Posted on 03/11/2003 1:23:51 AM PST by kattracks
In an office in lower Manhattan yesterday blocks from Ground Zero, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf talked about his Muslim beliefs to an unusual audience - a roomful of FBI agents."Islamic extremism for the majority of Muslims is an oxymoron," he explained to the agents. "It is a fundamental contradiction in terms."
Rauf - imam of the Masjid al-Farah mosque of Tribeca - was speaking as part of an FBI effort to present agents who are the ground troops in the war against terrorism with a view of Islam that avoids stereotypes.
It comes as the FBI has been criticized for violating rights of Arab-Americans in the agency's reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Kevin Donovan, director of the FBI's New York office, brought in the imam and a Pakistani-born FBI agent to give agents "a clear picture."
Questioned by Donovan, Rauf clarified terms such as jihad and fatwah, saying both have been oversimplified by law enforcement and the media.
Jihad can mean holy war to extremists, but it means struggle to the average Muslim. Fatwah has been interpreted to mean a religious mandate approving violence, but is merely a recommendation by a religious leader.
Rauf noted that the U.S. response to the Sept. 11 attacks could be considered a jihad, and pointed out that a renowned Islamic scholar had issued a fatwah advising Muslims in the U.S. military it was okay to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Rauf made clear Islam's image has been distorted by radical fundamentalists who insist on strict adherence to their interpretation of the Koran and impose a fascistic order on certain countries.
"It can happen under any religion," he noted.
He insisted Islam has a historic kinship with both Judaism and Christianity, a relationship of which not only Americans but many Muslims are unaware.
Foria Younis, an FBI agent of Pakistani origin who works for the Joint Terrorism Task Force, talked about misperceptions held by many Muslims and Americans.
Younis said that agents sometimes have a confused image of the Arab world.
She also admitted that much of the Muslim world does not understand the U.S., noting that the most popular U.S. TV shows there are "Baywatch" and MTV.
"What would you think of America if all you watched was MTV?" she asked.
Well, that may or may not be true, and is certainly debateable, but what about the other 15% (that Daniel Pipes estimates) of Muslims that are radical Islamists trying to bring the entire world back to the Dark Ages?
DELENDA EST ISLAM!!!
The sooner the FBI pulls their head out of their PC ass, and rids this country of them the better.
Our lives are at stake. Do it.
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