Bartholomew's Notes

From the Washington Times (via Ed Brayton):

Islamists say the Koran is destined to rule America. In fact, the Muslim takeover of the White House is not just an unfolding action plan but a directive from Muhammad himself.

In an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” British radical Muslim activist Anjem Choudary made clear what he and his Islamist brothers have planned for the West. “We do believe, as Muslims, the East and the West will one day be governed by the Shariah,” he said. “Indeed, we believe that one day, the flag of Islam will fly over the White House.” He then quoted a hadith, or saying of Muhammad, as related by 10th-century Muslim scholar Al-Tabarani, that “the final hour will not come until Muslims conquer the White House.” Another version of the saying goes, “A small portion of Muslims will rise and conquer the White House.”

Many Americans believe this conquest is well underway, if not already secretly completed. President Obama was concerned enough about perceptions of his faith to address the question at one of his recent “backyard discussions” in New Mexico. Mr. Obama said he is “a Christian by choice,” which may or may not assuage the concerns of those who believe he is a Muslim by birth…

OK, Choudary first. His source is apparently the Kitab al-Imara, or Book of Government. Here, we read:

It has been narrated on the authority of Amir b. Sa’d b. Abu Waqqas who said: I wrote (a letter) to Jabir b. Samura and sent it to him through my servant Nafi’, asking him to inform me of something he had heard from the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He wrote to me (in reply): I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say on Friday evening, the day on which al-Aslami was stoned to death (for committing adultery): The Islamic religion will continue until the Hour has been established, or you have been ruled over by twelve Caliphs, all of them being from the Quraish. also heard him say: A small force of the Muslims will capture the white palace, the palace* of the Persian Emperor or his descendants…

(*Presumably due to a dodgy scan, some websites have “police of the Persian Emperor” rather than “palace”)

Choudary’s interpretation of this text is absurdly ahistorical, although he learnt it from his mentor Omar Bakri: Jon Ronson’s book Them (page xiii) notes that Bakri posted “The final hour will not come until Muslims conquer the White House” on his website on 13 September 2001. Despite some on-line speculation, the idea that the Hadith predicts the existence and fate of the US White House does not seem to be widely held or to be a motivating factor in modern Islam. Tellingly, a search on Google Books for “Tabarani” and “White House” or for the two quotes brings up only two relevant citations, both from evangelical Christian books about Islam.

And as for the Times, this is not the first time that the paper has raised the question of whether Obama is secretly selling out the US to Islam. So, let’s remind ourselves once again who founded the paper and whose son (who, by the way, purports to be friendly to Muslims) still controls it…

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