Manufacturing the Muslim Menace - Political Research Associates

Manufacturing the Muslim Menace
guidelines for the devout Muslim. 10 Salafists seek to
convert all Muslims and to insure their own version of
Islam will dominate the world. Most Salafis do not engage
in violence and do not support the terrorist acts
of fellow Salafis. 11
However, today’s most dangerous and by far most numerous
terrorist groups and cells are part of the Salafi
movement. 12 According to Mark Sageman, “Salafi ideology
determines its [the violent Islamic terrorist
movement’s] mission, sets its goals, and guides its
practice.” 13 The ideology of militant jihad at the core of
the teachings and actions of al Qaeda is heavily influenced
by the works of Salafists Ibn Taymiyya and
Sayyid al Qutb. Osama bin Laden came to embrace the
tenets of Qutb’s teachings, as did other leaders and followers
in other violent terrorist organizations. Some
argue that Salafists’ devotion to practicing Islam as it was
practiced by Muhammed demonstrates that “jihadi
doctrine” is a core tenet of Islam, rather than a misinterpretation
of Islamic teaching.
Sharia: Sharia is the body of religious and legal prescriptions
for the behavior of Muslims that derives in
principle from the Quran and the example of the
Prophet Muhammed. Sharia includes purely religious
rules such as prayer and fasting (the human-creator
relationship), and rules related to relationships between
human beings. Compliance with religious rules
is an individual responsibility. Sharia plays a varied
role in shaping and legitimizing national legal systems,
where it is applied through legislation, rather
than on the basis of writings of the authoritative legal
scholars. Codification has acted as an instrument of
reform, where states have introduced changes in the
law to eliminate some interpretations of the Sharia
that were regarded as socially undesirable. 14
Taqiyya: Part of the Muslim Menace conspiracy theory
includes the idea that Muslims are involved in large
scale deceptive, or stealth, campaigns to further their
belligerent faith. Taqiyya is the use of duplicity and dissimulation
by Muslims as approved by Islamic law for
defense in wartime. 15 Usage of the term suggests that
when moderate Muslims express peaceful views, these
should be dismissed as deception. For example,
Stephen Coughlin shares a joke “commonly told by
those who have actually read Islamic law on jihad:”
A businesswoman returns early from a business
trip and walks into her bedroom only to find her
husband in bed with another woman. Caught
68 POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
completely by surprise, the husband jumps out
of bed and calls to his wife: “Honey, who are you
going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” 16
When extremist and fundamentalist Muslims express
belligerent views, these are accepted as being “real Islam.” 17
Wahhabism: The most influential Salafis are Saudi
clerics who preach an old version of Salafism called,
Wahhabism, after an 18th Century movement named
for its founder Muhammed bin Abd al Wahhab.
Endnotes
1 John L. Esposito, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1999) 31.
2 Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2000), 147-148.
3 Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God, 148.
4 Richard C. Martin and Abbas Barzegar, eds., Islamism: Contested
Perspectives on Political Islam (California: Stanford Univ. Press,
2009), 3.
5 Martin and Barzegar, eds., Islamism: Contested Perspectives on Political
Islam, 9.
6 Martin and Barzegar, eds., Islamism: Contested Perspectives on Political
Islam, 9.
7 Brigitte L. Nacos, Terrorism & Counterterrorism: Understanding
Threats and Responses in the Post 9/11 World, 3rd Ed. (New York:
Penguin, 2010), 87.
8 Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, ed. Robert Wuthnow (Washington,
D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1998), vol. 2, 466.
9 Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, ed. 466.
10 Brigitte L. Nacos, Terrorism & Counterterrorism: Understanding
Threats and Responses in the Post 9/11 World, 3rd Ed. (New York:
Penguin, 2010), 88.
11 Robert Pape, Cutting the Fuse: The Explosion of Global Suicide Terrorism
and How to Stop It (Chicago: U. Chicago Press, 2010), 80-81.
12 Brigitte L. Nacos, Terrorism & Counterterrorism: Understanding
Threats and Responses in the Post 9/11 World, 3rd Ed. (New York:
Penguin, 2010), 89.
13 Mark Sageman, Leaderless Resistance, quoted in Nacos, p. 90, fn. 60.
14 Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, 824. For instance, Tunisia’s
ban on polygamy and extra-judicial divorce.
15 See Raymond Ibrahim, “How Taqiyya Alters Islam’s Rules of War,”
Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2010), pp. 3-13. For an explanation
of taqiyya see, “Silencing Spencer: Taqiyya and Kitman are part of
Judeo-Christian Belief,” Islamophobia Today (August 15, 2010).
http://www.islamophobiatoday.com/2010/08/15/silencingspencer-taqiyya-and-kitman-are-part-of-judeo-christian-belief-2/
16 Stephen Coughlin, “To Our Great Detriment: Regarding What
Extremists Say About Jihad,” M.S. Thesis. Natiopanl Defense
Intelligence College (2007, 288.
17 “Silencing Spencer: Taqiyya and Kitman are part of Judeo-
Christian Belief,” Islamophobia Today (August 15, 2010).