By Kamala
January 22, 2012

About three years ago, I stumbled upon a book called The Muslim Next Door. Written by Sumbul Ali-Karamali, an American-raised, Stanford-educated Muslim woman, this book aims to "clear away the misconceptions about Islam." The back cover effuses: “What if you could sit down at a kitchen table with an American Muslim mom and ask anything you wanted about her faith and religious practice?”

After reading the book, I was left with only more questions. The Muslim Next Door is filled with patently false, wildly misleading, and fully unsubstantiated claims about the very concerns many Americans have about Islam. Taking her at her word, that she would be open to answering questions about Islam, I prepared ten detailed questions regarding problematic aspects of her book. Perhaps, I thought, these were honest mistakes or omissions. Perhaps she would acknowledge and address the flaws in her book. The ten questions can be read here. They cover a wide range of topics, including:

• Ali-Karamali’s claim that Muhammad had sex with his favorite wife Aisha only when “she was well past puberty … somewhere between twelve and sixteen,” even though the most respected scholars of Islam – including one that she herself calls a “highly respected luminary” – quote Aisha as having said that her marriage was consummated at age nine.

• Her claim without citation that Muslims make up 3% of the US population, a grossly inflated figure in comparison to even the most optimistic credible estimates.

• Her explanation that one of Islam’s definitions is “peace,” a falsehood that even the Muslim Student Association of the University of Southern California labeled the “#1 Misconception” about Islam.

• Her argument that female genital mutilation and honor killings are antithetical to Islam, despite mountains of contradictory evidence, including rulings in an Islamic manual of law certified by Al-Azhar University in Egypt, which Ali-Karamali herself calls “one of the great centers for Islamic studies.”
  

At the time, author Robert Spencer was kind enough to post a link to these questions at his web site, Jihad Watch.

I politely asked Ms. Ali-Karamali several times – via both her publisher and another mutual contact who assured me that the message was personally delivered – to respond to the questions. Each time, I got no response. One person who had read my questions and also wanted some answers went to one of Ali-Karamali’s numerous promotional San Francisco Bay Area appearances and asked her, face-to-face, to address these questions: "I spoke with Karamali following her Commonwealth Club speech yesterday. She said she's familiar with this article but that it's affiliated with Jihad Watch, which is a hateful organization, so she won't answer the questions."

So much for getting the questions answered. At least, I thought at the time, Ali-Karamali didn’t seem to be getting increasing levels of exposure – unlike some other truth-challenged apologists for Islam.

Fast forward to 2012.

Sumbul Ali-Karamali’s book is about to become the centerpiece of a four-month-long, government-sponsored initiative called “Silicon Valley Reads.” An annual program in the San Francisco Bay Area, 2012 is the 10th anniversary, and its sponsors “are celebrating with an outstanding selection of books and events focused on the theme, 'Muslim and American: Two Perspectives.’” Ali-Karamali’s three-year-old book is featured as (ostensibly) one of those perspectives.

(The second “perspective” is delivered from another American Muslim woman, Willow Wilson, who converted to Islam and wrote a book called The Butterfly Mosque. While not even an attempt to address non-Muslim concerns about Islam, Butterfly Mosque’s view of Islam is hardly inconsistent with Ali-Karamali’s or those of other contemporary apologists for Islam. For Wilson, the “parts of Shari’a law that were premodern and problematic” were “no more so than the Old Testament. Islam had all the hang-ups, along with all the potential for resolution, of any ancient faith.” Wilson pins any negative impressions of Sharia on the Wahhabis, a common response from apologists unwilling to admit to the vast agreement among Muslim scholars (and Islamic schools of jurisprudence) about the most despicable aspects of Sharia. Wilson also dishes out disdain for “self-righteous” apostates who risk death to leave Islam, denigrating “the Ayaan Hirsi Alis and Wafaa Sultans who had made their fortunes by rejecting Islam.")

Back to Ms. Ali-Karamali, just look at the publicity and exposure that this program will bring her:

• January 25: On-stage interview with columnist Mike Cassidy (mcassidy@mercurynews.com) of the San Jose Mercury News, to be recorded and broadcast on KLIV Radio February 1

• January 31: Guest of the Santa Clara County Office of Education (a government organization) Materials Fair, open to all teachers and school librarians

• February 2: Discussion of her book at the Saratoga Library

• February 12: Discussion of her book at the India Community Center

• February 22: Television interview on CreaTV Channel 30 in San Jose with Janice Edwards (janice@creatvsj.org)

• March 3: On-stage interview with De Anza College President Brian Murphy (murphybrian@deanza.edu)

• March 10: Discussion of her book at the Morgan Hill Library

• March 16: Interview with Dale Bryant (dbryant@svcn.com), Executive Editor of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, at the History Club of Los Gatos
  

• March 29: Presenting “What I’d like Teachers to Know about Islam and Muslims” at the Santa Clara County Office of Education

• April 29: On-stage interview with columnist Sal Pizarro of the San Jose Mercury News (spizarro@mercurynews.com)
  

And those are only the events Ms. Ali-Karamali will be directly attending!

Four discussion groups focused on The Muslim Next Door are scheduled throughout February and March at Bay Area facilities.

There will even be an “Essay Contest sponsored by the Cupertino Library Association,” to share the “lessons you have learned” from both Ali-Karamali’s and Wilson’s books.

Beyond just the focus on Ali-Karamali and Willow Wilson, this program is filled with other events promoting Islam: films, art exhibits, poetry readings. And of course, an almost obligatory panel on “Islamophobia,” including Muslim Brotherhood-linked Wajahat Ali. Do you think the panel will be discussing the origin of the word "Islamophobia"?

This impending whitewashed onslaught of Islam is being sponsored by local Bay Area governmental organizations (tax dollars at work!) and major corporations such as Southwest Airlines and Comerica Bank. “Community partners” include the Muslim Community Association, a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated organization promoting Sharia.

Ultimately, it is up to the public to contest this crashing wave of politically correct Islam.

Contact the individuals, organizations, and corporations involved. Let them know their support of this program is not appreciated. Ask them to either withdraw support, or to at least sponsor genuinely contrasting views and events.

And if you live near the San Francisco Bay Area, come to Ms. Ali-Karamali’s scheduled events. Ask her to respond, once and for all, to the fundamental questions about the falsehoods in her book – the scaffolding of lies supporting this entire “Silicon Valley Reads” charade.

Notes

• January 22, 2012: Pamela Geller linked to this article here.
  

• January 31, 2012: Robert Spencer linked to this article here.