15 March 2011 By Juan Cole We have done our fair share of
coverage of the loony House representative from
Florida, Allen
West, but this guy is just
amazing sometimes in the nonsense he spits out. West
has made some seriously Islamophobic remarks in the
past, arguing in point blank statements that Islam is
not a religion, but an ideology: "We already have a 5th column
that is already infiltrating into our colleges, into
our universities, into our high schools, into our
religious aspect, our cultural aspect, our financial,
our political systems in this country. And
that enemy represents something called Islam and Islam
is a totalitarian theocratic political ideology, it is
not a religion. It has not been a
religion since 622 AD, and we need to have individuals
that stand up and say that." So said West back
then, in the company of other
right-wing loons, that "Islam is a totalitarian
theocratic political ideology, it is not a religion."
It seems pretty clear to anyone with half a brain that
he was not trying to say "radical Islam" is wrong, or
that he is against "extremist" versions of Islam, or
"Islamism" or anything else. He makes it very clear in
that speech he is against Islam, period. He also makes
it clear that he does not think Islam is a religion. In early February 2011, West was contacted
by religious leaders who
became aware of West's rhetoric against
Rep. Keith Ellison, one of two
Muslim Congressmen in the House of Representatives.
West said that Ellison represented "the antithesis of
the principles upon which this country was
established": Several religious leaders told
South Florida Congressman Allen West on Wednesday they
have "deep concern" over his recent comments about a
Muslim colleague in Congress and about "your tendency
to offer intemperate comments about Islam." In contrast to the blunt comments
about Islam he made during the right-wing program
mentioned above, West changed his tune: "It is the
extremist, radical element that has hijacked Islam
that presents a dangerous threat to both our country
and our allies throughout the world,"
West said in a return letter. "This radical jihadist
movement has no place in the
United States of America
or anywhere on earth." So now it was the "extremist,
radical element" that had "hijacked Islam" that West
was concerned about. I would like to offer a more
cogent and intellectual analysis of West's statements,
but let's be real here folks. It isn't required. He is
changing his tune because he does not want to appear
to be the bigot that he clearly is. West was speaking
from his heart to his like minded loons last year at
that right-wing program where he said that "Islam is a
totalitarian theocratic political ideology." But when
respected religious leaders contacted him after his
verbal attack on Rep. Ellison, West backtracked to
save face. West, it could be argued, is practicing the
definition of "taqiyya"
that so many anti-Muslim loons claim that Muslims
practice. West is hiding his true beliefs about Islam
from civil society because he knows it can only serve
to make him look like a bigot. Meanwhile, the
Congressman ramps up the anti-Islam rhetoric once he's
in front of his fellow Muslim-bashing compatriots. However, West's true face was
shown once again when he felt pushed into a corner
about his views on Islam. On Monday, Feb. 21, West got
into a
heated exchange with the
director of CAIR Florida, Nezar Hamze. Hamze had the
audacity to question West's knowledge about Islam. How
dare he! It's quite obvious that someone of West's
stature, being a Congressman and all, would have the
requisite knowledge to speak about Islamic theology
and history. I mean, don't most U.S. Congressmen and
Congresswomen know a whole lot about Islamic theology
and history? Isn't that why they are elected to
Congress – because they know a lot about Islam? Well, of course not. But, Hamze
stood before the bigoted Congressman and asked West to
point out where in the Qur'an it says to attack
Americans or innocent people. This gave West the
opportunity to show how prolific his knowledge of
Islamic history was (and how big of a wise guy he is).
West told the lowly Muslim that of
course there's no mention of attacking
Americans in the Qur'an because America was not even
around when the Qur'an was written. Duh, you stupid Muslim! West then made mention of certain
battles in early Islamic history. LoonWatch is
currently working on a lengthy response to West's
dubious claims, one that he and other Islamophobes
constantly refer to in order to argue that Islam is
violent. Stay tuned for that response – it will be
posted soon. However, make no mistake that West's
alleged understanding of Islamic law and history is
way off base, as is his understanding of the Muslim
American community today. In response to the question Hamze
asked, West alleged that Maj.
Nidal Hasan shouted "Allahu
Akbar" when he killed those
innocent people at Fort Hood and that the 9-11
hijackers also yelled "Allahu Akbar" when they flew
planes into the Twin Towers, as if to show that these
people represent Islam. Of course, West is attempting
to link all Muslims to what Nidal Hasan and the 9-11
terrorists did through the use of common Islamic
terms. Just because some extremists shouted out a
religious term when committing acts of violence
against innocent people does not mean that others who
also use those religious terms share in the guilt of
those atrocities or that Islam somehow would condone
these actions because these murderers attempted to
"Islamicize" these heinous actions. West is treading
on a slippery slope. One that will make him fall on
his face. Which brings us to his final statement at
the town hall event that fateful evening. Hamze told West that he was
ashamed that West was attacking his religion,
whereupon West burst out and yelled "You attacked us!
You attacked us!" Wow. This is a United States
Congressman? This is not only an absurd statement to
make, because for one Hamze obviously had nothing to
do with the 9-11 attacks, but two, West is essentially
laying guilt for 9-11 on every
single Muslim
American. By saying "You attacked us," West is telling
us what he truly believes. That Muslim Americans, like
Nezar Hamze, are co-conspirators in the 9-11 attacks.
That Muslim Americans are guilty people (sounds like
West is applying Robert
Spencer's definition of dhimmi
on Muslim Americans). And you know what that means. It
means West's followers will associate every Muslim
living in America with terrorism and make them worthy
of ridicule, contempt, distrust, and then eventually
this type of thinking will lead to violence against
innocent
Muslims in America. You can
already see the type of vitriol that is
being practiced against Muslim Americans when viewing
the anti-Muslim
protestin Orange County, CA. This is disgusting behavior on
the part of a U.S. Congressman. West is not clever.
He's not smart. He doesn't know squat about Islam or
Islamic history. He's the worst of what America has to
offer. He is a disgrace to his constituents and a
danger to law-abiding Muslim Americans who simply want
to live a normal life in America. He is simply an
un-American fake tough guy who loses his temper when
questioned about things he knows nothing about. The
fact that this jerk is a U.S. Congressman speaks
volumes about the state of
Islamophobia in America today.
He's also clearly practicing"taqiyya" by saying one
thing to his right-wing constituents about Islam and
then saying another thing to religious leadership in
order to hide his bigoted views of Islam and Muslims.
But never fear, Loon Watch is here – to expose loony
frauds like Allen West and put them in their
rightful place of shame. Comments 💬 التعليقات |