example of this was seen when Egypt was negotiating a peace agreement with Israel in 1979. President Anwar Sadat refused to appoint Boutros Boutros-Ghali (a Christian) as Minister of Foreign Affairs, in spite of his credentials. Three foreign ministers had resigned in protest against what they considered to be Sadat’s leniency toward Israel’s then-Prime Minister Begin. Sadat made sure that Boutros-Ghali was in a lower position so as to prevent him from being in charge of Muslims in that ministry, despite his pivotal role in reaching the agreement.
When former Egyptian President Mubarak wanted to nominate Boutros-Ghali to the UN General Secretariat in 1991, he appointed him in the honorary position of Deputy Prime Minister to maintain his image, since other candidates from other countries held a higher leadership position.
Nonetheless, such regulations have been openly contested and discussed by a group of Egyptian thinkers who argue openly that such restrictions ought to be repealed. Among them is Ibrahim Issa, a well-known journalist who received death threats for his opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood and Gama’a al Islamiya groups.
Another thinker, Islam Buhairi, who was imprisoned for challenging the role of Muslim clerics in controlling the religious discourse, argued that several Islamic Hadiths that emphasize the superiority of Islam are false.
And blogger Sherif Jaber was arrested for professing atheism, engaging in political activities on campus, and making atheist statements online. He is still in hiding, seeking refuge outside Egypt after being arrested several times and having his passport confiscated.
Numerous thinkers in Egypt are engaged in efforts to change the Islamic influence on the country’s image into a more civic one. Their supporters and followers are spread across the entire Arab world.
By turning a blind eye to the legislation and practices in some Islamic countries, Western countries have negatively impacted, weakened and marginalized these thinkers. Radical Islamic movements may seem to be gaining ground in the region, but there is still a surge, though a timid one, of secular groups rejecting such ideologies.
France has recently realized how important it is to openly discuss these Islamic laws, since they tend to create a parallel law in the country itself. Nevertheless, without the European Union standing wholeheartedly behind it, especially Germany, France may see itself striving alone without reaching any substantial results.
Here in the United States, some Islamic groups concentrate their activities on explaining Islam and defending its values to the rest of the American people, while ignoring the violations practiced in most Islamic countries against followers of other faiths. Perhaps this has to do with what psychologists call “motivated blindness,” which inhibits an individual’s ability to perceive inconvenient evidence.
The number of mosques in the United States has surpassed the 2000 mark, while non-Muslim worship shrines in various Islamic countries are either limited or remain restricted, if they aren’t barred from any public activities. Why do these Islamic societies in the West not address this issue to influence Islamic countries, while on the other hand enjoying religious freedom here?
During the campaign, President-elect Biden was very clear about the role of Muslims in his upcoming administration, and used Islamic Hadiths without knowing their meaning or interpretation. In quoting a Hadith that Muhammad had said regarding what he considered “wrong” and “how to deal with it,” Biden did not realize that it was also an incitement to use violence to achieve that goal. Muslims can also use the hand to correct an alleged wrong, such as when mutilating a statue of Virgin Mary, as a Palestinian Muslim immigrant did recently in Italy.
But does Biden also know that Islam specifically states that non-Muslims are not equal to Muslims regarding their political rights in most Muslim countries?
The West needs to be clear that Muslims must accept how the global system advocates separating religion from state, in order not to forget that all spiritual values remain a matter between man and his God, Allah, Jehovah or whatever else a believer wishes to call it.
Any indication that we are willing to compromise these rights makes us vulnerable to exploitation at the expense of our non-negotiable human values, and we may thus be tempted to accept standards that are lower than those to which we are entitled.
Samir A. Zedan is a former Senior Counter-Terrorism Analyst at the US Department of State, and a former Development Outreach and Communication Specialist at USAID/Iraq. He has contributed to hundreds of articles published in major media outlets with assignments in the Palestinian Areas, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Europe.
Valkyrie Ziege says
; Getting? What do you think is influencing the democrats?
mortimer says
Samir A. Zedan is correct: “The Conflict Between Secular Law and Sharia Is Getting Harder to Ignore”.
Muslims are increasingly thrown into a state of cognitive dissonance of wanting to defend Islam, but seeing that it is Sharia law which opposes modern human rights codes and even promotes the violation of them with violent atrocities worldwide.
Muslims are increasingly unable to pretend that Islam is benign. Western globalist-progressives are also caught in the same cognitive dissonance between reality and their fanciful and false narrative of a ‘benign Islam’.
Islam is a warrior ideology and is not ‘benign’ towards the ‘other’.
mortimer says
Samir Zedan raises many fine points, especially this: “France has recently realized how important it is to openly discuss these Islamic laws, since they tend to create a parallel law in the country itself.”
