Posted By Bernard Gaynor on Monday, March 23, 2015 11:08 am | 14 comments

On Saturday I had the privilege of addressing a forum organised by the Sunshine Coast Safe Communities. There was a great turn out of courageous Sunshine Coast residents ready to act to keep their community safe. From my perspective, Australia is seeing a real grassroots groundswell of opposition to mosques and the imposition of Islam as the dominant force in our society.

Those who attended are right to be concerned and they are right to take action – before this problem grows so large that it cannot be addressed. 

My speech is below. I have also posted a link to the Powerpoint presentation that accompanies this speech at the bottom of this post.

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BACKGROUND PROBLEM OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

I will start this presentation with a simple question.

What credentials do I have that allow me to speak on the subject of al hijra, or immigration conducted in accordance with Sharia law for social, political, legal and religious purposes?

This is a very good question that should be explored in depth, not because of what the answer says about me, but because of what the answer says about our nation’s law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies.

After all, they advise our government on threats that use Koranic texts to justify their actions. These agencies are charged with keeping the Sunshine Coast safe from these threats. And they are filled with intelligence officers who received the same training as me.

So, a little background.

I served in the Australian Army from 1997 until 2014 and I was an intelligence officer.

My job was to provide advice to our government and military leadership about the enemies we faced so that they could use lethal military force to exploit this knowledge.

These enemies have names, like al Qaeda and Jaish al Mahdi and Ansar al Sunnah and Jaish al Islami and the Taliban and now the Islamic State.

These names are all derived from Islamic theology or Islamic military history. You might not know the significance of these names, but you have very often seen some of these organisations on your television screens quoting from the Koran in the midst of a violent atrocity.

You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that there is a link with Islam and Sharia law here. Even if all these groups misunderstand Islamic ideology and Sharia law, they are still linked to the religion by their self-identification with it. And when you are at war with a group, knowledge that they misunderstand their own religious ideology and divine laws should be a very powerful thing. You can do something with that knowledge, and I’ll get to that in a minute.

But firstly, please listen carefully to what I am about say and think about its profound implications.

In all my time in the Australian Army, I did not receive one single lesson on Sharia law. Nor did any other intelligence officer.

[SLIDE 2]

The people in the military who analyse threat groups like the Islamic State receive no training or education about fundamental things like Islamic teaching on warfare.

So I have no military certificate stating that I am an expert in Islam. I don’t even have a piece of paper from the Army stating that I have completed a two hour introductory course in Islam. And nor does any other Army intelligence officer.

Furthermore, although I can’t speak with certainty for other intelligence or security agencies, my experience is that they too have a similar void of knowledge.

Consequently, our intelligence officers can tell the government and military commanders what weapons our enemy hold. But they can’t tell what motivates them or why things like beheading are ritually important.

[SLIDE 3]

This leads to flawed intelligence assessments and it means that across the entire spectrum of government, we can’t see the big picture. We are losing the war. And it’s not just me stating this. This quote comes from the ‘Review of Australia’s Counter-Terrorism Machinery’, a report released by the Prime Minister about a month ago:

“All of the terrorism-related metrics are worsening: known numbers of foreign fighters, sympathisers and supporters, serious investigations. We are not ‘winning’ on any front.”

The reason we are losing the war is because we don’t understand the enemy’s grand strategy and objectives. To do this, you need to delve into Islamic ideology and Sharia law. This is where we are failing. And we have failed so badly that we can’t even explain the nice bits that we just assume are there.

WE DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND ‘PEACEFUL’ ISLAM

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Let’s assume for a moment that the politically-correct assessment that Islam is a peaceful religion is correct.

If this assumption is true, then there are some things we can know about our enemies, the main one being that they are prepared to die for something that they don’t understand.

That’s a powerful piece of information to be skilfully exploited. It gives us a new option, other than just bombing our enemy into the next century. We could, instead, use the Koran as a weapon against them.

