Saturday, February 21, 2009

Islamic Radicalization and the West

I received a pointed e-mail this morning from a hostile reader, Maysoon Zayid, with the subject heading, "Racist":

Scott Peterson beheaded his wife ... was he Muslim? No! This is a case of pure domestic violence. It's a male issue, not Muslim ...
So continues the intense pushback against the possibility that the murder of Aasiya Hassan was not an "honor killing." Even Kamran Pasha, the Muslim author of a Huffington Post essay on the topic, weighed in at the comments, emphatically claiming, "'Honor killings' - the murder of an innocent woman to avenge some sense of 'personal honor' - are not part of Islam's true teachings or Prophet Muhammad's life example."

Well, on top of this, it turns out we have more news suggesting that the American Muslim community's campaign is escalating against the "honor killing" meme. As the New York Times reports this morning:

At 4:30 p.m. today at The Islamic Society of Niagara Frontier in Amherst, N.Y., the president of the Islamic Society of North America, Ingrid Mattson, and Salma Elkadi Abugideiri, the author of the book “Garments for One Another: Ending Domestic Violence in Muslim Families,” will be facilitating a discussion “in memory” of Ms. Hassan.

The Muslim-American community in Buffalo and around the United States has reacted with outrage over suggestions that this was a religiously motivated killing, an “honor killing” brought on by the shame of Mr. Hassan’s wife seeking a divorce.
Why is the public discussion so heated on this one killing? Most of the media coverage so far has been local to Buffalo, with the exception of some reporting on Fox News - and there's a clue. The left-wing media, in tandem with the Islamic community, wants to quickly quash "honor killing" talk. Should that meme gain a credible foothold in the national discussion, the notion that Muzzammil Hassan was a "moderate" Muslim would be obliterated, and of course conservative cultural arguments in the larger war-on-terror narrative would be all the more compelling. In other words, we're witnessing a high-stakes media framing-battle of epic cultural and political proportions.

Notice, for example, in
Mark Steyn's essay this morning, how Britain has capitulated to the forces of pro-Islamist political correctness. Steyn suggests that the Muslim extremists have migrated from Pakistan to London:

Among the growing population of Yorkshire Pakistanis is a fellow called Lord Ahmed, a Muslim member of Parliament. He threatened "to bring a force of 10,000 Muslims to lay siege to the House of Lords" if it went ahead with an event at which the Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders would have introduced a screening of his controversial film "Fitna."

Britain's Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, reacted to this by declaring Wilders persona non grata and having him arrested and returned to the Netherlands.

Smith is best known for an inspired change of terminology: last year she announced that henceforth Muslim terrorism (an unhelpful phrase) would be reclassified as "anti-Islamic activity." Seriously. The logic being that Muslims blowing stuff up tends not to do much for Islam's reputation – i.e., it's an "anti-Islamic activity" in the same sense that Pearl Harbor was an anti-Japanese activity.
Steyn continues by noting that the greatest population growth in many of the world's Western nations is found in the Muslim communities:

Along with the demographic growth has come radicalization: It's not just that there are more Muslims, but that, within that growing population, moderate Islam is on the decline – in Singapore, in the Balkans, in northern England – and radicalized, Arabized, Wahhabized Islam is on the rise. So we have degrees of accommodation: surrender in Islamabad, appeasement in London, acceptance in Toronto and Buffalo.
Yep, accomodate, or you'll be branded as "racist" for even entertaining the concept that Muzzammil Hassan's alleged beheading of his wife is a classic case of Muslim honor killing.

And note as well Steyn's inclusion of Buffalo, New York, in the listing of Western cities lying down for Islamic radicals.

Despite signs of accommodation in New York to the Islamic interest coalition today, the debate over Mrs. Hassan's murder continues. Phyllis Chesler has a new piece on the question, "
Beheadings and Honor Killings," and she points to an essay from World Net Daily, "Beheader Hubby Was Hero to U.S. Muslim Activists," which notes:

According to a Council on Foreign Relations report, David Powers, a professor of Islamic law and history at Cornell University, explained that the Quran permits men to use physical force against disobedient wives in some circumstances. A woman may ask for divorce, but only a man can grant her request.

