The Over Capacity of 'Experts on Islam' following 9-11

[Thinkerman]

Salam Calayakum Nomads

 

Am sure that all of ur guys can rember watching the various news bulletins, current affair programme, special dispacthes programmes and so forth that spilled out after septmber the 11 and i suppose are still on-going now.

 

What real got me was the sheer number of 'experts' on islam that were aired on Tv in both europe and USA speaking with such inaccuracies and in most cases open anger towards islam and the muslim world.

 

Now the reason why i post this was because i found a very concise article that adressed this post 9-11 tendancies and went even further to explain just how so many historians have over the years produced so many books and papers so widly read and highly regarded, yet so inaccurate and demonising to Islam and its many different muslims.

 

So i would recommend any of u nomads who are have a break in your busy day.....or are perhaps studying or are interested in politics to give it a read. The author himself Edward W Said is a a true expert in this field who speaks with great clarity and personal exprience.

 

Well this particular article adress a certain example of what i meant by "The Over Capacity of 'Experts on Islam' following 9-11" and although quite lengthy, very worthwhile to read.

 

http://www.harpers.org/online/impossible_histories/impossible_histories.php3?pg=1

 

hope u enjoy the read nomads

 

Wa Calayakum Salam

[La Fidele]

Thanks for posting this article, Shujui! I'm ashamed to admit I still check up on CNN once in a while (like a thing that you absolutely hate, but must keep in mind always to keep watch of what it's doing), and it's SO frustrating to see these self-proclaimed experts flipping and over-generalizing an idea.

If I had a dollar for every time some over-zealous person mentioned the word jihad , I would be a very mad millionaire by now.

It's good to know there are competent intellectuals, like Edward Said, speaking out against these people.

 

Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I heard that he's a Christian Palestinian. If that's true, isn't his stand on Islam interesting?

[Thinkerman]

Hey whats up Jazeera.

 

Hope that your in good health and high spirits

yOU are correct in noticing that he is a christian Palestinan, and a secularist by choice.

 

However it seems that this hasnt quite obsecured his vision and truth. He does seem to speak with great honesty and clarity, although admitedly i am sure that there are some areas within islam that he proabbly wouldnt quite agree on. But thats to be expected he isnt A muslim.

[mahadi]

Thanks Shujui for the article.

 

Although Edward Said is a christian, he has grown up around Islam, being born in Jeursalem and living in Cairo.

 

His article was good, as Lewis is the classic orientalist.

 

Salam,

[Saanjo]

Thanks bro Shijui for taking my attention to read this article, though I have to admit that I am a great fan of Edward Said and I try to read as many of his books as I can and I advise the same to many of you especially two books should be a must since they expose the west's hypocrasy.

 

The first book I recommend is COVERING ISLAM How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World: this book which he wrote in 1981 is excellent and the prof goes deep on how the western media and its institutions determine the way the muslims are seen by the west, he also exposes thousands of lies against Islam.

 

The second book I recommend is Orientalism. This book is around 25 years old but is as relevant as any new book. The subject he disucusses which is called MUSTASHRIQIYAH was quite new to the west though not to Muslim World as many muslim scholars wrote about it over many centuries.

 

I have also enjoyed reading his book called Culture and Imperialism and the video tape that he produced just after the Gulf War of 1991.

 

In general I enjoy his arguments and the way he refute some other baised anti-islam "interllectuals" and some terms which he uses to identify such as ORIENTALISTS and SOLDIER SCHOLARS which I believe it an escellent term to discribe them.

[Saanjo]

Edward Said is a Palestinian who was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Cairo, done his BA at Princeton and PhD at Harvard. In terms of religion as Shijui said he was born into a Christian family but now is a secular and one of the foremost living critics of the western imperialism. He has been a professor of Comparative Languages at Columbia University since 1960s He writes regularly in three languages English, Arabic and French. His articles appear on Alahram Ad-dawli in Arabic, Le Monde Diplomatique and the Guardian newspaper. Through his writings, he acquired many enemies who threatened him with death and dubbed him as “the professor of terror”. To many of you this term may sound a contemporary, but he was given this ‘title’ in 1982 by a broadsheet American newspaper.

 

The following is a brief description of him following his nomination as the Arab American of the year in 2000

 

The News Circle Advisory Board is pleased to select Professor Edward Said as the “Arab-American of the Year 2000” for his scholarly and political contributions to society. Edward Said is the professor, the author of 17 books, the cultural critic, the scholar of opera, the pianist, the lecturer, the Middle East analyst, the relentless critic of the Israeli policy of domination, the foremost spokesman and advocate of the Palestinian and Arab causes who called the Oslo agreement “an instrument of Palestinian surrender.” His office was set on fire in

 

On Palestine, the professor referred to American foreign policy there as a “short-sighted and stupid peace policy aimed to serve Clinton’s purposes.” Professor Said lambasted President Yassir Arafat by saying, “he has no limit to the amount of hands he wants to kiss. . . there aren’t enough hands and other parts of the body he wants to kiss just to serve his white master.” In regards to Palestine, Professor Said urged those in the audience to speak up against the American foreign policy used there.

 

On Iraq, Professor Said referred to daily American air attacks as “a war going on which is totally unreported by the (American) press.” He referred to the embargo against Iraq as unjustified and “uniquely cruel.”

[Thinkerman]

Salams Everyone.

 

Mahadi am glad you enjoyed reading the article, am sure both you and Saanjo are more Familir with Edward Said than i myself am.