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On Thursday, May 7, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., WNYC, New York's
NPR affiliate, hosted "Islamophobia: A Conversation." WNYC talk-show
host Brian Lehrer moderated. The discussion took place at the Brooklyn Academy
of Music, described on its webpage as "the home for adventurous artists,
audiences, and ideas." Both BAM and WNYC are taxpayer funded. The
discussion has been broadcast several times – at least twice the weekend of
July 25 – and it is available on the WNYC webpage.
WNYC, on its webpage, lists the panelists for
"Islamophobia: A Discussion" as follows:
Wajahat Ali—co-host of "The Stream" on Al
Jazeera America; author of Fear Inc.:
Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America;
Douglas Murray—associate editor of The Spectator magazine; author most recently of Islamophilia;
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar—Iraqi-born writer and human rights
activist;
Asra Nomani—author of Standing
Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam;
Linda Sarsour—Brooklyn-born executive director of the
Arab American Association of New York and
Bassem Youssef—host of "Al-Bernameg," the first
televised political satire show in the Middle East. Youssef is also a Harvard
fellow.
WNYC's "Islamophobia: A Conversation" typifies
many features of liberal discourse on Islam. These features include:
1)
Selective
inclusion of speakers in order to arrive at a pre-determined conclusion. Islam-critical
scholars are excluded. Trained apologists for the Judeo-Christian tradition and
Western Civilization are excluded. Muslims who express an orthodox Islamic
worldview are excluded.
2)
Selection
of Islamophobia, that is hatred and victimization of Muslims, as the topic of
note. Jihad, terrorism, and gender apartheid are not worthy of focus.
3)
Exploitation
of America's psychic vulnerabilities, specifically guilt about white supremacy,
to coerce adherence to a pro-Islam worldview, and to silence any analysis of
Islam.
4)
Conflation
of Muslims and Islam with African Americans and the African American
experience, thus rendering any critique of Islam an expression of white
supremacy.
5)
An
insistence on cultural relativism in which Islam is just like every other world
religion, with a focus on insisting that Islam is just like Christianity.
6)
Depiction
of America as a deadly hellhole for Muslims. At the same time, insisting on
American Dream tropes. Assuming that all people on earth somehow automatically
deserve entry into this idyllic American Promised Land, and that any
expectation that Muslims renounce jihad or express fealty to their adopted
homeland is a gross human rights violation.
7)
A
disregard for, even a demonization of, objective facts.
8)
Misrepresentation
and demonization of any critique of Islam.
9)
Trivialization
and mockery: a Yoda imitation, a comparison of the stars of Duck Dynasty to ISIS or saying, "My
mother can't be a terrorist; she's too busy cooking biryani."
10) Blame the victim. Americans cause
terrorism by saying mean things about Islam.
WNYC created a theatrical façade of inclusivity of
speakers and worldviews. Panelists, WNYC's webpage promises, come "from
across the political, religious, and cultural spectrum" and they "address
massive issues;" "the conversation covered broad terrain."
It is significant who was not part of the discussion. The
most prominent and productive scholarly critic of Islam in the world today is
almost certainly Robert Spencer. Spencer was not present. David Wood, another
prominent, active, local, and productive critic of Islam, was not present.
British author Douglas Murray was present, and that's a
good thing. It's not the best thing, though. Douglas Murray is not a full-time
Islam critic; Spencer and Wood are. Further, Murray is an atheist, and an
atheist without theological training. Islam, from its founding, has positioned
itself as the opponent of Judaism and Christianity in a triumphalist, zero sum
game. Indeed, Muslims on the panel at the WNYC event repeatedly invoked
Christianity in order to score points for Islam. Osama bin Laden declared that
all Muslims everywhere are justified in killing any and all "Jews and
Crusaders."
Robert Spencer and David Wood don't just know Islam; they
don't just know the Koran and hadith. They know the Bible, Old Testament and
New. They know church history. They know that what most conventionally educated
people believe to be true about the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the witch
craze – historical episodes frequently cited by Islam's apologists – has been
demonstrated to be false by recent scholarship.
