Author: Kevin Mooney
Publication: CNSNews.com
Date: November 15, 2006
URL: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200611/CUL20061115a.html
(Clarifies comments on CAIR-Hamas links and CAIR's response in tenth and eleventh paragraphs.)
Western policymakers need to "undertake a systematic study" of Islamic theology and law before they can understand the goals and motives of terrorists who are working to subjugate or convert non-Muslim populations, a scholar on Islam told a gathering in Washington on Tuesday.
It would be a mistake to assume that Islam has been "hijacked," argued Robert Spencer, the author of a recent book on the prophet of Islam, Mohammed.
Terrorists and extremists targeting American interests today are making use of the actual text in the Koran and the teachings of their prophet, he said.
Spencer is the director of the Jihad Watch website and the author of six books, his most recent dealing with Mohammed.
"It is untrue that jihadists are a tiny minority of extremists," Spencer said in a lecture hosted by the Heritage Foundation.
"The texts of Islamic jurisprudence say it is incumbent upon the Islamic community to wage war against non-Muslims until they submit or convert. This concept is shared by all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence and is not rejected by anything considered orthodox."
At the conclusion of Spencer's presentation, police were called to the event after several individuals began to chant slogans, expressing their displeasure at the substance of Spencer's talk.
"One hundred thousand Muslims died -- that's like Nazi genocide. Spencer and Cheney want World War III," chanted the protestors, who identified themselves to Cybercast News Service as representatives of former presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
Police arrived on the scene following an altercation in the hallway outside of the lecture hall.
Spencer was particularly critical of the Council on American Islamic Relations and accused CAIR officials of having ties to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. He also charged that individuals in CAIR were working to replace the U.S. Constitution with Islamic law (shari'a).
Invited to respond to the allegations, CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper focused his comments instead on Spencer, whom he called a "leading Islamophobe" whose Jihad Watch website contained "bone chilling" comments that incited unfounded and unjustified hatred of Muslims.
"It is disturbing that a respected institution like the Heritage Foundation would have someone like Spencer," Hooper told Cybercast News Service.
CAIR has launched an educational effort of its own called "Explore the Life of Muhammad," which includes a free book or DVD about the prophet's life and legacy. The campaign followed the worldwide controversy over caricatures of Muhammad, first published in a Danish newspaper.
Two years ago, CAIR launched an online petition drive called "Not in the Name of Islam," which it said was intended to "disassociate the faith of Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims."