Yet defenders will insist that Islam teaches tolerance. Typical is the headline in a full-page ad in the New York Times taken out by a Saudi prince who is donating millions to Harvard to fund an Islamic studies program. The ad reads: “Islam teaches the value of understanding other human cultures and civilizations. This leads to the building of bridges in communication and tolerance that enrich the lives of everyone concerned.” If only this were actually taught to children in the Muslim world, we would not be in this crisis.
The defenders cannot reconcile the huge gap between the idealism of Islam and the reality of the actions of many Muslims. If they truly believe Islam is a religion of peace, then why do they tolerate the teaching of hatred, violence, and jihad in Muslim schools? Why do they not teach peace in their schools, mosques, media, and political institutions? If they truly believed in the ideals of Islam and the verses they quote from the Koran, they would have to stand up to terrorists and stop defending their actions. If the majority of Muslims are defending the actions of Osama bin Laden—openly or secretly—then we cannot tell the world Islam is a religion of peace. Then it is a lie. If Islam is a religion of peace, then we must teach peace as a major part of Islamic teachings.
After the prominent role Saudi citizens played in the attacks of 9/11, the West criticized Saudi schools for teaching hate. In response, the Saudi government launched an internal review and revision of their textbooks. After new textbooks were published, the Saudi government took out a full-page ad in The New Republic to trumpet the program’s success, and an embassy spokesman said, “We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths.” However, a translation of the new textbooks reveals otherwise. An eighth-grade Islamic-studies text reads: “As cited in the Ibn Abbas: the apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath, while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus.” This is only one of many such examples and serves as a telling example not only of the gap between idealism and reality, but also the huge gap between what the Arabs tell the West and what is in fact really happening within the Arab world.*
After the United States commenced its war against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, we began seeing even more elaborate and barbaric beheadings in the name of Islam. The whole world was made to feel captive just as were the innocent hostages being slaughtered in the name of Allah. Videos of men in black wearing martyrdom banners showed them holding the Koran in one hand and swords, bombs, or AK-47s in the other, chanting “Allahu Akbar!” as they chopped off the head of an infidel. Their chants in Arabic were powerful, mixed with excitement and euphoria while they beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, the unsuspecting American Jew who wanted to extend a hand of friendship and understanding to Muslims. There was no mercy. For them it was like taking the life of a bug or a chicken. That was a dark moment for Islam. The message of radical Islam is Fear us. Muslim radicals have indeed perfected fear as a powerful tool that produces instant compliance. The beheading of Daniel Pearl was a clear message to the world: We are Muslims. We hate you. You are infidels and you will be slaughtered in the name of Allah.
Witnessing the way Daniel Pearl was killed reminded me of the Daheyah feast in which Muslim families ritualistically sacrifice a lamb in their homes. While the rest of the family, including children, watched, a male family member would do the actual slaughtering accompanied by the invocation “Allahu Akbar.” Those terrorist gangs killed Daniel Pearl, Paul Johnson, Nicholas Berg, and Kim Sun-il in the same ritualistic way. But the Daheyah of these horrific terror rituals were humans, beheaded as a blessing on Muslim soul, accompanied by the same pious invocation.
Beheading as an execution option remains a part of the criminal legal code in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran, and Qatar. Only Saudi Arabia continues the practice.
After every new barbaric incident, I am stunned all over again at the lack of a moral outrage. No outrage by Arab Americans, no outrage on the Arab street, and no outrage by Arab media over such barbaric acts. Yet these are people who are very easily outraged and offended by a simple word, a cartoon, or a criticism of Islam. Even the brutal murder in November of 2004 of Margaret Hassan, a British woman married to an Iraqi who dedicated thirty years of her life to helping Iraqi women, stirred no debate—where were the outraged Arab women over the shameful murder of a woman who was trying to help them? Decades of hijackings, the killing of Christian missionaries, the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddha statues, the Russian school massacre of more than three hundred children, blowing up trains in Spain and underground metros in London—not to mention a half a century of terrorism inside Israel—where was the outrage? The Muslim world has closed its eyes to these atrocities and worse, has actually put these perpetrators on a pedestal.
After Daniel Pearl’s beheading, I called a cousin in Egypt to get an indication of the mood on the Arab street. Her answer was that most Arabs don’t care about beheadings in the name of Islam. She cited media allegations that many of the Western men who were beheaded were raping Iraqi women, and they further excused it by saying that “infidels should not be on Muslim land anyway!” Lies in Arab media to their own people are the only way to justify Muslim brutality to the ordinary Muslim public, she observed.
After every major terrorist attack, instead of outrage, the Muslim world’s energy is directed at saving face before the West and reforming the image of Islam rather than reforming the educational and political systems that encourage such acts. They still attend their mosques and listen to fiery speeches that call for destroying the infidels. They want to have it both ways; glorify their beloved jihadists and martyrs, but to Western media insist that they are against terrorism. The West must not be duped by the insincere presentations of people who claim to be moderate Muslims when in fact they are nothing if not radical. If they were really sincere about not supporting terrorism, these “moderates” would be on Al-Jazeera TV day and night condemning terrorism to the Arab world. They would be standing on the street corners of Riyadh, Cairo, Amman, and Damascus loudly protesting terrorist acts. They would be yelling over mosque loudspeakers that terrorism is against Muslim teachings. The sheikh of Al-Azhar, and for that matter, most Muslim leaders in the Middle East, have never condemned terrorism in all shapes and forms. As a matter of fact, just the opposite: most of them have supported terrorism—even against civilians, women, and children as a form of legitimate jihad. So why should Americans buy the claims that “terrorists do not represent Islam?”
