BECKLEY— I hear very often that violent Jihad Muslims are not the mainstream Muslims. They are freaks and nuts on the fringe of Islamic culture and society. I know that this is not true. A simple reading of the Qur’an reveals that at the core of Islam is violence. It doesn’t surprise me when one finds out the following:
Just in case anyone on the planet still might not know which religion could be involved in such things, a clue came with the arrest of Ahmad Afzali, an imam who, according to the New York Daily News, “became religious in high school, and preached at the Masjid Hazrat Abu Bakr Islamic Center, New York’s largest Afghan mosque, until 2007, when he opened a funeral business.” (Yes, a funeral business.) Before this case broke, the FBI apparently consulted Afzali more than once. Last week he said, “They come for information, and I always help. I have helped them many times.”
Why did the FBI come for this Imam? Why arrest this religious leader in the heart of New York? A mainstream leader of the Islamic community here in this country! It appears he was part of a plot to target baseball and football stadiums in terrorist styled attacks with bombs carried in knapsacks. Kind of like Madrid in 2004, when those jihadist bombings killed 191 people and wounded 1,800 in Spain. That’s an Islamic community leader in the United States not some radical living in some mountain in Afghanistan. I’m wondering what liberals think of Obama’s speech to the Muslim world now! It did a lot of good huh. It doesn’t look like Obama changed the interpretation of Qur’anic scriptures enough to change the mind if this local Imam in the heart of the Big Apple.
TennesseePaul
Stephen VanNuys
Brooklyn Daniel
The Freedom Thinker
A massive PR program was implemented nearly a decade ago, designed to obscure the true nature of Islam.
If viewed objectively, history clearly defines Islam as a religion whose stated goal is to conquer the world, with Western society as a primary target. Indeed, the Koran is clear in manner in which Islam is to treat “unbelievers”, including the infamous three choices which are the only options for a world of infidels: convert, submit to heavy taxation and reduced social privileges and freedoms as “Dhimi” – or die.
Followers of Islam have repeatedly tried throughout history to spread their religion by force. They suffered their last major defeat in Austria in the 1600′s, thereby closing the doorway to subjugating all of Europe.
Obviously, a new assault is well under way.
“Mainstream Islam” is far from the peaceful, benevolent, moderate religion that its apologists would have us believe.
You can really let the math speak for itself…
Let’s assume there are about 1.7 billion Muslims on Earth.
Out of this population let’s say that 10% sympathize with Osama Bin Laden. That is 107 million.
Now let’s say that only 10% of this number would actually consider direct terrorist acts to be justifiable. That leaves you with 10.7 million supporters of terrorism.
Finally lets really stretch and say that only 10% of this number would actually consider carrying out a terrorist act themselves.
That gives us a final number of about 1.7 million Muslims willing to do us direct harm.
To put that in perspective, the entire active duty population of all 4 US armed forces is only about 1.5 million.
This is a huge problem and one that no one wants to address because of political sensitivities.
I work closely with many folks in DC who deal with this threat. Their take, as well as mine, is – it’s coming.
That is not melodrama – it is reality. Just do the math.
I concur that Islam has significant numbers of radicals (in the millions). But I actually do believe the vast majority of Muslims do not have the strict interpretation of the Qur’an referenced above. Otherwise, I would think that all the Muslim countries would be banding together, building enormous armies and invading neighboring countries (much like they did in previous centuries). I just don’t think that is the mentality of the vast majority of them anymore.
Nonetheless, there are clearly hot-pockets of extremism out there, and they are very dangerous.
I agree it’s not the “majority” of Muslims. But from a 2006 Pew Research Poll it’s around 20-40% of Muslims that find various forms of violent Jihad against civilians acceptable. I’d be interested to read a more modern study to see if those percentages have changed but haven’t been able to find one. Chuck gives the rate of 10% being 107 million but that is way to conservative. It’s at least 214 million conservatively according to the research and potentially higher.
This is the big concern. A missing caliphate is currently what keeps this from happening. It is something I’d think a majority of Muslims are looking for and praying for. Thankfully, a broken Islam between sects and in fighting have hampered this. But it’s not something that couldn’t be overcome by the right spark. (Israel being forced to attack Iranian nuclear facilities?!?!)
I agree. The numbers are most likely much higher. I use 10% to accentuate the fact that a violent minority even if only .01% of the total population it is still formidable.
Colin Powell’s words still ring true in my mind when he stated:
“We have to be right 100% of the time, while they only have to be right once.”