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Joseph Santarelli
Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
April 1 2015
Islam; its the New Communism
In modern day America there is so much fear, distrust and animosity toward Muslims and
people of Arab descent. I was initially very confused about as to why this was. Is it still because
of 9/11 or are people just bigoted? Its grossly irrational to blame an entire group of people for
the actions and beliefs of extremists. I found an article from The Atlantic that helped clarify
where this animosity is coming from. After reading this article I now see a somewhat logical
correlation between the extremist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-sham (ISIS) and Islam
faith. Most importantly being the man by the name of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This man has
been the known leader of ISIS since May of 2010, he disappeared for a while before surfacing on
July 5 last year; he was delivering a Ramadan sermon at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, in Mosul.
According to this article, there was a mass influx of jihadists in direct response to his appearance.
Jihadists are being defined in this context as guerilla fighters with radical Muslim beliefs, the
same meaning as Mujahideen. Baghdadi has been referred to as the Caliph, a symbolic title of
one who takes Muhammads place to lead the Muslim people. The end goal of most radical
Muslims is to usher in the Caliphate, a theocracy, ideal government ruled by Muhammads
successor. I see the connection that people are drawing between the Muslim faith and ISIS,
however I feel that it is irresponsible to look at it so monochromatically. If we are merely
looking at the broad stokes of the issue than it is easy to say that both Muslims and ISIS have the
same leader, with Baghdadi at the helm. However it is important to not deal in absolutes on

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either side of this issue. Religion is a powerful tool to sway the hearts and minds of people.
Some Muslim and Arab people have become desperate in recent decades through military unrest
by both domestic and foreign forces. One cannot generalize all of the Muslim and Arab people
into one school of thought, even within jihadists belief there is animosity between groups. Yes, I
accept that ISIS is a Muslim orginization, using accepted theology to justify violence and
military actions, but this is in the same manner that the KKK is a Christian organization. It is
important to understand that Muslims can rebuke the organization and nearly all do, in the
same manner that nearly all Christians have distain for the actions and beliefs of the KKK.
Later in the same Atlantic article, the author has a discussion with one Bernard Haykel,
a Princeton scholar who grew up in both Lebanon and the U.S. He states that people that claim
that Islam is a religion of peace are mistaken, with a cotton candy view of the religion. He
continues with; Slavery, crucifixion, and beheadings are not something that freakish [jihadists]
are cherry-picking from the medieval traditionIslamic State fighters are smack in the middle of
medieval tradition. The way I read his statements, I believe that he is saying that both the
Quran and Muslim tradition justify some actions of the Islamic State. This claim, although
merited, is grossly irresponsible. This is stoking the fire of distrust against Arabs and Islam
itself. I will not deny the apparent belligerence of some Islamic beliefs, but the same claim can
be made about Christianity. There are hundreds of Bible verses that spew the same violent
messages that some people condemn Islam for. For example;

And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up
before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away
from Israel. Numbers 25:4.

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Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare
them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and

donkeys.'" 1 Samuel 15:3.

At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them--men, women and
children. We left no survivors. Deuteronomy 2:34.

Now, with that established I still recognize the fact that Christianity is a loving religion whose
percentage of ignorant, hateful and violent members is dwarfed by the number of good people.
Why is the same not understood about Islam? I have heard news stories quoting some of the
roughly 109 Quran verses calling Muslims to war against infidels. These claims and
arguments are the direct spawn of ignorance. Many people do not understand the culture, beliefs
and practice of Islam. The Islamic States highly literal interpretation of the Quran is the same
flawed logic that brought about the Crusades and other atrocities of religion. Which transitions
into my next point; when people who argue against Islam are combatted with the point that the
Bible is an extremely violent text calling for the beheading of apostates, the defense is almost
always Well you dont see us Christians going around killing people, do you? Have we
forgotten about the Crusades entirely? The answer is yes. I went to a Catholic School for most
of my life and we never even discussed the brutalities that our people had committed. We
barely even touched on how most of the Old Testament is a war story indoctrinating the
condemning of all those who turn their backs on Israel to all of its readers. I distinctively
remember freshmen year reading one of the Bible stories where the Israelites were invading
Canaan. They were instructed to execute The Ban which was a specific set of battle conduct
that consisted of the murder of every man, woman, child, animal in Canaan, the justification for
this genocide was to prevent intermarrying with lesser races and religions. These instructions
were given to the high priests by goddid I mention that god also told them to take all the

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wealth of the cities they ravage and put it into the temple treasury, directly into the pockets of the
high priests. The Israelites carried out The Ban to the letter, all in the name of god. The leaders
of The Islamic State are committing the same offense. They are manipulating the people through
fear of god; fear of western thought (fear of the unknown) and fear of being killedits called
terrorism for a reason. The stance of The Islamic State is a perversion of Islamic beliefs by
taking everything extremely literally. To them the Quran is the work of god, to question its truth
is to question its divinity and is punishable excommunication and with reference to ISIS, by
death. Although the argument against Islam is not unfounded, it is one based in ignorance. I use
ignorance for lack of a better word, I know it has a strong connotation but I mean that these
people truly do not understand. I also believe that this hate and distrust comes from the
McCarthyism of needing somebody to point a finger at, needing an enemy. We dont fully
understand Sunni, Shiite, Sufi, jihad, caliphate or the tradition and culture they were forged in.
This is the reason I believe that Islam is to ISIS as Christianity is to the KKK. There is no
denying the religious founding for both organizations; there are several instances of religious
leaders belonging to the hatful organization in both instances. However, in America we see
though the religious aspect and Bible quoting and hatred of the KKK because we understand
most of the story. In this manner, nearly all Muslims see through the garbage of ISIS and
denounce them. Americans are simply outside the system and are analytically looking for
causation where there is none.
I do not think that every American that is anti Muslim is a wicked and hateful person;
instead I blame their bigotry on ignorance. American people are afraid and desperate, making
them incredibly easy to be manipulated. The manipulation is commonplace every day; the media
is spoon-feeding their fear-mongering message. Ive chosen to look at an ABC News article

