Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror

Nonie Darwish has written a very important book that chronicles her experiences growing up as a perceptive upper class Egyptian woman in the post WWII world. This period has seen the revival of Islamic fundamentalism throughout the Muslim world. She vividly describes the gradual descent of Egyptian culture as oil money gave voice to the most primitive political-religious elements within the Middle East.Ms. Darwish writes very well and one can easily see the charms of the Middle Eastern world as well as the terrible costs to the whole world of this renewed appeal to a dysfunctional 7th century belief system. The heavily filtered information flows and constant drumfire of hate propaganda against Israel and the United States has corrupted even the best educated in Egyptian society so that on her last visit to her family in 2001 she encountered ignorant statements that a generation earlier would have been considered boorish.Her chapter on the vicious consequences of polygamy on wives especially, but ultimately on the men, the family, and the whole society is described with careful analysis. The horrible results certainly argue against any tinkering with our traditional one man - one woman families. The easy availability of second wives poisons the family structure and prevents friendships among adult women.Nonie Darwish's open enquiring nature found a natural home in the United States and she can be counted as one of our citizens who understands fully why America is such a wonderful place to live. Since she grew up in Egypt and spent her first 3 decades as a careful observer and participant in that culture she has important information for immigrants to the United States from any of the Arab cultures. The chapter "A New Beginning in America" should be read by every immigrant or visitor from an Arab culture. It will allay unnecessary worries, and if acted on, will give the immigrant or visitor opportunities for a life that was never possible in their home culture. Throughout her book she makes comparisons of the cultures and expresses surprise at the low value often expressed, particularly on college campuses, about the value of a Western culture.She explains that most mosques in the U.S. are under the control of radical imams imported from and paid by Saudi Arabia and have become places in which few self-respecting American Muslims would set foot. She recommends that American Muslims hire their own imams, take back or build their own mosques, and send the terrorist recruiters packing.She has been shocked by the degree of radicalism she encountered on American college campuses. Until she felt compelled to start lecturing after 9/11, she had not encountered the Middle Eastern anti-intellectualism and hate propaganda in America. She now knows it is infecting the country she loves and needs to be exposed for its fraud it is.This is a truly wonderful book and should be read by every literate American. It can also be of tremendous value to any immigrant from an Arab culture.

It is tragic that President Bush and his advisors didn't have the benefit of this book before they made their tragic decision to "bring Democracy to Iraq". Politicians and statesmen think they, unlike the common people, see the "big picture" and that what is important are the relations between the top leaders or the elites of different countries. It was delusions like this that lead Israel's elite to attempt to make "peace" with Palestinian terrorist chieftain Yasser Arafat, which instead brought war and immense suffering to both sides, and similarly, brought the United States to Iraq in order to bring "democracy" to people who didn't ask them to do it and don't comprehend what it means, leading to the tragedy of the unending civil war and American casualties there. Nonie Darwish, in this outstanding, well-written book points out how deeply ingrained attitudes of tribalism and self-centeredism have distorted Arab society, and how this is afflicting not just the Arabs, but now, the entire world.It is important to understand that the whole world was once built upon the basis of tribalism and clannishness, but the Western World and laterthe Far East learned that it is necessary to transcend these particularist loyalties in order to create a civil society that serves the common good and that one must have loyalties to the larger society around them. Tragically, the Arab world has never outgrown their historical adolesence. Nonie points out that a Muslim Arab's life is made up of constant friction in dealing with the outside world. If a person an Arab encounters in the street belongs to a superior tribe or group, he must be grovelled to, on the other hand, if the person is of an inferior tribe or group, he must be treated like garbage. However, the greatest insight Nonie gives in the book is her description of how this mentality can poison life EVEN WITHIN THE MOST INTIMATE FAMILY CIRCLE. The polygamy system means that a wife can never completely trust her husband because she is always faced with the possibility that he will bring home a new wife, and then she has to share any inheritance, losinga considerable amount of possibly a lifetime's work. Women warn each other "spend any money he makes as fast as you can so that he won't have enough to marry another wife". Nonie describes the very problematic "mother-in-law"-"daugther-in-law" relationship in which the mother-in-law often treats the daughter-in-law as a slave, and if she doesn't cooperate, the mother-in-law will tell her son to threaten to take another wife!These distortions and frustrations of day-to-day life in the Arab world is then reflected upwards into the society as a whole. This explains the unending anger of the Arabs towards everyonewho is even mildly critical of them and their nursing of ancient grudges. The "democracy" the Americans foolishly tried to push onto Iraq requires an outlook totally at variance with this tribalistic-clannish mentality, involving large numbers of people working together to peacefully advance their society as a whole. Such a mentality is totally alien to the Arab world, which is the reason why EVERY Arab state, even the ostensibly "liberal" ones like Jordan and Tunisia are actually iron-fisted dictatorships, intolerant of any opposition. This is because if the opposition ever got to power, they would automatically institute the same kind of system. Removing Saddam Hussein's dictatorship removed the restraints (which are based on fear, not Constitutional law as in the Western democracies) that prevent the different groups from getting vengeance (Shias against Saddam's Sunni oppression) or attempting to take over all the assets of the country.By the way, it should be pointed out that, despite what some of her opponents claim, that Nonie is NOT "anti-Islamic". She does NOT criticize the Quran or Muhammed or the religion, except for its acceptance of polygamy. Her problem is with the structure of Arab society and how it uses Islam to further its distorted values.Nonie makes it clear that even many Arabs who go live in the Western Democracies don't learn to appreciate the values there, but simply look at their presence there as an opportunity to milk those societies for all the rights and money they can get out of them while openly rejecting its values.The conclusion I reached from reading this book is to realize that the answer, at least for the short term, to the problem of Arab radicalism is NOT to attempt to force them to become democracies. The West can't impose its values, but instead to say that they have a "Zero Tolerance" for extremism emanating from their society. For example, Egypt State Television produced a 40+ part television series proporting to say thatthe infamous anti-Semitic forgery called the "Protocol of Elders of Zion"was true. Instead of demanding "free elections" in Egypt which would only bring the even more radical Islamic groups to power, the US should say to the Egyptians "if you want to purvey anti-Semitism, that is your decision, but you are not going to get any aid money [over $2 Billion per year] out of us". Instead of pandering to Saudi Arabia, the biggest exporter of radical Islamic ideology whose money is corrupting Islamic groups in the US and Europe, or demanding "democracy" there, the world should make a major effort to replace oil as a major source of energyand actively prevent Saudi subversion of moderate Islamic groups.These things will not be easy, but Nonie Darwie has sounded the warning, and it is at our peril that she be ignored or silenced.

I first read this book when I found it in our public library. It was very interesting and informative. The author was raised in Egypt, which was a liberal Muslim country, so she did not observe Muslim customs much. Even so, she saw the effects of Islamic law on both men and women. Women are oppressed, but men are also demeaned by their religion. The author was able to leave Egypt for America, which she dearly loves, and she feels compelled to write and speak out about the dangers of Islam. She had been given a good education, which enabled her to know how to escape the life she was born into. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

A honest insider in the islamic culture in egypt. In islamic thinking in general also. A very honest written book. You get the feeling you see all things written on a movie screen.

I have a first hand experience of the events and the social and political interactions described in this book. Without doubt, Ms. Darwish's account and analysis are the most accurate that I have seen. Therefore, it is not only an interesting read but most informative for anyone seeking a realistic view of the Egyptian political and social life in the 60's and 70's.

