___________________________________________
Ali Sina is a strong critic of Islam and the founder of Faith Freedom International, which he describes as a grassroots movement of ex-Muslims.[1]
Ali Sina claims that thousands of Muslims have left Islam after reading his articles and books.[2]
Contents[hide] |
[edit]Background
Raised in Iran, educated in Italy and now living in Canada, he began debating Muslims in the 1990s. What bothered him, he tells The Jerusalem Post, was not the penchant for jihad and intolerance that certain fanatical Muslims displayed, but the foundation for such ills in the Koran and core Islamic texts.[3]
The Jerusalem Post writes, "Sina, who runs Faith Freedom International - an Internet forum dedicated to debunking Islam - calls himself 'probably the biggest anti-Islam person alive.' The publication of his latest book, Understanding Muhammad: A Psychobiography of Allah's Prophet, will likely cement that position. In it, Sina suggests that Islam's central figure suffered from a series of mental disorders, including narcissistic personality disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy and obsessive compulsive disorder. "These disorders," he says, "can explain the phenomenon known as Islam... which is nothing but one man's insanity."[3]
Through the Faithfreedom.org Web site, Sina lists canonical references to Muhammad's actions and offers $50,000 to anyone who can disprove his charge that Islam's prophet was "a narcissist, a misogynist, a rapist, a pedophile, a lecher, a torturer, a mass murderer, a cult leader, an assassin, a terrorist, a madman and a looter".
"With violent conquest and contempt for non-believers central to the tenets of the faith," Sina argues, "attempts to forge a moderate form of Islam are doomed... The only way to reform Islam is to throw away the Koran; 90 percent of it should be thrown away. You also have to throw away the history of Islam, and you have to completely disregard the Sira" – the Arabic term used for the various traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, from which most historical information about his life and the early period of Islam is derived.[3]
In his October 2010 speech during the inauguration of the Freedom Party in Germany, Geert Wilders, leader of the third largest party in Netherlands said, “Ali Sina, an Iranian Islamic apostate who lives in Canada, points out that there is one golden rule that lies at the heart of every religion – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. In Islam, this rule only applies to fellow believers, but not to Infidels. Ali Sina says ‘The reason I am against Islam is not because it is a religion, but because it is a political ideology of imperialism and domination in the guise of religion. Because Islam does not follow the Golden Rule, it attracts violent people.’”[4]
[edit]On reforming Islam
For this reason, Sina says, Western suggestions that extremism in Islam can be eradicated if certain imams are quieted, or if Muslims are encouraged to embrace the universalist elements of their faith - but without addressing the extremism inherent in the religion's texts - are based on a mistaken comparison of Islam to Christianity. "In the West, people ask whether Islam can undergo a reformation like the one that Christianity underwent. That's a poor parallel," he says. "In Christianity, it wasn't the religion that needed to be reformed, but the church; what Jesus preached was good." On the other hand, Sina continues, "In Islam, it's the religion that is bad."
Arguing that Islam can be eradicated, not by sword but by spreading what he believes to be the truth about it, Sina says, "This is the way to fight evil. I do not want to kill the enemy. I want to win them as friends and allies. That is the real victory. In this way, we win because we eliminate our enemy, and our enemy wins by eliminating his ignorance and hate. That is why I believe in my cause. That is why I think I am an instrument of peace."[3]
[edit]Criticism
While disagreeing with Ali Sina for saying Islam is not a religion but a political ideology, Robert Spengler writing in the Asia Times compares that claim to Immanuel Kant’s who said Judaism is not a religion but a set of laws and rejects both. Robert Spengler continues “Ali Sina and other Muslim secularizers are just as wrong. I shall argue that Islam is both a religion and a political ideology. Religion is what makes Islamic political ideology so dangerous.” He adds, “Ali Sina is wrong: Islamic expansionism arises from religious motives, that is, a holy rage against the encroachment of death upon traditional society. In the form of Islam, the West confronts a challenge quite different from communism.”[5]
[edit]Debates
"Ali Sina has conducted debates with Muslims, several of them prominent scholars, like Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Moulana Amjal Qadri and Edip Yuksel.[6]
Sina’s contention is that Islam promotes hate and disunity and as such it is an impediment to peace. According to his website, he has issued a challenge that should anyone prove him wrong he will publicly acknowledge his error and withdraw his charges against Islam, and will pay $50,000 to that person.[7]
[edit]Stop Islamization of Nations
On Jan. 17, Reuter reported “Dr. Ali Sina, the renowned ex-Muslim author and founder of FaithFreedom.org; Dr. Wafa Sultan, the ex-Muslim human rights activist and author; the German pro-freedom activist Stefan Herre of Politically Incorrect; the Israeli author ]Dr. Mordec as Board Advisors of the newly formed human rights organization Stop Islamization of Nations (SION). Other members are Dr. Mordechai Kedar; the Hindu human rights activist Babu Suseelan; Anders Gravers of Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) Oskar Freysinger a Swiss Parliamentarian and member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP), Cliff Kincaid, editor of the Accuracy in Media (AIM) Report, and Ashraf Rameleh the President of Voice of the Copts. The internationally renowned human rights activist Pamela Geller andRobert Spencer are President and Vice President of SION. Reuter.com
[edit]References
- ^ "About Us". FaithFreedom.org. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
- ^ "About". Alisina.org. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
- ^ a b c d Muslim Mindset: 'The hatred is in Muhammad himself', Jerusalem Post, 2008-06-19
- ^ "Speech Geert Wilders in Berlin". Geertwilders.nl. 2010-10-03. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
- ^ Islam: Religion or political ideology?, Asia Times, 2004-08-10
- ^ "Debates". FaithFreedom.org. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
- ^ Sina's Challenge, FaithFreedom.org
