Suhail Khan stresses in his “we love life as you love death” quote that Muslims must confront their “oppressors.” Who, in Khan’s mind are the “oppressors”? As demonstrated by his rhetoric, in most cases he considers the “oppressors” to be the United States and our allies.
In his speech to the 1999 ISNA convention, Suhail Khan enumerates those Muslims he considers to be “oppressed”: “Bosnia, Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Kosovo, the cries of our oppressed pierce our hearts.”
- In Kashmir the presumed “oppressors” of Muslims are the Indian government. The Islamic resistance to the Indian administration in Kashmir is composed of Shariah/jihadist organizations such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, both designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO’s) by the U.S. government. Lashkar-e-Taiba was later directly linked to the bloody 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
- In “Palestine” of course the “oppressors” are Israel and the Jews. The Muslim groups opposing the “oppressors” are the Shariah-adherent/jihadist terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.
- Khan also counts Iraqis amongst the “oppressed.” Since this speech was made in 1999, years prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, we must conclude that the “oppressors” in Khan’s mind are the United Nations who instituted sanctions against the genocidal regime of Iraq under dictator Saddam Hussein. Thus Khan was truly ahead of his time in calling for Islamic resistance in Iraq before “infidel” troops were even on the ground.
Suhail Khan goes on to vociferously claim that Americans are oppressing Muslims right here in our own country:
Here in the United States, Muslims are often faced with discrimination, harassment and outright hatred. Mosques are burned. Islamic centers are vandalized, desecrated. Mosques and Islamic centers and schools face constant discriminatory zoning decisions. Muslim families are harassed and hindered from travel from at airports as they are profiled as quote unquote terrorists or security risks. Muslim women who choose to wear an Islamic headscarf are excluded from jobs as are Muslim men from wearing the Islamic beard. Most recently a qualified Muslim was excluded from a federal commission on domestic terrorism because of his political beliefs. Worse, almost two dozen Muslims are being held in federal prison today without federal charge, without bail, and without the most Islamic and American opportunity to face their accuser and to challenge the evidence used by federal authorities to deprive them of their right to due process, their right to speech, association, and their very right to freedom. Our freedoms, my dear brothers and sisters, are under attack. Our freedom to associate with whomsoever we choose, to speak out politically and religiously, to travel, to practice our faith as Allah has instructed us as God-fearing men and women must be protected. And these rights must be defended with all the determination, all the resources, all the unyielding vigilance of the believing mujahid.
Remember that this speech was made before the jihadist attacks on September 11, 2001, when airline passengers were subjected to little or no security screening at U.S. airports.
The picture Khan paints of a Muslim community under siege smacks of the post-9/11 victimology tactics of Muslim Brotherhood front groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) who seek to deter any investigation into Islamic terrorism with cries of “Islamophobia” and “racism.”