issues the only way this country has
dealt with the extremism is like an
emergency room situation there's no
other addressing going on and this is a
major crises now in the Muslim world I
would argue again and I tent over 10
years ago on a hard talk I talked about
the type of pressure that Muslims were
under and that it was a miracle that
they hadn't blown up yet it was obvious
to me in fact the last trip that I made
to Egypt was right before the Revolution
and I said to somebody that I was with
this place is like a powder keg it's
just gonna go off because you could feel
the pressure you could feel the stress
people are living and then unfortunately
they don't make the connections that
there was a direct relationship between
the wall street collapse and the what
happened in the in the Arab world
because as the real estate collapse
suddenly everything goes into
commodities all of the basic food
commodities shot up Muslims suddenly who
were paying 20 to 30% of their salaries
on food were now paying 50 to 60 percent
and there's a tradition on Abu Dhabi
there's another in it some of the but
it's mentioned in many of the books Abu
Dharr said I'm amazed at a man
whoo-hoo the government is not providing
a situation where he can get his daily
livelihood that he doesn't pull his
sword out and go out and and and find it
st. Thomas Aquinas in the Catholic
tradition says that a man who's starving
to death is not sinful if he breaks the
window of the bakery and takes what he
needs to eat of the door ah da da ha ha
ha whoo ha people are stressed out what
do you think about the slave labor in
Bangladesh where these people are
working in these factories look at that
and some of us are wearing the clothes
that they sewed that ethically we're
participating in this incredible global
imbalance all you have to do is look at
the news I have a picture I saved it was
on the on each times it had on one side
of the front page it had the Prince of
Wales and his wife dancing and waving
wands at each other while they were
playing a game about from they were
visiting a Harry Potter Museum and there
they were dancing and waving the wands
right next to it was a Syrian man
covered in the rubble of a bomb blast
and I'm looking at these two pictures
thinking what is wrong with this picture
this is the world that we're in this is
the global situation and I and I am
everybody know people who know me
despite what these right-wing people say
but people who know me I have never
advocated never publicly or privately
people that know me privately and
publicly I have never advocated violence
I believe that modern warfare is
completely unethical I'm opposed to it
on ethical principles if the Muslims of
the past in pre-modern times when swords
and spears were their means of fighting
if they said going against the
government was prohibited because of the
great harm that it leads to in a society
what would they say today with modern
warfare with bombs with weapons of mass
destruction what would they say about
war today Muslims were not blood crazy
they did not this whole idea somehow
that it was
violent civilization no it was an ironic
civilization that loved peace and worked
hard for peace but they were living in a
war in a world in which war was the norm
today we're living in a world in which
war is is also the norm in some places
but in the majority of places it's not
we can travel all over the world for the
first time in in human history and be
relatively safe and the areas that that
are dangerous
you'll get warnings from your embassy
about visiting those places this is
unique in human history so I would argue
that extremism is not going to go away
it's not going to go away humans are
extremists and it's not going to go away
what we have to do is work out
strategies to mitigate extremism to
pacify it in a sense to give outlets for
extreme ideas that are not destructive
we have to be able to criticize we had a
lady code pink lady who interrupted
Obama the other day she goes and she
interrupted Jesus stop the drone strikes
there eight times there are eight times
more drone strikes since Obama has been
in office than Bush eight times more all
those severe we don't even know how many
sue it they say it's less than a
thousand but we don't even know there's
no real counting going on but there have
been many civilian deaths and the drone
strikes where is the accountability but
we had this lady interview in interrupts
President Obama in his address and then
when she was taken out by the Secret
Service she was interviewed afterwards
she said they they tell me it's rude to
interrupt the president I think it's
rude to drop bombs on civilians
I mean I'm sorry that's pretty solid
logic if you asked me that's pretty
solid we can't be you know the Nazis
were gentlemen they a lot of them they
were erudite Rama was a erudite man he
was a well educated man Hitler was a
vegetarian
he loved dogs he loved children there's
all those nice pictures of him with
children patting their heads Goebbels
was a PhD in in philosophy these were
people that listened to Vagner and
Strauss they were educated people
erudite people but they were barbarians
and and it's not progress if the
cannibals eating with forks he's still a
cannibal so it's important for us to
look at our own extremism as a nation
because it's the pot calling the kettle
black you know this guy that hacks some
guy to death in in England recently that
is a barbarian act but it's a barbarian
act where the barbarity is why it's
clear it's it's open for everybody to
see but dropping a cluster bomb from
30,000 feet is a barbarian act it just
it all of these institutions that we
have in this country and what we need to
do is ally with the good people and try
our best to mitigate the extremists in
every group wherever they are finally
about extremism as a Muslim community I
believe there's a good deal of denial in
our community I know dr. Sherman Jackson
has has highlighted this he's one of the
