Written by Jordan Bailey
Nonie Darwish, the first American Studies Institute speaker of the semester, spoke in the Benson Auditorium Thursday, Sept. 17. Her presentation focused on her views about Islam based on her life in Egypt and her conversion to Christianity.
Darwish was born in Cairo and raised in the Gaza Strip as a Muslim. Her father was head of Egyptian military intelligence in Gaza and was charged by then-president Nasser of Egypt to destroy Israel. This took the form of guerilla-style warfare. When Darwish was 8, her father was assassinated.
According to Darwish, President Nasser used her father’s death to call people to continue the fight against Israel. The president and his guards visited Darwish’s family, and the children were asked by soldiers which of them would avenge their father’s blood by killing Jews.
Darwish said her childhood was inundated with anti-Semitism as the leaders of the nation indoctrinated children with hatred of Jews. According to Darwish, children were taught poetry about dying to cause the deaths of infidels and told not to take candy from strangers because Jews were trying to poison them.
“They simply filled our hearts with fear of the Jewish people,” Darwish said.
After the attacks on Sept. 11, Darwish called friends and family in Egypt to receive comfort, but they told her the Jews had planned the attack as a conspiracy. Another theory she reported hearing was that Jews had caused a recent tsunami because most of the people killed were Muslims.
“Blaming Jews for everything Muslims do is a habit,” Darwish said.
Darwish said Arab countries finance terrorism, and terrorism is not rooted in the Arab-Israeli conflict because it existed before the occupation. She said the impossible way of life created by jihad, defined by her as Muslim holy strife or war, is responsible for the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians.
She began speaking publicly about Islam after the attacks of Sept. 11 because she said a visit to Egypt made her worry about America, and the head of the terrorists involved in that attack were from Cairo, her hometown.
Darwish defined jihad based on her reading of Muslim texts as “to war with non-Muslims to establish religion” and a permanent war institution against Christians, Jews and infidels. She said Muslim rulers are compared to gods because their pictures and statues are everywhere, and people kiss the hands of leaders like Saddam Hussein.
According to Darwish, this attitude toward leaders reflects the psychology of a repressed nation. Also involved with her idea of repression are laws prohibiting apostates, people who desert Islam for other religions. People could be branded apostates for asking questions, and the sentence for apostasy is death.
“Any question regarding Islam was prohibited,” Darwish said.
When she was a child, the population of Egypt was 18 percent Christian, and that number has dropped to 10 percent, according to Darwish. While visiting a Christian friend’s house, Darwish heard a sermon in which the imam, leader of the mosque, asked God to destroy infidels, not make peace and make Israelite children orphans. She said that experience was not unusual or shocking, but it felt wrong because she was with a Christian.
Darwish also claimed that Islam emphasizes political leadership of Muslims over Muslims so heavily that it is believed better to be ruled by an unjust Muslim than a just non-Muslim. The definition of an Islamic state given by a prominent leader resembled a fascist government and disallowed private life, according to Darwish.
“Islam is much more than a religion; it is actually a very elaborate legal system,” Darwish said.
The political overtones Darwish sees within Islam are in part based on social structures, like the belief that envy is a curse that falls on the envied party. This causes mistrust, and people refuse to share good news with neighbors lest they be cursed. She said this principle extends to relations with other countries.
Leaders have double personalities because they talk about peace with the United States and preach jihad to their people, according to Darwish. She said the clergy are a “source of hate, rage and subversion” because they work worshippers into a frenzy, which causes many attacks against non-Muslims after mosque services on Friday.
“Such a religion opened itself to criticism because it chose to be a state,” Darwish said.
Darwish chose to become a Christian after her immigration to the United States. She was discouraged by the message she heard in a mosque in California, so she dissociated herself from any religion until 1997 when she converted to Christianity.
She attributed her conversion to a television preacher she heard praying for humanity on Sunday morning; his words of blessing were unlike any message she had previously heard, and she cried. The next week, she woke her family and told them they were going to church. After a few weeks, Darwish was baptized, and she said she is now a more peaceful person.
The oppression of women in Egypt was another theme of Darwish’s speech. Darwish said she heard an Islamic sermon about how “women are deficient of brain and religion.” She discussed her mother’s struggle to raise five children alone and the criticism she faced for purchasing and driving a car.
According to Darwish, women were not allowed to worship in mosques; they were left to pray at home, and she did not feel spiritually fulfilled. Women in Arab nations inherit half of what their brothers inherit, and their testimony in court is valued as half of that of a male.
Four male witnesses are required in court to establish rape, and if they cannot be provided, rape victims can legally be charged with adultery and executed.
The structure of polygamy is another element Darwish said weakens relationships of men and women.
Darwish said even if polygamy is not practiced within a marriage, the value of loyalty is diminished by the social structure. She saw a movie when she was a teenager with a scene of a church wedding and was touched by the vows to “love, honor and cherish.”
Darwish said if the concept of marriage as one man and one woman is changed, it will change society. She views polygamy as “anger built inside the family unit,” and she said it hurts husbands, wives and children.
Darwish said Islamic doctrine hurts Muslims the most and that she was not speaking to offend Muslims. She said she is not criticizing Muslims’ relationship with God, but the legal and political side of Islam.
“I don’t hate Muslim people,” Darwish said. “Please understand me: I love them.”
Many people in the Middle East are living in a prison of their minds because they do not know the true God and are not allowed to convert, according to Darwish. She said many people do not have the right to learn about Jesus because of the legal systems they live under.
“We have so many Muslims who need Jesus,” Darwish said. “We have to inspire them.”
She talked about the resurgence of Islam after the events of Sept. 11 and expressed concern about the continuing immigration of Muslims to the United States. When Darwish first arrived in California, she attended a mosque where she was told not to assimilate because the reason Muslims immigrated was to proselytize, or convert, Americans.
The lack of Jewish and Christian departments of study in Middle Eastern universities alarms Darwish. She called it a “one-sided invasion” because Muslims are allowed to freely enter the United States, but Christian missionaries are denied access to many Middle Eastern nations.
“They think they are conquering us from within,” Darwish said.
Darwish recommended redefining religion within America to prevent belief systems that are against human rights and allow members to kill nonbelievers or attack countries. She also stated that she filled out paperwork about her beliefs regarding communism when she immigrated, so she thinks current forms need to ask whether people seek to live under Sharia law, ordinances based on the Koran.
She attended American University in Cairo and received a bachelor’s in sociology and anthropology. In 1978, Darwish immigrated to the United States. She is married, has three children and is the founder of Arabs for Israel. Darwish authored two books: “Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror” and “Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law.”
