[Excerpt: "The inability to recognize terrorism when it is dressed in a suit, totes a blackberry and uses academic language—is one of the greatest blind spots of Western civilization today. "]
In response to the Islamic terrorist attacks that murdered 76 people in Uganda, Barack Hussein Obama delivered the usual homily about Islam being a great religion, and Islamic terrorism being the work of a small handful of extremists who reject modernity. And while many people have stood up to take issue with the false claim that only a small minority of Muslims view terrorism as legitimate, fewer have tackled the underlying premise behind this liberal critique of Islam, which claims that it is a lack of modernity that is the problem.
The reason why the “Modernity” narrative is so dangerous, is because it has drawn even liberal critics of Islam into a false paradigm, in which Muslim terrorists reject modernity, and therefore Muslims who do not seem to reject modernity cannot be terrorists. That is why Tariq Ramadan can waltz from campus to campus, shielded from accusations of “extremism” by his supposed embrace of modernity. Terrorist groups and terrorist front groups, from the Taliban, which before 9/11 sent an ambassador to Berkeley who delivered lectures explaining that the Buddha statues had been destroyed to protest against global economic injustice, to Hizb ut Tahir, whose spokesmen talk like moral relativists, even as they preach uncompromising Jihad to their followers—have learned to talk like “moderns”, even when their real goals have remained the same since Mohammed and his followers rode down on their enemies.
[Excerpt: "Since locating the absent Rauf last week in Malaysia, I have now discovered that he's about to embark on a nearly month-long swing through the Middle East, with plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar."
"Ultimately, in response to repeated questions, a member of Rauf's New York Cordoba Initiative foundation e-mailed me Friday, saying that Rauf's trip to the Middle East, "in the near future," will be hosted by the U.S. government as part of an outreach program to "bring the message of moderation, peace and understanding." ]
While debate rages over plans for an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan, the imam behind this project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is not available to answer questions in New York. Since locating the absent Rauf last week in Malaysia, I have now discovered that he's about to embark on a nearly month-long swing through the Middle East, with plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar.
Not that I learned this from Rauf, whose Malaysian office staff told me by phone on Tuesday that "All media requests have to go through his office in New York." Nor did his New York colleagues simply volunteer information about his imminent trip to the Middle East. It took a series of phone calls and questions to eke it out of them, starting with a vague reply from a staffer who then tried to backtrack with a message that, retroactively, her remark was "completely off the record."
For more information on events listed below please email
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September 9 through 12 - March on DC (Washington, DC) Location: Washington DC Featured Speaker: Lisa Piraneo For more information please visit: http://marchondc.org
September 18 - Tea Party Event (Fort Worth, TX) Time: 1pm Central Time Featured Speaker: Brigitte Gabriel Location: Fort Worth Convention Center
1201 Houston Street
Fort Worth, TX 76102 Link:http://www.912ftw.org/ Promo Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HMn1eJCvak
October 3 – Meet Brigitte (Oklahoma City/Moore, OK) Time: 6pm Central Time Featured Speaker: Brigitte Gabriel Location: First Baptist Church of Moore
301 Northeast 27th Street
Moore, OK 73160-4105
October 5 – Meet Brigitte (Tulsa/ Skiatook, OK) Time: 7pm Central Time Featured Speaker: Brigitte Gabriel Location: Immanuel Baptist Church of Skiatook
625 South Broadway Street
Skiatook, OK 74070-2011
October 16 – Tea Party Event (Houston, TX) Time: 9am Central Time Featured Speaker: Brigitte Gabriel Location: Sam Houston Race Park
7575 North Sam Houston Parkway West
Houston, TX 77064 Link: http://www.shrp.com/liveracing_october16TeaParty.html
[Excerpt: "The fact we Muslims know the idea behind the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation to thumb our noses at the infidel. The proposal has been made in bad faith and in Islamic parlance, such an act is referred to as “Fitna,” meaning “mischief-making” that is clearly forbidden in the Koran."]
What’s more, Raheel Raza and Tarek Fatah wrote in the Ottawa Citizen this weekend, no one can really deny the motivations of its sponsors. New York City already has 30 mosques, so it hardly requires one at the place where Muslim extremists murdered almost 3,000 people — including a number of Muslims. Raza and Fatah wonder how the organizers would react to a Serbian Orthodox church on the ground where 8,000 Muslims got slaughtered in Srebrenica, and whether they would be defending property rights and the freedom of religious expression in that case.
But mostly, the two authors wonder where the mosque’s sponsors got their money:
There are many questions that we would like to ask. Questions about where the funding is coming from? If this mosque is being funded by Saudi sources, then it is an even bigger slap in the face of Americans, as nine of the jihadis in the Twin Tower calamity were Saudis.
If Rauf is serious about building bridges, then he could have dedicated space in this so-called community centre to a church and synagogue, but he did not. We passed on this message to him through a mutual Saudi friend, but received no answer. He could have proposed a memorial to the 9/11 dead with a denouncement of the doctrine of armed jihad, but he chose not to.
It’s a repugnant thought that $100 million would be brought into the United States rather than be directed at dying and needy Muslims in Darfur or Pakistan.
