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Q: So what's your biggest challenge?
A: I have challenges in both worlds. I'm very active in the Muslim world. I
have very popular television programs in the Muslim world, which have, I think,
a very positive impact. So I'm working there. I go quite often to the Muslim
world. And then I have my challenges here. I'm one person.
Q: But there are people in the Muslim
world who think you're a heretic.
A: I think the majority of Muslims that know about me -- and there are quite a
few in the Muslim world that do-- generally have a very good opinion of what
I'm doing. I have rarely met belligerent Muslims. Every once in a while I'll
come across somebody who's just got an axe to grind. But it's actually quite
unusual for me. The majority of Muslims I meet, I see smiles on their faces. I
get hugs. People tell me, "Keep up the good work." I really believe
that most Muslims are very decent people. I've lived in the Muslim world. I'm
always struck by their incredible generosity, by their simplicity, by their
love of some really basic virtues and values that I share and that most Western
people share. This is my experience as a Western person, a convert to Islam.
Q: What was your experience after your
speech the other night [at the Islamic Society of North America conference in
Chicago], in which you talked about the fundamental humanity of people of the
Jewish faith?
A: The Jewish situation's bad. I have to admit that. There is an immense amount
of ignorance, particularly in the Muslim world. I think less so here, but we
have that problem here also. There is an anti-Jewish sentiment. It's far more
politically driven, and I think Muslims have forgotten, that's all. I think
they need reminders, and I think when you remind them, they tend to respond,
and that's been my experience. I was not raised as an anti-Semite. My sister
converted to Judaism, is married to a Jewish man. I have nephews that are
Jewish. I was not raised with any prejudice at all. But I was infected when I
lived in the Muslim world. I lived in the Arab world for over 10 years, and I
think I did get infected by that virus for a period of time. But I grew out of
it and realized that not only does it have nothing to do with Islam, but it has
nothing to do with my core values. And I've rejected that and called others to
reject it. I think it's something that really needs to change in the Muslim
community, and I think it will.
Q: What is your evaluation of the response of the last
five years of the security apparatus, both as an American and as a Muslim?
A: Well, I think we've all become much more acutely aware of the state
apparatus in terms of monitoring. I don't like the feeling that I have to think
about what I say when I say things. It's not healthy, and I think a lot of
people feel it now in a way that they've never felt it before, and that
troubles me deeply about my country. I think that there needs to be a return to
some real central values about this country. I think Guantanamo Bay is
absolutely an unacceptable event in American history. It's going to be looked
at as a really black period in our legal tradition.
Q: At what point does this more
intense, heavy-handed security become counterproductive?
A: Personally, I think the intensified security has already become
counterproductive. They need to do their job, but they don't need to do it
constantly in our face. The intelligence community has a job to protect. The
first principle of any government is to protect its citizens. But you also
protect your citizens by being just to other countries and other peoples. You
endanger your citizens by reckless behavior. You endanger your citizens by
hubris. You endanger your citizens by the inability to actually apologize or to
ask forgiveness for your mistakes. And that's something I find the most
troubling about the whole situation, because I think real security is based on
having benevolent policies.
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