What a beautiful tribute.

Posted by: Josephine at May 28, 2007 2:45 PM

Now there's a Muslim I could vote for!

Posted by: rational at May 28, 2007 2:52 PM

Ode to a Hero,Martyr and Lion.(mentor)

To gaze upon his armor was to look into the sun,the songs he earned in this world are now eternaly sung.

The mane of a lion he wore with pride,the definition of a martyr this hero he defined.

Heroes are these who follow,heroes are thse who lead.Fear not friends and loved ones this hero walks paradises streets.

Posted by: Dar al-harb at May 28, 2007 3:45 PM

I am sorry to hear this Robert. I relate it to the
Great Ahmed Shah Massoud what a great man! What greatness they could of brought. Still do! It is such a loss more than people realise. On this memorial I'd like to share, written by my Rev-grandpa!
THE BATTLE GROUND
The minds and hearts of men are the battle grounds of the Holy Spirit of God and the evil spirit of Satan.
Even though the human spirit has become weak in resisting sin, and blinded by falsehood, yet it can upon the enlightment of the gospel and encouraged by His love can choose a rightious path of life. Jer.17:9
Only Jesus completely followed the light of the Holy Spirit (His word) and He alone became the mold for victory over sin and death.
A consecration of life to the operation of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Truth is needed for victory. The mental and heart creation,-or the embryo of a new creation-, conditions the Christian faithfulness to a holy life in spite of persecution. Reverend

Posted by: MZ at May 28, 2007 4:28 PM

"...Tashbih stood virtually alone as an honest man."
In a dishonest world, honest men always stand virtually alone.

Posted by: Timur at May 28, 2007 4:32 PM

Tashbih Sayyed, a hero, now living in some true heaven somewhere.

Posted by: traeh at May 28, 2007 6:19 PM

Well, I don't want to inject a note of negativity
into a heartfelt tribute for a good man, but I'm
a little troubled. If Tashbih could see all that
is wrong with Islam, why did he remain a mohammadan?

I realize that the pull of familial ties is very strong, and that some mohammadans are very good
people in spite of the horrific teachings of their
faith, but no one in the West (no male, anyways :-()
is forced be a mohammadan.

Once you take a clear look at Mohammad, it seems
obvious that any moral being would be disgusted
at being associated with him. And it isn't as if the
subsequent teachings added on by his followers
somehow make things better.

Just as an example, I'm no Buddhist, but I don't
think it's shameful to be a follower of Buddha.

Posted by: root_cause at May 28, 2007 6:58 PM

Tashbih Sayyed's light shows what could shine forth from the Islamic countries if free and progressive thought ever emerges.

Posted by: jewdog at May 28, 2007 7:03 PM

Root_cause...I have the same questions and thoughts about 'moderate' muslims, but I dont think this is the time or place to discuss them.
But thats just me...

Posted by: duh_swami at May 28, 2007 8:36 PM

The challenge is, isn't it, who is to persuade Muslims what needs to be done. There are over one billion of them and many no doubt would be offended being told by ex-Muslims what to do. Would they not be inclined to listen more to those who say they are Muslims but see a need to reconcile Islam with the world of today while keeping their belief in their God and leaving behind the means and methods peculiar to the perils of Mohammad's time? Saudi Arabia is trying to push Islam back to the 7th century. The world needs Muslims to pull it into the 21st. Tashbih Sayyed was one of those.

Posted by: Fran at May 28, 2007 8:52 PM

A good man outshines his source.

Posted by: profitsbeard at May 28, 2007 8:52 PM

How can we possibly pay adequate tribute to a man of this caliber? How can we even begin to assimilate the loss of someone who risked everything he had a thousand times over, to save a way of life for which he obviously cared from itself? For none should ever dream that Tashbih Sayyed acted from malice. No, many of the real Muslim reformers, be they apostates or cultural Muslims or otherwise, may be disillusioned, bitter, biting in their critiques, but they are ultimately working for good. And Tashbih Sayyed-- who never abandoned Islam, not because he felt hanging onto it would advance his career or his personal interests but because he cared enough for it and for the people who believe in it that he knew he had to work to "reshape and reframe and reinterpret" it so as to end the misery it has wrought on believers and unbelievers in so many of its iterations.

