Debunking Joe Rogan & JD Vance Islamophobia

At a time of rising anti-Muslim hate crimes, Rogan and Vance doubled down on the exact bigotry and misinformation causing the violence

In 2016 Vance wrote, "Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us."

In 2024 Vance went on Joe Rogan and endorsed the claim that Shariah law is taking over, Muslim immigrants are "out breeding" us, Muslims are forcing people to convert to Islam. Obviously, none of this is true.

Joe Rogan and Sen. JD Vance in a screenshot of the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. | Screenshot/YouTube/Joe Rogan Experience

So let's be clear—Vance isn't promoting Democracy, Patriotism, or Christianity—he's promoting white supremacy at the altar of a fascist. I guess he forgot God wants better of us. It is critical we rebuke this bigotry with facts, or we risk escalating violence against already marginalized communities of immigrants and Muslims.

Let’s Address This.

First, here is the two minute clip of unmitigated fear mongering, bigotry, hate, and ignorance from Rogan and Vance. Below I debunk the five main claims they make.

Claim 1: Rogan claims states will adopt ‘Shariah Law’

Rogan starts his rant by stating, “Worst case scenario, a state adopts Shariah Law.” This makes zero sense. First of all, the word Shariah means “law,” so Rogan is ignorantly saying “law law.” The correct term is Islamic Shariah, and if you’d like a primer on what Islamic Shariah actually is, you can read it here. In short, however:

Shariah is the law of the Qur'an and literally means "A path to life giving water." In fact, the word Yarrah (i.e. the root of the Hebrew word Torah) means precisely the same thing. Therefore, Shariah is actually ingrained in Abrahamic tradition. Shariah is comprised of five main branches: adab (behavior, morals and manners), ibadah (ritual worship), i'tiqadat (beliefs), mu'amalat (transactions and contracts) and 'uqubat (punishments). These branches combine to create a society based on justice, pluralism and equity for every member of that society. Furthermore, Shariah forbids that it be imposed on any unwilling person. Islam's founder, Prophet Muhammad, demonstrated that Shariah may only be applied if people willingly apply it to themselves--never through forced government implementation.

More importantly, anyone with a third grade civics education knows our U.S. Government is a secular government that forbids theocracy. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” It is shocking ignorance that Rogan, and JD Vance who rumor has it went to Yale Law, pretends to not know this fact.

Claim 2: Rogan claims ‘Shariah Law’ is already being enforced in the United States

Rogan rants:

All the people that would cry against the concept of Islamophobia really need to understand what that means. To say that’s an outrageous and ridiculous idea that’ll never take place, it has already worked its way into some societies.

Rogan then cites Minnesota as a place where the Islamic call to prayer is made publicly, as an example of ‘Shariah Law.’ First, I refer Rogan back to the First Amendment, in which after ensuring that Congress establishes no religion, it also ensures Congress “does not prohibit the free exercise thereof.” The Minneapolis city council amended the city’s noise ordinance to allow the Islamic call to prayer. This is no different than a church having permission to ring its bells during church service—yet oddly enough Rogan seems to not complain about that? It is also fascinating how right wing conservatives are quick to remember thoughts and prayers in response to a tragedy, but object to non-Christians expressing their thoughts and prayers.

Claim 3: Rogan endorses the Great Replacement Theory

Rogan then rants that a local city council amending its noise ordinance is “getting really weird,” to which Vance sheepishly agrees. Not content with the fear mongering, Rogan goes full blown white supremacist by claiming Muslims are planning to “out breed everyone and then enforce Shariah Law.” Vance again sheepishly responds that “it scares the hell out of him.”

The Great Replacement Theory is a de facto white supremacist worldview that claims non-white communities are planning to take over ‘white’ countries by population and demographic shift. As the Southern Poverty Law Center explains:

Renaud Camus, a racist French writer, coined the “great replacement” formulation. Camus falsely depicted non-white immigration to France from the decolonized Middle East and Africa as an attempt by a sinister “replacist” elite to destroy native French demographics and culture. White supremacy and coded antisemitism were baked into Camus’ narrative from the outset. His ideas, featured in books published in 2010 and 2011, directly influenced the growth of the far-right, anti-immigrant European identitarian movement in the ensuing decade.

The sheer irony of Vance, a white man married to an Indian woman, and together they have three biracial children, to endorse The Great Replacement Theory. Either this man truly hates his own family, or he does not have the courage and spine to stand up for them. Either way, a man so unprincipled has no place as Vice President.