All it would take is a well-coordinated, well-funded information operations campaign to turn motivated but flawed and violent Muslim wannabes into motivated and peaceful Muslims. If Islam is a peaceful religion, then the answer to the Islamic State is not planes and tanks, but imams and billboards and radio programs and television advertisements and newspaper articles and leaflet drops outlining the true peaceful nature of Islam.

There would be nothing more morale-destroying for an Islamic State warrior than an irrefutable lesson based on Koranic texts that beheading unbelievers and taking their wives as sexual slaves is unIslamic and will send them to hell.

[SLIDE 4]

Unfortunately, there are no campaign plans to do this. One reason is that those who prepare military campaigns know so little about Islam that they couldn’t prepare such a campaign, even if the assumption that Islam is peaceful was correct.

And more unfortunately, you simply cannot build such a campaign. Islam is based on Mohammad’s life, and this is an historical fact: he was a great military commander who built an army and carved out an empire by engaging in warfare and cold-bloodedly destroying his enemies. Anyone who fails to recognise this is really doing Mohammad a great injustice by failing to recognise his successful but merciless use of military force, political genius and ruthless cunning.

So, it’s taken me a long time to answer that very first question about why I’m here. And all I’ve actually done is highlight that the military, intelligence and security agencies don’t understand Islam, that this results in an inability to understand our enemy’s grand strategy, that the Prime Minister himself has released a report acknowledging that we are losing on every front and that even if Islam was peaceful we don’t know enough about it to exploit that fact.

I tell you this so you have an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of those organisations charged with keeping the Sunshine Coast safe.

MY CREDENTIALS

[SLIDE 5]

But what about my credentials?

After all, I’ve just said that I, like every other intelligence officer, have no piece of paper stating that I’m an Islamic expert.

Well my credentials are these:

I spent about five years analysing and briefing senior decision makers on violent groups that use the Koran to justify their actions. The difference between me and most others in my profession was that I actually opened a Koran, or read the hadiths and I gained an understanding of the Islamic justification for these actions. I didn’t just assume that our enemy was crazy, or that Islam could not possibly justify their actions.

I also studied Arabic as a full-time student in 2007. My instructors were Arabic Muslims and Arabic Christians. These studies allowed me to explore Islamic ideology in depth with Muslims and with minorities who lived in Islamic countries.

I also deployed to Iraq on three occasions, spending two Christmases in Baghdad. During these deployments I interacted with Iraqi Army personnel and learnt about Islam from them, or probably more importantly, how they mostly didn’t practice it.

So I have years of practical experience with Islam, analysing jihadis and interacting with other Muslims (who, I might add, I got along very well with), non-practising Muslims and minorities who have lived and suffered in Islamic countries.

This has also been complemented by years of personal study. You don’t have to be a Muslim to open a Koran, or to visit the website of an esteemed Islamic scholar.

You should also know that I have graduated with a BA majoring in history from the University of New South Wales. Military history, especially European and Islamic military history, along with religious studies, has always been an interest of mine.

I am also religious. I wear my Catholic faith on my sleeve. Being Catholic does not give me an insight into Islam in an obvious sense, but I do understand what it is to be motivated by religious beliefs. This is an intangible insight that many secularists who approach Islam do not have.

And since 2013 I have also written extensively about the problems we face on my website bernardgaynor.com.au. If you have visited that website – thank you.

I have also come to know the problems of safety in a very personal way. One of the ‘joys’ of writing about Sharia law and its effects is having the address where you live and raise your children bandied about with Islamic organisations. An ‘Anti-Discrimination Activist’ who describes his work as lodging anti-discrimination complaints did that. He is New South Wales’ most prolific user of that state’s ‘anti-free speech’ laws and a high profile representative of the homosexual community. This situation highlights the callous hatred we face from those who would silence our right to speak, as well as the dangerous and culturally suicidal lunacy of their ideas.

But I didn’t sign up to defend this nation’s freedom and serve overseas to come home and be silenced by bullies and thugs. That is not the Australia that I have gone to war for.

