Taqiyya Interfaith Practioner caught claiming "Islam means Shalom"

On April 22, 2015 Dr. Muhammad Shafiq held a meeting to discuss his latest book and was accompanied by co-editor Dr. Nathan Kollar.

The evening started surprisingly slow and revealed that both Dr. Kollar and Dr. Shafiq were unprepared for the event. Neither brought one thing to share with the audience besides themselves. There was a projector for a professional presentation available as well as an ELMO for sharing hard copy information. As an author I was embarrassed for them as this was a highly unprofessional presentation, I have done numerous book talks and not once did I come so unprepared!

Dr. Kollar stated at the beginning of this meeting that he and Dr. Shafiq had been working on the Hickey Interfaith Center for 15 years at Nazareth College of Rochester.

They talked about the importance of interfaith dialogue and asked why we came to listen to them. I openly stated my name and that I am an author, and was concerned that this was a platform for Civilization Jihad and that I wanted to hear him address the section in his book that claims Jesus led a jihad.

When the began to talk about the scriptures of each religion, Dr. Kollar spoke of the Tanak (the law, the prophets and the writings), what Christians refer to as the Old Testament and when he spoke of the Bible he stated they were written by men. When he referred to the Koran he stated it was given by God. Our local media representative, Shannon Joy of WYSL stopped him and said Christians and Jews believe their scriptures come from God not man. Dr. Kollar apologized stating he did not mean to say otherwise.

It was then that I also contributed, but the Koran as Dr. Shafiq states, was given not by God, but by an angel. I pointed out that these two entities are not the same. Christians and Jews believe their scriptures are inspired by God and were not given by angels. However Islam has quite the different story. This was quickly brushed off as semantics. Dr. Kollar served as an apologist for Islam stating that this is pretty much the same thing.

The other Christian present also pointed out that Dr. Shafiq could not have this discussion in his own home country and likely would be killed for daring to have it, this Christian stated that Islam needs to deal with the violent actions of those who are Muslim in Muslim countries to have a serious discussion in interfaith when including Islam.

Dr. Kollar led the discussion to talking about the importance of dialogue and honesty in the dialogue. That was when I had to speak up. That is what the letter below is all about. Please read this and write to Dr. Daan Braveman about your concerns regarding this matter.

Dear President Braaveman and Board of Trustees:

Last night Dr. Muhammad Shafiq presented at the Brighton Public Library on his latest book with Dr. Nathan Kollar, professor emeritus of St. John Fischer College. I went with interest since my last encounter with Dr. Shafiq proved rather revealing.

Dr. Nathan Kollar talked about the importance of honesty in interfaith relations. I shared that this is an important point “since in my last encounter with Dr. Shafiq, I asked what Islam means and he replied peace.” I continued, “I told Dr. Shafiq to stop lying and tell people what it means in Arabic” and explained that Dr. Shafiq paused and said “Submission.” I stated that I have grave concerns when someone who is supposed to be teaching kids (college age) is lying to people about the religion he is supposed to be teaching. Dr. Shafiq replied in front of 20 people, “Islam means the same thing as shalom.” I am no fool. I have a BA in Religion and Philosophy with extensive training in Hebrew. I also have at my disposal an expert in Arabic who will also communicate that Dr. Shafiq’s HIGHLY OFFENSIVE equation of submission andshalom is nothing other than a purposeful lie!

Due to the blatant lie of Dr. Muhammad Shafiq of Nazareth College of Rochester to the public, I have great concerns about what he is teaching to anyone who is not a Muslim. I understand that lying to non-Muslims about what they believe is part of their faith, they have a doctrine called taqiyyah. BUT, when a person who is paid to run an inter-faith center and teaches young impressionable minds at a college is caught lying about the very topic he was hired to teach I am concerned.

Can Nazareth College of Rochester knowingly continue a relationship with a man who openly lies to non-Muslims in public forums about what Islam teaches? As a NAZ graduate myself, I HAVE SERIOUS CONCERNS THAT A PERSON PRACTICING TAQIYYA IS AFFILIATED WITH NAZARETH!

You should know a member of the Press was there last night and this is likely to be a discussion on her radio show, especially after both the presenters talked about the importance of honesty in interfaith discussions!

