Tarek Fatah, other so-called Muslim moderates of his ilk, and their non-Muslim promoters must be compelled to answer the following question: is it “Islamophobia” to quote such statements — rife with Koranic Jew-hatred, and made by authoritative Muslim clerics representing the Vatican of Sunni Islam — or are Mr. Fatah’s reactions, ignoring the existence of these commonplace, normative Islamic proclamations, and vilifying those who bring them to public attention, especially pernicious forms of taqiyya (religiously sanctioned Islamic dissimulation) and Islamic Jew-hatred?
Elaborating on the depth of Muslim hatred for the Jews in his era, Maimonides (in ~ 1172 C.E.) made this profound observation regarding the Jewish predilection for denial, a feature that he insists will hasten their destruction:
We have acquiesced, both old and young, to inure ourselves to humiliation. … All this notwithstanding, we do not escape this continued maltreatment [by Muslims] which well nigh crushes us. No matter how much we suffer and elect to remain at peace with them, they stir up strife and sedition.
The Jews and their communal leaders like Maimonides living under Islamic rule in the Middle Ages — vanquished by jihad, isolated, and well-nigh defenseless under the repressive system of dhimmitude — can be excused for their silent, submissive denial. There is no such excuse in our era for silently submitting to the threats of disingenuous, hateful Muslim bullies like Tarek Fatah, given the existence of an autonomous Jewish state of Israel and a thriving Western Jewish diaspora, particularly here in the United States, living under the blanket of hard-won protections for their religious freedom, physical security, and dignity.Agreed. And yet our communal leaders, lost in their daydreams about "building bridges" and mentoring Somalis, don't see it that way, as is evident from this article in ShalomLife:
CJC National President Mark Freiman rejected Dr. Wafa Sultan’s attack on Islam, in a statement made recently at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamat centre in Mississauga.
The response came at the heels of remarks made by Dr. Wafa Sultan last week during a debate at Shaare Shomayim Synagogue. Dr. Sultan stated her belief that modern Islam is a myth, as the religion is radical by nature, and therefore incapable of diplomacy.
Also present at the debate was American academic, writer, founder, and director of the Middle East Forum, Daniel Pipes, as well as Avi Benlolo, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Neither sided with Sultan on this matter, instead making the distinction between moderate and radical Muslims: “Islam is not the enemy. Radical Islam, totalitarian Islam is the problem. It's important to isolate them from the other Muslims.
Sultan stated that “You can’t be a true Canadian and be a true Muslim at the same time,” as well as asserting her belief that violence is inherent to Islam.
Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), commented on Mr. Freiman’s response at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamat: “We can only respond in terms of what we’ve seen and heard, and we wanted to join both Daniel Pipes and Avi Benlolo in being very clear that to suggest that there is no moderation in Islam is just inappropriate.”
Farber added that to suggest that one faith is made up of extremists only is hugely unfair, and is essentially a form of stereotyping...No it's not. She was talking about Islam, man--Islam, the religion, not Muslims, and certainly not "all" Muslims--and Islam the religion has at its core the statement "jihad is the way; sharia is the goal." That is a fact--an unpleasant truth, if you prefer--and there is nothing "moderate" about it. It is what impelled Muslims who heeded the command to conquer a substantial portion of the globe. (And in case you hadn't noticed, a lot of it remains in their hands.) Of course, there are Muslims, lots of them, who have no interest in heeding the command: if you want to call them "moderates," be my guest. There are also Muslims, like the Amahdis, who practise their own idiosyncratic version of the faith, and who are shunned, derided--and, in places like Pakistan and Iran, horribly persecuted--by mainstream Muslims for doing so. But to claim that Islam itself--the Islam of the Koran and the hadiths, the Islam of jihad and sharia--has its softer side (a "softness" that is not subject to abrogation, I mean) is to be so ignorant, so adrift in multiculti reveries, as to be in grip of a type of derangement.
As for Fatah: I think our (or, at least, my) mistake has to do with our (or, at least, my) understanding of his use of the word "secular". For him the word does not connote non-practice or disbelief (as it would if someone were, say, a "secular" Jew). It refers intead to the separation of mosque and state, and a rejection of having sharia as the law of the land. Now that I better understand where he’s coming from--i.e. from the position of being a practicing Muslim who doesn't want to live under sharia but who still buys into all the stuff about the Prophet’s perfection--I won’t make that mistake again.
Update: I asked Joanne Hill, the reporter who covered the Pipes-Sultan debate for the Jewish Tribune, and who has a tape recording of the event, whether Sultan was quoted accurately in the ShalomLife article. In fact, she did make the statement, but in this context:
Avi Benlolo (reading a question from an audience member): “Since within the Muslim world a so-called moderate is a kaffir and deserves death by definition, how could the West possibly expect the moderates to have any effect (?) or do anything at all for the Muslim world?”
Wafa Sultan: “That is true. A moderate Muslim is not a true Muslim because in order for anybody to be a true Muslim is to believe in Islam as a religion and as a state. So nobody can be true Canadian and true Muslim at the same time.Hmmm. Maybe that, too, was a factor in Tarek's getting so worked up--an apostate's statement that he (a Canadian who does not believe in Islam as a religion and as a state) cannot be a true Muslim.
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