Muslims Must Declare War on Radical Islam

 

As the devastation in Orlando unfolded, I felt a tiny grain of hope that President Obama would finally show some teeth against the very real threat posed by radical Islam. Would he label the horror show for what it was? But — true to form, and after acknowledging the slaughter that befell on the defenseless — he diverted attention to gun laws without uttering even the slightest hint regarding who and what the killer represented. The Left ran with it, saturating the media and Internet with LGBT solidarity. Much of what followed was not a discussion about Islamic terrorism, but focused on the 2nd Amendment and homosexual rights, with fingers pointing to usual targets such as the NRA and religious leaders. Points for consistency, even in the shadow of cascading evil.

I know most Muslims abhor what the radicalized sociopaths have done to Islam. Yet, there seem to be very few to take on the gargantuan effort necessary to focus world attention on the growing Islamic threat. Nonetheless, it’s during times of tragedy that heroes are made. Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, said that the Orlando mass shooting should be a wakeup call for moderate Muslims.

To our friends, associates, and acquaintances who practice Islam, my heart goes out to you as you face rage from many American corners that will tempt you to turn inward and cocoon. I ask you to fight that urge.

If radicalized Jews had hijacked Judaism and perpetrated this reprehensible bloodshed, instead of hiding behind special interests groups that divert attention to politically expedient low-hanging fruit, I would be actively fighting to take my religion back.

American Muslims, stand up and make your voices heard. I will stand with you as you fight back against the brutal murderers of the innocent, the rapists of women and children, and those leaders who espouse hate, homophobia, and genocide in the name of Islam. Even seemingly insignificant efforts like sharing your thoughts on social media, writing letters to your local newspaper editors, or calling into radio shows can help. Share your outrage at Orlando, Tel Aviv, San Bernardino, Paris, and wherever the next scene of carnage occurs.

While feckless politicians highlight and target the side effects, the cancer is metastasizing. Others will — and should — join you in solidarity, but it is up to you.

Published in General
Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 102 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Kate Braestrup Member
    Kate Braestrup
    @GrannyDude

    Incidentally, in the linked video, Dr. Jasser said that Obama visited a mosque in Baltimore at which homophobic sermons had been preached; his organization warned the president and was ignored.

    I keep coming back to the pernicious, bizarre incoherence of progressive “PC.”

    • #61
  2. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Islam is not just a spiritual project.  It is also very much a political project with a demonstrated power to claim the loyalty of otherwise very peaceful folk.  For disaffected young men (losers), the lure of manhood restored via sanctified violence is catnip.

    In 1960, JFK had to affirm that as President he would not be subject to orders from the Vatican.  He had to overcome the prejudice that Catholicism is inconsistent with American values.  (Today, the notion that any Catholic Democratic politician would put religious duty or any ethical principle ahead of his party’s interests would be laughable.)

    Muslims have a much more specific problem in this regard than a vague prejudice about divided loyalty.  Their religion’s core texts and tenets expressly forbid tolerance, secular rule and expressly justify and even require imposition of Islam by violent means.

    Therefore it is entirely fair to inquire how Muslim Americans reconcile their religion with fundamental American values and to expect answers other than doublespeak and accusations of bigotry.

    The Orlando shooter was the second (known) murderous jihadi to emerge from that Florida mosque. There is problem with that community that is not resolved with a head count that shows the not currently violent to be a majority.

    I don’t really care if 90% or 99% f Muslims are peaceful if they foster a tradition that continually sicks a violent minority upon the rest of us.  We have every right to vigorously demand they sort themselves out.

    • #62
  3. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Susan Quinn:There is also the confusion because the Koran is not written in historical order. The result is that people don’t realize that Muhammad started out peacefully but as he met resistance, he became more violent. And of course, you can’t see that by reading the text from beginning to end. Also when there are contradictions, the most recent teachings are held as true. So it’s difficult to digest.

