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(Note: the first part of this post repeats introductory information from this previous post on Dr. Hamid).
Dr. Tawfik Hamid addresses an audience at Pepperdine University
Last week at Pepperdine University, a panel event was held to focus on the work Dr. Tawfik Hamid. Panelists included Frank Gaffney, former Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy; Robert G. Kaufman, Professor of Foreign Policy, Pepperdine University and former instructor at the Naval War College; and Larry Greenfield, a former Naval Intelligence serviceperson and now California Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Hamid grew up in Cairo. He reports from his own personal experience how he, as a child, was radicalized - how, in his own words:
The love in my heart had changed into hatred. Not because of American foreign policy. It is because of the teaching that they gave me when I was child.
Dr. Hamid has written an article detailing the astonishing way in which this is done to many Islamic children, as he personally experienced it:
When I was nine years old, I learned the following Quranic verse during one of our Arabic lessons:
But do not think of those that have been slain in God's cause as dead. Nay, they are alive! With their Sustainer have they their sustenance. They are very happy with the reward they received from Allah (for dying as a shaheed) and they rejoice for the sake of those who have not joined them (i.e., have not yet died for Allah). (Quran 3:169-70)1
It was the first time I was exposed to the concept of shaheed (martyr), and naturally, I began to dream of becoming one. The thought of entering paradise very much appealed to me. There I could eat all the lollypops and chocolates I wanted, or play all day without anyone telling me to study. What made the concept of shaheed even more attractive was its power to quell the fear I experienced as a young boy-for we were taught that if we were not good Muslims (especially if we did not pray five times per day), a "bald snake" would attack us in the grave. The idea of dying as a martyr provided a perfect escape from the frightening anguish of eternal punishment. Dying as a shaheed, in fact, was the only deed that fully guaranteed paradise after death.
Dr. Hamid spoke about the true cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict:
...going to war against ideology, or against any problem, we need to understand the true causes of the problem. If I have a car now, and the car is not working, and someone said to me the problem is not in the battery, it is in the engine. And the problem _was_ in the battery. I can spend all my life trying to fix the car, and never be able to fix it, because the problem is in the battery.
Some people would say that the problem in Islamic terrorism and jihad is caused by the Arab-Israeli conflict, for example. I say to them, it's illogical for me, it's difficult to convince me, that killing hundreds of thousands of Algerians, innocent Algerians, by the hands of the jihadists, have anything to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict. When someone says to me, it is poverty and lack of education and socio-economic circumstances that are the true cause of terror, I say to them, if this was the situation, why Christians who live in the Middle East, under the same circumstances, socio-economic or political or whatever, lack of democracy - do not contribute terrorism as their Muslim counterparts there. So why is it specific to a specific group of people? If the socio-economic circumstances were the true cause of terrorism, we will expect Christians who live under the same socio-economic circumstances, to contribute to terrorism. But this is not happening. In the Middle East we see selective involvement of a specific group of people who follow a certain ideology.
So the true cause as I witnessed it, when I was a child, my real dream was to serve the almighty, to serve the devine, to serve god. I loved him from the bottom of my heart. I really didn't want to kill anybody. But, all this energy, toward god, was just directed to certain forms of religious teaching. It was _only_ the religious teaching. I was from a relatively wealthy family. I was highly educated. Yet, I was totally captivated by their teaching. And my brain was totally washed, and I became ready to die and kill. The love in my heart had changed into hatred. Not because of American foreign policy. It is because of the teaching that they gave me when I was child. (APPLAUSE).
At the end when people say it is American foreign policy. Let us just think logically for a moment. Can this convince me that, why Sunnis are killing Shias in such barbaric manner? They slaughter innocents with no mercy. They mutilate their dead bodies after killing them. Just because they are Shias. Can anyone convince a sane person that this has anything to do with American foreign policy? (laughter). How come I kill my fellow Muslim in such barbaric manner - how come this can change, or be related to, American foreign policy? There is something wrong in the way we analyze these things, because I do believe political correctness has reached the level to be a sort of hypocrisy. Honesty is the only solution, to solve this problem. (APPLAUSE).
The true cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict is the hatred taught to many Muslims when they are impressionable children -- unable to defend themselves from having their lives poisoned with such beliefs.
This is the testimony of someone who witnessed it -- and who experienced it -- personally.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid addresses an audience at Pepperdine University
Last week at Pepperdine University, a panel event was held to focus on the work Dr. Tawfik Hamid. Panelists included Frank Gaffney, former Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy; Robert G. Kaufman, Professor of Foreign Policy, Pepperdine University and former instructor at the Naval War College; and Larry Greenfield, a former Naval Intelligence serviceperson and now California Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Hamid grew up in Cairo. He reports from his own personal experience how he, as a child, was radicalized - how, in his own words:
The love in my heart had changed into hatred. Not because of American foreign policy. It is because of the teaching that they gave me when I was child.
