Long Island University political science associate professor Dahlia Fahmy stated her goal of “breaking the Islamophobia industry” in the April 24 webinar, “Islamophobia & the American Muslim Community.” Her reiteration of hackneyed distortions under the contrived term of “Islamophobia” took center stage at this American Muslim Institution (AMI) event for the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
AMI executive director Shahid Rahman introduced the panel by claiming that during Ramadan “we have seen our Muslim-American community live up to their reputation as the most charitable of people.” Yet a 2019 Philanthropy Roundtable study found that “Mormons are the most generous Americans . . . Evangelical Christians are next. Then come mainline Protestants. Catholics lag both.” Muslim scholars who studied Muslim-American philanthropy in 2018 found that “U.S. Muslim giving to religious causes and institutions is far behind that of other U.S. religious groups.”
Among other reasons, these Muslim academics noted under one heading that “U.S. Muslims Are Relatively Less Affluent.” Among the “poorest of the poor in America, comparatively speaking, the larger percentage of them are Muslims.” Irrespective of means, charity among Muslims also raises doctrinal disputes within Islam over whether Muslims should aid non-Muslims.
By contrast, Fahmy strove to present Muslim-Americans as model citizens, with reference to statistical claims such as Muslim women are America’s second-highest educated religious minority group. Thus “Muslim Americans are productive, educated, and civic-minded individuals.” She ignored that America’s prison population is disproportionately Muslim.
“The more you understand the Quran, the more pro-justice you are,” Fahmy said, citing her former Princeton University adviser in a proposition that would astonish victims of Islamic sharia oppression throughout history. Overlooking Islam’s traditional division of the world into Dar al-Harb (house of war, or non-Islamic lands) and Dar al-Islam (house of Islam, the lands Muslims have conquered), she claimed that the Muslim “ummah is one body, and when one part of the body hurts, the entirety of humanity suffers.” Therefore, she added, people should “think about Muslim issues as being human issues.”
For Fahmy’s Muslim social justice warriors, “Muslim issues are healthcare, ensuring that the poor are taken care of, that the hungry are fed, that there is equal access to education.” Seemingly leftist Muslims should be “going into the inner cities, breaking the boundaries of privilege, and saying that we can’t fight for Muslim rights until we fight for the rights of all,” she said. She praised a “positive correlation between Muslims being engaged in their local mosque and Muslims being civically engaged as Americans.” Yet her defense of radical, antisemitic Representative Ilhan Omar, who she asserted “has endured a campaign of hate and defamation,” exposed her desire to whitewash such Muslims activism.
“Islamophobia is defined as the unfounded or irrational fear towards Islam and Muslims,” Fahmy stated, but her accusations of anti-Muslim bigotry themselves are largely unfounded. She cited several incidents from 2015, including the “arrest of young people with nothing other than, for example, a boy with a clock.” This “Clock Boy,” a fourteen-year-old Muslim high school student in Irving, Texas, triggered a security scare at his school by bringing in a science project that closely resembled a bomb. His family launched a series of lawsuits in response, the last of which a court dismissed “with prejudice” in 2018 while denying “all relief by plaintiff.”
Fahmy also condemned what she called the “execution-style murder of three young people in [Chapel Hill] North Carolina,” but a disturbed anti-religious, leftist man murdered these three Muslims over a parking dispute, not “Islamophobia.” She cited arson at a Houston Islamic school, but the alcoholic homeless man with a criminal record who was convicted said that the school’s destruction was an accident caused by a fire he started to keep warm on a cold night. She also noted a stabbing attack against an Arab-American in Brooklyn, but one of the two Asian-Americans brothers who perpetrated the stabbings was later found mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Given that activists such as Fahmy fail to adhere to a consistent definition of “Islamophobia,” it is unsurprising that her fellow Americans do not share her twisted outrage. She paraphrased President Barack Obama’s 2015 State of the Union address, in which he said the “United States is a nation that will not tolerate antisemitism” to standing congressional applause. “But in his next breath he said that the United States is also a country that will stand against rising Islamophobia and much of the chamber remained silent, but we as Muslims heard this loud and clear,” she added.
Fahmy also denounced political “language that, for example, the United States is a Judeo-Christian nation, indicating that Islam has no presence here or that Muslims can’t be trusted.” This would, she claimed, “exclude Muslims from the definition of what it means to be American.” Yet Jews, Christians, and others from myriad faiths and no faith at all have recognized that America’s moral character as a society respecting rights for all stems from its biblical heritage.
“Islamophobia” in Fahmy’s telling has a long history, as found, for example, in the 1921 book The Sheikh, which appeared the next year as a hit silent film starring Rudolph Valentino. Yet Muslims themselves have praised Washington Irving’s 1849 biography of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, contrary to Fahmy’s criticism of that work. She also did not explain in her condemnation of Mark Twain’s 1869 travelogue, Innocents Abroad, how it was inaccurate in its harsh description of the Ottoman Empire in places such as Palestine. Similarly, she offered no proof for her claims about the “Islamophobia industry,” which she complained is “well-funded,” and “unregulated,” as if the First Amendment is inapplicable to commentators on Islam.
Fahmy bemoaned survey results showing Americans’ negative impressions of Islam and Muslims, but her skewed, superficial sophistries simply reinforce the reasoning behind those impressions. Middle East studies academics like her do a disservice to Muslims concerned about bigotry by refusing to truthfully critique difficult issues within Islam. These range from what the late Harvard scholar Samuel P. Huntington called “Islam’s bloody borders” to the unwillingness of Muslim immigrants in the West to assimilate to their host cultures. True friendship and understanding can develop only with frank, truthful discussions of these and other problems – virtues sorely lacking in Fahmy’s warped presentation.
Andrew E. Harrod is a Campus Watch Fellow, freelance researcher, and writer who holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He is a fellow with the Lawfare Project. Follow him on Twitter at @AEHarrod.
born saturday says
lets torch the forest then!!!! barbarians!!
commonsense says
The duplicitous Fahmy:
Overlooking Islam’s traditional division of the world into Dar al-Harb (house of war, or non-Islamic lands) and Dar al-Islam (house of Islam, the lands Muslims have conquered), Fahmy claimed that the Muslim “ummah is one body, and when one part of the body hurts, the entirety of humanity suffers.”
Translation: When the Ummah is stopped from expanding the dar al-harb so that the continuation of global Islamic conquest is temporarily slowed, it becomes harder for Muslims to subjugate the Kafir under Shari’a, the resultant state of abasement being for the Kafir’s benefit, as it would serve to promote abandonment of the Kafir’s ancestral religion and accept Islam, and hence Salvation.
James Lincoln says
The feature article starts with:
“Long Island University political science associate professor…”
I didn’t even have to read the article to know that this professor was going to whitewash islam at every turn…
Wellington says
+1
rubiconcrest says
Thank you Andrew for alerting us to the presence of another Muslim Sister in US academia.
Muslims denying Islam is getting silly, akin to screaming at a tornado to make it go away.
mortimer says
King Canute ordered the tide not to come in. Many millions of Muslims become EX-Muslims every year.
gravenimage says
Not enough, though. There are still plenty of Jihadists–and stealth Jihadists–like this one.
revereridesagain says
Born slave of Allah or convert? (And has anyone else noticed the growing incidence of tv on-the-spot reporters named “Aisha”?) I think Musiim females grow up to be so bitter that they have to take their hate out on someone safe — father and brothers, definitely NOT, worth your life! — so they turn it upon the kaffirs. Because getting your own arranged-marriage slug of a husband back when you arrive in the bordello paradise just will not work as an incentive.
Speaking of the 1921 novel “The Sheikh”, I once found a vintage paperback copy in a closing bookstore sale. The cover had to be seen to be believed. Pipe-smoking middle-aged grey-bearded sheikh seated in his armchair with his much younger Western wifey-poo cuddling up and gazing at him adoringly. Not exactly Rudolph Valentino, but hilarious.
gravenimage says
She’s from Egypt, and so was likely born into Islam.