KEEPING THE SUNSHINE COAST SAFE – THE SITUATION

[SLIDE 6]

So with that long introduction out of the way, let’s get into the meat of this presentation: how do we keep the Sunshine Coast safe?

And let’s face facts. Right now, things aren’t as safe as they used to be.

For instance, more Australian-Muslims have signed up to fight with the Islamic State than the Australian Defence Force. That is a fact.

The Australian Islamic community has borne a war casualty rate over 20 times higher than the rest of the nation, but its sons have been dying for a group that we are at war with. That is a fact.

The terrorism threat levels have gone up and Australians have started dying in terrorist attacks at home. That is a fact.

An AWOL Australian Army soldier blew himself up in Syria for the Islamic State. That is a fact.

The report into the Lindt Café Terror Attack stated that Man Haron Monis was not in the top 400 people deemed to pose a terrorist threat in this country and that there are thousands more just like him. That is a fact.

Our Prime Minister has stated that there are at least 30 people who have fought with Islamic State now back in Australia. That is a fact.

The elected representative of Australia’s Islamic community, Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, wrote to the Senate last year stating that laws outlawing the advocation of terrorism infringed his ‘moderate’ community’s religious freedom. That is a fact.

Hizb ut Tahrir has called for an Islamic army in Australia charged with the mission of imposing Sharia law. That is a fact.

And the list goes on.

So, in this environment where danger to ourselves and our culture has so clearly grown that it can touch any part of the Western world, what can be done to keep the Sunshine Coast safe – and not just free from the danger of terrorist attacks, but safe in the sense that residents of the Sunshine Coast are free to live as they please and express their beliefs?

OURSELVES – THE BIGGEST DANGER OF ALL

Well, as always, the first thing that must be understood is the danger itself and how it operates.

And here we must be clear. We actually face two dangers. The small one is Sharia law and the violent system that goes with that. The bigger, internal one is political correctness.

If we can defeat this danger from within, we will be able to face any danger from without.

This is an important point that I want to stress.

There is no point pointing the finger at an ideology that always has and always will seek to impose itself in absolute domination over all others. That’s what Sharia law proclaims and that is an undisputed fact by Muslims who want it and by Muslims who don’t.

So the only reason Sharia law will be implemented here, either legislatively by a government, or by the failure of a government to control vigilantes imposing their own rule in enclaves, as we can see happening all over Europe, is if we let that happen.

And political correctness, over time, will let that happen. There is no doubt about it.

[SLIDE 7]

Political correctness is another term for moral relativism and it’s always directed against our traditional values.

When you analyse political correctness, what you really find is an attempt by some to stop any statements implying that our Western Christian traditions are valuable, worth preserving or better than the alternatives. And you can only think like that if you have already lost all sense of cultural pride and identity and you fail to understand what is civilising, beautiful and noble about our heritage.

So political correctness rejects our past but provides nothing substantial for our future other than a bland belief that all values and cultures are equal, which is just another way of saying that all values and cultures are meaningless.

The logical consequence is a moral and cultural vacuum. And we know that nature abhors a vacuum. If we cease to cherish those ideals that our forefathers stood and fought for, then we are simply waiting for someone else to impose their beliefs on us.

An effect of political correctness is the inability to have free debate and exchange of ideas. This means that our society can’t learn about other ideologies in any meaningful sense. All we are left to know is that we must not offend.

But the consequence of failing to understand what we are letting into this country are dramatic. They are quick. And history shows, for the most part, that they are irreversible. Spain is the only major nation in the world that has been able to free itself of Islamic law once it was imposed – and that took 700 years.

So Australian society can’t afford to muck around with political correctness if it wants to maintain control of its future.

CRYSTAL BALL EUROPE

[SLIDE 8]

So let’s now move to this second danger, Islamic or Sharia law.

The first thing to note is that Australians are fortunate because we have a crystal ball into our future. It is called Europe.

