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Mehdi Hasan | Islam Is A Peaceful Religion | Oxford Union — Transcript

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0:04[Music]
0:07[Applause]
0:14thank you very much Mr President ladies
0:15and gentlemen good evening assalam
0:17alaykum lovely to see you all here
0:18tonight we are having a very
0:20entertaining night are we not with some
0:22very interesting things being said uh
0:24from the other side of the house tonight
0:27um let me Begin by saying as a Muslim as
0:31a representative of Islam I would
0:33consider myself an ambassador for Islam
0:36a believer in Islam a follower of Islam
0:39and its Prophet so in that capacity let
0:42me Begin by apologizing to anarie for
0:45the barle bombings I apologize for the
0:47role of my religion and me and my people
0:50uh for the killing of Theo van go for
0:53seven seven yes that was all of us that
0:56was Islam that was Muslims that was the
0:58Quran I mean
1:00astonishing astonishing claims uh to
1:03make in the very first speech tonight on
1:05a day like today where the conservative
1:07prime minister of the United Kingdom is
1:08having to come out and point out that
1:10these kind of views are anathema and I
1:12believe you're trying to stand for the
1:13labor party to become an MP in Brighton
1:16if you do and you make these comments
1:18I'm guessing you'll have the whip
1:20withdrawn from you but then again UK
1:22Kips On The Rise they'll take you the
1:23BNP they might have something to say
1:26about your views this is what n Hasan
1:28always say by the way by the way by the
1:31way by the way by the way just on a
1:34factual Point since we heard a lot about
1:35the second speaker about how backward we
1:36Muslims all are on a factual point you
1:38said that Islam was born in Saudi Arabia
1:41Islam was born in 610 ad Saudi Arabia
1:43was born in 1932 ad so you only
1:471,322 years off not bad not bad start
1:50there uh talking of maths by the way a
1:54man named alisi was one of the greatest
1:56mathematicians of all time a Muslim
1:57worked in the Golden Age of Islam he the
2:00guy who came up with not just algebra
2:01but algorithms without algorithms you
2:03wouldn't have laptops without laptops
2:06Daniel Johnson tonight wouldn't have
2:07been able to print out his speech in
2:08which he came to break us Muslims for
2:10holding back the advance and
2:11intellectual achievements of the West
2:13which all happened without any
2:15contribution from anyone else other than
2:16the judeo-christian people of Europe in
2:18fact Daniel David Levering the author of
2:21The poit prizewinning historian and
2:22author of The Golden Crucible point out
2:24that there would be no Renaissance there
2:25would be no Reformation in Europe
2:27without the role played by I Sina and
2:30rush and some of the great Muslim
2:31theologians philosophers scientists in
2:33bringing Greek texts to
2:39Europe as for this being our University
2:42I will leave that to the imagination as
2:44to who is our and who is there I studied
2:46here too um an astonishing astonishing
2:50set of uh speeches so far making this
2:52case tonight uh a mixture of just
2:57cherry-picked quotes facts and figures s
2:59self- serving selective a farago of
3:02distortions
3:04misrepresentations misinterpretations
3:07misquotations uh Daniel talked about my
3:09article in the new Statesman which got
3:11me a lot of flak where I talked about
3:12the anti-Semitism that is prevalent in
3:14some parts of the Muslim Community which
3:16indeed it is uh of course I didn't say
3:18in that piece that it was caused by the
3:20religion of Islam in fact modern
3:22anti-Semitism in the Middle East was
3:24imported from finish the sentence
3:27Christian judeo-christian Europe where I
3:29believe
3:30some certainly bad things happened to
3:32the Jewish people in fact Tom fredman
3:33Jewish American columnist of New York
3:35Times told me in this very chamber last
3:36week that he believed had Muslims been
3:38running Europe in the 1940s 6 million
3:40extra Jews would still be alive today so
3:42I'm not going to take lessons in
3:44anti-Semitism from someone who's here to
3:45defend the judeo-christian values of a
3:47continent that murdered 6 million Jews
3:49uh moving swiftly
3:52on moving swiftly
3:55on you doing exactly absolutely well I'm
3:57about to make that point no no no I'm
3:59about to make that point you're right I
4:00agree with you I agree with you I agree
4:03with you 110% that is my point I don't
4:06think Europe is evil or bad I'm a very
4:08proud European I don't want to judge
4:10Europe on the basis but if we're going
4:11to play this gutter game where we pull
4:13out the barle bombing and we pull out
4:15examples of anti-Semitism in Islamic
4:17then of course I'm going to come back
4:18and say well hold on I mean look let's
4:19be very clear Daniel here was a last
4:21minute replacement for Douglas Murray
4:22who had to pull out and Douglas and I
4:24have a well documented differences but
4:26to be fair to Douglas as to be fair to
4:28anmarie and to Peter atheists atheists
4:31see all religions as evil violent
4:33threatening what the problem I have with
4:36Daniel's speech is that Daniel comes
4:38here to rount this robust defense of
4:40Christianity forgetting that his fellow
4:43Christians people who said they were
4:44acting in the name of Jesus gave us the
4:46Crusades the Spanish Inquisition the
