In a recent article, I made the point that the Israeli-Hamas war should be seen as part of a 1,400-year-long civilizational struggle between Islam and just about everyone else. As Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of Islam’s most popular and influential scholars, once told an Arab youth convention in Toledo, Ohio: “We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through the sword, but through dawa [outreach].”
What Qaradawi predicts is very likely to happen — not because the non-Muslim world lacks weapons (it doesn’t), but because it lacks understanding. It fails to recognize that it is involved in a civilizational struggle.
Changing Hearts
Catholics, for instance, once viewed Muslims as enemies, and with good reason. Within little more than a century after Muhammad’s death, Muslim armies subdued all of Catholic North Africa and most of Spain. Although Spain eventually reconquered their land, North Africa was not so fortunate. Today there are hardly any Catholics in that vast region (although Orthodox Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt’s population). Meanwhile, Islamic radicals are vowing to take back Spain. The point is that Islam is an expansionist religion and it does not easily give back land that it has taken.
Another example is the Ottoman Empire, one of the largest empires in the history of the world. For hundreds of years, it controlled much of Southeast Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. In 1453, a Muslim army under the command of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople and completed the Islamization of once-Christian Turkey; as a result, Turkey is now 98 percent Muslim.
In 1918, having chosen to ally itself with the losing side in World War I, the Ottoman Empire surrendered to the Allied forces, who proceeded to divide it. In 1923 the secular Republic of Turkey was established, and in 1924 the Islamic Ottoman Caliphate was abolished.
This may seem like ancient history until you learn that Turkey’s current leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has successfully re-Islamized Turkey, has talked openly about restoring the Ottoman Caliphate to its former glory. Erdogan, who is every bit as expansionist as Mehmed II, has made no secret of his desire to include most of Europe in the Islamic Caliphate. If this sounds like an idle threat, consider that millions of Turkish immigrants already live in Europe, and consider further that Turkey has the second largest army in NATO.
Doormat to the West
Meanwhile, Europe has shown little inclination to resist the Islamization-by-immigration of their continent. The general response has been one of appeasement. Take the rape scandal which affected dozens of towns and cities in England. Many thousands of English girls were abducted, drugged, raped, and prostituted by Pakistani “grooming” gangs over a two-decade period. By one estimate, 250,000 girls were victimized.
Although police, city council members, and even members of Parliament knew about the crimes, they did little to stop them. As some later admitted, they were afraid of being labeled Islamophobic or racist if they took action.
Or perhaps they were simply afraid. Much of Europe has been deeply intimidated by the growing presence of Muslims in their midst. Although British police are afraid to arrest Muslim rapists, they have no trouble arresting ordinary Brits who make the mistake of criticizing Muslims or migration policy on the internet. Likewise, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that criticism of Islam or Muhammad is illegal.
Changing Minds
This fear of offending Islam has penetrated into all levels of government. Currently, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, and Portugal are threatening to officially recognize Palestine as a state unless Israel makes significant concessions. Most coverage of this push for Palestinian statehood assumes that it’s motivated by concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but one article I came across in American Spectator suggests another: “Perhaps,” observes the author, “it also has something to do with the growing Muslim population in each of these countries…” He notes that
Canada’s Islamic population has more than doubled as a proportion of the country’s population since 2001. France has the largest Islamic population in Europe. And in the U.K., the Islamic population has increased by more than 44% in the last decade.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that fear of offending Muslims is a major factor behind the push to recognize Palestine, but in some places (such as the UK) putting it in print might land you in jail.
Enabling Islam
Another agent of appeasement is the Catholic Church. The Vatican Secretary of State recently endorsed French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to support Palestine. This shouldn’t be a surprise because the Vatican had recognized Palestine 10 years ago. Indeed, it was one of the first European States to recognize Palestine (and one of the last to recognize Israel). In fact, the Vatican has shown a consistent bias in favor of Palestine ever since Israel was established in 1948 (see here).
Is the Church also intimidated by Islam? Well, “intimidated” might be the wrong word. The Church, which was once a bulwark against Islamic expansion, is now a willing enabler. It was a watchdog; now it plays the role of lapdog. Its Muslim interfaith “partners” need only drop the word “dialogue” and the Church’s representatives will roll over like happy puppies. The Muslims say, “We love Jesus, too” and the Catholics are delighted.
No, our Catholic “experts” on Islam aren’t intimidated. They are too stupid to be intimidated, too naïve. Incredibly naïve, really. They interpret everything they see through the eyes of a 1960s hippy. They live in a dreamworld of “tolerance,” “inclusion,” and “accompaniment.” They don’t believe Muslims should be converted. They don’t believe anyone needs conversion. They believe that all people share the same basic values. If an Islamic terrorist bombs a church, they maintain that he “misunderstands” his faith.
In truth, they are the ones who misunderstand Islam and the threat it poses and, as a consequence, they put us all at risk. They congratulate themselves on their support of Muslim immigration into Europe, and see no connection between that and the staggering increase in rapes, stabbings, vehicular homicides, and attacks on churches (thousands in France alone).
A glaring example of Catholic stupidity about Islam is provided by “Catholic” Georgetown University. According to a Stream article, Georgetown, which “has pocketed more than $1 billion from Qatar and other Arab nations, has become America’s ‘ground zero’ for radical Islamist foreign influence.”
A main beneficiary of Qatari and Saudi funding at Georgetown is the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU). According to the article,
ACMCU, which is part of GU’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, was established, developed, funded, and staffed by the Safa Network, a Virginia-based nexus investigated by federal agencies for its links to Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist outfits.
Educated But Not Smart
In short, students at the ACMCU (which include future diplomats and CIA agents) were learning about Islam from Islamic radicals. It was called the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, but it seems that the Muslims had a much better understanding of the Catholics than vice versa. The U.S. Department of Education said it had “received criticism that the ‘Christian’ studies portion of the Center was a ‘misnomer’ as there was no Christian representation.”
In sum, the Muslims understood that Catholics can be easily duped. Whether or not the Catholics gained any deeper understanding from the exposé remains to be seen; but one hopeful sign is that Georgetown put Professor Jonathan Brown, chair of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, on leave. Among other things, Brown has defended slavery — as long as it is practiced by Muslims. In addition, he has called on Iran to bomb U.S. military bases. Moreover, Brown is married to the daughter of Sami Al-Arian, who was convicted of terrorist support in 2003, jailed, and eventually deported to Turkey. One might think that Brown’s background would have given Georgetown second thoughts about hiring him — but not only was he hired, he was promoted and awarded with an endowed chair.
As I said, when it comes to understanding Islam, Catholic leaders simply are not very bright.
Will Brown’s removal be a turning point? Will Catholics abandon their pollyannish view of Islam? Time will tell, but don’t get your hopes up yet. Catholic leaders still have a lot to learn about Islamic ideology.
William Kilpatrick is the author of Christianity, Islam, and Atheism: The Struggle for the Soul of the West (Ignatius Press), and a new book, What Catholics Need to Know about Islam (Crisis Publications). His articles have appeared in Crisis, Catholic World Report, The National Catholic Register, First Things, FrontPage and other publications.
