Essay Fourteen
Local Honor Brigades
In a nearby town is a tight knit community of Muslims, mostly from Thailand, Pakistan, and India, among others. Several years ago, a person who lived there asked me for help in moving her out of that area. In the process, I asked her why she was moving. She said it was to get away from the young toughs who were accosting women caught outside and not wearing a head covering. She described pushing and shoving, loud name calling, and more. These bands of young Muslim men and boys did this on a regular basis, and she was scared to death they would attack her, even though she was not a Muslim. A neighbor told her that she could be picked on, since they did not want non-Muslims in their community anyway.
What is this all about?
This sort of grouping of mostly young males is not officially sanctioned but is very real none-the-less. They can be found in every community where Muslims are the majority. Those who engage in these “brigades” are either real believers, convinced it is their duty to enforce Sharia law, or they follow along out of fear of being the object of the brigades themselves; they must show loyalty.
Based on my personal experience, I have found that a percentage of those born and raised Muslim do not believe in Allah at all. They are virtual atheists. They perform religious duties and rituals to be accepted by their Muslim families, friends, and communities. They would escape Islam if they could. But, so very often, they cannot.
How do I know this is so? By speaking with them in places away from the mosque. It is a sad thing, and I am surprised when they are interested in hearing about Jesus. Yet, to let this be known would certainly bring unwanted attention and concern from members of the brigade. It is not an easy thing to be a Muslim.
Being a Muslim is a full-time job. If one were to faithfully follow all the commands and prohibitions of that faith, there would be little time for anything else. The early Muslims did not live as most on the planet today have to live in order just to survive. With the necessity of earning a living, with families to look after, dwellings to keep up, and so on, there is not enough time and space to do all that is required to remain a virtuous Muslim. Therefore, many Muslims look to local, state, and national assistance.
Attending the local Sunni Mosque over the years, I observed week after week, that at least half of the congregation rushes in to be part of the service, if even for a minute or less. And their presence must be seen by either fellow Muslims, the imam, or even Allah. Those to impress are the local honor brigade plus the good angel who is sitting on the right shoulder taking notes and the jinn (demon) sitting on the left shoulder, who is also taking notes.
National Honor Brigades
Local honor brigades are hardly known to most people outside Muslim-dominated communities. This is not so in some countries, like England, where ninety-plus communities are blatantly only for Muslims, and in which Sharia law dominates. Local law enforcement agencies from the surrounding areas in England do not engage within the boundaries of those ghettos.
Operating largely under the radar in America are the large national organizations that function as honor brigades. These are collections of academics, activists, bloggers, and others, whose mission it is to protect and defend the honor of “true Islam.” One of the familiar themes of such organizations is that Muslim violent extremists or terrorists do not represent Islam, and any person or organization that declares otherwise is guilty of “Islamophobia,” which is the fear of Muslims.
Today the face of the honor brigade is seen in American academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and the media in general, who present a kind of soft propaganda aimed at silencing any criticism of Islam. Part of the mission of these groups is to discredit anyone who speaks or writes about Muslim extremism, intimating with the accusation of them having an irrational fear of Islam. Some of these Islamic groups are: The Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR, Muslim Advocates, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the Islamic Council of North America. These organizations use the words “racists,” “bigots,” “Islamaphobes,” and other derogatory terms to describe those, like myself, who dare to present extremist Islam as it really is. And there is no question, despite the misrepresentations, that for these groups, their sole objective is to bring the entire world under subjection to Islamic Sharia law, meaning that all non-Muslims must either convert to Islam, be subservient to Muslims, or be killed.
These organizations are often funded by large and wealthy Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran. Yes, here Sunni and Shia branches of Islam will cooperate.
There is a Muslim Reform Movement whose mission is not to make excuses for Muslim terrorist activities, but to uphold an “Islam of grace.” And there are some within this movement who want to have Islam seen as a religious faith along with others like Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. However, this approach will not pacify or appease many Muslims, as they realize that at the core of Islam is the requirement that it must dominate and control and purge the world of opposing religions. This is seen in the sayings of the Muhammad of Medina, not the Muhammad of Mecca, who changed from being cooperative to being otherwise.
Islam and Islam only is the watchword of the honor brigades.