Reza Aslan: European Islamophobia Finds A Home In The U.S.

Religion • August 2010 • Views: 827

You may have heard the ad put out by the National Republican Trust Political Action Committee: “On September 11, they declared war against us. And to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans, they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at ground zero.”

Did you catch that? They attacked us on 9/11, and now they want to build a mosque at ground zero.

This is what has become of the debate over the construction of an Islamic community center in Lower Manhattan. You know, the so-called mosque at ground zero that’s neither a mosque nor at ground zero.

No matter what your feelings are about the proposed community center, there can be little doubt that Islamophobia is on the rise in America.

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15 comments

Stanghazi Mon, Aug 23, 2010 3:30:09pm

I just heard this on my way home.

Very chilling. Thanks for posting.

Stanghazi Mon, Aug 23, 2010 3:31:19pm

FYI, for those who haven't listened, he linked Pam Geller to the European Fascists.

CuriousLurker Mon, Aug 23, 2010 6:57:03pm

I heard about this ad earlier this month. The GOP's willingness to play on people's worst fears to try to control news cycles & win votes is disgusting to the nth degree. The consequences of their hate- and fear-mongering can easily lead to loss of life for American Muslims as well as our troops overseas.

And they'll claim they had nothing to do with any of this; it'll be the fault of the bloggers, the MSM, the PAC's, anyone but the actual politicians themselves. This will not be forgotten or forgiven.

captdiggs Mon, Aug 23, 2010 7:51:34pm

Is this the same Reza Aslan that calls Israel an "apartheid state" and still rants on about "hundreds of thousands of starving gazans", despite all the evidence to the contrary?

Lidane Mon, Aug 23, 2010 8:14:42pm

re: #4 captdiggs

Does his opinion about Israel somehow invalidate what he's saying here?

I don't believe it does.

captdiggs Mon, Aug 23, 2010 8:30:56pm

re: #5 Lidane

Does his opinion about Israel somehow invalidate what he's saying here?

I don't believe it does.

I think that when someone voices untruths about a very big subject in one article due to a certain bias, that other articles/opinions from the same writer deserve extra critical examination.

Lidane Mon, Aug 23, 2010 8:37:23pm

re: #6 captdiggs

So you're going to sit there and deny that there are links between the anti-Muslim groups here in the States led by Geller and Spencer and the far right anti-Muslim groups in Europe, or the rising tide of Islamophobia here in the States that Charles has been blogging about for ages, and just because you don't like something this guy said about Israel?

Seems a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to me, but whatever.

captdiggs Mon, Aug 23, 2010 8:51:24pm

re: #7 Lidane

It's late here and I have to go, but for one. I agree with Hitchens on "Islamophobia" ( read the Hitchens article below). For another, I think a lot of this is because people here and in europe see that tolerance seems to be a one way street with the west required to be the one who bends.
I think people are tired of all the violence emanating from Islam, the hate rhetoric, the cartoon jihads, the rioting and killing if there is so much as a rumor of a Koran desecration, the truck and suicide bombs, the plots uncovered to attack innocents.
Here in the US we have some people who carry signs at rallies, we have people who go to planning committee meetings and protest, but we don't go on a rampage burning mosques, embassies, or KFCs.

That's it for tonight.

Obdicut Tue, Aug 24, 2010 5:37:44am

re: #8 captdiggs

So you refuse to look at any problems with Islamophobia. At all. You want to solely concentrate on problems emanating from Islamic sources, and ignore any others.

How utterly irresponsible.

ShaunP Tue, Aug 24, 2010 6:16:16am

re: #8 captdiggs

Here in the US we have some people who carry signs at rallies, we have people who go to planning committee meetings and protest, but we don't go on a rampage burning mosques, embassies, or KFCs.

That's it for tonight.

Uh...

re: #6 captdiggs

I think that when someone voices untruths about a very big subject in one article due to a certain bias, that other articles/opinions from the same writer deserve extra critical examination.

What is your critical analysis? Where do you think he got it wrong?

"He said something I disagree with, so I must disagree with everything he says" is not a valid argument...

captdiggs Tue, Aug 24, 2010 10:24:40am

re: #10 ShaunP

"Islamophobia" is completely overplayed here.
Per the FBI, there are 6 times more attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions than there are similar attacks on muslims.
Yet all we hear about is "Islamophobia", which at this point is nothing more than a political football between the left and the right.