What some of us often seem to forget, and what our enemies and the enablers of the global jihad strive as hard as they possibly can to make people forget, is that we are working for a humane goal; we are not simply picking on and scrutinizing Islam, and saying and writing things about it to which its adherents do not take kindly, because we are interested in maligning or abusing the Other, bringing Them down to boost Us up. We are engaged in the most timeless, and most honourable, of human struggles: We are fighting tooth and nail to bring about, insofar as we can, a world wherein the human dignity of every person is enshrined, recognized, and upheld, and no one's freedoms-- of speech, of the press, of conviction, of conscience-- can be abused or denied at the hands of totalitarians who would regulate the world we live in to conform to some contemptibly twisted ideal where there is no joy, no dialogue, no debate, no delighting in the pleasures of intellectual give-and-take and exchange of ideas, no real universal affirmation of the Golden Rule. They would suck the world dry of its enduring wonder and remove all that which greases the wheels of civilization, spurs humanity to attempt great things, and sometimes makes our world a gratifying and wonderful place to live in.

For the modern Left, this give-and-take appears to have amounted to: "We'll conform to your standards and accept your norms, and never expect anything from you in the form of meeting us halfway." The sort of blind dhimmi scholarship and policy we see routinely decried on this site takes us so many steps further toward the self-immolation of Western civilization and the debasement of the humane liberal ideals it has worked so hard to cultivate over many thousands of years.

And that's why we need people like Tashbih Sayyed: People who are unafraid to speak truth to power in cogent analysis and understanding of one of the most powerful anti-humane forces in the history of the world, who pull no punches and yet who do no malicious mudslinging, do not play with facts and elide reality in their delineation of the problems we face. And this is what so much of the Left would do, the sweet, unassuming, misguided Left, which purports to believe wholeheartedly in all the magnificent ideals they don't seem to realize were the direct product of the civilization they now seem to see it as their duty to disparage, and which will stick its fingers in its ears and refuse to ever acknowledge as coming from a nonwhite, non-Western source this force which so powerfully taints and renders ugly the world we live in.

And so we need Tashbih Sayyed, because we need Muslim acknowledgment that much of contemporary and historical Islam is not and by its doctrines cannot further the peaceful and humane coexistence of people on terms of equal dignity, and we need a very profound and unswerving effort to make it so. We're not-- at least I'm not-- interested in debasing the beliefs which matter so much to so many people who, in many cases, at least on the surface appear to desire exactly what I do. But this project exists because we have no choice but to plumb the depths of the sickness that's posing so serious a threat to our convictions about what human beings-- all human beings-- deserve in the way of justice and compassion, and how we can live in such a way that as many human beings, all across the earth, can know this and lead meaningful lives because of it.

If I sound maudlin, forgive me. My writing style skews to bathetic, grandiose, saccharine statements like this one. But this is as good a time as any to explain why I'm here, in tribute to a man who more thoroughly embodies my reasons for being here than any. I'm sorry, too, to be or sound arrogant. I'm 19, I study in an avowedly multicultural, relativist university environment. I've just started reading this site and have been riven with doubt, because of all the bile spewed at Spencer and Fitzgerald and this whole undertaking over the past few years. But Tashbih Sayyed helps me understand why I need to be a part of the resistance to the global jihad-- why it is a moral imperative I dare not ever shirk, for the future of all I hold dear depends on it.

Go now, brave warrior. Know the comfort and blessing of your dwelling among the magnificent. Rest in peace.

Posted by: Funky Child at May 29, 2007 12:41 AM

By the way-- I am The Human Trumpet Solo.

Posted by: Funky Child at May 29, 2007 12:48 AM

By the way-- I am The Human Trumpet Solo.

Posted by: Funky Child at May 29, 2007 12:51 AM

why is not shabbih sayyed a household name? al sharpton the media dildo always there for the media's fix. i want brave muslims countering their poisonous brethren to become household names. as popular as coke and pepsi. so common that mainstream media cannot cover islam without their commentary.

