Week 10 HIS 105 Fall 2016

The presentation may contain content that is deemed objectionable to a particular viewer because of the view expressed or the conduct depicted. The views expressed are provided for learning purposes only, and do not necessarily express the views, or opinions, of Strayer University, your professor, or those participating in videos or other media.

We will have two at 7:30 and, at 9:00 pm. I will take roll after the second break before you are dismissed at 10:15 pm.

CHAPTER 29

Globalization and Its Discontents

Frustrations with disparities of wealth, the tight relationship between business and politicians, and the size of the federal government have led to an array of protests since 2008. Here, a member of the Tea Party, which mostly protested the size of the federal government, marches in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012, waving his “Don't Tread on Me” flag.

Learning Outcomes

29-1 Describe the first term of the presidency of George W. Bush, and explain how the events of his first year in office shaped his presidency.

29-2 Describe George W. Bush’s plans for democracy in the Middle East, and assess the degree of success he had.

29-3 Discuss the domestic problems that America faced during George W. Bush’s second term.

29-4 Explain some of the hopes and frustrations of Barack Obama’s first years in office.

“The advent of the information age spawned challenges as well as opportunities.”

The advent of the information age spawned challenges as well as opportunities. Cyberthieves capable of stealing information over the Internet used that information to apply for credit cards to make a quick profit. International markets became more challenging to predict and manage. Most deadly of all, many people in the world began to view America’s predominant place in the global economy as a threat to their way of life. Several nebulous multinational groups, inspired by religious fanaticism and anti-Americanism, and tied together by easy access to information and global communication, rose to challenge the United States, drawing the nation into what was called a global war on terror.

29-1 George W. Bush

Winning only a minority of the popular vote, Bush came to office with no mandate. But he pressed ahead with his conservative agenda nonetheless. The centerpiece of this agenda was a large tax cut for wealthy Americans. And, despite critics’ claims that the tax cut would wipe out the budget surplus created during the Clinton years, the Republican Congress passed Bush’s $1.3 trillion tax cut. Some argued that Bush was simply continuing the Reagan Revolution of “starving the beast” of government regulations and entitlements that had developed since the rise of the Industrial Age at the end of the nineteenth century and was carried through the Progressive era, the New Deal, and the Great Society. Bush similarly followed conservative strategy when it came to the environment, promising to search for oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which critics called America’s last wilderness. He also pulled out of missile treaty agreements with Russia and refused to participate in an international agreement to control global warming.

al Qaeda

A global militant Islamic organization founded in 1988 or 1989 by Osama bin Laden to advocate through publicity and violence a strict interpretation of Islamic law and to prohibit the penetration of the Middle East by Western and other outside influences

But Bush faced a strong rebuke on May 24, 2001, when Senator Jim Jeffords, a Republican from Vermont, declared himself unhappy with the president’s leadership and direct rightward approach to governing, and announced that he would caucus as an independent, which shifted control of the Senate to the Democrats. Bush’s policies now seemed unlikely to pass, and his right-wing rhetoric had cost him necessary votes. In early September 2001 he was a president adrift.

29-1a September 11

Bush’s presidency was revived on September 11, 2001, when nineteen of Osama bin Laden’s associates hijacked four U.S. airliners and attempted to fly them into various buildings across the country. Three of the four planes hit their targets. Two flew into each of New York City’s World Trade Center towers, causing the 110-story towers to collapse. Another plane crashed into the side of the Pentagon, the government’s central military office. On the fourth jet, passengers, aware of the unfolding tragedy through the use of their cellular phones, overtook the hijackers, and the jet crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. In total, more than 3,000 people died in the attacks.

29-1b War in Afghanistan and War on Terror

The war in Afghanistan started in October 2001, and the Taliban were driven from power two months later. Unfortunately, U.S. and coalition troops at first found neither bin Laden nor many of his leading associates, who fled to the mountains of Pakistan. Coalition forces and Afghanis, meanwhile, had a difficult time establishing a stable government capable of holding the nation together, and the American military continues its strong presence in much of Afghanistan, perhaps a major irony of Osama bin Laden’s attacks on 9/11, which of course sought to oust the U.S. from the Middle East.

The seemingly easy initial victory in Afghanistan and the stinging memory of the September 11 attacks prompted Bush to call for a larger war, which he called a “war on terror.” While many said that a war of that magnitude could not be easily fought because there was no definable end, no specific battleground, and no specific enemy, most Americans went along with the president. He established military bases in Central Asia and the Philippines to combat militant Islamic insurgencies. He also sought to renew friendships with India and Pakistan in order to have well-positioned allies within the Middle East. He developed a new doctrine, called the Bush doctrine, which declared America’s right to fight a “preemptive war” against any nation that, one day, might threaten the United States.

Bush doctrine

Political principle articulated by President George W. Bush in which he declared America’s right to fight a "preemptive war" against any nation that, one day, might threaten the United States

Bush also used the war on terror to reorganize the U.S. intelligence community. Shortly after September 11, he created the Department of Homeland Security as a cabinet-level position, the fifteenth cabinet department serving under the president. In 2005, Bush established the director of National Intelligence, which supplanted the CIA director as the principal intelligence officer in the nation, coordinating the efforts of the entire intelligence community.

29-1c USA PATRIOT Act

September 11 also allowed Bush to push his conservative social agenda domestically. Claiming his policies were useful in the war on terror, Bush (1) passed another round of tax cuts, aimed especially at the wealthy; (2) increased the size of the military; and (3) cut back spending on social welfare programs, the same three agenda items begun during the Reagan Revolution. The war in Afghanistan gave Bush the political capital to push for greater intrusions into privacy as well. In an effort to root out terrorism, the USA PATRIOT Act allowed the federal government to monitor—without judicial warrants—libraries, bookstores, banks, and even people’s homes, although notable abuses of these policies have yet to emerge. 

Obama set to extend the Patriot Act, 4:31 

Eight years after the Patriot Act became law in the United States, Obama has told lawmakers that he wants to reauthorize three parts of the act that were set to expire later this year. Many people have said that the Patriot Act is an invasion of privacy and opens the door for abuses of power, so why would Obama extend one of former President Bush's policies? 

https://youtu.be/4NSL4CAePWQ 






29-2 Remaking the Middle East?

With fears of another 9/11 attack keeping him, in his words, “up at night,” Bush decided to use his recently declared right to “preemptive action” in the war on terror.
29-2a Regime Change in Iraq

First on Bush’s list was Iraq, the country his father had battled a decade before in the 1991 Gulf War, but which had been friendly toward the United States during the Cold War. Some of Bush’s key advisors had been his father’s advisors as well, and many of them were troubled by his father’s 1991 decision not to invade Iraq in order to remove dictator Saddam Hussein. One of these was Bush’s powerful vice president, Richard “Dick” Cheney. 

Regime change reversed 

"The President Blinked": Why Obama Changed Course on Syria | FRONTLINE, 4:45 

Obama said in 2012 that if the Assad regime in Syria carried out a chemical weapons attack, it would be a "red line" whose crossing would bring "enormous consequences." So when Assad appeared to cross that line in August of 2013, Obama ordered the U.S. military to get ready. But as FRONTLINE details in this excerpt from "Obama at War," the president had second thoughts. MORE: http://to.pbs.org/1JRHmlx WATCH THE FULL DOCUMENTARY "OBAMA AT WAR" HERE beginning May 26 at 10 pm ET: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontli... Twitter: https://twitter.com/frontlinepbs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frontline Google+: https://plus.google.com/+frontline/posts FRONTLINE is streaming more than 180 documentaries online, for free, here: http://to.pbs.org/hxRvQP Funding for FRONTLINE's YouTube channel is provided by the Knight Foundation. FRONTLINE is made possible by PBS and CPB. Major support is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Park Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation and Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. 

https://youtu.be/ioxClOzTkj0 









OBAMA FUNDED ISLAMIC STATE FOR REGIME CHANGE IN SYRIA, 8:07 

Internal documents obtained by FOI reveal Obama's administration currently views ISIS as strategic asset. Supporting Links: Judicial Watch FOI Document via DIA http://www.judicialwatch.org/document... U.S. Cut Cash to Iraq on Iran, ISIS Fears http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-cut-c... Former Defense Intelligence Agency Chief Says: Obama White House Made “Willful Decision To Support Al-Qaeda And Muslim Brotherhood In Syria” http://shoebat.com/2015/08/08/former-... Weapons analysis of captured weapons in Iraq http://conflictarm.com/wp-content/upl. 

https://youtu.be/TIpM-sjhjsU 






29-2b A Democratic Middle East?

After the fall of Baghdad, the American military attempted for eight years to create a democracy in Iraq. Violent attacks from insurgents continued throughout the attempt, and nearly ten times more Americans died in Iraq after President Bush declared victory in 2003, but some progress has been made. A hateful and hated dictator, Saddam Hussein, was ejected. In early 2005, Iraqis voted for members of a constitutional convention, and in May 2005, the convention elected its first prime minister and cabinet. By December 2011, the nation was deemed stable enough for the American operation to end formally, but the violent insurgency continues to kill Iraqis and destabilize the nation, leading many commentators, including some American military leaders, to suggest that creating a democratic state in Iraq might be impossible, with the more likely short- and perhaps long-term result being an enduring civil war between rival religious and ethnic factions.
29-2c Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay

In April 2004, at the same time U.S. forces were attempting to rebuild Iraq into what many hoped would be a stable democratic republic in the mold of the United States, America’s claims to be fighting to expand freedoms in the Middle East were undermined by reports from Iraq. These news reports revealed that U.S. Army prison guards had tortured suspected terrorists in the Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib. When pictures surfaced showing inmates strapped to electrical charges and stripped naked while being exposed to growling dogs, many Americans wondered how the U.S. government could claim to be advancing democracy while engaging in such behavior. 

Obama hearkens democratic Arab Spring 

How The Arab Spring Changed Europe Forever, 4:10 

Since 2010, the Arab Spring has had an unprecedented impact across the Middle East, and now, with the recent migrant crisis, the rest of the world. Will it change these nations forever? 

https://youtu.be/lGGDfmhKoyk 







29-3 Domestic Woes

As expenses for the fight against terrorism mounted, the economy slowed considerably from the frenetic pace of the 1990s. One reason was that the information technology companies that had sustained much of the 1990s growth began to consolidate. The broad expansion associated with creating an entirely new industry began to slow down.

29-3a Corporate Scandals

Concurrent with this slowdown, a number of corporate scandals erupted. The most shocking of these concerned the Enron Corporation, a large Houston energy company, which filed for bankruptcy in 2002. Badly overextending itself in its quest to consolidate different kinds of businesses and led by unscrupulous cheats, the company could not pay its bills, leading to a spiral of other business failures. Twenty thousand employees lost much of their pensions, while corrupt and mercenary executives, who saw the crash coming, cashed out before the company’s decline and were well provided for. The scandal prompted a congressional investigation, especially because President Bush was a close friend of several of Enron’s leaders, including its chairman, Kenneth Lay. Several other companies, including Arthur Andersen and Halliburton, also came under scrutiny, and many similarly fell into disrepute.


29-3b The Election of 2004

Bush came up for reelection with the newspapers filled with corporate scandals, continued insurgencies in Iraq, and a slowing economy. But his approval rating remained high, and many Americans praised his leadership following the September 11 attacks. In addition, the partisanship that had emerged during the Clinton years ensured that Bush would have a strong base of conservative supporters, no matter what his current political status. 

Obama's domestic woes 

Thomas Sowell - Obama's Failed Economic Policies, 4:58 

Obama promised an economic stimulus and delivered an economic sedative. http://www.LibertyPen.com 

https://youtu.be/Xi8eLSyb7RM 


Obama Mocks Trump For Suggesting He Can Bring Back Carrier Jobs, 1:10
Obama Mocked Trump For Saying He'd Keep Carrier Jobs In The U.S. June of 2016.
https://youtu.be/lkiudbI43iQ
Donald Trump, Carrier Plant Reach Deal To Keep 1K Jobs In US | All In | MSNBC, 2:03
https://youtu.be/rJAtzKURX9Q






29-3c Hurricane Katrina

Seven months after Bush was sworn into his second term as president, a huge hurricane swept across the Caribbean, pummeling the Gulf Coast. Katrina had been a mild, Category 1 hurricane as it crossed Florida from the Atlantic, but it picked up strength in the Gulf of Mexico, wreaking havoc on Gulf Coast cities in Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama. Then the storm took an unexpected northward turn, slamming into New Orleans. While many locals had fled the city, most of those who remained witnessed a harsh storm but, they thought, not one strong enough to destroy the city. They were wrong. After the hurricane had passed, it became clear that the storm had fatally weakened several already defective levees that protected the city from nearby waterways. Because much of the city sits below sea level, once the levees failed, the city filled with water. Entire districts drowned. People were told to go to the Louisiana Superdome for shelter, only to find the Superdome overcrowded, leaking, and generally unprepared to handle the crisis. 

Media ignoring Obama, Bush parallel? 3:50 

Bias Bash: Ellen Ratner on why the media is much more forgiving of Obama's response to flooding in Louisiana then to Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina 

https://youtu.be/6DN4brsK2ws 



Trump visits flood-ravaged Louisiana, slams Obama's absence, 5:03 

Reaction on 'The Kelly File' after president chooses not to leave Martha's Vineyard 

https://youtu.be/3obUVA9BA24 










29-3d The Great Recession


Domestic woes continued to mount throughout 2008, culminating toward the end of that year with the announcement that several of the nation’s largest banks had overextended themselves and were filing for bankruptcy protection from the federal government. Many smaller banks had consolidated into a handful of large ones, taking advantage of the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had been passed during the Great Depression to prevent rampant speculation by banks. Most of these large banks either had offered housing loans to unqualified buyers by enticing them through low, “teaser” rates or had purchased large numbers of these risky loans from other banks. When buyers began defaulting on their loans, often after the three- or five-year “teaser” rates expired, banks stopped receiving payments and went into a cash crisis. Unwilling to part with their remaining cash reserves, they made it more difficult for borrowers to obtain loans and less money entered the American economy. Businesses stopped expanding, and people became increasingly unable to borrow money to buy homes and goods. With the consumer market slowing down, the rest of the economy slowed down as well, and by late 2008 the American economy settled into what economists have called “the Great Recession.” 

The Great Recession Explained in 3 Minutes | Hillsdale College Econ 101, 2:55 

Learn how the Austrian business cycle theory can explain the Great Recession of 2008. You can register for Hillsdale College's free Econ 101 course here: 

https://online.hillsdale.edu/sslpage.... Hillsdale College offers free, not-for-credit online courses by its faculty. These online versions are based upon those in the College's undergraduate Core Curriculum, which all Hillsdale students must complete prior to graduation. In addition to lectures, these online courses feature readings, study guides, quizzes, and discussion groups. There is also an opportunity to receive certificates of completion for each course. You can register here: https://online.hillsdale.edu/sslpage.... 

https://youtu.be/Dz_7ikEc26w 








29-4 President Obama

As Bush concluded his second term in office, then, the nation still appeared divided by culture wars, frightening foreign events continued to preoccupy Americans, and, most importantly, the economy seemed on the verge of collapse. In the atmosphere of Republican failure, Democrats sensed they could win back the White House and, perhaps, stop the conservative ascendancy that had been mounting since the 1970s. Democrats vowed to expand some social programs, including nationalizing America’s health care system. They promised to take a less militant stance in world affairs, hoping to reach out diplomatically to potentially hostile countries. And they promised to rein in the war on terror.


29-4a The Election of 2008

Within these debates, the Democratic Party witnessed the emergence of two historic candidates, Hillary Clinton, senator from New York State and former First Lady, and Barack Obama, a mixed-race senator from lllinois. After a grueling primary battle, Obama became the first African American to win the nomination of a major political party, a dramatic demonstration of the transformation of American life since the civil rights movement. Promising a change from the cultural wars ascendant since the 1980s, Obama squared off against Vietnam War veteran John McCain, who, at seventy-two, would have become the oldest person to win the presidency. But McCain’s candidacy was plagued by his ties to the increasingly unpopular George W. Bush and by a generally disorganized campaign. In addition, his vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, polarized the population with her folksy antigovernment rhetoric and her seeming lack of preparedness for the job, something especially troubling because of McCain’s age. Meanwhile, Obama’s message of practical centrism and an end to the politics of division was greatly boosted by the economic turmoil taking place in the midst of the campaign (and on the watch of a Republican president). On Election Day, the race was not a close one, with Obama handily winning the Electoral College and emerging with 52 percent of the popular vote to McCain’s 46 percent—a difference of more than 7 million voters (Map 29.2). 

Remember when Obama said his election victory would cause sea levels to recede, heal the planet, :46 

Obama's nomination victory speech, 2008. 'I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.' 

https://youtu.be/PH6p_gkJYPI 



Obama’s promise of change questioned as presidency closes, 3:15 

https://youtu.be/PvLx08PAPk8 










29-4b Obama’s Presidency

As president, Obama confronted a host of challenges, but three issues occupied his first term: (1) drawing down the war on terror; (2) passing the nation’s first comprehensive health care bill; and (3) handling the Great Recession and the collection of protestors surrounding it.

Drawing Down the War on Terror 

Gen. Mattis Rips Obama Foreign Policy at Hearing | SUPERcuts! #155, 1:14 

Published on Jan 28, 2015 Gen. James Mattis questions White House strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan, ponders what's happening in Syria and bemoans America's lack of influence in the Middle East. 

https://youtu.be/tjwrii0rDj0 



Everything we know about Trump's Defense Secretary pick: Gen. James Mattis, 1:51 

https://youtu.be/FsLxrJa5fCw 









The Health Care Act 

President Obama Rebukes Rep. Tom Price On Health Insurance Reform, 6:11
https://youtu.be/UOuougZVPZk 








A closer look at Tom Price's plan to replace Obamacare, 2:35, 

https://youtu.be/JgsCZY6eOzM 





29-4c Backlash from the Right and the Left

Given that Reagan, then Bill Clinton, then George W. Bush all used the language of advocating small government (even if their actions did not live up to the rhetoric), it was predictable that a conservative backlash would emerge. Calling themselves the Tea Party and embracing the folksy language of Sarah Palin, many conservative Americans protested what they saw as Obama’s expansion of the federal government, a complaint made against Democrats since the New Deal. Using Tea Party support, in 2010, Republicans won back control of the House of Representatives, although it wasn’t entirely clear whether the results reflected a genuine sentiment against Obama’s expansion of the welfare state or a broader discomfort with the stalled economy. Furthermore, in 2010 the Republicans took advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which prohibited the federal government from limiting the amount of money corporations could spend on elections. The combination of increased corporate expenditures and free-market libertarianism espoused by the Tea Party has captured increasing amounts of the Republican Party.

29-4d The Election of 2012

Throughout 2012, the economy showed sparks of improvement, although most economists were hesitant to declare any full-fledged recovery from the Great Recession of 2008. Nevertheless, certain industries seemed to be booming, such as cellular devices and smartphones and those industries that catered to them, especially those related to social media such as Facebook and Twitter. For his part, Obama sought to utilize the youthful energy that propelled him into the White House in 2008 once again in 2012. The Republicans countered Obama with a member of the longtime party faithful, Willard “Mitt” Romney, the son of Republican politician George Romney (a former governor of Michigan) and a wealthy businessman who had advocated and taken advantage of the deregulations begun in the Reagan years in order to grow wealthy. After becoming a millionaire, Romney left business and entered politics, first successfully organizing the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, then serving as governor of Massachusetts from 2002 to 2006. Another groundbreaking candidate, Romney was the first Mormon to be put forward as the presidential candidate from a major political party. 

Obama Supporters Actually Hate Obama's Policies, 7:33 

Luke Rudkowski hits the streets of NYC to find out where Obama supporters really stand on his policies. Now he did this in an underhanded way where the policies where presented to be Romney's, but this was only done to get an honest opinion. The reactions when the truth was uncovered varied but they were very telling to say the least. Here are some of the sources that were mentioned throughout the interviews 1st question, part 1 - Obama, in Europe, signs Patriot Act extension http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43180202/... 1st question, part 2 - Warrantless Spying Skyrockets Under Obama http://reason.com/archives/2012/10/03... 2nd question - President Obama Signed the National Defense Authorization Act - Now What? http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/... 3rd question - Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/wor... 4th question - Drone wars and state secrecy -- how Barack Obama became a hardliner http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/... 

https://youtu.be/Skw-0jv9kts 








Why The Obama Message Worked - FRank Luntz, 3:44 

https://youtu.be/r7MBqtOLwdA 





2016 Election

Bolling: Just American

watch-eric-bolling-slams-democrats-for-blaming-their-election-loss-on-sexism-and-racism

From 2008-2016 Obama's party in Congress has lost considerable ground. 


                      Senate 
Congress Years         Total   Dems Reps Others Vac. Total   Dems    Reps   Others Vacant
110th     2007–2009     100     49     49     2     —     435     233     198     —     4
111th     2009–2011     100     57     41     2     2       435     256     178     —     1
112th     2011–2013     100     51     47     2     —     435     193     242     —     —
113th     2013–2015     100     54     45     1     —     435     201     234     —     —
114th     2015–2017     100     44     54     2     —     435     188     246     —     1

From 2008 - 2015 Obama's party has lost gubernatorial seats down from 28 in 2008 to just 18 in 2015:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/198486/number-of-governors-in-the-us-by-political-party-affiliation/



Islamism is an ideology that demands man's complete adherence to the sacred law of Islam and rejects as much as possible outside influence, with some exceptions (such as access to military and medical technology).











An Islamist then is imbued with a deep antagonism towards non-Muslims and has a particular hostility towards the West. It results in the effort to demonstrate that Islam is an ideology.

Qader Noorzad, Mujahideen (Arabic: المجاهدين‎‎) is the plural form of mujahid (Arabic: مجاهد‎‎), the term for one engaged in Jihad. In English usage, it mostly referred to the guerrilla type military outfits led by the Muslim Afgha
n warriors in
Soviet war in Afghanistan, but now it often refers to other jihadist outfits in various countries.

Cat Stevens, "Peace Train," "Morning Has Broken," early 1970s

1979, Islamic Revolution

Baha'i and Bahá'u'lláh (/bəˈhɑːʊˌlɑː/; Arabic: بهاء الله‎‎, "Glory of God"; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892), born Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Núrí (Persian: میرزا حسینعلی نوری‎‎), was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.

Salman Rushdie, 1988

David Rapoport, 1989 

The 1970s and the 1980s had a huge influence on my study of religion.

Islam FisherBriefPPT_Ch10.ppt
 


Attempts to Reform Islam: Feminism

Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: Perhaps most famous in the U.S. as the wife of the disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin appears to have family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. In an interview with FrontPageMag, anti-Islamist author Walid Shoebat explained that Huma’s mother, Saleha Abedin, is involved with the Muslim Brotherhood and that Huma’s brother, Hassan, sits in on the board of the Oxford Centre For Islamic Studies (OCIS) where he is a fellow and partners with other board members including “Al-Qaeda associate, Omar Naseef and the notorious Muslim Brotherhood leader Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi; both have been listed as OCIS Trustees.”

Hillary's Islamist

/huma-abedin-worked-at-a-radical-muslim-journal-for-10-years
 

The journal pinned blame for the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, the Post said, adding that it has published articles saying single moms, working moms and gay couples with children shouldn’t be recognized as families and that revealing dress “directly translates into unwanted results of sexual promiscuity and irresponsibility.”

The American Academy of Religion:

Islamic Feminism

/Ziba_Mir-Hosseini
 
"I am a free-lance academic, passionately involved in debates on gender equality in law. As a feminist, I expose and criticize the injustices that these laws continue to inflict on women in some Muslim contexts. As a Muslim, I approach these injustices by stressing one crucial element in the tradition of Muslim legal thought: the distinction between Shari‘a (the ‘path’, found in the Qur’an and the Prophet’s practice) and fiqh (‘understanding’, the jurists’s efforts to deduce laws from these textual sources); this distinction enables us to see patriarchal laws not as ‘divine Shari‘a’, but as outdated human fiqh. My aim is to bring Islamic and human rights frameworks together in order to lay the basis for an egalitarian Muslim family law."

Fiqh (/fɪk/; Arabic: فقه‎‎ [fɪqh]) is Islamicjurisprudence.^[1] While Sharia is believed by Muslims to represent divine law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah (the teachings and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad), fiqh is the human understanding of the Sharia^[2]—sharia expanded and developed by interpretation (ijtihad) of the Quran and Sunnah by Islamic jurists (Ulama)^[2] and implemented by the rulings (Fatwa) of jurists on questions presented to them.
 
Documentary Films
“RUNAWAY is a powerful and heart-breaking documentary about a group of young runaway girls who are taken to a women's shelter in Tehran, Iran. The film focuses on the sufferings of young girls who struggle to free themselves from the tyrannical and abusive power of their families, mainly their fathers, brothers, and stepfathers. The sisterly feelings of the girls towards each other, their spiritual strength, their courage to rebel, and their wit are shown with a great degree of compassion and empathy in the film. The filmmakers have beautifully criticized the patriarchal system of family and the destructive power of male family members over the lives of their daughters and sisters. One can imagine that the issue of confinement and abuse goes beyond the issue of class when it comes to the problem of domestic violence and the desire to control women through anger, aggression and madness.” - Mehrnaz Saeed, Colombia College Chicago Divorce Iranian Style Hilarious, tragic, stirring, this fly-on-the-wall look at several weeks in an Iranian divorce court provides a unique window into the intimate circumstances of Iranian women’s lives. Following Jamileh, whose husband beats her; Ziba, a 16-year-old trying to divorce her 38-year-old husband; and Maryam, who is desperately fighting to gain custody of her daughters, this deadpan chronicle showcases the strength, ingenuity, and guile with which they confront biased laws, a Kafaka-esque administrative system, and their husbands’ and families’ rage to gain divorces. 

Scholar and filmmaker Ziba Mir-Hosseini, a specialist in Islamic law, gender and development and Professorial Research Associate at the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Law, University of London, is the recipient of the 2015 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. At the Marty Forum, Professor Mir-Hosseini will be interviewed by Diana L. Eck, Harvard University. The Marty Award recognizes extraordinary contributions to the public understanding of religion.

Michael Kessler (Georgetown University) and Ayesha S. Chaudhry (University of British Columbia), Presiding

Fight for equality for women in Islam: Musawah.
I am a free-lance academic, passionately involved in debates on gender equality in law. As a feminist, I expose and criticize the injustices that these laws continue to inflict on women in some Muslim contexts. As a Muslim, I approach these injustices by stressing one crucial element in the tradition of Muslim legal thought: the distinction between Shari‘a (the ‘path’, found in the Qur’an and the Prophet’s practice) an

Pakistan is often caricatured and stereotyped as a volatile nuclear country on the precipice of disaster. Such depictions are often especially acerbic when comes to the issue of Women’s rights in the country. In her important new book, Interpreting Islam, Modernity, and Women’s Rights in Pakistan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), Anita Weiss, Professor of International Studies at the University of Oregon, provides a much-needed corrective to such sensationalist stereotypes. By exploring how multiple state and non-state actors have engaged the question of gender and women’s rights over time and space, Weiss demonstrates ways in which a diversity of voices in Pakistan conduct what she calls “everyday Ijtihad,” thus offering a much more nuanced and informed perspective. In our conversation, we talked about a range of issues such as the history of the Pakistani state’s approach towards defining and engaging women’s rights, the role of Progressive NGOs like the Aurat Foundation, Orthodox Islamist voices on this question, and the Tehrik-i Taliban in Swat. This lucidly written book contains a plethora of useful information and analysis for specialists and non-specialists alike.
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/003-wife-beating.htm

The Qur'an: Qur'an (4:34) - "Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great." Qur'an (38:44) - "And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with it, and do not break your oath..." Allah telling Job to beat his wife (Tafsir).

From the Hadith: Bukhari (72:715) - A woman came to Muhammad and begged her to stop her husband from beating her. Her skin was bruised so badly that she it is described as being "greener" than the green veil she was wearing. Muhammad did not admonish her husband, but instead ordered her to return to him and submit to his sexual desires. Bukhari (72:715) - "Aisha said, 'I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women'" This is Muhammad's own wife complaining of the abuse that the women of her religions suffer relative to other women. Muslim (4:2127) - Muhammad struck his favorite wife, Aisha, in the chest one evening when she left the house without his permission. Aisha narrates, "He struck me on the chest which caused me pain." Muslim (9:3506) - Muhammad's father-in-laws (Abu Bakr and Umar) amused him by slapping his wives (Aisha and Hafsa) for annoying him. According to the Hadith, the prophet of Islam laughed upon hearing this. Abu Dawud (2141) - "Iyas bin ‘Abd Allah bin Abi Dhubab reported the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying: Do not beat Allah’s handmaidens, but when ‘Umar came to the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Women have become emboldened towards their husbands, he (the Prophet) gave permission to beat them." At first, Muhammad forbade men from beating their wives, but he rescinded this once it was reported that women were becoming emboldened toward their husbands. Beatings are sometimes necessary to keep women in their place. Abu Dawud (2142) - "The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife." Abu Dawud (2126) - "A man from the Ansar called Basrah said: 'I married a virgin woman in her veil. When I entered upon her, I found her pregnant. (I mentioned this to the Prophet).' The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: 'She will get the dower, for you made her vagina lawful for you. The child will be your slave. When she has begotten (a child), flog her'" A Muslim man thinks his is getting a virgin, then finds out she is pregnant. Muhammad tells him to treat the woman as a sex slave and then flog her after she has delivered the child. Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 969 - Requires that a married woman be "put in a separate room and beaten lightly" if she "act in a sexual manner toward others." According to the Hadith, this can be for an offense as petty as merely being alone with a man to whom she is not related. Kash-shaf (the revealer) of al-Zamkhshari (Vol. 1, p. 525) - [Muhammad said] "Hang up your scourge where your wife can see it"

Additional Notes: Some contemporary Muslim apologists often squirm over this relatively straightforward verse from the Qur'an (4:34) - which actually give men the right to beat their wives if they even have a "fear" of disloyalty or disobedience. Their rhetorical aerobics inspired us to write a separate article: Wife Beating- Good Enough for Muhammad, Good Enough for You Others are not nearly as squeamish. Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradhawi, one of the most respected Muslim clerics in the world, once made the famous (and somewhat ridiculous statement) that "It is forbidden to beat the woman, unless it is necessary." He also went on to say that "one may beat only to safeguard Islamic behavior," leaving no doubt that wife-beating is a matter of religious sanction. (source) Dr. Muzammil Saddiqi, the former president of ISNA (the Islamic Society of North America), a mainstream Muslim organization, says it is important that a wife "recognizes the authority of her husband in the house" and that he may use physical force if he is "sure it would improve the situation." (source) Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the head of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution says that "light beatings" and "punching" are part of a program to "reform the wife" (source). Dr. Jamal Badawi endorses corporal punishment as "another measure that may save the marriage" (source). He isn't clear on how striking a woman will make her more inclined toward staying with her assailant, unless the implication is fear of a more serious beating if she leaves. Egyptian cleric, Abd al-Rahman Mansour, said in a 2012 televised broadcast that in addition to discouraging the wife from filing divorce, beatings would inspire the wife to "treat him with kindness and respect, and know that her husband has a higher status than her." (source) During Ramadan of 2010, another cleric named Sa'd Arafat actually said the woman is "honored" by the beating (source). No one else seemed terribly surprised by this. An undercover report from progressive Sweden in 2012 found that 60% of mosques there actually advised beaten women not to report the abuse to the police. These women were also told that they must submit to non-consensual 'sex' with their husbands. (source) In the birthplace of Islam, about half of Saudi women are beaten at home. "Hands and sticks were found to be used mostly in beating women, following by men’s head cover and to a lesser extent, sharp objects." (source) According to Islamic law, a husband may strike his wife for any one of the following four reasons: - She does not attempt to make herself beautiful for him (ie. "let's herself go") - She refuses to meet his sexual demands - She leaves the house without his permission or for a "legitimate reason" - She neglects her religious duties Any of these are also sufficient grounds for divorce. Respected Quran scholars from the past interpreted verse 4:34 with impressive candor. Tabari said that it means to "admonish them, but if they refused to repent, then tie them up in their homes and beat them until they obey Allah’s commands toward you." Qurtubi told wife-beaters to try to avoid breaking bones, but added that "it is not a crime if it leads to death." (source) Muslim apologists sometimes say that Muhammad ordered that women not be harmed, but they are actually basing this on what he said before or during battle, such as in Bukhari (59:447), when Muhammad issued a command for all the men of Quraiza be killed and the women and children taken as slaves. (Having your husband murdered and being forced into sexual slavery apparently doesn't qualify as "harm" under the Islamic model). But, in fact, there are a number of cases in which Muhammad did have women killed in the most brutal fashion. One was Asma bint Marwan, a mother or five, who wrote a poem criticizing the Medinans for accepting Muhammad after he had ordered the murder of an elderly man. In this case, the prophet's assassins literally pulled a sleeping infant from her breast and stabbed her to death. After taking Mecca in 630, Muhammad also ordered the murder of a slave girl who had merely made up songs mocking him. The Hadith are rife as well with accounts of women planted in the ground on Muhammad's command and pelted to death with stones for sexual immorality - yet the prophet of Islam actually encouraged his own men to rape women captured in battle (Abu Dawood 2150, Muslim 3433) and did not punish them for killing non-Muslim women (as Khalid ibn Walid did on several occasions - see Ibn Ishaq 838 and 856). In summary, according to the Qur'an, Hadith and Islamic law, a woman may indeed have physical harm done to her if the circumstances warrant, with one such allowance being in the case of disobedience. This certainly does not mean that all Muslim men beat their wives, only that Islam permits them to do so.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Explaining Taqqiya, 3:47

Why are there positive explanations of feminist Islam?






Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Dutch: [aːˈjaːn ˈɦiːrsi ˈaːli] ( listen), born Ayaan Hirsi Magan,^[a] on 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, author, and former Dutch politician. She is a leading opponent of female genital mutilation, and calls for a reformation of Islam.^[1] She is a feminist and atheist. Her latest book was released in 2015 and is called: Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.

