If you want to identify people who are okay with suicide bombing, I can give you a list, including Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Michigan State University Professor Mohammad Hassan Khalil told me at a September Georgetown University lecture. Khalil theorized before an audience of some thirty people at the Saudi-founded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) that Islams atheistic critics exaggerate the religions role in inciting violence.
While ACMCU Professor Jonathan Brown moderated, Khalils responses ironically reinforced the critique of Islam he sought to refute. For the record, Qaradawis primetime show on Qatars Al Jazeera network drew an estimated 60 million viewers. Even had he been the lone cleric promoting suicide bombing which he was not the size of his viewership reveals the scope of the problem.
At the Georgetown event, Khalil presented his previously recorded discussion of his new book, Jihad, Radicalism, and the New Atheism, in which he disputes claims of many New Atheists, particularly Sam Harris, that Muslim terrorism can be best explained by Islamic scriptures. Harris further labels benign interpretations of Islam as interpretive acrobatics.
Khalil explained his focus on the so-called New Atheists, saying that [m]any of [his] own colleagues and students have been and continue to be more profoundly impacted by the writings of New Atheists than, say, polemical works by far-right religiously-affiliated critics of Islam. Correspondingly, he cited Harriss statement to fellow atheist Bill Maher that we have to be able to criticize bad ideas, and Islam is the motherlode of bad ideas.
Although critics such as the ex-Muslim atheists behind the Awesome Without Allah campaign would affirm Harriss observations, Khalil accused Harris of cherry-picking. Reiterating his previous analysis of Islamic canons to argue that jihadists like Osama bin Laden use interpretative acrobatics to justify attacks on civilians,Khalil asserted that Harriss interpretation of Islam is so obdurate and so extreme that it cannot even be ascribed to the man behind 9/11.
Khalil claimed such jihadists are on the fringes of the jihad tradition in Islam, despite ample precedent of jihadists applying distinctly Islamic doctrines to fight non-Muslims. The attempts of al Qaeda and ISIS to justify terrorism on Islamic grounds typically require the abandonment of both strict literalism and the historically prevailing interpretations of Islamic thought, Khalil said. Before the early 1980s, there was no such thing as a Muslim suicide bomber, Khalil added.
He next criticized the portrayal of a failed suicide bomber in Harriss book The End of Faith. Instead of accepting Harris description of terrorists motives as religiously informed, Khalil cited common, debunked tropes of socioeconomic disadvantage driving men to violent jihad. Khalil concluded, erroneously, that in blaming Islams foundational texts for contemporary terrorism, while downplaying other factors, arguments of the New Atheists are just as facile as those of the apologists they criticize.
This continues a common trend of denying the Islamist roots of jihadi attacks, even as survey data show that a deeply disturbing minority of Muslim believers support terrorism. As Israeli analyst Shmuel Bar wrote in 2004, in leading Islamic clerical circles, radical ideology does not represent a marginal and extremist perversion of Islam, but rather a[n] increasingly mainstream interpretation.
During the audience question and answer session at Georgetown, moderator Jonathan Brown failed to assuage concerns about the religious nature of jihad, even as he assailed New Atheists as the most intense representatives of this sort of white, patriarchal West is best idea. He referenced his 2007 Yemen trip, during which he saw cigarette lighters for sale with themes of Bin Laden and Hassan Nasrallah, the terrorist Hezbollah leader. Brown strained believability to dismiss these images as indicating not support for terrorism, but for individuals who really stuck it to the man of Western imperialism as if mass atrocities were mere protest.
Khalil stated that he is obsessed with 9/11 in a dark way. Yet his obsession hardly obviates valid concerns about radical Islamic jihad. In dismissing historically accurate criticisms of radical Islam and Islamism, Muslims like Khalil undermine their credibility and, by hosting such apologists, ACMCU reaffirms its place as Americas leading center of Islamist propaganda.
Andrew E. Harrod is a Campus Watch Fellow, freelance researcher, and writer who holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He is a fellow with the Lawfare Project. Follow him on Twitter at @AEHarrod.
