exposed based solely on Islamic scholarship from that
period (although in recent years entire books have been
published exposing this lie about the myth of Islamic
tolerance).^2 Obamaʼs speech concluded by quoting portions
from the Talmud and the New Testament that promote
peace. The word “peace” appears twenty-eight times in this
speech, yet the verse from the Koran with which Obama
concludes has nothing to do with the promotion of peace.^3
Thus, in his key speech purporting that Islam was peaceful
and tolerant the President of the United States (who says he
comes from a long-line of Muslims and that he grew up in
Muslim Indonesia), could not cite a single verse from the
Koran which promotes peace.^4 Yet no journalist or
academic thought to point out this discrepancy.
To expose this discrepancy further let us turn to a
famous commentary on the Koran by Imam Qurtubi, a
scholar who lived in this supposedly tolerant Islamized
Spain over 700 years ago. In 2003 British convert to Islam
Aisha Bewley translated the Imamʼs Classical Commentary
of the Holy Qur’an.^5 Ms. Bewley is far from being some
ignorant extremist when it comes to Islam, and in the small
print of her translation it says that her husband Sheikh
Bewley was the editor of the commentary. Between them
these two converts to Islam have published dozens of books
on Islam, including such books as Islam: The Empowering
of Women (1999) and Islam: Basic Practices and Beliefs
(2008). We can take it for granted that not only are the
Bewleys considered to be very mainstream and respectable
Muslims but also that they are highly knowledgeable about