President Obama’s speech on the occasion of the Ramadan dinner in the White House presents difficulties that are becoming his trademark. Why does he find it necessary to be an apologist for Islam? He started it in his speech in Cairo a couple of years back, which also had elements that were downright creepy. Now he justifies the building of a mosque at Ground Zero because Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else. This is obviously true, but a mosque in this site of mass murder committed by Muslims is not about freedom of worship, it is a statement of supremacy and conquest. Non-Muslims are not allowed any place of worship in Saudi Arabia, they cannot even approach within miles of the cities of Medina and Mecca. Imagine the outcry if Muslims were prevented entering, say, St. Peter’s or Westminster Abbey. Yet Obama makes no mention of reciprocity, he passes over the insult and the abuse. Besides, there are plenty of instances when people do have a legal right for something but not the moral right to proceed, so that it is wise to abstain. If this mosque goes ahead, it will prove a constant source of division.
Obama also says in this speech that al-Qaeda’s cause is not Islam –“it is a gross distortion of Islam.” Why this defensiveness? There are plenty of passages in the Koran and the Hadith which al-Qaeda can and does quote to give them religious justification for their violence. What Obama calls terror they consider faith, and this can’t be glossed over by the weasel word “distortion.” And he goes on that Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity. Try telling that to those condemned to death for converting to some other faith. Just as strange, he says that Islam has always been part of America — a line he used before, for instance in the Cairo speech. The evidence he gives for this is that Jefferson received the Tunisian ambassador of his day. That makes Islam part of America?
Finally he admits we are in a fight and the reason we’ll win “is not simply the strength of our arms — it is the strength of our values. The democracy we uphold.” This in the week he’s just been rejoicing about imminently in Cairo removing the strength of arms from Iraq, with Afghanistan to follow as soon as possible. Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Iranians going nuclear — and we are to meet them with approval for a mosque at Ground Zero and babbling about upholding democracy? This speech sent a shiver of fear down my spine.
If Bill Clinton was our 'first Black President,.' is Barrack Obama our first 'Sharia Socialist' President? He's beginning to act like it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMore than an apologist, he's despises our country. He had a golden opportunity to keep his mouth shut, but we were not to be denied his wisdom, even on subjects that, as president, are none of his business.
God Almighty, deliver us from this aberration.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCan author quote ONE sentence from the Koran and/or Hadith that justifies 9/11. I also would like to know his degree of expertise on the Arabic language? Which tafseer collection did he study?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOne need not speak Arabic, nor be an expert on the Koran or the hadith to know that Al-Qaeda quotes from the Koran to justify their violence.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo, Mr Kurlis believes Al Qaeda more than he does to one million Islamic scholars? Is that it? Al Q is your reference point for Islam. Right. For Christianity related issues you consult IRA. Don't you?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHakki Ocal, you're arguing with yourself.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt is a statement of fact that Al-Qaeda spokesmen quote the Koran to justify their violence. It's not open to debate.
What is curious to me, and I think others, is why there is such silence from these Islamic scholars you mention. I hear no condemnation of Al-Qaeda from so-called moderate Muslims.
As a Catholic, I unequivocally condemn the IRA's use of violence to achieve political ends. It is abhorrent to any Christian's moral sense.
Assuming you are a Muslim, I invite you to similarly condemn Al-Qaeda. Now.
All I need to know is that Al Qaeda itself claims to commit its acts in the name of Allah. That's good enough for me. Thus, I happen to know for a fact that Mr. Pryce-Jones is absolutely correct.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHakki Ocal,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhere is the codemnation from these 1 million Islamic scholars? And why do Islamic populations consistently poll in favor of terrorism? Beyond that do you contest that Islam is not just a religion but a coherent worldview that seeks to control not just religious life but social, political, and economic life?
I'm sorry, but this post is ridiculous.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI realize that it's an issue of definition, but to me it seems that you're entering very dangerous left-wing territory here. It is completely against the American ethos to dictate what one can do with private property.
Moreover, to degrade the concept of religious freedom to being predicated on reciprocity is outrageous and completely flies in the face of the ideals of what this great nation was founded upon.
"So, Mr Kurlis believes Al Qaeda more than he does to one million Islamic scholars?"
