Education

Georgetown U Students Reject Criticism Of Sharia Law As ‘Hate Speech’

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
Font Size:

Nonie Darwish grew up as a Muslim girl in Egypt and wants to tell American university students what Sharia law is really like.

A lot of them don’t care to hear about it and don’t even think Darwish should have the freedom of speech to tell her side of the story — including some of the Georgetown University College Republicans (GUCR) who invited her to speak at their academy Tuesday night.

According to Campus Reform, her presentation at Georgetown University this week prompted a torrent of angry student voices who called Darwish’s condemnation of Sharia law “hate speech.”

The lecture was co-sponsored by the GUCR and the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute. Just days before Darwish was scheduled to appear, The Georgetown Voice published an article by undergrad student Aly Panjwani warning that the university would become a vehicle for the “hateful and violent views” that Darwish allegedly espouses.

Panjwani also suggested that the university had grievously offended Muslims by inviting Asra Nomani to speak, who is a Muslim woman and former Georgetown professor who happened to vote for President Donald Trump.

Without a hint of irony, Panjwani claimed, “My critique of these speakers is not an effort to silence free speech,” but only that “these speakers are not exercising free speech, they are exercising hate speech, a speech of the kind that no organization, especially at Georgetown, should endorse or give a platform to.”

Her appeal was supposedly supported by dozens of emails to the college republicans from the Muslim Students Association at Georgetown, prompting college republican secretary Javon Price to resign, stating on his Facebook page that Darwish should never have been invited because of the “clear distinction between free speech and hate speech.”

“I for one, reject and condemn any organization that hides behind the righteous principles of free speech,” wrote Price. “I implore the College Republicans to cancel this event. If not, we not only choose to ignore the voices of our fellow Hoyas, but to maliciously offend them and their beliefs.”

Falling on his sword earned Price the hearty congratulations of the The Georgetown University College Democrats, who concurred with his designation of the lecture as hate speech, as they threw in a little “Islamophobia” for good measure.

“Islamophobia and bigotry will not be tolerated in any form on Georgetown’s campus, especially not under the guise of conservatism.”

“Islamophobia” advocates organized their own event to compete with Darwish’s lecture, entitled “Muslim Responses to Islamophobia.”

Darwish faced her critics head-on when she answered questions following her presentation, saying she respects the right of anyone to disagree with her but, if so, they might at least come to the event and “ask questions.”

She told Campus Reform that her experience has demonstrated a dangerous double-standard towards religion on college campuses, where students are afraid to be critical of Islam but heap abuse on Christianity.

“This is scary to me,” said Darwish. “I want to kiss [the floor of America] because it gave me dignity as a woman, and I am speaking because I want to save you from making any ideology, not just Islam, above criticism. I beg you consider that.”

Follow David on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel