Islamophilia
- Islam is a great Religion of Peace
- Anyone discussing the links between radical Islam and the larger Muslim community suffers from Islamophobia
- Critical comments about Islam insult moderate, peaceful Muslims who might therefore turn into extremists
If extremist violence "in the name of Islam" has nothing to do with the actual religion of Islam, why would peaceful Muslims become so offended that they would suddenly embrace murderous extremism? Islamophilia, the expression of disproportionate adoration of Islam, is far more prevalent than the expression of the unreasonable and irrational fear of Islam. Islamophilia particularly affects the political and social elites who seem to feel that only their expressions of respect for Islam and denial that it contains any violent tendencies prevent normal citizens carrying out pogroms against Muslims.
Many Islamophiliacs are unable to hear and process reasoned criticism of Islam. A good example is a widely distributed clip of Bill Maher and Sam Harris being furiously attacked by Hollywood actor Ben Affleck for racism, ugliness and Islamophobia before Harris was even able to discuss the bad ideas he considers inherent in Islamic doctrine.
Affleck was lauded for having exposed Harris and Maher's "racism," "bigotry," and "hatred of Muslims" though also widely condemned as an impolite, incoherent imbecile. Most people seemed to miss Nicholas Kristof's "foot in mouth defense" of Islam who mentioned a few brave, reformist Muslims. That their lives are in danger or already shot seemed to bolster Harris' reasoning rather than Affleck's rants.
KRISTOF: … the picture you are painting is to some extent true, but is hugely incomplete. It is certainly true that plenty of fanatics and jihadists are Muslim, but the people who are standing up to them, Malala [Yousafzai], Mohammad Ali Dadkhah in Iran, imprisoned for nine years for speaking up for Christians. A friend that I had in Pakistan who was murdered this year Rashid Rehman for defending people accused of apostasy.
Affleck became sarcastic: "What is your answer? Is it just to condemn Islam? We've killed more Muslims than they have killed us by an awful lot."
However, in modern times Muslims have killed more Muslims than "we" have killed Muslims by a number so large even Will Hunting couldn't compute it.
It is our political elites who insist suicide bombing and terrorism has no basis in Islam and they repeat
these clichés after every terrorist attack. Proclamations that Islam is a "Religion of Peace" (something Muslims never claimed in the past) appear to be little more than attempts
to preclude retaliation against innocent Muslims though they would not affect the behaviour of such scumbags. The loudest proclamations of Islam’s peacefulness come in the wake of the most heinous jihadist violence.
George W. Bush was probably the man most hated and reviled by Muslims but he was outspoken about Islam:
I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.
President Barack Hussein Obama at the United Nations on September 25, 2012:
"The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam."
Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson:
"One obvious point, it is completely wrong to blame this killing on Islam but also wrong to draw a link between this murder and British foreign policy. The fault lies with the warped mind-set of those who did it and for the sake of the victim and his family the killers need to be brought to justice."
Prime Minister David Cameron:
"This was not just an attack on Britain and on our British way of life. It was also a betrayal of Islam. … There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act."
Prime Minister Tony Blair, 2005:
"In addition, I welcome the statement put out by the Muslim Council who know that those people acted in the name of Islam but who also know that the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims, here and abroad, are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this act of terrorism every bit as much as we do. "
Australian Prime Minister John Howard after the 2002 Bali Bombings:
"We've also been reminded of the tolerance of the Australian people. The Australian people, deeply angered and grieved as they are, are not about to abandon the spirit of openness and tolerance which is also one of our great hallmarks.
Is this a conspiracy by these Space Dragon elites ruling the world? No. I just think theyr're doing it because they think it's best to parrot pious wishes for peace.
Nabeel Qureshi in Answering Jihad reports that the Syrian Sheikh Ramadan saw an insistence on Islam’s peacefulness as an effort by the West to emasculate Islam. al-Buti asserted in The Jurisprudence of the Prophetic Biography that the West was seeking to “erase the notion of jihad from the minds of all Muslims.” The sheikh showed characteristic Middle Eastern candour in his assessment of peace and violence in Islam.