There is no reason why the west should set its face against the vision of a reunited Islamic world, Osama Saeed argues.
Over at Harry’s Place the inimitable David T comments: “Another day, another piece of Milne-commissioned advocacy for clerical fascism from his allies in the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“While I never imagined Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be a conservative, I used to think she was vaguely connected to reality. Her October 25th speech at an Iftaar dinner (marking the end of Ramadan) disabused me of that notion. It was an exercise in crescent-kissing to put even her boss to shame. Upping the ante on Western Muslim mania, madam secretary promoted Islam from religion of peace to ‘religion of love and peace’. (You always hurt the ones you love?) Islam’s love letters usually come with TNT attached….
“One who shares Condi’s pro-Prophet euphoria is the House of Windsor’s Dumbo. Prince Charles is heading here to lecture us on the need for greater acceptance of the swellest religion ever. Re: Islam, ‘I find the language and rhetoric coming from America too confrontational’, the Prince of Wales maintains. Did Neville Chamberlain take too confrontational an approach to the Third Reich?”
Don Feder at ChronWatch, 1 November 2005
“Bush is a polarising figure because these are polarising times. But, when the dust settles (metaphorically, I hope), his designation of Iran as part of an ‘axis of evil’ will seem a shrewder judgment than that of the Euro-appeasers or the snob Islamophiles. Facing profound challenges, most political leaders in the western world have shirked confrontation on everything from Islamism to unaffordable social programmes – and their peoples will live with the consequences of that non-confrontation long after those leaders are gone.”
Mark Steyn in the Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2005
The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.
“… if you try to discuss the Islamic religious and gender apartheid and its dangerous proliferation into Europe and North America (i.e. there have been honor killings in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Jersey City, Toronto, as well as all over Europe and in the Muslim world), this is what will happen to you: If you tell these truths in the Arab and Muslim world, you’ll be beheaded, probably tortured, certainly jailed, exiled if you are lucky…. If you are a North American intellectual, you may not be imprisoned or beheaded but you will be heckled, mocked, and shunned. You might need security in order to speak.”
Phyllis Chesler bemoans the appalling oppression suffered by Islamophobes.
“Where is the sane moderate peace loving Muslim world? Why is its voice so rarely raised in condemnation of Islamist atrocities? It is a question which has been raised in ever increasing urgency since 9/11 and not only by Westerners…. As human rights activist Abu Khwala explains, ‘fighting infidels until they either convert to Islam or submit to Muslims as “Dhimmis” is still considered by Islamists to be a religious duty’. Hence, any actions undertaken by Muslims towards that end must be vehemently defended with a total disregard of the means used and that is precisely what supposedly non Islamist Muslim leaders do.”
Judith Apter Klinghoffer, History News Network, 31 October 2005
Rioting by youths in a Paris suburb has highlighted the discontent among sections of France’s immigrant population. The BBC News website’s Henri Astier explores the sense of alienation felt by many French Muslims.
A useful corrective to the claim that French secularism, in contrast to British multiculturalism, counters segregation and treats members of minority communities as equal citizens.
Richard Seymour (of Lenin’s Tomb fame) takes up the case of SOAS student Nasser Amin.
“The fact is that Islam is not a religion among religions. Christianity, Judaism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Buddhism and Hinduism do not advocate killing off all those who do not agree with their tenets. Islam advocates that all non-Muslims, being ‘infidels’, must be slain. Cowardly Muslims who do not enter into the slaughter are to be slain by zealot Muslims. Therefore, Islam is not a religion. It is a killing cult. Civilized nations close down killing cults…. It is abhorrent that Charles, with the power attending his position, has been so duped by Islamic leaders he has courted. Yet it is so. And the world is in extreme danger because of it.”
J. Grant Swank at FaithFreedom.org, 31 October 2005
See also Dhimmi Watch, 29 October 2005 (“Richard the Lionheart is rolling in his grave”)
What if Charles Martel had failed to defeat the Muslim hordes at the battle of Tours in 732? Paul Akers considers the appalling consequences.
“Without the Christian quickening of conscience that helped abolish slavery in England, the United States, and elsewhere, the Quran-sanctioned institution might be the global norm. An Emir Ibrahim al-Lincoln would not have issued the Emancipation Proclamation…. Women the world over also would be permanent second-class citizens. Many if not most – observe Saudi Arabia – would be forbidden to drive a car, own property, or vote. Battered females might well lack legal or other recourse….
“Regular church attendance is very low in most European countries…. Meanwhile, the continent’s growing Muslim communities are united in faith if not fervor. Soon one in 10 Frenchmen may be Muslim, writes Jenkins, while Frankfurt alone contains 27 mosques. Pray for Europe. But save a few prayers, too, for a band of bearded, coarse, but faithful men who stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a cold dawn and faced proven death galloping full-speed toward them – only to unhorse that grim rider and break his bones to bits.”