THE PROFESSOR'S ISLAMIST CALL TO BATTLE
By Cinnamon Stillwell
Jackson specializes in Islamic law and has written and spoken extensively on the subject. Soon after the September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks, Jackson took the line popular among apologists for militant Islam, stating at a September, 2001, University of Michigan Teach-in, titled "Terrorism: A Perversion of Islam," that "the killing of innocent peoples is forbidden by the law of Islam and it has been from the beginning of Islam."
But it turns out that not only is Jackson an apologist, he an outspoken proponent of the Islamist subversion of Western civilization.
Jackson made this abundantly clear at the "Reviving the Islamic Spirit" Convention (8th Convention, Toronto, Canada, December, 2009), doing so as a participant in the panel, "The New We: Muslims in Future of Western Society." Jonathan Usher, who attended and wrote about the conference for Campus Watch, described Jackson's speech as nothing less than "a call to battle." As he put it, "It had little to do with peaceful co-existence with the West, but was an exhortation for Islam to dominate the West." According to Usher, Jackson --
…expressed a desire to be included in American society — but not if any sort of cultural sacrifice were required. He said that adapting to Western culture would lead to being a Muslim in name only and advocated defining America by Muslim standards and imposing cultural and intellectual supremacy. He urged Muslims not to follow Western cultural authority, but rather to achieve their own cultural authority from the inside, as part of the system.
…Lastly, to cheers, Jackson said that his primary commitment was to Allah, not to America.
Moreover, Jackson has a history of making such radical statements.
He co-authored a 2000 online book titled American Public Policy and American-Muslim Politics and published by the Chicago-based International Strategy and Policy Institute, whose mission is to "promote the correct understanding of Islam and Muslims in the United States." Jackson's coauthors were DePaul University Director of Islamic World Studies Aminah Beverly McCloud and State University of New York at Binghamton Professor and Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies Ali Mazrui. McCloud is a former Board Member of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and a follower of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, while Mazrui's bio notes that he is "one of the first to try and link the treatment of Palestinians with South Africa's apartheid" and has also "argued that Sharia law is not incompatible with democracy and supported its introduction in some parts of northern Nigeria."
In the chapter, "Muslims, Islamic Law, and Public Policy in the United States," Jackson cites the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci's influential theories about altering societies not through politics, but through cultural and educational institutions. Jackson proposes that American Muslims approach the "difficult task of penetrating, appropriating, and redirecting American culture" in order to "influence the legal order in America." As he puts it:
As for the gradual acceptance of the more horrifying aspects of Sharia law, Jackson notes that "it would be foolish to deny that the prospects for American acceptance of such institutions as stoning, or flogging or amputation are virtually nil, at least for the foreseeable future." But he concludes on a note only an Islamist could find comforting:
This call to gradually replace the liberties enshrined in the U.S. Constitution with seventh century notions of justice is both frightening and morally repugnant.
Despite a record of expressing such extreme views, Jackson has made a name for himself as a moderate and a reformer. His success in this charade stems, in part, from his willingness to break from his peers and publicly discuss Islamic terrorism, its theological underpinnings, and the need for related reform. An article in the Wesleyan Argus quoted a November, 2007, Jackson speech on "Jihad, Terrorism, and Modern Violence" at Wesleyan University:
'Muslims in the West must be active and vocal in their condemnation of current violations of hirabah,' he insisted, referring to the Sharia law that outlaws any act of publicly directed violence that spreads fear and helplessness. According to Jackson, hirabah more than covers today's conception of terrorism. He discussed the moderate Muslim unwillingness to publicly decry acts of terrorism and attributed it to the desire to not be seen as 'Uncle Toms.'
But Patrick Poole, writing for the American Thinker in September, 2007, calls Jackson's reasoning and motives into question. He describes Jackson as one of the earliest proponents of the "Islamic lexicon" and, in particular, an advocate for replacing the term jihad with hirabah in discussing Islamic terrorism. Poole and other skeptics allege that, in practice, this is nothing more than a semantic sleight of hand that serves to obscure the legitimization of terrorism within Islam and to further the Muslim Brotherhood's civilization-jihadist process.
