Christians have two duties that must not be neglected. First, we must preach Christ to all nations and all peoples, including Muslims. But, second, this does not lessen in the slightest the duty of Western governments and us as American citizens to think clearly and act boldly in the face of the unique civilizational challenge that Islam poses.

It’s both our American and Christian Duty to Defend our Civilization

On January 12, 2026, the Broken Arrow City Council convened a special meeting to consider a rezoning and permit request connected to a proposed Islamic center on land owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). The city moved the meeting to Northeastern State University’s Broken Arrow campus to accommodate the crowd of more than 1,300 attendees, with roughly 400 people signed up to speak during public comment. Almost all of them opposed the Islamic Center.

After hours of testimony, the council voted 4–1 to deny the request, with city leaders emphasizing feasibility and infrastructure concerns.

The Islamic Center was defeated on logistical and procedural grounds, and rightly so. But what happened in Broken Arrow is also a window into something bigger.

Many Americans, especially Christians, sense that the question is not merely “Can a building be built here?” They sense a civilizational tension between Islam and America, but struggle to name it accurately or reconcile their deeply rooted uneasiness with the welcoming spirit and Christian sensibilities that have long defined American civil life.

Certainly, Christians should defend the equal protection of the laws for all people, including Muslims. Christians must also refuse naïveté about movements seeking to exploit and subvert welcoming societies, namely Christian nations. The path forward requires clarity, honest history, and sober policy judgment, paired with an unapologetic gospel mission from the Church.

Who are NAIT and the Muslim Brotherhood?

While we should fight Islamic expansion using any sound argument at our disposal, Conservatives and Americans cannot be content to win occasionally against Islamic expansion on procedural grounds. We need to win the broader argument against a competing militant civilization deeply committed to the subversion and destruction of our own.

In 2004, the FBI raided the home of suspected terrorist Ismail Elbarasse. In a hidden sub-basement, agents discovered 80 banker boxes containing the archives of the Muslim Brotherhood’s North American operations.

The documents, referred to as the Explanatory Memorandum, lay out the terrorist organization’s plans for “civilizational jihad.” A millennium ago, Muslim armies were comparable to those of Europe, so they waged war. Today, Islamists know they cannot win a war against America, so they are engaging in “civilizational jihad” to infiltrate, weaken, and eventually conquer the West from within.

The Memorandum outlined plans to build a comprehensive shadow government based on Sharia Law, complete with Islamic political, legal, and security organizations, financial and educational systems, and media and propaganda outreach.

They wrote of “Presenting Islam as a civilization alternative” and “Supporting the establishment of the global Islamic State wherever it is.” They are not seeking equal protection of the law or the free exercise of religion. The Memorandum outlines a strategy to undermine and replace the Constitution while taking advantage of its protections to build political power with which they will seek to conquer us and end our civilization.

Why is this relevant to a city council vote in suburban Oklahoma? Because in the appendix of the Memorandum, the Muslim Brotherhood listed a “network of our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” NAIT, the owner of the land in Broken Arrow, was among them.

In 2007, NAIT was named an unindicted coconspirator in the federal prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), which resulted, in part, from the uncovering of the Explanatory Memorandum. Despite NAIT’s efforts to be struck from the list of co-conspirators, the U.S. District Judge determined there was “ample evidence to establish the association” between NAIT, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas. However, he also noted that the Justice Department had infringed upon NAIT’s Fifth Amendment rights by failing to file the list under seal. While the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later sustained that ruling, it ultimately declined to remove NAIT’s name from the document.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the HLF reportedly used NAIT’s bank accounts to raise and launder money. Checks were found deposited in NAIT accounts that were made payable to the “Palestinian Majahideen,” the military wing of Hamas.

NAIT’s historic ties to Islamic terrorism are undeniable. Similar connections will be present in many cases of American Islamic expansion because NAIT controls hundreds of Islamic Centers across the country.

In addition to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islam’s primary political organization in the U.S., has expressed ambition to bring the United States under increasing Muslim rule. Basim Elkarra, Executive Director of CAIR Action, stated in 2024: “We are coming. We are building the infrastructure to not only challenge but to eventually lead.”

The goal of these groups? To see our great Christian civilization fall like Constantinople, with our cities turning into Islamic strongholds and our churches converted into mosques, just as the Hagia Sophia was in Istanbul.

“Radical Islam” or Just Islam?

Ultimately, what this shows is that “radical Islam” is a less accurate description of the problem than “Islam.” This should not surprise us. Radicalism is inherent to the religion because it springs from their Holy Books and the life of their false prophet.

When we see a professing Christian commit heinous acts of violence–and, sadly, that does sometimes happen–we may question whether he is a genuine, born-again Christian because he is not obeying and following Jesus Christ and Scripture. When we see a Muslim commit heinous acts like mass murder, wars of aggression, child sexual abuse, marrying 9-year-olds, female genital mutilation, and other unimaginable horrors, we can point directly to the Quran and Hadiths and say, “That Muslim is faithfully following the example and teachings of Muhammad.”

What we see today in the Muslim Brotherhood’s work to conquer Western civilization is the entire history of Muhammad’s religion. From the earliest days, it did not spread by evangelism. It spread by the sword. Within a few short years, Muhammad morphed from self-proclaimed prophet into ruthless warlord, unleashing jihadist armies that slaughtered, raped, and ravaged their path to dominion over the Middle East, culminating, just six decades later, in their brazen assaults on Constantinople, the bastion of Christian civilization.

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