 Sincerely,

Paul Sutliff

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Islamization of Knowledge

(Photocredit: Sodastream)

(The following is an excerpt from Civilization Jihad and the Myth of Moderate Islam)

The Islamization of Knowledge is generally a topic that should fit under college or under public schooling because it has to do with adjusting what the American and Canadian people learn as a whole. However, when you consider that Dr. Ismail Faruqi’s intent was to place all knowledge that does not come through the lens of Islam through an analysis and then synthesis with Islam, it speaks to restructuring all knowledge. This means restructuring all the sciences, all history and all literature through a critical lens of Islam.

Dr. Shafiq writes that he believes the phrase “Islamization of Knowledge” can be misleading, because he believes all knowledge is sacred and a blessing of Allah. However, saying all knowledge is a blessing ignores issues like knowledge that is against Islam.

Dr. Muhammad Shafiq out of Nazareth College of Rochester gives the reasoning as to why western knowledge must go through Islamization in his book, Growth of Islamic Thought in North America. This book states that:

...the Muslim world’s current inferiority is due to its scientific, technological, economic, and military backwardness. The intellectual decline began during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when the Muslim world was attacked and devastated by the Mongol invasions from the East and the Crusaders from the West. Politically depressed and without support, Muslim scholars lost their confidence to seal successfully with what passed for “modern” knowledge and technology at that time and became over-conservative. Gradually, an attitude of strict adherence to the letter of the law (the Shari’ah) was adopted…. The major source of Islamic thought and creativity – itjihad – was declared closed, the Shari’ah was considered perfect, and any departure from it was condemned. (Shafiq, M. (1994). Growth of Islamicc Thought in North America. Brentwood, MD: Amana Publications, p. 87.)

Dr. Aaron Segal, a professor of political science at the University of Texas, El Paso, wrote an article on the lack of scientific achievement in Islamic communities in 1996 for the Middle East Quarterly. In his article he posed what he called hard questions: “Is Islam an obstacle to modern science? If not, how does one explain the huge gap in scientific output between the Muslim world and the West or East Asia? And what must change so that science can flourish in Muslim countries?” (Segal, A. (1996, June). Why Does the Muslim World Lag in Science? Retrieved November 7, 2014, from Middle East Quarterly)

According to Dr. Shafiq, his mentor Dr. al-Faruqi believed that “the issues of revelation vs. reason and scriptural authority vs. science do not arise in Islam and science but between the Qu’ran’s interpreters and exegetes and those of modern science. The former have made many irrational and unscientific interpretations. What the Islamization of knowledge seeks to do is to reconceive and rebuild the humanities, social and natural science disciplines by giving them a new base consistent with Islam.” (Ibid, p. 91)

Keep in mind that what Shafiq is saying here is that knowledge needs to be processed through Islamization not because it is at odds with the Koran, but because accepted Islamic scholars disagree with scientific concepts. If he agreed that there was a conflict here, he would be making a statement that the Koran is in error scientifically.

‘AbdulHamid ‘AbuSulayman who like Shafiq writes for the International Institute of Islamic Thought, explained the need for Islamization of Thought more simply, when he wrote: “The modern ideas and instruments did not filter through and pass through the `uşul test” (AbuSulayman. (1987). The Islamic Theory of International Relations: New directions for Islamic methodology and thought. Herndon, VA: Internation Institute of Islamic Thought, p.61). Basically, this is an admission that some knowledge does not agree with the authorities of Islam (the Koran, hadith and, Sunnah). The important question here is if knowledge fails this test, is it now haram, forbidden?

If you want to know what Islamization of Knowledge looks like, President Obama provided this one:

Throughout our history, Islam has contributed to the character of our country, and Muslim Americans, and their good works, have helped to build our nation -- and we’ve seen the results. We’ve seen those results in generations of Muslim immigrants -- farmers and factory workers, helping to lay the railroads and build our cities. Muslim innovators who helped build some of our highest skyscrapers and who helped to unlock the secrets of our universe. (Obama, B. H. (2013, July 25). Remarks by the President at Iftar Dinner. Retrieved November 8, 2014, from White House.gov)

For more information on this topic and others like it, buy the book Civilization Jihad and the Myth of Moderate Islam

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