Thursday, August 20, 2015

Islamophobia vs. Hatred of Muslims

"Islamophobia" is a myth invented to silence critics of jihad. If you dare point out the obvious connections between what ISIS is doing and the Qur'an verses ISIS is quoting, you will be called an "Islamophobe." A "phobia," however, is an irrational fear, and people's concerns about jihad are legitimate and reasonable.

Nevertheless, hatred of Muslims simply for being Muslims is a real phenomenon. I read comments regularly from people calling for violence against Muslims. Here's an all-too-common example. ***WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE***


Here's the key to remember. Islam is an ideology. It has no feelings, and has no special privileges over other ideologies. Islam has been put forward as the truth; hence, we are entirely justified in scrutinizing it with all the tools of logic, epistemology, and rhetoric.

Muslims, by contrast, are human beings, and human beings have rights. Among these rights is the right not to be killed for believing in a certain book or a certain prophet. While we may disagree with our Muslim friends about their ideology, disputes about ideologies should be settled through argument, not through threats or violence.

32 comments:

Unknown said...

Not only that, but Muslims can change. They can decide to not be Muslims anymore. This is part of why I find a religion that commands followers to kill unbelievers odd: Couldn't those unbelievers later change their minds & come to faith? You're depriving them of that chance to come willingly.

nacanacazo said...

Raymond Ibrahim has an excellent article on this very same topic. He mentions how Oskar Schindler was a member of the Nazi party and still he helped save hundreds of Jews. Oskar Schindler was not practicing "moderate nazism". Oskar Schindler was a humanist in spite of being a member in good standing of the Nazi party.


Collectivists assume that the collective is more important than the individual, so if you criticize islam they think you are criticizing muslims (and boy if there is an ideology that deserve criticism it is islam).

Keith said...

Spot on. If we have lived in Muslim majority countries we would be able to understand this better. I have too many Muslim friends to count to even think of "hating" them. The only thing we are concerned about is just that Muslims mistakenly think we are attacking them personally when we confront Islam. Especially in some countries, certain races of people are forced by their government to be Muslims. Now it becomes even more complicated because the racism card be easily be thrown into the mix too when we talk about Islam. Nothing to do with the race or the people. It's the ideology.

V said...

Totally agree with you on the distinction between Muslim people and the religion they follow. Respect all peeps.

V said...

Do the rights of peeps also involve the right to not having their beliefs mocked? I understand the need for analysis and even refutation. Still, are we going against their personal rights if we do so in a mocking way?

Unknown said...

Islam is a cult, it dictates every aspect in its followers life. Islam only produces: hate, death, destruction and stupidity. There is not one muslim, educated in the muslim world that got a Nobel prize for science or medicine. Islam makes muslims the parasites of the western world.

Ah Clem said...

Glad to see this posted. There's been a lot of discussion on this topic ever since Ben Affleck put his foot in it on Bill Maher's show.

There's a good article on this subject called "The Phobia of Being Called Islamophobic" by writer Ali. A. Rizvi. Ali is an ex-Muslim atheist born in Pakistan and currently living in Canada. He's a staunch critic of Islam from a center-left perspective. His Huffington Post blog is well worth reading.

He can also be quite funny. In a satirical post on Twitter attacking the idea that criticism of Islamic doctrine is "racist", he wrote, "Islam kind of IS a race. There's a loud bang, then everyone starts running." I couldn't help but re-tweet that one :-).

Dan Canto said...

IMO a random Muslim should not be harmed or hated, but in view of what they are suppose to believe per the Medina surahs, I don't see how any can be really trusted. Their religion is extremely pernicious and they are all at least potentially dangerous and to allow Muslim immigration is foolhardy.

chosenfaithful said...

Reasonable people must never succumb in this matter, to intimidation of any guise, including name-calling. This is precisely why we are where we are with Islam today: millions being deceived into Christless eternity. Islam and muslims demonstrate absolute intolerance for ANY form of scrutiny, in the face (or rather, because) of their extremely outlandish and arrogant claims, most of which are proven falsehood, deception and inaccuracies. We truly need God's grace in abundance to love the loveless, unlovely and otherwise unlovable genre that Islam makes of human beings, God's own image and the crown of His creation. Dear Lord, please help us!

Dacritic said...

Dr Wood, this is slightly off topic. But I personally have a suspicion that debating an atheist can be harder than debating a Muslim, because after all, a Muslim still believes in God. I would venture to say an atheist would shake my faith more easily than a Muslim would. Do you by any chance have any articles or videos of you discussing with atheists who say Jesus was a myth? I have gone through the web to look at arguments on both sides, but I'd like to able to share your research too. Many thanks.

sniper said...

"While we may disagree with our Muslim friends about their ideology, disputes about ideologies should be settled through argument, not through threats or violence."

An UWS pharmacy received a phone call from a Muslim patron informing the owner that although she enjoyed her shopping experiences in that store she would no longer patronize the business unless he removed all (Israeli) AHAVA products. When she was refused the same pharmacy received an anonymous letter threatening to douse the AHAVA products with acid if they weren't promptly removed from the store. The owner opted to move the products to a central location in clear sight of all employees. They were also seen and heard disrupting Masses in Catholic Churches all over the city during the Christmas season.

Multiply that incident by hundreds of others occurring all over NYC--and these behaviors are the handiwork of those "peace-loving" muslims who've come to America for, what--freedom to practice their ideologies or to impose on everyone else??

The more muslims I meet, the less respect I have for their ideology. After all, are not all of us the composite of our beliefs, David?

(Sorry for the email moniker--my actual name is Lauran)

Farhan Qureshi said...

Thanks Dave, I've shared this with my Muslim friends,

Farhan

Zosimas said...

All people are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). That would include Muslims, even if Islam does not teach that man is created in God's image but that he is just a slave.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor[g] and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:43-45)

We must live by and stand for the Truth (and Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but through Him… There is no name given in heaven or on earth by which we may be saved. But we must exemplify the Truth by our Love and Forgiveness.

I know this personally, as I spent years working through a great deal of anger towards Muslims, which I used to justify by calling it "righteous anger." But we must "forgive them, for they know not what they do." Yet at the same time, we must stand for the Truth, unwavering, just as Jesus did before Caiphas and Pilate. And for some of us, we may have to turn over some tables of moneychangers or pronounce woes. But for most of us, we just need to confess the Truth and forgive.

Forgive me...

Unknown said...

Its easy to allow disgust and hatred for some of the more vile aspects of Islam to cross the line into similar feelings for those practicing Islam.

Richard said...

william III said There is not one muslim, educated in the muslim world that got a Nobel prize for science or medicine

Actually that is not strictly correct - because Abdus Salam - whom I had the pleasure of knowing personally won the physics prize in 1979. However he was an Ahmadi (quite a devout one actually) - and was persecuted for that in Pakistan - especially in later years as the country became more religiously intolerant.
In fact the Sunnis in Pakistan have now disowned him as a Muslim - so I suppose in a sense you are still right.

Unknown said...

Islamophobia encourages stupid Muslims to become more fanatic and aggressive to kill innocent people. They believe their Quran is true and as such they implement Allah's order to kill infidel to go to heaven. Unless Quran is brought to justice for its antihuman, these fanatic Muslims would keep fighting against enemy of their evil Allah pak who ordered Muslims to kill non-Muslims. Thanks God for our American heroes who saved lives from France train attack by Islamic fanatics.

Zero tolerance is the best policy if any religions openly inspire to kill non-believers of their faith, as Muslims are doing. That religion must be banned like any other anti-social activities, such as robbery, rape etc. Islamophobia is like burka, hijab, niqab where criminals could cover their true face and escape from being caught. UNO should take a resolution condemning Quran for encouraging killing non-Muslims. Truth about Islam would come to light today or tomorrow.

Tru2isnow said...

Great discourse. Well done David

MELWYN DANIEL said...

now a days you have less updates what happen busy or something?

YminusX said...

Until a sizable percentage of muslims will say openly that they reject the most vile koran teachings, and actively go after those murdering and raping people right in their neighborhoods, until then Joe Hargreaves deserves the exact treatment as the muslims nowadays: endless tolerance.

