-Islamophobia" and Today's Ideological jihad
change. And even after Malvo's
dr aw i ng s of Os am a bi n La de n
(w ho m he la be le d a "s er va nt of
Allah") and ramblings about "jihad"
were rev eal ed, aut hor iti es con tin-
ued to downplay the possibility that
th e sho oti ngs had any thi ng to do
with Islam or terrorism.'
On August 6, 2003, in Houston, a
Mu sl im na me d Mo ha mm ed Al i
Al ay ed sl as he d th e th ro at of hi s
friend Ariel Sellouk, a Jew. Alayed
had broken off his friendship with
Sellouk when he began to become
mor e de vou t in his Isl am. On th e
night of the murder. Alayed called
Sell ouk and they went out to a bar toge ther befor e goin g
back to Alayed's apartment. where Alayed killed his friend.
Thetwowere not seen arguing at the bar. Although Alayed
kill ed Sell ouk afterthefash ion of jiha dist murde rs in Iraq
and wentto amosque after commit ting the murder. autho r-
ities said they "could not find any evidence that Sellouk
waskilled because of hisrace or religion.'
There are many similar examples: When a Muslim named El Sayyid
Nosair murdered Israeli political activist Meir Kahane in New York
City in November5,1990, authorities ascribed the killing not to jihad
but to Nosair's depression; and when a co-pilot crashed EgyptAir flight
990 onOct obe r31 99 9,kil lin g 217 peo ple , off ici als pos ite d no lin k
to ter ror ism ,altho ugh the co-pilot exclai med, "I relyon Alla h" elev en
time s as he cras hedthe plane.'A Book You're Not
Supposed to Read
The Raft of Mohammedby Jean-Pierre
Peroncel-Hugoz:St. Paul,MN:Paragon House,
1988.Besidesvividly detailing the prejudice
againstnon-Muslimsthat is rampant in the
Islamic world, Péroncel-Hugoz devastatingly
describesthe intellectualdhimmitudeof
numerousAmerican and European writers,
polit icia ns, andotherpublicfigure s.He
sho ws howeage r PCWes ter ner s are to
believe the best about Islam—and evento
exchangefact forfantasy in order to do so.