Reza Aslan: Trump Is Popular Because of 'Islamophobia'

Not because of, you know, jihad terror or anything like that.

April 12, 2016

In an adulatory Los Angeles Times interview last Friday, Leftist media darling Reza Aslan asserts that Donald Trump’s popularity reveals that “a large swath of us [is] xenophobic, racist and Islamophobic. And we pretend that we’re not. And now it’s out in the open and can’t be ignored any longer.” He has, of course, nothing to say about the possibility that Trump’s supporters could be favoring their candidate because of his apparently strong stance against jihad terror attacks and the endless threats of mass murder and destruction from the Islamic State.

Nor does the Times interviewer, Gina Piccalo, challenge Aslan on this or other highly questionable statements; on the contrary, she fawns over him, writing: “Muslim religious scholar Reza Aslan is Internet famous for keeping his cool. The Iranian American author of the 2013 bestseller ‘Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth’ once confronted a relentless Fox News anchor with such unflappable poise, it made him a viral sensation.”

In reality, Aslan confronted the relentless Fox News anchor by lying repeatedly about his credentials. And in other corners of the Internet, he is not famous for keeping his cool, but for losing it, slinging frenzied abuse at those he hates and, when confronted and exposed about it, claiming risibly that his adolescent insults were automated.

The adulation that Gina Piccalo and the mainstream media in general heap upon Reza Aslan is a singular demonstration of how superficial and biased the mainstream really is. For Aslan is no scholar, and if he were not a Muslim and a Leftist, his frequent howling errors of fact would have consigned him to media oblivion long ago. No non-Muslim conservative would ever have become a media star making the errors Aslan has made and behaving the way he has. He has made the ridiculous claim that the idea of resurrection “simply doesn’t exist in Judaism,” despite numerous passages to the contrary in the Hebrew Scriptures. He has also referred to “the reincarnation, which Christianity talks about” — although he later claimed that one was a “typo.” In yet another howler he later insisted was a “typo,” he claimed that the Biblical story of Noah was barely four verses long — which he then corrected to forty, but that was wrong again, as it is 89 verses long.

Aslan claimed that the “founding philosophy of the Jesuits” was “the preferential option for the poor,” when in reality, that phrase wasn’t even coined until 1968. He called Turkey the second most populous Muslim country, when it is actually the eighth most populous Muslim country. He thinks Pope Pius XI, who issued the anti-fascist encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, was a fascist. He thinks Marx and Freud “gave birth to the Enlightenment,” when it ended in the late 18th century, before either of them were born. He claims that “the very first thing that Muhammad did was outlaw slavery,” when in fact Muhammad bought slaves, took female captives as sex slaves, and owned slaves until his death. He thinks Ethiopia and Eritrea are in Central Africa.

A “renowned religious scholar” such as Reza Aslan should not make such elementary mistakes. But this is, of course, the man who writes “than” for “then”; apparently thinks the Latin word “et” is an abbreviation; and writes “clown’s” for “clowns.”

In the Times interview, Aslan retails still more nonsense: “People who are religious are probably unwilling to recognize how much of what they believe is rooted in who they actually are and not the teachings of their religion. We think people derive their values from their scriptures. But it’s more often the case that people insert their values into their scriptures.”

In this, Aslan is essentially saying that words have no meaning, that the various scriptures of various religions have no essential content or character, that the religions themselves are meaningless and interchangeable, and that people are never inspired to change their behavior by the teachings of a religion, which anyway don’t exist since religions are wholly and solely what people decide they will be. Can a religion’s teachings transform a believer into a violent, war-mongering person, or a peaceful, pluralistic person? For Aslan, the answer is no: religions are just putty, to be formed by those who believe in them into any shape they like. So tomorrow Muslims could begin to declare that there are five gods, despite the Qur’an’s fierce monotheism, and Christians could begin murdering people while screaming, “Jesus is Lord!”

This is, of course, completely absurd. If it were true, there would be Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim terrorists in equal proportion, instead of a preponderance of Muslim terrorists. Religions don’t just depend on what the believer brings to them; believers are also shaped by what they teach. But as far as Aslan is concerned, they don’t teach anything: “people insert their values into their scriptures.”

Aslan goes on to complain that what jihad terrorists really have in common isn’t really a devout commitment to Islam at all: “The thing they have most in common is that they already possess an either anti-establishment [view] or are prone to violent tendencies. A report that just came out said something like 80% of Europeans who join [Islamic State] in Syria have a criminal record. But when someone says they are acting violently in the name of Islam, that … negates any other contributing factor that could be involved. We don’t really care about his drug addiction or his history of violent tendencies or his arrest record.”

Yes, and we don’t because drug addicts or people with a history of violent tendencies from Christian or other non-Muslim backgrounds don’t become terrorists in anything like the numbers that Muslim drug addicts and Muslims with a history of violent tendencies do.