Posted by: crumbinalfighter at May 29, 2007 12:58 AM

why is not shabbih sayyed a household name? al sharpton the media hound always there for the media's fix. i want brave muslims countering their poisonous brethren to become household names. as popular as coke and pepsi. so common that mainstream media cannot cover islam without their commentary.

Posted by: crumbinalfighter at May 29, 2007 12:59 AM

A sad passing. Fantastic tribute to your friend. RIP to a brave man.

Posted by: Bingo at May 29, 2007 2:36 AM

It is indeed hard to find a righteous man in this world, or woman. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. With what little I read, Tashbih Sayyed reminds me of her. What confuses me though is that there really, honestly, cannot be a re-interpretation of the text. It is an all or nothing situation. It claims to be the ultimate truth. The ultimate knowledge. The unchanging word of the one, true God. This exercise of re-interpretation simply cannot be done without fundamentally altering the entire theme of the religion. Acknowledging what these two individuals have, I am left confused when they (sometimes) state that they are Muslims. They cannot be. At least not after saying what they have and believing what they do. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with deciding no longer to be Muslim. I, perhaps, do not understand the subject well enough.

Posted by: Spartacus at May 29, 2007 9:11 AM

once a Muslims decides to no longer be a member ot the death cult known as Islam, he/she is immediately marked for death by the Islamic clerics....Muslims are terrified of other religions...

Posted by: exsgtbrown at May 29, 2007 10:31 AM

Tashbih Sayyed - Always the Gentleman

Obituary by Ari Bussel

It is with great sorrow that we learned late last week that Dr. Tashbih Sayyed, publisher of Muslim World Today, has passed away. The funeral was held Sunday, May 27th, 2007, in Costa Mesa.

On September 17th, 2006, two events happened simultaneously: A Night to Honor Israel was being held at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena by Harvest Rock Church and its Senior Pastor Che Ahn. This event brought to Los Angeles for the first time Pastor John Hagee’s Christian United for Israel’s tradition of showing support to the Jewish communities around the United States and to the State of Israel, the Jewish Homeland.

Also at the same night an event was held at the Four Seasons hotel in Los Angeles: Profiles of Courage by the American Jewish Congress. The hotel was probably the most secure location that night in the United States of America, for there were “enemies of Islam” as Islamists would call them—Dr. Tashbih Sayyed, Dr. Wafa Sultan, Nonie Darwish, Salman Rushdie and Brigitte Gabriel. [Lebanese-born Gabriel is the exception among this group of five, for she is Christian, the others are Muslim.]

It is not a problem today to name Muslims who dare to speak, hardly a handful can be found. This is truly the greatness in this most unique group, for a billion and a half people throughout the world are either sympathetic to, apathetic or afraid to speak against the madness of Islamists. Naming those few is not a difficult task, finding them is—there are fatwah’s on their lives from the advanced and enlightened culture of death. Salman Rushdie, for instance, had to live in hiding since the publication of his book, The Satanic Verses, in 1988.

Here in the USA we take our freedoms with such reverence that we often forget to hold the freedoms themselves in high respect. Lest we start doing so, these freedoms may disappear from in front of our own eyes.

Dr. Tashbih Sayyed wrote, exactly two months ago, an editorial titled “Islamist Leadership in The US.” None of us expected it will be one of his last editorials. It was not even a year ago that Dr. Sayyed and Miri Shepher, respectively the owners / publishers of Muslim World Today and Israel Jewish Life, have agreed on mutual cooperation. In fact, several of my articles appeared in Muslim World Today and we often published editorials by Dr. Sayyed.

Dr. Sayyed wrote (3/23/2007):
But the subject of this column is not the spread of Islamism in the Muslim lands; the rise of radical Islam in the traditional Muslim lands can be explained in the usual apologist terms but what is hard to swallow is the rising power of radical Islam within the mainland U.S.A. The unwillingness of American Muslims to accept U.S. policies as anything but anti-Islam is not only disturbing but threatening to the national security. And more disturbing than the rising power of Islamism in the U.S. is administration's inability to see the threat.
As a direct consequence of this U.S. weakness, the country is fast succumbing to the forces of Islamism. And it is only a matter of time before Jeffersonian faith of equality and justice will be replaced by a fascist Shariah under which only Islamists approved Muslims will have any rights - all others having been consigned to the status of perpetual Dhimmi.
Administration's shortsightedness is allowing Radical Islam to use American tolerance for multi-culturalism to gain acceptability for itself. By casting its fascist agenda in terms of human right and civil libertarian terms, political Islam has successfully been able to use the American liberal and progressive groups to project itself as an American phenomenon and win American intellectual elite, liberals and the media with left leanings on its side.
Islamist organizations like CAIR and MPAC have transformed our democratic institutions of free speech and academic freedoms into a weapon of mass destruction to defend their jihad by creating an environment of doubt about the U.S. policies among the masses with tragic results.
It is frustrating to see that administration has failed to gauge the reasons behind this rising anti-Americanism among American Muslims. Washington still wonders as to why it is having such difficulties in finding trust worthy Muslim interpreters and analysts to assist the U.S. in this war on Islamism. Secretary Michael Chertoff has accepted recently that he does not know the real depth of the threat. It is therefore not surprising that despite being formally under Islamist attack for more than six years the administration has yet to find a way to connect with the Muslim Main Street. Washington must know that Islamists in the U.S. are not waiting; the administration has to find the answer to this Muslim riddle soon or they will have a much bigger problem in their hands - the home grown terrorism.
America has to know that there is nothing wrong with American Muslims. Most of them are what President George W. Bush said they are, ". . . good Americans who practice the Muslim faith who love their country as much as I (Bush) love the country, who salute the flag as strongly as I (Bush) salute the flag." But they are being controlled by an Islamist leadership that represents foreign interests not the U.S. interests.
This leadership has perpetuated itself in the U.S. with one specific purpose - to replace American constitution with a Wahhabi doctrine. But before they can do that, they will have to take care of an urgent chore at hand - the destruction of the Jewish state by controlling the direction of the American foreign policy and by influencing the legislative process in Washington to force the U.S. to abandon its support for Israel.
The Islamist leadership in the U.S. has many shades some of them work as a front of either Wahhabi establishment or Muslim Brotherhood and some of them represent Hamas, Hezbollah and other jihadi and anti-Semitic ideologies. Then there are many that are purely nationalists in their outlook and disposition which represent their military and strategic agendas like that of Iranian intelligence and Pakistan's ISI.
But all of them have one thing in common a hatred for U.S. The U.S. has to take note of the millions of dollars that are being invested in this country to advance the causes of radical Islam at the cost of Americanism.
These organizations continuously and persistently paint each and every U.S. policy move to eradicate Islamist terrorism as part of an anti-Islam campaign. With the result that Muslims everywhere are convinced that this war is basically a crusade against Islam which is aimed at controlling their natural resources and empowering Israel. The most alarming aspect of this disconnect is the fact that the American Muslims living here in the mainland U.S.A., carrying American passports, participating in the legislative process of the country and using its judicial system to their benefit and determined to control its foreign policy one day, also consider the U.S. policies as anti-Islam and anti-Muslim.
Experts who follow the happenings in the Muslim communities and the workings of the organizations that champion the Muslim causes here in the U.S. are concerned that the Muslim distrust viz a viz Washington is increasing with every passing day. The situation becomes much more threatening when one looks at this problem in the light of what happened in London in 2005. The terrorists who bombed the subways and the busses there were not foreigners - they were homegrown. They wonder if the Muslims in the U.S. are also moving in the same direction.
The situation is so precarious that the Homeland security officials have acknowledged that although they are in dire need of Muslim interpreters and analysts to keep them on the right track in this existential struggle, they find it extremely difficult to recruit Muslims in this cause.
The administration has to understand that the quandary they find themselves in is a proof of Islamist leadership's success in the U.S. and so long as these Muslim leaders representing foreign agendas are in control of the American Muslim lives, the U.S. cannot expect an unconditional loyalty toward the U.S. from a big chunk of American Muslims.

