The Anti-Islamist Muslim Voice
Mention terrorism and Islam in the same breath and instant accusations of “Islamophobia” and “racism” are sure to follow.
Ever since 9/11, when 19 Arab-Muslims hijacked four airplanes in the name of Islam to murder 3,000 civilians in New York and Washington, D.C., Americans have been told that Muslims are really the victims and that we must consult with Muslim groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) or the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to be further enlightened.
As of today, this is no longer true. A new organization of Muslim voices has finally arisen. From now on, the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) is the Muslim group with whom government leaders, media, academics, and human rights groups must now consult.
The AILC assembled this bright and chilly morning at 1 Police Plaza in New York City to demonstrate their support for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and their right to see the films The Third Jihad and Act of Valor, both of which portray real terrorist attacks.
Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a former Navy physician and a religious Muslim who founded AILC in 2010, said that his group felt compelled to come here “to support the NYPD, given the relentless and unfair pummeling they have endured by Islamist groups.” He insisted: “We, as Muslims, should be monitoring extremism,” not “grievance mongering.” Dr. Jasser pointed out that “80 percent of terrorist arrests are of Muslims. We are only 1% of the population.” He suggested that “Muslims start taking responsibility instead of charging ‘Islamophobia.’”
He continued, “The more we exaggerate necessary monitoring, the more we will inflame Muslims and Islamists. Where are the responsible Muslims? Here we are.”
The AILC is not an Islamist Muslim voice. It is an anti-Islamist Muslim voice. It is pro-West, pro-human rights, and anti-terrorism. Many of its members express thanks to America for given them refuge from Islamist regimes. Others born here view their native country as a universal beacon for liberty and freedom.
Composed of a diverse group of American and Canadian Muslim leaders, AILC condemns the role that the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami, Wahhabism, and other pro-Shari’a groups have played in North America and Europe.
Canadian Tarek Fatah, a founding member of both the AILC and the Muslim Canadian Congress, addressed the media. He said that the NYPD “is one of the major fighters against Muslim terrorists. To CAIR, I say: We are Muslims too. Who gave you the right to speak on our behalf? The Muslim Student Association (MSA) keeps turning out terrorists like Aafia Siddiqui and Anwar al-Awlaki. They should be investigated. The Muslim Brotherhood’s goal is to destroy Western civilization. I say: It ain’t gonna happen.”
Manda Zand Ervin, a founding member of both AILC and the Alliance for Iranian Women, said: “I ran away from Islamists. I am grateful to be here. I am disappointed that American feminists and elites have decided to support Islamists and that academia has chosen to stay above the fray. Muslim men in America are demanding shari’a law so that they can subjugate and beat their wives here with impunity.”






This was an inspiring article. I have always thought that the most effective way to fight against Muslim intolerance would come from tolerant Muslims condemning that intolerance. This is a start. But it is a good start.
Its a sham…
CAIR and AILC pretend to have differing views, so we’ll we try to please/ally ONE of them to show that we’re “reasonable” people THEY can trust.
They are playing us for fools.
Its a game of “good cop/bad cop” to lead us to the same cell, the same prison, the same death, the same subjugation.
Islam is Terror. Period.
Not becuase I say so, but because Mohammad says so.
I am personally familiar with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser and some of the other people who are a part of AILC. Please be aware that they are risking their lives to speak out as Muslims against Islamist extremism. Their brave stand makes it possible for others to follow their example. They should be supported and appreciated.
Re your…..
“Yes it is time that Islam had a true reformation.”
That’s not going to happen.
I’m no theologian, having only more than a casual interest in Christian History and being only one of the unwashed American public exposed to the relentless thrust of the words “apostate” and “apostasy” at every single incident of the least little attempts at “moderation” by these “moderates” however individually brave they may be, by authoritative Muslims/Islamists (I tend to lump them together). Muslims/Islamists seem to be lying in wait to pounce murderously.
Doesn’t the horrific evidence show that that’s part of the Islamic-Koranic package?
It’s my understanding that Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic monk who had serious disagreements with his rigid hierarchy. Luther’s ideas took hold and germinated a re-formation into another thriving branch of the Christian Church apparently because of his strong personality and drive plus an acute ability to argue his points in the legalistic manner required of his era.
Additionally, it would appear that while the Christian New Testament permits and was/is open to discussion, even heated discussion, and hierarchical jealousies and turf battles can and will happen….and that a Re-Formation did in fact occur under Martin Luther’s leadership….it remains apparent to this outsider that the Koran permits absolutely no discussion at all….it’s the Islamist way or death as an apostate.
Where is the contemporary courageous Imam or Islamic theological scholar willing to challenge his rigid “establishment” in the required manner of a latter day Martin Luther?
….sorry for this error:
….delete the word “your”….the whole quote itself caught my eye somewhere nearby….
No, you are right, the islamic religion can no more be ‘revolutionised’ than can the catholic church, or the hindu beliefs.
However, hindus no longer burn widows and the RC church no longer locks up unmarried mothers and sells their children, burns witches or stones adulterers.
Not because their religion doesn’t tell them too – but because enough people got together and said “cherry-pick or starve”.
The answer to any theology is secularism. Only by practising a secular version of a religion can we survive different gods and different practises.
These people are willing to de-politicize their religion – creating a secular islam.
I say they need all the help they can get, since they are now the witches in the equation and the islamic theocrats will try to burn them.
A Secular America or a Theological America – run by shamans.
Root ’83 – You are 100% correct.
Boy, CAIR hates(and surely also fears)the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC). I have seen them spar on TV.
What a fresh alternative! I admire the leadership of the AILC. I can’t wait for when this CAIR will be put back in its place, in the “woodwork”, where it belongs, where they can they their “lawfare” and shove it.
It’s taken them over 10 years to speak out? And what have they done so far? Talk. Talk is cheap. Color me unimpressed.
At long last. Welcome to our bloody scene.
But where’ve they been the past ten years after the horror wrought by their co-religionists in lower Manhattan, at the Pentagon and that heroic-crashed passenger plane in that farm field in Pennsylvania?……and also continuing worldwide?
How do they justify their so called moderate positions with verses from their Koran? Do these verses, if any, trump the violent verses of their murderous co-religionists which we’ve been hearing so much these last ten years?
