Hiding Malik's Face: To be or Not to be a Muslim -- that is the Question

By Selwyn Duke

"You ain't no Muslim, bruv!" As you may know, this statement was uttered by a bystander after a non-Muslim Muslim™ slit the throat of a man in the Leytonstone subway station in east London last weekend. It was, apparently, a logical spontaneous reaction because, as we all understand, a Muslim ceases to be a Muslim upon committing a terrorist act. It's not yet known if the transformation turns him into a Christian, an atheist, a Hindu, a Jew or a Zoroastrian, but some magical de-Islamizing process occurs.

Speaking of which, the man shouting "You ain't no Muslim, bruv!" ain't no Muslim himself, contrary to initial suspicions. Rather, he's a 39-year-old security guard from north London identified only as "John"; you know, the kind of guy Archie Bunker might call "a regula' Englishman there." But let us just call him No-Muslim-Jihadi John.

Now, John is apparently an authority on Islam. As such, the Obama administration might want to consult with him on a certain matter: the public display of San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik's photograph. Note that while fellow terrorist Syed Farook's photo was published almost immediately, his bride Malik's didn't appear for days. And according to ex-Muslim and author of The Devil We Don't Know, Nonie Darwish, this was to appease Muslims.

Appearing on a special Monday edition of "The Glazov Gang" (video below), she says she can think of only one reason why Farook's photo was immediately shown while Malik's was withheld. As she put it, "[A]s a former Muslim myself, I know that Islamic law prohibits posting the photos of veiled Muslim women in public." Darwish goes on to say she suspects "the [Obama] administration was pressured by Muslim groups to not show the female terrorist's photo to the public." And, of course, we know that Muslims and leftists were enraged when Malik's photo finally was released.



But then Darwish made an excellent, excellent point. Said she, "There's an obvious contradiction here; it's a contradiction for moderate Muslims and even President Obama, who constantly claim, and constantly lecture us, that terrorists have nothing to do with Islam."

Bingo. If Malik wasn't really Muslim, she couldn't have been a Muslim woman. And then the Islamic prohibition against showing veiled Muslim women's images in public doesn't apply, right? So why was everyone so upset?

Oh, I get it: when her picture was taken, she was still Muslim because the magical, de-Islamizing process induced via commission of a terrorist act hadn't yet occurred. But when she pulled the trigger, her Muslim status went up in smoke along with some gunpowder.

As for No-Muslim-Jihadi John, Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch spoke about the surreal nature of his reaction, writing "The fact that this man [John] is a non-Muslim makes the whole scene grotesquely absurd. Here is a man lying on the ground bleeding from stab wounds, with his attacker standing right there with his bloody knife, and the first thing this onlooker can think to do is to say something to try to protect the image of Islam. As the last jihadi slits the last non-Muslim Briton's throat, the victim will probably be gurgling out as his life slips away, "You ain't no Muslim, bruv."

So No-Muslim-Jihadi John appears to know as much about Islam as he does about grammar. Then again, maybe he's more clever than we think. Perhaps in using his double-negative, he was really sending the message, "You are a Muslim, bruv!" This may explain why, fearing violence by suddenly transformed non-Muslim Muslims™, his identity isn't being released.

It's more likely, though, that he just wouldn't want to be responsible for a man losing his faith.

© Selwyn Duke