    It not hard to digest.  Mohammed expressed positive moral and theological sentiments not dissimilar from what he knew of Jewish and Christian teachings.  When his preaching and leadership were resisted and rejected he got angry and ordered his followers to kill and enslave the non-believers.

    The syncretic result is that under Muslim rule all will be sweetness and light.  Outside of that is only justified violence and terror.  There is no contradiction for Muslims.

    To look at that text and say there is a peaceful (real) Islam and an opposite violent (not real) Islam is to misinterpret the project.

    Non-Muslims can continue to exist freely only so long as Muslims do not have the power to impose the political and cultural order that they are duty-bound to impose whenever they can.

    • #63
  4. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Mr Obama will never show any spine against Islamic terrorists.  He is sympathetic to their aims and is doing everything he can, as POTUS, to support them, without outwardly seeming to do so.

    To ignore this fundamental truth is a great and sad error.

    • #64
  5. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Kate Braestrup: I keep coming back to the pernicious, bizarre incoherence of progressive “PC.”

    It’s simple anti-Americanism.

    • #65
  6. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Mendel:

    BrentB67:I think for your analogy to work we have to make the assumption that the jihadis are the ones that are practicing Islam incorrectly and must be reformed.

    It isn’t obvious that within Islam that is the correct assumption.

    Your fallacy is assuming that there is a “correct” interpretation of Islam.

    Neither you nor I believe in Islam. Thus, the Koran is just as fictional as the Great Gatsby. Is there a correct interpretation of the Great Gatsby? No. Perhaps there’s a specific interpretation that Fitzgerald had in mind, just as Mohammed might have had specific intentions in mind when he penned the Koran. But once a work of writing gets disseminated, each reader automatically receives an equally valid right to interpret that work as they please.

    And even if we were believers, who would have a right to tell us which interpretation is correct. I’m Protestant, so I don’t believe that the Pope’s interpretation is somehow “correct”. Why should it be any different for Islam?

    I agree with your case here. But we have many influential leaders in the US and the rest of what we refer to as western civilization insisting that Islam is a religion of peace. And, to my senses, they have little objective evidence that this is true, but quite a large measure of bloody evidence that it is false. Waiting for the counters so I can be better informed.

    • #66
  7. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Arahant: Did you know that the Catholic Bible includes different books from most Protestant Bibles?

    No, I did not.  So I looked this up and there are 7 more Old Testament books in the Catholic Bible and other books have additional material.  How interesting, I’ll get a Catholic Bible and start learning about this.

    • #67
  8. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Kate Braestrup:Incidentally, in the linked video, Dr. Jasser said that Obama visited a mosque in Baltimore at which homophobic sermons had been preached; his organization warned the president and was ignored.

    I keep coming back to the pernicious, bizarre incoherence of progressive “PC.”

    Kate,

    I couldn’t agree with you more about the incoherence of progressive “PC”. Also, to even call this event homophobic is to underestimate what really transpired. The Islamic preacher that was in Florida a few weeks before had not made some random homophobic comment. He had stated coldly and clearly that the Sharia Law penalty for homosexuality was death and that there was no need to be ashamed of this. This is what I mean by a criminal conspiracy to deny civil rights of citizens. If that preacher had coldly and simply stated that honor killings of women who have sexually strayed from Sharia Law need not be apologized for then there could have been yet another horrific result.

    In this kind of case, we need to make it clear that we will not care whether or not Sharia Law supports the behavior or not. If the preacher just asserts that the killing is sanctioned we will consider it a criminal conspiracy.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #68
  9. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    David Sussman:I would suggest we learn the difference between Islam the religion and Islamism, the sharia political ideology which indoctrinates young Muslims with supremacy, violence and hatred.

    As a growing number of openly homosexual Muslims assimilate in western cultures we can assume the divide between Islam and sharia will only grow wider.

    Please forgive my ignorance, but this difference between Islam and Islamism is mighty blurred to my uneducated eye. Sharia seems to be infused in both. Certainly, the public adherents (and in particular the Imam leaders) preach both sharia and jihad. Muslims in the U.S. also seem to advocate for Sharia law. Incredibly, U.S. courts are even assisting in the efforts.

