I'm trying to make sense of the [allegedly] murderous Nashville cab driver who ran over his passenger, because it's been coming out in bits and pieces.
A lot of people are objecting to what seem clear attempts to hide the driver's status as a Muslim from Somalia. Nothing new there; hiding such details goes on a lot, another example being the Salt Lake City shooter.
But there's something that perplexes me even more than hiding the driver's religion. At first, I grew suspicious about the fact that this was called a "religious dispute." But now that I've read the details of the dispute, I'm more than suspicious; I'm appalled. If this report is correct, the cab driver was an out-and-out Nazi supporter:
A Nashville cabbie made anti-Semitic statements and praised Adolph Hitler's campaign against Jews during a religious argument that culminated when he ran over one of the passengers as he left the taxi, witnesses said during a hearing today.
The cab driver, Ibrahim Ahmed, said Hitler was "trying to rid the world of Jews," the alleged victim, Jeremie Imbus, told the court.
"I just remember ...(being)... I guess the word is 'shocked,'" Imbus said of the Feb. 18 incident.
Let's assume that the same driver had been a non-Muslim. Would this have been called a "religious dispute"?
I may be wrong, but I don't think so.
But because the guy's a Muslim, Nazism is deemed "religious."
If I were a Muslim (whether of the moderate variety or the less moderate CAIR variety) I'd be outraged -- and I mean seriously outraged -- by this.
And do you even have to be a Muslim to be outraged? Why aren't more people outraged that in the mainstream media, support for Hitler voiced by a Muslim is characterized as "religious"?
Or am I missing something? Is support for Hitler's genocide against the Jews now part of mainstream Islam?
I don't think it is.
However, I realize that most of the reporters who conflated Islam with Nazism by calling this a "religious dispute" probably weren't consciously aware of what they were doing, because they thought they were doing something else.
How excusable it is, I don't know. I suppose foolishness (and maybe a little elitist condescension) is better than evil.
Or do details about stuff like this really matter anymore?
posted by Eric on 02.27.07 at 09:57 AM
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Just as a point of reference - the Nazis and Islamic leaders of the time co-operated.
Is support for Hitler's genocide against the Jews now part of mainstream Islam?
"Mein Kampf" is a best seller (still) in the Islamic world.
The President of Iran is into it. The current (former?) head of Indonesia. The President of the Palestinians is a Holocaust denier. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and across the ME. The Baathists. etc. Just a few hundred million nut cases to be sure.
The issue isn't whether mainstream Islam supports Naziism, but whether this guy's apparent lack of full affection for Jews, and acceptance of Naziism, stem from Islam.
More generally, just because it's not universal in Islam to spread terror doesn't mean that terrorists aren't driven to terrorize by Islam.
Although we have no hard numbers on hand, I suspect the ratio of pro:anti-Nazi Christians was worse than the ratio of Muslims.
Jon Thompson · February 27, 2007 06:40 PM
Yeah, well the Catholic Church has been accused of complicity with the Nazis during WWII, and certainly there were a number of Catholics who were Nazis. But regardless of how many supported the Nazis in WWII, does anyone really think that the same statements made, say, by a Catholic cab driver would have been reported as a "religious dispute."
And even if we assume it had, wouldn't there be an outcry? I think there would -- from Catholics and many others.
I don't dispute your points in the least. This is either highly offensive to Muslims, or it suggests that the Muslim religion has political overtones which make it irrevocably incapable of integrating into Western democracies.
All that I am saying is the idea that the Muslims en masse supported Hitler during the second world war is simply insulting pseudo history.
Jon Thompson · February 28, 2007 12:46 AM
Guys, the Muslim Brotherhood (still with us) sided with Hitler.
The Baath Party, formerly of Iraq, still of Syria is modeled after the Nazis.
And "Mein Kampf" is still a best seller in the Arab and Islamic World.
But, Jon, that's the problem in a nutshell. WHERE Islam has been co-opted as a political philosophy it is inconsistent with a Representative republic (laws made by the People instead of a ruler).
How entangled Islam is with politics is the big issue and if it is possible to untangle it.
Eric,
The MSM can't get their heads around this. Their Bush hatred prevents them from seeing their hypocrisy. I doubt they are even capable of reconciling that Nazis were "National Socialists" because they are not going to allow for their precious socialism to be tainted that way.
And not only are the terrorists sympathetic to Halter, they modeled themselves on him. I haven't read it, but the case has been fairly well documented ("The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism: Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husseini", by Chuck Morse).
I don't argue any of your points. You are correct. However, the reality is that bringing up the Grand Mufti and saying that Muslim leaders of the age supported Hitler is just unfair to the thousands of Muslims who fought against him. I'm not arguing about where they stood, only what they did.
Jon Thompson · February 28, 2007 08:56 PM
For this issue I just don't think it is controlling how many Muslims supported Hitler, or how many support him now. My point is that this was reported as a "religious dispute." Since when is agreement with Hitler a religious issue?
Or am I missing a specifically religious tie-in? Was there a later revelation or Hadith somewhere?
There were indeed Muslims that fought against Hitler and the Japanese..but not in the Arab world, and they were mostly confined to the Indian subcontinent.
One of my fatrher's friends who served in the British 8th Army during WWII gave me a vivid account of marching back into Cairo after El Alamein an dfinding the city all decked out to welcome Rommel and the Nazis.
As for comparisions with Islam and Naziism, some of you may find this helpful:
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
Just as a point of reference - the Nazis and Islamic leaders of the time co-operated.
Here is one example:
The Palestinian Role In the Holocaust