Reply to Dhimmi- Hamza Yusuf

Submitted by Chris G. (United States), Jul 24, 2007 at 19:27

I have rarely heard him mumble Arabic. I have seen some of his lectures where he spoke very loud and clear Arabic. Also yes I do know about the "critical period" of child development however in terms of language pronunciation it has some effect. Nevertheless, non-native speakers can learn to get down certain accents quite well. I have a friend who is an immigrant from Oman for example who can speak English in perfect southern US accents... and yes he can say his "P's".

At any rate, the reason why I mentioned that he spoke perfect classical Arabic is because I have heard other Arabs who said that his Arabic was exceptional. Perhaps you listened to a crappy recording. Not all of his lectures on the internet are well recorded.
At any rate I don't remember saying that he wrote in Arabic as well (I could have sworn I remember erasing that as I wasn't sure) but I seem to recollect seeing him writing in Arabic so you may have me there . I tried to find my original post and couldn't find it posted yet so I'm assuming that you are some kind of moderator? Either that or my browser is just off or I'm reading the thread of replies incorrectly.

At any rate, when I was younger I spoke quite a bit of Arabic but sadly I forgot most of it and I am in the process of relearning but have not had time to really dedicate myself to it and find some $$ to go to an immersion school in the Middle East. I should also note that I lived in Saudi Arabia for two and half years and I'm fairly familiar with the culture. Furthermore I've lived in Indonesia for over two years and have traveled to Bahrain and to Egypt for military training with the US Army.

That ,along with my background in psychology and spending the past 6 years studying Islamic theology (including face to face with Islamic scholars) and critical issues within Islam as an anthropologist I think, gives me a very strong background to speak about the religion and its issues today. If you do think so, hey thats fine. You can continue to listen to more copy and pasted translations of Wahhabi scholars on your favorite neo-conservative website promoting Al-Qaeda ideology. Continue to put down moderate scholars like Hamza Yusuf. That REALLY puts a smile on the faces of Islamic extremists.

OR....you can actually study for yourself methods of refuting the Wahhabi arguments and working to nullify the influence of Islamic extremists and helping moderate Muslims take back their religion.
If you believe in going to war with Islam, then put your money where you mouth is and sign up in the US Army or Marines if you're not already there. If you're too old, then make your kids join the military if thats what you truly want to see. Be ready to sacrifice all including your civil liberties so we can make sure you're not secret Muslim scum eh?. Get ready also to support imprisoning your fellow American citizens for their religious faith and prepare to support re-writing the constitution to ban Islam from America and to kill or imprison all those who fail to convert.

Just remember, that if you join the Army or are current or ex-Army, that you swore an oath to defend the constitution from enemies foreign and domestic and thus will have to break that oath in order to remove freedom of religion in the name of fear and paranoia.

Myself, I prefer to live in a free country called America rather then to live in fear of dying in a terrorist attack when I'm more likely to win the lottery. Have you checked your Lotto ticket today?

Chris G.

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