Analyst's note: Dr. Tawfik Hamid is an "Islamic Reformer" who believes the time has come to define Radical Islam. The task he has set for himself and others in this regard is of monumental proportion. The Islam that he wants to "reform" has been believing and acting in this "radical" manner for centuries as they follow their standard teachings and their sharia law, so I personally don't expect to see any real change in the near future in the Islamic world.
Absolutely must also read and consider the entire original article by Amil Imani. Also, please learn about shariah law or Islamic law. I can not recommend strongly enough that you read "Shariah, the Threat to America: An exercise in competitive analysis, Report of Team 'B'" II
The study of Islam has finally begun in the United States. You can start by doing a search within this site on the term "Muslim Brotherhood" and "sharia" (since the word is spelled with and withouth "h", this spelling gets them both in the search. Our national survival demands that American citizens participate in this work of enlightenment.
Just for openers, we must understand some basic tenets of Islam - for example:
- Abrogation [verses that come later in the Quran, chronologically (not necessarily sequentially), supersede, or abrogate, the earlier ones. In effect, this results in the more moderate verses of the Meccan period being abrogated by the later, violent, Medinan verses. “When we cancel a message, or throw it into oblivion, we replace it with one better or one similar. Do you not know that God has power over all things?” (Quran 2:106)],
- Under "taqiyya," It is permissible for a Muslim to lie, especially to non-Muslims, to safeguard himself personally or to protect Islam
- Any system of man-made law is considered illicit under Islamic law, for whose adherents Allah already has provided the only law permitted, shariah. Islam and democracy can never co-exist in harmony
- Apostasy under the established ruling of shariah is that apostates are to be killed wherever they may be found.
- Understanding that jihad is warfare to spread Islam
- There is the belief that Islam is superior to every other culture, faith, government, and society and that it is ordained by Allah to conquer and dominate them. We must understand that in shariah law, slander means anything that might offend a Muslim.
- Antisemitism is intrinsic to shariah and is based on the genocidal behavior of Mohammed himself in wiping out the entire Jewish population of the Arabian Peninsula
- Shariah explicitly relegates women to a status inferior to men
- We must come to understand all these things and much, much more.
We must also understand our own Declaration of Independence, and U.S. Constitution ... not just read them once, but really understand.
"[....] The 177-page report itself is entitled: “Shariah, The Threat to America, An exercise in competitive analysis.” You can also download it here (pdf format).
Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid), is a one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a terrorist Islamic organization JI with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri who became later on the second in command of Al-Qaeda. Dr. Hamid is currently a Senior Fellow and Chair of the study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
We must also realize that Congressman Keith Ellison is a Muslim with clear ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and thus not to be trusted. As reported here many times, the Muslim Brotherhood is a clear enemy of our United States. Dr, Hamid goes on to state the following:
"House Homeland Security Committee chairman, Republican Peter King, of New York, opens hearings on the threat of homegrown Islamic terrorism in Washington, DC, on Thursday 10 March. Congressman Keith Ellison, a Muslim, objected to Rep. Peter King saying that, "Singling out one community is the wrong thing to do". Congressman Ellison should have realized that it was not Rep. Peter King, but the unequivocal statistical data that showed that almost all - if not all, home grown terror attacks and plots in the US since September 11 have been conducted by Muslims. Similarly, the statistical data in Europe was the reason why Tony Blair a few months ago had to single out Muslims as the cause of failure of integration in Europe. In an Op-Ed published in the WSJ on November 9 2010 Mr. Blair mentioned that "We have to nail down the definition of the problem. There is no general failure to integrate. In the U.K., for example, we are not talking about Chinese or Indians. We are not talking about blacks and Asians. This is a particular problem. It is about the failure of one part of the Muslim community to resolve and create an identity that is both British and Muslim". Failure of Muslim communities to address the root causes of home grown radicalism in their communities in the last 10 years supports the view that these communities failed to solve the problem and indicates that Muslim communities need unbiased research conducted by outsiders to get to the root causes of this problem and solve it. The failure of the Muslim communities is exemplified in the fact that, according to a May 2010 Rand Corporation report , between September 11, 2001, and the end of 2009, the U.S. government reported forty-six incidents of "domestic radicalization and recruitment to jihadist terrorism" that involved at least 125 people. There had been an average of six cases per year since 2001, but that rose to thirteen in 2009, a worrisome sign to some experts. Proclaiming "Today I am a Muslim too," about 1,000 protesters gathered last Sunday in Times Square to decry Rep. Pete King's upcoming hearings. It was much better that such communities ask their religious scholars to remove or challenge the mainstream Sharia teachings that encourage Muslims to declare wars against Non-Muslims and undervalue the lives of 'Un-believers' instead of demonstrating against the hearings. Congressman Ellison mentioned that he welcomes confronting the ideology of Al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric who is hiding in Yemen now. I fully agree with him on this; however, Congressman Ellison needs to realize that the violent teachings that can end in creating terrorists is not limited to Al-Awlaki or Bin Laden teaching but is an integral and unchallenged part of the current mainstream teachings that are available to many young Muslims in the US and overseas. Muslims must ask themselves that why these hearings are not about Buddhists or followers of the Bahai faith. The answer is simply that it is the undisputable statistics rather than individual opinions that made it a necessity to "single out" the Muslim communities in the West for these hearings. If Muslim communities were capable of solving the problem of home grown radicalism within their own communities, these hearings would not have been initiated. If there is any one to blame for this, it is the Islamic scholarship that failed to bring a new understanding of Islam that challenges values of hatred or violence that are widely available in the mainstream Islamic books. Muslims in the US must realize that the Quran stated that (Quran 4:135) "O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to the Lord, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin". Accordingly, Muslims need to be honest enough and admit that there is a particular problem that affects their Muslim communities more than other communities and that they failed to solve such problems. As a Muslim, I send my full support to Rep. Peter King in his noble and desperately needed research about the root causes of home grown Islamic Radicalism in the US as his work can save many human lives including Muslim's lives as well. If the efforts of Rep. Peter King resulted in saving even one human live it is as if he saved all mankind {Quran5:32 If any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people}." It will be interesting to see if Congressman King employees the ABC's Test for Radical Islam. Dr. Hamid strongly suggests that we ask our local mosque, Islamic Shool, and Islamic organization to clearly, unambiguously and publically denounce the following concepts that he calls the ABC's Test for Radical Islam. I would further suggest to Congressman King and others, that we then must watch what they do and what they later say in Arabic:
"Apostates killing
Beating women and stoning them to death for adultery.
Calling Jews pigs and monkeys.
Declaring war on Non Muslims to spread Islam after offering Non Muslims three options - subjugate to Islam, pay Jizia (a humiliating tax), or be killed.
Enslavement of Other Human Beings.
Fighting and killing Jews before the "End of Days".
Gay Discrimination and Hostility.
