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Opposing Muslim immigration is a "responsible exercise" of patriotism, says Cardinal Burke

Opposing Muslim immigration is a "responsible exercise" of patriotism, says Cardinal Burke

By Jules Gomes
www.julesgomes.com
May 21, 2019

Opposition to "large-scale Muslim immigration is a responsible exercise of one's patriotism," Cardinal Burke told an international conference in Rome last Friday.

Responding to a question on the morality of resisting Islamic mass migration at the Rome Life Forum, Burke warned the West of "immigrants who are opportunists, in particular in the case of Islam, which by its definition believes itself to be destined to rule the world, coming in large numbers to countries."

Challenging Pope Francis' position on Muslim migration and the Vatican's refusal to bestow a papal blessing on Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini because of his policies on immigration, Burke spoke of Muslim migrants in Italy, France, Germany and the U.S. who resist "the legitimate authority of the state" and set up "their own legal order."

Earlier, in his lecture on "Filial piety and national patriotism as essential virtues of the citizens of heaven at work on earth," Burke rebuked "those who propose and work for a single global government" and "for the elimination of individual national governments, so that all of humanity would be under the control of a single political authority."

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"Islam by its definition believes itself to be destined to rule the world, coming in large numbers to countries."
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Burke's address follows Pope Francis' speech on May 2 to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences where the Holy Father called for a new supranational authority to meet global challenges facing humanity.

While the pontiff talked of how nationalism threatens migrants, Burke chided "those who propose and work for a single global government" and "for the elimination of individual national governments, so that all of humanity would be under the control of a single political authority."

Drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas, the Council of Trent and the Pauline epistles, Burke explained how love of country was an extension of the commandment to honour one's parents and a "precept of the natural law."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that "[t]he love and service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity," specifying the moral obligation "to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country."

At the pro-life conference organised by Voice for the Family, the prelate drew a link between family and nation. "Patriotism teaches us to recognize our natural condition as members of a family and citizens of a homeland. Our personal identity comes principally from the family but also, and indeed because the family thrives only in wider society, from our homeland," Burke said.

While the Catechism emphatically speaks of our obligations to the foreigner, such welcome was not "indiscriminate." The Catechism also underlined immigrants' obligations "to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws and to assist in carrying civic burdens."

Burke quoted No Go Zones: How Shariah Law is Coming to a Neighbourhood Near You written by Raheem Kassam, a Briton of Pakistani-Muslim heritage, to highlight the demographic problem of Islamic immigration.

Kassam's research comes in the wake of a call to understand Muslim migration theologically as well as sociologically.

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Immigration is a bona fide doctrine of Islam and the recent tidal waves of migration are methodically planned.
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In the book Al-Hijra: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration, Islamic scholars Sam Solomon and E. Al Maqdisi give an insider view of how immigration is a bona fide doctrine of Islam and the recent tidal waves of migration are not just a random phenomenon but are methodically planned, as was Muhammad's Hijra -- his migration from Mecca to Medina.

Muhammad's own migration is the paradigm for today's Muslims to emulate by migrating to non-Muslim lands and spreading Islam until its host citizens submit to Allah (Islam means "submission").

"Therefore, immigration is viewed as a transitional period of preparation for transforming the host society from an open, or non-Muslim, society into an Islamic society or at least one where Islam would be supreme," note the authors.

Muhammad himself made it clear that "migration is a duty that needs to be upheld forever or until the earth has submitted to Islamic hegemony," they argue, citing Muhammad's instruction in a hadith: "O people, immigrate, holding on to Islam, for Hijra or migration is to continue as long as jihad continues."

"Hijra and jihad are inseparable companions," claim the authors. "Qur'anically speaking Hijra is always preceded by faith, and followed by jihad," they observe, citing a number of Koranic verses to support their claim.

According to a hadith from Muhammad, "Migration will continue until the sun rises from the West, Hijra would not be stopped until repentance is cut off, and repentance will not be cut off until the sun rises from the West."

Addressing the secularization of Western governments, Burke reminded the conference of the Church's teaching to disobey "the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel," even using "resistance, in order to exercise faithfully the virtue of patriotism."

(Originally published in Church Militant.

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