LIE #2: ISLAM IS NOT THAT MUCH DIFFERENT THAN CHRISTIANITY OR JUDAISM
“ religions have been violent, including Christianity’ ” Lisette Thooft, “Karen Armstrong: ‘There Is Nothing in the Islam That Is More Violent Than Christianity,” Nieuwwij, January 18, 2015, http://www.nieuwwij.nl/english/karen-armstrong-nothing-islam-violent-christianity/. • “ less violent than those in the Bible’ ” Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Is the Bible More Violent Than the Quran?” NPR, March 18, 2010, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124494788. • “ civilization and heritage that we all share’” Garry Gutting, “How Does Islam Relate to Christianity and Judaism?” The Stone (blog), The New York Times, September 25, 2014, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/why-do-shiites-and-sunnis-fight/?_r=1. • “as a literal or figurative father of the religion” “Religions: Judaism: Abraham,” BBC, accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/history/abraham_1.shtml. • “is descended from Abraham as well” Dr. Mona Siddiqui, “Religions: Islam: Ibrahim—The Muslim View of Abraham,” BBC, accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ibrahim.shtml. • “ the entire assembly is to stone him’ ” Lev. 24:13. • “ My kingdom is not of this world’ ” John 18: 36. • “ to God what is God’s’ ” Mark 12: 17. • “ including a full program for government’ ” Robert Spencer, Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2007), 165. • “ and Islam became a state’ ” Robert Spencer, Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2007), 165. • “ must be the ruling ideology of the state’ ” Robert Spencer, Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2007), 166. • “broad support in the Muslim world today” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics, and Society (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, 2013), chap. 1, http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/. • “ from lashes to banishment to death’” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics, and Society (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, 2013), app. B, http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-appb/. • “Percentage supporting by country” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics, and Society (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, 2013), chap. 1, http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/#how-should-sharia-be-applied. • “Even in Russia, 26 percent of Muslims” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics, and Society (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, 2013), chap. 1, http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/#how-should-sharia-be-applied. • “Nearly everyone in the crowd raised a hand” Michael W. Chapman, “Norway Islamic Leader: ‘Every Muslim’ Wants ‘Death Penalty for Homosexuals,’ ” CNS News, February 3, 2015, http://cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/norway-islamic-leader-every-muslim-wants-death-penalty-homosexuals. • “declared that homosexuals should be stoned” Sam Greenhill, “All Homosexuals Should Be Stoned to Death, Says Muslim Preacher of Hate,” Daily Mail, March 20, 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1163510/All-homosexuals-stoned-death-says-Muslim-preacher-hate.html#ixzz3an7ys8L8. • “famously reminded at audience at the National Prayer Breakfast” Ross Douthat, “Obama the Theologian,” The New York Times, February 7, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/opinion/sunday/ross-douthat-obama-the-theologian.html. • “ medieval Christendom’s conflict with Europe’ ” Ross Douthat, “Obama the Theologian,” New York Times, February 7, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/opinion/sunday/ross-douthat-obama-the-theologian.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fross-douthat. • “since the eighth century A.D.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, “Reconquista,” accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/493710/Reconquista. • “ could have escaped conquest by Muslim armies’ ” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, “Crusades: The Results of the Crusades,” accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/144695/Crusades/235543/The-results-of-the-Crusades. • “held back from seizing Vienna in 1683” Walter Leitsch, “1683: The Siege of Vienna,” History Today 33, no. 7 (July 1983), http://www.historytoday.com/walter-leitsch/1683-siege-vienna.
LIE #3: “JIHAD IS A PEACEFUL, INTERNAL STRUGGLE, NOT A WAR AGAINST INFIDELS.”
“ to do good works and help to reform society’ ” John L. Esposito, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 117. • “ it is about taking personal responsibility’ ” “About the MyJihad Campaign,” MyJihad, accessed June 17, 2015, http://myjihad.org/about/. • “ Muslims strive to attain this every day’ ” Alex Seitz-Wald, “Can ‘Jihad’ Survive Pam Geller?” Salon, January 9, 2013, http://www.salon.com/2013/01/09/can_jihad_be_rebranded/. • “ against oppressors if that’s the only way’ ” Brian Handwerk, “What Does ‘Jihad’ Really Mean to Muslims?” National Geographic, October 24, 2003, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1023_031023_jihad.html. • “ about taking personal responsibility . . . ’ ” “About the MyJihad Campaign,” MyJihad, accessed June 17, 2015, http://myjihad.org/about/. • “ lavishly Saudi-funded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center” Caryle Murphy, “Saudi Gives $20 Million to Georgetown,” Washington Post, December 13, 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/12/AR2005121200591.html. • “to do good works and help to reform society’ ” John L. Esposito, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 117. • “ commitment to peace and social justice’ ” John L. Esposito, letter to Judge Leonie Brinkema, July 2, 2008, http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/144.pdf. • “designated Palestinian terrorist organization” Elaine Silvestrini, “Al-Arian Admits His Role in Jihad,” Tampa Tribune, April 18, 2006. • “ democracy, pluralism, and human rights’ ” John L. Esposito, “Islam and the Power of Democracy,” Boston Review, April 1, 2003, http://bostonreview.net/forum/islam-and-challenge-democracy/john-l-esposito-practice-and-theory. • “ be at the hands of the believers’ ” “Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: Allah Imposed Hitler on the Jews to Punish Them—’Allah Willing the Next Time Will Be at the Hand of the Believers,’ ” The Middle East Research Institute, February 3, 2009, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3062.htm. • “ most important action for the sake of mankind’ ” “Jihad in the Hadith” Peace with Realism, accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.peacewithrealism.org/jihad/jihad03.htm. • “ arms must be taken up in a just war’ ” Kabir Helminski, “Does the Quran Really Sanction Violence Against ‘Unbelievers’?” The Blog (blog), Huffington Post, September 24, 2010, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kabir-helminski/does-the-quran-really-adv_b_722114.html. • “ and it is the lesser Jihad’ ” Reliance of the Traveller, Revised Edition (Beltsville: Amana, 1988), 599, http://www.islamicbulletin.org/free_downloads/resources/reliance2_complete.pdf. • “ fight the idolaters utterly’ ” Reliance of the Traveller, Revised Edition (Beltsville: Amana, 1988), 617, http://www.islamicbulletin.org/free_downloads/resources/reliance2_complete.pdf. • “ their final reckoning is with Allah’ ” Muslim ibn al-Hajjah, Sahih Muslim, Hadith 01: 33, University of Southern California Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/muslim/001-smt.php#001.0033. • “ perform the prayer, and pay zakat’ ” Muslim ibn al-Hajjah, Sahih Muslim, Hadith 01: 33, University of Southern California Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/muslim/001-smt.php#001.0033. • “ establish their religion among their own people’ ” Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah: An Introduction (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1969), ch. 3, http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Chapter3/Ch_3_31.htm. • “ and all means of land and sea fighting’ ” Hasan al-Banna, Kitabul Jihad, in Milestones, ed. A.B. al-Mehri (Birmingham, England: Maktabah, 2006), 220. • “ non-Muslims must accept either Islam or death’ ” Maulana Waris Mazhari, “A Critique of the Doctrine of Offensive Jihad,” trans. Yoginder Sikand, The American Muslim, May 8, 2010, http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/a_critique_of_the_doctrine_of_offensive_jihad. • “ who is attacking religion and life’ ” World Islamic Front, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” statement, accessed June 17, 2015, http://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm. • “ who have no means of defending themselves’ ” Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, “The Many Meanings of Jihad to 2 Prominent Muslims,” The Washington Post, July 28, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072701863.html. • “some 60 million throughout the Muslim world” David Schenker, “Qaradawi and the Struggle for Sunni Islam,” The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, October 16, 2013, http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/qaradawi-and-the-struggle-for-sunni-islam. • “ who controlled the necks and minds of men’ ” Al Mutarjim, “Al-Qaradawi: ‘[Moderate Muslims] Accept Offensive Jihad, and Attacking the Infidels in Their Land,’ ” Translating Jihad (blog), June 2, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20110607045544/http://www.translatingjihad.com/2011/06/al-qaradawi-moderate-muslims-accept.html.
