Articles
“Good” Muslims vs. “Bad” Muslims Myth
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Most Americans commonly accept that the 9/11 plot and attack was an act of foreign terrorism by “bad” or “radical” or “extremist” Muslims. In that seemingly reasonable assessment, some Americans are more informed than others, but generally we agree that such terror attacks are “bad” and are done by “bad” people for “bad” reasons. Our common ground as caring and rational Americans is that we want America to survive and prosper, and we want Americans to be secure from acts of terror and slaughter by “bad” people. In the typical American way of thought, Muslims who do such things must be “bad” Muslims.
But it raises confusion about how to understand all of the other Muslims, both abroad and in our midst, who do not carry out such acts. And where do we draw any dividing line between them? And if there is a line, then where do the “bad” Muslims come from? Where do they get such horrific ideas of suicidal slaughter? And why can’t, or won’t, the other Muslims stop the “bad” Muslims? The questions are endless.
Let’s review the other end of the ethics range as well. Who are the “good” Muslims? To come to any conclusions about these concepts of “good” or “bad”, if we want to apply them to Islam, we must first ask, “From our point of view, or from Muslims’ point of view?”
By American societal values, a “good” person of faith is one who is true to and practicing of the tenets of his faith. So, in parallel, in Islamic society, our concept of a “good” Muslim must be one who is true and practicing of Islamic rules within Islamic society. So by that logical understanding, a “good” Muslim must be one who follows Quran, by Islamic belief that it is the true word of Allah; and one who obeys and emulates Muhammad, whom Quran repeatedly claims to be the “excellent example” for believing Muslims; and one who follows the most authentic hadith, which are detailed sayings and deeds of Muhammad; and one who will do whatever it takes to protect and defend Islam.
The problem that arises right away for our understanding of “good” when we try to apply it to Muslims who believe and practice, is found right in Quran, with its verses commanding Muslims to fight and to kill. If they are called into jihad, by the code of behavior cited above, they are going to join the jihad; they are going to kill the infidel. Quran makes it clear that jihad is the path that will most please Allah:
- Verse 4:95 tells Muslims, “Not equal are those believers remaining [at home] – other than the disabled – and the mujahideen, [who strive and fight] in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has preferred the mujahideen through their wealth and their lives over those who remain [behind], by degrees. And to both Allah has promised the best [reward]. But Allah has preferred the mujahideen over those who remain [behind] with a great reward -”
So, just as a Christian is uplifted as “good” in Christian society if he is one who follows his faith devoutly, a devoted, practicing, believing Muslim must be a “good” Muslim within Islamic society. But now, we come to a dilemma in our understanding. Because we commonly refer to Muslims who practice jihad as “radical” Muslims, right? Our first problem is that “radical” does not seem to fit with our concept of “good.” But more inexplicably, a devoted, or “good” Muslim, is one whose acts, such as jihad, are not at all “radical” but rather are completely in line with revered Islamic doctrine.
Now, the supposed “good” Muslim you know, who is your nice neighbor, friendly coworker, helpful classmate, is actually disobedient to Allah’s Quran commands. For example:
- Verse 4:144 “O you who have believed, do not take the disbelievers as allies instead of the believers. Do you wish to give Allah against yourselves a clear case?”
And indeed, for their defiance of Allah in their friendliness to you non-Muslims, and for whatever other acts that show their disbelief, while they are just behaving as normal, decent Americans, they are actually disdained as “bad” Muslims in Islamic society. Or, more precisely, they are not even considered to be Muslims at all, within the standards of Islamic countries or devoted Islamic society. Instead, they are dismissed by the Islamic faithful as infidels, just like you and me.
It is an obvious observation to make that there are many millions and millions of so-called Muslims who are living peacefully and quietly, as they are just going about their lives. From an American’s values, you might be inclined to classify them as “good” Muslims. But the problem is that their life model does not define Islam. For Islamic followers who actually read and practice Quran, those millions who fail to do so do not count as real Muslims. And how can they, because in fact they are not following the teachings of their religion.
However, people will cling to a group identity by which they have come to associate. Many non-practicing Muslims will simply self-identify with Islam, just because it is their familiar community. In a gentle world, it would be an irrelevant status of no great interest to any of the rest of us non-Muslims—except for the horrific matter that truly devoted Muslims will easily find Quranic rationale to kill them, along with the rest of us, as infidels.
