Islamophobic discussion given by Dr. Tawfik Hamid at Jewish Community Center

Last night, the most outrageous statements were said by Mr. Tawfiq Hamid, a so-called ex-terrorist from Egypt at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Comments that were made last night that did not make the paper are as follows:

1) One cause for terrorism is "sex deprivation" among young Muslim males; thus, they wish to become martyrs to have sex in paradise. Then he stated that terrorism is related to poor treatment of women, which includes polygamy.

Which one is it? Muslim men become terrorists because of lack of sex or too much sex?

He said that Shi`ahs are less likely to be suicide bombers because of their practice called Mut'ah, temporary marriage, which he states that Shi`ahs get temporarily married for only one hour. He then stated that Iran, a Shi`ah state, posed the biggest threat to Israel and is a terrorist state.

I would think no Iranians would be terrorists, according to Dr. Hamid, if they can get married just for an hour. A guy could get married to seven different women a week according to him, right?

2) He stated that most Muslims understand jihad as violent jihad, per the way that Osama Bin Laden understands it according to the Salafi aka Wahhabi school of thought does in Saudi Arabia. He says that this Salafi understanding is the majority understanding within the Muslim world and only the Sufis have the peaceful understanding of jihad, which is "jihad of the mind."

Salafi doctrine is the minority within the Muslim world, not the majority. Salafi doctrine states that Muslims do not need to belong to an organized school of thought. Most Sunnis, who belong to one of the four schools of thought within Sunni, the Hanafi school being the vast majority. Moreover, the Shi`ahs, who belong to one of the three schools of thought with Shi`i understanding are majority Ja'fari. None of these schools of thought are Salafi.

Mainstream Muslims understand jihad as a holistic term, which encompasses a physical aspect such as self defense and alleviating oppression to resisting inward corruption to studying religion.

SEE: http://dawudwalid.blogspot.com/2006/10/walid-addresses-meaning-of-jihad.html

Furthermore, the Sufi focus of spiritual purification (Tazkiyyatun Nafs) is a part of mainstream Islam. Being Sufi is not outside of mainstream Islam no more than being Shi`ah.

Moreover, the Salafi movement is an apolitical movement. Bin Laden is not a Salafi and has sought to overthrow the Salafi and monarchy establishment of Saudi Arabia.

4) He stated that the main books used to teach Islamic law in all major Muslim universities calls Jews "apes and pigs." He referenced a saying in the book of Al-Bukhari and admitted that this is not in the Qur'an. He said that he knows of no book that doesn't make reference to Jews in this manner.

Since he admits that he hasn't been formally trained in Islam, such statements are of no surprise. However, if he had taken even a 200 level class in Islam at a univesrity, he would know about Al-Muwafiqaat fi Usool al-Sharia by Imam Ash-Shatibi. This book is probably the most referred to book on the basis of Islamic law that is studied. There is NO mention of what Dr. Hamid says in this book in reference to those statements about Jews.

Also, the saying in the book of Al-Bukhari is not a basis for an Islamic ruling, and many of criticized this saying. The three Shi`ah schools of thought and the Ibadi school of thought don't refer to Al-Bukhari at all for any of their jurisprudence anyway. Again, if Dr. Hamid was familiar with Islamic jurisprudence, he would know this.

5) He compared having interfaith dialog with Muslims like having interfaith dialog with Hitler and Nazis.

6) He stated that no prominent Muslim leaders have denounced terrorism and Bin Laden.

Besides the Fiqh Council of North America denouncing terrorism in a fatwa in 2005, Al-Azhar University, the top Islamic authority among Sunnis issued a fatwa against Bin Laden. Similiar fatwa were issued by Shi`ah as well.
SEE: http://www.juancole.com/2005/07/friedman-wrong-about-muslims-again-and.html

Today's Detroit News and Detroit Free Press have articles relating to last night's program:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/LIFESTYLE04/703140401/1041

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS03/703140354/1005