AMERICAN ISLAMOPHOBES LEAD INTERNATIONAL ISLAMOPHOBIA INDUSTRY NETWORKS
USA-THE SELF-STYLED WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS PREACHER LEADS INTERNATIONAL ISLAMOPHOBIA INDUSTRY NETWORKS AND COALITION
by Syarif Hidayat*
The bigotry and hate actions of western Islamophobes like Geert Wilders the extremist Dutch anti-Islam and Anders Brieviek the Norwegian mass murderer, the much publicized western leaders ‘double standard’ rally in support of Charlie Hebdo and The Chapel Hill murders must be seen as tips of the “gigantic Islamophobia Icebergs” in the Zionists-influenced and the US-led western world. Islamophobia has become an industry after 9/11 in the USA. The global economy may be suffering but the Islamophobia industry proves to be resilient in weathering the recession.
A six-month research project by the prominent think tank, Center for American Progress has resulted in a 130-page report appropriately named Fear Inc.: The Roots Of the Islamophobia Network In America. This is the first in-depth investigation into Islamophobia, and it sheds lights on how a small group of bigots linked to conservative and Zionist causes each play a role in the seemingly lucrative industry of Muslim hatred and bashing Islam. The Fear Inc. lays bare the funding, and the spider web that connects the prime players
More than 1430 years ago, the God Almighty Allah warned in Al-Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqara, Verse 120: In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. “Never will the Jews nor the Christians be pleased with you (O Muhammad Peace be upon him ) till you follow their religion. Say: “Verily, the Guidance of Allâh (i.e. Islâmic Monotheism) that is the (only) Guidance. And if you (O Muhammad Peace be upon him ) were to follow their (Jews and Christians) desires after what you have received of Knowledge (i.e. the Qur’ân), then you would have against Allâh neither any Walî (protector or guardian) nor any helper.”
Stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West. Nevertheless, the West has many stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam that are due to: the media, Prejudice, and Ignorance. Islam is often looked upon as a “extremist”, “terrorist”, or “fundamental” religion. Many people hate Islam and do not want to acknowledge its true teachings.
In many cases, the media’s reports about Islam are incorrect due to ignorance. This is one of the reasons why the West often hates Islam. In contrast to what many Westerners think of Islam, Islam is a peaceful religion, which does not promote any injustice or crime. Stereotypes about Islam are not new to Western culture. Problems can be traced back 1400 years. At that time, Islam and Christianity were involved in the Crusades in the 1100’s and in the Ottoman and Moorish control in Europe. Islam spread quickly to the West, and started to threaten the position of the Christian Church and the ruling class.
The Western elites, mainly the governments and the churches, then became highly involved in seeing that negative images were presented about Islam. As a result, not only were battles fought against Islam, but also a war of words was initiated to make sure that Islam would not have any converts or sympathizers in the West. These kinds of actions and feelings that the West had long ago still seem to be the case in the West today.
Today, the West, with little or no understanding of Islamic history, has identified a new enemy, “a new demon that has replaced the Red menace of the Cold war, i.e., radical Islam”. This “radical Islam”, a stereotype common to Western thought, portrays Muslims as fundamentalists or potential terrorists. Some of these ideas that the Western people have about Islam are due to the mass media of the West. Reporters who cover the Muslim world often know very little details about it. The media then develops a distorted image of Islam that Western culture adopts.
A major factor which contributes to Islamic stereotyping in the West is due to the media’s ignorance of selecting their words that describe Muslims. Some common names heard or seen in the news about Muslims are “extremist” or “terrorist”. These words are misleading and are mainly anti-Islamic. The media rarely uses more neutral terms such as “revivalist” or “progressives”. The Western media also creates the idea that Muslims are “returning” to Islam. This is not true in most cases, because many Muslims have never left Islam in the first place. Islam has always been a big part of their lives.
The recession-proof Islamophobia industry
Farha Khaled in an article titled “Fear Inc. exposes the recession-proof Islamophobia industry” published in MuslimVillage.com, writes “The global economy may be suffering but the Islamophobia industry proves to be resilient in weathering the recession.” Fear Inc. lays bare the funding, and the spider web that connects the prime players.”
A six-month research project by the prominent think tank, Center for American Progress has resulted in a 130-page report appropriately named “Fear Inc.: The Roots Of the Islamophobia Network In America.” This is the first in-depth investigation into Islamophobia, and it sheds lights on how a small group of bigots linked to conservative and Zionist causes each play a role in the seemingly lucrative industry of Muslim hatred and bashing Islam.
Seven foundations donated £42 million over 10 years, which was filtered down to self styled “experts” on Islam whose job it is to churn out Goebbles-style propaganda against Muslims. Of these, eight of the most prominent are Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes who claim to be scholars, Frank Gaffney who runs Center for Security Policy and Steve Emerson founder of Investigative Project on Terrorism. A Maronite Christian Brigette Gabriel heads Act for America and as an Israel Hasbara speaker has a large following of Christian Zionists who faithfully disseminate her bigotry through various chapters dotted around the nation.
