On Thursday, Nonie Darwish, an apostate from Islam who speaks against Islamic terrorism, intolerance and sharia law, spoke at Seattle University. Her talk was disrupted by members of the Muslim Student Asssociation and faculty. below is the vanilla, politically-correct report from the student newspaper:
(Tip of the hat to Creeping Shariah)
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Students rally against ex-Muslim speaker
By Katie Farden, Seattle University Spectator
Nov 4, 2009
"Members of Seattle University’s Muslim community have been gathering signatures on a petition since Monday to voice their resentment over the university hosting author Nonie Darwish last week.
Darwish, a former Muslim who renounced Islam for Christianity and tours the nation speaking out against radical Islam and Sharia law, spoke at Seattle University Thursday.
Event organizers maintain they brought Darwish to campus to foster discussion about human rights issues and conflict in the Middle East.
“The idea of a university is to exchange ideas,” said Gracie Cohen, a sophomore pre-major who publicized Darwish’s talk.
Some students, however—who said Darwish spreads falsehoods and undue fear about Islam—demonstrated at the event. Members of Seattle U’s Muslim Student Association plan to bring their grievances to President Stephen Sundborg, S.J.
“We believe hosting a person like Nonie on the SU campus is contrary to all of the values upon which this institution is founded,” said Ahmed Alnafie, former president of MSA.
Darwish is the author of three books: "Now They Call Me Infidel; Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on Terror,” "Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law” and “Obsession: Radical Islam's War against the West.”
“The message she carries is a message of hatred and defamation to Islam,” Alnafie said.
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America—a nonpartisan media-monitoring organization formed in 1982 that focuses on decreasing anti-Israel bias in mainstream news—sponsored the event. Cohen, a CAMERA intern, publicized Darwish’s appearance at Seattle U through e-mails and flyers.
Darwish—whose father was an Egyptian lieutenant general killed by Israeli Defense Forces when she was 8 years old—has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, BBC and Fox News. She has spoken at universities including Harvard, Brown and Georgetown. Some of the students who attended the talk Thursday said they questioned Darwish’s credentials.
“If she had used the Quran to support any of her claims, she would have had some substance,” said Nabiha Pirbhai, junior international business major and MSA President.
Instead, Pirbhai said, Darwish based much of her lecture on “Reliance of a Traveler,” a manual of Islamic law.
“She did not come [to Seattle U] for any scholarly purpose,” Alnafie said.
Saeed Al Harbi, a senior e-commerce and information systems major, echoed Alnafie’s thoughts.
“It was horrible,” Al Harbi said. “She was giving wrong, misleading information about my religion.”
Many students who arrived in Bannan to hear Darwish speak Thursday were unreceptive to her, Cohen said. Public Safety received a report of a heated argument in the building.
“The majority of the audience came in hostile.” Cohen said. “She couldn’t get though half a sentence.”
Cohen said when she returned to clean up after the event, she found all of the CAMERA magazines and pamphlets she had displayed on the table for audience members were in the recycling bin.
Members of MSA passed out a handout listing short statements Darwish has made on Islam. They also distributed DVDs about the five pillars of Islam and other basics of the religion, Pirbhai said.
Al Harbi said he and other Muslim students purposefully interrupted Darwish when they thought she said something that misrepresented the religion.
He said he worried non-Muslims in the audience would walk away from the talk with a skewed perception of the religion.
“I’m OK with her criticizing Islam,” Al Harbi said, “but she was throwing out lies to people that don’t understand the situation.”
Alnafie echoed his concern.
“One of my fears is that for many of the people there—that this would be the extent of their experience of Islam.”
Pirbhai said MSA will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss future steps. She estimates 25 students have signed the petition."
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Here are the words of Creeping Shariah blog commenting on the event:
"How apropos – al Harbi. A follow up piece clarified that indeed, the MSA imposed its version of campus sharia law as it has on most campuses around the United States and Canada:
…it was disappointing that the lack of civility and maturity from a majority of the audience led to the effective censorship of the speaker. There were not only protestors before she spoke, but hostile, ad hominem comments made throughout the event. Some students even stood in front of the stage and yelled to the audience while Darwish spoke. The speaker could not finish half a sentence without multiple interruptions, not only from students, but also faculty members.
The spirit of censorship extended beyond the reaction during her presentation.
And that is from a fine young dhimmi who disagrees with Darwish’s views on the threat of sharia even though she admits it was in full effect at SU. It didn’t end for Darwish. On her entrance to Canada, Kathy Shaidle reports from a speech that apparently wasn’t interrupted:
Last night I went to hear ex-Muslim Nonie Darwish of Former Muslims United talk about creeping sharia, media misinformation and more at U of T.
What sticks in my mind is the story she told about what happened when she landed in Toronto.
The “bearded, Pakistani-looking” border guy went through the usual spiel: “Business or personal?”
He kept pressing her to describe her business in Toronto and Ottawa in more and more detail.
When she finally said she was going to speak about sharia, he fixed his eyes on her and intoned:
“We are NOT to question sharia.”
Feel safe, everybody?
This guy is “guarding” your airport!"
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Here is what happened April 9, 2009 when Darwish spoke at Purdue University.
"She has no right to speak", says the man.
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