`We Are Going To Conquer America

Philadelphia
Iff uslims make an
incredibly valuable
contribution to our
country," said
President George W. Bush shortly
after Sept. 11, noting that they are
"doctors, lawyers, law professors,
members of the military, entrepre-
neurs, shopkeepers, moms and
dads."
He later added, "There are mil-
lions of good Americans who prac-
tice the Muslim faith who love their
country as much as I love the coun-
try, who salute the flag as strongly as
I salute the flag."
These soothing words were clearly
appropriate for a moment of tension
and mounting bias against Muslims
living in the United States. And it is
absolutely true that the number of
militant Islamic operatives with
plans to carry out terrorist attacks
on the United States is a statistically
tiny proportion of the Muslim pop-
ulation as a whole.
But the situation is more complex
than the president would have it. The
Muslim population is not like any
other, for it harbors a substantial body
— one many times larger than the

Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle
East Forum, can be reached via
pipes@MEForum.org . This article
derives in part from a longer piece in the
November issue of Commentary
(www.commentary.org).

agents of Osama bin Laden — that
has worrisome aspirations for the
United States. Although not responsi-
ble for the atrocities in September, this
militant Islamic element shares impor-
tant goals with the suicide hijackers:
Both despise the United States and
ultimately wish to transform it into a
Muslim country.
However bizarre this goal, the
killing of 5,000 Americans requires
that it be noted and seriously con-
sidered.
Ambitions to take over the United
States are hardly new. In fact, the
first Islamic missionary from abroad
unblushingly declared in the 1920s,
Our plan is, we are going to con-
quer America."
Such hopes have become more
commonplace in recent years. Some
examples, as articulated by leading
figures:
• Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind
sheikh convicted of planning a "day
of rage" by blowing up New York
buildings and infrastructure, in 1991
called on Muslims to "conquer the
land of the infidels."
• A native-born American who
converted to Islam and helped fight
the Soviets in Afghanistan, pro-
claimed that "it is the duty of all
Muslims to complete the march of
jihad [holy war] until we reach
America and liberate her."
• Siraj Wahaj, the first imam to
deliver a Muslim prayer for the U.S.
House of Representatives, holds that

if Muslims unite, they could elect
on establishing "Islamic rule" in the
their own leader as president; "Take
United States, with the goal of
my word, if 6-8 million Muslims
Muslims creating "a strong lobby in
unite in America, the country will
Washington for the promotion of
come to us.
Islam ... in this country as well as
• Isma'il Al-Faruqi, the first aca-
elsewhere in the world."
demic theorist of a United States-
Some organizations also express a
made-fundamentalist-Muslim,
hope that, one day, Muslims will take
argued in 1983, "Nothing
over in the United States.
could be greater than this
youthful, vigorous and rich
Being Wary
continent [of North
America] turning away from
The International Institute
its past evil and marching
of Islamic Thought in
forward under the banner of
Herndon, Va., aims for
Allahu Akbar [God is
nothing less than "the
great]."
Islamization of the
• Zaid Shakir, formerly
humanities and the social
the Muslim chaplain at Yale
sciences." Just one month
DANIEL PIPES
University, believes the
after the Sept. 11 atroci-
Special
Koran "pushes us in the
ties, a delegate at the San
Commentary
exact opposite direction as
Jose convention of the
the forces ... at work in the
American Muslim
American political spec-
Alliance, a militant Islamic
trum" and, from this, argues that
group, announced: "By the year
Muslims cannot accept the legitima-
2020, we should have an - American
cy of the existing order.
Muslim president of the United
• Masudul Alam Choudhury, a
States."
Canadian professor of business, mat-
While there is no reason to suppose
ter-of-factly advocates the
that the aspiration to replace the
"Islamization agenda in North
Constitution with Islamic law will
America."
succeed, that this goal can be found
• Ahmad Nawfal, a Jordanian who
among fundamentalist Muslims does
spoke often at American rallies a few have a major implication.
years ago, says that if fundamentalist
It means that the existing order —
Muslims stand up, "it will be very
religious freedom, secularism,
easy for us to preside over this world women's rights — can no longer be
once, again."
taken for granted. It now needs to
• Shamim A. Siddiqi wrote a book be fought for. 0

"

Children Of Paradise

Jerusalem

T

he first child fatality of the
new Palestinian intifada
(uprising) was shot before
the world's eyes on Sept.
30, 2000, as he crouched against a
wall in Gaza.
Twelve-year-old Mohammed al-
Durah has been in paradise for a
year and a month now. But he has
not been lonely: Since Mohammed's
death, more than 170 children have
been violently wrenched from the
world of the living to join him.
These figures, published by the
human rights organization B'Tselem,
cite that 27 were Israeli, 140
Palestinian and one a foreign nation-

Helen Schary Motro is a frequent con-

tributor to the Jerusalem Post. Her e-
mail address motrom@post.tau.ac.il

al. Hundreds of other fatalitieS had
scarcely passed their 18th birthday.
When the Israeli and Palestinian
children enter heaven, are they
directed together to a special sec-
tion? Does the Promised Land in the
sky have roadblocks and green lines,
sealed borders and suicide bombers?
Are the maps of paradise carved up
into Areas A, B, and C?
Perhaps we can imagine that the
murdered minors of the Middle East
all rest together, regardless whether,
on earth, their parents are divided by
hatred. If, in life, they spoke Hebrew
or Arabic, in heaven they understand
one another.
Among the arrivals are two new-
comers.
The first is a boy born last month,
a baby who didn't live long enough
to have a name. His Palestinian
mother, Fatma Abed Rabbo, had

undergone five years of fer-
Another newcomer to
tility treatments. This year,
heaven is 14-year-old
finally, Rabbo became preg-
Menashe Regev, an Israeli
nant.
teenager riding a public
But on Oct. 22, Rabbo
bus home from high
had the bad luck to go into
school in Jerusalem on
labor in her seventh month,
Nov. 4. When a
just when Israeli tanks had
Palestinian gunman
entered Palestinian territory
sprayed rifle fire on the
in reprisal for the assassina-
HELEN SCHARY bus, a bullet killed
tion of its cabinet minister.
Menashe and another
MOTRO
Israeli soldiers manning her
teenager; scores of others
Special
village exit refused to let
were
wounded.
Commentary
through the car carrying
Rabbo to the maternity hospital in
Parental Nightmare
Bethlehem. As her husband maneu-
vered the vehicle over back roads
Almost every woman who has been in
trying to reach the hospital, Rabbo
labor can recall the tense quick drive
gave birth in the car to a tiny son.
to the hospital, the hope to make
According to the obstetrician, had
each traffic light before it turns red.
the baby arrived at the hospital in
It is almost unimaginable to recreate
time, he would have had a good
chance of surviving. But he did not.
MOTRO on page 38

11/16

2001

37