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Islamic Scholar Warns U.S. of 'Two-Faced' Muslims
UPI ^ | June 20, 2002 | UPI

Posted on 06/19/2002 1:56:45 PM PDT by ZULU

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

Islamic Scholar Warns U.S. of 'Two-Faced' Muslims

NewsMax.com Wires

Thursday, June 20, 2002

WASHINGTON – A leader of the small worldwide Muslim reform movement is warning the West against wishful thinking as the U.S. government promotes an intensive dialogue with Islam.

"The dialogue is not proceeding well because of the two-facedness of most Muslim interlocutors on the one hand and the gullibility of well-meaning Western idealists on the other," Bassam Tibi said Tuesday in an interview with United Press International.

Syrian-born Tibi, who claims to be a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed and teaches political science at Goettingen University in Germany, appealed for intellectual honesty in these exchanges.

This Is 'Peace'?

"First, both sides should acknowledge candidly that although they might use identical terms these mean different things to each of them. The word 'peace,' for example, implies to a Muslim the extension of the Dar al-Islam – or 'House of Islam' – to the entire world," explained Tibi, who is also a research scholar at Harvard University.

"This is completely different from the Enlightenment concept of eternal peace that dominates Western thought, a concept developed by Immanuel Kant," an 18th-century philosopher.

This Is 'Tolerance'?

"Similarly, when Muslims and the Western heirs of the Enlightenment speak of tolerance they have different things in mind. In Islamic terminology, this term implies abiding non-Islamic monotheists, such as Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, as second-class believers. They are 'dhimmi,' a protected but politically immature minority."

According to Tibi, the quest of converting the entire world to Islam is an immutable fixture of the Muslim worldview. Only if this task is accomplished, if the world has become a "Dar al-Islam," will it also be a "Dar a-Salam," or a house of peace.

Tibi appealed to his co-religionists to "revise their understanding of peace and tolerance by accepting pluralism." Furthermore, he said, Muslim leaders should give up the notion of Jihad in the sense of conquest, as opposed to Jihad as an internal struggle of the individual.

Liberal Mush

Tibi's advice comes at a time when the U.S. government is urging American Muslim leaders to promote understanding for the United States in Islamic regions. To Tibi, this is more of a diplomatic endeavor than the promotion of a more profound theological understanding between Islam and the Judeo-Christian worldview prevalent in the West.

But Muzammil Siddiqi, one senior Islamic scholar the State Department consults with, told UPI he found that his efforts in furthering contacts between Muslim, Christian and Jewish theologians were having some success.

Indian-born Siddiqi is the director of the large Islamic Center of Orange County in California. In consultation with the State Department and in cooperation with the University of Kentucky, he traveled back and forth between the United States and the Middle East trying to convince Muslim theologians and jurists to meet with American church leaders.

"I have found that many, though not all, were ready to welcome visitors from America and also to come here to explore with Christians and Jews what we have in common," Siddiqi said.

Though Siddiqi's center is heavily engaged in interfaith activities, he made it clear that to him, as indeed for conservative Christians, syncretism – the mixing of religions – was anathema.

Common values should be sought out, he explained, and the equality of all believers respected, be they Muslims, Christians, Hindus or Buddhists. But the purity of the faith must not be compromised.

In an article in the prestigious Hamburg weekly Die Zeit, Tibi gave anecdotal evidence of how daunting a task this dialogue with Islam can be.

Staring in Horror at the Bible

The bishop of Hildesheim in Germany paid an imam a courtesy visit in his mosque. The imam handed the Catholic prelate a Koran, which he joyfully accepted. But when the bishop tried to present the imam with a Bible, the Muslim cleric just stared at him in horror and refused to even touch Christianity's holy book.

"The bishop was irritated because he perceived this behavior as a gross discourtesy," wrote Tibi, "but the imam had only acted according to his faith. For if an imam gives a bishop a Koran, he considers this a Da'Wa, or call to Islam."

This, explained Tibi, must be borne in mind when one engages in a dialogue with Muslim "scholars," for it corresponds to a verse in the Koran: "And say ... to those who are unlearned: 'Do ye submit yourselves?'" (Surah 3:20).

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hughhewitt; taqiyyalist
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To: ZULU
"First, both sides should acknowledge candidly that although they might use identical terms these mean different things to each of them. The word 'peace,' for example, implies to a Muslim the extension of the Dar al-Islam – or 'House of Islam' – to the entire world," explained Tibi, who is also a research scholar at Harvard University.

In other words, as expressed in the great classic Bored of the Rings,

Peace iss vat ve vant und do haff,
Und a piece uff everyting you haff.

41 posted on 06/20/2002 10:37:42 AM PDT by valkyrieanne
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To: Fzob
The bishop of Hildesheim in Germany paid an imam a courtesy visit in his mosque. The imam handed the Catholic prelate a Koran, which he joyfully accepted. But when the bishop tried to present the imam with a Bible, the Muslim cleric just stared at him in horror and refused to even touch Christianity's holy book.

This is why at some point the West will realize the first step in really fixing this problem will require making Mecca a place that used to be on the map.

The bishop naively thought the imam was being "ecumenical", as it might be with Protestants, Jews, or even Hindus. But the imam was inviting the bishop to Islam.

The Muslims claim Adam, Noah, the major Jewish prophets, and Jesus as prophets of Islam. And after all the notion of submission to God's will was not invented by Muhammad, was it? Twisted by him yes.

They claim that the Torah given to Moses and the Gospels were correct until those rotten Jews and Christians rewrote them. Seventh century higher critics.

42 posted on 06/20/2002 10:55:13 AM PDT by Salman
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To: ZULU
This fellow, BASSAM TIBI, has got Americans pegged for the suckers we are!
Hey suckers, are you listening???
43 posted on 06/20/2002 11:01:40 AM PDT by Minutemen
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To: ZULU
"But Muzammil Siddiqi, one senior Islamic scholar the State Department consults with, told UPI he found that his efforts in furthering contacts between Muslim, Christian and Jewish theologians were having some success. Indian-born Siddiqi is the director of the large Islamic Center of Orange County in California. In consultation with the State Department and in cooperation with the University of Kentucky, he traveled back and forth between the United States and the Middle East trying to convince Muslim theologians and jurists to meet with American church leaders."

Yes there are muslims who will call a spade a spade. however Siddiqi is not one of them.

Siddiqi is President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Which has ties to HAMAS and Musa Abu Marzook which ISNA supported while Marzook was in prison for being part of the conflict between HAMAS and the Jodanian Authorities in 1999. Additionally Siraj Wahhaj and who was Siddiqi's Vice President was also included in the US Attorney's list of inindicted persons who maybe alleged as co-conspirators in the World Trade Center Bombing. (2/2/95 United States v. Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel Rahman).

Siddiqi was also part of the 2000 rally in DC in front of the White House where he blamed America for the injustices of the Palestine people.

44 posted on 06/20/2002 11:23:17 AM PDT by PoppingSmoke
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To: ZULU
The Koran condones misrepresentation, going back on one's word and "back-stabbing", all in the pursuit of establishing its dominance. So, all a Muslim has to do is convince himself that it is for the ultimate good of Allah and Islam, in order to be at peace with himself. This is why Muslim "leaders" on the international stage, Arrafat, Musharraf, Prince Ibn Saud, et al, have no problem saying one thing and doing another.
45 posted on 06/20/2002 2:24:29 PM PDT by mikeIII
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To: Jeff Chandler
I can't beleive she she said I was a moose!
46 posted on 06/20/2002 2:39:17 PM PDT by mamelukesabre
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To: ZULU
Yep.

"Peace" for Muslims means a world where the only religion in existence is Islam.

47 posted on 06/20/2002 3:10:26 PM PDT by fogarty
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To: rageaholic
For example, suppose in 1939 1936 the Nazi party established a headquarters

The German-American Bund

48 posted on 06/20/2002 3:19:20 PM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: rageaholic
You are absolutely correct, but just try to frame that analogy to some of these left-coast liberals and you might be facing some hate-crime accusations.
49 posted on 06/20/2002 3:35:32 PM PDT by meadsjn
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To: Madame Dufarge
I am aware of the German American Bund and considered using an earlier date in my hypothetical. However, after 11 September, we have been on full notice and the current scenario more resembles Nazis after the invasion of Poland and Czechoslovakia.

In 39, even Chamberlain knew Hitler was not a "man of peace". Sadly "W" still appears to be laboring under the delusion that Islam is a friendly religeon.

Another scenario would be Communists in small town america in 1955. A damned pity Tom Ridge is no McCarthy.

