Un-Wholly Warriors

by Wajahat Ali


The current Bush administration, as well as media pundits, sensationalist journalists, and self-serving academics serve as the essential actors in this ambitious vehicle. The following is an excerpt from Act I, Scene 2.



SCENE II
Attack of the Info-tainment Circus


The scene begins in a gaudy, over-lit news studio with several cameras and lights (Made in Japan) focused on a news desk and an overpriced red, white, and blue ergonomic chair (Made in Singapore). There is a mug (Made in Bangladesh) with "NO BULL" written in white letters on a blue and red cup. The American flag (Made in Mexico) is shimmering behind the news desk either via a digital screen or an actual hanging flag. To stage left of the main anchor chair there are 5 dark figures in non-ergonomic chairs surrounding a medium sized red, white, and blue coffee table (Made in China).
The highly melodramatic and pompous theme song to "No BULL Zone with Bull 'Bob' Riley" blares as the lights slowly illuminate the stage. A mighty bull noise is heard. The Announcer gloats, "And now its time for the NO BULL ZONE with BULL ...Riley. Only the most pressing, urgent matters of national news are discussed in a fair, respectful, professiona,l and balanced manner!" Mighty bull noise is heard again.



BULL

The Shiite has hit the fan in Iraq!1 Not so, according to The White House which openly rejected the notion that I-raq is near a total civil war between the Sunny's (Deliberately mispronounced) and Shee-ites?2 But according to your beloved Bull Riley (Points to himself) the No Bull Zone says "The Shiite has hit the fan in America" and we are mad as hell, and we're not gonna take it anymore!3 (The soundtrack cues applause and whooping. There is a faint 'Yeehaw' heard.) First–if you're like the Bull (there is sound of the Mighty Bull Roar) you've noticed some disturbing behaviors in this glorious country of ours that can no longer be tolerated. There are without doubt forces in America which are seeking to destabilize the empir–excuse me–nation, and it's time for someone to act. (Mighty bull noise.) Illegal immigrants and terrorists.4 Border hopping Mexicans, Islamist Muslims, and other undesirables. Aliens, ladies and gentlemen. Illegal aliens using illegal immigration to cover deadly immigrant terrorists. To discuss these extraterrestrial terrorists in our very own Western backyard, we welcome five distinguished minorit–excuse me–members of the Moslem, Mexican, and Middle Eastern communities.

(Stage left is now illuminated and 5 members of the infotainment circus are trotted out.)

We have Izod Mangee, a feminist liberal lesbian Muslim refusenik pop culture scholar, author of the best selling Failure of Islam, also author of the incendiary Die Darkman Die Trilogy, with its scorching sequel, Die Darkman Die II: Die Harder,5 and the current bestseller Die Darkman Die III: Why won't you die, Darkman? Please Die. For the love of God, just die. Seriously. Please. Just Die. Next up, the fatwah-tastic fantastic modernist-in-hiding Saleem Rushtodie making a rare public appearance–shhh don't tell Iran–to promote his new books I for Infidel and A for Apostasy.6 The noted civil libertarian and human rights lawyer, Adam Doochawiss, promoting Torture: It's What's for Dinner, Bitches, a compassionate plea for the "legal" torture of terrorist suspects7 –brilliant by the way–and we're lucky to have Ward Chavez, author of Assimilate NOW! Abstaining from Mexifornicating, and finally (rolls eyes and annoyed) from the whiners known as the Civil Liberties Coalition,8 we have Saddam Hussein Emanon–

EMANON

It's actually Sala-Ema9


BULL

Right, Santana.

EMANON

Sala–

BULL

Gotcha Ayatollah.10 Who will whine, whine, whine usual about civil liberties and yadda yadda yadda. You are all now in the NO BULL ZONE. (Bull noise) First up–Islam. (Pause) What went wrong?11 Now I know not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims!12 Don't you agree, Izod?


IZOD

Absolutely 100% I totally–

RUSHTODIE

(Eagerly butts in) In complete agreement, Bull. What you said is spot on, in my book–

IZOD

(Cutting him off) In my book–The Failure of Islam–

BULL

Brilliant, by the way–

CHAVEZ

In my book–Assimilate NOW!

BULL

Double brilliant!

DOOCHAWISS

Torture, it's what's for dinner, bitches!


BULL

TouchÈ!

EMANON

IRA, Tamil Tigers, Stern gang–all examples of non-Muslim terrori13


BULL

Strike one, Moussaoi.14 3 strikes you're out.15 Wait your turn!