It is notable that not a single person on the panel was
an American of non-Muslim descent. It is notable that five of the six panelists
were Muslims or former Muslims. Even as one panelist after another accused
non-Muslim Americans of being imperialist oppressors, racists and indeed
terrorists, WNYC did not allow one non-Muslim American to speak.
Other notable missing persons: there was no one like the
pro-Sharia Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary, though Choudary is a media fixture. Choudary's
Koranic worldview probably has more followers than the announced beliefs –
moderate Islam, secularism, or reformed Islam – of all the other panelists
combined. Choudary doesn't pay lip service to co-existence. In his beard and
Islamic dress, Choudary is not the poster child for moderate Islam that photogenic,
beardless and fashionably groomed Wajahat Ali is. Choudary says that Muslims
are superior and that eventually they will exercise that superiority over all
mankind, as prescribed in Bukhari hadith 4:196. In fact no one on the panel
represented this worldview, though it is obviously an influential one among Muslims.
Another significant feature of the discussion: the
decision, made before the discussion took place as to what it would address. WNYC
titled its program "Islamophobia" and "Fear of a Muslim
Planet." Bill Maher famously denounced the very word "Islamophobia"
as one "created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons."
WNYC chose as focus of its discussion on Islam a purported irrational hatred of
Muslims that allegedly grips Americans. In the city where almost three thousand
Americans were murdered on September 11, 2001, the city's premier,
taxpayer-funded radio station understands "fairness" to involve
smearing all Americans as bigots and not allowing one single American of
non-Muslim descent onto a panel to challenge that smear.
The broadcast's alternate title is "Fear of a Muslim
Planet." This title alludes to "Fear of a Black Planet," a 1990
Public Enemy hip hop album meant to protest white supremacy. White Americans
are oppressive haters, WNYC's title announced. Muslims are innocent victims. Muslims
are just like African Americans. "Fear of a Black Planet" includes
the song "911 is a Joke."
"No one here wants terrorism, and no one here wants
bigotry. Let's have a dialogue about how we can fight the one without enabling
the other," host Brian Lehrer announced at the beginning of the discussion.
Any thinking person immediately detects the culturally relativistic false
equivalency. Terrorism is destroying the lives of millions of people. Ten
million people currently live under the control of ISIS, for just one example. Terrorism
is a much more serious matter than alleged "Islamophobia," yet Lehrer
equates the two.
There were many similar false equivalencies. Bassem
Youssef brought up the Westboro Baptist Church. The Westboro Baptist Church has
not millions, but rather dozens of members. As painful as it is, a sign reading
"God hates fags" cannot be compared to a terrorist bombing. Youssef spoke
at length about the 2009 assassination of a late-term abortion provider Dr. George
Tiller. This murder can't be compared to 1400 years of jihad – but it was, and
that comparison went unchallenged. Youssef's discourse on the murder of Dr. Tiller
was the longest bit of uninterrupted verbiage in a NPR report on Islam in the
US.
The WNYC broadcast opens with, and the homepage for the
event closes with, a quote from panelist Wajahat Ali. "In America I'm
asked, 'Why does Islam hate the West?' Abroad I'm asked, 'Why does the West
hate Islam?'" Again, two phenomena that are not equal – jihad and alleged
Western Islamophobia – are rendered equivalent in the one quote WNYC chose to
feature on its homepage.
Linda Sarsour was the night's first speaker. She spoke loudly,
rapidly and in a street-inflected enunciation that was so pronounced it could
have been an affectation. In the tradition of fascist demagogues, Sarsour
voiced flamboyant, bathetic grievances, claiming herself and her fellow Muslims
to be victims of violent and dangerous, racist Americans. Sarsour claimed that
Muslims are bullied in schools and must live with death threats from Americans
who want to decapitate them. Sarsour insisted that "Islamophobia is an
industry in this country. People making [sic] millions of bucks [sic] on
dehumanizing and vilifying Muslims." She followed grievances with
belligerence, telling people what they could and could not say. "You're
free" she said, "to disagree with some tenets of Islam." Well
thank you for that permission, Ms. Sarsour. Anti-Sharia legislation, though, is
Islamophobic and must stop. American zoning boards that resist mosque construction
are Islamophobic. They must grant permission for the construction of mosques. Sarsour
claimed that the NYPD surveils Muslims for no other reason than racist animus. Douglas
Murray called this a lie. Sarsour castigated Murray. Brian Lehrer backed her
up, saying, "Let her speak!"
