In “Being Reza Aslan” in Al-Ahram Weekly, February 15, Ati Metwaly, amid torrents of praise for his subject, actually dares to criticize him — an extremely rare experience for this arrogant, foul-mouthed PC-media-created puffball, and one that probably has Aslan bombarding Metwaly with profane emails full of adolescent abuse today:
Aslan continuously entwines religion with politics to create a tool for analysing changes that take place in the world where religious principles regain importance or even make their way into political habitats. As such, Aslan’s expertise is very timely while his strong confidence in live appearances as well as in writing is enough to grant him media attention. At the same time, Aslan’s clarity of mind is his major success denominator, with Middle East politics providing a great arena for his talents. While How to Win Cosmic War is a brilliant scholarly presentation of very profound societal, cultural and political issues in which religion is a driving force, his academic theories sometimes fail to explain today’s reality, Egypt being one example. The perfect catalogue of religious extremism history does not necessarily lead to a perfect analysis of actual political and social scenes, on which Aslan nonetheless remains an outspoken commentator.
There is always something very tricky about renowned academics who capture and analyse reality through their magic ball of theoretical knowledge. Living in Egypt and experiencing firsthand the Middle East’s burdens, I can’t help picture Aslan on another continent, over 12 thousand km and one ocean away, enclosed in a huge library of which he must have read most volumes. He knows all that was written, no doubt; he follows the press and watches the news; his unique intelligence allows him to filter the data and provide a clear chain of ideas; and he translates his cumulative intellectual wealth into books which speak to millions….
His “unique intelligence” also leads him to write “than” for “then” and “clown’s” for “clowns”; to call Turkey the second most populous Muslim country and to refer to “the reincarnation, which Christianity talks about” — although he later claimed that one was a “typo.” His “unique intelligence,” in other words, is that of a marginally literate, unevenly educated charlatan with a talent for telling the mainstream media what it wants to hear.
…Egypt in particular returns in Aslan’s books and public appearances and becomes one of his hottest topics, especially after removal of Mohamed Morsi from power. In his 2009 How to Win Cosmic War, Aslan describes the Muslim Brotherhood as a force which can be successfully incorporated into the country’s political life. He writes: “Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood quickly realised that the responsibilities that came with working within the government (rather than opposing it from without) left little room for radical ideologies. Far from trying to transform Egypt into a theocracy, as Arab rulers across the region had warned it would, the Brotherhood fully embraced the opportunity of political participation by creating alliances with liberal intellectuals and secular democrats in the parliament. … Gradually, the Muslim Brotherhood convinced even its staunchest critics that, given the opportunity, it could become a legitimate political force in Egyptian politics.”
Aslan’s statements formulated back in 2009 seem patently false today, as in 2013 we gained a new perspective pointing to how this legitimate political force chose to embrace the opportunity of political participation by systematically excluding all secular and later even all other Islamist forces including their bigger ally ultra-conservative Salafist Al-Nour Partywhich [sic] was kept completely out of power. Aslan replies however that time would have forced the Muslim Brotherhood to moderate their understanding of political participation. In our conversation, Aslan concentrated on the removal of Morsi from power and the consequences which according to him Egypt will face:
“When you give an Islamist organisation, whether it is Brotherhood or not, an opportunity to take part in the political process, one of two things always happens: Either they moderate their ideology and achieve political success like the Justice and Development party in Turkey for instance or they don’t and they fail like the Muslim Brotherhood did. I think that if they were removed in a political way, not in a violent military coup, then things would have been better,” he said, overlooking the fact that Egyptians have very little experience of the democratic process, or indeed of separating politics from (rhetorical) emotion….
The term “military coup” recurs whenever Aslan has commented on Egypt. In an interview with Huff Post Live, for instance, Aslan says, “Whatever you feel about the military or whatever you feel about Morsi, that’s fine. But get yourself a dictionary. Definition of ‘coup’ is a military that removed the civilian president from power. And people say ‘yeah, but there were 14 million people on the streets.’ Even if there were 80 million people on the streets, it still would be a coup. No matter how many people supported this.” Technical correctness aside, Aslan underscores Morsi’s and MB’s political incompetence.
