During the height of the Cold War there emerged the phenomenon of anti-anti-communism. That is, Western intellectuals banded together to challenge those who warned about the dangers of communism. They were either willing propagandists of communism, or just useful idiots.
Today we have a similar situation emerging. Today we have anti-anti-Islamism. There are all sorts of Westerners who seem to have no problem at all with radical Islam, but they do have a problem with anyone who seeks to sound the alarm about Islamism.
Again, they could be either deluded – but well-meaning – dolts, or those who are actively seeking to implement the Islamist agenda by stealth. But to stand against totalitarian Islamism today is viewed by many as being as bad as those who stood against totalitarian communism not so long ago.
I wrote about this situation earlier today, where two champions of freedom have been vilified and abused by the MSM and the Labor Party. See my write-up here about this appalling situation: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2011/09/07/our-censors-at-work-again/
But we have every right to be concerned about creeping sharia and stealth jihad. The use of terror is not the only means by which the Islamists are seeking to subjugate the entire world to sharia law and complete submission to Allah.
Many people mistakenly believe that the difference between radical and moderate Muslims has to do with whether violence and terror are utilised. But as Robert Spencer argues, the real difference lies elsewhere: “between Muslims who believe that Islamic law is the perfect system for human society and who are working by whatever means to impose that Islamic law, and those Muslims who support Western pluralistic governments and seek to live with non-Muslims as equals, under secular rule, on an indefinite basis.”
So what is sharia and why should it concern us? Given that entire libraries have been written on this topic, I can only offer the briefest of comments here. The word itself is Arabic of course and means “right path” or “straight path” (eg Sura 45:18).
It is essentially Islamic law applied to every area of life. The four sources of it (in order of importance) are the Koran, the Sunna (the example of Muhammad), the ijma (scholarly consensus), and the qiyas (deductive reasoning). While there are different major schools of Islamic law, there is a large amount of agreement amongst them.
Sharia law, or Islamic law, refers to how life is meant to be lived in every area. One Islamic publication says that Sharia law “is much wider than a code of law. It is a comprehensive code of Islamic life which Allah revealed for mankind. . . . It is permanent for all people all the time, and it does not change with time and conditions.”
Or as the authors of an important study produced by the Center for Security Policy in the US put it, the “sharia system is totalitarian. It imposes itself on all aspects of civil society and human life, both public and private.”
Two truths emerge here: 1) Sharia law is incompatible with, and looks down upon, Western democratic law. It insists that all political and legal systems be subsumed under and submit to, sharia. Islam after all means submission. 2) All real, devout Muslims must embrace and support the promotion of sharia law.
This takes us back to the distinction Spencer mentioned above. The moderate Muslim (or the Muslim who is not fully committed to his faith) does not take sharia seriously, or mistakenly believes that sharia and Western democracy can somehow co-exist. The radical, or true believing, Muslim, knows that sharia and democracy cannot co-exist, and that all western laws must be done away with and replaced with sharia law.
That is the struggle we are in. The violent jihadists are simply seeking the same goals as are those pushing sharia law through non-violent means. Both groups want exactly the same result: the entire world ruled by a universal caliphate with everyone in submission to Islamic law.
That is why we rightly speak of creeping sharia, or stealth jihad. The push to extend sharia law in the Western world is simply the stealth version, the non-violent version, of what the suicide bombers and airplane hijackers are doing. Both are committed to absolutely the same end.
English-based expert on Islam Patrick Sookhdeo cites a number of current Islamic leaders and jurists who speak of a “world revolution” of Islam, and then summarises the situation this way: “This then is the ultimate goal of Islam: a worldwide Islamic government based on sharia.”
The leading catalyst in all this is of course the Muslim Brotherhood. Established in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna, the MB seeks to establish an Islamic state in every nation of the world. It refers to the establishment of Islamic supremacy by non-violent means as “civilisation jihad”. But recall of course that groups like Hamas sprang from the MB.
Operating in over 80 countries, the MB has this as its creed: “God is our objective; the Koran is our law; the Prophet is our leader; jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.”
So both peaceful and violent means are being utilised to achieve the same goal: the universal rule of Islam with everyone in complete submission to Allah via sharia law. The two types of jihad differ only in tactics and timing. Both seek to restore an Islamic caliphate based on sharia.
I have documented countless examples of this in Australia and other Western nations on this site. Whether it is sharia finance, or sharia family law, or halal foods, or other means of sharia compliance, this is jihad by stealth. And things are moving along very nicely for the Islamists. There are plenty of Western stooges too ignorant or too foolish to not see the threat, and they are happily going along with all this.
But we are already seeing some ugly examples of what sharia rule looks like in the West. Let me offer just one example, as reported in the Center for Security Policy study: “Evidence of the extent to which shariah is being insinuated into the fabric of American society abounds, if one is willing to see it. A particularly egregious example was the 2009 case of a Muslim woman whose request for a restraining order against her Moroccan husband who had serially tortured and raped her was denied by New Jersey family court Judge Joseph Charles. The judge ruled on the grounds that the abusive husband had acted according to his Muslim (shariah) beliefs, and thus not with criminal intent.”
All over the Western world the democratic rule of law is slowly but surely being replaced by Islamic law. While no nation can exist with a two-tiered or multi-pronged legal system, this is not the end of the story. This is just a temporary phase until there is enough critical mass to see sharia enforced on the entire land, over every citizen.
And we know that the infidel has only one of three choices when living under Islamic rule: convert, die, or become enslaved in dhimmitude. We are not at that place yet, but we are certainly heading there. We must wake up, become aware of the threat that we face, and take action. If not, we will lose it all, and have only ourselves to blame.
Apparently we have become so ‘wise in our own eyes’ that we do not learn from the lessons of history.
A friend recently sent me a newspaper article written by a Canadian journalist for the Toronto Sun about an incident he had in August when he was out with his 9 year old son.
I can’t find the actual article to send, but here is a post from another site which rewrites the article in full.
This was published in the Toronto Sun August 3rd, 2011.
I am sure there are many more incidents like this that would be going unreported.
Annette Williams
Hi Bill, thanks for that.
Terrorism isn’t even their most effective weapon to achieve their program of dominion. In a western culture where family and family growth is spurned and attacked, countries will wake up in decades to come to realise that their country has somehow become muslim over night. In many European countries, the math is simple. On average, muslim families have 8 children each; westerners compare with 1.5 (or less – rarely more). Do the maths, the results are simple. Humanism in the west is an ideology of death, and the proof of the pudding won’t take too long to show itself if things don’t change. Indeed, we are already seeing it in the things that you helpfully document Bill.
May we be diligent and prayerful about what our part should be in seeking the Kingdom of God and serving Him as we continue on our pilgrim way. Having and raising a big godly family is not a bad place to start!
God bless,
Isaac Overton, ACT
The Muslim evangelists have many means of spreading their faith. You have described a couple of them Bill. In Africa they also use marriage – marry into a non-Muslim family and demand that family converts as part of the deal. They also use a couple of different economic means – one amounts basically to bribery – if you want a scholarship or sponsorship for your education or sports training, you must first convert to Islam to receive the money. The other kind of economic means is to buy into the local economy in a big way – buy out as many businesses as possible and take over the economy – these last two things happen using money from places like Saudi Arabia.
We don’t see these three methods so much in the west because they wouldn’t work so well there. They use what works best. They have examined and analysed cultures and use the means best suited to success. They have it worked out fairly well. They know that the methods they are using in western societies are the best ones for success – they have done their homework very carefully.
John Symons
In Exodus 20 God set out the 10 commandments, the very basis of Law itself. God clearly stated “I am the Lord thy God and then proceeded to give the first commandment: Thou shall have no other gods before me. No man (all have sinned and come short of the glory of God) has ever been able to keep the Law but our Redeemer and Saviour, the holy, sinless and spotless Son of God, who was the fulfillment of the Law. In John 5:43 our Lord Jesus Christ said: I am come in my Fathers name, and ye recieve me not, if another shall come in his own name, him ye shall receive. The sad truth is that unregenerate mankind will accept anything, indeed hasten to embrace anything that is based on falsehood and the rejection of the truth. They would rather as you suggest Bill, subject themselves to a false God, a false prophet and law based upon a false religion, perhaps even to the point of accepting the rule of a universal caliphate. Every time the media presents issues relating to Islam we always get this thrown at us: It means peace, we are a peaceful religion, we are victims etc, etc. Peace, peace, then sudden destruction springs to mind. Given our democratic governments stance on these matters it appears they don’t have to wage a war to achieve their agenda, our governments are quite capable of giving up our culture and christian values for us. As believers we do not hate the persons but the sin, and pray that all might come to the truth, however if ever we stand up for our God we are called …..phobias or ….ists and more than often by our own. Its becoming a strange world that we live in, must be the last days.