4:48anti-jewish programs European
4:50colonialism in Africa and Asia the
4:52Lord's resistance Army in Uganda not to
4:54mention countless Arsen and bomb attacks
4:56on abortion clinics in the United States
4:58of America to this very day I would like
5:01a little bit of humility from Daniel
5:02first before he begins lecturing other
5:04communities and other faiths on violence
5:06Terror and
5:07intolerance but no thank
5:11you some water some water but I would
5:14say this to address the gentleman's very
5:16valid point here I'm not going to play
5:18that game I don't actually believe that
5:20Christianity is a religion of violence
5:22and hate because of what the L does in
5:24Uganda or what what Crusaders did uh to
5:28Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem when they
5:29took back the city in the 12th or 13th
5:31whatever Century it was I believe that
5:33Christianity like Islam like pretty much
5:35every mainstream religion is based on
5:37love and compassion and faith I do
5:39follow a religion in which 113 out of
5:41the 114 chapters of the Quran Begins by
5:44introducing the god of Islam as a god of
5:45mercy and compassion I would not have it
5:48any other way I don't follow a religion
5:50which introduces my God to me as a God
5:52of War as some kind of Greek god of
5:54wrath as a god of hate and Injustice not
5:58at all as Adam pointed out you go
6:00through the Quran and you see the mercy
6:01and the love and the justice and yes you
6:03have verses that refer to Warfare and
6:06violence of course it does this is not
6:07aemotion about pacifism I'm not here to
6:10argue that Islam is a pacifistic faith
6:12it is not Islam allows military action
6:15violence in certain limited contexts and
6:17yes a minority of Muslims do take it out
6:20of that context but is it religious we
6:23talked about willich Daniel and anarie
6:25have suggested that it's definitely
6:27religion that's behind all of this well
6:29actually
6:32what I find so amusing tonight is we're
6:34having a debate about Islam and the
6:36opposition tonight have come forward we
6:37have a graduate in law a graduate in
6:39modern history a graduate in chemistry
6:41and you know I admire all of their
6:43intellects and their abilities but we
6:45don't have anyone who's actually an
6:46expert on Islam a scholar of Islam a
6:48historian of Islam a speaker of Arabic
6:51even a terrorism expert or a security
6:52expert or a holster let alone to talk
6:55about what Muslims believe or think
6:57instead we have people coming here
6:58putting forward the views putting
7:00forward these sweeping opinions Listen
7:02to Professor Robert Pape of the
7:03University of Chicago one of America's
7:05leading terrorism experts who unlike our
7:06esteemed opposition tonight studied
7:09every single case of suicide terrorism
7:10between 1980 and 2005 315 cases in total
7:14and he concluded and I quote there is
7:17little connection between suicide
7:19terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism or
7:20any of the world's religions rather what
7:22nearly all suicide terrorist attacks
7:24have in common is a specific secular and
7:26strategic goal to compel modern
7:28democracies to withdraw military forces
7:30from territory that the terrorists
7:31consider to be their Homeland and the
7:34irony is when we talk about terrorism
7:37the irony is that the opposition and the
7:39Muslim terrorist the al-Qaeda types
7:42actually have one thing in common
7:44because they both believe that Islam is
7:46a warlike violent religion they both
7:48agree on that they have everything in
7:50common AMA bin lad would be nodding
7:51along to everything he's heard tonight
7:53from the opposition that he agrees with
7:54[Applause]
7:55them the problem is the problem is that
8:00mainstream Muslims don't the majority of
8:02Muslims around the world don't in fact a
8:05gentleman here can started quoting all
8:06sorts of polls Gallup carried out the
8:08biggest poll of Muslims around the world
8:09of 35,000 50,000 Muslims in 35 countries
8:1393% of Muslims rejected 9/11 and suicide
8:17attacks and of the 7% who didn't they
8:20all when pulled and focus grouped cited
8:22political reasons for their support for
8:24violence not religious reasons and as
8:26for Islamic scholars and what they say
8:28well Daniel talks about our University
8:30of Oxford we'll go down to Oxford's
8:32Center for Islamic Studies get hold of a
8:34man named shik aifi Al akiti who is a
8:36massively well credentialed and well
8:38respected Islamic scholar who was
8:39studied across the world who in the days
8:41after 77 published a fatwa denouncing
8:43terrorism in the name of Islam calling
8:45for the protection of all non-combatants
8:47at all times and describing suicide
8:49bombings as an innovation with no basis
8:51in Islamic law go and listen to she one
8:54of Pakistan's most famous Islamic
8:56scholars who published a 600 page fatwa
8:58condemning the killing of all Innocents
9:00and all suicide bombings unconditionally
9:02without any ifs or buts there's nothing
9:05new here this is mainstream Islam
9:07mainstream scholarship which has said
9:09this for years you don't go out and kill
9:10people willy-nilly in the High Street or
9:13anywhere else on a bus or a mall based
9:15on verses of the Quran that you
9:17cherry-pick without any context any
9:20understanding any interpretation or any
9:22commentary of information
9:28please well it doesn't happen apparently
9:31I didn't say it doesn't happen at all I
9:33never said it didn't happen I don't
9:34blame Islam yes it's a very good point
9:36and a lot of us a lot of us are
9:38campaigning against that and we're
9:39campaigning against it in the name of
9:40Islam we're campaigning against it in
9:42the name of various interpretations of
9:43Islam anarie comes and scares us with
9:45her talk of sharia law I would like to
9:47see the book of sharia law it doesn't
9:48exist people argue over what Sharia law
9:51is and you empower the
9:54extremists by saying there is only one
9:56version you Empower them all I don't
9:58believe you took any interruption
10:00so I think you should stay there for a
10:02moment what we de what we're dealing
10:05with we are dealing I took your point I
10:08took your point here we are dealing with
10:09a 1400 year old Global religion followed
10:12by 1.6 billion people in every corner of
10:14the world a quarter of humanity of all
10:16backgrounds cultures ethnicities and yet
10:18the opposition tonight wants to
10:19generalize stereotype smear in order to
10:23desperately win this debate and here's
10:26my question if we're going to generalize
10:27and smear if okay people say yesterday's
10:31bombers and we've got to be careful
10:32there's a trial going on were
10:33yesterday's attackers sorry motivated by
10:35Islam big debate I don't believe they
10:36were let's say they were let's say fisel
10:38Shazad the Time Square bomber was
10:40motivated by Islam let's assume for sake
10:42of argument that Richard Rees the shoe
10:43bomber was by Islam if Islam is
10:46responsible for these killings if Islam
10:47is what is motivating these people and
10:48Islam is therefore not a religion of
10:49Peace a religion of War then ask
10:51yourself this question why aren't the
10:52rest of us doing it why is it such a
10:55tiny minority of Muslims are
10:57interpreting their religion in the way
10:59that the opposition claim they are let's
11:01assume there are 16,000 suicide bombers
11:03in the world there aren't let's assume
11:04there are for the sake of argument
11:05that's
11:070.001% of the Muslim population globally
11:10what about the other 99.99% of Muslims
11:12who the opposition tonight either ignore
11:14or smear the reality is that the rest of
11:17us aren't blowing ourselves up tonight
11:18the reality is that the opposition came
11:19here tonight not worried about the fact
11:21that me and Adam might P pull open our
11:22jackets and blow ourselves up to that CU
11:24we're followers of a warlike Warrior
11:25religion which wants to take over Europe
11:27and Daniel's University the the issue is
11:30this the issue is
11:34this unless the opposition can tell us
11:37tonight and Peter Atkins is here one of
11:39our great atheist intellectuals can tell
11:40us tonight can they can answer this
11:42question tonight why don't the vast
11:43majority of Muslims around the world
11:45behave as violently and aggressively as
11:46a tiny minority of politically motivated
11:48extremists then they might as well give
11:50up and stop pretending they have
11:51anything relevant to say about Islam or
11:52Muslims as a whole ladies and gentlemen
11:55let me just say this to you think about
11:56what the opposite of this motion is if
11:58you vote no tonight think about what
11:59you're saying the opposite motion is
12:00that Islam isn't a religion of Peace
12:01it's a religion of War Of Violence of
12:03Terror of aggression that the people who
12:05follow Islam me my wife my retired
12:07parents my six-year-old child that 1.8
12:09million of your fellow British residents
12:10and citizens that 1.6 billion people
12:12across the world your fellow human
12:14beings are all
12:15followers promoters Believers in a
12:18religion of violence do you really think
12:20that do you really believe that to be
12:21the case they say that in the Oxford
12:23Union the most famous debate was in 1933
12:25when Adolf Hitler looked out for the
12:27result of the king and country motion
12:29where they voted against fighting for
12:30king and country and Hitler was
12:31listening out for the result well
12:33tonight 80 years on there are two groups
12:35of people around the world who I would
12:36argue are waiting for the result of
12:37tonight's vote there are the millions of
12:39peaceful non-violent law-abiding Muslims
12:41both in the UK Europe Asia Africa and
12:44Beyond who see Islam as the source of
12:45their identity as a source of spiritual
12:47fulfillment of Hope of Solace and there
12:50are the phobes the haters the bigots out
12:52there who want to push the Clash of
12:56civilizations who want to divide all of
12:58us into them and and ours and their
13:00ladies and gentlemen I urge you all not
13:03to fuel the arguments of the phobes and
13:05bigots don't legitimate their divisions
13:07don't legitimize their hate trust those
13:10Muslims who you know who you've met who
13:12you hear who don't believe in violence
13:14who do want you to hear the peaceful
13:16message of the Quran as they believe it
13:18to be taught to the majority of Muslims
13:20the Islam of peace and compassion and
13:22mercy the Islam of the Quran not of
13:24al-Qaeda ladies and gentlemen I beg to
13:26propose this motion to the house I urge
13:27you to vote Yes tonight thank you very
13:29much for your time
13:45[Music]

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