Thursday, November 26, 2009

More Unilateral, Pro-Muslim, Anti-Logic Rhetoric from CNN

In a recent op article on CNN.com, professor Hamid Dabashi continues America's new favorite pass-time: equating Islam to any other set of beliefs while denying its violent nature. His conclusion is a must-read: it mines the very depths of idiocy. But his entire article bears comment; throughout its course, Dabashi makes many statements that cause me to raise an eyebrow or two (three if I had them).

For example, he manages to make Muslims the victims of the Fort Hood shooting by saying:
This holiday celebration comes soon after the tragic incident at Fort Hood, when the atrocious act of a mass murderer put Islam and Muslims under some pressure to either denounce or defend their faith.
Somehow, whenever a Muslim commits an atrocity under the auspices of Islamic teachings, Muslims are the victims. This is asinine. But he continues:
The psychotic act of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, MD, a Muslim American military psychiatrist at Fort Hood who went on a rampage killing 13 U.S. soldiers and wounding 30 others, has prompted two diametrically opposed reactions.

On one side are people who say that Islam -- and Islam alone -- is inherently violent and by extension Muslims are constitutionally driven to murder, while on the other are apologetic Muslims who argue their faith is peaceful and benevolent -- unrelated to criminal acts such as Hasan's.
What a misrepresentation of the truth! The people who are saying Islam is violent (the authors of this blog, as well as thousands of others) have no need to say "Islam ALONE" is violent, as if we are picking on Islam. Yet that is how he portrays those with whom he disagrees, and he does so emphatically. He also characterizes all the Muslims in an opposite group, as apologetic and arguing that their faith is peaceful and benevolent. I wonder if he would like to talk to Maj. Hasan, or his imam, or the boys in Revolution Islam, or Sadiq Abdul Malik, or anyone from Hamas, or al-Qaeda, or...

As Dabashi doles out the drivel, he manages to ignore all the violent teachings of Islam, instead equating it to Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. Just once, I'd like to see someone defend Islam as a peaceful religion in light of its actual violent teachings. Just once. But, of course, this is CNN: no objective view of Islam will be found here.

Then, the grand finale: Dabashi concludes his article with a panegyric on Malcolm X. According to this CNN article, until Americans ruminate on Malcolm X and incline themselves towards him, racism against Muslims will continue. Really, I kid you not. He said:
Until Americans come to terms with the fact that they are deeply indebted to a Muslim revolutionary for the fruits of the civil rights movement they enjoy today, Islam and Muslims will continue to be seen as archetypically alien and an everlasting danger to American lives and liberties.
So that is the grand conclusion of this CNN masterpiece: Americans consider Islam dangerous not because of Islam's violent teachings, but rather because they forgot to include Malcolm X in their history books. Another wonderful reality check by CNN, courtesy of Hamid Dabashi.

23 comments:

Traeh said...

Thanks Nabeel, interesting commentary.

Tom ta tum Tom said...

Geepers, I appreciate you all being on top of this. From CNN, no less! Hey, where's the opposing view on their website? HAH! I haven't found it yet and probably won't.
But PLEASE keep up the great work! Thanks for ALL of your various presences on the Web. WE NEED YOU! Thanks!

minoria said...

Wow Nabeel,I read the link by the Iranian.He says illogical things about MALCOLM X.We all know it was only at the end of his life that Malcolm X stopped his HATE SPEECH against whites.So his contribution to solving the race problem in the US was MARGINAL.

NOT AN INTELLIGENT MAN

To those who are open-minded it is obvious Malcolm X lacked intelligence.He was always condemning the Western slave trade yet he said NOTHING to his admirers about how the Muslims had done even worse,about:

1.How many black men were CASTRATED to become eunuchs of harems.Did Westerners do THAT?

2.How MOST of the blacks taken by Muslims were WOMEN to be used as SEX-SLAVES(66% women,33% men).The Western trade was 66% men,33% women.

3.Or how 1 MILLION Europeans were made slaves from 1500-1800 by the Muslims in the Mediterranean area,of which very few ever escaped or were ransomned(exceptions were CERVANTES and St.VINCENT DE PAUL,French).

4.How Muslim slavery was LONGER,from the 7th century till today(it still exists) and MORE BLACKS were enslaved,at least 14 million.

As you can see Malcolm X was very intelligent,an example of INTELLECTUAL and MORAL HONESTY for all of us.So goes the world my friends.

Nakdimon said...

That is the danger of all those Arab oil-moguls taking over all the American media outlets. They are very careful not to put anything out there that might damage the religion of the boss. Talk about the power of the dollar, petro-dollar in this case.

Nakdimon

Fernando said...

Hi Al Sunna...

اللحية الجميلة التي لديك... كنت قد ولدت معه؟ ولكن المكان الذي يمكنك ان ترسل الينا هو حتى الرهيبة ومليء بالاخطاء التي لا تستحق أي اعتبار... خزي! عادة المسلمين... يمكننا أن نتوقع من أتباع منافق محمد؟

My arabic is alreaddy bery poor, butt I think you gott the idea... May the Only True God, the Holy Trinity, iluminatte your path away from the fascistic ideology you follow... May prayer are uppon you and your familly...

Radical Moderate said...

Al Sunna said...
"Assalamu alaikum,

Nice blog, the content in this blog is very useful to the people who are looking out for islamic knowledge."

Yes Al Sunna this blog is very usefull in leanring about what the Islamic doctrine trully teaches, This site is in ENGLISH, we speak ENGLISH, some of us speak other languages but this blog is in ENLGISH. You posting a site in ARABIC, does no one any good. It just shows your arrogance.

minoria said...

I do not know if Al Sunna was joking or not by giving us a link to an Arabic website,since I think almost none here can read it.If it were in Italian,Spanish,Portuguese,Catalan,English or French then I would be able to read it.

But I know the Muslim sites in English and French.They are characterized by OMISSIONS.

EXAMPLE

ALWAYS when they talk about the AL-ANDALUS period of "Islam in Spain" they OMIT:

1.The existence od SEX-SLAVES in that society.In the 10th century Caliph ABD-RAHMAN(slave of the Merciful) had 6,000 CHRISTIAN sex-slaves.
Also AKBAR in INDIA (ruled circa 1550-1600) had 5,000 HINDU sex-slaves and his son JAHANGIR OUTDID him,he had 6,000 HINDU sex-slaves.

2.They omit WIDESPREAD slavery in that society.It is hard to know 100% but it is estimated that 20 PERCENT of the population in the cities of Muslim Spain was made up of slaves.And the slaves were ALWAYS CHRISTIAN.

minoria said...

3.EVERY YEAR or every second year the EMIR and later the CALIPH of Cordoba (when Spain became a caliphate in 929 AD) had the custom of going out with an army to Christian Spain to capture Christians as slaves:the men for working and the women as sex-slaves.It was a constant RAZZIA or RAIDING EXPEDITION.

4.That in 855 AD 50 Christians in Cordoba were executed for speaking out against Islam.

5.That the Muslim "CONVIVENCIA" or "getting along well" with Christians ended in 979 AD.The best period was NOT from 715 to 1492 or "800 years of Muslim tolerance,an example for today"but from 715 to 979 AD or less than 300 years.And it was no example for today either.

In 979 AD the caliph's power was usurped by a dictator called AL-MANSUR(the Victorious).He ruled from 979 till 1002 AD.He led FIFTY raiding expeditions against the Christians for slaves and pillage during 20 years.He destroyed the Cathedral of St.James in Santiago de Compostella,but he didn't destroy the tomb.He also destroyed several Spanish cities.

Plus he also destroyed many books in the caliph's library of 400,000 books that were considered anti-Islam.Hmmm,and none of this negative info is found in the Muslim websites.Muslim readers who read us,they are fooling their own Muslim readers.

GIANTS FAN said...

You have a great blog here. I'm a first-time visitor but I like what I'm seeing. I have a blog myself where people from all around the world come and debate on popular issues. I think you would provide some valuable insight to us all. Also, I was wondering if we could do a link exchange. If you would like to, please leave a comment under my "Compadres" page saying when you have my link up and I'll return the favor.

Please let me know.

Jason
DEBATEitOUT.com

Fernando said...

Hi Brother The Fat Man...

ooops... you're righte; this site is in english... I'll translate whate I tried to writte in arabic:

Nice bear that you have ... Was you born with it? But the place to where you send us is so horrible and full of lies, thate it does not deserve any consideration ... Shame! Tipicallu muslim... Whate can we expect from the followers of a hypocrite like muhammad?

IslamSINS said...

Al Sunna proves my point. We can learn about Muslims from Muslims - and the picture is a very unappealing one - but we can never learn about Islam from a Muslim. They're far too content to remain mired in deceit and denial about Islam's teachings, so why would visiting any site promoted by any Muslim, add one iota to learning anything about this deceptive cult?

