Colin Powell hosted an Iftaar dinner (the evening meal to break the day's Ramadan fast) last night at the State Department.
In his address to the gathering, he declared: "I have learned about Islam as a religion of peace and caring, a religion that teaches values we all share, such as tolerance, justice, and respect for human dignity."
That's wonderful, and it's undoubtedly true that millions of Muslims share the values of tolerance, justice, and respect for human dignity. It's also undoubtedly true that within Islam there are broad and established traditions with quite different takes on tolerance, justice, and respect for human dignity from what we might expect. One need only look at Shirin Ebadi's struggle to end, among other things, stonings and amputations in Iran — efforts which are resisted by the leaders of Iran on Islamic grounds.
Look at the Iranian Sufi leader, Sheikh Tabandeh, who wrote A Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To take one of many examples: while arguing for capital punishment if a Muslim is killed, Tabandeh argues against it if the murderer is Muslim and the victim non-Muslim. "Since Islam regards non-Muslims as on a lower level of belief and conviction, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim . . . then his punishment must not be the retaliatory death, since the faith and conviction he possesses is loftier than that of the man slain. A fine only may be exacted from him . . ."
What does this have to do with Powell's iftaar? Everything. For Tabandeh's views are not just how own. They are quite widespread in the Islamic world, and they are a key guide to its attitudes toward the West today. It is nice, and diplomatic, for Powell to assert otherwise, but I hope that he is aware that his statement of what Islamic attitudes are is not universally accepted by Muslims, and that that fact has important geopolitical implications.
Distressed to hear this from a Sufi. I thought I could look among Sufis for the moderate muslims the world needs so badly right now. Also I have Sufi friends and I'm beginning not to know how to relate to them anymore.
When Colin Powell makes such remarks, he confuses the American public instead of instructing the public, that needs to be fully informed, he confuses and even misleads it. He did not have to say things which are self-evidently false. Either he believes all this, in which case he is a fool, or he is following some kind of prearranged party line, where "sugary nonsense" (Patricia Crone's phrase) is uttered about Islam because the American government has decided that, in every way, the tender sensibilities of Muslims must be assuaged, even at the expense of 1300 years of history. For those who have relatives risking their lives in attempting to deal with the Jihad (or at least one aspect of it), this is simply intolerable.
What is ironically funny about these types of situations is that Poweel and other administration officials and members of Congress seem to believe the public at large actually believes that sort of tripe. While I'm sure most everyone anywhere near a large msulim community knows wonderful individual muslims, the overwhelming majority--according to polls I've seen--of Americans take a distinctly negative view of islam in general. A free people recognizes danger instinctively.
Peter, can you give me the book title or article title for the quote from Patricia Crone?
Doug, I agree. And what the gov't says doesn't meant that anyone takes it seriously. People are capable of making their own opinions based on facts.