Claim 4: Women have to wear burkas…apparently

Rogan then brazenly declares, “Women have to wear burkas. This is how it works.” This is not, in fact, ‘how it works.’ As I wrote years ago, the concept of hijab (often incorrectly defined to only apply to women), in fact applies to men first—and cannot ever be enforced upon women:

Hijab is a critically important Islamic teaching. No one denies this. But it seems to me that too many men forget it applies to us first. Let’s stop obsessing over women, and worry about reforming ourselves first. That apparently novel idea is indeed the true jihad and true meaning of hijab.

And before anyone brings up the Taliban, know this. The oppression women suffer under Taliban extremism is not because of Islamic Shariah, but in complete contravention to Islamic teachings. Patriarchy is a global cancer, and studies show that no nation on Earth has achieved gender equality. The United States, meanwhile, ranks in the top 10 most dangerous nations on Earth for women. Donald Trump is a court declared rapist, yet remarkably Rogan never once asked him or objected to inviting a rapist on his show. But yes, I’m sure Rogan cares about women’s liberation.

Meanwhile, any genuine student of Islamic teachings knows that the literal dying words of Prophet Muhammad (sa) were “women are your committed partners, so treat them well.” At another place Prophet Muhammad (sa) declared, “It is incumbent upon every Muslim male and every Muslim female to attain education.” His first wife Khadija was a wealthy CEO and business owner throughout their 23 years of marriage until she died. His wife Ayesha is recognized as among the foremost Islamic jurists in history. About her Prophet Muhammad (sa) said, “Learn half of your faith from Ayesha,” a compliment he afforded to no Muslim male.

Moreover, while women in the United States did not get the right to inherit property until the mid 19th century, could not start voting until the 1920s, could not divorce unilaterally until the 1970s, could not get a credit card until 1974, could not prosecute husbands for marital rape until 1993, and to this day in 2024 do not have the benefit of the Equal Rights Amendment to ban discrimination on the basis of sex—Islam codified each of these rights for women 1400 years ago. This is why it should be no surprise that women throughout Islamic history were prolific scholars, fierce warriors, acclaimed scientists—and yes also wives and mothers. Indeed, the UNESCO certified oldest in tact university was stablished by an African Muslim women named Fatimah al-Fihri. What Rogan and Vance spew about Islam and Muslim women is not only pure fiction, it is also pure projection. Exemplifying this point, here’s what Vance says next.

Claim 5: Vance pretends he isn’t planning to enforce Christian nationalism

Vance says that, “The idea that I want to force people to go to my church is ridiculous. I’ve never had any interest in doing that.” Apparently JD Vance forgot that Project 2025 wants to shut down public education and reallocate those tax dollars into private Christian schools. As I wrote in my detailed expose´ on Project 2025:

In short, an education system under a Project 2025 administration would mean a gutting of public education, a transfer o wealth to predominantly white, predominately wealth families for private school vouchers, an advancement of Christian nationalist theocratic education, a ban on teachings of racial justice, a green light for even violent anti-LGBTQ discrimination, and an exacerbation of existing racial segregation and underfunding of majority Black and Latino institutions.

Vance then continues his ignorant and factless rant:

Where you see actual religious tyranny is in western societies where you’ve had a large influx of immigrants who don’t assimilate into western values, but create religious tyranny at a local level, and if you think it won’t happen at a national level you’re crazy.

Notably, Vance gives zero actual examples of immigrants doing what he is accusing them of doing (much like his made up 'eating pets’ claim). And like Rogan, Vance endorses the white supremacist Great Replacement Theory. But to no one’s surprise, Vance ignores the one major example in American history of a ‘large influx of immigrants who didn’t assimilate to western values but created religious tyranny at a local level.’ They were European colonizers. Colonizers who decimated America’s Indigenous populations with genocide, criminalized practice of their faith traditions, kidnapped Indigenous children to send to Christian boarding schools where they were beaten, indoctrinated, abused, and forced to convert to Christianity, stole more than 270 million acres of land via the Homestead Act, broke every single treaty ever made with Indigenous communities—all while building America’s economic dynasties on the backs of enslaved Black people to whom the US Government has to date paid not a single rent cent of reparations. In fact, up to 30% of those enslaved Africans were Muslim, and not only was speaking Arabic and praying banned, most of them were forced to convert to Christianity as well.

But please, JD, tell us more about the scary ‘Shariah law’ boogeyman coming to get you?

As I’ve been warning for months, the xenophobic rhetoric from the MAGA camp will continue to escalate the closer we get to Election Day. Our responsibility is to recognize this hate for what it is—a desperate and divisive attempt by fascists to stay in power—and instead unite across faith, color, and creed to vote these fascists out. Do not commit the error of remaining silent. Raise your voice, exercise your vote, ensure Trump loses, and let’s give our democratic republic a fighting chance to become a more perfect Union on November 5 and beyond.

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