In 2003, Hirsi Ali was elected a member of the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Dutch parliament), representing the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). A political crisis related to the validity of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from parliament, and indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet in 2006.^[2]

Ayaan has been a vocal critic of Islam. In 2004, she collaborated on a short movie with Theo van Gogh, entitled Submission, the English rendering of the word "Islam", a film about the oppression of women under Islam. The documentary sparked controversy, which resulted in death threats against the two and the eventual assassination of Van Gogh later that year by Mohammed Bouyeri, a second-generation migrant from Morocco. In a 2007 interview, she described Islam as an "enemy" that needs to be defeated before peace can be achieved.^[3] But in her latest book Heretic (2015) she moderated her views of Islam and now calls for a reform of the religion by supporting reformist Muslims.^[4]

In 2005, Hirsi Ali was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.^[5] She has also received several awards, including a free speech award from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten,^[6] the Swedish Liberal Party's Democracy Prize,^[7] and the Moral Courage Award for commitment to conflict resolution, ethics, and world citizenship.^[8] Hirsi Ali has published two autobiographies: in 2006^[9] and 2010.

Hirsi Ali emigrated to the United States, where she was a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute.^[10] She founded the women's rights organization the AHA Foundation.^[11] She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2013 and that year was made a fellow at the Kennedy Government School at Harvard University and a member of The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center.^[12][13] She is married to British historian and public commentator Niall Ferguson.


https://youtu.be/Mmf0zi4FI6Q



As a review, bear in mind the self-critical, and skeptical tradition that characterizes the Judeo-Christian West with figures such as Voltaire, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche.

Christianity

In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767, he wrote about Christianity:

La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde.
"[Christianity] is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world. Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition, I do not say among the rabble, who are not worthy of being enlightened and who are apt for every yoke; I say among honest people, among men who think, among those who wish to think. ... My one regret in dying is that I cannot aid you in this noble enterprise, the finest and most respectable which the human mind can point out.."

In La bible enfin expliquee, he considered Bible as:

It is characteristic of fanatics who read the holy scriptures to tell themselves: God killed, so I must kill; Abraham lied, Jacob deceived, Rachel stole: so I must steal, deceive, lie. But, wretch, you are neither Rachel, nor Jacob, nor Abraham, nor God; you are just a mad fool, and the popes who forbade the reading of the Bible were extremely wise.

Mohammed

In his tragedy Le Fanatisme ou Mahomet, Voltaire described Mohammed as an "impostor", a " false prophet", a "fanatic" and a "hypocrite". Voltaire defended the play, he said that he "tried to show in it into what horrible excesses fanaticism, led by an impostor, can plunge weak minds".

One of the leading Muslims in the world--Tariq Ramandan--objected to the play, "Mohammed"--and, the performance did not take place. 

Paul Lawrence Berman (born 1949) is an American writer on politics and literature whose articles and reviews have appeared in numerous influential publications.

His books include Terror and Liberalism (a New York Times best-seller in 2003), The Flight of the Intellectuals, A Tale of Two Utopias, Power and the Idealists, and an illustrated children's book, Make-Believe Empire. He edited, among other anthologies, Carl Sandburg: Selected Poems, for the American Poets Project of the Library of America.


Historical-critical work on the Text of the Koran

Does the original text of the Koran exist?


Qur'an Textual Problems

The Qur’an was not collected before Mohammed died.

Significant parts of the Qur’an were obtained form its reciters and memorizers but not from manuscripts.

There is no "hard copy" version of the Qur'an, as there is for the Hebrew bible and the New Testament, to check its accuracy.

The accuracy of those codices is questionable because many reciters and memorizers of the Qur’an had already been killed in the battles of the war of the apostasies (ridda), which raged for seven months in Arabia in 633 right after the death of Muhammad.

In fact, portions of the Qur'an were irretrievably lost in the Battle of Yamama when about 450 of the companions of Muhammad who had memorized the text of the Qur’an had perished:

“Many (of the passages) of the Qur'an that were sent down were known by those who died on the day of Yamama ... but they were not known (by those who) survived them, nor were they written down, nor had Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman (by that time) collected the Qur'an, nor were they found with even one (person) after them” (Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif, p.23).

In fact, Aisha, youngest wife of Muhammad, testified that certain verses of the Qur’an on suckling and stoning were lost (Muslim 8.3421).

The second caliph ‘Umar bin al-Khattab stated emphatically that certain verses, including the verse of stoning adulterers, were lost (Bukhari 8.82.816-817; 9. .424; 4.52.299; 5.59.416, 421; Muslim 5.2286).

According to “Legal Opinions” (part 1, p. 102) of Sheikh Kishk:

“The four most important commentators were ibn ‘Abbas, ibn Mas’ud, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, and ‘Ubay ibn Ka’b al-Ansari”

However, according to Bukhari 6.61.510, the caliph ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan (644-656 AD) commanded Zayd ibn Thabit together with Abdullah ibn Zubair, Sa’id ibn al-‘As and Abdul-Rahman ibn al-Harith to collect and edit the Qur’an.

According to Islamic tradition, ‘Uthman’s text of the Qur’an was largely based on the text of the Qur’an in the possession of Hafsah (one of the wives of Muhammad and the daughter of ‘Umar bin al-Khattab).

Other important Qur’anic codices were ignored. These important codices differed radically from Hafsah’s text though Mohammed favored Ibn Mas'ud.

Ibn Mas’ud was excluded from the committee despite the fact that Muhammad himself had considered him one of the best authorities on the Qur’an:

“Learn the recitation of the Qur’an from four: Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa, Mu’adh ibn Jabal, and Ubai ibn Ka’b” (Bukhari 5.57.104; 6.61.521, 522, 524).

It is significant that Muhammad did not mention Zaid ibn Thabit in this list.

As a result, the two full chapters (Surahs) of al-Hafd and al-Khal’, which were in the Qur’anic versions of ‘Ubay ibn Ka’b, ibn ‘Abbas (a cousin of Muhammad) and Abu Musa, were eliminated.

In addition, Surah al-Fatihah (1), Surah al-Falaq (113) and Surah al-Nas (114) were added (al-Suyuti, al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum al-Qur’an, part 1, pp. 221-2).

Those Surahs were not in ibn Mas’ud codex.

More than 200 verses were dropped from Surah al-Ahzab (33) (al-Suyuti, al-Itqan, part 3, p.72).

Al-Suyuti records the two deleted chapters (Surahs) of al-Hafd and al-Khal’ in their entirety in his “al-Itqan,” part 1, p. 185.

Twenty years after Muhammad’s death, the caliph ‘Uthman codified the revised Medinan codex and ordered the destruction of all other codices in order to standardize the consonantal text of the Qur’an.

After Mohammed's death, memorizers of portions of the Qur'an disagreed on verses of the text or were killed and thus portions of the Qur'an were lost forever.

According to Muslim sources, Uthman collected what he wanted in the present text of the Qur'an and Uthman burned the portions he declined to include.

The original Qur'an, whatever it was, has not been preserved according to Islamic sources. 



In addition to the Islamic sources documenting that the original Qur'an has not been preserved scholars have added their research.

Keith E. Small

The source is a contemporary scholar who maintains that academics can examine the Quranic the text as well.

http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2011/07/textual-criticism-and-quran-manuscripts.html

This is the first book-length examination of the kinds of textual variants one can observe in Qur'an manuscripts, and how these variants affect commonly held views on the transmission of the text of the Qur'an. 

Ahmed, for instance gives a very common view that the Qur'an's original text is preserved better than the NT because of oral tradition supplementing the written tradition. 

Actually the reverse is true. The NT is better preserved because of the written record that remains, even without an accompanying oral transmission.

My book challenges this normal Islamic views and concludes that the oral tradition actually complicated the textual history rather than simplifying it and preserving the original text.

Also, if the early Caliph Uthman performed the action on the text of the Qur'an that is attributed to him in Islamic tradition of establishing one text and destroying variant texts around 653 AD, then he cut off access to more original forms of the text of the Qur'an. 

One cannot recover the original text of the Qur'an from Islamic written or oral tradition or a combination of both. 

What one can achieve is a later revised version of a consonantal text that was officially standardized in the first Islamic century. 

Also, that particular consonantal text, over three centuries, went through a process of development and improvement so that it could phonetically reproduce just one form of the text. 

Before that, the text was recited in at least 50 different ways, because the ambiguity of the Arabic script allowed such diversity. 

Every time the written script was improved it provided a new platform for the development of additional oral traditions and discouraged the use of prior ones.

The challenge of textual criticism as applied to the Qur'an is to account for the plethora of factors, both intentional and unintentional, oral and written, that have made the text what it is today. 

It was produced over four centuries to read a certain way to bring political and religious unity in the midst of competing Islamic groups. There has consistently been more of an attitude of standardizing the text to a desired ideal, then preserving the most original forms of the text.

Permit me to quote my own conclusion (p. 179):

'Though Muslims may take pride in the fidelity of the preservation of this text, it does not reproduce precisely what was originally considered to be the Qur'an in the early seventh century. Because of the standardizations of the text in 653-705/33-86 AH and 936/324 AH, together with the constant pressure throughout Islamic history to have one text match their dogma, many texts which had equally good claims to containing authentic readings were suppressed and destroyed. And, because of the emphasis on oral transmission and the vagaries of Arabic as it developed, the written text was constantly vocalized in new ways which did not preserve the original vocalization. The original vocalization must have been lost very early on if it did indeed exist. While bearing testimony to the careful preservation of one particular consonantal text, the history of the transmission of the text of the Qur'an is at least as much a testament to the destruction of Qur'an material as it is to its preservation. It is also testimony to the fact that there never was one original text of the Qur'an.'

In conclusion, the Koran, as we have it today, is the one politicized, authoritative text collated years after Mohammed died; and, this is the one version from among at least 50 that existed previously but were destroyed within Islamic tradition. The original text of the Koran does not exist."

Small's conclusion has been supported by other scholars: John Burton and Mondher Sfar demonstrate the certainty that "necessitated the placing of the collection of the Qur'an in the period following the Prophet's death" (from the book jacket).

The Collection of the Qur'an by John Burton, Cambridge University Press (1977).
http://www.librarything.com/work/3395401/33705857

In Search of the Original Koran: The True History of the Revealed Text by Mondher Sfar, Other authors: Emilia Lanier (Translator), Prometheus Books (2008).

"This is an excellent introduction to the issue of how corrupt the text of the Koran is. Sfar demonstrates that Muhammed never collected a Koran, that in fact it was a controversial decision to collect the Koran--literally recitation, and not a book--after his death, and the original fragments of Koranic material were destroyed, and perhaps most importantly, a book of the Koran did not exist until about the time of the Third Caliph. Nonetheless, Islam has suppressed any attempt to understand the Koran in historico-critical terms and has thus glossed over the problematic collection of Koranic materials. In its stead, a miraculous and fanciful narrative predominates Islamic accounts of the Koran and this fairy tale predominates contemporary accounts of Islamic development as well."

The Koran_PP.pptx
 
Activity

In small groups, compare and contrast the reliability of accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Synoptics, and the Koran.


Quranic Textual Variations & Alterations, 3:11

https://youtu.be/R6bO-bfdI_A



Life of Muhammad

Even if the text is corrupt, a religious tradition may have access to its founder, and in the case of Islam, seek to emulate Muhammed. 

As cited in the introductory PowerPoint, "Muhammad's life became a model for Muslims to follow."

Perhaps there is no need for the Qur'an.

Bill Warner, PhD: To Know Islam, Know Mohammed, 4:14

Thought experiment: compare the Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed.

Are there similarities? Differences? 

https://youtu.be/PXpX2OJhS2w



The use of assassination to achieve political/religious goals has been important throughout the history of Arabia and Islamic expansion, and the very word "assassin" has Arabic roots (حشّاشين).

This list contains the results and reasons for the targeted killings and assassinations ordered or supported by Prophet Muhammad, as well as the primary sources which mention these incidents.

List of Killings Ordered or Supported by Muhammad

http://wikiislam.net/wiki/List_of_Killings_Ordered_or_Supported_by_Muhammad
There are 43 separate incidents.

Banu Qurayza tribe 600-900 beheaded

Attack Banu Qurayza because according to Muslim tradition he had been ordered to do so by the angel Gabriel. One of Muhammad's companions decided that "the men should be killed, the property divided, and the women and children taken as captives". Muhammad approved of the ruling, calling it similar to God's judgment, after which all male members of the tribe who had reached puberty were beheaded.

This one incident is documented exceptionally well:

1. Peters, Muhammad and the Origins of Islam, p. 222-224.
2. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book, pp. 137-141.
3. Subhash C. Inamdar, Muhammad and the Rise of Islam: The Creation of Group Identity, Psychosocial Press, p. 166 (footnotes), ISBN 1887841288, 2001, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PNDXAAAAMAAJ&q
4. Ibn Ishaq, A. Guillaume (translator), The Life of Muhammad (Sirat Rasul Allah), Oxford University Press, pp. 461–464, ISBN 978-0-19-636033-1, 2002 pp. 461–464.
5. Adil, Muhammad: The Messenger of Islam, p. 395f.
6. William Muir, The life of Mahomet, Kessinger Publishing, p. 329, ISBN 9780766177413, 2003, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QyIPouT4DqcC&printsec=frontcover

Banu Qurayza - Muhammad the "excellent example" Allah Qur'an 33:21, 1:54

The religious scholar, Robert Spencer, explains.

How should the `perfect man' act?

How many Jews were beheaded?

What happens when 7th Century warlord behavior occurs today?

http://youtu.be/l0NI93kL-C8



Activity

In small groups, compare and contrast Muhammed, Jesus, or other religious figures we have studied.

The Spread of Islam

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary, PublicAffairs (2010).

This is an important work to consider for an understanding of Islamist prejudices. As Ansary himself explains, he is propagandizing American textbook publishers to promote his biased view of Islamic history and he seeks to evangelize among impressionable and ignorant youth. He states: "I kept wanting to give more coverage to Islam in world history" (p. xiv), translation, make it positive. Historians of religion have no problem providing equal space to Islam, except that often the standard histories, encyclopedias, and accounts of ideas that arise from Eliade and others do not prioritize Islamist ideas. Ansary does.

Historians of religion have long understood Islam, with different conclusions than the supremacist Ansary, in fact he provides the example of Wilfred Cantwell Smith who in the '50s noted the importance for Islamism of Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn al-Afghānī (Persian: سید جمال‌‌الدین افغاني‎), also known as Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn Asadābādī (Persian: سید جمال‌‌الدین اسد‌آبادی‎), and commonly known as Al-Afghani (1838/1839 – March 9, 1897). He was a political activist and Islamic ideologist in the Muslim world during the late 19th century, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. One of the founders of Islamic Modernism and an advocate of Pan-Islamic unity, he has been described as "less interested in theology than he was in organizing a Muslim response to Western pressure."

Since Ansary wants to dispense with a Western story, the triumph of Islam historically would place us in the period of the Islamist Reaction currently. He so clearly is a supremacist he makes simple, factual errors in the history of religion. He wrongly states that older (presuming their irrelevance in light of the revelation of Islam) religions are the Other. Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism are in fact dynamic, evolving, and ongoing religiously today despite the alleged prophetic clarifying message of Mohammed. In addition, he also mistakenly states that the Koran was faithfully preserved from the very beginning of Islam's history (xxi-xxii). In fact, the process took years and was anything but clear, straightforward, and accurate which numerous scholars have demonstrated. Ansary states that he is not writing a scholarly work but this does not free him from accuracy and making factually correct statements despite his biases.

If you wish to be informed about the Ottoman Empire for example, Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire by Caroline Finkel, does a much more thorough job of surveying the last gasp of Islamism, and the subsequent updating of the archaic dreams of many Muslims to live in the past. I suppose the appeal though of Ansary is the Romantic notion that implies he is somewhat more authentic than the sound research demonstrated in the Finkel volume. 

Basic Books (2007), Paperback, 704 pages

http://www.librarything.com/work/8095754/summary/91147624

Islamic Imperialism: A History by Efraim Karsh Yale University Press (2007).

Karsh begins by describing the two main interpretive lines that have emerged since 9/11. The first position invokes the clash of civilizations as a motif along the lines of Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntingdon; the other postulates an anti-American, pro-Islamic line such as that enunicated by Karen Armstrong and Edward Said. Karsh concludes though that a solution to Islamic imperialism will occur only when Islamists cease acting like Saladins and confine their religious beliefs to the private sphere.

"Contrary to the conventional wisdom, it is the Middle East where the institution of empire not only originated (for example, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Iran, and so on) but where its spirit has also outlived its European counterpart. . . . The birth of Islam, by contrast [to Christianity], was inextricably linked with the creation of a world empire and its universalism was inherently imperialist. It did not distinguish between temporal and religious powers, which were combined in the person of Muhammed, who derived his authority directly from Allah and acted at one and the same time as head of the state and head of the church. This allowed the prophet to cloak his political ambitions with a religious aura and to channel Islam's energies into `its instrument of aggressive expansion, there [being] no internal organism of equal force to counterbalance it'" (pp. 2, 6,)

http://www.librarything.com/work/837890/summary/33242772

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis Random House Trade Paperbacks (2004). Cf. also, "What Went Wrong," by Bernard Lewis.

In this slim volume Lewis artfully explains the complexity of Islam in brief but understandable terms. The work would be a useful introduction for anyone seeking to learn reliably and usefully how to explain the Islamic holy war against the West. It is superseded by many more comprehensive works but Lewis does not claim to go beyond the introductory in this short work. Lewis is on less sure ground, and more controversial on his political and diplomatic points but I do not see him straying from an accurate and factual account of Islam regardless of what his critics argue.

http://www.librarything.com/work/22270/edit/42589776

Melanie Phillips Interview, 40:24



Londonistan by Melanie Phillips Encounter Books (2007).

This is a frightening book and yet one that is essential to understand how Britain is under ideological attack. The attack is so critical to the U.K. that it will largely determine Britain's ability to support further efforts by the U.S. against Islamism. Phillips provides sound evidence that the ideological underpinnings of the liberal British tradition may not survive the latest onslaught from Islamofascism. There are books of this ilk but Phillips nails the dilemma that Britain faces. Insecure in its moorings in the liberal legal tradition of the West, which guarantees constitutional law and citizen's rights to liberty, the U.K. is prone to the victim mentality of Islamofascists who seek to replace British tradition with international law, human rights, as defined by segments of the world community who are anything but humane, and by forces which push their agenda in order to displace one of the nations that exemplifies personal liberty and limited government.

Great Britain is in dire straits and the implications for Europe are enormous, not to mention how America may stand alone as the sole standout of constitutional government and personal liberty. The U.K. may not enjoy the special relationship that had previously characterized the grand cultural Western tradition shared by the U.S. and Britain. Britain may fall, and fail to be up to the cultural task of reviving liberty.
Great Britain, and Europe in general, has recently been described as Eurabia in that Islamist penetration and a lack of assimilation has meant that the European tradition has been compromised.

The Morality of Terrorism: Religious and Secular Justifications (Morningside Book) by David C. Rapoport Other authors: Yonah Alexander (Editor) Columbia University Press (1989).

I feel fortunate to have learned at UCLA from one of my professors, David Rapoport, and one of the earliest works available to identify terrorists with religious violence. I have been identifying religious violence long before 9/11. Quoting from the volume is helpful, c. 1989.

One of the earliest works available to identify terrorists with religious violence. The contribution of Richard Martin notes that 

"the association of violence with religion, though not consistent, has nonetheless been persistent in history" (p. 349). 

Martin states: "one of the most urgent items of discussion among modern students of violent social behavior is to understand how religious groups. . . such as the Jihadi movements in the Muslim Middle East, and other violent religious groups, justify their actions. 

Quite often the contextual, cultural determinants of religious discourses on violence are alien to Western scholarly discourse and we are likely to substitute our own reference frames for them" (p. 365).

One instructive incident is the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt on October 6, 1981. 

"He seemed to be a rational and desirable alternative to the anti-Western proponents of violent recourse in Middle Easter politics" (p. 365). 

In short, "the events which led to Sadat's assassination and the discussions that followed it are framed by the signal texts and events in early Islamic civilization" (p. 366). 

One of the discussion points was a fatwa, which based on Islamic reasoning, concluded that Sadat should die. 

Martin addresses a key issue in that Westeners tend to misunderstand Islamic reasoning. 

"Too often the texts of the past and other civilizations are appropriated for our own scholarly discourses--out of context, as it were--and thus not understood, especially when they involve conflict and violence" (p. 367).

In conclusion, Islamic religious violence should be understood for what it is: Islamic and violent.


Why did the Balfour Declaration produce problems in Palestine?

In-class: what are the Islamists connection to Hitler?

Who represented the Islamists before Hitler?

Where was a Muslim army formed to assist Nazi Germany?

The Nazi Connection To Islamists, 4:13.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/dbP2EyF8d34



Adolph Hitler Meets with Grand Mufti Amin Al Husseini. Grand Mufti Amin Al Husseini of Jerusalem organises recruitment to Bosnia's and Kosovo's Muslim Nazi SS divisions. Another prominent Kosovar Albanian Muslim, Bedri Pejani, was appointed to committee the Nazi occupation authorities established to rule the Nazi-created Greater Albania. Pejani announced a plan to create a Greater Islamic State consisting of Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and the Sandzak/Rashka region of Serbia. The plan was presented to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el Husseini, who approved of the Pejani plan because it was seen as being in the interests of Islam.

Consider the effect on individuals that the transition of Europe from a post-Enlightenment tradition to an Islamist one has had.

Europe and Islam 

Based on his early 1970s recordings does Cat Stevens seem like a peaceful song writer? 

Is he religious or spiritual based on his lyrics?

Bear in mind that this is about the same time that "Sympathy for the Devil" and back masking, as we listened to previously, was on the air waves as well.  

Morning Has Broken, 1971, 3:01

Consider the beauty and peacefulness (another of his hit tunes was "Peace Train") of Cat Stevens (product of an English Greek Orthodox and a Swedish Baptist home).

http://youtu.be/X48weyESpec

"Eden [as in the Garden of] saw play." 

"Morning Has Broken"

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's re-creation of the new day

Roman Catholic Hymn sung in a 7th Day Adventist Church

Cat Stevens Islam Theft.

Peace Train: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7sjSHazjrWg
cat stevens peace train lyrics, 4:13

https://youtu.be/MZ5iHgcPnHA

Cf. lyrics at: http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/yusuf_islam/peace_train.html




On the other hand, Stevens formally converted to the Islamic religion on 23 December 1977 and hereafter he was known as Yusuf Islam (now just Yusuf). As Yusuf, Stevens was asked about the Rushdie Affair.

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (/sælˈmɑːn ˈrʊʃdi/; Kashmiri: अहमद सलमान रुशदी (Devanagari), احمد سلمان رشدی (Nastaʿlīq); born 19 June 1947) is a British Indian novelist and essayist.

The Satanic Verses controversy, also known as the Rushdie Affair, was the heated and frequently violent reaction of Muslims to the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, which was first published in the United Kingdom in 1988. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. Numerous killings, attempted killings, and bombings resulted from Muslim anger over the novel.


The issue was said to have divided "Muslim from Westerners along the fault line of culture," and to have pitted a core Western value of freedom of expression—that no one "should be killed, or face a serious threat of being killed, for what they say or write"—against the view of many Muslims—that no one should be free to "insult and malign Muslims" by disparaging the "honour of the Prophet" Muhammad. English writer Hanif Kureishi called the fatwa "one of the most significant events in postwar literary history."
1989, Muslim convert would kill author Salman Rushdie.

Cat Steven on BBC Program Discussing Salman Rushdie, 1989, 2:14

Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam discussing Salman Rushdie on BBC program in 1989.

Should people be killed for what they say or write about Muhammed?

http://youtu.be/2-wjxwpvqps



If ordered because of a fatwa, a religious ruling, Yusuf Islam would kill or hope that he could beat the real Salman Rushdie. 

Sir Salman Rushdie vs. Yusuf Islam

Sir Salman Rushdie responds to Yusuf Islam, 1:35

http://youtu.be/ThUgpNYr2Oo



Activity

In small groups, discuss the Rushdie Affair, are there limits to free speech about religious figures? Should people be killed for their ideas?

Islam in American Politics

What would happen if the ISIS flag, and then an Israeli flag, were waved at Berkeley?

Anti-Semitism at Berkeley, Islamic State Support

As demonstrated in an earlier session, the Islamic State is not condemned on University campuses, however, Israel and the Jews are roundly criticized.


Muslim Leaders Gather In Texas For "Stand With The Prophet" Conference - America's News HQ, (2:00), 3:17

https://youtu.be/048SLo3TDS4



Islamists Deny Media Access at At Muslim Free Speech Conference, 11:29

https://youtu.be/FoOCMjc-n_o



stand with the prophet garland tx Jessie waters with Fox News, 2:37

https://youtu.be/wX28sblFv4M



Texas Islamist Conference and Islamic Blasphemy Laws, 5:53

https://youtu.be/9fgBG1SxZJ0



Garland Shooting - Attack at Anti-Jihad Mohammad Cartoon Event in Texas: 2 Islamists Killed |VIDEO 3:12

https://youtu.be/MMRV2Wn97YY




Attack on “Muhammad Art’ Contest Was Attack On Freedom Of Speech-News Brief, 2:00

Two men were killed by a Garland, Texas police officer after firing at a security guard in front of a “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Exhibit” Sunday night. The event was at the Curtis Culwell Center which is the same facility where the “Stand With The Prophet Conference” was held last January. Pamela Geller, the founder of American Freedom Defense Initiative, organized the event to award a $10,000 prize to the winning cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad. Mrs. Geller decided to have the cartoon contest to defend the freedom of speech.

https://youtu.be/PGaQFCAUeaQ



Islam in the Public Schools

In 2004, Sandra Stotsky, who had served as senior associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education (MDOE) from 1999 to 2003, was the first to bring the Saudi and National Resource Centers maneuverings to public attention.

In American public schools and at leading universities such as Harvard and Georgetown Islam is taught from a Saudi Wahabist perspective.

In late 2005 a landmark investigative report by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) built on Stotsky's work and revealed the full magnitude of Saudi influence over university outreach programs at NRCs funded under Title VI. As the JTA put it:

“Saudi Arabia is paying to influence the teaching of American public schoolchildren. And the U.S. taxpayer is an unwitting accomplice….Often bypassing school boards and nudging aside approved curricula….These materials praise and sometimes promote Islam, but criticize Judaism and Christianity….Ironically, what gives credibility to…these distorted materials is Title VI of the Higher Education Act….Believing they’re importing the wisdom of places like Harvard or Georgetown, they are actually inviting into their schools whole curricula and syllabuses developed with the support of Riyadh.”

Adapted from "Saudi in the Classroom," by Stanley Kurtz (July 25, 2007).
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=213

Efforts are being made to acquaint Americans with the story of Mohammed. 

Who Advocates Violence?

Three major peer-reviewed studies in the last 10 years have all found the same results. Over 75% of the 2,000 mosques in America are "radicalized." And what does radicalized mean?

That of the 100 mosques surveyed, 51% had texts on site rated as severely advocating violence; 30% had texts rated as moderately advocating violence; and only 19% had no violent texts at all.

That in 84.5% of the mosques, the imam recommended studying violence-positive texts.

That mosques which are Sharia adherent were more likely to feature violent texts than their non-Sharia-adherent counterparts and that leadership at Sharia-adherent mosques was more likely to recommend that a worshipper study violent texts than leadership at non-Sharia-adherent mosques.

In the years since 9/11 in the U.S., what religious group is most often the victim of religious violence?

I will present some data on this topic.

The statistical fact remains that world-wide, both the perpetrators of violence, and the victims of violence, are similar. 

About five deaths a day, or 29,801 since 9/11 were committed by Islamists.

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/TheList.htm

A famous example of Islamist religious violence was of course on 9/11.

Last statement by Islamists Praising Allah on 9/11

http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-copy-of-four-page-letter-linked-to-hijackers

In the four-page document, written in Arabic, that was found in the baggage of the suspected ringleader behind the carnage, Mohamed Atta, there are 90 mentions of Allah in the text. The Observer, Sunday 30 September 2001 11.31 EDTThe

THE LAST NIGHT 1) Making an oath to die and renew your intentions.
Shave excess hair from the body and wear cologne.
Shower
2) Make sure you know all aspects of the plan well, and expect the response, or a reaction, from the enemy.
3) Read al-Tawba and Anfal [traditional war chapters from the Qur'an] and reflect on their meanings and remember all of the things Allah has promised for the martyrs.
4) Remind your soul to listen and obey [all divine orders] and remember that you will face decisive situations that might prevent you from 100 per cent obedience, so tame your soul, purify it, convince it, make it understand, and incite it. Allah said: 'Obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not fight amongst yourselves or else you will fail. And be patient, for Allah is with the patient.'
5) Pray during the night and be persistent in asking Allah to give you victory, control and conquest, and that He may make your task easier and not expose us.
6) Remember Allah frequently, and the best way to do it is to read the Holy Qur'an, according to all scholars, as far as I know. It is enough for us that it [the Qur'an] are the words of the Creator of the Earth and the plants, the One that you will meet [on the Day of Judgment].
7) Purify your soul from all unclean things. Completely forget something called 'this world' [or 'this life']. The time for play is over and the serious time is upon us. How much time have we wasted in our lives? Shouldn't we take advantage of these last hours to offer good deeds and obedience?
8) You should feel complete tranquility, because the time between you and your marriage [in heaven] is very short. Afterwards begins the happy life, where Allah is satisfied with you, and eternal bliss 'in the company of the prophets, the companions, the martyrs and the good people, who are all good company'. Ask Allah for his mercy and be optimistic, because [the Prophet], peace be upon him, used to prefer optimism in all his affairs.
9) Keep in mind that, if you fall into hardship, how will you act and how will you remain steadfast and remember that you will return to Allah and remember that anything that happens to you could never be avoided, and what did not happen to you could never have happened to you. This test from Almighty Allah is to raise your level [levels of heaven] and erase your sins. And be sure that it is a matter of moments, which will then pass, Allah willing, so blessed are those who win the great reward of Allah. Almighty Allah said: 'Did you think you could go to heaven before Allah knows whom amongst you have fought for Him and are patient?'
10) Remember the words of Almighty Allah: 'You were looking to the battle before you engaged in it, and now you see it with your own two eyes.' Remember: 'How many small groups beat big groups by the will of Allah.' And His words: 'If Allah gives you victory, no one can beat you. And if He betrays you, who can give you victory without Him? So the faithful put their trust in Allah.'
11) Remind yourself of the supplications and of your brethren and ponder their meanings. (The morning and evening supplications, and the supplications of [entering] a town, and the [unclear] supplications, and the supplications said before meeting the enemy.
12) Bless your body with some verses of the Qur'an [done by reading verses into one's hands and then rubbing the hands over whatever is to be blessed], the luggage, clothes, the knife, your personal effects, your ID, passport, and all your papers.
13) Check your weapon before you leave and long before you leave. (You must make your knife sharp and must not discomfort your animal during the slaughter).
14) Tighten your clothes [a reference to making sure his clothes will cover his private parts at all times], since this is the way of the pious generations after the Prophet. They would tighten their clothes before battle. Tighten your shoes well, wear socks so that your feet will be solidly in your shoes. All of these are worldly things [that humans can do to control their fate, although Allah decrees what will work and what won't] and the rest is left to Allah, the best One to depend on.
15) Pray the morning prayer in a group and ponder the great rewards of that prayer. Make supplications afterwards, and do not leave your apartment unless you have performed ablution before leaving, because the angels will ask for your forgiveness as long as you are in a state of ablution, and will pray for you. This saying of the Prophet was mentioned by An-Nawawi in his book, The Best of Supplications. Read the words of Allah: 'Did you think that We created you for no reason...' from the Al-Mu'minun Chapter.
THE SECOND STEP
When the taxi takes you to (M) [this initial could stand for matar, airport in Arabic] remember Allah constantly while in the car. (Remember the supplication for entering a car, for entering a town, the supplication of place and other supplications).
When you have reached (M) and have left the taxi, say a supplication of place ['Oh Allah, I ask you for the best of this place, and ask you to protect me from its evils'], and everywhere you go say that prayer and smile and be calm, for Alah is with the believers. And the angels protect you without you feeling anything. Say this supplication: 'Allah is more dear than all of His creation.' And say: 'Oh Allah, protect me from them as You wish.' And say: 'Oh Allah, take your anger out on [the enemy] and we ask You to protect us from their evils.' And say: 'Oh Allah, block their vision from in front of them, so that they may not see.' And say: 'Allah is all we need, He is the best to rely upon.' Remember Allah's words: 'Those to whom the people said, "The people have gathered to get you, so fear them," but that only increased their faith and they said, Allah is all we need, He is the best to rely upon.' After you say that, you will find [unclear] as Alllah promised this to his servants who say this supplication:
1) They will come back [from battle] with Allah's blessings
2) They were not harmed
3) And Allah was satisfied with them.
Allah says: 'They came back with Allah's blessings, were not harmed, and Allah was satisfied with them, and Allah is ever-blessing.'
All of their equipment and gates and technology will not prevent, nor harm, except by Allah's will. The believers do not fear such things. The only ones that fear it are the allies of Satan, who are the brothers of the devil. They have become their allies, Allah save us, for fear is a great form of worship, and the only one worthy of it is Allah. He is the only one who deserves it. He said in the verses: 'This is only the Devil scaring his allies' who are fascinated with Western civilisation, and have drank the love [of the West] like they drink water [unclear] and have become afraid of their weak equipment, 'so fear them not, and fear Me, if you are believers.'
Fear is a great worship. The allies of Allah do not offer such worship except for the one Allah, who controls everything. [unclear] with total certainty that Allah will weaken the schemes of non-believers. Allah said: 'Allah will weaken the schemes of the non-believers.'
You must remember your brothers with all respect. No one should notice that you are making the supplication, 'There is no Allah but Allah,' because if you say it 1,000 times no one will be able to tell whether you are quiet or remember Allah. And among its miracles is what the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever says, "There is no Allah but Allah," with all his heart, goes to heaven.' The prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'If you put all the worlds and universes on one side of the balance, and "No Allah but Allah" on the other, "No Allah but Allah" will weigh more heavily.' You can repeat these words confidently, and this is just one of the strengths of these words. Whoever thinks deeply about these words will find that they have no dots [in the Arabic letter] and this is just one of its greatnesses, for words that have dots in them carry less weight than those that do not. And it is enough that these are the words of monotheism, which will make you steadfast in battle [unclear] as the prophet, peace be upon him, and his companions, and those who came after them, Allah willing, until the Day of Judgment.
Do not seem confused or show signs of nervous tension. Be happy, optimistic, calm because you are heading for a deed that Allah loves and will accept. It will be the day, Allah willing, you spend with the women of paradise.
[poetry] Smile in the face of hardship young man/For you are heading toward eternal paradise
You must remember to make supplications wherever you go, and anytime you do anything, and Allah is with his faithful servants, He will protect them and make their tasks easier, and give them success and control, and victory, and everything...
THE THIRD PHASE
When you ride the (T) [probably for tayyara, aeroplane in Arabic], before your foot steps in it, and before you enter it, you make a prayer and supplications. Remember that this is a battle for the sake of Allah . As the prophet, peace be upon him, said, 'An action for the sake of Allah is better than all of what is in this world.' When you step inside the (T), and sit in your seat, begin with the known supplications that we have mentioned before. Be busy with the constant remembrance of Allah. Allah said: 'Oh ye faithful, when you find the enemy be steadfast, and remember Allah constantly so that you may be successful.' When the (T) moves, even slightly, toward (Q) [unknown reference], say the supplication of travel. Because you are traveling to Almighty Allah , so be attentive on this trip.
Then [unclear] it takes off. This is the moment that both groups come together. So remember Allah , as He said in His book: 'Oh Allah, pour your patience upon us and make our feet steadfast and give us victory over the infidels.' And His words: 'And the only thing they said Allah, forgive our sins and excesses and make our feet steadfast and give us victory over the infidels.' And His prophet said: 'Oh Allah, You have revealed the book, You move the clouds, You gave us victory over the enemy, conquer them and give us victory over them.' Give us victory and make the ground shake under their feet. Pray for yourself and all your brothers that they may be victorious and hit their targets and ask Allah to grant you martyrdom facing the enemy, not running away from it, and for Him to grant you patience and the feeling that anything that happens to you is for Him.
Then every one of you should prepare to carry out his role in a way that would satisfy Allah. You should clench your teeth, as the pious early generations did.
When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers. Allah said: 'Strike above the neck, and strike at all of their extremities.' Know that the gardens of paradise are waiting for you in all their beauty, and the women of paradise are waiting, calling out, 'Come hither, friend of Allah .' They have dressed in their most beautiful clothing.
If Allah decrees that any of you are to slaughter, dedicate the slaughter to your fathers and [unclear], because you have obligations toward them. Do not disagree, and obey. If you slaughter, do not cause the discomfort of those you are killing, because this is one of the practices of the prophet, peace be upon him. On one condition: that you do not become distracted by [unclear] and neglect what is greater, paying attention to the enemy. That would be treason, and would do more damage than good. If this happens, the deed at hand is more important than doing that, because the deed is an obligation, and [the other thing] is optional. And an obligation has priority over an option.
Do not seek revenge for yourself. Strike for Allah's sake. One time Ali bin Abi Talib [a companion and close relative of the prophet Muhammad], fought with a non-believer. The non-believer spit on Ali, may Allah bless him. Ali [unclear] his sword, but did not strike him. When the battle was over, the companions of the prophet asked him why he had not smitten the non-believer. He said, 'After he spat at me, I was afraid I would be striking at him in revenge for myself, so I lifted my sword.' After he renewed his intentions, he went back and killed the man. This means that before you do anything, make sure your soul is prepared to do everything for Allah only.
Then implement the way of the prophet in taking prisoners. Take prisoners and kill them. As Almighty Allah said: 'No prophet should have prisoners until he has soaked the land with blood. You want the bounties of this world [in exchange for prisoners] and Allah wants the other world [for you], and Allah is all-powerful, all-wise.'
If everything goes well, every one of you should pat the other on the shoulder in confidence that (M) and (T) number (K). Remind your brothers that this act is for Almighty Allah. Do not confuse your brothers or distract them. He should give them glad tidings and make them calm, and remind them [of Allah ] and encourage them. How beautiful it is for one to read Allah 's words, such as: 'And those who prefer the afterlife over this world should fight for the sake of Allah .' And His words: 'Do not suppose that those who are killed for the sake of Allah are dead; they are alive... ' And others. Or they should sing songs to boost their morale, as the pious first generations did in the throes of battle, to bring calm, tranquillity and joy to the hearts of his brothers.
Do not forget to take a bounty, even if it is a glass of water to quench your thirst or that of your brothers, if possible. When the hour of reality approaches, the zero hour, [unclear] and wholeheartedly welcome death for the sake of Allah. Always be remembering Allah . Either end your life while praying, seconds before the target, or make your last words: 'There is no Allah but Allah, Muhammad is His messenger'.
Afterwards, we will all meet in the highest heaven, Allah willing.
If you see the enemy as strong, remember the groups [that had formed a coalition to fight the prophet Muhammad]. They were 10,000. Remember how Allah gave victory to his faithful servants. He said: 'When the faithful saw the groups, they said, this is what Allah and the prophet promised, they said the truth. It only increased their faith.'
And may the peace of Allah be upon the prophet.
• The document was released by the F.B.I. and translated for The New York Times by Capital Communications Group, a Washington-based international consulting firm and by Imad Musa, a translator for the firm.