Especially since, counting at least 6 billions non-muslims (I'm not buying the meme that muslims are 1.2-1.5 billion, is their own claim and they count countries with 20-30% non muslim population as being 100% muslim) the actual violence against them worldwide is pretty slim.

Fighting the islamic ideology on verbiage only is an utopy, an ideology is imposed by people on real life. Would be the equivalent of fighting Nazism or Communism on internet while the crematories and gulags would be on full throttle - yes, you will have few debating you while 98% will go killing millions.

sniper said...

Shouldn't the same standards of conduct be applied to the irrational hate Muslims feel toward Westerners? In truth, though our distrust of them may not be Christian, it's certainly understandable and, to some extent, valid. From where comes their justification for despising all that is American and all that is Christian?

Osama Abdallah said...

Thank you David for standing up to this bully. While I strongly disagree with your views on Islam, but I also have great respect for you. You are a man with class and beautiful manners. You are a good young White Man :). Even though I don't like to address people in race or color, but it is important to know that it is not the majority of people in the US, who happen to be White, are racist. Contrary to this, the majority of Americans are nice, humble and kind people. And according to Islam's Prophecy, someday they and all people will realize the evil of the Zionists who have poisoned this country, hijacked the Bible, and misled the people.

ISIS is an Israeli mafia. The CIA is also an Israeli Mossad mafia, and they're the ones who created Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Without them, these thugs wouldn't have a place in the Muslim world. And 9/11 was an Israeli mafia lie. ****** I saw the video on youtube of the Israeli journalists who were arrested because they were celebrating after the REMOTE-CONTROLLED AIRPLANES hit the WTC towers. See this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRfhUezbKLw

IN MINUTE 1:40 the Journalist says that WE WERE SENT FROM ISRAEL TO THE US TO DOCUMENT THE EVENT. What event???? Do people just get sent to other countries and cost airfare, hotel, car rental and meals expenses for nothing??? What even did Israel send these agents to the US for, for 9/11/2001?

Regards,
Osama Abdallah

Tom ta tum Tom said...

My thinking is that general hatred of Muslims is EXACTLY what the more hateful Muslims want to inspire. ISIS acts out all of their evil for the sake of recruiting - most certainly - but more subtly for the sake of getting us non-Muslims to hate the less hateful Muslims.

Why? To have our hate drive those less hateful Muslims into the arms of ISIS. They want us to do their radicalization for them. If "moderate" Muslims become aware that they are hated - so goes the thinking of the ISIS types - the less-hateful Muslims will move more rapidly and more certainly into the violent, radical Mohammedan camps and further away from Christ Jesus.

Captain Obvious here saying: "It's my belief that Muslims are slaves - much in the same sense that we were slaves before we accepted being purchased out of slavery by the Blood of The Lamb of God. We should still be slaves to Christ, yet He calls us His friends." We now have a choice. The poor precious Muslim people are without any choices if they want to keep their lives and their social connections to the Ummah (the Ummah is like Big Brother - ALWAYS watching - only MUCH more sneaky and vicious).

Despise Islam and the Shariah? Yes, absolutely. Islam and the Shariah are instruments of the enemy of ALL humankind. Islam and Shariah are the very INSTITUTIONALIZATION of sin and evil. Muslims are trapped in this evil unless we (mainly, Christ Jesus) help them break free.

Hatred is sin. Hatred is not allowed to the people of God. Captain Obvious (again): "Hatred is a paralyzing state of being and dis-empowers the people of God." If we hate people we're FAR LESS likely to be reaching out to them and ministering to them. If we hate people we become useless as tools for the handiwork of The Only Living God in Christ Jesus.

Mock the fascist ideology of Islam? Yes, absolutely. Make fun of it and ridicule it in every possible way. Help the precious Muslim people see the nonsense of it. And DON'T stop laughing at it. And, as our Lord has told us: "Don't be afraid" because for one thing, fear is a precursor to hatred...

ALLAHU OHYNKSMORR!!
ALLAHU OHYNKSMORR!!

[KAFIR AND PROUD!! ;)]

Unknown said...

Yes, Islam IS an ideology, but forgive me, but i disagree with Dr Wood’s suggestion that a logico-epistemelogico-rhetorical tool is an effective weapon to address this tangle

What holds islam together is
* not an ideology, that can be explained or argued away through reason or ratiocination,
* but a far murkier, more powerful, more primaeval, more NECROMANTIC thralldom that needs to be EXORCISED away from the psyche

We should honestly acknowledge that Mohamed was a brilliant man – he had fished out the TWO single, most important, most potent forms of servitude that, like objects drifting in outer space, could potentially never ever end
* FEAR
* and PUBLIC OPINION PARANOIA

A careful observation would reveal the truth of this observation – nothing, not one single thing in this world, can equal the negative effectiveness of these two factors

And why? Because
* unlike any other form of tyranny imposed from outside, which immediately provokes the self-preservation instincts of the individual to kick in and break free,
* these two factors are a SELF-INFLICTED captivity from which there is VIRTUALLY NO ESCAPE

FEAR and PUBLIC OPINION PARANOIA are
* the weft and waft woven into the Islamic fabric
* the two strands of the Islamic Double Helix

Every single verse of the qur’an, every aspect of the “umma” is designed to imbricate, inculcate, impregnate the fear of the wrath of god, the fear of the displeasure of the prophet, the fear of the transgression of the ideology, the fear of the opprobrium of the community, the fear of the backlash of clerics, the fear of the loss of friends and family… … …

Pointer 01 : observe the stock, knee-jerk, never-changing reaction of a muslim when he learns of the apostasy of a person :
* “he will go to hell”
* “god will punish him”
* “his soul is damned”
* “he was never a muslim in the first place”
* and yes, the classic “NO ONE WHO BECOMES A MUSLIM CAN EVER LEAVE IT”

Pointer 02 : note the calvary that each ex-muslim who apostasises invariably undergoes :
* death threats
* disownment by the family
* ostracism from the community
* complete alienation and hostility in every turn

Please explain, Dr Wood, Mr Shamoun, Dr Qureshi, what effect would your logic, your epistemology, your rhetorical devices, your erudite apologetics, have on the DARKEST, most INFERNAL, most ELEMENTAL, PURBLIND TERROR, the bluest FUNK ?

In the idiom of Dr ERIC BERNE, whose findings in Transactional Analysis would yield a trove of priceless knowledge on the inner dynamics of islam,
* the Adult is completely knocked out, smothered, dead – result : no ability to apply the faculties of reason, humanity, balance, compassion, and understanding
* the Parent is a monster who, without the sobering influence of the Adult, with unfettered, unbridled savagery, completely subjugates, enslaves, tyrannises over the Child
* but the parent has also cunningly given the Child a TASTE for fear, for barbarity, for bestiality
* and while the Child has no other freedom of expression, he is permitted, nay COMPELLED, to exercise the same atrocious, sadistic cruelty
- on “kuffars”
- on women
- on anyone who is under his control

There is now therefore an unholy alliance of the fiend Parent and the hobgoblin Child, all this under the benign gaze of the prophet who promises 70 “hours” in the priapismic paradise for the faithful

Unknown said...

What is, under the circumstances, our “Christian” response to this cancer?
Most unfortunately it is not just inadequate but, forgive me, downright crass !

Our attitude towards muslims is
* at worst – abuse, ridicule, insults, vulgar name-calling
* and at best – read Dr Wood, Mr Shamoun, Dr Qureshi – irony, sarcasm, intellectual witticisms, cerebral analyses and rational nitpicking… … please forgive my rudeness !

Such behaviour will ALWAYS get the muslim’s tail up, and put him on the defensive, thus crushing any possibility of his liberation from his psychological inferno

Which is a pity, for with just little egging on, with just the right signals, the muslim would discard his shirt of Nessus like a shot, slough it off his soul and his life, and joyfully join the human fold

We are committing exactly, the selfsame, tactical error of Roosevelt who insisted on reducing Germany to a mediaeval agricultural economy
* The only upshot of such idiocy was that it gave the most persuasive, most efficacious grist to the mill of Göbbels, and he milked it for all its propagandistic worth
* and the poor Germans, who were only waiting eagerly to surrender to the western allies, who were prepared to sacrifice anything to escape the clutches of the commie barbarian hordes under Zhukov and Koniev, and their murderous boss, Stalin, after operation Bagration, simply dug in and plugged on in a futile and lost war
* Result ?
- the war dragged on – unnecessarily – for another 11 months – from june to may !
- the world was plunged in a commie Hades for another half-a-century !

