Ground Zero Mosque Opposition: The Paranoia About Sharia Law

Adam Serwer points out today that the very name of the planned Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan has led the most paranoid members of society to believe that it is an explicit announcement of the intention to impose Sharia law on the United States. Serwer points out that this is "cartoon-villain stupid." So it makes sense that leading the charge here is Newt Gingrich, who divines the magic forces at work thusly:

The true intentions of [Faisal Abdul] Rauf are also revealed by the name initially proposed for the Ground Zero mosque --"Cordoba House" -- which is named for a city in Spain where a conquering Muslim army replaced a church with a mosque. This name is a very direct historical indication that the Ground Zero mosque is all about conquest and thus an assertion of Islamist triumphalism which we should not tolerate.

Serwer notes that the Cordoba Initiative has announced ideals of its own, chief among them being a restoration of "the atmosphere of interfaith tolerance and respect that we have longed for since Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in harmony and prosperity eight hundred years ago."

As Serwer goes on to say, this basically boils down to whether you accept that Faisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" -- after having a long career building interfaith bridges with the stated intention of out-competing Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda death cult for the hearts and minds of young Muslims -- has now accidentally tipped his hand to the secret plot to destroy America that he's been hiding all along. (If only he'd been smart enough to call the proposed center "The Newt Gingrich House of Pancakes!")

And then, if all that is true, you have to imagine that somehow, it's even possible for Sharia law to be imposed somehow on America. One need only look at how difficult it is for a global superpower to impose Western democracy on Iraq and Afghanistan to see how foolish an idea that is. From my perch inside the Beltway, I find it hard to believe that the "Impose Sharia Law Act of 2011" wins Ben Nelson's vote in the Senate. I suppose it could be done through sorcery, but al Qaeda will really have to step up its game, from crotch-based incendiary discharges, to make that work.

RELATED:
Cordoba: Lost In Translation [Adam Serwer]

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Comments

[Black Bart]

07:32 PM on 09/10/2010

What is the problem with sharia law? I rather long for the old days when women knew their place and knew to stay there. Sharia law would put women back where they should be but would have no bad effects on men that I can find. Conversion of the United States to Islam would stop the hostilities between Islam and other religions---there would be no other religions in the country.
As long as everyone follows the Laws and Teachings of the Koran, all will be well.

[soo tuck choong]

06:15 PM on 09/11/2010

Yea, all will be well, like in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Africa. So blissful.

[jmjintexas]

12:50 PM on 08/18/2010

http://www.djindexes.com/islamicmarket/

The Dow Jones Islamic Market Index℠ family includes thousands of broad-market, blue-chip, fixed-income and strategy and thematic indexes that have passed rules-based screens for Shari´ah complianceCompanies must meet Shari´ah requirements for acceptable products, business activities, debt levels, and interest income and expenses. Screening methodology is subject to input from an independent Shari´ah supervisory board. Industry Screens
Alcohol
Pork-related products
Conventional financial services
Entertainment
Tobacco
Weapons and defense
Financial Ratio Screens
All of the following must be less than 33%:
Total debt divided by trailing 24-month average market capitalization
The sum of a company’s cash and interest-bearing securities divided by trailing 24-month average market capitalization

Accounts receivables divided by trailing 24-month average market capitalization

Shaykh Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo - United States - is considered a leading Islamic scholar in the United States. He has translated over twenty books from Arabic, Persian, and Urdu for publication in English and has been commissioned to prepare a new translation of the Qur'an. Mr. DeLorenzo compiled the first English translation of legal rulings issued by Shari'ah supervisory boards on the operations of Islamic banks. Since 1989, Mr. DeLorenzo has served as secretary of the Figh Council of North America. He is also a Shari'ah consultant to several Islamic financial institutions and was an advisor on Islamic education to the government of Pakistan.

[jmjintexas]

12:34 PM on 08/18/2010

The irony is the liberal left defense of an institute which has proudly listed Sharia Governance as an initiative. As ths impacts more and more of the way we do business, the religious right will not be nearly as impacted as those on the liberal left. Who could lose the most freedom? The entertainment business. To those of you who claim Shari'a cannot be imposed in the US - have you read the initial 74 principles defined by this project? Can you define "Shari'a Compliance" as it is already enacted around the globe? Would you - in ANY way - defend the government endorsed construction of a church whose leaders also sit at the table in US/global economic committees? I think we ALL know the answer to that.

[Epiphyte2]

08:51 AM on 08/10/2010

It's so much fun when Shariah makes a come back!

Maybe we should all head to Grozny for the rest of the summer and enjoy the Caucuses amid a back drop of spattered paint balls, kidnapping, and rape while we listen to oddly rational genies babbling in the moonlight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10913297

[Neuron Flash]

08:38 PM on 08/07/2010

Not so fast in giving the all clear to Faisal Abdul Rauf. He is performing classic jihad bil lisan or jihad by the tongue and jihad bil qalam/ilm or jihad by the pen/knowledge as well as taqiyya (concealment). In Rauf's case concealment of his true intentions.

