As I always do, I must assert that Muslims won’t and should not have to relinquish any of our government protected and God given civil rights, our basic privacy, or right to practice our faith freely. I have been – as I believe Cruz may have been – unfairly maligned by a particularly malignant and dishonest crew of Islamist bullies who insist that I have advocated for Muslims to be stripped of our Constitutional rights. That is simply false and does nothing more than distract the American public from the very real reality of the cancer of Islamism within my community.
~~~ A key question to address in order to distinguish spying – which I do not support – from reasonable and legal community assessment is: what does “monitoring” mean? It means becoming intimately familiar with the communities and organizations where there may be problems; evaluating fully comments and ideas (ideologies) in the public sphere – including on social media. It means responding quickly and seriously to women who come forward with complaints related to potential honor-based abuses and looking more closely at the ideology of the segment of the community from whence these complaints are being made. It means taking seriously comments about mosques and their leadership that restrict women’s access and who ostracize racial, religious and sexual minorities; and who host speakers and imams who are anti-American and anti-Western. And yes, it would mean looking at their public materials like posters, books, films, and more available in markets, stores and kiosks to get a sense of their customer base and demand for certain materials.
For example, a friend of mine spotted “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” – a viciously anti-Semitic text – being sold by a Muslim bookseller in a major American city. Worse yet? We learned that there is demand for it. Does any Muslim I know support the ideas within that book? Absolutely not. Are there Muslims in this country who do? Yes. It is not Islamophobia to say that – it is simply honest.
The United States is not where Britain or Belgium is in terms of physical, literal Islamist enclaves. However, there are absolutely tyrants within our American Muslim community who intimidate and bully Muslims into silence and submission – creating psychological ghettos, stigmatizing and frightening reformists, and empowering radicals. Responsible, sane, and truly cooperative engagement between liberty-loving Muslims and law enforcement – with that respect and cooperation going both ways – is the only way to ensure that police get the information they need and that the many Muslims who love this country remain safe and know that they are valued in the fight against the radicals who target us as well.
In almost all of the Muslim world, where Sharia is observed law, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser would be accused of apostasy.
In some Muslim countries, like Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others, apostasy is punishable by death.
In most Muslim countries apostasy is punishable by beatings, re-education, imprisonment and a likely ”honor killing” done by whoever can.
Only in the USA can a Muslim call for (or even actively accept) monitoring by the infidels and show his face.
Even in the UK a Muslim man cannot say, “Happy Easter,” and live! http://www.360nobs.com/2016/03/muslim-man-stabbed-death-wished-christians-happy-easter-facebook/