“I’m not defending the Muslim Brotherhood. They were corrupt, they were inept. Morsi was an awful president and the MB did a terrible job in the year that they had. Many Egyptians would say that there was never an option [of political success] with the Muslim Brotherhood, that they were in the process of taking complete control over the society, but they [the MB] know that people power in Egypt has the ability to transform the government, to put pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood. The mistake was the whole notion. The military has been 50 years in absolute power in Egypt and one year out of it; [the military] cannot be trusted to be bearers of democracy,” Aslan was telling me in Jaipur, continuing to explain the consequences that will result from the removal of Morsi from power. “If you do not give an Islamist organisation like the MB, which is interested in nationalistic concerns, an opportunity to take part in a political process, if instead you oppress it violently, then what you do is you radicalise it. And worse, you create a situation where they begin to let go of their nationalist ambitions and instead begin to adopt global ambitions. In other words, they stop being Islamists and they start being Jihadists.”
There was no way to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from power through the political process. Morsi was busy closing off that option, having his foes arrested and menacing his opposition physically. So Aslan is effectively saying that Egypt should have accepted Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship, because otherwise the Brotherhood would become violent — in other words, give them what they want, or else they’ll kill you. Given his membership on the Board of a lobbying group for the Iranian mullahs, it is not surprising that Aslan would come out so nakedly for Sharia authoritarianism, but it should (but won’t) give pause to his uncritically adoring Leftist fanbase.
Yet it is world dominion through a Muslim Caliphate that drives most MB members; it was loudly advocated by Safwat Hegazi among other leading MB figures. In 2009 Hegazi was banned from entry to the UK for promoting hatred and was “considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by glorifying terrorist violence”. His famous statement “Whoever sprays Morsi with water will be sprayed with blood”, made during the June 2013 anti-Morsi protests, echoed on international scale. Sayyid Qutb, a seminal figure for MB members, openly points to his emotional closeness to the Malaysian Muslims while rejecting Egyptian Christians whom he considers “incomplete” or “non-believers”. How this kind of drive becomes “nationalistic aspirations” is not explained by Aslan. “Islamism,” he says, “is a force that can be dealt with, through political means (look at next door Tunisia), Jihadism cannot. Al Qaeda itself was created by a group of failed Islamists, people who had national ambitions in Syria, in Lebanon, in Egypt, in Saudi Arabia but those ambitions were violently crushed and they became Jihadists.”
It remains hard to accept the idea that, with all this in mind, integration is obligatory as otherwise we’ll face militarisation and terrorism, in this case: Jihad.
It’s hard to accept because what Aslan is saying is absurd and evil. He is saying, Accept Sharia peacefully, or Sharia will be violently imposed upon you.
By the way, Metwaly begins his piece with this howler:
…In this mind-stimulating assortment, several names drew my attention but in my notes a few lines underscored the name of Reza Aslan, the Iranian-born American writer and scholar who was to appear in a number of discussions. I chose Aslan for several reasons. He is a remarkable scholar of religions focusing on their history, origins and development. His lucid style and eloquence combines an in-depth academic approach with journalistic perceptiveness….
Here are some examples of Aslan’s lucid style and eloquence (click each to enlarge). Note that in every case he begins the abuse:















Tradewinds says
“arrogant, foul-mouthed PC-media-created puffball” – yes that’s jackazz reza aslan. Oh and he’s also a “Muslim fuck” – just using his own foul language! Come find me you Muslim fuck. (The f-bomb is aslan’s favorite word).
Salah says
“So Aslan is effectively saying that Egypt should have accepted Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship,..”
