They are all Fascists and Nazis

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On the fifth anniversary of 9/11/01, President Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office of the White House. I listened carefully to his speech, and appreciated his firmness and resolve to pursue the war on terrorism. I did not hear him once utter the word “c.” He had used that expression not long ago in one of his speeches; but was criticized for that by some Muslim organizations in the USA. It was also rumored that the State Department objected to any such labels that would link radical Islamic organizations to either Fascism or Nazism. On Tuesday evening, 12 September, Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, appeared on television and was extremely critical of anyone who uses the term “Islamo-fascism,” claiming that it is counter-productive, and extremely offensive to all Muslims.

While the use of “Islamo-fascism” is being frowned upon here in America, I was intrigued to notice on 9 September 2006, an article in a Kuwaiti online journal (devoted to dialogue and the modernization of Islam,) with this Arabic title: “Fashiyyoon, bal wa Naziyyoon Aydan.” The nearest English translation to these words would be: “They are all Fascists and Nazis.” The following is a translation of the entire article.

“They are wrong, those who believe the American President doesn’t watch his words when he makes official statements. For example, in the aftermath of the ‘Raid on Manhattan,’ (as Islamic terrorists are prone to call their attacks on 9/11/01,) President Bush wasn’t wrong at all when he launched the ‘crusade’ against terrorism. For what we witness nowadays is a real crusade, a response to the Islamic ‘ghazu’ i.e. ‘raid’ on the ‘lands of the Infidels.’

“So recently, when President Bush used the expression, ‘Islamo-fascists,’ he was not wrong in his description of the Irhabi gang that goes on shedding the blood of others, justifying their crimes on Ibn Taymiyya’s* exposition of certain religious texts. He, as well as other fuqaha, legitimized the shedding of the blood of ‘Infidels’ and of those Muslims who disagree with them. Thus, we don’t exaggerate at all when we describe those who applauded Zarqawi’s actions as Fascists and Nazis. In fact, this label should be applied to all those who issue fatwas that welcome and approve terrorist acts.

“Both Hitler and Mussolini are regarded as the best specimens for Nazim and Fascism; since both had embraced the ideology of radical nationalism. This is the very ideology that was advocated by the Palestinian leader al-Husseini** at the very outset of the Arab-Israeli struggle. We should never forget that Nazism did have a strong impact on the Arab East during the first half of the past century. This is evidenced by the fact that Arab leaders have never condemned the National Socialist regime for its massacres of the Jews and non-Arian peoples.

“Who is a Fascist or a Nazi? It is that person who believes in the supremacy of his ideology or his race, over other peoples and beliefs. A Fascist or a Nazi is a person who rejects democracy and the equality of human beings; and is convinced that his own thinking is the absolute and unique truth. He is the one who refuses, for example, to marry someone from among the “Others,” lest his progeny become polluted by mixing with other races. A Fascist or a Nazi is the one who refuses to live at peace with other people, and calls for their murder. He is that person who is afraid of intellectuals, and threatens them with death.

“What’s the difference between Hitler, who presided over the public burning of books, and those religious groups who forbid the display of books written by liberal intellectuals? The difference is in degree, but not in substance. Our definition of Fascists and Nazis applies to any person who supports the ideology of Ben Laden and Zawahiri. Fascism and Nazism may be observed in the wanton murder of Muslims in Iraq, in the planting of explosives in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Britain, Madrid; and who keep on planning the murder of more innocent people, whether they happen to be Muslims, Jews, Hindus, or others.

“What do we call a person who would like to exterminate all Bahais in Egypt? Isn’t he a Fascist? And how are we to describe those who forbid others from proclaiming their faith, or keep them from worshipping in peace, aren’t they also Fascists? And what are we to consider those who keep on threatening the intellectuals with death; shouldn’t we classify them as Fascists? And what about those who claim that all the terrorist acts committed by Muslims in Europe, were actually planned and executed by Zionists, or the Mossad?

“It is too bad that most of those who commit terrorist acts all over the world happen to be Muslims. They have given Islam a bad name; and they justify their barbaric acts by basing them on the teachings of the ‘Sword Texts’ of the Qur’an. And after perpetrating their horrific acts, why should anyone blame the American President for calling them ‘Islamo-fascists?’ Now, is it not amazing how many Muslims, who enjoy freedom and honor in the lands of the ‘Infidels,’ (as they apt to call their host countries,) still go on heaping abuses on them?

“Really now, one doesn’t have to be that intelligent when reflecting on the Irhabi phenomenon within the Muslim world, in order to label it as “Islamo-fascism.” All you have to do is read Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ and compare it with the writings of the Islamists, to realize the similarities between their ideology and that of Hitler’s National Socialism.

“Some Arabs talk about Israeli Fascism, but purposely ignore the Sudanese regime of Turabi, and its terrorism which is still going on in Darfur. They also want us to forget Saddam’s Nazism and his terrible crimes in Iraq and Kuwait. There are those Arab ‘intellectuals’ who have never mentioned the Nazism of Zarqawi, or the role of the Egyptian Fascist organizations that forced Professor Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid to flee his country. They have remained silent about the brutal assassination Dr. Farag Fodda. May we still persist in denying the existence of Fascism and Nazism in the Arab world?”

*Ibn Taymiya (1263-1328), lived during the Mongol invasions of the Middle East. He was a disciple of Ibn Hanbal (780-855,) the founder of the strictest school of Sunni jurisprudence. The Wahhabis of Arabia trace their spiritual ‘ancestry’ to these two radical scholars.

** Haj Amin al-Husseini (1893-1974), was the son of the Mufti of Jerusalem, and member of a very prominent Palestinian family. He took his religious studies at al-Azhar University in Cairo. During the British Mandate in Palestine, he assumed the position of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem; and led the Arab opposition to the Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1937, Amin Husseini moved to Germany, and during WWII, he recruited Muslims from occupied Yugoslavia, to fight alongside the Nazi armies in Europe. According to documents from the Nuremberg Trials, Husseini was involved in the systematic extermination of the European Jews. After the war, he moved to Egypt, where he was celebrated as a great Arab hero. Having been involved in the assassination of King Abdullah of Jordan, Haj Amin al-Husseini was never allowed to set foot in Jerusalem by King Hussein.


Editor's note: Following Truth Seeker's comments below the author has asked the following to be added as a post script for the record.

"I would like to thank Truth Seeker for alerting me to what he called 'mistranslations' and 'abbreviations' in my article. I admit that I should have used 'these are excerpts from the original article that appeared on www.kwtaneer.com

"The original Arabic text being short, I departed from my usual custom of providing first, excerpts from the article, then adding my "analysis" and "comments."
I recognize now, that it was not a good idea to have departed from my method.

"I have been in the work translating Arabic texts into English for more than half a century, and unless I am dealing with an official document or a sacred text, my translations follow what is known as giving the reader a "dynamic equivalence" of the original text. To provide a literal translation does not result in successful communication, since the worldview of the original Arabic text is very different from that of the English-speaking worldview.

"In this particular article, I left out sentences or phrases, as they were either ambiguous, or too wordy. Other times, there were allusions to names, familiar though to Arabic-speaking people, would not have conveyed anything to English-speaking persons. This is why I added two footnotes regarding Ibn Taymiyya and Husseini.

"Finally, none of my abbreviations or omissions, affected the thesis or the purpose of the author of the Arabic article, which was a defense of Mr. Bush's use of "Islamo-fascism", and his indictment of those who ignore the home-grown "Fascists' and "Nazis." While I often do refer to the URL of an Arabic article, I do not always do that since I presume that the majority of the readers are unable to read Arabic."