Who, what Body, in particular rules inside Islam?
Who decides? An ecumenical council? Of whom?
Let’s give these newly vocal Muslims a chance, but only empirical, concrete, tangible results will be meaningful. These newly vocal “moderate” Muslims certainly have their work cut out for them.
I have heard Dr. Jasser talk on tv. What a refreshing voice. My only question is, will msm ever make the AILC the spokesman for Americans who are muslim?
To be honest, I don’t think much of their religion. (to be even more honest I don’t think much of any organized religion but that’s just me.) I must admit though this is a breath of fresh air. I have been watching all the different versions of the “Arab Spring”s and have seen the good in all of them. Seeing Muslims protecting Christians and vice versa, only to see the Islamists steal control after the fact. It just seems there are not enough of these moderate Muslims to effectively counter the militant Islamists.
I wish them all the luck in the world though.
Ah, yes, disorganized religion, the lesser of evils.
Why don’t you do yourself a favor, stop being a child, and simply say you don’t like religion, period.
That applies to everyone who chooses to copout and say the now common, “I don’t like organized religion”. Basically, this is saying you don’t like when like-minded religious people congregate. What religion doesn’t do that? What religion is purely an individual experience? Or is it you don’t like people expressing their beliefs about religion, except when you do, of course?
Or maybe you’d like it to go no further than this: Religious person: “I like religion”…. non-religious person: “I don’t”…. “okay, bye”. What a nice world of ideas and expression and freedom?
Live and let live.
Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser is your big hope for Islam now? You have got to be kidding me. Don’t trust him as far as you can throw him. A child of 5 could see right through him. Better go fetch a child of 5.
Zuhdi Jasser is President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD). And I am President of the American Nazi Forum for Democracy (ANFD). I am also President of When Invisible Pigs Fly (WIPF). Very pleased to met a fellow President.
I really only see one problem, which is that Islam is, in fact, a religion of hatred, supremacism and violence. Anyone who admires a monster like Muhamad is unfit to be an American. And anyone who does not admire Muhamad is not a Muslim. There are no Good Crips, Good Nazis, or Good Muslims.
Well said Jerome. As an israeli, I don’t trust them, and never will.
The Koran, which I don’t believe Zuhdi Jasser has ever condemed, is a deadly serious instruction manual for Muslims on bringing subjugation, death and Lord of the Flies Hell to the whole world. The Koran makes Mein Kampf look like a mere child’s book of Fairytales by comparison. There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. So many today, in their refusal to see the obvious about Islam, make those back in the thirties who refused to see the obvious about Nazism because of the talk of some “moderate” Nazis, look absolutely eagle eyed by contrast.
The Koran, which I don’t believe Zuhdi Jasser has ever condemed, is a deadly serious instruction manual for Muslims on bringing subjugation, death and Lord of the Flies Hell to the whole world. The Koran makes Mein Kampf look like a mere child’s book of Fairytales by comparison. There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. So many today, in their refusal to see the obvious about Islam, make those back in the thirties who refused to see the obvious about Nazism because of the talk of some “moderate” Nazis, look absolutely eagle eyed by contrast.
Jasser is lying about Islam. Look at his own web site, American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) under AIFD’s principles where, just for one example it says “The support of the separation of religion and state as being perfectly non-contradictory with Koranic principles”. This is a bald-faced lie as separation of religion and state is no more ‘perfectly non-contradictory with Koranic principles’ than I am Batman. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Islam knows that Islam with it’s shariah is a total system of life and therefor the state must be subservient to it, not separate from it. See my comment above. What Jasser is doing is attempting to deceive very foolish people as to what Islam is. This kind of attempted deception is nothing new, of course, as among others, communist have been doing it for decades. Maybe they even got the idea from Muslims. If Jasser wants to try to trick people into thinking that Islam is something so very different from what it is, let him go try to convince Muslims of that on some Muslim web site, or maybe go over to a Muslim country in person. If he could trick them, that would be a positive.
Good for the American Islamic Leadership Coalition.
Muslim voice opposing Islamists (and their specific agenda for stealth jihad in North America outlined in their 1991 Muslim Brotherhood “Ikhwan” document as well as their agenda for the world at large) were few and far between.
Dr. Jasser inspires confidence and enthusiasm
Dr. Jasser is an Apostate.
He is no Muslim.
Christianity needed reform at one time because it stopped BEING Christian.
It became The State, with all the self defeating coersion and corruption to be found in State Power.
Christianity needed to return to the Goodness of Christ, the internal, moral goodness of the way Jesus wanted us to live. That is the foundation of Christianity…love.
Islam can have no such “reformation” because its very Founder was corrupt and evil.
Mohammad was a villain. An evil, vile criminal with a lot of blood on his hands.
He personal beheading people, and the displayed severed heads as a means of enforcing his will…nothing redeemable about that, or his persistent and unmistakable calls for violence, murder, torture, and genocide.
There is nothing “good” for Islam to “return” to. It has not been “corrupted”, it is clearly what it has always been…
An ugly, horrific view of man, god, and the universe.
The excuses and excesses of a deranged killer, and his gang of disciples bent on lust and conquest.
Mr. Apostate has been exposed to the west, and to its goodness. Perhaps he DOES think he can eat certain foods on certain days, and wear certain symbolic things along with his western clothes, all while while acting like a Christian, and call THAT the new Islam.
But it aint gonna happen, it simply CANNOT happen, as long as anyone (honestly) acknowledges who Mohammad was.
Mohammad’s commands are clear.
There is simply no “other” islam.
We are expected to believe that we are now to deal with “religious” Muslims who aren’t going to act like Muslims.
We are expected to believe that there really are moderate Muslims who wish to practice a version of Islam that excludes the the violence and hate we have come to associate with Islam; the violence and hate required by Mohamed; a reformed Islam, if you will, that has never existed before.
Sorry, but that doesn’t pass the basic common sense test.
If an individual doesn’t want to follow the beliefs of a particular religion the standard procedure is to leave it, not claim you are going to start another religion with the same name but with different beliefs.
Problem is, there’s no standard procedure for leaving Islam. That’s because apostasy from Islam carries an automatic death sentence.
