This is from NRO. Andrew C. McCarthy says it much better than I can, so I’ll excerpt him liberally:
Non-Muslims are barred from entering the cities of Mecca and Medina — not merely barred from building synagogues or churches, but barred, period, because their infidel feet are deemed unfit to touch the ground. This is not an al-Qaeda principle. Nor is it an “Islamist” principle. It is Islam, pure and simple.
That is the core of the matter. This is what I have been saying for a very long time now. It is not just the Mosque of Triumph at Ground Zero. Whether we are talking about Mohammedan immigration, Mohammedan religious liberty in the United States, the place of Mohammedans in our society, or any number of places where civilizations collide every day, in every way even the harshest of Americans is far, far more tolerant than the average Mohammedan. That includes the “good” Mohammedans right here in America. The ones that live down the street from you filthy infidels.
Second and more significant, the comparison of what is permitted in Manhattan and what is permitted in Mecca is not about the Saudis: It is about Islam. Saudi Arabia does not have any law but sharia. Non-Muslims are discriminated against in the kingdom, not because that’s how the Saudis want it. They are discriminated against because that is how the Koran says it must be.
Sura 9:29, the verse of the Koran that immediately follows the commandment to exclude non-Muslims from holy sites, instructs: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the last day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the people of the Book [i.e., Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”
That is what the Ground Zero Mosque is all about. The tribute we pay the Mohammedan world in the form of foreign aid, building bridges, roadways, and, yes, schools, as well as supporting the military of a number of Mohammedan nations, is simply not enough. They will take it grudgingly, because we do not feel ourselves subdued. They think that if they are in our face enough about it, we will feel ourselves subdued. They believe that we will submit to them if they present to us the choice of killing them or submitting to them. Why shouldn’t they believe it? We have so far.
In the United States, there is no threat to religious liberty . . . except where there are high concentrations of Muslims. Not high concentrations of al-Qaeda sympathizers — high concentrations of Muslims. As Muslims have flocked to Dearborn, Mich., for example, Henry Ford’s hometown has become infamous for its support of Hezbollah. Recently, four Christian missionaries were arrested by Dearborn police for the crime of handing out copies of St. John’s gospel on a public street outside an Arab festival. The police called it disturbing the peace. But the peace was disturbed only due to the foreboding sense that Muslims might take riotous offense, because sharia forbids the preaching of religions other than Islam.
In Minneapolis, where thousands of Somalis have settled, taxpayers are being forced to support sharia-compliant mortgages and at least one Islamic charter school. Meantime, taxi drivers refuse to ferry passengers suspected of carrying alcohol, and a student in need of a dog’s assistance for medical reasons was driven from school due to threats from Muslim students against him and the animal — because sharia regards canines as unclean.
This aggression is a deliberate strategy, called “voluntary apartheid.” The idea, as explained by influential Sunni cleric Yusuf Qaradawi (the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual guide), counsels that Muslims in the West must push political leaders to indulge what he claims is their “right to live according to our faith — ideologically, legislatively, and ethically.” It is what imam Feisal Rauf means when he urges America to become more sharia-friendly by allowing “religious communities more leeway to judge among themselves, according to their laws.”
This is happening right here in America. Not in some radical, alternative-future fictional America, but America today. All over the country, the Mohammedans have responded to 9-11 not with concern, humility, or simple acknowledgement that their faith or ideology has harmed us, but with bombastic demands of superior treatment under the law, if they are to be bound by our laws at all. The Ground Zero Mosque is no different than what has been going on since 12 September 2001. The difference is that it is being noticed. It isn’t happening in Michigan, or semi-rural Tennessee. It is happening in New York, and people notice.
This is the Enemy, right here, today. Not in some far off land with an AK 47 in his hands, but here on your home soil with an arsenal of lawyers, and fellow-travelers, and fools preaching submission in the name of tolerance. We should not tolerate it. We should never submit. And if we generously allow the Mohammedans to come her, it should be on our terms, following our law, not importing their foreign systems of dominance and submission. Even in this article, the author speaks of “…Muslims who want to change this, Muslims who want to evolve their faith into the light of ecumenical tolerance, Muslims who crave true religious liberty and reject sharia’s repression…” Perhaps such Muslims exist, but they, not the totalitarian-minded would-be conquerors of America, are the tiny minority. They speak for no one but themselves. There is no Muslim nation on the face of the Earth where they are the majority, where their values of tolerance reign. They are the minority even here in America, because even here they fear to speak out. If they exist at all.
American needs to wake up. We are at a crossroads, and this election is of the most vital importance. The Republicans are an imperfect vehicle for our needs, but they are realistically the only vehicle we have. We should all do whatever we can to bring them success in these elections, and then to hold them firm to the fire once they are in office.