And why, in Aslan’s world, do so many people have such a negative view of Islam? Because of Islamophobes, of course: “Sixty-one percent of Americans have negative feelings toward Muslims today. That’s 20% higher than the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11. It’s not that 15 years ago, we were attacked by 18 [sic!] Muslims and ever since then we have been Islamophobic. Instead, it’s the result of a very well-organized, extremely well-funded, concerted effort by a handful of organizations funded to the tune of now more than $50 million to convince Americans that the 1% of the population of this country that is Muslim is on the verge of a complete takeover. We are at a far greater threat from white supremacist terrorism. Since 9/11, right-wing terrorists have killed far more Americans than Islamic terrorists have.”

Aslan would really have us believe that my colleagues and I are so clever, so well-funded and so powerful that we have hoodwinked millions of Americans into thinking that the jihad is a threat. In reality, Osama bin Laden, Nidal Malik Hasan, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Syed Rizwan Farook and all their comrades and allies have done that, not Pamela Geller, Steve Emerson, Frank Gaffney and me. Aslan here ignores the Fort Hood, Boston, Chattanooga, and San Bernardino jihad massacres, plus innumerable thwarted jihad plots in the U.S., as well as jihad massacres around the world and numerous boasts of imminent conquest and destruction from the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and other jihad groups.

And Aslan’s claim that white supremacists are a greater threat than jihadis is based on a study from last summer, which based its findings on the number of those killed by white supremacists and by jihadis since 9/11. Not only did this study skew the results by starting one day late and leaving out 9/11, but it also ignores the many, many foiled jihad plots, and lumped in many psychopaths with no ideology with genuine white supremacists. It also ignored the international jihad movement: if it had counted the casualties of the global jihad vs. white supremacist terrorism not just in the U.S. but worldwide, there would have been no comparison.

In today’s political climate, none of Aslan’s ridiculous mistakes and cynical lies will stop his media juggernaut. He told Piccalo about his future plans: “I truly believe the best way to shift perceptions in this country is through pop culture. It’s always the most efficient way of doing so. We’re trying to develop television shows, feature-length films, projects that work to create a different perception of the people, the cultures, the stories, of the Greater Middle East. Part of that involves simply having Muslims and Middle Easterners being normal on TV. [With] ‘Rough Draft,’ I wanted people to see a Middle Easterner being a host and talking about writing and not talking about politics or religion.”

Will all this stop jihad terror? Of course not. Will it render more Americans complacent about the jihad threat and unwilling to support any serious resistance to it? Probably. And that appears to be Reza Aslan’s overarching goal.

I wonder how many US govt checks Reza is cashing? And under how many identities? And getting taxpayers to subsidize his housing, schooling, food stamps, free Obama phones, utility payments, etc etc etc. Did Reza plead "asylum" to get hefty monthly SS checks.....PLUS SSI for various ailments for him and his family?

=====================================================

Here's how the peace-loving Muslims cash-in. This is very common in the Muslim community...this one got caught b/c he murdered two Christians.

REFERENCE A federal criminal complaint detailed a Texas Muslims schemes to bilk the US govt: Claiming he couldn't work he scammed taxpayer disability assistance funds w/ complaints of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue symptoms, affective disorders, and so on.

He maintained several addresses on the Texas property to facilitate various schemes and used various names.

He was collecting tax dollars for a son supposedly living overseas.

At the same time he was secreting real estate, jewels, vehicles and cash in US and foreign bank accounts.

Texas Muslim---Serial Killer of Christians---on Disability and Food Stamps,
had Diamonds and 200 Credit Cards Hidden on Texas property
Front Page Magazine | 6/20/2014 | Daniel Greenfield / FR Posted by Dqban22

This sort of thing is surprisingly common among Muslims -very few seem to have jobs but they drive around in luxury cars and are well-dressed and fed. The only reason this case came to light is because the Texas Muslim refugee committed two murders in Texas, one of which he actually got away with.

The murder of Christian believer, Gelareh Bagherzadeh, was reported earlier. Gelareh Bagherzadeh was an Iranian Christian who came to this country only to be murdered by a Muslim because she encouraged his daughter to marry the man she loved.

The Texas Muslim claimed he was too disabled to work. But he wasn't too disabled to kill.

BACKSTORY The Texan, a strict Muslim, was furious when his Jordanian-American daughter married a man without his permission. The Muslim, Ali Mahwood-Awad Irsan, blamed his daughters husband, relatives say. They say he also faulted one of her closest friends, 30-year-old Gelareh Bagherzadeh, a Christian convert who widely denounced Islam.

<><> First Christian-believer Bagherzadeh was killed, gunned down outside her parents Texas Galleria townhouse complex in January 2012.