God Bless.
Paul Wilson
And then there is this imbecile of a judge that let off a Muslim terror suspect after firing at police because there was “anti-Muslim sentiment” in the community;
Yes sadly there are many hundreds of such examples already, and they are increasing each passing week.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
The infidel who say Islam is violent should be beheaded.
Ahmed Hassan
Thanks Ahmed
The trouble with interactive blogsites is that anyone can say anything, and it is hard to verify much of it. I suspect we are being had here. But if you indeed exist and you do indeed believe this, it is not only bizarre in the extreme, but it of course is woefully contradictory, and confirms the very things we have been saying. But I assume this is just some prank – although I stand to be corrected.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Just a couple of related articles that have just hit my inbox, thought some might appreciate.
A very close friend of mine while catching a tram in Melbourne last summer sat next to a Muslim woman .It was a very hot day and the woman was dressed in a very heavy black burqa. “You must be very hot wearing your burqa!” my friend said to the Muslim woman. “Yes,I am!” she replied “But don’t worry, you will be wearing one soon!” At that moment my friend told me that there was absolutely no humour whatsoever in her expression! She was deadly serious!!
Jane Byrne
I am a supporter of Patrick Sookhedo’s BARNABAS FUND. I have emailed the Pakistan high commissioner over the Christians in Pakistan awaiting execution for supposedly blaspheming the koran; I have written to parliamentarians Senator Steve Fielding, Senator Joyce and Senator Nick “Human headline” Xenophon about the Copts. Martin Ferguson I hear is meeting with the Copts and seeking to raise their plight with the Egyptian Ambassador. I even wrote to that supposed Christian KM RUDD – all to no avail. What did Jefferson say “I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just”.
And on the 10th anniversary of 911: I think that the call that our greatest Prime Minister John Curtin did to the US for help, in our darkest hour, when both Churchill and Roosevelt thought he was a panic merchant, has paid dividends. What Russell Crowe said at the Oscars some years ago may have been interpreted as blasphemy, but if you read Crowe’s deep respect for his grandfather who fought in WW2 it can be seen as being applied today:
Wayne Pelling
Thanks Wayne
But do you have the Crowe remarks, or a link to them?
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
From memory Russell Crowe’s speech went as follows:
“God save the Queen,
God bless America,
God protect New Zealand
and thank Christ for Australia”
I remember considering it to be clever and patriotic at the same time 🙂
Thanks Bill.
Apparently we have become so ‘wise in our own eyes’ that we do not learn from the lessons of history.
A friend recently sent me a newspaper article written by a Canadian journalist for the Toronto Sun about an incident he had in August when he was out with his 9 year old son.
I can’t find the actual article to send, but here is a post from another site which rewrites the article in full.
This was published in the Toronto Sun August 3rd, 2011.
jihadwatch.org/2011/08/toronto-islamic-supremacist-punches-non-muslim-in-the-face-no-charges-filed.html
I am sure there are many more incidents like this that would be going unreported.
Annette Williams
Hi Bill, thanks for that.
Terrorism isn’t even their most effective weapon to achieve their program of dominion. In a western culture where family and family growth is spurned and attacked, countries will wake up in decades to come to realise that their country has somehow become muslim over night. In many European countries, the math is simple. On average, muslim families have 8 children each; westerners compare with 1.5 (or less – rarely more). Do the maths, the results are simple. Humanism in the west is an ideology of death, and the proof of the pudding won’t take too long to show itself if things don’t change. Indeed, we are already seeing it in the things that you helpfully document Bill.
May we be diligent and prayerful about what our part should be in seeking the Kingdom of God and serving Him as we continue on our pilgrim way. Having and raising a big godly family is not a bad place to start!
God bless,
Isaac Overton, ACT
The Muslim evangelists have many means of spreading their faith. You have described a couple of them Bill. In Africa they also use marriage – marry into a non-Muslim family and demand that family converts as part of the deal. They also use a couple of different economic means – one amounts basically to bribery – if you want a scholarship or sponsorship for your education or sports training, you must first convert to Islam to receive the money. The other kind of economic means is to buy into the local economy in a big way – buy out as many businesses as possible and take over the economy – these last two things happen using money from places like Saudi Arabia.
