Ironically, the same Islamists who disdain and attack infidels also seek their approbation, as shown by the lists they compile of illustrious non-Muslims – mostly Westerners – who praise Muhammad, Islam, or Muslims. The admiring views of such prominent figures as Gandhi, Gibbon, Goethe, Napoleon, George Bernard Shaw, Toynbee, and H.G. Wells are a special source of pride.
Well, imagine my surprise to be added to this list by Siraj Wahhaj, the founder and imam of Brooklyn's Al-Taqwa mosque. He's a leading figure of American Islam. In June 1991, for example, he enjoyed the distinction of delivering the first-ever Islamic prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives. Less salubriously, he was listed in 1995 as one of the "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the attempt to blow up New York City monuments.
Wahhaj delivered a lecture on "Muslims in America: Reality & Future." on Dec. 7, 2018, at the Turkish-government-sponsored Diyanet Center of America outside of Washington, D.C. For 3½ minutes, from 34:04 to 37:35 (transcript here, video above), he read out a passage from my book, Militant Islam Reaches America (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003, p. 4) documenting the success of Muslims in the first six centuries of Islam.
He challenged the audience to guess the author's identity. David Hirst (? name unclear) and G.B. Shaw came the wrong answers. Wahhaj then offered $1,000 of his own money to anyone who could identify the author. After another wrong guess, Martin Luther King, Jr., he revealed the mystery writer to be me:
When I tell you who it is, I want you to Google and find out who this man is. This man is Daniel Pipes. If you know anything about Daniel Pipes you know he is a critic of Islam and Muslims. But yet he made this stunning admission about Muslims.
Comments:
(1) Shucks. Had I attended Wahhaj's lecture, I would have pocketed an easy grand.
(2) "A critic of Islam and Muslims"? No, a critic of Islamism and Islamists, as suggested by my adage, radical Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution.
(3) "Stunning admission"? No, early Muslim success is an indisputable fact which I have no wish to deny. What small-mindedness on Wahhaj's part would cause him to think I would want to? Indeed, contrasting early success with today's failures is the gist of the essay from which Wahhaj quoted.
(4) It's pretty sad when Islamists are reduced to quoting me for validation. (May 12, 2020)
