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Interview with Jan Fletcher
(Journalist).
| Jan Fletcher |
| 1- Do you think Americans,
overall, post 911, are more informed about Islam? How has this
change affected their view toward Muslim Americans, in your
opinion? |
Ali Sina
There is no doubt that many Americans became very concerned about Islam
after 9/11. They wanted to know what is it that drives these Muslim men to
such extreme hate. Right after the 9/11 the sale of the books about Islam
skyrocketed. Booksellers were left with empty shelves. Many people
started buying the Quran. That was the right choice. Unfortunately there
are very few books that tell the truth about Islam. Most of the books on
Islam are written by apologists of Islam such as A Short History of Islam
written by Karen Armstrong, or the Oxford History of Islam compiled by
John Esposito. Writers that are critical of Islam like Ibn Warraq or Bat
Ye'or are very few and there are very few books written about Islam that
are objective. This is not because there is little to criticize but
because those who do so do not live long. As everyone is familiar with the
fatwa (religious decree) against author Salman Rushdie, Muslims are not very
sympathetic towards those who criticize their religion. Maria Sliwa is a
courageous ex cop who has dedicated her life to fight against slavery in
Sudan. She wrote an article for
faithfreedom.org and after reviewing it and seeing there are no anti
Islamic comments I published it under her real name. One day later she
received an anonymous call and a death threat. She was guilty by
association. May be you'll receive a death threat too. That is why there
are very few books telling the truth about Islam. The publishers are
afraid publishing them and the media fears reprisals. If you criticize
Islam in USA the Christian missionaries in Yemen, Lebanon or Pakistan will
pay for it with their lives. Despite this
shortage of material, the majority of the Americans realized that there is
something wrong with Islam and did not buy the official clich� that Islam
is a religion of peace. As Abraham Lincoln said, you can�t fool every
one all the times.
| Jan Fletcher |
| 2- How do you think 911 has
affected the American Muslim community? |
Ali Sina
Just like any other group, Muslims are a diverse people and their reaction
was different. A group of Muslims was able to wake up and realize that
this whole mess is because of the violent teachings of the Quran. I do not
have a statistic but by judging by the mail that I receive I can say that
the number of disillusioned Muslims was substantial. On the other hand
there were Muslims who kept denying that this dastardly act was
perpetrated by Muslims. They kept accusing Israel and even the government
of staging this crime in order to find an excuse and lash out at the
Muslims (bizarre is indeed the mind of Muslims). There were also those who
were elated
and felt ecstatic that Muslims inflicted a painful blow to the Americans.
However the 9/11 was an important day for Muslims all over the world. It
was a day of reckoning. Many Muslims started questioning their own
religion. Those who are living in the Islamic countries can only blame it
on those who have �hijacked� Islam, while the Muslims living in
non-Islamic countries are cautiously questioning the divine origin of
Islam. Many have already left Islam and many are leaving it, although this
is happening very silently. Muslims are not allowed to leave Islam. The
punishment for apostasy is death. In the West it is easier to leave Islam.
Yet no one wants to lose his friends and relatives. So they leave Islam
without making too much noise about it.
| Jan Fletcher |
| 3. Do you think rural
Americans, who may live in communities with few Muslims, are
adequately informed about Islam and the basic teachings of the
religion? Does it matter to rural America to know more about
Islam? |
Ali Sina
In this day of the Internet and rapid communication, it makes little
difference where you live. People are getting the information they
require. The truth about Islam is only a click of a mouse away. It is
important for every one to know the facts about Islam and be warned.
People must be warned and told that Islam is not just another religion. If
the mother of John Walker Lindh knew the truth about Islam she would have
stopped her son from getting involved with this cult and this young man
would not have to spend 20 years of his life behind the bars for
treason to his country. Yet Mrs. Walker used to drop off the young John at
the Mosques where the mind of this boy was poisoned and the hatred of his
own country was sown in his heart. John Walker Lindh�s interest in
Islam started when at the age of 12 he saw the movie about Malcolm X.
America failed this young man and his mother. Everyone including the US
government lied to them presenting Islam as a religion of peace. And when
he pursued that "religion of peace" they jailed him. Many
American writers have a romantic view about Islam. Some of these so-called
scholars are on the payroll of Saudi Arabia and they brazenly lie and
others are merely fools. Last year Dr. Michael Sells a professor at the
University of North Carolina compiled a benign version of the Quran
deliberately leaving out the violent and hateful verses and used it as the textbook for summer studies of the students. Why would
he do such thing? What happened to professional integrity and the quest
for the truth? I asked this question in a lengthy open
letter from Prof. Sells and I never received
an answer. I invited John Esposito and Karen Armstrong to debate with me
and defend their claims about Islam, they too failed to answer. You need to tell the truth to the people for the protection
of your own kids. I was told by an American mother that her son converted
to Islam at 15, about 10 years ago, and has been a fanatical Muslim ever
since. He told her that should there be a Jihad in America he would not
hesitate to kill her if that is required from him. This is consistent with
Islamic teachings. Muslims are so
brainwashed that they would kill their own parents and kin for Islam.
