Rutgers doesn’t really care about academic freedom at all. It was a foregone conclusion that the university would defend Audrey Truschke, since her “scholarship” is devoted to whitewashing the bloody record of Islamic jihad. If she were a critic of that jihad and a reliable historian of the jihad against India, Rutgers would not only not be talking about “academic freedom,” but it would have fired her by now, if it had ever hired her at all. “Academic freedom,” eh, Rutgers? Great. I’ll be there in the fall to teach a seminar on the history of jihad against India. See y’all then, eh?
Truschke is a great defender of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, whom she portrays as a Muslim Gandhi. The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS introduces you to the real Aurangzeb, beyond these ridiculous academic myths, not from the work of “later-day historians,” but in his own words and the words of eyewitnesses to his deeds. Aurangzeb in 1670 issued this decree: “Every idol-house built during the last 10 or 12 years, whether with brick or clay, should be demolished without delay. Also, do not allow the crushed Hindus and despicable infidels to repair their old temples.”
A Muslim historian, Saqa Mustad Khan, writing just after Aurangzeb died in 1707, reported that in January 1680, Aurangzeb “went to view lake Udaisagar, constructed by the Rana, and ordered all the three temples on its banks to be demolished.” The following day, “Hasan Ali Khan brought to the Emperor twenty camel-loads of tents and other things captured from the Rana’s palace and reported that one hundred and seventy-two other temples in the environs of Udaipur had been destroyed.” Later that year, “Abu Turab, who had been sent to demolish the temples of Amber, returned to Court…and reported that he had pulled down sixty-six temples.”
Bakhtawar Khan, a nobleman during Aurangzeb’s reign, was also pleased, noting that “Hindu writers have been entirely excluded from holding public offices, and all the worshipping places of the infidels and great temples of these infamous people have been thrown down and destroyed in a manner which excites astonishment at the successful completion of so difficult a task.”
You won’t learn all this at any American university. They’re too busy teaching academic fictions such as those retailed here by Audrey Truschke, and warning their students about “Islamophobia.” But you can get the truth in The History of Jihad, the only comprehensive one-volume history of jihad in the English language, including not just the jihad in Europe but in India, Africa and elsewhere, drawing primarily on accounts of eyewitnesses and contemporary chroniclers. Arm yourself with the truth against the prevailing disinformation. Order here now.
“Hindu Genocide denial and racist rhetoric against Hindus is ‘Academic Freedom’, says Rutgers University, backs ‘historian’ Audrey Truschke,” OpIndia, March 9, 2021:
Days after a group of students initiated a petition asking Rutgers-Newark University to take strong action against controversial ‘historian’ and Professor Audrey Truschke for demonising Hinduism, the institution has instead decided to whitewash her vile and bigoted anti-Hindu remarks as ‘academic freedom’. The petition was shared on Twitter by the ‘Hindu on Campus’ group.
The petition accuses Truschke of portraying all Hindus as “lustful and sex obsessed” and ‘cow piss drinkers’. The petition also says that she has whitewashed the genocide of Hindus by Mughal king Aurangzeb.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the university said, “Rutgers emphatically supports Professor Truschke, academic freedom in pursuing her scholarship, abhors the vile messages end threats that are being directed at her, and calls for an immediate end to them.” To further justify its support for the controversial historian, Rutgers cited the significance of ‘academic freedom’ in scholarship.
“Scholarship is sometimes controversial, perhaps especially when it is at the interface of history and religion, but the freedom to pursue such scholarship, as Professor Truschke does rigorously, is at the heart of the academic enterprise,” the university said. Instead of cracking down on the anti-Hindu Professor, Rutgers chose to give a consolation prize to the Hindu community.
It said, “Just as strongly, Rutgers empathetically affirms its support for all member of the Hindu community to study and live in an environment in which they not only feel safe but also fully supported in their religious identity.” Far from condemning the controversial historian for her Hinduphobic remarks, Rutgers extended its full support to Audrey Truscke through shrewd monkey-balancing.
