“Indeed we believe that one day the flag of Islam will fly over the White House.”
Anjem Choudary
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On October 7, 2010, ABC’s Christianne Amanpour held a panel discussion on Islam. Following a discussion by Franklin Graham on the facts of Islam, Anampour left her role as moderator and began an attack on former presidential candidate Gary Bower, essentially accusing him of racism, discrimination, and inciting violence against Muslims. Bower had said nothing of the kind, but was there to support peaceful Muslim and Christian relations. Amanpour’s goal was to portray Islam as a peaceful and moderate religion. Moderate Islam is indeed that, but Amanpour avoided discussion of militant Islam, which directly threatens America and global security. Toward the end of the discussion, she opened the floor to Anjem Choudary, a Muslim cleric from London. Choudary made it clear that any practicing Muslim wants Sharia law to hold preeminence all over the world, including in America. At the end of his comments, Choudary made the chilling statement, “Indeed we believe that one day the flag of Islam will fly over the White House.” Based on US law; that is called sedition.
During a March 2, 2010, CBN interview, Choudary made
the following statements:
“You can’t say that Islam is a religion of peace. Because Islam
does not mean peace. Islam means submission. So the Muslim is one
who submits. There is a place for violence in Islam. There is a
place for jihad in Islam.”
Anjem Choudry is the leader of the Islam4UK group. Choudary wants Sharia law to rule the United Kingdom, and he is actively working toward bringing that to pass. His group has been banned in Britain under counterterrorism laws. He said:
“The Koran is full of, you know, jihad is the most talked about duty in the Koran other than tawhid - belief. Nothing else is mentioned more than the topic of fighting.”
Several former members of Choudary’s group have been arrested on terrorism charges.
Essentially, Choudry is actively working to overturn the US Constitution, replacing it with Sharia law. Overtly and covertly, radical Muslims in the US are engaging in the same activity.
“Sharia” means the “way” or “path.” It is the sacred law of Islam. Muslims believe Sharia originated from two primary sources: divine revelations in the Koran (Qur’an) and the sayings and examples set by the prophet Muhammad. Islamic jurisprudence interprets the law and extends its application to address issues not mentioned in the two primary sources. These secondary sources include the consensus of religious scholars and analogies taken from the Qur’an. Sharia is adhered to by all Muslims who believe it is God’s law. However, modernists, traditionalists, and fundamentalists hold different views of Sharia. There are several variations of Sharia in different countries and cultures. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the punishments prescribed by Sharia in some Muslim countries are barbaric and cruel.
Fundamentalist Sharia law cannot coexist with a democratic form of government because it includes the following judicial mandates:
* Courts do not utilize lawyers and the plaintiffs and defendants represent themselves
* Only a judge conducts the trials. There is no jury system
* Sharia law excludes pretrial discovery. It forbids cross-examination of witnesses and there is no penalty for perjury. Judicial rulings do not set binding precedents and no codified statutes are used
* Sharia law rests solely on medieval Islamic jurist’s manuals and non-binding legal opinions, called “fatwas.” Fatwas are issued by scholars. They can be made binding at the discretion of the judge
* In Sharia court, oral testimony has priority, and forensic, written, and documentary evidence is excluded
* The only admissible testimony is a confession, an oath, or a witness testimony. Written evidence is only admissible based on the testimony of several witnesses, with the final decision based solely on the judge’s opinion
* Testimony is accepted only from at least two witnesses. Muslim male witnesses who are not related to the plaintiff are preferred
* Forensic evidence, such as fingerprints, ballistics, blood samples, and DNA, as well as circumstantial evidence, is rejected in favor of eyewitnesses. As a result, women plaintiffs claiming rape have significant difficulty proving their case
* Only half the weight of a woman’s testimony is accepted compared to that of a man. Testimony from non-Muslims may be excluded by the judge if the charge is against a Muslim
* Oaths are not only used to ensure truthfulness by the defendant, they replace written documentation as evidence
* Plaintiffs lacking other evidence to support their claims may demand that defendants take an oath swearing their innocence; refusal thereof can result in a verdict for the plaintiff