That is a problem. It seems that in America we protect “freedom of religion” except for Muslims would like the freedom to change religions.
I’m sorry but it’s very hard to believe. On the one hand, it would be nice to have such an entity as AILC that truly means what it says. On the other hand, it could be the penultimate example of taqiyya (sp?). The Koran gives them the latitude to do ANYTHING to forward the cause of islam. Therefore you cannot tell me that you are a practicing muslim and yet embrace the United States without being a hypocrite to your own religion. The two are diametrically opposed. Our system, founded on Judeo-Christian prinicples, is anathema to islam.
For now, I watch this group with great suspicion and we’re not having any block parties anytime soon.
Actions speak louder than words, even than the words in the Koran, which apparantly not every Muslim takes as immutably hostile to non-Muslims. For years, even for decades in some cases, Zuhdi Jasser’s colleagues have been struggling to wake up a sleepy America to the dangers of sharia and jihad. I say this based on my personal acquaintance with some in his outfit. They did this without getting money, fameor even recognition after fleeing their Muslim ruled lands of birth because they were so horribly oppressive. I can understand extreme skeptism given all we in America have gone throughwith 9/11 and the denial that still smothers our land. We were deceived and the deception continues today from CAIR, from the White House, and other places. But I like to consider the issue of Muslim dissidents from this angle. Suppose I were a Muslim man born into a country like Saudi Arabia, Syria, or Bangladesh. Isn’t it possible that I would I want to live in a free and rational society even though I was surrounded by conformity to dogma? I would. And I would also be uniquely able to warn a freedom loving society about encroaching sharia. That is what Jasser’s group is offering. It would be a terrible waste to reject it.
Dr. Jasser is no Zuhdi come lately. with his body and his words he has stuanchly represented the demeanor and goodness of the apotheosis Muslim–for 40 or more years he has almost alone represented decency, sobriety and integrity in standing for positive values, and against the turmoil, jihadism and cruelties of the fanatics without modulation. This new group is to be soundly applauded. They pay a heavy price, but they are to be admired, supported and lionized, frankly–they face a powerful and wily adversary in their more extremist, islamist adversaries.
The astute reader will note that an excellent article is meeting with a skepticism generally reserved for politicians and car dealers. If our lukewarm sentiments limit our imaginations for the moment, neither are they without hard earned merit.
As to why it took muslims so long, my first response is to sing in the “amen choir.” Still, it isn’t so easy to gather up ANY manner of people as a cohesive whole and present a cogent front for your ideas. So, lets let that one ride for a moment. More to the point, if an alternative to the homocidal political/religious version of islam is legit, we should be able to find out in the short run if we follow their money chain, so again, I withold judgement.
The big problem for me is this: Yes, unless we absolutely outlaw islam in this country as a political/terrorist movement that calls itself a religion, it will take PRECISELY a countermovement in islam to disable that movement, with the support of all players. I don’t have to watch the tape to know what is being sold. I’ve heard it here or there before. So, who funds this group? Who do THEY fund? If they’re legit, what are they putting on the line? When hard pressed on terror issues, do they dissemble? The islamist crowd is known for long answers and circuitous, tortured logic…and lying. I want short answers to pointed questions and I want those answers verifiable.
No one on this board is going to jump aboard any time soon. That doesn’t mean that this guy or this group is a non-starter. But won’t we feel stupid if we wind up supporting, and sending dollars to, a front organization. No one here wants to be a useful idiot.
Zuhdi Jazzer is moderate. Will his own children be moderate?
The Obama administration is in collusion with CAIR and their point of view. Aren’t those who help my enemy, also my enemy? That is the real problem now. They just promoted in the DOJ the islamist-friendly attorney who defended so vociferously the American Taliban. The Cairo speech was a disaster. The bowing to the Saudi king speaks volumes. Obama is not Muslim in the closet, but he is neither a Christian in the closet. As Newt Gingrich often repeats: He is a Saul Alinsky radical. Didn’t Saul dedicated his magnum opus “Rules for Radicals” to Lucifer? Obama looks to me mostly an atheist.
Muslim here are going nowhere. They have been increasing by troves. They could be checked by immigration policy, but for that…I repeat…Obama must be booted. That speech, again, when Obama elevated Islam to equality in the eyes of the nation lauding some invented and illusory past contributions is very troubling…I ask: Name a single Muslim who signed the Declaration of Independence? Name a single Muslim of the stature of a Louis Brandeis or of a Felix Frankfurter? America wake up!!!! Let us send that derelict back to ACORN. This is the most pressing problem now.
MiamaMan,
Barack Obama is a Marxist/Socialist Atheist masquerading as a Jew hating Christian/Muslim. His message should not be taken seriously and, in fact should be rejected by all. Most Muslims have never read the Koran. Most Muslims can’t read. We’re talking hundreds of millions of people here. That Dr. Jasser is challenging, and rejecting the Radical Islamist claim to being their spokesperson is a good thing. Until he takes a position against Women, against Gays, for Theocracy,… against Freedom, I welcome him into the arena of ideas and the debate over what Islam is … and should be. Illiterate Muslims would do well to pay attention to this man. Apostates, anti-Muslims and other Infidels should withhold their judgment for a time.
Wayne…there you go.
Obama is one more in the Negationist arena.
Negationists are those engaged in denying an important historical fact for political gain.
These facts they now deny are crucial and important.
Noam Chomsky and Finkelstein can be called Negationists. Ahmadinejad the same.
The Turkish government engages in Negationism regarding the Armenian massacre. They use the media, spend millions of dollars to cover the truth. Influence the school curriculum.
It was the great Koenraad Elst who defined this therm, Negationism, when it came to India and the role of Islam in the Indian Holocaust. The likes of Romila Thapar and other communists in Delhi dispute him.
So, Obama sends the Churchill bust back to England because Churchill was involved in the Kenyan repression after the Mau Mau. Obama’s grandfather was jailed and beaten, the Luo tribe.
But this is the US. How Obama got in? That’s the real question. How this ultimate Manchurian candidate got in? Unless the 50% that don’t pay taxes wanted him in. Wasn’t that the same decline of the Roman Empire?
