Farrakhan speaks to the Arab World through Al Jazeera

By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Asst. Editor- | Last updated: Sep 21, 2010 - 10:30:02 PM

CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan spoke to the Arab World in two interviews both airing on Al Jazeera.

On Sept. 10, he was interviewed by Abderrahim Foukara for the Liqaá al-Yaum (Today's Encounter) program at The National House. Mr. Foukara, originally from Morocco, discussed a wide-range of topics with Min. Farrakhan, including the proposed Park 51 Islamic Center controversy in New York, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, President Barack H. Obama and the state of Muslims in America and the world.

Journalist Abderrahim Foukara of Al Jazeera interviews Minister Farrakhan on Sept. 10. Photo: Hassan Muhammad

‘The American people, I believe, are being deceived by a government that was absolutely afraid of the growth of Islam in America and they needed something to gather the American people, and under Zionist influence, stop the spread of Islam; stop funding for legitimate Islamic projects, and frighten the immigrant Muslims in America so that they would not speak up.’
—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

In the one-hour interview, Mr. Foukara posed each question first in Arabic, and then in English, and the Minister delivered words of divine guidance to those who tuned in to watch.

“Since 9/11, Muslims in America have been the victims of FBI watching Muslims, arresting Muslims, breaking into Muslim homes,” said Min. Farrakhan. “Muslims have suffered in the airports; being stopped because of their names. Searched once, searched twice; and sometimes even if they spoke Arabic, something would come up that might even deny them a flight.”

Min. Farrakhan said many Islamic scholars have opted to stay away from the United States because of this harassment. Rather than becoming victims and being forced into silence, Muslims should call for an independent investigation into the events surrounding 9/11, said Minister Farrakhan. The time has come for Muslims to speak up against the voices of intolerance as demonstrated by men such as Zionist Daniel Pipes, right wing evangelist Franklin Graham and others. Muslims should raise questions about the commonly accepted version of the events that transpired resulting in the tragic events of 9/11 which led to this iron-fisted crackdown on Muslims in America and worldwide, he said.

“It's sad that after 9/11, where so-called Muslims flew planes into the World Trade Center, and the blame has been put on Osama Bin Laden, although Osama Bin Laden denied, in the beginning, that he had anything to do with this. And, while he was in Afghanistan, Mullah Omar, who was the leader of Afghanistan and the Taliban, said to President Bush: ‘If you show me the proof of Osama Bin Laden's complicity in such an evil thing, we will turn him over to you,' said the Minister. “As a Muslim, you know that the Qur'an teaches us that whenever an unrighteous man brings you news, we should look carefully into it lest we harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what we did. Mullah Omar only asked what was reasonable, and what was correct according to our way of Islam.”

This was part of a scheme to stop the spread of Islam in the West and as a pretext for war designed by the neo-conservatives, he said.

“The American people, I believe, are being deceived by a government that was absolutely afraid of the growth of Islam in America and they needed something to gather the American people, and under Zionist influence, stop the spread of Islam; stop funding for legitimate Islamic projects, and frighten the immigrant Muslims in America so that they would not speak up.”

The Riz Khan Show

On Sept. 13, Minister Farrakhan appeared on the Riz Khan Show in a discussion centered on the rising tide of Islamophobia in America. Riz Khan is a recognized face worldwide following careers with BBC and CNN prior to joining Al Jazeera. In fact, Minister Farrakhan remarked that when he would travel overseas during his world tours, Riz Khan was one of his favorites to watch on CNN/International, his network at the time.

Riz Khan

Mr. Khan, who has conducted thousands of interviews with guests including former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, said there had been “a record breaking response” once news spread of Minister Farrakhan's appearance demonstrated by the high number of emailed inquiries and callers desiring to ask questions.

In the interview, Min. Farrakhan spoke about the early origins of Muslims in the U.S. and the persecution they faced while attempting to practice the religion of Islam during the early 1930s. He also described how Muhammad Ali, who was formerly known as Cassius Clay, was loved in the Muslim world after his conversion, but hated in the U.S.

He also spoke about the heated rhetoric directed at Muslims—regardless of race, class or creed—in America.

“The flames of hatred for Islam are being fanned and even though we have a Black president, who has spoken out very forcefully, that America will not go to war with Islam; that it is not Islam that is the problem, it is those who are fanatic in their zeal, supposedly for Islam, that America sees, and the Islamic world sees, as the problem,” said Min. Farrakhan. “But, under President Barack Obama, there's the FBI that has been planting agents in mosques around the country, stimulating those who are hateful of Israel, hateful of Jewish people; inspiring them to acts of terror and then capturing them, and putting that on the television as though this is the ‘norm' in mosques throughout this country.”

Mr. Khan asked the Minister whether he had been pressured to keep quiet during this particular controversy since he is considered a controversial and polarizing figure by some. Minister Farrakhan pointed to the Qur'an, the 48th Surah called “The Victory.” It was named that because, at Hudaibiya, three miles from Mecca, when Prophet Muhammad and his Companions were trying to go to Mecca, an agreement was struck with the members of the Quraish who ruled Mecca, ultimately paving the way to victory for Islam and the followers of Prophet Muhammad.

“It's time for Muslims, especially African-American Muslims to make our voices heard,” said Minister Farrakhan. “We were born here! We live here! We've suffered here! We've bled here! We've died here! So, it is our time, now, to speak up for the hurt and the pain of the Islamic community. But I would say to all Muslims: Don't over react, because, to harm people; because in their ignorance they burned a book that they may never have read,” he said.

“You can burn the Qur'an, but you cannot burn the zeal that the Qur'an has burned into the hearts of a billion, six hundred million Muslims around the Earth, and all it did was give the Muslims a victory; and when you burn our Holy Book, more Americans who don't know anything about the Qur'an, want to know, ‘What's in this book? Let me study this book.' So in the end, we're the winner.”

Al Jazeera English is a news and current affairs channel. Headquartered in Doha, the capital of Qatar, it was the world's first global English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. Critics have characterized Al Jazeera Arabic as the “Bin Laden Channel” because many of Osama bin Laden's video and audio-taped messages have been broadcast on the channel, while he continues to elude U.S. military officials. Others look to the channel as an indispensible source of information and analysis related to the Middle East.

According to Al Jazeera, the network reaches over 50-million viewers and has been ranked by brandchannel.com as the most recognizable and influential news brand globally.

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