A dangerous trend is unfolding in America: please do not let what happened in my home country happen here. Many people refuse to see the gradual creep of Islamist ideology into nearly every sector of American society: media, politics, community organizing, education, and public discourse. These are what the stages of an Islamic revolution look like. It advances quietly and methodically — an ideology that prioritizes its religious doctrine over national identity, Sharia constitutions over non-Islamic ones that are made by made by man, not by Allah.
If voters continue supporting and electing them [Muslims], they will soon transform this country as is the plan as stated in “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the [Muslim] Brotherhood in North America”:
“The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers…”
Every vote for these jihadists sends the country hundreds of years backwards — just as happened in Iran after 1979, when they seized power in a matter of months and imposed their full Sharia rules. They evidently would like to do the same in the US (see here, here and here). They will use deception if they believe it might help to get there, and they will always prioritize their version of Sharia, their religious ideology, over American law and values to reach the heaven they believe their doctrine promises. Every such vote works against freedom, democracy, and the nation’s founding values. It has happened elsewhere – after the quiet creeping stage, with a speed that is shocking.
If some will say that an Islamic takeover is impossible in the United States, that is just what they said about Iran before 1979. In the years leading up to the Islamic Revolution, even the sharpest experts — both Western leaders and ordinary Iranians — failed to grasp what was lying in wait for them. The forces that eventually seized power did not, carefully, declare their intentions from the start. They worked from the bottom up — through mosques and civil society organizations, gradually gaining influence. They presented themselves as socialists, reformers or defenders of the people. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran through a revolution, originally promised democracy, equality for religious and ethnic minorities, women’s rights:
“Islam cares more for women than men: it has given women more rights than men. What this means is that women have the right to vote. What we grant women is better than what West grants. Women have the right to vote and they have the right to be elected. All this will exist. Women will have authority over their own affairs … they are free to work if they so choose.”
IranWire comments:
“The Islamic Republic then imposed the hijab on women and today opponents of forced hijab are routinely prosecuted.”
The change, when it finally came, was swift. Within months, a modernizing country was transformed into a medieval theocracy. Sharia rules were imposed on every aspect of life — especially on women. The world was shocked. Those men who had been dismissed as “marginal” had prepared carefully for years.
In Shiite Islamist traditions a key concept is taqiyya — dissimulation or concealment. They is religiously permissible in the when it serves the higher goal of furthering Islam, “Until the cry, ‘There is no god but Allah’ resounds over the whole world….”
That is part of what made them so effective at taking over of Iran: the ability to say what people wanted to hear while advancing rather a different long-term agenda. Once power was secured, religious law and “exporting the revolution” ranked above economic progress, any individual freedoms, or the welfare of ordinary citizens. Iran, a country rich in resources, has spent decades in poverty, with its leaders repressing its own people as a result.
A similar movement can now be seen in parts of America. Islamist-leaning influence appears in media, activism, local projects, and electoral politics. Consider figures such as Zohran Mamdani, now mayor of New York City; Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan; Imtiaz Mohammad, a Republican candidate for the Florida House; and the influential streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned alongside these kinds of candidates.
If some will say that an Islamic takeover is impossible in the United States, that is just what they said about Iran before 1979. In the years leading up to the Islamic Revolution, even the sharpest experts — both Western leaders and ordinary Iranians — failed to grasp what was lying in wait for them. The forces that eventually seized power did not, carefully, declare their intentions from the start. They worked from the bottom up — through mosques and civil society organizations, gradually gaining influence. They presented themselves as socialists, reformers or defenders of the people. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who founded the Islamic Republic of Iran through a revolution, originally promised democracy, equality for religious and ethnic minorities, women’s rights:
“Islam cares more for women than men: it has given women more rights than men. What this means is that women have the right to vote. What we grant women is better than what West grants. Women have the right to vote and they have the right to be elected. All this will exist. Women will have authority over their own affairs … they are free to work if they so choose.”
IranWire comments:
“The Islamic Republic then imposed the hijab on women and today opponents of forced hijab are routinely prosecuted.”
The change, when it finally came, was swift. Within months, a modernizing country was transformed into a medieval theocracy. Sharia rules were imposed on every aspect of life — especially on women. The world was shocked. Those men who had been dismissed as “marginal” had prepared carefully for years.
In Shiite Islamist traditions a key concept is taqiyya — dissimulation or concealment. They is religiously permissible in the when it serves the higher goal of furthering Islam, “Until the cry, ‘There is no god but Allah’ resounds over the whole world….”
That is part of what made them so effective at taking over of Iran: the ability to say what people wanted to hear while advancing rather a different long-term agenda. Once power was secured, religious law and “exporting the revolution” ranked above economic progress, any individual freedoms, or the welfare of ordinary citizens. Iran, a country rich in resources, has spent decades in poverty, with its leaders repressing its own people as a result.
