Oct. 12, 2001
As tiny Israel tries to shake off accusation that it is somehow to blame for the WTC attacks, some reporters are trying to show that suicide bombers -- and Bin Laden's men in particular -- have no connection to the Islamic religion, even a crazed fundamentalist version of it.
The danger in denying the Islamic roots of the terrorists is that it obscures the quest of the free world to find and fight the terrorist enemy. Furthermore, this denial gives license to columnists to falsely blame Israel, by default, for the world's woes.
The purpose of this report is not to criticize the Islamic religion or to vilify Muslims. Rather the purpose is to present facts and information, to enable intelligent response to media reports claiming that Islamic terrorists have no connection to Islamic teachings.
------- MISINFORMATION --------
(1) One example of misinformation is a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, which quotes Muslim doctor Al-Hazmi as saying that the September 11 attacks were "insane" crimes which have "nothing to do with any religion and it has nothing to do with Islam. The teaching of Islam is totally against violence." The Times also writes that the concept of Jihad (holy war) is really a personal battle for self-mastery, having nothing to do with waging war against others.
The following appeared on website of the Palestine Times (Sept. 2001):
http://www.ptimes.com
As many as 350 Muslim religious scholars meeting in Baghdad have confirmed in the strongest terms the legitimacy of martyrdom operations as one of the highest forms of Jihad against oppression. The scholars unanimously concluded after three days of deliberations that Palestinian Mujahideen, or freedom fighters, who blow themselves up at enemy targets are not suicidal but are bona fide martyrs whose acts are totally compatible with Islamic teachings. The edict reaffirmed previous edicts by such prominent Islamic jurists as Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi, who ruled that freedom fighters who detonate explosives strapped to themselves sacrifice their lives to attack the "enemies of God and Islam."* * *A few months ago, the U.S. exerted behind-the-curtain pressure on the Saudi government to instruct the Saudi religious establishment to issue edicts opposing martyrdom operations. However, many Saudi scholars rejected American pressure to that effect, describing American intervention in "Islamic theological matters as brazen and shameless."
(2) More misinformation appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution
(http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/), in an article from the Knight-Ridder news syndicate. In responding to a segment on "60 Minutes" which claimed that Islam encourages martyrdom by promoting a heavenly reward of 70 virgins, the Knight-Ridder article states:
Maher Hathout, a Muslim scholar with the Islamic Center of Southern California, said... "There is nothing in the Koran or in Islamic teachings about 70 virgins or sex in paradise. This is ridiculous, and any true Muslim knows that," he said. The leaders asked that CBS air a correction and provide time for Muslim scholars on the show to explain Islam's teachings about violence and martyrdom.
In response to the Atlanta Journal Constitution article, Sheik Abdul Hadi Palazzi of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community (islam@spqr.net) wrote to media watcher Yisrael Medad:
Islam says there are 72 wives for every believer who is admitted to Heaven, and not only for a martyr. The proof is a hadith which is collected by Imam at-Tirmidhi in "Sunan" (Volume IV, Chapters on "The Features of Heaven as described by the Messenger of Allah", Chapter 21: "About the Smallest Reward for the People of Heaven", hadith 2687) It is also quoted by Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir (Koranic Commentary) of Surah ar-Rahman (55), ayah (verse) 72:"It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that Abu al-Haytham 'Abdullah Ibn Wahb narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudhri, who heard the Prophet Muhammad (Allah's blessings and peace be upon him) saying, 'The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are 80,000 servants and 72 wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San'a."
Ibn Kathir's Commentary on Surah al-Waqi'ah (56), ayat (verses) 35-37, quotes the hadith according to which "The Prophet Muhammad, Allah's blessings and peace be upon him, was asked: 'Will we have sex in Paradise?' He answered: 'Yes, by Him Who holds my soul in His hand, and it will be done with a strong shove. When it is finished, she will return untouched and virgin again."
