The purpose of this article is not to insult any religion or group of people but rather to explain some of the facts surrounding current events regarding what is commonly being referred to as “the radicalization of Islam.” The following text may offend and/or surprise some readers and in those cases I strongly suggest doing your own research to see for yourself how accurate the following facts are as I have written them.

To start, the term “radical Islam” simply does not exist outside of western culture or in Islam itself. This term has been invented by western society in an effort to explain what is viewed as a small destructive movement in an otherwise peaceful religion.  However, violence is an integral part of Islam and would not be considered by faithful followers as radical anymore than a view of the risen Lord would be considered radical in Christianity.

Outside the political correctness of the west, there is only Islam and nothing more. “Everything is Islam,” is a statement you will hear around the world by faithful followers referring to how Islam is to be implemented and that Islam dictates every aspect of a person’s life; how a person is to eat, dress, and pray etc. No follower of Islam would ever refer to himself or herself as Muslim-American and a true follower of Islam fully understands that they are forbidden to obey the United States Constitution.  A true Muslim of faith is taught from childhood that he owes 100 percent allegiance to Islam and to nothing and to no one else.  

When the term “radical Islam” is used by the western media or by western politicians, it is done so either out of ignorance or deceit because Islam is very clear on its motivations and its goals.  According to true believers in Islam, their holy book, The Quran, is the direct word of Allah given to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel that cannot be altered. Although the Quran contains peaceful verses, the central message to its followers is to convert the unbelievers of the world to Islam either by persuasion or through violence.

Qur’an 9:123- O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).

Qur’an 9:29- Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah (tax) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Qur’an 9:73- O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.

According to the Department of Justice, Muslims represent about 1 percent of the American population but they constitute 80 percent of defendants or 186 of the 228 convictions tied to international terrorist groups since 9/11.

You may be asking if the call to violence by Muslims is so clear why is there such a debate between those that claim Islam is a religion of peace and those that claim that Islam is a violent political movement?  To answer that question one must understand three basic Muslim positions. First is the use of abrogation in the Quran, which means to replace older teachings and positions with the most recent teachings and positions. Islamic scholars agree that the earliest writings of Muhammad occurred when he resided in Mecca and that these writings were largely peaceful. However, after securing a larger following, most of the violent laws and rules given by Muhammad instructing Muslims to kill infidels and spread Islam by the sword became more numerous and written later when Muhammad resided in Medina.  Since the more violent teachings of Muhammad are the most current writings, according to Islam, they are the only relevant teachings to be followed by today’s Muslims.  So many of today’s Muslims recite the earlier peaceful passages in the Quran and wrongly conclude that Islam is a religion of peace. What they don’t understand or don’t want to believe is that almost all of the earlier peaceful teachings were abrogated or replaced by the violent message to spread the teachings of Islam by the sword.

The other two reasons for the confusion are ignorance and the practice of “Tuqyah;” which means to deceive.  There are many Muslims who truly are unaware of the violent teachings of Islam but it is hard to differentiate and separate those Muslims from Muslims who purposely misinform others about the violent core teachings of Islam, through the use of Tuqyah, which is sanctioned by Islam in cases where Muslims are outnumbered or weaker than non-believers.  They are called to act friendly until they gather enough strength in order to fight.

Ibn Kathir on 3:28- Believers are allowed to show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly. For instance, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Ad-Darda’ said, “We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.’’

There are many peaceful Muslims who do not know or don’t want to believe in the violent contents and message of the Quran. Muslims in this country, who believe in the United States Constitution, co-existence between all religions and personal choice would not be considered by those faithful to the teachings of Muhammad to be followers of Islam and would (and do) face the same violent fate as non-believers. Remembering that Muslims are also called to convert the unbelievers to Islam by persuasion, violence is not always the method of choice especially in the early stages of conversion and against a stronger opponent.  The push to dominate and control America’s future currently takes the form of using America’s ample supply of corrupt politicians, a broken media, political correctness and fear of being labeled racists to undermine the laws and freedoms of this country.

To assist Islam’s agenda to take over the United States one must remain silent and vigilantly practice political correctness. One must allow corrupt politicians to remain in office and advance the idea of multiculturalism at all costs. But above all, one must continually reinforce the idea, through denial or verbal repetition that such an invasion could never happen here.

Patrick McCarthy is a New York journalist who received an award from the New York Press Association for his coverage of the attacks on 9/11.

**The views expressed in this column represent only those of the author and not the board or membership of the Juniper Park Civic Association.