Poole notes that Jim Guirard of the Truespeak Institute is the "foremost advocate for this approach," and that Sherman Jackson is among the scholars he relies upon for his findings. Poole points to an unclassified memo from Pentagon Joint Staff analyst Stephen Coughlin in which Jackson is cited as one of Guirard's contributors, along with fellow Middle East Studies Professors John Esposito of Georgetown University and Muqtedar Khan of the University of Delaware. Summarizing Coughlin's findings, Poole concludes that --
Jackson is also considered an expert on the intersection of Islam and African-Americans (he is himself an African-American convert to Islam). His 2005 book on the subject, Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Towards the Third Resurrection, was reviewed favorably by radical Islam apologist John Esposito, James H. Cone (the originator of black liberation theology and stated inspiration for controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright, President Obama's former "spiritual mentor" in Chicago), and DePaul Professor Aminah Beverly McCloud. Beyond McCloud's aforementioned affiliation with CAIR and the Nation of Islam, she played a pivotal role in influencing Washington, D.C., PBS station WETA's decision to cancel its airing of the laudable documentary on moderate Muslims, Islam vs. Islamists, in early 2007.
Jackson's career may be peppered with associations and endorsements from some of the worst apologists and radicals from the field of Middle East Studies — and his involvement in the obfuscating "truespeak" movement points to even more troublesome ties with Muslim Brotherhood front groups — but, ultimately, it is his own words that prove the most damning. His stated agenda clearly has nothing to do with moderation or reform; it is quite simply that of an Islamist.
The Islamist Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
American Foreign Policy -- Political & Psychological Warfare
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Cinnamon Stillwell is the West Coast Representative for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum. She can be reached at the following email address: stillwell@meforum.org
The foregoing article by Cinnamon was originally published in Front Page Magazine, March 22, 2010, and can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam, working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly asserting U.S. interests vis-ŕ-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat. (Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/2608/sherman-jackson-islamist-professor)
Africa: Black Africa *
Africa: North Africa *
American Government 1
LINKS TO PARTICULAR ISSUES & SUBJECT MATTER CATEGORIES
TREATED IN THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, U.S.A.:
American Government 2 *
American Government 3 *
American Government 4
American Government 5 *
American Politics *
Anglosphere *
Arabs
Arms Control & WMD *
Aztlan Separatists *
Big Government
Black Africa *
Bureaucracy *
Canada *
China *
Civil Liberties *
Communism
Congress, U.S. *
Conservative Groups *
Conservative vs. Liberal
Constitutional Law *
Counterterrorism *
Criminal Justice *
Disloyalty *
Economy
Education *
Elections, U.S. *
Eminent Domain *
Energy & Environment
English-Speaking World *
Ethnicity & Race *
Europe *
Europe: Jews
Family Values *
Far East *
Fiscal Policy, U.S. *
Foreign Aid, U.S. *
Foreign Policy, U.S.
France *
Hispanic Separatism *
Hispanic Treason *
Human Health *
Immigration
Infrastructure, U.S. *
Intelligence, U.S. *
Iran *
Iraq *
Islamic North Africa
Islamic Threat *
Islamism *
Israeli vs. Arabs *
Jews & Anti-Semitism
Jihad & Jihadism *
Jihad Manifesto I *
Jihad Manifesto II *
Judges, U.S. Federal
Judicial Appointments *
Judiciary, American *
Latin America *
Latino Separatism
Latino Treason *
Lebanon *
Leftists/Liberals *
Legal Issues
Local Government, U.S. *
Marriage & Family *
Media Political Bias
Middle East: Arabs *
Middle East: Iran *
Middle East: Iraq *
Middle East: Israel
Middle East: Lebanon *
Middle East: Syria *
Middle East: Tunisia
Middle East: Turkey *
Militant Islam *
Military Defense *
Military Justice
Military Weaponry *
Modern Welfare State *
Morality & Decency
National Identity *
National Security *
Natural Resources *
News Media Bias
North Africa *
Patriot Act, USA *
Patriotism *
Political Culture *
Political Ideologies
Political Parties *
Political Philosophy *
Politics, American *
Presidency, U.S.
Private Property *
Property Rights *
Public Assistance *
Radical Islam
Religion & America *
Rogue States & WMD *
Russia *
Science & Ethics
Sedition & Treason *
Senate, U.S. *
Social Welfare Policy *
South Africa
State Government, U.S. *
Subsaharan Africa *
Subversion *
Syria *
Terrorism 1
Terrorism 2 *
Treason & Sedition *
Tunisia *
Turkey *
Ukraine
UnAmerican Activity *
UN & Its Agencies *
USA Patriot Act *
U.S. Foreign Aid
U.S. Infrastructure *
U.S. Intelligence *
U.S. Senate *
War & Peace
Welfare Policy *
WMD & Arms Control
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor