Paris attacks: Reza Aslan clip warning against generalisation of Islam goes viral one year later

'To say ‘Muslim countries’ as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same... is frankly... and I use this word seriously, stupid'

Olivia Blair
Tuesday 17 November 2015 18:08 GMT
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Rezi Aslan criticised the anchor for 'saying things like 'In Muslim countries''
Rezi Aslan criticised the anchor for 'saying things like 'In Muslim countries''

A clip of a writer condemning the portrayal of Islam as a violent religion is being shared by thousands in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Reza Aslan appeared on CNN in September last year after US comedian Bill Maher made a series of statements about Isis and Islam.

“President Obama keeps insisting that Isis is not Islamic... but if vast numbers of Muslims across the world believe, and they do, that humans deserve to die for merely holding different ideas… not only does the Muslim world have something in common with Isis, it has too much in common with Isis,” Maher had said.

But Mr Aslan, an Iranian-American and a scholar at the University of California, disputed many of the comments made by Maher in his five-minute clip - saying he was “not very sophisticated in the way that he thinks".

Mr Aslan highlighted the absurdity in generalising about as entire religion based on the actions of a small minority of its followers.

"The problem is that you’re talking about a religion of one and a half billion people and it certainly becomes very easy to paint them all with a single brush by saying ‘Well in Saudi Arabia they [women] can’t drive and therefore that’s representative of Islam’, it’s representative of Saudi Arabia," he said.

“The problem is these kinds of conversations that we’re having aren’t really being had in any kind of legitimate way. We’re not talking about women in the Muslim world, we’re using two or three examples to justify a generalisation.That’s actually the definition of bigotry.”

When responding to the anchor’s question “Does Islam promote violence?”, Mr Aslan says: “Islam doesn’t promote violence or peace, it’s a religion. Like every other religion in the world it depends on what you bring to it. If you’re a violent person your Islam, Judaism, Christianity or Hinduism is going to be violent.”

The clip has been re-shared across the internet following a wave of Islamophobic comments blaming Muslims for the terror attacks in Paris which killed 129 people. Extremist group Isis has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Similar opinions, such as that of Waleed Aly discussing Isis’ weakness and the author Stephen King advising on Twitter: “Hating all Muslims for what happened in Paris is like hating all Christians because of the gay-hating Westboro Baptist Church”, are also circulating.

Mr Aslan’s segment on the discussion show culminates with his voice rising as he warns against generalising Muslims: “Stop saying things like ‘in Muslim countries’.

“To say ‘Muslim countries’ as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same or Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are the same, as though what is happening in the most extreme forms in these repressive countries… is representative of what’s happening in every other Muslim country, is frankly... and I use this word seriously, stupid."

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