Re-Envisioning the Military: 2014

Canadians failing to support anti-Islamist Muslims An American anti-Islamist Muslim speaks out in the Wall Street Journal against those who fail to support Muslims who seek to reform their religion. Unfortunately the same is happening here in London, or have you not noticed? "Many of my fellow Muslims are trying to reform Islam from within. Yet our voices are smothered in the West by Islamist apologists and their well-meaning but unwitting allies on the Left. For instance, if you try to draw attention to the stark correlation between the rise of Islamic religiosity and regressive attitudes towards women, you’re labelled an Islamophobe. In America, other contemporary ideologies are routinely and openly debated in classrooms, newspapers, on talk shows and in living rooms. But Americans make an exception for Islamism. Criticism of the religion — even in abstraction — is conflated with bigotry towards Muslims. There is no public discourse, much less an ideological response, to Islamism, in academia or on Capitol Hill. This trend is creating an intellectual vacuum, where poisonous ideas are allowed to propagate unchecked." Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/losing-my-religion-to-islamic-radicals-and-western-progressives/story-fnay3ubk-1227105322367 Sent 29 October 2014 Response to Lena Hassan's Islam View" In her recent Islam View column Lena Hassan reacts to the murders of two Canadian soldiers by urging conscientious Muslims to compete against this display of apparent Islamic hate through "patience and consistent kindness." We have been presented with an alternative approach by the equally conscientious Muslim, Raheel Raza, president of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow. Here is what she says Canada needs to do: 1. Close all mosques for three months to have intense scrutiny on the Imams and their sermons in the past 3 months. This is not abuse of religious freedom – it’s to ENSURE that religion can be free and survive in Canada while protecting the country. 2. All Muslim organizations (including mine) should submit detailed financial statements to show where their donations are coming from. 3. Put a moratorium on immigration from Muslim countries for a set period till matters here settle down. Anyone wishing to partake in armed Jihad abroad or proven to be returning from such a venture, needs to have their citizenship revoked and given a one-way ticket to the country of their choice as soon as possible. 4. Islamic schools need to have accountability and if their syllabus shows even an iota of hate, they should be shut down. 5. The Islamists calls for un-reasonable accommodation like face covering, special prayer spaces, Friday prayers in public schools should be taken with a pinch of salt and instead of just giving in to these demands, there should be a body of well-informed Canadians discussing and debating these issues in light of Canadian values and norms. Raza goes on to say that "We know that the new enemy is an ideology and we have to defeat it in the way communism was defeated. Not by targeting the faith, but by targeting those who are using their faith to promote subversive agendas of violence and terrorism. This has to be done with active participation of government and citizens from all walks of life without resorting to hate and bigotry." While I would question the specifics of the measures suggested I support Raza's position that the Islamist ideology must be confronted directly, first, by Muslims in their local Mosques and, secondly, by supporting the war against the Islamic State. Sent 26 October 2014 Divergent Christian/Islamic trends Here is another perspective on Christian/Islamic relations. It occurred to me after reading this summing-up of Christianity and Islam: The French political scientist Marcel Gauchet once said that while Christianity is the religion of the departure from religion, Islam is the religion of the return to religion. That is, over the centuries since the Immaculate Conception we have observed the rise of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation and the rise of Protestantism, the decline of Catholicism and the decline of Protestantism, and the rise of Humanitarianism and Atheism - i.e. a long-term trend away from religion. In the case of Islam, especially since the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924, there has been a growing fundamentalist strain called Islamism which, with the establishment of the Islamic State, is now threatening to go global - an accelerating trend toward religion. During his remarks on the Ottawa attack by an apparently IS-influenced gunman Justin Trudeau stated: "And to our friends and fellow citizens in the Muslim community, Canadians know acts such as these committed in the name of Islam are an aberration of your faith." I wonder whether Trudeau has considered that such alleged "aberration" may become mainstream in the face of increased Islamic religiosity. Sent 24 October 2014 Thinking the Unthinkable The Islamic State (IS) has changed the rules of war. They began by mass beheadings and shooting of captured Iraqi soldiers, then moved on to the rape and slaughter of Shiites, Yazidis, Christians and anyone else whose religious views did not align with theirs, and lately have taken to videotaping the beheadings of kidnapped Americans and Britons. They now threaten to seek out and slaughter the families of armed forces members of those countries which have joined the effort to stem the IS tide. It may be only a matter of time before IS assassins (who may be locally recruited) appear in Canada to make good on their evil threat. How are we to react to this change in the rules? If IS were a cancer we would be considering chemotherapy or radiation, but we are confronted by masses of Islamist barbarians who (as they claim) love death. Perhaps it's time to harness the elephant in the room - nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Islamists, it seems, love to hang out together. Look at Dearborn, Michigan, and Bradford, UK, and, more generally, the "no-go" areas sprouting up all over Western Europe. Islamist homogeneity is assured by the departure of non-Islamists. But the use of such weapons of mass destruction in densely populated areas would result in unacceptable collateral damage. Fortunately, with IS carving an Islamist dominated caliphate out of adjacent parts of Syrian and Iraqi deserts, and as thousands of non-Islamists flee, a new kind of "no-go" area may be emerging. It may be expected, too, that perhaps hundreds (or more) Islamists from the "no-go" areas of America and Europe will follow the call to the new caliphate. It is tempting to imagine that, ironically, the deathlorn fighters of the IS are almost literally digging their own graves. Rather fitting, I'd say, given that that is what they have forced their captives to do before killing them in some gruesome fashion. Back in the days of the Cold War when thermonuclear war was an ever-present threat, Herman Kahn wrote a book entitled Thinking About the Unthinkable. This may be a good time to reconsider Kahn's ideas. Sent 4 October 2014 “Political Correctness” and the Undermining of Counterterrorism “Muslims need to become free of totalitarian Islam and the least the West can do in support is not concede an inch of its own hard-won freedom in quest of a false peace with Islamists.” - Salim Mansur Abstract: Ever since the jihadist terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, Western policy-makers, mainstream media organizations, and even academicians have been perversely reluctant to highlight the crucial role played by Islamist ideology in motivating jihadist terrorist attacks. Indeed, the more acts of jihadist terrorism that are perpetrated, acts in which the perpetrators clearly reveal their ideological motivations, the more insistently key Western elites refuse to acknowledge those motivations. This article discusses several of the reasons for this peculiar disjuncture, and focuses in particular on the persistent efforts to whitewash certain features of Islam, demonize its critics, and even engage in apologetics for Islamism at a time when the latter, in both its violent and non-violent forms, poses a significant threat to Western democracies. One especially worrisome source and dimension of this problem is the continuing reliance of Western governments on members of Islamist advocacy organizations for advice. In order to illustrate the degree to which “politically correct” impulses can have both damaging analytical and potentially lethal consequences, three cases of jihadist terrorism are discussed herein – the Boston Marathon bombings, the gruesome assault on a British soldier in Woolwich, and the mass shootings at Fort Hood. Full article : http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/290/html Sent 29 September 2014 http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.ca/2014/09/muslims-facing-tomorrow-rally-for.html This is being sent to those whose pandering to supporters of Islamism places them under suspicion of being "useful idiots" or dhimmis. I urge you to reassess your views on Wael Haddara (a Muslim Brotherhood supporter) and Munir El-Kassem (who calls Salim Mansur an "Islamophobe") and their ilk in the light of Mansur's video'd remarks on the website above. If you are not actively supporting Muslims who support Islamic reform, you may find yourself giving aid to our enemies, such as the Islamic State. Sent 23 September 2014 (sent to Jennifer O'Brien, Joe Ruscitti, Ed Holder, Nathan Smith, Brad Duncan) Subterranean tectonics in the political sphere There seems to be a larger pattern taking shape in Muslim/non-Muslim affairs due to the catalyzing effect of the Islamic State. That is, just as NATO is insisting that it must only be Middle Eastern Muslim troops who do the actual fighting against the radical Islamic State, so in the majority non-Muslim West it must be the Reformist Muslims (such as Salim Mansur and Raheel Raza) who must take the lead in enlightening their co-religionists, who believe that they can cleanse their religion of its evil elements by simply proclaiming "Extremists are not Muslims!" And just as NATO will act in a supporting role to those Muslim troops fighting the gathering forces of the Islamic State, so non-Muslims in the West must play a similar role in supporting the Muslim Reformists against the subversive machinations of those Muslims whom we are being manipulated into thinking are "peaceful." Sent 5 September 2014 Explanation, not apology sought In her letter Minority of Muslims extremists (Aug. 23), Pennie Thornton takes Cristina Lush to task saying: “She appears to believe that Muslims should constantly be apologizing for the actions of the jihadist or extremist minority.” But what Lush actually writes is: “My question to Muslims is why are you not condemning these acts? Why are you not speaking out? This is pure evil. Why are you not protesting about this?” She is not asking Muslims to apologize. She is seeking expressions of disagreement, and perhaps an explanation of how extremists’ actions are contrary to the teachings of Islam. Published 27 August 2014 Whence the Islamic State? Those who regularly read the column Islam View which occasionally graces the pages of the London Free Press must wonder why, after years of exposure to its authors' Islamic erudition, they remain unable to understand the strange goings-on in the Middle East. Especially puzzling is how a bunch of Sunni Muslims has morphed into barbarians calling themselves the Islamic State. But it seems that we effete Westerners simply don't recognize Muslims just being Muslims. At least that is what I have gleaned from a recent article by Mark Durie entitled "How Dissimulation about Islam is Fuelling Genocide in the Middle East." Durie is also the author of the book The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom. This book, by the way, offers valuable insight into the "convert or die" choices granted non-Muslims in Syria and Iraq. In his article Durie notes that the global Islamic revival is strongly influenced by the Islamic scholar Abul A'la Maududi (who was, with Sayyid Qutb, a leading theoretician of the Muslim Brotherhood). In Durie's words "Maududi argued in his radicalization primer Let us be Muslims that the only valid form of government is Islamic theocracy – i.e. sharia rule – and Muslims are duty-bound to use whatever power they can muster to impose this goal on the world: "whoever you are, in whichever country you live, you must strive to change the wrong basis of government, and seize all powers to rule and make laws from those who do not fear God. … The name of this striving is jihad." And "If you believe Islam to be true, you have no alternative but to exert your utmost strength to make it prevail on earth: you either establish it or give your lives in this struggle."" (http://www.meforum.org/4774/islam-genocide-middle-east) Sent 15 August 2014 Lena Hassan in her Islam View column asks Canadians to show compassion for Khaled Al-Qazzaz, a permanent resident of Canada, who is incarcerated in Egypt. She offers no clue why the Egyptian government does not want him to be at large. It turns out that he was secretary of foreign relations with the deposed Morsi government. Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party was a creation of the Muslim Brotherhood, now banned in Egypt. Some inkling of Morsi's mindset (which may have attracted al-Qazzaz?) may be gained from his interview which aired on Lebanon's Al-Quds TV on September 23, 2010, "This is what these occupiers of the land of Palestine know – these blood-suckers, who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs." One may need to look no further than the logo of the Muslim Brotherhood to understand the true intentions of Khaled al-Qazzaz’s “Freedom and Justice” party and why it was ultimately overthrown in Egypt's second revolution. It contains two swords and a Koran, the Islamic holy book. Their motto: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Quran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu Akbar!” (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/06/29/The-New-York-Times-Pro-Terrorist-Op-Ed) Al-Qazzaz may be a "permanent resident of Canada" but he himself claims Egypt as his home. He is ultimately the author of his own predicament. Canada owes him nothing. He may look to the Muslim Brotherhood motto for solace. Sent 27 July 2014 How Islamization Progresses I don't get it. Is it not true that "Canadian values" include the separation of church (mosque) and state, one law for all Canadians (banning of Shariah law) and everyone has the right to speak out and express ideas that others might disagree with? Yet when some Muslims, whose organizations (Muslim Canadian Congress, Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow and Progressive Muslims Institute of Canada) urge their coreligionists to adopt such values, and a local imam (Munir El-Kassem) labels them "Islamophobes", why do we reward his opinion by appointing him a London Police Chaplain? He is certainly entitled to hold and propagate such views, but surely not as a member of an organization sworn to uphold Canadian law (not Allah's law). During a conversation with Wael Haddara, a leader in the London Muslim Mosque, I suggested that examples of Islamist organizations included the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Haddara objected to the inclusion of the MB. The reason apparently was that, unlike the first two, Canada has not declared the MB a terrorist organization. It formally renounced violence in the 1970s but global Islamization by political means (democratic?) still remains its goal. I later learned that Haddara is a past President of the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) on whose website is acknowledged the influence of the MB. Islam is nothing if not nuanced! The emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) among Syrian Islamist rebels with its mass recruitment of Jihadis from Western countries and bloodthirsty slaughter of Shia Muslims was too much for even al-Qaeda which withdrew its support. Later ISIS surged into Iraq and quickly conquered much of northern part of that country. It declared the erasure of the border between Iraq and Syria, announced the formation of a new caliphate to which all Muslims around the globe (the Umma) should declare allegiance, and renamed itself simply the Islamic State (IS). So a pattern is beginning to take shape. Where Muslims are a minority, as in Europe and North America, Islamization continues apace hitched to the machinery of democracy, and aided blindly by, it would seem, those primarily of a leftist orientation. The occasional dash of terrorism may be applied to let the dhimmi know who is calling the tune. While in the Muslim majority areas, such as the Middle East, violence, sometimes full-scale warfare, reigns and is energized by the Palestine/Israel struggle, the internal Sunni debate between fundamentalist and secularist factions, the Sunni/Shia theological differences, and a pervasive clash between mediaeval theology and scientific humanism. Sent 20 July 2014 Emerging Islamist caliphate? By erasing the border between Iraq and Syria is ISIS taking the first steps toward the Islamist dream of a global caliphate? By entering the keywords "how isis muslim brotherhood in Europe North America Africa Asia may emerge as global caliphate" into Google search you will generate the "dots" which, with some imagination, you can connect to generate some interesting scenarios. Try it. At the very least you may gain valuable insights into our emerging global geopolitical situation. Sent 28 June 2014 Islam View Regarding the Islam View of June 21st, what Imam Twakkal has to say is largely twaddle. However, if we are to believe the title given to his opinion piece (Islam teaches that you are what you speak), then, indeed, as many critics of Islam have argued: Listen to them; they are telling us their beliefs. Examples are: Be prepared for the real holocaust. Exterminate those who slander Islam. Freedom go to hell. Europe is the cancer. Islam is the answer. Europe you will pay. Your 9/11 is on its way. But we shouldn't be surprised. Dr. Tina Magaard, a Sorbonne-trained linguist specializing in textual analysis, published detailed research findings in 2005 comparing the foundational texts of ten major religions. Magaard concluded from her hard data–driven analyses that the texts in Islam distinguish themselves from the texts of other religions by encouraging violence and aggression against people with other religious beliefs to a larger degree. There are also straightforward calls for terror. This has long been a taboo in the research into Islam, but it is a fact that we need to deal with. Further, implying that contemplation of words and their consequences is a uniquely Islamic practice, while a typical manifestation of a supremacist attitude, is merely the co-optation of common sense or folk wisdom. It seems that the congregants of the London Muslim Mosque will get what they apparently want, which is the "same old same old." But, come to think of it, that is the whole point of Islamism, isn't it? Sent 22 June 2014. We Have a Modern Gunga Din In the film "Gunga Din" the title's namesake, a civilian regimental servant, climbs a temple dome with a bugle to sound a warning to advancing British troops that they are moving into an ambush. Unfortunately Din dies of wounds inflicted by the enemy as they strive, unsuccessfully, to silence his warning bugle call. In a final ceremony before the victorious troops Din is posthumously inducted as a Corporal in the regiment as its colonel intones the lines from Kipling's poem "By the livin' Gawd that made you, You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!" But that is 19th century fiction. Fast forward to 21st century reality and the abominations of al-Shaabad, Boko Haram, and ISIS (which includes in its ranks many European and North American Islamists). With these monsters it is kill, kill, kill and kill some more in the service, as they see it, of Allah. But a modern day Gunga Din has warned us, years ago, in a final gallant warning cry before an untimely death from cancer, of the trap into which we are being lured. But rather than a bugle, the instrument used was a pen (or its technological successor) to produce a book, "The Force of Reason." That modern day "Gunga Din" was the Italian journalist, Oriana Fallaci. At one point in her book she relates what George Habash, perpetrator of the bloodiest terrorist attacks in Europe, told her of the Arabs' enemies: not Israel alone, but the whole West. "I didn't understand that talking about the war on the West, about the-strategy-to-be-expanded, he did not mean the war waged with weapons and that's all. He also meant the cultural war, the demography war, the religious war waged by stealing a country from its citizens. Step by step, millimetre by millimetre. Year after year. Decade after decade. Determinedly, stubbornly, patiently. In short, the war waged through immigration, fertility, presumed pluriculturalism, Drafts of Agreements demands. The Islamic holidays, the five prayers' interruptions, the halal meat, the face also covered on identity papers, to begin with. The Islamic marriage, the polygamy, the stoning of women, ..." But the war with weapons is still very much in the news today as we hear of attacks in Iraq, Nigeria, Kenya and the kidnappings in the West Bank. When one connects the dots the plan as outlined by Habash to Fallaci becomes pretty clear. As volunteer jihadis return home to Europe and North America we may expect things to heat up. Let us not ignore Fallaci's efforts to warn us. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: June 21, 2014. (Before editing.) Jihadists - Brian Lilley The Canadian government should consider investigating the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). This is a recommendation by Tom Quiggin, a court expert on terrorism and member of the Terrorism and Security Experts of Canada Network. Quiggin's report is mentioned in Brian Lilley's column in the London Free Press of 30 May 2014, where Quiggin is quoted as writing "The Muslim Brotherhood's use of settlement and the 'process of civilization jihad' has proven effective. The long-term aim is to globally impose a virulent form of political Islam to the exclusion of other faiths or systems." It is interesting that this should follow PM David Cameron's decision to order such an investigation in the UK. And how nice of the NCCM (National Council of Canadian Muslims) to generate some publicity by suing the PMO for libel. I had the opportunity last evening to see how the Muslim Brotherhood (or its sympathizers) might operate when I attended the screening of the new film "Honor Diaries" at the Wolf Performance Hall. The film mainly addresses honour killing and female genital mutilation in Muslim majority countries but also notes their practice in Canada and the UK. The MC of the event, in his opening remarks, told of speaking with two members of the London Muslim Mosque (LMM) who were standing in the hall outside the screening venue. It was confirmed that they did not attend the screening leaving one to conclude that they were there to check whether other LMM members were present. It is probably relevant to note that, in a video hosted on the LMM website, two members of that evening's post-screening discussion panel, Raheel Raza and Salim Mansur, are referred to as "Islamophobes." (See http://www.londonmosque.ca/LondonMosque2013/free-extensions/islamic-topics/78-islamic-development-inside-and-outside-the-community ) The MB favours a fundamentalist form of Islam expounded by its founder, Hassan al-Banna. Raza and Mansur, on the other hand, are active in a reform movement within Islam whose objective to bring its theology in line with modern values draws some inspiration from the 16th century priest, Martin Luther, from whose reforms emerged the Protestant movement in Christianity. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: May 30, 2014 Muslim groups back integration It is frustrating to read about those who insist on pandering to the sensitivities of Muslims with obvious Islamist tendencies. Such frustration is shared by those Muslims who, understandably, feel let down when their attempts to integrate their coreligionists into Canadian society is circumvented by those established Canadians best placed to support them. Muslim organizations that favour integration include the Muslim Canadian Congress, the Council of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, and the Progressive Muslims Institute Canada. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 28, 2014 Editors Note: As published in The London Free Press on April 5, 2014. Some Canadians Turn Backs on Assimilating Muslims It is frustrating to read about those who insist on pandering to the "sensitivities" of Muslims with obvious Islamist tendencies (hold supremacist views of Islam over other religions, insist on the oneness of the state and Islam, and subscribe to the line that Muslims must adopt Islam as a complete way of life (even when that requires that non-believers must change their way of life to accommodate them). Such frustration is shared by those Muslims who understandably feel let down when their attempts to integrate their coreligionists into Canadian society is circumvented by those established Canadians best placed to support them. Muslim organizations which favour integration include the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC), the Council of Muslims Facing Tomorrow (MFT), and the Progressive Muslims Institute Canada. Tahir Gora, the Director-General of the PMIC, said in an interview with Ryan Mauro of the Clarion Project: "Traditional Islamic organizations get millions and millions dollars from Saudi Arabia, Iran and even our Western governments to spread their 6th century medieval ideology, gender inequality, armed jihad and so on. We don't have a penny to counter these issues, but still we are contributing as much as possible, which is the need of our times. No business entrepreneur, no government looks at us. Politicians, media and policy makers run after traditional Islamic organizations." Examples of the latter in London are the London Police Service chaplain, Munir El-Kassem, imam of the Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario, and the fawning story in the London Free Press reporting the special advisor role, to former Islamist Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, of Wael Haddara of the London Muslim Mosque. El-Kassem reveals his true colours in a video in which he accuses Gora, Raheel Raza and Salim Mansur (principals of the MFT), and Tarek Fatah (founder of the MCC) of being Islamophobes. Many readers will recognize such labelling as the typical reaction of Islamists to any criticism of Islam. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 28, 2014. (Before editing.) Christians being decimated in Muslim-majority countries In a recent article Raymond Ibrahim explains why the media doesn't cover Jihadist attacks on Middle East Christians. His final paragraph nicely summarizes the essence of his argument. "If mainstream media were to report honestly on Christian persecution at the hands of radical Islamists so many bedrocks of the leftist narrative currently dominating political discourse would crumble, first and foremost, the idea that radical Islamic intolerance is a product of "grievances," and that Israel is responsible for all Jihadist terrorism against it." Source: http://www.meforum.org/3798/why-the-media-doesnt-cover-jihadist-attacks-on Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 22, 2014 Time for the other shoe to drop "The (Muslim) Brotherhood operates under a doctrine that it calls "gradualism." ... Supreme Guide Badi said that there are six phases to the Brotherhood methodology: Sharia law on the individual level; Sharia law on the family unit; Sharia law on the society; Sharia law on the government; the resurrection of the Caliphate and lastly, "mastership of the world." The Brotherhood will declare that it is democratic throughout this process, but, as top Brotherhood cleric Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi explains, "Our democracy is different." The Brotherhood is for a "genuine type of democracy, for a society driven by the laws of Sharia that is compatible with the values of freedom, human rights, justice and equity." The use of these terms comforts the West and non-Islamists, but mean something different to Islamists." Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/ryan-mauro/muslim-brotherhood-draws-up-plans-to-islamize-egypt/2/ The Muslim Brotherhood's political wing is the Freedom and Justice Party, and the leader of this party is Mohamed Morsi whose special advisor was Londoner Wael Haddara (according to a London Free Press story last fall). Haddara is a leader of the London Muslim Mosque. One might well wonder what "advice" he imparts to the mosque's members. Unlike Egypt we lack a Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to root out destructive ideas, but we do have a free press. I recall that LFP's editor-in-chief has a penchant for ensuring that both (all?) sides of a story are presented (cf. the Leishman affair). Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 13, 2014 Echoes from the past in Ukraine A significant neo-Nazi movement is playing a leading role in the revolutionary events in Kiev. One of the leading parties is the ultra-nationalist Svoboda, whose leader, Oleh Tyahnybok, has called for the liberation of his country from the "Muscovite-Jewish mafia." During the German occupation of the Second World War, many Ukrainians, who had no love for the Soviet Union, of which they were then part, looked upon the invaders as liberators. However their new masters had other plans for the inferior Slavs and favoured the idea of a "Lebensraum" for Germans, rather than an independent Ukraine. Today's neo-Nazis may have short memories, but the Russians may remember the millions of lives lost in fighting that first generation of Nazis. It may be deemed prudent to occupy Crimea to protect their naval base at Sevastopol and the large number of ethnic Russians, at least until they're assured that they have a friendly country across their border. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 4, 2014 Editors Note: As published in The London Free Press on March 4, 2014 Another Egyptian's View of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Elmasry is a native Egyptian who appears not to share Wael Haddara's enthusiasm for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) or (presumably) for Mohamed Morsi, the leader of its Freedom and Justice Party. You may recall Jennifer O'Brien's revealing article in the London Free Press of September 14, 2013, on Haddara's role as Morsi's media advisor. Elmasry is a past president of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) who in 2005 supported the attempt to have shariah adopted by Ontario family courts for resolving Muslim issues. The attempt was unsuccessful. However, Elmasry's views on the MB seem to be in line with those of Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird (http://web.archive.org/web/20130824020530/http:/www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Baird+expresses+solidarity+with+Egyptian+Copts+slams+Muslim+Brotherhood/8826005/story.html). Here is an extract from a recent online article by Elmasry: (http://www.thecanadiancharger.com/page.php?id=5&a=1667 ) "Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is a secret organization supported by the International Muslim Brotherhood, currently financed by Qatar and Turkey, with the primary function of creating trouble for the post-30 June Egypt. Had the Brotherhood leaders read some history of Islamic terrorism, they would have chosen a different path altogether and the people of Egypt could have been spared much killing. ... The (sic) 2014 will see the election of Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi as a president. During the last six months of 2013 Al-Sisi has demonstrated his leadership ability in refusing to fire on millions of demonstrators and in responding to the June 30's uprising. As a result, he became so popular that he and he alone can win the election in the first round with a wide margin. And this is another reason for me to be optimistic." That Elmasry would hold such views may be reason for optimism for us, too, that he may be shedding the Islamist beliefs that have coloured the CIC's positions. However, it may be too much of a stretch to think that he now believes that shariah is incompatible with Canadian values. This is especially so when it is noted that he is a regular contributor to the Canadian Charger which the CIC was instrumental in founding as a bulwark against rampant online Islamophobia. That latter term was itself coined by Islamists as a label for anyone who would dare to criticize any aspect of Islam. It may be too much to hope that Elmasry is ready to join forces with the anti-Islamist Muslims of the Muslim Canadian Congress, the Council of Muslims Facing Tomorrow and the Progressive Muslims Institute Canada. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London ON Posted On: February 22, 2014 Muslims Against Sharia Just recently I listened to an archived audio clip of London Today with Andy Oudman on 1290 CJBK in which London West PC candidate, Ali Chahbar, attempts to make "crystal-clear" his position on sharia. He fails, but should he in future have the opportunity to run again, I have a suggestion. Ali "methinks he doth protest too much" Chahbar insists that he is only in favour of Canadian-made law being in effect in all three levels of government in Canada, absolutely no sharia law. He conveniently forgets that in 2005 there was an attempt made by Muslim organizations, such as the Canadian Islamic Congress then led by Dr. Mohamed Elmasry, to have sharia adopted by family courts in Ontario when hearing cases brought forward by Muslims. If this attempt had been successful there is little doubt that it would have been considered as "Canadian-made law." If Chahbar is so opposed to sharia he must defend his position by arguing why sharia should never be the basis for any law in Canada. By doing so, Chahbar might find support from the Muslim Canadian Congress and the Progressive Muslims Institute Canada, both of which favour banning sharia. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: January 16, 2014 Effecting Change in Islam What I like about sensible Muslims, such as Salim Mansur, Raheel Raza, Tarek Fatah, Zuhdi Jasser, Irshad Manji, and Tahir Gora (and, of course, many others), is that they appreciate Western values and see their religion as a private matter, separate from affairs of the state, and they recognize that sharia is an immutable system of Islamic laws that is inconsistent with Canadian liberal-democratic values. Now contrast their views with those of Wael Haddara, recently lionized by the London Free Press as "our man in Cairo" because of his support of Mohamed Morsi of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. As stated by Mustafa Mashhur, who was the official leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt 1996-2002, its goals included establishing an Islamic state, world domination under Islam, the public and personal religious duty of military Jihad, and the warning not to rush to Jihad until it is prepared and timed for maximum benefit. If Haddara does not support these goals, then he has to do some explaining to Morsi. Or consider the London Police Chaplain, Munir El-Kassem, who, in a recent talk at the London Muslim Mosque, claimed that the likes of Salim Mansur, Raheel Raza and others are Islamophobes, and urged his listeners to establish a steering committee comprised of members of all the local Islamic organizations, whose role then would be to coordinate an effective defence against Westernization. That means, of course, against us who subscribe to Western values! Such actions are, of course, entirely consistent with the MB's goals as listed above by Mashhur. Now El-Kassem does not actually claim to be defending against Westernization. Rather he wants to coordinate an assault against Islamophobia (defined as "unfounded hostility towards Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims.") But what if the alleged hostility is, in fact, well-founded? As noted on the Bare Naked Islam website: It isn't Islamophobia if they really are trying to kill you. "Killing" may be a bit extreme because those whom El-Kassem calls "Islamophobes" are Muslims who simply want to bring back the scholarly questioning (modernism) within Islam that took place in the 19th and early 20th centuries, before the rise of the fundamentalist Islamists (e.g. the Muslim Brotherhood). While adopting the mindset of the West these scholars sought to use reason to effect change within Islam. It is, then, in this sense that in organizing against those he labels Islamophobes, El-Kassem is turning against the West he now calls home. It is high time that the mainstream media gave greater visibility to those "Islamophobic" Muslims who are struggling to bring the Islamists and non-aligned Muslims into the modern era. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: December 7, 2013 Deeq Abdi Who is Deeq Abdi? The name "Abdi" seems to be a fairly common one in Somalia. Prior to World War 2 then Somaliland was an Italian colony. On Abdi's Facebook page it is stated that one of his languages is Italian, and that he studied at Bocconi University in Milan. The Islamist al-Shabaab terrorist group is based in Somalia. Nearly all the people in Somalia are Muslim. May one assume that Deeq Abdi is Muslim? If so, does he have any sympathy for Islamism? Would the same also be true of the African Community Council of which Abdi is Executive Director? One would hope that these are questions to which the federal government received satisfactory answers before making their generous grant to the ACC. Another possibly related fact is that a Somali named Abdi was killed by a member of the Canadian Airborne Regiment in 1993 during a chase, after he was caught while infiltrating their base's defences. Might he have been a relative of Deeq Abdi? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: November 17, 2013 Egyptian warring groups On the front page of Section B of the London Free Press on Friday, September 20, 2013, is a large photograph of Egyptian residents taking cover and bearing the superimposed sub-title "Militants, Morsi supporters face off in bloody battle." This idiomatic expression implies that the militants and Morsi supporters are opponents. That is not so; they are the same people, also referred to as the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists. In the current Egyptian context their opposition includes government security forces, Coptic Christians and Muslim liberals and secularists. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: September 21, 2013 London's Mr. Cairo Letters to the editor from Al Gretzky and Harry Wilkinson have pointed out the non-democratic actions of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt. Yet, given the huge display spread over two pages of the first section of the London Free Press on September 14, 2013, devoted to celebrating Dr. Wael Haddara's support of the Brotherhood, it appears that we are expected to join in to welcome a local hero. Are we thought to be nuts? The Muslim Brotherhood is our enemy. Both al-Qaeda and the Taliban, whom the Canadian Armed Forces fought against in Afghanistan, are ideological off-shoots of the MB, though there appear to be some differences over tactics. ( http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41070.pdf ) By providing aid and comfort to the enemy Haddara reveals himself to be supportive of a global movement (Islamism) which sees itself at war with the West. ( http://www.gloria-center.org/2010/10/muslim-brotherhood-declares-war-on-america/ ) For insight into how the Muslim Brotherhood wages "war" in Canada take a look at these online articles: Mosques Are the Battleground of the War between Islam and the West ( http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/mosques-are-the-battleground-of-the-war-between-islam-and-the-west/ ) Calgary: Council approves mega mosque in area not even zoned yet ( http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/calgary-council-approves-mega-mosque-in-area-not-even-zoned-yet/ ) Think about it. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: September 17, 2013 Muslim extremism The recent letters by Obeda, McDermott and Amer were directly or indirectly motivated by Anthony Furey's column "Don't ignore Muslim extremism." Obeda agrees with Furey but claims that Islam is inherently "extreme and radical." McDermott, on the other hand, considers Obeda's remarks to be a "scathing attack on the ... Islamist (sic) faith." He apparently dismisses any association of extremism with Islam. Amer does recognize the existence of "Muslim extremists who twist the religion to serve their purposes." However, she accuses Obeda of promoting "hatred towards Islam" apparently because he fails to distinguish between moderate and extremist Muslims. Time to consider: Is there a difference between Islam and Islamism? For some insight into this issue let's turn to Dr. Daniel Pipes, a long-term student of the subject. I begin with an extract from a recent article by Pipes, followed by a link to the full paper. "Those focusing on Islam itself as the problem (such as ex-Muslims like Wafa Sultan and Ayaan Hirsi Ali) point to the consistency from Muhammad's life and the contents of the Koran and Hadith to current Muslim practice. Agreeing with Geert Wilders' film Fitna, they point to striking continuities between Koranic verses and jihad actions. They quote Islamic scriptures to establish the centrality of Muslim supremacism, jihad, and misogyny, concluding that a moderate form of Islam is impossible. They point to Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's deriding the very idea of a moderate Islam. Their killer question is, "Was Muhammad a Muslim or an Islamist?" They contend that we who blame Islamism do so out of political correctness or cowardliness. To which, we reply: Yes, certain continuities do exist; and Islamists definitely follow the Koran and Hadith literally. Moderate Muslims exist but lack Islamists' near-hegemonic power. Erdoğan's denial of moderate Islam points to a curious overlap between Islamism and the anti-Islam viewpoint. Muhammad was a plain Muslim, not an Islamist, for the latter concept dates back only to the 1920s. And no, we are not cowardly but offer our true analysis." http://www.danielpipes.org/12847/islam-vs-islamism Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: September 1, 2013 Containment of Islamization Stephen Harper made a good start when in an interview with Peter Mansbridge on the CBC's The National he identified Islamism as the greatest threat to Canada's security. He clearly was speaking of the terrorist threat. It is now time to move on to an emerging threat. The pattern of Islamist activities reveals that the threat of Islamization is global and involves not only Canada but also the United States, Western Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand. There should therefore be a collective effort to put into effect a Containment Policy with the same broad objective as the Cold War version of George F. Kennan in 1947 which was intended to stop the spread of Communism until such time that the threat itself would run out of steam or even collapse. The Islamist encroachments we see happening around us have been preplanned. It is all part of an extensive web of activities designed to support the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) which is to dominate the globe. The MB has spun off its former use of violence to Al-Qaeda and Hamas, and now opts for what is termed "stealth jihad" and "creeping sharia" or infiltration of government and civil society. Terrorist activities are still part of the Brotherhood's global strategy, but seemingly more as a way to distract attention from the numerous local activities (Islamist candidates running for political office, mosque building using off-shore funds, seeking concessions (e.g. prayer rooms), establishing Islamic Studies programs led by Islamist sympathizers, etc.) intended to extend Islamist control. It is to the containment of these activities (also referred to as "death by a thousand cuts") that a re-activated Containment Policy must be addressed. On no account should religious or cultural activities that are not compatible with Canadian values and customs be allowed to override and replace our way of doing things. Consider, as an example, the recent granting of prayer space to Muslim students of a local Catholic high school. The principal's reason for this concession was that she wanted the students to feel welcome. That seemed redundant since the students had already been welcomed to attend the school. However, the move is consistent with Ontario's Equity and Inclusive Education (EIE) policy which mandates this type of “religious accommodation” for all schools, whether public or Catholic. If EIE were abrogated by a Containment Policy then Muslim students would have to adapt to their secular environment. A Belgian study of a related issue (workplace prayers) found that Muslims were prepared to adapt as shown in this opinion voiced by a Muslim employee: "You should find a middle ground. If you cannot pray at work, you're not going to make a fuss about it and start upsetting people. No, you should keep a low profile. You cannot require everything from a society where everything is not provided for Muslims. We aren't on Islamic soil. If we were on Islamic soil, of course you could have demands. [...] But here, you cannot expect too much, you need to give time to society." What other measures might be decreed by a Containment Policy? Here is an extract from an article dealing with that topic: "Unless we are all incrementally to submit to Islamist rule, and the very definition of Islam is “to submit", we must take a sober view of what we are facing and adopt nothing less than a far reaching policy of Containment against the threat of contemporary Islamist expansionism. This would entail the following: 1. international alliances not only for the purpose of disrupting terrorist networks but aimed at preventing further Islamist territorial expansion. 2. massive economic and financial aid for non-Muslim countries, particularly in Africa, that find themselves under steady violent attack by well funded Islamist political movements and militias. 3. restrictions of foreign aid and, where tactically beneficial, even outright economic sanctions against countries that repress religious minorities. 4. diplomatic pressure on all Muslim countries to permit full religious freedom and equality without compromise or condition. 5. immediate military aid for men, women and children suffering from rape, kidnapping, enslavement and murder—particularly in Africa. 6. a comprehensive reform of immigration and asylum policies centred on providing refuge for threatened and persecuted religious minorities from Muslim countries. 7. non-recognition of Sharia in all legal and judicial proceedings along with a reaffirmation of the exclusive sovereignty and constitutional order of any non-Muslim country. 8. an immediate ban on all foreign funding for Islamic schools and so-called religious centres in non-Islamic countries until curricula and teaching can be certified against hate speech, particularly toward homosexuals and Jews, and unless there is full freedom and equality for other religions to worship and proselytize in the country of origin. 9. denial of special privileges in Western countries that are not equally granted to all faiths, cultures and ideologies, e.g. for every Muslim prayer room in a place of work or public institution there must also be a Christian Chapel, Jewish temple, Buddhist shrine, etc. Essentially the above measures would serve notice that we will accept nothing less than to compete with Islamist political ideology on an equal playing field. In the marketplace for ideas, we are confident that freedom will prevail—that is, as long as it is not extinguished by force. Contrast the current situation to the above recommendations. Western leaders struggle to pronounce the name of the enemy and remain silent in the face of the persecution of minorities. There is limited assistance at best—whether in military, economic, political or other terms—for countries under assault in Africa, freedom movements in places like Iran or moderate Muslim voices in the West. The intellectual father (Kennan) of Containment policy against the Soviet Union argued that the goal would be to cause, at a minimum, a “gradual mellowing of Soviet power." We needn’t try to defeat Islamic beliefs and culture themselves but merely to provide sufficient counterforce and resistance to allow competing ideas to flourish, to allow Islamist expansionism in time to collapse under its own weight." Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.8471/pub_detail.asp Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: July 29, 2013 Islamist Silence At the London West All-Candidates meeting on 16 July 2013 Ali Chahbar was asked whether he supported the anti-Islamist views of the Muslim Canadian Congress and the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow (that is, ban sharia, separate mosque and state, and forbid religious practices in the public school system). Not unsurprisingly he claimed not to know these organizations and would only comment that he supports Canadian law. His response is consistent with that of other members of the London Mosque who simply will not openly address the Islamist issue. This really leaves one with no realistic recourse other than to conclude that Chahbar and his co-religionists are at least Islamist sympathizers. One other odd thing about the meeting was that not a single hijab was to be seen. That left one to ponder: Is this a calculated move by the mosque or are Muslims voting Liberal? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: July 21, 2013 Ramadan Rebuttal The July 13th Islam View column, in which the writer extols the virtues of Ramadan fasting, reminds me of the fable of the cunning fox who lost his tail while escaping from a trap. But without his tail he feels ashamed among his fellow foxes. So he concocts a plan. He gathers them together and explains how much lighter he feels and how much faster he can run and, therefore, that they all should cut off their tails. The foxes swallow the story and are about to amputate their tails when one wise old fox stands up and says, "Don't follow this rogue. He is lying. He lost his tail in a trap and, because he now looks strange, he wants you to look like him." The foxes immediately recognize their gullibility and chase the tailless one from their den. The trap which has snared the writer is apparently a rather nasty version of Islam and now he is trying to con the rest of us by painting Ramadan as the best thing since sliced bread. He encourages us to sample this cure-all practice by trying it for a day and promises a wondrous improvement in our lives. Not only that, but he goes one better than the fabled fox and guarantees it! Well, if that in fact works, why would one bother to join the Islamist club and thus expose oneself to termination if one later decides to leave? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: July 15, 2013 Islamism I have posted this message to Ali Chahbar's PC campaign headquarters website but after several days there has been no response. Are not London West voters entitled to an explanation of the apparent threat posed by the London Muslim Mosque's support of the totalitarian views of the Muslim Association of Canada? It has been alleged that the London Muslim Mosque is populated by Islamists. A current leader in the mosque is past president of the Muslim Association of Canada. The MAC on its website blatantly declares that it subscribes to the beliefs of the Muslim Brotherhood: "MAC's roots are deeply enshrined in the message of Prophet Mohammad. Its modern roots can be traced to the vigorous intellectual revivalist effort that took hold in Muslim societies starting in the early twentieth century. This revival aimed at reconciling faith with the challenges of modernity and providing a clear articulation of balance and moderation in understanding Islam. In the Arab world, this revival culminated in the writings of the late Imam Hassan al-Banna and the movement of the Society of Muslim Brothers (commonly known as the Muslim Brotherhood)." And this is what al-Banna said should be a primary goal of the Brotherhood: "It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet." Its law, of course, is sharia! Sharia is fundamentally about power the enforcement of a body of law, not faith. Therefore it is a political force, not a religious one. In the words of Muslim Brotherhood theoretician Sayyid Qutb: "Whenever an Islamic community exists which is a concrete example of the Divinely-ordained system of life, it has a God-given right to step forward and control the political authority so that it may establish the divine system on earth" Though the MB has changed strategies over the years from violence to stealth, its ultimate goal is unchanged, and that is clearly incompatible with true democracy and Western values. My question to Ali Chahbar is: What action are you taking to implement Islamic reform in your mosque in order to remove its totalitarian aspects and introduce democratic and Western values? We certainly would not wish to elect anyone to govern us who is seeking a platform from which to "control the political authority so that it may establish the divine system on earth." Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: July 7, 2013 Stultifying Effect of Islamization The United States of America and European countries have been consistently backing beleaguered Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo, Kuwait and elsewhere in recent years. Making out that the west is conducting a crusade against Islam and Muslims is absurd and insulting to the many men who have been killed defending Muslim men, women and children in war zones. The governments of Iraq and Afghanistan are not Christian puppet regimes, they are democratic regimes consisting of Muslims. Despite all the efforts of terrorists/insurgents/resistance fighters to induce Americans to attack mosques by using them as firing positions the US military has been extremely restrained. If the plan was to wage war upon Islam a barrage of Tomahawk cruise missiles would have made Arabia a smoking ruin and Mecca so radioactive it would glow. It is absurd to portray the west as the enemy of Islam. If Muslims ignore the west the west has no interest in attacking, defeating, subduing or keeping down the Muslim world. It is not western oppression that is keeping the Islamic world backward it is the stultifying effect of Islam, endemic corruption and the debilitating effect of unearned riches generated by the windfall of oil. There is little that is better designed to make an individual or a country morally weak than the curse of inherited wealth, while America's own supplies of oil are truly vast America has not simply sold off the oil to other people and lived off the money, American oil has fuelled American industry, oil revenues have been reinvested into infrastructure and industry. In contrast in the Islamic world oil revenues have bought palaces, limousines, fighter jets and the temporary services of foreign workers to do the bulk of the real work. The Islamic world hasn't invented anything new and exciting for over six centuries. Communist regimes in one human lifetime were responsible for more innovation than the Islamic world produced in the last millennium. Secular Jews have invented and discovered more in the last 150 years than the Islamic world has ever produced, and probably more than they ever will. If Muslims have a chip on their shoulder and a feeling of inadequacy and inferiority it is well deserved. The Japanese in one year produce more innovation than the entire billion plus Muslims manage in a century. But nobody is doing any of this progress, science and innovation to spite or annoy Muslims or Allah. Nobody is keeping Muslims out of the universities or libraries or laboratories of the world in any deliberate policy of doing down the Islamic world or trying to prove the inadequacy of the Arab people. Nobody is trying to hobble the Islamic world. The wounds to the intellect are entirely self inflicted. The secular world of science, industry and progress is open, there are no barriers, just allow yourselves to think freely and clearly and you can join in and enjoy the riches of the modern world. Religious prejudice is bad for business so business does not indulge in it. Islam as a way of life practiced by a community which is keeping itself to itself is no threat to anybody outside. It is a threat to its own children of course, especially its girls, but that is another matter. Islam cannot expect to be accorded the protected status of a self-contained harmless religious minority when it has a political agenda of world domination. Any person, nation or organization which has plans on world domination is political and so is no longer able to count upon the protection normally granted to religious minorities when its agenda is to become the one and only persecuting majority. Source: http://right2think.org/index.php/atheism-and-religion/190-islam-tolerating-intolerance Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: June 12, 2013 Comments Thank you, Bob for your excellent article. Every word is true and it should be published on the front page of every newspaper. POSTED BY: VALENSKI Islam asks too much Regarding the Islam View column Prayer this Muslim's daily spiritual workout (May 25). Naira Ahmed shows how Islam encourages and probably demands collectivist behaviour. Consider the totalitarian implications of "embracing Islam involves committing to a total change in lifestyle" and "when self-discipline lags, group prayer helps an individual commit to the five daily prayers." Obviously Islam has no monopoly on praying, even multiple times a day. Some Christians pray before each meal and at bedtime. This usually takes place in private homes. What turns off many people is the attitude of some Muslims who seem continually seeking concessions to accommodate prayer or sharia practices. Contrast that with the Canadian trend towards removal of signs of religiosity from public areas to avoid offending guess who. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: May 26, 2013 Editors Note: As published in The London Free Press on June 1, 2013. Heavenly virgins I just received this email joke: "Don't die a virgin. Terrorists are up there waiting for you." That got me to wondering: where the f*** (if you'll excuse the appropriate expression) does the pleasurable friction come from in the spirit world? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: May 25, 2013 Tarik Shousher letter Tarik Shousher's letter of May 4, 2013, is typical of those being submitted by Muslims who complain of being offended by the views and actions of non-Muslims. But the bottom line is that he expects those who offend him are the ones who should change by becoming more understanding of other cultures. What about his co-religionists who wish to impose their complete Islamic way of life upon our Canadian values? Would Shousher favour banning sharia, accepting the separation of mosque and state, and adopting the post-Enlightenment values of other monotheistic religions, such as no religious practices (e.g. prayer rooms) in the public school system? In short, does he support the aims of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: May 7, 2013 Islamism must be destroyed In the following excerpt from the article at http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/canadian-muslims-plea-west the founders of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow call upon fellow Muslims and Western governments to take seriously the need to rid the world of the Islamist threat. "As Muslims in Canada, we have repeatedly called upon our fellow Muslims to publicly disavow all relationships with Islamists and Islamism, to repudiate unconditionally the aberrant thinking and teachings of Wahhabism (and its related schools among Sunni Muslims) and Khomeinism and to cooperate -- without any hesitation -- with law enforcement and security agencies of our home country, Canada. But our voice will not carry weight unless and until our government, our political parties and politicians at all levels of government -- federal, provincial and municipal -- take seriously the Islamist threat and denounce Islamism without any inhibition or equivocation. We cannot any longer afford to allow our mainstream media, our educational institutions and our civil society associations to wallow in political correctness and, intentionally or not, give cover to the Islamists in our midst through public relation exercises, such as inter-faith dialogue. As Muslims we understand much more than anyone else how multiculturalism has become a cover for Islamist penetration of the West. As Muslims, we have the inside knowledge of the extent to which Wahhabi teachings and Islamism have together undermined what was once a rich and tolerant culture within Islam.We recognize that after decades of Wahhabi subversion, this sounds apologetic and quaint. Moreover, as Muslims, we found ourselves accepted in the West with immense generosity, kindness and without any discrimination by the majority of the population. Many of us carry deep physical and psychological wounds of bigotry and violence directed against us as Muslims by other Muslims driven to fanaticism by Wahhabi and Islamist teachings. As survivors of Muslim violence against Muslims, our gratitude in finding refuge and a new home in Canada and elsewhere in the West is immeasurable. Our concern about the West's security from Islamist threats is derived from experience. We, therefore, as Muslims urge the authorities in Canada, in the United States and in Europe, to take robust measures against those who have declared war against the West and those who directly or indirectly assist this warfare." Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: April 30, 2013 Boston bombers Zuhdi Jasser, the keynote speaker at the founding in Toronto of the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow, has written an article on the Boston bombers with possible relevance to London's own radical Muslims. (Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/346176/moderate-muslims-must-oppose-islamism ) While Jasser's remarks are obviously addressed to his fellow-Americans, Canadians may heed them also as friendly advice: As details emerge about the identity and ideologies of the Tsarnaev brothers, it should quickly become clear that these individuals did not go to sleep one night normal American Muslims and wake up the next day al-Qaeda jihadists putting together pressure-cooker bombs. Their pathway towards radicalization will now be obvious to those who honestly connect the dots in retrospect. Far more important now is that leading reform-minded American Muslims, along with the U.S. government, the media, and academe, begin to confront and dissect the early stages of radicalization (Islamism), not just the last one (violent extremism). Jasser goes on to say: I was also vilified by those same groups for my role in narrating the documentary "The Third Jihad", which happened to open with an illustrative scene from the terror in Beslan, Russia, in September 2004, when militant Chechnyan Islamists killed 334 civilians, 186 of them children, after a two-week standoff. The 2008 documentary was about the threat of militant Islamism to the West and the need for anti-Islamist Muslims to counter that threat. How many attacks like that suffered by the people of Boston this week must we see before we recognize the need to drill down against the separatism of the global movement of political Islam and their dreams of an Islamic state? Jasser continues: An obsessive mindset of "Muslims as victims" rather than as Americans is how many of these radical Islamists start. Put another way, Muslims are indoctrinated by many Muslim Brotherhood legacy groups and the like in the West (my editorial: such as the Muslim Association of Canada and the Muslim Students' Association) to sympathize with the grievances and supremacist identity of the transnational theo-political movements of political Islam. Notice the brothers' aunt and parents in Canada and Russia, who were brimming to the media with conspiracy theories and excuses. But then, as many point out, the Islamists of Chechnya have been fueled for decades by radicalization from salafi and Wahhabi ideas brought in by Saudi masters. Russia's authoritarian and repressive response to entire swaths of Muslims in Chechnya certainly didn't help empower moderate Muslims to defeat the radicals. Judge not your friendly neighbourhood Muslim just by how they help out at the local food bank, but by their willingness to reform Islam by banning sharia, accepting the separation of mosque and state and adopting the post-Enlightenment practices of other monotheistic religions. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: April 22, 2013 Political Islam: a totalitarian ideology Some notes on Islamism, the dark political underside of Islam: Extract from doctoral dissertation by Terri K. Wonder, "Re-Islamization in higher education from above and below: The University of South Florida and its global contexts", 2008: As the late Hannah Arendt's seminal work on The Origins of Totalitarianism shows about Nazism and Communism, this inquiry illustrates, too, that for Islamism "terror and propaganda"-including educational propaganda-signify two sides of the same coin. Because Islamism is categorically a totalitarian movement that knows no geographical divisions and whose highest aspiration is total control of humanity itself that movement, by its very nature, shuns dissent, intellectually intimidates, maims and murders, and represses information that portrays its darker realities. To survive past its first generation, the movement requires the co-opting of sympathetic intellectuals, Muslims and non-Muslims, who are not movement members but who provide the movement with a semblance of legitimacy. Source: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/571/ Extract from "An Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America" 5/22/1991 Understanding the role of the Muslim Brother in North America: The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack. Source: http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/20.pdf (English text follows the Arabic.) All students --- Muslim undergraduates in particular --- must be encouraged and guided to have a First or Second "double major", or a "Minor", in a "discipline-oriented Islamic studies program". The First and Second majors would be in any discipline in the Islamic and secular contexts. Typically, U.S. citizens might make secular the First major, and one from a Muslim country would make the Islamic the First major. This may make them better adopted to their job markets. However, the duty to Islamize the discipline and establish its "truth" and superiority over the non-Islamic is uncompromisable. Source: http://www.islamicscience.org/pages/english/broch1of%203.htm Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: April 7, 2013 Denouncing extremism (Clarified version) While the post by the Right Reverends Bennett and Dance may be of some comfort to some members of London's Muslim community, especially those with Islamist leanings, it is disappointing to others who prefer an Islam which is not claimed to be "a complete way of life", and which believes in the separation of mosque and state. (See http://muslimsfacingtomorrow.com/ ) What does appear to inspire many (most?) local Muslims is the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood which has gained a substantial following due to its work among "the lost, the last and the least " in Egypt. Of course, this is part of their non-violent strategy to acquire political control "democratically" not only in Egypt but also globally. As noted in my previous Free Press postings the mission and philosophy of the Brotherhood have influenced the Muslim Association of Canada and the Muslim Students' Association and others. These two clerics may find themselves playing the roles of "useful idiots", defined by Wikipedia as "a pejorative term for people perceived as propagandists for a cause whose goals they do not understand, and who are used cynically by the leaders of the cause." The cause in this instance is the Islamization of America and Canada (which refers not only to political domination, but also to all knowledge), and the inadvertent propagandizing and support manifests itself in bending school rules to accommodate prayer rooms, changing religious holiday practices, avoiding terms such as "radical Islam" and "Muslim terrorists", introducing sharia law into selected areas, offering Islam-compliant university courses and other such "politically correct" actions. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: April 7, 2013 Muslims in denial So the Canadian terrorists killed in Algeria are from London. As Islamists, they seemed to have a different take on "jihad" from that of Nusaiba Al-Azem in her March 16 Islam View column, Reclaiming right to be true 'jihadist' a struggle. But the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" approach seems to be the standard party (or religious) line of local Muslims. Examples are: "Extremists are not Muslims," "Suicide bombers are not Muslims. Muslims do not commit suicide" and, in response to a question about Islamism, "Islamism? How do you define that?" Isn't it about time that Muslims faced up to their dark side? For the rest of us, the best criterion by which to judge who is a "good" Muslim may be whether he or she supports the new Canadian organization, Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: April 3, 2013 Editors Note: As published in The London Free Press on Apr. 4, 2013. Jihad in Islam Nusaiba Al-Azem is a member of the Muslim Student Association at Western University who claims that "Jihad is not war. It does not mean blood, tears, or bombs." (Islam View, LFP, 16 March 2013) The Muslim Students Association (MSA) of the United States and Canada was incorporated in January 1963, when members of the Muslim Brotherhood came together at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." Both Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Sayyid Qutb were quite explicit that violent Jihad must be waged not only as defensive war, but until all men submit to the rule of Islam. Indeed the Muslim Brotherhood has provided the ideological underpinning for all modern Sunni Islamic terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda and Hamas. When Prime Minister Harper refers to the time spent by our "security apparatus" on keeping track of Jihadi activities be assured that it is not the inner struggles of Islamists which concern them. Ms. Al-Azem should address her concerns to her colleagues in the MSA. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 17, 2013 Canadian Islamist Terrorists For an update on home-grown Islamist terrorists in Canada, see CBC report at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqU6WGpwIM4&feature=youtu.be) Introductory text on page is: " Reverting to terror?? You never hear of numerous people converting, or reverting, to Buddhism, Christianity, or Hinduism and suddenly becoming murderous, evil terrorists, willing to kill innocent people, for their new "religion? Does this prove that Islam is false religion? This is not just one case, but one of MANY cases in Canada, United States, Australia, UK, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand, France, Belgium, Norway, England, USA, Wales, Scotland, Denmark, Russia, India the Netherlands and all over the civilized western world, especially Europe. The mother of one of the 50 to 60 Canadians being monitored by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) because of alleged terrorist activities abroad says she no longer recognizes her own son. The Quebec woman, who agreed to speak to CBC News on condition she remain anonymous for her own safety, said she wants to warn other parents about the risks awaiting young Muslims like her son. She said after her son converted to Islam, he was recruited online by a radical Islamist group. The woman said her son was by nature a pacifist but was perhaps an easy target. "They played on his generous nature," she says, adding she watched her son change gradually after he converted. "He stopped listening to music because it was a sin," she says. "He started to cut off contact with girls, then later, with boys who didn't share his vision." She said he became more and more critical of Canadian society, saying, "Canadian laws are not good. It's Sharia law that should be applied." "He is convinced that jihad is a part of the religion," she said, adding he told his parents he wanted them both to "burn in hell" if they did not convert as well. The young man has left Canada for Syria, and his mother is aware that CSIS agents suspect him of involvement in radical Islamist activities. She said his name is on the no-fly list maintained by the U.S. government's terrorist screening centre. "CSIS knows of some 50 or so young people who have left Canada to join one of these groups," said Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former CSIS agent who is now president of Northgate - a private security consulting firm. Social media play a growing role in reaching out to vulnerable young people and radicalizing them, Juneau-Katsuya said. "Social media are a means of privileged communication between young people, which excludes their family and isolates them with others who sympathize with their cause and think in a similar fashion," he said. "It's also a way of communicating in code." He said it's a challenge for authorities to keep on top of what's being discussed or to restrict access to radical content. Shaykh Omar Kone, a Sufi cleric who leads the congregation at Montreal's al-Iman mosque, said he sees more and more young people participating in this radical discourse. He said clerics try to guide them in a different direction, but it doesn't always work. Kone said parents of young Muslims must be vigilant and must not turn a blind eye to radical ideologues who might be trying to influence their children." Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 9, 2013 More on Egypt I have been reading about Bassem Youssef, a cardiothoracic surgeon in Egypt, who also hosts a politically-oriented comedy show patterned after Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show." He seems to be in a spot of trouble for making fun of President Morsi. Good for him! Here's an extract from the article in question: "Ultimately, the Bassem Youssef phenomenon is bigger than one man. It's about that large and, thanks to Youssef, increasingly vocal segment of urbanized Egyptian society that feels the Islamists do not represent them or their vision of Egypt. "Now you see people arguing in streets," ... " 'We don't want sharia law,' they say. Bassem Youssef is not necessarily significant in himself, but he is because of what he stands for and the people now following him." " Source: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/121069/the-rise-of-egypts-jon-stewart This is another reason to keep an eye on Egypt as suggested in my letter "Learning from Egypt" posted to London Free Press on December 13, 2012. Perhaps local Muslims may be inspired by Youssef to boot out the Muslim Brotherhood followers in their midst. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 4, 2013 'Islamist' needs redefining This is in response to Jari Qudrat who seeks a definition of "Islamist" in LFP 15 Feb 13. Two over-arching goals of Islamists are: (1) to establish a global Islamic Caliphate (a theocratic state based on sharia law - a complete way of life with no need of democracy), and (2) to return to Islam's roots of the ideal City State of the four Caliphs (632-61). To achieve these goals Islamists have adopted the tactics of violence and "creeping sharia." The latter largely employs lying (taqiyya) to hide or obfuscate the intent of their actions. These tactics vary among the many Islamist groups. At present the Muslim Brotherhood tends to favour the non-violent stealth Jihad (or creeping sharia), while its progeny (such as al-Qaeda and Hamas) use more violent methods. For a more in-depth explanation see the paper at https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/22326292/What_is_Islamism_Totalitarian_Movements_article.pdf . For a video on the nature of the Islamist threat with Canadian examples go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFWnLtX6-tI . A new Canadian organization is the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow (http://www.muslimsfacingtomorrow.com) which is actively working toward "Enlightenment among Muslims and Reform of Islam in the modern world." To reform Islam will be a long struggle especially when they seek to meddle (as the Islamists will view it) with the interpretation of the Qur'an which is claimed to be the unalterable Word of Allah. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: February 17, 2013 Learning from Egypt We in London should be watching Egypt for insight into what is going on behind the scene in our own community. In Egypt as the pro-sharia Muslim Brotherhood supporters battle their anti-sharia freedom-loving opponents, spearheaded by the National Salvation Front, we may be seeing in real time a dramatization of Zuhdi Jasser's book "A Battle for the Soul of Islam." According to Salim Mansur the members of the London Mosque support the interpretation of Islam favoured by the Muslim Brotherhood (stated during an interview with Robert Vaughn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fpfxKvMycM)). Perhaps not coincidentally one of the Mosque's leaders is Wael Haddara, the current president of the Muslim Association of Canada. On their website (http://www.macnet.ca/about/) this organization proclaims the following: "MAC adopts and strives to implement Islam, as embodied in the Qur'an, and the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and as understood in its contemporary context by the late Imam, Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. MAC regards this ideology as the best representation of Islam as delivered by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)." One may wonder, why not strive to adapt Islam to Canadian values? Among the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood are the Salafists who wish to take Islam back to the ways of their earliest forebears. Some of them, such as al-Qaeda, are prepared to use a violent form of jihad to force conformance, while others view, for example suicide-attacks, as anathema. But the Muslim Brotherhood seems to place its emphasis on Islamic sharia as the basis for controlling the affairs of state and society. When it is not in the position to form a government then it appears prepared to resort to a stealth version of jihad to infiltrate, subvert and "democratically" impose sharia upon a host country (such as Canada) along with God's (Allah's) only true religion. This last statement is supported by this extract from "An Explanatory Memorandum On the General Strategic Goal for the Group (Ed. Muslim Brotherhood) In North America 5/22/1991": "The process of settlement is a "Civilization-Jihadist Process" with all the word means. The Ikhwan (Brotherhood) must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." Egyptian supporters of the Brotherhood (and sharia) argue that, because they won a majority of votes in the last election, the process was democratic, and they should be allowed to press on to include sharia law in their constitution. They are overlooking two key ingredients of the democratic process - the right to criticize (i.e. freedom of expression) and the desirability of the separation of mosque/church and state (i.e. recognition that belief is a private matter). Countering the views of congregants of the London Mosque and, apparently, paralleling the Egyptian opposition, is the recently founded (September 30, 2011) Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow, of which Salim Mansur is vice-president. (Note: president is Raheel Raza of Toronto.) Their website (http://muslimsfacingtomorrow.com) states: "Our mission is to reclaim Islam for, as the word itself means, securing Peace for all people, and to oppose extremism, fanaticism and violence in the name of religion; and Our vision is to advance among Muslims the principle of individual rights and freedoms, and for Muslims to embrace the idea of openness, of relating to others as equal and deserving of equal respect, and of defending freedom of speech as the basis of all other freedoms enunciated in the constitutions of liberal democracies, such as ours in Canada; and, accordingly, We consider our effort is consistent with the forward-looking reading of the principle enunciated in the Qur'an, "There is no compulsion in religion;" and We believe our mission and vision are intimately bound with the struggle for Enlightenment among Muslims and Reform of Islam in the modern world; and In order to succeed we are dedicated to nurturing harmonious coexistence among people of all faith traditions, to supporting open and free intellectual discourse about our history beset with problems that need to be publicly discussed, and to celebrating as Canadians our cultural diversity in all of its aspects." Let the battle of ideas begin! Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: December 13, 2012 Pro-Palestinian Protests Just a reminder of events in 1948: "The decision for war was exclusively Arab. It was up to them to decide whether the situation in Palestine necessitated violence and chose in the affirmative. I am not here condemning or defending the choice to fight, I am simply pointing out that it was, in fact, a choice rather than a necessity, and a choice the Jewish community in Palestine was not given. A war was thrust upon them, so they fought. Because of this reason, the lion's share of the blame for the subsequent effects of war, which includes the Palestinian Arab refugees, lies with the Arab decision for war." Source:http://www.middleeastpiece.com/arabrefugees_causes.html Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London, ON Posted On: November 18, 2012 Anti-Islam Video These extracts from a recent Wall Street Journal column by B. Stephens contrast the reactions to mockery of their respective religions by Mormons and Muslims. "... If you can afford to shell out several hundred bucks for a seat, then you can watch a Mormon missionary get his holy book stuffed-well, I can't tell you about that, ... Let's just say it has New York City audiences roaring with laughter. The "Book of Mormon"-a performance of which Hillary Clinton attended last year, without registering a complaint-comes to mind as the administration falls over itself denouncing "Innocence of Muslims." This is a film that may or may not exist; whose makers are likely not who they say they are; whose actors claim to have known neither the plot nor purpose of the film; and which has never been seen by any member of the public except as a video clip on the Internet. So let's get this straight: In the consensus view of modern American liberalism, it is hilarious to mock Mormons and Mormonism but outrageous to mock Muslims and Islam. Why? Maybe it's because nobody has ever been harmed, much less killed, making fun of Mormons. After the debut of "The Book of Mormon" musical, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded with this statement: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ." That was it. The People's Front for the Liberation of Provo will not be gunning for a theater near you. Is it asking too much of religious and political leaders in Muslim communities to adopt a similar attitude? It needn't be. A principled defense of free speech could start by quoting the Quran: "And it has already come down to you in the Book that when you hear the verses of Allah [recited], they are denied [by them] and ridiculed; so do not sit with them until they enter into another conversation." In this light, the true test of religious conviction is indifference, not susceptibility, to mockery. A defense would also point out that an Islamic world that insists on a measure of religious respect needs also to offer that respect in turn. When Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi-the closest thing Sunni Islam has to a pope-praises Hitler for exacting "divine punishment" on the Jews, that respect isn't exactly apparent." Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444450004578002010241044712.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h Aside from a small demonstration in Calgary (about 100 protesters) Canadian Muslims appear unconcerned, probably aware that making fun of any religion is pretty much standard fare of stand-up comics in Canada and the US. Maybe they're more like us than some critics realize. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: September 18, 2012 Islamist Plan for Global Conquest The recent spate of arrests of Islamists in the UK who are alleged to be plotting an attack is re-assuring in that the security forces, at least, take seriously their responsibility to keep an eye on these radicals. Unfortunately, one can't say the same for mainstream Western media. The problem is that the Islamic existential threat against the West is probably generations down the road and, while the Islamic recruitment and proselytization efforts never tire, a steady diet of anti-Islamic reports in the Western media can lead to cries of "Wolf!" and no wolf appears! But there is ample evidence that the wolf is out there and just waiting for when the time is deemed right. Examples of how Islamists constantly urge Muslims to prepare for the day when they may "democratically" (or not!) institute Sharia law are listed below: In a sense we are indebted to those Islamist terrorists (and Anjem Choudary) for reminding us what is at stake in the 21st century. I am sure that there are other Islamists, equally dedicated to fulfilling Allah's grand design for the world, who prefer the tactics of deceit and subterfuge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mlxMndnlzw&feature=youtube_gdata_player http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eoHMicqnz8&feature=youtube_gdata_player http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG87OKI62V0&feature=youtube_gdata_player http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=winu_C_X5mw&feature=youtube_gdata_player Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London ON Posted On: July 9, 2012. Anti-Muslim Hate Email Meer Sahib writes to support John T. Ryan who complains about the alleged 8-9 anti-Muslim hate emails he receives weekly. Neither of them attempt to describe the content which leads them to consider these "hate mail." Some may be satire, others may allege demographic trends which favour the dominance of Muslim values (shariah law) and others may be jokes which (unfairly?) ridicule some aspect of Muslim culture. But, upon objective examination, little or none of it may be construed as hate email. Like so many pro-Muslim writers whose views appear in the London Free Press, Sahib and Ryan fail to acknowledge that among our Muslim citizens and immigrants there is a minority who potentially pose a threat to their fellow citizens. It is the actions of these so-called "home-grown" terrorists or Islamists, and their ilk abroad, which attract the ridicule which puts our loyal Muslim compatriots in a poor light. Our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is on record declaring these Islamists as the major current security threat to Canadians. His views and those of some others may be assessed by viewing the YouTube video at "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONwgIatZLB4 ." Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: February 27, 2012 Occupy Movement There is in Europe a proliferation of Muslim-dominated "no-go" zones. In these zones the only law permitted is Shariah and non-Muslims are not welcome. "No-go" zones were first formed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland during the "Troubles." The theory, which was first propounded by Mao in China, involved creating "no-go zones" that the security forces of Northern Ireland did not control and gradually expanding them to make the country ungovernable. Now the "Occupy Movement" is certainly a long way from a "no-go"zone of the type appearing all over Europe. However, it appears that it is now making plans to "occupy" its grounds over the winter. And when it does move in order to disrupt city traffic it is clearly imposing its will on the city government. The broader Occupy Movement's inspiration almost certainly derives from the "Arab Spring." And that latter movement has a significant radical Left/Islamist component. As the Canadian node of the Occupy network expands we shouldn't be surprised if it is infiltrated by Islamists. However, just as governments in Europe do not appear to have the will to dismantle the mini-states in their midst, such seems also to be the case with our local governments in Canada. At the very least some agency (CSIS? RCMP? Canadian Forces?) should be studying these emergent trends and devising strategies/tactics to deal with them. Or are we destined to democratize ourselves into oblivion? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: November 7, 2011 Islam While researching the views of Dr. Ingrid Mattson, the incoming appointee to the Chair of Islamic Studies at Huron University College, I came across the name of one Maulana Abul A'la Maududi on the reading list of a course she once taught at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. Surprisingly, it turns out that Maududi shares the view of those critics of Islam that it is an ideology, not a religion. In an address given on April 13, 1939, at the Town Hall, Lahore, Maududi had this to say: "So if Islam be a 'Religion' and the Muslims are a 'Nation'. 'Jihad' (on account of which it has been accorded the dignity of 'The Best of all Prayers' in Islam) becomes useless term. But the truth is that Islam is not the name of a 'Religion', nor is 'Muslim' the title of a 'Nation'. In reality Islam is a revolutionary ideology and programme which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals. 'Muslim' is the title of that International Revolutionary Party organized by Islam to carry into effect its revolutionary programme. And 'Jihād' refers to that revolutionary struggle and utmost exertion which the Islamic Party brings into play to achieve this objective." (See footnote 31 in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abul_Ala_Maududi) I have recently downloaded (from http://publicintelligence.net/complete-inspire-al-qaeda-in-the-arabian-peninsula-aqap-magazine/ ) all seven currently available issues of Inspire, published by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and have found the content devoted to ways and means of implementing the "programme" described by Maududi. The purpose of the magazine is to "inspire" Muslim youth born in America and Europe to join the global jihad by wreaking mayhem upon their neighbours. The magazine is peppered with many references to Allah, while urging readers to implement his rule worldwide. Throughout, though, there is no sign of awareness that they are actually serving up an ideology, and a potentially unsavoury strain of totalitarianism at that. Perhaps a future Islam View column (by Dr. Mattson herself?) might shed some light on this matter. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: October 24, 2011 Haddara's stance off base Regarding the column Compromise, create or fight among options (June 25). A measure of the information content of a message is the degree to which it is surprising or unexpected. The more unexpected the content the higher is this measure. On that basis the informational value of Wael Haddara's opinion piece is very low indeed since it follows the pattern of previous submissions to this column, which add nothing to our understanding of the widely disparate views (among Muslims) on what Islam requires of its followers, and only addresses those matters that somehow offend the writer. An example of the latter is Haddara's disagreement that Geert Wilders was permitted to speak here in London on May 8. He apparently is not aware that Wilders was acquitted of charges of inciting hatred of Muslims on June 23. On the other hand he also seems oblivious that some Muslims seek to impose Islam and Islamic law (sharia) upon the West (including Canada), though he does recognize that domination by one group is an option when several different groups occupy the same space. This matter of Islamic domination is explored in books such as Christopher Caldwell's Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West and Bat Ye'or's Eurabia: the Euro-Arab Axis. For some reason Haddara thinks Wilders was "welcomed" into Canada and therefore shows he can't grasp the concept of "holding one's nose" while allowing some controversial speaker to say his or her piece. Further, he imagines "that Germany in the 1930s might have felt a little like this." Here I may find myself agreeing with Haddara: a small minority of Nazis (radical Muslims) seized power in Germany (the West) by pandering to the humiliation many Germans (Muslims) felt at losing in the First World War (global competition in science, technology and resource development). Bernard Lewis delves into this aspect of the Muslim psyche in his book What Went Wrong?. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: July 2, 2011 Editors Note: As published in The London Free Press on July 2, 2011. Warren Kinsella column criticizing Geert Wilders 16 May 2011 Kinsella's tirade against the Dutch free-speech supporter, Geert Wilders, was way out of line. The point is that Islam (and the Qu'ran) are not above criticism, any more than any other religion. But when one throws in Sharia or Islamic law, we're not dealing with religion but with ideology, and that certainly deserves close scrutiny and debate. Fortunately, when Marion Boyd and the Ontario NDP government tried to foist it upon the province they were not successful. But we can be sure that there will be other attempts. But there is good news, because on June 23rd the Dutch court, which was trying Wilders on charges of inciting hatred against Muslims, found him not guilty and he was acquitted. Quoting from Pamela Geller's recent blog: "Let's take a step back ourselves and understand the price that Wilders and others really are paying, and will continue to pay. Former Muslim and author Wafa Sultan, former Muslim and Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, scholar Robert Spencer, former Muslim and scholar Ibn Warraq, scholar Bat Ye'or, former Muslim Nonie Darwish, cartoonist Lars Vilks, cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, Danish newspaper publisher Flemming Rose, South Park producers Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Salman Rushdie and countless others, myself included, receive horrible threats all the time. Wilders himself lives under round-the-clock tight security because of the hundreds of death threats he receives every year." Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: June 24, 2011 Where do loyalties lie? Regarding the column Deadly trickery of past fuels today's skepticism (Sept. 4). It seems Kee Dewdney is becoming the spokesperson of the local Muslim community. If so, that is somewhat less than reassuring as to where their loyalties lie. Dewdney, as noted in my previous post on lfpress.com, is the co-author of a piece urging jihad against the West. Now, while he suggests that this would be an "information war" (that is, no violence), one can imagine impressionable young Muslims (or even the not so young) viewing such a comment as of the "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" variety. The column in question seems intended to distract from the reality that there is a major threat to the West emanating from a very unsavoury strain of Islam. This appears to be a threat that Dewdney either chooses to ignore or whose existence he ascribes to the West's nasty secret games. Even among the "moderate" Muslims, what is one to make of creeping shariah, no interest rates and no tolerance for criticism of Islam? Is Islam a religion or an ideology? And what of taqiyya, an alleged Muslim doctrine of concealment, pretense and fraud? Is taqiyya sanctioned only by "wrong Islam" or can any Muslim play at nasty secret games? Maybe there are two sides to any story. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: September 11, 2010 Editors Note: As published in The London Free Press on Sept. 11, 2010. A Tale of Two Muslims In view of the recent focus on the opening of the expanded London Muslim Mosque, it may be an appropriate time to lift the lid and look a little deeper into the local Muslim community. Two local Muslims have gained some visibility, one through the print media and the other via the Internet. The former is Salim Mansur, a columnist with Sun Media whose columns appear periodically in the London Free Press. The latter is A.K. Dewdney who, while also authoring a piece on the local Muslim community in the LFP several weeks ago, is better known in the religious context, at least to me, for his Web-based publications. Mansur is the author of "Islam's Predicament: Perspectives of a Dissident Muslim" (2009) in which Chapter 1 is entitled "The War Within Islam." In this chapter he quotes a former Muslim president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, who "described what constitutes "right Islam" contrary to "wrong Islam." He warned people of good will to recognize "a terrible danger threatens humanity." This peril, Wahid wrote, emanates from an "extreme and perverse ideology in the minds of fanatics," specifically "Wahhabi/Salafist ideology - a minority fundamentalist religious cult fueled by petrodollars." " Mansur describes himself as a "dissident Muslim" presumably because, by undertaking a constructive criticism of the beliefs and attitudes of the followers of Islam, he is outside the Muslim mainstream. Mansur summarizes his views in his Preface as follows: "Muslims, Arabs and non-Arabs alike, will not make progress as people and countries unless they subject their history to a critical examination. Their religion, Islam, has been conditioned by their history much more so than the other way around, Subjecting their history to critical examining will open the necessary space for Muslims to progress and reconcile themselves with the requirements of the modern world by separating religion from politics." Dewdney is the co-author of "Warning of a Global War Against Islam" which is addressed to Muslim Communities of North America, Europe, The Middle East and Elsewhere. In the "Warning" the authors claim that no Muslims were involved in the 9/11 attacks (Muslims do not commit suicide) and that the twin towers were brought down by controlled demolitions. The later attacks on Bali, Madrid, London and Mumbai are also claimed to be deceptions.To rally the troops they issue the battle cry: "Muslims worldwide must rise as one and demand a new investigation of the seminal event without which there would be no "war on terror" today, much less a war on Islam." And "Make no mistake about it: This is jihad and those who engage in it will be rewarded, as promised by the Qur'an. But what kind of war involves no bullets or bombs? An information war. Muslims - those with courage and love for their Creator - are in fact obliged to engage the enemy." Source: http://m911t.blogspot.com/2009/01/warning-of-global-war-on-islam.html If there is a war on Islam, is this a war on "right Islam" or "wrong Islam" or both? And who is the "enemy" that is at war with Islam? It would appear that Dewdney, unlike Mansur, will brook no criticism whatever of Islam. If Muslims do not adhere to the teachings of Islam, they are not followers of a "wrong Islam", they simply cease to be Muslims. Case closed. But, returning to my first paragraph, one is left to wonder: What is the relative level of support for either Mansur or Dewdney in the London Muslim community? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: August 9, 2010 Muslims slipping away from faith First we have Dr Jekyll http://www.lfpress.com/comment/2010/03/19/13293361.html Then Mr Hyde http://programming.itags.org/tex/125903/ http://physics911.net/islamnotsuicidal http://m911t.blogspot.com/2009/01/warning-of-global-war-on-islam.html Who is he really? This might be a topic of local interest. Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: April 30, 2010 The last word Islamic supremacists base their claim of the superiority of Islam (in part) on the fact that Allah passed his "last word" to the prophet, Mohammad, through his angel, Gabriel, in the 7th century A.D. These last words then were written down in what is now the Qur'an. But, assuming Allah and God refer to the same being, then the last word may rest in the Book of Mormon, given the following event in the 19th century: "Following his claim of being visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ in 1820, Smith gained a small following and began dictating the Book of Mormon, which he said was a translation of words found on a set of golden plates that had been buried near his home in western New York by an indigenous American prophet. Smith said he had been in contact with an angel, who showed him the plates' location." (Wikipedia) But it seems to me that I read recently of someone else hearing voices in her/his head: possibly an update from some celestial source? Posted By: Bob McDaniel, London Posted On: March 10, 2010

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