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Special Report
RADICAL ISLAM UNMASKED
Muslim from page All
CAIR Won't Challenge Film
T
Clarion Fund's Peter Connors
reformed, moderate interpretation that
keeps faith private and draws an imper-
meable wall between religion and state as
proscribed by our Constitution. Narrating
The Third Jihad is his way of giving back
to America because its freedoms have
allowed him to practice his faith like no
Muslim nation could.
The Third Jihad exposes the dangers of
Sharia by showing shocking footage that
captures the persecution, violence and
murder of women, children, homosexuals,
Christians and other religious minorities.
It highlights some of the areas of conten-
tion between political Islam and the West
while spotlighting the clear mission and
manifesto of the Muslim Brotherhood
against the West.
"The Muslim Brotherhood:' Jasser said,
"is the progenitor of most of what is polit-
ical Islam in the 21st century."
The Muslim Brotherhood took root in
Syria, Jasser's native homeland.
Jasser hopes the film — equally
graphic, compelling and motivating
—prompts viewers to raise the attention
of Washington and all Americans to radi-
cal Islam and what we can do to begin to
counter its threat, especially the ideologi-
cal root causes.
"I hope viewers will see that this threat
can only be countered and defeated by
devotional Muslims dedicated to counter-
ing the control of our faith community by
the 'political imam," Jasser said.
The Inspiration
The Third Jihad is largely inspired
by the FBI discovery of the Muslim
Brotherhood's Grand Jihad Manifesto call-
Al2
May 28 a 2009
he Third Jihad, which presents
Against the West. Both documentaries
the strength and potential of
radical Islam, opened at the
National Press Club in Washington,
D.C., on May 13. Several American
Muslim groups were invited to par-
ticipate in a roundtable discussion.
The Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
whose leaders have had ties to orga-
nizations deemed terrorist by the U.S.
government, declined the invitation.
"We invited CAIR and they said they
wanted nothing to do with this film,"
said Peter Connors, executive director
of the New Hampshire-based Clarion
Fund (www.clarionfund.org ).
Clarion's first documentary film was
the Obsession: Radical Islam's War
are produced by Clarion's founder,
Raphael Shore. Radicalislam.org is
the foundation of Clarion's grass-
roots movement. It provides practical
response tools.
"The Third Jihad will have significant
impact on discussing in America what
the threat is and what Muslims and
non-Muslims need to do," Dr. Zuhdi
Jasser, the pro-West, anti-Islamist nar-
rator who is Muslim, says on film.
Addressing a crowd of 550 Metro
Detroiters at Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield at the documentary's
Michigan premiere on May 12, Dr.
Jasser said he personally has never
met a Muslim who believes in terror-
ism. Still, he said, even 5-10 percent
of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims is a
large number.
"The problem is that many of the
Muslims in charge, whether clerics or
organizations like CAIR, will actually,
because of their silence against the
radicals, end up promoting and facili-
tating the radicals' continuing exis-
tence," Jasser said.
The first jihad occurred amid the
spread of Islam from the Arabian
Peninsula during the time of the
prophet Mohammad. The second jihad,
under the Ottoman Empire, spread
Islam through the upper Middle East to
Southeast Europe. The third jihad calls
for the spread of Islam to the West
through ideological as opposed to mili-
tary means.
ing for the destruction of America and
creation of a radical Islamist theocracy
instead. The manifesto calls for moderate
groups, mosques and Islamic centers, stra-
tegically positioned, to weaken our culture
and promote the acceptance of Sharia.
The film features interviews with
experts on radical Islam as well as
American security specialists, including
Bernard Lewis. A former terrorist, Tawfik
Hamid, gives a firsthand account of the
prevailing threat. All those interviewed in
the film agree that the spread of Islamic
fundamentalism in America must be con-
fronted.
The Muslim community must lead the
charge against radical Islam, but it needs
outside help. Says Jasser: "All of us as
American citizens are threatened equally
by this threat."
Jasser acknowledged that the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security has
done a fine job preventing more than 30
attacks on our citizens domestically and
abroad since 9-11.
But he stressed that our security also
demands Muslim reform. "And thus all
faith groups in America:' Jasser said, "need
to become part of facilitating a project to
counter the influence and ideologies of
the Muslim Brotherhood and its splinter
groups around the world if we are to have
a sustainable security against radical
Islam."
Constitution and Bill of Rights do. The
answer lies in activists of all faiths helping
Muslims reveal the gravity of Islamism
and governmental imposition of Sharia
law.
American Jewish groups are positioned
to articulate this threat. "Not only has
Israel been dealing with the threat of radi-
cal Islam in Hamas, but the Jewish com-
munity has suffered as a minority when
living in nations under Islamist control,
such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and thus
Coming Together
Appeasing political Islam will not work.
Political Islam is based on Sharia law,
which does not recognize the complete
equality of minorities the way the U.S.
I
emple Israel's United Against
the faith of Islam;
Terror Committee, chaired
• Find alternatives to dependence
by Carol Cooper of West
on oil, which fuels radical Islam, a root
Bloomfield, hosted the presen-
cause of Islamist terror;
tation of The Third Jihad.
• Urge the news media to
"We have really begun to
expose the danger of Islamist
fight for a community that
infiltration into government,
will be tolerant, that will be
businesses, organizations and
accepting, but most impor-
the news media;
tantly, that will not accept
• Demand the end to incite-
terrorism in any form," Rabbi
ment of Muslim children to
Joshua Bennett told the view-
lessen their susceptibility
Rabbi Bennett
ing audience.
to Islamist propaganda and
Committee member Linda
potential recruitment to ter-
Stulberg called The Third
rorist groups;
Jihad an eye opener that highlights
• Demand human rights for citizens
"the insidious exploitation of open
of Islamic countries;
societies by Islamists bent on sub-
• Ask Muslims and their leaders
verting them from within."
to stand against Sharia replacing
Western law;
"The message is clear," she said.
• Support government leaders who
"We must stand guard against the
accelerating penetration of repressive
stand up to radical Islam.
and brutal Sharia law into our cher-
The war against radical Islam is win-
ished democratic institutions."
nable. "We will win it if enough people
The film serves up these solutions
stand up for the American freedom
to fighting radical Islam:
and liberties that our forefathers
• Educate yourself and others about
fought to create," says the film's nar-
the distinction between Islamism and
rator, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser.