War on Islam

The War on Islam is a perceived campaign to annihilate Islam or at least the political and military aspects of it. It pre-dates the War on Terrorism since 2001.

Allegations
Imam Khomeini has said, [European-Imperialists] have known the power of Islam themselves for it once ruled part of Europe, and they know that true Islam is opposed to their activities. They have also realized they cannot make the true religious scholars submit to their influence, nor can they affect their thinking. From the very outset, therefore, they have sought to remove this obstacle from their path by disparaging Islam and besmirching the religious leaders. They have resorted to malicious propaganda so that today, we imagine that Islam simply consists of a handful of legal topics. They have also tried to destroy the reputation of the fuqaha and the ulama, who stand at the head of Islamic society, by slanderous accusations and other means. 

Sheikh Ayman Zawahiri has said, "The people of the Crusader West, according to Islamic law, are combatant people that fight the Muslims, because they elected their rulers and parliaments of their own free will. In other words, they elected the executive authority, which carries out the aggression against Islam and the Muslims, and they elected the legislative authority, which monitors the executive authority, holds it accountable, and approves or rejects its policies as it pleases. These peoples also pay the taxes that finance the aggression against Muslims, and supply the armies that invade Islamic countries with men, money, advice, and knowledge. They supply men and expertise to the Crusader security agencies, which try to harm the Muslims. Even those among them who oppose the policies of the Crusader governments consider these governments to be legitimate governments, which have the right to order them to participate in the fighting against us."

Denials
George W. Bush has said, "Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false, and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror."

In order to ensure that no one thinks that there is a War on Islam, Gordon Brown has directed his ministers in 2007 not to omit "Muslim" and "Islam" when discussing jihad.

Videos

 * "The war on terror has become a war on Islam", 49 min 59 sec - Dec 13, 2006