Despite abhorring the ideology of Islam itself, that doesn’t mean that I hate individual Muslims. I shouldn’t have to say that but I do. Islam, in its unmoderated form, is a danger, not just to us the non Muslims, but also to millions of other Muslims, Muslims who may wish to think freely about their faith and not be made to follow it at the point of a gun or a knife, which sadly is the case in all too much of the Islamic world.
Some Muslims, in particular Muslims like Tarek Fatah for example, recognise that there is little to be gained and a lot to be lost by shouting down everyone who criticises this ideology called Islam as an ‘Islamophobe’. In a piece for the Toronto Sun entitled ‘Muslims who stand up to Mullahs are no ‘Islamophobes’’, Mr Fatah first examines the different way that deaths of Muslims at the hands of non Muslims and Muslims are handled by the media and secondly calls on Muslims themselves not to be silenced with the snarl word of ‘Islamophobia’.
Mr Fatah has accused various Islamists of exploiting the New Zealand mosque shootings to attack all who criticise Islam. They have smeared Muslims who stand up to Islamic extremism as being ‘Islamophobes’. There has also been an alleged rise in death threats from Islamists towards secular and free thinking Muslims, including towards Mr Fatah himself. I must say that this sort of behaviour by the Islamists perfectly illustrates why the phrase ‘religion of peace’ to describe Islam has become so widely mocked.
I must admit that Mr Fatah’s piece is, to say the least, excoriating in its criticism of those Muslims who scream ‘Islamophobe’ at both Muslim and non-Muslim and how those who are doing the screaming are also exploiting the New Zealand tragedy.
Mr Fatah, after mentioning a lengthy list of horrific massacres committed by Muslims in the name of Islam, said:
Similarly, on Jan. 27, Muslim jihadis bombed a Catholic church in Jolo, Philippines, killing 20 Christians, yet this attack barely caused a ripple. No weeping politicians, no candlelit vigils and no public demonstration by Muslims in Canada denouncing the jihadi terrorists the way whites denounced a white nationalist.
In fact, Islamists in Europe and North America used the outpouring of goodwill towards Muslims to target Muslim critics of Islamism. Death threats called for eliminating me, my friend Maajid Nawaz in U.K., Imam Muhammad Tawhidi in Australia and scores of secular Muslims were targeted.
These attacks angered Ensaf Haider, the Canadian wife of Saudi prisoner of conscience Raif Badawi. She tweeted: “Don’t be fooled by Pro-Sharia Islamists in North America. They may want u to believe they r saddened by the #NewZealandMosqueAttacks, but fact is they cant disguise the triumphant spring in their step. Now, they’ll milk sympathy and play victim while pushing their Islamist agenda.”
As a 2017 report tracking “violent Islamist extremism“ found, jihadi terrorism has resulted in the deaths of 84,000 people. There was a total of 7,841 attacks – an average of 21 per day – in 48 countries.
Mr Fatah then went on to criticise Western Politicians, in particular Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau, for consistently legitimising those who promote the very worst of Islam whilst abandoning those from within the Islamic community who speak up against the mad Mullahs. As usual Mr Fatah has hit a considerable number of nails firmly and squarely on their heads.