So-called Muslims might say they have read the Quran and might contend that there are many “good” verses to believe in, even while they acknowledge that, well, yeah, there are some violent verses. But there are more peaceful ones.
But in fact, there is really no such a thing in Quran, when you understand the Islamic context. The supposedly good verses and peaceful verses in Quran apply only to Muslims, as commands for how they are to treat their fellow Muslims well. Quran does not tell a Muslim to be fair and nice to his non-Muslim neighbor. There is no such a thing in Quran. There is no command to be nice, to be truthful, to any non-Muslim friends—because there is no permission to be friends with non-Muslims in the first place. Instead, there is a paranoid prohibition against such intimacies:
- Verse 3:118 “O you who have believed, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves, for they will not spare you [any] ruin.”
Other apologists for Islam will argue, “Well, if ISIS are the real Muslims, then why are they killing other Muslims?” So, ISIS—you may call them “radical” Muslims, “extremist” or other made-up labels, but I call them “Muslims” simply because that is all that they are, by authoritative Islamic ideology—they do not look at non-practicing Muslims, our “nice” Muslims, or “moderate” Muslims or “good” Muslims or “peaceful” Muslims, or however you want to phrase it; they frankly do not look at them as Muslims at all. So in the Islamic view, they all deserve to die as well. Because of the fact that those “non-Islamic” Muslims were closest at hand, ISIS simply started to clean up within their own country.
We can obviously see that Islamic killings in the Middle East are far more common than in other places. That is because in the majority of Middle Eastern Islamic countries there is not any more authoritative law than Sharia. Over there, a believing Muslim can kill, and nobody in authority can uphold any law higher than Allah’s Law, if the devoted Muslim killed in the name of Allah and Muhammad.
And from the “good” or devoted Islamic perspective, most of the so-called Muslims who are being killed over there are simply dehumanized by the killers as “bad” Muslims; they are the ones who are against Sharia, ISIS or any jihad attacks upon other infidels. They may be nominal Muslims, as a cultural identity or birth status, but they are killed because they do not follow Muhammad or Quran. Still, the truth is that even with that slaughter, the rate of killings of these “non-Islamic” Muslims is far less than the rate of killing of the more evident non-Muslims, such as Christians and Jews, in any Islamic country where jihad is a clear and present danger.
Aynaz Anni Cyrus, National Director of American Truth Project. Anni was sold for $50 as a child bride in Iran. Rebelling against a life of sex slavery, she escaped to America. Now an American citizen, she is a leading spokeswoman against the evils of Islam.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
The U.S. Senate’s recent confirmation of Zahid Quraishi as America’s first Muslim federal judge to a lifetime position on the District Court of New Jersey raises some concerning questions.
First and foremost, there is the question of his faith. Does it matter if Zahid Quraishi is a Muslim? The Left would, of course, maintain that raising the Muslim identity of Quraishi is racist, bigoted and “Islamophobic.” But those who understand the reality of Sharia – and the fact that Islam is not a race — understand that this matter is more complicated than what might first meet the eye.
It may very well matter if Quraishi is not just a Muslim “by name” – or just a “secular Muslim” by birth heritage. Indeed, if, as an adult adherent to Islam, he devoutly recites the Shahada — “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” – then Quraishi’s Muslimness could matter very much. That’s because it could indicate whether or not Quraishi would ever uphold aspects of Sharia – Islamic law – in his legal rulings.
As a survivor of Sharia law, I can tell you: Sharia matters — and in the most horrendous and painful of ways.
It is vital to understand that in Islam, Allah’s Law is supreme for Muslims, above all other laws and legal systems. And that poses a problem for America when Islam resides on its territory, because Sharia is completely incompatible with the U.S. Constitution and the foundations of a free society.
Quraishi’s relationship to Islam, therefore, matters a great deal — seeing that his new position entails significant power and influence in America.
So let’s dig a little bit deeper on Quraishi.
The Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) surprisingly did not come out and cheer Quraishi’s appointment — as one might have expected them to do. Instead, the Muslim “civil rights” organization appeared to be quite furious about him. Zahra Billoo, head of CAIR’s San Francisco branch, issued a statement affirming that she “would much rather have a white Christian judge with progressive values… It’s not enough that he is Muslim. In fact, it’s insulting.”
