Recently Mayor Juliani who was pardoned by President Trump was a guest on Pierce Morgan show, the British podcaster – both of whom are known for their relentless Islamophobia and deliberate attempts to influence public opinion against Muslims, however farfetched that is, here in USA and in Europe. One may wonder what credibility Mayor Juliani has and why he would appear on a show with Pierce Morgan except to raise once more the false scare of Islamophobia, an agenda they both support.
Mayor Juliani’s unfounded thesis, like many other people from far right in USA and Europe is that Muslims are taking over Europe. Recently Florida Governor signed an anti-Sharia law under similar false pretext, again hyped up by far rights here in USA.
But there is only one governing law in our country and that is our Constitution, period!
Anything else is a fantasy, delusional and fear mongering!
To counter Mayor Juliani, Pierce Morgan points out that Muslims are less than 6.5% in England and roughly the same in overall Europe and even less in USA. So how could that be possible? Juliani had no answer other than that he stood by his false assertion.
There is also a rising fear of tyranny by the majority, even in democratic countries, if we ignore for the moment, countries with one party rule and/or run by autocratic rulers. USA, Israel, India are good examples of such alarming trends. If the majority under a democracy is unable and unwilling to protect the interest of the minority as equal citizens, what are the minorities supposed to do? Can a minority group exert influence over majority – where and how? Are there examples to learn from – as to what to do and what not to do?
The current debate in USA as to the influence of Jewish lobby and that of a foreign government, as Tucker Carlson points out – “the influence of a country of 9M on our country of 350M with the richest economy and largest military power” – is staggering and unprecedented. This influence by a minority group has made us complicit to a genocide and armed a country with unquestioned and unhindered access to our military hardware worth billions and intelligence which is priceless! Europe itself have committed serious crimes in terms of colonization, repeated man-made famine across the world, continued post-colonial economic extortion, and World war I and II which killed 70M+ people, including 6M Jews in what is known as Holocaust. Unjustified and brutal treatment of Jews primarily by European Christian (Muslims had no part in it) gets the maximum publicity, to the exclusion of other people in countries such as Russia, China, Poland, Germany and Indonesia where the death toll (civilian and military) ranged from 4M on the low end to as high as 22M, mostly Christians, Buddhists and Muslims.
Islamophobia is a particularly European Colonial and Christian construct which has been extensively documented and written by Prof. Edward Said at Columbia and Harvard Universities. Its ugly rhetoric is reaching a feverish pitch here in USA.
To Mayor Juliani’s apprehension, let’s assume for a second that Muslim could gain significant influence in Europe and America and if it were to happen, why would it be concerning?
After all, all major catastrophes of the modern world and in the recorded histories since Islam came into picture has been committed by Christians, Jews and non-Muslims, rather than by Muslims. The Crusades, The Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, the colonial rule in Asia, Africa and Middle East were committed by Europe and by Christians. The Industrial revolution that is destroying the planet by polluting the air, soil and water is a product of European greedy and hasty commercial interest and capitalistic ideologies, fueled by Chrisian and Jewish powerbrokers and businessmen. The decision to start an atom bomb and its first detonation was not done by any Muslims or Muslim nation. No Muslim countries have invaded other countries in the last 50 years while US, Israel and allied Europe have been in their numerous armed conflicts by choice, and deliberately driven by pure economic, territorial interests and ethnic or religious superiority. The current Gaza genocide and destruction of civilians in the Middle East have been caused by Israel, a non-Muslim country. So, where do these unfounded apprehensions and Islamophobia come from?
Let’s see how Muslims have brought peace and stability to the world in contrast. Early Muslims united the warring tribes of Arabian Peninsula where lawlessness, whimsical battles and oppression of the vulnerable and minorities were the rule. It subdued the two largest empires of the seventh century – the Sassanids and Byzantine (Eastern Roman) empires, both of which caused atrocities against Christians and Jews of the time as well as general populations. The resulting Muslim Empires restored order, freedom to Jews and Christians and brought about unprecedented economic wellbeing to all people. Early Muslim empires ushered in unprecedented intellectual curiosity, funded scholarly translation of books of science and philosophy from early Greeks, Indian and Chinese sources, developed them further and gifted them to all of humanity, a gift that Europe took and benefited from for the last 1,000 years. The Muslim Spain, for 800 years (771-1492) served as the center of education, scientific free thinking and collaboration of Muslim, Jewish and Christian Scholarship that is yet to be matched by any other civilization, current or past. Two of the leading figures in Jewish and Christian theologies – Moses Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas – owe much of their intellectual growth and contribution to their respective theology under Muslim patronage, intellectual enrichments and Abrahamic brotherhood. The Crusaders led number of wars of choice to take over Jerusalem between 1095 to 1291 for no other reason than to exert Roman and European Christian control over Orthodox Christian, Jews and Muslims. Every time they succeeded to take control of Jerusalem, they would massacre the entire Muslim, Jewish and Christian inhabitants, whereas every time the Muslim would regain control of Jerusalem peace and order would be restored and all Abrahamic faith groups will enjoy freedom to worship and associate across religions and cultures.
India became the richest economy at the time in the entire world under the Mughal (Muslim) Empire and brought harmony among Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists until the British colonizer came under the pretext of East India Company, the guise of trading with an aim to occupy, oppress, exploit and plunder. They left India in its most poverty stricken and religiously divisive state.
The Ottoman (Muslim) Empire that lasted from 1200 – 1900 and unlike the European (and Christian) colonizer allowed regional rulers and people to continue their culture and living, giving full freedom to Jews and Christians and eliminating crushing taxes and continuous atrocities committed by local (mostly Christian) Kings and Emperors to their Christian and non-Christian subjects.
Under this historical background, perhaps Muslim influence in USA and Europe would be an welcome development, rather than the Islamophobia the far right is trying to star up, as they have done with religious minorities and ethnic groups in the past such as Catholics, Jews, Irish, Italians, Chinese and Japanese. Perhaps if Muslim population were more influential in USA and Europe there would have been no Crusades, no slavery in American continent, no holocaust, no world war or cold war – all of which happened under false pretext, open racism, in violation of Christian values and teachings from Jesus, European hegemony and Cold War perpetuated by America and Russia, both Christian majority country.
Perhaps when we explore fact based, historical experience centric and deeper understanding of non-European and non-Western histories without Western biases, we find more empathetic and realistic assessment of the impact of non-Western groups in the West. Certainly, West had no issue going to the rest of the world to occupy, dominate and exploit. But at the mere thought of other groups in the West create a self-serving alarm bell that has no foundation but reflect deep-seated biases and false narrative around clashes of civilization espoused by two academicians from Harvard.
We can and must do better as judges of history and as Americans!
