Rights vs. Obligations as New York Debates Inclusion of Muslim Holidays

Invited Speaker: Moorthy Muthuswamy PhD
>
> Good day everyone!
>
> Let me start by first thanking Jeff Epstein and Frank Salvato for
> putting together this wonderful symposium and giving me an opportunity
> to participate here. I am grateful to my colleagues, Arish Sahani and
> Narain Kataria for their long-term support.
>
> First, there is some good news. In the past few years a number of
> researchers have made significant headway in understanding the terror
> enemy and identify its weaknesses. This may soon help us to figure out
> the parameters of waging a successful war to neutralize terror.
>
> I refer the audience to the details of my book to learn more about
> political Islam. It is suffice to note here that due to the heavily
> politicized contents of Islamic scriptures, political Islam is almost
> Islam.
>
> We were devastatingly attacked by Muslims on 9/11. What is the
> ultimate motive for terror?
>
> Many scholars now believe that there is method behind the madness
> called terror -- the vision of Islamic conquest by destroying non-
> Muslim nations through terror and other forms of warfare as part of a
> jihad or religious war. As a non-Muslim super-power, America is seen
> standing in the way of Islamic conquest -- and had to be attacked.
>
> Let me first talk about insights from the contemporary track record of
> Islamists against less powerful nations.
>
> In 1947 British-ruled India was partitioned on the basis of Islam to
> give birth to Muslim majority Pakistan and Hindu majority India.
> During the last sixty years, from every Muslim majority area of South
> Asia -- without exception -- be it Pakistan, Bangladesh or from
> India's own Kashmir valley, non-Muslims have been massively driven out
> to India. This occurred when the Muslim population there achieved
> political power through majority status.
>
> Over 20% non-Muslim population in Pakistan in 1947 quickly dropped to
> a few percent within the next few years. Bangladesh has seen its non-
> Muslim population drop from over 35% in 1947 to now less than 10%.
> Also, laws and conditions have been put in place to deliberately
> marginalize non-Muslims. In all of these cases, mosques and the
> clerics played a major role in facilitating this "conquest" and
> vanquishing of unbelievers.
>
> Written orders were issued by Pakistan's military high command to kill
> Hindus in the then East Pakistan in 1971. The largest religion-based
> genocide of the past fifty years, guess what in the name of Islam, was
> conducted as a result.
>
> Most of these expulsions and genocides occurred before 1972 -- well
> before the large-scale infusion of petrodollars and Wahhabism.
>
> Other than religion these populations share language, culture and food
> habits. This data discredits the claim that oil money, Muslim
> "grievance" or "freedom fighting" are responsible for terror.
>
> This also points to intolerance even among Indian Muslims. But due to
> their minority status they have not been able to completely impose
> their will on non-Muslim Indians. Still, Indian Muslim leaders have
> managed to lay siege to Indian democracy by using vote-block politics
> and have started to marginalize majority to extract job, education and
> easy-term loan concession unfairly at the expense of the majority.
> Jihadists understand this: You must weaken the majority if you want to
> annihilate them.
>
> Terror attacks by Islamists within India are escalating.
>
> Indian Muslims are being indoctrinated in mosques funded by Saudi
> Arabia, Pakistan and other Muslim nations. In other words, a
> successful jihad buildup is underway in India towards its destruction
> and its eventual conquest.
>
> With about a third of 1.5 billion of worldwide Muslim population in
> South Asia, this damning conclusion couldn't be set aside as an
> anomaly. In fact, one has to think that any non-Muslim nation,
> including America faces destabilization and genocidal threats from its
> fast-growing Muslim population. Many of America's allies with much
> larger Muslim minorities are even more critically threatened --
> Europe, Israel, for instance.
>
> This data of absolute conquest compels us to ask the following timely
> question:
>
> Is Islam a religion or was it deliberately designed to be a political
> and predatory ideology of conquest?
>
> How about a Congressional Hearings on this most important question?
>
> Consider this: If an individual wants to capture, control, and rule a
> land and its people, it is hard to think of a better way than to
> declare oneself so close to the almighty God as to be the sole
> purveyor of His "revelations". This gives the leader enormous
> legitimacy in eyes of the followers. There is another added advantage
> to mixing religion with the desire for conquest: the fight for
> conquest can be enduring; the cause taken over by communities and
> nations long after the founder is gone.
>
> If this individual had lived over a thousand years ago, how can we
> know whether he truly received "revelations" from God that he wanted
> to pass along for the goodness of the mankind or that he designed
> these "revelations" for extending his power-base as an absolute ruler
> and conquer land and people?
>
> The answer to the above question lies in a scientific analysis of
> these "revelations", his life story and the track record of his
> followers in the ancient and importantly, in contemporary times.
>
> In South Asia and elsewhere, the dominance of violent Islamic conquest
> of non-Muslims in the past centuries is well-recorded. This pattern
> has not changed even in the contemporary times (I mentioned this only
> a few minutes ago). This is unlike, say other world religion be it
> Christianity, Buddhism or Hinduism. Show Robert Spencer's Book.
>
> Bill Warner of the Center for the Study of Political Islam has done an
> extremely important statistical analysis of Islamic scriptures.
>
> Who is more important Allah or Mohamed?
>
> The words of Allah (the Muslim God) are only about 17 percent of the
> Islamic trilogy (consisting of the Koran, Hadith and Sira), but words
> and actions of Islam's founder Mohammed comprise 83 percent of the
> trilogy. There are 146 references to Hell in the Koran. Only 6% of
> those in Hell are there for moral failings -- murder, theft, etc. The
> other 94% of the reasons for being in Hell are for the intellectual
> sin of disagreeing with Mohammed, a political crime...This is an
> important statistic that shows lip service to spirituality while
> glorifying the founder of Islam and emphasize the conquest nature.
>
> Some folks would like to tell us that jihad is about spirituality. Not
> true at all! In Bukhari Hadith, 97% of the jihad references are about
> war on unbelievers and 3% are about the inner struggle (spirituality).
> At least 75% of Sira (life of Mohammed) is about jihad as war.
>
> I am afraid scientific analysis tells us that fundamental level Islam
> is dominated by politics of its founder and is designed for conquest
> of unbelievers.
>
> How can one reform an ideology designed for conquest? It makes little
> sense, does it not?
>
> How could about 1.5 billion Muslims and so many others be thought to
> believe that Islam is a religion? In the similar manner billions
> thought that earth was flat -- ignorance
> and intimidation (in the case of Islam, heads cut-off if you question
> Mohammed or the Koran) -- not questioning Islam's founder's intent and
> actions!
>
> If Mosques and other Muslim religious institutions are not closed,
> jihad does not stop. In fact, mosque is the fountain head of terror.
>
> If a mosque appears moderate it just means that it is in the beginning
> stages of building up jihad in the local Muslim community. So, don't
> get duped by the so-called moderate mosques in America.
>
> What do we do now?
>
> As part of preemption, work toward legislation that shuts down mosques
> and other Muslim religious institutions within American jurisdiction.
> With its power so concentrated, mosques are also Islam's greatest
> weakness.
>
> This is a natural direction to go, the moment we identify Islam as an
> ideology designed for conquest and annihilation of non-Muslims.
>
> This proposal doesn't violate the liberty of individual Muslims, but
> instead provides them with a future by breaking the back of the
> ideology of conquest (a civic responsibility and ensuring religious
> freedom of Muslims). If mosques are neutralized Muslim populations
> should be swayed by ever-prevalent modernism and move on to alternate
> faiths or way of life.
>
> Still, additional measures are needed to help liberate Muslims for
> this predatory ideology of conquest.
>
> Hirsi Ali, best-selling author and a former Muslim, says in a recent
> review quote The problem is not too much reason, but too little
> unquote and further says quote I see [western leaders] squandering a
> great and vital opportunity to compete with radical Muslims for the
> minds of Muslims, especially those within their borders unquote. This
> theme of confronting murderous ideologies with the science of Einstein
> is the theme of my recently published book.
>
> Due to physical threats, the Islamic trilogy couldn't be put under
> microscope in Islamic nations. Confronting Islamic ideology with
> science is a no-lose proposition and has the most potential for
> driving a wedge between mosques/clerics and educated Muslims. Educated
> Muslims form the backbone of terrorism, because it takes modern
> education to operate effectively in modern world. If this is done,
> effective Muslim recruitment for terror is over.
>
> The Koran was the first book of the trilogy to be put together, and
> that was done several decades after the death of Mohammed. In a Hadith
> it is said that Koranic verses were collected from bits of bone,
> stone, parchment, date palm leaves, and also from the memories of
> those who had memorized it. But these are not reliable forms of note-
> taking or information storage. This is common sense.
>
> For something as profound as God's "revelations," in the Koran there
> shouldn't be an iota of doubt about their authenticity. We can make a
> powerful assertion that available evidence makes the claim of
> associating these revelations of God in the Koran as not
> scientifically credible.
>
> What about Muslim majority nation that are fountainheads of terror?
> America couldn't shut down mosques in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Iran!
>
> A rapidly unraveling nuclear-armed Pakistan has shown that political
> solution to the Islamic terror is not possible. We are now left with
> mostly externally-inspired ideological and military means to deal with
> this existential threat.
>
> America is stretched militarily. Who will do the fighting and who will
> deliver the decisive blows to the nations and populations that jihad
> sponsorship is unbearably expensive? Who will help liberate these
> populations?
>
> In terms of population, location and size, 850 million non-Muslim
> India matches the extended global network of Muslim populations that
> are influenced by Islamic forces. India is already under an Islamic
> siege and in about 5 years time, at this rate, will likely be
> destabilized beyond repair by Islamic forces.
>
> America needs to act fast.
>
> If America could help deliver a fatal blow to the former Soviet Union
> by backing Muslim nations against the Soviet occupation of
> Afghanistan, why not help mobilize (America is good at that) Hindu
> majority in India to take the war to Islamic entities.
>
> Tens if not hundreds of millions of "infidel" Indian children are
> going hungry and malnourished because of the high economic cost of
> jihad imposed on the Indian state by many middle eastern nations and
> Pakistan. This is a form of genocide, ladies and gentlemen. Indians
> may be well- justified in responding devastatingly to this terror war
> imposed on them.
>
> Thank you.

