Celebrate diversity, you bigot! What could possibly go wrong?
Ilhan Omar is thrilled; on Friday, she retweeted a tweet celebrating the fact that the Islamic call to prayer, the adhan, has begun to be broadcast over loudspeakers in Minneapolis. According to the Associated Press, Minneapolis “became the first large city in the United States to allow the Islamic call to prayer, or adhan, to be broadcast publicly by its two dozen mosques.” AP added that “the transforming soundscape is testament to the large and increasingly visible Muslim community, which is greeting the change with both celebration and caution, lest it cause backlash.”
Yes, of course, we have to be worried about “backlash” from all those MAGA-hat-wearing bigots in Minneapolis, ready to go all Jussie Smollett on Muslims if they start praying too loudly, but back in the real world, everyone is happy about this, and full of self-congratulation for celebrating diversity so visibly and noisily. And it’s a shame to spoil the party, but when Minneapolis mosques now broadcast the Islamic call to prayer, do Minneapolis residents know exactly what is being proclaimed?
The adhan, prayed in Arabic, repeats “Allahu akbar” six times, “I testify that there is no god but Allah” three times, and “I testify that Muhammad is Allah’s prophet” twice. Dr. Gavin Ashenden, former chaplain to the British queen, who resigned his position in protest against a Qur’an reading in a Scottish church, observed that “the Muslim call to prayer is a dramatic piece of Islamic triumphalism. It proclaims Islam’s superiority over all other religions, and in so doing casts Jesus in the role of a charlatan and a liar. The Muslim god, Allah, is unknowable and has no son. Jesus was, therefore, a fraud in claiming He and the Father are one.”
Is Minneapolis really wise to broadcast repeatedly a declaration of the superiority of Islam, a faith that directs its adherents to make war against Christians and other non-Muslims and subjugate them as inferiors under the hegemony of believers (cf. Qur’an 9:29)? There are probably a few Christians left here and there in Minneapolis. In Egypt, mosques blare the Islamic call to prayer directly at churches during Christian prayers, in order to harass the Christians and proclaim the supremacy of Islam. Is any Christian in Minneapolis allowed to be concerned about this coming to his or her city, or would that simply be “Islamophobic”?
Is Minneapolis really wise to broadcast the cry “Allahu akbar,” beloved of jihad terrorists the world over? Chief 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta wrote this in his letter to himself before carrying out his jihad mission: “When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, ‘Allahu Akbar,’ because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers.” This is why the Fort Hood jihad killer, Nidal Malik Hasan, shouted it as he shot thirteen Americans in November 2009, and why so many other jihadis have used it essentially as an announcement that non-Muslims are about to die.
Yusuf Abdulle of the Islamic Association of North America said of the prayer over loudspeakers: “It’s a sign that we are here.” In light of the use of so many elements of the adhan by jihad terrorists, however, this kind of reassurance “that we are here” may not be as welcome as it is to the local Muslims among others who may hear it: victims of jihad violence and those who are aware of the aggressive and supremacist nature of the call to prayer.
Meanwhile, Mowlid Ali, the imam at the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in south Minneapolis, added: “We hope that through calling the adhan in public, it would actually bring more interest from the neighbors in knowing about the religion of Islam.”
More interest in the religion of Islam would be great, if it were met with honest answers. But in Minneapolis today, such answers would likely be condemned and dismissed as “Islamophobic.” Minneapolis officials are no doubt certain that Muslim communities in the city will be grateful for the permission to broadcast the adhan, and will redouble their efforts to become loyal, productive citizens, marching together with non-Muslims in Minnesota into the glorious multicultural future. That’s the way it will work out. Isn’t it? No Muslims, not a single one, will take seriously the adhan’s declarations of Islamic superiority and heed the Qur’an’s calls to wage war against unbelievers. Right? In multiculti Minneapolis today, the idea that someone might heed the call to jihad is inconceivable!
I remember in the 60’s some churches in the southern states had loudspeakers on top of their churches to broadcast to the neighborhood. One preacher when told by the local police he could not do that climb up on the church microphone in hand and pulled the ladder up and dared the police to come get him….. They didn’t and he finished his sermon. The neighbor residents set on their front porches and cheered him on. I bet no one will do that in Minneapolis.