Bill Maher castigated liberals the other day for ignoring the grim reality of jihad terror, and Islamic supremacist Reza Aslan, a Board member of a lobbying group for the Islamic Republic of Iran, is not happy. And so of course CNN gave him a platform for his dawah. Comments interspersed below.
“Reza Aslan: Maher’s ‘Facile’ Generalizations Of Islam The Definition Of Bigotry,” Real Clear Politics, September 30, 2014:
DON LEMON, CNN: We’re joined now by Reza Aslan, a scholar of religions, a professor at University of California, Riverside, and the author of “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.”
Let’s talk about this because it’s a very interesting conversation every time we have it. Before we get into this discussion, I want to play with you this clip from Bill Maher’s show just this Friday night. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHER: President Obama keeps insisting that ISIS is not Islamic. Well, maybe they don’t practice the Muslim faith the same way he does.
(LAUGHTER)
MAHER: But if vast numbers of Muslims across the world believe, and they do, that humans deserve to die for merely holding a different idea or drawing a cartoon or writing a book or eloping with the wrong person, not only does the Muslim world have something in common with ISIS; it has too much in common with ISIS. There’s so much talk — you can applaud. Sure.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He went on for a good five or six minutes about that, talking about how women are — circumcision for women, not respecting the rights of women, not respecting the rights of gay people. And what’s your reaction? And then we will talk.
REZA ASLAN, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE: Well, I like Bill Maher. I have been on his show a bunch of times. He’s a comedian.
In other words, Maher doesn’t know anything about Islam. Don’t listen to him. A sly ad hominem attack.
But, you know, frankly, when it comes to the topic of religion, he’s not very sophisticated in the way that he thinks. I mean, the argument about the female genital mutilation being an Islamic problem is a perfect example of that. It’s not an Islamic problem. It’s an African problem.
“Not very sophisticated” — semaphoring that if you want to be in the in-crowd, if you want to be among the sophisticates, then buy Aslan’s smooth deceptions, not what that comedian Maher says.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Well, wait, wait, wait.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Hold on. Hold on a second Reza, because he says it’s a Muslim country problem. He says that, in Somalia…
ASLAN: Yes, but that’s — yes. And that’s actually empirically factually incorrect.
It’s a Central African problem. Eritrea has almost 90 percent female genital mutilation. It’s a Christian country. Ethiopia has 75 percent female genital mutilation. It’s a Christian country. Nowhere else in the Muslim, Muslim-majority states is female genital mutilation an issue.
Aslan, as I have shown with numerous examples, is not very bright, and constantly makes basic errors of fact. Eritrea and Ethiopia aren’t in Central Africa; they’re in East Africa. And Aslan’s claim that “nowhere else in the Muslim, Muslim-majority states is female genital mutilation an issue” is completely false. Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization declared female genital mutilation a “human right.” A Muslim cleric in Australia has defended it. It is a huge problem in Britain, and a huge percentage of the Muslims in Britain are not from East Africa or Africa at all. It is common in Iraq. It is well established in the Maldives. 41 percent of Kurdish women have been victims of it.
Nor does Aslan mention that while some non-Muslims practice it, only in Islam is it approved. Female genital mutilation is sanctioned in Islamic law: “Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) (by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the bazr ‘clitoris’ [this is called khufaadh ‘female circumcision’]).” — ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3, translated by Mark Durie, The Third Choice, p. 64
But, again, this is the problem, is that you make these facile arguments that women are somehow mistreated in the Muslim world — well, that’s certainly true in many Muslim-majority countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia. Do you know that Muslims have elected seven women as their heads of state in those Muslim-majority countries?
How many women do we have as states in the United States?
Female heads of state do not signify equal rights for women. This argument from Aslan was so facile that even CNN host Don Lemon called him out on it:
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Reza, be honest, though. For the most part, it is not a free and open society for women in those states.
ASLAN: Well, it’s not in Iran. It’s not in Saudi Arabia.
It certainly is in Indonesia and Malaysia. It certainly is in Bangladesh. It certainly is in Turkey. I mean, again, this is the problem is that you’re talking about a religion of 1.5 billion people and certainly it becomes very easy to just simply paint them all with a single brush by saying, well, in Saudi Arabia, they can’t drive and so therefore that is somehow representative of Islam.
It’s representative of Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch reported that “Indonesia’s official Commission on Violence against Women reported in August that national and local governments in Indonesia had passed 60 new discriminatory regulations in 2013 in addition to the 282 such rules already on the books. These include 79 local bylaws requiring women to wear the hijab, or head scarf.” In Malaysia, the Malaysian Bar asked the government in 2013 to enact legislation ending gender discrimination. In Bangladesh, women “still face deprivation and oppression and the legal and socio-economic system does not do enough to prevent discrimination and violence against women.” A 2012 report on Turkey said that “discrimination, violence, unequal power relations, lack of education and child marriage are still problems that Turkish women face.”
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: But hold on. I think that Bill Maher’s point is that these aren’t extremists. We often talk about extremists and that we should crack down on extremists and why aren’t Muslims speaking out about extremists?
