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Daniel Pipes Obsessed with Everything Muslim

Posted on Tuesday December 17, 2002

Washington—In response to yet another Islamophobic tirade by New York Post columnist Daniel Pipes, Arab American Institute President Dr. James J. Zogby sent the following letter to the editor:

“Daniel Pipes has a problem—his obsessive hatred of all things Muslim. In an article many years ago, Pipes accused Arabs and Muslims of being obsessed with Jews. In fact, it is Pipes who goes to bed at night and wakes up in the morning worried about the Muslim under his bed and all things Arab.

“It used to be said that an anti-Semite was someone who would say ‘some of my best friends are Jews’ because what the anti-Semite feared was not individual Jews but organized Jewry. While Pipes will acknowledge a ‘good Muslim’ here or there he has never met a Muslim organization, institution or mosque that he does not fear or revile. Even efforts to simply explain the religion are subject to his wrath.

“This time he has turned his malicious pen on PBS for airing and partially funding an incredible documentary that will present Islam, its Prophet Muhamad and Muslims to an American public that has shown an increasing interest in understanding this faith. Pipes’ disturbing preoccupation with this documentary is symptomatic of his paranoia.

“Pipes is unashamed of his bigotry and would shout it from the rooftop if allowed. For example, in 1990 Pipes claimed, “Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene… All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most.” In 1999 he announced that “Following Marxism, Leninism and Fascism comes Islamism…Islamism is a…phenomenon that has the power to do mischief.” And more recently, Pipes claimed “...black converts [to Islam] tend to hold vehemently anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic attitudes.”

“Pipes is to Muslims what David Duke is to African Americans. Thank goodness the Post does not employ Duke as a columnist. One bigot is enough.”

Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute (AAI) is a nonprofit organization committed to the civic and political empowerment of Americans of Arab descent. AAI provides policy, research and public affairs services to support a broad range of community activities.