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10 Ways the Mafia and Islam Are Similar

And an explanation for the reason why.

by
Raymond Ibrahim

Bio

December 5, 2014 - 9:00 am

Earlier this year on HBO’s Real Time, host Bill Maher declared that Islam is “the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.”

Maher was likely referring to Islam’s “blasphemy” laws, which ban on pain of death any “insult” — as found in a statement, a picture, a book — to Islam and especially to its prophet Muhammad.

While Maher has been criticized for his “Islamophobic” assertion, he and others may be surprised to learn that the similarities between Islam and an organized crime syndicate such as the mafia far exceed punishing those who say, draw, or write “the wrong thing.” In what follows, we will examine a number of these similarities.

We will begin by looking at the relationship between Allah, his messenger Muhammad, and the Muslims, and note several parallels with the relationship between the godfather, his underboss, and the mafia.

Next, we will examine the clannish nature of the mafia and compare it to Islam’s tribalism, especially in the context of the Islamic doctrine of “Loyalty and Enmity.” For example, in both Islam and the mafia, members who wish to break away, to “apostatize,” are killed.

We will consider how the mafia and Islam have both historically profited from the “protection” racket: Islam has demanded jizya from non-Muslims under its authority/territory, and the mafia has demanded pizzo from people that fall under its jurisdiction.

Finally, we will consider what accounts for these many similarities between Islam and the mafia, including from a historical perspective.

1. Allah and Muhammad/Godfather and Underboss

The padrino of larger mafia organizations and families — literally the “godfather” or “boss of bosses” — has absolute control over his subordinates and is often greatly feared by them for his ruthlessness. He has an “underboss,” a right-hand man who issues his orders and enforces his will. The godfather himself is often inaccessible; mafia members need to go through the underboss or other high-ranking associates.

Compare this with the relationship between Allah and his “messenger” Muhammad (in Arabic, Muhammad is most commonly referred to as al-rasul, “the messenger”). Unlike the Judeo-Christian God — a personal God, a Father, that according to Christ is to be communed with directly (Matt 6:9) — Islam’s god Allah is unreachable, unknowable, untouchable. His orders are revealed by his messenger, Muhammad. The Judeo-Christian God calls on the faithful to “come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18); Allah says “Do not ask questions about things that, if made known to you, would only pain you” (Koran 5:101). Just follow orders.

2. A “Piece of the Action”

The godfather and his underboss always get a percentage of all spoils acquired by their subordinates. Allah and Muhammad do as well: Koran 8:41 informs Muslims that “one-fifth of all war-booty you acquire goes to Allah and the messenger,” followed by Muhammad’s family, and finally the needy.

3. Assassinations

The godfather, through his underboss, regularly sends men to assassinate those deemed enemies of the family. So did Allah and his messenger.

One example: A non-Muslim poet, Ka‘b ibn Ashraf, insulted Muhammad, prompting the latter to exclaim, “Who will kill this man who has hurt Allah and his messenger?” A young Muslim named Ibn Maslama volunteered — on condition that to get close enough to assassinate Ka‘b he be allowed to lie to the poet.

Muhammad agreed. Ibn Maslama traveled to Ka‘b and began to denigrate Islam and Muhammad until his disaffection became so convincing that the poet took him into his confidence. Soon thereafter, Ibn Maslama appeared with another Muslim, and when Ka‘b’s guard was down they slaughtered the poet. The poet’s head was brought to Muhammad, accompanied by triumphant cries of “Allahu Akbar.”

4. Circumstance is Everything

While the mafia adheres to a general code of conduct, the godfather issues more fluid orders according to circumstances. This is reminiscent of the entire “revelation” of the Koran, where later verses/commands contradict earlier verses/commands depending on circumstances. This is known in Islamic jurisprudence as al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh, or the doctrine of abrogation.

Whereas Allah supposedly told the prophet that “there is no compulsion in religion” (Koran 2:256), once the messenger grew strong enough, Allah issued new revelations calling for all-out war/jihad until Islam became supreme (Koran 8:39, 9:5, 9:29, etc.). While other religions and scriptures may have contradictions, only Islam rationalizes them through “abrogation.” Islam gives prominence to later verses, which are seen as the “latest” decision of the deity.

5. Clan Loyalty

Loyalty is fundamental in the mafia. Following elaborate rituals of blood oaths, mafia members are expected to maintain absolute loyalty to the family on pain of death. Similarly, mafia members are expected always to be available for the family — “even if your wife is about to give birth,” as one of the mafia’s “ten commandments” puts it — and to defend the godfather and his honor even if it costs their lives.