In Saudi Arabia, when women can’t vote and they can’t drive and they need permission from their husband, that’s not extremists. Why aren’t we talking more about what…
ASLAN: Why?
CAMEROTA: That’s not extremist. That’s commonplace. Why don’t we talk more about the commonplace wrongs that are happening in some of these countries?
(CROSSTALK)
ASLAN: It’s extremist when compared to the rights and responsibilities of women, Muslim women around the world. It’s an extremist way of dealing with it.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: But it’s not extremist in that country, in Saudi Arabia. That’s the norm.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: That’s what she is saying.
ASLAN: Oh, no, it’s not.
I mean, look, Saudi Arabia is one of the most, if not the most, extremist Muslim country in the world. In the month that we have been talking about ISIS and their terrible actions in Iraq and Syria, Saudi Arabia, our closest ally, has beheaded 19 people. Nobody seems to care about that because Saudi Arabia sort of preserves our national interests.
I actually agree with Reza Aslan on this. If beheadings are an atrocity in the Islamic State, then they are in Saudi Arabia as well. He doesn’t mention, of course, that the practice is not restricted to the Islamic State because it’s Qur’anic: “When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (Qur’an 47:4).
LEMON: OK.
ASLAN: You know, but this is the problem, is that these kinds of conversations that we’re having aren’t really being had in any kind of legitimate way. We’re not talking about women in the Muslim world. We’re using two or three examples to justify a generalization. That’s actually the definition of bigotry.
I just showed above that all the Muslim countries Aslan claimed didn’t discriminate against women actually do. It is easy to find instances of discrimination against women in Muslim countries that are justified by references to Islamic texts and teachings. Here are 727 Jihad Watch posts about discrimination against women emanating from Islamic teachings. Is 727 enough to qualify as concern for women’s rights rather than bigotry? Not as far as Aslan is concerned, as he has even gone so far as to accuse me of murder in his frenzy to discredit the truths I tell.
LEMON: All right, fair enough.
Let’s listen to Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: So when it comes to their ultimate goals, Hamas is ISIS, and ISIS is Hamas. And what they share in common, all militant Islamists share in common.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So, Reza, the question at the bottom of the screen that everyone is looking at, does Islam promote violence?
ASLAN: Islam doesn’t promote violence or peace. Islam is just a religion, and like every religion in the world, it depends on what you bring to it. If you’re a violent person, your Islam, your Judaism, your Christianity, your Hinduism is going to be violent. There are Buddhist — marauding Buddhist monks in Myanmar slaughtering women and children. Does Buddhism promote violence? Of course not. People are violent or peaceful. And that depends on their politics, their social world, the way that they see their communities, the way they see themselves.
Here Aslan is essentially saying that words have no meaning, that the various scriptures of various religions have no essential content or character, that the religions themselves are meaningless and interchangeable, and that people are never inspired to change their behavior by the teachings of a religion, which anyway don’t exist since religions are wholly and solely what people decide they will be. Can a religion’s teachings transform a believer into a violent, war-mongering person, or a peaceful, pluralistic person? For Aslan, the answer is no: religions are just putty, to be formed by those who believe in them into any shape they like. So tomorrow Muslims could begin to declare that there are five gods, despite the Qur’an’s fierce monotheism, and Christians could begin murdering people while screaming, “Jesus is Lord!”
This is, of course, completely absurd. Religions don’t just depend on what the believer brings to them; believers are also shaped by what they teach. But as far as Aslan is concerned, they don’t teach anything: “Islam doesn’t promote violence or peace.”
CAMEROTA: So, Reza, you don’t think that there’s anything more — there’s — the justice system in Muslim countries you don’t think is somehow more primitive or subjugates women more than in other countries?
ASLAN: Did you hear what you just said? You said in Muslim countries.
I just told you that, Indonesia, women are absolutely 100 percent equal to men. In Turkey, they have had more female representatives, more female heads of state in Turkey than we have in the United States.
Lies. See above.
LEMON: Yes, but in Pakistan…
(CROSSTALK)
ASLAN: Stop saying things like “Muslim countries.”
LEMON: In Pakistan, women are still being stoned to death.
ASLAN: And that’s a problem for Pakistan. You’re right. So, let’s criticize Pakistan.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I just want to be clear on what your point is, because I thought you and Bill Maher were saying the same thing. Your point is that Muslim countries are not to blame.
There is nothing particular, there’s no common thread in Muslim countries, you can’t paint with a broad brush that somehow their justice system or Sharia law or what they’re doing in terms of stoning and female mutilation is different than in other countries like Western countries?
ASLAN: Stoning and mutilation and those barbaric practices should be condemned and criticized by everyone. The actions of individuals and societies and countries like Iran, like Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia must be condemned, because they don’t belong in the 21st century.
But to say Muslim countries, as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same, as though Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are the same, as though somehow what is happening in the most extreme forms of these repressive countries, these autocratic countries, is representative of what’s happening in every other Muslim country, is, frankly — and I use this word seriously — stupid. So let’s stop doing that.
This is the guy who has claimed that Sharia has so many different forms as to defy characterization. He has never explained why everywhere Sharia is actually implemented, it looks the same.
LEMON: OK, Reza. Let’s — I want you to listen to Benjamin Netanyahu again. This is actually the one I wanted you to hear.
ASLAN: Yes, the ISIS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NETANYAHU: But our hopes and the world’s hopes for peace are in danger, because everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march. It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam. And, typically, its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He’s making a clear distinction there. He says it’s not militants, it’s not Islam; it’s militant Islam. Do you understand his distinction there? Is he correct?
ASLAN: Well, he’s correct in talking about militant Islam being a problem.
He is absolutely incorrect in talking about ISIS equaling Hamas. That’s just ridiculous. No one takes him seriously when he says things like that. And, frankly, it’s precisely why, under his leadership, Israel has become so incredibly isolated from the rest of the global community.
Why? How is Hamas not like ISIS? They’re both Islamic, they both want Sharia, they both want a caliphate, they both believe in violent jihad and the subjugation of Infidels. Hamas doesn’t fight anyone but Israelis and the Islamic State fights everyone in its path, but they have the same overall goal. Note that Aslan doesn’t offer any evidence to support his dismissal of Netanyahu’s equation as “ridiculous.”
Those kinds of statements are illogical, they’re irrational, they’re so obviously propagandistic. In fact, he went so far as to then bring up the Nazis, which has become kind of a verbal tick for him whenever he brings up either Hamas or ISIS.
Again, these kinds of oversimplifications I think only cause more danger. There is a very real problem. ISIS is a problem. Al Qaeda is a problem. These militant Islamic groups like Hamas, like Hezbollah, like the Taliban have to be dealt with. But it doesn’t actually help us to deal with them when, instead of talking about rational conflicts, rational criticisms of a particular religion, we instead so easily slip into bigotry by simply painting everyone with a single brush, as we have been doing in this conversation, mind you.
Total projection. It is Aslan who is oversimplifying, and mischaracterizing his opposition.
And so in this CNN segment we have yet another example of how Aslan is an arrogant clown purveying misinformation. He would not be taken seriously anywhere were it not for the fact that he seems to give intellectual heft to politically correct opinions. But what he says, as is clear here, is entirely spurious.
Ed says
Reza is an stealth jihadi tool.
jssteves2000 says
Let’s find out how many muslm professors are teaching in our colleges that are stealth jihadist. You’d be supprised or would you???
awake says
Aslan is a Muslim apologist, and a paid liar. Everyone knows that.
Godspeed, Robert and Pamela!
mortimer says
Yes, Aslan is a profession DISINFORMATIONIST for the mullahocracy-dictatorship!
DISINFORMATION is the art of twisting facts so their implications are confused and lost in distractions!
The fact of the matter is that the MOST ISLAMIC countries are ALL horrible human rights violators! Aslan tries to hide that. He is a smarmy liar for fascists…thereby making himself complicit in their murders.
The blood of Iran’s murdered political prisoners is on ASLAN’S hands!
john spielman says
agreed, BUT ALL muslims are taught that LYING to unbelievers is a holy right in order to gain advantage over them. Aslan is simply following his demon
possessed false prophet and mass murderer thief liar misogynist and pedophile-muhammed pbuh*
pbuh- perpetual banishment unto hell
Abdul Ahad says
I am not sure who is teaching Muslims to lie to “unbelievers.” That is not part of the religion at all, atleast Mainstream Sunni Islam. Scholarly tradition is Islam is based off of evidence? Can you provide evidence for your claims? Within the context of Sunni Islam not Shiite sects.
You should really check your facts before you go on posting things online. Otherwise, your arguments and criticism are weak and unreliable. And anyone with an actual brain will end of ignoring it.
Maheen Syed says
Where on earth do you get your information on Muslims about? It’s our ‘holy right’ to ‘lie’? I think that as a muslim, I may be in a better position to tell you about mulsims ‘holy rights’. Lying is unacceptable in any form (as it is in most religions). Finally, I grew up in a Muslim nation and I know of not ONE person subjected to female circumcision. I have also lived in the UK and, again, know not of one individual subjected to this medieval practice. I have no idea why the author of this article claims it is a ‘great’ problem in the UK. Please speak to some real Muslims before you embark on unfair judgments.
tomas says
Boy you people are so insanely bigots, promoting a zionist agenda. Anything with an i and an m drives your racist blood into an anti American fervour…
Don McKellar says
Reza Asslan’s closet homosexuality is showing through loud and clear these days. Perhaps he should head to Iran for one the state-funded sex change operations they give to gays as an alternative to imprisonment and get it over with. Just an idea for him/her to consider.
jihad3tracker says
Hello dude ! ! ! Just admit what is ACTUALLY apparent : resentment of the obvious fact that he is a much better dancer than you could EVER hope to be. Chances are too that he has a better body mass index — all that exercise in the service of style . . .
The very smooth move in the picture for this post comes right from vintage Studio 54 video. It might even be a still capture from a video — attention seekers have notoriously impoverished self-worth, constantly seeking to prop up threadbare egos.