In 2006, the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, had this to say about Europe:

“We have fifty million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe – without swords, without guns, without conquests. The fifty million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.”

Muammar Gaddafi had good reason to be optimistic. Mohammed has just become the most popular boys’ name in England. That means, in 18 years’ time, more Mohammads will be voting for the first time and taking up their place in society than any other name. That is set in stone. It can’t be changed now, even if it is likely to change England forever.

[SLIDE 9]

And these pictures of Marseille show a very different picture of France than most would imagine. This city is no longer French in meaningful sense. French culture has been driven from it.

And all across Europe we see increased terrorist activity, systemic sexual abuse, churches being turned to mosques, rioting, rape, and armed soldiers outside Jewish schools. The list goes on.

This is our crystal ball. This is what happens when widespread Islamic immigration into separate Islamic enclaves occurs in Western nations.

CENTRALITY OF AL HIJRA

[SLIDE 10]

To understand why this happens, one must understand the concept of Islamic immigration, or al hijra.

If you have a watch, raise your arm into the air. And if you have an iPhone, take it out and raise that into the air too.

Now look at them – look at the clock that’s on them.

What date is it right now?

It’s the 21st of March, 2015.

That date is based on the birth of Christ and it reflects something about our culture and traditions.

Now, we are not the only people to have a calendar that relates to an event or a person. There is also an Islamic calendar.

It doesn’t relate to the birth of Mohammad. Nor does it relate to his death.

It relates to his al hijra, his migration from Mecca to Medina. There is a good reason for this. Before Mohammed migrated from Mecca to Medina, Islam was struggling. This was the period of peaceful Islam. However, Mohammad’s migration to Medina resulted in that town rapidly becoming dominated by Islam, the expulsion, destruction, beheading and submission of the Jewish tribes that lived there and the creation of an Islamic army that was able to return in triumph to Mecca and seize control of it.

This al hijra or migration is also notable for another reason: the construction of the very first mosque, a symbol that political Islam, the Islamic state, had arrived.

Thus this al hijra is very important to Islamic ideology and that is why the Islamic calendar is set by it.

Ever since, Islamic immigration has always been used to expand Islamic influence. Indonesia, Malaysia, parts of India, central Asia and Africa became Islamic through al hijra or immigration. And following this, always, was the construction of mosques which were used to plan further Islamic expansion and domination into all areas of society, especially into areas of influence, like politics.

Sharia law commands this migration because Sharia law commands Muslims to follow the example of their prophet. And, I can’t stress this enough, the one action of Mohammad that was deemed to be so important that the entire Islamic calendar is set by it is Mohammad’s al hijra – his migration.

SHARIAH LAW BASIS FOR AL HIJRAH

[SLIDE 11]

There are 91 verses in the Koran stating that Mohammad is perfect. I’ll just give you one for example, Sura 68:4:

“And verily, you (O Muhammad) are on an exalted standard of character.”

Because Mohammad was perfect, he is to be obeyed, as Sura 4:80 states:

“He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad), has indeed already obeyed Allah.”

And what did Mohammad command? Many things. But this particular command is of relevance today, as detailed in the hadiths, or accounts of Mohammad’s life by Abu `Isa Muhammad ibn `Isa at-Tirmidhi.

“I charge you with five of what Allah has charged me: to assemble, to listen, to obey, to immigrate and to wage jihad for the sake of Allah.”

Mohammad commanded that Muslims immigrate and wage jihad.

And this process is to continue until the whole world, including the Sunshine Coast, is subject to Islam. According to another hadith, Mohammad stated:

“O people, immigrate, holding onto Islam, for Hijra or migration is to continue as long as jihad continues.”

The legal Shariah basis for al hijra can be seen in another way as well. Shariah law forbids migration into non-Islamic countries if the purpose of that migration is not to assist with the establishment of Islam in the new location. In fact, the hadiths show that Mohammad forbade migration that involved integration:

“Do not inhabit or settle with non-Muslims and do not collegiate with them for whoever does, is not one of us.”

