“Democracy is based on the idea of freedom of religion and creed. Under democracy, a person has the right to believe whatever he pleases, to adopt the faith of his choice, and to revert to any religion whenever he wishes to do so, even if this apostasy leads to the abandonment of the religion of God almighty, to atheism, or the worship of [a false god] other than God. Beyond doubt, this is a matter that is in contradiction of many Sharia texts. A Muslim who reverts from his religion to disbelief shall be sentenced to death under Islam, as is set forth in the Hadith narrated by Bukhari and others: ‘He who exchanges his religion, kill him.’ [The hadith does not say] ‘leave him be.’” David Aaron, In Their Own Words: Voices of Jihad (Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2008), 228.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Leader and Founder of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, January 23, 2005
Author
Date
Jan. 23, 2005
Body
Rhetoric Category
Threat
The Counter Extremism Project Presents
Enduring Music: Compositions from the Holocaust
Location:
Eisenhower Theater
Tuesday January 27, 2026 7:30p.m.
Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Counter Extremism Project's ARCHER at House 88 presents a landmark concert of music composed in ghettos and death camps, performed in defiance of resurgent antisemitism. Curated with world renowned composer, conductor, and musicologist Francesco Lotoro, the program restores classical, folk, and popular works, many written on scraps of paper or recalled from memory, to public consciousness. Featuring world and U.S. premieres from Lotoro's archive, this concert honors a repertoire that endured against unimaginable evil.