Sarsour repeatedly conflated Muslims with African
Americans. Sarsour is attempting to appropriate the African American
experience; she is a Muslim Rachel Dolezal. In 2012, Shaima Alawadi, an Iraqi
woman, was murdered in California. CNN published Sarsour announcing that "My
Hijab Is My Hoodie." The article featured a photo of Trayvon Martin. The
implication was that Sarsour risks being murdered by a racist American because
she wears hijab, in the same way that Trayvon Martin was allegedly murdered by
a racist American for wearing a hoodie. Alawadi's murder was a staged hate
crime; her Muslim husband had beaten her to death.
Currently on her Facebook page, Sarsour insists that her
son Tamir is the equivalent of Ramarley Graham, an African American shot to
death by a police officer. Sarsour had previously said that her son is just
like Tamir Rice, another black boy shot by police. Also on her Facebook page,
Sarsour calls Franklin Graham "vehement, racist, disgusting." She
writes "Existing as Black and/or Muslim in America is an act of
courage." And "When Black lives matter all lives will matter,
including Muslim lives." Sarsour repeatedly invokes Rosa Parks in her
public statements, and Sarsour has been compared to Rosa Parks.
Sarsour was the most vehement in rejecting rational
discussion. "I'm not interested up here to have ideological or theological
discussion or pull out quotes from the Koran because every problem that we have
could be found in other faiths." (sic).
Aljazeera's Wajahat Ali also spoke of Islamophobia as a
profit center that is "bankrolled" by nefarious forces vilifying
Muslims and Islam. Ali, like Sarsour, jumped on the "America is white
supremacist" bandwagon. He self-identified as "brown skinned." In
fact, he is clearly of mostly Caucasian ancestry, as is Sarsour. Ali complained
that he is not "popular" in America, that Americans insult him by forcing
him to apologize for actions he's never done, performed by people he's never
met. Ali mourned that those making money off Islamophobia want "you to
fear me because I am a Muslim." I am a "perpetual suspect." Ali
went right for America's psychic jugular. Racism is in America's very DNA. Islamophobia
"Takes its DNA from hateful fear mongering that was used against Jews, Catholics
and Japanese. Same DNA." This isn't about free speech, Ali insisted. It's
not about a cartoon. In his insistence that free speech and cartoons are
immaterial, Ali joined Sarsour in rejecting discussion of objective realities. All
that mattered, really, is that America is fundamentally racist.
Much could be said about the irony of Islamists smearing
America as racist. The Arab slave trade of Africans and Europeans dwarfed the
Atlantic slave trade in size and duration. The Arab slave trade was supported
by the Koran and Mohammed's exemplary precedent. The Arab slave trade exists
today. The legacy of the Arab slave trade is virulent racism among Arabs and
many Muslims – as many Muslims have publicly acknowledged.
In a similar ironic display of hypocrisy, Sarsour, Youssef,
and Ali deployed a self-contradictory but no less crafty stratagem. They spoke
at length about what a devious, imperialist, destructive, racist, and indeed
deadly place America is for Muslims. To state the obvious, Sarsour, Youssef,
and Ali, who could easily return to their relatives in Palestine, Egypt, and
Pakistan, choose to live in the United States. If America were the hellhole
they describe, they would not be here. At the same time that they pound the shame-racist-America
drum, Sarsour and Ali also insist on an ideal America that Muslims deserve
uninhibited and unquestioned access to. I am Catholic. No Catholic has ever
enjoyed unquestioned access to the American Dream. We had to prove our worth,
and that we posed no threat. We did just that. John F. Kennedy's September 12,
1960 speech to Protestant ministers was just one proof that American Catholics
have offered up to gain full access to the American Dream.
Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian television host and Harvard
fellow, misrepresented the Islam critical point of view, and, specifically,
Douglas Murray's point of view, as "All Muslims are out there to either
subjugate you or convert you" and Muslims are "out there to get you
basically" and "Islam is an infection" and "Why don't we go
to the next level and put them all in concentration camps. Throw us in the gas
chambers. It's much easier this way. No Muslims. No Islamophobia. Let's get it
over with." "This is hate speech. It should be shut down," Youssef
said of any criticism of Islam. Youssef equated critics of Islam with imams who
call for death to Jews and Christians. Of Douglas Murray, Youssef said, "He's
doing the same. He's doing the same. But on bigger platforms, and he's
affecting a larger number of people." The moderator made no attempt to
address Youssef's false, inflammatory remarks. The audience applauded enthusiastically.
Following Youssef's comments in the program as it exists now at the WNYC
webpage, and as it was broadcast in July, there was no response, including from
Douglas Murray, who had been misrepresented to the point of slander. Youssef's unhinged,
masochistic fantasies went unchallenged.
Youssef adopted a mock, singsong voice and trilled,
"Yeah, there are violent texts in Islam." Any discussion of the
Koran's many jihad verses, Mohammed's career as a warrior, or the history of a
thousand years of unbroken Islamic expansion through violent and genocidal
jihad was reduced to a joke. Youssef blamed America. "Billions of
dollars" funded the spread of jihad. Youssef insisted that the Westboro
Baptist Church and the KKK are completely equivalent with jihad. If someone
gave the Westboro Baptist Church billions of dollars, they, too, would create
terrorist groups on every continent that would last for a thousand years. "This
is a game that has been used by Christianity and Judaism!" "Buddhists
are killing!" Youssef's angry and grammatically incorrect sputterings were
met with enthusiastic applause.
Wajahat Ali was allowed expansive, uninterrupted time to
insist that "right-wing white men from the South" are the number one
domestic terrorist threat to Americans, and that they should be surveilled and
profiled. Ali also argued that Westerners bring terrorism on themselves by
criticizing Islam.
In contrast to the generous time allowed Ali and Youssef,
Lehrer interrupted Douglas Murray when Murray was making his summary statement,
the kind of statement that is conventionally not interrupted by a moderator. "You
are by your own words anti-Islam," Lehrer intoned, using the kind of
formulation one would associate with the judge in a Stalinist show trial. Lehrer
did not interrupt any other panelist's summary statement for ideological
reasons. He interrupted Wajahat Ali for reasons of time, but allowed him to
continue to speak.
Lehrer also interrupted panelist Faisal Saeed Al Mutar. Al
Mutar was born in Iraq; he is now an atheist living in the US. He spoke
relatively little. He attempted to adduce facts that would demonstrate that Youssef
and Ali were incorrect to mock and trivialize the real threat of Islamic
terrorism. Al Mutar listed Muslim countries that prescribe capital punishment
for atheism; he pointed out that the worst countries to live in for women are
Muslim countries. Lehrer interrupted Al Mutar's recitation of facts. "Is
the path to peace to discredit the religion?"
Asra Nomani was born in India and currently teaches at
Georgetown. She is the author of Standing
Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam. She
said that the first person to RSVP for WNYC's event was a man who had sent her
a death threat. Her voice was lovely and quiet; her speech measured and
respectful. She spoke for reform in Islam. The Muslim men on the panel
interrupted and made fun of her.
Douglas Murray repeatedly attempted to make an important
point. Suppression of the unique challenges Islam presents is not good for
Muslims. Most Muslims are decent people who should not face prejudice. The best
route to a happy life for Muslims is for Muslims to say, "Yes, we have a
problem, and yes, we are open to dealing with it." Three of the guests on
WNYC's panel not only failed miserably at that task; they engaged in
obfuscation, evasion and denial. Of the practicing Muslims on stage, Asra
Nomani alone demonstrated the openness to discussion and solutions that will
lead to a better tomorrow for everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Danusha Goska is the author of Save
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This article appears at Jihadwatch.org here
