When presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson turned their 2016 campaign platforms into vehicles for anti-Muslim rhetoric — Trump calling Muslims “a problem” and suggesting they should be removed from the country, Carson declaring he would never support a Muslim for president — The Deen Show responded not with outrage, but with evidence, scholarship, and a question that cuts to the heart of the matter: if Muslims must publicly reject divine law as a condition of civic participation, will Ben Carson apply that same litmus test to his own Bible? FBI data covering 2001 to 2005 shows that 94% of terrorist acts on U.S. soil were committed by non-Muslims; only 6% were attributed to Muslims. Former Department of Homeland Security analyst Darryl Johnson confirmed the same reality: far-right extremists in America number in the hundreds of thousands, while ISIS sympathizers number merely in the thousands. The fear directed at Islam and Muslims in this political moment mirrors a recurring historical pattern — the same dehumanizing rhetoric was once aimed at Jews, Japanese Americans, African Americans, and Catholics — and it is no less factually baseless or morally corrosive when aimed at Muslims today.
What “Sharia” Actually Means — The Word Stripped of Its Fear-Mongering
“Sharia” is an Arabic word — from a language closely related to Aramaic, the very tongue that Jesus (peace be upon him) spoke — that simply means “the law.” The Ten Commandments that Moses (peace be upon him) brought to the Children of Israel would rightly be called Sharia. The 613 commandments of the Old Testament are the Sharia given through the Israelite prophets. And Jesus (peace be upon him), far from abolishing that law, explicitly upheld it in the New Testament, directing his followers to obey the commandments as the very path to eternal life (Matthew 19:16-17). When Ben Carson demands that Muslims “reject Sharia” and place the U.S. Constitution “supreme over the Quran,” he is asking them to do something no sincere believer in any Abrahamic faith — including his own — has ever been asked to do. The word “Sharia” has been weaponized by Islamophobes to manufacture fear, and understanding its true meaning dismantles the entire argument. Islam is not a threat to justice; it is a divinely revealed framework for achieving it — one rooted in the Oneness of God, spiritual purpose, divine guidance, and mercy for all of humanity.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the teachings of the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” — Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), Matthew 5:17-18
- 94% of U.S. terrorist acts (2001–2005) were committed by non-Muslims per FBI data — the narrative of Muslim “training camps” threatening America is fear-mongering, not fact
- The “cast the first stone” verse (John 8:7), often cited to soften the Old Testament’s legal commands, is absent from the oldest surviving Biblical manuscripts — Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and others — and Bible scholars universally confirm it is a later addition, not original scripture
- Less than 15 passages in the entire Quran address the penal system — reducing Islamic faith and spirituality to those passages alone is equivalent to defining American civilization by its electric chair
- Ben Carson is a Seventh-day Adventist and professed Bible believer whose own scripture contains the same categories of divine law — on apostasy, adultery, homosexuality, and women — that he accused the Quran of promoting
- In Europe, the 2014 Europol report found that only 2% of terrorist acts were carried out by Muslims — the overwhelming majority were committed by non-Muslims
- No religious text, including the Bible, is 100% compatible with the U.S. Constitution — applying this test exclusively to the Quran exposes the argument as selective bigotry, not principled constitutional reasoning
Applying Ben Carson’s Own Litmus Test — What His Bible Commands
The scholars on The Deen Show walked through Ben Carson’s specific allegations against Islam — on women’s rights, apostasy, and the penal code — and demonstrated, verse by verse, that the same commands appear in the Old and New Testaments he holds as the complete, authoritative word of God. Leviticus 20 prescribes death for cursing one’s parents, for adultery, for homosexuality, and for apostasy. Deuteronomy 13:6-9 commands the killing of any family member who privately invites others to worship differently. Deuteronomy 22:20-21 calls for stoning a bride found not to be a virgin on her wedding night. On women, Paul instructs them to remain completely silent in church (1 Corinthians 14:34), to cover their heads or be shaved as a mark of dishonor (1 Corinthians 11:5), and to neither teach nor exercise authority over men (1 Timothy 2:11-12). Deuteronomy 22:28-29 compels a rape victim to marry her attacker. The contrast with what Islam actually teaches is stark: Islam abolished the pre-Islamic Arabian practice of burying newborn girls alive, granted women independent property and inheritance rights fourteen centuries before Western law provided the same, made a woman’s free consent a pillar of marriage, and elevated the mother as the most honored figure in family life — with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) declaring, “The best among you is the one who is best to his wife.” By the same logic Ben Carson applied to Muslims, his own candidacy — premised on upholding a Bible that contains all of the above — would fail his own test entirely.
“Whoever kills an innocent soul, it is as if he has killed all of mankind; and whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.” — The Holy Quran, Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:32
The sincere intention here is not to diminish or disrespect Christianity, Judaism, or any Abrahamic faith — on the contrary, Islam holds deep reverence for the Torah, the Gospel, and all the prophets from Abraham and Moses to Jesus (peace be upon them all) as mighty messengers of the one Creator, and no person can claim the faith of Islam without that love. The purpose of this honest and respectful conversation is to hold public figures to the same standard they apply to others, because truth requires consistency and justice demands it. Islam is today the fastest-growing way of life on earth, embraced by millions of women worldwide who choose it freely — drawn by its message of spiritual purpose, divine guidance, equality before God, and justice for all people regardless of race, origin, or social standing. The Quran declares in Surah 49:13 that God created humanity in all its magnificent diversity so that we might come to know one another — not to fear or vilify one another. That is the Islam rarely shown by those who trade in fear: the Islam of the Prophet’s noble example, of a scripture that commands standing for justice even when it goes against yourself, your parents, or your tribe, and of a faith that has always extended its hand — not in hostility, but in sincere invitation to reflection, to truth, and to peace.