I hope others are as uncomfortable as I am when a recitation of facts (e.g., the "sarah" post above) is answered with epithets and ad hominem attacks (e.g., the "truth teller" post). When a recitation of facts is labeled "bigotry," I draw two conclusions. The first is that the speaker does not know what bigotry is. The second is that the speaker does not wish to engage on the basis of those alleged facts. Are the claimed facts true? Well, then there is no bigotry. Are they false? I'd like to know that. I suspect the vast majority of the facts posted by sarah are in fact true. And because they are true, the ironically self-named "truth teller" moves the conversation away from facts and toward name-calling.

Steve:
By chance, is your last name Goldberg?
Did Mort Klein put you up to posting your snotty comment?

If you accept Sarah's "facts" at face value, you probably also believe in Intelligent Design; and that removing the West Bank settlers from their (illegal) outposts constitute 'ethnic cleansing.'

And you probably also believe that Sarah Palin is an expert on foreign policy!

Give Rush my regards.

I have to say to the man from London that bilingual education does not work. We have tried it here for 30 years and we ended up with a generation of young adults who can only interact with others who speak Spanish. It is one thing to speak whatever language you speak at home, but it is required in life that you learn the language of the country that you live in. In any city where people from multiple countries (who speak over 30 different languages)live there needs to be one unifying language. So the man from China can talk to the man from Mexico and the man from India at the same time. I is something that happens ever day here in Los Angeles. This is the way people can get ahead in a country or they will be stuck in there community and be unable to advance economically in life.

No one's commenting on the article. It makes excellent points & in Jewish tradition, looks deeper than the obvious linear arguments. ...That contribution can be seen as the prime measure of influence, rather than a "righteous" demand.

On seeing the title, I was going to say, the Jewish days were added because of a high percentage of Jews, so it was pure practicality.