See the original post:
HARROD: Professor Claims Islam Is Not The Root Of Islamic Terrorism - The Daily Wire
- Chapel Hill police: Parking dispute may have led to triple shooting - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Chapel Hill killings shine light on particular tensions between Islam and atheism - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism and obesity - Main Page - Conservapedia - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Demographics of atheism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism - Main Page - Conservapedia - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- science against atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Conversations Regarding Atheism & Theism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- My Journey to Atheism - Part 5: Faith in God as an Adult - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Russell Brand Rips Stephen Fry's Atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Book about Jaclyn Glenn @jaclynglenn #freespeech #atheism #freethought - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Response to Atheism Episode 6 - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheist Analysis S04 E07: Interview With Peter Boghossian/ Street Epistemology /Atheism Evangelism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism Unleashed Presents.. 5 Stupid Questions... - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Follow-up to "Defining Atheism" - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism Implodes Hard - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- God, Science & the Big Questions: Leading Christian Thinkers Respond to the New Atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Does Atheism Lead To A Bad Society? - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism vs India Revisited 9 - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Robert Richert 'Communicating Atheism' - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- John Lennox exposes Peter Atkins and the truth of his Atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- My Testimony - from Atheism to Biblical Christian - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- How to Convert a Theist to Atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Materialism begets atheism removing inherent spiritualistic realization *Nouman Ali Khan* - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Creation,Evolution, Christianity and Atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism, World Religions 1 - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- How I Got Saved From Evolution/Atheism To Christ - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism - Why Atheists Are Atheists - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism Not Belief - War on Easter - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- A Christian defines Atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheist Dan Barker proves Atheism is madness - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- St. Athanasius & Why Atheism in on the Rise - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- LIVE Multi-Topic Hangout. Atheism, Christianity, My Personal Life With Sarah - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- The Deceit Of Atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism-is-Unstoppable-2: What a moronic video! - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Cool People in Heaven Song #freespeech #atheism - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism-is-Unstoppable-2 is a douche. - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism - Man's Biggest Delusion - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism Unleashed Presents.. The Animated Atheist. - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Atheism is Irrational - Crazy Atheists Compilation - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Response to Atheism Episode 5 - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Neil deGrasse Tyson Talk Science Religion Morality and atheism. - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Is Atheism of the Devil? - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Is Atheism a "Man Thing"? - The Stats (+ muslims) - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Fr. Barron on Atheism and Philosophy - Video - February 12th, 2015 [February 12th, 2015]
- Part 1 Election: Jacob and Esau; Atheism & Agnosticism Debunked - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- A Short Talk About Christianity VS Atheism - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- The Rules Of Atheism - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- A few current events relevant to atheism - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Finish Drive Into City Of Lancaster, PA 2/11/15, Atheism Is An Ideology - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- 'The Atheist Experience' Responds To Me - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Atheist Psychologist Admits Atheism is Unscientific - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Understanding Atheism | Session 1 | Asadullah Ali - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Atheism: No Good, No Evil, No Hope | Big Objections | Andrew Wilson - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Atheism vs India Revisited 9a - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Atheism is... - Video - February 14th, 2015 [February 14th, 2015]
- Hamza Tzortzis vs Lawrence Krauss - Islam or Atheism which one makes more sense? The Big Debate - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Stupid Anti-Vaxxers - Eric Hovid on How Atheism Causes Suicide - Stupid Ads - DPP #83 - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Theism vs Atheism with Christjahn Beck - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Session 1|| Understanding Atheism|| Asadullah Ali - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- New Atheism and a Meaningless Universe | William Lane Craig, PhD - Video - February 15th, 2015 [February 15th, 2015]
- Richard Dawkins slams video that claims to 'destroy atheism' - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Atheism - New World Encyclopedia - Info:Main Page - New ... - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Does Atheism Exist? - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Understanding Atheism | Session 5 | Asadullah Ali - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Understanding Atheism | Session 3 | Asadullah Ali - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Meeting of the Minds: Eve Reele - Moderate vs. Extreme Atheism 2/3/15 - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Understanding Atheism | Session 2 | Asadullah Ali - Video - February 16th, 2015 [February 16th, 2015]
- Don't blame Atheism. - Video - February 17th, 2015 [February 17th, 2015]
- Bibles atheism moms why me? - Video - February 17th, 2015 [February 17th, 2015]
- A C Grayling - Atheism, Theism and Proof - Video - February 17th, 2015 [February 17th, 2015]
- 2 reasons why it's a bad week to be an atheist - February 18th, 2015 [February 18th, 2015]
- North Carolina shootings do not represent Atheism - February 18th, 2015 [February 18th, 2015]
- Godless Voices Podcast 2/10/2015: Atheism is a Suicide Risk - Video - February 18th, 2015 [February 18th, 2015]
- Religious Atheism - Video - February 19th, 2015 [February 19th, 2015]
- Session 3|| Understanding Atheism|| Asadullah Ali - Video - February 19th, 2015 [February 19th, 2015]
- Muslims targeted in the US - February 20th, 2015 [February 20th, 2015]
- Atheism can't CAUSE anything - Video - February 20th, 2015 [February 20th, 2015]
- Atheism is a Terrible Motivator - Video - February 20th, 2015 [February 20th, 2015]
- Oh No Is Atheism Destroyed - Video - February 21st, 2015 [February 21st, 2015]