Apologists would have us believe that terrorists are just a “fringe minority.” That is another big lie. The truth is, there are many volunteers signing up around the Middle East to be the next one to die with honors and go to heaven. There is no shortage of terrorists in the Muslim world. The Iranian government asked students who want to volunteer for terrorism to sign up and thousands did in reaction to the objections of the West to the development of nuclear weapons in Iran. Unfortunately—and it pains me to admit this—terrorists are not a “fringe minority” but a substantial and growing presence that is a direct result of generations brought up with values of jihad, martyrdom, violence, and the mission to conquer the world for Islam. Their agenda is supported on the Arab street in nearly every Middle Eastern country. The radicals are everywhere in Muslim society—in every country and in every family. They are so common and widespread within Muslim culture that Muslims cannot see them anymore.
Most Americans, unless they have children in college, do not know, and would not believe, the bold attempt on college campuses to indoctrinate American young people with the radical Muslim agenda. After speaking for several years on U.S. college campuses to different groups from all backgrounds—religious, educational, political, and racial—I have learned that American students, even after 9/11, are largely misinformed. There is a huge PR campaign going on now on campuses across the country to reform the image of Islam in America by people who have no intention of reforming the way Islam is being taught in the Middle East. Arab donation
s to create Islamic studies and Middle East studies departments are pouring into our institutions of higher learning, and American deans and administrators are more than happy to allow it. Complaints about the indoctrination have been coming to me from many students all around the country. The misinformation, anti-Semitism, and hate speech that I left behind in Middle Eastern schools have arrived in America.
I attended a peace rally in Berkeley, California, where the exploded number 9 bus from Israel was displayed and several pro-peace speakers from all backgrounds were speaking against terrorism in all shapes and forms. I was among them. Across the street from us there was a counterdemonstration. I could not comprehend why anyone would object to a group speaking against terrorism. A group of Arabs and some American anti-Israel supporters were wearing green “martyrs” headbands with Koranic jihad verses on them similar to those worn by Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza. These protesters were yelling, “Two, four, six, eight, we are martyrs, we can’t wait.” This scene brought the West Bank and Gaza anger, rage, and support of terrorism to America’s streets and its college campuses. It was a sad day for me. Nearby, a group of American leftists were foolishly cheering them on. I wanted to tell them, “You are on the wrong side! You are supporting the oppressors, not the oppressed. You need to see the new reality in the Middle East. Move beyond the sixties. The old causes you are backing are the very ones standing in the way of peace.” I wanted to tell them terrorists are not freedom fighters; they are the oppressors and murderers and the ones who refuse to accept peace.
The true freedom fighters—and there are unfortunately too few of them—are those Arabs who are willing to speak out against terrorism and call for reform within their culture. They do so at peril to their lives. These brave people are the true freedom fighters.
On another occasion in early 2004, I attended a presentation during a two-day conference at California State University, San Bernardino. The topic: “Understanding the Middle East.” Present in the audience were some Saudi diplomats. The speaker was Dr. Yvonne Haddad, an Arab Christian woman from the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. She discussed “The Bush Administration and the Credibility Gap.” Her memories of when she first moved to the United States were not pleasant. She remembered how an American woman on a bus told her, “Whoever civilized you did a good job.” That was supposed to be a typical example of how Americans treat Arabs.
She mentioned 9/11 only once, saying that on that day she worried about what the talking heads on TV would say about Muslims. She was very critical of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and said that Mohamed Atta and Osama bin Laden were both justifiably upset with that policy. In her opinion, what really hurt U.S. relations with Arabs and Muslims was the United States walking out of the Durbin Conference on racism in South Africa in 2001. She added that Muslims believe that the first President Bush in 1991 declared a crusade against Islam when he “invaded” Kuwait (something the United States was asked to do by the Kuwaitis who had been invaded by Saddam Hussein). She declared President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq to be the “Second Crusade,” and she criticized the way Americans justified what she called “the war on Islam.” She claimed the administration’s using the Afghanistan invasion and taking out the Taliban “to liberate Afghan women” was a hollow excuse for invasion. She stressed that Afghan women did not want to be liberated and criticized Mrs. Bush for being proud of the U.S. liberation of women in that country.
Dr. Haddad then complained about the treatment of Arabs in the United States and wondered why the Department of Homeland Security is not monitoring Jews or Christians such as Pat Robertson the way it is monitoring Arabs. She attacked President Bush by saying that Arabs now call him “Mufti Bush” because he is telling us what Islam should be. She criticized the new Arab TV station, El Horrah, because it shows Muslims in the United States saying they are well treated and happy in America. In the mind-set of this woman, we Arab Americans are all suffering in misery and persecution.