As for CNN, I had no idea that anyone bothered watching it anymore. I like their HLN, but for "in depth" reporting, they have long demonstrated the depth of a pizza pan. Great commentary, Nabeel - it was the most interesting portion of your post. I'm sort of over the Muslim's incorrigible and wanton delusional proclamations.

minoria said...

PART 1

I have noticed that about Muslim speakers also,they are not logical or hide things.Read "Islam for Dummies" and "Koran for Dummies" and you will NOT find 5:64 where Allah puts "among them (Jews)ENMITY and HATRED till JUDGEMENT DAY."Now Western Muslims readers,maybe many of you did NOT know about 5:64 till recently,but certainly YOUR Muslim experts knew about it and did not tell you because they knew you would be shocked.

ANOTHER IDEA

A Muslim expert can say 5:64 means ONLY that some Jews in Mohammed's time (and ONLY those,not Jews throughout the centuries)would have ENMITY and HATRED in their hearts and on JUDGEMENT DAY would be exposed.

IT WON'T WORK

So those Jews of Mohammed's time have enmity and hatred.Where are they now?In HELL.They have hatred and enmity in hell and on judgement day will be exposed?The text says clearly Allah put "enmity and hatred in them till judgement day".

AND AFTER JUDGEMENT DAY?

So they are now in hell and have hatred and enmity and then AFTER judgement day they will NOT have enmity and hatred?After all the text say they will have hatred TILL judgement day.Such an "explanation" is theologically ILLOGICAL.Of course the text says that Jews THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES(not just some in Moh.'s time) will be evil.

minoria said...

PART 2

Now I see why so many Muslim EXPERTS-INTELLECTUALS(I am referring about those Muslims who have had theological training and speak for the others)are into Jewsih conspiracy theories:the Jews rule the world,Mossad is responsible for 9/11,and now I see why QARADAWI even says the Jews of Hitler's time were evil and that Hitle's actions against them was divine punishment.

Anonymous said...

Please pray for Father Zakaria Botros. He has a 60 million dollar bounty on his head for converting muslims to Christianity.

http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnplayer.swf?aid=12127

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HXX2fO8pM4&feature=player_embedded

Fernando said...

Brother Irenaeus of New York said: «Please pray for Father Zakaria Botros»...

yes... he's always on my thaoughts, heart and prayers... he's s courageous man... a true Christian...

minoria said...

I agree with Fernando.Father BOTROS has his daily show in Arabic and is watched by tens of millions.They call and according to him 1,000 Muslims every month call in and accept Jesus as saviour.And that is only those who can reach his counselors,the phone lines are always jammed.

He has already done more than his share for Jesus.He is in his 70's and soon will go to heaven.But really,I am ASTONISHED at how many Muslims,millions and millions,watch him every day.We are doing our little bit and together we can make a difference.

Jon said...

If you think Islamic violence is primarily fueled by the religion itself, then you just haven't looked at the data. Read Robert Pape's "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." He profiles every case of suicide terrorism since 1982 and shows conclusively that it is not about religion, but about occupation. When weaker nations are occupied by powerful ones they resort to suicide terrorism. It's not because they are Muslim. In fact the leading suicide terrorists prior to 9/11 were the Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka, a secular organization.

Why did Hezbollah enjoy so much support amongst Christians in Lebanon? Why would Christians themselves engage in suicide terrorism against the occupying Israeli forces? Is it because Jesus said he came not to bring peace, but a sword? Is it because the Bible teaches us to slaughter even our own sons, daughters, or brothers if they leave the faith? Do Christians even know the Bible that well? Like Muslims they are not motivated by this. They resent occupation and are powerless to respond to the occupying force directly because they have superior firepower. This is not complicated.

Fernando said...

Jon, a new dawa spetialist in town saide: «If you think islamic violence is primarily fueled by the religion itself, then you just haven't looked at the data»...

no, dear Jon, its you thate as nott seen the facts... islam is from its source the most vile, barbaric and fascist ideology in the worls thate only has to words: submite or be killed (when we habe the power to do so)...

then Jon saide: «When weaker nations are occupied by powerful ones they resort to suicide terrorism»...

really? and why does not Christians (in Sudan, Pakistan, Syria, Marroco, Argelia for example), Budhists (Tibet for example) thate are being occupied and persecuted do nott chose thate pathe? Weak? Is anyone occupying Pakistan? How futtile is your attempt to simplify "islamic violence" to suicide terrorism... islam has in its hands, in between muslim sects, and agains non-muslims, more blood than all other religions together... islam spread by the sword... until receant years islam only existed in those places where conquering armies imposed islam as a political force...