"Classical Shariah lays out very limited conditions under which a woman can divorce a man – he must be infertile at the time of marriage; insane; or have leprosy or another contagious skin disease," the CFR report states.
Indeed, as scholar Timothy Furnish has written, the practice of Islamic decapitation "has both Qur'anic and historical sanction. It is not the product of a fabricated tradition."

Considering how hard the Muslim lobby is pushing back on this, it remains to be seen if the left's disinformation campaign against this scholarly consensus carries the day.


Indeed, new cries of "racism" and "bigotry" are already being hurled.

14 comments:

  1. Has Muzzami (or his lawyer) come forward and called it an "Honor Killing".?

    Personally, I think it was an honor killing and a methodology to terrorize women....but, as a law abiding citizen I realize that....

    Reactions aside at some point we have to rise back up into clarity and access our inner Andy Griffith and say to ourselves....(nah hold on a minute Barney, put down that rope....we do have a system here....so let the man explain himself in front of a jury")

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  2. "I think what the West needs most now is to go back to the traditional society."

    That certainly would help things a bit, Philippe!

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  3. The man neither prayed nor fasted. These are the most basic tenets of the faith, and "Classical Islam" says that a person who repudiates this is not a member of the faith. Obviously, he's not going to care about the finer points of the faith if he doesn't respect the basic tenets.

    And don't forget he was divorced twice before. And that he didn't criticize Israel because he didn't want to alienate his Jewish friends. And he changed his name to "Steve". You have to be paranoid and absolutely blind to think this is the sort of guy who would commit an honour killing; he was a good ole American narcissist.


    Philippe Ohlund: Go read Tage Lindbom's work, you will find it very interesting. :-)

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  4. Husna, ahh, you're pretty much proving the main thesis of the post...

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  5. If I'm correct, you've been getting put in your place by some pretty prominent people of late: YouTube - STAND UP: Featuring Comedian Maysoon Zayid. I'm not sure that some sort of congratulations aren't in order...

    For me, the question to pay attention to is where and why the "honor killing" meme that some are trying to generate around this case got started in the first place. If there was no "push," there would be no "pushback." And, if the initial push to label this crime a Muslim honor killing is factually wrong or insufficient or is motivated by bigoted or biased thoughts and emotions, there is no shame in the affected parties fighting back. Just as folks should pay attention to where those who insist it cannot be an honor killing are coming from culturally & politically, we should also give the same scrutiny to those insisting is must be an honor killing. If you look at most of the folks expressing certainty one way or another, I think you'll find that they stand to benefit in some way by having the country buy into whichever view they're selling, and may be equally hurt if the country takes the view they oppose.

    I'm not willing to accept Donald's media frame theory, because he appears to be saying two things simultaneously. On one hand, the "liberal" media isn't covering the story at all, but on the other, they're fiercely waging a campaign to quash all talk of honor killing. Which is it?

    As for coverage of the story, it surely was not just FoxNews & the local Buffalo papers: CBS News, NBC New York, ABC News, NPR, msnbc.com, NYTimes.com, NYDailyNews, Newsday.com. (In a weird coincidence, the only NY paper for which I cannot find a story about the murder is the New York Post, owned by FoxNews' Rupert Murdoch. I'd lay bets they had at least one, given their political bent, but I cannot prove it...)

    "...accomodate, or you'll be branded as "racist" for even entertaining the concept that Muzzammil Hassan's alleged beheading of his wife is a classic case of Muslim honor killing."

    I'd say that you could be branded as a racist for refusing to accept any other possibility but that it was an honor killing, and the foreseeable result of the perpetrator being a Muslim man. You could be branded as a racist for refusing to acknowledge that honor killing is not Muslim phenomenon, but a cultural one, and that it is found among Muslim and non-Muslim populations throughout the world. It isn't expressing the possibility that it may be an honor killing that makes one a bigot; it's the refusal to accept that it may not be, because the man who did it is Muslim and therefore could not've killed his wife for any other reason but to protect his honor... ...because all Muslims are violent masogynists... ...and we're all just damned lucky that so many of them have managed to control their natural tendencies, so far...

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  6. I wonder when the Dalai Lama is going to represent the next biggest threat to the right-wing of the United States and its pseudo-utopian society.

