Muslim Scholar: Obama 'Wrong' About 'Not Islamic' Islamic State

Posted 09/18/2014 05:49 PM ET

President Obama's notion that the Islamic State is "not Islamic" and that "no religion condones killing" doesn't square with the army of Muslims that the terror group is attracting. The CIA figures as many as 31,500 Muslims have joined IS.
It's hard to believe there's more than 30,000 serial killers in the world, including at least 2,000 in the West, and they're all suddenly flocking together in search of victims. In the entire U.S., there are at most 50 active serial murderers by FBI estimates.
Clearly, something else is motivating all these Muslims, yet Obama insists it's not their faith.
"He is wrong," said Islamic scholar Dr. Muhammad Zareef.
"They are true Muslims fighting in the cause of Allah," he added in an interview. "The Quran makes it very clear that a good and faithful Muslim has every reason to kill non-Muslims. ISIS and other groups like them take these verses into their hearts."
The forbidden truth is, the Islam that IS practices is firmly rooted in Islamic scripture and sanctioned by Islam's most influential scholars, says Zareef, who studied Islamic law for eight years after growing up in a devout Muslim home in the Mideast. Now living in the U.S., he became a reformer after 9/11.
"One of the things that disturbed me most was the Quran made it very clear the only assurance of going to heaven is if a Muslim kills an infidel (unbeliever) in jihad or dies in jihad," he said, citing Surahs 2:190-193; 5:33-34; 8:39-41; 9:20; 9:29; 9:111; 9:123; 22:58-59; and 47:1-4, among other verses.
"Muslims are instructed to use warfare to defend and promote Islam," explained Zareef, author of "Allah's Plan for Muslims." "All unbelievers are regarded as being at war with Allah and his religion; therefore, they deserve to die. Muslims have permission to kill all who don't believe in Allah."
Jihadists, he says, are following the example of the Muslim prophet set forth in Al-Bukhari book 52 of the Hadith, a sacred text supplementing the Quran. They "are trying to honor Prophet Muhammad's speech and the Quran verses by killing non-Muslims," he said. "And if I, as an ordinary Muslim, say anything against such violence, they will treat me the same way as they do non-Muslims."
Zareef says the Quran "encourages terrorism" against infidels, citing Surah 2:216, 243-244; 3:157-158; 4:74; 8:12; 9:5; and 47:4-6, while repeatedly directing jihadists to "smite at their necks."
"The killing of non-Muslims in the name of Allah and Islam is considered to be the duty of every good and faithful Muslim," he said. "It is an honorable thing to do, and rewards are promised to those who die or kill for Allah's sake."
Added Zareef: "Muslims have the right — as well as the religious responsibility — to kill non-Muslims in the name of Allah whenever and wherever they desire to do so. This is why Muslim leaders in the 21st century openly call Muslims to jihad against non-Muslims."
So why don't all Muslim men heed the call?
Many meet their obligation through charity and other means the Quran allows as substitute (8:74). Others, like Zareef, have no stomach for such violence. Still others are nonobservant.
"The ordinary Muslims you see or know, they are the nominal Muslims. They have no clue what the Quran says about non-Muslims," Zareef says. "These ordinary Muslims are wonderful people." But they are not considered good Muslims, he says.
To protect jihad from scrutiny, he says Muslim leaders create a facade of moderation, even misleading politicians and the media about Islamic scripture.
For instance, just hours before Obama told Americans the threat from the Islamic State was not Islamic, his security advisers were huddling with Muslim leaders at the National Press Club, where ex-Islamic Society of North America president Imam Mohamed Magid told reporters IS has no "foundation" in Islam.
"The Quran says whoever takes one life it as if he has taken the life of all of humanity," claimed Magid, who serves on Obama's Homeland Security Advisory Council.
This is a common trick, Zareef says. Magid omitted the middle part of verse 5:32 which states " ... unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land ... ." In these cases, taking a life is commanded. And the method is "execution" by beheading. The next verse, 5:33, says it's just "punishment of those who wage war against Allah."
Zareef's stunning analysis explains a lot, including why:
• The Muslim community is so reluctant to work with law enforcement to ferret out jihadists, and never organizes mass demonstrations against terrorism (though it routinely protests Israel).
• Hundreds of Muslims around the country have come out in support of arrested terror suspects, even holding rallies and fundraisers for them after they've been convicted.
• The parents of young jihadists fail to control their actions or disabuse them of their beliefs, even after learning of their trips to jihadi hotspots.
• American Muslim leaders never condemn jihad, only "terrorism" as they narrowly define it.
• Greater adherence to Islamic law correlates to a greater likelihood of violence, as the FBI has found in countless homegrown terror cases, from the Boston bombers to IS' American poster boy, Ahmad Abousamra.
• Over 80% of American mosques are radical, and feature pro-jihad preachers, speakers and literature;
• Almost every major Islamic charity in America was shut down after 9/11 for funding jihadist groups, and even now, banks are closing the accounts of hundreds of Muslims across the country for suspicious activity;
• Virtually every U.S. Muslim organization is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, which believes "jihad is our way and death for the glory of Allah is our greatest ambition."
Yet Obama is taking advice from these same organizations as he formulates a strategy against IS.
If our commander in chief's take on what is motivating the enemy is so wrong, how can he expect to defeat it?
• Sperry, formerly IBD Washington bureau chief, is author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington."