Of Mice and Imams.

Tonight, just a few hours ago actually, I had the painful experience of listening to the new imam at the mosque here in Eugene.  Honestly, I don't remember his name, as his lecture was as painful as giving birth.  No, seriously, his manner of speaking, coupled with his exceedingly increasing volume and taqiyya overtures finally drove me out of the temple.  Yes, he was speaking, as part of what are now known as "interfaith dialogue" get-togethers, at our largest local house of Israel.  The rabbi, shameful in his fawning all over the imam, using nothing but religious platitudes.  I was almost ashamed to call myself a judeo-christian.

The lecture started out innocently enough, with the imam explaining what the word "Islam" means.  5 minutes to explain that Islam means submission was a bit long, and his personal story about what submission means to him meant little, soon he was off on the six pillars of faith and the five pillars of Islam.  Rambling on and on about why Muslims find the pillars important, he gave the audience nothing to chew on, only vague historical references and little of value to the average neophyte.

He referenced the sura which calls for a woman to inherit half of what a man gets, and he tried to explain it away by saying that a woman coild marry, after getting her inheritance and collect a dowry equal to the amount she inherited.  I was not sure how this was supposed to make that sura equitable, but he tried.

When he began to talk on terrorism, his now-rant began with the standard Islamic apologist line "They misunderstand Islam, and that is not the religion of peace Islam is".  The audience fawned, and I yawned.  Each statement seemed more about convincing the assembled crowd that what he was saying is corrent, yet he had no doctrinal quotes to back his claims.  As with most who spin and mislead about Islam, he provided nothiong to stake his statements on, only his assurances that indeed, he was right and all others were wrong.

The imam misquotes the Qur'an, while at the same time excoriating anyone who tries to point out the unpleasant suras and verses as those who "misunderstand what Islam means".  He claim to be a Qur'anic scholar, and he did speak very good Arabic but when he tells us that the Qur'an says "If you kill one person it is as if you have killed all mankind" and leaves out "We ordain for the people of the book..." which starts that verse, it is easy to see what his method is; taqiyya.  After all, Muhammad did said "war is deceit".

Jihad, according to the imam, is nothing more than the eternal spiritual struggle to better oneself.  He again told stories about himself, and how he is doing his jihad at school.  He made it very clear that jihad was not, and had nothing to do with violence.  He mentioned that jihad was never used to convert people to Islam, rather that Muslims merely spoke of the wonders of Islam, and people would fall down and shout out the shahadah.  The motions he made of a sword cutting something was a bit wierd, though.

I had planned to ask a question or two at the end, but his erratic wasy, yelling, and the waving of thodse arms, well I could not stand any more.  When the lecture ended, my friend and I left quietly, shaking our heads and wondering how such a person could ever be the head of a mosque.

His tales of his journey to Mecca for the Hajj (four times!), his agressive statements that he knew Islam like no one else, the insistence that anyone who does anything bad in the name of Muhammad MUST be crazy, and the finality of his proclamations made me believe even deeper that Islam, as defined today by its leaders and practiced by millions of Muslims is not only dangerous, but is being brought, maybe even unwittingly, into the mainstream by people like this imam.  The obfuscation, outright lies and misdirection did not make Islam seem any friendlier, safer or less menacing.  On the contrary, I was so disoriebted at the end, I began to think this was a new jihadist mind trick.  My hair hurt, and that is not easy to do.

I do not think I will be attending any Friday night prayers at the mosque anytime soon.  Oh wait, as a non-Muslim I cannot do that!  Silly me.