The fondest hope of al-Qaeda, (click here) the Islamic State, and other terrorist groups is to convince their followers that the world is divided into Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam) and the Dar al-harb (the House of War), and that the job of pious Muslims is to wage unrelenting war on “kafirs” (unbelievers) who refuse to accept the teaching of the Prophet. By going out of their way to denigrate Muslims, some leading Republicans are playing right into the terrorists’ hands....
This noxious theme has been carried on by some of those contending for the 2016 GOP nomination. Bobby Jindal has warned that Muslim immigration to the U.S. amounts to “colonization” and an “invasion,” and has said that the idea of a Muslim president is an “absurd hypothetical.” Before exiting the race, Scott Walker said there are only a “handful of reasonable, moderate followers of Islam who don’t share the radical beliefs that these radical Islamist terrorists have.” Mike Huckabee has called Muslims who commit violence after Friday prayers “uncorked animals.”
Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner who has previously described Mexican immigrants as “rapists” and “murderers,” did not correct a questioner at a town hall meeting who said, “We have a problem in this country, it’s called Muslims. Our current president is one.” Ben Carson, who is polling in second place behind Trump, has flatly rejected the idea that a Muslim should ever become president, saying, “I would not advocate that we ever put a Muslim in charge of this nation.” Apparently he’s never heard of the Constitution’s Article VI: “No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”...