The university concluded, “Toward these ends, we are initiating dialogues to understand the sentiments of our Hindu community and create a context that honours our complexity, while allowing us to do the difficult work of constructive and healthy engagement among our diverse community.” Following the support from her own Institute, Audrey Truschke thanked the university administration for backing ‘academic freedom’.
“The Rutgers administration has released a statement of support. Rutgers backs academic freedom, including of controversial subjects. I also thank my university administration for calling an immediate end to the vile messages and threats directed at me,” the ‘historian’ emphasised.
Audrey Truschke denies Hindu genocide, Rutgers hails it as ‘academic freedom’
In its petition, the group of Hindu students, studying at Rutgers-Newark pointed, out that Audrey Truschke tired to trivialise and downplay the Hindu genocide, committed by the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb. She had claimed that “such numbers are often exaggerated as there was really no way of knowing how many people existed in India at that time; and that people of that time made up numbers!”
This is despite the fact several trust-worthy sources estimate that a total of 4.6 million Hindus were murdered and enslaved by Aurangzeb alone….
Infidel says
All the whitewashing of jihad history aside, the more basic question that I have is: Why is Rutgers teaching the history of India in the first place? Is everybody so well immersed in US history that they got bored and decided to start exploring the history of other countries? ?
gravenimage says
I don’t have a problem with this. Every American university teaches Indian history, and so they should. The problem is this whitewash of Jihad terror.
I took a course in Indian history myself when studying Indian art–it was an overview. It was a pretty good course, but very general. (and yes, I also studied American history)
Infidel says
If colleges teach only American history, there ain’t that scope to whitewash any jihadist activities. The only such events were the Barbary pirates of Tripoli, and that chapter is so well documented in the writing of Jefferson and others that it’s hard for history revisionists to re-write
The other thing that struck me about this story – is Dr Truschke’s course something that her students have a problem w/, or other local Indians who were made aware of what she’s teaching? If it’s the former, why are they taking her course? And if it’s the latter, they should organize boycotts of the school so that no Indian or Indian-Amerian enrolls there. As it is, these schools are one of the biggest visa lobbyists in the country, aside from Corporate America, so it’ll be fun to see how much they like it when they’re subject to a boycott from an entire country
Hadrian says
>they should organise boycotts of the school
Recipe for disaster. Enlightenment era morals surrounding freedom of enquiry and expression should always be preserved, the university is doing the right thing in standing by even a deceptive professor like Audrey. She’s wrong, yes, but prove it through argument. Exercise your own right to “academic freedom”. Censorship, petitions and boycotts only serve to reinforce her position. If anything, this debacle only showered her with more brownie points. Remember, you guys aren’t given the same sympathy as, let alone OVER, Muslims. Like it or not, you’re playing THEIR game by THEIR rules. Expose the hypocrisy, they’ll inevitably clobber you with labels when you dismantle her arguments rather than advocate “academic expression”. Guys like K.S.Lal are simply accused of “attempting to provoke communal riots”. That is how you strengthen your position, by beating them in their own game.
Infidel says
Hadrian, No, people are free to pick their schools. People who recognize this behavior from Rutgers as an endorsement of the genocide of their ancestors – which is what this is – should avoid this and look at other schools instead. If this genocide were done by Brits, Americans or any other white groups and Truschke denied that genocide, she’d have been cancelled quicker than one could say ‘Academic Freedom’. But, like w/ the Armenians, b’cos this genocide was done by Muslims, it’s all hunky dory!
