Islamo-facism: One of the greatest dangers facing America

This week more than 200 university and college campuses across our country and worldwide will be participating in Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. The goal of the week is to remind Americans about one of the greatest dangers facing America.

Let me stress that Islam, like Christianity, Judaism or any other religion, it is not a monolithic entity composed of people with the same exact beliefs. Therefore, Islamo-fascism does not apply to every Muslim or every Arab but instead applies to a select group with a specific ideology.

So what is Islamo-ascism? In the words of Stephen Shwartz, who used the term directly after Sept. 11, 2001, “Islamo-fascism refers to the use of faith of Islam as a cover for a totalitarian ideology.” For example, followers of Islamo-fascism believe that under sharia law, apostasy is punishable by death. They take literally Sura 9:29: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued” (translation by Yusuf, Ali). They hold that, under the law, women are not equal to men. They believe homosexuality should be punished by death. They ignore verses in the Qur’an that teach tolerance and peace. Islamo-fascism can be seen in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudi-financed Wahhabis, al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. Each of these forces presents a danger to Western society and America.

So why care about Islamo-fascism? I mean, isn’t it true that there are extremist Christians just as there are extremist Jews and other extremists in general? In a sense this is true, but Christians and Jews today, on a large scale, do not kill others in the name of their faith or preach to others to kill in its name. Their founding texts generally oppose this message. On the other hand, looking solely at Muhammad and at his written words, there seem to be several verses that command violence (Sura 9:5, Sura 47:4, Sura 2:191 and others). Likewise, Muhammad himself organized 65 military campaigns, personally leading 27 of them, and even ordered the execution of enemy soldiers. These extremists take literally that women are inferior to men because of verss in the Qur’an like Sura 4:34. According to Amnesty International and the Pakistani Institute of Medical Sciences, more than 90 percent of Pakistani wives have been struck or beaten. Some use the example of Muhammad marrying Aisha when she was six and consummating the marriage when she was nine as a lesson to take wives who are children. Accordingly, UNICEF estimates that over half of the teenage girls in Afghanistan and Bangladesh are married. If these believers take these words and actions as a strict guide to their actions, then there can be no compromise with the Islamo-fascist agenda.

There are many Muslims across the world and in our country who do not subscribe to the Islamo-facist agenda. In fact, Muslim-Americans are one of the most productive and successful groups living in America. According to research by best-selling author Mark J. Penn, 70 percent of Muslim-Americans as a group get married, 82 percent are registered to vote and 59 percent are college-educated with a salary of more than $50,000 a year on average. They are just as likely to describe themselves as moderate as the general population and are actually much more likely to support gun control laws than the general public. These moderate Muslim Americans are a value to our communities an asset to our country.

However, Islamo-fascism is a genuine threat to ordinary moderate Muslims just as it is to everyone living in America. Islamo-Fascism Awareness week calls attention to the victims of Islamo-fascism, which include over 200,000 moderate Muslims in Algeria along with many others in Sudan, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The goal of this week is to inform students about the threat of Islamo-fascism and its underlying causes. This Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Philips Hall, the Cal Poly College Republicans will be showing the film “Islam: What the West Needs to Know” followed by a question-and-answer session with director Gregory Davis.

Brian Eller is a materials engineering senior, a member of a member of the Cal Poly College Republicans and a conservative columnist for the Mustang Daily.