By Sheila Musaji,
These individuals and organizations consistently promote the false what everyone “knows” lies about Islam and Muslims (including ]distorting the meaning of Qur’anic verses, and distorting the meaning of Islamic terms such as taqiyya, jihad, sharia, etc.).
— Everyone “knows” that most or all terrorists are Muslims, and there are no Christian and no Jewish terrorists (or terrorists of any other religious stripe), and that Muslims are all militant, inherently violent, more likely to engage in violence against civilians, and more likely than other Americans to be radicalized.
— Everyone “knows” that Muslims are not interested in dialogue. That Muslims don’t help Christians in need. That Muslims can’t have Christians as friends, andare anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers, and intolerant of other faiths, and in fact hate Jews.
— Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t unequivocally denounce terrorism, that American Muslim leaders have not responded to radicalization in their community, that mosques are the sourceof radicalization, that 85% of mosques are run by radicals, that Muslims don’t cooperate with law enforcement.
— Everyone “knows” that Muslims are not equivalent to real Americans, that they are the enemy within, and a fifth column, that good Muslims can’t be good Americans, that Muslims are not loyal to America, that they are not a part of our American heritage
— Everyone “knows” that Islam itself is the problem and makes Muslims “backward”, that Muslims have made no contribution to the West, that Islam is “of the devil”, a Crescent menace, a“green peril”, that was spread by the sword, an “evil encroaching on the United States”, andnot a religion.
— Everyone “knows” that this is a Christian nation, which the Muslims are trying to take over, starting with getting an Eid stamp which is the first step towards shariah law which is a threat to America, and a threat to our judicial system, by purposefully having more children than others to increase their numbers, and they will be the majority in this country in 20 years. Muslims are a threat to America
— Everyone “knows” that Muslims have no respect for the Constitution, they don’t obey the laws of the United States, that they are opposed to freedom of speech, don’t allow and freedom of religion.
— Everyone “knows” that Muslims are given a pass by the elite media. It’s “us versus them”.
— Everyone “knows” that the Muslims’ goal is world domination under a Caliphate, and the proposed Cordoba House in NYC is a demonstration of supremacism and triumphalism, and that Muslims planned to open it on the anniversary of 9/11.
— Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t speak out against extremism or terrorism, and even those Muslims who do speak up or seem moderate are simplylying or practicing taqiyyah.
— Everyone “knows” that the Qur’an is uniquely violent, that the Islamic concept of God doesn’t include God’s love, and does not include the concept of a Golden Rule, that Allah is a moon god.
— Everyone “knows” that Islam is a monolith and all Muslims are the same, like the “Borg”. This means that every act committed by an individual who is a Muslim is directly attributable to Islam, and never because the individual is crazy, criminal, or perverted.
— Everyone “knows” that Muslims don’t have a sense of humor— Everyone “knows” that Muslims are like the Fascists and Nazis and that in fact they supported those movements. And, all of these memes that everyone “knows” ARE FALSE.
Islamophobes claim to see “jihad” plots everywhere, particularly where they don’t exist. They, like Muslim extremists, don’t understand the true meaning of the term jihad.
— An Eid Celebration for Muslim Special Needs Kids was described as a “stealth jihad”.
— A Muslim doctor had a heart attack and died at the wheel of his car which then crashed into a shopping mall and this was described as “vehicular jihad”.
— A Muslim cab driver objected to what he considered pornographic ads on the roof of his cab, and that became a stealth-jihadplot to impose Sharia on America.
— Any Muslim who has sued an employer for violation of their rights under the EEOC is engaged in employment jihad, or litigation jihad.
— Muslim environmentalists are said to be actually engaged in “civilizational jihad”.
— A cartoon series “The 99” aimed at young Muslims was described as “cultural jihad”.
— The victims of the terrorist attack of 9/11 included Muslims, they were accused of dying as martyrs in an act of jihad. Muslims hoped to open a Muslim hospital in the U.S. and that was called hospital jihad.