We need to battle academia where it hurts – their pocket books. First of all, by boycotting that university, the students who’re not going there, especially from outside, don’t have to pay rents in New Brunswick or the surrounding areas, much less on campus housing. And none of their money goes to Rutgers. When it becomes known that people are boycotting that school, it’ll be much less attractive for others looking to establish an academic career there
Yeah, it may sound like cancel culture. What’s sauce for the goose is…. ketchup for the gander
Hadrian says
Infidel
I reiterate: whether you like it or not, its THEIR game you have to play and by THEIR rules. Evidence for the Hindu genocide is notoriously abundant for anyone without prejudice, what you’re proposing is basically: let’s counter-cancel the woke cancel culture apologists. No, the woke has no sympathy for Hinduism because of the caste system and more importantly, its ongoing conflict with Islam and because its harmless outside India. Cancellation by wokes and cancellation by Hindus are perceived differently by the general public. Asking people to leave the school will only push Rutgers further into its echo chamber, its positions remaining completely unchallenged. Indology is a monumental subject, but outside of India, its a very niche community. Mostly dominated by Truschke/Eaton types. In fact, they can turn it around as propaganda against “snowflake Hindus”. And that will ATTRACT people by giving this faux impression that its academics doesn’t care about feelings over facts. The only solution is that YOU debunk her, rational evidence is on YOUR side. Remember: men like KS Lal and Koenraad Elst didn’t put Islamist propaganda to rest by cancelling the Indian Marxist-Muslim coalition, they debunked their arguments and all that the coalition was left with is: “he’s trying to spurn anti Islamic sentiment and guilt trip Muslims into giving up their religion” or “he’s trying to provoke communal violence”. Ad hominem fallacy. Specifically about Koenraad, his selective anti-Islam articles on Flemish nationalist and other “far right” sources were brought up to discredit his position: guilty by association, yet another fallacy. Ironically, he’s even written on communist and progressive blogs about Islam but in Dutch, so of course they didn’t know. Notice how they’re resorting to such underhanded tactics to discredit him? Yeah, that is snowflake behaviour from THEIR side now.
Play by the rules, play by the psychology, play by Freedom of Expression.
gravenimage says
We have every right to point out lies and whitewash. Criticizing the dishonest speech of others is also freedom of speech.
mortimer says
Truschke would be clobbered in a debate about jihad with a real historian of India.
She would not last five minutes in a debate with Robert Spencer on the topic of jihad-genocide in India.
gravenimage says
So true, Mortimer.
ROLLO TOMASSI says
That is an old trick that the study of Indology & Indologists should be at the hands of Motivated Folks like Westerners, so that they can set the narrative & whitewash crimes & true extent of Jihad is not known & whitewashed!
Alfredo says
It is truly astounding the suicidal stupidity exhibited by Western Academia. Genocide whitewashing by the Mughal invasion of India is called “academic freedom”
But telling the truth about the millions of Hindus murdered by Muslims is called Islamophobia?!
mortimer says
-Koenrad Elst in “Negationism in India” gives an estimate of 80 million Hindus killed in the total of jihads against India. [Koenard Elst, Negationism in India, Voice of India, New Delhi, 2002, pg. 34.]
— An interview of Swami Vivekananda, published in Prabuddha Bharat. April, 1899 and compiled under heading ‘On the Bounds of Hinduism’.]
“When the Mohammedans first came we were said – I think on the authority of Ferishta, the oldest Mohammedan historian – to have been six hundred millions of Hindus. Now we are about two hundred millions.
“The country of India today (1899) is only half the size of ancient India, due to jihad. The mountains near India are called the Hindu Kush, meaning the “funeral pyre of the Hindus.”
Hadrian says
Reminds me of the Bill Maher debacle over 7 years ago, when he called Islam *AND* Christianity warlike. He was called an Islamophobe.
When Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins express criticism towards Islam, they were also bashed as Islamophobes by American universities, no one blinked an eye when they tore Christianity to bits.
Islamophobia is just a convenient label to allow the religion to evade cogent criticism.
