By German Mu?oz*

“Remember the Lord inspired the angels (with the message):
‘I am with you: give firmness to the believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: Smite ye above their necks [behead them] and smite all their fingertips off them.’”
(Koran 8:12)

The controversy over the handling of the Koran at the U.S. Delta Camp at Guantanamo, which detains Muslim terrorists, reveals an intellectual deficit among some of our academic, media, political and religious elites. They are missing the most important story at Guantanamo.

Their failure might be due to the scandalous lack of ideological diversity in the editorial boards of media establishments and in university academic departments. They preach diversity but do not believe in it. As a result, they cannot even think of asking the essential question. And yet, their incompetence could also be the result of fear, of their unwillingness to engage in certain inquiries lest they offend those who would quickly accuse them of religious intolerance and racism. Alienation and even treason could also play a role in the silence of a few. Other explanations might fall in the area of depth psychology.

The story being missed, or purposively kept away from the American people, is the direct connection between the actions of Muslim terrorists, both those at Guantanamo and elsewhere, and the commands of Allah and Muhammad in the Koran. The misleading mantra that Islam is a tolerant religion of peace that has been hijacked by terrorists prevents the elite from presenting all the relevant facts about this religion and the hold it has on jihadists. Perhaps when American soldiers in Guantanamo assist Muslims with their religious needs, including providing them with Korans and the infrastructure for prayer, something which seems unconstitutional, they are actually stimulating their violent agenda.

Our secularized political elites do not want to understand or discuss the religious base underlying the terrorists’ political agenda for world domination. Since most of our leaders are not traditionally religious, they find it difficult to recognize that some people take their religion very seriously even if just to justify killing. They should have learned this when Osama bin Laden named his group the World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders [Christians]. 

Deadly Silence

Why have our elites not exposed what the Koran says about non-Muslims and the commands to kill them? If they would read the Koran, they will find out that Allah wants Muslims to kill the infidels (unbelievers) wherever they are found (Koran 9:5), and that peace will come only to  those who submit to him (Koran 8:17, 48:29, and 65). The Koran also has Allah saying that unbelievers should be killed (Koran 2:191, 3:141, 4:104, 4:89, 8:12-16, 9:5, 9:73-74, 9:123, 25:52?), that Muslim apostates should be killed or chastised (Koran 2:39, 2:85, 3:85, 3:106, 4:89, 16:106, and 47:25-28), that the heads and fingers of unbelievers should be cut off (Koran 5:33, 8:12, and 47:4), and that Muslims should fight and humiliate Jews and Christians (Koran 5:18 and 9:29). Is this a religion of peace?

There is more. For Allah, warfare is good (Koran 2:216) and jihad (fighting in the way of Allah) should continue until only Islam is dominant (Koran 2:193, 3:85, 8:39, 9:33, 35:37 and 61:9). Allah wants his followers to slaughter his enemies (Koran 8:67), allows Muslims to loot (Koran 8:1, 8:41, 8:69, and 59:7), to commit suicide (Koran 2:154, 2:207, 3:140-144, 3:157, 9:111 and 47:4), and to acquire slaves (Koran 4:3, 4:23-24 and 8:67). Muhammad himself was allowed to engage in unlimited sex with female slaves and captives (Koran 4:3, 23:6, 33:50-52 and 70:30). Is this a religion of tolerance?

In addition, Allah orders Muslims not to take Jews, Christians and other unbelievers as friends (Koran 3:28, 5:51 and 9:23), and will not forgive Christians (Koran 4:48 and 4:116). Muhammad taught to put the infidels to death wherever they were found (Koran 2:191, 2:244, 4:89, 5:36, 9:5, and 9:29), urged Muslims to fight the unbelievers who are close (Koran 9:123), mentioned that fighting is obligatory (Koran 2:216), and mandated the conquering of those relatives who opposed Muslims because loyalty to Islam overrode all other human bonds (Koran 9:23-24, and 58:22).

Muhammad is also quoted in the Koran as urging fighting until Islam is the only religion (Koran 2:193, 8:39, and 61:9), seeking the death of apostates (Koran 9:73-74), accepting slavery (Koran 4:3, 4:24, 5:87-89, 23:6, 24:32-33, 33:50-52 and 70:30), supporting the slaughter of captives (Koran 8:67), the raping of women captives (Koran 4:24), beheading the infidels (Koran 47:4), and approving looting in wars (Koran 24:29, and 48:20-21). Is this the religion of diversity? 

