Burke Lecture: The Challenge of Islamophobia

[TheScholarofthehouse]

If you would like to see more of Dr. Abou El Fadl visit Scholar of The House's channel. We will be uploading videos of his regularly.

[JOSHUAofNUN]

@dadout it mystifies me why people don't just read the Quran to find out about Islam. I recommend not the first chapter which is 'nice' but the 9th chapter which shows the mentality of Islam and Muhammad after he had attained political and military power. Notice how in verse 1 he abitrarily declares all treaties "void" and then proceeds to announce all non Muslims will be henceforth killed.

See verse 29 and 30 and ask how these might impact Muslims today ?

[moriart7]

@JOSHUAofNUN Chapter 9, verse 4: "Except those of the idolaters with whom you have made an agreement, then they have not failed you in anything and have not backed up anyone against you; so fulfil their agreement to the end of their term. Surely Allah loves those who keep their duty."

I'm not Muslim, but don't tell people to cherry pick verses. There's good and bad in every religious text.

[ManACanadian]

This is indeed a courageous man. Giving the truth to those Americans who are willing to listen. Before people begin accusing me of hating Americans, I would like to say that oppression by violence is not limited to the American Empire. Just look at the Arab countries or China.

What I like about Abou El Fadl is the strength of his intellectual reasoning and honesty. There is room for improvement on the delivery side of things!

[djoody1111]

go to hell mister hater , so you coming to my country with heavy wopen and you kill many people with no reason at all , and you think we ll tell you welcom ?shit on USA

[haniyyahn]

So unfortunate that the Prof. is not a good speaker. His books are very good.

[kawaiigardiner]

@haniyyahn From what I understand he has had a stroke which explains his speaking issues.

[Silverblood9]

@kawaiigardiner Yes, from his phonological features and lexical structures specifically the heightened presence of discourse particles, it appears that this gentleman has a mild form of Broca's Aphasia, which as you have said may have been due to his stroke.

[amaqula]

A de-Christianised West cannot stand. Its so-called Western values cannot withstand the cunning of Islam. Without the bulwark of Catholicism it is going down, demographically and culturally.

It will be gobbled up by Islam.

But Christianity will rise somewhere else, to blinding effect!

[lfcforever]

has he got a disease?? he stutters and draaaaaaags too much too often and hence losing his audiences' interest! should just stick to writing books,,,his ideas and teachings are simply priceless without a doubt. gonna read 'the great theft' at my OWN pace.

[spinhook888]

This is an important message that needs to be heard.

[azuran133]

I see beauty,thus i see the divine.

[jfunkera398]

He is my FAVORITE scholar. I wish there were more lectures by him on youtube. Where are all the lectures by Abou El Fadl on youtube?? Give us more REAL scholars who know what they are talking about like Fadl! Too many speakers without the immense knowledge this man has getting airplay (& too many people buying into the BS).

[MuslimModerate1]

People in the west and non-Muslims are in no moral position to point the finger, given your long history of Crusades, colonization, and current aggressions against Muslims in the world. If you havent read his book "The Great Theft", and its obvious that you haters havent, keep quiet and stop showing and continuing to show the world your arrogance, ignorance and shallow thinking. The world doesnt revolve around you.

[MuslimModerate1]

I know this man personally very well, and Shaykh Khaled Abou El Fadl is one of the greatest thinkers alive today, especially when it comes to Islamic law. If he is boring to you it may be because of ignorance and Islamophobia in which it hurts you to hear a strong smart Muslim man.

[tantzer]

Or maybe he's just not a good speaker. Not every smart person is a good speaker. He certainly is not a good speaker. He shares that with me; because my writing outsrips my public speaking ability.

By the way, "Moderate Muslim" isn't a term that a self-respecting Muslim would apply to himself or herself. It's a label that prejudiced non-Muslims apply to Muslims who don't criticize US policy too severely.

[MuslimModerate1]

Those that you're talking about who call themselves Moderate Muslims are also self-proclaimed atheists who hate Islam. So don't try and bunch me up with them. Also you don't know how active I've been in criticizing US policies so please don't make assumptions about me.

[yuppityyups]

i am a muslim and i swear and am NOT JOKING but he is my uncle and he is wonderful and thank you for supporting him!! and to all the haters, he is wonderful, so leave him alone!!!

[MatthewMuhammad]

That's cool. He is the reason why I did not give up on Islam after running into quite a few 'fundamentalists' and 'Salafis' out there. His interpretations of Islam inspire me and provide hope that Islam is not yet finished.

[dadouthoughts]

I read two of his books: "The great theft, wrestling Islam from extremists" and "The search for beauty in Islam". They are excellent books that have great influence in my understanding of Islam.

[nuumskee]

The last 10-20 mins is the best part of the lecture. I don't think most of the people who have commented thus far even made it to the end of this lecture.

[tanatribe]

did you get it all, its a bit beyond me, but im just a muslim who wants a dog(this guy belives muslims can keep dogs)

[TMTGAU]

Islamophobia:

A dishonest word, which seeks to portray legitimate comment as some kind of hate crime.

P Condell

[shuja87]

This guy is boringly slow.

[fightourfuture]

he has had a brain tumor removed and continues to suffer from disease.

[polarbear60]

Which law? Islamic or an American law?

[midnight9wanderer]

There will be less 'islamophobia' when islam stops being so incredibly beligerant as an international idoelogy and when the enormous islamic contingent who wishes to destroy the west is not so prevalent. That ideology is very real and there is no reason for the West to back down from facing it. It would be nice to limit abuses that might ensue but that applies to both sides and there are far more abuses in the Islamic world itself of course he ignores this and tries to sadden us with stories.

[shuja87]

Ever wondered why the 'enormous islamic contingent wishes to destroy the west'?

[kheffah]

The concept of 'Islamophobia' in the west is a direct result of the 'westophobia' in the east. Both sides are scared and both sides do inhumaine and obsurd stuff in support of ideologies that serve neither sides, but are heavily financed by politicians and certain business and ethnic groups in whose political and economical advantage would that conflict arise. There are some issues that definitely need working out but the widening of the gap by certain parties makes that impossible.

[tantzer]

Look, even the most fanatical fringe, the NGO commonly known as al-Qadeda, labels its jihad defensive. As much as I abhor their methods, they're right when they say that the U.S. did it first, and that they're responding, giving the US a taste of its own medicine. Think e.g. 600,000 Iraq children dead after 1992 due to economic sanctions that were based on a false WMD pretext.

[MuslimModerate1]

Maybe if a-Qaeda didn't target civilians I'd be more sympathetic. The Qur'an teaches to not let the immorality of the enemy drive you to immorality. Also their killing of Sunni's who think different than they do, Shi'a's and Sufi's couldnt disgust me more.

[AbtinX]

What about US drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan? They kill civilians by the hundreds every month. The art of propaganda, is to make you think that A is B. And Al Qaeda is a myth, a simplification for people to rally against.

[tantzer]

The "islamic contingent who wishes to destroy the west" is largely a product of the imagination of the Western media. Even the radicals are reacting as opposed to initiating hostility.

Who had attacked the US prior to 1953 when it organized a coup in Iran to overthrow its democratically elected leader & install a despot?  You see, the US started it all.

[midnight9wanderer]

Im not about to ignore the present situation b/c of an event 55 years ago. That is no fabrication of the Western media unless all the Imams and mosques and sheiks that continually use whatever podium available to call for the destruction of Western civilization are all being paid by the media, If anything the Western media covers for the radicals and acts as agents for Islam. They ignore crime stats based on national origin as well to avoid such associations.

[tantzer]

Your premises are wrong.

Firstly, nobody (or very few) are calling for the destruction of Western civilization. Even the most radical groups, such as al-Qaeda, merely want the West to mind its own business rather than meddle in Muslim lands. They state that they're engaging in self-defense only. Correct or not, this is not calling for the destruction of the West.

Second, if you think American misdeeds in the Middle East ended in 1953, you know nothing about history.