    • #69
  10. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Columbo:

    David Sussman:I would suggest we learn the difference between Islam the religion and Islamism, the sharia political ideology which indoctrinates young Muslims with supremacy, violence and hatred.

    As a growing number of openly homosexual Muslims assimilate in western cultures we can assume the divide between Islam and sharia will only grow wider.

    Please forgive my ignorance, but this difference between Islam and Islamism is mighty blurred to my uneducated eye. Sharia seems to be infused in both. Certainly, the public adherents (and in particular the Imam leaders) preach both sharia and jihad. Muslims in the U.S. also seem to advocate for Sharia law. Incredibly, U.S. courts are even assisting in the efforts.

    We were schooled recently by a contributor about Trump being a National Socialist although perhaps not a NAZI. Maybe that contributor could enlighten us regarding how Islam differs from Nazism and how Mohammed, the dead hierarchical founder and still leader of Islam, whose recorded dictation of the word of Allah, cannot be changed or questioned, differs from Adolph Hitler, except that almost all humans have totally discarded anything from Hitler.

    • #70
  11. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    My sense with the evolving information on the shooter leads me to blame Radical Islam less than simply Islam. Here was a young man, obviously sexually ambivalent, part of a religion which, even in its less radical versions, condemns homosexuality as a crime punishable by death. The problem is not Radical Islam in this case, but the beliefs of Islam itself which are incompatible with the developing sense of humanity so much a part of the evolving western civilization. In Islam we have a 13th Century religion which has not grown, not evolved, which denies modern science and the efficacy of any other religion. It is a religion bent on the conversion of all peoples of the world to its fold.

    There used to be a joke about people taking the elevator in heaven who were told that passing a certain floor that they needed to remain quiet. The punchline being that that floor was where the Catholics were, and they thought that they were the only ones up there.

    The Catholic church has evolved beyond that, Islam may never do so. Even the so-called moderates have limits to their tolerance. If they are believers they believe in the Koran and what it says. Much of that is the proscription of all unbelievers and those defined as sinners, most especially apostates. There is no rational “out” for them. There is only Sharia.

    • #71
  12. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    David Sussman: American Muslims, stand up and make your voices heard.

    If that didn’t happen on a large scale 15 years ago, why should we expect it to happen now?

    • #72
  13. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Eugene Kriegsmann: The problem is not Radical Islam in this case, but the beliefs of Islam itself which are incompatible with the developing sense of humanity so much a part of the evolving western civilization. In Islam we have a 13th Century religion which has not grown, not evolved, which denies modern science and the efficacy of any other religion. It is a religion bent on the conversion of all peoples of the world to its fold.

    I have to ask again, how is what you have described different from Hitler’s Nazism? If Hitler had existed in the 7th Century, formed his cult of conquering and insisted that it could not be changed, political Islam labeled a religion looks like what we would see.

    • #73
  14. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    After San Bernardino, the mosque in my town put up a sign condemning terrorism, and I believe they are sincere. But what we hear from groups like CAIR is usually defensiveness like this.

    sign

    • #74
  15. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Columbo: Please forgive my ignorance, but this difference between Islam and Islamism is mighty blurred to my uneducated eye. Sharia seems to be infused in both. Certainly, the public adherents (and in particular the Imam leaders) preach both sharia and jihad. Muslims in the U.S. also seem to advocate for Sharia law. Incredibly, U.S. courts are even assisting in the efforts.

    For people who want to understand more about jihad/radical Islam, you can check out Robert Spencer’s website, https://www.jihadwatch.org/. He has a tutorial and carries current events regarding Islam.

    • #75
  16. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Daniel Pipes is another brilliant scholar who is one of the few experts that I know of who believes that Islam can be changed.

