Politics
Sarah Palin and Osama Bin Laden Agree on Holy War
Greetings from Moscow… where I am enjoying a week with my class-mates on an international trip… hope to write more on that one day inshallah.
Although short on time and on internet access, I felt it was absolutely necessary to write on McCain’s VP candidate: The story of a hollow (as far as experience or credentials), dangerous woman, someone who seals the case against the McCain ticket for any reasonable American [agree Br. Mohamed?].
There should be no doubt that Palin is on par, rather I contend, right of George W. Bush. Her right-wing views, particularly her religious views, should make any American shudder at the thought of having this person a heart-beat away from the presidency. Any semblance of middle-ground or moderation that McCain was selling has vanished into thin air. All that is left is an orator with a sharp tongue and a sharper and more dangerous ideology.
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Palin belongs to the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church, where members
speak in tongues [see this video and article] and are part of a faith that believes humanity is in its ‘end times’ — the days preceding a world-ending cataclysm bringing Christian redemption and the second coming of Jesus…
Mr. Kalnins is an enthusiastic supporter of “Governor Sarah,” as he calls her, and of President George W. Bush, who, he believes, was put in office by the hand of the divine. “I believe criticisms come from hell. God has placed this man in authority. … You criticize the authority, you’re literally bringing in hell with the criticism. [WSJ]
She called the Alaskan pipeline project part of God’s will [video], and that the war in Iraq is a “task that is from God… that plan is God’s plan” [video] . In other words, for Sarah Palin, the war in Iraq is a holy war, a crusade, or one variation of the Arabic word jihad. Of course, this is the flip-side of the same coin, with OBL’s message that Iraq is a holy war for Muslims.
While we are aware that Osama’s power is limited to his rag-a-tag army, the real question is: are Americans prepared to vote in someone, who shares OBL’s “holy-war”, “war of civilization”, “Christian vs. Muslims” world-view, to be a heart-beat away from American presidency and super-power influence?
Palin is free to have her own personal religious beliefs, and talk in whatever language that pleases her in church or home. She is free to believe in whatever end-time prophesies that please her. However, personal beliefs shape a person’s outlook, and invariably policies when held by persons who engage in policy-making. And when those beliefs become cultish or wacky enough, they then become especially dangerous when the person holding them becomes capable of engaging and implementing policies in light of those extremist beliefs (remember Ashcroft?).
I also wonder why the slightest misinformed link to Islam was a huge “smear” against Obama, yet here we have a radical Christian extremist, with non-recanted views, on the VP ticket? Why were Jeremiah Wright’s views so extreme, yet Palin’s church that claims that the world will be wiped out except Alaska considered benign?
I will conclude with the following excerpt from Juan Cole, whose article echoes on some of my theme here (though I may not share all his views).
McCain once excoriated the Rev. Jerry Falwell and his ilk as “agents of intolerance.” That he took such a position gave his opposition to similar intolerance in Islam credibility. In light of his more recent disgraceful kowtowing to the Christian right, McCain’s animus against fundamentalist Muslims no longer looks consistent. It looks bigoted and invidious. You can’t say you are waging a war on religious extremism if you are trying to put a religious extremist a heartbeat away from the presidency.
See Also:
- Sarah Palin Wasilla Church Has Kooky Prophecy Sessions [Youtube video]
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Asim
September 10, 2008 at 1:05 AM
Another example of the double standard in American politics…and ofcourse the media doesnt care…
Bint Bashir
September 10, 2008 at 1:15 AM
It appears here in the UK that she is very popular in the States, she has that friendly persona from the country look about her………not very deep when voting if she should help run the county but it is in her favour.
Shes a peoples person!!!
Asim
September 10, 2008 at 6:15 AM
It’s also ironic that the GOP has made such a strong case against Obama as being inexperienced, but one has to only look at Palin to see how funny that is.
Hassan
September 10, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Although economy in shatters, civil liberties are destroyed, unemployment is on rise, there are two wars going on with no end, but the real important question in “intelligent” american minds is, who can have they beer with? As in words of one of the delegate at RNC, having Sarah Palin on ticket shows Americans that anyone can become president. (Americans do not discriminate based on experience and intelligence).
