Interrogating Islam... and Ourselves
Chris Seiple Wednesday, 1 September 2004
"Saudi Interrogators Try Gentler Approach," announced an Associated Press headline last November. At the same time that some American soldiers at Abu Ghraib were making use of sadistic techniques, it seems that some Saudi police were using "religious reorientation" for suspected al Qaeda members. "Once we connect with them," a Saudi official explained, "the interrogators slowly hand them over to a more moderate cleric, who sits with them and goes over what the Qur'an says and what the traditions of the prophets are." The method reportedly contributed to the renunciation of violence by two militant Saudi clerics.
In other words, even in Saudi Arabia, the theological and financial root of Islamic terrorism, a closer interpretation of the Qur'an—by Muslims for Muslims—is capable of yielding tolerance, and security. This possibility is simply not on the radar screen of most American Christians. Too many American Christians are still speaking of Islam as if it represents only one thing: war. Jerry Falwell may have apologized for his infamous remarks on 60 Minutes—that Mohammed "was a terrorist... a man of war"—but they remain indicative of widespread attitudes about Islam.
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