Who Speaks For Islam? Not John Esposito
Originally published in FrontPage Magazine and Campus Watch, May 27, 2009. Also highlighted in the Campus Watch Blog.
Georgetown University Professor John Esposito is the media’s favorite go-to man for questions about Islam. As the founding director of the Saudi-financed Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown, he is also notorious for downplaying radical Islam. Stanford University hosted his latest round of apologetics on May 13.
Esposito, who spoke at Stanford last year, was on campus to promote the film version of his recent book (co-authored with Dalia Mogahed of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies), Who Speaks For Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. He was joined by the film’s executive producer, Muslim convert Michael Wolfe. The 55-minute film claims to present the results of the “largest, most comprehensive study” of Muslim opinion ever done. The crowd’s political leaning were evident in the audible hisses that greeted the cinematic image of former President George W. Bush.
Touring Stanford—With a ’60s Radical Twist
Originally published May 15, 2009. This article won the Review’s “Best Features Article” award for volume XLII.
“RESEARCH LIFE NOT DEATH”
“LENNY FOR DEAN”
“OFF ROTC”Thus read the pins on the shirt of one Lenny Siegel, erstwhile leader of the “April 3rd Movement” (A3M), the group of students that nearly tore Stanford apart in the late 1960’s and early 70’s. Siegel, a member of Stanford’s class of 1970 who was expelled for his radical activities before graduating, was on campus the weekend of May 1 leading A3M’s 40-year reunion. The final part of the reunion program was a “historical walking tour of campus,” which this writer participated in and observed.
Rick Santorum Speaks on Islam, Iran, and the War on Terror
Originally published March 13, 2009 (front page):
“The problem with Islam is the way the text has been interpreted for the past 900 years,” he asserted. Unlike Jesus, for example, Muhammad was a ruler of a state and is believed to be the ideal human being. These two factors make reform and reinterpretation much more difficult in Islam than in Christianity. Many Muslims also believe, according to Sen. Santorum, that they “need to get back to the 700s,” since that is when they were winning wars, conquering territory, and expanding rapidly. These Muslims believe that the reason for their failure is that they have strayed from Islam. The senator went on to explain that since the Islamic Caliphate’s defeat at the gates of Vienna in 1683—which marked the end of Muslim incursions into Europe—Muslims have been “fuming,” with little ability to exact revenge. The vast inflows of oil money into the region changed all that, however, and made defeating the West not a dream but a very real possibility.
New York Times Reporter Sees ‘08 Election As Transformative
Originally published February 27, 2009:
Egan went on to describe the Republican Party as the “Party of Yesterday.” Obama managed to capture both the youth vote—the future of the country—and the Latino vote, the fastest-growing segment of the population. Without these two key constituencies, Egan claims, the Republican Party is doomed to irrelevance. However, Egan did concede that national trends can change swiftly and unexpectedly, and thus what may seem like a certainty now might not actually come to pass.
Shattered Peace: The Road to World War II
Originally published February 13, 2009:
The Hoover Institution has recently unveiled its newest exhibition, entitled “Shattered Peace: The Road to World War II.” The exhibition is a fascinating collection of letters, photographs, propaganda posters, and other memorabilia from events around the globe in the mid to late 1930s. According to the promotional material, the exhibition “illustrates the diplomatic failures and the military actions that paved the way to World War II, highlighting the plight of civilians and the personal stories of witnesses.” All of the items on display are from the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, revealing the incredible depth and immeasurable value of that collection.
Demonstrators, Counter-Demonstrators Bring Gaza Conflict to Stanford
Originally published January 23, 2009.
The interminable Israeli-Palestinian conflict has entered its latest round, and with it have come the now-familiar demonstrations around the world generally condemning—but occasionally supporting—Israel’s decision to go to war in Gaza. Earlier this month, Stanford saw a combination of the two, first with a vigil the night of January 8 and then a protest the afternoon of January 9, both organized by Students Confronting Apartheid by Israel (SCAI). Emotions ran high at times, but as a whole, both events ran relatively smoothly.