— A Muslim Family Day Eid celebration at Six Flags was attacked because the date of Eid that year fell to close to 9/11.
—A Muslim Prayer event in front of the U.S. Capital was opposed as an example of “Islamization of America”?
The Islamophobes have uncovered countless examples of “shocking” Muslim jihad plots. They have uncovered:bumper sticker jihad — Thanksgiving turkey jihad — paisley scarf jihad — marriage to important men jihad — spit jihad — fashion jihad — spelling bee jihad — rape jihad —defacing dollar bills jihad — population jihad — creeping Sharia jihad — mosque building jihad — terror baby jihad — “creeping Sharia” jihad — pedophilia jihad — bus driver prayer jihad — forehead bruise jihad — postage stamp jihad — soup jihad — banning alcohol jihad — fake hate crimes jihad — piggy bank jihad — tv reality series jihad —handshake jihad — prom jihad — interfaith jihad — Arabic language jihad — public school jihad — religious accommodation jihad — Crescent moon jihad — Christmas tree tax jihad— oath of office jihad — immigration jihad — community fundraiser jihad— public school/madrassa jihad — post office jihad — food jihad — pyramid jihad — crucifixion jihad — fireworks jihad — computer donation jihad — civic participation jihad — Olympic “judo” jihadNothing is too trivial to escape the eagle eyes of these “defenders of Western civilization” against devious Muslim stealth jihad plots. Christina Abraham (a Muslim) has a name that is not recognizably Muslim enough and so we have stealth name jihad. And, if a Muslim somewhere is not doing anything at all suspicious, then they are engaged inpre-violent jihad.
They generalize specific incidents to reflect on all Muslims or all of Islam. They consistently push the false memes that:
- we are in danger from creeping Sharia,
- Muslims in government are accused of being Muslim Brotherhood plants, stealth jihadists, and creeping Sharia proponents and should be MARGINALIZED or excluded.
Every Muslim organization is connected to the infamous Muslim Brotherhood document or the unindicted co-conspirator label.
Individual Muslims and Arabs, and their organizations are accused of not condemning Hamas.
When Islamophobes are caught in the act of making up or distorting claims they engage in devious methods to attempt to conceal the evidence.
Here are just a few of the lies and distortions made up by the Islamophobes which never happened, or are simply not true.
(Although, that does not stop them from endlessly repeating them and passing them on through the Islamophobia echo chamber):
ANTI-CHRISTIAN— The murder of a New Jersey Christian Coptic family was falsely chargedto Muslims.
— An American Christian Missionary in Africa didn’t face possible murder charges and hanging because of a traffic accident. — The ridiculous complaints about crosses at Catholic University were not made by Muslims — Muslims are not forbidden to have non-Muslims as friends. — Muslims are not intolerant of other faiths (Gallup poll)
ANTI-SEMITIC — The story that Iran was considering forcing Jews to wear a yellow star or yellow badge appeared in several publications and it was totally false.
— An Urban Outfitters tee-shirt was not part of a “left/Islamic coalition” to incite to violence and genocide against Jews.
— Muslim students did not “target Jewish students” with eviction notices at a Florida University.
— Delta Airlines does not have a “no-Jew” policy for flights to Saudi Arabia
— Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf did not make a comment blaming “the Jews” for 9-11
— There was no Muslim plot hatched in an on-line forum to attack British Jews over Israel’s actions in Gaza, and there was no “Islamist” named Abu Islam making these fake postings.
— It is not true that Muslim scholars have not spoken out against holocaust denial and anti-Semitism.
APOSTASY & FREEDOM OF FAITH — It is not true that Muslims have not spoken against any punishment for apostasy, and in favor of freedom of faith for all.
ARABIC TERMS — A Madrassah is simply a school. — The Muslim statement of faith (Shahada) is not an expression of hate, or is not an “expression of hate” “closely identified” with terrorism. — It is not true that the Muslim concept of taqiyya means that Muslims have permission to lie to non-Muslims to “advance the cause of Islam”. It is also not true that Christian and Jewish scholars haven’t discussed the same concept and come to similar conclusions.
