Foehammer’s Anvil

It’s been awhile since I added a video to the Anvil, and today I’ve got a great one. If you haven’t yet seen ‘30 Days as a Muslim’, get ready for an uneasy jaunt into the heart of Muslim America: Dearborn, Michigan.

Oscar-nominated documentary film maker Morgan Spurlock (’Super-Size Me’) presents ‘30 days as a Muslim’.

A Conservative Christian man spends 30 days living as a Muslim with a Muslim family.

While narrating parts of the show, director/producer Morgan Spurlock says something that really caught my ear:

“Even though Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States, there’s a lot Americans don’t know.”

I’m sorry, but I’m simply not buying that statement, and I’ll chalk it up to Spurlock erroneously taking at face-value the propaganda of CAIR representatives that appear in the documentary itself and probably planted some information in his ear. Ah, yes, a CAIR lawyer appears in parts of the video, and most importantly, he shows classic self-righteous indignation near the end of the documentary that is not to be missed.

The case for ‘fastest growing’ religion in the USA simply can not be made, in any way, by any religion, because if you look around for such information you will find numerous religions making the same claim or some so-called expert making it for them. If you want to grow even more confused, then click here. According to the statistics in that link, pagan Wicca, not Christianity, Judaism or Islam, is the fastest growing religion.

A somewhat disturbing statistic that I do tend to believe, however, is that there are now more Muslims in the United States than Jews. This would be an amazing fact, if true, when you consider how much longer Jews have resided in this country. But if the statistics from 2001 are correct (1.5% of US was Jewish and 0.5% Muslim), then by the typical birthrate of Muslims across the globe, I see no reason not to believe that Muslims in the U.S. have closed the gap and even passed Jews in population.

Here is a link that lists a collection of articles and surveys from 2001 to 2005 that all ask the same question — “How many Muslims are in the U.S.A?” The best-guess as of today would put the number at somewhere between 6 and 7 million. In one article linked above the following statement is eye-opening:

The American Jewish Committee and other groups estimate the number of Jews in this country is about 6 million.

“Six million has a special resonance,” Harris wrote in a May 21 article in Jerusalem Report magazine. “It would mean that Muslims outnumber Jews in the U.S. and it would buttress calls for a redefinition of America’s heritage as ‘Judeo-Christian-Muslim,’ a stated goal of some Muslim leaders.”

And that’s from May 21, 2001. Judeo-Christian-Muslim? No comment.

As for the rest of the documentary, here are some points of interest:

• Discussion of Muslim prayer and examples of it. Women are oddly absent throughout all the prayers, except for one or two wives in a household prayer session, and they are absent from 99% of the documentary as well. This is not surprising at all — this is Islam, a massively patriarchal, insecure and misogynistic ideology.
• The Christian man that partakes in the study finds out quickly that he may not socialize or even stay at home with a non-related woman, even the one that is hosting him for the 30 days.
• There are more than 30 mosques in Dearborn, Michigan, one of which is a converted bowling alley.



• Imam Al Husaini makes an appearance in his Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, and if you will recall, this is the same Imam that delivered the prayer for the National Democratic National Committee in February of 2007. Watch his facial expressions and mannerisms very carefully in this documentary. I think you’ll notice what I noticed.
• There’s a Muslim bachelor party. Take special note of “how seriously they take it” and then you, the reader, should reflect on how seriously they must take all things in Islam. You get my point.



• Islamic food traditions and Halal are discussed. Butchers won’t ever go out of business in an Islamic community.
• There is a scene where a Muslim wrongly suggests that drinking alcohol is forbidden in Christian faith. Any Catholic would instantly laugh at such a claim, and dare I say, especially the priests. Drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden by Islam. No surprise.
• Unexpectedly, you’ll end up in Hamtramck, Michigan and hear the Muslim Call to Prayer that is still a point of hot contention even today.



• See if you spot the infamous Islamic Center of America, sans the graffiti.
• Last but hardly least, mention is made and many examples shown of ‘Islamophobia’. These two segments left me laughing. The people were reacting as the majority of us would. You’ll see for yourself.

‘30 Days as a Muslim’ ends with the to-be-expected touchy-feely closing, but don’t worry — the ‘hero’ isn’t turned into a Muslim ‘revert’. Nothing of the sort and by watching this video, you won’t be either. However, by the end I also want you to consider what you’ve seen and then think about this thought that sprung into my mind while watching it for the first time myself:

Have you ever wondered at the extreme hate that fills Muslims when they protest? Could it be because it is the one facet of Islamic life that is constantly esteemed and encouraged by calls to wage the ’struggle’ (jihad), while many of the ordinary things that we as Westerners and non-Muslims find fun are contained, diminished, demonized or cut-out entirely (i.e. dance, music, access to the opposite sex, alcohol). I believe this is exactly the case. When so many emotional, human outlets are repressed but the one outlet that is applauded is the ’struggle’ against the Unbelievers, then how can any outcome other than conflict arise?

Watch ‘30 Days as a Muslim’