Too bad for Aslan, the MB and the Obama gang, the Egyptian people crushed Morsi and his thugs.
Game over!
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-end-of-muslim-brotherhood.html
sheik yer mami says
Being from Iran, Aslan would be a shiite, and we all know how much the rightly guided sunni MuBro’s love these rafidite dogs.
That he shills for the MuBro’s speaks even less for his intelligence. What’s in it for him?
crankywhitewoman says
His grammar and punctuation skills leave a lot to be desired. He insults anybody who disagrees with him. People only do that sort of thing when they have no intelligent argument to offer. He’s pathetic, really.
eib says
Not much of an academic.
Wellington says
Robert Spencer clearly cannot stand this guy. Mr. Spencer has every right to think such. Easily, since Aslan is a liar about RS and a liar in general and “cleaner-upper” for the world’s worst religion of all time.
Meanwhile, Douglas Hyde, Bishop McManus and others of their ilk will almost certainly never do ANYTHING to confront vermin like Aslan. Indeed, such weaklings will actually and regularly, sycophantically and stupidly, indulge the Aslans of the world.
Again I will posit the GREATEST problem of our time. Oh no, it’s not Islam per se. The greatest problem of our time are those who keep making excuses for Islam. If no excuses for this wretched religion, then taking care of it would be made immensely easier. In the final analysis, and history demonstrates this time and time again, running interference for evil is actually far worse than evil itself. Think Munich 1938.
perceptor1 says
‘Weaklings’…yes…thank you…they are ‘moral weaklings’ who are shirking their duty to show leadership. It is 1938 all over again.
CGW says
With you all the way, Wells. Insightful commentary as per usual.
john spielman says
Reza Aslan is desperate for publicity. The sad truth for this demon possessed deceived narcissist is that the MoBro would have him killed as a shia apostate
perceptor1 says
Sophomoric Reza Aslan is a paid apologist for draconian totalitarians. He gets to live in relative luxury in a country built by logical, tolerant Christians. Lucky him. He could be an enemy of the state living Iran instead! He would have nothing good to say for the evil mullahocracy if he lived there. But he doesn’t. He takes pot shots at the US and tells lies about his credentials and expertise. He’s a fiction teacher…what he writes.
Defcon 4 says
The fact that Reza lives in the US as opposed to his ideal, islam0fascist, iranian “republic” speaks volumes.
Jay Boo says
Reza Aslan would not need to rely on his frequent use of the ‘F-word’ if he were able to support what he has to say. His words just can’t stand up on their own merit so he attempts to add emphasis with the repetition of ‘F-word’.
A bad sentence does not improve by adding exclamation points.
Emphasis is exactly what Islam is all about.
Murder and exaggerated bowing displays are merely about emphasis because Islam lacks substance.
Softly Bob says
I’ve not read all of these copy and paste twitter comments, but I’ve enjoyed reading at least half of them, and it’s enough for me to know just what a foul-mouthed non-entity Aslan is. How he has made money from being a journalist and writing books is beyond me. The man is arrogant, a liar, a poor debater, and completely untrustworthy. I think that to be a fan of him or his work you would have to be a brainless moron.
quovadis2014 says
For all those trying to figure out Reza Aslan he’s a text book case of Oppositional Defiant Disorder:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_defiant_disorder
Actively refuses to comply with majority’s requests or consensus-supported rules
Performs actions deliberately to annoy others
Angry and resentful of others
Argues often
Blames others for his or her own mistakes
Often loses temper
Spiteful or seeks revenge
Touchy or easily annoyed
Generally, these patterns of behavior will lead to problems at school and other social venues….
His family fled Iran in the 70’s to California. And guess what Reza does? He CONVERTS to Christianity. I’m sure his parents really liked that. But that’s the point. He converted to piss his parents off because he has, duh, Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
Then what does he do. He converts back to Shia Islam….I can only guess to piss off his new found Christian friends.
