Dear Lance,
Thank you for your thoughtful and articulate response. Your admiration of Ali runs deep and rings true. I couldn’t agree more with you. He was a real man.
I think we will just have to disagree on the idea that someone who goes to law school or medical school is necessarily a lawyer or a doctor. On the contrary many of them choose different professions entirely. Is Barack Obama a lawyer? I mean can he still claim to be an attorney? I dont think it would be a credible claim.
Regarding Sam Harris and Bill Maher…honestly I consider them to be ignoramuses when it comes to Islam. They reduce 1400 years of civilization to ISIS and they do this purposely and on an agenda. I mean there is a lot more to Muslims and their history than ISIS. I mean this doesn’t even pass the obviousness test; could ISIS produce the Mathnawi? Or the Conference of the Birds? or the Taj Mahal? Lets be serious. Finally, I am not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because, to date they have not invited a serious scholar of Islam to their shows. Sorry, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Maajid Nawaz don't count, they are hucksters, plain and simple. Neither does Reza Aslan. I am talking real scholars who are actually Muslim. LIke Jonathan Brown, Sherman Jackson etc. Andrew March would do just fine. My advice to Harris/Maher/Joe Rogan: stop talking shit about Islam if you’re not willing to invite a serious Muslim to the show. Its vain and cowardly.