Compare this to the widespread violence and upheavals that occur when Allah or his prophet is offended by non-Muslim “infidels” blaspheming them, as Bill Maher referenced. Islam’s “Loyalty and Enmity” doctrine (al-wala’ wa’l bara’) — which calls on Muslims to be loyal to one another even if they dislike each other — is especially illustrative. Koran 9:71 declares that “the believing [Muslim] men and believing [Muslim] women are allies of one another” (see also 8:72-75). According to Muhammad, “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim. He neither oppresses him nor humiliates him nor looks down upon him. … All things of a Muslim are inviolable for his brother in faith: his blood, his wealth, and his honor,” precisely the three things mafia members respect among each other.

U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan’s “worst nightmare” was to be deployed to fight fellow Muslims.

6. Death to Traitors

Once a fledging mafia member takes the oath of loyalty, including the Omertà code of silence and secrecy, trying to leave the “family” is seen as a betrayal and punishable by death. Any family member, great or small, is given authority to kill the traitor, the “turncoat.”

To be born to a Muslim father immediately makes the newborn a Muslim — there are no oaths to be taken, much less any choice in the matter. And, according to Islamic law, if born Muslims at any point in their lives choose to leave Islam, they are deemed “apostates” – traitors — and punished, including by death. Any zealous Muslim, not just the authorities, is justified in killing the apostate. Muslim families that kill apostate children are rarely, if ever, prosecuted.

In the words of Muhammad: “Whoever leaves his Islamic faith, kill him.”

7. Distrust and Dislike of “Outsiders”

Aside from loyalty to the family, mafia members are also expected not to befriend or freely associate with “outsiders,” who by nature are not to be trusted, as they are not of the “family,” unless such a “friendship” helps advance the family’s position.

Similarly, the second half of the doctrine of Loyalty and Enmity — the enmity (al-bara’) — calls on Muslims to maintain distance from and bear enmity for all non-Muslims, or “infidels.”

Koran 5:51 warns Muslims against “taking the Jews and Christians as friends and allies … whoever among you takes them for friends and allies, he is surely one of them.” According to the mainstream Islamic exegesis of al-Tabari, Koran 5:51 means that the Muslim who “allies with them [non-Muslims] and enables them against the believers, that same one is a member of their faith and community.” That is, an apostate, an enemy.

Similar scriptures include Koran 4:89, 5:54, 6:40, 9:23, and 58:22. The latter simply states that true Muslims do not befriend non-Muslims: “Even if they be their fathers, sons, brothers, or kin.” Koran 60:1 declares: “O you who believe! Do not take my enemy and your enemy [non-believers] for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth [i.e., while they deny Islam]?” And Koran 4:144 declares: “O you who believe! Do not take the infidels as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to give Allah [“godfather”] a clear case against yourselves?”

8. Deception and Dissimulation

As mentioned, close relations to non-mafia individuals that prove advantageous to the family (for example, collaboration with a “crooked cop”) are permissible — as long as the mafia keeps a safe distance, keeping the outsider at arm’s length.

Compare this to Koran 3:28, which commands “believers not to take infidels for friends and allies instead of believers … unless you but guard yourselves against them, taking precautions.” According to the standard Koran commentary of Tabari, “taking precautions” means: ”If you [Muslims] are under their [non-Muslims’] authority, fearing for yourselves, behave loyally to them with your tongue while harboring inner animosity for them … [but know that] Allah has forbidden believers from being friendly or on intimate terms with the infidels rather than other believers — except when infidels are above them [in authority]. Should that be the case, let them act friendly towards them while preserving their religion.”

After interpreting Koran 3:28 as meaning that Muslims may “protect” themselves “through outward show” when under non-Muslim authority, Ibn Kathir, perhaps Islam’s most celebrated exegete, quotes Islam’s prophet as saying: “Truly, we smile to the faces of some people, while our hearts curse them.”

Similarly, a few years ago, Sheikh Muhammad Hassan — a leading Salafi cleric in Egypt –asserted on live television that while Muslims should never smile to the faces of non-Muslims, they should smile, however insincerely, if so doing helps empower Islam.

The idea of hating “outsiders” is apparently so ingrained in Islam that another leading Salafi cleric, Dr. Yasser al-Burhami, insists that while Muslim men may marry Christian and Jewish women, they must hate them in their heart — and show them that they hate them in the hopes that they convert to the “family” of Islam.

