This is a guest post by Al-Qanaas Al-Masri
****
Through a source, who must for obvious reasons remain anonymous, I have received a copy of a letter that Dalia Mogahed, an advisor to Obama, wrote to The Telegraph in response to their coverage of her decision to appear on the Islam Channel on a programme run and hosted by Hizb ut-Tahrir. The letter reads:
Dear Sirs;
I am writing in response to the 8 October article “Barack Obama adviser says Sharia Law is misunderstood” by Mr. Gilligan and Mr. Spillius.
I was on the Muslimah Dilemma program as a pollster, not a pundit. I did not take issue with the objectionable remarks of the host or the guest because as a Gallup analyst my job is to explain the opinions of others, in this case Muslims around the world, and not to present my personal opinions. I do not in any way endorse Hizb ul Tahrir. My participation in the program does not serve as endorsement of any group or cause.
My staff and I did not find out the affiliation of the host or other guest until she was introduced on air during the program, and would not have agreed to the interview had we known ahead of time. I suspect the host knew this and therefore deliberately mislead us to score propaganda points for an ideological movement. Unfortunately the Telegraph’s publicity and misrepresentation of my appearance may have delivered to the group exactly this victory.
Sincerely,
DALIA MOGAHED
Director and Senior Analyst
Center for Muslim Studies
202.715.3206
901 F Street, NW.
Washington, DC. 20004
USA
GALLUP
So in other words:
- Damn. I’ve been caught out.
- It’s not my job to challenge fascist movements – even when I see my research being (mis)used by them to justify their totalitarian ambitions.
- It wasn’t my fault. How could I, “Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies”, or my staff know that this was a programme directed and hosted by HT members?
- It’s all the Telegraph’s fault anyway. By reporting this, they’ve allowed HT to “score propaganda points”!
I think it is notable that the Telegraph didn’t bother publishing this letter.
I also think that it’s worth noting that Dalia Mogahed did not mention any of the problems, which I pointed out in my initial blog on this subject, of appearing on the Islam Channel in the first place (one problem being that the channel’s CEO, Mohammed Ali Harrath, is a convicted terrorist who is wanted by Interpol).
15 Comments
One also wonders how Dalia Mogahed would have behaved if she had, for example been on a 45-minute programme opposite a Ku Klux Klan member, who was using her polling data to argue for the creation of a hardline Christian state that would systematically persecute Muslims and deny them their basic rights. Would she really have sat through such similarly “objectionable remarks” without any comment or criticism on the grounds that she was a “pollster” and not a “pundit”?
Spittoon editors WORK for a neo-facist like Douglas Murray.
The Daily Telegraph is an anti-Muslim rag which publishes articles like “Muslims are a threat to our way of life” and has actually said “Muslims, like dogs, share certain characteristics”.
Yet both, blind to their own extremism, scream at Dalia Mogahed for not criticising HT on a programme that lasted less than an hour!
Good work Sniper.
Spitocrites -
“Spittoon editors WORK for a neo-facist like Douglas Murray”
Really? I thought that, of the editors, only Houriya works for Douglas Murray. Which others also work for him? Please enlighten me.
[Spittoon editors and the Telegraph], “blind to their own extremism, scream at Dalia Mogahed for not criticising HT on a programme that lasted less than an hour!”
What point are you trying to make? Are you saying that because the programme lasted “less than an hour”, Dalia Mogahed was unable to find time to utter even one sentence against HT and their deranged and discredited ideology?
You are obviously a moron. Have you considered joining HT?
Qanas, what do you mean has he considered joining HT? He’s probably one of their senior members!
Comments I made earlier:
There is such obvious hypocrisy from HT here. Firstly, they have never given a damn what ordinary people want, they believe in imposing their ideology on the masses against their will if necessary. So this sudden fascination with opinion polls is decpetive and disingenious. Secondly, just saying we want more Islam or more Shariah is not the same as saying we want the HT style political system since there are diverse intepretations of Shariah and political systems within the Islamic tradition. The surveys rarely probe into such nuonces. Finally, recent election results in numerous populous Muslim majority countries completely contradict the findings of these opinion polls, Islamist parties have been losing support everywhere whilst staunchly secular parties are on the rise. Opinion polls in such places are clearly methodologically flawed, they use small samples, ask vague questions and fail to do the necessary background research.
“The Daily Telegraph has actually said… “Muslims, like dogs, share certain characteristics””.
Please provide a link for this. If you can’t, I’ll assume it’s fiction.
He’s citing this case.
“The Daily Telegraph is an anti-Muslim rag which publishes articles like “Muslims are a threat to our way of life” and has actually said “Muslims, like dogs, share certain characteristics”.
Interesting, some nutcase says something nasty and an Islamist nutcase froths at the mouth, OK, two can play that game Mrs Spitocrites.
