1. The “Creeping Shariah” myth
Creeping Shariah is one of the greatest threats to West. The USA, UK, Sweden and Germany are just a handful of the nations to fall victim to this stealth attack. Creeping Shariah is a term used by many on the right to describe what they believe is an attempt by Muslims to take over the legal system of their host country and replace it with an Islamic one.
Examples of “Creeping Shariah” are varied but include the building of mosques in Christian lands, a Muslim family event at Legoland, Halal food options in schools, an awareness of Islamic law within Western legal systems and large scale Muslim immigration.
Is there any truth to the theory?
“Creeping shariah” should probably be renamed “Muslim immigration” as almost every known example is just a byproduct of Muslims trying to practice their faith in their host country. This isn’t a phenomena unique to Islam, when Jews came to the UK (or any other nation) they established religious courts to judge communal affairs (batei din), non-Jewish companies began indicating which of their products were kosher (so they could profit from the Jewish community), they built synagogues, etc. is this “creeping kosher” or just Jews being… Jewish?
2. Muhammad is the most popular name in England.
Islamic immigration to the UK has swelled so much that Muhammad is now the most popular boys’ name in England and Wales, according to an ONS poll. The research officially lists Oliver as the most popular boys name, with 6,949 counts, but the way the names are organised means each different spelling of Muhammad is listed separately. If you were to count all the variations together (Muhammad, Mohammed and Mohammad), then it is actually the most popular name in the UK with 7,445 counts.
Is there any truth to the theory?
This xenophobic story was plastered all over Britain’s right wing press in August this year. However, the story aims to deceive and promote prejudice by comparing all the variants of the name Muhammad to individual variants of other names, when we compare like for like the list looks very different:
- Jacob (Jacob, Jack, Jake) – 13,649
- Oliver (Oliver, Ollie) – 7,749
- Muhammad (Muhammad, Mohammed, Mohammad) – 7,445
3. Western Muslims support terrorism
Alarmingly 8% of American Muslims believe that violence against civilian targets is “often or sometimes justified”. Similarly 8% of British Muslims agreed that it is “justifiable to use violence for a noble cause”. With statistics like these it’s hardly surprising that Western Muslims are running off in large numbers to fight with ISIS.
Is there any truth to the theory?
The numbers don’t lie, but they only paint half of the picture. 8% of American Muslims may think that violence against civilian targets is often or sometimes justified, but that number is dwarfed by the 24% of Non-Muslim Americans that think the same. And while in Britain 8% of Muslims may think it’s justifiable to use violence for a noble cause, 10% of the non-Muslim British public think the same.
So it would appear that non-Muslims in the West are more likely to justify violence against civilians than Western Muslims.
4. Muslims worship a moon god
Muslims worship a deity named “Allah”, however around 10% of Americans believe that “Allah” is actually a pagan deity – a moon god. These Americans claim that before Islam, Arabs worshipped a moon god and today this paganism is continued through many lunar worshipping rituals found in Islam, such as praying towards the Ka’aba in Mecca (which houses a meteorite from outer space), beginning the holy month of Ramadan when a new crescent moon is sighted and by raising a crescent moon above the roof of mosques throughout the world.
Is there any truth to the theory?
Absolutely not, despite most of the claims that Muslims worship a pagan deity emanating from Christian circles, the monotheist credentials of Islam are far more robust than Christianity. Christians need to perform intellectual acrobatics to reconcile the idea of a trinity (three worshipable entities – the father, the son and the holy spirit) with the idea that there is only one God, whereas in Islam the Quran explicitly states there is One God.
The name “Allah” actually traces its origins back to Jewish scripture where it is first recorded as a Hebrew name for God (Ellah). The Jewish tradition teaches that Jews and Muslims pray to the same God and that Islamic adherence to the principles of monotheism is impeccable.
Furthermore not only do Jews and Muslims pray to the same God, but Muslims are categorically forbidden to worship the moon!
And of His signs are the night and day and the sun and moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostrate to Allah , who created them, if it should be Him that you worship
- Quran 41:37
5. Muslims are commanded to kill non-Muslims
Every single practicing Muslim is commanded by the Holy Quran to kill non-believers. Don’t believe us? Then read the following verses:
So when you meet those who disbelieve, strike [their] necks until, when you have inflicted slaughter upon them
- Quran 47:4
And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
- Quran 9:5
Pretty compelling right?
Is there any truth to the theory?
Not really. Lets read a few other verses out of context:
You will eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you will eat
- Leviticus 26:29
Its a pretty established fact that feasting on your kids is forbidden to both Jews and Christians, only a complete moron would take this verse out of context and try to infer that Jews and Christians are cannibals. In context its a prophetic description of the calamities that will fall upon the Jewish people, out of context it’s an invitation to infanticide.
The two verses we quoted from the Quran are no different, when read in context they are clearly discussing battles that took place in the lifetime of MuhammadSAW. When the “verse of the sword”, Quran 9:5, is read in context it describes a conflict between the pagans of Meccah and Muslims during the lifetime of MuhammadSAW. A peace treaty was agreed where the pagans were given four months to make amends otherwise war would be declared against them, this war is then described in our misappropriated verse. Unsurprisingly there are direct parallels of this type of verse in the Torah/Old Testament:
And you shall consume all the peoples which the Lord your God gives you; you shall not spare them, nor shall you worship their gods, for that will be a snare for you.
- Deuteronomy 7:16
This verse is not an invitation for Jews to slaughter non-Jews, it is a description of the conquest of the land of Israel by the Jewish people over 3,000 years ago, a one off event, not an eternal decree for conflict between Jews and non-Jews. Just as verse 9:5 is not an eternal decree for Muslims to slaughter infidels wherever they may find them.
