(This isn’t breaking news, but it’s implications are far reaching and worth reviewing for future reference. Besides, I’m not a reporter, just an old guy with lot’s of opinions.)
Last week, at the Democratic National Committees annual winter meeting in Washington, DC and in the interest of diversity and fairness, inclusion and multiculturalism, they invited a controversial Imam, who supported Hezbollah in last years war with Israel, to give an invocation. Democrats, ordinarily hostile to religions of any kind, bowed there heads, closed their eyes and listened as the radical cleric spoke what certainly sounded like an ecumenical treatise of sweetness and light. Uh, no.
Robert Spencer, an Islamic scholar and contributor to Jihadwatch.org, details just exactly what this Imam was praying for. Hint: submission to Islam, one way or the other, is the whole point of jihad.
Hot Air has video of an invocation at the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee by Husham Al-Husainy, Imam of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, a Shi’ite mosque in Dearborn, Michigan.
Here’s a transcript:
In the name of God the most merciful, the most compassionate. We thank you, God, to bless us among your creations. We thank you, God, to make us as a great nation. We thank you God, to send us your messages through our father Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Mohammed. Through you, God, we unite. So guide us to the right path. The path of the people you bless, not the path of the people you doom. Help us God to liberate and fill this earth with justice and peace and love and equality. And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation.Ameen.
In mentioning “Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Mohammed” I expect that he sounded wonderfully generous and ecumenical to the assembled Democrats. But in fact, he was almost certainly invoking them in their capacity as Muslim prophets: it is mainstream Islam that all of these were prophets who taught Islam, and that the followers of Moses and Jesus corrupted their teachings to create Judaism and Christianity. The Qur’an says that Abraham was not a Jew or a Christian, but a Muslim (3:67), and depicts Jesus denying his own divinity (5:116) — and this, of course, is the Imam’s frame of reference. So what seems to be a gesture of ecumenical generosity is actually a declaration of religious imperialism and the delegitimization of other religions.
Also, imagine if a Christian priest or minister had prayed at a DNC meeting that those attending be guided away from the path of those doomed by God. In this, in any case, the Imam is echoing the Fatiha, the first sura of the Qur’an and most common prayer of Islam. It asks Allah: “Show us the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast favoured; not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.” The traditional Islamic understanding of this is that the “straight path” is Islam — cf. Islamic apologist John Esposito’s book Islam: The Straight Path. The path of those who have earned Allah’s anger are the Jews, and those who have gone astray are the Christians. The classic Qur’anic commentator Ibn Kathir explains:
Allah asserted that the two paths He described here are both misguided when He repeated the negation `not’. These two paths are the paths of the Christians and Jews, a fact that the believer should beware of so that he avoids them. The path of the believers is knowledge of the truth and abiding by it. In comparison, the Jews abandoned practicing the religion, while the Christians lost the true knowledge. This is why `anger’ descended upon the Jews, while being described as `led astray’ is more appropriate of the Christians. Those who know, but avoid implementing the truth, deserve the anger, unlike those who are ignorant. The Christians want to seek the true knowledge, but are unable to find it because they did not seek it from its proper resources.This is why they were led astray. We should also mention that both the Christians and the Jews have earned the anger and are led astray, but the anger is one of the attributes more particular of the Jews. Allah said about the Jews,
[مَن لَّعَنَهُ اللَّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ]
(Those (Jews) who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath) (5:60).
The attribute that the Christians deserve most is that of being led astray, just as Allah said about them,
[قَدْ ضَلُّواْ مِن قَبْلُ وَأَضَلُّواْ كَثِيراً وَضَلُّواْ عَن سَوَآءِ السَّبِيلِ]
(Who went astray before and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the right path) (5:77).
It is interesting to see the Democrats standing with heads bowed piously while the Imam Husham Al-Husainy prays, in veiled terms to be sure, for their conversion to Islam, and oh yes, for the destruction of Israel (“And help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation”).
UPDATE:Some people have questioned my quote from Ibn Kathir above, asserting that it is just one “extremist” interpretation, and that I am ignoring others. Allow me therefore to note that mostMuslim commentators believe that the Jews are those who have earned Allah’s wrath and the Christians are those who have gone astray. This is the view of Tabari, Zamakhshari, the Tafsir al-Jalalayn, the Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas, and Ibn Arabi, as well as Ibn Kathir. One contrasting, but notmajority view, is that of Nisaburi, who says that “those who have incurred Allah’s wrath are the people of negligence, and those who have gone astray are the people of immoderation.”
<In fairness, this particular Imam, from Dearbornistan, MI, had been called upon to consult with the Bush administration as well. Just goes to show that nowadays, politicians had better check very carefully just which muslim leaders they trot out for pander points.>
February 11, 2007 at 10:09 am
What do Democrats – or Republicans – expect if you are stupid enough to believe there is such a thing as an ‘ecumenical’ Muslim? Islam, as the man says, means ’submission’, they strive for territory and wherever they take over we Infidels will be not merely second-class citizens [dhimmis],but mental and moral slaves. To wilfully ignore the clear doctrines of Islam, and try and square the circle by deluding ourselves that if we act ‘inclusively’ Muslims will eventually embrace our open society and free speech traditions, is crazy – just as the notion of bringing democracy to the Middle East at the point of a gun is crazy. If it weren’t for the West’s dependence on oil, complete withdrawal from the region would be far the best policy.
February 11, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Hi i,
Interesting. Now, what do you think the chances are that most Presidential candidates will have at least on Muslim staffer to stand behind them for photo ops?
the Grit
February 11, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Anti,
You were right, we agree on practically every issue regarding Islam. We part company in the area of critical importance, which is, what should be done about it.
Clearly, American foreign policy has left us with the military version of what will be an endless war with those whose mission in life is to subjugate unbelievers. Europe, living with the post Christian social democratic state has shown the kind of results that I would posit fan the flames of your personal interest in exposing to others just what’s taking place, and I appeciate your effort to do this.
The world knows the dying populations of the EU, the necessity for a largely muslim immigrant workforce to replace the unborn natives and their consequent taxation to fill state coffers and to accomodate, simply put, the addiction to cradle to grave welfare, places the continent squarely behind the eightball.
Unchecked muslim immigration, their unwillingness to assimilate into national identity or culture, the demographic imbalance of muslims and natives, and most importantly the refusal of the EU as a whole to stop what they most certainly realize is continental suicide and you have all the ingredients for the complete Islamization of most of the cradle of the Western world.
In my humble view, clamoring for an American withdrawal behind the Maginot line of the non Islamicized world begs the question, when do you halt retreat? Where do you retreat to, exactly? Behind what line do you place yourself and your family so they are safe and secure from jihad?
It seems France and Germany, in their refusal to commit to a resolute dealing with the medieval rulers of the middle east and the attempt to provide governmental option to the enslaved makes no difference in the final conclusion. The EU is disintegrating from within, incrementally, drip by submissive drip, until failure to act, percieved as weakness, which it ultimately is, erodes and conforms to the new Islam, one inhabiting the structure of old Europe, but with a decidedly muslim world view.
The ostrich-like withdrawal enthusiasts fail to consider either the zeal of the enemies of civilization or the consequences of pretending that things will be just fine if we all just try and get along.
Doing nothing is no longer an option.
Thanks for commenting Anti. Please let me have your link again, I was unable to reach your site.
February 11, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Hi Grit,
Point taken. In the rush to appear proper and in tune with multiculti types, as well as providing ingratiation to Islamic “civil liberty” groups, the body politic will certainly cave to the squeaky wheel of the American Left, shoving to the forefront the newest misunderstood, victimized minority.
Whether, or not, this new pander to radical Islamists in such a public way continues as a plank of party platform, or is rather some misguided, sloppily thought out choice of speakers, remains to be seen.
The alliance of the Left and Islam has been an ongoing reality for decades. I would hope they realize their heads will roll like everyone else when the choice is reduced to whether or not your Islamic, not whether or not you hate American ideals and civilization.
Hank
February 11, 2007 at 8:05 pm
A century ago, adherents of the Jewish religion were deemed hostile. Yes, there are some radical extremists in the Muslim community to be sure. But it is a faith, just like Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, etc..
Remember the former leader of Iran, the Muslim Shah who was our best buddy since Eisenhower gave him back his palace?
February 12, 2007 at 5:32 am
Kurt,
Im going to excuse your need to be so graciously ecumenical with an ideology you obviously know nothing about.
Go put a “war is not the answer” bumper sticker on your car and run up to Starbucks. Then sit down with a good book and learn something about Islam and this medieval 7th century manual for world domination.
Then come have your say.
February 12, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Hi Hank,
I would point out that, while all Muslims may not be evil fanatics, the vast majority of them don’t seem to mind the evil fanatics in their midst.
the Grit
February 12, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Hi Grit,
I agree.
To be fair, there are active muslim leaders who work to persuade their fellow believers to remove themselves from the murky middle, the no man’s land of see,hear and speak no evil of Islam and make their peaceful intentions known.
There are, however, many phony “moderate” muslims who use the right language and various deception’s to muddle any plain understanding of their position on Islamist violence, and whether or not a secret pleasure is derived when the infidels get their comeuppance.
Knowing another’s heart is left to the Almighty.
People may not believe anything that you say, but they will believe EVERYTHING that you DO.
It’s time Muslims in America and across the globe make a stand against the unbridled murder of non-combatants.
Hank
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2226
February 12, 2007 at 11:02 pm
I’ll have to go put on a coffee and do some more serious perusal of the Koran…I didn’t really know much about it before, and the more I find out, the more it does seem to be quite intolerant of other faiths…
I would like to point out though, as a student of Judeo-Christian philosophies and their evolution from strict adherence to scripture to a much more liberal and open world-view.
I think one would probably mistaken to believe that all Muslims believe in a call to Jihad any more than all Jews believe in strict adherence to Torah and Talmud doctrines…if they did, we’d probably be attacking their brutality for dragging adulterous women to the gate and stoning them as normal judicial practice (since the Old Testament laws actually call for it)
The words of the Imam could be construed in any fashion one chose to liberally interpret them…they could be a call for an end to occupation in Iraq, for instance, not Israel…which would seem to be the case considering the Democrats having chosen him to lead an invocation for their anti-war platform and Barack and Hillary’s support of Israeli policies, mainly inferred by myself due to their lack of condemnation of the same.
February 13, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Jeremias,
Let me start by applauding your decision to educate yourself about Islam. This task is a bit more difficult than studying the Bible. The Quran is largely incoherent, not in recanting the world according to Mohammed, but structurally and chronologically, and provides no continuous narrative, but seems to be speaking to those who know the outline of the story already.
The tasfir and hadith provide commentary on the Quran and the traditions of Mohammed.
The sira provides the biography of Mohammed. This was produced app. 150 years after Mohammeds death and was the first full-length version. Many modern Islamic scholars use this work, important because many events in the life of Mohammed appear nowhere else.
These books make up the Sunnah.
There are many books written by a combination of authors. Some are apologist in nature, some expository. Some modern works, designed to introduce an understanding of Islam to Western unbelievers, do so in the current climate of the rise of jihad, once again, and would answer a myriad of questions which arise daily.
I’ll gladly recommend titles and authors when you decide to set aside the time for your work.
Hank