“These are the truths you aren’t supposed to know!” reads the flier Texas Aggie Conservatives handed out Tuesday in front of Sbisa Dining Center.
TAC passed out two fliers, the first titled “Islam: Oppression of Women,” and the second was titled “Fundamental Islam: Deceiving the Infidel.” The first flier displayed a photo of a woman being stoned to death.
Fundamentalist Muslims, “who want to kill Americans,” are threatening the liberties afforded to Americans by the Constitution,” said TAC President Justin Pulliam.
“Americans should be worried about losing their traditional rights and liberties under the Constitution, like Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion,” Pulliam said. TAC makes a distinction between “fundamentalist” Muslims and “moderate” Muslims in its arguments, Pulliam said.
“It is our goal to educate Americans about these issues so we may protect basic human rights and empower moderate Muslims to reform violent and oppressive aspects of fundamentalist Islam,” he said. “What we’re asking for, hoping for is just as Christians have denounced and no longer practice bad things in their holy books; we hope that we can have a worldwide movement where Muslims say ‘We’re no longer going to practice violent verses that are in the Quran.’”
Members of the Muslim Student Association were also stationed at Sbisa handing out fliers titled “Exposing what Islam is about,” inviting students to a lecture and questions and
answers session.
One of the TAC fliers defines Taqiyya as “The Islamic doctrine allowing fundamentalist Muslims to deceive non-Muslims in order to advance Islam” and that “Muhammad (Allah’s Apostle) permits deception to facilitate murder.”
But MSA President Afnan Adam said Quran quotations on the TAC fliers are taken out of context.
“The most disingenuous claim by the TAC is their claim that Muslims lie as part of their religion, and claiming that this is what is called ‘Taqiyyah,’” Adam said. “Taqiyyah, as defined by Muslim scholars is the act of hiding one’s faith in the case where [she or he] fears persecution because of their faith. It was allowed for the earlier Muslims who were dragged over the burning coals and tortured to death by the people of Mecca while persecuting them to make them convert back from their new faith, Islam.”
Any holy text can be falsely used in support of violence, said a female Muslim student that wished to remain anonymous. She will be referred to as Jane for the rest of the article.
“My religion says to not hurt even a plant,” she said. “On the [TAC] website, they are saying in this country they were doing this, in this country they are doing this. But, Islam is not a country.”
The first flier, “Islam: Oppression of Women,” indicates that one of the ways Islamic women are oppressed is by being forced to cover their bodies. But covering the body is a choice, Jane said.
“I choose this way and it’s my decision. If you want to free me, leave me with my choice,” she said. “If [a] girl covers herself because of the force of any other human being, than I would go and tell her ‘Please don’t. Let me help you to uncover yourself.’”
The first flier created a lot of angst, said Tim Sweeney, associate director of Student Activities.
“To try and make sure that the groups were communicating at least, to hear one another out, we facilitated a meeting between the Muslim Student Association and the Texas Aggie Conservatives,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney and Bill Stackman, the director of Student Activities, were at Sbisa Wednesday “to make sure everyone gets to say what they believe,” and to calm students that may become violent while discussing the fliers.
Pulliam said he would like to debate the issue with the MSA, but no one has accepted the offer.
“We had hoped to debate the Muslim Student Association or any other student organization that would like to put up a speaker,” he said. “We’re bringing a speaker in, Robert Spencer, for Nov. 11.”
Adam said he declined to debate with TAC because “their motive is not to understand what we believe.”
“Without the resolve to understand the other side, no dialogue or debate is successful,” Adam said, “and thus is a distraction and a waste of time.”
TAC will be passing out fliers throughout November.
Two groups with opposing views, expressing themselves side-by-side, is a beautiful display of Freedom of Speech, said Karl Flocky, a junior renewable natural resources major.
“But I feel [the TAC flier] kind of comes off as anti-Islamic,” he said. “And I think it’s surprising that a political organization on campus would take a stance against a specific religion because I feel that doesn’t really have much to do with politics at all.”