By Lewis Loflin
The letter below arrived in my email and exemplifies why Islam has such a poor image. Rashid complains about criticism of Islam while staying silent on Islamist terror and murder. His hypocrisy mirrors that of Islam’s loudest detractors. Let’s break down his points.
Rashid gripes that Jews seem treated differently than Muslims. Plenty hate Jews as much as he appears to, with American and Islamic Jew-haters swapping propaganda. Jews claim the press is anti-Israel; Muslims say it’s anti-Arab. Both are correct. In a free nation, people can speak without fear of imprisonment, torture, or execution—unlike nearly every Islamic regime. Muslims lack popularity (except among liberals who excuse anything non-American) because people like Rashid deflect blame onto victims.
Rashid laments that Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Franklin Graham disparage Islam. They also slam Hindus, Deists, atheists, Jews, and even fellow Christians—Robertson’s a prime example. They’re fools, but in America, they can speak unless inciting violence or disruption. In Islamic nations, criticizing Islam is a death sentence—ask Salman Rushdie.
Rashid complains that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, tied to the "Christian right," didn’t investigate these preachers for hate crimes. He misses America’s core: we don’t jail or kill over opinions, unlike Islamist regimes.
Rashid objects to Muslims being suspected, calling it unfair. In WWII, recent German immigrants and pro-Nazi groups—white and Christian—faced scrutiny too. America won’t repeat the Japanese internment with Muslim citizens, but we expect them to unequivocally prioritize America. If Islam trumps that loyalty, leave. We’re at war; your first allegiance is to America, not Islam, Judaism, or Christianity.
America doesn’t hate Muslims, but many Muslims hate America. Most Arab and Islamic citizens are welcome here. Since 1776, Christians and Jews accepted that American law rests on human rights and consent, not divine edicts from the Bible, Torah, or Koran. Muslims must do the same, placing civil law above faith.
Many Muslims in America attend college, and that’s where the trouble starts. The poison of multiculturalism—detailed in my articles Deconstructing the West: Multiculturalism’s Hidden Origins and Multiculturalism: Self-Liquidation of Europe by Muslims—teaches them to despise the system giving them freedom and opportunity unmatched in most Muslim countries. Instead of celebrating America, they’re indoctrinated to hate it, amplifying the cultural self-destruction I’ve warned about.
Most American Muslims are wealthy and successful, yet many remain religious bigots, intolerant of the society offering them unparalleled freedom. Their collective refusal to denounce terrorism and Islamist hate breeds mistrust. If Muslims can’t separate their faith from Islamo-fascism, criticism is inevitable.
Questioning a religion or a group’s failures isn’t a hate crime. You can be offended if someone insults your faith, Rashid, but you can’t do a damn thing about it. Grow up.
The slightest anti-Semitism meets strong condemnation from media and society—as it should. But egregious vilification of Islam? Not so. Imagine Muslim or Christian leaders publicly declaring to millions that "Moses was a terrorist," "Moses was a brigand and robber," "Judaism is a monumental scam," or "Judaism is a very evil and wicked religion." The reaction would be overwhelming.
President Bush would likely address the nation from the Oval Office, newspapers would run scathing editorials, and talk shows would dissect the outrage. A tidal wave of social opprobrium would sweep the country—rightly so.
Yet these statements weren’t about Moses and Judaism but Muhammad [PBUH] and Islam. Substitute "Muhammad" for "Moses" and "Islam" for "Judaism," and you have what Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Franklin Graham—respected "Christian right" leaders—actually said. Falwell spoke on CBS’s "60 Minutes," and Graham delivered Bush’s inaugural prayer last year.
Media and societal backlash was minimal—no massive outrage, no presidential rebuke, despite Bush’s post-9/11 claims that the war on terror isn’t against Islam. The tepid response shows these statements’ social acceptability, even with some tactical retractions. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, of the "Christian right," didn’t investigate or indict these preachers for hate crimes, nor publicly denounce them.
This partly explains why Muslims are targeted by the FBI and INS, often treated harshly during interrogation and detention, with no recourse. Power and influence drive American society—those who wield it advance their causes; those who don’t, like Native Americans and African-Americans before them, remain disenfranchised. Now Muslims and Arab-Americans learn this the hard way.
The Muslim world doesn’t grasp America’s quirks. They expect universal standards—if something’s wrong, it should apply evenly. They see double standards in U.S. foreign and domestic policy. They don’t understand why anti-Semitism faces fierce opposition—thanks to American Jews fighting it—while anti-Islamism persists because Muslims remain complacent.
Above all, they don’t get why the Bush administration stays silent against Islam-haters while struggling to win over 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide in a futile propaganda effort.
Rashid
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me format and refine this article. The content and perspective are my own, Lewis Loflin.