(For more on the doctrine of “Loyalty and Enmity,” including references to the exegetical sources quoted above, see al-Qaeda leader Dr. Ayman Zawahiri’s comprehensive treatise by that name in The Al Qaeda Reader, pgs. 63-115.)

9. “An Offer You Can’t Refuse”

Although the novel-turned-movie The Godfather is fictitious, it captures much of the mafia’s modus operandi. Consider, for example, that most famous of lines — “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse” — spoken by the Godfather to one of his “godsons,” an aspiring actor and singer. After being turned down by a studio director for a role that he desperately wanted, the godson turned to his Godfather for aid.

As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that the offer that can’t be refused consists of nothing less than violence and death threats: after the Godfather’s messenger to the director asking that the actor be given the role is again rejected, the director awakens the next morning to find the bloodied and decapitated head of his favorite stallion in bed with him. The godson subsequently gets the movie role.

Throughout the context of the entire Godfather trilogy (which captures well the mafia’s approach to business) making someone “an offer they can’t refuse” means “do as I say or suffer the consequences,” possibly death.

Compare this to Islam’s threefold choice. On Muhammad’s orders, whenever Muslims conquer a territory in the name of Islam, its non-Muslim inhabitants are given three choices: 1) convert to Islam, 2) keep your religious identity but pay tribute (jizya, see below) and live as an “outsider,” a subjugated dhimmi, or 3) execution.

Throughout history, converting to Islam has been an “offer” that countless non-Muslims could not refuse. In fact, this “offer” is responsible for transforming much of the Middle East and North Africa, which were Christian-majority in the 7th century when the jihad burst forth from Arabia into the “Muslim world.”

This offer is still alive and well today. For example, several older and disabled Christians who were not able to join the exodus out of Islamic State-controlled territories opted to convert to Islam rather than die. Like the mafia, Islam’s offer to conquered non-Muslims (“outsiders”) is basically “join our ‘family,’ help us and we will help you; refuse and we hurt you.”

10. The “Protection” Racket

Once the mafia takes over a territory, one of the primary ways it profits is by collecting “protection money” from its inhabitants. While the protection racket has several aspects, one in particular is akin to an Islamic practice: coercing people in the mafia’s territory to pay money for “protection,” ostensibly against outside elements. In fact, the protection bought is from the mafia itself — that is, extortion money, or “pizzo.” Potential “clients” who refuse to pay for the mafia’s “protection” often have their property vandalized and are routinely threatened and harassed.

Compare the collection of pizzo with the Islamic concept of jizya: The word jizya appears in Koran 9:29: “Fight those among the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and his Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued (emphasis added).”

In the hadith, Muhammad regularly calls on Muslims to demand jizya from non-Muslims: “If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay jizya, seek Allah’s help and fight them.”

The root meaning of the Arabic word “jizya” is simply to “repay” or “recompense,” basically to “compensate” for something. According to the Hans Wehr Dictionary, the standard Arabic-English dictionary, jizya is something that “takes the place” of something else, or “serves instead.”

Simply put, conquered non-Muslims were to purchase their lives, which were otherwise forfeit to their Muslim conquerors, with money. As one medieval jurist succinctly puts it, “their lives and their possessions are only protected by reason of payment of jizya” (Crucified Again, p. 22).

Just as the mafia rationalizes its collection of “protection money” by portraying it as money that buys mafia protection against “outsiders” when the money/tribute serves only to protect the client from the mafia itself, so too do Islam’s apologists portray the collection of jizya as money meant to buy Muslim protection from outsiders. In fact, the money/jizya buys protection from Muslims themselves.

“Mafia”: What’s In a Word?

What accounts for the similarities between Islam and the mafia? One clue is found in the word “mafia,” which means “hostility to the law, boldness.” It is derived from the Arabic word mahya, which means “bragging, boasting, bravado, and swaggering.”

This etymology is a reminder that Sicily, birthplace of the mafia, was under Arab/Islamic domination for over 200 years. Aside from a borrowed etymology, could some of the mafia’s modus operandi also have been borrowed from Islam? Isolated on their island, could native Sicilians have co-opted the techniques of social controls that they had lived under and learned from their former overlords, albeit without an Islamic veneer?

The mafia is not the only historical example of a non-Muslim criminal organization to be influenced by Islam. The Thuggees — whence we get the word “thug” — were a brotherhood of allied bandits and assassins who waylaid and savagely murdered travelers in India, often by first feigning friendship. Along with assassinating his opponents, including through treachery, Muhammad also personally engaged in banditry, ransacking the caravans of enemy tribes.  Although the Thuggees were later associated with the Hindu cult of Kali, the original Thuggees were all Muslim. As late as the 19th century, a large number of Thuggees captured and convicted by the British were Muslim.

When Bill Maher recently proclaimed that Islam is “the only religion that acts like the mafia, that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book,” he was just scratching the surface of the similarities between the mafia and Islam.

Raymond Ibrahim, a Middle East and Islam specialist, is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (2013) and The Al Qaeda Reader (2007). His writings have appeared in a variety of media, including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Times, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, Middle East Quarterly, World Almanac of Islamism, and Chronicle of Higher Education; he has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, PBS, Reuters, Al-Jazeera, NPR, Blaze TV, and CBN. Ibrahim regularly speaks publicly, briefs governmental agencies, provides expert testimony for Islam-related lawsuits, and testifies before Congress. He is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center; Judith Friedman Rosen Writing Fellow, Middle East Forum; and a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution, 2013. Ibrahim’s dual-background -- born and raised in the U.S. by Coptic Egyptian parents born and raised in the Middle East -- has provided him with unique advantages, from equal fluency in English and Arabic, to an equal understanding of the Western and Middle Eastern mindsets, positioning him to explain the latter to the former.
Top Rated Comments   
"Like the mafia, Islam’s offer to conquered non-Muslims (“outsiders”) is basically “join our ‘family,’ help us and we will help you; refuse and we hurt you.”

As the inimitable Christopher Hitchens wrote, Slate magazine, 2007

"But the plain fact is that the believable threat of violence undergirds the Muslim demand for "respect."
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
I protest. The Mafia had better taste in clothes and killed far fewer people.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
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All Comments   (23)
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Thanks to Raymond Ibrahim and PJ Lifestyle for this excellent journalism in an electronic format. This deserves a prize, because it is original, gripping and important. There should be political and legal consequences from this piece. Realistically we know there will not be consequences, because of the huge amount of bullying that goes on. Every politician and judge in the Western world cowers in fear. In the Mafia's heyday there were at least a few judges and politicians who resisted, and that is how the Mafia shrank.
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago Link To Comment
Ben Affleck has the maturity of a junior high student.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
That's an interesting etymology of the word mafia, one I hadn't read before, and it may be true. But it differs from the one I learned many years ago when I was reading books about the Mafia after the Godfather came out. While fictional, Puzzo's masterpiece would be more accurately described as historicized fiction, because a lot of what happens in the book and movies really did happen. It's just that Puzzo made up the characters, some of which were based on real mafioso, and several events, while embellished, actually did occur--the founding of Las Vegas, the war between the families over the narcotics trade (the old timers did believe that narcotics was a dirty business and that trading in it would cost them their police and government protection, and would cut into their profits from booze, prostitution and gambling, which as Don Corleone rightly points out most people considered "harmless vices"), and the attempt to gain a foothold in Cuba.

From what I read, it all started in French occupied Sicily, during WW I. One day this French soldier grabbed a 14-year old girl off the streets and dragged her into a church, where he raped and killed her. The distraught mother ran through the streets, wailing "Ma fia! Ma fia!" (My daughter! My daughter!) So this group of young Sicilian men formed a gang, or a private army, hunted down the Fench soldier and killed him. They then began offering their services to the townspeople. Of course, they expected to be compensated for their efforts by the townspeople they protected, but it wasn't like they ran around committing crimes of violence against the townspeople and demanding fees for protection from themselves. They were more like a private security force, and their primary purpose was law enforcement. Organized crime and protection rackets, as we know them, didn't come along until much later.

It is true that prior to WW I Sicily was under Muslim domination for some 200 years, but it wasn't by Arabs; it was by Moors under the Ottoman Empire. That was a completely different kind of Islam than we see today, much more tolerant and far less invasive.

I seriously doubt that the Sicilians organized the Mafia around the precepts of Wahhabism, which hadn't left Arabia at the time. Rather, they organized around the precepts of the Roman Legion, which dominated Europe and the Mediterrean for over a millennium. There's a scene in the Godfather II, when Tom Hayden is counseling Frank Pantangli at the prison compound, where they discuss how in the old days they organized the Mafia around the cappo regimes. There was a Ceasar (the Godfather), there were cappos (bosses), and there were soldiers. Like the Roman Legion, Ceasar allowed the soldiers to take their share of the spoils, but they had to kick a percentage up to the cappos and to Ceasar. That is how the Roman Empire grew and flourished, and that is how the Mafia organized itself. Islam had nothing to do with it.

After WW I, there was an immigration wave from Siclily to New York. In Little Italy, there were roving criminal gangs, vandalizing businesses and assaulting locals. So the Mafia set out to do what they were founded to do, which is provide protection, for a fee of course. If you owned a business and paid for security, the criminal gangs woudn't mess with you, because they feared the Mafia more than they feared the police.

I don't believe the Mafia got involved in organized crime until Prohibition. Before that they merely dabbled in prostitution and gambling, hey these were underground businesses that paid for protection. And that was it. With Prohibition came a huge profit motive from bootlegging and speak easies. And La Cosa Nostra ("this thing of ours"), which is the American version of the Sicilian Mafia, began to make a lot of money and gain power, pay off policemen and buy politicians.

During WW II, the Mafia did povide valuable intelligence to the US military on the invasion of Sicily--Patton relied on it--and did support the resistance forces against the Nazis and the Facists. During the Cold War, the Mafia did try to assist the US government in the assasination of Castro. So, it's not like they were hard-core criminals, after all.

The Mafia has disintegrated into criminal gangs, it is true. But they didn't start out as criminal gangs, but rather as security forces. The government gave them the profit motive to transmogrify into criminal gangs.

A much more apt analogy between the Wahhabi sect of Islam and organized crime would be with the drug cartels of Central and South America.



3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
I do believe that the word "assassin" itself was originally derived from the actions of Muslim killers.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
On what do you base your belief?
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
"Ten ways the government, mafia and Islam are similar." There fixed it for ya.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
The problem that Western Civilization: 1 refuses to teach it's own history, 2 does not teach or understand eastern civilization, 3 has it's own conflicts which weaken it.

The godless movements of the 20th century have created a vacuum. One of the principles of physics is that a vacuum will seek to be filled by something. Religion (or rather faith) is at the heart of every person. Everyone wants to believe in something. We need to return to our Judea-Christian roots.

This whole thing about a multicultural society is a fiction. On the outside maybe, but on the inside we are one nation under God. I used to say the Anthem as a kid. It never hurt me.

3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
This is NOT necessarily a problem of Western Civilization, but is rooted in the principles set forth by Antonio Gramsci, who was an Italian Marxist who wrote on political theory, sociology and linguistics. He was a founding member and one-time leader of the Communist Party of Italy.

The key to his theory is that Marxist revolution in Western Civilization must come through the corruption of the culture, including the arts, and religion, and education. His ideas have been faithfully followed by "progressives" throughout the West for 100 years.

Multi-culturalism is just one perversion that is a result of this Marxist corruption and propaganda; Obama's administration is another!
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
The scripture that says Christ will return a make war and his robes will be dipped in blood makes sense in light of recent history.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
Here's another "assertion" (otherwise known as the TRUTH) =

Sharia Law is their END GOAL.... their manifest destiny.... their end all - be all ..... as blatantly seen in every single European country that made the mistake of accepting those human leeches (oh, yeah - 80% on the dole).....

..... enclaves of Sharia Law where police & firemen dare not tread!!!

YOU WANT THAT IN AMERICA????

It's happening NOW.

P.S. Sharia Law & FREEDOM are polar OPPOSITES!!!!
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
Yes, the Left wants it. They love the idea of Death or Dismemberment being the punishment for any and all offenses.

Especially for Christians and Practicing Jews.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
Ben Affleck should be sold as a slave to the muzzies, he loves them so much.

He could be their prize manyook.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
I grew up in an Italian neighborhood where there were 2 types of Italians, 1) Hardworking, self employed, entrepreneurs, (in the words of my Italian-American BFF, "no one would hire the adults or play with us kids because we were <"D"word>'s. 2) The Mafia. Group # 1 couldn't stand Group # 2 & basically ignored them. Group # 2 tolerated Group # 1 & either left them alone OR used them for "marketing purposes"...that is...they glorified the independent nature of these resourceful people; to make themselves look good.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
Most of the Italians I knew had a pretty low opinion of the Mafia.
3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago Link To Comment
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