MiamaMan,
Interesting points about Negationism. I’m not sure, however, how Negationism is relevant to my reply post to your comment. Please clarify.
Yes Wayne…
Negationism in the case of Obama comes from his bending of history for political purposes:
1) His exaggerated assertions about the role of Muslims in America and America’s history is not based on facts, but obeys to his political agenda. In this way, Obama “negates” the history of the US, and engages in “negationism”: “We are a Christian, Hindu, Muslim nation bla, bla, bla…a quilt, not a melting pot”. Not true.
2) His so-called autobiography “Dreams from My Father” incorporates “negationists” ideas about the colonization of Africa, some of which are well dispelled by Dinesh DeSouza’s book “The Roots of Obama’s Rage” http://www.amazon.com/Roots-Obamas-Rage-Dinesh-DSouza/dp/1596986255, a book prefaced by Newt Gingrich. Here Obama is closer to Castro’s and Chavez’s revisionists and negationists outlook that all the woes of the third world stem from first colonialism, now so-called American imperialism. Not true, the opposite is true.
3) Now quoting you…”Barack Obama is a Marxist/Socialist Atheist masquerading as a Jew hating Christian/Muslim”…Masquerading, here is the key word. That’s what Obama has done all alone: Masquerading. There was a politician once who also was a genius at that, he “invented” a hagiography called “Mein Kampft”, and masqueraded as a savior.
I wish I could buy the line that Dr. Zuhdi is peddling, but I can’t because I have read the Koran. Members of the AILC are apostates according to their own holy book and, therefore, not real muslims, any more than a professing Christian who does not believe that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as the propitiation for all sins is a true Christian.
Lou,
By your definition, I’m not a true Christian. However, I suspect You and I can peacefully co-exist. I have read the Koran…. and the Bible…. and the Book of Mormon. All three are rather poorly written (I suspect they were written by mortal men NOT inspired by the word of God) and all three are filled with violence. Yet Christians and Mormons, by comparison with Islamists, are rather peace-loving . Until I hear something repugnant and despicable come out of his camp, I welcome Dr. Jasser’s brand of Islam into the debate.
Hey Wayner…I mean, if I may, using Dennis Hopper’s Texas drawl from “Red Rock West”.
What about the Vedas? And the Upanishads? I have read them extensively and you know what…have not found that level of violence and they are definitely not poorly written. Unless, of course, the “violence” that could be found in the Bhagavad Gita, being written around the war of Kurukshetra (near Delhi now). Arjuna did not want to fight, but Krishna reminded him he was Kshatriya.
Talking about the Gita, Mr. Obama says he reads it all the time. I remember another fella’ who kept the Gita handy, his name was Heinrich Himmler. Herr Himmler, looking for a psychological way out, twisted the Gita’s injunction of Karma Yoga, work without the fruits thereof, to conduct the Holocaust in detachment (Vairagya). Imagine that!
Find me a passage in the New Testament where Jesus advocates violence. And please not respond with the typical Matthew 10:34-36 which is over simplified and out of context. Besides, it is the only verse in the New Testament that alludes to violence in any way. The Old Testament is full of violence but is not advocated so much as story-telling. I’m not religious but I do, as anyone with half a brain know, that Jesus Christ is love and peace. Enough of the BS please.
Why after 10 years are they speaking up: They see the writing on the wall.
Obama is changing the US into something that moderate muslims don’t even want.
Arab spring has demonstrated what the goal of Obama is, and it ain’t pretty.
Now if we could just get some of the moderate liberals to wake up.
Who knows, there still may be “hope”. ( Not the Obama brand )
First, I would like to thank Phyllis Chesler for covering this important press conference and for her stellar work going back over a period of many years. Her reporting is always sharp and her analysis always illuminating.
As someone who’s brother was murdered in the cockpit of his commercial airliner on 9/11, I have a keen interest in awakening the American people–and the West–to the civilization jihad as represented by the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies. I have known Zuhdi Jasser for years, and have heard him speak compellingly about his fidelity to religious pluralism, secular government (“separation of mosque and state”) freedom of speech and rule of law under the U.S. Constitution. Again and again, he has suffered the slings and arrows fired by CAIR, ISNA and the alphabet soup of Muslim supremacists who seek to undermine him at every turn, sowing doubt about who he is and what he represents. For those who truly want to know, his record is there, amply in print, and in voluminous video online.
But for some, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that will convince them that there are secular Muslims who seek and embrace a pious form of Islam which rejects sharia and the spread of supremacist Islam by conquest. This reminds of the Truthers, against whom I make a point of never responding to publically (ok, once, I told USA Today that the only thing they got right about 9/11 was the date it occurred) because, frankly, it is impossible to prove a negative, and attempting to do so results in the fallback position that, well, Burlingame is PART of the conspiracy. Ditto Jasser. He’s a Trojan Horse, a poser, etc, etc.
There ARE Muslims who believe that Islam must be reformed. There ARE former Muslims who say, no, it must be transformed. I say, bring on the debate. But don’t dismiss the good, sincere people who, after all, have a stake in this as much as you and me. If 16th century monk Martin Luther could confront the papacy with his 95 theses–questioning the orthodoxy of the RC church, re-interpreting the Old and New Testaments and giving birth to Protestantism–a renegade (blasphemous to the Church) form of Christianity based on freedom of conscience and a direct, unmediated relationship to God, why is such a Reformation not possible for Islam. As a Andy McCarthy, author of The Grand Jihad (about stealth jihad) has said, if these people say they can reform Islam, who am I to say they can’t, after all, secular Muslims exist. They are real. Doesn’t mean we let up on the Islamists, especially since Jasser isn’t.
Now, the parallel to Martin Luther isn’t a perfect on, I’ll admit for a variety of reasons–among them, Islam has no higher authority such as the Vatican, but I, too, have met these people. They come to this country fleeing sharia, they are profoundly moving on their fidelity to America and the American project of liberalism, and they wish to defeat the scourge of Islamic terrorism.
