Exposing Islam

Polished Masks – How Western Islamic Institutions Rebrand Classical Supremacism

🎓 1. Zaytuna College (Berkeley, CA, USA)

Founded by Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir, Zaytuna is promoted as the first accredited Islamic liberal arts college in the U.S.

📚 Curriculum Sources:

Al-Ghazali’s Ihya Ulum al-Din (includes jihad as religious obligation)
Reliance of the Traveller (Shafi‘i manual affirming execution for apostasy, blasphemy, jizya for non-Muslims)

Yet Zaytuna’s public narrative focuses on “beauty,” “tradition,” and “ethics,” carefully avoiding discussion of these harsh doctrines in public forums.

✅ Public language: “Moral excellence,” “Islamic tradition,” “virtue”
❌ Omitted terms: Jihad as warfare, apostasy law, hudud punishments, dhimma system

🇬🇧 2. Islamic Colleges in the UK

🏫 Markfield Institute of Higher Education (Leicester)

Affiliated with the Islamic Foundation, Markfield offers degrees in Islamic Studies and hosts interfaith dialogues.

But it also draws heavily on Abul A‘la Maududi, the Pakistani founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, who explicitly advocated theocratic rule by Sharia.

Maududi on jihad:

“Islam requires the earth — not just a portion, but the entire planet.”

📕 Textbooks used:

Fiqh al-Sunnah by Sayyid Sabiq (includes corporal punishments, apostasy rulings)
The Islamic Way of Life by Maududi (calls democracy “a form of shirk”)

⚠️ Tactic: Promote Maududi’s works in Arabic and Urdu syllabi, while whitewashing his message in English-language public engagement.

🕌 3. Islamic Online University (founded by Bilal Philips)

Widely accessed by Western Muslims seeking a structured Islamic education.

🔍 Taught Materials:

Ibn Taymiyyah’s Fatawa
Classical works promoting hudud, jihad, and slavery

Though the website projects a moderate image, core teachings include:

“There is a consensus of Islamic jurists on the execution of the apostate.”

✅ Uses modern UX, videos, and English-friendly branding
❌ Still channels Wahhabi and Salafi jurisprudence with minimal reinterpretation

🏛️ 4. Western Universities Hosting “Islamic Studies”

🧑‍🏫 Harvard, Oxford, SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), and more

While appearing academic and secular, these institutions regularly host:

Professors and guest lecturers who sanitize jihad as merely “inner struggle”
Sufi mysticism as a Trojan horse to reintroduce classical Sharia via scholars like al-Ghazali, who explicitly affirmed offensive jihad, and death for apostasy

⚠️ Result: Students encounter an “aesthetic” Islam, divorced from its jurisprudential realities — romanticizing a faith without reckoning with its supremacist legacy.

🎤 5. ISNA, CAIR, and Academic Co-Branding

Groups like the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR):

Partner with universities for “diversity” and “interfaith” programs
Advocate against “Islamophobia” while avoiding condemnation of classical Islamic legal codes still taught worldwide

These groups often invite speakers (like Siraj Wahhaj or Omar Suleiman) who:

Publicly affirm belief in the Qur’an’s legal system
Avoid discussing hudud, jihad, or dhimma openly but endorse them in closed lectures or texts

🧨 Conclusion: Rebranding Is Not Reform

“Reform” isn’t happening. What’s happening is rhetorical laundering.

Western Islamic institutions are not revising the content of traditional fiqh — they are changing the packaging:

Arabic terms are left untranslated (e.g., “hikmah,” “fiqh,” “jihad”) to confuse outsiders.
Brutal doctrines are softened with euphemisms: “social justice,” “communal obligations,” “legal pluralism”.
The result is a sanitized storefront hiding an unchanged backroom.