FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR Asks Va. Law School to Drop Speaker Who Says 'Annihilate' Islam

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/30/11) –- A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization is calling on Virginia's George Mason University School of Law to disinvite Nonie Darwish, a notorious Islamophobe who has stated that Islam is a"poison to a society" that is "based on lies" and must be "annihilated."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today released a video of Darwish speaking at a protest in Florida earlier this year in which she states:

"Islam is a poison to a society. It's divisive. It's hateful. Look what Islam is doing on our college campuses. It's full of anti-Semitism. It's going to turn us against one another. It's going to produce chaos in society. Because Islam should be feared, and should be fought, and should be conquered, and defeated, and annihilated, and it's going to happen. Ladies and gentlemen, Islam is going to be brought down. . .Because Islam is based on lies and it's not based on the truth. I have no doubt whatsoever that Islam is going to be destroyed."

[The rally at which Darwish spoke was sponsored by the hate group Stop Islamization of America (SIOA). SIOA, which has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is headed by two of the nation's leading Islamophobes, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.]

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Darwish is scheduled to speak at the law school on October 5. [5 p.m., Room 121]. Her address, titled "The West's Clash with Radicalism," is sponsored by the Federalist Society and the Jewish Law Students Association. She will be introduced by ProfessorMichael Krauss.

"Such hate-filled views should not be funded by student organizations or endorsed by professors," said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "Darwish's genocidal statements are reminiscent of those used to target the Jewish community in Nazi Germany."

Darwish, a self-styled "former Moslem," has written that "Islam is cruel, anti-women, anti-religious freedom and anti-personal freedom in general." A review of her book, "Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law," states: "For Darwish, Islam is a sinister force that must be resisted and contained."

She told the New York Times: "A mosque is not just a place for worship. It's a place where war is started, where commandments to do jihad start, where incitements against non-Muslims occur. It's a place where ammunition was stored."

Darwish's group, Former Muslims United, once put up a billboard stating "Stop theMurfreesboro Mosque" in an attempt to block the construction of a mosque in Tennessee. The website for her group is filled with anti-Islam hate literature containing claims such as, "It is not 'fanatical', 'radical', or 'extreme' Islam that we are fighting, but normal, orthodox, canonical, typical, accepted, traditional Islam, straight from the mouth of the Muhammad."

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Darwish does not limit her rhetorical attacks to Muslims. On her personal blog, she wrote: "When I saw and heard American kids singing for Obama, I felt a chill of fear. The scene reminded me of how, as children, we were forced to sing for the dictator."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.