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Mitchell Bard

Time to Fight the Holy Warriors

The Muslim population of the world is approximately 1.5 billion. Most of these Muslims live ordinary peaceful lives and do not engage in, support, or approve terrorism. Sadly, it does not take very many Muslims who have used, abused and misinterpreted the teachings of the Koran to pose a threat to everyone they consider infidels – Jews and other non-Muslims, as well as fellow Muslims who do not share their views.

Consider if just 1 percent of the Muslim population adopted the extremist view that the entire world must adopt Sharia law and live according to their version of the Koran, which teaches them that infidels must convert, live as second class citizens or die. That would theoretically produce an army of 15 million jihadists. Imagine the danger to the West given what just 19 Saudi Islamists did on 9/11.

The radicals are indoctrinated from an early age in mosques and religious schools. You can go on YouTube, for example, and watch videos of children under 10 saying truly frightening things about non-Muslims.

The Koran can often be quite harsh, as in its descriptions of Jews, who it says, try to introduce corruption (5:64), have always been disobedient (5:78), are cursed and treacherous (5:13), are enemies of Allah, the Prophet and the angels (2:97-98), “shall have disgrace in this world” and “a grievous chastisement in the hereafter” (5:41), and were “consigned to humiliation and wretchedness” (2:61). Muslims are also instructed “not take the Jews and the Christians for friends” (5:51).

Some of the more bizarre references to Jews (and often Christians) are that they are descendants of apes and pigs. According to the Koran, Jews “are those whom Allah has cast aside and on whom His wrath has fallen and of whom He has made some as apes and swine…” (5:60).

One of the most frequently quoted statements calling for genocide comes from other holy writings, which instruct Muslims that “On the Day of Judgment, the trees will say, ‘Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.’”

As a non-Muslim, it is not for me to interpret the holy scriptures of Islam; however, as a political scientist I can comment on how radical Muslims have internalized these views and seek to spread their message worldwide by word and sword.

Saudi sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, imam and preacher at the most important mosque in Mecca, for example, beseeched Allah to annihilate the Jews. He also urged the Arabs to give up peace initiatives with Jews because they are “the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs.”

The Saudis, who amputate the limbs of criminals, behead convicted murderers and engage in other horrific punishments, are also the leading sponsors of terror according to U.S. officials. Nevertheless, they are viewed as “moderates” and, paradoxically, allies of the United States in the war on terror.

For those who still live under the delusion that the conflict in the Middle East is about politics and territory rather than religion need only refer to the Hamas website, which says, “we maintain, and believe, that our battle against the occupier is fundamentally religious, not geographic, historic, or economic.”

An ISIS recruiter gave a concise explanation of how he and other radical Muslims see the world. A Muslim, he said, “is a person who follows Allah’s laws without question. Sharia is our law. No interpretation is needed….Allah is the only lawmaker.”

When asked about democracy, he replied, “Democracy is for infidels. A real Muslim is not a democrat because he doesn’t care about the opinions of majorities and minorities….He is only interested in what Islam says.” Moreover, “those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger should be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off on the opposite sides, or be exiled from the land.”

But, the interviewer said, the Koran says that there is no compulsion in religion. The recruiter agreed, but added, “it also says that one should kill or expel unbelievers wherever one finds them. “

It is time that fear and political correctness be replaced with the clear-eyed recognition that the West faces a serious threat from radical Muslims, and that they are not an insignificant minority or collection of lone wolves.

As Professor David Cook, associate professor of religion at Rice University, noted, “To say that ISIS doesn’t have anything to do with Islam is just the statement of an ignoramus or an apologist.”

The West is in a religious war, but has spent most of the time watching on the sidelines while taking casualties. When political leaders stop fearing being labeled “Islamophobes” by apologists for Muslim terror, and acknowledge that we are indeed at war with zealous international Islamists who threaten our lives, and way of life, perhaps we can join the fight and devote the energy and resources we need to win it.

Mitchell Bard, a UCLA PhD, is the author/editor of 24 books including The Arab Lobby, Death to the Infidels: Radical Islam’s War Against the Jews and After Anatevka – Tevye in Palestine.

About the Author
Dr Mitchell Bard is the Executive Director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and a foreign policy analyst who lectures frequently on U.S.-Middle East policy. Dr. Bard is the director of the Jewish Virtual Library, the world's most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture. He is also the author/editor of 24 books, including The Arab Lobby, Death to the Infidels: Radical Islam’s War Against the Jews and the novel After Anatevka: Tevye in Palestine.