few scholars in our community that has
highlighted that fact I think there's a
lot of denial I got a letter a few years
back from a Somalian American who had
gone to Somalia and he wrote me a letter
and he said I used to think that this
whole argument about extremism was a
Western fabrication but I have seen
firsthand what extremist ideas do in my
own country of origin he said it's
devastating and he said please talk more
about this problem we have extremists in
many Muslim countries now and there and
there are people that getting our get
more extreme because the circumstances
are getting more extreme we have to have
serious concern about Syria they're not
allowing Syrian refugees into a lot of
the Western countries because they're
worried
so here's real people suffering and
traditional areas that would have given
them relief like Denmark and Sweden in
these places and the United States
they're worried and they've got pressure
from their right-wing groups to say
don't let them in because they're just
going to cause problems so we have to
realize the seriousness of this in our
community our Imams need to be much more
educated about these problems I'm
getting a message to conclude two more
points fit and the future of flip in
America v is not fiction tip is is
something that is a human attempt at
understanding what God meant one of the
great scholars of Islam even Ayman
josiya wrote a famous book a lemon moth
I mean the mortar is the one who signs
in the name of and what he said is a
Mufti is essentially acting in proxy for
the Lord of the world and so he has to
be scared he has to be careful at what
he does and what he says we have a
crisis in Fatah we have shift Google
giving fatwa Sheikh blink giving fatwa
all of these search engines now where
people get fed to us we have also too
simplistic statements being made and
public forums v is a very complicated
affair it's not something that can be
reduced to sound bytes the kalam of
Islam are subtle and they're also closer
to homeopathy than a lapa 'they that
there's not one answer for every person
homeopathy looks at the individual
Chinese medicine looks at the individual
you might have too much heat you might
have too much dampness so they'll give
you different herbs than they would give
another person like the man who asked
the mufti is it okay to smoke when I'm
praying he's he's you know making dua he
said no and then another man said is it
okay to make dua if I'm smoking he said
yeah
his student said you know what are you
doing he said well the one man he's in
dicker and he wants to go to Buffalo
so I said don't do it but the other man
he's in ruffler and he wants to go to
dicker so I said do it it's a different
understanding so it's important for us
to recognize that fit is a human project
it the Sharia is from God fit is the
human understanding of Sharia and the
Prophet we don't have a theocracy that
is an alien concept in Islam we do not
have a theocracy because humans will
always apply the rulings and the ruling
of God you never know what it is in a
certain defense in fik but it with the
ruling of God it's not the best thing to
do would be to forgive so you don't know
what the ruling of God is so you cannot
have a theocracy in Islam you can only
have a no mock recei which is a rule of
law and law is a human project we've
been given a constitution from God that
we call the Quran that the store and the
hadith these are the constitutional
principles of law and there are very few
things that are fixed in stone and say
no Omar he suspended had punishment we
know this in Amman Ramada and this is
called an Walker with toe up and this is
what sheikh abdullah bin baya says and
one of the most important things in 50
of Tankian men ought to - man ought to
freedom or not there's a process of
understanding when a ruling is
applicable and it's a no suley process
that needs trained people to do it but
one of the most important elements is
type and manat which is when a
understanding what a thing is what is
the Tozawa of a thing the situation and
then what is the appropriate ruling that
is for that situation that takes a lot
of time practice mentorship with skilled
people we've neglected our fit for too
long we have unfortunately in the Shetty
high schools throughout the Muslim world
the poorest students go to them this is
a fact and we have to deal with that
fact so we have people that do not have
the requisite skill sets to be studying
Shetty that are studying Shetty
they end up causing a lot of harm we
have a lot of problems in that so in the
United States of America we need a thick
I'm a traditionalist I'm committed to
the format tab and the fifth for the the
Jonathan school for this Nadia I'm
committed to tradition but I'm also very
aware of the necessity for two Freeland
Oh sold for actually implementing an Oh
luli understanding of the situation
understanding the Mikasa the collide the
the aims and imports of Sharia and how
we apply these principles in our given
circumstances and situations so this is
a very complicated thing and finally
last thing was how to raise children in
a digital age good luck I'm doing my
best
it's it's a real struggle it's a daily
struggle you know I dreamed of having
children that never saw a Disney film
hey hey hey how to you know but we're in
a new era and we don't fully understand
it there's a new book that just came out
called the new digital age I haven't
read it but he's addressing this issue
that we're in a new age and we don't
fully understand it I'm looking forward
to the discussions that are going to
take place today and I and I I'm really
grateful for the show I know that you
have very busy schedules and I know that
Los Angeles and the Greater Los Angeles
area has a lot of programs and so you've
honored us and coming out to listen to
us and hear what we have to say just
like I'm gonna fight on a poodle Cody
how to a stall fiddle bloody would have
come but he cited a missing
[Applause]
you