So we can see that Islamic immigration is commanded as long as jihad continues. Non-Islamic immigration, which includes integration, is forbidden under Sharia law.

Verily, I say to you today that it’s pretty obvious jihad is continuing. After all, the non-Islamic world is known as Dar al Harb, or house of war. And it would seem pretty apparent that Islamic immigration is in full swing in this country as well. In 2001, this nation was home to 281,000 Muslims. Today it has over 500,000 Muslims.

In the decade that we have been fighting Islamically-motivated jihadis in Iraq and Afghanistan, our Islamic population has doubled. And now we are fighting the sons of this population back in Iraq.

This is not an accident. Mohammad’s hijra set the foundation for military action against the unbelievers. If Islamic immigration into Australia hasn’t also done this, then we have just watched a remarkable historical coincidence.

GOAL OF AL HIJRA – ISLAMIC CONQUEST

[SLIDE 12]

Al hijra or Islamic migration is not a pointless activity: it has a purpose. This purpose is the transformation of a non-Islamic society into an Islamic one.

Muslim scholars today teach that the Koran outlines that hijra is always proceeded by faith and followed by jihad (action) in the cause of Allah.

Other scholars state that the aims and objectives of hijra are to revive jihad, strengthen Muslims and establish their authority over non-Muslims.

From this we can see that hijra (migration) and jihad (struggle for Islam) are linked. They are like the hand and the glove. Hijra sets the stage for jihad, or action, to enforce political Islamic domination.

THE EFFECTS OF AL HIJRA

Now, I acknowledge happily that not all people who identify as Muslim individually come to Australia to engage in a conspiracy to overthrow our customs and traditions and way of life to impose an Islamic state based on Sharia law.

But there is plenty of evidence that, as a community, this goal is articulated, desired and encouraged. Hizb ut Tahrir has called for an army to impose Sharia law and just recently more than 100 Islamic organisations, mosques and leaders signed an open letter defending Hizb ut Tahrir.

Furthermore, Sharia law dictates that Muslims who do not engage in migration for this purpose become regarded as unbelievers. It is this law that is of interest to us. Why individual Muslims may not follow it is an interesting question, but one for them to answer.

We can however, make a general observation that if some individual Muslims, even many of them, don’t wish to follow Sharia law that this means even they find something deficient or perhaps abhorrent about that law. We can also make another observation that these Muslims, perhaps termed moderates, have been ineffective in preventing those that take the entirety of Islam seriously from waging violence, or from making increasingly serious demands for concessions for their laws, or for the imposition of their laws.

So we can see the effects of al hijra, not just on ourselves, but on Muslims as well.

[SLIDE 13]

Not surprisingly, one of the effects of al hijra is confusion and alienation within the Islamic community – particularly the younger second and third generation.

On one hand, these young people have grown up in a country that is free and open. And on the other hand, the Sharia law and Islamic teachings state that they must reject this and strive for Islamic domination. In fact, as jihad follows al hijra, there is a Sharia law burden on the generations that follow the original migrants to take action to extend Islamic domination.

Surely this must cause internal conflict and confusion. Indeed, this is a quote from ABC radio:

“The overwhelming concern among the young Australian Muslims was where they could go to hear Islam taught in a manner that made sense to their lives in Australia in the twenty-first century.”

The Islam of Mohammad cannot make sense to a young Australian living in the twenty-first century because it demands subjugation of our society to his rule, Islamic rule, and domination.

In this confusion, or in this desire to find meaning in Islam, it is not surprising that young Muslims may follow the letter of the laws of their prophet and turn to violence. That is exactly what we are seeing in Australia today.

The moderates don’t matter, but their children are increasingly radicalised.

[SLIDE 14]

This confusion is further stoked by the intended effects of al hijra: separation and increasing demands for Islamic recognition.