(Rushtodie seethes at Izod. Izod returns it with smug smile plastered on her face.)

IZOD

I achingly searched my soul as a lesbian feminist liberal born again refusenik16 Muslim to inquire why all the terrorists are Muslims–

BULL

And are all Muslims terrorists?

EMANON

Whoa, easy there, how can you broadly generalize 1.2 billion Muslims in17

CHAVEZ

Assimilate now!

BULL

THIS IS the no BULL zone, Khaddafi.18 Strike 2–

EMANON

It's Sala–

BULL

Enough, Sally. Let the lady speak. In our culture, we let women have a voice–


IZOD

Thank you Bull I apprec–

BULL

(Puts hand quickly in front of her face and muffles her voice)
And let me tell you, the No Bull Zone is a No Broad Generalization Zone, either. I've been to Africa, Mexico, and heathen continents three times, all right, Salamander? You just can't bring Western reasoning into "their" culture. The same way you can't bring it into fundamental Islam.19

CHAVEZ

Assimilate NOW!

IZOD

Wait your goddamn turn, Chavez!

BULL

The No Bull Zone is also a NO Blasphermersize Zone!

IZOD

Apologies for blasphermersizing.

BULL

Goddamn right!

RUSHTODIE

I would say ladies first, but with you, it's all the same–

(Rushtodie gives Chavez an underneath skin slap on the hands to show his appreciation.)

BULL

Oh Low blow. And with her, trust me, she'll feel it!

(They all laugh. So does Mangee.)

IZOD

I guess not all of us are lucky to ride a fatwah for the rest of our career?20

BULL

Saucy!

RUSHTODIE

You're just jealous you haven't got one yet21

BULL

Counter-Saucy! ("Wa-toosh" makes a whip cracking noise and gesture with his hand cracking an Indy Jones whip. Looks to the Izod and Rushtodie and then says) "Fortunately, there will never be Islamic unity."22I think it might be a good idea to convert them to Christianity; it's a better hobby for them than slaughtering infidels, and cheering and dancing like homicidal maniacs.23 (Now directly facing the camera/audience.) Speaking of maniacs, this brings me to this week's so-called "scandals" and the pansy media "mania" complaining about warantless spying and anti-immigration and terrorism measures. Listen, I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, Moslems, immigrants, Mexicans, big-breasted women, Chinese restaurant waiters, circus clowns, college professors, and black football players–if you ask me. We should be engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport–and dropping daisy cutters, Playboys, extra strength deodorants, and American flags wantonly through out the Middle East, and git-git-git Pinkos, winos, and protestors to the Gitmo G-Unit."24 But let me guess "boo hoo woo woo." (Looking at Emanon.)

EMANON

First, a state of war is not a blank check for the President and his administration to trample on citizen's constitutional rights.25

DOOCHAWISS

I'll write a blank check to trample on you, citizen boy–

EMANON

Second, fourteen of the nation's top constitutional scholars agree that the NSA spying program appears on its face to violate existing law.26 It bypasses the fundamental amendment requirement of needing probable cause for a search and seizure, and obtaining a warrant from the FISA court 27

CHAVEZ

Bullshit court! (Then quietly under his breath) Assimilate now.

BULL

Ring Ring. Ring Ring. (Holds up a fake telephone to his ear.)

(Emanon is perplexed. Just stares at Bull. Then left and right at confused guests. Looks forward at audience/camera.)

EMANON

Uh–I...don't understand. What? I–

(Flustered and impatient, Bull mimes the existence of a "phone" in front of Emanon and picks up the "imaginary" receiver. Emanon "gets it," and he hesitantly picks up the phone.)

BULL

Ring Ring. Ring Ring.

EMANON
Oh, Ok, I get it. Strange. Um, Uh, Hello?

BULL

Salaams. Knock Knock.

EMANON

Salaams. Uh, (Concerned Pause) who's there?

BULL

Osama.

EMANON

Osama, (Takes a second or two) Who?

BULL

O-sama.... I'M GONNA BLOW UP YO' MOMMA! (Shouts into imaginary phone. Spit shower covers most of the guests. Bull is red in the face and he's steamed.) What are we supposed to do if Osama bin laden calls the United States? If Osama calls America, should we listen in or worry about his civil liberties?28 Can you nutheads please stop stripping the Presidency of its Constitutional authority to defend America?29



EMANON

Defending America does not allow powerful men and women to make a mockery of the Constitution and existing laws. We have the FISA court–

CHAVEZ

(Pretends to cough to muffle what he's about to say, very similar to what elementary school kids do) Bullshit court! Ahem. Cough. Cough.

