Tuesday, July 10, 2007

"Lebanese scholar says Arab muslims mistreating Asian muslims" (Some of the statements attributed to me in this article were certainly not my own words--as readers of my own words on this blog can tell-- and others were out of context. And the first sentence has a tinge--if not more--of anti-Semitism to it. But in general, the reporter got some of the things I said right (like about mistreatment of Asian Muslims etc). Somebody asked me about the political roles of Jewish Americans, and I gave a different answer than the one reported. My colleague Farid Esack (whose official title is " William Henry Bloomberg Visiting Professor" at Harvard Divinity School) warned me on the day of my arrival about misreports in the Pakistani press. He said that once he gave a talk and the reporter not only distorted his remarks but that he (the reporter) added that the professor's real name is William Henry Bloomberg and that he changed his name when he converted to Islam--and that was in the Dawn. He wrote them a letter to protest but they ignored him. He once on a panel I shared with him castigated the present journalists and told them the story as a warning.)