CELEBRATING TERRORISM— Arabs did not celebrate 9/11 at a Dunkin Donuts in New Jersey. — Budweiser did not pull all its product from the shelves of a convenience store because there was a celebration of 9/11 attacks, this never happened.
CHILD BRIDES — The Hamas “child bride” incident was nothing of the sort.
CITIZENSHIP & CIVIC PARTICIPATION — A government officials’ conversion to Islam is not“like joining the Nazi party during WWII”. — Muslims also died on 9/11. — A spelling bee for students at Muslim schools was not an example of the inability of Muslims to integrate. — Requesting reasonable religious accommodation in the public sphere is not “creeping Sharia”. — The White House Iftar was not a “ghoulish” or “disgraceful” attempt to appease Muslims — Whole Foods offering halal products during Ramadan was not “shilling for jihadist interests” — There is no plot by Muslim cabdrivers in New York City to impose Sharia on America because they objected to pornographic signs. — The best buy Happy Eid statement on an ad was not a subversive attempt to “water down” American holidays — Muslim environmentalists are not partof a sinister plot to colonize the west. — Keith Ellison’s use of the Qur’an in the photo op after his swearing in was not “undermining American culture”.
There have been so many attacks on Muslims attempting to engage in public life, that this also requires a separate section: If a Muslim runs for political office, or even wants to get involved in their local community, or establish any sort of institution, they are demonized. Outrageous charges of “creeping Sharia prononent”, “stealth jihadist”, “Muslim Brotherhood plant”, etc. are made by Islamophobes. Here are just a few examples of such attacks:— Huma Abedin has been facing bigoted accusations for at least the past year. — Sh. Muhammad Nur Abdullah was listed as a “stealth jihadist” on the Discover the Networks site for nothing more than being President of ISNA and a member of the FCNA. — Imam Johari Abdul-Malik was attacked when he was asked to lead the prayer in the Virginia Legislature.— Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was attacked for wanting to built a Muslim community center in Manhattan — Ambassador Akbar Ahmed was attacked for the statement that “America’s Founding Fathers admired Islam”, this was called “an attempt to “Islamize” Americans’ “knowledge” of the origin of their nation.” — Parvez Ahmed’sappointment to the Jacksonville, Florida Human Rights Commission was strongly opposed. — Frank Gaffney’s CSP is pressuring the Gov. of Tennessee to fire Samar Ali from the position of Director of the Economic and Community Development Dept. — Wajahat Aliwas attacked because he was in the MSA in college — Arif Alikhan, the deputy mayor of Los Angeles, was attacked when he was appointed Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security because he had spoken at an MPAC convention. — Salam al-Marayati was listed as a “stealth jihadist” on the Discover the Networks site for being President of MPAC.— Debbie Almontaser was attacked when she attempted to establish an Arabic language school in NYC. — Mazen Asbahi was forced to resign as Obama’s Muslim Outreach Coordinator to avoid further disruption to the office. — Reza Aslan was attacked by Robert Spencer for speaking out against Islamophobia. — Laleh Bakhtiar was accused of “lying” in her Qur’an translation — Rep. Andre Carson was recently embroiled in a manufactured controversy. — Halim Dhanidina, who spent 14 years as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, was appointed to a California Superior Court judgeship by Gov. Jerry Brown, he was attacked for having been in the MSA as a student. — Mohamed Elibiary, a member of DHS’s Combatting Violent Extremism Working Group (CVE). — Khaled Abou El Fadl was attacked by Daniel Pipes as a “stealth Islamist” — Rep. Keith Ellison has faced numerous assaults. — Rima Fakih was attacked simply for winning the Miss USA Beauty Pageant.— The Fiqh Council of North America fatwa against terrorism was attacked for not defining “civilians”. — Faisal Gill, a former JAG officer in the Navy and a Bush White House official accused of terrorist connections when he attempted to get involved in local politics. —Nezar Hamze was rejected for a position in the Broward County Republican Committee because “Islam is incompatible with the Constitution.” — Mehdi Hasan was attacked when he was hired as a Huffington Post Editor. — Rashad Hussein when appointed as special envoy to the OIC. — Even Zuhdi Jasser, Rep. Peter King’s “ideal Muslim leader” has been accused of practicing taqqiya.— Zaid Jilani was attacked and lost his job over spurious “anti-Semitism” charges. — Rashid Khalidi was attacked for defending the right of Palestinians to resist the occupation. — Suhail Khan was accused of being a Muslim Brotherhood operative “infiltrating” CPAC. — Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates was attacked for giving Muslims common legal advice. — Imam Mohamed Magid, attacked for being President of ISNA. — Irshad Manji another of the Islamophobes “good” Muslims was attacked by Pamela Geller for distinguishing between “radical” and “moderate” Islam.— Prof. Ingrid Mattson, the first female President of ISNA for being included in Inaugural Prayer Service.— Dalia Mogahed was attached when she was appointed to the White House’s Office of Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships. — Sohail Mohammed faced baseless attacks when he was nominated as a judge on the NJ state Superior Court by Gov. Christie. — Muslim interns on capital hill were accused of “infiltrating” and there were calls for an investigation. — Muslim staffers on capital hill met for prayer and there was a call for a Justice Dept. investigation. — The comedian Dean Obeidallah was called an “Islamic supremacist hate propagandist” — Dr. Mehmet Oz was attacked for being a “Muslim Turk, the worst scum of the earth”— Eboo Patel was called an “Islamic supremacist” for calling for a boycott of Lowe’s for dropping advertising for All-American Muslim under bigoted pressure — Farah Pandith was attacked as “working for the cause of Islam, not America” when she was appointed by Hillary Clinton as Special Rep. to Muslim Communities — Imam Hasan Qazwini was attacked for his opposition to an AFDI/SIOA hate group event in Dearborn. — David Ramadan, a Muslim GOP candidate in a Virginia House of Delegates race and Reagan administration Attorney General and Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation was called a “stealth jihadist” by Pamela Geller. — Ahmed Rehab faced bigotry when he was appointed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as part of an advisory committee on immigration issues. — Faiz Shakir was attacked when Nancy Pelosi hired him as Director of Media in her office. — Imam Muzammil Siddiqui attacked by SIOA when the Human Rights Commission honored him with an award. — Imam Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir were attacked for founding Zaytuna Institute which Pamela Geller called “academic jihad” — Fareed Zakaria was attacked as a “Muslim Brother” because his father was an Islamic scholar, and his grandfather was Hassan al Banna..
I can’t think of an active Muslim, or a Muslim organization, that has not been attacked, and that includes Imams, journalists, community activists, scholars, educators, politicians, etc.. In fact, you don’t even need to be a famous individual to come under attack, just a Muslim. For example, I have personally been the subject of many such attacks for pointing out instances of Islamophobia. The only Muslim that I can think of that is regularly (although not universally) praised by Islamophobes is Zuhdi Jasser who Rep. Peter King calls theideal Muslim leader, and a few other “astroturf” Muslims. See The Islamophobic Attempt to Marginalize American Muslim Civic Participation for examples of non-Muslims being attacked for supporting Muslims.
CRESCENTS & “MUSLIM” SYMBOLS — The Nuclear Security Summit logo is an atom on a circular path, not an Islamic symbol. — The U.S. Missile Defense Logo is not evidence of ‘Submission To Shariah’, and neither is the Flight 93 memorial. — The Google Veteran’s Day logodoesn’t display a secret Muslim agenda.
Eid postage stamp. — The zebibah (prayer bruise) on some Muslims foreheads is not a sign of a “commitment to jihad”. — Muslims don’t hate dogs. — Muslim handshaking customs are not an attempt to force Sharia on others. — An Eid party for Muslim special needs kids was not any sort of “stealth jihad” —Muslims do not block New York streets to pray every Friday.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH — “Islamophobia” is not an “attempt to silence freedom of speech” — It is not true that American Muslims have not defended freedom of speech — Condemnation of hateful speech is not an attempt to impose legal restrictions on that speech.
HATE CRIMES — Muslims are not more likely to report “fake” hate crimes than anyone else.
“HONOR KILLING”— Opposition to Geller & Spencers “human rights” conference on honor killing does not equal “supporting honor killing, gendercide, and the subjugation and oppression of women.”
INBREEDING — Claims about Muslim inferiority due to “inbreeding” are racist and a misrepresentation of the issue
ISLAMO-FASCISTS, ISLAMO-NAZIS — The Mufti of Jerusalem was not “the leader of the Muslim world” and most Muslims fought the Nazis and Fascists.
JIHAD (STEALTH JIHAD) This has become such a common claim that it requires a section of its’ own “Islamophobes see “jihad” everywhere”. Jihad is not terrorism except in the minds of the extremists and the Islamophobes. Here are just a few ridiculous claims about nonsensical Muslim plots:An Eid Celebration for Muslim Special Needs Kids was described as a “stealth jihad”. A children’s page in a newspaper focusing on Eid was described as a toxic propaganda plot. Joel Hinrichs (a Christian) had a beard and had walked through the parking lot of a campus mosque thus proving that his crime was an example of sudden jihad syndrome. The awful April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech by a Korean student was also calledIslamic jihad because Cho’s father had once worked in Saudi Arabia (before he was married and before Cho was born). A Muslim doctor had a heart attack and died at the wheel of his car which then crashed into a shopping mall and this was described as“vehicular jihad”.
A Muslim cab driver objected to what he considered pornographic ads on the roof of his cab, and that became a stealth-jihad plot to impose Sharia on America. Any Muslim who has sued an employer for violation of their rights under the EEOC is engaged in employment jihad, or litigation jihad. Muslim environmentalists are said to be actually engaged in “civilizational jihad”.
A cartoon series “The 99” aimed at young Muslims was described as “cultural jihad”. The victims of the terrorist attack of 9/11 included Muslims, they were accused of dying as martyrs in an act of jihad. Muslims hoped to open a Muslim hospital in the U.S. and that was called hospital jihad.
The Islamophobes have uncovered countless examples of “shocking” Muslim jihad plots. They have uncovered:bumper sticker jihad — Thanksgiving turkey jihad — paisley scarf jihad — marriage to important men jihad — spit jihad — fashion jihad — spelling bee jihad — rape jihad — defacing dollar bills jihad — population jihad — creeping Sharia jihad — mosque building jihad — terror baby jihad — “creeping Sharia” jihad — pedophilia jihad — bus driver prayer jihad — forehead bruise jihad — postage stamp jihad —soup jihad — banning alcohol jihad — fake hate crimes jihad — piggy bank jihad— tv reality series jihad — handshake jihad — prom jihad — interfaith jihad —Arabic language jihad — public school jihad — religious accommodation jihad —Crescent moon jihad — Christmas tree tax jihad — oath of office jihad —immigration jihad — community fundraiser jihad— public school/madrassa jihad —post office jihad — food jihad — pyramid jihad — crucifixion jihad — fireworks jihad— computer donation jihad — civic participation jihad — Olympic “judo” jihadNothing is too trivial to escape the eagle eyes of these “defenders of Western civilization” against devious Muslim stealth jihad plots. Christina Abraham (a Muslim) has a name that is not recognizably Muslim enough and so we havestealth name jihad. And, if a Muslim somewhere is not doing anything at all suspicious, then they are engaged in pre-violent jihad.
LOYALTY— A Muslim student in Florida did not refuse to stand for the pledge of allegiance. — It is not true that American Muslims don’t support and defend the Constitution of the U.S.
