“Respect for religious difference is a foundational ethical teaching in the Qur’an and the Hadith sources of Islamic scripture,” states a video caption at the website of Unity Production Foundation’s (UPF) film The Sultan and the Saint. This statement is indicative of the naiveté and leftist, multicultural ideologies animating the individuals involved with this previously reviewed distorted depiction of the Crusades.
Catholic University of America Professor Wilhelmus Valkenberg and others double down in the video on such dubious beliefs ignoring Islam’s oppressive dhimmitude for non-Muslims. Islam’s “Prophet Muhammad was very aware of religious differences” and “saw them not a as a source of contention but of joy and of common relationship with God,” he states. St. Bonaventure University’s Center for Arab and Islamic Studies director Michael Calabria references the hackneyed, flawed argument that a supposedly tolerant Quran 2:256 verse is “foundational for Islam.” He declares that “Christian communities, Jewish communities continued to thrive under Islamic rule,” notwithstanding copious modern evidence of Islamic oppression.
Valkenberg’s credibility concerning Islam is hardly serious given his close relationship with the shadowy Turkish Islamist movement of Fethullah Gülen. Overlooking the role in recent decades that Gülenists played in dismantling Turkey’s secular republic, Valkenberg has previously abetted the Gülenists self-presentation as an interfaith humanitarian organization. Thus the Gülen movement emphasizes “service as something that is very basic to the Islamic faith” and is “very de-central,” “a very personalized faith…it’s not Islamism in the political sense of the word.”
Elsewhere Valkenberg has summarized Gülen’s teaching as “Muslims living peacefully together with people of other faiths; that is the normal situation.” Meanwhile, “both in Christianity and in Islam, there is a tradition that says, well, you should stay away from political power.”
Another online video at The Sultan and the Saint website features Imam Mohamed Magid and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Magid is the former president of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)-derived Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an organization whose radicalism included his bestowing an ISNA “diversity award” upon an anti-Semitic imam. McCarrick’s presence alongside Magid is ironic, given ISNA’s opposition to homosexuality and lurid documentation of McCarrick’s homosexual past. Perhaps this is another example of the strange affinity noted by Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer of homosexuals for Muslims as fellow “victims.”
Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah and Hamza Yusuf also have a website video endorsing the film. Bin Bayyah has made numerous statements supporting terrorism against Israel by groups such as Hamas, as well as violence against American forces during the Iraq war, and supports Islamic restrictions on speech. Although in more recent years Yusuf likes to emphasize his moderation, he likewise has a troubling radical past.
The film website also has a video with Patrick Carolan, executive director of the Franciscan Action Network (FAN). FAN partnered with UPF in developing The Sultan and the Saint, while UPF in turn was in 2017 the recipient of FAN’s Cardinal McCarrick Award. Perhaps reflecting the loose doctrine of the award’s namesake, Carolan in the video says with casual ecumenism that “there are many journeys to God, many paths we can take.”
Leftist journalist Naomi Klein has written in the New Yorker about her Vatican meeting with Carolan. He is among the “biggest troublemakers within the Church for years, the ones taking Christ’s proto-socialist teachings seriously.” She records him claiming that “Vladimir Lenin supposedly said that what the Russian Revolution had really needed was not more Bolsheviks but ten St. Francises of Assisi.”
Carolan’s background certainly recalls Lenin more than St. Francis. The inaugural 2014 Cardinal McCarrick Award went to the former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Secretary/Treasurer Eliseo Medina, an avowed socialist, while the 2016 award went to Al Gore’s daughter, Karenna. While representing the George Soros-funded “Catholic” front-group Catholics United, Carolan himself has advocated that the Knights of Columbus cease opposing same-sex “marriage.”
Leftist politics are also evident in UPF’s Sultan and the Saint Peacemaking Award. Recipients include Jacob Bender, the only Jewish leader of a chapter of the radical Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Sister Maureen Brown likewise “supports CAIR San Diego,” notwithstanding this CAIR chapter’s extensive radical history and duplicitous legal tactics.
UPF’s other “peacemakers” include the southern Illinois imam Abdul Haqq, whose deceptive presentation of Quran 5:32-33 ignores the death penalty in these verses for any “villainy in the land” against Islam. Meanwhile, media reports that the homosexuality-affirming California priest Jon Pedigo has a played a key role in making his San Jose parish the “most gay-friendly diocese in the nation.” NPR reporter Tom Ashbrook is notorious for his longstanding anti-Israel biases and more recent sexual harassment charges.
