December 16, 2021
While the American Mideast Coalition for Democracy deplores bigotry and prejudice of all kinds, we also recognize legislation like that proposed by Representative Omar is a weapon promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) and the Islamic Republic of Iran to silence critics of their policies. Late on the evening of December 14, the House passed the Combating International Islamophobia Act which would create a Special Envoy in the State Department for “monitoring and combating Islamophobia” worldwide.
“It is important to recognize that Islam is much more than a set of beliefs, as we normally think of religion in the Western world,” said AMCD executive director, Rebecca Bynum. “Rather, Islam embraces a complete judicial system, social system, politics and geopolitics. Furthermore, within its judicial system it is illegal to criticize any aspect of Islam, including its outrageous punishments for theft and adultery, its attitude toward and treatment of women and children, its insistence on territorial sovereignty, or its expansionist global aspirations. Criticism of any of these things in countries governed by Islamic law can result in a charge of blasphemy which, again under Islamic law, is punishable by death.”
“It certainly seems to me that Representative Omar, et. al., are attempting to silence critics of any aspect of Islam, including forceable child marriage,” said AMCD Co-chair Tom Harb. “To show how far Western countries have bent over backward to appease Muslims, a Danish minister was actually jailed for separating young girls from the much older men who claimed them as their ‘wives’ among the refugee population. She is being punished for trying to save those little girls. Likewise, there are numerous reports of Muslims practicing polygamy and child marriage here in the U.S., in addition to clandestine female genital mutilation – all of which are crimes under American law. This legislation is designed to stop criticism of all of it under the catch-all phrase Islamophobia.”
“Of course, we want anyone involved in hate crimes against Muslims to be punished,” added AMCD Co-chair John Hajjar, “but this is already adequately covered in our existing hate-crime statutes. There is no need for further legislation to combat something as amorphous as Islamophobia, which is purposefully undefined and could be expanded to cover any criticism of Islam whatsoever. Basically, this bill would violate our First Amendment rights. Criticism and free speech are the hallmark of Anglo-American jurisprudence. We will not cede them and submit to dhimmi status ever.”
“Islam is in the same position that the Medieval Church was and would be facing the same push-back if not for the fact that criticism is defined as blasphemy and blasphemy is a crime punishable by death wherever Islamic law rules, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran.” offered AMCD Co-chair Hossein Khorram. “Eventually, the Christian Church had to accept criticism and accept that it had been wrong to suppress it. Islam must come to the same place and allow Muslims to live their lives free from Islamic oppression. As an American Muslim, I assure you our constitutional liberties are not violated here in the United States. Representative Omar should focus instead on millions of Muslim who are forced into an extended stay at “re-education concentration camps” in China, or hundreds of thousands of political prisoners held in prisons and undergoing summary executions in Muslim countries such as the Islamic Republic of Iran. Congresswoman Omar should stop using Islam as a political tool to settle scores when we really don’t have religious intolerance in the United States. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
AMCD notes that this legislation is not likely to be brought up in the Senate and thus is unlikely to become law – at least for now.