Omar Ahmad - apology / retraction for this comment in 1998?

[redqueen]

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant".

I know it's really old, but I didn't know about this until today.

Anyone know if there was ever a retraction or apology? Cause :wtf:

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Wouldn't any evangelical Christian say the same?

Any religion which traditionally proselytises has this attitude, surely?

[redqueen]

4. Have they?

I'd think people here would go apeshit... and *someone* would remember... and have provided the quote by now.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Christianity already is the dominant religion in the USA

And here's an example of the Republican Right's view:

The party platform, adopted Saturday, declares "America is a Christian nation" and affirms that "God is undeniable in our history and is vital to our freedom."

"We pledge to exert our influence toward a return to the original intent of the First Amendment and dispel the myth of the separation of church and state," it says.

Republican Convention, Texas, 2006

[redqueen]

7. Ah... d'oh... when I answered you,

I was thinking of mixing religion with laws...

I started this topic yesterday then came back to it today while I had my mind on other things. Bad idea.

Yes, you're entirely correct... however, I was kind of just wondering about that particular comment. It seems that's kind of a stupid thing to say, if you don't want people to think that your religion is at "war" with any others.

[struggle4progress]

2. Gotta link?

[struggle4progress]

3. Readers of right-wing web site threaten Muslims

.. CAIR officials say the hate-filled emails were prompted by a number of Worldnetdaily.com articles demonizing Muslims and by recent false charges made against CAIR by the site's editor, Joseph Farah ..

Farah falsely claimed CAIR never condemned suicide bombings, called the conviction of the first World Trade Center bombings a "travesty of justice," termed the conviction of Omar Abdel Rahman a "hate crime," and that CAIR's board chairman said the Quran "should be the highest authority in America." ..

Awad also noted that the alleged statement about the Quran by CAIR's board chairman was not in fact a quote. It was a paraphrase of remarks that were either reported inaccurately or wrongly attributed by a reporter at a small California newspaper. CAIR is seeking a retraction from that newspaper ..

http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1010&theType=NR

[redqueen]

5. So... because right wingers lied... they want their religion to dominate?

How does that make sense?

:crazy:

[struggle4progress]

8. You still can't find a link for that bogus quote in your OP?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

9. I don't know how many of them are reliable,

but at least some of the 13,600 links produced by http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=omar+ahmad+%22islam+isn%27t+in+america+to+be+equal+to+any+other+faith%2C+but+to+become+dominant%22&meta=will probably satisfy you, I'd imagine.

I'd suggest it's probably a good policy to prevent discussions turning into quarrels to google for a quote before calling it bogus.

[redqueen]

10. I wish I could say I was surprised this was being ingored /

treated unseriously.

Bias ain't only a problem for the right.

[struggle4progress]

11. If you or original poster care to propose a credible link, I'll examine it

Your claim, that "some of the 13,600 links" should "satisfy" me, is not equivalent to producing any real evidence that Mr. Ahmad said what you or the original poster seem to believe he said.

If you feel the quote is authentic, produce evidence. Otherwise, I say the quote is bogus.

[struggle4progress]

12. If you or original poster suggest a credible link, I'll read it.

The original poster insists Mr. Ahmad should apologize for an alleged statement, the authenticity of which Mr. Ahmad denies.

The original poster provides no link.

You claim "some of the 13,600 links," that you supposedly find, should "satisfy" me.

Very well, give it your best shot: please provide your favorite link, so we might be able to examine it.

The fact, that you "imagine" something somewhere in an ill-defined heap should meet the evidential criterion, is not equivalent to producing evidence that Mr. Ahmad said what you or the original poster want to claim he said.

Evidence being absent, I revert to my distaste for gossip and hearsay: the quote is bogus.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Via the wikipedia entry on Ahmad, a scan of the newspaper article

http://www.anti-cair-net.org/AhmadStateScanned.pdf (1 page pdf)

The link doesn't really seem to be the problem, though: Ahmad claims the paper's report was inaccurate, not that it never appeared as an article. I don't see it's worse than what many Christian evangelicals say, so I don't think it needs apologising for, even if it's a true quote.

[struggle4progress]

14. Splendid. It clearly suggests that the supposed quote is bogus.

The original poster follows the dishonest practice of a hundred rightwing websites by enclosing in quotation marks something that the newspaper article typography indicates is merely a reporter's paraphrase.

In fact, we don't know exactly what Ahmad said eight years ago, because we don't have an exact quote.

I personally find this habit of inserting quote marks around paraphrases disgusting. I know hardly anything about Ahmad and I may not have anything in common with him theologically or politically -- but he is entitled to speak his views in his own words and not have somebody else's paraphrase, of what they thought he said, dredged up, after nearly decade, and attributed as a direct quote.