Nonie Darwish
Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a speech by Nonie Darwish, who is a well-known writer and lecturer on the threat of radical Islam. Darwish, who is a naturalized Egyptian-American has written two books, "Now They Call Me Infidel" and "Cruel and Usual Punishment". As a result of her apostasy from Islam and her criticism of radical Islam, Darwish lives under the threat of death. Last night, she spoke for about 45 minutes and then took questions from the audience. Below, I will mention the main points she spoke about.
Darwish spoke about her Muslim upbringing in Cairo and Gaza (her father was killed fighting the Israelis.) She told of the constant messages of hate toward Jews and non-Muslims she heard coming out of the mosques, which in her youth, she never questioned. Eventually, she immigrated to America, where she saw such a contrast in openness and tolerance as opposed to Egypt, which she described as one of the most radicalized countries in the Middle East today. She worries about what will happen in Egypt when Mubarek is gone and the Muslim Brotherhood tries to take over the nation. She also described her last trip to Egypt when she was riding in a cab with her young daughter and the driver was ranting on about Christians. Her daughter couldn't understand why the man was saying such things since she was not used to hearing them in America. Darwish also described how Egypt, once a Byzantine country with a large (Coptic) Christian population now sees its Copts persecuted and their homes burned in some areas.
Darwish went on to describe returning to America from Egypt on September 10, 2001 and waking up to the news of the attacks the next day. When she called home to friends in Egypt seeking comfort, she was astonished that everyone she called blamed the Jews and Bush for the attacks.
Darwish also spoke about shariah law, what it dictated, and why it is incompatible with the freedoms we enjoy in the West. She explained that under shariah, there was no punishment for killing an apostate. (She herself has a fatwa calling for her death.On the contrary, shariah dictates that Muslims-anywhere- must kill an apostate. Similarly, there is no punishment for an honor killing. While the punishment for killing another Muslim is death, there is no death penalty for killing a non-Muslim. If a woman is raped, she must find 4 male eyewitnesses to the incident to prove her case in court against the rapist. Darwish asked rhetorically where the outrage from Western feminists was.
At one point, she held up a xerox copy of a fatwa issued by an imam from Egypt's Al Azhar University ordering the death of an Egyptian man who had moved to Germany, married a German woman and raised his two sons as Christians. The fatwa was to kill every member of the family.
Darwish also mentioned the large number of black Americans who convert to Islam. She recounted the history of slavery that has existed and still exists in certain parts of the Muslim world (Sudan) where Muslims have enslaved non-Muslim black Africans. She asked how American blacks could embrace a religion that has historically enslaved so many of their ancestors.
Of course, Darwish also pointed out that Islam is much more than just a religion. It is a political ideology-and an authoritarian one at that- which seeks to rule over others. She also stated that Saddam Hussein never violated shariah law during his brutal rule (such a rule is right in line with shariah,) while Anwar Sadat signed his death warrant when he made peace with Israel-thus violating shariah.
Other points:
The partition of India and Pakistan in 1949 was simply because India feared that Muslims would start a civil war in the newly-independent country.
There is a town in France (Radeaux-phonetic) in which 60% of the population is Muslim. Now they are talking openly about electing a Muslim mayor and declaring the town an autonomous Muslim enclave in which all inhabitants would have to live under shariah law.
She also told of radical Muslims in the UK-where shariah is already allowed in certain areas-calling on the Queen to convert to Islam.
During the question and answer session, Darwish was asked her opinion of the current US administration. (Darwish is an American citizen and conservative Republican.) She didn't hold back. I believe the adjectives she used to describe the Obama administration were "awful" and "devastating". She added that there were officials in the White House who thought shariah law was just fine. In the Department of Homeland Security, there were devout Muslims who believe in shariah and that within the Justice Department, there were others who supported the idea of shariah.
When asked what she would do if she held the power in America, she said that she would cease all immigration from Muslim countries until terror, hatred and Jihad came to an end. (That brought applause from the audience.)
When it came to the idea of a Muslim takeover of America, she said quite poignantly, "You can laugh at the idea now, but our children and grandchildren will be fighting this battle."
In way of advice, she called on the audience not to bow to political correctness and fears of being called an "Islamophobe". She added that she is called an Islamophobe in spite of the fact that she has a fatwa on her head and that she is, indeed, afraid. She reminded us that this is not about individual Muslims, most of whom are decent people nor even about the religious part of Islam such as praying, going on the hajj or fasting during Ramadan. It is about Islam as an authoritarian and intolerant political ideology that we must defend ourselves from. She added that most Muslims are good people not because of Islam-but in spite of Islam.
After the event, Ms Darwish stayed to sign copies of her latest book, which I had just finished reading. I am not an autograph collector, but I was proud to meet her, exchange a few words and have her sign my book. It is people like Nonie Darwish, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Wafa Sultan who are the real heroes in this struggle. When people like these are willing to put their lives on the line, then we need to listen to their message and support them.
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