Politically Unstable: Islamophobia labels, Western tolerance and ‘suicidal empathy’
OPINION:
From the lessons of 9/11 to the limits of Western tolerance, the meaning of assimilation and the threat from Iran, a question many Americans hesitate to ask out loud is back on the table: Is Islam a peaceful religion?
On this episode of “Politically Unstable,” host Kelly Sadler and columnist Jed Babbin take it on.
[SADLER] Is Islam a peaceful religion? We just passed the 25th anniversary of 9-11, where George W. Bush gave an interview saying that he believes that Islam is peaceful, that there was the exception to the rule of those al-Qaeda terrorists hijacking those planes and running them into the World Trade Center as well as the Pentagon, with one crashing in Pennsylvania en route to Washington, D.C. But, Jed, in your piece, you disagree with the former president. Can you lay out specifically why? [BABBIN] I think if you look at the history of Islam and you look at the Quran, you look at “Reliance of the Traveler,” of course. The principal book that translates the Quran and makes it more understandable for people. The thing is, Mr. Bush is dead wrong. I mean, when he says Islam is a religion of peace, it is a religion of war. And it has always been. It has been throughout its history. It’s been throughout the Quran. It’s been through “Reliance of the Traveler.” It simply is not what he says it is. And we can go through the history of Islam. If you go through, well, its invasions of Europe. I mean, it started in the 8th century and they were defeated. They went back a couple hundred years later. They conquered most of Spain and most of France. And, you know, it has been a religion of conquest. Islam has never been spread by peace. It has been spread by war. [SADLER] You’re 100% right. If you go back and look at the history and how Islam started and the conquering conquest of it. In your piece, you brought up several references to the Quran. Can you specifically delve into what the Quran tells Muslims to do or directs them to do that maybe differ from that of the Bible, both the Old and the New Testament? [BABBIN] Well, I think to start with, the Quran says that jihad is the obligation of all Muslims, and jihad is directed against the Christians, the Jews, and anybody who is not a believer in Islam. So you have the principle Bible of Islam saying that they should go to war, they should not make peace, that they should slay the infidels, that being you and me, wherever we find them, wherever you find them. It is not hard to find references in the Quran to that sort of thing, you know, to jihad being an obligation of the entire Muslim community. They say the ummah is most relied upon for jihad, and that’s what you get. We have had so many Islamic terrorist incidents that I think it beggars the imagination to say otherwise. [SADLER] And they’re celebrated as martyrs. And we’ve seen this in their public proclamations. We see this in the Middle East when you get camera crews to record what’s going on in Palestine, the celebration of killing Jewish people on October 7th, the celebration of seeing the Twin Towers fall back on September 11th. It is celebrated in their culture, and mothers wanting their sons to grow up to be martyrs, to be suicide bombers. That is their life goal. But why do you think we as a culture right now, given what happened to us on September 11th, why would George Bush make a comment like that? Why are we electing Zohran Mamdani as the mayor of New York City? We have El-Sayed, who’s running for Senate in Michigan, who attaches himself to Hasan Piker, who said that Americans deserved 9/11. [BABBIN] Well, all I can say is we don’t have a very good memory. We don’t have the memory that brought out patriotism. I mean, I’m sure you remember that. Right after 9/11, people were flying flags from their cars, flying American flags. And, you know, we were absolutely in full patriotic mode. But we have forgotten. And people go for the socialist agenda. You know, Mamdani and the rest are socialists. And, hey, free everything. That really sounds attractive to some voters. So we forget. We really bury the memories of those things. I mean, if you talk about October 7th, I mean, who can forget the Bibas family, the two young boys, the two, I think they were only, one was only a few months old and the other was a couple of years old. They were strangled, their bodies mutilated to pretend that they were subject of an Israeli airstrike. How do you get to that point? How do you get to the point where you kill little kids? For the hate that’s instilled by your ideology, your religion. I don’t get it. I don’t get it.
People were interested in these podcasts
Watch the video for the full conversation.
Read more: George W. Bush still gets Islam wrong after 9/11
Click here for more Politically Unstable