Will the Real Islam Please Stand Up!

Van Jenerette Editorial Comment, Various Publications ^ | Sunday, October 14, 2001 | Van Jenerette

[Van Jenerette]

Will The Real Islam Please Stand Up?

Will The Real Islam
Please Stand Up?

Stop telling me about Islam. Shouldn't the media and talk shows hosts really be instructing 'wayward' Muslims and their followers who have 'hijacked' Islam about the true meaning of the Koran and Islam. I really don't care about their religion. Tell them about their religion! Just tell the Muslims who have their Koran and the Prophets' message all wrong that they have it backwards and inside out. They seem to be the ones who need to understand the 'true' meaning of the Koran and Islam. by Van Jenerette, Major, U.S. Army(ret) Ph.D. Candidate, University of South Carolina Sunday, October 14, 2001

I really don't give a rat's explicit about Islam. ...Tell the Muslim's who have hijacked Islam about their religion!			Why can't I turn on the television or read a newspaper or magazine without being bombarded by some instruction from the media on how I should 'understand' Islam? Thanks, but no thanks. I really don't give a rat's explicit about Islam. I just don't like Americans being killed by anyone - and I like it even less when someone comes into my country to do the killing. I don't care to hear any reason this or excuse that or please understand their anger explanations. I just want to hang the people who did it and never let anyone think they can do it again. Not here. I live here. Anyway, it's been over a month since the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and there seems to be hundreds of TV talk-show hosts, news people, Islamic experts, roaming Imams, and Muslim clerics who keep telling me how I should get aquatinted with the 'real' Muslim world of the Koran, Hadith and the Sunna and how these terrorist guys who pulled off the 9/11 attacks don't really represent the actual Islamic faith or the teachings of the prophet. If this is true, why should I be the target audience on what 'true' Islam really is? I didn't crash a plane in to the WTC, and I didn't send my children out into the streets to cheer the deaths of thousands of innocent people. If I have it right, all the people who did this were Muslims. Correct? Shouldn't the media and talk show hosts really be instructing these 'wayward' Muslims and their followers who have 'hijacked' Islam about the true meaning of the Koran and Islam? I mean I already know what they did was wrong as do most honest American's, so why are you telling me? I don't really care about their religion. Tell them about their religion! Yes, tell the Muslims. Now there's a thought, just tell the Muslims who have their Koran and the Prophet's message all wrong - that they have it backwards and inside out. To me, they seem to be the ones who need to understand the 'true' meaning of the Koran and Islam. After all; according to the television 'experts', Islam means peace, not surrender or submission as I've read in Arabic. See, at this point as an outsider, I really don't know who has the Koran right - the Islamic Fundamentalist or the Islamic Traditionalist - the Sunni or the Shii Muslims, the Wahabis and who ever else is involved, including an assortment of Islamic terrorists themselves. I've heard so much talk from the experts that even Jihad is beginning to sound like a cross between a personal love fest or a pretty violent and murderous enterprise depending on who you are listening to at the time. So please, to all the media types and so-called Islamic experts - stop giving me your line on how these guys have hijacked a religion and just have the guts to tell Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, the Taliban and other Muslims who agree with them, that they have the Koran and the Prophet Mohammad all wrong. Period. Like it or not, in the big picture there seems to be no shortage of Muslims who agree with Bin Laden and other Terrorism Inc. members, et. al. But, even worse is the fact that they live all over the world and there are millions of them! From, China to Chechnya, to Indonesia, to the Philippians, back to India, into Saudi Arabia, south to Nigeria and about 50 other places you might not want to visit. To top it off, they come in a variety pack of all races and colors - brown, white, black, blue-eyed; black hair, beards, turbans, suits and ties. Wow! You've got to wonder; which Koran are these guys reading? I mean, someone has to have the Koran right and someone else has to have it wrong! Right? So many Muslims today make it sound like there are two versions of the Koran floating around out there. If so, what is the difference between the Koran that the Terrorists are reading, and the Koran that the rest of the Muslim world is reading? Is there an Original Koran and Revised Koran? If so, who is reading which version? Why is there an absence of direct condemnation and action targeted at millions of wayward Muslims who follow the terrorists? Why is there no overt and highly visible attempt to re-educate error-laden-believers to the 'true' message of Islam and the Prophet Mohhamad? I'm confused. This leads to some pretty difficult questions that I would like some brave souls or the members of the media to ask some Muslim leaders or other Islamic experts and try to get some straight answers: #1) Why is there such a huge effort to convince Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims that Islam is a peaceful, tolerant, kind, respectful religion, but there is no such direct effort to convey the same messages into the Mosques and the Arab Muslim world; especially to those Muslims in Gaza, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Tajikistan, the West Bank, etc.? In the same breath, why are Christian churches, Christian worship and Christian preaching banned in so many Islamic nations if Islam is so tolerant of all faiths? #2) Where are the Muslim world's media television, talk-show hosts', news people, Islamic experts' and roaming Imams' and clerics' voices with the message that people should not listen to Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Muslims who use terrorism. Why aren't they saying that the terrorist interpretations of the Koran and the Prophet's teachings are all wrong? #3) If the Terrorists and the Islamic Fundamentalists have 'hijacked' Islam to further their own agenda and are not following the Koran; why haven't the clerics and Imams issued a fatwa (religious decree) in full view of Muslims everywhere; as set forth in Islamic law and the Koran, for those who have decried the 'true' faith and edicts of Islam? Does anyone remember the author Salman Rushdie? They didn't waste anytime putting a price on his head and all he did is write a book that broke Islamic Law. #4) Why hasn't the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC); who represents nearly one-fifth of the world's population, named Bin laden directly and condemned him and other terrorist organizations as apostates to the Muslim Religion? Better yet, if in truth Islam is a religion that prohibits the murder and killing of the innocent, why haven't Muslims everywhere; including the OIC, condemned the bombing of Disco's, Pizzeria's, or the killing of civilians and of school children in Israel? #5) If Jihad, by definition does not include the concept of a violent 'Holy War', why do so many Islamic clerics and followers of the Muslim religion keep using it for justification of their killing of other people of other faiths or nations? Can millions of readers of the Koran have it that wrong? #6) Pardon my ignorance of the Koran, but if a Catholic Priest did a 'such-and-such' terrible deed, the Bishops, the Cardinals, and the Pope would all condemn the actions and excommunicate the offender. Why is there no such action against the terrorists who (according to all the Islamic clergy and American and Muslim experts who are 'educating' the American public to Islam) have violated the Koran? #7) Finally, can the Muslims have it both ways? Either the Koran is specific or it is not. Either the plethora of Islamic terrorists organizations are following the literal edicts of the Koran and the Sunan, or they are apostates that must be destroyed by other Muslims with even more vengeance - that which is extended to non-believers. Which way is it? I would really like some direct and specific answers. I don't want to hear history about the Crusades, or the U.S. foreign policy crap, or the rage of Muslims, or the Palestinians claims to the same lands as the Israelis, or comparisons to Christianity and Judaism, or stories of poverty or hunger, or the CIA, or other 'look-behind-you' and 'blame-the-victim' excuses. Most of what has been said in the media has been either pure bull or a lesser mix of lies and rumors. At this point, the majority of Americans don't want to hear excuses. We want action. Save the excuses for a more Politically Correct time period and a more gullible audience. Not that it matters, but I'm still not sure if I'm considered a non-believer that Muslims should live in peace with or if I am an infidel that should be killed for my corrupt life style, or my religious belief of Jesus Christ and the trinity of God. I need to have the 'real' Islam please stand up. I suppose for the time being we are stuck and must consider that there are but two possibilities: in the least, either the majority of Muslims aquiecese to the 'hijacking' of their religion, or at worst, they give tacit approval to the murderous actions the Islamic terrorists have done in the name of Allah.
			POST SCRIPT Note: Before the 11th of September, I really didn't care what Islam was all about. Actually I didn't give a rat's ass; it was just another religion with it's share of contradictions and eccentric notions. Outside of some studies of the Koran and the Sunan while at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, I never gave Islam much thought. In that case, I opened the book on this most 'interesting' religion only when confronted by some Muslim Officers from Arab countries who tried to convince me about the rightousnous of 'Honor Killing' for wayward daughters at the hands of their own families. A pretty chilling concept for a American father with six children. At least in their Muslim world my sons were safe. Small comfort - four of my children are girls. According to them, the female population of America would dramatically decrease; but improve, overnight once we 'saw the light.' Whew. That's a real scary thought.

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About the Writer....

Van Jenerette is a Senior Policy adivisor to U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, 1st Congressional District, South Carolina. He served as a Congressional Staff Assistant to U.S. Rep. Arthur Ravenel, Jr., 1st Congressional District, South Carolina from 1992 to 1994 and was a candidate for the 1st District Congressional seat in the 2000 election. He is a U.S. Army veteran and the father of six children.

Jenerette is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at the University of South Carolina, where he has also taught Sociology. Van presently teaches Political Science, Leadership Development, and Sociology as a full time faculty member at Southeastern Community College, and he teaches Social Theory at Coastal Carolina University. He received his Bachelors degree from Troy State University, Alabama where he graduated Summa cum Laude in 1981, he holds a Masters Degree from the University of Kansas and has done post graduate studies at the College of Charleston. He is a member of the American Mensa Society, an athlete, a scuba-diver and a runner who has competed in every distance from the mile through the 26-mile marathon. While in the Army, he competed in the 1990 U.S. Army Europe Track and Field Championships. He has studied five languages and has lived in three foreign countries.

Jenerette had a distinguished military career. Enlisting as a private during the Vietnam War in 1967, he served a combat tour as a Recon Scout with an Infantry Battalion on the Korean DMZ during the USS Pueblo Crisis. He rose through the enlisted ranks to Staff Sergeant, saw duty as a Drill Instructor at Fort Knox and received a commission as an Infantry Lieutenant after attending Infantry OCS in 1972 at Ft. Benning Georgia.

Jenerette is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, the 7th Infantry Division Counterguerilla Warfare School and the Defense Information School Officers Course. He served fourteen Army tours and his assignments included duty with the 1st Special Forces Group (ABN), Okinawa; the United Nations Honor Guard Contingent, Korea, which included service with United Kingdom British and Ghurkha forces and duty with the 1st Infantry, 2d Infantry and 7th Infantry Divisions.

Jenerette is married to Katherine Schmidt of Newport News, Virginia who served with the US Army in Operation Desert Storm and now teaches American History and Western Civilization.

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Our Republic...If we can keep it... | Van's bio | Van's US Congress2000 | Desert Storm Book Preview |

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[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

ping

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

ping

[Peter Libra]

Extremly cogent and well put. An old curmudgeon as myself, has been reduced to exclaiming to thin air, the following: What if some maniacs identifying themselves as "Christians", committed an appalling atrocity, on a nation of Islam? Can anyone imagine the Muslims being told - Oprah style, "you are now being given a course on Christianity 101"? Would Muslims be told "you must try to understand this hate,to prevent repeat attacks".Can anyone imagine the authority there, threatening "hate mongers" with jail if they attacked resident Christians etc?

I am absolutely suffering from Islamafatigue. Spouse is sopping it up on the tube daily. No, I dont care about Islam and its tenets. Since reading Fifteen Decisive Battles Of The World by Edward Creasy. (Battle of Tours 732 AD)- I am all to well aware of the titanic struggles between Western civilization and Islam.

[Jorge]

I think a lot of us are getting sick of the schitzo propaganda about what Islam REALLY stands for(or doesn't stand for) being directed at the western world.

Why aren't they lecturing their own rogue clerics who are instigating rioting mobs of Muslims in Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria who support Osama?
Furthermore, why do they air the threatening rants by Osama and his flunkies on Arab TV without demanding equal time to refute their heresies?

They need to stop lecturing us, and start thinking about the negative image Islam has as a result of the numerous terrorist groups that claim Islam is their motivation to kill innocent people.

[Willie Green]

why should I be the target audience on what 'true' Islam really is?

Because an embarrasingly large percentage of our population is ignorant and will blame innocent, peaceful people based solely on their religion.

Is the media overdoing it?
Probably.
But we also have plenty of idiots that need to be told over and over again before it sinks in.

If you've already gotten the message, do what I do: switch the channel. (It's so much easier nowadays with remote control and all the different channels that are available on cable.)

[Van Jenerette]

Target hit George! They can't have it both ways, can they?

thanks bro

[apackof2]

Bump for an excellent read
Why haven't the American Muslims taken to the streets in protest of the hijacking of their religion and in their support of their homeland?
Until I see something like it, I'll be suspicious of the "peaceful, loving, Muslims" portrayed by the liberal media

[Van Jenerette]

Peaceful people who doe not speak out about the murder of innocents in the name of their religion are neither peaceful or religious - they are cowards. The term idiots rest more with the mass of silent 'Muslims' than with honest Americans of any faith.

[ProudGOP]

BTTT

[ChowChowFace]

Outstanding!!!!

[FallGuy]

Well written and I agree !

If and I say IF the muslims here in America hate what the terrorists have done, I for one expect them to take out full page ads in newspapers across America. Have their organizations whatever they are put pressure on the Taliban. You name it and STOP behaving like whiners and get as outraged as the rest of America has been.

Are they????
NO

Instead we hear from the media on how to bleeding heart feel their pain, understand their religon that treats women like dirt , and how they are not to blame for what Osama has done and his gang of mass murderers.

Give me a break !

[edayna]

Because an embarrasingly large percentage of our population is ignorant and will blame innocent, peaceful people based solely on their religion.

I have to admit, when this first started, I wanted to go to the local Islamic center and offer my condolences that they were being targeted unfairly, see if I could help out families that were afraid to leave home to get groceries, that sort of thing.

But the farther this progresses, I want to go to the local Islamic center and ask them why they aren't doing more to help US. We have heard little but their insistence that they should be protected, Islam is a peaceful religion. Hum. Clearly "peace", "freedom", and many other words mean something different to Muslims than to the rest of the world.

Why would I want to know more about Islam? I believe the catchphrase is "know thine enemy".

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

I see "rants" run in the family, hehehe

[Brusensky]

Why, why, why Islam? In order to understand whys and what’s about Islam one has to look up at the history and the core of the religions. We have Christianity and Judaism. Call it Judeo-Christianity, if you will. The basis of Judeo-Christianity is all around the revelation of God to Abraham/Moses/David/John/Jesus/Paul. The message is best put by the Beatles: lift up yourself. On a more serious note, the vector of the Judeo-Christian values is inward. Remember Jesus preaching to the crowds on the mountain in Gallely? Remember David's Psalms? Cries of John the Baptist. It is all inward. Improve yourself, teach the others. If they do not care - leave them alone: God will judge. Yes, someone can argue, there were the brutal Jewish conquests of Canaan, Crusaders etc. Yes, but those were deviations from the teachings of the Tora or the Bible, and not the ORGANIC PART of it. Now, to Mr. Mohammed of the Arab tribe of Hashem. The end of 6th century AD. This apocalyptic, weak bodied fellow with an immense hatred towards his uncles, who thought the young Mohammed was possessed by Gins (demons), had something on his mind. These were two things: unification of the multitude of the Arab tribes, and, yes, conquest of the world. The fellow, being a brilliant political strategist, discovered that the best way for his political goals would be some kind of monotheistic religion. He turned towards the Jews (they ruled in next town over to Mecca, called Medina), but found out they were too tribal, besides the rabbis laughed at him and called him bad words. He would never forget this. The Christians were bunch of peacenicks and with their message he couldn’t go too far either. At this juncture, Mohammed, already a prosperous businessman, decided to ENGINEER a NEW religion. This new religion he called Islam. To make it more believable to people around him, he takes a lot of stuff from the Bible, tells everybody that no more no less than Archangel Gabriel visits him and dictates a pure word of God (Allah) which he, Mohammed, the last and ultimate Prophet puts down in a book called Koran. In 1848 Karl Marx wrote his Manifest of the Communist Party. This was the basic manual for action of the millions of his followers for hundred plus years since. So was the Koran. Mohammed was instrumental in unifying the Arab tribes, Khalifs after him conquered the World (at least darn good chunk of it). The message of the religion of peace, Islam, is not really peace at ALL. Do not compare the Koran and message there with what you find in a Gospel. Everything, the approach to an individual, free choice, will of God, etc. is different in Islam. The vector is outward. You're are nothing in Islam, but a PART of a bigger entity, your path in life is already written by faith, the greatest honour is to give your life to that greater entity, hence to Allah... Anyway, if one had a set of some magic glasses and looked through them on our Bible, he would read one word: LOVE. Not so with Koran, not so. The word would be CONQUEST, and that's it. This is why, my friend, there is no such thing as a RADICAL Islam... There is just Islam, evil at the core, a sling-shot waiting for the right circumstance to be released and give you either a black eye, or .... an ultimate peace.

[FITZ]

EXCELLENT article!!!! You nailed it.

[Jorge]

Because an embarrasingly large percentage of our population is ignorant and will blame innocent, peaceful people based solely on their religion.

Uh, the REAL embarrasment is the "large percentage" of THEIR population ...who are ignorant of what their own religion (supposedly) stands for.
They are the ones claiming all Muslims should target and kill Americans and Jews, and so are far more responsible for giving Islam a bad name than non-Muslims who have no obligation to research their own religion amd make the case for them as to what real Islam stands for.

[FITZ]

Don't know if you've seen this, it's a must read.

[FallGuy]

LOL

[FReethesheeples]

Yeah. We have heard from many Muslims, but many more need to speak up!

There is relative safety -- & power ---- in numbers!

[Michael2001]

Interesting stuff, really well written. I'm about to check out your website...