After 9/11, how do you address an ideology of hatred?

Nonie Darwish on Peaceful Muslims, 4:40

Nonie Darwish (Arabic: نوني درويش‎‎; born 1949)[1][2] is an Egyptian-American human rights activist and critic of Islam, and founder of Arabs for Israel, and is Director of Former Muslims United. She is the author of three books: Now They Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, and The Devil We Don't Know: The Dark Side of Revolutions in the Middle East. Darwish's speech topics cover human rights, with emphasis on women's rights and minority rights in the Middle East. Born in Egypt, Darwish is the daughter of an Egyptian Army lieutenant general, who was called a "shahid" by the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser,[3] after being killed in a targeted killing by the Israel Defense Forces in 1956. Darwish blames "the Middle Eastern Islamic culture and the propaganda of hatred taught to children from birth" for his death. In 1978, she moved with her husband to the United States, and converted to Christianity there. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, she has written on Islam-related topics.[3]

Nonie Darwish, 4:40
 
https://youtu.be/cAoXgZLRee0



Since 9/11, who, most often, are the victims of anti-religious hatred in the United States?


Source:
https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2015/topic-pages/victims_final



“2015 Hate Crime Statistics,” FBI

…By bias motivation (Based on Table 1.)
An analysis of data for victims of single-bias hate crime incidents showed that:
59.2 percent of the victims were targeted because of the offenders’ bias against race/ethnicity/ancestry.
19.7 percent were victimized because of bias against religion.
17.7 percent were targeted because of bias against sexual orientation.
1.7 percent were victims of gender-identity bias.
1.2 percent were targeted because of bias against disability.
0.4 percent (30 individuals) were victims of gender bias….
Religious bias (Based on Table 1.)
Of the 1,402 victims of anti-religious hate crimes:
52.1 percent were victims of crimes motivated by their offenders’ anti-Jewish bias.
21.9 percent were victims of anti-Islamic (Muslim) bias.
4.3 percent were victims of anti-Catholic bias.
4.1 percent were victims of bias against groups of individuals of varying religions (anti-multiple religions, group).
3.6 percent were victims of anti-Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek, Other) bias.
3.4 percent were victims of anti-Protestant bias.
1.3 percent were victims of anti-Other Christian bias.
0.6 percent were victims of anti-Mormon bias.
0.4 percent were victims of anti-Hindu bias.
0.4 percent were victims of anti-Sikh bias.
0.1 percent were victims of anti-Jehovah’s Witness bias.
0.1 percent were victims of anti-Buddhist bias.
0.1 percent were victims of anti-Atheist/Agnostic bias.
7.6 percent were victims of bias against other religions (anti-other religion)….

FBI stats

–Of the 5,928 incidents of hate crime tabulated in 2013, 135 (2.3 percent) were anti-Islamic, an increase of five over the prior year but still slightly below the annual average of 139 from 2002 to 2011. –The small rise in recorded anti-Islamic incidents could be attributable to improved data collection rather than a true uptick. Reports submitted by law enforcement agencies covered a population of 295 million Americans in 2013, 18.6 percent higher than in 2012.

–There were 1,031 incidents inspired by religion last year, 625 (60.6 percent) of which were anti-Jewish. Anti-Islamic ones constituted just 13.1 percent.

–Anti-Islamic incidents were also outnumbered by those targeting blacks (1,856), whites (653), gay men (750), lesbians (160), LGBTs in general (277), Hispanics (331), and people of other ethnicities (324). Anti-Asian incidents (135) equaled anti-Islamic ones.

–Based on a 2013 estimate of 2.95 million Muslims derived from Pew’s 2011 figure and typical growth of 100,000 per year, there were 4.6 anti-Islamic incidents per 100,000 Muslims in 2013, the same as 2012’s rate and lower than the average of 6.0 per 100,000 for 2002–11. 

The 2013 rate for Muslims was less than half that for Jews (9.6 per 100,000 for a population of roughly 6.5 million) and homosexuals/bisexuals (11.0 per 100,000, assuming that they comprise 3.5 percent of the U.S. population). The rate for blacks was similar to that of Muslims (4.5 per 100,000 for a population of 41.6 million).

–Anti-Islamic hate crimes were no more violent than others in 2013. Of the 6,933 offenses spanning all hate crimes, 734 (10.6 percent) were aggravated assaults and 1,720 (24.8 percent) were simple assaults. The 165 anti-Islamic offenses mirrored this breakdown: 17 (10.3 percent) were aggravated assaults and 41 (24.8 percent) were simple assaults. Further, none of the five deaths in 2013 resulted from anti-Islamic hate crimes.

Year after year, the hostility against Jews is consistent (previous year's report):

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,166 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-biased offenses showed:

• 59.7 percent were anti-Jewish.
• 12.8 percent were anti-Islamic.
• 7.6 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
• 6.8 percent were anti-Catholic.
• 2.9 percent were anti-Protestant.
• 1.0 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.
• 9. 2 percent were anti-other (unspecified) religion. (Based on Table 1.)

Anti-Semitism Plagues D.C.

Anti-Semitic D.C.

Activity

In small groups, discuss who most often perpetuates violence, and who is most often victimized by violence?


In three instances (Suras 2:65, 5:60, and 7:166), the Quran tells of Allah turning Jews into apes and/or pigs. 

Sura 2:65 “And you had already known about those who transgressed among you concerning the sabbath, and We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’” 

Sura 7:166 “So when they were insolent about that which they had been forbidden, We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’" 

Sura 5:60 “Say, ‘Shall I inform you of [what is] worse than that as penalty from Allah? [It is that of] those (i.e., the Jews) whom Allah has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and pigs and slaves of Taghut. 


Those are worse in position and further astray from the sound way.’" "And remember, Children of Israel, when We made a covenant with you and raised Mount Sinai before you saying, "Hold tightly to what We have revealed to you and keep it in mind so that you may guard against evil." 

But then you turned away, and if it had not been for Allah's grace and mercy, you surely would have been among the lost. And you know those among who sinned on the Sabbath. 

We said to them, "You will be transformed into despised apes." So we used them as a warning to their people and to the following generations, as well as a lesson for the God-fearing."[Quran 2:63] 

Fatah spokesman: Jews are "sons of apes and pigs"  :45

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787

 

Islamic hate speech on PA TV: Jews are "most evil among creations," "barbaric apes, wretched pigs"  :48

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=12686



Teacher at Al-Aqsa Mosque school: Jews who visit Temple Mount are "monkeys and pigs"  :37
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=10307

PA TV: Allah describes Jews as "apes and pigs" :36
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=6909

Hamas suicide farewell video: Jews apes and pigs; Maidens reward for killing Jews, :27 
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=2680

Hamas: Jews are sons of apes and pigs, :37
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=1709 

Jews are "barbaric monkeys," "most evil among creations," in poem recited by girl on PA TV, 1:23
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=14953

PA cleric: Jews are "apes and pigs and slaves of deities" :43
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=13884

Jews are the “most evil among creations, barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs”  1:12
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=9312

Girl recites poem: Jews are "Allah’s enemies, the sons of pigs" 1:40
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=8732

Jews are conceited, so turned into apes and pigs, :52
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=1030

PA cleric: The "cursed apes and pigs" [Jews] undoubtedly poisoned Arafat, :42
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=4668

In his "wrath" God has "cursed" the Jews and will turn them into apes/monkeys and swine and idol worshipers because they are "infidels" (Schweitzer, Frederick M. and Perry, Marvin Anti-Semitism: myth and hate from antiquity to the present, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p. 266). Martin Kramer contends that Islamic tradition provides the sources for Islamic antisemitism. Thus, Kramer concludes that there is no doubt modern Muslims effectively make selective use of the Quran (Martin Kramer, The Salience of Islamic Antisemitism, Institute of Jewish Affairs Report (London), no. 2, October 1995). 
Demonization of Jews/Israelis http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=786&page=2&all=1 

Since the Palestinian Authority was established it has systematically indoctrinated young and old to hate Israelis and Jews. Using media, education, and cultural structures that it controls, the PA has actively promoted religious hatred, demonization, conspiracy libels, etc. These are packaged to present Israelis and Jews as endangering Palestinians, Arabs, and all humanity. This ongoing campaign has so successfully instilled hatred that fighting, murder and even suicide terror against Israelis and Jews are seen by the majority of Palestinians as justified self-defense and as Allah’s will. The PA presents Jews as possessing inherently evil traits. Jews are said to be treacherous, corrupt, deceitful and unfaithful by nature. These Jewish “attributes” and traditions are presented as the unchangeable nature of Jews. Forgeries and fiction masquerading as history are used to document and support the libel that Judaism is in essence racist and evil. Jews are said to be planning and executing heinous crimes, including burning Palestinians in ovens, murder, using prisoners for Nazi-like experiments, and more. If unchecked, these crimes constitute a mortal danger, not only to all Muslims and Arabs but to all of humanity. The PA assigns responsibility to the Jews for all the problems in the world: Wars, conflicts and civil wars are all said to be triggered by Jews. Indeed, the oppression suffered by Jews throughout history is presented as the legitimate response of nations seeking revenge for the injury caused them by the Jews living among them. The creation of the State of Israel is said to have been a European plot, in order to be rid of their Jews and save Europe from the evil of Jewish presence in their countries. The following are examples of Palestinian demonization:

Case Study: Portraying Jews as "Apes and Pigs" In three instances (Suras 2:65, 5:60, and 7:166), the Quran tells of Allah turning Jews into apes and/or pigs. Sura 2:65 “And you had already known about those who transgressed among you concerning the sabbath, and We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’” Sura 7:166 “So when they were insolent about that which they had been forbidden, We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’" Sura 5:60 “Say, ‘Shall I inform you of [what is] worse than that as penalty from Allah? [It is that of] those (i.e., the Jews) whom Allah has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and pigs and slaves of Taghut. Those are worse in position and further astray from the sound way.’" (All Quran quotes from Sahih International translation)  There are two differing traditions in Islam regarding what happened to the Jews who were turned into pigs. One view maintains that all pigs alive today are descendants of the Jews who were turned into pigs by Allah. The other view holds that all the Jews who were turned into pigs by Allah died out without reproducing, and therefore there is no relationship between today’s pigs and Jews: “There are two opinions among the Ulama [Islamic scholars] in this regard: The first is that the Jews, whom Allah transformed and turned into pigs, remained in that state until they died, without producing descendants. The other opinion is that the Jews who turned into pigs multiplied and produced descendants, and their line continues to this day. Sheikh Othman [Ahmed Ali Othman, supervisor of the Da'awa (Islamic Indoctrination) of the Egyptian Waqf Islamic Holy places]: "I personally tend towards the view that the pigs that exist now have their origins with the Jews, and therefore their consumption is forbidden in the words of Allah: 'A carcass, and blood, and the flesh of a pig are forbidden to you....' Moreover, our master Jesus, peace be unto him - one of the tasks that he will fulfill when he descends to earth is the killing of the pigs, and this is proof that their source is Jewish. Sheikh Othman said that whoever eats pig, it's as if he ate meat of an impure person… Sheikh Ali Abu Al-Hassan, head of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar [Sunni Islamic university], said that the first view is accurate, because when Allah punishes a group of people he punishes only them. When Allah grew angry with the nation of Moses, He turned them into pigs and apes as an extraordinary punishment... but they died out without leaving descendants." [Al-Moheet Arab News Network, May 10, 2009, Al-Hakika al-Dawliya, May 9, 2009] Hamas suicide farewell video: Jews monkeys and pigs; Maidens reward for killing Jews, :26 PA TV: Allah describes Jews as "apes and pigs" :36 PA cleric, Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Madi: "We are waging this cruel war with the brothers of the apes and pigs, the Jews and the Sons of Zion. The Jews will fight you and you will subjugate them. Until the Jew will stand behind the tree and the rock. And the tree and the rock will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” PA religious representatives on numerous occasions have used this tradition to malign Jews, calling them “apes and pigs” in sermons and programs broadcast on Palestinian Authority television.