Asim, McCain campaign says she has more experience than Obama. I always said, comparing Obama to Sarah Palin is like comparing a computer science graduate from MIT with 4.0 GPA who worked at google for a year to a computer science graduate from Devry University with 2.5 GPA and worked at some IT customer support. Enough said.
Abu 'Umar
September 10, 2008 at 3:00 PM
The difference is that Usama bin Ladin, without condoning his tactics, is a product of real and legitimate grievances (Iraq, Palestine, etc). Meanwhile someone like Sarah Palin is not a misguided product of aggression and oppression, but one of those people who are the source for the aforementioned grievances.
Abu 'Umar
September 10, 2008 at 3:41 PM
Also, the choice of the fanatic Christian Sarah Palin by John McCain should really come as no surprise, given his recent association with fanatical preachers John Hagee and Rod Parsley.
Muslim brother
September 10, 2008 at 6:51 PM
As-salaamu ‘ala man ittaba’a al-Huda,
Un. Be. Lievable.
So it is Usama bin Laden who is claiming that ‘Iraq is a ‘holy war’ or jihad? He made it up, he is the only one to say that?
So when invaders bomb your house and rape your daughters (by the hundreds), you need an old man in the mountains somewhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan to tell you that it is jihad to repel the attacker?
Ridiculous.
How many scholars have agreed that it is indeed jihad for the sake of Allah to repel the aggressors from ‘Iraq? Further, how many of them said that it is OBLIGATORY to do so? SubhanAllah…
I used to respect this website. What is this utter trash that is being posted here now? Where do you find these ‘authors’??
This comment will probably be deleted.
Hassan
September 10, 2008 at 7:25 PM
Although I am no fan of Osama and his tactics. but I do not understand why him and Al Qaida gets dragged in everything. The article could be only about how Sarah Palin is wacko.
Abu 'Umar
September 10, 2008 at 8:52 PM
I was baffled by that as well. Our esteemed scholars, such as Shaykh Salman al-‘Awda, Shaykh Safar al-Hawali, Shaykh ibn Jibrin, Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Barrak, Shaykh Nasir al-‘Umar, and numerous other scholars around the Muslim world (including Shaykh Harith adh-Dhari and the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq) have declared jihad in Iraq. It is quite clear and evident that Iraq was attacked and invaded unjustly by the Americans, bringing oppression and corruption upon the Muslims in Iraq. It doesn’t take a scholar to realize that is an obligation upon the Iraqi Muslims to wage jihad against the occupation.The comments of bin Ladin on Iraq are hardly unique or outside of the Islamic mainstream.
You are correct again.
I would also note, that despite the political correct discourse, there is a “clash of civilizations,” and it has been going on for quite some time. There is a clash between Islam and kufr (disbelief) and this clash will continue until the Day of Judgment. Sometimes this clash happens in the realm of ideas, other times it happens on the battlefield, (or both as we see in our own times), but the fact is that it is happening. We cannot deny this, nor will ignoring it make it go away. Why do we think that the Muslims and Islam are under siege or assault in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, Pattani, Myanmar (Burma), Uzbekistan, Turkistan, Dagestan, Lebanon, Turkey, Bosnia, Ogaden, America, southern Philippines, France, UK, etc?
Abu 'Umar
September 10, 2008 at 9:00 PM
Yes, the constant use of bin Ladin as a punching bag is quite tedious. Speaking in general terms, this is the mindset that many Muslims in the West have succumbed to in the wake on 9/11. Many Muslims have developed a knee-jerk reaction which compels them to denounce “terrorism” at ever turn, as if possessed by shame or a guilty conscience. This is a mindset which we must fight in our selves and our community.
Dawud Israel
September 10, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Actor Matt Damon condemns Palin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anxkrm9uEJk
Abu Sabaya
September 11, 2008 at 1:36 AM
I think it would be a good idea to teach a class or produce a lecture series about the very fundamental concept of al-wala’ wal-bara’.
It is too bad that hardly any notable instruction is made of it to English-speaking audiences, considering that it is such a crucial part of the meaning of la ilaha illa Allah, and I believe that a major reason why such mistakes as those in the above article are made is due to lack of awareness of this concept between many Muslims, especially those residing in the West.
Just a suggestion…
Qas
September 11, 2008 at 1:40 AM
There is an article on al-wala wal-bara here: http://web.mac.com/jawziyyah/The_Jawziyyah_Institute/Reading_Room_files/Wala.pdf
I think it has been mentioned before as well.
Abu Sabaya
September 11, 2008 at 1:47 AM
Jazak Allah khayr, but that is more of a clarification-type article. What we need is to learn the entire concept from scratch, from the roots, so that it is firm in our hearts.
This book is a classic, and one comes away with comprehensive understanding upon completing it:
Abu Sabaya
September 11, 2008 at 1:48 AM
The links didn’t show for some reason in the above post:
http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/alWalaawalBaraa1.pdf
http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/Al%20Wala%20wal%20Bara%20Part%202.pdf
http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/Al%20Wala%20Wal%20Bara%20Part%203.pdf
AnonyMouse
September 11, 2008 at 12:08 AM
I have to agree w/ others on this one… Iraq is indeed a jihaad for the Muslims there… there’s a major difference between the 9/11 attacks (whether or not we think OBL/ al-Qaeda did it) and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The fact that Sarah Palin believes that invading Muslim countries for reasons which have been proven over and over to be absolutely false, simply makes it clear that we can’t expect any improvement of policy even after Bush leaves office. However, as the others have also said, her statements really cannot be compared to whatever OBL has said.
Sorry Amad, but you made a big mistake here…
Amad
September 11, 2008 at 2:45 AM
Way to go in changing the topic from Palin to arguments about what is jihad or not. There is no unanimity that Iraq is or is not jihad, esp considering that there is a “muslim” govt in place, regardless of its puppet status. That is no different from other governments in the muslim world.
Anyway, I have no further comments on the tangent here. This post was intended to show that Palin is on record of calling this a holy war, a position that is unamenable to most Americans, and the fact is that she agrees with OBL on the general theme of clash of civilizations, which is a dangerous position. The linking of positions with a notorious terrorist is a powerful political tool, because explanations rarely make it through media– sound-bytes and titles do. My goal is to add my tiny bit in preventing Palin being elected, and I make my case accordingly. Who is making the mistake is a matter that is not as black and white as you make it.
So tell me that this post didn’t make it into another IA hit-job (I can’t chk that website currently).
hazarajat
September 11, 2008 at 6:47 AM
“I don’t understand this article…
Perhaps the article should be entitled, “Sarah Palin and the Muslim Ummah Agree on Holy War””
What I don’t understand is a self-described Iranian who thinks he’s a Saudi.
Abu 'Umar
September 11, 2008 at 7:13 AM
With all due respect, but you are the one who brought up this topic, whether intentionally or not.
Brother, please don’t dig yourself into a deeper hole. It is well known that what is happening in Iraq is a jihad, and there is a strong scholarly backing of this position. Indeed, the only “scholars” that deny jihad in Iraq are a few fringe personalities (al-‘Ubaykan, etc) with dubious agendas. As for jihad in Iraq, we are speaking about the occupation, though fighting the American surrogates would fall under this. (By the way, the Iraqi “government” is composed mostly of Iranian-backed extremist Shi’ites, not Muslims.)
Other governments don’t have American soldiers patrolling their streets.
As I pointed out there is a “clash of civilizations”: the clash between Islam and kufr. It wasn’t bin Ladin or Sarah Palin that started or invented this clash.
And so what if it did? It isn’t the fault of IA that such a faulty premise was argued in this article.
What does that have to do with anything?
Suhail
September 11, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Brother Amad
You should think before you post. You are going to a extreme by dragging Osama into everything. This tendency of yours is becoming an obsession and quite frustrating for reader. Everything has to have a Osama connection and name into it.
Also who said that the government of Iraq is a muslim government. Who on earth told that? I have not heard a scholar of repute talking about it the way you are putting it. Most of the scholars agree that Jihad in Iraq is fard. If you don’t agree than bring your proof but by just making a silly statement you cannot get by.