ShaunP Tue, Aug 24, 2010 1:12:12pm

re: #11 captdiggs

"Islamophobia" is completely overplayed here.
Per the FBI, there are 6 times more attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions than there are similar attacks on muslims.
Yet all we hear about is "Islamophobia", which at this point is nothing more than a political football between the left and the right.

You do realize that was an editorial that you pointed to, right?

I started making an argument that the violence numbers aren't really comparable, but it's totally and utterly a moot point. Americans have a negative view of islam; higher than any other religious group:

Muslim:
Very favorable: 12%
Somewhat favorable: 32%
Somewhat unfavorable: 22%
Very unfavorable: 21%
No answer/Don't know: 14%

If you see that as somehow overblown or unimportant that 43% of the people surveyed in this latest poll have an unfavorable view of Islam; I don't know that there is anything else to say...

CuriousLurker Tue, Aug 24, 2010 9:48:50pm

re: #9 Obdicut

So you refuse to look at any problems with Islamophobia. At all. You want to solely concentrate on problems emanating from Islamic sources, and ignore any others.

How utterly irresponsible.

Apparently Islamophobia won't be acknowledged until one or more Muslims (or people who "look like" Muslims) get seriously injured or killed. Even then it still probably won't count because, y'know, all Muslims collectively share the guilt of any actions perpetrated by extremists, therefore there are no innocent Muslims and whatever happens is justified. Or it won't count because there are more attacks on [insert any other group here].

What, me worry? Wed, Aug 25, 2010 10:53:38am

re: #11 captdiggs

"Islamophobia" is completely overplayed here.
Per the FBI, there are 6 times more attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions than there are similar attacks on muslims.
Yet all we hear about is "Islamophobia", which at this point is nothing more than a political football between the left and the right.

The danger is always that it gets out of control which is never good.

More anti-Semitism against Jews? So? There's probably more anti-Black sentiment in this country so does that make the anti-Semitic sentiment any less? I don't understand what one has to do with the other.

But anyway, I updinged you Capt, in #4 because I don't really care much for Aslan.

[Link: www.rezaaslan.com...]

"Despite the apartheid state that has resulted from over half a century of bloody territorial conflicts with its neighboring Palestinian territories, few would deny that the state of Israel is a democracy. At the same time, Israel is a country founded upon an exclusivist Jewish moral framework, which offers all the world's Jews — regardless of their nationality — immediate citizenship, providing them with a host of benefits and privileges over its non-Jewish citizens. It is a country in which the Orthodox rabbinical courts have jurisdiction over all matters relating to Judaism (including who is a Jew); where religious schools (yeshivas) are subsidized by the state, and marriages are religious, rather than civil affairs (meaning no official will marry a Jew to a non-Jew); and the government is dominated by religious parties such as the ultra-Orthodox Shas, the Yahadut Hatorah, and of course the ruling Likud."

Israel is not a theocracy even if it does have a state religion. Aslan is Iranian. He should know better than to say that shit when Iran has religious police and fashion police. Israel is run under parliamentary procedure as a democratic republic.

"Rabbinical courts have jurisdiction over all matters relating to Judaism". Well... DUH!

"... including who is a Jew" - is a lie. As a reform American Jew, I am granted the same rights in Israel as my Orthodox brethren, including citizenship. If you are a gentile, however, and convert to Judaism, you must convert under Orthodoxy to be acknowledged as a Jew in Israel, but you are still considered Jewish everywhere else.

The government is not "dominated" by religious parties. He has some nerve to say so, again, as an Iranian. Freedom of religion exists in Israel. And if the government was so dominated by the religious, how does Israel manage to have Gay Pride parades? When was the last Gay Pride Parade in Tehran?

Re schools, Aslan deliberately leaves out important information which makes him a liar. Israel has 1) public religious and public secular schools (your choice to attend) each gov funded; 2) orthodox private, partly gov funded; 4) Arab public and private schools.

Hey Aslan, does the Iranian government fund Jewish schools?

Anyway, I will continue to support Muslims in this country or any person of any nationality who wants to be an American and seeks freedom here.

What, me worry? Wed, Aug 25, 2010 11:08:50am

I hate to be so wordy, but I want to say one other thing.

Last week, Imam Rauf's wife, Daisy Khan was on This Week and she talked about how well Muslims live in the U.S., either religiously or secular. They can work in any job, go to any school, buy any kind of food. Just like the rest of us.

Part of what the Imam does in his travels in bring the American Ideal into other Muslim countries to show how well democracy can fit in to Muslim religion and society.

Does anyone actually LISTEN to what this Imam is saying? I don't see any other choice but to support him.

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