Islamophobia

CAIR Video: One Man's Fight Against Islamophobia
CAIR's National Executive Director, Nihad Awad was interviewed by Dan Harris of ABC News April 20, '10, stemming from CAIR's objection to an interview with Wafa Sultan. I found this eight minute, 55 second video at Bare Naked Islam.



The video begins with brief excerpts from a speech and interview with Wafa Sultan. I suspect that the excerpts come from the Freedom Defense Initiative at CPAC in March. Video from that interview was found at Atlas Shrugs. The video confirmed my suspicion. Of course, the only "islamophobia" in the video was in brief cuts from her appearances on Al Jazeera.



I hope to select and transcribe the most egregious lies from Nihad Awad's interview. Do not assume that my transcription is word for word perfect, my hearing is poor, Awad speaks softly, and my computer's sound card is weak.

Wafa Sultan was shown telling FDI that "We must deal with the evil of Islam right now" so that our children won't have to deal with it..."so that the next generation can live in peace". Harris wanted to know what bothered Awad about that interview. .

"From the beginning we strongly believe in free speech. People are entitled to their opinions no matter how wrong they are. But when a person of this nature is interviewed and not challenged; is not opposed or there is no balance in the presentation, you feel that something was missing and that the racist remarks she made and allegations that she made against Muslims as a whole defies logic--defies common sense and basic knowledge... people learn about Islam--they know about Islam--she just reinforces stereotypes and mis-information and she was not challenged."

Islam does not believe in free speech. Islam forbids denial, questioning, sarcasm & reviling Allah, his messenger, the Qur'an and the doctrines derived from it.
Mentioning anything "impermissible" about Islam is one of the violations of dhimma which can cause a dhimmi to lose his protection from Muslims and be killed. The list of attitudes and acts entailing apostasy is documented here; the list of acts prohibited to dhimmis is documented here.

There was nothing inflammatory in the brief interview with Wafa Sultan. The closest she came to "Islamophobia" was in the clip from her speech at FDI when she mentioned "the evil of Islam". There wasn't anything concrete to counter in that interview, which lacked ideological detail.

The allegation of racist remarks is absolutely unfounded. Sultan explicitly stated that her opposition was to Islam, not to Muslims. Islam is not a race; it has enslaved and victimized people of several races. What allegations did she make "against Muslims as a whole"? She said that Islam is evil, and it is. Islam is violent, ordaining warfare, praising self sacrifice in battle against disbelievers as the best deed. Allah sanctifies terrorism and demands genocide. Islam declared war, permanent war, until the entire world is conquered.

Asked about intolerance, of which Islam is accused, Awad replied:

" That is just dead wrong, because Islamic history shows different than what people claim and the Qur'an...the best answer is from the Qur'an, otherwise, if you hear from someone as he would say... trying to spin the issue... the Qur'an emphasizes freedom, freedom of thought and religion...'let there be no compulsion in religion' this comes direct from the Qur'an, nobody can misunderstand it, nobody can misinterpret it. You can not force people to believe and act ... these are the words in the Qur'an. "

Islamic history shows extreme intolerance. I refer to the Pact of Umar. Hitler did not invent distinctive clothing for Jews, he adopted it from Islam. 3:85 clearly declares that choosing a religion other than Islam will never be accepted. Muslims are instructed, when encountering Jews & Christians on the road, not to gree them first and to shove them into the ditch. Doubt me? Then look it up: Sunan Abu Dawud 41.5186.

"No compulsion..." comes from 2:256. 3:110 declares believing Muslims to be the "best of peoples"; the meaning of that verse is explained in Sahih Bukhari 6.60.80 : " means, the best of peoples for the people, as you bring them with chains on their necks till they embrace Islam. ".