It appears that the problem for Billoo and CAIR is that Quraishi is not a Muslim from an apparent “list” of “20 to 50 Muslims who have been in the fight” for “social justice.” One unnamed Muslim politician who complained to Slate magazine about Quraishi’s appointment echoed the same theme: “We don’t know what his stances are on civil rights because you can’t find one article or anything that he’s written publicly about the Muslim struggle in the last 20 years post-9/11.”
For those concerned about Quraishi’s potential ties to Sharia, this negative disposition from the “Sharia camp” toward the Muslim judge might appear to be good news. But is it?
CAIR’s concern about Quraishi’s supposed lack of support for “progressive values” appears to be a good sign in light of CAIR’s own record of opposing counterterror measures and slandering opponents of jihad and Sharia tyranny. However, CAIR’s disposition toward Quraishi tells us little, if anything, about the key issue at stake: does the judge hold Islamic values or not?
The narrative takes another peculiar twist when we examine what transpired during Quraishi’s questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee: When asked by Committee Chair, Democrat Senator Dick Durbin: “What do you know about Sharia law?” Quraishi answered that he knew “nothing about Sharia.“
Really?
Quraishi knows “nothing” about Islam or Islamic Law?
Christine Douglass-Williams has commented on Quraishi’s dubious answer:
“Virtually everyone knows something about the Sharia. In his position, Quraishi is likely to know a lot, and was probably fibbing, and not in an intelligent way, either. It isn’t possible that a man of his standing, who ‘has served as a military prosecutor and Army captain in Iraq, as an assistant U.S. Attorney who has tried cases of public corruption, organized crime and financial fraud, and as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer’, would know ‘NOTHING’ about Sharia.”
True indeed.
What makes the matter even more peculiar is that when one pulls up Quraishi’s questionnaire answers for the Senate Judiciary Committee, one finds that he is mentioned as a “Muslim” many times in his “Honors and Awards” list. So Quraishi is praised, rewarded and held in acclaim by the Muslim community for his achievements in light of his Muslimness, but he personally doesn’t know anything about Islamic law at all?
Could it be that Quraishi might actually not be the incidental Muslim he postures as being? Could it be that he has been recognized and awarded by important prominent Muslim organizations because they gauged that, among other things, he actually is somewhat of an adherent Muslim after all?
Is it possible that CAIR might really not be as upset as it is claiming to be about Quraishi’s appointment? Or maybe it is upset, but not for the reasons it has given? Could it also be that certain players involved in this narrative are engaging in some form of taqiyya – the command in Islam for Muslims to deceive non-Muslims?
Would it also be out of bounds to ask: even if Quraishi is not an adherent Muslim, is it legitimate to be concerned that he one day could become one?
It is vital to stress at this point that Islam is not just a “religion” the way that Christianity and Judaism are religions. Islam is much more than a “faith.” For example, like Judaism, Islam has a legal system — but Islamic Law extends far beyond any Judaic (or even secular) legal system. Sharia embodies all the commands of Allah and all the examples of Muhammad-as divine law that must be implemented in all areas of life.
Qur’an 33:21 is just one verse of many that confirms that Muhammad is “an excellent pattern” for Muslims to follow. It would do well for people to keep in mind that the “excellent” examples that Mohammed set for his followers included the following: marrying a six-year-old girl, A’ishah, and having sex with her when she was nine (Sahih al-Bukhari 5134); encouraging rape of female captives (Qur’an 4:24); stating that women are stupid (Qur’an 2:282) and that hell is comprised of mostly women (Bukhari 29); commanding men to beat their wives (Qur’an 4:34); and being merciless to a woman who had been beaten so brutally that her bruise was green (Bukhari 5825).
Muhammad also disparaged black people (Bukhari 7038). He murdered between 600 and 900 Jews in one battle, and then distributed the captive women as sex slaves (Ibn Ishaq, pp. 464, 511-512).
With some of these matters in mind, the question surfaces: would or could an American Muslim federal judge consider such material as a basis for his rulings? According to Islamic law, a Muslim judge must do so. Sharia mandates that no true Muslim is obligated to obey the laws of a non-Muslim country. Qur’an 33:1 commands to “not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites.” Qur’an 4:60 says that those who “refer legislation” to the non-Muslims are led “far astray.” And Qur’an 9:3 says that “Allah is disassociated from the disbelievers, and [so is] His Messenger.” According to Islamic tradition, the revelation of that last verse allowed Muhammad to break the Treaty of al-Hudaibiyah.