    • #76
  17. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman
    • #77
  18. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    James Gawron:David,

    I agree that the major movement must come from inside Islam. However, we must understand how our behavior will affect this. As long as we manufacture excuses for this kind violence we encourage the radicals and discourage those who would fight them.

    The first and foremost problem is Jihad. Preaching Jihad constitutes sedition, subversion, and incitement to violence. Anytime anywhere we find Jihad being taught we must shut it down immediately. We don’t need any new laws to do this. Once again, by definition, Jihad is sedition, subversion, and incitement to violence.

    This particular incident shows how and where we must go beyond just demanding an end to Jihad. Sharia Law is much too broad a subject to be attacked directly. However, we must demand that any suggestion that the death penalty for homosexuality, honor killing of women, the death penalty for apostasy, or any other destruction of civil rights will not be tolerated in our country and will be considered on its face a criminal conspiracy to deny the civil rights of our citizens.

    Only if we act as I have described above will we be sending the right message that we will have zero tolerance for these crimes or their instigators in our society. Once it becomes clear that this is our policy in the West, the forces of Islamic reform have solid ground on which to start work on their own societies.

    Regards,

    Jim

    Jim, right on. Unfortunately I just heard the President’s speech and his attacks on Conservatives and Republicans were stunning, and yet, not surprising.

    I’m sure ISIS and other jihadists were trembling in their skull caps.

    • #78
  19. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    Vance Richards:After San Bernardino, the mosque in my town put up a sign condemning terrorism, and I believe they are sincere. But what we hear from groups like CAIR is usually defensiveness like this.

    sign

    The problem is in the definition of ‘terrorism.” Is carrying out the words of the Prophet terrorism? It would be easy for a believer in Islam, like the Imam whose preaching about killing of homosexuals has made its way onto the internet, to say that what happened in Orlando was nothing more than the doing of the Prophets teachings, thus, not terrorism. In judging these things one must keep in mind, always, the rather serpentine thinking of the eastern mind. Killing infidels may not be seen as terrorism. It is all in your definitions. Also, keep in mind, lying to an infidel, by Islamic law, is not a sin.

    • #79
  20. dukenaltum Inactive
    dukenaltum
    @dukenaltum

    A brief overview of Islamic history would allay any misconception about a divide between moderate and radical Islam.  Islam has always used the barbaric uncivilized periphery of  Dar al-Islam for expansion and violence against its neighbors but Colonialism and the rise of the West stop this dynamic.   Islam has an effete debauched core that  relies on the expansionist barbaric periphery for its wealth and health.

    The problem since the 15th Century is Islam was constrained by the Christian West and stagnated killing it slowly. It would be dead by now if they lacked the Western demand for oil that the West discovered and exploited before the end of colonialism.

    Islam is in its death throes and needs only to be isolated from the sane world commercially and militarily to die with the least amount of damage for the Civilized World.

    • #80
  21. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    David Sussman: Why can’t Muslims do likewise with those mosques which are bastions of hate?

    Now that is a very good question! I suspect they operate under the radar. Also there’s a prohibition of criticizing Islam even within the religion, so criticizing another mosque or imam might be controversial, even if they don’t like what they’re doing.

    • #81
  22. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    dukenaltum:The problem since 15th Century is Islam was constrained by the Christian West and stagnated killing it slowly. It would be dead by now if they lacked the Western demand for oil that the West discovered and exploited before the end of colonialism.

    Islam is in its death throes and needs only to be isolated from the sane world commercially and militarily to die with the least amount of damage for the Civilized World.

    This. But if the approach to this death cult is accommodation instead of isolation much unnecessary damage will result.

    • #82
  23. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    dukenaltum: Islam is in its death throes and needs only to be isolated from the sane world commercially and militarily to die with the least amount of damage for the Civilized World.

    I wish I could believe this. I lived in Indonesia for 5 years (2009-2014) and Qatar for 5 years (2005-2009) and didn’t see any evidence of Islam being in it’s death throes. Can you explain please?

