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Kuwaiti “moderate Islamist”: “Islam is not a religion. It’s a way of life.”

Feb 25, 2014 3:43 pm By Robert Spencer

Tareq_1_840_558_100It’s a way of life, you see — including a political system, which is something that Islamic apologists in the West generally deny. And you can have free speech, as long as you don’t insult anyone — which means you can’t really have free speech at all, because Muslims are likely to be insulted by talk of the injustice of dhimmitude, or of Islam’s treatment of women, or of how Islamic jihadists use Islamic texts and teachings to justify violence.

Tareq al-Suwaidan lived in the United States for seventeen years and frequently speaks to Muslim groups in Britain, Canada, and Australia. An extremely popular speaker, al-Suweidan earns over a million dollars a year from giving talks on Islam. In 2000, al-Suwaidan addressed an Islamic Circle of North America conference, where he said that Muslims should issue a warning to non-Muslims in the West: “We must tell the West that we are extending a hand of peace now, but it will not be so for long. Even if a civilization is ready to crumble—like the West, with all the characteristics of deterioration of past fallen empires—it will not fall until we, the Muslims, strive to give it that last push, the last straw that will break the camel’s back.”

“Islam not a religion but way of life, says Kuwaiti writer,” by Opalyn Mok for the Malay Mail, February 25:

The self-described “moderate Islamist”, whose television shows draw millions of viewers on satellite networks in the Middle East, also said Islam’s goal is to create a civil state that administers justice that does not discriminate against a person’s skin colour, gender, or creed.

“Islam is not a religion. It’s a way of life that teaches us about our relationship with God, with the universe, and our relationship with ethics with the economy and our political system,” he said in a talk organised by the state-backed Penang Islamic Foundation on “The future of Islam”.

He said those who did not understand Islam’s structures, “don’t understand its very essence”.

Because of that, he said Islam has been misunderstood to be oppressive and sexist when the Quran clearly states there is equality, freedom of speech, and that the freedom is for all.

“If we have a civil state where everyone is free to follow any party they like, they will eventually vote for and choose Islam because we believe in freedom and social justice,” Tareq told a turnout of some 150 people who packed a halls here.

But he also cautioned against confusing such freedoms as giving one the right to insult another, or practise bad ethics, saying Islam frowned on them.

Challenges to Islam

He said Islam faces five key challenges in today’s Muslim world.

“The first three problems of behaviour, lack of effectiveness and backwardness are the results or symptoms of two major problems — our scholars and leaders,” he said.

“The very essence of the goal of Islam that most Islamic scholars and Muslims do not know is that we are meant to create happiness for all of humanity. This includes non-Muslims, because we have a system that can bring this about,” he added.

Tareq, who is one of the 138 Islamic scholars who in 2007 penned an open letter to Christian leaders worldwide known as “A Common Word Between Us and You”, said that those who chose not to follow Islam should not be coerced to do so.

“We should not force them but we could have the freedom to show them what is Islam so that they could understand Islam,” he said.

The leader of the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood said there were many Islamic scholars who issued religious edicts, or fatwa, that was based not on the precepts of Islam but on custom and tradition, which stirred greater confusion when they were presented as a fact.

“A fatwa that orders for people to be killed is un-Islamic and inhuman,” he said, without referring to any one person specifically, in reply to a question.

Tareq said the using such a fatwa had been carried out en masse in Egypt previously.

“This same thing was done in Egypt to kill in the name of religion but if you read the Quran, there is no such thing,” he said.

He took aim at those he called “traditional” scholars whose conservatism had caused moderate Muslims to be seen as infidels.

He said many “traditional” Islamic scholars see liberal Muslims as a threat to their faith, and rejected their teachings.

“I believe that those who reject us do it out of tradition and not what they were taught by the Quran,” he said.

But Tareq marked that the new generation of Islamic scholars shared his views and no longer held on blindly to tradition.

No stranger to controversy, Tareq also shared his views on the “Allah” row that has driven a deep wedge between Malaysia’s Muslim majority and their non-Muslim countrymen.

“I believe those who had said the word “Allah” is not allowed to be used by non-Muslims are being too sensitive,” he said.

Banning non-Muslims from uttering the word will spark sensitivities among the races, Tareq said; adding that such a view could result in Muslims being seen as weak.

“This very word was used by non-believers during the Prophet Mohamed’s time and ‘Allah’ simple means ‘The God’,” he said.