Old school Communists (and Madison Avenue) can quickly identify his activities as "propaganda",

If you really want to know more about a person then let's examine who this man likes to associate with.

He is a permanent trustee of the Islamic Cultural Center (founded by his father) who employed Imam Sheik Muhammad Gemeaha who has been quoted as saying only the jews could be responsible for 9/11.

In December 2007 Rauf promoted his book "What's Right with Islam" at a Malaysia gathering of Hizb ut Tahrir, which seeks to impose sharia on the United States and other countries worldwide. This group has been outlawed in Germany since 2003. This same organization at a July 2009 Khalifah conference at a suburban Chicago Hilton, openly promised to replace capitalism with Islam and sharia law.

Sharia Law supersedes all other law. For men the law is great, polygamy is A-OK and women's rights are non-existent.

Bottom line, Faisal Abdul Rauf is a smooth talker actively engaged in deception and has an agenda in establishing Sharia in the US.

I'm no fan of Newt Gingrich, butm, If you dig a little deeper, you can easily find Faisal Abdul Rauf's true intentions.

[soo tuck choong]

06:07 PM on 09/11/2010

He is a permanent trustee of the Islamic Cultural Center (founded by his father) who employed Imam Sheik Muhammad Gemeaha who has been quoted as saying only the jews could be responsible for 9/11.(deception)
Sharia Law supersedes all other law. For men the law is great, polygamy is A-OK and women's rights are non-existent.
Bottom line, Faisal Abdul Rauf is a smooth talker actively engaged in deception and has an agenda in establishing Sharia in the US.

Yes, their intention may be only one main aim - to bring Sharia strictly into America. We must not let them take away our country to become like belonging to their own. They will use Sharia laws, slowly but surely, that we have to follow, taking away our freedom we have been able to enjoy. Worse, they might one day say, this part of America is having full of Muslims, we want to have this land for our independance.

[Georgie4950]

05:38 PM on 08/07/2010

Not such a stretch. Iman Rauf, is behind the community center where the goal is to build a bridge with the West. He is also the head of the SHARIAH INDEX PROJECT. This is a description of that project from the Cordoba website:
---------------
KUALA LUMPUR // Many countries are Islamic, but some may be more Islamic than others. Now moves are afoot to rate nations according to how closely they adhere to the principles of Islam.

The Shariah Index Project is led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf””
-------------------------
If Rauf decides in the not to distant future that Shariah should be introduced for Muslims living here in US (parallel, not replacing Constitution) in order that they may more readily adhere to the principles of Islam, and he makes the case that it's actually part of building relations with the West, what would be the problem?

[Epiphyte2]

06:35 PM on 08/07/2010

Introducing a parallel set of laws does not really strike me as a recipe for peaceful coexistence. What you would end up with are cantons of population where the law of the land does not extend, and that are policed and governed by islamic law - in essence, the US would cede its monoply of violence to another, wholly theocratic regime. Since islamic law does not permit freedom of conscience, freedom of speech or equality before the law, but DOES permit wife beating, forced veiling, gender aparteid, intense persecution of homosexuals and apostates, paedophelic marriage, jihad to establish the supemacy o islamic law, and FGM (under Shafii school), that would seem to be problematic - especially for any liberal who claims to value the lives of women, children and dissenters.

[Epiphyte2]

06:37 PM on 08/07/2010

oh, and let's not forget the joys of concubinage (i.e. polygamy).

[tj56]

11:19 AM on 08/07/2010

Freedom of religion is in our constitution. However, when the law of a religion dictates; kill all infidels, kill all homosexuals, and make our law the law of the land, it is criminal and approaching treason? Remember when we were kids we were told that "your freedom ends at the end of my nose." That is not the case with Muslims, you submit or you die. Wake up America, before the liberal interpretation of "freedom" enslaves all of us, or worse.

[Epiphyte2]

10:53 AM on 08/07/2010

"But What if a Religion Acts Like a Conquering Army?"

" . . . What the Saudi businessman was telling me twenty five years ago was "It's not the oil stupid, it's religion". If we let Saudi Arabia fund and build the Mosque in New York as a token of their triumphalism over the US for 9/11, we are in fact not applying the Freedom of Religion laws but rather, we are giving my religion the chance to conquer New York by planting its flag of victory.

Mayor Bloomberg is focused on one set of laws when he should be investigating every religious edict or Fatwa of Islam that emanated from our scholars the last 25 years. . . "


http://www.aina.org/news/20100806211608.htm

by Farid Ghadry,
Reform Party, Syria

[Cihangir]

02:10 AM on 08/06/2010

"cartoon-villain stupid."

