9/11: Debunking Myths of Islam Ten Years Later

Ten years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, America still grieves the loss of those who died. In the wake of the attacks, numerous misconceptions regarding Islam in relation to terrorism flourished in the media, fueling a vigorous backlash against Muslim and Arab communities. Many Muslims across the world feel misrepresented by extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda. The Pulitzer Center sat down with Natana DeLong-Bas, Professor of Theology at Boston College, to debunk some of these myths. DeLong-Bas talks primarily about Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and how their interpretations differ from those of the larger Muslim communities.

Note: DeLong-Bas references Muhammad Ibn Abdl-al-Wahhab, who was an 18th century Islamic scholar. His religious thought is known as "Wahhabism."

[Grendelmonsteru]

Natana J. DeLongBas here is being dishonest about several things. Given her connections to the Saudis, Qatar, the Prince Alaweed who has given millions of dollars to our top universities (and thus has compromised their integrity), her being a consultant to the UN, Rand Corp, media, the King Faisal Center in Saudi Arabia, I'm not surprised with her very smoothed-over talks such as one at Boston College on Islam for Catholics 101 which doesn't allow comments. That too left out some important information aka the truth which has also been the case for "outreach" and dialogue between Christians and Muslims which is nothing but dawa in action.

Has she not read the Qur'an? It doesn't appear so. Jihad, the outer jihad in conquering and spreading Islam, is the most important jihad, and was most important to Muhammad and what most Muslims know to be jihad, not this "inner struggle" business. Jihad, spreading Islam, is incumbent on all Muslims, and very much laid out in the second most important book to Muslims, the Hadith of Sahih Bukhari. In my reading the Qur'an with over seven translations and the most respected translations, plus the Sira and Sunnah, it is clear that there isn't too much misinterpretation. Her idea of 'treaty for peace' was only in the very beginning of Medina days, then Muhammad and his army began to raid, pirate, plunder, take captives made into slaves or ransom, and captive woman sex slaves, clearly explained in the Qur'an and Hadith.

What good is it to ignore this when many, many clerics, groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its numerous offshoot groups, Saudis themselves, Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan, the ISNA, etc. seek jihad in the same way, either by infiltration or violence. We have watched previously more secular countries turn Islamic, and not for the better. The terrorists are just a symptom. Osama bin Laden was actually following Islamic history in not wanting the Saudis to deal with infidel countries, the UN, etc. which is how Saudi Arabia was at one point, no less the Ottomans who used Greek emissaries to go into infidel countries. In a 2003 speech to Kurds, President Erdogan of Turkey even called us infidels-he used that word.

The Qur'an is full of hate for non-Muslims, plain and simple. While some Muslims cherry-pick the nicer verses Muhammad said in his early days, the aggressive and conservative Muslims cherry-pick Muhammad's later life. Both are right, but both leave out the other side. However, since Muhammad's later days were this conquering, that's how he finished jup his life, "Allah abrogated verses and replaced them with new ones" to fit new circumstances. The Oath of Aqaba was a "pledge to wage war in the name of Allah to all mankind." How can these things be ignored? Muslims will also not repudiate all the hateful verses to non-Muslim and verses saying not to take non-Muslims as friends.

While most Muslims are peaceful, that doesn't mean they don't support jihad in one way or the other-by infiltration, the pen, the womb, dawa, or letting other groups do it. Islam is an existential threat and to our freedoms and way of life. The agendas and oil country money have without doubt compromised realistic education and capitulation to the Arab world's denial of their not-so-pleasant history. While some countries or imams teach a softer view of the Qur'an (again, cherry-picking), there are too many who teach the whole Qur'an. It's not like that will change the mind of aggressive Muslims, Muslim organizations, or the ulama in Saudi Arabia.

She is also ignoring the numerous vigilante attacks and mobs who harass, sometimes kill, rape, and discriminate for the purpose or excuse of religion. Christians are being badly treated in Pakistan, even children, the Coptic Christians in Egypt, Nigeria, Iraq, etc. are treated badly. In Saudi Arabia, they treat Christians in a discriminatory manner-they can't have a church nor outward displays of their religion; they also deported two Lebanese people who had Bibles on them as they were entering the country. This all easily stems from the Qur'an.

Also, as a Professor of Theology, when she talked to Catholics about Islam, she left out a very important detail when mentioning Jesus in the Qur'an: that Jesus is a Muslim. That Islam retroactively made all these Jewish and Christian prophets Muslims and that they do not worship the same Gods nor are the stories the same. The chapter with Jesus talking as an infant, is basically slander and blasphemous against the Jewish and Christian prophets yet the Qur'an thinks the Christians slandered by saying that Jesus is the Son of God when it's the Christian's story to begin with!

None of these lies or half-truths will help when too many people know what's happening and know about Islam. I watch imams all the time on YT and they outright say these things and imams and clerics are teaching these things in many mosques in western countries including the US as undercover films have shown. Thus, such apologists as Professor DeLong Bas, are giving ideological cover to those who seek to make Islam dominant in all countries, and also Arabization. This is not intellectual integrity but political and diplomacy at our peril. Also, the media is coddling Islam more than not, such as in the New York Times, Washington Post, and others. Also, backlash to Muslim communities is not just about terrorism, but what Muslims are doing in the communities and their demands for sharia law, their self-segregating and imams, President Erdogan, Arabia, telling them not to assimilate, thus it is, in fact, a clash of civilizations in that regard. Some Muslims have outright said in Australia that they want a separate state. Because of all these false narratives and one-sided information, people aren't trusting Muslims nor politicians because of this.

Now I also see, Arab historical revision and for some odd reason they express no regrets about their huge slave trade. A man from Ghana has written a book about that and noted that Western universities aren't teaching that. Why? They castrated hundreds of thousands of black African boys. Why are Westerners letting themselves be humiliated? Why do we bash ourselves when slavery is still happening in the Islamic world and there's a lot of racism? What is the Saudi Arabians' obsession with trying to make themselves and Islam look good? It doesn't compute with history.

Sorry to be long-winded, but this issue has gotten out of hand, and quite frankly, it's destructive. When our top universities have compromised themselves, we have lost faith in our institutions. A PhD doesn't matter so much anymore if people don't tell the truth or a balanced perspective. It's also a betrayal to ex-Muslims who apparently don't get to express their views in major newspapers even when they grew up reciting the Qur'an and lived in Islamic countries!

[redwine]

mohamid didn't have a ak-47, he beheaded his victims with a sword, good point.