In this excerpt of Dr. Sayyed’s article, one can see the clarity of thought and expression that were so characteristic of his writings. One can also start to understand why he was ostracized from a society that is otherwise afraid to speak its mind, even here in the USA.
Dr. Daniel Pipes, one of the most known and respected authorities on Islam and the Middle East wrote in a commentary titled “How Dare You Defame Islam” (November, 1999):
Within the universe of Muslims who speak and write about Islam and its position in the modern world, the Islamists by far have the upper hand. That is not only a great tragedy for Muslims, but a danger to the rest of us. For if the Islamists have their way, any possibility of speaking the truth not only about them but about Islam itself will be foreclosed.

Dr. Sayyed, as the publisher of the weekly newspapers Muslim World Today and Pakistan Today recognized this threat and acted upon it. A true testament to his life work was his funeral, following his untimely death last week.

The funeral was the first Muslim funeral which I attended, but it certainly was not a characteristic Muslim funeral. While the mid-day prayer, bringing the casket, the specific prayers at the gravesite and the custom of each person attending putting some earth onto the lowered casket in the ground are very similar to a Jewish funeral, this was probably the only Muslim funeral attended by an equal number of non-Muslims as Muslims.

Like his life’s work, so was his funeral. What should be so natural, a human being’s departure from this world attended by a group of family members, close friends and associates, irrespective of one’s religion, gender, color of the skin or any other characteristic that often separates us, is being hailed as unique, heartwarming, a singular exception.

Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend saw the grounds covered with American flags—a small flag next to each Veteran’s grave. Another row of flags surrounded the grounds, all waving in the wind. What a great tribute to a truly humble, great man.

Atara Mont, a life long champion of the Jewish Homeland, Jewish causes and education said: “Tashbih was a man of great personal integrity and honesty - what he felt, what he said and what he did was all integrated. This is a very sad time for me.” It is indeed a very sad time for all of us. We salute you, dear Tashbih, as you leave us on your last journey.

Dr. Tashbih Sayyed was the President of Council for Democracy and Tolerance. The organization’s Mission Statement is brought here in full:

Mission Statement
Council For Democracy And Tolerance
ARTICLE I
CDT is a grass roots organization encompassing all sections and strata of American society, and friends of democratic values. We are not part of any religious or political organization. Our purpose is to promote pluralism and respect for democratic values in society with an objective to bring together different ethnic, linguistic and faith groups to achieve a national coherence and unity of purpose.
ARTICLE II
CDT is committed to help bring about constructive changes to ethnic communities controlled by extremists in the US. Islamists threaten the security and stability of our nation by suffocating moderate, liberal and pluralistic voices in the communities. CDT will work to defeat extremists in our midst by helping in the evolution of democratic leadership ready and willing to build bridges between faiths and religions. To achieve this CDT is committed to bring together Jews, Episcopal and Coptic Christians, Hindus and Muslims in order to foster dialogue.
ARTICLE III
CDT is committed to bring about a change in the radical, extremist and fundamentalist thinking of Muslims in the United States by using the newspaper, radio, television and internet as a worldwide campaign media tool. CDT condemns campaigns of Islamist leadership in the USA to incite violence, promote fundamentalism, and encourage extremism in order to undermine the freedoms in American society. CDT is committed to work for the promotion and expansion of American values in societies controlled by extremists.
ARTICLE IV
CDT is committed to foster dialogue and understanding through education and community events that are pluralistic and designed to encourage national integrity.
ARTICLE V
CDT believes that so long extremists are in control of Muslim societies, US security and freedoms will always be in danger. CDT is committed to spreading a democratic and pluralistic system wherever it is lacking.
ARTICLE VI
Islamists have established themselves here in US to destroy our democratic system. By doing so they want to achieve their goals of establishing a Theocracy (Sharia or Islamic State). CDT is committed to expose this Extremist Islamist leadership in the United States of America. CDT is committed to challenge the statements, sermons and theories spread by Islamist clergy in the United States that is aimed at creating a hate-filled mind. CDT is committed to educate the Muslims in US about the manipulated script and Muslim history that is being used by Islamist extremists to recruit and exploit Muslims to work against the interests of the United States of America.

Posted by: Ari.Bussel at May 29, 2007 5:11 PM

From what you say, Tashbih had his heart in the right place. He was also obviously a strong and courageous man. I will pray for him.

Posted by: ofcourse at May 29, 2007 6:26 PM