One final note, and I won’t go on at length because this is already too long, but the intimidation which members of the Muslim community experience here in the U.S. put out by CAIR, ISNA, MPAC, ICNA, MAS, etc, etc, cannot be over-emphasized. They pay a price for standing up in public. See Aayan Hirsi Ali for a famous example. I could give example after example of ordinary, uncelebrated people. The intimidation is real. Organizations like CAIR simply CANNOT allow these people to be taken seriously or heard. They must cast them in doubt, ridicule them. Or threaten them (see Sharif El Gamal’s–Ground Zero mosque developer–text message to the Muslim activist who dared to challenge him at a forum with members of the 9/11 community.)
For all these reasons, they have my appreciation and respect. They recognize the complexities here more than most of the drive-by commenters on this blog. But to all of you, I nevertheless say, thank you. Thank you for your skepticism, your vigilance, your simple caring. 9/11 was an attack on us all.
Thank you for your attention.
Man, you said everything I wanted to say far more eloquently and succinctly that I could. Thank you for this post!
———–
For the record, I /was/ going to say this:
For all the jerks that keep pointing out that the Quran says /this/ and /that/ and therefore anyone good cannot possibly be muslim, and all ‘true’ muslims cannot possibly be good–good lord, put a sock in it!
Last time I checked, we are all /people/ and the funny thing about people, regardless of their religion or background, is that we are //people// with families and loved ones and wildly varying thoughts and beliefs.
There isn’t a single Christian who can argue to me a ‘true’ version of Christianity (how many interpretations do we have??) and there are even divides in more solid faiths as with the Jews. There is violent /and/ peaceful rhetoric in the Bible, Torah, and Quran. There are tons of theological debates on the accuracy of our holy texts, and the ligitimacy of their interpretations (and alterations) as they’ve been handed down through the course of history.
With all this diversity in faith and belief, are you REALLY going to tell me that all muslim people, regardless of how they choose to interpret their Quran, must believe in a version that you think is ‘their Quran’?? That, even though there are tons of things in the Bible that we as Christians violate on a daily basis due to it not being ‘relevant’ for this day and age, they are unable to do the same? That even though we have altered our interpretation of our own faiths through the years (Martin Luther, the advent of protestants vs the Catholics etc etc) that they are incapable of doing the same???
And nevermind the danger these muslims who go against the islamists put themselves into every time they open their mouths. That by itslef should give some legitimacy to their plight!
You may think you know the muslim faith from all the little anti-islam/mohammed sites on the interwebz, but you don’t. And you certainly don’t know what they believe, as individuals. I know its easier for our minds to take a group and generalize them to a point they aren’t human anymore, but it isn’t right. I know, I tend to do the same with illegals, ghettos, and europeans, but when I sit down and really argue about it, I know I can’t just reduce millions of people to their worst aspects. And none of us should!
put a sock in it , or I will kill you
There are non Muslims who desperately want to believe that there are Muslims who believe that Islam must be reformed. There are also those who believe in the tooth fairy.
Does any intellectually honest person believe that they can take Mohamed out Islam and have Islam. Because that is what needs to be done to have a version of Islam that is compatible with civilization.
Muslims who claim to desire a “reformed” Islam are clearly practicing takiyya and non Muslims who believe this nonsense are engaging in wishful thinking because they don’t want do do the difficult and possibly dirty work of defending their own civilization.
To call for an Islamic reform and make comparisons to Martin Luther is beyond ludicrous. In the sixteenth century The Church had seriously strayed from the path it was called to take by its Holy Scriptures. The purpose of Martin Luther’s reformation was to bring the Church back in line with its founders and its founding documents, NOT to make what is essentially a different religion that cast aside most of the teachings of its scriptures, as would be the case with what you call “reformed” Islam. Like it or not, Jihad is the reformation of Islam, the going back to the Islam of Mohamed. Asking for Islam Lite is asking that Islam abandon the commands of its founder. It is the polar opposite of what Martin Luther did.
For Muslims who don’t like Islam, even if only for those living in non Muslim countries, there are plenty of options in the form of other religions or no religion that don’t require making what is essentially a new religion.
As usual we are told that we just don’t understand Islam or know enough about it. That is total nonsense. There is a scripture that says “by their fruits will you know them”. If you don’t believe in scripture, that advice is still only common sense. For example look at the society created by Israel compared to that of any Muslim country. Or, look at the development in countries based on Western Civilization as compared to Islam. The fruits of Islam are very bitter indeed.
There is no place, no need and most importantly, NO CHANCE for moderate Islam.
I qualified my analogy to Martin Luther, but you are wrong about one thing, he wasn’t beseeching the Church to hold to its foundational roots, he was directly challenging the fundamental belief that God’s grace could only be experienced through the authority of the Pope. He challenged the fundamental beliefs and liturgy of the Church. To make a long story short, today the Lutheran Church–and its Protestant cohort denominations–has only two sacraments–holy rites. The RC Church has seven. Five holy rites eliminated. And the papacy GONE. Now, I am not a theologian or religious philospher, but I think that is rather remarkable, and it didn’t happen over night. Martin Luther didn’t set about to do that, or found a new branch of Christianity. He thought he was a Roman Catholic and the papacy got it wrong. But he was a called a blasphemer and he was excommunicated. Sound familiar?
We are not going to see the defeat of Islamism in our lifetimes. But that doesn’t mean we strike out at people who, somewhere in the timeline of history, are trying to follow what they believe to be true and right, even if we can’t see exactly how they are going to get there, or how it will look when they do. I just know that I will not turn my back on them.
I wish to offer condolences for the loss of your brother on9/11.
But you are still wrong about Martin Luther. The early Christians did not have a Pope; they more or less believed in the “priesthood of all believers” as did Martin Luther. It is true that the various Protestant denominations, which descend from Luther’s challenge to the Catholic Church, differ from The Roman Catholic Church but more in form than substance. They all believe in redemption through the blood of Christ.
To reform Islam into something compatible with modern thought Mohamed must be totally eliminated from the religion. A religion which holds up a murderer, pedophile, rapist, torturer and practitioner of virtually every despicable perversion known to man as the most perfect example of a man, simply has no qualities making it worthy of reform.
The fact that makes any comparison between The Protestant Reformation and the fantasy of an Islamic reformation moot is that Luther was trying to reform the corrupt institution that the Roman Church had become and take it back to its roots, that is the roots of Christianity, the teachings of Christ, not the roots of the Papacy. On the other hand those saying they want a reformation of Islam will have to expunge Mohamed from their religion.
I have heard a number of people say that they were raised Catholic but that they don’t believe in it any more and are now essentially non religious. If certain Muslims are truly fed up with Islam, as they say, a much more believable course of action would be to do as the ex Catholics have done. Simply leave the religion.
The response to that suggestion is that leaving Islam will put their lives in danger. If that is the case, and all indications are that it is, why are we not protecting their right to freedom of religion?
As a descendant of a Muslim reformer/revolutionary (who was eventually killed by Muslims and his body burned so he couldn’t go to jannah), I bear witness to the fact that there have been attempts to “reform” Islam (Sufism was/is a challenge to the orthodoxy and shares much with Kabbalah).
Like my forefather, whose movement ever since has been demonized/distorted,others have tried and failed. Why? Because the degree of ruthlessness brought to destroy them, their kin and their followers has borne fruit. Every reformation movement, large and small, has been snuffed out.
Are there Muslims who don’t want to sabotage our Constitution and way of life? Absolutely. But for the non-Muslim who cannot read the signs (to assess sincerity and/or deception)it is a tricky difficult path to recognize friend from foe.
IMO, the only good Muslim is a nominal one who just happened to be born to a Muslim father. Those who attend mosques and read the Quranic (Medinan suras) are suspect. Many sufi movements cleverly tried to avoid the Quran and just focus of dhikr (remembrance chants/phrases of the almighty) to circumvent the teachings that they found disturbing.But they never overtly showed their hand or expressed their doubts. That, as we all know, is suicical in the Muslim world. So it has always been a very clandestine dance to circumvent the oppressing/disturbing teachings.
There are ways to gauge “loyalty” to America but these are not obvious to the non-Muslim as they are to Muslims. It is quite a cat and mouse game.And this is our faith!
Dr Jasser may be a good man but those like him who call themselves “devout” Muslims but clearly are violating central tenets of the faith like “jihad” and also attend mosque services are either Trojan Horses or muddy the water by offering a glimmer of hope to the non-Muslims who desperately want to believe in “moderate” Islam.
There is no “moderation” in Islam. That is the historical record to date. And, only through a formidable blood bath in that world might there come “reform.” But I won’t hold my breath. I’m sorry but this is the painful truth.
As part of my doctoral research on Islamist extremism and also moderate trends, I had the opportunity to meet/speak to many of the leading voices among Muslims/former Muslims who are standing up for moderation and speaking out against extremism. This includes Zuhdi Jasser, Nonie Darwish, Manda Ervin and others. As I said in my comment above, these people are risking their lives in speaking out. I can vouch for them from my personal experience. Yes it is time that Islam had a true reformation. Yes we should support and give appreciation for those who are calling for this to happen – and taking the risks that this entails. Debra – we are all so sorry for your loss. Thank you for your comments here.
This is very welcome news. It is exciting to see that moderate muslims and freedom fighters have begun to team up and take on the poisonous PR campaign being released from CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, etc…
Bravo Dr. Chesler and Dr. Jasser. I applaud your partnership in these overly bipartisan times.
While I commend Dr. Jasser et al I am left to wonder how he and others who agree with his long-overdue criticism of the islamists intend to carry out their said opposition. Will they fight back by any means necessary, or will they insist on pacifism, thusly being vulnerable to the islamists?
The point the rather dishonest Left misses, especially in NYC is simply that radicals are outlaws, using coercion of the violent sort to get their way.
No matter what Muslims in the US believe they know that radicals are bad for business and bad for them personally because it destroys the ability to form trust relations with the wider society just to get on with their lives.
The Lefties want to isolate the Muslim community and then do business with the moral equivalent of the Black Panthers. The goal, of course, is to create a militant wing.
Equal protection is what the average Muslim wants, and that they should get. Group rights are ruinous to all, especially people wanting freedom of choice of conscience.
Let’s stipulate that AILC is what it claims to be, and that its leaders and spokesmen are sincere about their positions and goals. What can we expect to follow?
1. CAIR, ISNA, and all the other Caliphatist (i.e., “political Islam”) Muslim groups will do their damnedest to prevent anyone in officialdom from becoming interested in AILC.
2. Caliphatist groups will produce a torrent of anti-AILC propaganda material, much of it funded by foreign organizations.
3. Caliphatist “muscle” will be used to attempt to intimidate AILC members and affiliated organizations away from AILC.
I’d say that’s the least we can expect. Indeed, it’s an outside possibility that a Caliphatist group might arrange for AILC to be discredit through a “false flag” operation (i.e., a serious crime or terrorist act made to look like AILC was behind it).
This will bear close attention in the months to come, especially with national elections drawing near.
So, the acid test question for me is, Where does AILC stand on Israel’s right to exist? Anyone?
Good point. Also, where do they stand on Israel’s right to a capital in an undivided Jerusalem? It would also be enlightening if they would come out in favor of allowing Muslims to freely leave their religion without threat of death.
I am not even close to being convinced that their motives are good.
Well, its not the first time that Chesler has erred big time in her life. Is everyone so thirsty for co-existence that they are using hope over rational thought as a last option? Do they forget who they are dealing with and the tactics that are intrinsic to that culture and its people?
Oh, and how about that Act of Valor being sooooo accurate, where the head terrorist is Jewish… News flash Phylis… that’s not accurate nor even statistically possible. All it does is taint the gullible in society and prime them with subconscious Jew hatred. Disgusting and dangerous.
But like Chesler suggests, lets listen to their last words one more time.
“We acknowledge that extremism is a major problem within the Muslim community, which brings shame and discredit upon all of us, while empowering those who seek to denigrate Islam as a religion of hatred, supremacism and violence. Rather than adopt a ‘victimization’ mentality or be offended by such claims, we view them as a challenge to bring forth a profoundly spiritual, practical and beneficial manifestation of Islamic life and teachings.”
Yea, like killing all the infidels around you because that’s what Islamic life (the life of Mo being the ultimate example) and Islamic teachings explicitly come down to that are supposed to be “beneficial manifestations” – Oy!
Chesler, Darwish and the rest, WAKE UP. Islam is not your friend, Jasser is not your friend, and AILC is just the newest experiment in seeing how Islam can start just the smallest wedge into western civilization. Its the leading tip of creeping Sharia. Its trying to make people think that just maybe, we can live with Islam and it’s “moderate” followers. Nothing could be more foolish or more dangerous.
So sad to see Chesler, Darwish and others bite for this rubbish (to be polite). So to Chesler and the others… Go ahead and be a smarty…
This outspoken opposition from within the community of Muslims regarding their opposition to the increasingly violent Jihad against western civilization is most welcome and long overdue. Orthodox Islam and its insistence that the Quran, the Islamic “bible,” contains the immutable words of Allah, that all Muslims are essentially superior to all non-Muslims and that Mohammad is the “perfect man” to be admired and emulated in all respects, has mired the “believers” in the 7th century, incapable of adapting to the realities of modern civilization and cultural mores. The voices of recognition and the dissemination of information exposing this threat have grown in number and have been attempting to alert a skeptical world for quite some time. There have been very few from within the Muslim community that have been outspoken about their distress and most who have are considered apostates, some under perpetual death threats intended to muzzle all such activity. But, if there is to be any chance for a reformation or modernization of Islam, this is where it must begin, from within, and eventually end if the world is to avoid another world war. The West, while currently in a collective state of purposeful denial, will not succumb quietly once the Jihad on their home turf becomes more overt, vitriolic and violent.
i remember a world where new yorkers who were killing chickens in their apartments and drinking blood in voodoo ceremonies were forced to stop and desist. we made a law against it. i am not confident that today there isn’t plenty of chicken murder happening and a multiplicity of voodoo ceremonies.
since the beginning of the most bizarre administration ever to land in the white house, anything is possible. mostly, if it isn’t white, western, and it’s jihadist muslim, there is great support for it. it comes from the ignorant and tragically undereducated who so lack insight they can’t even figure out how dangerous this activity is to their own well being.
i believe, having heard nonnie darwish speak and dr. jasser that they are truly attempting to mainstream a substantial group whose primary goal is to assimilate into western society and culture. in the countries from which they fled the penalty for that is death. if we didn’t have the NYPD intact, they’d be murdered here.
their support for the NYPD is meaningful. despite all the complexities involved in accepting that they are a breakaway from the jew hating anti american CAIR and muslim brotherhood, i say we should welcome the support.
I am very Thankful of AILC as a member of AILC partner organzations. I natuarally love brave people who stand up for freedom and liberty. I am an observant Muslim Amercan and am part of this Muslim of N American orgs led by Dr Jesser. I want to say good Job to my colleagues who were able to make it to the trip in NY to support our noble NYPD and their likes in the country and around the world.
For those fellow countrymen who do not understand what AILC does and what cair does, allow me to tell you that AILC is agroup of American muslims who stand for and defend their country while CAIR claims that it defends muslim rgthts but destroys muslims when they speak against terror in America. I am not just saying this. I am a victim of Alqaeda recritment of my Somali American Nephew along with other 40 Somali Americans whom three of them became the first American suicide bombers ever. I am the one who spoke out with a heavy, heavy prize. I am saddened by some arrogant and ignorant comments against leaders of AILC such as Dr. Jasser without understanding of their extreme challenges. I am not going to talk about my challenges for you are not capable to understand. Whatever. Let me share with you the latest attack of Cair agains me and my colleagues for simply trying to educate the local enforcement and you judge for yourself. By the way i’ll share a little secret with you people. Right after CAIR’s press release attacking us, I was threatened 25 times with my life within 3 days. Never before I was threatened even presenting in a congressional hearing in March 10th 2010! The work against these terrorist people destroyed our lives and families just to defend this great country. You could never imagine how our lives changed for the worst simply doing what Dr. Jasser and millions of American and Canadian Muslims are trying to do. Well here is the link for some Muslim CAIR agains Muslim Victims of terror http://www.investigativeproject.org/3284/cair-slams-muslim-foes-of-al-shabaab
If I were financially able to come I would be with my colegueas and with the honorable congressman King and new yorkers to support NYPD and their chief to deter terror and respect everybody’s rghts as American. I salute all those guard us as we go our bussiness.
Good luck
Abdirizak Bihi
Director of Somali Eduction and Social Advocacy Center
I have two questions for you.
1. Do you support Israel with Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital?
2. Why are you still a Muslim? There are other religions whose beliefs are closer to yours and they would gladly welcome you.
Kudos to all of you.
And I am a hard core hater of these Jihadist types and those that defend them.
I would not have a problem taking them out if needed.
Here in Scarborough or Toronto east we may have the largest Muslim population in Canada …not sure.
The vast majority of them are like us..they work hard and want what we want..freedom.
I do not minch words with some Muslim folks I deal with and they agree with me that if there is an attack somewhere in N.A….let’s jst say wouldn’t want to be Muslim since they are only 1%.
They know this and it scares them since the good ones will be lumped in with the whole.
To me, a good Muslim is a dead Muslim and unless they are all wiped out, there will never be peace on earth.
For the record, I am not a Muslim. I am not American. I am just an ordinary Canadian citizen who sees the threat of Islamists and the barbaric acts of tribal Muslim extremists. I am sick of Islamists’ agenda to Islamize the world. But as a third party, I wants to say something fair. You people have been complaining about the silence from the Muslim community against Muslim Terror. Now someone from that community speaks out and put in action to support the NYPD you call them Trojan Horses. I am not saying we should be naive and believe everything, but this out-right dismissal is not good to leverage all forces against Muslim Terror. We should at least empirically trust the effort from the Muslim community to join force in fighting terror. In-fights weaken our position.
Tarek Fatah of the Muslim Canadian Congress is here in Toronto where I live.
I like him a lot.
He is a passionate speaker and person who is often a guest of Ezra Levant on Sun News Network (http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/)…..our non-censorship ,non-mainstream media network that is doing a wonderful job telling the truth about well almost everything not covered by the CBC,CTV,CP24 sedation station,Cnn…..etc…..which is a lot by the way.
Hey they actually have debates with folks from the left or right or whatever.
Not something I’ve seen on said stations before.Prolly never will.
Pretty refreshing and very powerful as they have some great folks over there.
It’s about time I say that the real Muslims stood up.
Kudos.
Canadian Tarek Fatah, a founding member of both the AILC and the Muslim Canadian Congress, addressed the media. He said that the NYPD “is one of the major fighters against Muslim terrorists. To CAIR, I say: We are Muslims too. Who gave you the right to speak on our behalf?
And who is Tarek Fatah? As Robert Spencer noted: the false “moderate” Tarek Fatah, who exposed himself as an enemy of those who are truly interested in defending human rights against the global jihad and Islamic supremacism when he savaged the courageous freedom fighter Wafa Sultan in a National Post article, in which he accused her of the Muslim Brotherhood-invented crime of “Islamophobia”: here. I responded here. And in a recent email exchange, Fatah resorted to rhetoric taken straight from the likes of Hamas-linked CAIR in smearing me and Ali Sina as “medieval hate mongering people, seething with feelings of revenge and wanting a Final Solution of all Muslims.” No one who genuinely wants to defend free societies against Sharia and Islamic supremacism could or would resort to such defamation.”
The more realistic and well meaning, in my opinion, Mr zudi jasper himself claims that there is no anti-semitism, or jew hatred within Islam. This is palpably false and absurd for him to assert.
But these men surely are better than the homicidal murderers who compose the ‘mainstream’ theologians and leaders within Islam- I’m sure they are.
But normative Islam is what it is- a political cult of submission, and sharia, and in fact, if 36 people get together and pretend they are the true voices of Islam then that is a made up theology of their own, and can’t represent the overwhelming majority of Islam who reject their opinions.
Tell me, when the jewish lady in mumbai, got her fetus cut out as she was slaughtered, and her husbands scrotum and testicles cut off and he likewise slaughtered, along with 167 other innocents; when 350 chechnean schoolchildren were murdered, butchered by ‘muslims’ , when the fogel family was slaughtered in their sleep, their baby’s head cut off by animals, who were applauded by the leaders of the fakeistinians, where where any of these guys?
Any of them. Did they lead a march or marches of tens of thousands calling for self reproach by islam for performing any of these- and mind you- there are ten thousand other such examples.
Yes…. they are better than CAIR and ISNA, but they are self declared and do not represent but themselves. The fact that
I don’t expect them to aid or assist in planting roadside bombs, or beheading people, or slaughtering people, and that of course is not only a bit of sarcasm but a very real statement that these people may actually produce some minimal understanding of just how different they are from all of mainstream Islam. And that’s just it. They are self declared and represent not normative Islam. We all want to see them as larger in numbers than they are, but they are not more than a handful and as pointed out- Tarek Fatak was an accuser of Islamophobia upon Wafa Sultan and Ali Sina. So what do we do. I cannot see them supporting Israel’s right to exist unfettered by muslim sharia law, but yes they might assist if they stand up, in asking that Sharia not be imported into the US. But Sharia is already here. And as for standing up for Jews and Israel to exist in peace in their land, I bet they will never differ from their brethren.
First of all, in my humble opinion, I think people who want to leave comments online should first gather enough courage to use their real name and stand up for their opinion. Why do you hide behind fake identities? Unfortunately, I find that many of the comments here disturbing. I am a Christian. I was born and raised in Iran and spent 2 years in Evin prison in Tehran when I was 16 to 18 years old. I was tortured and raped. My crime? Speaking out against the limitations that the IRA had imposed on the people of Iran who had just had a revolution because they wanted freedom and democracy, which they never got. Sharia law stole any possibility of freedom away from Iranians. I have written 2 books about my experiences: Prisoner of Tehran and After Tehran. As I was reading the comments, I felt that, in them, there was a lot of terrible hatred and anger toward Muslims. Anger and hatred kill logic and they lead to more violence. Two wrongs don’t make a right. I want to ask those who hate Muslims one question: what do you want to do with Muslims? Muslims do exist, and there are millions and millions of them in the world. Are you planning a genocide? I have many Muslim friends who are not religious, but they still see themselves as Muslims. They are good people and I hope they can help Islam evolve the same way the Christianity has evolved since the Middle Ages. I have met Dr. Jasser. He is a very logical person and is open to dialogue. After a panel discussion in Oslo, Dr. Jasser told me that I was the first Christian he had met who didn’t hate Muslims. His statement broke my heart.I asked, “How many Christians have you met?” He laughed. Let’s have a dialogue, but let’s not mix it up with name calling and hate literature. I have read the Koran and the Old Testament and I don’t feel that the amount of hatred and violence in the Old Testament is any less than in the Koran.
Marina:
1) Regarding hiding identities, it is very common here and you should respect that. Many of us don’t want to flaunt our names and identities in every blog there is. So don’t go around making yourself important because you do so.
2) Now, I have a question for you. You refer to the Old Testament, yes, it is correct that the violent rhetoric is as bad as the Koran, but I don’t see anyone around in this world, in Israel or any Christian country justifying or using the Old Testament to do what many Muslims countries do using the Koran and Sharia. The Old Testament was, but they don’t stone people and women to death anymore, etc, however your country of origin DOES. They kill homosexuals for being gay, stone people to death, so the damned Islam hasn’t changed since the crazy Mohammed invented it.
3) Your are a witness to their hatred. Now they want to kill this Iranian pastor for converting to Christianity. I am sorry, you must bring something less fallacious to the table Marina, to be credible. How can Christian not hate Muslims?????!!!!! They kill them in Egypt, they kill them in Iraq, they kill them in Iran. Here, on the contrary, Muslims come, and not content with being just happy and free, starting steering the BS and using our own laws against us like CAIR and lawfaring and misleading…so what do you expect?
“Where are the responsible Muslims? Supporting the NYPD in Manhattan today.”
Sure, all 36 of them! A sad commentary, indeed.
It’s an amazing piece of writing in favor of all the online people; they will obtain advantage from it I am sure.
Dilihat dr kacamata ideologi,susah membantah bahwa islam yg berdasar Quran dan Hadis diselimuti kekerasan,perampokan dll karena hal itu tertulis didalam quran dan hadis bahkan perbuatan muhamad adalah sunah yg harus diikuti pengikutnya.Adalah Benar, tak satu ayatpun dlm Per7an7ian Baru perbuatan kekerasan Yesus.