Chief of the Dhimmis

Comment by Bill Warner, Center for the Study of Poltical Islam

In this newsletter we are fortunate to have Dr. David Bukay give us a detailed analysis of Esposito’s betrayal of kafir culture.

David Bukay - School of Political Science
The University of Haifa, Israel

John Esposito is one of the foremost apologists of radical Islam in the academia. The term apologist means denying or even justifying events and activities, while blaming others. It is characterized by whitewashing reality and omitting facts unintentionally (selective perception and cognitive biases) or intentionally (for political or economic or other objectives). According to Esposito’s own words, The Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding is concerned with Islam and the West and Islam in the West, addressing stereotypes of Islam and Muslims. However, we shall prove to him and his school that, in fact, stereotypes, misconceptions and perhaps deceptions are theirs.

It is typical that John O. Voll, claims in his article found in Center’s homepage: “The Impossibility of the Clash of Civilizations in a Globalized World,” that someone who speaks about sounds is like a person who does not read the news. Yet, it is typical to the Esposito School to accuse others of not reading the news, while all evidence shows that they themselves do not watch TV to see the horrors of Islamic fanaticism; they do not read newspapers to understand Islamic terrorism; and they do not listen to the radio to experience Islamic “tolerance.” The world is filled with clashes and significant conflicts, Voll says, but he ignores the fact that at least 70 percent of them are by and among the Arabs and Muslims.

A vivid example of the blindness of the Esposito School can be found in Natana Delong-Bas, who teaches at Boston College. Her best and perhaps not surprising declarations are found in an interview with the London al-Sharq al-Awsat, where she declared, Wahhabism is not extremism, and the Muslim Brotherhood and Sayyid Qutb have nothing to do with jihadism. She further stated that there may be a Western conspiracy against the Arab and Islamic world, and said that she knows of no evidence that Osama bin Laden was behind the 9/11 attacks. Her response to criticism of her declarations was that she was misquoted: she does not deny that Bin Laden was behind the attacks, but only that he had no role in the logistics or the planning of the attacks themselves.

It is not surprising that her doctoral dissertation, Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad, a total defense of Wahhabism, has been highly recommended by the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., since her book was partially funded by Saudi sources. In her book she claims that Wahhabism is not a radical movement, and Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was the one who was the most correct in faith, the easiest to reconcile with the teachings of the Qur’an and hadith, and the most capable in matters of interpretation. Jihad as holy war was not the primary purpose of the Wahhabi movement, and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab did not promote martyrdom or call for jihad. By no means had he promoted violence against those who did not follow his teachings. (Continue Reading this Article)