That's a lotta scholars... get me?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRicardo-
No, we acknowledge the technical legal right. We abhor the lack of "manners" of the Cordoba backers, and we are justly suspicious of their avowed desire to build understanding. They are building a deliberate provocation.
Hakki-
There are many books discussing the darker side of your religion. I make no excuses for Salem witch trials and Spanish inquisitions. I am waiting to see the alleged moderate wing of the Muslim community rise up and demonstrate a willingness to rescue their religion from the terrorists. The lack of visibility of any efforts, added to the polling data suggesting substantial approval of the terrorists by a significant proportion of Islam's adherants worldwide right now gives me an answer. You need to get working. Our media and political elites are talking nice and making excuses. The larger part of this country is begining to understand the true nature of your religion. It is not peace and it is not coexistance. When we decide that we have had enough, it is this part of the country that will fix the problem, at its source, in a manner that will be quite unpleasant. Because when the liberal and statist elites screw it up bad enough, it is our sons and daughters who put things straight. The clock is ticking, not for us, but for your faith. Its reformation, for its own sake, is long overdue. Please hasten its arrival.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI only wish you do not take those hijackers of Islam as any side of Islam. Look at the modern free market economies developing in Muslim countries. In none of them would you find sharia. There is no built-in anti-Westernism in Islam. Unless we forcefully create one!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJEM - I'd agree with that sentiment if that was the argument. I too think that perhaps some of the interests behind the mosque are strictly to declare some sort of "victory". However, I think we can turn that completely to our advantage and actually outflank these cretinous zealots in their perverse PR war. I mean, surely with the media attention and the significance of the location, the site almost has to become a beacon of pro-Western Muslim sentiment. I mean, I appreciate that this comes down to whether you think Islam is such an aggressive religion that even this kind of gesture will not mitigate their hatred of Western civilisation, but it's a good litmus test at least. I mean, I don't expect it to become the anti-Mecca/Medina (or equivalent), spurring on some kind of anti-Qom (or equivalent), but it would be a start at least.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf nothing else, though, the importance of its location should safeguard New York from another attack, or at least it would present a strategic deterrent.
He's not apologizing, he's an active supporter of Islam (and communism) and is actively seeking to destroy our economic system:
-Andy McCarthy reports that the Treasury Department has promoted Sharia Complaint Finance for AIG (owned by the US Taxpayer), and that the federal government is defending the regulations in a Federal Court in Michigan
-Current support of the Victory Mosque
-Covering up Jesus at Georgetown last year.
-Holding Ramadan dinner at the White House.
-Michelle vacations in Marbella, which is in Andalusa, the focal point of Islamic power in Spain, after Islam conquered vast portions of southern Spain several centuries ago.
-Pictures of Mao on the White House Christmas Tree, Communist radical advisers by the dozens if not hundreds.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRicardo - I think that is the argument, mainly. Although I am sure you can find someone making a different one. This has nothing to do with NY's safety, and everything to do with the message it sends to the world of Islam.
I recognize it is difficult for us to realize the different frameworks through which our society as an alleged enlightened western democracy of tolerance see things versus that of Islam, for whom Islam is all things - faith, finance, legal, political. Islam seeks the complete, and if necessary forceful, conquest of everyone under its faith. There is no room for a plurality of faiths and attitudes in their world. They are at war with the west, which they see as morally bankrupt, decadent, and weak. They are taking the very long view.
The secular west, since it is blind to these things the Islamist sees, is more than happy to hand the rope of its own hanging to them. It is important to remember that the notion of the western enlightment is not guarenteed to survive if it is unwilling to defend itself.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI would love to hook the imam Rauf to a lie detector machine, as this imam speaks out of both sides of his mouth. Another thing important is where the money is coming from.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy are our tax dollars, via the State Department, paying for this imam's trip to Muslim countries? A fund-raising attempt is not out of the question, because few can write a check for $100 million these days.
While the head of Hamas has been quoted that the mosque needs to built, he goes on that mosques must be built wherever there is a Muslim. This is the Hamas which Rauf refuses to denounce.
It is time America put its foot down and tell the world that we are a sovereign nation, and they better respect that. The majority rules, and since the majority is opposing the mosque location, and since this is supposed to build bridges between religions, these organizers need to show the same respect for non-Muslims which they demand we show them.