Aboutt teh Tamil Tigers... do you know thate 90% off them were muslims? did you not? then you should notte habe been speaking aboutt them...

then Jon, a muslim, saide: «Why would Christians themselves engage in suicide terrorism against the occupying Israeli forces? Is it because Jesus said he came not to bring peace, but a sword?»...

really? can you presente A SINGLE EVIDENCE THATE A SINGLE CHRISTIAN comited suicide against israeli forces thate entered Libanon after Hezbollah commited continuous acts off war agains Israel? And Christians in Libanon do not support Hezbollah for itself... how ignorante can you bee? ANd where can someone say thate when Jesus saide he came to bring a sword he was sayiung thate Him or His followers shoulde be violente? Are you juste blind or playing fool? I'm having so funn ir reading whate you wrote and writting back, tahte I woulde be tempted to ask you to do more... coulde you do so, please? thankes...

then Jon, a muslim dawa spetialist, saide: «Is it because the Bible teaches us to slaughter even our own sons, daughters, or brothers if they leave the faith? Do Christians even know the Bible that well?»...

Jon: a SINGLE evidence thate the Bible teaches US (who are these US? are you pretending to bee a Christian?) to "slaughter even our own sons, daughters, or brothers if they leave the faith" as a prescreptive and universal rulle off conduct and I'll become muslim ounce again... now its me thate do say: «do yo even know the Bible that well»... lool... I'm waitting for those pentateuch circunstancial and cultural rules thate were submitted under the universal and prescriptive rule of "do not kill"...

Jon... do you see Christians commiting suicide attacks in countries where they are persecuted, criminalized, desvalued, tortured, punished at teh hands off muslims? Then I suppose thate you'll say thate islamic violence is due to poverty... really? do you see Christian people in the most poor countries in the world doing the violence thate muslims do, for religious convictions, eben in the most healthy countries in the world? No its me who say: «This is not complicated»

How foonie you are Jon...

Jon said...

Fernando

Aboutt teh Tamil Tigers... do you know thate 90% off them were muslims? did you not? then you should notte habe been speaking aboutt them...

That's a blatant falsehood. Justify your claim or withdraw it. Here are the facts. The Tamil Tigers are primarily Hindu.

really? can you presente A SINGLE EVIDENCE THATE A SINGLE CHRISTIAN comited suicide against israeli forces thate entered Libanon after Hezbollah commited continuous acts off war agains Israel?

Yes.

And Christians in Libanon do not support Hezbollah for itself... how ignorante can you bee?

Do you just make up things to support an argument? Go here.

Jon: a SINGLE evidence thate the Bible teaches US (who are these US? are you pretending to bee a Christian?) to "slaughter even our own sons, daughters, or brothers if they leave the faith" as a prescreptive and universal rulle off conduct and I'll become muslim ounce again

I should be more precise and say that the Bible says to kill your son, daughter, or brother if he attempts to persuade you to leave the faith. I think it's safe to assume that this would be an apostate, but that's not necessarily true. Here's the text.

Dt 13: 6-11

6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.


do you see Christian people in the most poor countries in the world doing the violence thate muslims do, for religious convictions, eben in the most healthy countries in the world? No its me who say: «This is not complicated»

Yes, I see massive atrocities committed by Christians. 40,000 Nicaraguans killed in the 80's. Authorization for hundreds of thousands killed in East Timore. Maybe 4 million dead in Indochina. A million starved kids in Iraq in the 90's. A million dead since the start of the 2003 invasion. The violent overthrow of the elected government in Chile. In Iran. In Guatamala. Violence by our Israeli proxies against the Palestinians. 1400 dead just at the turn of the year, including chemical warfare. Christian violence makes Muslim violence look small.

minoria said...

Jon:

I am beginning to think you are a Muslim.Fernando asked if Christians commit the violence of the Muslims BASED on their RELIGIOUS convictions and you pointed to 40,000 dead in NICARAGUA,perhaps 4 million in INDOCHINA,1 million children dead in IRAQ due to sanctions,etc.

In NONE of those cases did RELIGION (and certainly not Christianity) play a part.Look at HAMAS,they INTENTIONALLY kill innocent people in the NAME of ISLAM.Did any Christian in the cases you cited ever kill or preach killing INNOCENT people in the name of JESUS?