PRCS says
“Islamophobia is defined as the unfounded or irrational fear towards Islam and Muslims,”
Islam, of course, is an inanimate thing. Just an ideology. Words. Animating, yes. Animate, no.
The Yezedis, as but one of many groups, have a rational fear of those who act it out.
Muslims.
Keith O says
PRCS, The other, unstated side of that definition is that, by extension, having a reasoned caution about an ideology that wants to enslave and or murder us can not be defined as a phobia.
Much like my fear of snakes. We have 4 out of the top 5 most poisonous snakes in the world here, so being exceptionally wary of them could not be deemed to be a phobia.
Given those circumstances, I’d much rather deal with an angry Tiger Snake or Taipan than a “peaceful Mudslime” any day.
PRCS says
Yes, a reasoned caution about that horrid ideology’s teachings; not the irrational fear inferred by the term Islamophobia.
And a rational fear of Allah’s slaves.
I, too, have a rational fear of snakes.
Keith O says
You seen the lovely little creatures we have here?
Snakes, not mudslimes!
gravenimage says
Long Island University Prof’s Rant: An ‘Islamophobe’ Behind Every Bush
………………….
By “breaking the Islamophobia industry” Dalia Fahmy means preventing all criticism of Islam. Deeply disturbing stuff.
mortimer says
Yep, Dahlia Fahmy is a Sharia totalitarian. She obviously would like to impose Pakistan’s blasphemy law in the US.
Keith O says
The mere fact that this Mudslime brood mare has the title of professor is a clear indication of the levels of trouble the American education system is in.
If this cretin can gain a teaching degree and then be let loose to poison the minds of students???
Well, you get my point?
mortimer says
Preferential DIVERSITY HIRING leads to HORRIBLE and second-rate people getting promotions.
The Left has no problem at all hiring a fascist propagandist if the fascist is a Muslim.
gravenimage says
“Second-rate”–that is, simple mediocrity–would actually be preferable here.
GOLDMANN says
I thought that picture was of a shop window dummy! . She looks like it ??
Andrew Blackadder says
People such as this “female” leave their home islamic Nation and come to the lands of the Western World, get treated with respect, get a high paying job in the educational system, and then tell us just what awful racist people we are… Am I missing something here?.
Methinks her hijab is too tight, perhaps cut off the blood flow to her brain.
How many Christian, Jewish, Hindu,Buddhist Professors are there in ANY islamic Nation?….Ill wait…
Raconteur says
Islam is a socio political ideology which is incompatible with the local self government and the Jihad becomes incumbent on Muslims to establish Dar-ul-Islam and conceive it as final destiny
Reference Pakistan or The Partition of India by BR Ambedkar
https://twitter.com/HermitRaconteur/status/1353716944625487872
mortimer says
Therefore, you conclude, Raconteur, that Dahlia Fahmy is an ideologist and an authoritarian who is trying to destroy local laws and replace them with discriminatory Sharia law. Dahlia Fahmy makes jihad verbally and with the pen (q.v. Jihad of the Pen, Jihad of the Tongue).
PRCS says
Democracy and theocracy are each antithetical to and incompatible with the other.
Islam is a totalitarian theocracy.
Eleanor says
I find the Muslim prison statistics concerning. It’s the same in the UK — 2020 Stats for England and Wales, Muslims make up 4% of the general population and 16% of the prison population..
mortimer says
And the reason for that HIGH percentage of Muslim inmates is what … do you suppose? Did you talk to any of them? Do you know their thoughts on jihad? How many are jihadist wannabes? Let me tell you: a LOT OF THEM are jihadist wannabes.
gravenimage says
If they are in prison a lot of them are already jihadists.
mortimer says
FAKE ACADEMIC AND PROGANDIST Dahlia Fahmy wants to destroy all dissent against Islam. Is that the JOB DESCRIPTION of a university teacher? No, it is not.