Defcon 4 says
I’m sure there are Christians who would support and fawn over Reza’s decision to go back to his peaceful, tolerant roots. After all, most muslimes are “good” people.
Saxon says
He seems to have the mentality of a 13 year old. Who does he think that impresses? Fat and gay? I stand corrected–he’s closer to a 10 year old.
Studebaker says
Why does RS give this hack any relevance by talking about him?
Herb Benty says
Aslan is just doing what Islam wants him to. A stealth jihadist pretending to be mainstream, going about his termites work on the American House.
Maurice says
The Muslim Brothers had ZERO chances in gaining power in Egypt if Obama Bin Laden have not twisted arms and used Qatar petro-dollar.
CGW says
It must be particularly galling for a true scholar like Robert Spencer to see this punk’s ineptitude admired as insightful and erudite. What a laugh! The guy is his own worst enemy, though. If he had any sense or self-respect he’d know when to keep his mouth shut. I just love it when idiots blow their own brains out*, saving us the trouble!
*(OK, grammatically, that should have been “when idiots blow out their own brains”, not leaving a dangling preposition, but it just didn’t have the same “feel”. Pardon my prosaic licence.)
duh_swami says
Reza is way more comical than his employee Nathan Lean, who is not the least bit funny. I think Reza deserves a pat on the back for being a stand up guy…About 30 to 50 pats delivered enthusiastically. And I would like to meet Nathan and shake his hand, ‘vigorously’ for at least 15 minutes. I like to give credit where credit is due.
Sam says
Do we have to pay attention to this guy Reza Aslan? Aren’t we giving him the attention he REALLY does not deserve?
I saw him on TV once and I will not see him or talk about him again.
Darrius says
reza, why don’t you ….just….go away……far FAR away. Like egypt. I’ll pay. Just wear a stars and bars t-shirt….I’ll pay for that to. Just let me film it.
gravenimage says
Reza Aslan: Egypt should surrender to the Muslim Brotherhood — or else
……………………………
Even though—as noted—Reza Aslan and his fellow Shia would *not* do well under a fundamentalist Sunni theocracy.
But what does it matter? We have seen this many times from Shi’ites and Ahmadis and many other Muslims minorities—the triumph of trumps *everything*, even their own freedom and safety.
More:
“When you give an Islamist organisation, whether it is Brotherhood or not, an opportunity to take part in the political process, one of two things always happens: Either they moderate their ideology and achieve political success like the Justice and Development party in Turkey for instance or they don’t and they fail like the Muslim Brotherhood did.
……………………………
This, of course, is not necessarily true. Reza Aslan’s own “Islamic Republic of Iran” shows this is not always the case—while we can hold the Mullahcracy to be a failure in the moral sense, there is no doubt that they have a firm grip on power, as they have for the past thirty-plus years.
More:
“I’m not defending the Muslim Brotherhood. They were corrupt, they were inept. Morsi was an awful president and the MB did a terrible job in the year that they had…”
……………………………
Of course, the real problem with the Muslim Brotherhood was not corruption or ineptitude, both of which are virtually the norm in what used to be known as the third world.
The real horror was their intention to impose brutal Shari’ah law. But that was what the Muslim Brotherhood was founded to do at its inception.
Note that Aslan makes no mention of that…
More:
There was no way to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from power through the political process. Morsi was busy closing off that option, having his foes arrested and menacing his opposition physically. So Aslan is effectively saying that Egypt should have accepted Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship…
……………………………
Very, very true. This is also true to the MB’s roots. Democracy does not exist under Islamic rule.
And yet, many clueless Westerners—clearly, Aslan’s intended audience—believe that the MB represented democracy in Egypt. *Nothing* could be further from the truth.
More:
It’s hard to accept because what Aslan is saying is absurd and evil. He is saying, Accept Sharia peacefully, or Sharia will be violently imposed upon you.
……………………………
No surprise. This is, indeed, *always* the position of ascendant Islam.