Posted on 02/06/2017 11:23:37 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Standing on a city street, Mansoor Shams holds a sign that reads: “I’m a Muslim and a U.S. Marine. Ask anything.” The former Marine has been traveling around the nation, inviting those curious to ask him about his experiences. NewsHour joined Shams in Baltimore to listen in on his discussions and hear why he’s so eager to discuss his faith with strangers.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Mansoor Shams served in the United States Marine Corps from 2000 to 2004. Recently, he has been traveling around the country with a simple sign that reads: “I’m a Muslim and a U.S. Marine. Ask anything.”
NewsHour producer Mike Fritz joined him while he was on the streets of Baltimore to listen in to some of the conversations he was having.
MANSOOR SHAMS, Former U.S. Marine: Do you know that I have to believe in Jesus Christ in order to be a Muslim? He’s a very special person to us.
MAN: Oh, yes. But he’s more than a prophet.
MANSOOR SHAMS: But that’s OK. That’s where we differ.
My name is Mansoor Shams. I’m a former U.S. Marine. I was born in Pakistan, came to the United States at age 6. I’m now 34 years old.
MAN: So, how are you Muslim and a Marine if they hate you?
MANSOOR SHAMS: Because that’s what I am.
MAN: It doesn’t make sense.
MANSOOR SHAMS: How did I start this project?
Well, it’s interesting, because never would I have thought that we would reach a state in our nation where we would be troubled or confused or frustrated or divisive when it came to people who followed my faith.
The more conversations that we have, the better.
Recently, I got to visit the cities of Houston, Denver, Portland, and Seattle. It’s always a new experience in general, because you don’t know how people are going to react, and how they are going to take it.
MAN: ISIS, I thought they just chopped the heads off. They don’t chop your head off. They even have little children. I couldn’t even…
MANSOOR SHAMS: They’re horrendous people. I agree with you.
If ISIS caught me, they would put me — break me up into pieces.
Some of the questions that I get as I’m out and about relate to Sharia law. That’s a very big one. So, they will say, do you believe in Sharia law as a United States Marine, as a Muslim? Of course, my answer is, yes, I do.
But it’s not the way that you believe in it. It’s the way I believe in it.
I tell them that it’s literally a path to life-giving water. It’s a moral code. It tells me not to commit adultery. It tells me not to fornicate. It tells me not to drink, not to gamble. This is all forms of Sharia law.
A lot of people are scared of perhaps people who follow my belief system or even look like…
MAN: I love Muslims. I love everybody, brother. I love you.
MANSOOR SHAMS: Hey, man. Thanks, man. You motivate me, man.
(LAUGHTER)
MANSOOR SHAMS: I think Americans do not understand Islam.
It’s been among — amongst America for 200 years. It’s always been there.
MAN: And, see, that’s what he’s trying to protect us from is the radical Muslim, the ones that are intending to come over here and kill us.
MANSOOR SHAMS: In the larger scheme of things, when you paint an entire religion or an entire nation, for that matter, with a broad brush, and anyone who is an immigrant who’s come to this country, ask them how hard it is to come to this country. OK?
My feelings of Donald Trump, or President Trump, has been mixed. It’s helped me to see another America that I thought we had gone far past.
However, I did take the time to write him a letter and to say that he could use me as a potential resource. I don’t know if he’s received it. It wasn’t a partisan letter. It wasn’t a negative letter. It wasn’t not a not-my-president letter, because not my president technically goes against my faith as well.
The Koran teaches me to be loyal, not only loyal, but to obey people in authority above me. He is our president, and there’s no doubt about that.
Everybody met a Muslim and a U.S. Marine?
I feel that, at the end of the day, if we don’t fix these things, this is going to have a — create a larger problem for our country. The trajectory we’re headed on right now doesn’t seem like a very good one.
We’re not that different.
MAN: That’s right.
MANSOOR SHAMS: No need to be scared.
MAN: Right.
MANSOOR SHAMS: You know?
Okay.
What is your opinion on the Baltimore Colts relocation to Indianapolis controversy?
“Is that your daughter or your wife?”
“In the larger scheme of things, when you paint an entire religion...”
YAWN
Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Why are almost all terrorist muslims?
Is it okay for muslims to rape little girls like mohammed did?
why did your prophet RAPE and marry a 6 year old girl? That’s effing sick you puke
I don’t have to ask you anything Mansoor.
I’ve read the Qur’an and the Hadiths.
They don’t say what you say they say, so apparently you are practicing Taqiyya.
(His last name is “Shams” ; How very apt.)
Here’s my question
How can I tell when you are lying to infidels like myself?
Do you believe that anyone leaving the Muslim faith ought to be killed? Do you believe that an adulteress ought to be stoned to death? Do you believe that Sharia law ought to trump the Constitution? Do you believe that it is okay to kill a non-believer if they refuse to convert to Islam?
Do you believe that it is appropriate to kill a former mohammedan who becomes Christian?
Do you shoot them all in the head if given the chance?
If yes, fine - I can live with you.
If no, STFU.
Any women in his family undergone FGM?
Oh, it goes back much farther than that, Mansoor. It goes back to when Jesus, a Muslim, came and preached to the American Indians.
Question: If Islam is a “religion of peace” why have Muslims constantly invaded neighboring countries to convert them by the sword ever since the death of Mohammed centuries ago?
A fundamental belief in islam is that sharia is the ultimate law and supercedes all others. Doesn’t that conflict with your enlistment oath to the US Constitution? If not, why not?
Why is PBS promoting this?
Why is PBS bankrolled with US taxpayer’s money?
To me he is just another of the many Cafeteria type Muslim heretics.
If you want to know about the fundamentals of Islam read the Koran, and follow the examples set by Muhammad as spelled out in the Hadiths. -Tom
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