    A good question, CS... It wasn't all that long ago that Donald went after Deepak Chopra, even going so far as to attack his son. Peaceful men with opposing viewpoints are frequently targets of right wing wrath.

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  7. see, you lost me with that last comment phillipe. Nearly every European nation is under Islam's thumb collectively, so too is a huge portion of Asia. even the Aussies are feeling the pinch of Radical Islam down under. So I don't see how they are beaten. The last true holdout to Islamic authority is America.

    I'll never understand why someone with a mind that is as sharp as yours, repsac3, continues to put his head firmly in the sand. You refuse to call anything that isn't a Conservative or Republican evil. (Granted I've not specifically heard you call Conservatives or Republicans evil but it's hyperbole for the points sake)

    How is it that such an intelligent person, your points are at least well thought out if a bit near sighted or narrow sighted as the case may be, that you fail to see a broader picture. Or in those cases where you do look for broader pictures, you fail to see the black and white of the details of that picture.

    Of all the liberals (most of whom are true crackpots) that I have read on here, you are one of the more clear headed and less hate-filled. I still have hope that you'll learn that seeing life in Black and white, good and evil, right and wrong, is not a vice or sin. It can be a huge strength in a troubled time.

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  8. @ Greywolfe: It's probably the liberal in me, but I don't go in much for the whole black/white, good/evil, with us/with the terrorists kinda thinkin'. I don't believe there are all that many absolutes, and I reject statements that speak in absolute terms. Just about all saints have sinned, and most sinners have performed good acts, too. All Americans (or Muslims) are not good. All Muslims (or Americans) are not evil. Not everyone who claims to be a faithful _______ (place religion/denomination of choice there) acts like one.

    As I said in a comment at another post (here, I think, though it may've been at your blog), just about anytime a person speaks of a whole group of people, whether denoted by their religion, ethnicity, or country of origin, and speaks of them as though they are all one kinda person (whether all good, or all evil), one is almost certainly going to end up being factually incorrect in what they're saying, and probably bigoted about this group of people, besides.

    Your point about Conservatives and Republicans is more incisive than you may think... It's mighty rare to find me saying "Conservatives are evil" (or anything else, either), because I just don't think that way... Whatever issues and disagreements I have with you, or with Donald, or with anyone else here or anywhere else in the blogesphere, they do not prove anything about ALL Conservatives, or Republicans, or college professors, or guys with hats... Good or bad, whatever I'm saying about you, I'm saying it about you, alone.

    I try to treat the people I meet as individuals, not as representatives of the groups they were either born into or chose to affiliate themselves with... Call me naive or crazy if you must, but I believe the more folks treat others as individuals, the better our personal & global relations with each other will be...

    If you want (or want me) to condemn or praise individual people and / or individual acts, that's one thing... But chances are slim you'll ever get me to say all ________ are ____________, and I encourage everyone reading these words to give it a lot of thought before doing so yourselves. To my way of thinkin', it's neither intellectually or morally right to do so.

    Yes, Greywolfe, there is evil in the world, but it isn't "the Muslims," or "the liberals," or "the non-believing nihilists" that are the cause of it. It's individual men & women murdering others, raping others, and treating others with disrespect and derision in a myriad of other ways, large and small.

    That's what I think, anyway...

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  9. I love that I sent you a private email and you chose to publish my name. Have you no sense of decency? I am not a hostile reader I am a stand up comedian from NJ who is wait for it Muslim. I know you think non zealot Muslims are as real as the Easter bunny. sorry to disappoint you but we do exist and guess what we are the majority.

    i am a muslim women and guess what no man (father nor husband nor anyone other man) is opressing me. I'm an actress and comic I travel the world on my own, I wear what I want and say what I want and I am one of many. Are all muslim women not opressed of course not but that is the result of power monger completely misconstruing the word of the Qaran in order to fill some misogynistic fantasy.

    Also divorce is no boig wup at all in Islam. My mom and dad are so are half of my Muslim friends as well as my non muslim friends. So since divorce is not dishonorable. By suggesting this horrific example of domestic violence is a honor killing youare sullying the image of a woman I knew and looked up to (much to my regret I was completely unaware she was being abused as we had a casual business relationship) by implying she did something "dishonorable". Have you no shame?