But Reza’s life is not easy for his high maintenance wife — no way, no how. She has to battle him every Saturday night for “wardrobe rights” . . . who gets to wear chiffon and lace before a disco night on the town.
jihad3tracker says
Closing with a bit of reality : Jihadwatch newbies or even long time readers should look at his history of behavior, shown in linked highlighted references.
Reza has a personality disorder, and he might even be in therapy, eventually recovering in a rejection of Islam’s pathology; I sincerely hope that happens.
Robert Spencer would welcome him back to the fight — as Victor Lazlo said to Richard Blaine — in an earlier war against equivalent totalitarianism : “Casablanca”.
desidude2 says
I want to ask this ass clown Asslan, If Islam is not inherently violent and intolerant, How come Iran is the only country in the world rigorously persecuting and prosecuting those young kids who made and acted in the Happy video?
Jay Boo says
Body language of this shameless liar
Reza Aslan sets up his multiple lies with two grossly overused facial expressions.
1 Raised Eyebrows to feign innocence (as if nothing to hide)
2 Frown of mock surprise that anyone would suggest violence has anything to do with Islam.
voegelinian says
The problem with that photo Spencer uses often of Reza is that it actually undoubtedly endears him to Leftists.
Speaking of Leftists, when is Reza going to appear on the Jon Stewart show? You’d think he would have become a regular there by now.
Jay Boo says
Here is something that I bet even voegelinian overlooked
illegal alien Reza
Reza Aslan the America bashing (illegal alien) refuge shows his gratitude by playing victimhood racism card against non-Muslims.
Reza Aslan Bill Maher
Jen says
Does he really believe what he’s saying? Or is he being paid?
Does Reza Aslan read JW? I hope so. Reza mate, you should read through Robert Spencer’s commentary. Your arguments are so baseless, the embarrassment of putting your name to them must be excruciating!
But I suppose now that you’ve already started, you just have to keep blazing through, defending your arguments, no matter how silly they sound.
Jay Boo says
Reza Aslan gets away with more BS than this by those even more to the left than CNN. Even Bill Maher let him off easy in the following link found with a Google search of both names. In it Reza Aslan reveals his full shamelessness even more so than the featured clip here, in my opinion.
Reza Aslan Bill Maher
Champ says
Not all muslims are terrorists, but Reza is forgetting that the majority of terrorists ARE muslims.
CB says
That is an intelligent comment. I wish I could say that about many other comments here.
Homer says
“Eritrea is a Christian country”: another Aslanic half-truth. 36,5% of Eritreans are in fact Sunni Muslims.
Michael says
Concerning Ethiopia, the CIA World Factbook states that it’s 33.9% Moslem. In general the rate of FGM is decreasing there, partly due to activists educating the people. Here is link to a report on it:
http://28toomany.org/media/uploads/ethiopiafinal.pdf
P. 10 of the report is particularly interesting:
FGM is practiced by both of the main religions in Ethiopia – Ethiopian Orthodox
Christianity and Islam. Muslim groups are more likely to practice FGM than Christian groups , with the prevalence among Muslim communities being 65.1% and that among Orthodox Christians being 45%. The prevalence of FGM among Muslims is not only higher but is also changing more slowly (EGLDAM, 2007).
What a sophist our Rezan is!
john spielman says
i seriouly doubt if any “Christian” group practices circumcision male or female becaue the New Testament is quite clear that “circumcision” in the flesh is nothing! but only the “circumsion of the heart” – true repentance and and new life in Christ is evrything!
CB says
Thank you for the links and the facts. Please give us more.
emma says
what a lie in eritrea and ethiopia it is the muslims who have female genital mutilation majority of the ppl are Christians and don’t not have that problem what a liar
Max Publius says
Asslan’s career is linked to Islam even though its obvious he doesn’t believe in it or anything else but his selfish arrogant ego.
But don’t worry about Asslan when Islam crashes. He’s no dead-ender. He’s the type of cockroach who will survive to instruct us how he saw it coming and then write a book on transhumanism. And his cretin sidekick Nathan Lean will be there to help.
Jay Boo says
Agreed,
Aslan believes in what he says only as long as gratifies his narcissistic need to feel superior. Islam and Iranian heritage are tools to this end.
If he went over to Iraq to lecture ISIS about Islamophobia against his branch of Islam he would get the Shia kicked out of him.
But this conniving weasel knows he would be safer bashing non-Muslims in the US.
voegelinian says
You don’t get it; in Islam it’s possible to do both. Islam is the ultimate schizophrenia.
mortimer says
Aslan is a shill for one of the most vicious dictatorships on earth. I wonder what they pay him for muddying the waters in the safety and comfort of America?
Islam is a complicated subject combining politics and religion in ONE. It takes an EXPERT to discuss Islam so that the interviewee doesn’t get away without answering difficult questions. Don Lemon needs some help, as do most journalists.