Dr. Hamid has written an article detailing the astonishing way in which this is done to many Islamic children, as he personally experienced it:
When I was nine years old, I learned the following Quranic verse during one of our Arabic lessons:
But do not think of those that have been slain in God's cause as dead. Nay, they are alive! With their Sustainer have they their sustenance. They are very happy with the reward they received from Allah (for dying as a shaheed) and they rejoice for the sake of those who have not joined them (i.e., have not yet died for Allah). (Quran 3:169-70)1
It was the first time I was exposed to the concept of shaheed (martyr), and naturally, I began to dream of becoming one. The thought of entering paradise very much appealed to me. There I could eat all the lollypops and chocolates I wanted, or play all day without anyone telling me to study. What made the concept of shaheed even more attractive was its power to quell the fear I experienced as a young boy-for we were taught that if we were not good Muslims (especially if we did not pray five times per day), a "bald snake" would attack us in the grave. The idea of dying as a martyr provided a perfect escape from the frightening anguish of eternal punishment. Dying as a shaheed, in fact, was the only deed that fully guaranteed paradise after death.
One of the most significant parts of Dr. Hamid's talk at Pepperdine, discussed a methodology for forcing a determination as to whether Islamic organizations are truly moderate. Transcribed from an audio recording:
I will start my talk tonight, by setting definitions. I feel that talking about radical and moderate Islam without defining, what do we mean, by the word "radical" - what do we mean by the word "moderate" Muslims - can end into just discussions followed by discussions that again end in nothing. We have to set definitions. What do we mean by "moderate" Muslim? I can put it in these alphabets - A B C D E F G.
A - Killing the Apostate. I don't think that anyone who believes that an apostate or a converter from Islam to Christianity should be killed, could be considered moderate. (laughter)
B - Beating women. The same applies, to beating women.
C - Calling Jews "pigs and monkeys."
D - Declaring wars against non-Muslims to spread Islam.
E - Enslavement of female war prisoners, and raping them, as what is happening in Darfur now.
F - Fighting Jews before end days, and killing all of them, which is _the_ main cause of problems in the Middle East now. It is this belief that Muslims have to kill all Jews.
G - Is killing girls.
So, when someone believes in such beliefs, we should not consider them moderate. If an organization here in America cannot stand clearly, and unambiguously, against such barbaric values, then there is something wrong in this organization. So I truly believe that we in the free world, should insist that the organizations that declare that they are moderates, to prove these words, by standing clearly against these violent edicts of Sharia law. (APPLAUSE).
This is an actionable methodology. We should demand that Islamic organizations such as CAIR, MPAC, etc., should stand, in Dr. Hamid's words, "clearly, and unambiguously, against such barbaric values." If they refuse, then their claims of being "moderate" organizations, are a sham, and will be exposed as such.
Last week I went to a talk by Thomas Del Beccaro, author of "The New Conservative Paradigm." One of the many important points he made was that one of the reasons for Ron Paul being a player in the current campaign, is that, more than the other Republican candidates, he has been running against Washington. While the other candidates were putting themselves forward as experienced managers, Paul was presenting himself as a maverick who wanted to change Washington D.C. Beccaro argued that this has always been appealing to American voters.
With that in mind, it was striking to notice that, in last night's debate between Clinton and Obama in Los Angeles, the Democrat candidates were presenting themselves as wanting to change - not Washington D.C. - but as wanting to change America.
Hillary: ...So we have differences both at home and around the world, but, again, I would emphasize that what really is important here, because the Republicans were in California debating yesterday, they are more of the same.
Neither of us, just by looking at us, you can tell, we are not more of the same. We will change our country.
She flat-out says it. It's not merely Washington D.C. she wants to change - it's the country.
Most Americans like America. They want to shake up things in D.C. - they don't want to drastically change the country.
Obama: And that's one of the reasons why I think I will be -- just to finish up this point, I think I will be the Democrat who will be most effective in going up against a John McCain, or any other Republican -- because they all want basically a continuation of George Bush's policies -- because I will offer a clear contrast as somebody who never supported this war, thought it was a bad idea. I don't want to just end the war, but I want to end the mindset that got us into war in the first place.
That's the kind of leadership I'm going to provide as president of the United States.
Did he misspeak? Did he really say he wanted to end the mindset that got us into war, period? As in, nations such as Iran and Syria which finance terrorists, can seek to blow up our cities all they want, and not have to fear that we'll use war to stop them from doing so in the future? That's not just a change to Washington D.C. - it's a change to America - and a change that is very dangerous to the safety of our citizens.
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