Hindus outside India are still “harmless”. They don’t carry out widespread violence in Europe in the name of their religion even after the Hindutva govt took over, so there is little issue in criticising Hinduism. Islam is also the fastest growing religion. Out of Hindutva and Islamism, obviously the latter is the bigger threat. So they have to pacify Islam by demonising its victims. Ergo, mislabelling “Islamophobia” upon any scenario where Muslims are clearly the perps. You don’t need to point out the double standards here, they’re glaring bright and red. Its a deliberate attempt at appeasing a far more extreme demographic, of which immigrant Hindus aren’t one. People like Robert should directly challenge her works and discredit them with evidence.
gravenimage says
Rutgers defends anti-Hindu prof Audrey Truschke’s whitewashing of jihad genocide of Hindus: ‘academic freedom’
………………..
Rutgers does not care about academic freedom–but they are good with whitewashing the savagery of Islam.
More ugly crap from Rutger’s professors:
“Palestinian Rutgers Prof Spins Vehicular Jihad Attack as ‘Car Accident’”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/08/palestinian-rutgers-prof-spins-vehicular-jihad-attack-as-car-accident
“A Rutgers Professor’s Muslim View: The Coronavirus Is Allah’s Retribution”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/02/a-rutgers-professors-muslim-view-the-coronavirus-is-allahs-retribution
Wellington says
Been to Rutgers many times, gravenimage. New Brunswick, where Rutgers is, is the county seat of Middlesex County and in the midst of uber-leftism.
It’s a very rich county, I believe in the top 5% of all American counties, and is replete with all your standard Leftist idiocies. Though the vast majority of American colleges and universities have now gone over to the dark side, that it is to say to the Far-Left side, Rutgers is right up there at the top of this infamous list. In short, Rutgers is disgusting. I always root against its sports teams since I want no good to come to Rutgers, though what a shame since it is a very old college, founded before the Revolutionary War and originally called Queen’s College.
Trust nothing coming out of Rutgers. Perhaps some of its agricultural and engineering programs are OK but the university overall is an absolute disgrace.
gravenimage says
Very grim.
James Lincoln says
Wellington,
My niece graduated from Rutgers about 20 years ago.
It was pretty bad then, but *much* worse now…
gravenimage says
Sadly this is the pattern, James. I graduated from UC Berkeley, and it is far worse there now than when I attended.
Hadrian says
>Coronavirus is Allah’s retribution
Lol I did know Rutgers is another American university infested by woke ultra-left loonies, but I wasn’t aware they were housing buffoons such as these. “I am an atheist and I worship Allah!”
gravenimage says
Hadrian, adjunct professor Mohammad Abbasi is not an Atheist.
https://www.memri.org/reports/nj-friday-sermon-mohammad-abbasi-rutgers-university-faculty-member-coronavirus-divine
JohnTheRevelator says
For all we know Truschke could be a Muslim or just another braindead leftist idiot that fell in love with the death cult of rapists and head-choppers.
People like her are a dime a dozen, it’s easy to take the side of the bad guys, since they’ll be less likely to come after you and then of course you do their bidding by whitewashing their 1400 year mass murdering spree.
I’m sure these academics have enough brain cells to know that opposing Islam gets you put on the hit list of ISIS, Al Qaeda and local mosques and the death mongering muslim hordes would be craving to make her their next target. It’s easier to be on the side of the bullies/thugs, it takes courage/strength to oppose them.
But at the end of the day, if war does break out none of us really will be spared-once you’ve chosen teams then you could find yourself on the wrong side of history. I for one will never bow to this filthy ideology that came from the depths of hell.
ROLLO TOMASSI says
Well she comes from a very staunch evangelical family involved in Converting Hindus, besides she receives funding from Pakistan for her work!
gravenimage says
I very much doubt it. Citations, please.
This is more of the ridiculous idea that peacefully preaching the Gospel is the same as violent Jihad terror. And if you think that Pakistan is funding Christian missions, you are truly delusional.