Millions are influenced by their TV appearances, the favored mouthpieces being the conservative and religious right radio and news stations including Fox News and the Christian Broadcasting Network. More ominously, lucrative speaking engagements at civil and military institutions provide the credibility they crave, all duly reported in the print media including the National Review magazine and The Washington Times. Most of these media outlets have websites which increases the exposure.
Israeli American Islamophobic lawyer
Lending his legal expertise is David Yerushalmi, an Israeli American lawyer and religious settler whom the New York Times recently exposed as a being the favorite legal counsel to the Islamophobia industry and the brains behind the “Ban Shariah Law” campaign. One of his clients include Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs and the hate group Stop the Islamization For America (SIOA). Fanning the flames of all this hate are politicians, including Republican Congressman Allen West, who when asked to comment on Keith Ellison’s religion stated that it is the “antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.”
West is a recipient of the Saudi Arabia Kuwait Liberation Medal W/Palm Tree award. Further down the hierarchy, an assortment of paid charlatans posing as ex-Muslims like Walid Shoebat (Christian Palestinian) and Wafa Sultan (Alawite Syrian) to Nonie Darwish (Egyptian convert to Evangelism) breath the “we have lived through it” life to the otherwise dead lies these “experts” produce. Last but not least are the bloggers and their readers whose importance should not be underestimated in a world where Anders Breivik took his prime inspirations from the Internet.
Right-wing blogs are littered with comments that dehumanize Palestinians, call for the genocide of Muslims and to end Islam. Cherry picked and distorted “news” is regularly parroted by tea party activists and on the Zionist blogosphere assisted by the likes of Brigette Gabriel and her minions of Christian Right followers. Whilst promoting anti-Muslim hate, radical Zionism and Israel being a victim of Islam are presented as fact.
Pro-Israel Zionists form core of Republican Party
Seven charitable foundations run by conservative heavyweights fund this phony Islamophobia campaign. A breakdown by the researchers of Fear Inc. shows that the major recipients include Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), Middle East Forum (MEF), Clarion Fund (Clarion), David Horowitz Freedom Center (Horowitz). What stands out in this report though is the fact that the largest sums came from Donors Capital Fund which tops the list of givers at a whopping $20 million. This is more than twice the amount Richard Scaife Foundations, the second on the list gave.
There is probably much more that remains unknown about the funding behind this campaign but from the available facts it is safe to conclude these pro-Israel Zionists who form the core of the Republican Party, need to convince Americans and the West to believe they are facing the seemingly same threat that Israel does. To this end, they are willing to spend millions creating and fabricating a threat from Islam, which they hope will brainwash people to support endless wars against Muslim countries.
Bearing in mind that only a handful of Muslim countries recognize Israel it does not take a genius to figure out why hard-line Zionists see Muslims and Islam as a threat. What is reprehensible, however, is that they use deceptions and false propaganda to achieve their goals.
Republican Party the political home of Islam-bashers
The Republican Party appears to be the political home of the Islam-bashers. American Muslims who preferred the conservative values as being in line with their own beliefs used to be overwhelmingly Republican voters. That changed after 9/11, and in 2008 the Democrats got nearly 90% of the votes of American Muslims and around 80% of the vote of American liberal Jews who number around seven million. The Centre for American Progress which produced the Fear Inc. report on Islamophobia acts as an advisory think tank to President Obama. The major players behind the Islamophobia campaign are Republican supporters and conservatives.
The prominent figures mentioned in Fear Inc. are nearly all Jewish, with some Christian Zionists. In all fairness, it should be mentioned that those who are active in countering this anti-Muslim propaganda include a disproportionate number of Jews too, usually liberals. A poll by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center showed that 80% of American Jews hold less prejudices against American Muslims than other religious groups do.
Therefore this is certainly not a “Jewish” problem and should not be treated as such. Nor do liberal Jews follow the hard-line Zionist policies that right-wing Zionists believe in. Neither liked nor trusted by liberal Jews, right-wing Christian Zionists tend to find their allies amongst Messianic, Kahanist and secular right-wing Likud type Jews both in Israel and their counterparts in the US. These two groups have formed an uneasy alliance where they use each other for their own agendas.
The settler movement and the secular right-wing Israelis need Christian Zionists to fund the settlements and for political support. The Christian Zionists hailing mainly from the least educated, impoverished echelons of American society, want to hasten the Armeggedon gladly reciprocate seeing it as an opportunity for covert Evangelical missionizing in Israel, often a source of tension since proselytizing is forbidden in Israel.
This then is the picture of today’s Republican Party in the US, with its large base of tea party activists and religious-right Bible belt, the latter having extremists numbering millions who believe in the Armeggedon and a war with Iran which is their reason for supporting radical Zionism, where bigotry is rife, in a nation where unemployment is growing, and the debt increasing. Palestinians are standing in the way of their end time story in Israel and by extension their Arab and Muslim supporters are an enemy.
Add to this unholy alliance, the rich resources of oil in the Caspian Sea, Iraq and Iran for which a threat is needed to justify military intervention if and when needed, and you have an assortment of agendas concurring on the necessity of an “Islam threat” for a variety of different reasons.
Islam is a religion of love and peace
Islam is a beautiful religion, full of wisdom and harmony. Islam is a religion of love and peace. Love is one of the noblest human principles and traits that cultivate the spirit of interaction, solidarity, and cooperation and add affection to human relationships and dealings. All heavenly and also manmade religions cherish love in its top-down (God-creation), bottom-up (creation-God), and horizontal (interpersonal) dimensions.
The God Almighty Allah says in Al-Qur’an: “And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) not but as a mercy for the ‘Alamîn (mankind, jinn and all that exists).” (Al-Qur’an, Surah Al-Anbiya, Verse: 107)
Muslims believe that Islam is the origin of true love in all its dimensions (top-down, bottom-up, and horizontal) and forms, quite independent of any other faith, except inasmuch as both come from the same source, as established by historians. Many Qur’anic texts and Prophetic hadiths undeniably prove the fact that love, in the broadest sense, is an intrinsic ideal of Islam.
Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali said, “Love of Allah is the highest spiritual attainment. Whatever follows it is an outcome of it (such as passion, communion, fulfillment, etc.), and whatever precedes it is a step towards it”. Allah says, {Say (O Muhammad), “If you really love Allah, then follow me, and Allah will love you”}. He also says, {A people whom He will love and who will love Him}. And He says, {But those who have believed love Allah more (than anything else)}. All such verses show the merit of love and tell that it has degrees.
In several hadiths, the Prophet established love as a prerequisite to religiosity. Allah says, {And among people are some who would take (i.e., associate) besides Allah rivals (to Him) whom they love as much as they love Allah. But those who have believed love Allah most}. Ibn Jazi Al-Kalbi wrote, “There are two types of love: imitation love and hearty love. To me, the latter is indicated in the second Verse, while the former is indicated in the first Verse”.
Heartfelt love is the greatest of loves. It brings forth ultimate satisfaction and happiness. A Companion once told the Prophet, “I have not prepared for it (i.e., the Hereafter) much Prayer or fasting, but I love Allah and His Messenger”. The Prophet said, “One will (in the Hereafter) be in the company of those he loves”. Anas commented, “I have never seen Muslims delight at something, except for conversion to Islam, more than they did at hearing this”.
Abu Ruzayn Al-`Uqayli asked, “O Messenger of Allah! What is faith?” The Prophet replied, “It is to love Allah and His Messenger more than everything else”. The Prophet also said, “None of you shall truly believe unless when Allah and His Messenger are more loved to him than everything else”. And he said, “No servant of Allah shall truly believe unless when I become more beloved to him than his family, property, and all people”. Another narration adds, “… and his own self”.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) strongly urged for love. He said, “Love Allah for the graces He bestows upon you, and love me for Allah’s love for me”. An authentic hadith tells us that, while receiving the Shar`i penalty for being drunken, an alcoholic was cursed by a Companion.
The Prophet blamed the curser, saying, “He (i.e., the penalized man) loves Allah and His Messenger”. Noticeably, though addicted to a sinful practice, the man still had something positive to commend: love. The deeper that love grows, the more deserved forgiveness becomes. A poet said, Indeed, my love for Umamah is not one that can be changed by tale-bearing or passage of time
If this is true with romantic love, it will for sure be more applicable to love of Allah, the Sovereign, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, Who has granted us His Graces, originated us with His Wisdom, provided for us with His Generosity, and run our affairs with His Kindness. It pleases Him when a servant repents and returns to His Obedience, as pointed out in an authentic hadith. Allah says, {Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who are self-purifying} Al-Qur’an, Surah Al-Baqara 222).
Islam is against TERRORISM
“By God (Allah SWT), he is not a true believer, from whose mischief his neighbors do not feel secure.” – Prophet Mohammed PBUH – (Hadith written by Bukhari and Muslim)
Islam is against KILLING
The God Almighty Allah says in Al-Qur’an: “Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation (in legal punishment) of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind. And indeed, there came to them Our Messengers with clear proofs, evidence, and signs, even then after that many of them continued to exceed the limits (e.g. by doing oppression unjustly and exceeding beyond the limits set by Allâh by committing the major sins) in the land!” – Al Qur’an, Surah Al-Maidah, Verse 32. (T/P3/P2)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
*Senior Editor of Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) (He can be contacted via emails: [email protected] and [email protected])
Bibliotheque:
1.http://muslimvillage.com/
2. https://www.americanprogress.org/
3. http://www.middleeasteye.net/