    • #83
  24. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Islam ‘The Single Greatest Threat To Western Civilization’

    “America has got to decide, very simply, if it wants female emancipation, gay rights, and tolerance for other skin colours, religious persuasions, and other points of view — or if it wants Islam. The choice is really that simple.” … Milo Yiannopoulos.

    • #84
  25. RyanFalcone Member
    RyanFalcone
    @RyanFalcone

    There was a time for that religion to shut down the evil in its ranks. That time was 30-40 years ago. Where would any rational person have drawn the line back then? Where are we now? Where is the line now? The reason these people aren’t being rounded up and shipped back to their hellhole countries is because there are too many people in positions of power here in the US who are not only safe in the hellhole this country is becoming but are in a position to profit from it.

    • #85
  26. Columbo Inactive
    Columbo
    @Columbo

    Susan Quinn:

    David Sussman: Why can’t Muslims do likewise with those mosques which are bastions of hate?

    Now that is a very good question! I suspect they operate under the radar. Also there’s a prohibition of criticizing Islam even within the religion, so criticizing another mosque or imam might be controversial, even if they don’t like what they’re doing.

    I see many parallels to our inner cities. The peaceful residents live in constant fear of the violent inhabitants much the same as exists in Islam. There’s a prohibition on criticizing Islam similar to the “snitches get stitches” theme in the inner city. Due to this sheer fear brought upon the peaceful, the violent in each “community” rule.

    • #86
  27. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    David Sussman: Why can’t Muslims do likewise with those mosques which are bastions of hate?

    Susan Quinn: Now that is a very good question! I suspect they operate under the radar. Also there’s a prohibition of criticizing Islam even within the religion, so criticizing another mosque or imam might be controversial, even if they don’t like what they’re doing.

    Dr. Zuhdi Jasser. There are others like him. They need our support.

    • #87
  28. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Transcript of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s speech after she received The New Criterion’s fourth Edmund Burke Award for Service to Culture and Society:

    http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/In-defense-of-dissidence-8438

    • #88
  29. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    Misthiocracy:Transcript of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s speech after she received The New Criterion’s fourth Edmund Burke Award for Service to Culture and Society:

    http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/In-defense-of-dissidence-8438

    Thank you Misth. Outstanding. She continues to amaze me. I would have liked to hear her thoughts expanded on those Muslims that are not Dawa. She alluded to them, but didn’t really discuss what this thread was hoping to achieve: How to get the non Sharia/Dawa/Jihadists Muslims to stop the radicals march toward global Islamism by force.

    The other Muslims, those who when they invoke Mohammed do not mention Medina, are not interested in politics. They think of their religion only in terms of spirituality, of prayer rituals to God and the observance of dietary restrictions. They’re not our enemies. They’re religious. They define religion the way we define religion in the United States of America. You can be a Baptist or Jewish Orthodox, or something else, and as long as you’re not seeking to impose it on the rest of us, the rest of the world, you are practicing what we describe as freedom of religion.

    UPDATE: At the end, I heard her answer a question to an audience member who asked about what moderate Muslims can do to fight Sharia law. Ali mentions American friends who are fighting the Medina agenda. They have set up the Muslim Reformist Movement.

    She states that while it’s a personal choice because of the threats out there, she suggest the path to change is to ask questions, to choose between your conscience and what Mohammed teaches. Since 2010, more Muslims are asking these questions and risking their lives and entering a threatened minority.

    • #89
  30. Cantankerous Homebody Inactive
    Cantankerous Homebody
    @CantankerousHomebody

    David Sussman: didn’t really discuss what this thread was hoping to achieve: How to get the non Sharia/Dawa/Jihadists Muslims to stop the radicals march toward global Islamism by force.

    I actually don’t understand what this thread is about either.  So you’re saying that the vast majority of muslims are peaceful and highly orthodox and that a minority of violent and unorthodox muslims are taking over and the orthodox peaceful muslims should take a stand?

    • #90
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.