THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 175, August 29, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHO ARE YOU CALLING A "BIGOT"?
Middle East Studies Professors Attack
Opponents of the Ground Zero Mosque
By Brendan Goldman
CONTROVERSY OVER THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE, ACCUSATIONS OF BIGOTRY, & THE INCREDIBLE DISLOYALTY IN U.S.
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION:
THE CONCERTED EFFORT OF A GROUP OF BIASED & DISLOYAL MIDDLE EAST STUDIES PROFESSORS AT AMERICAN
UNIVERSITIES TO DISCREDIT THE OPPONENTS OF THE PROPOSED GROUND ZERO MOSQUE -- ACADEMIC APOLOGISTS FOR
ISLAMISM PAINTING ALL THE MOSQUE'S OPPONENTS AS BIGOTS &, IN THE PROCESS, REVEALING THE PROFESSORS' OWN
STRIKING PREJUDICES & EXTREME INTOLERANCE
FULL STORY:
John Esposito, Director of the Saudi-funded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at
Georgetown University, having observed that a large majority of Americans oppose an Islamic center at ground zero,
could not decide whether American society now more closely resembles that of Birmingham, Alabama (circa 1963) or
Nazi Germany on the eve of Kristallnacht:
"[Newt Gingrich is] somebody... from the South [who] can
remember the problem of racism and civil rights. He's also
reportedly a Christian.... He's got to remember how a
theology of anti-Semitism led to a history of pogroms that
ultimately led to the Final solution."
Such callous historical analogies were but one component of a concerted effort by a group of Middle East Studies
Professors to discredit the opponents of the ground zero mosque, whom they helpfully labeled "rural rednecks,"
"so-called Christian ministers," and "the Israel lobbies."
Most of the academics echoed a warning that a "tidal wave of 'Islamophobia'" would soon overtake America -- Act
Two of the "wave of hate crimes" that occurred "post-9/11." These statements ignore a basic fact: no such "wave"
ever occurred. As columnist Jonah Goldberg writes, despite the rhetoric of the political Left, statistics demonstrate
this country is not particularly susceptible to "Islamophobia."
In 2001 (the year of 9/11), there were twice as many anti-Jewish incidents [in America] as there were anti-Muslim,
according to the FBI. In 2002 and pretty much every year since, anti-Jewish incidents have outstripped anti-Muslim
incidents by at least 6 to 1.
Undeterred by facts, these same academics offered spirited defenses of the "moderate" ground zero mosque Imam,
Feisal Abdul Rauf -- who called America an "accessory" to the 9/11 attacks and said Osama Bin Laden was "made
in the USA". What they rarely revealed is that their conception of a Muslim "moderate" is defined on a spectrum
utterly alien to their American audience.
The prominent Egyptian Sheikh, Yusuf al-Qardawi, sits at the center of the academics' spectrum. According to
mosque supporter Marc Lynch, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George
Washington University, Qardawi is a practitioner of wastataniyya, or "centrism," and "a barometer of Muslim
opinion." Esposito likewise calls Qardawi a "reformist". Rauf says the Sheikh is "the most well-known legal
authority in the whole Muslim world today."
The problem: Qardawi, as a "reformist" and exemplar of "centrist" Islam, has said, for instance, that "[Hitler] put
the Jews in their place," that homosexuality is an "abominable practice" which warrants the death penalty, and
that women should be genitally mutilated to protect their chastity. Reassurances of Rauf's moderation ring hollow
when this context becomes clear.
Although, according to these academics' definition of the spectrum of Muslim public opinion, one might expect
that only fringe voices in the Islamic world would reject the mosque, in reality such prominent Muslims as Abd
al-Rahman al-Rashid, Director-General of Al-Arabiya TV, oppose its construction. As al-Rashid, perhaps
one of the best placed sources for analyzing popular opinion in the Arab-Islamic world, said:
"I do not think that the majority of Muslims want to build a
monument or a place of worship that tomorrow may become
a source of pride for the terrorists and their Muslim followers."
But a genuine debate over the choice of location for the mosque, the radical connections of its leadership, and the
opaque sources of its $100 million budget was apparently less edifying than painting all of the mosque's opponents
as bigots. In the process, the academics revealed their own striking prejudices.