NUMBERS

You say 1 million dead children in Iraq due to sanctions.True.But it was not the POPE who organized it.But let's look at MUSLIM organization that are RELIGIOUS in nature:
1.FIS of Algeria killed 100,000 Muslims in the name of Islam.
2.KHOMEINI ruled for 10 years,1979-1989,and killed 100,000 Iranians in the name of Islam.
3.AL-QAIDA has killed 100,000 Shias in Iraq in the name of Islam.
4.The SUDAN regime,a SHARIA supporting regime,an ISLAMIC regime, has killed 250,000 Muslims in Darfur.The Sudan regime is openly religious,saying its laws are those of Islam,in essence,a theocratic state.

Jon said...

Minoria, would you mind supporting your numbers with evidence? It's true that Fernando was referring to violence motivated by religion but as far as I know that's not anybody's major motivation, whether Muslim or Christian. Read Robert Pape's "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism." He profiles every suicide terrorist case from 1982 onwards and shows that in fact political reasons are the primary motivation for suicide terrorism, not fundamentalist strands of religion.

Over the last several decades Christians have far more blood on their hands than Muslims. You can qualify it and say "Yeah, but the reasons for the killing of the innocent people were different." I don't think that really matters so much to the dead people. Shouldn't we get our own house in order before criticizing the much lesser crimes of others?

minoria said...

Hello Jon,

Regarding sources they come from different books written by several authors,and magazine reports,the news,you keep hearing the same statistics over and over again.It is nothing new.In fact twice I even read that the FIS had killed not 100,000 but 150,000-200,000.

I suggest you go to wikipedia and check out the bibliography for FIS,Khomeini,Al-Qaida,etc.There you can read the books and sources suggested and find the statistics.

ROBERT PAPE

I have noticed that symptom.There are people who see all as being essentially politically motivated.OF COURSE,Al-Qaida,Hamas,Hizbullah,Khomeini had a POLITICAL objective.

They want to establish a certain POLITICAL regime BASED on ISLAMIC law.KHOMEINI ACHIEVED it.He made it.

IRAN REGIME

Jon,did you know that the terrorist HIZBULLAH,a SHIA organization,is helped financially by the IRANIAN government?

Did you know that Hizbullah wants to establish a POLITICAL regime,based on the Koran and Islamic tradition?Don't you see the CONNECTION between religion and politics and how the SPECIFIC POLITICAL STRUCTURE is in fact DETERMINED by the RELIGIOUS BELIEFS(Islam)?

Doesn't Pape know anything about Islam?He seems not to.Does he know that usually BEFORE they blow themselves up,the terrorists videotape themselves and say they will "soon be in heaven"?

AGAIN

BEFORE Khomeini got to power he said he wanted to establish a new political system based on Islam.WHY was Khomeini so fanatic about that new system,that he even killed 100,000 in his rule.It was because of his RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS.Doesn't PAPE see something so obvious?

minoria said...

PART 2

Again,does Pape know about sura 5:64 at all?Or about sura 9:111?Or does he know that religious Muslims take HELL to be real,and that one way to get points with Allah is by "establishing Allah's rule in society according to Islam,the true religion"?

Again,of course there are POLITICAL objectives,but those political objectives(getting power) are inspired by RELIGION(Islam,that was WHY Khomeini spent DECADES fighting for his dream of an Islamic rule in Iran).Does Pape not see something so obvious?

BANGLADESH 1971

I don't know if you know this but in 10 months in 1971 the Pakistani army,APPROVED by the RELIGIOUS leaders of Pakistan,by the way,killed 3 MILLION Bangladeshis and raped 250,000 women.The reason was political,since they wanted independence.

BASAJIS

During the Iran-Iraq war Khomeini asked for young VOLUNTEERS to go to the mine fields to get BLOWN UP in order to clear the field for the Iranian soldiers.The war killed 1 million on both sides and lasted 8 years.

50,000 boys from ages 12-18 volunteered and died.They literally believed they were going to heaven.Khomeini ALSO believed they went to heaven(based on sura 9:111) since they were dying defending the ISLAMIC political structure of Iran that was in danger from the Iraqis.Does Pape not see a clear connection there.Khomeini was not a HYPOCRITE and PRETENDER,he was the real thing,he wasn't using religion as a facade just to get to power.He WANTED to get to power to establish the rule of Islam,his religion.Again,is that too difficult for Pape to see?