Asked about the treatment of women in KSA, for example:

" You have to differentiate between culture and religion and sometimes there is a big difference between the two. My understanding of my faith ... women are not only protected but they can be leaders in the Muslim World, when you look at Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh, they can be leaders in the Muslim world. "

Awad is playing a subtle semantic game. Islam is not a religion, it is a deen: way of life. It encompasses all aspects of human activity, culture included. Women are chattel property, "tilth", literally a field to be plowed and seeded. They are inferior to men, deemed deficient. Moe had something pertinent to say about female rulers : When Allah's Apostle was informed that the Persians had crowned the daughter of Khosrau as their ruler, he said, "Such people as ruled by a lady will never be successful."


Asked about the aftermath of 9-11; Islamophobia :

"Our job is getting more difficult every day although we see a new tone in the new administration, we see a hand extended to the Muslim world, ...we see a positive speech toward Muslims and a tone of reconciliation; but I believe the situation overall is getting worse. Islamophobia is being accelerated in the United States, I haven't seen clergy or political leader who stands up and pushes against bigotry against Muslims. "

"Islamophobia" implies irrational fear and loathing of Islam. After 9-11, considering the untimely deaths of approximately 270*10⁶ people in the last 1400 years, fear and loathing of Islam is not irrational. Muslims label well documented blog posts such as this "Islamophobia".

If the media were more responsible, and our leaders were better, isn't your job made more difficult by the identity of the terrorists ...

"Its important to recognize that the majority of Muslims and organizations including ours, leaders and clergy in the United States and around the world have condemned 9-11 and I believe we were the first organization on the face of the earth to condemn 9-11 but months and years after that we are always confronted on some national television show: 'where are the moderate Muslims--where is the condemnation' and we say we did, but who is listening? Which national network has displayed or communicated or shown our condemnation? I think our voices are somehow excluded and ignored because as we say 'if it bleeds, it leads' . Maybe our statements are not amusing to the ear of people who are accustomed to seeing violence on television but they do not see Muslim leaders coming to condemn this violence. We are condemning the violence, but we do not want to be defined by condemning violence. There are seven million Muslims in the United States. There are engineers, doctors, public servants, educators, they do great work to make America better every day; I'd like to see stories about these people ... I do not want to see my faith, which has been hijacked by a very tiny minority in the world, to be defined by their acts while the majority of us are having to stand up and condemn the acts of the few. "

So they condemned the attack on the World Trade Center. Wonderful, now we should form a circle, hold hands and sing Kumbaya. Yeah, right. Malicious malarkey! They condemn attacks on "innocents"; another semantic game tactic. Only Muslims can be innocent. Anyone who is not Muslim is a rebel against Allah, who deserves to be killed. 5:33 prescribes hudud for those who "wage war against Allah". That expression is defined in Ibn Kathir's tafsir of that verse:

"`Wage war' mentioned here means, oppose and contradict, and it includes disbelief, blocking roads and spreading fear in the fairways. ".

Take note of the word I highlighted in that definition; disbelief = waging war against Allah. They will not denounce, condemn and abjure the damnable doctrines which sanctify and mandate offensive conquest, genocide & terrorism because that would be an act entailing apostasy.

Seven minutes and forty eight seconds into the interview, Awad tells the big lie: " I do not want to see my faith, which has been hijacked by a very tiny minority in the world, to be defined by their acts while the majority of us are having to stand up and condemn the acts of the few. "

Islam has not been hijacked. As previously documented, casting terror is an intrinsic sacrament of Islam and offensive conquest is a permanent mandate, in the course of which genocide must be performed. The founder of Islam was a terrorist. Have you read the Qur'an? Try 33:26-27. Even if you never read another hadith, read Sahih Bukhari 4.52.220.

Eight minutes and twelve seconds into the interview, asked if he gets threats, Awad answers in the affirmative, during which statement, he is framed in the camera's viewfinder as if to simulate the view through an assassin's telescopic rifle sight. he says that when he speaks sincerely, from his heart people listen and believe him. Those must be rare occasions, rare indeed.