The American Muslim (TAM)

Chuck Norris, a Sharia White Belt

Sheila Musaji
Posted Apr 28, 2011 •Permalink • Printer-Friendly Version

Chuck Norris, a Sharia White Belt

by Sheila Musaji

Chuck Norris really should stick to martial arts, but with no expertise at all, he has decided to expand from teaching Chun Kuk Do to teaching about Sharia.

In August of 2010 he wrote an article
President Obama: Muslim Missionary? the title of which alone says something about his level of paranoia about Islam and Muslims.

Now, he has a series of articles about Sharia on World Net Daily, one of which Top 10 U.S. Shariah infiltrations, Part 2 includes a reference to a statement that I had made in a 2007 article The Death of Aqsa Parvez Should Be an Interfaith Call to Action. Part 1 of his series ended with a recommendation that his readers read Dave Gaubatz and Paul Sperry’s Muslim Mafia book. You can read my assessment of that book here.

In part 2, Norris says

Having defined what Shariah law is in Part 1, in Part 2 here I’m going to give what I label as the top 10 evidences to date that support the fact that Shariah law is seeping into society from homes to halls of justice. As you read these, ask not only what they mean today but how they might escalate and morph 10 years from now into more progressive forms.

10) According to Middle East Quarterly, Muzzammil Hassan informed New York police on Feb. 12, 2009, that he had beheaded his wife, being justified by Shariah. Hassan emigrated to the U.S. 30 years ago. In 2007, after Aqsa Parvez was murdered by her father in Toronto for not wearing hijab (the headscarf worn by Muslim women),
Sheila Musaji wrote in The American Muslim, “Although this certainly is a case of domestic violence ... ‘honor’ killings are not only a Muslim problem, and there is no ‘honor’ involved.”
For those who think these heinous crimes are just random acts of domestic violence, a study published in the spring 2009 edition of Middle East Quarterly documented how 50 honor killings in the U.S. over the past 20 years prove otherwise.

I have underlined the brief mention he made of my article, which in the context of his article attempts to convince his readers that my statement somehow has something to do with his example number 10 of Sharia law seeping into American Society.

Norris seems to have simply cut and pasted from other articles. This statement seems to be from a 2009 article by Phyllis Chessler in which she falsely claimed that my statement “dismissed the problem”. At least Chessler included a link to my original article. More on Chessler here Norris did not include any links, and probably did not read my article at all.

In the article Norris is referring to, I opened with a plea for people of faith to sign the National Declaration by Religious and Spiritual Leaders to Address Violence Against Women.

I then said

Perhaps if enough of us think about this issue and the issue of domestic or family violence in general we may be able to do something to stop this terrible epidemic.
Just this week, Aqsa Parvez was murdered by her father for not wearing hijab. A young life cut short senselessly. Although this certainly is a case of domestic violence, some are referring to this as an example of an “honor” killing. The facts are not in yet as to whether or not this is the case.
And, as with all forms of domestic abuse, domestic violence and family violence, “honor” killings are not only a Muslim problem, and there is no “honor” involved. Muslim sites have been responding in shock to this case (e.g. Achelois, Muslim Matters) and many others
.

My article then listed a number of statistics about domestic violence and continued with:

Muslims have discussed this topic as much as everyone else (e.g. Islam the Modern Religion, and leading Muslim groups such as the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Social Services Association and the Islamic Society of Toronto are all urging “zero tolerance” for domestic abuse and violence against women. The Muslim Women’s League published a position paper on honor killings. Jewish, Muslim, Christian writers have produced a handbook to give religious leaders tools to help victims of violence.

And yet, the violence continues - somehow we are not getting through to the population in general. We are not being good shepherds.

It has been noted that: Religious teachings or scripture are sometimes misinterpreted, distorted, and misused to suggest that domestic violence is acceptable or even God’s will among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Although, some who are quick to see the mote in their brothers eye have categorized this crime as a Muslim crime, a symptom of what’s wrong with Muslims, or as “proof” that somehow the religion of Islam is to blame.

This is not a Muslim problem because it crosses all religious lines, but it is a Muslim problem because it also exists in our community
. As the late Shareefa Alkhateeb pointed out: “An authoritarian family structure predisposes many Muslims in America to be abused in some way and possibly to become the victims of violence. Generally, the greater a husband’s dominance in the family structure, the more likely wife and child abuse become. In the most abusive homes, the father believes and socializes his wife and children to believe that whatever he wants the family to do is the same as what Allah wants them to do. He, in effect, makes himself into something of a god.”

The rate of domestic abuse in the Muslim community is about the same as in the general population—about 18 percent, according to a 2000 study performed by Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., a rate comparable to the national average. It tends, however, to be more hidden, says Dorria Fahmy, WAFA’s founder and executive director.

Allah’s Apostle, said: “Every one of you (people) is a shepherd. And every one is responsible for whatever falls under his responsibility. A man is like a shepherd of his own family, and he is responsible for them.” This Hadith is reported by both Bukhari and Muslim.

We must be good shepherds.

I then list a number of terrible incidents followed by

The list goes on an on and would take up volumes to list. The truth is that family murder is ‘too awful to contemplate’, and yet we must contemplate this crisis and find ways to reach distressed families before any more lives are lost. The idea found in some cultures that somehow if a families “honor” is damaged, they can restore that “honor” by taking some violent action against the individual or individuals perceived to have been the source of that loss of honor, is only one of many possible justifications for such reprehensible and evil acts.
There is no “honor involved” because such acts of violence are simply dishonorable
.

And, I closed the article with

One article about the Aqsa Parvez case had the title “Girl’s death puts Islam in hot seat”—if that is true, then all the other deaths must also put Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, etc. all in the hot seat.
We have a serious problem in our society, and members of all faith communities need to work together to attempt to find solutions, and to educate our own faith communities in the actual teachings of our various belief systems. Although individuals may attempt to justify their actions on the basis of some distortion of religious teachings, there is no justification for this behavior.

In attempting to see this as “their” problem and not “our” problem, and pointing the finger of blame elsewhere, we take away any chance of working effectively together to get at the root problems and stop this from ever happening again
.

As with other Islamophobes - Norris has simply taken a tiny fraction of a statement, out of context, in order to attempt to prove that I have said exactly the opposite of what I actually said.

Norris created the martial art Chun Kuk Do which includes a code of honor for practitioners to follow. That code reads:

I will develop myself to the maximum of my potential in all ways.
I will forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements.
I will continually work at developing love, happiness and loyalty in my family.
I will look for the good in all people and make them feel worthwhile.
If I have nothing good to say about a person, I will say nothing.
I will always be as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
I will maintain an attitude of open-mindedness.
I will maintain respect for those in authority and demonstrate this respect at all times.
I will always remain loyal to my God, my country, family and my friends.
I will remain highly goal-oriented throughout my life because that positive attitude helps my family, my country and myself.

Chuck Norris’ anti-Muslim article (which is part of a series) seems to break at least three of his own rules— numbers 4, 5, and 7.

Norris may think that he is a black belt in his understanding of Sharia, but he deserves no more than a white belt.