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The Islamic States of America?
DanielPipes.org, Front Page Magazine ^ | Sep. 23, 2004 | Daniel Pipes

Posted on 09/23/2004 6:30:51 AM PDT by old-ager







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The Islamic States of America?
by Daniel Pipes
FrontPageMagazine.com
September 23, 2004

The hardest thing for Westerners to understand is not that a war with militant Islam is underway but that the nature of the enemy's ultimate goal. That goal is to apply the Islamic law (the Shari‘a) globally. In U.S. terms, it intends to replace the Constitution with the Qur'an.

This aspiration is so remote and far-fetched to many non-Muslims, it elicits more guffaws than apprehension. Of course, that used to be the same reaction in Europe, and now it's become widely accepted that, in Bernard Lewis' words, "Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century."

Because of the American skepticism about Islamist goals, I postponed publishing an article on this subject until immediately after 9/11, when I expected receptivity to the subject would be greater (it was published in November 2001as "The Danger Within: Militant Islam in America"). I argued there that

The Muslim population in this country is not like any other group, for it includes within it a substantial body of people—many times more numerous than the agents of Osama bin Ladin—who share with the suicide hijackers a hatred of the United States and the desire, ultimately, to transform it into a nation living under the strictures of militant Islam.

The receptivity indeed was greater, but still the idea of an Islamist takeover remains unrecognized in establishment circles – the U.S. government, the old media, the universities, the mainline churches.

Therefore, reading "A rare look at secretive Brotherhood in America," in the Chicago Tribune on Sept. 19 caused me to startle. It's a long analysis that draws on an exclusive interview with Ahmed Elkadi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader in the United States during 1984-94, plus other interviews and documentation. In it, the authors (Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Sam Roe, and Laurie Cohen) warily but emphatically acknowledge the Islamists' goal of turning the United States into an Islamic state.

Over the last 40 years, small groups of devout Muslim men have gathered in homes in U.S. cities to pray, memorize the Koran and discuss events of the day. But they also addressed their ultimate goal, one so controversial that it is a key reason they have operated in secrecy: to create Muslim states overseas and, they hope, someday in America as well. …
Brotherhood members emphasize that they follow the laws of the nations in which they operate. They stress that they do not believe in overthrowing the U.S. government, but rather that they want as many people as possible to convert to Islam so that one day—perhaps generations from now—a majority of Americans will support a society governed by Islamic law.

This Brotherhood approach is in keeping with my observation that the greater Islamist threat to the West is not violence – flattening buildings, bombing railroad stations and nightclubs, seizing theaters and schools – but the peaceful, legal growth of power through education, the law, the media, and the political system.

The Tribune article explains how, when recruiting new members, the organization does not reveal its identity but invites candidates to small prayer meetings where the prayer leaders focus on the primary goal of the Brotherhood, namely "setting up the rule of God upon the Earth" (i.e., achieving Islamic hegemony). Elkadi describes the organization's strategic, long-term approach: "First you change the person, then the family, then the community, then the nation."

His wife Iman is no less explicit; all who are associated with the Brotherhood, she says, have the same goal, which is "to educate everyone about Islam and to follow the teachings of Islam with the hope of establishing an Islamic state."

In addition to Elkadi, the article features information from Mustafa Saied (about whose Muslim Brotherhood experiences the Wall Street Journal devoted a feature story in December 2003, without mentioning the organization's Islamist goals). Saied, the Tribune informs us, says

he found out that the U.S. Brotherhood had a plan for achieving Islamic rule in America: It would convert Americans to Islam and elect like-minded Muslims to political office. "They're very smart. Everyone else is gullible," Saied says. "If the Brotherhood puts up somebody for an election, Muslims would vote for him not knowing he was with the Brotherhood."

Citing documents and interviews, the Tribune team notes that the secretive Brotherhood, in an effort to acquire more influence, went above ground in Illinois in 1993, incorporating itself as the Muslim American Society. The MAS, headquartered in Alexandria, Va. and claiming 53 chapters across the United States engages in a number of activities. These include summer camps, a large annual conference, websites, and the Islamic American University, a mainly correspondence school in suburban Detroit that trains teachers and imams.

Of course, the MAS denies any intent to take over the country. One of its top officials, Shaker Elsayed, insists that

MAS does not believe in creating an Islamic state in America but supports the establishment of Islamic governments in Muslim lands. The group's goal in the United States, he says, "is to serve and develop the Muslim community and help Muslims to be the best citizens they can be of this country." That includes preserving the Muslim identity, particularly among youths.

Notwithstanding this denial, the Tribune finds MAS goals to be clear enough:

Part of the Chicago chapter's Web site is devoted to teens. It includes reading materials that say Muslims have a duty to help form Islamic governments worldwide and should be prepared to take up arms to do so. One passage states that "until the nations of the world have functionally Islamic governments, every individual who is careless or lazy in working for Islam is sinful." Another one says that Western secularism and materialism are evil and that Muslims should "pursue this evil force to its own lands" and "invade its Western heartland." [links added by me, DP]
In suburban Rosemont, Ill., several thousand people attended MAS' annual conference in 2002 at the village's convention center. One speaker said, "We may all feel emotionally attached to the goal of an Islamic state" in America, but it would have to wait because of the modest Muslim population. "We mustn't cross hurdles we can't jump yet."

These revelations are particularly striking, coming as they do just days after a Washington Post article titled "In Search Of Friends Among The Foes," which reports how some U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials believe the Muslim Brotherhood's influence "offers an opportunity for political engagement that could help isolate violent jihadists." Graham Fuller is quoted saying that "It is the preeminent movement in the Muslim world. It's something we can work with." Demonizing the Brotherhood, he warns, "would be foolhardy in the extreme." Other analysts, such as Reuel Gerecht, Edward Djerejian, and Leslie Campbell, are quoted as being in agreement with this outlook.

But it is a deeply wrong and dangerous approach. Even if the Muslim Brotherhood is not specifically associated with violence in the United States (as it has been in other countries, including Egypt and Syria), it is deeply hostile to the United States and must be treated as one vital component of the enemy's assault force.

Other items in category Islam in America

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TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: crushislam; islam; rauf

This is a drumbeat that we need to listen to.

1 posted on 09/23/2004 6:30:51 AM PDT by old-ager

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To: old-ager

The hardest thing for Westerners to understand is not that a war with militant Islam is underway but that the nature of the enemy's ultimate goal.

Is that a coherent sentence?

2 posted on 09/23/2004 6:33:09 AM PDT by inquest (Judges are given the power to decide cases, not to decide law)

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To: old-ager

You're absolutely correct. BTTT!

3 posted on 09/23/2004 6:34:52 AM PDT by neutrino (Globalization “is the economic treason that dare not speak its name.” (173))

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To: old-ager

The goal of militant Islam is to end Western Civilization and replace it with an Islamic theocracy. This article is right on target. This war is one for our very civilization.

4 posted on 09/23/2004 6:41:34 AM PDT by The Great RJ

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To: old-ager

Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century."

Since Christianity is dying out in Europe and birthrates are so low among native Europeans this is a very plausible scenario. That the US will be taken over by Islam is not.

5 posted on 09/23/2004 6:41:35 AM PDT by I Blame the Parents (Hangover is the wrath of grapes)

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To: The Great RJ

Nah, that could NEVER happen here. </sarcasm>

6 posted on 09/23/2004 6:43:15 AM PDT by Veritas et equitas ad Votum (If the Constitution "lives and breathes", it dies.)

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To: inquest

> Is that a coherent sentence?

Nothing like focusing on the big picture, eh?

7 posted on 09/23/2004 6:45:24 AM PDT by old-ager

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To: old-ager

Big and little alike. If a person wants to get his point across, he should write coherently.

In any case, someone freepmailed me with a list of potential corrections to the sentence that made more sense. That said, his statement is still off the mark. I think most Westerners do understand that the jihadis intend to take over the world. Whether or not they're actually capable of doing it is another matter.

8 posted on 09/23/2004 6:50:39 AM PDT by inquest (Judges are given the power to decide cases, not to decide law)

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To: old-ager

A fulminating, metastatic carcinoma. It needs resection.

9 posted on 09/23/2004 6:55:45 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty

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To: old-ager

"to educate everyone about Islam and to follow the teachings of Islam with the hope of establishing an Islamic state."

...already in practice in schools across America; such education is championed by the NEA and other powerful organizations.

The First Amendment gives Americans the right to speak their minds, but does not give the right to create riot – and freedom of religion does not give anyone the right to take lives in the name of that religion. Since the dawn of man, history shows us that man has pushed those rights to the limit and beyond for always nebulous reasons.

America is supposed to be a Nation of Laws – enforce them – religions that encourage death to the nonbeliever should be outlawed.

The Qur'an, a book of Islamic laws, not founded in Holy Writ, but a book written to hold people in the bondage of fear. America was founded to get away from such tyranny and destruction. Obeisance to the Qur'an, in many instances would be breaking the law and the laws of our Constitution.

10 posted on 09/23/2004 6:57:41 AM PDT by yoe

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To: old-ager

The Islamics made a strategic error, the attack on 911. If they had just kept bombing African Embassies, killing Jews and attacking us overseas they would have had a disinterested US population. When they brought their hate and terror to our shores, they woke up the sleeping giant.

Unfortunately we are slipping back into slumber, so they'll wake us again, and it will be worse than 911, IMHO. When that happens, and I hope it does not, then the real war will start. It will be painful for all, but especially those Muslims in the US and for many in the Middle East.

Our massive effort to minimize collateral damage in Iraq will not happen next time, if we have a GWB type in office. Our Republic teeters on the edge right now, this election will be a key determinant on which way we turn, appeasement or deterrence. Its 1938 in Munich all over again.

11 posted on 09/23/2004 6:57:43 AM PDT by schu

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To: old-ager

Prophet of Doom - Islam’s Terrorist Dogma, In Muhammad’s Own Words

Islam is a caustic blend of regurgitated paganism and twisted Bible stories.
Muhammad, its lone prophet, conceived his religion solely to satiate his lust for power, sex, and money.
He was a terrorist.

And if you think these conclusions are shocking, wait until you see the evidence.

Radical Islam's 'plan' to take over America - Arab-American author outlines secret 20-year strategy to undermine country

Misunderstanding the Enemy: the Islamic Threat and the U.S. Media

12 posted on 09/23/2004 6:59:53 AM PDT by EdReform (Free Republic - helping to keep our country a free republic. Thank you for your financial support!)

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To: old-ager

Bookmarked and bumped.

So many just don't get it.

13 posted on 09/23/2004 7:02:45 AM PDT by ImpBill ("America! ... Where are you now?")

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To: sheik yerbouty

Unfortunately, this cancer will thrive in an environment of 'tolerance' and moral equivalence.

Lacking outright war against it here at home, stigmatization would be an effective treatment. Force it back underground.

But I'm afraid even thats no longer possible today. We simply do not have the will.

14 posted on 09/23/2004 7:10:49 AM PDT by skeeter

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The Islamic States of America?by Daniel PipesFrontPageMagazine.com September 23, 2004

Comment on this article

The Islamic States of America?
by Daniel Pipes
FrontPageMagazine.com
September 23, 2004