* Sharia courts do not include appeals courts, prosecutors, cross-examination, complicated documentation, discovery, or juries. Almost all of the infrastructure found in US legal proceedings is absent, including exclusionary rules, case law, forensics, and standard legal codes
* Sharia applies the death penalty for crimes such as adultery, leaving the Muslim faith (apostasy), and homosexuality. It orders amputations for theft and whipping for public intoxication or fornication. It also opens the door for honor killing (killing wives or children for leaving or dating outside the Muslim faith)
Sharia law mandates the following social and religious beliefs and practices:
* Democracy violates Islam - All systems of man-made laws are prohibited under Islamic law
* Supremacy of Islam - Islam is superior and must replace all other faiths, cultures, governments, and societies. Allah ordains that those systems must be conquered and dominated
* Zakat - All Muslims are required to pay zakat. Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam. It is an offering or payment that can only be given to Muslims. Jihadists use the custom of zakat to require Muslims to contribute money to charities that in turn finance militant Islamic groups. This is the practice of “Sharia-compliant finance.” In September 2008, the US government used $180 billion of taxpayer dollars to bail out American International Group (AIG). AIG is the largest seller of Sharia-compliant insurance products in the world
* Apostasy - Apostates, or those who leave Islam, are to be killed wherever they are found
* Lying - Muslims are permitted to lie, especially to non-Muslims, to protect themselves and Islam
* Abrogation - Violent Medinan verses in the Qur’an that were written later supersede earlier, more moderate verses
* Persecution of Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims - Based on genocidal practices, radical Muslims killed an entire Jewish population in the Arabian Peninsula. Following are quotes from the Qur’an used by radicals to justify persecution of Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims:
o “And certainly you have known those among you who exceeded the limits of the Sabbath, as we said to them: Be as apes, despised and hated” (Q 2:65)
o “And you will most certainly find them [the Jews] the greediest of men for life, greedier than even those who are polytheists…” (Q 2:96)
o “O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; for they are friends but of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people” (Q 5:51)
o “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and his apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, even if they be of the People of the Book [Christians and Jews], until they pay the jizya [tax] with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (Q 9:29)
* Slander and blasphemy - Slander and blasphemy are not protected as free speech and, thus, are not allowed. In Sharia, slander means anything that might offend a Muslim
* Gender persecution - Women are inferior to men. Allah gives permission to Muslim men to beat their wives and commit marital rape whenever they please. Muslim men can marry up to four wives and have concubines of any number. A Muslim woman may marry only one Muslim man and is forbidden from marrying a non-Muslim. A woman may not travel outside the home without the permission of her husband or a male relative. Muslim women claiming they have been raped must present four male witnesses. If they cannot, they may be charged with adultery and may be stoned. A Muslim woman who remarries after divorce loses custody of her children
* Honor killing - Under Islamic law, Muslim parents face no legal penalties for killing a child or grandchild. Honor killing is permitted when an offspring leaves Islam or marries a non-believer
* Underage marriage - Sharia law permits the marriage of pre-pubescent girls as young as eight or nine years old. There is no minimum age for marriage
* Adultery - Unlawful intercourse (extramarital or premarital) is punishable by whipping or stoning to death
* Female genital mutilation - Women are obligated to be circumcised the same as men
* Hudud punishments - Allah commands hudud punishments for violations of Islamic law, including amputation, crucifixion, beating, and stoning
In the US, recently appointed Supreme Court Judge Elana Kagan had military recruiters removed from the Harvard Law campus, but welcomed Muslim recruiters looking for legal talent to implement Sharia-compliant financing.
The overt and covert activity by radical Muslim groups in the US to implement Sharia law represents an attempt by these groups to use the Constitutional protection of privacy, religion, and free speech, combined with the exploitation of hate crime legislation, to overturn the Constitution itself.