Also why are you so curious about IA website. It is you who wrote this article in the first place so blaming others for taking offense at what you wrote is a big fallacy.
Suhail
anon
September 11, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Salaam
Not to endorse either view, but maybe what the two hold in common is that they both have a belief that they hold unapologetically, i.e. they both believe in going to war for whatever they believe God wants them to go to war for
But the view of some seems to be a lot more apologetic- showing a lack of confidence in their respective belief systems
Driss
September 11, 2008 at 12:43 PM
A couple of points
1. I am with Amad here, the point of the post was to highlight how dangerous Sarah Palin is
2. Ofcourse the people in the Iraqi government are muslims, that’s what they’ve said.. unless you guys have particular insight into their hearts that some of us don’t have
3. Yeah there are other “Muslim” countries that have US soldiers (one in particular comes to mind – Sauid Arabia oh what about Qatar, Kuwait – unless ofcourse with your particular insight into their hearts you don’t think they are Muslims)
4. Just because you can cite the names of several scholars who called the war in Iraq Jihad won’t make it so – sorry to dissapoint
5. and Yeah Osama Bin Laden SUCKS big time!
Qas
September 11, 2008 at 1:00 PM
[quote]You should think before you post.[/quote]
you too bro.
Driss
September 11, 2008 at 1:26 PM
so was the invasion of Sadam Hussein in Kuwait a Jihad. I just want to see where you are taking this. Is it only Jihad when it’s Non-muslim countries that attacks a muslim country? However in the case of the current war in Iraq that case wouldn’t really apply because you have muslim countries that were involved in helping the Americans attack Iraq! So why is it Jihad really, and ofcourse without citing the esteemed Ulama!
Abu 'Umar
September 11, 2008 at 1:36 PM
For the purpose of understanding the issue, here is the fatwa of 26 scholars concerning jihad in Iraq: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/etc/fatwa.html
This fatwa was signed by, among others, Shaykh Salman al-‘Awda (who I’m sure is known to most readers here), Shaykh Safar al-Hawali, Shaykh ‘Ayad al-Qarni, Shaykh Nasir al-‘Umar, and Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Qahtani. All of these scholars are known for their knowledge, piety, and virtue, something I’m sure brothers Yasir Qadhi and Yasir Birjas will attest to.
Also see this clip of Shaykh Salman al-‘Awda: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/587.htm
Disclaimer: I’m not trying to encourage or incite anyone to anything, especially anything illegal. I post these links to back up some the claims I made in earlier posts.
Suhail
September 11, 2008 at 1:44 PM
Whenever a muslim country is attacked by a non-muslim country than the defensive jihad becomes fard on this people of the land and muslims close to it. This is basic stuff that you can read in quran and when you took your aqeedah course.
Where does Saddam hussain come into picture here. Even if muslim country has been helping the US it does not change the situation. The aggressor in US not Saudi or Kuwait. They are helpers of US that is sure. What do you suggest to the Iraqis? Let the invaders rape there daughters and kill there children.
You are being too naive here. Most of the right wing american media and politicians are calling this a war against Islam. They admit it that it is holy war but on the other hand we have muslims like you who are calling muslims to not even use the word ‘Jihad’ let alone say that there is Jihad in Iraq. Have some gheerah for you deen and other muslims.
Suhail
September 11, 2008 at 1:51 PM
And for your sake Driss and Amad nobody here is a fan of Osama bin Laden. Except a few i have seen none who didn’t condemn 9/11, 7/7, madrid bombing etc. The point we were making is that it is becoming really idiotic to drag him into everything as if he is responsible for everything from your ‘ toilet leak’ to ‘John Mccain’ nomination. May be he was responsible for the holocaust too and he was the one who incited Hitler.
Driss
September 11, 2008 at 2:20 PM
That’s sort of unfair in a way, i don’t think Amad was suggesting that with his post
agreed and i’m not disputing that
Out of my own limited knowledge Sadam attacking Kuwait was really the only example of a muslim country attacking another i could give, so i was asking if that was Jihad too?