Pervez Musharraf speaks at Stanford
From the Students for an Open Society blog, January 16, 2009:
Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan, spoke at Stanford’s Memorial Auditorium today, thanks to the ASSU Speakers’ Bureau and Stanford in Government.
The very first utterance Musharraf made, even before “Thank you for the introduction,” was “Bismillahi al-rahmani al-rahimi.” That is, “In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.” This is the first sentence of every chapter of the Qur’an (except Chapter 9) and is the first line of the constitutions of many Islamic countries. By beginning with this line, Musharraf wanted everyone present to know that he was not only making his statements as a Muslim, but as a pious Muslim. I have never personally heard any speaker begin with this phrase, and I have heard many Muslims speak at Stanford, including a past president of the Shariah Scholars’ Association of North America.
Spencer and Pipes Explain Jihad
Originally published April 22, 2008 (front page)
French translation available here, thanks to a kind soul by the name of Naibed.
This article was picked up by Campus Watch.
Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes spoke at length on April 8 about why they believe ["holy war"] is a much more accurate definition [for jihad]. Spencer and Pipes were invited to speak at Stanford by Students for an Open Society, in an event co-sponsored by The Stanford Review and the Stanford College Republicans.
[...]
Perhaps the most important point of the lecture, which both Spencer and Pipes agreed upon, is that the jihadist ideology cannot be defeated if the West continues to explain it away as unimportant, allow obfuscation by certain groups to replace candid investigation of it, or ignore it entirely. Recognition of the threat that this ideology poses to Western civilization is essential if victory is ever to be attained.
Muslim Scholar Details Oppression of Women in Islamic Culture
Originally published March 18, 2008
Islam’s poor treatment of women has become a very contentious issue in recent years, both inside and outside of the Muslim community. From honor killings to polygamy, Islamic culture seems to place men on a higher level than women in almost every respect, raising doubts about Islam’s compatibility with contemporary egalitarian societies. Recent incidents such as the death of a 16-year-old Canadian girl at the hands of her own father because she refused to wear the hijab, or traditional Muslim headscarf, have only amplified these concerns.
Stanford’s Muslim Student Awareness Network (MSAN) felt that this topic needed to be addressed from a Muslim perspective, and thus invited Assistant Professor Hina Azam of the University of Texas at Austin to discuss it as the final speaker in their 2008 Islamic Awareness Series, entitled “Our Jihad to Reform: The Struggle to Define Our Faith.” Dr. Azam tackled this most controversial issue head-on, leaving the audience no doubt that Muslim feminists face extremely stiff opposition in their fight for equality.
Muslim Student Group Launches “Jihad” of Mixed Messages
Originally published February 28, 2008 (front page)
This story was picked up and marked as a “recommended article” by Campus Watch.
This article won The Stanford Review’s “Best News Article” award for volume XL.
Mobs flock to the streets of Khartoum calling for the death of a British schoolteacher. A Saudi woman is sentenced to 200 lashes for being unaccompanied by a male family member while the men who raped her receive a mere slap on the wrist. Riots break out and embassies are burnt to the ground in response to a cartoon, and again in response to an offhanded statement by the Pope. Because of events like these, the Western perception of Islam is increasingly that it is a religion of hatred, misogyny, intolerance, and violence. Recently, however, growing numbers of Muslims have come out against such events, saying that they do not agree with the fundamentalist ideology which drives them. These incidents, they argue, are not representative of Islam.
Non-Muslims and Muslims alike agree that Islam is a religion in desperate need of reform, or serious reinterpretation at the very least. In the spirit of this need for reform, the Muslim Student Awareness Network (MSAN), the Islamic Society of Stanford University, and the Office of Religious Life have partnered to put on this year’s annual Islamic Awareness Series, entitled “Our Jihad to Reform: The Struggle to Define Our Faith.”