Indeed, Sharia is a ‘PARALLEL LAW’ and even a parallel legal system that is ever-present in Mohammedan countries.
Michael Copeland says
A modest refinement:
“No. Not parallel. They are set on a collision course.”
From “Islam is Government”
https://gatesofvienna.net/2020/07/islam-is-government/
PRCS says
That’s no mere refinement
It’s the unvarnished truth.
truthout says
No its a war strategy.Its not a religion of any sort.Their supposed leader is another joke if there ever were one.If they could be honest with themselves first and foremost they would see that.
Tony Naim says
Islamic Sharia translates its supremacy via a concrete, well defined set of rules and regulations that have been in place since the 12th century. Dictated by a Hanbali Imam known as :” Ibn Al-Kayyem Al-Jouziyya. They are called in Arabic: Ahkam Ahl AlZoumma ( laws of Dhimmitude). These laws constitute standard and normative Islamic teachings in all schools of jurisprudence.
They are taught in all 2000 mosques on US soil , under the nose of government and the nose of our president elect Joe Biden, who wants to open immigration doors so wide to Muslims from all 4 corners of the world.
Yet, in most political Think Tanks in Washington,DC there are self designated geniuses who speak of Iraq, Syria,Jordan,Egypt as secular countries. At a time when all countries in the MENA area, the laws of Dhimmitude are in application and practice every day.
All it takes in order to sterilize political Islam is to Abolish Dhimmitude.
Dhimmitude is a system of apartheid in practice all around the globe. It is the main cause of terrorism.
Jayell says
Islam is a totalitarian pseudo-theocratic political system with a clearly contrived faux ‘religious’ facade as a means of mind control. So it’s diametrically opposed to any Western democratic system, and no one should try to combine the two because they’re completely incompatible. So if muslims are to be tolerated in the West they simply keep their Sharia strictly to themselves; and if they don’t, they’re out. End of.
PRCS says
Islamic beliefs meet the definition of religion.
(the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods).
But, it’s not JUST a religion. It is a theocracy.
(a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god
Good ‘ole Joe Biden, who wants to place Muslims in every level of his administration, remains clueless I suspect.
Kenneth Phillips says
We must tell them ” We have a system of laws in this country, and it is not Sharia. ”
If you don’t want to live by our laws, get out of our country.
Go to one that does have Sharia and stay there
truthout says
We need to shut down the Muslim courts that are operating on our shores now. One is in MN and the other is in Texas. They supposedly only apply to muslims.Yeah right and the Brooklyn bridge is for sale to. Wait, I might have to retract that last statement ,as badly run, as New York is at the present moment ,they might be trying to sell it
Infidel says
For any other religion, religious laws can exist in parallel to secular laws when there are clear demarcations b/w their areas of coverage. That’s impossible in islam, where such a separation doesn’t exist
European countries can either preserve their secular laws, or they can allow sharia. They can’t do both
PRCS says
Agree.
Walter Sieruk says
About Islamic law Sharia law. It should be made known that the actual origin of Sharia law is revealed in a Time –Life book with the title MESOPOTAMIA: THE MIGHTY KINGS copyright 1995. The point is this history book about the ancient pagan world of Mesopotamia informs the reader that “many Islamic laws resemble the Babylon and Assyrian forebears.” .page 150.
There is the above and other references imply that such pagan teachings were incorporated into the religion that Muhammad manufactured and then started.
Thus this further reveals that a lot of ancient paganism is part of the whole religion of Islam.
In other words, ancient paganism makes up much of Islam. Therefore Islam with it’s Sharia law is a hoax.
PRCS says
IMO, Walter, better to just call it Islamic law.
PRCS says
The learned Imam in that video above asserts that Muslim blood is superior blood.
So, did Ibrahim Hooper’s blood magically become “superior blood” when he reverted?
Here’s the YouTube link, should you wish to comment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG1LKTaKQMw&feature=emb_logo
PRCS says
Ooops.
Just click YouTube logo in the lower right hand corner.
gravenimage says
The Conflict Between Secular Law and Sharia Is Getting Harder to Ignore
……………..
This is very true–but many are just doubling down on the denial.
But that fact that even those like Macron appear to have noticed–*finally!*–is a hopeful thing.
OLD GUY says
Islam will never separate religion from state. Islamic rule is a dictatorship controlling all facets of human life. Calling islam a religion is an insult to all other forms of religion and beliefs. If the devil himself wanted to form a religion Islam would fit his needs. Islam turns humans into hating, raping, child molesting, murders. Islam is not about peace and love its about POWER through violence. Sounds like the perfect ticket to HELL.
Del says
Trudeau should be reading this. The narcissist is shockingly naive.