6.7.09
Friedman Wrong About Muslims Again
Tom Friedman is a Middle East expert who knows a lot about Islam. Why, then, does he keep saying misleading things? He wrote in his latest column, "To this day - to this day - no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden."
A "fatwa" is simply a considered opinion of a Muslim jurisconsult. Such opinions are numerous. First of all, almost all the major Shiite Grand Ayatollahs have condemned Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. You could say that is easy, since Shiites don't generally like Wahhabis. But they are the leaders of 120 million Muslims (some ten percent of the 1.2 billion). So that is one. Tracking these things down is time-consuming, but this should do:
Ayatollah Muhammad Husain Fadlallah of Lebanon condemns Osama Bin Laden.
So then what about the Sunni world? The leading moral authority for Sunnis is the rector or Grand Imam of the al-Azhar Seminary/ University in Cairo, Egypt. Al-Azhar is perhaps the world's oldest continuous university and has been since the time of Saladin a major center of Sunni religious authority. The current incumbent is Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi. So what about Tantawi and Bin Laden?
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar seminary, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, condemns Osamah Bin Laden. And:
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar Seminary, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, condemns Osamah Bin Laden.
What about Pakistan? Admittedly, it has some clerics who are fans of Bin Laden, or at least who would avoid condemning him. But the allegation Friedman is making is that no major cleric has condemned him. Try this: Prominent Pakistani Cleric Tahir ul Qadri condemns Bin Laden.
I don't personally care for Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He is an old-time Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood preacher who fled to Qatar and now has a perch at al-Jazeera. But he does have some virtues. He is enormously popular among Muslim fundamentalists. And, he absolutely despises Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Al-Qaradawi has repeatedly condemned the latter. He even gave a fatwa that it was a duty of Muslims to fight alongside the US in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda! See also:
Yusuf al-Qaradawi condemns al-Qaeda.
There are also substantial Muslim communities in Europe with leaderships that have explicitly condemned Bin Laden. E.g.:
Spanish Muslim Clerical authorities Issue Fatwa against Osamah Bin Laden. There are on the order of 250,000 Muslims in Spain.
High Mufti of Russian Muslims calls for Extradition of Bin Laden. The Russian Muslim community is about 20 million strong, or 15 percent of Russia's 143 million population, and is growing rapidly, so that in a century Russia may be 50 percent Muslim. So this is not a pro forma thing here.
A good round-up on this sort of issue has been put up by al-Muhajabah.
See also Charles Kurzman's page.
Friedman also does refer to a major conference of Muslim clerics, thinkers and notables wound up just Wednesday that made a powerful statement about religious tolerance and condemned everything Osama Bin Laden stands for. But he seems oddly unaware of the significance of having Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Grand Imam of al-Azhar Seminary Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, and many other great Muslim authorities sign off on this epochal statement of Muslim ecumenism.
The statement forbids one Muslim to declare another "not a Muslim" if the believer adheres to any of the mainstream legal rites of Sunnism and Shiism. The whole basis of al-Qaeda is to call the Muslim leaders of countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as Shiites, "not Muslims." The statement also demands that engineers should please stop pretending to issue fatwas, which should be left to trained clerical jurisconsults. This para. is also a slam at Bin Laden.
PS As for Friedman's main point, that Muslims haven't done a good job of fighting jihadi ideology and terrorism, it is bizarre. The Algerian government fought a virtual civil war to put down political Islam, in which over 100,000 persons died. The Egyptians jailed 20,000 or 30,000 radicals for thought crimes and killed 1500 in running street battles in the 1990s and early zeroes. Al-Qaeda can't easily strike in the Middle East precisely because Syria, Egypt, Algeria, etc. have their number and have undertaken massive actions against them. What does Friedman want? And, besides, he is wrong that this is only a Muslim problem. In the global age all problems are everybody's. That's part of flat world, too, Tom. SourceInformed Comment
A "fatwa" is simply a considered opinion of a Muslim jurisconsult. Such opinions are numerous. First of all, almost all the major Shiite Grand Ayatollahs have condemned Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. You could say that is easy, since Shiites don't generally like Wahhabis. But they are the leaders of 120 million Muslims (some ten percent of the 1.2 billion). So that is one. Tracking these things down is time-consuming, but this should do:
Ayatollah Muhammad Husain Fadlallah of Lebanon condemns Osama Bin Laden.
So then what about the Sunni world? The leading moral authority for Sunnis is the rector or Grand Imam of the al-Azhar Seminary/ University in Cairo, Egypt. Al-Azhar is perhaps the world's oldest continuous university and has been since the time of Saladin a major center of Sunni religious authority. The current incumbent is Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi. So what about Tantawi and Bin Laden?
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar seminary, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, condemns Osamah Bin Laden. And:
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar Seminary, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, condemns Osamah Bin Laden.
What about Pakistan? Admittedly, it has some clerics who are fans of Bin Laden, or at least who would avoid condemning him. But the allegation Friedman is making is that no major cleric has condemned him. Try this: Prominent Pakistani Cleric Tahir ul Qadri condemns Bin Laden.