MOSQUES — The judge did not rule “that construction of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro must stop”. “Islamic supremacists” are not “defying the chancellor’s order” or “defying American law” or “demonstrating their contempt for American jurisprudence”.
POPULATION, MUSLIM DEMOGRAPHICS —There is no plot to have terrorist babies born in the U.S.
PROPAGANDA— Muslims did not destroy the Library of Alexandria. — The Song of Roland is propaganda, it was not “Saracens” but Basques that attacked Charlemagne. — The photo of a Yemeni passenger on the Mavi Marmara holding a dagger was totally misrepresented — Barack Obama is not a Muslim, but so what if he was? — Mattel is not promoting Sharia with a subversive doll that supposedly says “Islam is the light”. —There is no Muslim scholar named Sheikh Haron, and everything he does or says as a supposed member of the Muslim communityis a lie.
QUR’AN — There is no verse of the Qur’an (supposedly 9:11) on “The Wrath of the Eagle”. — It is not true that “to go away from” as a translation for darabah in Qur’an 4:34 was never used before Laleh Bakhtiar’s translation.
RAPE — All of the rapes Oslo, Norway over the past three years were not “committed by Muslim immigrants using rape as a weapon of cultural terrorism”. —Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazd did not justify and provide Islamic guidelines for the raping of prisoners. The story was a lie. — All rapes in Norway have not been committed by Muslims (not even most)
SHARIA (CREEPING SHARIA, ENFORCING SHARIA, STEALTH SHARIA) — The story about the British banks banning piggy banks so as not to offend Muslims thus enforcing Sharia never happened. — Nurses in Britain were not “ordered to drop everything and turn Muslims’ beds toward Mecca five times daily” thus enforcing
Sharia. — A bus driver in Britain didn’t tellpassengers to get off the bus so he could pray, no creeping Sharia. — It is not true that Sharia and Halakha have nothing in common.— The supposed Egyptian “necrophilia law” was not an accurate story. —The story about a flight from London to Malta being stopped because a Muslim man was praying in the aisle was a lie — Straight prayer lines, beards, hijabs, gender segregation during prayers, wearing a watch on your right hand, wearing “non-western” clothing, etc. are not “Sharia adherent behaviors” that might correlate with the promotion of violence.
SLAVERY — The word Slav does not come from the word for slave and has nothing to do with Islam. Slavery is not only a Muslim problem.
SPEAKING OUT — It is not true “that absolutely none of the self-professed “moderate” Muslim leaders in the U.S. will disavow Hizb ut-Tahrir or its goals.”— MEMRI was wrong when they issued a statement doubting that Imam Ali Khamanei ever issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons. — The Amman message does clearly “address violence or non-violent jihad activity against non-Muslims” claiming that it does not is a lie
STEREOTYPING — Muslims are not a monolithic group or Borg-like collective
TERRORISM & VIOLENCE— The supposed bomb threat made by an Arizona student that led to an evacuation of the school was a hoax by non-Muslim students. — Muslims are not more likely to support terrorism and violence than Christians or Jews. — The University of Oklahoma bombing had no connection with Islam.— The
Virginia Tech massacre had no connection with Islam. — The story that Iran was going to attack the U.S. and/or Israel with nuclear weapons on August 22, 2006 was a lie. — There were no Muslims acting suspiciously on Air Tran flight 297. — 17,000 “Islamic terrorist” attacks exist only in fevered Islamophobic brains — Muslims did not paint graffiti on Southwest jets as a “jihadist” or “Islamic threat” — The tragic Belgian massacre by Nordine Amrani was not a “jihad” attack and Amrani wasn’t a Muslim — The Hollywood shooter, Tyler Brehm was not a Muslim — There was noassassination attempt on an EDL leader in Britain. — Muslims are not more likely than non-Muslims to approve of violence against civilians (PEW poll). —The Holocaust museum shootinghad nothing to do with Islam. — Anders Breivik’s terrible massacre in Norway was not “a jihad” or even commited by a Muslim — The “Muslim plot” to kill the Pope never happened — Five American Muslim soldiers never plotted to poison their fellow soldiers. — There was no Muslim cat crucifixion in Nigeria to protest an anti-Muslim film.(Note: click on the links to see responses to particular claims or incidents)
The Islamophobia of these folks is very real, it is also strikingly similar to a previous generations’ anti-Semitism, and it has predictable consequences.
The influence of the Islamophobia Industry is wide-ranging.
ANTI-MOSQUE INCIDENTS have become commonplace. An ANTI-SHARIA MANIA is sweeping states across the country. Even our elected representatives not only repeat anti-Muslim memes, but rely on known Islamophobes as “experts” on Islam and Muslims. These Islamophobes produce ridiculous reports like the Mapping Sharia projects Sharia a threat to America report and Shari’a and Violence in American Mosques report that somehow are taken seriously. The GOP included an anti-Sharia plank in their platform adopted at the 2012 convention. The anti-Sharia movement may have unintended consequences for other minority communities. There were anti-Muslim COUNTER-TERRORISM TRAINING PROGRAMS for law enforcement, and for the U.S. Military.
There was a series of RADICALIZATION HEARINGS by Rep. Peter King. focusing only on threats from Muslims, making false claims, and ignoring right-wing threats.. There was the legally questionable NYPD/CIA domestic surveillance of Muslims and Arabs.
There was the SMEAR CAMPAIGN against Muslims in government led by 5 GOP representatives. The GOP has been involved in a series of incidents making it seem as if they have declared war on American Muslims. The 2008 Presidential campaign was rife with Islamophobia. There has been a whole series of
MILITARY SCANDALS - urinating on dead Afghans - “Kill Teams” in Afghanistan who hunted civilians for sport and murdered them in cold blood. - Abu Ghraib torture and abuse. - The Rape scandal in which soldiers raped an Iraqi child and killed her and her family to cover it up. - The Jesus Rifles scandal in Iraq and Afghanistan. - The “hunt people for Jesus” evangelizing of Muslims in Afghanistan by military personnel. - The “freedom packages” military crusade in Iraq.
Elected representatives and military and government officials have openly called for UN-CONSTITUTIONAL ACTS like: purging Muslims from the military or requiring Muslim soldiers to be openly identified as Muslims, considering excluding Muslims from the protection of the First Amendment of the Constitution, requiring a special “loyalty test” for Muslims to serve in government, excluding Muslims from entering some States of the U.S., declaring war on the religion of Islam? Can you imagine making such statements involving any other minority?
This process of making hatred towards Islam and Muslims acceptable has been aided, sadly, by the fact that such statements have even been made by Jewish and Christian clergy people.
This is possible because the American Muslim community has been so successfully demonized by theanti-Muslim/anti-Arab Islamophobia Industry that the attitudes of Americans towards Muslims and Arabs have shown a steady negative trend.
Because elected representatives, government officials and even clergy have also gone unchallenged when making anti-Muslim statements, Islamophobia itself seems “reasonable” and has become mainstream. Many polls and reports document this increase in negative attitudes.
You would never know from listening to any of the members of the Islamophobia Industry that Muslims have defended freedom of speech, participated in interfaith dialogue, defendedfreedom of faith against apostasy laws, condemned blasphemy laws, condemned holocaust denial and anti-Semitism, promoted non-violent solutions to the many problems we face, called for protecting all houses of worship and condemned any attacks on churches or synagogues anywhere, condemnedviolent responses to numerous incidents including the response to the Innocence of Muslims film, spoken out against child marriage, are working to stop domestic violence in our community, etc.
Type condemn into the TAM search engine and 145 statements of condemnation come up in addition to the collections in our lengthy section Muslim voices against extremism terrorism and violence Muslims speak out loudly and clearly condemning our own extremists, and their extremist statements and actions.
Type “lunatic fringe” into the TAM search engine for many such articles condemning particular extremists and extremist groups and activities. You would never know that Muslims are decent, hardworking, productive citizens, making a positive contribution to this society.
Muslims haven’t just spoken out against abuses carried out anywhere in the world that dishonor Islam, but also worked doing positive things. our TAM collection of good news stories about Muslims for this year of 2012 notes that Many people are not aware for example:
that a Sacramento Christian congregation was invited to hold their Easter services at a mosque: that an East Bronx Jewish community was invited to hold their services in a mosque when they lost their building; that a Northern Virginia Jewish community invited local Muslims to pray Jumah in the synagogue; that a Virginia mosque held an interfaith Jewish Seder. All of those things have happened already this year. Or that there are many active programs and efforts in the community to counter radicalization and extremism and to work to protect minority rights in Muslim majority countries, or that Muslims are involved in community service, interfaith work, peacemaking work, free clinics, volunteer efforts, civil rights efforts, disaster relief efforts, environmental efforts, etc. Read the article for specific information and links to sources
The claim that the Islamophobes are “truth-tellers” and “defenders of freedom” who actually “love Muslims” and have never engaged in “broadbrush demonization” or “advocated violence” are nonsense.
The claim that they are falsely being accused of Islamophobia for no reason other than their legitimate concerns about real issues and that in fact there is not even such a thing as Islamophobia, or their claim that the fact that there are fewer hate crimes against Muslims than against Jews or that some Muslims have fabricated such crimes “proves” that Islamophobia doesn’t exist, or that the term Islamophobia was made up by Muslims in order to stifle their freedom of speech, or that anti-Muslim bigotry is “not Islamophobia but Islamorealism” are all nonsense.
The reason that this is so obvious to so many is that rational people can tell the difference between legitimate concerns and bigoted stereotypes.
There is a reason that many, even outside of the Muslim community see such demonization of Muslims as Islamophobic.
There is a reason that the ADL has stated that Brigitte Gabriel’s Act for America, Pamela Geller & Robert Spencer’s Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), David Yerushalmi’s Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE) are “groups that promote an extreme anti-Muslim agenda”.
There is a reason that The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated SIOA as a hate group, and that these individuals are featured in the SPLC reports Jihad Against Islam and The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle.
There is a reason that these individuals and organizations are featured prominently in: — the Center for American Progress reports “Fear Inc.” on the Islamophobia network in America and Understanding Sharia Law: Conservatives skewed interpretation needs debunking.
— the People for the American Way Right Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism.
— the NYCLU reportReligious Freedom Under Attack: The Rise of Anti-Mosque Activities in New York State.
— the Political Research Associates report Manufacturing the Muslim menace: Private firms, public servants, and the threat to rights and security.
— The ACLU report Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical “Sharia Threat” to Our Judicial System — in The American Muslim TAM Who’s Who of the Anti-Muslim/Anti-Arab/Islamophobia Industry.
There is a reason that the SIOA’s trademark patent was denied by the U.S. government due to its anti-Muslim nature. There is a reason that these individuals and organizations are featured in just about every legitimate report on Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred.
The claim that they are “truth-tellers” and “defenders of freedom” who actually “love Muslims” andhave never engaged in “broadbrush demonization” or “advocated violence” are nonsense. The claim that they are falsely being accused of Islamophobia for no reason other than their legitimate concerns about real issues and that in fact there is not even such a thing as Islamophobia, or their claim that the fact that there are fewer hate crimes against Muslims than against Jews or that some Muslims have fabricated such crimes “proves” that Islamophobia doesn’t exist, or that the term Islamophobiawas made up by Muslims in order to stifle their freedom of speech, or that anti-Muslim bigotry is “not Islamophobia but Islamorealism” are all nonsense.
The reason that this is so obvious to so many is that rational people can tell the difference between legitimate concerns and bigoted stereotypes. Click on the logo “Muslims denounce extremism and terrorism” on the front page of TAM for an extensive resource listing not only Muslim responses to extremism, but also resources for countering Islamophobia.
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