I want to thank Khalim Massoud for the interview on last evening’s podcast. It went very well, and we think it was well received. It certainly made for some interesting discussion.
Mr. Massoud had some follow-up remarks / clarifications about the interview.
99% figure about Robert Spencer.
Of course this number is arbitrary, but here’s how I came up with it. About 50% of world Muslims are illiterate, due to the simple fact that in some countries women do not go to school. Many religious students who attend madrassas learn the Koran by heart in Arabic while not being able to understand Arabic. And many Muslims who read the Koran or other religious texts and commentaries have not studied them in as much depth as Mr. Spencer. That’s why I believe that even though the 99% number is arbitrary, it is reasonable.
What needs to be changed in Islam.
Everything that needs to be changed is outlined in our manifesto at www.reformislam.org. We want to reform a few bad aspects of Islam that is why we concentrate on them. Our goals are to educate Muslims about dangers presented by Islamic religious texts and why Islam must be reformed, to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists ( a.k.a. Islamic Religious Fanatics, Radical Muslims, Muslim Fundamentalists, Islamic Extremists or Islamofascists), and to educate both Muslims and non-Muslims alike that Moderate Muslims are also targets of Islamic Terror. There are many organizations that educate people about wonderful aspects of our religion, but this is not what we do.
Radical reformation ideas.
We don’t consider our ideas radical, we consider them pragmatic. Of course everybody is entitled to his or her opinion, you think our ideas are radical, some people say that our reforms do not go far enough. We cannot please everybody, but we can do what we think is right.
“Freedom Fighter” remarks.
He probably should have read our manifesto, including our views on peace, violence, and Islamic world domination, before going on your program. People like him are the reason I believe that an average American thinks that the moderate Muslim is the one who hasn’t put on a suicide belt yet. What I don’t understand is why does this “Freedom Fighter” puts us in the same place as CAIR while we stated time and time again that CAIR is a terrorist front and we are the opposite of CAIR. We do not dispute the fact that DNC has relations with terrorist imams, but it would only be fair to mention that President Bush had his picture taken with Sami al-Arian, a head of American branch of Palestinian Islamic Jihad or that Grover Norquist, a very influential figure in the Republican party is an Islamist himself.
Saudi Arabia remark.
First it is not racist, because Saudi Arabs, or Arabs in general are not a race. Second, I’m just being pragmatic. If you wish to live in a country with a certain set of rules, it is easier to move to that country than change another country to be like the first one. And this is even without taking into consideration that there might be people in America who don’t want it to be like Saudi Arabia.
Back to the “Freedom Fighter”
He claims that we cannot remove the evil verses from the Koran, but this is exactly what we are doing. He claims that we are lying about it. Now he has the chance to put his money where his mouth is. We will print as many copies of the reformed Koran [with outdated verses (http://www.reformislam.org/verses.php) removed from there] as he is willing to finance. He is referring to the verse 98:6. Ironically, it is one of the verses which removal we are advocating. Endorsing of entire religious text argument is completely baseless. I personally know both Jews and Muslims who eat pork.
This person seems to have an unreasonable hatred towards everything Islamic. I wonder what would he think about a Jewish baby that was switched at birth with a Muslim baby and raised a Muslim in a Muslim family. Children cannot choose their parent’s religion. Should the Westerners start killing all the Muslim babies just to be on the safe side?
I may have mentioned this before, but 80% of American mosques are controlled by the Wahhabis. Why would this “Freedom Fighter” expect a genuine condemnation of CAIR (who are financed by the same sources) from any of them?American Education System teaches Islamist views.
I was referring to the Middle East studies departments of American Universities. Most of them receive Wahhabi grants and staffed by Wahhabi-approved professors.
Respectfully,
Khalim