A similar movement can now be seen in parts of America. Islamist-leaning influence appears in media, activism, local projects, and electoral politics. Consider figures such as Zohran Mamdani, now mayor of New York City; Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan; Imtiaz Mohammad, a Republican candidate for the Florida House; and the influential streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned alongside these kinds of candidates.
The change, when it finally came, was swift. Within months, a modernizing country was transformed into a medieval theocracy. Sharia rules were imposed on every aspect of life — especially on women. The world was shocked. Those men who had been dismissed as “marginal” had prepared carefully for years.
In Shiite Islamist traditions a key concept is taqiyya — dissimulation or concealment. They is religiously permissible in the when it serves the higher goal of furthering Islam, “Until the cry, ‘There is no god but Allah’ resounds over the whole world….”
That is part of what made them so effective at taking over of Iran: the ability to say what people wanted to hear while advancing rather a different long-term agenda. Once power was secured, religious law and “exporting the revolution” ranked above economic progress, any individual freedoms, or the welfare of ordinary citizens. Iran, a country rich in resources, has spent decades in poverty, with its leaders repressing its own people as a result.
A similar movement can now be seen in parts of America. Islamist-leaning influence appears in media, activism, local projects, and electoral politics. Consider figures such as Zohran Mamdani, now mayor of New York City; Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan; Imtiaz Mohammad, a Republican candidate for the Florida House; and the influential streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned alongside these kinds of candidates.
What is especially striking is that these figures are not even attempting to hide their priorities the way the architects of the 1979 Islamic revolution did. In Iran, the Islamists practiced careful deception, taqiyya, presenting themselves as moderate reformers until they held power. Today, some of the most prominent voices rising in American politics and culture are far more open about placing Islamic identity, community priorities, or sharp criticism of the United States above national and American loyalty. Look at the record.
Imtiaz Mohammad, the Republican nominee for Florida’s House District 103, stood in 2018 at the Darul Uloom Institute and declared, “America run on hate… And the American people are the most uneducated nation in the world.” When the clip resurfaced years later, he stood by the statement.
Hasan Piker, the influential streamer who has campaigned alongside candidates including Abdul El-Sayed, said on a 2019 livestream, “America deserved 9/11, dude. Fuck it, I’m saying it.”
Zohran Mamdani, now mayor of New York City, has made his Muslim identity central and public: he visited dozens of mosques during his campaign, took his oath of office on the Quran, and has framed Islam itself as “a religion built upon a narrative of migration,” using these texts to denounce ICE and President Trump’s deportation of illegal and criminal migrants.
The EPIC project in Texas (rebranded “The Meadow” after Governor Abbott accused the group of attempting to bring Sharia into the US) was openly marketed as a purpose-built community “to serve the growing needs of a Muslim community,” complete with a mosque and Islamic school — drew intense scrutiny from state officials, who warned against parallel societies and legal systems.
These are not hidden agendas. They are public statements, campaign choices, and project designs that place Muslim identity, Islamic framing, or deep criticism of America front and center. That openness is what makes the current moment dangerous, as in 1979 Iran. For those who remember how quickly Iran changed once the mask came off, the openness is also more alarming.
For many who hold a strong Islamist worldview, religious identity and the goal of advancing Islamic norms rank above national loyalty. An American leader, such as President Donald J. Trump, who places the country’s founding principles and prosperity first will defend the Constitution, individual rights, and equal citizenship under US law. An Islamist, however, regards religious doctrine as the only high authority. Religious projects take precedence, and the country’s broader interests—freedom, prosperity, women’s rights — must be subordinated. Iran is the clearest modern example of that.
Every vote for these jihadists sends the country hundreds of years backwards — just as happened in Iran after 1979, when they seized power in a matter of months and imposed their full Sharia rules. They evidently would like to do the same in the US (see here, here and here). They will use deception if they believe it might help to get there, and they will always prioritize their version of Sharia, their religious ideology, over American law and values to reach the heaven they believe their doctrine promises. Every such vote works against freedom, democracy, and the nation’s founding values. It has happened elsewhere – after the quiet creeping stage, with a speed that is shocking.
Voters, especially young voters, would do well to be extremely careful. Promises of free services, economic justice, or “representation” sound irresistibly appealing. Khomeini used similar language before 1979. He spoke of benefits for the people. Sadly, these promises have often accompanied movements whose real aims were quite different. Look at the former Soviet Union, Cuba and Venezuela. Once in power, the core ideology does not dissolve. It asserts itself.
America is heading down an extremely dangerous and scary path, one that closely resembles how my birth country, Iran, and so many other places — Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, to name just a few — were suddenly overtaken by Islamists or an Islamic revolution. If voters continue supporting and electing them, they will soon transform this country as is the plan as stated in “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the [Muslim] Brotherhood in North America”:
“The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers…”
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
Gatestone Institute
