Recently, Kumail Nanjiani, the star of HBO’s “Silicon Valley,” complained to Chelsea Handler on her Netflix talk show about the supposed negative image of Muslims in American popular culture. A Pakistani-American and Muslim, Nanjiani asked Handler what she sees in her head when she thinks of Muslims and Handler answered that she envisions “serious people” and “…not like …fun.” Nanjiani interjected “there’s a beard” as she was speaking and she agreed and repeated “beard”.
Handler’s answer, apparently, revealed the horrific bigotry of America and its culture — and Nanjiani explained what a big scandal it all represents. This is why, he told Handler, his wife wants to start a Tumblr called, ‘Muslims Having Fun.’ Because, you see, as Nanjiani whined, one never sees Muslims having fun in American popular culture.
Handler got very excited about all of this and subsequently tweeted out in moral indignation: “Why don’t we get to see any fun Muslims?”
Oh, the injustice of it all.
What Nanjiani won’t tell us, of course, and what Handler would never dare say, let alone fathom, is that maybe we see “serious-minded” Muslim men with beards, and we don’t regularly see any Muslims having fun, is because . . . well . . . it may all have something to do with Islam. There is a great value, you see, placed on the wearing of beards in Islamic texts (i.e. Sahih al-Bukhari 7:72:780) and Muslims are required to emulate the example of the Prophet, who is believed to have sported a beard.
In terms of having fun, if Nanjiani and Handler were even remotely interested in, or honest about, Islam, they would know that Islam mandates the polar opposite of the Declaration of Independence’s emphasis on the right of humans to pursue happiness. It is a fundamental difference between Islam and the Judeo-Christian tradition, which my book, United in Hate, argues is at the heart of Jihad’s war on the West.
Nanjiani and Handler might do well to focus on why Ayatollah Khomeini stated:
Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.
In my interview on the Nanjiani-Handler comedy fest with Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch and author of the New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), he had this to say:
This episode reflects the general tendency of the Leftist intelligentsia to claim that people are suspicious of Islam or Muslims in the U.S. today because of the ‘media,’ which is supposedly ‘Islamophobic.’ The idea that the establishment media, which so assiduously covers for Islam by obscuring in any possible way the Islamic identity and motives of jihad murderers, is ‘Islamophobic’ is laughable, but it nonetheless prevails.
We don’t see Muslims having fun because, you see, ‘Islamophobes’ control the entertainment industry (which gave us, a few years back, the Canadian sitcom ‘Little Mosque on the Prairie,’ a forced exercise in Muslims Having Fun.
In reality, we don’t see Muslims or anyone having fun on the news because the news is not devoted generally to making people look good, but to reporting significant events such as massacres and bombings, which all too often feature Muslims.
Handler doesn’t consider that those bombers and murderers may indeed be having fun, since the Qur’an promises that Allah will “soothe the breasts” of believers who fight against and humiliate non-believers (9:14-15). That, of course, is a kind of fun she doesn’t want to see them having, but if she does see it, she will accuse those who showed it to her of ‘Islamophobia’ rather than consider the implications for Islam itself.
In another conversation I had about the Nanjiani-Handler exchange, this time with Nonie Darwish, the author of the just-released book, Wholly Different: Why I Chose Biblical Values Over Islamic Values, she affirmed that:
I am not sure what the point Nanjiani and Handler are trying to make other than portraying Muslims as victims of Western culture when in reality it is exactly the opposite. Back in 1979, when I was a new Muslim immigrant, mosque leadership told us not to assimilate and stand out as devout Muslims in American society. They even told us to take every opportunity to pray in public, even in airports and on the streets if necessary.
At that time, most Muslim immigrants were not wearing hijab or growing beards. But I was alarmed to see some of my Muslim friends suddenly changing their attire and growing beards for the first time in their lives right here in America. In fact, the mosque community shunned assimilated Muslims or former-Muslims, like myself. Since Islam is not a race, most assimilated Muslims did not stand out and we became part of America.
But now the same Muslims who shunned me and many others for assimilating are complaining, yet again, but this time about being noticed for standing out with their beards and hijab. It is a shame that Handler has fallen into this trap of Islamic constant complaining against and slandering of America with Islamic shameless drama.
One wonders if Kumail Nanjiani and Chelsea Handler might ever direct their concern about not seeing Muslims having fun at Islam itself, and what it teaches, rather than on American popular culture. One also wonders if Nanjiani and Handler might ever care about Islam’s hatred of a woman’s laugh – and extend their empathy and support to those Muslim women and girls who suffer under Sharia for the crime of smiling or laughing.
And one wonders if Nanjiani and Handler will ever seriously consider how much fun Muslim bombers and murderers are actually having after all – and why so many Muslims in America despise and shun individuals such as Nonie Darwish for assimilating into America.
It’s probably not advisable to hold one’s breath, of course, in anticipation of any new and honest tweets from either Nanjiani or Chandler about these uncomfortable Islamic truths in regards to Muslims Not Having Fun.
They wouldn’t experience too much fun after that.
Jamie Glazov is the editor of Frontpagemag.com. He holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in Russian, U.S. and Canadian foreign policy. He is the author of United in Hate, the host of the web-TV show, The Glazov Gang, and can be reached at jamieglazov11@gmail.com.