Journalists need to have Robert Spencer prepare their questions for TOTALITARIAN APOLOGISTS like Reza Aslan. He’s despicable.
hammar says
mohammed brought nothing but the sword. This is what islam is and is doing now though out the world. {death}
But if you want the real alternative: The Word is the Sword of the Spirit. Eph 6:17
The Word is the renewing of your mind through the Holy Spirit which is how God reaches us. 1 John 3:14
Only through the name of Christ Jesus is life found. {no other way}
Max Publius says
Mr. Spencer, It should be comforting to know Asslan still called these CNN reporters both bigoted and stupid simply for asking semi-tough questions in the most circumspect and polite way. Talk about a verbal tick.
mortimer says
ASLAN: Islam doesn’t promote violence or peace. Islam is just a religion, and like every religion in the world.
WRONG. Islam is the most warlike religion.
Danish researcher Tina Magaard, Ph.D. concluded that Islam is the most warlike religion, based on Islamic texts. After three years analyzing the original texts of ten different religions, Tina Magaard concluded that the Islamic texts stand out by encouraging terror and violence to a larger degree than other religions do. She stated that ‘Islamic texts encourage terror and fighting to a far larger degree than the original texts of other religions. The texts in Islam distinguish themselves from the texts of other religions by encouraging violence and aggression against people with other religious beliefs to a larger degree.’
duh_swami says
It’s amazing how so many half baked juvenile delinquents get jobs as professors at universities.
pumbar says
You noticed that too? The last kid I met at a party who told me she had a PhD was borderline imbecilic. How on earth is this happening?
sidney penny says
The US is full of them.
Here is one in Australia:
She will make it into Robert’s next book:
which is “Nothing to do with Islam”
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/there-is-nothing-islamic-about-a-beheading-muslims-v-extremists-20140821-106d1c.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/08/australia-muslim-university-research-explains-that-theres-nothing-islamic-about-beheading-women-have-equal-rights-in-islam/comment-page-1#comment-1111966
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/09/australia-muslim-prof-claims-she-got-hate-mail-after-her-deceptions-exposed
Max Publius says
Reza Asslan is our latest Baghdad Bob–that lovable, pathologically lying Iraqi information minister from a few years back. Like Bob, Asslan is no dead-ender. These clowns are survivors, shape-shifters who will always find another gimmick to glom onto in order to aggrandize themselves.
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/
Burt says
The obvious question that people like Aslan need to answer is about the accepted history of all Muslims of the life of the founder of Islam. Mohammed himself spread his cult through war and violence. It involved hostage taking, violent retributions including mass beheadings. He indulged in sexual slavery amassing a huge harem from subjugated peoples, and of course Sharia permits paedophilia because to ban it would be to hold the ‘prophet’ as less than perfect for penetrating his 9 year old ‘wife’.
No Muslim has any excuse for not facing facts the very founder of their faith was an megalomaniac, perverted, sadistic, murderous gangster. That is why Islam stands alone as the religion of hate.
Beagle says
Not because I watch, but because I surf the movie channels for things to DVR, Maher has had Aslan on his show numerous times, as I see now Aslan admits in the middle of the piece. Aslan has probably received more PR from Maher than anyone else in Hollywood. I’ve seen him on Maher’s show for fractions of a second at a time at least a dozen times. Based on my viewership it’s got to be at least a hundred times then.
Proving, once again, Islamic loyalty trumps any other relationship a Muslim has. When the jihadis come to your town and are separating out the Muslims from the doomed, expect no help from your alleged Muslim ‘friends’.
Angemon says
So basically, according to Aslan, islam – his religion – is redundant in the world. It promotes nothing – meaning it has no values to promote – and it’s dependent of what converts bring with them. So what’s Aslan explanation to why criminals flock to islam like flies to dung? And why is it that converts to islam are much more likely to engage in terrorism actions and quoting quranic verses to justify it than, for example, Hindus or Buddhists?
DiMu says
Lying about a destructive ideology like Islam ought to be considered a capital offence. Until we plug up the mouth of all those wishing to destroy democracy and undermine human rights, as Sharia Law does, they will white ant us from within.
Buraq says
Reza says the Ethiopia and Eritrea are Christian countries. A quick glance at Wikipedia says that Ethiopia has 25 million Muslims with a mosque dating back to the earliest times of Islam. Eritrea has around 50% of its population as Muslim.
So, they are not Christian countries at all!
Reza is a wire-wigged, baggy trousered, red-nosed clown!
CGW says
Robert, please revise this post to include Egypt on the list of countries where FGM is rampant – 90%, coincidentally, identical to the percentage of the population that follows islam.
Myxlplik says
This is why Reza Aslan would never debate Robert, fear of the truth & because of that he knows Robert can’t be relied upon in the ignorance category, which most of his arguments rely heavily upon as proofed by this classic and artfully executed dissection.
Loren Rosson says
Well said Robert.
I would add a sidebar to the part you agree with Aslan about, which is the only decent thing Aslan said in his entire interview:
[Aslan] “Nobody seems to care that Saudi Arabia is doing the same thing [beheadings] that ISIS is doing.”