[midnight9wanderer]

So thousands of immigrants in the streets of London and Paris and Stockholm, calling for sharia law or even burning cars and shouting alluakbar doesnt alarm you ? Well it does alarm me and if they want the West to mind its business, then they can mind theirs and stay in islamic countries.

I dont care when the so called misdeeds ended or didnt, I want , and a growing number of Westerners want as well, for our countries to be pro-self culturist once again and to reject all of multiculturalism.

[tantzer]

I support the idea of Muslims in Europe & Americas being governed by the Shari'a on a voluntary basis in marriage, divorce, & inheritance. But you're wrong: nobody has rioted over this!

I also support the same right for Christians & Jews living in Muslim lands: let them be governed by the standards of the Christian and Jewish communities. Also, let it be permissible for them to drink alcohol (especially in religious services), even though alcohol should be forbidden to the Muslim majority.

[tantzer]

If you reject all forms of multi-culturalism, then you must ask for Muslim family & inheritance laws to be imposed on Christian & Jewish minorities in Muslim countries. You must also support the prohibition of wine in Christian and Jewish religious services. Is that what you want?

[midnight9wanderer]

Is that supposed to be clever?

In a muslim country with muslim laws I'll be consistent and say whoever moves there can accept those. Id prefer the state not determine things of that nature at all, but I guess thats my gentile prejudice for limited govt ^^. Biggest problems with m-c are that the states are enforcing laws that discriminate against native populations in favor of foreign elements; host state is weakening its own people and strengthening aliens. Let me see Saudi do that!!

[AbtinX]

There are nations in Africa, and in Asia, and today in Europe and America that are not mono-cultural, that don't have the same religion. Syria and Lebanon have housed muslims, christians and jews for hundreds of years. In Syria, Christians live by their creed and muslims by their own. This is the way of the world. It isn't about moving to one place or another. People of all kinds are everywhere, and have been for centuries.

[midnight9wanderer]

Oh Im sure you know all about QM and can manipulate probability functions in your head.

Now tell me oh great multicultural proponent, would I be able to live and worship as I wished in Syria if I were say, a pagan of some sort, maybe Hindu or Asatru? How about Zoroastrians in Iran? How are they received? And Sabeans in S. Arabia? Are they welcomed to worship as they believe?

You make sweeping strokes of 'all kinds everywhere' to avoid the nasty details of difference and incompatibility.

[AbtinX]

Depends, in Iran you'll have trouble for sure. Less in some places like Yazd that has many ancient shrines for Zoroastrians. Yeah I'm a proponent of multiculturalism, but I don't speak for any other society than my own. I live in Sweden, and it's a multicultural society.

[midnight9wanderer]

I think you have every right to live in Sweden and worship etc as you like. However, I think Sweden should be Native Swedish in its orientation, socially, culturally, and ideologically. I dont think it should promote the diluting of Swedish identity. You should not be restricted from having your own either. What is happening is that Swedish public policy is deliberately undermining Swedish identity and promoting some 'multicultural' monstrosity that is implicitly and explicitly anti-Swedish.

[AbtinX]

Well, this is an interesting discussion. I can tell you what Swedish culture and life here is like. Before our time, the French and the German were the greatest influence shaping Swedish culture, today it is American culture that shapes Sweden, not Islam, or arab/persian/turkish culture. So the largest influence on this countrys culture is Japanese and American. We are only a small group in this nation, and we don't "dilute" anyones culture with our presence.

[AbtinX]

To have a truly native culture, we would have to do away with American television, Japanese anime and gaming. We would have to stop promoting English studies over Swedish (at the University, 8 out of 10 books are studied in English). As muslims, we only try to live in a different culture, we adapt and so do our neighbours. But that is the way of societies, and there is the need for multiculturalism since even the native Swedish have different cultures. I'm not native to Sweden though.

[AbtinX]

Arguing with people like this tantzer, is like discussing quantum physics with kindergarteners. But I feel you, it has to be said. And you say it well for whatever that's worth