This illuminating , penetrating, engrossing and heartfelt book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to truly understand the realities and dynamics at play concerning terrorism, the threat of Islamist radicalism to the free world , the Arab-Israel conflict and Islamic oppression of and atrocities against women and minorities.Nonie Darwish in the first chapter of the book describes her childhood in Cairo and Gaza. Her father a top officer in Egyptian military intelligence was the man in charge of facilitating attacks of the terrorist 'fedayeen ' incursions into Israel in which many Israeli civilians were murdered. He was assassinated by Israeli intelligence in a military operation . This , Darwish , rightly puts the blame for squarely of the Egyptian tyrant Gamel Abdel Nasser, the greatest enemy of Israel and the Jewish people from 1953 to 1970, and who in his obsessive passion to destroy Israel and drive her Jewish population into the sea, thus in his mind restoring Arab honour, also caused many Egyptian deaths and suffering.When she arrived as a child in Gaza she recalls the poverty of the areas when it was then under Egyptian control (under Israeli control from 1967 to 2005, the standard of living shot up exponentially) . The Arab powers wanted to see the lives of the 'Palestinian' Arab refugees as intolerable and pushed up against the Israeli border with no where else to go so that A) They could be used as terrorist infiltrators to attack and kill Israeli civilians and B) World pressure would be brought to bear on Israel. And thus Nasser's regime refused to relocate the 'Palestinian' Arab refugees into the vast spacious and almost empty Sinai peninsular.In January 1956 Nasser vowed a renewed campaign of aggression against Israel and more fedayeen terror groups were trained in Gaza to infiltrate Israel and kill Israeli Jews. Israeli commandos were sent to Nonie's heavily guarded home but she only found out in the morning and slept throughout. This struck Nonie that the Israelis did not harm the women and children in the house though the Egyptian-organized terrorist fedayeen frequently murdered Israeli civilians, women and children.In Chapter 2 Darwish describes 'Growing up in Cairo' where women were horrifically oppressed and abused, and could not enjoy any of the basic human rights women in western countries take for granted, where hatred for Jews and Christians was and the culture of jihad (holy war) inculcated in all Egyptian Muslims since birth. As she describes 'No Arab could avoid the culture of Jihad. Jihad is not some esoteric concept. In the Arab world the m,earning of jihad is clear: It is a religious holy war against infidels. , an armed struggle against anyone who is not a Muslim. It is a fight for Allah's cause to promote Islamic dominion in the world.'The calls in the mosques as the author describes were frequently followed by fiery sermons that urged Muslims to destroy all Jews and infidels, the enemies of Allah.And then of course there was the class system. social classes in Egypt were and are very stratified. The upper classes treat the poor in Muslim countries with arrogance, contempt, cruelty and injustice.This is a far cry from the more egalitarian society Israel was founded on, and I believe that the fear that Israel's democratic and egalitarian society would inspire the Arab proletariat to want the same was a large part of the reason that the Arab effendis stirred up the masses for jihad against the Jews.Darwish stresses that few Westerners can comprehend the degree to which hatred of Jews (Not just Zionists but Jews) permeates every aspect of Arab culture. She began to wonder 'What was wrong with allowing a few million Jews to live among us in peace?Arab land was plenty. They had only a small sliver of land, in some places only thirty kilometers wide. But the hatred and anti-Semitism was frighteningly prevalent in our society'In Chapter Four Darwish further elaborates the culture of oppression, atrocities and institutionalized rape in Muslim countries Poor Egyptian girls without fathers or brothers who decide to wear Western clothes are seen as deserving of rape and/or murder.For this reason many young women, even though secular choose to cover their heads for their own safety and survival. And yet leftwing Western feminists very seldom speak out against gender oppression in Muslim countries, because this would not fit in with their perfidious political agenda.A women who chooses her own sexual partners is often punished by death in these societies . And Darwish also refers to the system of slavery in Sudan by the Muslim Arabs of the North against the Christians and Animists of the South.Darwish boldly and valiantly points out against the hypocritical and wicked Islamist and neo-leftist propaganda that 'Judeo-Christian culture has greatly contributed to humanity and the order of things in Western civilization by it's insistence on the value of one man and one women joined in holy matrimony'Chapter Five 'The Invisible Wall' describes the culture of indoctrination and bottomless hate against the Free West and particularly against Jews and Israel, which can only mirror that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 