50 posted on 06/20/2002 5:45:38 PM PDT by rageaholic
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To: Travis McGee
Yes, your Trojan Horse Muslim is a good term to describe these so called "moderates". I also like the term "check book terrorists" to describe the Saudis who reward the mothers of Pali "meat bombs".

Another useful word is "hypertolerance", the sort of PC mentality that allows muslims to immigrate to the USA and plant an islamic "population bomb" for their long term invasion plan.

51 posted on 06/20/2002 5:51:12 PM PDT by rageaholic
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To: rageaholic
I like them as well, particularly "check book terrorist".
52 posted on 06/20/2002 5:56:10 PM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: rageaholic
islamic "population bomb"
They've drafted all their women, turned them into an army of baby-making-machines (without rights, without individual human dignity) and the women's movement in the West completely ignores this ongoing continuing criminal enterprise against women, this greatest crime-against-women ever committed by a culture in the history of this planet.

PC liberals aren't just stupid... they are blindly and fanatically stupid.

53 posted on 06/21/2002 6:39:28 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: ZULU
"The dialogue is not proceeding well because of the two-facedness of most Muslim interlocutors on the one hand and the gullibility of well-meaning Western idealists on the other,"
Shocking. Really, anyone who is surprised by this assessment is way overdue for pulling his head out of the sand.

But Muzammil Siddiqi, one senior Islamic scholar the State Department consults with, told UPI he found that his efforts in furthering contacts between Muslim, Christian and Jewish theologians were having some success.
Siddiqi is a prime example of a two-faced muslim, IMHO.
54 posted on 06/21/2002 12:28:31 PM PDT by watchin
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To: ZULU
Related Articles:
Four Myths About Muslims
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: June 13, 2002;
Author: C.T. Rossi

Trying To Find A `Moderate' Islam Is A Quixotic Quest
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: May 20, 2002;
Author: C.T. Rossi

The Islaming of Europe
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: May 20, 2002;
Author: Alan Caruba

Why Islam Can't Join the Modern World
Source: FrontPageMagazine.com; Published: May 16, 2002;
Author: Jamie Glazov

It's The Attitude, Stupid [re: Palestinians]
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: May 14, 2002;
Author: Philip Safran

Reports of Moderate Islam's Existence Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: April 22, 2002;
Author: C.T. Rossi

It's time to snap out of Arab fantasy land {Steyn}
Source: National Post; April 19 2002;
Author: Mark Steyn

Islam Vs. The World
Source: Toogood Reports; Published: December 2, 2001;
Author: Alan Caruba

Will the Real Islam Please Stand Up!
Source:Van Jenerette Editorial Comment, Various Publications;
Published: October 14, 2001; Author: Van Jenerette

Civilization Envy
Source: National Review Online; Published: September 28, 2001;
Author: Jonah Goldberg

Terror's Homebase, All Over The Map -- Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam
Source: Wall Street Journal-- Book Review; Published: | March 29, 2002;
Author: Adrian Karatnycky

They Live to Die (Islam Martyrdom)
Source: Wall Street Journal; Published: April 7, 2002;
Author: Reuel Marc Gerecht

20 Suppressed Facts About Israel, Islam
Source: Koenig's International News; Published: April 9, 2002;
Author: Jim Bramlett

HOROWITZ: A MIDDLE EAST HISTORY PRIMER
Source: News and Opinion.com; Published; April 10, 2002;
Author:David Horowitz

Arafat Must Go!
Source: CNSNews.com; Published: April 10, 2002;
Author: Alan Caruba

Netanyahu speaks before US Senators
Source: http://netanyahu.org/netspeacinse.html; Published: April 10, 2002;
Author: Netanyahu address US Senators


55 posted on 06/21/2002 12:30:31 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
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To: ZULU
""The dialogue is not proceeding well because of the two-facedness of most Muslim interlocutors on the one hand and the gullibility of well-meaning Western idealists on the other," Bassam Tibi said Tuesday in an interview with United Press International."

It's called a hidden agenda, and it's really SAD that the well meaning West can be so blind that we (in general) need read this in print...and sadder still that a lot of us won't believe it.

56 posted on 06/21/2002 2:01:41 PM PDT by cake_crumb
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To: Jeff Chandler
mind you... mØØse bites can be preti nasti
57 posted on 06/21/2002 2:39:03 PM PDT by aSkeptic
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To: Travis McGee
BUMP
58 posted on 11/20/2002 8:38:21 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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