Ed West meets the extraordinary Egyptian convert warning Europeans not to abandon their Judeo-Christian heritage
The Catholic Herald, October 9, 2009
Slight of build and dressed in the stylish manner of the European-influenced Arab middle class, Nonie Darwish could be any wealthy Levantine in Paris or west London.
But behind the veneer of Egyptian elegance is a one-woman anti-jihad machine, a Christian convert from Islam, founder of a group called Former Muslims United and author of two books highly critical of Sharia law, Arab policy towards Israel and Islamists’ ambitions for global conquest.
Darwish is often compared to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born Dutch feminist, but whereas Ali is an atheist who stands up for Europe’s “Enlightenment values” against Islam, Darwish is a Christian who believes “that Judeo-Christian culture produces healthier, happier and more just societies, whereas Islamic culture produces tyrannical regimes and oppression”.
As a result her life is in danger. Is there any specific death threat, I ask, when we meet in central London.
“I’m not aware of a fatwa, but my life is in danger,” she says with a shrug. “Just like anyone who speaks about the nature of Islam.”
And Islamic fundamentalists have every reason to hate her. She is regularly attacked on the front pages of Egyptian newspapers, where she is called a “traitor”. She campaigns against Sharia law and against those who threaten apostates. She is a regular on the lecture circuit, where she criticises Arab foreign policy.
And perhaps even more irritating for many back home, she is the founder of the oxymoronic-sounding group Arabs for Israel, and has written two books with subtitles that need little explanation: Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror, and the recently published Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Sharia Law. (Read More)