That was exactly Bill Maher’s point in an earlier interview with Charlie Rose (though not in the video to which Aslan is responding). Aslan is spitballing here — and again, making the only decent point in his entire talk — because he happens to be rebutting something that Maher never claimed, and indeed that Maher actually agrees with. Maher insists as much as Aslan that not all Muslim countries are like Saudi Arabia. He criticized Charlie Rose with Aslan’s very words — that “Saudi Arabia does what ISIS does, but they’re our friends [said in disgust], because they have oil”.
See this video; the relevant point is at 2:55-3:20.
And so when Aslan says something right for a change, he’s not even engaging his opposition. That’s pretty amusing.
Beagle says
I don’t know anyone who excuses the Saudis for anything other than Muslims and those directly or indirectly on the Saudi payroll. In the US that includes many politicians and educators. I think a majority of ordinary Americans would have bombed Saudi Arabia by 10/11/2001.
Soloview says
Robert, the argument about female heads od state may be “facile” but it hooks up with the leftist narrative about Islam as a religion of peace and progress. I am surprised that you did not call him on the “seven women heads of state”. I actually counted only three, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. All three have , or in the case of Pakistan, had until recently a secularist political system. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by al-Qaeda. Turkey never had a woman president. It had one woman prime minister, Tansu Ciller, before AKP came to power. The current cabinet has 25 men and 1 woman, Aysenur Islam, who holds the portfolio of Family and Social Policy. So Reza is full of crap about women enjoying equal rights in Muslim societies. If they do, it is only because of the waning Western influence. You should not let Aslan get away with crap especially since he pretends to be favtual but isn’t. Otherwise, good job, Robert !
An Ethiopian says
This guy Reza Aslan is a liar. I’m Ethiopian. Both in Eritrea and Ethiopia FGM is outlawed by law. And it is absolutely completely baseless lie that 90% of females in Eritrea and/or 70% of females in Ethiopia are victims of FGM. FGM is practiced more in Egypt/Somalia/Sudan than in Eritrea or Ethiopia. And his second big lie is that he was claiming Eritrea and Ethiopia are christian nations which is a total bogus. About 35 million muslims call Ethiopia home and half of Eritrea’s 6 million people are muslims. This guy Reza should stop insulting other nations in order to make Islam look good, which is a hard task understandably. Still, he shouldn’t lie, being a “professor” and all.
paddy says
There is no god…take care of yourselves and be nice to each other in the time we have
gary says
Reza Aslan is a thief. He plagiarised his book from Haim Cohn’s book. It is available from Amazon.
How come nobody called on him for it?
RodSerling says
Aslan: “Nowhere else in the Muslim, Muslim-majority states is female genital mutilation an issue.”
Once again, the unsophisticated bigot Reza Aslan is either ignorant or lying when he denies the facts. Data and estimates from reliable sources indicate that the majority of Muslim females in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia have had some form of FGM done to them; moreover, the majority of Muslims in those countries want the practice to continue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_female_genital_mutilation_by_country
QUOTE:
“Malaysia (Type I and IV)
FGM is prevalent in Malaysia.[158][159][160] It is widely considered as a female sunnah tradition (sunat perempuan), typically done by midwife (mak bidan). It is either a prick (Type IV) or cutting off a small piece of the highest part of clitoral hood and foreskin (Type I).[161] FGM Prevalence rates have been estimated between 62% to 90% in Muslim Malay communities.[158] Malaysian women claim religious obligation (82%) as the primary reason for female circumcision, with hygiene (41%) and cultural practice (32%) as other major motivators for FGM prevalence.[158][161] Malaysia is a multicultural society, FGM is prevalent in Muslim community, and not observed in its minority Buddhist and Hindu communities.[161][162] Malaysia has no laws in reference to FGM.[163] The Malaysian government sponsored 86th conference of Malaysia’s Fatwa Committee National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs held in April 2009 decided that female circumcision is part of Islamic teachings and it should be observed by Muslims, with the majority of the jurists in the Committee concluding that female circumcision is obligatory (wajib). However, the fatwa noted harmful circumcision methods are to be avoided.[164] In 2012, Malaysian government health ministry proposed guidelines to reclassify and allow female circumcision as a medical practice.[165]
Indonesia (Type I and IV)
FGM is prevalent in Indonesia.[166][167][168] In certain communities of Indonesia, mass female circumcision (khitanan massal) ceremony are organized by local Islamic foundations around Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. Some FGM are Type IV done with a pen knife, others are Type I done with scissors. Two Indonesian nationwide studies in 2003 and 2010 found over 80% of Muslim girls are subjected to cutting, typically newborns through the age of 9. More than 90% of adults claimed they wanted the practice to continue.[167][169] Historical records suggest female circumcision in Indonesia started and became prevalent with the arrival of Islam in the 13th century as part of its drive to convert people to Islam. In islands of Indonesia, where partial populations converted to Islam in the 17th century, FGM has been prevalent in Muslim females only.[170][171] In 2006, FGM was banned by the government; however, FGM/C remained commonplace for women in Indonesia – the world’s largest Muslim nation.[172] In 2010, the Indonesian Health Ministry issued a decree outlining the proper procedure for FGM, which activists claim contradicted the 2006 ruling prohibiting clinics from performing any FGM.[173] In 2013, the Indonesian Ulema Council ruled that it favors FGM, stating that although it is not mandatory, it is still “morally recommended”.[174] The Ulema has been pushing Indonesian government to circumcise girls, claiming it is part of Islamic teachings.[175] Some Indonesian officials, in March 2013, claimed cutting and pricking type circumcision is not FGM.[176] ”
END OF QUOTE
References cited for the above:
The Practice of Female Circumcision in Malaysia Maznah Dahlui, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia (May 10, 2012)
Knowledge and acceptance of Female Circumcision Khalid et al., Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (2013)
Rahman Isa A, Shuib R, Shukri Othman M (May 1999). “The practice of female circumcision among Muslims in Kelantan, Malaysia”. Reproductive Health Matters 7 (13): 137–144. doi:10.1016/S0968-8080(99)90125-8.
