5Now, moving to the specifi cs of your question, I
responded in the way I did because I felt you were
implying that I was engaging in pretense by arguing
that Islam is a religion of peace. If I remember cor-
rectly, you said, “It’s understandable in the public
context, but here in this room can’t you just be
honest with us?”Harris Yes, that’s exactly what I said.
Nawaz Yes. “Can’t you just be honest with us in
here?” implied that I hadn’t been honest out there.
My honest view is that Islam is not a religion of war
or of peace— it’s a religion. Its sacred scripture, like
those of other religions, contains passages that
many people would consider extremely problem-
atic. Likewise, all scriptures contain passages that
are innocuous. Religion doesn’t inherently speak
for itself; no scripture, no book, no piece of writing
has its own voice. I subscribe to this view whether
I’m interpreting Shakespeare or interpreting reli-
gious scripture.
So I wasn’t being dishonest in saying that Islam
is a religion of peace. I’ve subsequently had an op-
portunity to clarify at the Richmond Forum, where
Ayaan and I discussed this again. Scripture exists;
Bereitgestellt von | New York University Bobst Library Technical Services
Angemeldet