Many on the left refuse to speak honestly about Islam. Some even go so far as to say Sharia law is consistent with our country’s constitution. Fortunately, some recognize just how absurd this is and are starting to speak up.

For example, just recently, an ex-Muslim woman recently met with Senators to talk about “political Islam.” She told them bluntly that it is not compatible with the constitution and criticized them for not effectively combating what she insists is an extremely dangerous ideology.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) as a young girl and experienced “honor violence,” testified against Michael E. Leiter, the Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center earlier this week. According to Leiter, “Muslim’s honoring of Sharia is not inherently in tangent with living in constitutional democracies anymore than it would be for Christians or Jews who also seek to honor their religious traditions while still complying with civil authority.”

However, Ali, who is extremely familiar with Sharia law, argued the exact opposite in her written testimony. “The Islamists’ program is fundamentally incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, religious tolerance, the equality of men and women, the tolerance of different sexual orientations, the ban on cruel and unusual punishment and other fundamental human rights,” stated Ali, noting, “[it] implies a constitutional order fundamentally incompatible with the US Constitution and with the ‘constitution of liberty’ that is the foundation of the American way of life.”

To clarify, Ali stated that political Islam, also known as “Islamism,” seeks to destroy democratic institutions and replace them with theocratic ones using a combination of nonviolent tactics, like “dawah,” and violent tactics, like suicide bombings. “The term ‘dawah’ refers to activities carried out by Islamists to win adherents and enlist them in a campaign to impose sharia law on all societies. ‘Dawah’ is not the Islamic equivalent of religious proselytizing, although it is often disguised as such by blending humanitarian activities with subversive political activities,” explained Ali. “The ultimate goal of ‘dawah’ is to destroy the political institutions of a free society and replace them with strict sharia. Islamists rely on both violent and nonviolent means to achieve their objectives,” she added.

Out of the two, she pointed out that because of the First Amendment, “dawah” is harder to combat than terrorism. Specifically, she said, “the biggest challenge the United States faces in combating political Islam…is the extent to which agents of ‘dawah’ can exploit the constitutional and legal protections that guarantee American citizens freedom of religion and freedom of speech— freedoms that would, of course, be swept away if the Islamists achieved their goals.”

Despite the fact that political Islam is a threat to democracy, Ali claimed the government is not focusing on the main problem. “The dominant strategy from 9/11 through the present, focusing only on Islamist violence, has failed,” she argued, adding, “In focusing only on acts of violence, we have ignored the ideology that justifies, promotes, celebrates, and encourages violence, and the methods of dawah used to spread that ideology.”

To prove her point about the government’s strategy being a failure, she mentioned the fact that even though our country has spent almost $4 trillion trying to rebuild to the Middle East, jihadist groups continue to be a major problem. “According to one estimate, 10−15 percent of the world’s Muslims are Islamists. Out of well over 1.6 billion, or 23 percent of the globe’s population, that implies more than 160 million individuals,” noted Ali. “Based on survey data on attitudes toward sharia in Muslim countries, total support for Islamist activities in the world is likely significantly higher than that estimate,” she reasoned.

Ali believes that in order to stop the spread of political Islam, the U.S. has to fight “a war of ideas against Islamism as an ideology and against those who spread that ideology.” Basically, she’s saying that the best way to combat terrorism is to get people to stop being Islamists. This is because as long as there are people determined to establish Sharia law, radical Islamic terrorism will continue.

Unsurprisingly, many on the left were outraged by Ali’s comments. The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), for instance, criticized Ali for allegedly breeding fear. “The singling out of Muslims in this manner only breeds fear, cements a narrative of a cosmic war between Islam against the West, and flies in the face of actual trends of domestic violent extremism,” stated the organization. However, their claim is ridiculous. Ali is not singling out Muslims, she’s simply criticizing political Islam.

Hopefully, the Senators she spoke to take her advice and focus on the more subtle attempts to undermine our country’s institutions. Until they do, Islamism will continue to be a problem.