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Joseph Santarelli

Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1103

March 31 2015

Islam; it’s the New Communism

In modern day America there is so much fear, distrust and animosity toward Muslims and

people of Arab descent. I was initially very confused about as to why this was. Was it still

because of 9/11 or are people just bigoted? I found an article from The Atlantic that helped

clarify where this animosity was coming from. After reading this article I now see a somewhat

logical correlation between the extremist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-sham (ISIS) and

Islam faith. Most importantly being the man by the name of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This man

has been the known leader of ISIS since may of 2010, he disappeared for a while before

surfacing on July 5 last year; he was delivering a Ramadan sermon at the Great Mosque of al-

Nuri, in Mosul. According to this article, there was a mass influx of jihadists in direct response

to his appearance. A jihadists are being defined in this context as guerilla fighters with radical

Muslim beliefs, same meaning as Mujahideen. Baghdadi has been referred to as the Caliph, a

symbolic title of one who takes Muhammad’s place to lead the Muslim people. The end goal of

most radical Muslims is to usher in the Caliphate, a theocracy, “ideal” government ruled by

Muhammad’s successor. I see the connection that people are drawing between the Muslim faith

and ISIS, however I feel that it is irresponsible to look at it so monochromatically. If we are

merely looking at the broad stokes of the issue than it is easy to say that both Muslims and ISIS

have the same leader, with Baghdadi at the helm. However it is important to not deal in

absolutes on either side of this issue. Religion is a powerful tool to sway the hearts and minds of

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people. Some Muslim and Arab people have become desperate in recent decades through

military unrest by both domestic and foreign forces. One cannot generalize all of the Muslim

and Arab people into one school of thought, even within jihadists belief there is animosity

between groups. Yes, I accept that ISIS is a Muslim (organization?) , using accepted theology to

justify violence and military actions, but this is in the same manner that the KKK is a Christian

organization. It is important to understand that Muslims can rebuke the organization and “nearly

all do”, in the same manner that nearly all Christians have distain for the actions and beliefs of

the KKK.

Later in the same Atlantic article, the author has a discussion with one Bernard Haykel,

a Princeton scholar who grew up in both Lebanon and the U.S. He states that people that claim

that Islam is a religion of peace are mistaken, with a “cotton candy” view of the religion. He

continues with; “Slavery, crucifixion, and beheadings are not something that freakish [jihadists]

are cherry-picking from the medieval tradition…Islamic State fighters are smack in the middle of

medieval tradition”. The way I read his statements, I believe that he is saying that both the

Quran and Muslim tradition justify some actions of the Islamic State. This claim, although

merited, is grossly irresponsible. This is stoking the fire of distrust against Arabs and Islam

itself. I will not deny the apparent belligerence of some Islamic beliefs, but the same claim can

be made about Christianity. There are hundreds of Bible verses that spew the same violent

messages that some people condemn Islam for. For example;

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up

before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away

from Israel.” Numbers 25:4.

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“Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare

them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and

donkeys.'" 1 Samuel 15:3.

“At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them--men, women and

children. We left no survivors.” Deuteronomy 2:34.

Now, with that established I still recognize the fact that Christianity is a loving religion whose

percentage of ignorant, hateful and violent members is dwarfed by the number of “good people”.

Why is the same not understood about Islam? I have heard news stories quoting some of the

roughly 109 Quran verses calling Muslims to war against “infidels”. These claims and

arguments are the direct spawn of ignorance. Many people do not understand the culture, beliefs

and practice of Islam. The Islamic State’s highly literal interpretation of the Quran is the same

flawed logic that brought about the Crusades and other atrocities of religion. Which transitions

into my next point; when people who argue against Islam are combatted with the point that the

Bible is an extremely violent text calling for the beheading of apostates, the defense is almost

always “Well you don’t see us Christians going around killing people, do you?” Have we

forgotten about the Crusades entirely? The answer is yes. I went to a Catholic School for most

of my life and we never even discussed the brutalities that “our people” had committed. We

barely even touched on how most of the Old Testament is a war story indoctrinating the

condemning of “all those who turn their backs on Israel” to all of its readers. I distinctively

remember freshmen year reading one of the Bible stories where the Israelites were invading

Canaan. They were instructed to “execute The Ban” which was a specific set of battle conduct

that consisted of the murder of every man, woman, child, animal in Canaan, the justification for

this genocide was to prevent intermarrying with lesser races and religions. These instructions

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were given to the high priests “by god”…did I mention that god also told them to take all the

wealth of the cities they ravage and put it into the temple treasury, directly into the pockets of the

high priests. The Israelites carried out The Ban to the letter, all in the name of god. The leaders

of The Islamic State are committing the same offense. They are manipulating the people through

fear of god; fear of western thought (fear of the unknown) and fear of being killed…its called

terrorism for a reason. The stance of The Islamic State is a perversion of Islamic beliefs by

taking everything extremely literally. To them the Quran is the work of god, to question its truth

is to question its divinity and is punishable excommunication and with reference to ISIS, by

death. Although the argument against Islam is not unfounded, it is one based in ignorance. I use

“ignorance” for lack of a better word, I know it has a strong connotation but I mean that these

people truly do not understand. I also believe that this hate and distrust comes from the

McCarthyism of needing somebody to point a finger at, needing an enemy. We don’t fully

understand Sunni, Shiite, Sufi, jihad, caliphate or the tradition and culture they were forged in.

