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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Expert presents Islam as tolerant

Oct 28, 2007 1:11 am By Greg

By Adam Smeltz in CentreDaily:

UNIVERSITY PARK – The Western world may not hear this too often, but nothing in Islam justifies terrorism, a scholar on the Middle East said Thursday night.

WRONG. We hear all the time that “Islam is a religion of peace.” See remarks by President Bush, President Clinton, Senator Reid, Secretary Rice, Prime Minister Blair, and just about every academic and journalist who have opened their mouths on the question.

“The root of terrorism “” it doesn’t have anything to do with Islam,” Medhi Noorbaksh told a gathering of about 60 people in the Forest Resources Building. ” … Terrorism in any shape is to be condemned.”

Noorbaksh, an associate professor of international affairs at Harrisburg University, appeared here as part of the “Peace, not Prejudice” seminar series. Put together by the Penn State Muslim Student Association, the series is a reaction to “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.”

Not THEM again!

That national theme week of events, inspired by conservative activist David Horowitz, brought former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum to campus on Tuesday.

Santorum issued warnings against radicalized Islam, saying that most Americans don’t fully understand the threat. He also drew distinctions between Judeo-Christian culture and Islam in general, and painted the latter as a religion built more on control and dominance.

Noorbaksh, an expert in Middle Eastern politics and its intersection with Islam, offered a dramatically different presentation.

He underscored the religion’s past in education, capitalism, consensus-building and equity.

In fact, the faith promotes respect for diversity, including religious diversity, he said, quoting from Muslim texts.

“Muslims are obliged. … You have to respect people of other faith,” Noorbaksh said.

Radical elements in Muslim countries “” such as those that promote female genital mutilation or ban women from driving “” do not stem from the religion itself, Noorbaksh said.

“Of course, we have a lot of authoritarian regimes in the Islamic world,” he said. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with the faith.”

Nope. Just coincidence.

He went on to tweak the U.S. government over its relationships with a number of those regimes. Some radical Muslims develop extreme ideologies because they”ve felt left out of the political process, Noorbaksh said.

You see, they had their feelings hurt. Well, that explains it. Murdering civilians is a perfectly understandable reaction. Could happen to anybody.

He said terrorists make up far less than even 1 percent of the global Muslim population of 1.3 billion.

Rest assured, an associate professor who couldn’t identify a violent religious ideology if it walked up and bit him on the fanny promises us that there are absolutely not more than 13 million Muslim terrorists in the world today. I feel much better.

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