40s. The author tells us how 'The public was continually told that the Jews and Israel wanted to conquer the Arab world. Golda Meir was portrayed in Egyptian cartoons as an ugly, bloodsucking woman with dangling breasts, messy hair and blood dripping from her mouth . All Jews were supposed to look like that - holding bloody daggers after killing little Arab babies' How sad one can only reflect it is how the leftist media in the West and elsewhere around the world have copied this anti-Israel demonology.To survive one had to agree with this hatred or at least pretend to. A similar culture which exists across the Muslim world is now also reproducing in universities, leftwing media and NGO circles and regimes like South Africa and Venezuela.In the sixth chapter where she describes life in America she both describes a freer more humane society (and for all the faults of American and Western society no decent person can deny that is far morally superior and more humane than any Islamic society) as well as Islamic radicalization in American mosques and universesShe makes the point that most Muslims all over the world today are part of a 'political Islam' rather than any introspection of personal relationship with their Creator. And that often the nonpartisan Muslims are just as extreme , biased, violent and supportive of terror as the religious extremists.Those who brainwash children in Muslim countries are no doing the same in Western countries they have immigrated to and aim to invade and claim Western societies that have received them as their own. The West must be conquered for Islam.Furthermore Darwish observes how their is a venomous jealousy of Jewish achievement in the Muslim world Instead of trying to emulate and learn from those achievements Muslims want to murder them , demonize and destroy them, Perhaps because they remind them of the inadequacies and mass poverty of Arab societies despise these Arab nations halving rich oil reserves.On her visit to Egypt after 20 years of living in America Darwishpointsout that she saw more radicalism and religious repression than ever before. the 'religion of peace' in Egypt are suppressing ands genocide the Copts.Darwish outlines her noble initiative of Arabs for Israel which aims to spread understanding and tolerance and the acceptance of the right of the tiny state of Israel to exist limn peace and security in the Middle East neighborhood. Darwish would like to tell the Palestinians and the Arab world that having a neighbor of a different religion and culture need not be a reason for hatred , violence, feminization and genocidal intentions. that it can be a blessing. and an asset.Sadly Darwish in her campaign for genuine peace, tolerance and human rights has been prosecuted and attempts made to silence her not only by Islamist extremists but also by the radical left who today care nothing for human rights, truth or real justice but only their wicked jihad to destroy Israel and the free world. They therefore try to silence those who want peace in the middle East rather than genocide of Israel, and who want real rights for women and minoritiesThese wicked nihilistic far left radicals control universities , the media and NGOS and even some governments and have decided it suits tier nefarious purposes to back uncritically the IslamoNazis. They refer to all who speak up against the Islamist oppression and terror as ''racist's , 'Islamophobes' and 'bigots. But it is people like Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel, Wafa Sultan, Bat Yeor, Robert Spencer, Melanie Philips, Julie Burchill, Geert Wilder, Ayaan Hirsi Ali Pat Condell, Daniel Pipes, Guilio Meotti, Caroline Glick, Nadia Matar, Pilar Rahola and the late Oriana Fallaci who are the brave forces of truth and humanity who refuse to be politically correct and cowardly and who refuse to allow evil and inhumanity to prevail.

Ho preso il libro (IN INGLESE) dopo che mi ha colpito nell'estratto di prova inviatomi dal Kindle la frase dell'autrice che mentre le autorità e famigliari dicevano che suo padre era morto come uno shahid (martire combattente) contro Israele, per lei bambina l'unica cosa importante è che non poteva più averlo vivo con la famiglia.Questo desiderio della vita e dell'amore famigliare in contrasto alla glorificazione della morte per combattere ed uccidere tutti gli 'altri' (gli ebrei) mi ha spinto a comprarlo.Queste sono le memorie di piu' di 50 anni di storia dell'autrice, di cui i primi 30 passati in Egitto.Si vedono il buon cuore delle persone umili, dei pescatori del Delta e di coloro che nella società islamica sono nonostante le affermazioni del Corano di dare asistenza ai poveri, degli emarginati e trattati con disprezzo come schiavi dai benestanti e locali padroni, un'ingiustizia e disuguaglianza sociale accettati anche dai mullah con l'affermazione che se ci sono cosi' tanti poveri è 'per volontà di Allah'.Vediamo come l'autrice è costretta nella società sempre più islamizzantesi dopo la guerra del 1967 tutto il dramma di vivere in una società dove tutti si controllano a vicenda, dove le donne vivono nel terrore che il marito possa sposarsi una moglie più giovane per piacere o desiderio figli maschi senza che possa far nulla e non avendo diritto all'eredità od al divorzio se non per il capriccio maschile.Ma anche i maschi vivono una vita infelice, costretti a dover sempre controllare e vegliare sull'onorabilità del loro nome e punendo anche con la morte, l'eventuale disonore di un membro femminile di anche lontani rami famigliari. (il piu' terribile e ripugnante è l'uccidere una parente donna cameriera violentata e messa incinta dal padrone di casa, cosa purtroppo comune ed accettata dal regime nasseriano ed anche temo oggi)A questo aggiungiamo il continuo bombardamento dai microfoni delle moschee (cui fa contralto la descrizione suggestiva del melodioso canto d'invito alla preghiera) di incitazione all'uccidere e distruzione d'Israele e degli USA, ogni giorno per anni.L'autrice proprio grazie alla sua educazione 'occidentale' riesce a farsi assumere e poi trasferire negli usa (pagando per i documenti pure una tangente per sbloccare la pratica).Qui diciamo ha la sua 'fulminazione sulla strada di Damasco': vede benessere, assistenza ai poveri ma senza lo sdegno sociale verso i piu' sfortunati, il piacere e volontà di fare anche lavori manuali da parte degli americani (nell'Islam i lavori non da scrivania sono visti come disprezzabili cosi' come le persone che lo fanno).L'autrice riesce a crearsi una nuova vita, ad essere felice per essere semplicemente libera di poter scegliere.Lieto fine direte voi? Alessandro Manzoni diceva che alle persone nelle storie interessano i drammi non vite liete e serene e purtroppo la longa manus dell'odio ed orrore islamico compaiono anche negli stati uniti, grazie ai predicatori dell'islam integralista wahabita dell'arabia saudita.L'autrice è sgomenta di vedere le americane soprattutto farsi persuadere da questi ricchi (grazie ai petrodollari) predicatori mullah ad indossare il velo e lo hijab, senza rendersi conto di gettarsi in un'orrore da cui lei stessa a fatica era sfuggita in Egitto.Forse è emblematico che il punto di svolta sia l'11 Settembre 2001, proprio il giorno dopo il suo rientro da una visita ai famigliari in Egitto (e sia lei che le figlie sono traumatizzate dal peggioramento socio-economico ed oscurantismo islamico del paese)Quando vede le immagini del secondo aereo che s'infila nella torre Nord del WTC si rende conto che l'odio ed orrore integralista ha raggiunto pure gli Stati Uniti e cerca da parenti ed amici egiziani, persone di buon cuore una condanna per una simile atrocità compiuta dagli integralisti.Questa è forse la parte piu' agghiacciante e rivela l'abisso morale in cui è precipitato il mondo islamico: tutti, ma proprio tutti parenti ed amici o rifiutano la responsabilità islamica, adducendo un complotto sionista oppure che gli americani venivano puniti e fatti soffrire come avevano sofferto per anni i palestinesi. Un rifiuto completo di accettare la responsabilità nel nome della religione in cui credono, anche perchè la società islamica ritiene un disonore o stupidità individuale riconoscere le proprie colpe e favorisce lo scaricabarile sugli altri (metodo incentivato anche delle dittature mediorientali per non dover rispondere delle falle della loro gestione nazionale)L'autrice decide di farsi coraggio ed inizia sia un blog che nel tempo conferenze ed incontri sul problema di come sia mutato l'Islam, dell'orrore che li attende a divenire musulmani o sposarsi a musulmani delle regioni mediorientali (le donne ed i bambini nati da esse spesso pagano il prezzo piu' alto), tuttavia non si sottrae al confronto con i rappresentanti wahabisti (assai abili con il dialogo) nelle conferenze universitarie, ma in un confronto democratico e di dibattito che lo riconosco, è un esempio di cui gli americani possono solo essere elogiati e superiori agli europei.L'autrice loda anche Magdi Allam per il suo coraggio e soprattutto vede finalemnte il paese che per decenni gli hanno inculcato in egitto ad odiare ed ucciderne tutti gli abitanti: Israele.Il libro è estremamente appassionante, più di ogni altra cosa è un inno alla vita ed al rifiuto della cultura dell'odio, violenza, invidia ed ipocrisia ed autogiustificazione assolutoria, ossia tutto l'humus culturale ed ideologico che ha creato la perversione che è l'islam dominante nel medio oriente.L'autrice critica anche le debolezze, ingenuità ed autolesionismo culturale che spesso sia europei che americani 'illuminati' pongono nei confronti di un sistema d'idee e sopprafazione orrendo con la giustificazione del politicamente corretto.E' per molti versi simile ai libri di critica di Magdi Allam e di Oriana Fallaci dell'Islam moderno di tipo wahabita o salafita/fondamentalista, ma con un tocco di donna e madre che tocca piu' nel profondo IMHO.Consigliatissimo, solo premuratevi di leggerlo poco per volta e sorseggiando the o altre cose rilassanti, vengono menzionate cose e fatti che gridano vendetta alla dignità delle persone, specie le donne.

A fascinating insight to growing up and maturing in an Islamic culture. I found Darwish's experiences very helpful to understand some of the problematic challenges associated with Islamic extremism and the animosity to the west, which confound those who grew up in western democrasies, with liberal cultures and judeo-christian ethics and values.