This is the reason I believe that; Islam is to ISIS as Christianity is to the KKK. There is no

denying the religious founding for both organizations; there are several instances of religious

leaders belonging to the hatful organization in both instances. However, in America we see

though the religious aspect and Bible quoting and hatred of the KKK because we understand

most of the story. In this manner, nearly all Muslims see through the garbage of ISIS and

denounce them. Americans are simply outside the system and are analytically looking for

causation where there is none.

I do not think that every American that is anti Muslim is a wicked and hateful person;

instead I blame their bigotry on ignorance. American people are afraid and desperate, making

them incredibly easy to be manipulated. The manipulation is commonplace every day; the media

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is spoon-feeding their fear-mongering message. I’ve chosen to look at an ABC News article

titled “ISIS, Trail of Terror” to see what the American people are reading everyday. I’m going

to begin with an irresponsible quotation, taken out of context from President Obama, in bold it

says “…No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single

day”, this is in reference to ISISs’ war crimes. I’m sure what ABC News has done is not the

intention of the president, regardless of it you think he’s smart enough (not) to say something

stupid and disrespectful on a national stage, we have to think about who is actually writing these

speeches and the processes for approval they go through. The statement “No just God would

stand for what they did” clearly demarcates between “gods”. Definitively pointing out an “Us

and Them” scenario. Also with the capitulation, let alone inclusion of “God” directs public

thought and eye back to the religious aspect of the issue. The media could be communicating

that ISIS is a pack of deranged lunatics manipulating people with religious fervor, but instead

they choose to continue to tell people that Muslims orchestrate these attacks and acts of terror.

The public’s opinion of Arabs and Muslims is forced in the crucible of half-truths, fear

mongering, and misunderstanding.

According to surveys done by the Arab American Institute, 42% of Americans fully

support law enforcement that would profile and monitor people solely on the grounds that they

are Muslim. This is a staggering number of people that have distrust for Arab Americans.

Surveys done by the same organization say that 27% of Americans have a favorable opinion of

Muslims and Arab Americans in modern day America. That means that 73% of the American

people have a dislike or distrust for their fellow man just because of color or creed. This is 2015

and 73% of Americans are still afraid of the unknown. If you don’t vote for Barack Obama then

you’re a racist, but if you ask for a seat change on a plane because yours is next to an Arabic

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looking person, all of a sudden you’re just a concerned American. I being of ethic descent have

relatively dark features and when I get tan I get really dark skin toned. I have been pulled for a

“random” pat down every time I’ve flown except for once. I got pulled, searched and got my

hands swabbed for radioactive tracers, in Fort Lauderdale. Is racial profiling just a part of US

law now? How is there such a mass distrust for Arabic people in America? After the 9/11

attacks, the government reported to the American people that the attacks were a result of “radical

Muslims” because “terrorists” was too vague. The American people wanted a flag to hate. This

period of fear and hate towards Islam is exactly like Cold War era America. Yet again, America

finds itself at war with an abstract ideology. The faction’s abstract nature makes people easily

terrified at every turn, “The man next to you could be a communist!” Just like that ABC article I

referenced before, “…3,400 of those fighters are said to have come from Western nations,

including over 150 from the U.S.” Now, weather or not this McCarthyism is intentional or not, it

is grossly irresponsible for our politicians and media to be spreading this animosity as an every

day occurrence. The American people have essentially been told to be afraid of Muslims and

Middle Eastern people. Just as during the Red Scare, people are willing to sacrifice their Civil

Liberties in order for protection. The American Government has justified offenses like the

PATRIOT Act; in order to monitor its people to make sure they’re not up to no good. Yes, there

are people that need to be monitored but it’s unconstitutional to monitor all civilian devices in

order to pick up key words. To the people that want to say that George W. Bush is the root of all

evil, on May 26th, 2011 President Obama signed the extension of the PATRIOT Act. This

extension allows things such as wiretapping, searching of business records and surveillance of

suspected terrorists. It’s truly baffling that in a nation full of belligerent “patriots” that would

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kill for their freedoms, they would so easily relinquish these freedoms for protection. This is

manipulation under the guise of protection.

Don’t forget Works Cited page!!

Joseph,

Very good paper so far, you're clearly very into your topic and

you’ve got a pretty good understanding on the whole thing. I liked how

you took time to explain some of the terms that would confuse people.

Good job using the news as a source and then attacking the news

industry about how they can severely skew peoples view on a topic. Be

careful about leaving key words out, I think you left the word 'not' out of

a sentence and it made me have to go back two or three times in order to

figure out why I was confused. But overall this is a very excellent paper,

it makes me really want to read both yours and Conrad's finished papers

so I can see both sides. Keep it up!

-Noah