The Koran states that if Muslims do not fight, Allah will replace them with others who will. (Koran 9:39). Those who cannot fight must help fellow Muslims in other ways, including through donations of money. (Koran 8:72). Only Islamic law or sharia is lawful for Muslims (Koran 5:50).  There will not be mercy on unbelievers (Koran 5:36-38 and 48:29). The end of the jihad will happen when there is faith only in Allah (Koran 2:193). Power must belong to Muslims only (Koran 63:8), and they must exert power over non-Muslims (Koran 4:141). Is this a multicultural religion?

Why are the establishment media and academia keeping all this information from the American public? Why are Americans told Islam is a religion of peace when it is clear that peace is only for the “right” type of Muslims? Either it is the result of ignorance, fear, ideological bias or of complicity with the terrorists. Some Americans seem to suffer from a variety of the Stockholm syndrome even though America is not yet subject to Islamic law or sharia. They are the impotent types who sacrifice national security on the altar of political correctness and of a self-righteous and irresponsible tolerance. Regardless of their reasons, they can not be trusted to provide the accurate information Americans need to protect themselves. They remind us of those European elites who did not read Lenin’s What is to be Done? or Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Millions died as a result of their sloth and sins of omission.

Ignorant as well as dishonest Muslims will question the existence of these war verses, claiming they are incorrect translations from the Arabic. So will the vast majority of their appeasers in academia and the media who, afraid to criticize Islam, have nevertheless seldom neglected to criticize Christianity and Judaism when it fits their political agenda.

Some might say that the war or sword verses of Muhammad only apply to his times and not to the present. However, the Koran does not state this. In fact, what the Koran does say is that Muhammad is the ultimate model of behavior. (Koran 33:21).

Unholy Alliance

The jihadists and their apologists among the guilt-ridden, white cultural establishment have found something in common?their hatred for the Judeo-Christian civilization of the West. They also complement each other. The jihadists are used to taking what is not theirs, and the elite, because of their guilt complexes and hypercritical attitude toward their country and civilization, are used to surrendering what they never appreciate and therefore cannot defend.

Ironically, it turns out that among the most honest people in this controversy, though the most barbaric, violent and intolerant, are the Muslim jihadists themselves. These Muslims will tell you openly that they are faithfully following Allah’s and Muhammad’s war verses to kill the unbelievers wherever they are found, as well as those “Muslims” which they claim are apostates.

These killers have not hijacked Islam as our elites argue absurdly. They are implementing verses found in the Koran itself. Perhaps they want to kill unbelievers/infidels because they are afraid of political and economic liberty. Maybe it is because they fear their women could become westernized. And yet, the clearest answer, as they tell us repeatedly, may be that Islamic terrorists want to kill the rest of us simply because we are not Muslim!

The crucial thing now is how to inform the American people, over 90% of whom are Jews, Christians and atheists, about this religious threat to their existence, without at the same time getting vilified by those who believe Islam is a religion of peace and any critique of Muslims is an intolerant assault on them. Jihadists have learned the art of claiming victimization status. They manipulate our elites masterfully.

Yes, there are peaceful Muslims. They get their inspiration from the peace verses also found in the Koran, or they just live good lives independently of the Koran. Ironically, their lives are also in danger from their fellow terrorist Muslims who see them as apostates, and who argue that the war verses, the last chronologically in the Koran, abrogate or displace the peaceful ones. This is especially the case with Sura 9, among the most violent chapters in the Koran and the last dictated.

Journalistic Failure

And yet, one thing is certain. Americans cannot count on the majority of journalists, college and university professors and the political elite class to educate the public on the religious motivation of the Muslim jihadists. Americans cannot trust the political elite to keep violent, foreign Islamic clerics from the United States, to secure our borders, and to strengthen the Patriot Act. Neither can they trust the elite to penetrate Wahhabi mosques, to shut out Saudi money from American jihadists and from American universities which sell off their academic integrity for a few dollars, to keep Islamists from joining our military as soldiers or chaplains, to keep Wahhabi recruitment from our prisons, to keep jihadists from getting security clearance status, and to end dual citizenship so that Americans can pledge allegiance only to the United States and Islamists are forced to surrender their previous passports.

The hour is late, but America can fight and yet win this war against Islamic terrorism. The first step is to tell the truth about the Koran and its impact on the present jihad. 

*The author, German Mu?oz is a professor of international relations at Miami Dade College. These are his personal views. AIM has asked the Council on American-Islamic Relations to respond.

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About the author

4 Comments for Media Are Blind to Islamic Threat (excerpt of AIM Report – September B – 2005)