Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Launches Multi-City Interfaith Tour (VIDEO)

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, is launching a tour to raise awareness about Muslims in America. 2010 saw Muslims in this country confronted with discrimination and indignation like never before.

Imam Rauf's tour aims both to hold America accountable for its tradition of freedom of religion, while ushering in an era of maturity for the American Muslim community, which claims as many as 10 million members.

WATCH:

This video is courtesy of Odyssey Networks.

Comments

[xMoonWalkerx]

11:56 PM on 01/29/2011

Imam Rauf is doing this inter faith tour in the wrong country. He should be doing an inter faith tour in the islamic world. The institutionally persecuted non-muslims in that world desperately need such a gesture.

[Larry Putnam]

12:07 AM on 01/29/2011

He has the traits of a habitual Lair that Twists the Truth to fit any situtation. I don't trust him and I don't think he can be Trusted no matter what he is selling. I'm Not a Hateful person but something about him is not right.

[Mark Webber]

06:45 AM on 01/29/2011

Yes as you said... he is a true Muslim.

[capercaper]

05:26 PM on 01/27/2011

Why is Imam Rauf not promoting ASSIMILATION to the US Muslim community?

Why is he promoting "proactive acceptance" of existing Sharia-based Muslim practitioners by the US non Muslim community instead?

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

03:19 PM on 01/27/2011

"Equally American, equally Muslim."

Nice words, but I wonder what they mean to Imam Rauf.

Considering that Sharia law and American law are diametrically opposite on such issues as:

Freedom of Speech
Gender Equity
Freedom of Sexual Identity
Freedom of Conscience
Political Equality
Rule of Law

I wonder just exactly what compromise he offers. I have no interest in diluting any of those American standards to make Muslims feel welcome here. They can upgrade Sharia to American standards or move to a society that has a higher regard for those values.

[Doug Sandlin]

06:09 PM on 01/27/2011

I thought you had Imam Rauf's book, Jan?

Did you not read it?

He shows himself to be a patriotic American who supports your above-cited list of issues, completely, both in his book, and in everything else he has ever said or done publicly.

That's *why* he says that the United States is one of the most Sharia-compliant nations in the world.

If Sharia were really comprised of the horrors you suggest .... how could he cite the U.S. as being Sharia-compliant?

It's getting to the point where you appear to be engaging in willful misunderstanding ... along with willful maligning of Imam Rauf, for no good reason that I can see.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

11:38 AM on 01/28/2011

If my reading of Imam Rauf turns out to be wrong, I will gladly apologize to you and to him. I wish I were wrong about him.

In his second book he defines Sharia as a set of laws almost completely in consonance with American law. In his first book he defines Sharia as including classic fiqh. Both cannot be true.

You want to give him the benefit of the doubt, I don't. No willful maligning going on here.

[OtayPanky]

02:55 AM on 01/28/2011

Thanks, Jan.

I read both articles, and found his answers to be ambiguous. I'd like to see the ambiguity resolved, one way or another.

I'd be fascinated to read a transcript of someone like you interviewing him, and asking him pointed questions concerning the idea of wanting to impose Sharia here - or anywhere, for that matter. It would be good investigative journalism.

[Mark Webber]

02:44 PM on 01/27/2011

That means Islam has to be changed, and that will never happen it is the word of their god.

[Manny Peddy]

04:46 PM on 01/27/2011

There have been more progressive and less literal versions of Islam, historically. But they have been stomped out, for the most part.

[stephenlight]

09:13 AM on 01/27/2011

The Islamic Society of North America was founded as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. You might recall where that group's primary interests reside. Here is an excerpt from one of their featured authors at their 2009 conference:

Imam Warith Deen Umar, former head of the New York state prison chaplain program, commented as follows:

-Argued that key Obama aides are "Israeli," proving Jews "have control of the world."
-Maligned the motives of Jews active in the Civil Rights movement.
-Portrayed the Holocaust as punishment of Jews for being "serially disobedient to Allah."
-Insinuated that Hurricane Katrina was a result of tolerance for homosexuality.

Umar previously hailed the 9/11 hijackers as martyrs who were secretly admired by Muslims. He has called for violent jihad. In a January 2004 speech, he urged people:

"Rise up and fight. And fight them until turmoil is no more and strike terror into their hearts." You think there is no terror in Quran? It's called [word unclear] read it in the 56th Surah of the Quran. There's no lack of translation, there's no mistranslation There's not one Sheikh says one thing, no, it's very clear. 'When you fight, you strike terror into the heart of the disbeliever.'"

Just keep ignoring it all......

[Doug Sandlin]

09:59 PM on 01/28/2011

Ignoring what?

Some of us are paying very close attention.

For instance, are you familiar with the recent fatwa by Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, against all terrorism, declaring all terrorists to be Kafir - infidels - not Muslim?

He has millions of followers - and his fatwa tops out at over six hundred pages, the most comprehensive fatwa against terrorism ever issued.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gd3nKT9PTo

I think we can all agree that this is very good news.