What then SHOULD be our CHRISTIAN response ?
Well, our pal Jesus, who is the wisest of johnnies, has already spelled our strategy and tactics out in perfect detail, a full 600 years before the Islamic scourge was even foreseen :
* Strategy : Matthew 13:33
* tactic : Matthew 10:16

Miyamoto Musashi, the sword saint, in his brilliant “Book of Five Rings” exemplifies the fine print of this idea :
* Book 2 : Water
* Section 20 – “Glue & Lacquer Emulsion Body”
- The spirit of 'glue and lacquer emulsion body' is to stick to the enemy and not separate from him.
- When you approach the enemy, stick firmly with your head, body and legs.
- People tend to advance their head and legs quickly, but their body lags behind.
- You should stick firmly so that there is not the sligtest gap between the enemy's body and your body

I wish you all a fine day, brothers and sisters in Christ !

Anonymous said...

Hi David,

God bless you for addressing this critical issue.

I haven't posted here for some time as comments that undermined the work of reconciliation that Jesus not only called us to, but died to make possible were all too frequent.

Thank you for pointing out that Islam is an ideology. In a strange contradiction, it is those who are most afraid of it that imbue it with more substance and power than it actually has. As a concept it has no power outside of the minds of human beings and it is for those minds that we fight.

Our enemy are not "all" Muslims, but rather the powers and principalities of darkness who keep them, and any other human being, from being redeemed and brought into relationship with God. These are those that God has given us cause and equipment (eg. the full armor of God) to resist and defeat.

We fight for Muslims, and we fight against the enemy that keeps them from knowing the one true God. Why? Because Jesus fought for us while we too were lost in and to sin. Without someone fighting for us we would all be lost. How then can we condemn another when we also were once condemned?


Dear Zosinas,

God bless you also for this testimony. I pray that it will give strength and inspiration to others who have struggled with similar feelings. God can work miracles with a heart that is determined to forgive as grace is something Satan has no counterfeit for (being incapable of understanding it!).

Unknown said...

All this being said, I know I looked at Muslims differently after I actually read the Qur'an. It's not easy treating people the same when you find out that they follow an ideology that sets out to harm everything you stand for.
Perhaps it is a test.

WIKI's Page said...

Hi Dr David

Why no new posts since Aug 20. I think you are extremely busy. Keep up the good work brother. I pray for you and your family. May God be with you, Bless and keep you.

Unknown said...

Why is this website called answeringmuslims when it's not answering anything about or from Muslims just spreading false anti-Islam messages

Mick Jagger Gathers No Mosque said...

During the late 1930s and the 1940s the Brits would have been insane to allow Nazis to immigrate to England but those who oppose Mahometan immigration into America are derided as racists.

ZZMike said...

Another thing: the term 'phobia' means 'fear of', so 'Islamophobia' is a meaningless term....

... unless you're afraid of having your head sawed off by a militant Muslim.

But, like most other 'phobias', it's just a word they use to let us know how hateful we are.

foofy said...

@Terence, actually they do: the sidebar with the tags mentions several polemicists like Deedat, Bassam Zawadi, and others. If you click, you will likely find replies to their statements or arguments.

Unknown said...

To Osama,

I'm sorry you feel the need to propagate daft conspiracy theories.

However you miss the main point of 9/11. The problem is not that it happened or indeed who carried it out. The problem is the number of Muslims who celebrate and support it. The problem is also that Islamic scripture can easily be made to justify it.
If the nineteen nutter's views were not widely held, then nobody would be concerned about Islam because of it. Every group of people has its share of nutjobs.
Even if it was some conspiracy, it would have no impact without the very obvious fact that many Muslims feel it was a good thing to have happened.

The same with IS. You can make whatever outrageous claims of conspiracy you like. When thousands of well educated Muslims from around the world are joining IS, when learned scholars are failing to prove them wrong (and often supporting what they say), when anyone can check that what they say about Islam has merit; then all your denials and conspiracy theories are irrelevant.