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- Jewish World Review Nov. 20, 2003 / 25 Mar-Cheshvan, 5764
- by © 2003, Diana West - I'd like to think that with Ramadan
rolling around again, President Bush at least considered calling
off his annual White House dinner with assorted
Muslim luminaries to break their holiday fast. No
other religious group — not Jews, Catholics, Protestants
or even Druids — rates an official celebration like the
Iftaar supper, a White House "tradition"
since 2001. That was the year the United States first decided
that "reaching out" to Muslims following Muslim terrorist
attacks on the United States was a good idea. Three Ramadans
later, a sense of dining entitlement has no doubt kicked in that's
harder to buck than not.
- So,the president hosted his Ramadan dinner. Believing (and
having written) that this man is all that separates us from the
abyss, I'm pulling for Mr. Bush to succeed. At the same time,
I'm also hoping he choked a little on his official remarks, at
least on the part where he called on people of all faiths to
reflect on "the values we hold common — love of family,
gratitude to G-d, and" — insert Heimlich Maneuver here
— "a commitment to religious freedom."
- Islam may have a lot of things — love of family and
gratitude to G-d, as the president said, along with jihad (holy
war), dhimmitude (inferior status of non-Muslims) and a corner
on the suicide bombing market — but it
does not have "a commitment to religious freedom."
And, that goes even after excluding al Qaeda, the Taliban and
the entire royal family of Saudi Arabia. Take Egypt. According
to a report I first saw posted at www.robertspencer.org, a new
Web site devoted to both jihad and dhimmitude, a slew of Christian
converts from Islam have been arrested since Oct. 21 in Egypt
— our modern (moderate?) friend and recipient of billions
in U.S. aid — in a crackdown on "apostates."
- As reported by the Barnabas Fund, a British watchdog group,
as many as 22 Christian converts
"have been taken from Alexandria to police stations in Cairo
and are being beaten, interrogated and tortured."
The charge? Falsifying identity papers. While it's not technically
against the law in Egypt for Muslims to convert to Christianity
— as it is under the sharia law
of, say, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia — it is illegal for
any Egyptian to drop his Muslim name for a Christian name. "Thus,"
as the Barnabas Fund explains, Christian converts
in Egypt are always "regarded as Muslims
in the eyes of the law."
- The repercussions never end. Muslim women
who convert to Christianity are prohibited from marrying Christian
men, while children of converts
are regarded as Muslims and educated as Muslims. Even
in death, converts must be buried as Muslims. As a result, the
Barnabas Fund explains, some Christian converts apply for official
papers under assumed names the Egyptian state considers illegal.
If their unofficially adopted Christian names are detected, converts
are open to charges of falsifying official documents — "which
can be used as a way of punishing them for their apostasy."
- What was that the president was saying about Judaism, Christianity
and Islam being equally committed to freedom of religion? It
sounds like the voice of diplomatic politesse — as it does
every time Mr. Bush insists the Muslim terrorists waging jihad
on Western civilization "are evil people
who have hijacked a great religion." It may seem
nice and neighborly, but such a formulation categorically denies the fact that there is something inherent to
that "great religion" — jihad and dhimmitude,
for starters — that inspires the supposed "hijacking,"
shaping a theology that has always been part terrorist manifesto.
This same soft-soap routine also obscures the desperate need
for Islamic reformation, an accommodation with modernity that
would allow other religions to coexist with Islam without fear.
- The impulse to hide the truth about Islam — about its
connection to terrorism and its disconnection from Western civilization
— is a shocking fact of the "war on terrorism."
Addressing reporters on the day of his Ramadan dinner, Mr. Bush
said Muslim leaders have asked him: "Why
do Americans think Muslims are terrorists?" Instead
of answering, "Because an unending pattern
of catastrophic terrorism against the United States has been
perpetrated by Muslims, that's why," Mr. Bush
replied: "That's not what Americans think. Americans think
terrorists are evil people who have hijacked a great religion."
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- Preaching on Saudi state television from the holy mosque
in Medina, Shaykh Salah Bin-Muhammad al-Budayr recently hailed
Ramadan, concluding his sermon (according to a translation at
www.imra.org.il): "O G-d, support Islam
and Muslims and destroy the enemies of Islam, including Jews,
Christians and atheists. . . . O G-d, deal with the Jews for
they are within your power. . . O G-d, shake the land under their
feet, instill fear in their hearts and make them a booty for
Muslims and a lesson to others."
- Such sermonizing — quite common in the Muslim world
— may show a commitment to something, but religious freedom
isn't it. (Bold lettering has been added by editor
of Cephas Ministry)
- Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in
Washington and in the media consider "must reading."
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