Like several other Muslim scholars who have voiced support for the church, Tareq said he doubted Malaysian non-Muslims would abuse the use of the word.

“Just suppose we have an Arab who is not a Muslim, what word can he use then?” Tareq asked.

“After all, “Allah” is an Arab word for God,” he said.

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Comments

  1. mariam rove says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 3:52 pm

    At least someone is telling the truth that Isalm is a way of life not a religion. If you and I were telling this we would be called a racist. M

    • veggiedog says

      Feb 25, 2014 at 3:57 pm

      Yes you would. And by agreeing with it you might, even if an Islamist has said it, the rules are very fuzzy.

  2. veggiedog says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    Islamists can have free speech but we cannot, that is what most miss about Islam, they just don’t get it.

  3. Wellington says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 4:05 pm

    Islam is a religion, a way of life, a totalitarian ideology, a spiritual straitjacket, a parasite, a thief, an eternal enemy of liberty, an eternal enemy of equality under the law, a recipe for permanent victim-oriented thinking, a recipe for profound ungraciousness, a recipe for men lording over women and a waste of life. Yes, Islam is all of these things.

    • Champ says

      Feb 25, 2014 at 4:23 pm

      I agree, Wellington! …yes, islam is all of those things, and it IS a religion; and I also think that mohammedans serve satan (allah.)

      • Wellington says

        Feb 25, 2014 at 7:49 pm

        I’ve often wondered, Champ, if Allah is indeed rooted in the Judeo-Christian conception of the deity but one perverted by Muslims, rather than having no connection to such a deity in the first place. I suppose it’s a thin line between this avenue of reasoning and the consigning of Allah to a totally nefarious origin, as you and many others have. Not sure which.

        Your thoughts? Hope you and yours are doing well.

        • Champ says

          Feb 25, 2014 at 9:29 pm

          Hi, Wellington,

          No, I do not believe that allah is the God of the Bible, but rather a pagan moon god. And for brevity sake I’ll offer two links that explain my position more thoroughly …

          #1) Allah is NOT the God of the Bible:
          http://www.kingmessiahproject.com/is_allah_not_God.html

          #2) Allah Moon God:
          http://www.billionbibles.org/sharia/allah-moon-god.html

          Link #1 offers 5 parts–and each part goes into greater detail:

          1. God’s Begotten Son
          2. The Godhead, or Trinity
          3. The Crucifixion
          4. The God of the Bible Condemns Muhammad
          5. The God of the Bible Rejects Allah

          And Link #2 explains more on where I believe allah originated from.

          I’m well, thank you! …and I hope the same for you and yours, my dear friend.

        • Larry S says

          Feb 26, 2014 at 4:38 pm

          Welly-

          One way to see Islam’s perversion of Judeo/Christian concept of God is to consider his opposite: Satan. Muslims sometimes coyingly call the devil Saytan, in an effort to show how compatible Islam is with Christianity.

          More mindless bather from the Muslim side. This Saytan character has nothing to do with an archangel fallen from Heaven, and is far from the embodiment of evil. It’s not clear who this Saytan character is- possibly some sort of puckish desert sprite who enjoys tempting men. Whatever, this watered-down entity bears no resemblance to the epicenter of evil that the traditional Christian Satan represents.

      • Jerry says

        Feb 26, 2014 at 4:57 am

        The problem is that God – in the sense of a Universal Deity have created the Universe and all life in it, including people.

        Religions, however, have been invented by people, some self-serving, within the limitations of their imperfections.

        A lot of concepts in man made religions are inherited from Pagan beliefs, or based on faulty understanding, faulty translations, and, unfortunately also on deliberate lies.

        The concept of Satan, for example, originates from Judaism, except that the original meaning of the word Satan (שטן) was merely an obstacle or a hindrance. The concept of an evil power or creature (sometimes hideously horny) is based on mistranslation. It is a convenient scape-goat to blame for our own misdeeds.

        It was a revealation to me to watch and listen about half a century ago to a Capital criminal case where each of the accused, obiously guilty, tried to shift the blam to the other miscreants standing in the dock with them. Satan, in institutionalised religion serves a similar purpose – someone else to blame.

        Other concepts and words are similarly misinterpreted, such as that of an Angel (מלאך) – originally simply a messanger. In Genessis the usage of both terms were interchangable such as with the three men sent on a “fact finding mission” to investigate the evils of Sodom and Gommorah.
        Not at all winged creatures, they proceeded to their destination.

        There are inherent contradictions in the story, as if God is truly Allmighty and Omniscient it would have been totally unnecessary for him to send the messangers (or Angels) as he would have known instantly what’s wrong with Sodom and Gommorah.

        Lot’s offer to the mob surrounding his home to have their way his daughters instead of with his visitors is morally reprehensible, and is based on the primitive notion, based in Judaism and inherited by primitive minded Islamists (and even modern Orthodox Jews) that in some way daughters and women are the disposable property of their husband, or father as a master.

        Another glaring Islamic (and originally) misconception and misinterpretation is in the lessons of the Islamic story of Abraham’s binding of Ishmael (in the original Jewish Torah that of Issac).
        It is portrayed as the test of Abraham’s unquestioning blind obedience to Allah (or God). But that cannot possibly be, because, in the Abrahamic era, it was quite common for Idol Worshippers to sacrifice their first born son to Baal or Molech. It was no big deal!. The most probable true message is totally different but makes perfect sense:
        God was not testing Abraham’s blind obedience! The unarticulated message could be articulated more or less in the following term:
        “What do you really think, Abraham? Do you really think that like all the man-made idols around you I actually require your son, or any other human being as a sacrifice? Banish this Pagan conception from your mind!

        Supprt for this interpretation can be found in later prophets who stated that the Lord has no need for or a desire for any burnt offerings!
        The sacrificial lambs, or bulls or fowls were simply meant to feed the clergy!

        • CogitoErgoSum says

          Feb 26, 2014 at 10:48 am

          Jerry, so you are saying Abraham should not have done as God asked of him? He should have told God no? He should have told God that what God was asking him to do was immoral and insane….meaning that sometimes Gods’ actions and requests of us are sometimes immoral and insane? If so, then Jesus should have said the same thing and refused to die on the cross for sins he did not commit…….instead of saying, “Thy will be done.” And if Satan is just a symbol for our own inner weaknesses, who was it that tempted Jesus in the desert? It was Jesus’ own inner weaknesses speaking? Are you saying the parts of the Bible which speak of Satan as being a real entity are simply misinterpretations…..or lies?

      • veggiedog says

        Feb 26, 2014 at 9:15 am

        Do all miss he was the Hitler, the Charles Manson of his time, criminally insane.

    • gravenimage says

      Feb 26, 2014 at 11:40 pm

      Wellington wrote:

      Islam is a religion, a way of life, a totalitarian ideology, a spiritual straitjacket…
      …………………………

      Excellent characterization, Wellington—spot on.

      Hope you are doing well.

  4. Jerry says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 4:15 pm

    Like Communism and Marxism Islam is a Godless religion though they pretend to believe in an Allah they claim is a God, but whose characteristics if we follow Islam resmbles more closely that of Satan.

    Inherent contradictions try to have us believe that an almighty creator and giver of life, who also created diversity, and endowed people with intelligence and reason and then required blind obedience, intolerance and hate and required the Muslims to kill, rob and plunder in Allahs name.

    They believe in a fake, self proclaimed “Prophet” and the “example of the perfect human being” when their own writings disclose that he was no more than a desert warlord, murderer, rapist, brigand, not a “highway robber” as there were no highways, but a caravan robber and a paedophile.

    Trading on the gullibillity and the intelectual, emotional and sexual immaturity of initially mainly the Arabs who dwelt in the desert was a way to recruite the gullible and send them on plundering murdering and raping raids where all tha Mohammed required from them in return to his promise of divine assistance in their evil endeavours was at least a fifth of the plunder for himself.

  5. CogitoErgoSum says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 5:22 pm

    “The very essence of the goal of Islam that most Islamic scholars and Muslims do not know is that we are meant to create happiness for all of humanity. This includes non-Muslims, because we have a system that can bring this about,” he added.”

    Hey, is this system for bringing happiness to everyone the same one currently being used in Nigeria? If not, I think Mr. al-Suwaidan should take some time off from speaking to Muslims in Britain, Canada and Australia and schedule a seminar in Nigeria with the members of Boko Haram. I think those guys would find what he has to say quite interesting and would be most …..ummmm…..responsive. Yes, I’m certain they would like to know how they could spread more happiness.

    • veggiedog says

      Feb 26, 2014 at 9:17 am

      But live is not yo be fun, heaven is the reward. But don’t Islamists know the one true god will not permit them in heaven.

