Connecting the dots of Islamism on the rise

• By Raheel Raza

The ABC's of Islamism

Everything you wanted to know about radical Islam, but were afraid to ask.

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What a great tragedy has unfolded in Iran over the past week. Has the regime no regard for human life? Apparently not.

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died at the hands of the morality police for simply allowing her hair to show under her hijab, which apparently violated the country’s strict Islamic code. How do we tolerate such a barbaric act in the 21st century?

Isn’t the term morality police an oxymoron? The morality police in Iran have licence to enforce compliance (while they are completely immoral themselves, with rape, plunder and blood on their hands).

Protests over Amini's death have spread across cities, towns and villages in Iran, as well as internationally. According to Amnesty International, at least 21 people — including three children — have been killed by security forces over these protests. At least 41 people have now been killed in total, according to a death toll given by Iran's state television on Sunday, though official numbers have not yet been released. Iranian women are burning their hijabs in protest all over the country.

Hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi appeared at the UN General Assembly session in New York. CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour requested an interview with Raisi while he was in New York, but he demanded that she wear a headscarf. She refused and said that she lived in a free country. Was Amanpour’s hair going to put Raisi into an ecstatic frenzy? 

The interview did not happen.

When we connect the dots, we will see that what is happening in Iran and some other Muslim countries, are signs of Islamism or political Islam, which I’ve been explaining to our readers and viewers over time. Those escaping the harshness of Islamist regimes have found that Islamism is cropping up in the West.

Over the Labour Day weekend, there was a convention held by one of North America’s largest Muslim organizations. At this convention, some speakers presented progressive visions while others painted an Islamist future for the United States. One activist who spoke at the convention called convicted Hamas terror supporters, “the finest men.”

Meanwhile, right here in Canada, Islamists have struck again.

Alberta Justice Minister, Tyler Shandro fired the chief of the province’s human rights commission who had refused to step down on charges of Islamophobia. What exactly was his Islamo-phobic act? Colin May, the first openly gay chief of the commission wrote a book review in 2009. A book review! Imagine how terrible that is! The book in question is Efraim Karsh’s “Islamic Imperialism: A History,” which states that Islam is inherently combative.

Well, today’s Islamists ARE combative.

While May says he did nothing wrong — and I agree — Justice Minister Shandro caved in to the pressure from the Muslim groups and fired him.

Cancel culture strikes again.

My point in bringing up these examples is to say that Islamism is alive and well in the West. Islamism does not always present itself in violent acts. It's an ideology that works in numbers; it works to quell free speech; it works to stem debate and discussion and most importantly it works to intimidate ordinary non-Muslims from speaking out.

Confronting Islamism in the West is not a luxury; it’s a given, and can’t be done by one person or single community. Protecting our citizens from the ideology of religious authoritarianism (like we are witnessing in Iran) and Islamism requires leaders taking a stand, getting out of their politically correct mindsets, and listening to activists from other communities. It requires a coalition of people willing to stand firm in the face of Islamist hostility and intimidation.