Richard Bulliet, Professor of Islamic History at Columbia University, suggested one theory -- the malignant influence
of Jewish paranoia.
"I see [some of the opposition to the mosque] as linked to
broad apprehensions, both in this country and in Israel that
evil deeds ... suspected of being a part of a Muslim master
plan, pose an existential threat to the Jewish people."
The Professor provided no evidence for his assertion, but perhaps he simply mixed-up the subject of the conspiracy
theory he ridiculed: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which outlines a farcical Jewish "master plan" to rule
the world, is a perennial best-seller in many parts of the Islamic world.
Moataz Abdel-Fattah, Associate Professor of Middle East Studies at Central Michigan University, took a swipe at
Christians too, arguing that opposition to the mosque is rooted in "the theological bias of the Judeo-Christian
tradition."
Muqtedar Khan, the Director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware, chose to be vaguer, warning that "dark
elements" have formed an alliterative "pernicious partnership between politics and prejudice." He added, "[This
'partnership's'] anger could manifest in myriad forms of discriminatory behavior towards Muslims."
Khan is an expert on "discriminatory behavior," having refused to sit on an academic panel with Israeli-American
Scholar Asaf Romirowsky, because Romirowsky, like all citizens of the Jewish state, served in his country's armed
forces.
Other scholars sought Khan's "myriad forms" of anti-Muslim behavior in an isolated incident in which the Pastor of a
small church in Gainesville, Florida called for burning the Quran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The
Pastor was the subject of countless academics' editorials in which they stigmatized American society as
"Islamophobic."
Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies at Columbia University, was one such scholar; he
warned in a CNN op-ed of "those promoting an orgy of Quran burning." Dabashi failed to mention
that "those promoting" this "orgy" consisted of precisely one man, and that the state denied the Pastor a permit
necessary to do so.
Stephen Zunes, Chairman of Middle East Studies at the University of San Francisco, told the Islamic Republic of
Iran's state funded Press TV that, "We have seen [this Pastor's] kind of extreme rhetoric for some time now,"
adding:
"If you really look at Western history, you can see
scapegoat[ed] minorities.... It shows an ugly aspect
of Western societies, despite claims of religious
pluralism."
This "ugl[iness]" is obviously a uniquely Western phenomenon, since, in enlightened "Eastern societies" like Iran,
Jews, historically, were not allowed to leave their homes when it rained because they were considered polluted,
practicing Baha'is are still regularly arrested without pretense, and -- of course -- "there are no gays."
Esposito seconded Zune's bizarre theme of America's exceptional intolerance in the eyes of the Islamic world, telling
his American audience that opposition to the ground zero mosque "stunned...the vast majority of Muslims."
Muslims living under the rule of Esposito's Saudi sponsors must be "stunned" by Americans' opposition to the
construction of a thirteen-story Islamic center at ground zero, considering the erection of the most humble
synagogue or church anywhere in Saudi Arabia is prohibited and non-Muslims may not even enter the cities of
Mecca or Medina.
If you find yourself asking why the defenders of the ground zero mosque keep recycling hyperbolic accusations of
bigotry, listen to the analysis of many of our nation's "leading" Middle East Studies scholars. Their attempts to
characterize all opposition to the mosque as examples of "Islamophobia" ignore the complicated emotions evoked
by the 9/11 attacks and the genuine concerns of many Muslims and non-Muslims alike over the mosque's
fundraising, location, and the radical connections of its leadership. Finally, if one must embrace these professors'
infatuation with perceived prejudices, then associating "centrist" Muslims with homophobes, misogynists and
anti-Semites -- while embracing conspiratorial charges against "so-called Christian ministers," "rural rednecks" and
"the theological bias of the Judeo-Christian tradition" -- seems to fit the very definition of bigotry.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Islamist Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Education, Training, & America's Schools:
Institutions of Elementary, Secondary, & Higher Education
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
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
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Brendan Goldman, a member of New York University's class of 2010, earned a B.A. in Middle Eastern and Islamic
Studies. This essay was sponsored by Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
The foregoing article by Brendan Goldman was originally published in American Thinker, August 29, 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-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/2734/middle-east-studies-professors-ground-zero-mosque)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
August 29, 2010
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