CAIR: Anything But the Truth
By Robert Spencer
CNSNews.com Commentary
February 17, 2003

The Council on American Islamic Relations launched a year-long national advertising campaign, including full-page newspaper ads, intended to present a positive portrayal of Islam.

People who read these advertisements throughout the coming year should be aware of CAIR's own record in presenting an accurate, factual presentation of Islam.

CAIR presents Islam as a peaceful and tolerant religion, closely akin to Judaism and Christianity. From CAIR's sources about Islam, one would get no idea that aspects of the religion are being used all over the world - and right here in the United States - to teach Muslims intolerance and hatred of Jews, Christians, and all non-Muslims, as well as to justify violence. And this radicalism is based on a literal reading of the Qur'an as words dictated by Allah himself.

Instead of working constructively to counter such interpretations of the Qur'an, CAIR simply ignores them and tars as "racists" and "bigots" all who dare to point out how the Muslim holy book is being used in the Islamic world.

CAIR seldom misses an opportunity to sling these charges: When al-Qaeda threatened violence during the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, CAIR's Nihad Awad complained about the linking of the Hajj to terrorism -- not by al-Qaeda, but by Attorney General John Ashcroft! Consequently, CAIR cannot pretend that its presentation of Islam is accurate and balanced.

Critics of the Islamic religion for its hostility toward unbelievers, particularly Christians and Jews, have repeatedly made clear that telling the whole truth about the religion is not to say that all Muslims are violent or even want to harm unbelievers.

But it is especially important nowadays for Americans to realize that radical Muslims are using the Qur'an and the tenets of Islam to recruit and motivate terrorists. Nor are these
just a few isolated nutcases: Muslim radicals have perpetrated violence against non-Muslims in Jerusalem, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Sudan, the Philippines, Bali, Egypt, and elsewhere. The United States has not been exempt from such attacks either.

The WTC and Pentagon attacks of September 11 were not the beginning. The World Trade Towers were first bombed by Muslim radicals in 1993. (Siraj Wahaj, a member of CAIR's advisory board, is someone whom Islamic scholar Daniel Pipes calls "a potential unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing of 1993.") A later attack
on the Lincoln Tunnel was foiled by FBI members who weren't afraid to monitor what was going in a New York mosque.

CAIR's rhetoric about Islam is not just open to debate, it is open to strong and clear refutation. CAIR itself has a history of questionable ties to supporters of terrorism.

Before people accept the advertising claims made by CAIR about Islam, they should consider this organization's history and lack of credibility.

(Robert Spencer is Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation. He is the author of Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Facts About the World's Fastest Growing Faith.)

Copyright 2003, Free Congress Foundation