Contemporary Islamic Political Thought?
Charles Johnson’s “Little Green Footballs” web blog posted (15 August 2006) a link to video of Azzam Timimi addressing a crowd of protestors in the UK.
Here’s a partial transcript of Timimi’s rant (bolding is mine):
. . . anybody in the world, with faith or without faith, must come together in order to eradicate this cancer [Israel] from the body of humanity. [Crowd: Allah –u-Akbar] We are ever grateful to the late Imam Khomeini for starting this occasion. Because the world . . . must never forget al-Quds, must never forget Jerusalem. For us Muslims, Jerusalem is the mother of faith. Al-Quds is in our [argita?], Al-Quds is in our [rebota?] Al-Quds is the . . . cornerstone to our umma. Those who are prepared to sell al-Quds do not represent us, do not speak for us. Those who resist, those who fight, those who . . . jihad . . . against [?], against Zionism are the true representatives of the Palestinians, and all the Muslims regarding the Palestinian issue.
Do you know why Tony Blair, George Bush, and all the members of this camp are so worried? They are worried because they know the world can see clearly today that Israel is a menace, is a threat to humanity. They can no longer fool anybody and they are worried that this spoiled baby of theirs is about to be thrown out of this human body of ours. [Crowd: Allah –u-Akbar]
It is just a matter of time. You count my words and you remember these words. It is a matter of time, as they were removed from south Lebanon because of the great jihad of Hezbollah. [Crowd: Allah–u-Akbar] And as they are removed from Gaza because of the great jihad of Hamas and Islamic jihad. [Crowd: Allah –u-Akbar] This black chapter in the history of humanity will eventually come to an end and we say, we say we are willing to bring it to an end peacefully. But if they don’t want peace, we have another language, we have another language, and we have every right to use that language and time will tell and history will tell. [Timimi and the crowd: Allah –u-Akbar]
So what? Just another Muslim guy calling for the destruction of Israel? Well, as Johnson points out, Timimi is a “go to guy” for the AP, which likes to quote him as an expert. But there’s another point of interest. Timimi is the director of the Institute for Islamic Political Thought. The US member of the organization’s board of advisors is Professor John Esposito of Georgetown University, one of the most prominent American scholars of Islam. I have to wonder if Timimi’s rousing speech was reflective of the kind of “Islamic political thought” being developed at the Institute?
If I was on the Institute’s board of advisors and I saw this video, I’d resign. I wonder what Esposito will do?