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titled ISIS, Trail of Terror to see what the American people are reading everyday. Im going to
begin with an irresponsible quotation, taken out of context from President Obama, in bold it says
No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day, this
is in reference to ISISs war crimes. Im sure what ABC News has done is not the intention of
the president, regardless of it you think hes smart enough to say something stupid and
disrespectful on a national stage, we have to think about who is actually writing these speeches
and the processes for approval they go through. The statement No just God would stand for
what they did clearly demarcates between gods. Definitively pointing out an Us and Them
scenario. Also with the capitulation, let alone inclusion of God directs public thought and eye
back to the religious aspect of the issue. The media could be communicating that ISIS is a pack
of deranged lunatics manipulating people with religious fervor, but instead they choose to
continue to tell people that Muslims orchestrate these attacks and acts of terror. The publics
opinion of Arabs and Muslims is forced in the crucible of half-truths, fear mongering, and
misunderstanding.
According to surveys done by the Arab American Institute, 42% of Americans fully
support law enforcement that would profile and monitor people solely on the grounds that they
are Muslim. This is a staggering number of people that have distrust for Arab Americans.
Surveys done by the same organization say that 27% of Americans have a favorable opinion of
Muslims and Arab Americans in modern day America. That means that 73% of the American
people have a dislike or distrust for their fellow man just because of color or creed. 73% of
America is such a large number of people that is spans almost every walk of life living in this
country. Parents, teachers, clergymen and politicians are included in this statistic. Meaning that
the next generation is almost inevitably tainted already by the ignorance of their elders.

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Ignorance begets ignorance. Maybe I have different experiences or maybe Im not a ignorant
racist but even presented with these facts that ISIS is Islamic and everything else; I fervently
believe that ISIS is not characteristic of Islam. I have several Muslim friends; Ive eaten at their
tables and been welcomed into their homes. Muslims and people of Arab descent are being
punished for actions that they neither knew about nor consented to. This is 2015 and 73% of
Americans are still afraid of the unknown. If you dont vote for Barack Obama then youre a
racist, but if you ask for a seat change on a plane because yours is next to an Arabic looking
person, all of a sudden youre just a concerned American. I, being of ethic descent have
relatively dark features and when I get tan I get really dark skin toned. I have been pulled for a
random pat down every time Ive flown except for once. I got pulled, searched and got my
hands swabbed for radioactive tracers, in Fort Lauderdale. Is racial profiling just a part of US
law now? How is there such a mass distrust for Arabic people in America? After the 9/11
attacks, the government reported to the American people that the attacks were a result of radical
Muslims because terrorists was too vague. The American people wanted a flag to hate. This
period of fear and hate towards Islam is exactly like Cold War era America. Yet again, America
finds itself at war with an abstract ideology. The factions abstract nature makes people easily
terrified at every turn, The man next to you could be a communist! Just like that ABC article I
referenced before, 3,400 of those fighters are said to have come from Western nations,
including over 150 from the U.S. Now, weather or not this McCarthyism is intentional or not, it
is grossly irresponsible for our politicians and media to be spreading this animosity as an every
day occurrence. The American people have essentially been told to be afraid of Muslims and
Middle Eastern people. Just as during the Red Scare, people are willing to sacrifice their Civil
Liberties in order for protection. The American Government has justified offenses like the

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PATRIOT Act; in order to monitor its people to make sure theyre not up to no good. Yes, there
are people that need to be monitored but its unconstitutional to monitor all civilian devices in
order to pick up key words. To the people that want to say that George W. Bush is the root of all
evil, on May 26th, 2011 President Obama signed the extension of the PATRIOT Act. This
extension allows things such as wiretapping, searching of business records and surveillance of
suspected terrorists. Its truly baffling that in a nation full of belligerent patriots that would kill
for their freedoms, they would so easily relinquish these freedoms for protection. This is
manipulation under the guise of protection.

Works Cited

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Ferran,Lee,andRymMomtaz."ISISTrailofTerror."ABCNews.ABCNewsNetwork,23Feb.
2015.Web.29Mar.2015.

Massie,Christopher."IsISISaFaithbasedTerroristGroup?"ColumbiaJournalismReview.
N.p.,17Sept.2014.Web.30Mar.2015.

Siddiqui,Sabrina."Americans'AttitudesTowardMuslimsAndArabsAreGettingWorse,Poll
Finds."TheHuffingtonPost.TheHuffingtonPost.com,29July2014.Web.30Mar.2015.

Wood,Graeme."WhatISISReallyWants."TheAtlantic.AtlanticMediaCompany,15Feb.
2015.Web.29Mar.2015.

Wood,Graeme."WhatISIS'sLeaderReallyWants."NewRepublic.N.p.,1Sept.2014.Web.31
Mar.2015.