“Caving to pressure from Muslim groups, the Pentagon has relaxed uniform rules to allow Islamic beards, turbans and hijabs. It’s a major win for political correctness and a big loss for military unit cohesion,” said a recent report.
This new relaxation of rules for Muslims comes at a time when the FBI is tracking more than 100 suspected jihadi-infiltrators of the U.S. military. Just last month, Craig Benedict Baxam, a former Army soldier and convert to Islam, was sentenced to seven years in prison due to his al-Qaeda/jihadi activities. Also last month, Mozaffar Khazaee, an Iranian-American working for the Defense Department, was arrested for sending secret documents to America’s enemy, Iran.
According to a Pentagon spokesperson, the new religious accommodations—to allow Islamic beards, turbans, and hijabs—which took effect very recently, would “reduce both the instances and perception of discrimination among those whose religious expressions are less familiar to the command.”
The report concludes that, “Making special accommodations for Islam will only attract more Muslims into the military at a time when two recent terror cases highlight the ongoing danger of Muslims in uniform.”
But it’s worse than that; for not only will it attract “more Muslims,” it will attract precisely the wrong kinds of Muslims, AKA, “Islamists,” “radicals,” etc.
This is easily demonstrated by connecting the dots and understanding that Muslims who adhere to visible, non-problematic aspects of Islam—growing beards and donning hijabs—often indicate their adherence to non-visible, problematic aspects of Islam.
Consider it this way: Why do some Muslim men wear the prescribed beard and why do some Muslim women wear the prescribed hijab? Most Muslims would say they do so because Islam’s prophet Muhammad commanded them to (whether via the Koran or Hadith).
Regarding the Muslim beard, Muhammad wanted his followers to look different from “infidels,” namely Christians and Jews, so he ordered his followers to “trim closely the moustache and grow the beard.” Accordingly, all Sunni schools of law maintain that it is forbidden—a “major sin”—for men to shave their beards (unless, of course, it is part of a stratagem against the infidel, in which case it is permissible).
The question begs itself: If such Muslims meticulously follow the minor, “outer” things of Islam simply because their prophet made some utterances concerning them in the Hadith, logically speaking, does that not indicate that they also follow, or at the very least accept as legitimate, the major, “inner” themes Muhammad constantly emphasized in both the Koran and Hadith—such as enmity for and deceit of the infidel, and, when capable, perpetual jihad?
Even in the Islamic world this connection between visible indicators of Islamic piety and jihadi tendencies are well known. Back in 2011, when Islamists were dominating Egypt’s politics, secularist talk show host Amr Adib of Cairo Today mocked the then calls for a “million man beard” march with his trademark sarcasm: “This is a great endeavor! After all, a man with a beard can never be a thug, can never rape a woman in the street, can never set a church on fire, can never fight and quarrel, can never steal, and can never be dishonest!”
His sarcasm was not missed on his Egyptian viewership which knew quite well that it is precisely those Muslims who most closely follow the minutia of Muhammad—for example, by growing a beard—that are most prone to violence, deceit, and anti-infidel sentiments, all of which were also advocated by Islam’s prophet.
Speaking more seriously, Adib had added that this issue is not about growing a beard, but rather, “once you grow your beard, you give proof of your commitment and fealty to everything in Islam.”
Similarly, after Egypt’s June 30 Revolution ousted the Muslim Brotherhood, “overt signs of piety [beards and hijabs] have become all it takes to attract suspicion from security forces at Cairo checkpoints and vigilantes looking to attack Islamists.” Clubs and restaurants banned entrance to those wearing precisely these two “overt signs of piety.”
While Egyptians instinctively understand how fealty to the Muslim beard evinces fealty, or at least acceptance, to all those other problematic things Muhammad commanded, even in fuzzy Western op-eds, the connection sometimes peeks out. Consider the following excerpt from a New York Times piece titled “Behold the Mighty Beard, a Badge of Piety and Religious Belonging”:
[A]ll over the Muslim world, the full beard has come to connote piety and spiritual fervor…. Of course, the beard is only a sign of righteousness. It is no guarantor, as Mr. Zulfiqar [a Muslim interviewee] reminds us: “I recall one gentleman who came back from a trip to Pakistan and remarked to me, ‘I learned one thing: the longer the beard, the bigger the crook.’ His anticipation was people with big beards would be really honest, but he kept meeting people lying to him.”
The italicized portion speaks for itself. Whereas the Muslim beard ostensibly represents religious piety, some people, mostly Westerners, are shocked to find that those who wear it are often “crooks” and “liars.”
