I've probably thought about this too much over the years. I won't go into all the ins and outs of the problem today. Back in the day, on my now retired blog The Hesperado, I analyzed this problem every which way and loose -- including my 10-part series that "took the temperature of the Counter-Jihad" (for links to the first 9 parts, see this essay; and for part 10, see this posting).
For now, I'll share a recent realization I had.
The Counter-Jihad won't be able to go forward with what should be its #1 priority -- waking up fellow Westerners (who abound all around us) to the problem of Islam -- until it demonstrates the connections between "terrorism" and mainstream Islam.
How can it do this? It can't be definitively proven, of course; it can only be indicated with evidence that is relevantly direct on a case by case basis (even if it remains necessarily indirect as the basis for inferring the generalization).
Here are some of the more significant cases which the Anti-Islam Movement (if it existed) could prepare through proper research and present with verifiable evidence:
1. The 2003 keynote speech to the O.I.C. given by Mahathir Mohamed, the Prime Minister of Malaysia (served 1981-2003, and is currently Prime Minister again)
Brief Exposition:
The key facts about this case that need explication would be the following:
a. What is the O.I.C. and what is its significance? Demonstrate its significance for mainstream Islam.
b. The fact that a Prime Minister of Malaysia (already deemed to be relatively "moderate") evidently reflects mainstream Islam (moreoever, one re-elected and currently holding office). Add more information to bolster these two claims.
c. The contents of the keynote speech given by Mahathir Mohamed, beginning with seeming moderation, and segueing into a nearly Hitlerian crescendo of anti-Jewish paranoia.
d. The standing ovation given to Mahathir Mohamed's speech by those in attendance (being the political and religious representatives of all 57 Muslim-majority nations of the world).
2. The speech or sermon given by Sheikh Qaradawi in which he says that Hitler was doing the work of Allah and that, Allah willing, Muslims will finish Hitler's work.
Brief Exposition:
The key facts about this case that need explication would be the following:
a. The contents of that speech/sermon, reported and translated at Memri.org.
b. The mainstream credentials of Sheikh Qaradawi, including his popularity in the Muslim world (which, unfortunately, is increasingly interpenetrating our Western world).
3. The alarmingly (yet unsurprisingly) supremacist and expansionist rhetoric of Syed Maududi.
a. The content of that rhetoric, with a source by a mainstream historian (Efraim Karsh).
b. The mainstream credentials of Syed Maududi, including the strong approval given his standing as a mufassir (exegete of the Koran) by Ingrid Mattson.
c. Establish the mainstream credentials of Ingrid Mattson, Canadian convert to Islam, including her résumé as former President of ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) and continuing teacher at Hartford Seminary for the accreditation of all Muslims in North America who wish to become chaplains in the military and in the prison system.
4. The alarmingly (yet unsurprisingly) subversive and seditionist letter sent officially by a leader of the AMJA (Association of Muslim Jurists of America) to members of that organization.
a. Establish the mainstream credentials of the AMJA (I've seen them, and they appear massively solid, though regrettably I failed to take screen shots -- see below).
b. Present the contents of that subversive and seditionist letter sent officially by the AMJA leadership to its membership. Here's where deep problems within the inchoate Anti-Islam Movement (inchoate because it doesn't yet exist) show cracks. This extremely important document only came to light years ago (and even then only in the tiny community of the Counter-Jihad) through the translation from the original Arabic into English by one guy, the anonymous blogger who ran the "Translating Jihad" website. The drastic problem here being that for a long time (months? years?) that "Translating Jihad" website has been down, and the crucial posting in which he (or she) translated that AMJA document can no longer be accessed. I have sent emails to at least four different people/organizations who have in the past relied on the "Translating Jihad" website. Only one of them responded to me with a "sorry, I have no idea how to help". The other three, including Frank Gaffney and Andrew Bostom, have failed to respond to me (it's been a month since I emailed Bostom -- or rather since his friend Diana West promised me she would relay my email to him; and I just checked the date on the email I sent Frank Gaffney's organization, Center for Security Policy: July 9, 2018, over 6 months ago!!!).
c. This basic level of dereliction in the Counter-Jihad is bad enough; but even if we could restore the "Translating Jihad" translation of the AMJA document, the translation itself would have to be independently verified, and the original Arabic published alongside the English translations. Furthermore, the first point (the mainstream credentials of AMJA) was in great part described in that AMJA letter, or at least in that posting (I'm unclear, since I don't have a screen shot copy, whether the copious information in that posting concerning the membership of AMJA was a part of the letter, or a part of the research by the "Translating Jihad" guy to add to his translation). That too should be independently augmented.
Conclusion (for now):
Many more cases -- demonstrating the connection between terrorism and mainstream Islam -- could be, and should be, adduced, and worked on. Does the Leadership care about these matters? Evidently not. They seem more intent on pursuing the Counter-Jihad as a cottage industry, or business; and in the process, cultivating an industrious melange of ill-organized mountains of vital information mixed with an incoherent strategy; a strategy whose basic raison d'être, it seems, is to hope that, after doing this enough and for a long enough time, something useful will stick on the wall.
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