[stephenlight]

10:33 PM on 01/28/2011

Yes, it is good news. And yes, i am familiar with his writings.

Some are a bit more problematical, like that found below, but obviously his views are appreciated.

In “Islam – the State Religion” – found online on ul-Qadri's website he has said the following: “there is a fundamental contrast between an Islamic state and a secular state. The authority of a secular state derives from the people themselves. Religion plays no obligatory role in its functioning. But the authority of an Islamic state derives from the Almighty Allah”.... “Islam is the basis of polity in an Islamic state”.
He also claims that the first constitution of Madinah “declared the state of Madinah as a political unit”. He also mentions that the constitution declared the “indivisible composition of the Muslim nation (Ummah) and "its total and unquestioning submission to the will of God”

He also believes in the “Supremacy of Islam over other systems of life” and that “a state is Islamic only when it recognises the constitutional and political predominance of Islam”.

He believes in the Sovereignty of God’s law, that Shari’ah equates to State law, that it is a political duty for Muslims to create a political entity that reflects that.

[OtayPanky]

05:05 PM on 01/26/2011

"Imam Rauf's tour aims both to hold America accountable for its tradition of freedom of religion, while ushering in an era of maturity for the American Muslim community, which claims as many as 10 million members."

---

He's clearly one of the good guys, and deserving of the support of all reasonable progressive people, whether religious or not.

But his aims are way too small.

There are 1.5 BILLION Muslims on the planet, and it is the fastest growing religion. The recent Pew poll shows that far too many of these Muslims hold ideas that are incompatible with the needs of the 21st Century. There really does need to be a Muslim reformation - which begins with holding Muslim sects and nations accountable to the UN Charter on Human Rights, among other things.

So Imam, if you're reading this - go get 'em...not just us non-Muslims here at home, but your fellow believers all around the world. Be a true prophet. Call fiercely and compellingly for and end to systematized Islamic oppression of women, homosexuals, other religious minorities, and those who choose to abandon Islam for some other religion, or no religion at all. Call for an end to draconian punishments, public whippings, limb amputations, honor killings, etc etc etc.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

03:17 PM on 01/27/2011

Imam Rauf is a good guy in many ways, but not in the one way that counts to me: He is a promoter of Sharia law. Rauf is attempting to placate Al Azhar and American non-Muslims and I believe that is a bridge that cannot be built--the ends are just too far apart, ideologically.

In his book "Sacred Law", Rauf wrote, "justice and equity, and the concepts of right and wrong, can only be an extension of an attachment to God and abiding by his dictates. And since a Sharia is understood as the law with God at its center, it is not possible in principle to limit the Sharia to some aspects of human life and leave out others."

He also writes, "The Sharia thus covers every field of law—public and private, national and international—together with enormous amounts of material that Westerners would not regard as law at all."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39384


"The United States should be recognized as a religious country. Our government should use America's respect for God and religion to reach Muslims--and all religious people-- for whom religion and God are the core of their lives, their law and their political system. It is how the United States can best combat radical extremists in all religions who have corrupted their creeds by embracing violence."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/imam-feisal-abdul-rauf/obama-and-the-end-of-the_b_189195.html

Not my guy.

[Doug Sandlin]

06:18 PM on 01/27/2011

I'd recommend people read the entire post by him, per your bottom link ... what he's saying sounds quite a bit different, in context.

Some time back, you made the comment that you feel Imam Rauf may be trying to talk to "both sides", and be diluting his message ... and I think this may be partially true.

For instance, I see no sign that he favors any change in the secular protections that most of us feel are very important.

However, he knows that emphasizing the secular nature of the U.S. is anathema to most Muslims (and most other religious people, too) ... and so, he's suggesting the U.S. lead with its "religious foot", which there's a lot of evidence for -- look at our money, our Declaration of Independence ("endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights"), the way we swear in Presidents; the way Presidents end speeches, etc. etc. etc. ...

.. so that Muslims worldwide will say, "Hey, they're good people, too .... we thought they just wanted to blow us all up, per most of this past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan!"

[Doug Sandlin]

06:20 PM on 01/27/2011

Cont'd from last comment:

And so, maybe not the best approach, but not as Sharia-promoting as you seem to be concluding, either.

Context, context, context.

Like most of us, when in doubt, Imam Rauf can likely be safely presumed to be saying something that's consistent with his overall message.

His overall message has nothing to do with advancing the barbaric Sharia you're so concerned about.

[RFreedomUSA]

12:56 PM on 01/26/2011

This article was posted on the Religious Freedom USA blog. To read more click here:
http://www.religiousfreedomusa.org

[Nabil Muhammad]

05:56 PM on 01/26/2011

very good blog!

[Doug Sandlin]

08:18 PM on 01/25/2011

Thank You, Imam Rauf. I genuinely appreciate your willingness to do this. Every instance of straightforward dialog between Muslims and non-Muslims is beneficial to all of us.