LIE #4: “MUSLIMS DON’T ACTUALLY SEEK TO LIVE UNDER SHARIA, LET ALONE IMPOSE IT ON OTHERS; THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF IT ANYWAY.”
“ This leads to many different interpretations’ ” “The GOP and the Sharia Myth,” Chicago Office of the Council on American Islamic Relations, June 23, 2011, http://www.cairchicago.org/blog/2011/06/the-gop-and-the-sharia-myth/. • “ incorporated into political systems relatively easily” Toni Johnson and Mohammed Aly Sergie, “Islam: Governing Under Sharia,” Council on Foreign Relations, July 25, 2014, http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034. • “imposed on ‘any unwilling persons’ ” Qasim Rashid, “Shariah Law: The Five Things Every Non-Muslim (and Muslim) Should Know,” The Blog (blog), Huffington Post, November 4, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/qasim-rashid/shariah-law-the-five-things-every-non-muslim_b_1068569.html. • “it governs and dictates everything” Clare Lopez, ed., Sharia: The Threat to America: An Exercise in Competitive Analysis (Washington, D.C.: Center for Security Policy, 2010), 57. • “ it would be doomed from the start’ ” Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, Theories of Islamic Law: The Methodology of Ijtihad (Islamabad: International Institute of Islamic and The Islamic Research Institute, 1994). • “widespread support for the adoption of sharia law” The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics, and Society (Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center, 2013), overview, http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/. • “ thus defines the Muslim’s belief in God” Feisal Abdul Rauf, Islam: A Sacred Law: What Every Muslim Should Know About the Shari’ah (Brattleboro, VT: Qibla Books, 2000), 58. • “ referring to His law for judgment’ ” Islamic State, “This Is the Promise of Allah,” Al-Hayat Media Center, accessed June 17, 2015, http://gtrp.haverford.edu/aqsi/aqsi-statement/816. • “ establish the Shari’a of Allah on earth’ ” Raymond Ibrahim, “An Analysis of Al-Qa’ida’s Worldview: Reciprocal Treatment or Religious Observation?” Middle East Forum, accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.meforum.org/2043/an-analysis-of-al-qaidas-worldview. • “ goals of Islam and the true religion’ ” “Bylaws of the International Muslim Brotherhood,” The Investigative Project on Terrorism, accessed June 17, 2015, http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/673.pdf. • “goal of installing Islamic law worldwide” Richard C. Martin, Said Amir Arjomand, Marcia Harmansen, Abdulkader Tayob, and Rochelle Davis, eds., Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (New York: Macmillan, 2003), 371. • “ naturally bound to be world revolution’ ” Syed Abul ‘Ala Maududi, “Jihad in Islam,” (speech, Town Hall, Lahore, Pakistan, April 13, 1939), http://muhammadanism.com/Terrorism/jihah_in_islam/jihad_in_islam.pdf.
LIE #5: “AMERICA IS SAFE FROM SHARIA LAW”
“ legislation that actually undermines our courts’ ” Abed Awad, “The True Story of Sharia in American Courts,” The Nation, June 13, 2012, http://www.thenation.com/article/168378/true-story-sharia-american-courts#. • “ Islamic law is encroaching on our courts’ ” “Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical ‘Sharia Threat’ to Our Judicial System,” American Civil Liberties Union, accessed June 17, 2015, https://www.aclu.org/report/nothing-fear-debunking-mythical-sharia-threat-our-judicial-system. • “judicial system enjoyed by people of other creeds’ ” “Nothing to Fear: Debunking the Mythical ‘Sharia Threat’ to Our Judicial System,” American Civil Liberties Union, accessed June 17, 2015, https://www.aclu.org/report/nothing-fear-debunking-mythical-sharia-threat-our-judicial-system. • “ commercial disputes and negligence matters’ ” Abed Awad, “The True Story of Sharia in American Courts,” The Nation, June 13, 2012, http://www.thenation.com/article/168378/true-story-sharia-american-courts#. • “ It will suit every age and time’ ” Stephen Coughlin, Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad (self-published and printed by CreateSpace, 2015), 56. • “ to succeed in the solution of their problems’ ” Stephen Coughlin, Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad (self-published and printed by CreateSpace, 2015), 57. • “ complete lack of Islamic alternatives’ ” “Decisions and Recommendations of the Fifth Conference of the Assembly of Muslim Journalists in America,” Assembly of Muslim Journalists in America, accessed June 18, 2015, http://www.amjaonline.org/en/declarations/20-declarations/53-decisions-and-recommendations-of-amja-s-fifth-annual-convention. • “ enable them to judge by Islamic Law’ ” “Decisions and Recommendations of the Fifth Conference of the Assembly of Muslim Journalists in America,” Assembly of Muslim Journalists in America, accessed June 18, 2015, http://www.amjaonline.org/en/declarations/20-declarations/53-decisions-and-recommendations-of-amja-s-fifth-annual-convention. • “ in his heart hate the man-made law’ ” Stephen Coughlin, Catastrophic Failure: Blindfolding America in the Face of Jihad (self-published and printed by CreateSpace, 2015), 58–59. • “Fortunately this decision was reversed on appeal” Maxim Lott, “Advocates of Anti-Sharia Measures Alarmed by Judge’s Ruling,” Fox News, August 5, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/05/advocates-anti-shariah-measures-alarmed-judges-ruling/. • “ erred by looking to Islamic law’ ” Marriage of Obaidi, 227 P. 3d 787 (Wash. Ct. App. 2010), http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/Minutes/Senate/Exhibits/jus27a06.pdf. • “ appeared to defer’ to the sharia court” Center for Security Policy, Sharia in American Courts: The Expanding Incursion of Islamic Law in the US Legal System (Washington, D.C.: Center for Security Policy Press, 2014). • “established itself as a sharia court in Irving” “North Texas Islamic Tribunal Using Sharia Law to Settle Disputes,” KTUL ABC News, February 16, 2015, http://www.ktul.com/story/28063464/north-texas-islamic-tribunal-using-sharia-law-to-settle-disputes. • “ He will never do it’ ” Wilson Garrett, “Sharia Law in Texas? Don’t Miss the Incredible Interview,” Glenn Beck, February 9, 2015, http://www.glennbeck.com/2015/02/09/sharia-law-in-texas-dont-miss-this-incredible-interview/. • “only passed by a 5–4 vote” Avi Selk, “Irving City Council Backs State Bill Muslims Say Targets Them,” The Dallas Morning News, Mach 19, 2015, http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20150319-dispute-on-islam-roils-irving.ece. • “ more than eighty sharia courts in 2009” Divya Talwar, “Growing Use of Sharia by UK Muslims,” BBC News, January 16, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-16522447. • “custody of children to violent spouses” Jane Corbin, “Are Sharia Councils Failing Vulnerable Women?” BBC News, April 7,
2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-22044724. • “Muslim leaders looking to set up their own courts” “North Texas Islamic Tribunal Using Sharia Law to Settle Disputes,” KTUL ABC News, February 16, 2015, http://www.ktul.com/story/28063464/north-texas-islamic-tribunal-using-sharia-law-to-settle-disputes. • “ that we stop protecting our own,’ she said” Dina Samir Shehata, “Anti-Sharia Bill Dead, but Sentiment Alive,” The Austin Chronicle, May 22, 2015, http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2015–05–22/anti-sharia-bill-dead-but-sentiment-alive/.