<><> Eleven months later, Irsan’s son-in-law died after being shot multiple times in northwest Texas, in the Harris County apartment he shared with his wife.

The Texas Muslim thought he could get away with murdering because he had already gotten away with so many other things in Texas.

Federal authorities executed a search warrant at Irsan’s sprawling, 5-acre property 40 miles north of Houston, where they allegedly found cash, diamonds, pearls, weapons and phony passports hidden in attic rafters, in secret compartments throughout a cluster of trailers and outbuildings and even inside the buried drum of a clothes dryer at the Conroe, Texas property.

The Muslim Irsan, his wife Shmou Ali Alrawabdeh, and another daughter were subsequently arrested on a variety of federal fraud charges and are in federal custody.

A federal criminal complaint detailing the discoveries recounts a saga of nearly 20 years in which the 57-year-old naturalized citizen from Jordan, and his family, allegedly scammed taxpayer disability assistance funds claiming “fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue symptoms,” and “affective disorders” while secreting real estate, vehicles and cash in US and foreign bank accounts.

The complaint also alleges the Muslim Irsan:

<><> was receiving taxpayer funds for a son not living in the US,

<><> maintained several addresses on the property to facilitate various schemes, and,

<><> once disabled a safety feature on a saw then purposefully cut himself to receive a $75,000 settlement.

The Muslim Ali was certainly industrious and entrepreneurial, just not quite in the way amnesty advocates like to claim.

Also found on the property was a makeshift gun range, which witnesses said “five or six Muslim families” frequently visited to fire AK-47s and information about Irsan’s attempts to get a silencer. Nothing to do with Islam I’m sure.

The rest of the scam ...... While there have been no allegations of terrorist ties regarding the Muslim familys alleged (a) foreign bank accounts, and, (b) suspicious wire transactions, Irsan’s strict adherence to radical Islam may have been a motive in the alleged murders.

Authorities are also re-examining a 1999 case in which Irsan was not indicted after claiming self-defense in the shooting of son-in-law Amjad Alidam, who was married to Nasemah Rachelle Irsan.

Prosecutors also revealed, in connection to the social security fraud and credit card charges against Irsan, that they found more than 200 credit cards with various names and multiple variations of his own name throughout the home.

Arresting officers say they also found more than 40 similar credit cards in his wallet the morning he was arrested. His daughter also alleges, among multiple other schemes detailed in court documents, that Ali Irsan purposely disabled the safety device on a Ryobi rotary saw and purposely cut his own foot. Prosecutors say he used that injury to receive a $75,000 settlement from the manufacturer.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/muslim-killer-on-disability-and-food-stamps-had-diamonds-and-200-credit-cards/print/

"Paid for by our tax dollars, that is, to Catholic and Lutheran Charities, who make a ton of profit off the import of these primitives."

"Congressman Barton speaks following Lakeview tour"

esp watch last 10 min: interview with 'church' organizer Matt Authier (who's on the take)

(notice how Authier is continuously and nervously bobbing his head up and down
-hoping to speed up each question and get the interview over with)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59J0i3LNoY8

*****

As an aside, I saw my very first muslim terrorist yesterday in Target.

He was wiping his snot from his runny nose on the produce and then putting the produce back. I circled them a few times to confirm. He had an imam with him, as well as a Mexican handler, who looked embarrassed.

The imam was yakking loudly on the phone to announce their presence. You know, as a form of territory marking like ghetto people do with their stereos - “I’m here; respect me”.

The Mexican was obviously a paid assistant - Paid for by our tax dollars, that is, to Catholic Charities, who make a ton of profit off the import of these primitives.

6 posted on April 8, 2016 at 3:09:55 PM CDT by T-Bone Texan

*****

The way it was explaind to me is this:

The church group (not just Catholic Charities, there are others profiting from this treason, like Lutheran and Baptist groups) gets a contract from the FedGov. They then provide “services” to the terrorist.

One of these services is integrating the terrorist into our society, and they will take the terrorist on field trips wherein they learn how to game the system, exploit our kindness, and in my case wipe their snot on veggies/produce that other people will buy in an attempt to make them sick.

But make no mistake, Catholic Charites and many other religious groups have recently signed very lucrative contracts with the FedGov, and thus when they announce that helping terrorists is moral and godly, I ask “Who profits from this action? - Cui bono?”

These groups are very happy to take the govt’s money, and the collateral damage that is the utter destruction of our culture

They should be your enemy too.

PS: The handler was Mexican. He was a product of Mexican culture and he was otherwise unrelated to the terrorist and the imam culturally. He even looked embarrassed, which is a “tell” vs muslims, who never seem to have a sense of shame, only arrogance and entitlement.

7 posted on April 8, 2016 at 3:11:29 PM CDT by T-Bone Texan

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