Thursday 19 November 2009

Robertson In The Doghouse


American governor-elect Bob McDonnell continues to face calls for him to publicly repudiate donor and ally Pat Robertson today, after Robertson said of Islam: "Islam is a violent - I was going to say religion, but it's not a religion. It's a political system. It's a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination. I think we should treat it as such and treat its adherents as such, as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group."

I am no fan of Robertson, but what he is quoted as saying here is largely accurate. I disagree that Islam is not a religion. It is a religion. But it is also "a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination." This is easily documentable.

The Islamic doctrine of jihad derives from a number of verses in the Qur'an, most notably 9:29: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the Jizya [non-Muslim poll tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” The famous Muslim thinker Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi (d.1979), who is widely considered to be one of the most influential Islamic figures of the twentieth century, interpreted this verse as follows:

“The purpose for which the Muslims are required to fight is not as one might think to compel the unbelievers into embracing Islam. Rather their purpose is to put an end to the sovereignty and supremacy of the unbelievers so that the latter are unable to rule over men. The authority to rule should only be vested in those who follow the true faith; unbelievers who do not follow this true faith should live in a state of subordination...Jizya symbolises the submission of the unbelievers to the suzerainty of Islam. To pay the jizya of their own hands 'humbled' refers to payment in a state of submission. 'Humbled' also reinforces the idea that the believers, rather than the unbelievers, should be the rulers in performance of their duty as God’s vicegerents...

“The simple fact is that according to Islam, non-Muslims have been granted the freedom to stay outside the Islamic fold and to cling to their false, man-made ways if they so wish. They have, however, absolutely no right to seize the reigns of power in any part of God’s earth nor to direct the collective affairs of human beings according to their own misconceived doctrines. For if they are given such an opportunity, corruption and mischief will ensue. In such a situation the believers would be under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge them from political power and to make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life.

“One of the advantages of jizya is that it reminds the dhimmis [non-Muslim subjects of an Islamic state] every year that because they do not embrace Islam...they have to pay a price – jizya – for clinging to their errors.”

Thus we can clearly see that this doctrine involves the ultimate conquest and subjugation of the world under Muslim rule, by means of violence. The medieval Muslim historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun (d.1406) wrote: “In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty, because of the universality of the [Muslim] mission and the obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force...The other religious groups did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a religious duty for them, save only for purposes of defense...Islam is under obligation to gain power from other nations.”

As Robertson said, Islam is also a total political system that mandates for believers not just their spiritual actions, but also their civil and political ones, right down to the smallest detail. It is, in other words, totalitarian in nature. In his 1920 Theory and Practise of Bolshevism, philosopher Bertrand Russell openly compared Islam to Soviet Communism:

Bolshevism combines the characteristics of the French Revolution with those of the rise of Islam.

Marx has taught that Communism is fatally predestined to come about; this produces a state of mind not unlike the early successors of Muhammad.

Among religions, Bolshevism is to be reckoned with Mohammedanism rather than with Christianity and Buddhism. Christianity and Buddhism are primarily personal religions, with mystical doctrines and a love of contemplation. Mohammedanism and Bolshevism are practical, social, unspiritual, concerned to win the empire of the world.

It is also interesting to note that immediately upon Robertson making his comments, the first group to jump down his throat was the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad is on record as telling an audience of captive fellow Muslims: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth." Fellow co-founder Nihad Awad has said: "I am in support of the Hamas movement." Hamas, of course, is the Palestinian terrorist group whose stated aim is to destroy Israel utterly and then wipe out all of the world's Jews. CAIR and its officials also have numerous other ties to Islamic terrorism, including direct connections to Hamas.

In short, Pat Robertson was right to say what he did, and while he should (if only on this occasion) be listened to, one group that certainly should not be listened to (under any circumstances or at any time and by anyone) is CAIR.

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