I'm going to have to plagiarize this. It's just too good to resist.

[lisakaz2]

03:55 PM on 08/06/2010

LOL. Indeed. It is sooooo fitting.

[Epiphyte2]

12:14 PM on 08/07/2010

Lisakaz:

I'm surprised by your dismissiveness. Have you actually investigating these issues?

[Epiphyte2]

01:14 AM on 08/06/2010

Someone mentioned the UK. Here's an excellent piece on what the very knowledgeable reporter refers to as its "Talibanisation":

http://vladtepesblog.com/?p=24694#more-24694

[Cihangir]

01:46 AM on 08/06/2010

This entry was posted in England, Freedoms, Islam in Europe, Sharia Law, War on everything not Islamic, thuggery and intimidation. I very much doubt you even know who this "very knowledgeable" is.

Is Yasmin Alibhai-Brown the stupidest woman in Britain?

Douglas Murray is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist based in London. He has written for numerous publications including the Telegraph, Spectator, Wall Street Journal and Sunday Times. He is a columnist for Standpoint magazine and the Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, a Westminster think-tank which studies radicalisation and extremism in Britain.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/douglasmurray/100030524/is-yasmin-alibhai-brown-the-stupidest-woman-in-britain/

[Epiphyte2]

11:08 AM on 08/06/2010

Not sure what point you're making here . . . . I've read most of what Charles Murray writes and it appears, based on your article, that Charles and Yasmin have had their differences on the foreign policy front, but what does that have to do with the article I linked to above? The article documents some troubling trends of the sort that would ALSO trouble Mr. Murray. If anything, it shows that the problem is now so severe that two people who are ideological opposites on some matters, now share some common ground. . . . So again, what's your point?

[Epiphyte2]

05:39 PM on 08/05/2010

When comedy Central censors images of Mohammad, they are submitting to Shariah.

When the Yale press removes Danish Cartoon images in a book ABOUT THE DANISH CARTOONS, they are submitting to Shariah.

When christians are arrested by Dearborn police for proselytising outside an "arab" (but really an "islamic" festival), the police are imposing Shariah.

When Danish politicians who represent 30 percent of the vote are standing trial for showing footage of muslims justifiying violent jihad, that court is practicing shariah . . .

When major publications and authors like McLeans and Steyn are hauled before before bogus human rights courts for writing about islam, those courts are complying with shariah.

When every high profile critic of islam works anonymously, requires 24 hour security or needs a panic room because of multiple murder plats and attempts (like Westergarrd and Vilks) - and then liberals have the timerity to accuse those critics of causing their own suffering by engaging in "first amendment fundamentalism"(!), they're complying with Shariah.

When the Obama administration reverses course in the UNHCR and comes out in favor of rules which seek to criminalise "defamation of religion" (which is really about making sure that countries governed by Shariah law can continue to harass and jail true reformers and otherwise operate without censure in the UN despite the UDHR), they're submitting to Shariah law.

[stephenlight]

11:55 PM on 08/05/2010

Fanned, and there are more than a few other examples.

Yes, the unwashed masses in America do not share Mr. Linkins' finely attuned sensibility on the topic, but they do have a common sense understanding of what Imam Rauf's associations with Dr. Mahathir and the Perdana Global Peace Organization mean. Come November, they will be voting.

[Cihangir]

02:20 AM on 08/06/2010

Don't worry crusader cross (delicious irony) the grand plan will take time and you'll be up, or down, there with your god before you grand daughter is wearing a burqu' for her MTV debut.

[vetxcl]

06:23 AM on 08/06/2010

double-talk and conjectural reinterpretation.

[steve11407]

01:56 PM on 08/05/2010

Does Neville Chamberlain ring a bell?

[stephenlight]

11:57 PM on 08/05/2010

Love it, fanned.

[lisakaz2]

10:48 PM on 08/06/2010

Where's the comparison between a Conservative Prime Minister negotiating away the sovereignty of another country it had not consulted to a N-zi megalomaniac related to no negotiation regarding a private charitable project on private property?

[Eris23]

01:01 PM on 08/05/2010

One of these days some of these frightened people will be able to explain to me exactly how they think the imposition of Sharia Law is possible given the very lengthy precedent involving the separation of church and state as found in the first amendment.

[jmjintexas]

12:25 PM on 08/18/2010

That's easy. Sharia Index...Islamic Banking...US Banks run by US Government. Any more questions?

[as promised]

12:14 PM on 08/05/2010

There is a pic circulating around Facebook right now that is so indicative of how truly ignorant people are... it refers to Muslims as being ra-g-heads. WT...F??
How much more misinformation do we need in our lives? Hysteria reigns. Sad times.

[as promised]

12:02 PM on 08/05/2010

Paranoia describes it completely.