Last week two identical billboards appeared alongside highways in Indiana and Texas. Without mentioning Islam or Mohammed, they listed the characteristics of the “perfect man”, as shown in the photo above.

Here’s the report from Breitbart:

Muslim Groups Unhappy With Indianapolis ‘Perfect Man’ Billboard A billboard in Indianapolis, IN is stirring controversy among local Muslim groups, says a Fox 59 report. The billboard, seen going southbound I-465 near the Washington Street exit mocks the prophet Mohammed as “The Perfect Man.” The billboard then lists six bullet points about Mohammed to describe him. The points include: “Married a 6-year-old,” “Slave owner & dealer,” “rapist,” “Beheaded 600 Jews in one day,” “13 wives, 11 at one time” and “Tortured & killed unbelievers.” “I was a little disappointed when I saw that,” Farial Khatri of the Islamic Society of North America told Fox 59. “We do support free speech, but we do realize this is also rooted in bigotry,” Kahtri added. According to Fox 59, the Muslim Alliance of Indiana plans to raise money to put up its own billboard close by to spread a message of peace and kindness.

The whole kerfuffle reminded me of the uproar in the summer of 1968 over a song by Paul McCartney entitled “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” The punk kids of the time — I was one of them — gleefully pointed out that only someone with a dirty mind would have a problem with those lyrics. Matt Bracken reminded me of a similar trope from a few years later concerning a song by The Who called “Squeeze Box”.

So… If the description on those billboards is false and has nothing to do with Islam, how did Muslims know it was talking about Mohammed? The imam doth protest too much, methinks.

The owner of the billboards, a man named Don Woodsmall, sent a statement to the Indiana Star-Ledger. He explained that the client who paid for the advertisements wished to remain anonymous, but he (Mr. Woodsmall) had nevertheless done his own due diligence to establish the accuracy of the attributes of Mohammed as listed on the billboard:

Statement on Perfect Man Billboard Campaign I am the owner of the billboards on which the Perfect Man Campaign is posted in Indianapolis and Texas. This statement sets forth the reasons why I decided to accept the Perfect Man Campaign advertisement on my billboards. A group of patriotic Americans approached me to rent the billboards after they were turned down by the national companies. This group couldn’t remain inactive any longer while little children were being blown up in Manchester and numerous other places around the world. Their desire, born out of love and not hate, is to launch a national conversation on why it is only the Islamic religion that gets “hijacked” several thousand times a year resulting in the deaths of many innocents? However, my clients have requested anonymity. Why? Could it be the Islamic desire for death to anyone who insults their Prophet Mohammed? Upon learning what they wanted to post, my first question was, like most Americans, “Is it true?” After talking to a half-dozen Islamic scholars and receiving and reviewing numerous citations from Islamic law and literature (scholars and citations all available upon request), I was convinced that each point listed on the billboard was historically and factually true. I would encourage others to do their own research to verify the veracity of each and every point. Also, I will take down the billboards if any of the facts are shown to be untrue, as the scholars I contacted relied on the Koran, and the Hadith and Sira (the last two being collectively, the Sunna). I realize that there are those who might be offended by the information conveyed, but truth does not and cannot equal hate no matter how much the facts may be disliked by some (as truth is factual reality while hate is an emotion). I could not turn down a truthful ad designed to educate Americans on the true root cause of the fundamentalist and obedient (and specifically not “radical” when you are doing exactly what the core tenets of your ideology demand and your Perfect Man did and demanded followers to do) Islamic terror going on around the world; namely – the Manchester bombings, Coptic Christians being killed in Egypt, San Bernardino, Mumbai, the Orlando gay nightclub, the Boston Marathon, 9/11 and on and on and on. It was and is my duty as a patriotic American to accept this Perfect Man advertisement designed to inform the American public of the true root cause of the cascading violence that is endemic to and systemic in Islam – a socio-political, totalitarian ideology with a small religious component.

It is interesting to note that while the billboards don’t mention Islam or Mohammed, the Muslim community knew exactly who it was referring to. The truth is a powerful weapon. Truthophobia (fear of the truth) is getting a lot of people killed. It is the hope and desire of those sponsoring this campaign that a national conversation/debate can be held in a civil and rational manner on the cause of this violent problem, so that it can be stopped and innocent lives can be saved. — Don Woodsmall

The Center for Security Policy has uploaded a table of citations to support the assertions on the “Perfect Man” billboards. The full text is below the jump:

Citations for the Attributes of Mohammed, Sharia-supremacism’s ‘Perfect Man”