False Prophets
On 5 July 2005, on the eve of the homicide attacks against mass transit in London a year ago, the Islamic Research Forum released their report” “7/7 Unmasked: The Reality Behind the Events.” The “forum” consists of “various Islamic bodies and individuals including: Al-Ghurabaa, The Saviour Sect, The Society of Muslim Lawyers, The Shariah Court of the UK, The Muslim Youth Organisation, The Society of Muslim Students, Al-Khilafah magazine, Al-Sahwa magazine, The followers of Ahl us-Sunnah wal Jamma….”
The report follows the typical Jihadist line: the fault lies not with the perpetrators of the attacks, but with the Blair government for its intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq and its support for Israel. Various warnings went “unheeded,” among those the clear statement issued by “Sheikh Usaama Bin Laden himself” after the Madrid bombings. “The arrogance with which Tony Blair had led Britain into war against Muslims to enforce democracy and freedom over them with the use of B52 bombers and tanks,” the report concludes, “was the same arrogance which ultimately led to all the warnings being ignored and led to the blood of 100’s of Londoners being on his hands.” In short, British actions abroad justified British Muslims murdering their fellow British citizens in the tube or on buses.
I find it hard to believe that any rational person can believe this kind of crap. The same logic could lead one to argue that American citizens of German or Italian extraction would have been justified during World War II not only in opposing the US government (legitimate in a way), but also in murdering their fellow citizens by attacking the New York subway system.
The report’s line of reasoning also reminded me of the most infamous examples of perverted logic. On 30 January 1939 Adolf Hitler spoke to the German Reichstag to mark the sixth anniversary of his coming to power. By this point Hitler had demonstrated his international appetite and hatred of the Jews. Germany had gobbled up Austria and the Sudetenland. The Jews in the Reich had suffered dearly at the hands of Hitler’s government. In response to these German actions, the world was beginning to recognize, albeit slowly, the nature of the threat and to stiffen its resolve. Although Hitler got away with his march into Czechoslovakia in March, his attack against Poland in September ignited a European war. In other words, as Hitler spoke in January the proverbial clouds of war were gathering and even the Führer saw the storm approaching. His response was to threaten. He told the members of the Reichstag and the world:
In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and with it that of the whole nation, and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevizing of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe! [my emphasis]
If historians followed the logic of the “Islamic Research Forum,” we would argue thus: Hitler warned what would happen if he was opposed and Europe plunged into war, therefore the destruction of European Jewry—the Holocaust—was not Hitler’s fault, nor the fault of those who actually killed Jews, but rather the responsibility of the Allied powers who resisted Germany. Churchill and Roosevelt were responsible, not Hitler. He'd warned them what he was going to do.
This is an example of flawed, perverted, logic issued in the name of Islam, and in the name of the Ummah—the nation of Islam. Fortunately, many Muslims do reject this kind of bogus analysis. Late last summer, CNN and The Weather Channel have aired thirty-second spots showing American Islamic leaders speaking out against such violence. The British bombings of last July were a catalyst for the effort. “With the bombings came a disturbing revelation: The suspects were home-grown British Muslims, from places like North Kensington, Notting Hill and Finsbury Park rather than Saudi Arabia or Egypt. They were the children of immigrants. American Muslim leaders say they now fear that their young people might also succumb to radical teachings. The leaders hope to combat that.”
This is the proverbial battle for the soul of Islam. It is one that only Muslims can ultimately win, or lose. But that does not mean that in the interim the non-Muslim world can, or should, do nothing but sit passively on the sidelines.
The report follows the typical Jihadist line: the fault lies not with the perpetrators of the attacks, but with the Blair government for its intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq and its support for Israel. Various warnings went “unheeded,” among those the clear statement issued by “Sheikh Usaama Bin Laden himself” after the Madrid bombings. “The arrogance with which Tony Blair had led Britain into war against Muslims to enforce democracy and freedom over them with the use of B52 bombers and tanks,” the report concludes, “was the same arrogance which ultimately led to all the warnings being ignored and led to the blood of 100’s of Londoners being on his hands.” In short, British actions abroad justified British Muslims murdering their fellow British citizens in the tube or on buses.
I find it hard to believe that any rational person can believe this kind of crap. The same logic could lead one to argue that American citizens of German or Italian extraction would have been justified during World War II not only in opposing the US government (legitimate in a way), but also in murdering their fellow citizens by attacking the New York subway system.
The report’s line of reasoning also reminded me of the most infamous examples of perverted logic. On 30 January 1939 Adolf Hitler spoke to the German Reichstag to mark the sixth anniversary of his coming to power. By this point Hitler had demonstrated his international appetite and hatred of the Jews. Germany had gobbled up Austria and the Sudetenland. The Jews in the Reich had suffered dearly at the hands of Hitler’s government. In response to these German actions, the world was beginning to recognize, albeit slowly, the nature of the threat and to stiffen its resolve. Although Hitler got away with his march into Czechoslovakia in March, his attack against Poland in September ignited a European war. In other words, as Hitler spoke in January the proverbial clouds of war were gathering and even the Führer saw the storm approaching. His response was to threaten. He told the members of the Reichstag and the world:
In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and with it that of the whole nation, and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevizing of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe! [my emphasis]
If historians followed the logic of the “Islamic Research Forum,” we would argue thus: Hitler warned what would happen if he was opposed and Europe plunged into war, therefore the destruction of European Jewry—the Holocaust—was not Hitler’s fault, nor the fault of those who actually killed Jews, but rather the responsibility of the Allied powers who resisted Germany. Churchill and Roosevelt were responsible, not Hitler. He'd warned them what he was going to do.
This is an example of flawed, perverted, logic issued in the name of Islam, and in the name of the Ummah—the nation of Islam. Fortunately, many Muslims do reject this kind of bogus analysis. Late last summer, CNN and The Weather Channel have aired thirty-second spots showing American Islamic leaders speaking out against such violence. The British bombings of last July were a catalyst for the effort. “With the bombings came a disturbing revelation: The suspects were home-grown British Muslims, from places like North Kensington, Notting Hill and Finsbury Park rather than Saudi Arabia or Egypt. They were the children of immigrants. American Muslim leaders say they now fear that their young people might also succumb to radical teachings. The leaders hope to combat that.”
This is the proverbial battle for the soul of Islam. It is one that only Muslims can ultimately win, or lose. But that does not mean that in the interim the non-Muslim world can, or should, do nothing but sit passively on the sidelines.