Let us be clear: an American judge who follows Muhammad’s example can take an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and not really mean it. In fact, Muhammad instructs such a judge exactly what to do in this situation: “if I take an oath and later find something else better than that, then I do what is better and expiate my oath.” (Bukhari 5518)
The supremacy of Islamic Law over all other laws still applies today. The Islamic website International Shariah Movement is run by certified Islamic scholars. Its post “Obey the Law of the Land?” cites Qur’an 33:1.
Under Sharia, if a woman is raped, a Muslim judge must disregard any forensic or non-witness evidence, because Qur’an 24:13 requires “four male witnesses” for a rape conviction.
A beaten woman may also easily be denied divorce, because Qur’an 4:34 commands that “Men are in charge of women,” and so may “strike them.”
That is exactly what a Muslim judge in an Iranian Islamic court told me personally when I was a 15-year-old child bride, desperate for a divorce to escape the beatings. In fact, a beaten woman who leaves Islam must be hunted down and murdered, according to Islamic law, because Muhammad said, “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.” (Bukhari 6922)
With all these realities in mind, it is clear that if we cannot at least ask Judge Zahid Quraishi some questions regarding his adherence, or non-adherence, to Islamic law, or even understand that the issue of Quraishi’s Muslimness is an important one to address, then America is in deep trouble.
As an individual who suffered under Sharia, and was able to escape its monstrous clutches, I strongly encourage my fellow Americans to ask the right questions in this vital – and troubling – narrative about America’s new federal judge.
The ‘election’ for president is over in Iran. The grand ayatollah handpicked Ebrahim Raisi who was then ‘elected’. He’s not just a hardline jihadist, but he’s a mass murderer and a big-time one. And more importantly, he’s very proud of his background.
He’s accused by the world of having personally supervised the trials and executions of somewhere between 5,000 and 40,000 Iranians in the 1980s. He has personally been sanctioned by most of the world, including the United States, who cannot even legally talk to him.
Meanwhile, Raisi calls himself a defender of human rights when asked about the mass executions. The guy is a world-class war criminal. He ran the death panel that sentenced and executed tens of thousands of political prisoners at the end of the 1980s. He is now the leader of the world’s most notorious state sponsor of terrorism.
The first thing we have to know about Ebrahim Raisi is that these charges of mass murder as far as the Iranian mullahs are concerned, are not a problem but rather they are a bonus. It’s not that they picked him in spite of his terrible record. They picked him because of his terrible record.
Domestically, the ayatollah is sending a message to the Iranian people who remain discontented in large part with the Islamic regime. The message is simply put, “ you are not going to be able to dissent. There will be no ability to protest. Anybody who expresses any kind of public disagreement, it’s very clear what kind of treatment they’re going to get with Ebrahim Raisi as the President of Iran.”
Keep in mind, Raisi was not elected. He was selected. He was selected by the supreme leader of Iran, who is the real power in the country, and he is going to execute the policies of the supreme leader. The supreme leader’s disposition toward his own people and toward the world is revealed by the person he selects to be the President of Iran.
By picking Raisi, Ayatollah Khamenei is not only showing that he’s going to crack down harshly on dissent within Iran, but he’s showing that he understands that with Biden’s handlers running the United States, that the United States is weak, is not going to stand up to him and this is his time to step up Iran’s support for terrorism worldwide, supporting Hamas, supporting Hezbollah, supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Iranian regime has also in the past supported al-Qaida and the Taliban, and other jihadi groups as well as and this is much less known. It’s clear that Iran understands that leftism is corrosive to Western civilization, and they want to destroy Western civilization. Therefore Iran will support both the leftists and the Islamists around the world who are anti-America and anti-Israel.
From now on, we can expect to see increased belligerence on the part of Iran. And Raisi’s ascension to the presidency means that Iran is going to be strutting around and sponsoring terrorism around the world and cracking down on its own people within the country.
By Barry Nussbaum, Son of Auschwitz survivors, Founder American Truth Project, Foreign and Domestic Policy Commentator
REP. CROCKETT’S BOLD CLAIM: REPUBLICANS ALLEGEDLY IN SERVICE AND RUN BY RUSSIA!
NATIONAL SECURITY ALERT: THE REALITY OF HAMAS BACKERS ON AMERICAN SOIL!