I don't personally care for Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He is an old-time Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood preacher who fled to Qatar and now has a perch at al-Jazeera. But he does have some virtues. He is enormously popular among Muslim fundamentalists. And, he absolutely despises Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. Al-Qaradawi has repeatedly condemned the latter. He even gave a fatwa that it was a duty of Muslims to fight alongside the US in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda! See also:
Yusuf al-Qaradawi condemns al-Qaeda.
There are also substantial Muslim communities in Europe with leaderships that have explicitly condemned Bin Laden. E.g.:
Spanish Muslim Clerical authorities Issue Fatwa against Osamah Bin Laden. There are on the order of 250,000 Muslims in Spain.
High Mufti of Russian Muslims calls for Extradition of Bin Laden. The Russian Muslim community is about 20 million strong, or 15 percent of Russia's 143 million population, and is growing rapidly, so that in a century Russia may be 50 percent Muslim. So this is not a pro forma thing here.
A good round-up on this sort of issue has been put up by al-Muhajabah.
See also Charles Kurzman's page.
Friedman also does refer to a major conference of Muslim clerics, thinkers and notables wound up just Wednesday that made a powerful statement about religious tolerance and condemned everything Osama Bin Laden stands for. But he seems oddly unaware of the significance of having Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Grand Imam of al-Azhar Seminary Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, and many other great Muslim authorities sign off on this epochal statement of Muslim ecumenism.
The statement forbids one Muslim to declare another "not a Muslim" if the believer adheres to any of the mainstream legal rites of Sunnism and Shiism. The whole basis of al-Qaeda is to call the Muslim leaders of countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as Shiites, "not Muslims." The statement also demands that engineers should please stop pretending to issue fatwas, which should be left to trained clerical jurisconsults. This para. is also a slam at Bin Laden.
PS As for Friedman's main point, that Muslims haven't done a good job of fighting jihadi ideology and terrorism, it is bizarre. The Algerian government fought a virtual civil war to put down political Islam, in which over 100,000 persons died. The Egyptians jailed 20,000 or 30,000 radicals for thought crimes and killed 1500 in running street battles in the 1990s and early zeroes. Al-Qaeda can't easily strike in the Middle East precisely because Syria, Egypt, Algeria, etc. have their number and have undertaken massive actions against them. What does Friedman want? And, besides, he is wrong that this is only a Muslim problem. In the global age all problems are everybody's. That's part of flat world, too, Tom. SourceInformed Comment
3.7.09
Islam, Europe and the Political Elite
The European elections draw closer, but we have very few real political choices. It seems to me that Islam, Europe and extreme left all share the same warped values and are determined to force them upon us — whether we want them or not. And whatever party we vote for, citizens seem to get the very same soul-destroying policies with only a slightly different wrapper!
Take the issue of democracy, for example. Islam, the European Union and our political elite all declare their support for freedom of speech — but what they really mean is they support leftist speech. What they really mean is that anything they don’t agree with is not “free speech” but “hate speech” — and this subterfuge allows them to act claiming they are “protecting society” from racism, xenophobia or hate-mongers. So whether we vote Labour, Liberal, Conservative, Green or UKIP we will always get the same! More immigration, more Islamization, more European interference and less and less freedom to decide what we really want.
Islam, the European Union and our political elite all share the same values — they all despise fairness, democracy and justice. Today, Tories as well as Labour, Liberal and the other mainstream parties claim they are “centrist” parties, but this thin wrapper of respectability covers a dangerous neo-Marxist core which lies at the centre of mainstream politics today. Our political elites, whatever the colour of their political wrapper, truly believe that only they are worthy to be the true judges of fairness, justice and law. So when such “liberals” (of whatever party) win an election it is declared “fair”; yet if they lose one it must be due to “xenophobic elements”, “racists”, “fascists” or similar antisocial types sabotaging their rightful inheritance.
Muslims, the European Union and our political elites all wrap themselves in the cloak of liberalism, equality and fairness — but underneath, they all share the same contempt for citizens, abhorrence of duty to their constituents and loathing for the democratic process; they all hate anyone who disagrees with them. The EU, for example, learning in a poll that 60 percent of European citizens (as well as 60 percent of Turks) were against Turkey joining the EU — decided to speed up the process and keep it quiet so as not to attract the attention of citizens. And as you know, this is only one example in many ongoing acts of contempt by the EU for its own citizens.
Muslims, the European Union and modern, left-wing elitist politicians have indoctrinated themselves to believe in their own superiority. They think of themselves so much, and so often, that the idea anyone could hold opposing views seems somehow ridiculous. Likewise, Islam believes, and has always believed, it is above all other religions and openly says so in the Qur’an. And such supremicism easily leads to the justification of violence and hatred for non-Muslims as European political elitism has led to an institutionalized contempt for EU citizens.