BULL

(Puts hand in front of Emanon's face and looks away disgusted. The other hand's index finger rapidly points to Doochawiss.) Dooch, drop it like a SCUD missile on Saddam over here.

DOOCHAWISS

As a respected civil libertarian, human rights advocate and esteemed law professor, I agree with recently appointed Assistant Attorney General John Yu Kazuo–

BULL

A brilliant and bold man.

MANGEE

A brilliant, bold, and brave man.

RUSHTODIE

A brilliant, bold, brave and intellectually erect man!

CHAVEZ

Assimilat-ed... successfully!

DOOCHAWISS

The brilliant, bold, brave behemoth of a man said the FISA court does not apply during this war against loony terrorists who need deodorant, because Congress doesn't have the authority to interfere in the President's wartime means and methods of engaging the enemy!30


EMANON

Inside officials have said the administration knew their secret, illegal, surveillance program could never meet that standard, that's why they didn't go through FISA courts in the first place!31 Following Kazuo's perverted logic, a wartime President can do anything he wants! This dangerous precedent, if not immediately remedied, can lie around like a loaded gun, able to be used indefinitely for any future occupant!32

BULL

I wish I had a loaded gun right now!

DOOCHAWISS

Let me load that gun right now.

(Doochawiss, getting into the mime game, pulls out a fake gun from his coat. Hands it over to Bull, who cocks the imaginary gun, points it at Emanon and fires. He then blows "Dirty Harry–style" smoke from the revolver.)

EMANON

Is this secrecy and unilateral exercise of immense power necessary considering that fewer than ten U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their purely domestic calls?33 Why can't the news media, journalists, and politicians muster the backbone to challenge this belligerent profiling–

BULL

Bumper sticker for whiners. News magazines, journalists, wireless phone taps, torture, and politicians don't kill people, Muslims do!34

RUSHTODIE

(Very quickly interjects almost as if defending his life) Not this secular humanist non-threatening light skinned Muslim American citizen, Bull! This token Muslim (Points to his chest, more specifically he points to an American flag pinned on his left lapel) is tired, tired, tired of this (Points at Emanon) "paranoid Muslim" and paranoid Islam which blames outsiders, infidels, heathens, politicians, news media, racial profiling, racism, oppressive foreign policy, Israel, Zionists, good hygiene, toothpaste, and Britney Spears for all the ills of Muslim Societies. They like to play–(a pause)

ALL THE GUESTS except EMANON

The Blame Game!

RUSHTODIE

Their only remedy is to close their Dark Age societies to the rival project of a glorious enlightened modernity that is The West35

CHAVEZ

(Highly excited like Austin Powers) The West is the best, baby, yeah, baby, yeah! (Sober, serious face) Assimilate now.

RUSHTODIE

These Muslims–and immigrants and foreigners and Axis of Evil and generally anyone who disagrees with us, The West, (Horns sound after he says "The West") have a loathing of modern society in general; what with our music, godlessness, sex, big-breasted women, Girls Gone Wild DVDs 2 for $9.99, and reality TV shows! Specifically, they loathe and fear the prospect their society could be taken over by the liberal Western style way of life36

CHAVEZ

The only style of life, yeah baby yeah! Assimilate now.

RUSHTODIE

They fear (takes a deep dramatic flamboyant shocking breath then exhales)... Westoxication!37

(The entire guests' panel, even Emanon, dramatically gasps in unison and raise their eyebrows in shock.)

IZOD

(Very nervous and panicked, quickly interjects a defensive, protective measure by saying) Not me! Not me! I love the West. I'm currently intoxicated by my Westoxication!


BULL

Prove you're America-holic, Missy-Mister-whatever.

IZOD

(Eagerly, like a rookie coming off the bench) I can prove it, coach! I mean, Bull. You see, Bull, only within Islam today is literalism the mainstream. And this is dangerous because most of us, even well-educated professionals, and even sadly me sometimes due to the Islamist virus genetically infecting my ovaries and womanhood from birth have no clue how to debate, dissent, revise, or reform because we 1.2 billion have not been introduced to virtues of critical thinking.38

BULL

(Very sarcastically and mocking tone) Islam–it even infects your ovaries. A virulent kryptonite! Explains why the Muslim womb is an warehouse of future suicide bombers!

EMANON

Rumi the best selling poet in America today–Muslim...lived 700 years ago!39 Ibn Sina wrote the celebrated Canon of Medicine, the medical bible of "The West" for over 500 years–Muslim!40 Al Khwarzmi–inventor of modern day Algebra 8th century–Muslim!41 Ibn Khaldun42 –founder of the philosophy of history and sociology. All examples of–

IZOD

(Completely ignoring the valid points Emanon just made) Terrorist martyrs. Suicide bombers! They are the rock stars of the Muslim world!43 The Madonnas of Palestine, the Elvises of Baghdad, the Liberaces of Libya! The only thing they're all missing is a Nike contract and Wheaties commercial!

RUSHTODIE

More like a Hummus commercial. Ahahahahahha.


BULL

Nice one, fruit cake.

IZOD

They feed on the self-esteem crisis of young Muslims44 –all of them so angry, so spiteful, so afraid of Wextoxication.

BULL

(Looks to Izod) Congratulations, sir, you've passed the test.

CHAVEZ

Assimilation...completed! Yeah!

Notice of Copyright Protection Under the Laws of the United States
© 2006 by Wajahat Ali


1 Sean Hannity, Tuned in to America, Hannity.com, at http://www.hannity.com/ forum/ showthread.php?t=24289 (Oct. 2004). Sean Hannity, a famous Fox News pundit, creatively disrespected millions of Shiia Muslims by saying, "The Shiite hits the fan in Southern Iraq."

2 USA Today, "U.S. R ejects Idea that Iraq Near Civil War," Usatoday.com, at http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-10-iraq-civilwar_x.htm (Apr. 10, 2006). The United States deflecting criticism that Iraq will erupt in a civil war following the invasion.

3 Network (MGM pictures 1976).

4 Michelle Malkin, "End Sanctuary for Illegal Immigrants," Townhall.com, at http://www.townhall.com/opinion/ columns/michellemalkin/2002/09/13/164296.html (Sep, 13, 2002). Another gem by Malkin where she tries to connect Al-Qaeda terrorists with porous Mexican borders. This analogy tries to equate illegal immigrants with terrorism, thereby making an appeal for more stringent border patrol and security measures.

5 Irshad Manji at http://www.muslim-refusenik.com/. The character of Izod Mangee is based on the brilliant self-promoter Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble with Islam, and a self-proclaimed lesbian feminist Muslim refusenik.

6 BBC News, "1990: Iranian Leader Upholds Rushdie Fatwa" (Dec. 26, 1990). Salman Rushdie, author of the controversial The Satanic Verses, received the biggest career boost of all time with a fatwa by Khomeini himself.

7 60 Minutes: Legal Torture (CBS Television broadcast, Sep. 20, 2002). Alan Dershowitz, noted lawyer who defended O.J. Simpson and self-proclaimed civil libertarian, has been making the rounds advocating a legal method of "torture" to extract information from potential terrorist suspects.

8 Stop the ACLU at http://www.stoptheaclu.com/. The Civil Liberties Coalition represents The American Civil Liberties Union, a group which has a history of being maligned by politicians and interest groups seeking to quash dissent, such as Joe McCarthy during the Communist Witch Hunts.

9 Salahuddin Ayyubi at http://www.crusades.org/salahuddin.htm. A famous historical figure and renowned "hero" in Muslim lands due to his chivalry, bravery, and piety during the Crusades. His Christian foil is Richard the Lionheart.

10 Milton Vorst, "Ayatollah Khomeini," Time.Com, at http://www.time.com/ time/time100/ leaders/ profile/ khomeini.html (Apr. 13, 1998). "Bull" simply uses any popular culture Muslim or Arab to mock and deride the character of Emanon, whose name spelled backwards is "No Name."

11 Bernard Lewis, "What Went Wrong," The Atlantic Monthly, at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/ prem/ 200201/lewis (Jan. 2002). Bernard Lewis, a non-Muslim, Jewish white historian preserved at Princeton, is the go-to expert on all things Middle Eastern, Muslim, or Islamic in America. The title of this article also served as a title for his similarly themed book, which takes an Orientalist, generalized view of "what went wrong with the Islamic empire."

12 The Telegraph, "Innocent Religion is Now a Message of Hate" (May 9, 2004) at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/05/wosse605.xml. "It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims."

13 Wikipedia, List of Terrorist Organizations at http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ List_of_terrorist_organisations. The old saying goes one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Moreover, Wikipedia is arguably not a neutral site. Regardless, many consider Stern Gang (Israeli Jews), IRA (Irish Catholics), and Tamil Tigers (Sri Lankans) as groups that "engage(d) in acts of terrorism thereby making the deadly activity universal and not solely limited to Muslims."

14 Sarah Downey, "Who Is Zacarias Moussaoui?" MSNBC.com, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ id/3067363/ (Dec. 14, 2001). The verbal jab connects Emanon to the recently convicted Al-Qaeda sympathizer/co-conspirator.

15 Three Strikes You're Out information at http://www.threestrikes.org/. This is the draconian California legislation that prefers life imprisonment after three felonies.

16 See source cited supra note 67.

17 CAIR, About Islam and Muslims Americans, Cair-net.org, at http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=aboutIslam. Currently, the data suggests there are about 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide making it the second largest religion in regards to number of adherents.

18 President Mumar al Khadafi of Libya.

19 Wikiquote, Bill O'Reilly, Wikiquote.org, at http://en.wikiquote.org/ wiki/ Bill_O'Reilly _ ( commentator)#On_Africa. (May 6, 2002). "I've been to Africa three times. All right? You can't bring Western reasoning into the culture. The same way you can't bring it into fundamental Islam."

20 See source cited supra note 68.

21 Mohamed Elmasry, "Islam Needs No Defense Against Manji's Book, But Perhaps Muslims Do," Diversity Watch.Com, at http://www.diversitywatch.ryerson.ca/media/cache/manji_cic_oct10.htm (October 10, 2003). The release of Manji's book was sensationalized in certain press media as a potential hailstorm of fatwas reminiscent of Rushdie's Satanic Verses controversy. Unfortunately for Manji, she did not benefit from a global fatwa condemning her book.

22 Islam online.net, "The World Shocked at Le Pen Win" (April 2002), at http://www.islam-online.net/ English/News/2002-04/22/article13.shtml. John Marie Le Pen, the outspoken, controversial and arguably racist extreme right wing President of France, once remarked, "Fortunately, there will never be Islamic unity. They're all different from one another and hostile to each other, thank God."

23 Ann Coulter, "Journalism: Where Even the Men are Women," TownHall.Com, at http://www.townhall.com/ opinion/columns/anncoulter/2003/01/02/168893.html (Jan. 2, 2003). Ann Coulter said on the Today show: "As for converting them (Muslims) to Christianity, I think it might be a good idea to get them on some sort of hobby other than slaughtering infidels. I mean, perhaps that's the Peace Corps, perhaps it's working for Planned Parenthood, but I've never seen the transforming effect of anything like Christianity."

24 Ann Coulter, "Live and Let Spy," TownHall.Com, at http://www.townhall.com/ opinion/ columns/ anncoulter/2005/12/21/180063.html (Dec. 21, 2005). Ann Coulter wrote in her column, "I have difficulty ginning up much interest in this story inasmuch as I think the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo."

25 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 542 U.S. 507 (2004).

26 Geoffrey R. Stone, "Why the NSA Surveillance Program Is Unlawful," HuffingtonPost.com, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/why-the-nsa-surveillance-_b_13522.html (Jan. 1, 2006). Fourteen constitutional scholars wrote a letter condemning the NSA surveillance program as being unconstitutional.

27 William Banks, "NSA Eavesdropping and the Fourth Amendment," Jurist: Legal News and Research, at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/03/nsa-eavesdropping-and-fourth-amendment.php (Mar. 8, 2006). An article describing the legal problems with the NSA eavesdropping specifically related to 4th amendment enumerated rights protecting a citizen's freedom from unreasonable search and seizures.

28 Sean Hannity Show. (ABC. 3 Jan. 2006). Sean Hannity defended Bush during his January 3, 2006 broadcast saying that Americans should be thankful that the president was doing his job and protecting the country. "What are we supposed to do if Osama bin Laden calls the United States?" he states, and says that the president is just upholding his oath of office by protecting the nation. He ends by asking, "If Osama calls America, should we listen in or worry about his civil liberties?"

29 The Wall Street Journal, Thank You for Wiretapping (December 20, 2005), at http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007703. However, The Wall Street Journal praised Bush's move and called on his critics to "please stop stripping the Presidency of its Constitutional authority to defend America."

30 U.S. Department of Justice, Legal Authorities Supporting the Activities of the National Security Agency Described by the President (Jan, 19, 2006) at http://www.bordc.org/resources/nsa2.pdf.

31 Barton Gellman, Dafna Linzer and Carol D. Leonnig, "Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects–NSA's Hunt for Terrorists Scrutinizes Thousands of Americans, but Most Are Later Cleared," The Washington Post, February 5, 2006, pp. A01. "Those who devised the surveillance plan, the official said, 'knew they could never meet that standard–that's why they didn't go through'" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court."

32 Bruce Fein on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU (Dec.19 2005), at http://www.wamu.org/ programs/dr/05/12/19.php. Fein, a former assistant attorney general deputy under Reagan, said, "On its face, if President Bush is totally unapologetic and says I continue to maintain that as a war-time President I can do anything I want–I don't need to consult any other branches–that is an impeachable offense. It's more dangerous than Clinton's lying under oath because it jeopardizes our democratic dispensation and civil liberties for the ages. It would set a precedent that ... would lie around like a loaded gun, able to be used indefinitely for any future occupant."

33 See source cited supra note 94. "Fewer than 10 U.S. citizens or residents a year, according to an authoritative account, have aroused enough suspicion during warrantless eavesdropping to justify interception of their (purely) domestic calls, as well. That step still requires a warrant from a federal judge, for which the government must supply evidence of probable cause."

34 Ann Coulter, "Newsweek Dissembled, Muslims Dismembered!" TownHall.Com, at http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/anncoulter/2005/05/18/15458.html (May 18, 2005). "Bumper sticker idea for liberals: News magazines don't kill people, Muslims do."

35 Salman Rushdie, "Islam and the Response to Terror," The New York Times, November 2, 2001. In an op-ed piece, Rushdie writes, "This paranoid Islam, which blames outsiders, 'infidels,' for all the ills of Muslim societies, and whose proposed remedy is the closing of those societies to the rival project of modernity, is presently the fastest growing version of Islam in the world."

36 Id. Rushdie writes, "For a vast number of 'believing' Muslim men, 'Islam' stands, in a jumbled, half-examined way, not only for the fear of God–the fear more than the love, one suspects–but also for a cluster of customs, opinions and prejudices that include their dietary practices; the sequestration or near-sequestration of 'their' women; the sermons delivered by their mullahs of choice; a loathing of modern society in general, riddled as it is with music, godlessness and sex; and a more particularized loathing (and fear) of the prospect that their own immediate surroundings could be taken over–'Westoxicated"–by the liberal Western-style way of life."

37 Id.

38 Irshad Manji, "My Faith is a Mess," Belief.Net, at http://beliefnet.com/story/139/story_13970_1.html. In an interview, Manji generalizes the 1,400ñyear history and civilization of 1.2 billion Muslims with the following words: "What I am pointing out is that only within Islam today is literalism the mainstream. The reason it is mainstream is that we Muslims, even in the West, are routinely raised to believe that because the Qur'an comes after the Torah and the Bible, it is the final and therefore perfect manifesto of God's will, not given to being interpreted or analyzed, never mind questioned. And this is dangerous because when–not if–abuse happens under the banner of our faith, most of us, including those of us who are 'well-educated professionals' have no clue how to debate, dissent, revise, or reform because we have not been introduced to the virtues of critical thinking."

39 Kimberly Winston, "Rumi: A Passionate Heart Still Beats," Beliefnet.com, at http://www.beliefnet.com/story/79/story_7968_1.html. "Jalalu'ddin Rumi, usually referred to by his last name alone, is on his way to becoming a household name. Publishers Weekly magazine called him the best-selling poet in America."

40 Hawa Irfan, Great Muslim Scholars: Abu 'Ali Al-Husayn Ibn 'Abdallah Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Islam-online.net, at http://www.islam-online.net/english/Science/2001/02/article11.shtml (Feb. 14, 2001).

41 1001 Inventions, The Father of Algebra (Dec. 21, 2005), at http://www.1001inventions.com/ index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewBlogEntry&intMTEntryID=2740.

42BBC, Ibn Khaldun–Anthropologist/Sociologist/Historian, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3152927.


43Irshad Manji, The Sunday Times Review, Times Online, at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ article/0,,2092-1696968_2,00.html. Manji says in the interview, "Muslims, adds Manji, must find positive role models rather than jihadists: 'Martyrs are the rock stars of the Muslim world, shown on the internet against a background of funky music. They feed on the self-esteem crisis of young Muslim.'"

44Id.