Transcript of the interview of Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani,
Chairman of The Islamic Supreme Council of America,
on MSNBC on Wednesday September 19th, 2001 at 10.30pm Central Standard Time.
America on Alert
Interviewer:
...Accidents that have been committed and those backlash toward Arabic and Middle Eastern Americans, talk about what you want folks to know about Islamic faith
Shaykh Hisham:
Islamic faith is a religion that is devoted to our Creator and it's like other religion in the Heavenly message that turns us to believe in God, believe in His Messenger and all His Messengers, Prophet Muhammad, Jesus, Moses and all other Prophets that came before and then to do our prayer services, five prayers a day and then give our charity to poor people and to help them in their lives...
Interviewer: [interrupting]:
In fact, these are some of the five tenets, I think we can put them into the five tenets, the Declaration of Faith, Prayer, Charitable-giving, Fasting and the Pilgrimage to Mecca. Many of those will be familiar to folks of many faiths.
Shaykh Hisham:
That's correct, that's correct...and giving charity and fasting the month of Ramadan to feel with the hungry people and then to make pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the holy cities, that are now in Saudi Arabia.
Interviewer:
And obviously these are very peaceful tenets and many will say, there is nothing violent about them, there is no preaching of violence.
Shaykh Hisham:
There is nothing violent in Islam, as God said in the Holy Quran, there is no compulsion in religion and that's why the area, where the Prophet peace be upon him, Muhammad, came in Medina, [there] Jews, Christians, idol worshippers, everyone was living together without any harming the other and they were living in peace. And never [did] the Prophet ask them to accept Islam or accept his own [teaching], what was his own message, except they were to come to this message on your own right, if you like it. If you don't like it, then you are on your own religion, and never were they being accused or being harassed or being abused or tortured by the Muslims at that time.
Interviewer:
Shaykh Kabbani, you know, in Judaism, in Christianity, there are many sects, there are many different teachings and thoughts within those religions. Let's talk about the Taliban's in Afghanistan. A lot of attention is on the Taliban because of the belief that they've harbored Osama bin Laden. They have a number of strict laws they have imposed, specially about women: they've banned women from driving, working outside the homes, attending schools, any physical contact with any men other than their husbands. Also [they have] banned any kind of portraits, paintings or photos, music and TV, [made] illegal for men trimming or shaving their beard, to get "American style" short haircuts, gambling, failure to pray five times a day. How many of these beliefs are shared by moderate Muslims?
Shaykh Hisham:
I think only that [those] shared by moderate Muslims and traditional Muslims and in other religions [are]: gambling is not allowed and drinking is not allowed and something that is related to corruption is not allowed, but all the others that you have mentioned, we see them practiced in all Muslim countries and specially the most important Muslim country in the world which is Saudi Arabia. You can find all these are practiced there and freely. And in the time of Prophet, his wife, Khadija, his wife was a business woman and then after she died, whom he married, Sayyida Ayesha, another lady after that, she was the one of the biggest scholars of that time. She was teaching the people, educating people about Islam, teaching men. And we see that the women were always helping beside the men, beside [in] daily life, even in hospitalization or in war or in any kind of things, she was working side by side with the men in order to help building a community and help raising a new generation with good understanding.
Interviewer:
What does Islam, if anything, teach about retribution and martyrdom?
Shaykh Hisham:
Can you repeat please?
Interviewer:
Retribution and martyrdom, what does Islam teach about those?
Shaykh Hisham:
Martyrism?
Interviewer:
Yeah.
Shaykh Hisham:
That [occurs] in a state of war, [from] country to [another] country, which doesn't exist now a days, in our time. And that has a technical principles, as an issue in Islam: that you have a leadership of all Muslims around the world. And since that is not the case, the Muslim world is around sixty-three countries, [as such] they are not united. So that kind of martyrism is not any more found in Islam until all the Muslim countries are united and that never going to happen.
Interviewer:
It's a good discussion to have and we appreciate your being patient with us and for taking the time to discuss with us this evening.
Shaykh Hisham:
Thank you.
ISCA Media Coverage following tragic attacks by terrorists on WTC and Pentagon:
Here is a small selection of media excerpts from interviews of Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Chairman of Washington DC-based Islamic Supreme
Council of America (ISCA), regarding the recent terrorist attacks in the
U.S. For more excerpts and newspaper articles see:
http://www.islamicsupremecouncil.org/MediaCenter/IntheNews/wtc_tragedy/media_excerpts.htm
