Mohammad Tawhidi, The “Imam For Peace”

by Hugh Fitzgerald

Mohammad Tawhidi is well-known as the “imam for peace” who urges fellow Muslims to support Jews and Christians, rather than join or defend those Muslims who attack them. He not only defends Israel, but insists that “Palestine is Jewish land.” He warns Christians to wake up to the Muslim peril in the West. Some think he seems too good to be true. Is he?

Tawhidi recently was interviewed by the Christian Broadcasting Network here

“We are all brothers in humanity before brothers in faith,” Tawhidi told CBN News.

“Tawhidi is a third-generation Iranian-born Muslim from Australia and author of The Tragedy of Islam.

“He uses his Twitter and Facebook accounts to warn the world about the growing dangers of radical Islam.”

“If Christians don’t wake up, if Christians leaders don’t wake up, then we Muslims who fled from extremists can’t help you anymore,” Tawhidi told CBN News in an interview. “We tried warning you.”

Tawhidi has viewed with alarm the refusal of Christian leaders to recognize the danger of Islamic “extremists”; he is no doubt thinking especially of Pope Francis, with his absurd remark about how “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence.”And of course there are all those Christian and Jewish clerics so ready to believe the best about Islam, to take part in those interfaith gatherings which always end up with Christians and Jews blaming themselves, and exonerating “real Muslims,” for terrorist attacks, while expressing sympathy and concern for those who are the victims of an apparently rampant “Islamophobia.”

“Tawhidi says out-of-control multiculturalism and political correctness are allowing radical Muslims with their dangerous and deadly ideology, to flourish.”

He’s identified the ideological obstacle to recognizing the truth about Islam. It’s the quite unnecessary guilt that many in the advanced, and mostly white, West have been made to feel towards everyone else. We are not allowed to be proud of our own civilization, but are forced to believe that all civilizations are of equal value. It’s not something susceptible of proof, but a given that we have all agreed to accept, despite the evidence of our senses that tells us quite otherwise. That is multiculturalism, which insists that all cultures are equal, and that works to deprive us of our national as well as of cur civilizational pride; all religions, ethnicities, peoples, are equal in achievement, and anyone who exhibits too great an attachment to his own country and [non-Islamic] faith will be dismissed as “far-right.”

As for “political correctness,” this means one must be exceedingly solicitous of anyone who might take offense at comments about their religion or ethnicity. We must all be especially careful not to joke about such matters; when it comes to political correctness,‘there is no such thing as a joke.” Watch out for unintended “micro-aggressions” that might make someone feel bad. Do not say anything that suggests you think the culture of the advanced West is superior in any way to other cultures. And while you may say what you will about Christianity, don’t you dare criticize Islam, for that is the most unacceptable manifestation of political incorrectness. It can even get you killed.

“When we come to the West and try to warn the governments and intelligence agencies about what is happening, about the people we fled from, we have this new political correctness agenda that tells us that “oh, we are the racists, we are the ones who are traitors and the extremists need to be understood and embraced.’

So many people in the West are affected by quite-unnecessary feelings of guilt toward Islam, insisting that islamocritics like Tawhidi “are the racists,” though we keep being reminded that Islam is not a race. And “we [Tawhidii and his fellows] are the ones who are traitors” for criticizing Islam, while it is the “extremists” — that is, the Jihadists — who must be “understood and embraced.” Political correctness protects extremist Muslims, while condemning the moderates who criticize them.

The first week in May,Tawhidi was in Canada taking part in ceremonies commemorating the Holocaust.

He tweeted:

@Imamofpeace
“ I flew to Toronto to light the candles of #YomHashoah2019, with over 20 faith leaders, at the first multi-faith commemoration of the Holocaust. May the rest of the world stand in solidarity with the Jewish People. Thank you to the @CanadianFSWC on this historical achievement.”

This sounds heartfelt, rather than another example of Muhammad’s insistence that “war is deceit.”

“This is rather a remarkable transformation for a Muslim who reportedly just a few short years ago had very different view of Jews.

“Five years ago, I used to curse them,” Tahwidi admitted. “Today I am standing in solidarity with them.”

“Dov Hikind, former New York state assemblyman and a Jewish American, recently wrote about Tawhidi saying: “I’m proud to call @Imamofpeace Imam Tawhidi a personal friend as well as a friend of the Jewish people and an advocate for a peaceful humanity. He’s someone who has well internalized the lessons of #neveragain and has much to teach people from all faiths and backgrounds.”

“Tawhidi responded, writing: “You are Jewish, and I am Muslim. We are on the same path, just on different lanes. Side by side we will take on the enemies of humanity.”

“As you can imagine, fellow-Muslims have ridiculed him for building relations with Christians and Jews.

“My friends asked why I changed teams?” Tawhidi asked rhetorically on Twitter recently. “As though they didn’t know why,” he retorted.

“For many years we have been lied to {that} ‘the Jews are the enemy, kill them.’ And I do not want to be in a position where I have to “kill Jews, or shoot their children; even in a laser tag game,” he wrote on Twitter.

Comment:

His abandonment of antisemitism seems deeply felt. His taking part in YomHashoah in Toronto, his recognition of, and repulsion at, the murderousness of Muslim antisemitism (“the Jews are the enemy, kill them”), his friendship with Dov Hilkind, his tweets attacking Ilhan Omar as an antisemite, a trivializer of 9/11 (“some people did something”), and “an enemy of the U.S.,” (‘She makes it clear that she is against the US and its values”), his astonishing support for the Jewish state (“Palestine is Jewish land”), are all of a piece. Some people wonder if he can possibly be on the level, given that his teacher in Iran, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi, has standard anti-Infidel views. Tawhidi says he certainly held such views in the past, but no longer does.

“And now he’s coming to the defense of Christians who are being persecuted in unprecedented numbers around the world.

“We are all human beings,” Tawhidi told CBN News. “If I don’t side with you against ISIS that wants to kill both of us, then what is my purpose in life.”

“Shortly after the Islamic terror attacks in Sri Lanka, Tawhidi tweeted, “If you are silent about #SriLankaAttacks, know that this is an Islamist war against Jesus. Pick a side. I am standing with Jesus.

“Looking back, Tawhidi says he’s horrified at how his Muslim faith has treated people of other religions.

“When I was 12, our fledgling Muslim community in Australia bought a Church and converted it into a Mosque,” he wrote on Twitter. “The Imam gathered us all to wash the inside of the building with running water to purify it from the ‘impurities of the Christians.’ I was scrubbing all night. How pathetic.”

“Tawhidi applauded President Trump this week [in the beginning of May] when his administration announced plans to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terror organization. Such a designation would make the Muslim Brotherhood and its partners vulnerable to harsh economic and travel sanctions imposed by the US.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is the most organized extremist terrorist organization on this planet,” Tawhidi told CBN News. “Yes, I do support {the decision} and more power to President Trump.”

Apologists for Islam cannot stand Tawhidi. They have tried to sow doubts about his sincerity, focussing on the ideology of his teacher, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi. But Tawhidi long ago forthrightly acknowledged that he had once held views similar to those of Shirazi, but no longer did so. Tawhidi is consistent and relentless in his defense of Israel, insisting that “Palestine is Jewish land.”, He has deplored the Muslim murders of Christians in Colombo and the Middle East. ’He unceasingly attacks Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. During the recent flare-up between Israel and Gaza he tweeted:: “Remember that time [Omar] and [Tlaib] condemned Hamas’ terrorism? Neither do I.”

I think he’s said, and done enough, to earn our– what’s the usual phrase?– “cautiously optimistic” trust.