Bat Ye’or and Understanding Dhimmitude Meeting on 20 November 2013 A report by Kinana Nadir I feel I should not let too much more time pass before recording a memorable evening with this wonderfully engaging elderly woman who is an expert’s expert. Bat Ye’or is quoted by, and foundational to, many in the counter-jihad movement. Her books are ground breaking when it comes to seeing history through the eyes of persecuted minorities in Muslim majority countries. Once I heard of the meeting with Bat Ye’or I knew my calendar would be re-arranged so I could attend. Robert Spencer, Hugh Fitzgerald, Fjordman, Gates of Vienna, Jihad Watch, Faith Freedom, Wikiislam, Oriana Falllaci, Andrew Bostom, Serge Trifkovic, Geert Wilders, and many more people and organisations, stand on the research shoulders of this diminutive 59 year old woman refugee from Egypt. She has removed the veil that prevented us from seeing the 1400 scar of oppression and persecution of non-Muslim minorities, particularly Jews and Christians. The counter-jihad movement would be years behind where it is now were it not for her work. She has written many books, but if I had to boil her work down just one word it would be DHIMMITUDE*(see below). The meeting was organised by the Spiro Ark at the Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue in North London in order to launch her latest book, Understanding Dhimmitude. It is a compilation of 21 talks and lectures given over the last 20 years on all aspects of the dhimmi - the subjugated status of Jews and Christians under Muslim rule. Furiously I took many notes of what she said that night and share them with you below. The teachings of Islam are best reflected by the actions of Muslims (over time) who are motivated by these teachings. Throughout this history Bat Ye’or best illustrates what Islam is and how it operates by revealing the strictures and lives of non-Muslims in Muslim-controlled societies. ‘The teachings of the Quran and Sunna are graphically demonstrated through the lives of non-Muslims.’ Bat Ye’or shows us the future of Western Civilisation by showing us the past. (A title for one of the chapters in her book is ‘The Past is Prologue.’) ‘If you want a different future, fight this Islamic threat.’ ‘The Jewish people are in great danger. President Obama is a danger to the Jews. Dimitude is not just a proscription for Jewish people but of all non-Muslims. All the wars on the planet that involve Muslims are happening because of the call to jihad in order to impose dimitude. The imposition of the Sharia means dimitude for non-Muslims. Whole civilisations have disappeared because of dimitude. Steps are being taken now to impose dimitude. For example, the promotion of blasphemy laws.’ ‘Muslims who do not want Sharia law are also punished. The Bible teaches that humans are responsible. The image of God is in each person. Dimitude does not recognise these values. ‘We need to preserve Judeo-Christian values. The policy of the European Union wants to destroy Israel and also destroy Judeo-Christian values. By doing this they [the EU] will destroy Europe. The leaders of the EU are betraying the heritage of Europe. ‘[When she is front of a Christian audience she says:] You Christians must wake up! If you want to survive and help Israel, ‘you have to fight.’ The world is as it is and we have a mission to save humanity.’ ‘Good Muslims, who follow the Quran, cannot be moderate. But the Muslim heart can change so there is hope. ‘Even though we are so small and so weak we have made fantastic progress; each of us must do what we can do.’ ‘My fight is a fight of ideas – to reason. ‘Muslims want to reactivate the world-wide jihad. The OIC [Organization of the Islamic Conference] plans common Islamic policies and encourage the Islamisation of the whole world and of the coming Caliphate. And all the policies of the EU come from the OIC.’ ‘The Quran is uncreated and therefore we cannot criticise the religion because it is becomes a criticism of Allah. We must not demonise the Muslim all we need is only show what they say and do. Jews in history were considered similar to Muslims and therefore Christians often retaliated on to Jews. ‘We need to respond to accusations with facts. It is very difficult but life is not easy especially for Jews.’ ‘The tragedy of Anders Breivik was used as an excuse or pretext to silence people and movements who are anti-EU and anti-socialist… -- After the input from Bat Ye’or there were several questions take from the audience. She mentioned that she was shouted down during a session she had at SOAS [School of Oriental and African Studies], many years ago. She managed to say to a critical Muslim: ‘You are not arguing against me but your own history and teachers.’ One young woman asked her if she supported what Anders Breivik did since she [Bat Ye’or] spoke of the ‘need to fight.’ Patiently, Bat Ye’or said I fight with my ideas and books and then just pointed to her books laying on the table. The young woman again aggressively challenged Bat Ye’or to distance herself from the actions of Breivik. Well, to see a polite soft-spoken aging scholar being treated like this was too much for the audience who then took on the task of challenging the young woman. One friend of mine asked her: ‘Are you from SOAS?’ The young woman almost blushed. Amidst other questions and accusations to her, she got up angrily, and on her way out poked her finger into the face of another friend and called him a racist. So the meeting had a very small example of what Bat Ye’or has had to endure during most of her life as a scholar who does not just uncover a tragic and sorrowful past but who is willing to speak to the public about her findings. Sadly not everyone is willing to listen. * Dhimmitude: the Islamic system of governing populations conquered by jihad wars, encompassing all of the demographic, ethnic, and religious aspects of the political system. The word dhimmitude as a historical concept, was coined by Bat Yeor in 1983 to describe the legal and social conditions of Jews and Christians subjected to Islamic rule. The word dhimmitude comes from dhimmi, an Arabic word meaning protected. Dhimmi was the name applied by the Arab-Muslim conquerors to indigenous non-Muslim populations who surrendered by a treaty (dhimma) to Muslim domination. Islamic conquests expanded over vast territories in Africa, Europe and Asia, for over a millennium (638-1683). The Muslim empire incorporated numerous varied peoples which had their own religion, culture, language and civilization. For centuries, these indigenous, pre-Islamic peoples constituted the great majority of the population of the Islamic lands. Although these populations differed, they were ruled by the same type of laws, based on the sharia… dhimmitude.org/index.html 11 March 2014 4freedoms/group/theology/forum/topics/bat-ye-or-and-understanding-dhimmitude
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 23:43:23 +0000
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