“A Tiny Cut”: Female Circumcision in South East Asia The Islamic Monthly (March 12 20313)
Dahlui, Wong and Choo (2012), Female circumcision (FC) in Malaysia: Medicalization of a religious practice. Int. J. Behav. Med., 19 (Suppl 1):S7
“Legislation and other national provisions”, Inter-Parliamentary Union, accessed 21 November 2010.
Hukum Pemotongan Genitalia Wanita (Female Genital Mutilation) Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia, Rasmi Fatwa, Government of Malaysia (2009)
Malaysia storm over female circumcision ABC News Australia (December 7, 2012)
A Cutting Tradition Sara Corbett, New York Times (January 20, 2008)
The day I saw 248 girls suffering genital mutilation Abigail Haworth, The Guardian United Kingdom, (November 17, 2012)
Male and Female Genital Cutting among Yagyakartans and Madurans Muhadjir Darwin et al. (2004), Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia
Female Circumcision in Indonesia Population Council and USAID, September 2003; see pages 24-27 and full report
William Clarence-Smith, Self-determination and Women’s Rights in Muslim Societies (edited by Raghavan and Levine); pp 127-134, Brandeis University Press (2012), ISBN 978-1-61168-280-9.
A. Feillard and L. Morcoes (1998), Female Circumcision in Indonesia: To Islamize in Ceremony or Secrecy Persee, Vol. 56, Issue 56, pages 337-367
“INDONESIA: Female genital mutilation persists despite ban”, IRIN Global, 2 September 2010.
[ Female circumcision decree must be revoked: NGOs] Dessy Sagita, The Jakarta Globe (June 23, 2011)
Mathias Hariyadi, Indonesian Ulema in favour of female circumcision: a “human right”’, Asia News, Jakarta (24 Jan 2013)
MUI pushes government to circumcise girls The Jakarta Post, Indonesia (January 22, 2013)
Female circumcision not mutilation: Jakarta Agence France Presse, The Japan Times (March 25, 2013)
RodSerling says
To be more precise [in brackets]: “moreover, the majority of Muslims in those countries [either] want the practice to continue [Indonesia] or think it is a religious obligation [Malaysia].”
Angemon says
RodSerling posted:
“Once again, the unsophisticated bigot Reza Aslan is either ignorant or lying when he denies the facts.”
He is ignorant, but I wouldn’t rule out lying.
Samuel says
Hey guys. I’m Eritrean.
Islamic definition of a country’s religion is different from the western world. Since both Eritrea and Ethiopia are being ruled by the christian rulers, they consider them as a christian nation. They want to dominate everything. That’s why they have been creating a lot of problems for both countries for centuries (since the birth of Islam).
FGM is practiced by all muslim people because they believe that it is their religious duty. The FGM that they practice is known as pharoah’s style(Type III and Type IV) which is horrible and popular among the muslim nations. They saw and seal the vagina opening until the marriage and remove the labia minora and clitoris. This is practiced in Somalia, Ethiopian Muslims(Afar, Somali), Eritrean Muslims, Djibouti, Sudan and Egypt. The Christians practice Type I (a partial or full removal clitoris) because of their culture because it was as part of tradition before the Christianity and Islam.
Since the year 2007, FGM is illegal.
RodSerling says
Aslan’s “Do you know that Muslims have elected seven women as their heads of state in those Muslim-majority countries?” is not only facile for the reasons noted above, but it was also unfair to compare one country (the U.S.) to all the countries of the Muslim world in recent history–the vast majority of which have not or have never elected a female head of state. More direct would be to compare, say, the Muslim-majority countries to the Western countries, or perhaps to non-Muslim countries generally, and compare the percentages of those which have elected female heads of state. That’s more than I have time to do, but, just to put some perspective on Aslan’s claim re 7 women heads of state, let’s consider some other quick comparisons:
Currently, there is only one Muslim country (Bangladesh) that has an elected head of state who is female, compared to at least six in Western countries (Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, Norway, Brazil, and Argentina).
In recent history, the total number of elected female heads of state in Western countries far exceeds the seven claimed by Aslan for Muslim countries. Also, given the trend of increasing Islamization in Muslim countries in recent years, it is likely that there will be less, not more, female heads of state in the coming years.