Fatah spokesman: Jews are "sons of apes and pigs"     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Nov. 1, 2015 Official Fatah Spokesman in Jerusalem Raafat Alayan:   https://youtu.be/GDMuqFObI1s "The heroic Palestinian ‎people, including its children, women, and elderly, who have made intifada against the occupation and foiled [its plans]... I confirm that in this uprising, we in Jerusalem ‎have succeeded in preventing 80% of the settlers, the sons of apes and pigs, from ‎walking around the Old City and the stairs of the Damascus Gate.” ‎ Click to view video Click to view bulletin In three instances (Suras 2:65, 5:60, and 7:166), the Quran tells of Allah turning ‎Jews into apes and/or pigs. Sura 2:65 “And you had already known about those who ‎transgressed among you concerning the sabbath, and We said to them, ‘Be apes, ‎despised.’” Sura 7:166 “So when they were insolent about that which they had been ‎forbidden, We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’" Sura 5:60 “Say, ‘Shall I inform you of ‎‎[what is] worse than that as penalty from Allah? [It is that of] those (i.e., the Jews) whom ‎Allah has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and pigs ‎and slaves of Taghut. Those are worse in position and further astray from the sound ‎way.’"‎

Gazan preacher: Israelis are “the brothers of apes and pigs”  Source: Facebook page of the Abdallah Azzam Mosque in Gaza, Oct. 5, 2015 Sheikh Muhammad Abu Sa’ada, sermon at the Abdallah Azzam Mosque in Gaza. Posted on the mosque’s Facebook page. Sheikh Muhammad Abu Sa’ada: “The Al-Aqsa Mosque awaits its Mujahideen (i.e., Jihad fighters), and its Martyrdom-seekers. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is waiting, and it knows that even if the occupier desecrates the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the heroes of Gaza are making preparations and are digging tunnels that lead to Al-Aqsa, and one day they will emerge in the [Al-Aqsa Mosque] plaza, the streets, and alleys, and proclaim: Allah is great! And will announce general mobilization against the brothers of apes and pigs… The Al-Aqsa Mosque awaits the heroes of the West Bank to launch Jihad, and kill every settler and every traitor they come across. Al-Aqsa awaits heroes. We will be victorious, Allah willing, because Allah is with us. We will be victorious, Allah willing, because it was promised by God’s Messenger [Muhammad]. We will win, Allah willing, because there are Mujahideen, Murabitin (i.e., those who carry out Ribat, religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic) and Martyrdom-seekers. We will be victorious, Allah willing, because there are people among us who strap explosive belts on their bodies, and look forward to their journey to Paradise, to meet [Islam’s] Prophet Muhammad and his companions. By Allah we will be victorious, Allah willing… We await a decision from our leader, who will tell us: “None of you will pray the afternoon prayer anywhere but in Tel Aviv. We will be victorious. We can see this moment, it is imminent.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reF8utB75tA#action=share https://youtu.be/reF8utB75tA Jews are "barbaric monkeys," 1:22, "most evil among creations," in poem recited by girl on PA TV Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, May 29, 2015 Girl: "I do not fear the rifle because your throngs are in delusion and are ignorant herds Jerusalem is my land, Jerusalem is my honor Jerusalem is my days and my wildest dreams Oh, you who murdered Allah’s pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition)‎ Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations Oh barbaric monkeys Jerusalem opposes your throngs Jerusalem vomits from within it your impurity ‎ Because Jerusalem, you impure ones, is pious, immaculate And Jerusalem, you who are filth, is clean and pure I do not fear barbarity As long as my heart is my Quran and my city As long as I have my arm and my stones As long as I am free and do not barter my cause I will not fear your throngs, I will not fear the rifle" PA TV host:‎ "Bravo! Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine, we will never forget it.‎" Click to view video   Young girls perform song showing “Zionists” as killers, 1:30 https://youtu.be/sa9DO5KXIqU  Click to view bulletin

PA cleric: Jews are "apes and pigs and slaves of deities"     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Jan. 30, 2015 PA cleric: ‎“Many Muslims are being harmed these days by a group whose hearts were sealed by ‎Allah. ‘He made of them [Jews] apes and pigs and slaves of deities’ (Quran, 5:60). ‎They are harming the livelihood of the believers [Muslims]... They withhold their [the ‎Palestinians'] money and collect interest on it.” ‎ :41   Click to view video   http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=787&fld_id=787&doc_id=13884  Click to view bulletin

Islam-based hate speech on PA TV: Jews are "most evil among creations," "barbaric apes, wretched pigs"  Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Sept. 12, 2014 "Jerusalem is my days and my wildest dreams O, you who were brought up on spilling blood O, you who murdered Allah’s pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition) You have been condemned to humiliation and hardship O Sons of Zion, O most evil among creations O barbaric apes, O wretched pigs As long as my heart is my Quran and my city As long as I have my arm and my stones As long as I am free and do not barter my cause I will not fear your throngs My belt is around my waist, and my rifle is on my shoulder.” Click to view video Click to view bulletin

Fatah: "The settler is like a monkey"     Source: Facebook, Fatah - The Main Page, July 3, 2014      “Who is the source of terrorism? By the poet of the homeland, Khaled Al-Issa I opened the book And found the answer: The source of terrorism is the Zionist Come and see what happened... The Zionist, by Allah, is treacherous O settler, O malicious one Your time has ended Read the papers, lawless settler And hear, O settlers: You have neither conscience nor religion. Bastards, all of you You were brought to this land From [Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor] Liberman’s Russia, from Ethiopia and Sudan And the settler is like a monkey... O world, O sleepers The birds alight on your heads Look, see what has happened in Palestine Where are the decision-makers? This [West] Bank is protected And the hearts in it are burning. O Arabs, enough betrayal: We wish for the blood to become rivers... This homeland wants [your] rage - It does not want you to wait.” Click to view bulletin

Teacher at Al-Aqsa Mosque school: Jews who visit Temple Mount are "monkeys and pigs"     Source: Official PA TV Live, Sept. 27, 2013 Sheikh Muhammad Al-Tawil teacher in Al-Aqsa Mosque school:      "What's happening at the Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., Temple Mount plaza) is a division of time [between Jews and Muslims]. The Israeli occupation authorities lock the Al-Aqsa Mosque from morning until afternoon. At this time, the assistants of the monkeys and pigs (i.e., Jews) and the herds of settlers (i.e., Israelis) can enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque (i.e., Temple Mount plaza) without anything stopping them." Click to view video

Girls on PA TV: Jews are "barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs"     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, July 3, 2013 PA TV reporter: "Let's meet these girls who want to recite a short poem." Girl 1: “I do not fear the rifle because your throngs are in delusion and ignorant herds. Jerusalem is my land, Jerusalem is my honor Jerusalem is my days and my wildest dreams. Oh, you who murdered Allah’s pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition) Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood You have been condemned to humiliation and hardship. Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations Oh barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs Girl 2: Jerusalem is not your den Jerusalem opposes your throngs Jerusalem vomits from within it your impurity Because Jerusalem, you impure ones, is pious, immaculate And Jerusalem, you who are filth, is clean and pure. I do not fear barbarity. As long as my heart is my Quran and my city As long as I have my arm and my stones As long as I am free and do not barter my cause I will not fear your throngs I will not fear the rifle.” Click to view video Click to view bulletin

Girl recites poem: Jews are "Allah’s enemies, the sons of pigs"     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Mar. 22, 2013 A young girl recites a poem filled with libels demonizing Jews on the weekly PA TV children's show The Best Home: Girl: "Allah created me and formed me He made me prouder and made me a Palestinian He made defiance flow like blood in my veins And I made the revolution burst forth like clay stones I raised the flags of certain victory: Allah's book [the Quran] and the tradition of the most esteemed among prophets [Muhammad]. I called in the voice of hidden justice I lit a fire like volcanoes under their feet I refused to be submissive and degraded I rejected [everything] but dying with the honor that will give me life From a nation that has forgotten the Muslims' heroism - Omar ibn al-Khattab and Saladin - [Muslim fighters who conquered Jerusalem] from between the whistles of the bullets I sing: 'Long live the nation of Fatah and Yasser Arafat' Allah's enemies, the sons of pigs (i.e., Jews, in Islamic tradition) Destroyed and uprooted the olive and fig trees They murdered children with guns, like snakes They cut off their limbs with stones and knives They raped the women in the city squares They defiled Allah's book [the Quran] in front of millions Where is the nation of Islam? Where are the nation of Islam and the Jihad fighters? Where is the fear of Allah in Jerusalem, which has been defiled by the Zionists?" PA TV host: "Bravo, applause, applause, applause to Hadeel." Click to view video Click to view bulletin

PA daily columnist calls Zionists “descendants of monkeys and pigs”     Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 21, 2012 In his weekly column in “Sermon,” the religious supplement to the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sheikh Taleb Al-Silwadi wrote:      “And here we have our Palestinian nation, engaged in Ribat, (religious conflict/war defending Islamic land), the strong Jihad fighter, adhering to its religion and faith, challenging the tyranny and oppression of the Zionists, those descendants of monkeys and pigs who thought they could deny us our strength. They forgot that Allah will rise up with us and that their policy is fraud and deceit."

Moderator at Fatah ceremony: "Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion"     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Jan. 9, 2012 Moderator at Fatah ceremony: "Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and faith. Long Live Fatah! [I invite you,] our honorable Sheikh." PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein comes to the podium and says: "47 years ago the [Fatah] revolution started. Which revolution? The modern revolution of the Palestinian people's history. In fact, Palestine in its entirety is a revolution, since [Caliph] Umar came [to conquer Jerusalem, 637 CE], and continuing today, and until the End of Days. The reliable Hadith (tradition attributed to Muhammad), [found] in the two reliable collections, Bukhari and Muslim, says: "The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' Except the Gharqad tree [which will keep silent]." Therefore it is no wonder that you see Gharqad [trees] surrounding the [Israeli] settlements and colonies.." Click to view video Click to view bulletin

Hamas TV song calls Israel an “ape”     Source: Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 6, 2011 In October 2011, the Israeli government agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prison in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage by Hamas for more than 5 years. Hamas TV program Festival and Freedom marked the Festival of Sacrifice and the release of prisoners in the Shalit deal with the following song: "Today we fulfilled [our commitment] to those who are free... We achieved what we hoped for We destroyed the prisons of evil... Abbas Al-Sayid insisted on Being the last hero to be liberated And closing the Ketziot prison, and Ofer Closing the Ketziot prison, and Ofer And Netanyahu committed suicide over the defeat The ape, Israel, will remain sad And the new Shalit [will be] humiliated at our hands All the prisons will be emptied..."

PA daily: "Jews, Jews! Your holiday [Passover] is the Holiday of Apes"     Source: Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Apr. 19, 2011      "The spring carnival has retained its [Palestinian] flavor in towns such as Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Ramallah... with the demonstrations of the Scouts, songs, dances, and popular Palestinian hymns about Christian-Islamic unity and internal Christian unity. These hymns carry meaningful messages, in response to the Israeli prohibition [to enter Jerusalem], as seen in the calls of the youth who lead the procession of light, waving swords and not caring if anyone accuses them of Antisemitism: ... 'Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Christ redeemed us, with his blood he bought us, and today we are joyous while the Jews are sad,' and, 'Jews, Jews! Your holiday is the Holiday of the Apes, while our holiday is the Holiday of the Christ.'" Click to view bulletin

The descendants of apes and pigs defile Jerusalem     Source: Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Mar. 5, 2010      "Jerusalem is exposed to every vagabond, and its parts belong to every nomadic traveler – and this since the settlers, the rabble descendants of apes and pigs began defiling the parts of Jerusalem… Allah, raise up for Islam a state that will glorify Islam and its people, and will humiliate blasphemy and its people… Allah, we have entrusted you with the throats of the Jews; Allah, count them and kill them one by one, do not leave even one of them upon the land of Palestine."

The Jews, sons of apes and pigs, destroy Al-Aqsa     Source: Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Oct. 9, 2009 Friday prayer and sermon, unidentified Hamas speaker:      "Today we look at Al-Aqsa as it sighs beneath the yoke of the Jews, beneath the yoke of the sons of apes and pigs, brothers of apes and pigs. Destroy the Jews and their helpers." Click here to view

Egyptian religious leader: Pigs must die because they descend from Jews     Source: Al-Moheet Arab News Network, May 10, 2009      "Sheikh Ahmed Ali Othman, supervisor of the Da'awa [Islamic Indoctrination] of the Egyptian Waqf [Islamic Holy places], has issued a Religious Ruling (Fatwa) that pigs in our time have their origins in Jews who angered Allah, such that He turned them into apes, pigs, and Satan-worshippers, and it is obligatory to kill and slaughter them [the pigs]. Othman based his ruling on the respected Quranic verse, 'Say [to the People of the Book - Jews and Christians], Come and I shall make known to you who receives the worst retribution of all from Allah: those whom Allah has cursed and upon whom He has poured His wrath, whom He has made into apes and pigs, and who have served abominations...' (Quran:5:60) Click to view bulletin

Jews are descendants of apes and pigs     Source: Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 18, 2008 Hamas Cleric:      "I want to tell the residents of Gaza that the next captives' exchange deal will be stronger and more painful for the descendants of apes and pigs [i.e., Jews]... you [Israel] will pay dearly for this deal [prisoner exchange], and in the deals that will follow it, and in the deals that will follow those."

Hamas suicide farewell video: Jews are descendants of apes and pigs     Source: Hamas website, Feb. 1, 2006 Bassem Al-Takrouri, Hamas suicide terrorist:      "Angels of mercy, escort our souls to Heaven after we fulfill this duty of crushing the descendants of apes and pigs. Dear father and mother, blessings of honor and respect to you while you escort me to the Maidens of Paradise as a Martyr." Click to view video

PA cleric: The "cursed apes and pigs" [Jews] undoubtedly poisoned Arafat     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Nov. 5, 2004 Ibrahim Mudayris, PA religious official, Ministry of Religious Affairs:      “We are absolutely sure that the Zionist government is responsible for the attempt to kill the president [Arafat]. We have no doubt that it somehow poisoned him to kill him slowly. These are the cursed apes and pigs [Jews]. It is our right to pray to Allah to cure him, and to plant poison the hearts of those pigs. Have you seen them on TV embracing each other, singing and dancing, those apes, those pigs, on the news about the president’s death.” Click to view video

"These pigs on the face of the earth"   Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Oct. 10, 2004 Ibrahim Mudayris, Official, PA Ministry of Religious Trusts and Religious Affairs:      "The Prophet said: The Resurrection will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them. Rejoice in Allah's victory... Everything wants vengeance on the Jews... these pigs on the face of the earth. And the day of our victory, Allah willing, will come."

PA TV: Allah describes Jews as "apes and pigs"     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Sept. 12, 2004 PA cleric, Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Madi:      “We are waging this cruel war with the brothers of the apes and pigs, the Jews and the Sons of Zion. The Jews will fight you and you will subjugate them. Until the Jew will stand behind the tree and the rock. And the tree and the rock will say: oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” Click to view video

PA cleric: Jews are "pigs on the face of the earth"     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Sept. 10, 2004 Ibrahim Mudayris, official, PA Ministry of Religious Trusts and Religious Affairs:       "The Prophet said: 'The resurrection will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims kill them. The Muslims will kill the Jews, rejoice [in it], rejoice in Allah’s victory. The Muslims will kill the Jews, and he will hide.' The Prophet said: 'The Jews will hide behind rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: 'Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!' Why is there this malice? Because there are none who love the Jews on the face of the earth: not man, not rock, and not tree. Everything hates them. They destroy everything. They destroy the trees and destroy the houses. Everything wants vengeance on the Jews, on these pigs on the face of the earth, and the day of our victory, Allah willing, will come." :57 Click to view video

Jews are pigs and apes     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Sept. 29, 2003 Girl on phone to TV show: Girl: "My name is Alaa, I am from Rafah, ten years old." Host: "Yes, please, Alaa." Girl: "Let the pigs and the apes know, and their leaders Sharon and Bush, that we shall stay on this land, our birth place and origin. And we shall be buried there, Shahids (Martyrs) for Palestine.”

PA religious figure: Allah turned Jews into apes and pigs     Source: Official Palestinian Authority TV, Nov. 1, 2002 Dr. Mahmoud Mustafa Najem, PA religious figure:      "Praise unto Allah, Who cursed our enemies; curse upon curse up to Judgment Day. And He has cursed them as well through the words of His prophets and emissaries… The Jews, however, as is their nature, and as Allah described them in His Book, [characterizing them] by conceit, pride, arrogance, rampage, disloyalty and treachery... They have a single common trait: enmity of Islam and Moslems... Note [their] deceit and cunning. Thus, it is not an exception to their nature, for which Allah transformed them to apes and pigs. [Quran] "We said to them: Be apes, despised and loathed."" Click to view video

Zionists are descendants of apes and pigs     Source: Radio Voice of Palestine (Fatah), July 11, 1997 Ikrima Sabri, Head of the [Palestinian] Organization of Clerics and Disseminators of Islam and former Mufti of Jerusalem, in sermon:      "Oh, Allah, destroy America as it is controlled by Zionist Jews... Allah will avenge, in the name of his Prophet, the colonialist settlers who are the descendents of apes and pigs...

 





Sharia

These cases are the stories of Muslim American families, mostly Muslim women and children, who were asking American courts to preserve their rights to equal protection and due process.

As of 2015, there were 146 cases in 32 states in which a party to litigation attempted to have the matter resolved by applying shariah, rather than the statutes of the state in question (in 2011 when I first tabulated the results there were only 23 states).
Should families that came to America for liberty from Shariah be afforded protection?

Or, should American courts apply Shariah law in the lives of these families, and deny them equal protection?

Shariah in American Courts: The Expanding Incursion of Islamic Law in the U.S. Legal System

http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2015/01/05/shariah-in-american-courts-the-expanding-incursion-of-islamic-law-in-the-u-s-legal-system/


Minnesota, Sharia Law
 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uB6gps7dkUA

Muslims in the USA want Sharia law and say they will not follow US laws, 4:26

https://youtu.be/uB6gps7dkUA



The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority, 6:17

Is there anything to fear from only a tiny, radical minority?

http://youtu.be/CkwsQvPZn2M



What does the 1st Amendment state about religion and government?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." - See more at: http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment1.html#sthash.TXyM1fww.dpuf

Since 2009, New Islamic mortgages are available in Minnesota

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/02/28/islamicfinancing

A home buyer can get a loan through the state's New Markets Mortgage Program. That's because, program manager Nimo Farah says, he has all the makings of a successful homeowner.

"I had lots of applications, but he's the first one, because really, he was ready. He has been working at the same job for quite a while; he took care of his credit; he had the right size family, and he had all his documents together," she said. "He was basically ready to go."
The program is targeted at low-to-moderate income families. Qualified applicants have to complete first-time home buyer education classes. The goal is to help Muslim home buyers build wealth and reap the benefits of home ownership.

There is no such thing as a Christian mortgage, a Jewish mortgage, etc.



What about American textbooks?



A world history book used in American classrooms is under review over allegations it favors Islam at the expense of Christianity and Judaism. 

The Prentice World History textbook rewrites Islamic history and presents a biased version of the Muslim faith.

The book has a 36-page chapter on Islam but no chapters on Christianity or Judaism.
The authors make a very obvious attempt not to insult Islam by reshaping history.
For example, a reference to Mohammed and his armies taking over Medina states, “people happily accepted Islam as their way of life.”

It leaves out that tens of thousands of Jews and non-believers were massacred by Mohammed’s armies.

The book indicates that Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Messiah while stating as fact that Mohammed is a prophet. Students are also given lessons on the Koran and the five pillars of Islam, not for Christianity.

Some of the descriptions of the battles use the word ‘massacre’ when it’s a Christian battle and ‘takeover’ when it’s a Muslim battle.” In young minds, massacre paints a very different visual picture than a takeover or occupation – when in fact both battles were very bloody.

The book devotes an entire chapter to Islam.

Homeland Security Promotes Plight of U.S. Muslims




Obama Editorial in the L.A. Times Promotes Islam

Promote Islam

Obama declared that the root cause of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorism is not radical Islam but poverty.

“We have to address grievances terrorists exploit, including economic grievances,” said Obama.

However, as terrorism experts explain, a vast percentage of Islamic terrorists come from middle-class backgrounds, wealthy families, or have impressive educational pedigrees. CNN’s national security analyst Peter Bergen says many of the world’s most notorious terrorists came from affluence and education:

• Osama bin Laden: son of a Saudi construction magnate who attended Saudi Arabia’s top high school and best university.
• Mohamed Atta: ringleader of the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the son of an Egyptian lawyer. Atta worked on his doctorate at a German university.
• Ayman al Zawahiri: Present leader of al Qaeda and a “surgeon who comes from a leading Egyptian family that counts ambassadors, politicians and prominent clerics amongst its ranks.”
• Nidal Hasan: the Fort Hood terrorist who “was not only an officer in the U.S. Army and a psychiatrist, but is also from a comfortably middle-class family in Virginia.”
• Faisal Shahzad: the terrorist who tried to blow Times Square on May 1, 2010. “He had obtained an MBA in the United States and had worked as a financial analyst for the Elizabeth Arden cosmetics company. His father was one of the top officers in the Pakistani military.”
• Anwar al-Awlaki: “The late leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who tasked the underwear bomber to blow up an American plane over an American city, was studying for his Ph.D. at George Washington University before he took up arms with al Qaeda. Awlaki’s father was a Cabinet minister in Yemen.”
• Umar Abdulmuttalab: the so-called “underwear bomber” who tried to detonate “a bomb on a U.S. passenger jet flying over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, is the son of one of the richest men in Africa and attended University College London.”

Numerous studies have found similar trends. One study of 172 al Qaeda terrorists conducted by former CIA case officer Marc Sagemann found that “just under half were professionals; two-thirds were either middle or upper class and had gone to college; indeed, several had doctorates.”

In the case of ISIS terrorists, if its estimated 31,500 members weren’t well off to start, they certainly could be now if ISIS were to divvy up its massive $2 billion and growing wealth–a sum that makes it the world’s richest terrorist group. That works out to $63,492 per ISIS terrorist–an amount well above U.S. median income. 

As even the U.S. Treasury Department notes, ISIS makes about $1 million a day off just its black market oil sales.

Other ways ISIS makes massive money? “They rob banks. They lay waste to thousands of years of civilization in Iraq and Syria by looting and selling antiquities,” said David Cohen, the Treasury Department official in charge of undermining ISIS finances. “They steal livestock and crops from farmers. And despicably, they sell abducted girls and women as sex slaves.”

Moreover, ISIS uses its digital savvy to recruit often middle-class individuals online. As recently as Friday, ABC News reported on three London teenage schoolgirls who had been recruited by ISIS boarding flights to join the Jihad–an increasingly common story.

Still, the Obama White House persists in forwarding its belief that poverty, not radical Islam, fuels Islamic State terrorism.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf insisted on doubling-down on her contention that poverty is the root cause of terrorism.

“We need, in the longer term, medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs,” said Harf.

Obama agrees.

“When millions of people — especially youth — are impoverished and have no hope for the future, when corruption inflicts daily humiliations on people, when there are no outlets by which people can express their concerns, resentments fester,” said Obama. “Where young people have no education, they are more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and radical ideas.”

Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: Perhaps most famous in the U.S. as the wife of the disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin appears to have family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. In an interview with FrontPageMag, anti-Islamist author Walid Shoebat explained that Huma’s mother, Saleha Abedin, is involved with the Muslim Brotherhood and that Huma’s brother, Hassan, sits in on the board of the Oxford Centre For Islamic Studies (OCIS) where he is a fellow and partners with other board members including “Al-Qaeda associate, Omar Naseef and the notorious Muslim Brotherhood leader Sheikh Youssef Qaradawi; both have been listed as OCIS Trustees.”

REFERENCES


Islamic Feminism

/Ziba_Mir-Hosseini
"I am a free-lance academic, passionately involved in debates on gender equality in law. As a feminist, I expose and criticize the injustices that these laws continue to inflict on women in some Muslim contexts. As a Muslim, I approach these injustices by stressing one crucial element in the tradition of Muslim legal thought: the distinction between Shari‘a (the ‘path’, found in the Qur’an and the Prophet’s practice) and fiqh (‘understanding’, the jurists’s efforts to deduce laws from these textual sources); this distinction enables us to see patriarchal laws not as ‘divine Shari‘a’, but as outdated human fiqh. My aim is to bring Islamic and human rights frameworks together in order to lay the basis for an egalitarian Muslim family law."
Fiqh (/fɪk/; Arabic: فقه‎‎ [fɪqh]) is Islamicjurisprudence.^[1] While Sharia is believed by Muslims to represent divine law as revealed in the Quran and the Sunnah (the teachings and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad), fiqh is the human understanding of the Sharia^[2]—sharia expanded and developed by interpretation (ijtihad) of the Quran and Sunnah by Islamic jurists (Ulama)^[2] and implemented by the rulings (Fatwa) of jurists on questions presented to them.
 
Documentary Films
“RUNAWAY is a powerful and heart-breaking documentary about a group of young runaway girls who are taken to a women's shelter in Tehran, Iran. The film focuses on the sufferings of young girls who struggle to free themselves from the tyrannical and abusive power of their families, mainly their fathers, brothers, and stepfathers. The sisterly feelings of the girls towards each other, their spiritual strength, their courage to rebel, and their wit are shown with a great degree of compassion and empathy in the film. The filmmakers have beautifully criticized the patriarchal system of family and the destructive power of male family members over the lives of their daughters and sisters. One can imagine that the issue of confinement and abuse goes beyond the issue of class when it comes to the problem of domestic violence and the desire to control women through anger, aggression and madness.” - Mehrnaz Saeed, Colombia College Chicago Divorce Iranian Style Hilarious, tragic, stirring, this fly-on-the-wall look at several weeks in an Iranian divorce court provides a unique window into the intimate circumstances of Iranian women’s lives. Following Jamileh, whose husband beats her; Ziba, a 16-year-old trying to divorce her 38-year-old husband; and Maryam, who is desperately fighting to gain custody of her daughters, this deadpan chronicle showcases the strength, ingenuity, and guile with which they confront biased laws, a Kafaka-esque administrative system, and their husbands’ and families’ rage to gain divorces.  Scholar and filmmaker Ziba Mir-Hosseini, a specialist in Islamic law, gender and development and Professorial Research Associate at the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Law, University of London, is the recipient of the 2015 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion. At the Marty Forum, Professor Mir-Hosseini will be interviewed by Diana L. Eck, Harvard University. The Marty Award recognizes extraordinary contributions to the public understanding of religion.

Michael Kessler (Georgetown University) and Ayesha S. Chaudhry (University of British Columbia), Presiding

Fight for equality for women in Islam: Musawah.
I am a free-lance academic, passionately involved in debates on gender equality in law. As a feminist, I expose and criticize the injustices that these laws continue to inflict on women in some Muslim contexts. As a Muslim, I approach these injustices by stressing one crucial element in the tradition of Muslim legal thought: the distinction between Shari‘a (the ‘path’, found in the Qur’an and the Prophet’s practice) an

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/003-wife-beating.htm

The Qur'an: Qur'an (4:34) - "Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great." Qur'an (38:44) - "And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with it, and do not break your oath..." Allah telling Job to beat his wife (Tafsir).

From the Hadith: Bukhari (72:715) - A woman came to Muhammad and begged her to stop her husband from beating her. Her skin was bruised so badly that she it is described as being "greener" than the green veil she was wearing. Muhammad did not admonish her husband, but instead ordered her to return to him and submit to his sexual desires. Bukhari (72:715) - "Aisha said, 'I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women'" This is Muhammad's own wife complaining of the abuse that the women of her religions suffer relative to other women. Muslim (4:2127) - Muhammad struck his favorite wife, Aisha, in the chest one evening when she left the house without his permission. Aisha narrates, "He struck me on the chest which caused me pain." Muslim (9:3506) - Muhammad's father-in-laws (Abu Bakr and Umar) amused him by slapping his wives (Aisha and Hafsa) for annoying him. According to the Hadith, the prophet of Islam laughed upon hearing this. Abu Dawud (2141) - "Iyas bin ‘Abd Allah bin Abi Dhubab reported the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) as saying: Do not beat Allah’s handmaidens, but when ‘Umar came to the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) and said: Women have become emboldened towards their husbands, he (the Prophet) gave permission to beat them." At first, Muhammad forbade men from beating their wives, but he rescinded this once it was reported that women were becoming emboldened toward their husbands. Beatings are sometimes necessary to keep women in their place. Abu Dawud (2142) - "The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife." Abu Dawud (2126) - "A man from the Ansar called Basrah said: 'I married a virgin woman in her veil. When I entered upon her, I found her pregnant. (I mentioned this to the Prophet).' The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: 'She will get the dower, for you made her vagina lawful for you. The child will be your slave. When she has begotten (a child), flog her'" A Muslim man thinks his is getting a virgin, then finds out she is pregnant. Muhammad tells him to treat the woman as a sex slave and then flog her after she has delivered the child. Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 969 - Requires that a married woman be "put in a separate room and beaten lightly" if she "act in a sexual manner toward others." According to the Hadith, this can be for an offense as petty as merely being alone with a man to whom she is not related. Kash-shaf (the revealer) of al-Zamkhshari (Vol. 1, p. 525) - [Muhammad said] "Hang up your scourge where your wife can see it"

Additional Notes: Some contemporary Muslim apologists often squirm over this relatively straightforward verse from the Qur'an (4:34) - which actually give men the right to beat their wives if they even have a "fear" of disloyalty or disobedience. Their rhetorical aerobics inspired us to write a separate article: Wife Beating- Good Enough for Muhammad, Good Enough for You Others are not nearly as squeamish. Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradhawi, one of the most respected Muslim clerics in the world, once made the famous (and somewhat ridiculous statement) that "It is forbidden to beat the woman, unless it is necessary." He also went on to say that "one may beat only to safeguard Islamic behavior," leaving no doubt that wife-beating is a matter of religious sanction. (source) Dr. Muzammil Saddiqi, the former president of ISNA (the Islamic Society of North America), a mainstream Muslim organization, says it is important that a wife "recognizes the authority of her husband in the house" and that he may use physical force if he is "sure it would improve the situation." (source) Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the head of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution says that "light beatings" and "punching" are part of a program to "reform the wife" (source). Dr. Jamal Badawi endorses corporal punishment as "another measure that may save the marriage" (source). He isn't clear on how striking a woman will make her more inclined toward staying with her assailant, unless the implication is fear of a more serious beating if she leaves. Egyptian cleric, Abd al-Rahman Mansour, said in a 2012 televised broadcast that in addition to discouraging the wife from filing divorce, beatings would inspire the wife to "treat him with kindness and respect, and know that her husband has a higher status than her." (source) During Ramadan of 2010, another cleric named Sa'd Arafat actually said the woman is "honored" by the beating (source). No one else seemed terribly surprised by this. An undercover report from progressive Sweden in 2012 found that 60% of mosques there actually advised beaten women not to report the abuse to the police. These women were also told that they must submit to non-consensual 'sex' with their husbands. (source) In the birthplace of Islam, about half of Saudi women are beaten at home. "Hands and sticks were found to be used mostly in beating women, following by men’s head cover and to a lesser extent, sharp objects." (source) According to Islamic law, a husband may strike his wife for any one of the following four reasons: - She does not attempt to make herself beautiful for him (ie. "let's herself go") - She refuses to meet his sexual demands - She leaves the house without his permission or for a "legitimate reason" - She neglects her religious duties Any of these are also sufficient grounds for divorce. Respected Quran scholars from the past interpreted verse 4:34 with impressive candor. Tabari said that it means to "admonish them, but if they refused to repent, then tie them up in their homes and beat them until they obey Allah’s commands toward you." Qurtubi told wife-beaters to try to avoid breaking bones, but added that "it is not a crime if it leads to death." (source) Muslim apologists sometimes say that Muhammad ordered that women not be harmed, but they are actually basing this on what he said before or during battle, such as in Bukhari (59:447), when Muhammad issued a command for all the men of Quraiza be killed and the women and children taken as slaves. (Having your husband murdered and being forced into sexual slavery apparently doesn't qualify as "harm" under the Islamic model). But, in fact, there are a number of cases in which Muhammad did have women killed in the most brutal fashion. One was Asma bint Marwan, a mother or five, who wrote a poem criticizing the Medinans for accepting Muhammad after he had ordered the murder of an elderly man. In this case, the prophet's assassins literally pulled a sleeping infant from her breast and stabbed her to death. After taking Mecca in 630, Muhammad also ordered the murder of a slave girl who had merely made up songs mocking him. The Hadith are rife as well with accounts of women planted in the ground on Muhammad's command and pelted to death with stones for sexual immorality - yet the prophet of Islam actually encouraged his own men to rape women captured in battle (Abu Dawood 2150, Muslim 3433) and did not punish them for killing non-Muslim women (as Khalid ibn Walid did on several occasions - see Ibn Ishaq 838 and 856). In summary, according to the Qur'an, Hadith and Islamic law, a woman may indeed have physical harm done to her if the circumstances warrant, with one such allowance being in the case of disobedience. This certainly does not mean that all Muslim men beat their wives, only that Islam permits them to do so.

The Kominas Sharia Law in the U S A, 3:45

http://youtu.be/_M1cijnO4nA



Muslim Punk - A Taqwacore Call to Prayer, 2:57

http://youtu.be/NNZnZJIRL40




Muslim Sesame Street V: Pepsi Cola, the Apes, Pigs and Jews, 2:59

Saudi TV

palestinian kid "jews are apes" - parents teaching kids to hate jews, propaganda, 1:42

Jews are apes.

War song, 3:03

Spencer Geller vs. Islamists at Temple, 4:42

Krauthammer on Obama's 2015 Prayer Breakfast, 7:23

Dearborn Sharia, 11:24

http://youtu.be/-2okgUG_5Ys



Fitna The Movie, 16:48

Dutch politician Geert Wilders made this short film about islam and was put on trial for telling the truth.It seems the Dutch government would rather prosecute one of its own citizens concerned about the islamisation of the Netherlands than tell muslims to integrate or leave.

http://youtu.be/8RmiRPEvUIk




Sharia America, 5:11

 
https://youtu.be/QzdOT2nOqLQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzdOT2nOqLQ&feature=youtu.be








Catholic Charities Aided Ohio State University Islamist
christian-charity-housed-ohio-state-jihadi-abdul-artan-family
Pamela Geller on Ohio State University
Ohio Students Can't Say Terrorism
-pamela-geller-faith-goldy-rebel-media-ohio-state-university
https://youtu.be/45m9F3e1k3w
Geller on Ohio State: "I'm not shocked."
https://youtu.be/-XpfiQQA43M

Harold Koh, State Department, 5:08
 
Nonie Darwish talks to Fox News about The Obama Administration nominee for State Department Legal Advisor, Harold Koh, and his alleged statement that Islamic Sharia Law should apply in US Courts.

https://youtu.be/ppTo-TTtJQo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppTo-TTtJQo&feature=youtu.be








Sharia Court in Texas, 4:25
 
A religious nonprofit in the Dallas area offers Muslims the option of Sharia law to settle family and business disputes.


https://youtu.be/jqIzgv11Pl0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqIzgv11Pl0&feature=youtu.be








Halāl (Arabic: حلال‎‎ ḥalāl, "permissible"), also spelled hallal or halaal, is any object or action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term covers and designates not only food and drink but also all matters of daily life.[1] It is one of five Ahkam—fard (compulsory), mustahabb (recommended), halal (allowed), makruh (disliked), haram (forbidden)—that define the morality of human action in Islam.[2] Mubah is also used to mean "permissible" or "allowed" in Islam.
Halal Chicken, 2:27
 
https://youtu.be/JlFfz0Dxh8E

A chicken is slaughtered halal at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlFfz0Dxh8E&feature=youtu.be







Halal
 
Partial list:
KFC
Outback Steakhouse
Popeyes
Safeway
Costco
Whole Foods Market
ShopRite
Trader Joe's
Vons
Wal-Mart

Facebook

Islamic (Sharia) Law in America, J. Christian Adams, Minnesota

2012, 18:31 James Lafferty, 12:56
 
Minnesota, Sharia Law, 4:26
 
Muslims in the USA want Sharia law and say they will not follow US laws.

https://youtu.be/uB6gps7dkUA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uB6gps7dkUA

Muslims in the USA want Sharia law and say they will not follow US laws, 4:26

https://youtu.be/uB6gps7dkUA






Condell on Sharia, 6:22
 
Pat Condell - Saudi Arabia sharia Islam treats women like cattle

https://youtu.be/srmIyiY-XU0






Scrub

Islamism from 9/11

9-11-memorial-stirs-debate-over-islamic-terrorists
 
muslim-group-wants-islamic-terrorists-scrubbed-from-911-memorial
 

George Washington Hires Islamist

Revolution Muslim, 2:50
 
Younus Abdullah Muhammad, NY Muslim: This is Islam! To Hell With Obama, America and Democracy!

https://youtu.be/sAorhgNqQoc



Mohammed
 
01/george-washington-university-hires-former-islamist

Michael Scheuer and related titles:

https://www.librarything.com/catalog/gmicksmith&collection=-1&deepsearch=Scheuer
Yale Kills the First Amendment

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/16/yale-fail-ivy-leaguers-caught-on-video-clamoring-to-kill-first-amendment/

Soul of America, 4:46

Twisted Steel, 3:10

Thomas Sowell, 4:07

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC1gRZ6pEko

Public School Praises Muhammed During Christmas Concert

Praise Islam

Why are Obama, Jeh Johnson, And Loretta Lynch Defending Muslims Still? 7:37

https://youtu.be/rFZaEPOY--4

Rand Paul Highlights, CNN Debate

Rand Paul, 2:02

Avalon

Film

2:07:44

Butler's Program Notes: Avalon (1990),

1:58



Trailer, 1:32

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099073/?ref_=nv_sr_4

A Polish-Jewish family comes to the USA at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.

Director: Barry Levinson
Writer: Barry Levinson
Stars: Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Leo Fuchs
100 Years of Propaganda: WW I to the Present Day, John Church

World Wars, Desert Storm
Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion
George Creel
Wilson influenced by Birth of a Nation, Lippmann a Captain in the Creel Committee
The Little American, Mary Pickford
Charlie Chaplin, British, Shoulder Arms, shooting scene
Lippmann, manufacturing consent, Chomsky

Triumph of the Will, Leni vs. Why We Fight, Frank Capra
The Negro Soldier

Uncle Walt, Donald Duck, Commando Duck, Against the Japanese
Education for Death

Desert Storm: CNN Effect
Wag the Dog
Three Kings
America's Team
Faked Kuwaiti girl testimony

"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history."
George Orwell

Today
The Interview
American Sniper

A Brief Examination of the Use of Military Troops in the Homeland
George Schwartz, Professional Studies Program

Learning Goal
4 key cases
Event, law, case

Pre-Constitution
Shay's Rebellion, 4,000, private militia defeated

1794 Whiskey Rebellion, president led troops, only time, excise tax, pay back, farmers rebelled, 500 farmers, 13,000 militia

Militia Act 1792, drafted white males, if courts or police can not suppress, tested by Whiskey Rebellion

Insurrection Act of 1807, limit President but rely on state and local authorities, troops under command of governors

Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Depression since 1873, cut wages as railroads built out, workers on strike, 45,000 militia, 5,000 federal troops, Molly Maguires vs. private militias organized by railroads, impetus to regularize and raise state militias, federalism, 1905, PA State Police

Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, limit federal troops from enforcing policing duties

1957 Little Rock Crisis, nine students, prevented by Governor Orval Faubus to enter, Gov. called National Guard, Eisenhower federalized.

National Defense Authorization Act of 2004
Dual Status Commander, federal and state forces

2004 G8 Conference, now expanded to G20, post-9/11
Unofficial forum international for repression, 40,000 demonstrators, locals overwhelmed

The Final Analysis
Balance?

Dr. James K. Murray, Chemistry
Cyber & the South China Sea: Security Challenges for the 21st Century

U.S. Cyber Force

CYBERCOM, 2015
NSA
Central Security
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Michael Rogers

Major Commands, regional
Should Cyber Command be elevated to Major Command?

Separate force, Air Force, 1947, such as air

Cyber
DDoS
SCADA
Intellectual property
Network intrusion

Information sharing
.gov/.mil vs. .com/.org

Patriot Act - Section 215

Critical infrastructure
Power, water, financial, air, railroad

Currently, not in procurement process

Players
State and non-state actors

Building and Training Cyber Warfare Force
Recruit
Military vs. private
Offensive
Workforce "swapping," Google, etc.

Implementation
Role in operational planning
Cyber vs. Kinetic Weapons
Who issues command?

What next?
Treaties, China
Response to Attack
Embargo, economic sanction
Integration of cyber into operations

South China Sea
Complicated history
Transportation route
Natural resources
Asia's Cauldron, Robert Kaplan
Rebalancing U.S. Forces

U.S. Bases
Japan
Okinawa
Korea
Guam
Singapore
Philippines
Australia

Lost Subic Bay, closed after Cold War, and Clark Air Force base

U.S. Ready?
Smaller nations but no presence and only agreements, inferior equipment

China's Role
People's AZ/AD Anti-Access, Area Denial
Blue water navy
Aircraft carrier
Submarine force
New weapons, anti-ship ballistic missile

Islands
China claims or build islands, exclusive economic zone
Vietnam welcomes U.S.

International Response
Conventional laws of the sea, UNCLOS, U.S. did sign
Claims and counter-claims
International courts
Build-up resources and capabilities
Joint exercises
U.S.S. Lassen, within 12 nautical miles of Chinese land

Media Malpractice, 7:33
Exclusive trailer for "Media Malpractice... How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted"!!!
Here is the offical trailer for the highly anticipated documentary "Media Malpractice... How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted." For more information on the film as well as the exclusive Sarah Palin interview, go to www.HowObamaGotElected.com
http://youtu.be/WAGCMGpP-QM
)
Blacks Address Obama, 6:32
Shortly after Tuesday night's State of the Union address by the President, some Black Chicago Activists were asked their perspective and feedback on what Obama had to say. "Mr. President, we'd probably be better off if you called off your presidency off right now. Just quit. Because if this is what you call helping us, then stop helping us." (Produced by Rebel Pundit)
http://youtu.be/_nirnIV5pfs

Obama and Drones, 6:06
Tthe first question at the Yale Law School panel on drones is from Alexander Hamilton, a former Obama supporter and now one who calls for his impeachment. Several on the Yale drone panel give their answers.
http://youtu.be/HxcMjFlIlUc

Chicago Anti War and Occupation Protest 2011 HD, 10:30
http://youtu.be/rd5HiZVIK1s

Liberation Not Occupation!
March & Rally on 8th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq 12 Noon, Saturday, March 19, Michigan Avenue & Congress Parkway -- our own 'Freedom' Square! Short rally followed by a march on Michigan Avenue
Funding for Jobs, Healthcare & Education, not for War and Occupation Iraq, Palestine, Egypt: US Out of the Middle East End FBI raids, political repression and corporate welfare at home
Why we march:
March 19th marks 8 years of US war and occupation in Iraq, where despite President Obama's claim that combat operations have 'ended', more than 50,000 troops remain, backed by tens of thousands of mercenary private contractors. 4,436 American soldiers and over 1 million Iraqis have died, with millions more maimed and displaced. This war has lasted longer than WW II and cost more than $1 Trillion -- more than $200 Billion this year alone.
The US occupation of Afghanistan has extended into Pakistan, where last year alone the US military dropped more drone bombs than in the last decade combined. The US government continues to back and bankroll Israel's war against Palestinians and the siege of Gaza. While the US government claims to support 'democracy and freedom', it continues to back repressive regimes and right-wing movements across the Middle East, Latin American and beyond. The toppling of US backed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has inspired millions the world over, exposing the great gulf between US rhetoric and reality.
Here at home, antiwar activists and whistleblower projects like Wikileaks are targeted for jail or worse. Muslims and immigrants are scapegoated. Undocumented immigrants face deportation and discrimination. Millions are unemployed and uninsured while the government is slashing funds for basic needs like heat and food for poor children. Funding for public education, environmental protection and job safety is being gutted. Workers rights are under attack, while the government continues to pour billions into the coffers of the banksters and corporate predators that created the current economic catastrophe. Our tax dollars are bankrolling a corporate welfare system that funds CEO salaries and war and occupation abroad at the expense of basic human needs right here at home.
We reject war and bloodshed. We demand jobs, healthcare, education, justice and equality -- and the real democracy that puts people before profits and human needs before corporate greed.
Join us on March 19 to demand an end to the US occupation of Iraq. March in solidarity with the great struggles raging from the Mideast to the Midwest and across the world for liberation and self-determination.
Obama intro of Marxist Derrick Bell at Harvard, 1:44
http://youtu.be/a1wghYexaP4
Derrick Bell
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/john-perazzo/barack-obamas-first-jeremiah-wright/

Economist Thomas Sowell Talks About Harvard Obama & Derrick Bell, 8:43
03/09/2012 Economist Thomas Sowell Interview on Hannity
http://youtu.be/KDeL-UK1p24

Obama's Middle East 2.0 Speech: Reiterating Failed Policies, 6:00
Reason Magazine's Tim Cavanaugh joins James Poulos to discuss Obama's Middle East Speech. Why is our President simply reiterating failed policies? And is foreign aid a foreign concept to Americans? If we can't trust our government to spend money and make the country better, how can we expect Egypt to do it?
http://youtu.be/id80Ew4VcOs#aid=P8-qaLg-XbA
)
Remember the Gulf, 2:14
As the Obama Administration turns its attention to new challenges, an environmental and economic crisis remains in the Gulf of Mexico. The message was clear: the federal government is doing more to hurt the Gulf's economy and environment than help it.
http://youtu.be/WU0QYo5Y44s

Obama's Corporate Profits, 11:26
With Obama corporate profits have soared 171 percent after taxes. Anthony Randazzo, director of economic research for the Reason Foundation, and RT America producer Justine Underhill sound off on topic.
http://youtu.be/vSldYW1tP5g

Krauthammer slams Obama Admin as delusional for belief that Putin has 'blinked' on Ukraine, 2:07
Krauthammer slammed the Obama Admin as"delusional" for their belief that Vladimir Putin has halted his advance in Ukraine, claiming the Russian president is "lying through his teeth."
Krauthammer spoke with Fox News' Bret Baier to discuss the Russian invasion of Crimean region in southern Ukraine. Many assumed Putin would follow up this action with a full-scale invasion of eastern Ukraine. But in a rambling press conference Tuesday, the Russian president indicated there may be no reason to further escalate the situation.
President Obama seized on the comments, saying he hopes Putin may at least take a "pause." But not everybody is buying it.
"This is astonishing," Krauthammer responded. "On the one hand they're unable to muster — our leaders — to muster anything that the Europeans will join that will hurt Putin. And on the other hand you're telling us that they are thinking that Putin thinks he made a mistake, did make a mistake and is looking for an 'off-ramp.' And our real job is to lap on sanctions or to push him out of Crimea, but to allow him some kind of diplomatic exit that will save the face."
Baier asked whether Putin's comments could be interpreted as "some kind of blink . . . sending the signal that he's stepping back?"
"That's not a blink!" Krauthammer retorted. "That's a KGB agent lying through his teeth, which is what they train to do for all of their lives! I mean, when Hitler went into the Sudetenland, he claimed it was in response to a desire on the part of the population."
"This is what all dictators do," the columnist concluded. "The idea that somehow it's a blink, because he's waiting to see if he wants to take the rest of Ukraine, and that's a sign of weakness? I think it's delusional!"
http://youtu.be/VOMaeVF0Yf0

Behenna released from U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, 2:24
Former U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna sat down with The Oklahoman's Adam Kemp and Sarah Phipps for an interview following his release Friday, March 14, 2014.
http://youtu.be/qSr0snu6hvI

Ft. Hood Hero: Obama 'Betrayed' Victims, 2:30
New video shows chaos after massacre at Texas Army base that killed 13.
http://youtu.be/-OEwEzFgKP4



Do Americans Think We Face Tyranny? 10:06

Luke Rudkowski hits the streets of NYC to find out what people think about the possibility of Tyranny in the United States. Let us know what you think of the video in the comments section below. follow luke on https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange https://facebook.com/LukeWeAreChange http://instagram.com/lukewearechange https://plus.google.com/1023224594778... Support us by subscribing here http://bit.ly/P05Kqb Source 1: NDAA 2013 Allows Indefinite Detention Of U.S. Citizens By Presidenthttp://www.policymic.com/articles/222... Source 2: Obama Poised to Restrict Protest Rights http://www.thenation.com/blog/166625/... Source 3: Martial Law by Executive Order http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-gar... Source 4: Military Drones Prowl US Skies http://news.yahoo.com/military-drones... Source 5: Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/wor... Source 6: How Team Obama Justifies the Killing of a 16-Year-Old American http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/a... Source 7: Relatives Sue Officials Over U.S. Citizens Killed by Drone Strikes in Yemen http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/wor...

https://youtu.be/H9uLE9cD_u8

Question 1: Multiple Choice Incorrect According to the USA PATRIOT Act Given Answer: Incorrect those spying on the U.S. government will be considered enemies of the state and sentenced to life in prison. Correct Answer: the federal government no longer needs a warrant to monitor libraries, banks, bookstores and homes for suspected terrorists. out of 5 points Question 2: Multiple Choice Correct As a political movement, the Tea Party is characterized by Given Answer: Correct its free-market libertarianism. Correct Answer: its free-market libertarianism. out of 5 points Question 3: Multiple Choice Incorrect Which of the following best describes the Bush doctrine? Given Answer: Incorrect America will never negotiate with terrorists for any reason. Correct Answer: It is the right of the United States to wage a preemptive war against any nation that might one day threaten the United States. out of 5 points Question 4: Multiple Choice Correct After September 11, it became clear that the al Qaeda network operated from a base of power in Given Answer: Correct Afghanistan. Correct Answer: Afghanistan. out of 5 points Question 5: Multiple Choice Incorrect Abu Ghraib refers to Given Answer: Incorrect the location where Osama bin Laden hid out in Afghanistan. Correct Answer: an Iraqi prison where U.S. soldiers tortured and humiliated prisoners of war. out of 5 points Question 6: Multiple Choice Correct Obama achieved all of the following in the war on terror except Given Answer: Correct He closed the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Correct Answer: He closed the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. out of 5 points Question 7: Multiple Choice Correct The rationale given for attacking and invading the country of Iraq in 2003 was that Given Answer: Correct the country possessed weapons of mass destruction, of various kinds, that could be used against the United States. Correct Answer: the country possessed weapons of mass destruction, of various kinds, that could be used against the United States. out of 5 points Question 8: Multiple Choice Correct One of the biggest successes of Obama's presidency was Given Answer: Correct passage of the Affordable Care Act. Correct Answer: passage of the Affordable Care Act. out of 5 points Question 9: Multiple Choice Incorrect Shortly after taking office, which of the following signaled a potential problem for George Bush from his own party? Given Answer: Incorrect Criticism of his initial reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11. Correct Answer: Republican Senator Jim Jeffords declaring himself an independent. out of 5 points Question 10: Multiple Choice Incorrect The centerpiece of George W. Bush's agenda when he entered office was Given Answer: Incorrect defending the United States against terrorists. Correct Answer: a large tax cut for wealthy Americans.