As the trial of Geert Wilders for insulting Islam moves forward in the Netherlands, the one witness that could clear him of these charges will not be called.
Muhammad Taqi Usmani is a highly respected and well-known expert on Islamic law who served for 20 years as a Sharia judge on Pakistan's Supreme Court. He is quite possibly the world's most influential Islamist thinker and writer outside of the Middle East. Usmani is a frequent visitor to Britain, where his monograph Islam and Modernism caused a great deal of controversy.
Why is Usmani so important for the purposes of Wilders' trial? Simply put, Usmani's interpretation of Islamic doctrine as it concerns non-believers is the same as Wilders'. Indeed, the critical lesson to be gleaned from Usmani's work bolsters the very argument that Wilders is on trial for making namely, that the doctrine of jihad, as expounded in Islamic texts, inherently poses a threat to Western civilization. In fact, Osama Bin Laden made the exact same point in a lengthy essay entitled Moderate Islam is a Prostration to the West' (reproduced in Raymond Ibrahinm's The al Qaeda Reader).
I don't know if Wilders is familiar with Islam and Modernism. However, the reader of this work will be struck by the similarities between it and Fitna, the short film that has played a significant role in landing Wilders in court. The critical difference between the two is that no one especially no Muslim thinker, writer or the Organization of Islamic Countries has ever accused Usmani of hate speech or of insulting Islam. And yet, consistency of treatment would mandate that if Wilders must go to trial, so should Usmani. At the very least, Usmani should be publicly condemned and ridiculed by prominent Muslim thinkers in Muslim countries.
Consider the nature of his work. Islam and Modernism is broadside attack against modernist Muslim thinking and Western civilization. Usmani is critical of modern practices such as charging interest, women and men working together, birth control, and science that it is not used to further religious thinking. Even America's moon landing in 1969 is described as an international crime.'
However, it is his chapter on offensive jihad, which he calls aggressive jihad, that is most significant for purposes of Wilders' trial. Offensive jihad is the Islamic doctrine that requires Muslims to subjugate unbelievers to Islamic rule by imposing a number of restrictions, including paying a special tax known as the jizya. Usmani categorically rejects the idea, stated by some modern Muslim thinkers, that offensive jihad can be abandoned if Muslims are freely allowed to proselytize among non-Muslims (though non-Muslims can never freely proselytize in Muslim countries). He states that in my humble knowledge there has not been a single incident in the entire history of Islam where Muslims had shown their willingness to stop jihad just for one condition that they be allowed to preach Islam freely.' He cites the Quran to the effect that killing is to continue until the unbelievers pay jizyah after they are humbled and overpowered.'
The jizya is important in Usmani's eyes because it is the necessary precondition for non- Muslims to convert to Islam. He asks:
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