-Islamophobia" andToday's Ideological Jihad
Islamas awhole." To go towarwith Islam
a sa whole_grizzled shepherds in Kazakh-
st an and gig gly se cre tar ies in Jak art a as
wel las bin Laden and Zarqawi—would be
absurd and unnecessary. But what does
Schwartz really mean by saying that those
who would advocate "war against Islam asa
whole" are "Islamophobic?" Would that
include those who recognize that Islamic
jihad has been declared against Americans
andwhoadvocateresistance?
All thisindicates that "Islamophobia"
is virtually useless as an analyticaltool-To
adopt it is to accept the most virulentform
oftheological equivalence, and to affirm,
against all the evidence, that every religious
tradition isequally capable inspiring
violence. In many cases, this is part of
an attempt to smear Wester n civili zatio n by compa ring the sins of
Chris tiansto an idea l, fict iona lized Islam .To makethis comp aris on is to
deny the sens ible obse rvat ion of the once emin ent athei st and. late in life ,
theist phi los oph er Ant ony Fle w: "Je sus is an eno rmo usl y att rac tiv e
cha ris matic figure, ...which the Prophet of Islammostemphatically is not."'
Once again, this is not base theological one-up manship. but a realistic analysis
of Islamic jihad. It also strengthens the idea that Western civilization is worth
defending.
Islamophobia as a weapon ofjihad
The cha rgeof "Isl amop hobi a" isrou tin ely use dto shif t atte ntio n away
fromjihad terrorists. After a rise in jihadist militancy and the arrest of
Mu ha mm ad
vs. Jesus
"Butlove yourenemies, and
do good, andlend, expect-ing nothing in return: and your reward will be
great, and you will be sons of the Most High;for
he is kind to the ungrateful andthe selfish."
Jesus (Luke 6;35}
"Let notthe believerstakeforfriends orhelpers
unbelievers rather than believers. if anydo that..
in nothing will there be help from Allah;except
by wayof precaution,that ye mayguard
yourselves from them:
Qur'an 3:28