Imam W. Deen Mohammed on Palestine , Middle East , Bin Laden in 2001-2002
Holloway: So how have you dealt with that and being a Muslim American leader, and initially it became the perception that there was this “religious war” and it was against those of Muslim faith, and then it became maybe Afghanistan, but then it was more focused to the war on terrorism. What has been your observation?
Imam Mohammed: Yes. Right away when I hear that any Muslims are doing violence or contributing to violence that involve hurt and injuries and death of innocent people, right away I think of the psyche of the leaders of the Islamic world that has been damaged; firstly by crusades – centuries of crusades, war, to see who's going to – who will dominate – Christians or Muslims, you know? – the globe, the earth, for power, for authority; which went away from Islam. Muslim scholars will all agree that the crusades, the involvement of crusades had very little representation of true Islam there. It was for power, same for the Christian part too, in the crusades. And then comes much later this colonial era that took over Muslim lands, mapped the Muslim world, geographically speaking, and after that the Middle East crisis, so these things that have occurred in the history of the Islamic world have scarred the psyche and the emotional life of Muslim leaders more than Muslim masses. The Muslim masses haven't engaged that that much, so we have leaders now who are, in my opinion – and I'm taking a lot time here but I think this is very important for me to say, because I think that this is what we are missing. I think President Bush should be – if he is not – thinking like this. He should be aware of how we think, how we perceive the state of Muslim psyche and the problems that we see coming out of extremists. Yes! So now when we look at what is happening here today in America, what happened on September 11th, we have to reflect, we have to go back into history and see what has produced this kind of mind, this kind of mind in the Islamic world. And certainly it is leaders that are leading this. It is not a mass movement.
Holloway: On both sides.
Imam Mohammed: On both sides.
Holloway: You came to North Carolina and have a schedule that is bringing you back and forth here to speak at Duke recently, and I was there. You said something to the effect that the Palestinians are victims in this situation, and I think that it's a good follow-up to what you just mentioned, that they are in a virtual prison and Israel holds the key to unlock this, and...but we need to look at all suffering and all evil. What do you mean by that?
Imam Mohammed: Yes, yes. Well, I meant, I was speaking from my personal experience. I was a guest of Arafat. He invited me to come there to see the conditions of the Palestinians, because he is desperate to have friends in America. And I saw it, I have already been aware of for many years the plight of the Palestinian people, and I was identifying with them, because we have had similar histories, you know, the treatment of us in the South...
Holloway: African Americans.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, the discrimination, segregation, and the horrible crimes against our own race by Americans who said they were Christians, you know. I don't think they were, but they said they were Christians. And now I can see that Palestinians held in camps...well, they say they removed the camps, but what I observed was that all the Palestinians, their freedoms are limited, and the system that contains them that has been established there to contain the Palestinians is very much, so much like Apartheid was in South Africa that I have to say that that is another Apartheid situation in the world, the design to contain Palestinians. They don't have business freedom. They don't have even social freedom. They can't go to another area without a permit to go to another area. Their permit in a certain area permits them only to go to certain places. So they may have relatives close by, but they can't even go visit those relatives, so they live in a virtual prison. The Jews control...well, I don't like to say the Jews, because the Jews there are beautiful. On the whole the Jews are very beautiful people, very humanly sensitive, like we find good Jews here and everywhere, you know. But the government is in my opinion made up of hardened persons who are really not aware that they carry the problems and the scars from Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and all that, you know? That is what is driving them, that is what is driving them.
Holloway: So you are almost associating them with the Hitler situation of the previous World War with what is going on today, is that what...
Imam Mohammed: Yes, well, Israel was originally founded by persons who had to escape from Nazi Germany, and I'm sure that the strong leadership there still is those persons who came from Nazi Germany. It is changing somewhat, but for the population it's not that. That is not the characteristic of the people and the public, but that is the characteristic of the leaders in the government. And few leaders have been moderate, as you know. The Prime Minister is a moderate person, but he is a minority in the government.
Holloway: The United States has been an ally and supporter of Israel, but also has a similar history within itself of oppressing African Americans. Is there an issue of race here? And I want to restate a question that one of the Duke students asked you recently at your speech. He asked, “Does Osama bin Laden deserve more respect from Americans who believe in God?” And you said. “Yes.” Your perception is the same, but your reaction is different.
Imam Mohammed: Yes, yes. By me being aware of the poverty there in Afghanistan and the damaged psyche of Arab leaders, I see Osama bin Laden as a man with plenty of money and he is frustrated by the image of Muslims in the world that he thinks should be much better, and it should. He thinks that really Islam was the leader of democracy, the leader of religious freedom in fact. And he is right, he is correct, but we lost that to the West after the fall of Spain, Islamic Spain. We lost that to the West, and that loss is too much for the mind of many Islamic thinkers, and they want to regain the glory, the days of glory for Islam, they want to come back into those days. Now, here he has plenty of money. He is one of the princes of the royal family of Saudi Arabia, so he goes to Afghanistan – this is my opinion now, this is my story!
Holloway: Okay.
Imam Mohammed: He goes to Afghanistan as Robin Hood. And he gives money to the poor, and he becomes their leader, you know. So, yes, I think we should know the whole psyche of Osama bin Laden. And when you see the whole psyche of the man, his mind, his emotional make-up and everything, we will give him a little more respect. But it doesn't mean we should excuse his crimes. His crimes...he'll have to pay for those crimes.
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