As I listened, I was flabbergasted. It was amazing to me to see a Christian Arab trying to promote the Saudi agenda of defending Islam by blaming America. She was closing her eyes to what Muslims are doing to Christians and Copts in the Arab world (even though she is Christian) and defending the indefensible. Her speech never gave any explanation for or analysis of Arabs’ beliefs and actions in the Middle East, let alone whether these beliefs are right or wrong. Analysis, judgment, and condemnation were reserved only for the U.S. government. The bottom line of her speech was that terrorism was somehow the fault of America and President Bush, and that Americans must watch their language and do everything they can to understand and be sensitive to Arabs. She was making it clear that the very mention of Arab terrorism or any attempt by American citizens to understand or defend U.S. policy is “racism” and “discrimination.” This is the mind-set of the Saudi and Arab PR machine. This is what it wants Arab Americans to believe.
Dr. Haddad was applauded enthusiastically by the group of Saudi diplomats present in the audience that day, and I was one of the few who criticized her message during the question-and-answer period. There were some students and teachers at my table who were very uncomfortable with the entire speech. Some even left before it ended. Not me. I stayed to the very end to listen to what was being said, as outrageous as it was. It was a disturbing example of what the Arab American PR machine is trying to do on U.S. college campuses—to indoctrinate American students into believing what the real racists and purveyors of discrimination in the Middle East want them to believe about American freedoms and democracy.
The university’s president was apparently very happy with the speech and promised more such conferences, saying that this one was the third in only six months. I thought to myself about how indoctrination requires constant repetition and reinforcement until lies become regarded as truth.
There is nothing wrong with Arabs wanting to reform their image in the United States or promote understanding of Arab culture, but that should never happen at the expense of the victims of terrorism or by attacking America. By branding the U.S government and its foreign policy as “evil” and against the “peace-loving” Middle Eastern Arab countries, these Arab defenders have done everyone a disservice. That will not resolve the problem of terrorism and ultimately discredits them. While they are trying to deceive the American people, they are emboldening the terrorists back home who hear their defenses and excuses. The PR campaign in the United States on behalf of Saudi Arabia and other despotic Arab regimes is alive, well, and shameless. Listening to this nonsense, I felt again like a minority up against all the radical Muslim power, organization, and finances who are portraying themselves as “moderate.” The truth is that the powerful groups inside the United States who sponsor such events on university campuses, while they may be Americans, their true loyalty is to the oil-rich kingdoms of the Middle East and not to America.
After attending this conference, I realized how truly vulnerable America is. The war of words and propaganda could be as vital as the actual military war. My batteries were recharged. I realized how important it was to expose and alert Americans to what is happening on our college campuses. I don’t want to see the same propaganda, hatred, misinformation, anti-Semitism, and suppression of freedom of speech that I dealt with growing up in the Middle East invade the institutions of higher learning in America. I cannot let anti-American and terrorist sympathizers be the only speakers for Arab Americans. The American people deserve better.
When I speak, I never condemn the Koran itself and I specifically say, “Books don’t commit acts of terrorism, people do.” But still my Muslim audiences are always hypersensitive and extremely defensive to any criticism. That defensive posture is the common reaction we all learned from our basic Islamic teaching back home. And too often, instead of condemning those who encourage terrorism, they condemn Muslims who say we have a problem.
Those few Arab Americans like me, who dare to openly sta
nd by America’s war on terror, are not backed by any organization. We basically work for free, and we have to look over our shoulders every time we speak just in case there is a terrorist behind us or a fatwa declared against us. Fortunately, there are American people who know us, admire us for speaking out, and encourage us to continue speaking on these campuses to balance the anti-American side that defends and excuses terrorism and dares to somehow blame America and the 3,000 American terrorism victims for “bringing it upon themselves.”
After 9/11, my fellow Americans should never be in the dark again. They must understand the brutality and persistence of their enemy. As a loyal and grateful American, I feel I must help the American public understand what is at stake. America must understand that Islam is not just a religion. It is a political system; it is a legal system, both civil and criminal. Penalties under Islamic law can be death, limb amputation, or stoning. It is a system that gives power to the vice police to hold a stick in public and use it on women’s ankles if they are uncovered. Everyone’s rights and duties are spelled out very clearly in Islam, and, no, there is no equality under Islamic law between Muslims and non-Muslims or between men and women. This is what they want for the whole world.
Radical Islam has lofty plans to conquer the West and won’t let go. That is something Americans don’t understand and have trouble believing. They may be able to understand why the Islamic world hates them; they may get the dynamics behind why they blame America, Israel, and the West for all the ills in their society. They may even be able to understand how these extremists justify violence. But what Americans still don’t understand is that the goal of jihad is to conquer the world, literally, for Islam, and to usher in a Caliphate—that is, a supreme totalitarian Islamic government, a lifestyle by force, one nation, one party, one constitution (the Koran), and one law (sharia Islamic law). Anyone who reads and speaks Arabic and monitors Web sites and listens to speeches and sermons in mosques around the world knows how seriously many Muslims believe in their mission to dominate the world for Islam, the one true religion.
Now They Call Me Infidel Page 23