What do think us non-muslims should make of these remarks:
” April 2002, Al-Azhar Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, the highest-ranking cleric in the Sunni Muslim world, called the Jews “the enemies of Allah, descendants of apes and pigs.”
or
“Saudi sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, imam and preacher at the Al-Haraam mosque – the most important mosque in Mecca – beseeched Allah to annihilate the Jews. He also urged the Arabs to give up peace initiatives with them because they are “the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the violators of pacts and agreements, the murderers of the prophets, and the offspring of apes and pigs.”
or
“Al-Sudayyis in another sermon, “and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil fathers of the Jews of today, who are evil offspring, infidels, distorters of [others'] words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers… the scum of the human race ‘whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs…’ These are the Jews, an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption…”
or
“Said Al-Jandoul mosque in Al-Taif, Saudi sheikh Ba’d bin Abdallah Al-Ajameh Al-Ghamidi explained that “the qualities of the Jews” were present at all times and in all places: “The current behavior of the brothers of apes and pigs, their treachery, violation of agreements, and defiling of holy places… is connected with the deeds of their forefathers during the early period of Islam – which proves the great similarity between all the Jews living today and the Jews who lived at the dawn of Islam.”
or
“In an August 2001 sermon, Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi, Palestinian Authority official and imam of the Sheikh Ijlin mosque, Gaza City’s main mosque, called on the Palestinian people to forget their internal disagreements and turn all weapons against Jews: “lances must be directed at the Jews, the enemies of Allah, the nation accursed in Allah’s book. Allah described [them] as apes and pigs, calf-worshipers, idol-worshippers”
or
Actually I won’t go on, because if I did we would be here for a month of sundays or maybe even a year of fridays, now tell me something Mrs Spitocrites, should we, the non-muslims judge all muslims by the words of these theocratic neo-fascist fanatics?
Or maybe you don’t think these theocratic neo-fascists are theocratic neo-fascists? because you see from where I am sitting there is no difference between the neo-fascist who wrote the “dog” hatred and the neo-fascists who preached the “apes and pigs” hatred.
well?
Anaximanders other s
“What do think us non-muslims should make of these remarks:”
Fascinating. He uses remarks by the Daily Telegraph to criticize the Daily Telegraph (not all non Muslims). While you use the words of some Imams to criticize ALL Muslims (not just those Imams)
Pure hatred and bigotry on your part.
In terms of what they say there isnt. In terms of effect there clearly is. The Teleraph is a respected paper in our society- the best selling broadsheet. The Imams mentioned arent . And of course there are many Rabbis and Hindu priests who have sad as bad things about Muslims.
“He uses remarks by the Daily Telegraph to criticize the Daily Telegraph ”
Remarks by the Daily Telegraph? shouldn’t that be remarks by a certain writer who worked for the Telegraph?
“While you use the words of some Imams to criticize ALL Muslims (not just those Imams)”
Some Imams? It may have slipped your notice Mr Arif but these are not just “some” Imams, these are high ranking, in fact very high ranking Imams.
“Pure hatred and bigotry on your part”
So simply repeating the words of some of the Islamic worlds highest ranking Imams is considered to be “Pure hatred and bigotry” on my part?
I notice you didn’t say what you thought of those remarks, the ones by “some imams”, tell me Mr Arif, would you agree that they are indeed neo-fascist in nature or do you think that they are what? Acceptable?
“In terms of what they say there isnt. In terms of effect there clearly is. The Teleraph is a respected paper in our society- the best selling broadsheet. The Imams mentioned arent ”
“The Imams mentioned arent ” I beg your pardon?
Some of Islam’s highest ranking imams are preaching this neo-fascist hatred and you don’t think that has an effect, you may not have noticed Mr Arif but we are at war with people who spout this sort of hate filled nonsense, the Islamist Lunatics in places such as Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan tend to believe this sort of crap and what’s worse they act on this hatred with a murderous insanity, now you may think that is not important but I most definitely do think it is important.
One other thing Mr Arif, shouting “hatred and bigotry” at anyone who mentions anything critical of Islam, in an attempt to shut up the critics, doesn’t work anymore, you see I know with 100% certainty that I am not a bigot and that I am not filled with hatred, so please drop the “western colonialist oppressor bullshit” it really doesn’t work anymore.
In terms of what they say there isnt. In terms of effect there clearly is. The Teleraph is a respected paper in our society- the best selling broadsheet. The Imams mentioned arent .
Eh?
Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudais and Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi? The latter is the Principal Imam of al-Azhar and the former, Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudais, is the Imam of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.
In terms of seniority, you couldn’t get much higher.
What’s that sound, did I hear Arif getting bitch slapped
An interesting comment left recently at Harry’s ‘Place:
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/10/24/she-should-have-hung-up/#comments
Perhaps a somewhat tenuous link between MB and Dalia Mogahed; but an interesting one, nonetheless.