------- FIFTH COLUMNISTS --------
(1) A variety of columnists, led by Robert Fisk, could not bring themselves to place any blame for the WTC attacks on Islamic terrorists. Writing in The Nation, Fisk faulted American foreign policy and support for Israel:
Our broken promises, perhaps even our destruction of the Ottoman Empire, led inevitably to this tragedy. America has bankrolled Israel's wars for so many years that it believed this would be cost-free. No longer so. But, of course, the United States will want to strike back against 'world terror.' Indeed, who could ever point the finger at Americans now for using that pejorative and sometimes racist word 'terrorism'?
Fisk, a self-appointed authority on Islam, raised doubts whether Islamic terrorists were behind the bombing. Writing in The Independent (UK), Fisk suggests that a hand-written note from one of the suicide pilots was not genuine. If it is "genuine," Fisk wrote, "then the men who murdered more than 7,000 innocent people believed in a very exclusive version of Islam -- or were surprisingly unfamiliar with their religion."
Read Fisk's Nation article at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011001&s=fisk
Read Fisk's Independent article at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=96697
Comments to:
feedback@inuk.co.uk
newseditor@independent.co.uk
* * *
(2) Author Susan Sontag also tried to deflect fault from the Islamic terrorists. Writing in The New Yorker Magazine's "Talk of the Town," Sontag blamed American policies, and asked:
Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a 'cowardly' attack on 'civilization' or 'liberty' or 'humanity' or 'the free world,' but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions? How many citizens are aware of the ongoing American bombing of Iraq? And if the word 'cowardly' is to be used, it might be more aptly applied to those who kill from beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those willing to die themselves in order to kill others.
Read Sontag's comments at:
http://www.newyorker.com/THE_TALK_OF_THE_TOWN/CONTENT/?010924ta_talk_wtc
To respond, sent comments to:
themail@newyorker.com
or FAX: 212-286-5047
------- EXPOSING THE THREAT --------
Other columnists gave an honest and sobering picture of the threat presented by Bin Laden, and warn that the West faces a totalitarian threat comparable to the major 20th century ideological threats of fascism and Marxism-Leninism.
(1) Paul Johnson is a best-selling historian, renowned for his objectivity and thorough fact checking. In the current edition of the conservative "National Review," Johnson's analysis of Islam argues that "mainstream Islam is essentially akin to the most extreme form of Biblical fundamentalism."
Johnson warns that "...appeasement is so tempting to Western governments" because by attacking terrorism they come into conflict with "the second-largest religious community in the world." Johnson discounts the "...the assertion that Islam is essentially a religion of peace and that the very word 'Islam' means 'peace.' Alas, not so. Islam means 'submission,' a very different matter, and one of the functions of Islam, in its more militant aspect, is to obtain that submission from all, if necessary by force. Islam is an imperialist religion, more so than Christianity has ever been, and in contrast to Judaism."
Read Johnson's analysis at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/15oct01/johnson101501.shtml
* * *
(2) Also in the "National Review," author David Pryce-Jones explains that the Moslem world has never reconciled itself with the West -- "whether to adopt its values or to reject them." He writes:
Khomeini crystallized a mindset with revolutionary implications: Muslims were not responsible for their plight, it was all the fault of the West, to be rectified by war. So mosques in Iran, and then elsewhere, began to resound with cries that America was the Great Satan, and crowds burned the Stars and Stripes. The emotional logic hardened into a series of syllogisms: Islam is righteous; America is imperialist; therefore unrighteous America is uprooting Islam. Or again: Good Muslims must kill Jews; America helps Jews; therefore America is killing good Muslims. Yet again: America is arrogant; Muslims are proud; therefore suicide bombers are giving America what she deserves.
Read Pryce-Jones' article at:
http://www.nationalreview.com/15oct01/pj101501.shtml
We present below additional background information on Islamic fundamentalism. You may want to bring this info to the attention of local newspaper, TV and radio editors. Cite authorities like Paul Johnson and Shaykh Abdul Hadi Palazzi in your letters to the editors. Request that the media seek out Muslim leaders willing to denounce terrorism, mass killing, and jihad against Western civilization.
------- BACKGROUND INFO --------
The ideology of Islamism is a fanatical fundamentalist revivalist movement seeking to establish a theocratic Islamic Nation over all Moslems, one nation at a time. The first was Iran in 1979, when an Islamic fundamentalist religious revolt toppled the pro-western Shah in reaction to his "White Revolution" which allowed women to vote and hold jobs, built large cities, and created a more secular society with Western freedoms, much as Kemal Attaturk had done in Turkey beginning in the 1920's. After the Shah, an Islamic Republic under the Ayatollah was created; he promptly called the U.S. "The Great Satan," and Western-type freedoms disappeared. Shortly thereafter, mobs seized the U.S. embassy and its staff, holding them hostage for two years.
This ideology finds expression through many organizations whose names have become all too familiar to watchers of the Palestinian war against Israel -- Islamic Jihad, Hizbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood -- and a host of others less well known but with similar objectives in every Muslim country. In 1996, Afghanistan followed a similar path under the Taliban.
The enemy of Islamic fundamentalists is secular society, secular governments, and Western civilization, which they see as corruptive and destructive of Islamic values. They scorn "moderate" or secular Moslem governments such as Turkey, Egypt and even Saudi Arabia.
What is the historical background? Within 100 years of Mohammed's death in 632 AD, Muslim armies had swept across North Africa, the Middle East, and India, bloodily conquering from the Atlantic almost to the Pacific, and into Spain and France where they were finally stopped at the battle of Poitiers. At that time, the Muslim empire was the largest the world had ever known. They remained in control of Spain until the 15th century, and, under the Ottoman Turks, laid siege to Vienna as late as the 17th century after the fall of Constantinople and occupation of the Balkans in the 15th and 16th centuries.
This military conquest, arising out of Arabia over centuries, was done in the name of religion. As Ibn Khaldun, the great Islamic historian of the 14th century wrote: "In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force."
As for tolerance toward Christians and Jews, Ibn Khaldun wrote: "It is for them to choose between conversion to Islam, payment of the poll tax, or death." And the 14th century Imam and Islamic scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya wrote, "...Jihad is obligatory until the word of Allah reigns supreme, and until all are of the religion of Allah, until the religion of Allah triumphs over all religions and until they pay the poll tax while in a state of inferiority." Those in this state of inferiority were called dhimmis (protected minority), and were required to wear a distinctive garb so Muslims would know not to treat them as equals.
As the Ayatollah Khomeini stated: "We shall export our revolution to the whole world. Until the cry 'Allahu Akbar' resounds over the whole world. There will be struggle. There will be Jihad... Islam is the religion of militant individuals... Islam will be victorious in all the countries of the world, and Islam and the teachings of the Koran will prevail all over the world... This is the duty that all Muslims must fulfill..."
(source material courtesy of C. Pearlston)
(11) Matthew J. Fleming, October 21, 2001 12:00 AM
Trying to Make Sense Out of All This Madness...
Before the events of September 11th I also believed the conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians and her other Arab/Muslim neighbors was basically a political one. I do not think that it is grandiose to say that what we are seeing unfolding before our eyes is nothing less than the clash of two very different civilizations.
Because we in the West have developed and now revere the separation of religion and state, we hesitate to criticize any other religion. I do not deny that there are elements in both Christianity and Judaism that could be interpreted as calls to violence. However, in the modern West it is impossible to even imagine a modern political leader inciting violence against another group perceived as "infidels". Nazism and Communism, two earlier political diseases, can hardly be considered religious in anyway.
Although our media and the Muslim leaders speaking to us are all repeating the mantra that Islam is a religion of peace, the noted historian Paul Johnson notes that the very meaning of the word Islam means "submission". On the much discussed Oprah show, "Islam 101" what exactly the one guest mean when she said that "Islam teaches tolerance for other religions until Judgement Day". Are the Muslim fundamentalists trying to force their own apocolyptic "Judgement Day"?
Unfortunately, as usual, Israel is portrayed as the only nation (or group) in conflict with Islam. Little attention is given to the fact that everywhere where Muslims are the majority or the minority they are in conflict with other religions or other groups of Muslims. When considering the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, one might also want to consider the ongoing internecine struggle between the Hindus and Muslims for Kashmir and the problem of Muslim insurgency in China and the Philipines.
Unfortunately, the media hardly mentions these conflicts giving the world an unfair picture of what is actually a very restrained response on the part of Israel.
In conclusion one wonders if some of the Arab/Muslims regimes realize how ridiculous their hypocrisy appears? How can the Saudi prince who had his $10 million check returned by the noble Mayor Guiliani comment on anything when it is in his nation that the bloody 70's despot Idi Amin resides comfortably? It is truly difficult trying to make sense out of all this...
Sincerely yours,
Matthew J. Fleming
(10) Anonymous, October 19, 2001 12:00 AM
Terrific stuff- We should get the word out
I am impressed with what I find on aish.com. Of course I agree with the premise that Islam is on a course of world domination. Just like the Christians of old, the Moslems in power are on a jihad of world domination and just like the Christian Crusades it is " convert or die. The new Ottoman Empire in the making.
In light of the possibility of Bush forcing Israel to deal with the Muslem Devils...
I strongly urge all right thinking people to send all such evidence to all elected officials in Washington and to other free world leaders.
(9) Anonymous, October 18, 2001 12:00 AM
great article, but more details as to discrimination and oppression of other religions
I would like to see a comprehensive article on Muslim treatment of other religions dealing with such subjects of progroms against jews, dhimmi system, attitude of Mohamed with respect to the people of the book, treatment of coptics, treatment of jews and christians by contemporary islam countries (to wit, Iran, Iraq etc.. An article in Emunah magazine was informative, but I would like to see something more scholarly
(8) Al Ayeti, October 15, 2001 12:00 AM
The Koran and current events.
I visited an Islamic Center just 3 1/2 weeks after the WTC "attack". My children went with me. I wanted to know what they believed and asked many questions.
I asked for and was given a Koran. I'm reading it... It is not a dishonest book at all. It simply attacks Jews and Christians on every religious point of view they each hold.
It is simply a polemic of Muhammad... But not one of logic or investigation. It seems clear that it has only one goal and that is the uncompromising subjugation of everyone and everything. It does not hide like, say Mormonism, behind double meaning words, it simply states open refutation, mostly of Jews and Christians and what they believe in. And violence against them is clearly OK.
I urge anyone to read the Koran. It is very easy to understand what the point is. You are either a Muslim a slave or dead. YOU DO NOT NEED CNN OR ANYONE ELSE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND CURRENT EVENTS! READ...THE...KORAN.
Al Ayeti
(7) Janet Miller, October 15, 2001 12:00 AM
It's the vocal, militant minority who ruin things for all groups.
I am a Jewish woman who desired to read Koran because I have Muslim neighbors and wanted, after the events of September 11, to see the teachings of this classic verse the extremist elements, like suicide bombers, interpretation of it.
I am in the middle of this work, and am thouroughly enjoying the reading experience. In contrast to Paul Johnson's assertion that "Islam doesn't mean 'peace', but submission", I understand that the root letters of this word, s-l-m, mean the same as 'Shalom' in Hebrew--the Arabic 'Salam', which does mean peace. 'Submission' refers to submission to Allah, or 'the god'.
The religion of Islam teaches some of the same values as Judaism--there being one god and no other; not giving form or "associates" to Allah; prayer and paying the 'poor rate' (like Torah's teaching to let the fields lie fallow for the seventh year and setting aside a portion of one's crops for the needy and Dvarim admonishing the Israelites to "Follow the Lord your God" and Sotah 14a's citing examples of visiting the sick; clothing the naked; etc.)
It also cites some of the same laws of good eating--to "not eat pork or consume blood or anything that has died of itself", and, unlike so-called leaders admonishing the less-learned Muslims that martyrdom is the ultimate glory and killing of civilians and suicide in the name of Islam is an honor, the prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him, taught that the term of life was fixed by Allah and that to end a human life, except by manslaughter, was to end all of human life, while to save one life was to save all human life. He also taught very specific laws of war, like not attacking unless your enemy attacked you first, and if this enemy desisted or openly desired to make peace, than you are required to do the same.
The Muslims I know are a peaceful people. It seems to me that this article stated that its purpose was not "to villify Islam or Muslims", and yet it proceeded to do so. It is as my father and I were talking a short time ago--it is the loud, vocal, militant minority that ruins the majority image of ANY people. And it is social problems like poverty and illiteracy in some Muslim-majority countries that allow this militant, truth-perverting minority to have a following in these countries. If more people had access to education and were able to truly learn the Prophet Mohammad's teachings, these destructive leaders would lose their hold on the adherents of a truly peace-seeking religion.
(6) Anonymous, October 15, 2001 12:00 AM
propaganda
Sorry gents - this is as badly biased propaganda as it gets. The simple truth is that Islam is a religion as many facetted as Judaism. While there is little doubt that the attrocities at the WTC were caused by extremist Muslims, you are trying to blame a whole religion for this. Not very wise.
(5) Anonymous, October 15, 2001 12:00 AM
Politically-Correct America accepts politically-correct Islamic Faith
Thanks to author ,C.Pearlton, for writing about how many within Islam accept the Role of Fundamentalists such as Usamah bin Mohammed bin Laden as a fatwa for jihad!
Well-meaning persons such as Oprah Winfrey act as a stage for the Islamic Nations as the Oppressed Ones in the mentally of the non-Jewish World.
It saddens me most when Shoah is compared to the Islamic Nations' claims of persecution and its relationship with Isreal!
Considering Jack Anderson,the world-renown journalist,who has set the record clear that the OPEC Cartel's piggy bank was born into existence during the 1970's to keep the Radicals of Islam in line by giving them a scape-goat enemy.Yet the opposite took effect and payoff money was needed to keep the wealthy Arab leadership in power without being over-thrown.The effect was that not only was Isreal and the United States the enemy,but also those Moslem leaders who didn't adhere to extremist Islamic preaching. Sadat and others were murdered to show the Will of Islam!
And now Usamah bin Mohammed bin Laden has taken center stage as the one to fulfill the will of Allah against the enemies of Islam!
He is the most inspired leader of anti-Semiticism since the the aura of Adolf hitler.
Have we learned anything from the recent past?
(4) Debra Riedel, October 15, 2001 12:00 AM
People Must not Believe the Politically Correct Media
I have noticed for a long time that what I'm seeing on the news about Islam doesn't add up. We are told that Muslims are peace loving people. Yet we saw many dancing in Middle Eastern streets on 9/11/01.
Most of their societies in the Middle East have the worst records on human rights, particularly with respect to women. Freedom of speech, thought and worship is almost non-existent in most of their countries. Many of their regimes are cruel and downright brutal, especially with those who dare question Islamic law. Christians and Jews alike are persecuted in Islamic society. Yet here in America, they enjoy freedom of worship without fear of persecution.
Anyone interested who takes the time to do some research and reads just a little about Islamic history will conclude they have been at war with the rest of the world since their self-proclaimed prophet Mohammed founded the religion in the 6th century.
Establishing a Palestinian state will not change the situation for Israel. Muslims want nothing less than world domination since Islam's founder declared himself the last prophet and Islam the only religion recognized by Allah.
For anyone interested in reading some of the "peaceful" passages of the Koran, a very good website is www.islamreview.com. It is a site sponsored by a Christian organization, but they have some eye-opening information about the Koran and the life of Islam's founder, Mohammed. Another good website which exposes the atrocities of the Taliban in Afghanistan is www.rawa.org.
I urge Jewish and Christian organizations to continue their efforts to educate the world about the dark side of Islam, since we can't rely on the media to do so.