Aastra says
here is the proof
https://missionkaali.org/audrey-truschkes-pastor-father-in-law-caught-violating-indian-visa-laws/
gravenimage says
Where is the Baptist Church of Monterey being funded by Pakistan?
And how is peaceful preaching as bad as Jihad terror?
Proud kafir says
Well Audrey Truschke, you are suffering from an inscrutable inferiority complex. I am a Hindu and my history is full of knowledge, splendour, wealth, art, science, mathematics, courage, valour and sacrifice.
You cannot become great by berating others. So, work hard, become great. Have honesty in study and analysis.
Intellectual freedom is to think without prejudice….not to imagine non-sense.
Chrissie01 says
very well expressed. Thank you!
India has been suffering at the hands of Muslims for too long. Peaceful smart people, Hindus.
gravenimage says
+1
Fred van de Bunt says
In India they go for academic freedom and diversity too, and will teach Hindu culture in Islam madrassas:
https://www.dw.com/en/india-teaching-of-hinduism-books-in-islamic-madrasas-sparks-anger/a-56829744
Infidel says
In India, unlike out here, the Right did not cede the colleges to the Left at any time. When I went to college there in the late 80s, yeah, we had Leftist student bodies, but we also had the ABVP, which was the student wing of the BJP, which had a solid presence there. So if in India any professor dared deny such events or tried to glorify muslim rulers who were known mass murderers, (actually, most of them were, but some really stand out), such as Mahmoud of Ghazni, Alaudin Khilji, Aurangzeb and some others, they would personally be confronted by such demonstrators. Which is why, even while being academic, they couldn’t just toss around liberal views in the name of being ‘academic’
Right now, I think it’s too late for TPUSA to establish any presence on campus, so the one thing that we can hope for at the end of this Chinavirus sage is a lot of schools going out of business, and teaching being done online by organizations like Edx
Hadrian says
They teach the exact same crock in Indian academia as well, far as I’ve seen.
Prime reason why I support Hindus, they’re living proof of everything evil about Islam. Their story incriminates this death cult in the worst way possible. But here’s the thing, my “idolatrous” friends, petitions and threats are only going to undermine your cause. When you’re asked to DO something about academically dishonest historians such as these, you need to arm yourselves with proper information and challenge these individuals. Make use of Rutgers’ academic freedom, or you’ll just go down as snowflakes in the eyes of the public.
Even though Muslim students have done way worse, but you know how it is…
Infidel says
Depending on the state, some Indian colleges do not teach this the way they used to back in the 80s. See my note above about how the BJP did not cede control of Indian academia to the Left
Hadrian says
That’s fine, but any sphere of education being attached to a political wing is counter-productive. Prone to political propaganda very easily, you don’t need demonstrators to confront anyone when facts, reason and evidence are on your side. They’ll cite it as “evidence” that you can win only by protests and demonstrations, not through rational argument. Just like how Neo-Nazis cite the law against Holocaust denial as evidence that the state can’t counter them with facts, and thus has to hide behind the veil of the law.
What the BJP needs to do is reject the value of labels like Islamophobia. For example, the criminal case against SR Goel filed by Muslims for his book, the Dead Hand of Islam:
” The judge discharged Goel and referred to the earlier court precedent “1983 CrLJ 1446”. Speaking of the importance of that precedent, the judge in his discussion said: “If such a contention is accepted a day will come when that part of history which is unpalatable to a particular religion will have to be kept in cold storage on the pretext that the publication of such history would constitute an offence punishable under Sec. 153A of the Penal Code. The scope of S-153A cannot be enlarged to such an extent with a view to thwart history. (…) Otherwise, the position will be very precarious. A nation will have to forget its own history and in due course the nation will have no history at all. (…) If anybody intends to extinguish the history (by prohibiting its publication) of the nation on the pretext of taking action under the above sections, his act will have to be treated as malafide one.” “
OTTER says
Another white woman pining for the ‘strong’ controlling arm of Islam. Not only will white women wreck the west, they are a menace to the whole world.
gravenimage says
OTTER has said this before–that white women have to be controlled by white men, including preventing them from getting an education, working outside the home, and even their being forced to breed. Sounds a lot like Islam, no?
And he ignores the many male academics who are as big dhimmis as Trushkes–because this does not fit his narrative of the need for abusing women.
Theo Prinse says
THE UNTOLD HOLOCAUST OF HINDUS
The biggest, longest ONGOING genocide in the history of mankind
For centuries, Hindus have suffered a genocide of every type – massacre, forced conversions, Jihad, and much more. Yet, even Hindus don’t know about it…
https://hindugenocide.com/
gravenimage says
Yes–it is the worst genocide at Muslim hands in history–and this is saying a great deal.
Geof says
Iv heard numbers like 400 million Hindus murdered . I don’t disbelieve this number
Infidel says
That number is bloated, but on this cite, the numbers are understated. Actually, what happened was that Will Durant cited one number of 70 million for the period of muslim rule that preceded the Mughal empire – from Mahmoud of Ghazni to the Lodi sultans, and which included the sacking of Delhi by Tamerlane. KS Lal cited another number 80 million for the following period of Mughal rule, which included Babur’s invasion of India, the wars b/w the Mughals and the Pathans (Sher Shah Suri), Akbar’s conquests, and finally the invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1761
I have not seen other numbers from anyone for either of these periods. I have heard the VHP in India claim that 200 million were slaughtered. If one adds up the above numbers from Will Durant and KS Lal, one gets 150 million. I think another 50 million could be true if one factors in Hindu soldiers who died fighting for muslim rulers
Like Wellington once noted, it doesn’t make a qualitative difference whether they massacred 50 million or 150 million. However, if we are being true to history, not undercounting them is as important as not overstating them
Infidel says
site, not cite
gravenimage says
Good post, Infidel.
Infidel says
One thing about this story – did no Sikh group protest? One of the things Aurangzeb did, which is observed heavily in Sikh history to this day – was his execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth guru of the Sikhs, and his war and ultimate assassination of Guru Govind Singh, the tenth guru. Shouldn’t all the Sikh groups in the US be up in arms, and confronting Dr Truschke on this? Since Sikhs bore quite a brunt of the Mughals
gravenimage says
Yes–Sikhs have suffered at Muslim hands as have Hindus.
Infidel says
Yeah, but were they protesting here against the professor? They’re quick to try and hijack Indian farmers demonstrations, but here, where their suffering too is being denied, did they raise their voice against this genocide denial of their people?
gravenimage says
Yes–they should speak out.
Raman says
I’m a American Hindu from the Caribbean and not even from India and I will tell you the problem with this. It’s not as simple as avoiding this professors course. A bunch of academics have entered universities and created a narrative which white washes jihad and its destruction of indigenous cultures. Like a mafia they continue to perpetuate their own theories as facts and cannot be challenged simply because of how academics is structured. If you want to publish a paper with a contrary opinion, it needs to be peer reviewed. The “peers” are these parasites. Do you think they will ever let your paper publish no matter how many facts you show? For example, many historians and authors including Robert Spencer have pointed out that the Muslims gleefully published their own records of how many infidels they killed and temples they destroyed. This is purposely ignored and their invasions are characterized as some sort of a renaissance. Anyone can ask themselves a simple question – Islam is not native the Indian subcontinent. The indigenous culture there is Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh. What business did they have coming there in the first place? They were neither invited nor were they admitted as refugees like Jews or Parsis.
gravenimage says
Raman wrote:
For example, many historians and authors including Robert Spencer have pointed out that the Muslims gleefully published their own records of how many infidels they killed and temples they destroyed. This is purposely ignored…
…………….
Raman, if you read Robert Spencer’s work you will see that he regularly cites Muslim records and texts as well as those of victims and observers.