The Muslim demand to not be excluded, isn't the same argument. In my small home town not far from NYC, we did not include Jewish holidays in the days off calender. Instead, the agreement was we wouldn't be penalized for taking them off, & wouldn't have tests assigned that we couldn't make up. THAT is how inclusion was done.

I hope this article's arguments are heard. Because this multicultural demanding attitude, may ultimately be as problematic & dangerous to a free society as ignoring rights is. It can lead to intractable arguments when practically is excluded as a criteria.

At 12% it may be time to include the holidays (I'm not in NYC & don't have a sense.) However, if done, the message should be about practicality & contribution mattering, not "demands" to be equal. Those rights are already inherit if they aren't penalized.

In much of the world, Muslim's aren't used to being a minority. Maybe as Jews, we are more used to the expectation that it won't ever be equal because of the numbers count. Just practical & accomodating enough that we don't have to give up our religion.

The young one's in my family are already learning this with the cry at Christmas that "it's not fair, there's like a zillon, kabillon Christmas things, but only like 4-5 Hannukah things everywhere." The answer, "Yes, I know, sweetie. That's what being a minority is."

> If a mosque appears moderate it just means that it is in the beginning stages of building up jihad in the local Muslim community. So, don't get duped by the so-called moderate mosques in America. "

This, to me, is an example of statements made in Sarah's post. Is it a fact? I don't see any statistic, source, or even a statement in the form of unbiased information. What would be your response to the same statement about shuls? Churches?

I think that these broad-brush statements about the eveil of a major faith cannot ring true about all participants. If you agree, then perhaps you also agree that we need to take individuals and mosques one at at time, not group them as "beginning stages of building up jihad in the local Muslim community."

Oh, and coming back to the original post...I suggest that any school system develops a numerical system for occasions that call for a day off- X%. Stick to that, and offer the chance for making up work and not holding tests on certain days when they are brought to the system far enough in advance.

One man's thoughts.

of course Bloomberg is against anything to do with Muslims, he's Jewish. We all know he wouldn't have a problem with other faiths. It's sad to say, but its the truth. Zionist Bloomberg has an issue.

and most Muslim schoolchildren are NOT here illegally. Most of their parents have become citizens, in the process of becoming citizens or were born here.

The "argument" that a significant percentage of students or staff of a particular faith should dictate if an entire school district closes is laughable. Who determines what a significant percentage is? If it were simply a matter of giving those staff and students the day(s) off without penalty then there would be no need for any of the holiday time off nor school year vacations (which I note that the latter always fall to coincide with Chrismas/Hanuakkah and Easter/Passover) yet the US does NOT have a national religion. In general students are the ones losing out on valuable academic time with all these mini-breaks so what exactly is the point of them? And this school year is starting late since we simply must wait until after Labor Day; for what? Kids don't know the meaning of "labor" and with the economy such as it is everybody needs to work as much as they can.

I once had someone query if Muslims would work on Christmas rather than enjoy the day off. I told him flat out "Sure I'd be here in a heartbeat but I'm shut out since the building is closed". That shut him up. Notice that Jews don't complain about having Christian holidays off in addition to their own.

It took years to have Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday declared a national holiday and the percentage of Blacks/African-Americans is quite high. Or what about Columbus Day? How many people are actually of Italian heritage and so place value on the day? What about Thanksgiving Day? All people do is eat to excess and then complain about gaining weight during that secular day of gluttony. New Year's Day? Uhh let's get our drink on shall we.

So why is there such an issue with closing NYC schools for 2 extra days; which this school year already coincide with days already scheduled for school closing. Teachers won't care since they will still get paid and the Board of Education doesn't care since they already close schools to the detriment of academic success. Bloomberg needs to stop letting his Jewishness show; he's an elected official put there to represent ALL people and not just his own kind.

Joan, how dare you suggest that a person's religion should be redefined according to the convenience of the school system? Religios law in many faiths states that certain times of day are appropriate for religious rites. They cannot be relegated to "after school."

How Can You Ask A Jewish To Do Anything for a Muslim Stay Home Anyway