It should be noted that John Esposito's pro-Islamic books are used at virtually all universities to indoctrinate our youth.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/Esposito: Spencer an "Islamophobe," but rightJihad Watch reader X has just sent me this item from the February 10 issue of the National Journal about the DNC Imam controversy:
Reality Check "Through you, God, we unite. Guide us to the right path. The path of the people you bless, not the path of the people you doom."
-- Imam Husham al-Hussainy, in an invocation to the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting, February 2.
The Imam's invocation echoes the Muslim daily prayer, which asks Allah to "show us the straight path ... not the [path] of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray." Islamic writings say that Muslims follow the straight path, Jews have earned Allah's anger, and Christians have been led astray, says Robert Spencer, author of The Truth About Muhammad. Spencer is an "Islamophobe," says John Esposito director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin-Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. But "it is self-evident," he says, "that the text juxtaposes 'bless' and 'doom' regarding reward for those who follow God versus enemies of God" in the Muslim Koran. In a DNC-issued statement, Hussainy said, "I am extremely surprised that anybody could interpret my prayer as belittling, insulting, or otherwise disrespecting ... Christian and Jewish brothers and sisters."
It is noteworthy that even as the Saudi-funded Esposito goes out of his way to insult me with the politically manipulated, trumped-up, and ultimately empty term "Islamophobe," he has to admit that I'm right.
And what is "Islamophobia," anyway? I discussed one attempt to define it here. But I think for most people it just boils down to an irrational hatred of Muslims. This is, of course, absurd. There is neither irrationality nor hatred in anything I write. I am doing this in defense of universally accepted human rights. I am against the institutionalized mistreatment of women and religious minorities and the denial of freedom of conscience that are all mandated by Sharia law. I am against violent and nonviolent subjugation of peoples, and against intimidation and attempts to foreclose on free discourse. I am against the fictions that guide public policy and dominate the public discourse among both liberals and conservatives, no matter how convenient or even essential such fictions may be -- I don't think the fact that a fact makes people uncomfortable makes it any less a fact.
And I recognize that people like John Esposito throw around propaganda words like "Islamophobe" in order to turn people of good will away from my work, but they have not shown, and cannot show, that what I have written is inaccurate in any way.