    Oh and by the way as I mentioned in my email I have CP and cant type so my assistant typed it for me and guess whate he is a muslim. Shocking I know but not to Muslims just to you. And heres another shocker we don't hate Jewish people. I just shot a movie with Adam Sandler and I consider him a big brother as does my Haj father.

    Finally a question is American Power just your code word for white power if so I'm wasting my time.

    Salam,
    Maysoon Zayid
    www.maysoon.com

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  10. Repsac,

    What the heck man, its genetics, dontcha now!?? My group of a dozen "muslim" friends and friendettes, are all, somehow, some way, genetically predisposed to honour killings and beheadings. mmmmmmmmmm yeehhhh

    I oughta be careful when I "chill" with these guys and girls that I dont' accidently betray their honour, cause I could be next on the chopping blocks.

    Deepak Chopra, that darned nihilist punk is out to get all of us with his pacifist, nihilist philosophies.

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  11. @ Maysoon (with a cheery welcome to a new friend 8>)

    Finally a question is American Power just your code word for white power if so I'm wasting my time.

    One thing I can say for sure is that our host is not a white supremacist. If I had to say what he actually is, I'd say he's an American supremacist, and a Christian supremacist. (Don't ask me to rank them... The jury's still out...)

    The theory seems to be that WASPs and WASP values built this country, and the closer to WASP and WASP values you are today, the more American (and thus more exceptional in the world) you are. Unfortunately, the opposite is true, as well. The less American you are, the less exceptional you are in the world, and the less WASPish you are, the less American you are.

    In short, you Muslim types suffer from not being more (or at least more like) WASPs. There is hope for you, however... All you need to do is convert, and renounce your former selves as evil. (See Nonie Darwish for an example of what a good Muslim does.) Do it, Masoon. Do it for yourself. Do it for America.

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  12. Wait a minute... Maysoon...

    Did you say that Donald didn't have your permission to post any portion of that private e-mail you sent him, or to reveal your name here on his blog?

    I'm surprised, considering that just the other day Donald said "I have a considerably large readership, and I ask permission before I post e-mails."

    Strange... One of you must've forgot...

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  13. .
    No matter how many beheadings, stonings, or terrorist attacks there are, we must never fear, resist or mock the precious and ever peaceful Islam. Who are we to say that raping 9 year-olds is immoral? Who are we to say that stoning gays and rape victims to death is evil?

    Who are we to say that killing hundreds of people every month in the name of Allah is the height of evil? That is just their culture and ideology and it MUST be respected. Morality is all relative, we must remember that.

    http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
    .
    absurd thought -
    God of the Universe says
    cut off your wife's head

    if she dishonors you
    by asking for a divorce

    .
    absurd thought -
    God of the Universe wants
    all planets Islamic

    Earth is one of many
    in process of conversion

    .
    absurd thought -
    God of the Universe wants
    many Taliban planets

    stonings and beheadings
    billions served daily

    .
    absurd thought –
    God of the Universe says
    convert the infidels

    or make them pay a tax
    if they don’t want to die
    .
    USpace
    .
    All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech there can be no real freedom.
    .
    Philosophy of Liberty Cartoon
    .
    Help STOP Terrorism Today!

    :)
    .

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  14. Tri-Faith Initiative, a partnership of Temple Israel, The Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and The American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture, is inviting you to attend Dinner in Abraham's Tent: Conversations on Peace.

    The idea of interfaith trialogue is commendable, except, in this case there is one enormous problem. Muslim side is represented by none other than the infamous Ingrid Mattson, the president of ISNA. The same ISNA that was a co-creator of Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America, which, among other things, reads: "Establishment of Islam in North America, meaning: establishing an effective and a stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims' causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims' efforts, presents Islam as civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic state [caliphate] wherever it is. ... Understanding the role of the Muslim Brother in North America: The Process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brothers] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

    Muslims Against Sharia and many other moderate Muslims raised this issue in the past, but our words are falling on deaf ears. Make no mistake about it: conferences like "Dinner in Abraham's Tent" are legitimizing Islamofascism and advance Muslim Brotherhood Strategic Goal described in the aforementioned Memorandum.

    http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2009/03/legitimizing-islamofascism-dinner-in.html

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