Imam Rauf's gradualist Islam

Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Sufi Muslim imam of the Masjid al-Farah mosque in lower Manhattan and the founder of the Cordoba Initiative, the organization that is behind the proposed mosque to be built near the site of the former World Trade Center, is being praised by many liberals, including author Karen Armstrong. In her introduction to Rauf's book, "What's Right with Islam is What's Right with America," Armstrong wrote "In Imam Rauf, we have a Muslim who can speak to Western people in a way they can understand." Fareed Zakaria, the editor at large of Time ,agazine, recently fawned over Rauf for promoting "the need for Muslims to live peacefully with all other religions." Are these liberal intellectuals right about Rauf, and what is Sufism?

Such praise for Rauf should be viewed in the context of a centuries-old fascination on the part of Western liberals with Sufism, which is a mystical and esoteric discipline of Islam that has influenced both Jewish mysticism and the New Age occult movement. Sufism involves a cosmic spiritual process that resonates with many liberals, having contributed to the counterculture of the 1960s. It has been assumed that Sufism is separate from normative Islam, which is approximately 90 percent Sunni with the rest mostly Shiite, and that Sufism represents a peaceful alternative to the violent world-conquering doctrines of Islam such as jihad. But does it?

Sufism should not be viewed as separate entity from Islam as Sufism essentially describes various spiritual practices that exist in both Sunni and Shiite Islam. Sufism has served as a mystical discipline within Islam in a manner similar to the role that Kabala has played within Judaism. Sufism, in fact, adheres to an absolute and literal interpretation of the Quran and Hadith, the holy books of Islam, with a particular emphasis on Shariah law. This means that when Sufis speak of their toleration of other religions, this toleration would occur only when members of religions other than Islam have accepted dhimmi status, which is to say that they have accepted second-class citizenship and, as such, have submitted to Islamic rule. The Sufis have historically provided Islam with many influential scholars over many centuries with a particular emphasis on the study of Shariah law; this includes a long line of pre-eminent Sufi Shariah law judges. Sufism played a major historic role in the culture and in the expansion of the Caliphate that was the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

To truly understand radical Islam, read Chuck Morse's "The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism: Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin Al-Hussein"

Sufism is to Islam what Fabian Socialism was to Bolshevik Communism. The Sufis believe that the Dar el-Islam, what they call the world once it has submitted to Islam, should be brought about through peaceful and gradual means as opposed to the fundamentalist Islamic approach, which is through war, or what Islam calls jihad. The Bolsheviks called this method of world conquest "revolution." The Fabians, holding the same goal as the Bolsheviks, sought to implement world socialism by means of gradually changing the laws of free nations and the governing philosophy of their societies in a manner that is similar to the Sufi approach with regard to the gradual implementation of Shariah law in the Dar es Harb, or the portion of the planet that has not yet submitted to Islamic rule. The portion of the world that has not yet submitted to Islam would still include the good old U.S. of A.

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Feisal Abdul Rauf represents the Sufi gradualist approach to world conquest with America as the prime target. WorldNetDaily quotes Rauf's book, "What's Right with Islam is What's Right with America," where he calls for "a subsidiary entity within the judiciary" that would adjudicate in America on matters of compliance with Shariah law. Rauf explains that such an entity would "provide the United States with a moral rudder and guidance to ensure that its policies are in keeping with religious ethical values." He goes on to write that "Muslims have to uphold the Law, to make the Law dwell among us" and that Muslims are commanded to "shape history." He writes that Muslims must "redeem history, to integrate temporal righteousness in the world. … To Muslims, this is what is meant by building the kingdom of heaven on earth, and this is their aspiration for America."

Chuck Morse is the author of "The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism: Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin Al-Hussein."