The candidates are linking Islam with terrorism? Really? As if they weren’t linked already! Wasn’t it Osama bin Laden who made this link? Wasn’t it Khomeini who made this link, when he said, “Islam says: Kill in the service of Allah those who may want to kill you!...There are hundreds of other [Koranic] psalms and hadiths [sayings of the prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim”? Or maybe it was the Qur’an itself, which tells Muslims to “strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah” (8:60). Maybe it was the perpetrators of those 10,000-plus terror attacks committed in the name of Islam since 9/11. Maybe it was the British Muslim Omar Brooks, who said in 2005 that it was imperative for Muslims to “instil terror into the hearts of the kuffar” and added: “I am a terrorist. As a Muslim of course I am a terrorist.”
Naaaah. It was Mike Huckabee. And McCain. And Giuliani.
“US primaries anti-Islam terminology due to Muslims’ inaction, absence,” by Heather Yamour for the Kuwait News Agency (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
Republicans fiercely attacking Islam as a religion interwoven with terrorism are targeting evangelical churches and conservative Americans seeking to preserve the strict Christian faith in the government and fear the possibility that the future president may open the door wider for Muslims to enter mainstream society.
Republican Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, called Islamo-fascism “the greatest threat this country has ever faced”, while his party challenger Arizona Senator John McCain rejected US trade with nations accused of sympathizing with terrorist groups, saying “I’m not interested in trading with Al-Qaeda.” “Islamic terrorists are at war with us,” Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor-turned presidential hopeful told voters in Maryland. “They want to kill us,” he warned supporters in New Hampshire.
“There are Muslim, Christian, and other terrorists. But the term ‘Islamic terrorist’ suggests there is something about Islam,” he said.
“Islamic” in “Islamic terrorist” is a simple modifier referring to those terrorists who are operating, by their own account, in the name of Islam and in accord with Islamic teachings. They are, after all, the ones who destroyed the World Trade Center on 9/11, and have wrought so much havoc around the world. If the people who were doing these things were Christians who quoted the Bible to justify their acts of violence, it would be perfectly legitimate to call them Christian terrorists. But they are Muslims who quote the Qur’an to justify their acts of violence, and it is perfectly legitimate to call them Islamic terrorists.
Use of the phrase outraged Muslims worldwide, including Saudi Arabia, which reportedly issued a plea to the US to stop using the term.
“If you put two things together in one word like “Islamo-fascism” it implies that Islam is essentially fascist,” explained Cole, who referred to fascist movements in modern history including the Romanian Iron Guard who were very invested in Christianity, “but nobody talks about Christo-fascism, as they shouldn’t.” Prejudice against Islam has also extended across party lines and into the Democratic Party.
Say, Juan Cole, if you’re up for a debate about the accuracy and appropriateness of the terms “Islamic terrorism” or “Islamo-fascism,” I’m ready. Contact me at director@jihadwatch.org.