As for the U.S., the only non-Muslim country Aslan wanted to include in his comparison with the 56 or 57 Muslim countries, it is interesting to consider why a female president has not yet been elected. No doubt, sexism has been the main obstacle historically. But the most recent major candidate, who had a good chance at becoming the president, was Hillary Clinton. The Democratic Party–Aslan’s party–elected Obama over Hillary. How did Obama defeat Hillary? In significant part, if not decisively, by having the support of the U.S.’s most influential woman, Oprah Winfrey.
Kepha says
Reza A$$land and Bill Mayhem–two of the biggest jerks in media.
I have no use for Aslan brushing off S.G.F. Brandon’s Jesus-as-Sicari meme; and Maher stinks of having been thwacked by nuns a few times too many while being educated in Catholic schools. He is “funny” only because the MSM lapped up his fondness for Christophobia.
R Cole says
In a follow up show – Reza Aslan “Demonstrated What People Are Fearful About” When They Think of Islam
It’s not a coincidence that ISIS begins with an “I”
Reza Aslan is trying to defend the whole of the Islamic faith’s beliefs and practises – by covering up – its very exposed – more thorny bits. So he attacks the characters of the people who want to highlight these – in his desperation risks coming across as a little aggressive. His problem – as with most Islamic spokespersons – is that they can attack some of the people’s characters some of the time – but not all of the people’s characters all of the time – in defending Islam’s indefensible practices and actions.
If you haven’t seen this one Bill Maher vs. Ben Affleck On Islam: “Mafia That Will Fucking Kill You If You Say The Wrong Thing”
Ben Affleck pulls up with the usual copyrighted emotional argument – virtually devoid of substance [Don’t leave your day job – Ben!!] – but the other guest on Maher’s panel – a Sam Harris makes some valid points. Here he says, in response to Ben, ‘It’s not condemning people, it’s ideas.’
Bill Maher’s taking the right approach – we need debate and we need – all view points expressed.
That old race card is a little marked by now!
Ralph says
Islam is The Religion of Peace…
http://www.prochan.com/embed?f=ab8_1406696952
Regardless what other people think and say… 🙂 🙂
uha1 says
reza aslan talks with evidence and the other guy has a low personality and this website is a joke.
thats my conclusion.
have nice day!
Reversatire says
The claim that FGM isn’t a muslim problem but an african problem is simply not true. The study that Reza cited focused on african countries, but lack of studies (and a resistance by the governments of those countries to conduct any) doesn’t mean FGM isn’t prevalent in the middle east. There are studies showing the prevalence of FGM in middle eastern (muslim) countries. There is also evidence of FGM practice in Malaysia and Indonesia and not only that, the practice is exclusive to muslim minorities and only appeared in that part of the world with the introduction of Islam. Combine that with the fact that islam is the only religion which does not outright ban it (2 out of 4 schools require the practice as an obligation, the other 2 simply recommend it), how can anyone say it’s not a muslim problem?
I would honestly submit to an argument that FGM is partially a christian problem if I saw it practiced in other christian countries, like those in South America for example. But that’s not the case. We only see FGM practiced in those christian communities that are close to or surrounded by muslim communities. How can anyone claim FGM is a christian problem?
David Harding says
Reza “Taquia” Aslan disimulates all the time, for instance, he said on the CNN interview that Indonesian women Have “absolutely 100% equal rights”
The truth is much dimmer and very in line with sharia law’s requirement of 1/2 value given to women in relation to men see:http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/Gender_Equality_in_Indonesia
“Indonesia is ranked in 124th place in the 2011 Human Development Index (out of 187 countries), with a score of 0.617.[10] Under the Gender Inequality Index, the country’s score is 0.505 (100 out of 146 countries).[10] The 2011 Global Gender Gap Index places Indonesia in 90th place (out of 135 countries) with a score of 0.6594 (where 1 is equal to equality, and 0 is equal to inequality).[11]”
For a so called “Scholar” he certainly has misrepresented things. Decide for yourself.
eric says
My preferred method of being executed would be beheading by guillotine. No chemicals, no waiting, no argument about it being excessively painful and you need only sharpen the blade and clean up the blood before readiness for the next beheading. I am not familiar with how beheadings are carried out in Saudi Arabia so I defer criticizing it until I find out.
Daniel says
Reza Aslan . Here you go with your taqiyya. You are a mark of shame and dishonest. You keep on misrepresenting facts about my country-Eritrea
1. FGM is strictly forbiden by law.
2. Eritrea, a population of 6million, is half christian and half Islamic nation.
Rober spencer. If you happen to meet him in news media alongside you for an interview, tell him the fact about eritrea. And tell him we are watching.
Angemon says
Daniel posted:
“Rober spencer. If you happen to meet him in news media alongside you for an interview, tell him the fact about eritrea. And tell him we are watching.”
Aslan is not stupid enough to think he can beat Robert on the field of open debate. Facing someone knowledgeable like Robert head-on is something Aslan actively tries to avoid.