According to Sharia law, Islamic immigrants must remain separate. They are to build mosques and enclaves and spread and expand from there. This is happening all over Australia and as it does, Sharia law is subtly imposed whether we like it or not. It does not really matter what laws are passed in parliament when an enclave uses religiously driven peer group pressure to implement changes regarding dress, food preparation, alcohol, financial arrangements, segregated bathing times, even female genital mutilation and child brides.

And we’ve even seen this peer group pressure even involve criminal extortion and enforcement.

This process is assisted by anti-discrimination laws that limit debate and discussion and social security arrangements that recognise polygamous relationships. At every step of the way, concessions are made for the Islamic community in order to help them integrate. But they remain separate and so the demand for concessions grow.

[SLIDE 15]

A perfect example is the case of halal slaughtermen. The Department of Agriculture actually runs a program called the Australian Government Authorised Halal Program. This program sees the Australian government hand out ID cards to approved halal slaughtermen. Obviously, to be approved they must be Muslim and vetted by Islamic organisations. Our government regulations are assisting an entire industry to employ staff based on Islamic religious belief – and this is in a country that supposedly has a constitution stating the government will not make laws for establishing any religion or religious observance, or prohibiting the free exercise of religious belief.

The first consequence of a government sanctioned halal slaughter program is that non-Muslims are increasingly forced to consume meat prepared according to a religious belief that they do not hold. That sounds a lot like prohibiting the free exercise of religious belief.

The most ironic thing about the entire halal certification program is that Koranic texts expressly permit Muslims to eat meat prepared by Christians and Jews. So the basis for halal certification is not one of allowing Muslims to eat the food they need. It is one of ensuring Islamic domination.

[SLIDE 16]

Of course, as I mentioned above, Islamic scholars teach that following hijra comes jihad. Not all jihad is violent. Sometimes it’s just plain old political manoeuvring to impose Islamic rule, Sharia law or even small elements of it. But if we are opposed to Sharia law, then it really should not matter to us the means that are used to impose it: the end result is the same thing.

However, that being said, violent jihad poses direct risks to safety in places like the Sunshine Coast. And we have already seen plenty of evidence of violent jihad in Australia. The first of these attacks did not occur in Martin Place last December. It occurred in Broken Hill on 1 January 1915. It was the only attack on Australian soil during World War One and it was carried out by the local imam and his offsider in response to Australia’s declaration of war, not on Turkey, but on the Islamic caliphate. Neither men were Turkish, but they were both Muslim. They killed four Australian civilians celebrating New Years’ Day to ‘defend’ the caliphate.

Conveniently, political correctness has meant that we didn’t spend a cent on this important historical occasion as part of the official commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War.

I do not need to go over the lengthy number of plots and plans to attack Australians in the last decade. You know about them, as you know about the Lindt Café terrorist attack.

This is jihad. It comes after hijra and the statistics would show that it comes from areas where mosques have been built and sizeable Islamic populations have congregated. Any community that wishes to maintain its safety should understand that.

CONCLUSION

[SLIDE 17]

In summary, I would like you to take three points away from today.

Firstly, as a nation we do not know about Islam. This means the agencies charged with keeping the Sunshine Coast safe are not prepared to deal with groups that use Sharia law and Islamic texts to justify violence.

Secondly, the basis for Islamic immigration is coherently laid out as part of Sharia law. This does not mean all Muslims follow this law, but it does mean that an Islamic community that defends those who do call for Sharia law is defending Islamic immigration for the purpose of establishing Islamic domination in Australia and the establishment of political Islamic power in this country.

Thirdly, those who are prepared to migrate to Australia in accordance with Sharia law can be expected to engage in other Sharia law activities, like jihad. This does not always mean violence, although we have seen this in Australia and should be prepared for more of it, but we should also be prepared for other forms of jihad in the political and social sphere conducted to establish political Islamic domination.

[SLIDE 18]

You have been a great audience. You have shown great courage to come today. If you would like to read more about the problems we face, please feel free to visit my website, bernardgaynor.com.au and I will now take your questions.

Powerpoint presentation.