The EU believes it has a destiny to implement its vision of a united, federal Europe where the leftist elite sit at the helm dispensing equality, freedom and justice for all. They must do this irrespective of “wrong” referendum results and “meaningless” opinion polls because European citizens are too short-sighted to “see the big picture”, and benefits which will clearly be reaped by all!
Our elitist leaders believe that only they have “nuanced” beliefs and the “insight” necessary to see the true value of a “cosmopolitan society”. They alone have the vision to move beyond outdated ideas like nationalism, patriotism, and religious conflicts. In other words, only the European Union, the United Nations and the leftist elite are intellectual enough to hold objective truths. And that is why the mainstream media is right to accept their truth whilst rejecting “divisive” and “inflammatory” talk and ideas which differ from their utopian ideals.
Today, criticism of Islam, the EU and the leftist dream is treated as heresy — an attack on the very identity of the listener. And our political elites treat any such criticism with the contempt it deserves.
Anyone who challenges them, the EU or Islam does not even warrant a well argued counterargument since such ideas are so “obviously false”. There is clearly “something wrong” with the people who criticize them… so they must be xenophobic, hate-mongers or perhaps just ignorant.
I hope people will learn that a vote for Labour, Liberal Greens or Conservatives is simply a vote for the very same rotten policies in a different coloured wrapper.
Now is the time to use your vote to cause an impact, to send shudders down the spines of the political elitists and Islam-appeasing parties currently ruling over us — treating us as mindless, powerless pawns.
Source:
Take the issue of democracy, for example. Islam, the European Union and our political elite all declare their support for freedom of speech — but what they really mean is they support leftist speech. What they really mean is that anything they don’t agree with is not “free speech” but “hate speech” — and this subterfuge allows them to act claiming they are “protecting society” from racism, xenophobia or hate-mongers. So whether we vote Labour, Liberal, Conservative, Green or UKIP we will always get the same! More immigration, more Islamization, more European interference and less and less freedom to decide what we really want.
Islam, the European Union and our political elite all share the same values — they all despise fairness, democracy and justice. Today, Tories as well as Labour, Liberal and the other mainstream parties claim they are “centrist” parties, but this thin wrapper of respectability covers a dangerous neo-Marxist core which lies at the centre of mainstream politics today. Our political elites, whatever the colour of their political wrapper, truly believe that only they are worthy to be the true judges of fairness, justice and law. So when such “liberals” (of whatever party) win an election it is declared “fair”; yet if they lose one it must be due to “xenophobic elements”, “racists”, “fascists” or similar antisocial types sabotaging their rightful inheritance.
Muslims, the European Union and our political elites all wrap themselves in the cloak of liberalism, equality and fairness — but underneath, they all share the same contempt for citizens, abhorrence of duty to their constituents and loathing for the democratic process; they all hate anyone who disagrees with them. The EU, for example, learning in a poll that 60 percent of European citizens (as well as 60 percent of Turks) were against Turkey joining the EU — decided to speed up the process and keep it quiet so as not to attract the attention of citizens. And as you know, this is only one example in many ongoing acts of contempt by the EU for its own citizens.
Muslims, the European Union and modern, left-wing elitist politicians have indoctrinated themselves to believe in their own superiority. They think of themselves so much, and so often, that the idea anyone could hold opposing views seems somehow ridiculous. Likewise, Islam believes, and has always believed, it is above all other religions and openly says so in the Qur’an. And such supremicism easily leads to the justification of violence and hatred for non-Muslims as European political elitism has led to an institutionalized contempt for EU citizens.
The EU believes it has a destiny to implement its vision of a united, federal Europe where the leftist elite sit at the helm dispensing equality, freedom and justice for all. They must do this irrespective of “wrong” referendum results and “meaningless” opinion polls because European citizens are too short-sighted to “see the big picture”, and benefits which will clearly be reaped by all!
Our elitist leaders believe that only they have “nuanced” beliefs and the “insight” necessary to see the true value of a “cosmopolitan society”. They alone have the vision to move beyond outdated ideas like nationalism, patriotism, and religious conflicts. In other words, only the European Union, the United Nations and the leftist elite are intellectual enough to hold objective truths. And that is why the mainstream media is right to accept their truth whilst rejecting “divisive” and “inflammatory” talk and ideas which differ from their utopian ideals.
Today, criticism of Islam, the EU and the leftist dream is treated as heresy — an attack on the very identity of the listener. And our political elites treat any such criticism with the contempt it deserves.
Anyone who challenges them, the EU or Islam does not even warrant a well argued counterargument since such ideas are so “obviously false”. There is clearly “something wrong” with the people who criticize them… so they must be xenophobic, hate-mongers or perhaps just ignorant.
I hope people will learn that a vote for Labour, Liberal Greens or Conservatives is simply a vote for the very same rotten policies in a different coloured wrapper.
Now is the time to use your vote to cause an impact, to send shudders down the spines of the political elitists and Islam-appeasing parties currently ruling over us — treating us as mindless, powerless pawns.
Source:
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