Even if muslim country has been helping the US it does not change the situation. The aggressor in US not Saudi or Kuwait. They are helpers of US that is sure..
They are helpers, and not just any kind of helpers they provide the bases in which the US launched it’s attack. So Jihad should be waged against them too right according to your logic?
What do you suggest to the Iraqis? Let the invaders rape there daughters and kill there children
Ofcourse not, i never said that.
For me you have two sides fighting a war that should never have been in the first place and we know that fault lies at the feet of the US. However to me it does not make it Jihad, and yes some of the Ulama is Saudi Arabia have called it Jihad. I actually do not know any of them and that’s probably my own lack of knowledge but i think we can agree that there are more than 26 scholars around the world. This is no disrespect to the piety and knowledge those 26 have because mine is 0 compared to theirs.
I actually think it is you guys who are falling right in their trap. They would love to make it a religious war. They would love to make it a clash of civilizations, with muslims on one side and the rest of the world against them. To me it’s not a religious war, it’s political, geopolitical or whatever you call it. It’s just pure economic interests of a power hungry empire that wants to eat up all the world’s oil supplies. I guarantee you that if there was no oil in that particular region Iraq would probably be an after-thought.
Driss
September 11, 2008 at 2:24 PM
i messed up some of the quoting stuff, so my response might look jumbled.. apologies!
Amad
September 11, 2008 at 4:01 PM
salam…
No one denies that the invasion was both unjustified and unjust. Please see my past posts where I have touched on the various injustices of Iraq.
But the ground reality is somewhat different now. As facts (not opinion) stand, most of the killings in Iraq are Muslims by Muslims. Regardless of all contentions, there is a puppet government run by people who call themselves Muslims (as much Muslim as leaders of Libya, Tunisia, Syria, etc.). I dare say that the situation in Iraq is not much different from Pakistan, except for the “OPEN” presence of American military (please no tangents on Pakistan now!!). In any case, I didn’t comment on the “jihad status” of the current position, as I am obviously not qualified to discuss it from an Islamic point of view. I leave it to the scholars to evaluate that, though we should pay attention to the dates of fatawa*, which people (Iraqis/non-Iraqis, etc.) such fatawa, if recent ones exist apply to, consider what is considered unanimity or not, etc.
I think someone captured it well that the purpose of my post was the sense of “bring it on” that both Palin and OBL seem to share some common ground. The post was intended more for an American audience on other blogs, so I am sorry that I wasn’t clear in my reference to Iraq. I should have focused on this anxiety for the war of civilizations, rather than bring up the issue of Iraq.
And why did I bring in OBL? Many of my posts are for multiple audiences, and sometimes more for non-Muslims than Muslims (cross-posted on dailykos & streetprophets). Just saying that Palin is into holy wars doesn’t make for the same impact as mentioning someone with whom she shares this ideology– a person is despised by the vast majority of my target audience. It’s like the persistent use of Hitler to conjure up images that immediately color the analogy negatively. If people still don’t get it, or don’t agree with it, then let’s agree to disagree, because I cannot explain it any better unfortunately.
I would like to close with an apology to brothers for edginess of my recent comments… I am traveling and using a blackberry between meetings, so I type rather hastily, sometimes not giving enough time to refine and evaluate tone. May Allah forgive us all for our shortcomings.
*The fatwa of 26 scholars quoted above was from 2004. We are in 2008 now.
P.S. Driss, appreciate your defense.
Abu 'Umar
September 11, 2008 at 8:21 PM
Yes, the fatwa was first released in 2004, but the scholars never retracted it, so it still stands. Indeed, I know for a fact that several of these venerable scholars have continued to voice their stance on this issue, and they are saying the same thing now that they said four years ago. Also the Association of Muslim Scholars, a council of leading Iraqi scholars has endorsed the resistance against occupation.
Abu 'Umar
September 11, 2008 at 9:45 PM
Getting back to the topic of Sarah Palin, it appears that she is a bigger warmongering wack-job than either Bush or McCain:
Hidaya
September 11, 2008 at 10:19 PM
http://www.ispu.org/articles/articledetailpb-53.html -> cool article =)
Abu 'Umar
September 12, 2008 at 9:40 AM
I didn’t get a chance to go through the whole Palin interview last night, but here is what we now know about her. She thinks the criminal war in Iraq is “righteous,” she has linked Iraq with 9/11, is open to war with Russia (which has nuclear weapons) over Georgia, thinks that Iran is a threat to the world (not just a regional menace), and said we cannot “second guess” Israel. So she has embraced essentially every neocon doctrine concering Iraq, Iran, Israel, and Russia. She drank the neocon kool-aid right up (and apparently had second helpings). (Her statements on Russia are particularly disturbing considering that principle foreign policy adviser to the McCain campaign is a certain Randy Scheunemann, who was a paid lobbiest of the Georgian government and is an ardent neocon.) A McCain-Palin run presidency is a frightening prospect to say the least.
Amad
September 12, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Abu Umar, great informational recap. jazakallahkhair.
Suhail
September 12, 2008 at 10:58 AM
The problem is that she is getting the republican evangelical base warmed up again.
AbuAbdAllah, the Houstonian
September 16, 2008 at 9:53 AM
subhanAllah. i think we should all get used to referring to her as President Palin. nope, not a typo.
when she was first nominated i thought to myself, here’s another dan quayle. DQ had the intellect of an ice cream treat — he was someone that no one would take seriously as a president, and thus someone whom other GOP powers had tapped so that the field would be open for their own favorites post-GW I.
that strategy seemed bold but perversely sensible to me at the time. john mccain is not loved by the hardcore GOP. and everyone (except most Democrats) saw how much the Dems were hamstrung by the almost-effective Al Gore — just effective enough to block other democrats who could have sought the nomination, but plenty effective at losing to GW II. so pick a nobody like palin and regardless of the election outcome, the field would be cleared for other GOP candidates in 2012. risky and maybe ruthless.
but just watching the reactions of other people (not necessarily those here in this thread) to her, i’ve accepted another reality. she really is GW II all over again. GW II sucker-punched America for 8 years and the Democrats were worse than culpable for not mounting an effective challenge. and now the least-educated-least-prudent-electorate nightmares of the founding fathers may be proved true, again.
subhanAllah.
why do democrats continue to wonder why obama is now losing? if they would listen to me, i would tell them it’s simple. we see in the recent polls the truth that was always lurking behind the old polls. why could obama alone not shake off mccain? why? because americans have always been susceptible to race prejudice — i am not saying all Americans are racists, i am saying that racemongering is an achilles heel of many people, but especially the American electorate.
the GOP (and HRC and the media) made race such an acceptable topic for public discussion — “is Obama playing the race card?” and “would you look at what his (black) preacher said about America?” then there was very little more that was needed — “Osama, I mean Obama…” — no, the last two examples juxtaposed are meant to make it clear to you. all along the message was do not trust this black man.
and for a long time the polls have shown that many Americans have been praying for an excuse to publicly desert obama for a white guy — an excuse other than race. then their dreams came true when they got to desert him for a white woman — thus standing tall as though they had always wanted to break that glass ceiling. so what if the candidate herself is so unqualified that when she was Mayor of her small town, that was the first time a city administrator had to be hired there! why? to avert the disastrous consequences of her decisions. “that just means that she will have her own condoleeza rice’s and john ashcroft’s and dick cheney’s to keep her finger off the nuclear button. doesn’t it?”
subhanAllah.
perhaps some democrats will genuinely claim that the primary was not about race, but even his supporters were glad that a black man could be nominated.
whether you like obama or not, for the average american this election has always been about race. always. and the average american who votes is white. and i think the majority of them will vote for the white girl.
alhamdolillah alaa kulli haal.
Abu 'Umar
September 20, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Apparently Sarah Palin has her own Jeremiah Wright, except this one is a little more batty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_h2OU8RAQ
Pingback: Is There No Shame at “MuslimMatters.org”: Palin as Bin Ladin? « A Singular Voice
Bong Marcus
December 6, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Sarah Palin is a woman with a very strong character and personality that is why i like her.
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