John Hawkins, a professional blogger who runs Right Wing News, Linkiest, Self Help Quotes, and Viral Footage wrote an interesting article, that was posted on Townhall.com titled: Ten Questions You’re Not Supposed to Ask About Islam. In the article, Hawkins sets forth the idea that there are quite a few Muslims who are pro-America, voted Republican, and have even voiced opposition to violent Islam. He goes on to say that political correctness forbids asking questions or talking about the elephant in the room.
For me the elephant in the room is taqyya; how does one know when a Muslim is telling the truth? Hawkins includes this question in his list of 10.
Here are the 10 questions you’re not supposed to ask about Islam; is your question on the list?
1) Why do so few moderate Muslims speak out against Islamic extremism? How can we get more moderate Muslims to speak up and amplify their voices?
2) Of the “moderate Muslims” who have spoken out in favor of moderation or against terrorism, a number of them have later been tied to terrorist groups or have advocated radical policies. This causes a great deal of difficulty for people who want to ally with Muslim groups because the “moderate” they’re talking to today may very well make them look bad by advocating radical policies in a month or two. What’s the best way to deal with that?
3) Because of the concept of Taqiyya, many non-Muslims believe that Muslims have few qualms about lying to non-believers. Is this a legitimate concern? If not, why not?
4) When it comes to immigration, how does the United States tell the difference between radical Islamists and moderate Muslims? If we can’t tell the difference, should that affect our immigration policies?
5) Widely accepted practices in large swathes of the Islamic world — like shariah law, honor killings, and death for apostates — are absolutely, unconditionally incompatible with western civilization. Should we be asking Muslims if they oppose those practices before we allow them to enter our country? Granted, they could lie, but the very fact that we would publicly label those customs as barbaric would send a strong signal.
6) Why does Islam have such “bloody borders?”
7) Much of the Islamic world has an extremely backward attitude toward women. Is this something that goes along with Islam or is it a cultural issue in the nations where Islam happens to have taken root?
8) Why is there so much rabid anti-Semitism in the Muslim world? Pointing to Israel doesn’t seem to be much of an answer, given that what Israel does or doesn’t do has no impact whatsoever on the day-to-day lives of 98% of the Muslim world.
9) Islam, as it’s practiced, SEEMS to be an EXTRAORDINARILY intolerant religion. Yet, non-Muslims are constantly being told we have to be tolerant to Islam. Why should non-Muslims be so tolerant of Islam when that tolerance is not being returned?
10) While there are certainly individual Muslims who seem to fit in very well in western society, Europe has had a great deal of difficulty assimilating Muslims. So, it seems natural to ask: Is Islam on a widespread scale compatible with the freedom, openness, and traditions of western civilization?
