What Muslim Leaders Say About Islam Dispels the Myth that Jihadists are a "Fringe" Element

The following was originally published in 2010. But the message is just as true today. In fact, it may have become worse.

When we discover some basic facts about Islam, our first impulse is to think, "Surely it's only a small minority of extremists!" But if you've looked into it, and especially if you've read the Quran, you realize the "extremists" are following standard, mainstream Islamic doctrine. That's a real shock when this first dawns on you.

One day when I was reading yet another popular Muslim leader giving a speech and saying something that would be considered "inflammatory rhetoric" if I said it, but that was nothing more than just plain, ordinary Islamic teachings, I thought I should start collecting a list. Here's what I have so far (below), and I hope you to add to it in the comments.

I thought you could send this list of quotes to those people who tell you "the terrible stuff you say about Islam" only applies to a fringe group of nutcases who have hijacked Islam and twisted and distorted peaceful Islamic teachings into something bad. You could quote chapter and verse from Islamic source books until you're blue in the face without making a dent because they'll think hardly any Muslims nowadays believe in that stuff.

This list should disabuse anyone of the notion that the incessant intolerance, hatred, and even violence against non-Muslims is "fringe." This is not just a small group of "radicals." This is Islam, plain and simple. The leaders quoted below are hugely popular, even famous mainstream leaders in the Islamic world. For each quote, I've provided an online source. Let's begin:

Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt, the highest Muslim religious authority in the world, supports murdering non-Muslims. In the daily Al Ahram (April 7, 2008), he said, “Muslims must kill non-believers wherever they are unless they convert to Islam.” He also compares non-Muslims to apes and pigs. Source

Muhammad Sayyid Al Tantawi, president of Al Azhar University (the most prominent and authoritative institute of Islamic jurisprudence in the world) also approves of killing and maiming Christians, Jews, and other infidels. He added, “This is not my personal view. This what the Shari’a Law says, the law of Allah, the only valid law on the earth.” Source

Syed Abul Ala Maududi, founder of the Pakistani political party Jamaat-e-Islami, said non-Muslims have "absolutely no right to seize the reins of power in any part of God's earth nor to direct the collective affairs of human beings according to their own misconceived doctrines." If they do, "the believers would be under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge them from political power and to make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life." Source

The Chief Justice of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh abdullah bin Muhammad bin Humaid teaches that "at first fighting was forbidden, then it was permitted, and after that it was made obligatory." He clearly identifies two groups Muslims are obligated to fight: "(1) they who start fighting against Muslims, and (2) they who worship gods other than Allah." Source

The most prominent Muslim scholar of the 20th century, Sheikh Abu Ala Maududi, stated in his book, Islamic Law and Constitution, on p. 262, that the Islamic State “seeks to mould every aspect of life and activity. In such a state no one can regard any field of his affairs as personal and private. Considered from this aspect the Islamic State bears a kind of resemblance to the Fascist and Communist states.” Maududi added “Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam.” Source

Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (the largest international Islamic organization in the world) wrote, "Islam is an all-embracing concept which regulates every aspect of life, adjudicating on every one of its concerns and prescribing for it a solid and rigorous order." Hasan al-Banna acknowledged there are many levels of jihad, including mere "interior spiritual struggle," which he deemed the lowest level. According to al-Banna, waging warfare against the infidels is the highest expression of fidelity. Source

Hasan al-Banna also wrote, "it is a duty incumbent on every Muslim to struggle towards the aim of making every people Muslim and the whole world Islamic, so that the banner of Islam can flutter over the earth and the call of the Muezzin can resound in all the corners of the world." Now remember, this is the founder of the largest international Muslim organization in the world. Source: Robert Spencer's book, Stealth Jihad.