Austin, Texas, Presbyterian minister Jim Rigby combines many of the views dear to UPF and its associates. He has written that the “Palestinian people are suffering genocide” during the “extinction of the Palestinian people as a cultural and political entity with a homeland of their own.” During a 2009 Austin rally for Gaza, he spoke of Israelis who “teach people to kill and to rob other people’s land” with “state-sponsored terrorism” while the “true jihad is the struggle for peace and justice.” Israel, along with the United States, also have offended his equal opportunity sensibilities concerning nuclear weapons; he has declared that “it’s okay for Christian and Jewish nations to have nuclear weapons, but not Muslims” in places like Iran.
Domestically, Rigby’s church has supported same-sex “marriage” and even accepted the atheist journalism professor Robert Jensen as a member. On Christianity, he has argued that the “core insights of the religion are basically socialist and even, I think, anarchist.” His superficial Crusades pseudo-history has also a similarly Marxist flavor:
I doubt very seriously that the primary motive for the Crusades was rescuing the holy lands from Islam. I suspect the booty captured by “pious” European kings was much more to the point.
The views of actual experts consulted by UPF for The Sultan and the Saint such as Smith College Professor Suleiman Mourad often are hardly more substantial. While condemning American “Islamophobia” and “militarism,” he has advanced the absurd claim that around the world “Muslims, in their majority, have…established liberal democratic constitutions.” This analysis ill comports with his past examination of the recurring role of jihad throughout Islamic history.
Meanwhile, journalist Paul Moses, who formed with his book The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades, Islam, and Francis of Assisi’s Mission of Peace a central source for UPF’s film, seems out of his depth on matters concerning Islam. In one lecture, he has cited as an authority George Washington University Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a man whom Iranian media reported saying that he worked to limit the influence of Jewish and Baha’i professors in Islamic studies. Nasr has also overseen the creation of a study Quran that whitewashes the book’s more disturbing passages.
Speaking under the auspices of the Gülenist Intercultural Dialogue Institute in Canada, Moses cited also Quran 5:83 as an example of Islamic respect for Christianity. Yet the text actually indicates Christians recognizing Islam as true, while the preceding verse contrasts the friendship of Christians with Jews, the “most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers” in Islam. His cited source for this verse is, moreover, Hartford Seminary Professor Mahmoud Ayoub, a longtime associate of the MB-derived and terrorism-linked International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
Moses displayed similar flawed judgment in praising the New York chapter of the radical pacifist organization Pax Christi for bestowing a “Peacemaker” award on Debbie Almontaser. Her radical ties led to her losing her position as principal at an Arab-language high school.
UPF’s choice of associates becomes understandable in light of Daniel Tutt, UPF’s Director of Programs/Producer. At the European Graduate School, he obtained his doctorate under Alain Badiou and later studied under Slavoj Žižek, two communist philosophers. Amidst their almost indecipherable totalitarian tracts spiced with radical antisemitism, Badiou has described Palestinians as “slaves” of an Israeli “colonial state” engaged in the “project of a genocide of the Palestinians.” Meanwhile, Žižek has attributed Al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks to the “antagonisms of global capitalism” and described Israel as an “apartheid” state that, as in Badiou’s view, should disappear in a single Palestinian state.
Tutt has shown the influence of his teachers while ombudsman for The Islamic Monthly (TIM). Its editorial staff includes the fanciful Islam apologist Karen Armstrong, the Panglossian believer in Islamic democracy Noah Feldman, former CAIR legal adviser Arsalan Iftikhar, and the radical professor Sherman Jackson. Tutt himself at TIM has sanitized the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement seeking Israel’s destruction. This is a “non-violent campaign using boycotts, commercial divestments and sanctions to pressure Israel to abide by international law and grant Palestinians their rights.”
Sana Saeed, a producer at the radical Al Jazeera network, was even more strident at TIM in her denunciation of “Faithwashing Apartheid and Occupation” by the Israeli Shalom Hartman Institute’s Muslim Leadership Initiative (MLI). She described “Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine” as a “mid-20th century Euro-American settler-colonialist project.” Thus the MLI “normalizes Zionism – a racist ideology and institution that is antithetical to our own Islamic traditions of social justice.”
Saeed’s views contradict Tutt’s involvement with The Sultan and the Saint. One of the MLI organizers, Homayra Ziad from the Baltimore-based Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, appears in an online video. Despite her treatment on TIM’s pages, she gushes that different faiths “have significant theological and practical differences, but we harness those differences to compete with one another, not in animosity, but towards the common good.”
Ziad exemplifies the disjunction between those associated with UPF and not always benign Muslims and their allies. Moses has worried about President Donald Trump’s “anti-Muslim rhetoric.” UPF’s executive producer, the Muslim convert Alex Kronemer, has similarly argued that Muslims “feel attacked by hostile rhetoric about Islam that would never be accepted in the public square about any other faith.”