In Islam, however, outer signs of religiosity on the one hand, and corruption and deceit on the other, are quite compatible. After all, the same source—Islam’s prophet Muhammad, as recorded in the Hadith—that tells Muslims to grow a beard also advocates deception, the plundering of infidels, the keeping of sex slaves, adult “breast feeding,” and all sorts of other practices antithetical to Western notions of piety if not decency.
Incidentally, it’s the same with the hijab, or cloak that some Muslim women wear, also on Muhammad’s command. One reformed Islamic jihadi from Egypt accurately observes that “the proliferation of the hijab is strongly correlated with increased terrorism…. Terrorism became much more frequent in such societies as Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, and the U.K. after the hijab became prevalent among Muslim women living in those communities.”
And so, at a time when the U.S. should at the very least be wary of those who openly wear their Islamic radicalism around their face and head—beards for males, hijabs for females—the U.S. Pentagon (of all places) is embracing them in “celebration of multiculturalism.” Where loyalty to the U.S. is most needed, the Pentagon embraces those who show that their loyalty is elsewhere (among other things, the beard and hijab are meant to separate “pure believers” from “impure infidels”).
Of course, none of this is surprising considering that the Pentagon also considers Evangelical Christians and Catholics as “extremists” on a par with al-Qaeda.
friendlykamustaka says
“His sarcasm was not missed on his Egyptian viewership which knew quite well that it is precisely those Muslims who most closely follow the minutia of Muhammad—for example, by growing a beard—that are most prone to violence, deceit, and anti-infidel sentiments, all of which were also advocated by Islam’s prophet.”
Yet “moderate” muslims, who know quite well that muslims who most closely follow the “deen” (lifestyle) of Muhammad (the Salafis) are the most prone to violence, quite happily say “peace be upon him” whenever Muhammad’s name is mentioned! So they continue to laud the very man who is at the root of all the problems in muslim countries! How ironic and self-defeating is that? Can anyone imagine Christians saying: “I wish all these Christians were less like Jesus…”. It’s laughable.
I am reminded of this video, in which the brilliant Sam Shamoun takes apart the poor muslim who is charged with trying to defend his religion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-K2jnyRUw
Shamoun rightly points out this hadith: “Muhammad’s contemporaries were the best Muslims; after three generations, the Muslims will be mainly treacherous and untrustworthy… (Sahih Bukhari, 5.57.2, 3)
“Muhammad’s contemporaries” were indeed the Salafis. And of course the Salafis are precisely “those muslims most likely to be violent”. It is the “moderate” muslims who are “treacherous”, according to Muhammad.One wonders how long these “moderate” muslims can continue to live in denial……
DogWithoutSlippers says
Never turn your back on a beard or hijab………NEVER!~
Donald J DaCosta says
So who is paying attention to this other than us “Islamophobes”? Can’t say for sure of course but I suspect this is motivated in part by what constitutes Obama’s intellectually elite, college educated administration’s “wisdom” concerning the cause of Muslim animosity towards Americans. Easy for them to understand cause they
hate us too. We’re too soft on infidels, excuse me, members of other faiths and do not show enough deference to Jihadists, excuse me, Muslims. Make nice and all will be well.
We’re in big trouble folks and are now paying the price of our quest for self gratification which includes ignoring all the daily gloom and doom “masquerading” as news. Who needs to pay attention to that crap when we have our government and our military to take care of all that s__t for us. O.K…..maybe for a few days every 2 or 4 years around election time, read a few editorials and political promotional pieces by those apolitical, always objective journalists, and that’s it! We’re up to speed, informed, and can vote with confidence. Right? We’ve done our patriotic duty as citizens of this great country. Back to baseball, basketball, football, golf, the
Olympics, MTV, Duck Dynasty, American Idol, SitComs, cop shows, etc.; the stuff that’s really important. And those we’ve elected? They’re on their own to do what they’re supposed to do; represent our best interests. No? Whatever possible motive could they have for running for office if not that? This is America for crying out loud!
I know them well; was one of them once.
Mujo67 says
While the point that those Muslims who most overtly and publicly advertise their faith are often the most dishonest is well-made and well-received, this same point can be made about so-called Christians. I’ve been snake-bitten often enough that when I see the Christian fish symbol or some other Christian image displayed on an business advertisement or company vehicle, my wariness of fraudulent business practices increases. I’m not saying that real Christians are dishonest, but many “look at my righteousness” Christians project a false and fraudulent devotion.
Dac says
Wasn’t it sikhs?
http://swampland.time.com/2014/02/17/critics-attack-wrong-target-for-pentagon-change/
Ken Lord says
Wait, so the Sikh people who applied for the rule change are Islamic now? Someone should let them know that you decided to change which God they worship. Seriously, don’t believe everything you read… it makes you look silly when you’re factually incorrect.