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed al Sheikh said on Iqra’ TV channel, “Killing producers who show women unveiled is legal.” Source

The Saudi Sheikh Saleh Al-Lehadan, head of the Supreme Judiciary Council, told Al Watan Daily, (March 25, 2008) “After getting rid of the Jews in our Arab land, we must turn to the Christians. They have three options: either they convert to Islam, or leave, or pay Jizia (protection taxes).” Source

Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi says: "There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without swords, without guns, without conquest. We don't need terrorists, we don't need homicide bombers. The 50+ million Muslims [in Europe] will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades." Source

Shaykh Ghawhi, well-known and well-respected in Islamic universities and throughout the Islamic world, is a teacher of Islamic studies and Islamic law. He says according to Sharia:

1. A woman must only leave her house if she has a real need to do so.
2. Her husband or guardian must authorize her leaving the house.
3. When she is out, she must be completely covered, including her face.
4. When she is out, she must not look left or right but keep her head bowed down as she walks.
5. She must not wear perfume in public.
6. She must never shake a man's hand.
7. Even if she is visiting a female friend and is inside her friend's house, she must not uncover herself in case a man is hiding somewhere in the house. Source

Ayatollah Khomeini, the immensely influential leader of the Iranian revolution, and known as "the greatest Shi'ite leader of all time" said: "Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of [other] countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world...But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world...Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by [the unbelievers]? Islam says: Kill them [the non-Muslims], put them to the sword and scatter [their armies]. Does this mean sitting back until [non-Muslims] overcome us? Islam says: Kill in the service of Allah those who may want to kill you! Does this mean that we should surrender [to the enemy]? Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other [Qur'anic] psalms and Hadiths [sayings of the Prophet] urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim." Source

Ayatollah Khomeini also said: “Mehrab (a mosque) means a place of war, a place of fighting. Out of the mosques, wars should proceed. Just as all the wars of Islam proceeded out of the mosques. The prophet had a sword to kill people. Our Holy Imams were quite militant. All of them were warriors. They used to wield swords. They used to kill people. We need a Caliph who would chop hands, cut throats, stone people. In the way that the messenger of Allah used to chop hands, cut throats, and stone people.” Source

Ayatollah Khomeini also said, “Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.” Source

The following "explanatory memorandum," as it's called, was captured in an FBI raid and outlines the "strategic goal" for the North American operation of the Muslim Brotherhood (known to members as "Ikhwan"). Keep in mind that the Muslim Brotherhood is the largest international Muslim organization in the world. Here's its goal in America, according to its own leadership:

"The process of settlement [of Islam in the United States] is a 'Civilization-Jihadist' process with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that all their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' their miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who choose to slack." Source

The co-founder of CAIR (the most prominent "mainstream, moderate Muslim" organization in the United States), Omar Ahmad, an honored guest at the Bush White House, was invited by the president to the National Cathedral to mourn the Americans lost on 9/11. In 1998, Ahmad was secretly recorded at an Islamic conference in Fremont, California, saying, "Islam isn’t in America to equal to any other faith but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America and Islam the only accepted religion." Source

Before founding CAIR, Ahmad was a leader at the Islamic Association of Palestine, an Islamist organization that raised money in America for Hamas, but was shut down by the government in 2005. The three largest American-based Brotherhood front groups have been blacklisted and/or shut down by the FBI. The FBI shut down Holy Land Foundation, the largest Islamic charity, for fraudulently raising money for Hamas and the FBI listed CAIR and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) as unindicted co-conspirators. Source

"The leading Egyptian cleric, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, considered one of the most influential scholars in Islam, promoted by London mayor Ken Livingstone as a moderate voice, says something on his Islam-online website, speaking of female genital mutilation (the removal of a girl's clitoris): 'Anyhow, it is not obligatory, whoever finds it serving the interest of his daughters should do it, and I personally support this under the current circumstances in the modern world.'" Source

Yusuf al-Qaradawi also urged Muslims to kill the Jews on Al Jazeera TV (Jan. 9, 2009), not only in Israel but also worldwide. He added, “No peace can be made between us (Muslims) and the non-believers. This what our holy book says. This what Allah says.” Source

Yusuf al-Qaradawi also wrote: "Secularism can never enjoy a general acceptance in an Islamic society." Qaradawi is the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual guide and a favorite of the Saudi royal family. He made this assertion in his book, How the Imported Solutions Disastrously Affected Our Ummah, an excerpt of which was published by the Saudi Gazette just a couple of months ago. Source

We're talking about Qaradawi, the “progressive” Muslim intellectual, much loved by Georgetown University’s burgeoning Islamic-studies programs. Like Harvard, Georgetown has been purchased into submission by tens of millions of Saudi petrodollars. In its resulting ardor to put Americans at ease about Islam, the university somehow manages to look beyond Qaradawi’s fatwas calling for the killing of American troops in Iraq and for suicide bombings in Israel. Qaradawi, they tell us, is a “moderate.” In fact, as Robert Spencer quips, if you were to say Islam and secularism cannot co-exist, John Esposito, Georgetown’s apologist-in-chief, would call you an Islamophobe; but when Qaradawi says it, no problem — according to Esposito, he’s a “reformist.” Source

And he’s not just any reformist. Another Qaradawi fan, Imam Rauf, the similarly “moderate” imam behind the Ground Zero mosque project, tells us Qaradawi is also “the most well-known legal authority in the whole Muslim world today.” Source

Rauf is undoubtedly right about that. So it is worth letting it sink in that this most influential of Islam’s voices, this promoter of the Islamic enclaves the Brotherhood is forging throughout the West, is convinced that Islamic societies can never accept secularism. After all, secularism is nothing less than the framework by which the West defends religious freedom but denies legal and political authority to religious creeds. Source

It is also worth understanding why Qaradawi says Islam and secularism cannot co-exist. The excerpt from his book continues:

"As Islam is a comprehensive system of worship (Ibadah) and legislation (Shari’ah), the acceptance of secularism means abandonment of Shari’ah, a denial of the divine guidance and a rejection of Allah’s injunctions. It is indeed a false claim that Shari’ah is not proper to the requirements of the present age. The acceptance of a legislation formulated by humans means a preference of the humans’ limited knowledge and experiences to the divine guidance: “Say! Do you know better than Allah?” (Qur’an, 2:140) For this reason, the call for secularism among Muslims is atheism and a rejection of Islam. Its acceptance as a basis for rule in place of Shari’ah is downright apostasy." Source

Andrew McCarthy wrote: "In considering Imam Rauf and his Ground Zero project, Qaradawi and the Muslim Brotherhood are extremely important. Like most Muslims, Rauf regards Qaradawi as a guide, and referred to him in 2001 as 'the most well-known legal authority in the whole Muslim world today.' And indeed he is: a prominent, Qatar-based scholar whose weekly Al Jazeera program on the subject of sharia is viewed by millions and whose cyber-venture, Islam Online, is accessed by millions more, including Muslims in the United States. Not surprisingly, his rabble-rousing was a prime cause of the deadly global rioting by Muslims when an obscure Danish newspaper published cartoon depictions of Mohammed."

Andrew McCarthy continues: "Qaradawi regards the United States as the enemy of Islam. He has urged that Muslims 'fight the American military if we can, and if we cannot, we should fight the U.S. economically and politically.' In 2004, he issued a fatwa (an edict based on sharia) calling for Muslims to kill Americans in Iraq. A leading champion of Hamas, he has issued similar approvals of suicide bombings in Israel." Source

Sheik Taj Din al-Hilaly, former Mufti of Australia and Imam of the Lakemba Mosque, said in a sermon at the Lakemba Mosque October 2006: “Those atheists, people of the book [Christians and Jews], where will they end up? In Surfers Paradise? On the Gold Coast? Where will they end up? In hell and not part-time, for eternity. They are the worst in God’s creation.” Source

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, former leader of the Justice and Development Party, one of Turkey's most popular politicians, and now Prime Minister of Turkey, publicly read an Islamic poem that included the lines: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and Muslims our soldiers…” Source

Prime Minister Erdogan also commented on the term "moderate Islam," often used in the West. He said, "These descriptions are very ugly, it is offensive and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that's it." Source

OIC General Secretary Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu readily admitted in a speech in June of 2008 the OIC's targeting and orchestration to criminalize speech that "offends" Muslims, noting their success in causing the West to deter "freedom of expression." The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations and the largest voting block in the UN. Ihsanoglu said, "In confronting the Danish cartoons and the Dutch film Fitna, we sent a clear message to the West regarding the red lines that should not be crossed. As we speak, the official West and its public opinion are all now well-aware of the sensitivities of these issues. They have also started to look serious into the question of freedom of expression from the perspective of its inherent responsibility, which should not be overlooked." Source

Mohammad, the prophet of Islam, said: "If anyone changes his religion, kill him." Source

"Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war...When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them...If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them." So said Mohammad, founder of Islam (from Sahih Muslim's Hadith, 4294). Source

A man came to Mohammed and said, "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad in reward." Mohammed replied, "I do not find such a deed." Source: Bukhari Vol 4 Bk 52 Nbr 44