A university professor’s role is to DISPASSIONATELY and OBJECTIVELY follow the facts to determine the truth, no matter where the trail of facts leads.
A real academic doesn’t make propaganda. She should be fired, because students are not getting what they paid for.
Sharia law is set up to stifle and prevent ANY criticism of Islam with no exceptions.
Dahlia Fahmy wants there to be ZERO criticism of Islam in America.
somehistory says
She’s more than welcome to take her ugly attitude, ugly scarf and lying words back to the place from whence she came.
America was built by people who were largely Christian, fleeing oppression from those who engaged in religious persecution. There is no room for debate, and history can’t be changed.
islam is an oppressor, a persecutor, a murderers craft. The language about history shouldn’t be changed so they can feel welcome. Why should anyone with a sane mind want mozlums to “feel welcome”?
Enough of this mozlums bring benefits and are smart and hard-working. They bring with them oppression, lies, extortion, rape, murder, terror, and are “crafty” and work hard at deception and the growth of islam. If they don’t like it here, they are all…every last one of them…free to leave…and not return.
ROBERT CARRILLO says
Bla Bla Bla Bla…
Just more of the ‘we are always the victims’ 24/7 ranting..
Ten cents worth of good advice: Just leave other people alone..
It is not your chosen religious Bla Bla Bla.. It is not your skin tone either.. It is your never ending scheming and whining to a clear purpose, which ticks most ADULT thinking Americans off.. ‘CAIR condemns this’.. ‘CAIR condemns that’.. ‘CAIR wants this’.. ‘CAIR demands that’.. ‘CAIR objects to the (OUR) US Constitutional LAW’.. ‘CAIR says we must not assimilate’.. CAIR – CAIR – CAIR..
Well, CAIR, and its kaleidoscope of affiliates (Muslim Brotherhood – Hamas – MAS – Al-Qaeda – Boko Haram – and now this idiot and con artist and professional VICTIM..) – seem to takes no responsibility for anything, regardless of how horrible and barbaric, and always blaming the rest of America for everything.. Just like your pals, Linda Sarsour, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib, you are ALL, in my view, ungrateful whelps, and as Un-American as they get these days..
It is your propensity toward violence, in the name of some ‘moon god’.. It is your constant claptrap, expressed hatred while flashing that Cheshire Cat grin, relating to your collective contempt for what you refer to as ‘infidels’, coupled with the seemingly insatiable need to force the rest of our civilized societies around the world, and in America, to bow down to all this nonsense, or else.. And, it the ‘OR ELSE’ part that really gets my attention these days..
I am not a racist! I am not an Islamophobe either.. I am however, and unapologetic “BEHAVIORIST’.. And it is your BEHAVIOR as a collective, like ‘The Borg’ from Star Trek, which I completely abhor..
Lastly, I am also NOT a SLAVE.. ..to anyone, or to any THING..
Once again, here’s ten cents worth of good advice: Just leave other people alone.. And, stop your whining, proselytizing, and teaching hatred and division from your university podium..
somehistory says
Good advice…esp at the price. But, my hunch is, she will auto reject it as it doesn’t fit in with the take-over plans and goals of every mozlum…be they “professors,” or politicians, or whatever lowest position…besides bowing down on the street…mozlums may have. They are not listening…they have their ears stopped up and their mouths open.
Bhterfly says
For centuries, the Islamist Muslims have robbed Christians especially Catholics. Islamic terrorists have beheaded, starved, raped, killed and yes, robbed people of their property but also of their money and possessions because that’s what the Koran told them and tells them to do. The majority that come to this country are on the Government dole that we the taxpayers pay. Yes, there are some good Muslims but the majority are evil and Islam’s plan is to take over the world and establish Sharia.
Now its about time that these Muslims contribute to society however I’m sure they’re only contributing to their ‘own’ Muslims, to their Mosques and to Islamic terrorist groups.