Waging a War of Ideas against Jihadist Hate: the Only Way to Secure Free and Just Societies in the West and End Global Terrorism
PART I: Situational Analysis
To begin, please watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLXmcwPWBgs
While this video is troubling for its racist undertones and clear incitement of hatred against Muslims living in the West, what is perhaps even more troubling is that this video has now been translated into Arabic and is being celebrated by fanatic Muslims around the world. For these fanatics, this video confirms their own future vision of a West dominated by Muslims and ruled by Islamic (Sharia) Law.
For non-Muslims living in the West, this video raises a fearful question about how Western countries will preserve their Judeo-Christian majorities—and with them, their freedom-based social and political traditions—against the influx of massive Muslim immigration and high fertility rates. Though it is indeed true that the Muslim populations are exploding in the West, how Western countries deal with this demographic reality is vital for their long-term survival. If European and American countries want to save the liberal foundations of their societies and combat extremism at the same time, they must wage a “war of ideas” against hate-mongering Muslims rather than rely on military force or punitive and discriminatory policies against Muslim communities living peacefully in the West. The question of course is how to wage this “war of ideas,”
Before answering this question we have to recognize these facts:
1) It is the adherents of Wahhabism that are increasing in number—and therefore are a threat to the West—not adherents of Islam.
2) Wahhabism contradicts Islam in its faith, its values, and its jurisprudence. Because of their oil, influence, and U.S. support, the Saudis have been able to portray Wahhabism as the religion of Islam and have spread it throughout the West and the U.S.
3) Wahhabism has revived the most fanatic Sunni sect of the Muslim Medieval Ages and brought it to modern times in the name of Islam. According to their worldview, the world is divided into two camps: the “Muslim camp”, which represents belief and peace.and the “enemy camp”, representing disbelief and war. The Wahhabis believe that there will be a final holy war between the two camps at the end of this world. This is their “Jihad” against the West and the U.S.
4) To prepare for the so-called “final battle” between Muslims and the West, the Saudi regime uses its influence in the West and the U.S. to impose Wahhabism on Muslim communities in the West and to convert Christians to Wahhabi Islam. They exploit theiir converts as a “fifth column” inside the enemy camp. They hope to Islamize America and the West to overcome the enemy camp and to eradicate non- Muslims. They plant their people inside the West, the “Enemy camp”, and brainwash them using schools and mosques, preparing them for the ultimate holy war described by their Wahhabi tradition.
5) At the same time, the Saudis keep the United States and the West busy fighting Al-Qaeda with their militaries. It is an endless war with no victory in sight. It only wastes time and money, while perpetuating endless bloodshed. The deeper the U.S. sinks in this swamp, the more the Saudis benefit. If Al-Qaeda can weaken the Americans in this war of attrition, they can sooner secure victory in their ultimate holy war against the non-believers.
6) Add to these facts the increasing numbers of Muslims inside the West and overseas as it is explained above.
Fanatic Muslims Are Effectively Waging a One-Sided War of Ideas:
Fanatic Muslims currently use ideas against the U.S. and the West to galvanize support from within Muslim communities around the world. They are successful because they wage their war against the West and the US under the banner of Islam. As a result, the West refers to these fanatics as “Islamic extremists.” By blindly equating their enemies with Islam, the West incurs the wrath of the greater Islamic community, who resent having their religion slandered by Western politicians and media. Furthermore, the West and the U.S. have refused, until now, to effectively wage a “war of ideas” to fight them back, and rely solely on military and intelligence solutions.
How the U.S. and other Western Countries can Win this “War of Ideas”
Ultimately, it is impossible to defeat terrorism without effectively mounting a “war of ideas” and a “war of words.” Military means alone have yielded few results. Here is how this can be done:
1) Islam is the most significant sword in this war of ideas. The fanatics garner support among Muslim populations because they use and hide behind the name of Islam. We can defeat them by proving the contradiction between Wahhabism and the religion of Islam.
2) The International Quranic Center (IQC) is a not-for-profit organization based in the United States that represents thousands of Muslim scholars from around the world, who have the expertise to fight a war of ideas from within Islam as a bulwark against terrorism. We have been engaged in this war since 1977. Although we have very limited resources and lack money and influence, we were, and still are, so successful in our war of ideas, that the only way left for our enemy to confront us is to persecute us, by imprisonment, torture, exile and threats against our lives, family and associates.
3) A “war of ideas” requires political support to protect its scholars and experts. Quranic Muslim scholars are currently being persecuted and oppressed across the world. The Quranists must be protected and supported.
4) The United States has all the necessary resources to be the superpower in this “war of ideas”. The United States can:
- Recruit Quranists and other open-minded Muslim scholars to engage in the frontlines of this war against terrorism.
- Promote media that aims to enlighten and subsequently mobilize the silent Muslim majority.
- Use its universities, and, within these universities, utilize their Islamic, Arabic, and Middle Eastern and Religious Studies departments, to analyze and expose Wahhabism, instead of leaving these departments dominated by the funding and influence of Saudis intent on masking the anti-West ideology of Wahhabism.
- Use its Muslim communities, and, in particular, the community’s schools and mosques to free Islam from those who are abusing and misrepresenting it.
For more details on how the IQC can help the West in this “war of Ideas” please see the proposal outlined below:
Part II: Proposal For How to “Wage the War of Ideas”
Our Mission:
1) Promote America’s founding principles of “Freedom and Justice for all” in the Muslim World
2) Win the “war of ideas” and “war of words” against the radical Muslims
3) Reform the Muslim world to accept democracy peacefully
4) Give American Muslims the tools to defend America in the name of Islam
5) Recruit open-minded Muslims to work with us in this mission
Activities to Promote this Mission:
a) Using a network of Arabic websites to handle the “Online War of Ideas” to defeat terrorism and promote a better image of the U.S. in the Muslim world. It will explore, analyze and combat the radical Muslim web sites on line.
b) Holding conferences to reform the Muslim world on the following topics:
Reforming Muslim communities in the U.S by:
- Reforming mosques in the U.S to defend America in the name of Islam instead of insulting America and misusing Islam
- Reforming Islamic schools in the U.S
- Reforming the research centers of Islam in American academia to discuss Wahhabism and its associated terrorism and extremism.Constitutional and Legislative Reforms in the Arab and Muslim World, such as:
- Reforming the election laws in the Arab World
- Lifting legal barriers to universal protection of all fundamental human rights
- Reforming criminal law in Arab legislation
- Promoting universal personal access to ownership of land, natural resources and productive assets and just market economies throughout the Muslim world
- Leading an effort to convince the Islamic world to accept the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as consistent with Islamic law according to the real core of Islam, while responding to the call for “Freedom and Democracy” by the West and promoting reforms to satisfy the hunger for “Justice” in both the West and the Muslim world.
Education in the Islamic World:
- Reforming Al-Azhar to promote freedom of ideas and respect for all religions and spiritual belief systems
- Reforming higher education in the Arab World starting with Egypt
- Discussing the international human rights charters in the light of Islam
Education in the Non-Muslim World:
- Collaborating with Non-Muslim scholars and leaders of all faiths and ethical belief systems in educational centers, thinktanks and social action organizations to promote universal principles of economic and social justice that will advance global peace, prosperity and freedom throughout the Muslim and Non-Muslim community globally.
c) Supporting independent TV channels and companies to produce programs and drama to reach and enlighten the silent Muslim majority, who altogether make up more than one billion people;
d) Developing Islamic institutes in which open-minded Imams will graduate and subsequently reeducate American Muslims about the true spirit of their faith.
About the Quranists:
The Quranists are a group of pro-American Muslim scholars who are represented by the International Quranic Center (IQC), a 501(c)(3) registered in the United States.
The ”War of ideas” has its own unique aspects. It is a battlefield for the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world. It needs moral ammunition, moral weapons, and professional soldiers of Truth, Love and Justice.
The Quranists are the professional soldiers. They have 30 years of expertise and the sincere commitment necessary to wage a successful war of ideas. The Quranists also have the ammunition — their Islamic scholarship and knowledge. The Quranists are professionals with the expertise in writing articles and books from their knowledge. They are also experts who can spread their knowledge through TV programs, Drama and TV programs, all focused on the Quranic message for winning the war of ideas.
What is lacking today are the advanced communication media to neutralize messages of hate and terrorsim from Muslim extremists. Such technologies are critical weapons for victory in the war of ideas. The Quranists, as of late, do not have the weapons — the free and independent TV channels and the drama production companies necessary to reach the entire Muslim world.
The Quranists have worked to dramatize their knowledge since 1977. They currently have more than 20 scripts ready for production. The Quranists can provide this proposed company with movies for decades. The same applies for the TV programs. It is not impossible to establish a company and a collection of TV channels that will produce the scripts and TV programs necessary for this war of ideas.
Please contact us for more details:
Ahmed Sobhy Mansour
International Quranic Center
5314 Pillow Lane
Springfield, VA, 22151
Tel: (703) 370-8137
Cell (703 ) 962 - 0874
Website: www.ahl-alquran.com