We don’t see these three methods so much in the west because they wouldn’t work so well there. They use what works best. They have examined and analysed cultures and use the means best suited to success. They have it worked out fairly well. They know that the methods they are using in western societies are the best ones for success – they have done their homework very carefully.
John Symons
In Exodus 20 God set out the 10 commandments, the very basis of Law itself. God clearly stated “I am the Lord thy God and then proceeded to give the first commandment: Thou shall have no other gods before me. No man (all have sinned and come short of the glory of God) has ever been able to keep the Law but our Redeemer and Saviour, the holy, sinless and spotless Son of God, who was the fulfillment of the Law. In John 5:43 our Lord Jesus Christ said: I am come in my Fathers name, and ye recieve me not, if another shall come in his own name, him ye shall receive. The sad truth is that unregenerate mankind will accept anything, indeed hasten to embrace anything that is based on falsehood and the rejection of the truth. They would rather as you suggest Bill, subject themselves to a false God, a false prophet and law based upon a false religion, perhaps even to the point of accepting the rule of a universal caliphate. Every time the media presents issues relating to Islam we always get this thrown at us: It means peace, we are a peaceful religion, we are victims etc, etc. Peace, peace, then sudden destruction springs to mind. Given our democratic governments stance on these matters it appears they don’t have to wage a war to achieve their agenda, our governments are quite capable of giving up our culture and christian values for us. As believers we do not hate the persons but the sin, and pray that all might come to the truth, however if ever we stand up for our God we are called …..phobias or ….ists and more than often by our own. Its becoming a strange world that we live in, must be the last days.
God Bless.
Paul Wilson
And then there is this imbecile of a judge that let off a Muslim terror suspect after firing at police because there was “anti-Muslim sentiment” in the community;
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/scared-muslim-let-off-police-shooting/story-e6freuzi-1226132678893
Damien Spillane
Thanks Damien
Yes sadly there are many hundreds of such examples already, and they are increasing each passing week.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
The infidel who say Islam is violent should be beheaded.
Ahmed Hassan
Thanks Ahmed
The trouble with interactive blogsites is that anyone can say anything, and it is hard to verify much of it. I suspect we are being had here. But if you indeed exist and you do indeed believe this, it is not only bizarre in the extreme, but it of course is woefully contradictory, and confirms the very things we have been saying. But I assume this is just some prank – although I stand to be corrected.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Just a couple of related articles that have just hit my inbox, thought some might appreciate.
http://livestre.am/Pfu4
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_not_very_multicultural_council/
Annette Williams
A very close friend of mine while catching a tram in Melbourne last summer sat next to a Muslim woman .It was a very hot day and the woman was dressed in a very heavy black burqa. “You must be very hot wearing your burqa!” my friend said to the Muslim woman. “Yes,I am!” she replied “But don’t worry, you will be wearing one soon!” At that moment my friend told me that there was absolutely no humour whatsoever in her expression! She was deadly serious!!
Jane Byrne
I am a supporter of Patrick Sookhedo’s BARNABAS FUND. I have emailed the Pakistan high commissioner over the Christians in Pakistan awaiting execution for supposedly blaspheming the koran; I have written to parliamentarians Senator Steve Fielding, Senator Joyce and Senator Nick “Human headline” Xenophon about the Copts. Martin Ferguson I hear is meeting with the Copts and seeking to raise their plight with the Egyptian Ambassador. I even wrote to that supposed Christian KM RUDD – all to no avail. What did Jefferson say “I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just”.
And on the 10th anniversary of 911: I think that the call that our greatest Prime Minister John Curtin did to the US for help, in our darkest hour, when both Churchill and Roosevelt thought he was a panic merchant, has paid dividends. What Russell Crowe said at the Oscars some years ago may have been interpreted as blasphemy, but if you read Crowe’s deep respect for his grandfather who fought in WW2 it can be seen as being applied today:
Wayne Pelling
Thanks Wayne
But do you have the Crowe remarks, or a link to them?
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
From memory Russell Crowe’s speech went as follows:
“God save the Queen,
God bless America,
God protect New Zealand
and thank Christ for Australia”
I remember considering it to be clever and patriotic at the same time 🙂
Mario Del Giudice