(3) Anonymous, October 14, 2001 12:00 AM
What a relief to see corrected so many faulty populist arguments. The present dissension we are hearing prohibits a necessary universal solidarity, which is disturbing, since we can anticipate that much more violence will be necessary to change public perception.
(2) Carol, October 14, 2001 12:00 AM
Americans need to know the truth of Islam
It is scary that so many Americans are embracing the faith of Islam. Also frightening is our news media and even our President's, falling for their lies of non violence. Keep trying to get the truth out. forward your articles to US networks and newspapers.
(1) Anonymous, October 14, 2001 12:00 AM
only partially true
The big problem in traditional Islam is the role of hadith, that is, sayings of the prophet Muhammad. A lot of today's traditions and seemingly essential pillars of Islam do not come from the Quran but from those hadith, even if nowhere in the Quran it is said that Muslims should make hadith as important as the Quran itself. You see, there have been hundreds of thousands of alleged hadiths, but all of them have only been written down long after Muhammad's death. He never wanted to have any other important text besides the Quran, and opposed any such compilations. Unfortunately it was very handy later on to "prove" the correctness of such-and-such decision by claiming that Muhammad had willed it so, and making up a hadith suiting the occasion. In fact, many things that seem to be sacro-sanct today (5 prayers, headcovering, Jews being inferior, the famous 70 virgins... etc) are not from the Quran but from hadith. It is about time for Islam to free himself from false traditions, just like the reformation that happened in Christianity (Just as before that reformation the Xian Bible was read in Latin so that the "normal" people couldn't read it themselves - well, most of them were illiterate anyway - the Arabic text is ununderstandable for the majority of today's Muslims, and as a hadith told them that it doesn't matter to understand it but that learning it by heart gives them points in heaven, most Muslims probably think that the scholars will do the thinking for them as long as they can "recite"). As for the meaning of the word "Islam", it means indeed submission, but in the sense that you submit to God, not that you want the world to submit to you. And the translation of "jihad" being "holy war" is a Western translation - bearing similarity to the crusades. In fact it rather means "effort" - the effort to master yourself and your evil inclination, or the effort you undertake to free yourself from a tyrant, for example. But no scholar can declare jihad (and even if it's 300 scholars at once, it doesn't make any difference at all - except maybe for people who believe in strength in numbers) but only a truly Islamic government of a truly Islamic state. Whatever that means, it does not exist yet, and so anybody who thinks he can declare jihad is not correct. Please do believe that already in the 14th century, Islam has been very estranged from its true root the Quran alone. All those "madhab" - law schools - have been manipulated by the use of false hadith. Also in Judaism there have been battles and fights, but we do not think of Judaism as a "conquering religion". Islam has had its shares of battles as well but in its true heart it is not different from other religions claiming the highest goal is to achieve peace and do righteous deeds.
Yes, those terrorists probably have thought they were good Muslims; yes, there probably are thousands of potential suicide bombers believing they will be rewarded for doing horrible deeds; yes, there are many many clerics that told them so and that still do tell this propaganda to young Muslims who do not dare to doubt them, or who have been raised in such a way as not to question any authority. I completely agree that the question of democracy vs authoritarianism is very basic here. But whoever says that Islam can't exist together with democracy is wrong, is lying, or hasn't read the Quran enough (NOT hadith). Please check for yourself. Go back to the real root of it all. I am a Muslim and I believe in the Quran as a revelation from God. I do NOT believe in man-made inventions and it makes me cringe to see how many intelligent people seem to lose their intelligence when it comes to this point, for fear of tradition. God never told us to put up MUhammad as an idol besides Him, but this is what has happened. Sorry for my long ramblings - true Islam isn't about blindly following scholars, or politicians claiming to be islamic, or taking any human as more important than God. It is about using reason and logic and feeling responsable for your own deeds, knowing what is right and what is wrong. Apparently many "Muslims" have never been told that, alas. Living together in peace is possible once the fanatics aren't able anymore to find followers to their fanatism. Shalom, salam, peace, paix to all of us.