Knowing this I believe no one could afford being informed about
Islam and be on guard for his children. Do not make a mistake. Islam is
not just another religion. It is a dangerously overgrown cult.
| Jan Fletcher |
| 4. How can people best
respond to concerns about the tenets of Islam without lashing out
against Muslim-Americans? Is there a danger of backlash against
Muslim-Americans? |
Ali Sina
One thing that everyone should know is that not all those coming from
Middle East are Muslims. In fact since the rise of Islamism during the
last quarter of the century, most Christians, Jews and Baha'is have
migrated to the West and although they may look like the rest, they are
not Muslims. Many Muslims also have left Islam, many of them are just
humanists and some have joined Christianity and other religions. So racial
profiling is a mistake. You will be victimizing the victims. As for the
real Muslims they belong to two categories. The majority is unaware of the
evil of Islam. They are good people who think Islam is a good religion.
They are ignorant of the truth about Islam. They believe in an Islam that
means devotion to one God, charity to the poor and resignation to the will
of God. This is basically all they understand of Islam. They have an
idealistic view of Islam that exists nowhere but in their imagination. You
cannot hate these loving people. Fortunately the majority of the Muslims
belong to this category. However there is a small percentage of Muslims
who are militant. They are the ones who read the Quran constantly, often
shave and dress Islamicly, go to mosques frequently and listen to the hate
speeches of their Imams attentively. This group represents a danger. They are the
ones who believe America deserved the 9/11 because of her support of
Israel. Even though all of them may not become terrorist bombers, they
preach hatred of America and hate anything American. They are not
necessarily from the Middle East. They could be 5th generation Americans.
You can reject the tenets of Islam without lashing out against the Muslims.
This is what we are dong at www.faithfreedom.org. People must
realize that Muslims are the primary victims of Islam. You don�t want to
victimize them more. Our group, the Faith Freedom International, is trying
to help the Muslims to see the light and leave Islam. We believe this is
not just the best but the only way to combat Islam.
You have to realize that Islam is a religion of hate. It feeds on hate and
expands through hate. Islam needs the hate like living organisms need
oxygen. It is through the hatred of the Jews and the pagans and the
non-believers that the Muslim brotherhood takes meaning. Islamic unity is
always unity against someone else. There is a great
emphasis on hatred of non-Muslims in the Quran. If you discriminate
against Muslims you are providing fuel to the fire of their hatred and
validating their paranoia that all the non-Muslims are their enemies. The problem is that they do not respond to
tolerance either. Islamic mind is not a fair and just mind. You may not
believe it but the Golden Rule has not significance for Muslims. Muslims demand
all liberties in the West to practice and expand their religion yet in
Islamic countries they will kill you if you try to convert a Muslim into
Christianity or other religions. The Saudis do not allow the American military personnel to
receive Christian literature through mail and if you are caught with a
copy of the Bible in Saudi Arabia you could face jail or execution. So
what do you do? If you are tolerant and receptive of Islam they become
bold but do not
reciprocate and if you hate them you fuel their fire to hate you more? This is
indeed a catch 22. The solution that we are giving to this problem at FFI
is education. We are unmasking Islam and putting the mirror in front of
the eyes of the Muslims. Sugarcoating the truth does not work. We use "shock therapy" to bring them
back to their senses. We shock them with facts about Islam
and show them that Muhammad was not a messenger of God but a
narcissist, schizophrenic, megalomaniac, pervert, marauding chieftain. He
was a cult leader far worse than David Koresh. We
let them see that Muhammad was an impostor and everything he said were
lies. We want them to feel ashamed of being Muslims. We have issued a challenge that should
anyone disprove the charges we have brought against Muhammad and Islam we will
remove our site. This challenge has not been met yet. We are making them doubt their cherished belief, question
it and leave it. This is a slow process but it works. In this battle we
use love empathy and knowledge in combination and we are winning. The
beauty of this war is that at the end the enemy becomes a friend and a
companion of the trench. After all Islam must collapse from within.
| Jan Fletcher |
| 5. I realize you do not
identify yourself as aligned with an organized religion. However,
how do you think communities, such as those in rural Kentucky who
predominately identify themselves as Christian in culture, can
best respond to the idea that Islam is a peaceful religion? |
Ali Sina
My interest is to make Muslims leave Islam. What they do after that is up
to them. If you are a Christian you probably want to befriend with your
Muslim neighbor and co-worker and make him/her feel the Christian love. People in Middle East
and Indian sub continent are generally hospitable. If you show them
hospitality they want to invite you to their home to reciprocate the
kindness. It is a good idea to open your homes to the Muslims and let them
see you are not the enemy. This was the reason I first started doubting
Islam. I was a young man, alone in a foreign country. There was an elderly
couple that used to invite me to their home only because they did not want
me to stay home alone. It was then that I first realized Muhammad must have been
wrong when he said do not trust or take as friends the unbelievers or that all the
unbelievers will go to hell. All you want to do is to sow the seeds of
doubt in the minds of the Muslims. Not with empty words and
clich�s but with action and with love. Love is very powerful. With love
we will win. People want to belong. If you are cold towards the Muslims
and look at them with distrust, they will go to their mosques where they
find people like themselves who accept them as they are. Why not invite
your Muslim neighbor or co-worker for a simple dinner, a barbeque or just for tea this
weekend? Don�t preach to them and do not criticize their religion. Just
be friend to them and make them feel welcomed. Ask them to tell you about
their culture but avoid religious talks. After you gain their trust, you
can give them the URL of faithfreedom.org and tell them you have read this
site and you want to know what they think about it. Leave it to us to
convince them that Islam is false. You just show them love and make them
feel good and that they belong.
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