69 million page views

Rashad Hussain's mindset

Reader comment on item: Should We Believe Rashad Hussain?

Submitted by Jamal Hasan (United States), Feb 28, 2010 at 11:47

President Obama's new envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, Rashad Hussain has become a controversial figure in recent days. Here is the pdf file of his Brookings paper "Reformulating the Battle of Ideas: Understanding the Role of Islam in Counterterrorism Policy". I read the summary and some of the opinions I found quite disturbing.

First, rather than characterizing counterterrorism efforts as "freedom and democracy versus terrorist ideology," policymakers should instead frame the battle of ideas as a conflict between terrorist elements in the Muslim world and Islam.
Second, policymakers should reject the use of language that provides a religious legitimization of terrorism such as "Islamic terrorism" and "Islamic extremist." They should replace such terminology with more specific and descriptive terms such as "Al-Qaeda terrorism." ...
Fourth, the United States should enlist the assistance of scholars of Islam and the Muslim world to determine how best to frame the mission of the global counterterrorism mission.
...Fifth, the United States should incorporate the Muslim community as well as scholars of Islam and of the Muslim world in the policymaking process to help craft policies that reflect a more nuanced understanding of those targeted.

Also, there are quite a few revealing apologetic narratives, a few of those:

Jihad, which literally means struggle, is the Islamic concept of striving for the sake of God. The term is often used to denote

one's self-struggle to do good and avoid evil (jihad al-nafs),35 but in certain circumstances and under certain conditions, it describes the religious obligation

to defend, militarily if necessary, Islam and Islamic lands. Jihad should not be mistranslated as "holy war," a term which would be translated into

Arabic as "al-harb al-muqaddasa." No such term or concept exists in the shari'ah.

....

Finally, as the Esposito-Mogahed study's Gallup data found, "the primary cause of broad-based anger and anti-Americanism is not a clash of civilizations

but the perceived effect of U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim world."55

The full text in the pdf file may disclose much of his thinking process.
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

<< Previous Comment      Next Comment >>

Reader comments (24) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Too many Muslims in President Obama's campaign [82 words]Kurt BaskingMar 28, 2010 01:23170705
Obamas anti Israel agenda [250 words]Seamus Dafydd Dives MacNemiMar 26, 2010 18:20170650
What about this makes Rashad Hussain an Islamist? [30 words]Michael BrennerMar 15, 2010 10:10170172
Rashad Hussain's mindset [337 words]Jamal HasanFeb 28, 2010 11:47169489
Reportage [283 words]trans-parereFeb 26, 2010 11:14169410
Is Barack Hussein Obama a Crypto-Islamist? [67 words]Richard RheinerFeb 21, 2010 12:11169243
1Please define an "Islamist' [259 words]Mahfooz ur RahmanFeb 23, 2010 09:41169243
the unknown islamist's answer (and mine) to what is an islamist [148 words]mythFeb 23, 2010 15:13169243
What is an Islamist or crypto-Islamist. [151 words]Richard RheinerFeb 23, 2010 15:38169243
An Islamist defined [137 words]Kurt BaskingFeb 25, 2010 03:08169243
Yet to meet a Pakistani who considers America a friend [46 words]Kurt BaskingFeb 21, 2010 01:36169231
Sending anyone is a concession too far [71 words]S. HulbertFeb 20, 2010 11:15169211
Believe...? [95 words]clarence puckettFeb 18, 2010 01:17169105
Rashad Hussain's appointment is fundamentally problematic [169 words]Kurt BaskingFeb 18, 2010 01:03169104
It is interesting that Mr.Hussain said the criminal case was being used to squash dissent, there is no free speech in islamist areas ! [211 words]Phil GreendFeb 17, 2010 22:45169098
B.O. [102 words]Samuel StephensFeb 17, 2010 20:07169093
This is only one more anti-Semetic pick [78 words]Carolin CorenMar 1, 2010 13:48169093
Letter of Protest [41 words]Jim KnappFeb 17, 2010 18:19169087
Muslim Rashad Hussain [116 words]NariFeb 17, 2010 18:09169085
1Rashad Hussain!! He is a poor choice [513 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 17, 2010 18:00169083
Why should we believe any Islamist for that matter? [40 words]M.D.Feb 17, 2010 17:14169082
Publicize the concept of "Taqiyya". [99 words]Charles GriffithFeb 17, 2010 17:09169080
Something to hide [113 words]Rebecca MouldsFeb 17, 2010 15:47169072
Why believe Hussain? [38 words]Steve KleinFeb 17, 2010 15:28169067

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)