Yet the gauzy rhetoric surrounding The Sultan and the Saint and other UPF film productions does not correspond to UPF’s reality. UPF simply manifests the various politically correct, sometimes contradictory shibboleths of the modern red-green alliance of leftists and Islamists. Rather than harmonious unity, UPF’s wolves in sheep’s clothing have far more controversial, sinister agendas.
mike9a says
‘lovely’ weed list
Carlos Danger says
Quislings abound and scheme with each other and hajji fellow travelers.
StellaSaidSo says
As if ‘10001 Islamic Inventions’ wasn’t dishonest enough! The culture war continues.
I note the contribution of the usual suspects.
CRUSADER says
Notice how they make St Francis appear looking like a dolt,
while the Sultan seems discerning and intelligent and thoughtful…..
Just sayin’…..there Sayid! 😉
Buraq says
“I doubt very seriously that the primary motive for the Crusades was rescuing the holy lands from Islam. I suspect the booty captured by “pious” European kings was much more to the point.” (Jim Rigby)
I wonder if this clown Rigby knows that Surah 8 of Al Qur’an – Al Anfal – translates as The Spoils of War; booty, in other words. In fact, the said Surah kicks off with They ask you (O Muhammad ) about the spoils of war. Say: “The spoils are for Allah and the Messenger.”
Rigby’s a clown!
elee says
No…..REALLY? Someone SERIOUSLY thinks the Crusades were a profitable proposition for anyone in Europe?
David says
let me guess they were there for the oil…you sound like a supporter of the prophet of pedophelia (mooHAMid) they were there to protect europeans from the muslims…you know muslims right??? the muslims that are kidnappers and rapists of children the muslims that make sex salves of women the muslims that have sex with goats the muslims that do not bathe the muslims that preform female genital mutalations the muslims that support and worship a man who kidnapped a 6 year old girl and then raped her at 9 years old…yeah lovely people they are
elee says
FWIW it appears that Fethullah Gulen attempted to bring some distinctly non-scriptural ideas into Islam, like the idea of talking with members of other faiths instead of killing them. He now lives in Pennsylvania surrounded by armed guards; the Turkish government (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) is said to have offered Michael Flynn $15 million to abduct him; it appears that Flynn hadn’t done his homework, or he would have asked for a lot more. In America people of similiar views attend Unitarian fellowships unmolested; in Islam, if you want to seriously think the crap that their apologists pump out (“religion of peace” tolerance, &c &c &), you go into exile with lots of heavily armed men, or if you can’t afford that, you live a daily Reign of Terror.
gravenimage says
Exactly, Jay Boo. Probably the most disturbing thing is Gulen’s network of Madrassas.
Carlos Danger says
Both of these Turks are bad news.
Hitler/Stalin
cornelius says
>He declares that “Christian communities, Jewish communities continued to thrive under Islamic rule,” notwithstanding copious modern evidence of Islamic oppression.
Andrew disappoints here. The “copious evidence of Islamic oppression” is not only “modern”….it’s fully documented in the Hadith, where Muhammad waged war upon the Jewish tribes of Arabia, exiling some, slaughtering others, On his death bed, he issued a commandment that no other religion but Islam could exist in Arabia.
By taking a false premise, that Islam was religiously tolerant, and comparing it to modern conditions, Andrew gives the appearance of dodging. Fact is, Islam wasn’t tolerant in the time of Muhammad….and – as Andrew asserts, is certainly not now.
Andrew E Harrod says
Yes, I understand. The article I cite focus on the 20th century experience of Middle East Christians. Many people also talk about how Muslim conquerors did not initially convert subject populations, but the long term trend under dhimmi restrictions was clear, as the Mark Durie article linked in the article indicates.
Richard says
” Many people also talk about how Muslim conquerors did not initially convert subject populations,”
Because they needed them as slave labour to keep them in the style to which they had become accustomed. The only reason that Islamic “civilisation” lasted as long as it did was because it was kept going by Christian and Jewish professional classes whilst the Islamic rulers sat back in luxury (ie exactly like Saudo Arabia today)
Andrew E Harrod says
Yes, as with the payment of jizya.
gravenimage says
True, Mr. Harrod and Richard.
Andrew E Harrod says
Yes, I understand. The article I cite focuses on the 20th century experience of Middle East Christians. Many people also talk about how Muslim conquerors did not initially convert subject populations, but the long term trend under dhimmi restrictions was clear, as the Mark Durie article linked in the article indicates.
Linde Barrera says
I just called 512-251-0698, St.Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX and left a message for Pastor Rigby (who is away til the end of Jan.) I said he should look up The Peel Commission of 1937 which states that the lands of Israel were purchased, not stolen, and the money given to the absentee Arabic landlords. I also mentioned that the pastor was refereneed in the 12th paragraph of the article “UPF’s False Prophets of Islamic Multiculturism” featured in JIHAD WATCH ORG.
gravenimage says
Good for you.
Michael Copeland says
““Respect for religious difference…..”
Yes. Here it is (Koran 3:85):
“If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him.”
762x51FMJ says
Islam is spread by swords of enslavement and death.
Christianity is spread by words of freedom and life.
.
Prabh108 says
Izlamo-leftist-atheistic multiculturalism is a living hell for genuinely pious persons.
Dharmic ethno-states within Dharmic Empires of Light. Refer to Dharma Manifesto by Acharya ji, published by Arktos.
This world is really messed up. I am an optimist. I must make the world better than it was when I took birth.
Behind Ancient Greek exists Hellenic Civilization.
Behind Latin exists the Holy Roman Empire.
Behind Persian exist vast Empires of Light. (saffron, rosewater, pistacchios)
Behind Sanskrit we have Culture and Civilization. (gold, milk and milk products, mangoes, music, dance and film – Drama is the fifth veda – and oh so much more: Absolute Ahimsa.) plus yoga! Gurmukhi Panjabi is here to stay – Sikhi is forever.
Behind English: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – Freedom. What could be more sane and more beautiful than freedom in the absence of which friendship is impossible. Who wishes to live in a world without friendship and love?
Every deviancy is A-OK by islam except Love shared between two lovers who are man and woman. Someone declare the Religion of Pieces illegal already please…
I am thankful to Dr. K. Elst for being “a friend of Dharma”.
Kindly excuse any errors, either grammatical, typos or ideological errors.
I aim to learn something new daily.
Tony46 says
Just imagine our Apocalyptic time: Most of you read in the news can be commented this way:
”The engine that runs history is the hatred for the People of God….and is taking momentum on this century”.
..
Simon says
Anyone who doubts the truth need only read the attached article by Mark Durie regarding what is clearly stated in the “Noble Qur’an” which has been distributed around the world by the Saudis and calls for violent jihad to make Islam supreme:
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2017/11/noble-quran-calling-violent-jihad-australia/
gravenimage says
Thanks for the link.
CRUSADER says
More of this banch, twaddle, and wicked propaganda ?
Talk about leading people down wrong ways….
….It would seem that “1001 Inventions of Islam” was enough to swallow….
This too? Not very scholarly.
gravenimage says
UPF’s False Prophets of Islamic Multiculturalism
…………………….
Disgusting falsification of history. I am not surprised that those behind it has so many links to unsavory Islamist organizations.
Kudos to Andrew Harrod for his research here.
CRUSADER says
FIAT LUX
+++++++
gravenimage says
One of the most beautiful phrases in Latin. (Also the motto of my alma mater)
Lydia Church says
“Respect for religious difference…”!?!?
From where?
That’s simply not in there!
What a compact, condensed, compressed load of BS!
Dec Uman says
Islamic law contains no societal model whereby Muslims and non-Muslims live together with equal rights.
UltraSkeptic says
I don’t get why PBS isn’t conspicuously condemned anywhere in this article. Aren’t they the distributor of this brainwashing plague? Shouldn’t they be highlighted for their distribution and endorsement of factual heresy?
Manny says
What?! What?!!! They must be morons. What Muslim country even has the semblance of religious freedom??? None. Not only are these guys useful idiots, they are a danger to society.
CMLopez says
Terrific film review, Andrew – you are, of course, spot on, as a new monograph about extensive Islamic influence in Hollywood from the Center for Security Policy due out shortly will demonstrate. The Unity Productions Foundation was founded by 2 Muslim converts, partners often w/known Muslim Brotherhood front groups & exists for the sole purpose of advancing the cause of Islam in this country.
StellaSaidSo says
Thankyou, Claire & team, for all the good work done by the Center for Security Policy. I look forward to reading your monograph on the insidious Islamic influence in Hollywood.
patriotliz says
I’m all for Federal defunding of PBS. “Distortion” is an understatement. I watched this piece of trash “Sultan and the Saint” which was so biased toward painting Islam as “good” and Christians as evil barbarians except for the pacifist St. Francis who got along swell w/ the the Sultan. The Sultan was portrayed as a very civilized humanitarian sending bread to the beleaguered and defeated Crusaders. There was absolutely no context for the Crusades or explanation how the heck the Muslims happened to be ‘defending’ their territory in Egypt in the first place since it used to be predominantly Christian. Gee, I wonder if they came peacefully and just took it over w/ the consent of the Christian inhabitants.The silliest part of the movie was a cartoon representation of neuronal synapses whilst Crusaders were being recruited to fight the Muslim invaders of Christian lands….a amateurish depiction of supposed neuropsychological uncontrolled “rage” reaction…. doncha know…”dehumanizing” their enemies. ONLY the Christians get that sort of neuro-rage reaction. Wow! It was such garbage…someone who doesn’t know the h/o of Islam (most everyone) would think that Christian Crusaders were invading peace-loving Muslims in their own lands which they had inhabited long before the Christians came along.