Category Archives: Feminism

Author Nonie Darwish on Gaza and on the “Terrifying Global Implications of Sharia Law.

Gazan-Egyptian, Nonie Darwish, well known as a “Muslim Shahid’s daughter,” (her father died in battle against the Israelis), is an amazingly brave woman who, unsurprisingly, writes amazingly brave books. Her first book, Now They Call me Infidel. Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror was first published in 2006. She is also the founder of the organization Arabs for Israel.

I am honored to have her as a friend and a colleague. Nonie is a warm and eloquent woman. She is neither shrill nor angry. She is strong and passionate, a maternal figure, really, but she more than holds her own when she speaks. Nonie grew up in Gaza when it was under Egyptian control, and then moved to Cairo. She now lives in southern California and is the married mother of three children who are 14, 25, and 27 years old. She was formerly a Muslim.

Nonie is just publishing her second amazing book. It’s title: Cruel and Usual Punishment. The Terrifying Global Implications of Sharia Law.

This book is a landmark event whose timeliness is beyond compare. No American can afford NOT to read this book. Sharia law, which governs every area of Muslim life, is now increasingly infiltrating the West. Europe may be lost, America is now under siege. With profound bravery, Darwish documents the history and nature of Sharia law which is invariably mis-represented and mis-understood, both by its followers and by “infidels.”

Darwish soberly and clearly explains that the Qur’an and other holy works are not always translated accurately into non-Arabic languages and that Muslims are trained, (by that very law), to deny their own “poisonous” cruelty and to punish anyone who exposes the truth.

Darwish explains that Islam is not exactly a religion in the same way that Judaism or Christianity are; it is, rather a political ideology which seeks world domination and total control over the private lives of each individual. Darwish herself is an escapee from its “prison.” She therefore dares to imagine a “2084? in which America has become a totalitarian Islamic nation which subordinates and persecutes Christians and other religious minorities. Darwish offers practical, specific suggestions that Americans must implement in order to defeat this dreadful possibility before it is too late.

In addition, this is a very important book on the subject of women and Sharia law. Darwish explores the internalization of sexism by Muslim women and explains why Muslim women in the free West are so aggressive on behalf of a reactionary status quo; why they insist on veiling as a personal form of virtuous jihad; and what it means when they remain so cold-hearted and disconnected from the female victims of Sharia law who are being stoned, flogged, impoverished, separated from their children, etc.

I recently interviewed Nonie Darwish. However, I want to pre-empt that longer interview and share her response to my question about Gaza, her hometown. She views the Gaza conflict as completely and utterly “rooted in Sharia.” I have slightly edited her long answer, below.

Phyllis Chesler: What compelled you to write this important book?

Nonie Darwish: I wrote this book for several reasons. Every time I delved into the ills and challenges of Muslim society I discovered that there is an Islamic Law, inspired by scriptures, that stood in the way of any reform or change. Change itself is forbidden by Islamic Law. I also wrote this book to warn the West about what Sharia really is and how devastating it will be for human rights, relationships, and Western democracy. We have recently seen Muslim groups demand the practice of Islamic law (Sharia) in the West and with the blessing and support of some Western intellectuals and journalists.

By writing this book, I have no desire to offend the good and peace loving Muslims, but the truth must be told. Unfortunately the majority of Muslims do not know what is in their scriptures or their divine Laws that have a huge destructive impact on their society.

PC: What do you hope to accomplish?

ND: My hope is for the West to understand the threat that Islamic Sharia law poses to their democracy, their concept of equality under the law and their human rights values. The West should never allow Sharia to be practiced in Western democracies. I am also hopeful that my book will inspire Muslims to take an honest look at their oppressive religious laws and reform.

PC: Talk to me about Gaza, your hometown. What, in your opinion, is really going on there?

ND: The world needs to understand the roots of the eternal conflict, which is the Sharia law commandment to kill all Jews. Peace can only happen if such roots are exposed and understood.

For decades, Arabs had demanded that Israel end the occupation, and in 2005, Israel did so, disengaging unilaterally from Gaza. With their demands met, there was no ‘cycle of violence’ to respond to, no further justification for anything other than peace and prosperity. With its central location and beautiful beaches on the East Mediterranean, a peaceful and prosperous Gaza could become another Hong Kong; a shining trade and commerce center. But instead of choosing peace they chose Islamic jihad. Arabs of Ghaza rolled their rocket launchers to the border and started bombing Israeli civilians.

The reasons for choosing violence over peace is due to Sharia. Mainstream Sharia books define Jihad as: “to war against non-Muslims to establish the religion.” (Shafi’i Sharia 09.0). Jihad is not just the duty of the individual Muslim, it is also the main duty of the Muslim head of State (the Calipha): “A Muslim calipha is entrusted to take his people into war and command offensive and aggressive Jihad. He must organize Jihad against any non-Muslim government.

Zia-Ul-Haq, former President of Pakistan, said “jihad in terms of warfare is a collective responsibility of the Muslim Ummah.”

Some people seem to think that such laws are just historical relics, on the books, but not in practice or in control of the minds of Muslims. But that is the kind of denial we cannot afford; these laws rule the hearts, minds and actions of a majority of Muslim individuals and States around the world today. These scriptures are taught, preached and promoted as the incontrovertible and eternal word of God and funded by Saudi petrodollars throughout the world, including Western nations such as the U.K. and the United States.

How can a Muslim leader or individual avoid the hundreds of Quran and Hadith commandments to Muslims to kill Jews and Christians? How can a Muslim leader face his devout Muslim subjects with a decision of friendship and peace with Jews when the mosques all over the Middle East recite Mohammed’s commandment to Muslims: “The Hour [Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews, and kill them. And the Jews will hide behind the rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, this is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!” (Sahih Muslim 41:6985, also Sahih Bukhari 4:52:177).

This Hadith, issued by Mohammad was issued in the 7th century, not after the 1948 creation of the State of Israel. It is not a response to modern-day grievances; it is a permanent commandment.

This is the real basis of the Arab/Israeli conflict: not a conflict over land or occupation, but a divine Muslim obligation to destroy neighboring (non-Muslim) Israel, where Jews are no longer dhimmis but are free to rule themselves. We cannot ignore the root of the problem in Muslim scriptures. That is the true force behind the hate and propaganda Jihadist machine against Jews in the Muslim world.

Some Muslims tell me that they don’t believe in Sharia and question why am I making a big deal about it. My answer is that Sharia is the law of the land in 54 Muslim countries and many Muslim groups are demanding Sharia in the West. In 1990, 45 Muslim countries signed the Cairo Human Rights Declaration which stated that Sharia has supremacy over the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Muslim world must look within to its sacred laws, scriptures, sermons, teaching and preaching, and reform the obstacles for peace that have condemned them to a permanent state of jihad. The non-Muslim world must have no illusions.

Thank you, Nonie. Stay tuned for Part Two of my conversation with this most admirable dissident.