Iranian cleric wants Islam promoted as a peaceful religion
By JOYCE M. DAVIS
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - An Iranian cleric is in Washington with the blessing of his government to drum up support for an unprecedented international Islamic conference to promote Islam as a religion of peace, and not one that encourages Muslims to kill people of other faiths.
Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad is among a growing number of moderate Islamic scholars who are concerned about the popularity of extremists such as Osama bin Laden, especially among disillusioned youths in the Islamic world. These extremists use some Islamic texts to recruit young men and women into terrorism.
Muslim extremists often point to Surah 2, verses 190-191, in the Quran, Islam's holy book, to justify their call for attacks on the United States and other Western targets: "And slay them where ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter."
Damad and other Islamic scholars contend that militants are misinterpreting such verses and distorting Islam.
Islam has no one central authority on its teachings, and Muslim scholars often differ on their interpretations of holy texts. Islam also unites more than 1 billion people of varied races, cultures and languages. Such differences will make it difficult for Muslims to agree on the religion's teachings, even if they accept Damad's call for an international conference.
"The first major problem concerns the relation of Muslims vis-a-vis followers of other religions," Damad said recently at a gathering of Islamic scholars at the United Association of Studies and Research, an Islamic center in Springfield, Va. There are "many ordinary Muslims and even scholars who believe there can be no permanent peace between Islam and kofr (unbelievers), and the two should be in perpetual war until the final victory of Islam."
But there is another interpretation of Islam, he said, that sees it as a "religion of peace and tolerance that can coexist with other faiths. … These two conceptions … are in hot competition for the minds and hearts of men in my own country, Iran."
Damad, the head of the Islamic studies department at the Academy of Scientists in Iran, is calling for Muslim scholars to unite to agree on a moderate, tolerant interpretation of Islamic texts, especially those that militants use to justify jihad - holy war - against the West.
A spokesman for the Iranian interest section in Washington said Damad's call for a more moderate interpretation of Islam had the full blessing of the Iranian government, including President Mohamed Khatami and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Damad supports Khatami's efforts to promote dialogue with the West. Iran and the United States haven't had diplomatic ties since 1979.
Damad, a Shiite Muslim, needs the backing of mainstream Sunni Muslim scholars, such as those associated with the United Association of Studies and Research in Virginia, to promote his call for Muslims to re-examine Islam's teachings for the modern world. Damad recently started to travel, beginning in the United States, to solicit support for a conference.
Militants are gaining ground throughout the Islamic world, since so many people are angry at U.S. support for Israel as well as the American-led occupation of Iraq, Damad said. While militants encourage Muslims to act on their own to fight nonbelievers whenever and wherever they can, most mainstream Muslim scholars don't support such teachings, Damad said.
Like Damad, many moderate Muslims are alarmed at the increasing anti-American hostility in the Islamic world. This hostility is even growing among Muslims who have supported the West in such countries as Qatar and Kuwait, warned a prominent Kuwaiti official who asked not to be identified. The only way this battle can be fought is with the help of moderate Muslim scholars, he said, who have the authority and the prestige to challenge the militants.
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/6569276.htm "A spokesman for the Iranian interest section in Washington said Damad's call for a more moderate interpretation of Islam had the full blessing of the Iranian government, including President Mohamed Khatami and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei."
If it has the blessings of Khatami and Khamenei, there's something rotten there.
More Information on: United Association of Studies and Research. (excerpted; see url below for entire statement)
FEBRUARY 24, 1998, TUESDAY
HEADLINE: PREPARED STATEMENT OF STEVEN EMERSON BEFORE THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, TECHNOLOGY AND GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SUBJECT - FOREIGN TERRORISTS IN AMERICA: FIVE YEARS AFTER THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING
BODY:
Introduction:
The subject of today's hearing, the foreign terrorist threat in the United States, is one of the most important issues we face as a society today. With the advent of chemical and biological weapons, we now face distinct possibilities of mass civilian murder the likes of which have not been seen World War II. The specter of terrorism carries with it the threat of violence aimed at targets merely because of their religious, ethnic or national identities."
"The connections between CAIR and Hamas extend beyond Nihad Awad. Mohammad Nimer, the director of CAIR's Research Center, was on the board of directors of the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). This innocuous sounding organization is the strategic arm of Hamas in the United States. One Hamas terrorist operative, caught and convicted by Israeli authorities, called UASR "the political command of llamas in the United States?13 There are numerous other indicators of the close connections between UASR and Hamas."
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6453/emerson.html