Christine Brim on Imam Rauf: Admirer of Qaradawi?
Christine Brim
(Image from Andrew Breitbart Website)
Through a sequence of links too tedious to hat-tip, I came upon a web entry by a certain Christine Brim at Andrew Breitbart's website. I've heard of Breitbart, though I don't recall precisely where, but I know nothing about Ms. Brim, who says this about Imam Rauf:
"[J]ihad-supporter Sheik Qaradawi . . . [is] so admired by Imam Rauf."If Rauf admires Qaradawi, then that is problematic since the latter supports suicide bombings against Israelis, as I noted in a recently posted blog entry about Qaradawi based on Paul Berman's information.
But when I check the link provided by Ms. Brim, I find a New York Times article by Laurie Goodstein from October 12, 2001, "Muslim Scholars Back Fight Against Terrorists," which reports on Qaradawi's fatwa allowing Muslims to join non-Muslims in the fight against terrorism. In that article, Imam Rauf is quoted by Goodstein as stating:
"This fatwa is very significant. Yusuf Qaradawi is probably the most well-known legal authority in the whole Muslim world today . . . . The armed forces of other countries now have behind them a legal standing in the eyes of a noted legal authority to be part of the coalition against terrorism."Based on this quote alone, I'd say that Ms. Brim appears to be rather overstating the significance of Rauf's words, which seem simply a statement of fact, not necessarily an expression of admiration.
Like many individuals, including Christopher Hitchens, I am curious about the character of the man pressing for this mosque near Ground Zero. Imam Rauf might be a supporter of sharia down to its hudud penalties, for all I know.
But I don't know, and I'd therefore like to see a good deal more rigor on the part of individuals like Ms. Brim in their reports on Imam Rauf. I've not checked her other links, but her apparently exaggerated remark about Rauf in this instance leads me to distrust her larger judgment.
However, I'll check further into her evidence and report back if I find something blogworthy.
Labels: 9/11, Christopher Hitchens, Islam, Islamism, Paul Berman
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 3:36 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I've heard of Breitbart, though I don't recall precisely where
Naturally I couldn't say where you've encountered Breitbart's name, but he is probably best-known for publicizing two videos (created by others) via his website.
The first was an expose of the community activist group, ACORN, that appeared to show malfeasance at some of their offices, and which led to Congress cutting that group's funding. Later it was revealed that some of the footage was misleading. (Though not necessarily enough to exonerate all who seemed to be misbehaving in the video.)
The second was a video of Shirley Sherrod, a USDA employee, addressing an NAACP meeting and appearing to say that racial motivations had led her to deny assistance to a struggling white farmer. This was posted with the headline, "Video Proof: The NAACP Awards Racism". Sherrod was very quickly fired from her USDA job. Screening of the full video showed that Sherrod was (1) describing an incident that took place before she was employed by the government; and (2) describing how she overcame the racism acquired in youth (when a white man who killed her father was never charged with the crime) to help the farmer -- who has confirmed that he feels warmly toward her.
Ah, that's who the guy is. Thanks. He would appear to have a history of distortion, which might extend to his associates.
We'll see.
Jeffery Hodges
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Indeed, Breitbart has a history of what you might call "lying." Paul Berman, incidentally, doesn't exactly feel compelled to include all the facts in his own writing, either. You can read a pretty thorough critique from Malise Ruthven (an honest broker on the subject if there ever was one) on the NYRB website.
Thanks. I'll take a look.
Jeffery Hodges
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