  6. Veracious_one says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 8:04 pm

    Islam’s goal is to create a civil state that administers justice that does not discriminate against a person’s skin colour, gender, or creed.

    unless, of course, you’re not a Muslim…

    • Jerry says

      Feb 26, 2014 at 3:51 am

      Or you are a woman or a child.

  7. Jay Boo says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 8:48 pm

    Islam is not a religion — TRUE (it is a vile political ideology)
    Islam is a way of LIFE — FALSE (it is a way of death)

  8. mortimer says

    Feb 25, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    “A fatwa that orders for people to be killed is un-Islamic and inhuman,” he said…

    …It seems Mohammed who ordered hits on people who merely criticized him was un-Islamic and inhuman.

    Yes, Mohammed was not a modern, ‘moderate’ Muslim.

  9. Wellington says

    Feb 26, 2014 at 12:41 am

    Thanks for those links, Champ. Well, whether Allah is a warped interpretation of the Judeo-Christian deity or actually not even a warped interpretation but an entirely different deity either way should result in informed Christians and Jews not extending to Islam the respect that too often occurs. I particularly do not understand how any Christian can respect Mohammed since in so many ways his character is that of an anti-Jesus. Take care, my friend.

    • Regards from Finland says

      Feb 26, 2014 at 5:02 am

      Sorry to interrupt your discussion. You said “Mohammed .. character is that of an anti-Jesus.” – it really is so: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Jesus-Muhammad.htm

      Those who are not wicked and know Jesus Christ, love him. Those who really know the example of the “prophet” Mohammad, hate it. Nowadays people are confused – they don’t know the truth about Jesus nor Muhammed – and they don’t want to.

  10. veggiedog says

    Feb 26, 2014 at 9:19 am

    So we all basically agree, now to get the word out to a world that does not want to know.

  11. Ayatrollah says

    Feb 26, 2014 at 10:16 am

    If Islam as a political system has no compulsions or the mighty Quran says never to kill anyone, why is is not in Mecca pointing out the errors to the ummah?

  12. gravenimage says

    Feb 26, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    Kuwaiti “moderate Islamist”: “Islam is not a religion. It’s a way of life.”

    It’s a way of life, you see — including a political system, which is something that Islamic apologists in the West generally deny.
    ……………………………..

    Yes—and that “way of life” is a totalitarian one.

    More:

    And you can have free speech, as long as you don’t insult anyone — which means you can’t really have free speech at all, because Muslims are likely to be insulted by talk of the injustice of dhimmitude, or of Islam’s treatment of women, or of how Islamic jihadists use Islamic texts and teachings to justify violence.
    ……………………………..

    Exactly. Part of that total “way of life” is to crush any criticism or even question of the way of life itself, making it a closed system.

    More:

    …he said that Muslims should issue a warning to non-Muslims in the West: “We must tell the West that we are extending a hand of peace now, but it will not be so for long. Even if a civilization is ready to crumble—like the West, with all the characteristics of deterioration of past fallen empires—it will not fall until we, the Muslims, strive to give it that last push, the last straw that will break the camel’s back.”
    ……………………………..

    Remember, this guy’s a “moderate”…

    More:

    But he also cautioned against confusing such freedoms as giving one the right to insult another, or practise bad ethics, saying Islam frowned on them.
    ……………………………..

    Of course, one cannot have freedom of speech *without* the freedom to giver offense. And for any group as quick to take umbrage as Muslims, the bar for offense is set pretty low.

    And what are “bad ethics” in Islam? Criticizing pedophilia, wife beating, and the oppression of Infidels would all be considered “bad ethics” by a pious Mohammedan…

    More:

    “The very essence of the goal of Islam that most Islamic scholars and Muslims do not know is that we are meant to create happiness for all of humanity. This includes non-Muslims, because we have a system that can bring this about,” he added.
    ……………………………..

    If you’re an Infidel who enjoys living in dhimmitude—oppressed, threatened, crushed by the humiliation of the Jizya and unequal treatment under Shari’ah law; with the specter of kidnapping, rape, forced conversion, and mob violence hanging over your head, then you can be perfectly happy under Islam!

    More:

    “We should not force them but we could have the freedom to show them what is Islam so that they could understand Islam,” he said.
    ……………………………..

    And by that, he is not referring to handing out free Qur’ans—instead, he is talking about the imposition of oppressive dhimmitude. Of course many Infidels convert under such a coercive system—and many who do not are murdered.

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