Robert Spencer: Muslim Spokesman Qasim Rashid Says It’s “Islamophobic” to Notice Fresno Shooter Screamed “Allahu Akbar”

Ahmadi spokesman Qasim Rashid has claimed that when a Muslim named Kori Ali Muhammad murdered three people in Fresno last week while screaming “Allahu akbar,” there was an uptick in “Islamophobia”: “The response to his acts erupted in anti-Muslim hate and bigotry on social media – only because he allegedly said ‘Allahu akbar’ to police….Far-right influencers are pushing the anti-Muslim narrative, and once again ‘Allahu akbar’ began trending on Twitter with a wave of Islamophobic messages.”

Horror of horrors! So now it’s “Islamophobic” to notice that a jihad killer screamed “Allahu akbar” after committing mass murder.

This is a new low for Qasim Rashid, who is a longtime professional liar, or as Pamela Geller calls him, “a one-man cottage industry of deception and hypocrisy.” He has whitewashed Muhammad’s support for torture and the reality of jihad violence and Sharia oppression; dissembled about the Qur’an’s sanction of deception of unbelievers; lied about the presence of violent passages in the Qur’an; lied about the Qur’an’s sanction of beating disobedient women; lied about the nature of Sharia; called for limitations on the freedom of speech and expression to outlaw behavior and speech some Muslims may find offensive; and lied about Muhammad’s stance toward the persecution of Christians. When challenged about the “facts” he has presented, he (like virtually all other Islamic supremacists) responds with furious ad hominem contempt, but never answers the refutations of his articles on substantive grounds — because, of course, he cannot do so.

There are so many lies in his exercise in moral equivalence and deception regarding the Fresno shooter, it is breathtaking. One wonders how such a serially dishonest man as Qasim Rashid can stand to look at himself in the mirror — but of course, Muhammad said, “War is deceit,” so Rashid is just following orders.

Rashid first sketches out the story of a man named Cedric Anderson, “a former Christian pastor” who murdered his estranged wife and a child and then killed himself. He was, Rashid says, “known for yelling out religious slogans. Shortly before the slayings, he publicly praised his god and guns on Facebook.” Rashid complains that “despite his history of violence and religious fanaticism, you probably didn’t know Anderson was a Christian or a criminal. In fact, you might have thought I was speaking of Kori Ali Muhammad (whose previous name was Cory Taylor) who has been accused of killing three people in California; this time in Fresno.”

Rashid’s exercise in moral equivalence here is exploded by the fact that there is no teaching of any Christian sect calling for killing one’s estranged wife and child. There are, however, numerous teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah, as I have detailed many times, calling for violence against non-Muslims.

Rashid goes on: “But police say that when Muhammad was arrested, he yelled ‘Allahu akbar,’ Arabic for ‘God is great.’” Yet as he well knows, “Allahu akbar” is not Arabic for “God is great.” It actually means “Allah is greater,” i.e., greater than your god or anything else. It’s a declaration of supremacy which, when uttered during an act of violence, is meant to denote that the wrath of the deity has come upon the victim.

There has already been deception upon deception in his piece, but Rashid is just getting warmed up. “Unlike Anderson,” he claims, “who reportedly was deeply religious, Muhammad reportedly did not attend any mosque, and none of the Fresno Islamic centers had heard of him.”

Rashid presents this as fact, when in reality it is just based on the claims of the Fresno Islamic centers. These claims cannot be taken at face value, since we have seen mosque leaders lie about knowing jihadis before. After a Muslim who supported the Islamic State shot a police officer in Philadelphia, the local mosque leaders initially denied knowing him, but then it turned out they were lying, and the jihadi attended the mosque frequently. The same thing happened after jihadis attacked our free speech event in Garland, Texas: the mosque they attended in Phoenix denied knowing them, but it turned out they were regular members.

Rashid also doesn’t tell you that the Fresno Islamic centers are likely not to have been involved anyway. Kori Ali Muhammad was obviously a member of the Nation of Islam, and so probably wouldn’t be frequenting Sunni mosques in Fresno.

“Fresno police,” Rashid claims, “say Muhammad was motivated by racism, not religion. Still, far-right influencers are pushing the anti-Muslim narrative, and once again ‘Allahu akbar’ began trending on Twitter with a wave of Islamophobic messages.”

He was motivated by racism and religion: the Nation of Islam is an amalgam of Islam and bizarre racist imaginings. But instead of acknowledging the elements of Islam that incite believers to violence, and can incite members of the Nation as well, Rashid characteristically dissembles, and charges that those who took note of Muhammad’s screams of “Allahu akbar” were motivated by “Islamophobia.”

Rashid complains that “Muhammad’s supposed faith is in the spotlight.” “Supposed faith”! As if non-Muslim killers routinely scream “Allahu akbar” while committing murder. Rashid is imagining this “spotlight” in order to claim victim status (yet again) for Muslims. In reality, the establishment media went out of its way, as always, to cover up Muhammad’s religion: AP actively covered for Islam by mistranslating his scream of “Allahu akbar” into English and not bothering to note that he screamed it in Arabic.

The real problem, Rashid says, is white Christian men: “Estimates suggest that white men and Christians make up the majority of mass shooters.”

What estimates? He doesn’t say, and for good reason: this claim is based on a discredited study. Back in June 2015, the New America Foundation published a study that garnered enthusiastic international publicity, as it purported to demonstrate that “right-wing extremists” and “white supremacists” were a larger threat to the U.S. than Islamic jihadis. The New America Foundation study was obviously skewed, as it was based on the number of those killed by jihadis and by right-wing extremists since September 12, 2001, leaving  out 9/11. The study also ignored the many, many foiled jihad plots, and the fact that jihadis are part of an international movement that has killed many thousands of people, while right-wingers and white supremacists are not. It stated that right-wing extremists had killed 48 people from September 12, 2001 to June 2015, while Islamic jihadists had killed only 26 people in the U.S. in that span. If 9/11 had been added, the tally would have been 3,032 killed by Islamic jihadists and 48 by purported right-wing extremists. Even by the New America Foundation’s rules, counting the Orlando jihad massacre, but leaving out 9/11 as the NAF study did, the death toll now stands at 76 killed by Islamic jihadis, and 48 by purported right-wing extremists (I repeat “purported” because to get to its count of 48, the NAF counted as “right-wing” attacks killings that were perpetrated by people who were obviously deranged psychopaths devoid of any ideology). Also, let’s remember: 30,000 jihad terror attacks worldwide since 9/11. How many by Christians acting in accord with Christian teachings?

Qasim Rashid is such a shameless and unapologetic liar that it is a sign of the moral and intellectual decay of the establishment media that they keep giving him a platform, without the slightest hesitation or smallest modicum of skepticism.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.