Dealing With The Jihad In Nashville

The Cartoon Jihad Hits Nashville, the home of the Grand Ole' Opry,:


The Muslim cartoon riots abroad have been nothing if not clarifying for the average American. The sheer anodyne innocuousness of the images juxtaposed against a backdrop of 45 deaths, countless injuries and massive property damage coupled with the intense political pressure being felt by the western world to yield to Muslim blasphemy considerations is revealing to the American people just how wide the gap really is between Islam and the West. Many are quietly concluding that the chasm cannot be bridged, despite all our hopes.

In one typical American city, Nashville, Tennessee, all the local newspapers, including the formerly illustrious Tennessean, made the decision not to print the cartoons, though they ran numerous editorials on the issue. In response, the local chapter of the blue scarf society went to numerous media outlets, taping a copy of the “Treaty of Umar, 2006” to their doors. This was meant as a spoof on the fear, political correctness and indecision that seem to be paralyzing the American media and American policy makers on the issue of Islam.

Monday night a forum was held at Vanderbilt University to discuss the controversy. Present on the panel were John Seigenthaler of the First Amendment Center and former editor and publisher of the Tennessean and former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors; Professor Tom McCoy from Vanderbilt Law School; Dr. Awadh Binhazim, adjunct professor of Islam at Vanderbilt Divinity School; and Bruce Barry, board president of the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU and a Vanderbilt professor of management and sociology. It was moderated by Gay Welch, Chaplain of the Vanderbilt Divinity School.

There were approximately 75 people in attendance and in addition to the local blue scarf chapter there were others wearing blue scarves. Another thing I noticed, all the people from the community who came out to show concern about this issue were older people. I wonder if they may be the only class of citizens with enough leisure time to read books and gather information for themselves. They all seemed to be well informed. There were also a few Muslim students (I could tell by the headscarves and abayas on the girls) and a smattering of non-Muslim students. One pretty Asian girl pleaded sweetly at the end, “We just need to talk more and kill less and find common ground of understanding.” Ah, to be young again.

Dr. Awadh Binhazim is an associate professor of pathology at Meharry Medical College who specializes in animal models of human diseases. He has special training in retro-viruses and toxicological pathology, although, by the looks of his curriculum vitae, he hasn’t published a scientific paper for the last 5 years. Born in Kenya, he comes to Nashville with a veterinary degree from King Faisal University and an M.S. from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He acquired his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in comparative pathology in 1992.
Dr. Binhazim is also on the board of the Islamic Center of Nashville. The Imam of the Islamic Center of Nashville is Abdulhakim ali Mohamed, upon whose appointment, Binhazin gushed, “We are blessed to have someone of his caliber.” Ali Mohamed has a bachelor’s degree in Sharia (Islamic law) from the Islamic University of Medina and, before coming to Nashville in 1998, he was Imam at the notorious al-Qaeda connected al-Farouq Masjid mosque in Brooklyn. Yes, Nashville is blessed indeed.

Bruce Barry of the ACLU was the first to speak and surprised us all by expressing his absolute dismay that his favorite online magazine, Slate (what else?), had declined to run the cartoons. He laughed at the fact that the editors chose instead to link to a right wing publication for readers to view the cartoons and seemed genuinely puzzled that they took this approach. He read a letter from Muslim leaders in Denmark who were seeking to have the cartoons suppressed and the publishers prosecuted under Danish hate speech law shortly after the cartoons were first published. Then Barry explained that the Danish prosecutor concluded last October that no crime had been committed. He quoted Hirsi Ali in which she expressed the opinion that in Denmark, before the violence began abroad, the cartoon controversy had actually been aiding integration of Danish Muslims, moving integration forward by “300 years.”

... a young man by the name of Eddie Applebaum spoke up. He said he understood why the riots were occurring and was not surprised by it in the least because he had read the hadiths by Bukari and Muslim. Furthermore, he had read many, many statements by Islamic clerics the world over and they all say the same thing: that the Islamic prescription for criticism is death. He then went on to explain how Muhammad had two poets killed, “one male and one female, for making fun of him in their poetry.” Then Mr. Applebaum asked, “Isn’t that true, Mr. Binhazim?”

Binhazim tried to duck the question by trotting out the “poorest of the poor” again, but Applebaum wasn’t about to let him off the hook. “Answer my question, Dr. B., doesn’t your book teach killing the apostate?"

By this point, the audience was captivated; all were breathlessly awaiting the answer, when Mr. Seigenthaler attempted to thwart the uncomfortable silence. "Now, I don't think we need to---ahem, barraba-raba, hack, hack---"

Applebaum: "C'mon, John, let him answer the question! I'm just asking him what his own book says. Dr. B, would you please answer the question."

Binhazim’s attitude of mock boredom changed abruptly as he pushed he himself back in his chair and shouted each word: “Do you read Arabic?!”

Applebaum replied just as forcefully, “No, I don’t.”

Binhazim pressed forward on the attack, “Then everything you have read is utterly worthless! The Koran is written in Arabic.” Then, strangely and I couldn’t help thinking opportunely, applause broke out among the Muslim students as the rest of the infidel panel sat looking at each other obviously puzzled and at a loss for words.

Seigenthaler then addressed Applebaum directly, “Do you think Islam is a violent religion?"
“Yes, I do.”

“Well, I don’t believe that for a minute. I don’t believe Islam is a violent religion at all,” Seigenthaler said as he laughed and nervously patted Binhazim on the shoulder as if to say, I wouldn’t want you to think that I would think ill of you just because you’re Muslim. A civilized response to be sure, and I am also quite certain Mr. Seigenthaler had no clue who Binhazim was or what Binhazim believes about him as an infidel.

“Catholic’s honor, John, I’m telling you the truth,” pleaded Applebaum, and by this time gray heads were nodding in agreement all around the room.

Sensing the moment, the Muslims present were beginning to stand up, preparing to leave, when Gay Welch, in a slightly desperate attempt to regain control of the forum sputtered, “I don’t see what this has to do with the topic at hand…”


Hooray for Eddie Applebaum.

Go read the whole thing.