Paul J. Balles turns the spotlight on four prominent American Islamophobes and argues that the acts they use to justify their statements "are no more related to the teachings of Islam than the paedophilia of a few priests is connected with Catholicism or the acts committed by Rabbi Meir Kahane of the Anti-Defamation League related to Judaism”.
Nidal Malik Hassan's brutal murders at Fort Hood were unforgivable acts of an obvious psychopathic killer. The fact that he was a Muslim had nothing to do with his maniacal action.
According to the Fiqh Council of North America (Muslim jurists), some individuals around the world issued statements praising the brutal killings and attacks and condemning the American Muslim community for "betrayal of Islam and for hypocrisy" for denouncing the massacre.
Such comments are not only a travesty of the teachings of Islam, they are just as psychotic as the action of the murderer. Islam teaches that all Muslims, wherever they live, must respect the life and property of all people, whether Muslims or non-Muslims.
Just as bad as the crazies who murder and support senseless slaughter, are the Islamophobes. Islamophobia is an irrational fear or prejudice towards Islam and Muslims.
The acts used by Islamophobes to attempt to justify their statements are no more related to the teachings of Islam than the paedophilia of a few priests is connected with Catholicism or the acts committed by Rabbi Meir Kahane of the Anti-Defamation League related to Judaism.
Pat Robertson, David Gaubatz, Paul Sperry and Daniel Pipes are all Islamophobic cult leaders who take every opportunity they can to vilify Islam and Muslims.
On his “700 Club” TV show, Pat Robertson commented, ridiculously, that Islam is "not a religion", but "a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination".
Robertson's Evangelical followers are so completely brainwashed by their minister that they are incapable of discerning that his political blather is nothing but blind hatred of Islam. Unfortunately, his cult members don’t question or challenge Robertson. They follow blindly.
After the Fort Hood debacle, Dave Gaubatz, the opinionated co-author of the controversial Muslim Mafia, called for “a professional and legal backlash against the Muslim community and their leaders”.
Four Republican House representatives are basing a call for an investigation of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) on the extremely biased book, Muslim Mafia, written by the extremely biased, some would call unhinged, authors, David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry.
Paul Sperry, another Islamophobe, teamed up with Gaubatz in writing the book, Muslim Mafia. Sperry, who knows little or nothing about Islam, has no qualms about making unsupported claims and generalizing about Muslims.
The fourth in this quartet, Daniel Pipes, writes: "The deepest differences between Muslims and Westerners concern not politics but sexuality. Each side has a long history of looking at the other's sexual mores with a mixture of astonishment and disgust."
Pipes’s assertions are twisted and exaggerated generalities. He speaks of differences between Muslims and Westerners as if there weren't Muslims among Westerners.
To claim that sexuality represents a greater difference than politics shows Pipes's inability to make valid comparisons. Muslims and Westerners both marry, have sex and produce children, though Muslims view Western sex before marriage as illicit, immoral and a reflection of a degenerate society.
Pipes fails to see the scope of political differences. Westerners generally believe that democracy is a far superior system of government. Muslims have traditionally been comfortable with monarchies (or theocracies). Most of the problems have arisen from Western attempts to force democracy on Islamic countries.
"Here are some examples of customs and social attitudes from the Muslim side of the divide,” says Pipes, “that have me, for one, shaking my head...” He then relates anecdotal incidents of extremely rare events that have nothing to do with "customs and social attitudes".
A major problem with Islamophobes is that they attack people rather than issues. They busy themselves with name-calling and ignore legitimate concerns.
Paul J. Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for many years. For more information, see http://www.pballes.com.
