Mehdi Hasan: ' I urge you all not to fuel the arguments of the phobes and bigots', Oxford Union debate - 2013

4 July 2013, Oxford Union, Oxford, United Kingdom
The debate topic was ‘That Islam is a religion of peace’. Mehdi was arguing for the affirmative.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. As-salaam 'alykum. Lovely to see you all here tonight. We are having a very entertaining night, are we not, with some very interesting things being said from the other side of the House tonight.

Let me begin by saying as a Muslim, as a representative of Islam, I would consider myself an ambassador for Islam, a believer in Islam, a follower of Islam and its prophet. So in that capacity, let me begin by apologising to Anne-Marie for the Bali bombings. I apologise for the role of my religion, and me, and my people for the killing of Theo van Gogh, for 7/7... Yes. That was all of us. That was Islam. That was Muslims. That was the Quran. I mean, astonishing astonishing claims to make in the very first speech tonight - on a day like today - where the conservative prime minister of the United Kingdom is having to come out and point out that these kind of views are anathema. And I believe you're trying to stand for the Labour Party to become an MP in Brighton. If you do, and you make these comments, I'm guessing you'll have the whip withdrawn from you. But then again, UKIP's on the rise. They'll take you. The BNP, they might have something to say about your views.
Anne-Marie:
This is what Mehdi Hasan always does. It's what you always do. It's what you always do.

By the way, just on a factual point, since we heard a lot about the second speaker about how backward we Muslims all are. On a factual point, you said that Islam was born in Saudi Arabia. Islam was born in 610 AD. Saudi Arabia was born in 1932 AD. So you're only 1,322 years off. Not bad, not bad start there.

Talking of maths, by the way, a man named al-Khwarizmi was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, a Muslim, worked in the golden age of Islam. He's the guy who came up with not just algebra, but algorithms. Without algorithms, you wouldn't have laptops. Without laptops, Daniel Johnson tonight wouldn't have been able to print out his speech in which he came to berate us Muslims for holding back the advance and intellectual achievements of the West, which all happened without any contribution from anyone else other than the Judeo-Christian people of Europe. In fact, Daniel David Levering, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of The Golden Crucible points out that there would be no Renaissance. There would be no reformation in Europe without the role played by Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd and some of the great Muslim theologians, philosophers, scientists, in bringing Greek texts to Europe.

As for this being "our university," I will leave that to the imagination as to who is "our" and who is "their." I studied here too.

An astonishing, astonishing set of speeches so far making this case tonight. A mixture of, just, cherry-picked quotes, facts and figures, self-serving selective, a farrago of distortions, misrepresentations, misinterpretations, misquotations. Daniel talked about my article in the New Statesman, which got me a lot of flack where talked about the antisemitism that is prevalent in some parts of the Muslim community, which indeed it is. Of course, I didn't say in that piece, that it was caused by the religion of Islam. In fact, modern antisemitism in the Middle East was imported from - finish the sentence - Christian-Judeo, Christian Europe, where I believe some certain bad things happened to the Jewish people. In fact, Tom Friedman, Jewish-American columnist of New York Times told me in this very chamber last week that he believed, had Muslims been running Europe in the 1940's, six million extra Jews would still be alive today. So I'm not going to take lessons in antisemitism from someone who's here to defend the Judeo-Christian values of a continent that murdered six million Jews. Moving swiftly on. Moving swiftly on. Yes?

Speaker 3:
Aren't you doing exactly what the opposition [inaudible 00:03:58] .
Anne-Marie:
Absolutely.

Well, I'm about to make that point. No, no, no. I'm about to make the point. You're right. I agree with you. I agree with you. I agree with you 110%. That is my point. I don't think Europe is evil or bad. I'm a very proud European. I don't want to judge Europe on that basis, but if we're going to play this gutter game where we pull out the Bali bombing and we pull out examples of antisemitism in the Islamic community, then of course I'm going to come back and say, well, hold on. I mean, look, let's be very clear. Daniel here was a last-minute replacement for Douglas Murray who had to pull out, and Douglas and I have our well-documented differences, but to be fair to Douglas - as to be fair to Anne-Marie and to Peter - atheists!

Atheists, see all religions as evil, violent, threatening. What the problem I have with Daniel's speech is that Daniel comes here to rant this robust defence of Christianity forgetting that his fellow Christians, people who said they were acting in the name of Jesus, gave us The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the anti-Jewish pogroms, European colonialism in Africa and Asia, the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, not to mention countless arson and bomb attacks on abortion clinics in the United States of America to this very day. I would like a little bit of humility from Daniel first, before he begins lecturing other communities and other faiths on violence, terror, and intolerance.

But I would say this: to address the gentleman's very valid point here, I'm not going to play that game. I don't actually believe that Christianity is a religion of violence and hate because of what the LRA does in Uganda, or what Crusaders did to Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem when they took back the city in the 12th or 13th, whatever century it was. I believe that Christianity, like Islam, like pretty much every mainstream religion, is based on love and compassion and faith. I do follow a religion in which 113 out of the 114 chapters of the Quran begins by introducing the God of Islam as a God of mercy and compassion. I would not have it any other way. I don't follow a religion which introduces my God to me as a God of war, as some kind of Greek god of wrath, as a God of hate and injustice.

Not at all. As Adam pointed out, you go through the Quran and you see the mercy and the love and the justice. And yes, you have verses that refer to warfare and violence. Of course it does. This is a motion about passivism. I'm not here to argue that Islam is a pacifistic faith. It is not. Islam allows military action, violence, in certain limited context. And yes, a minority of Muslims do take it out of that context. But is it religious? We've talked about Willich, Daniel and Anne-Marie have suggested that it's definitely religion that's behind all of this.

Well, actually what I find so amusing tonight, is we're having a debate about Islam and the opposition tonight have come forward - we have a graduate in law, a graduate in modern history, a graduate in chemistry. And you know, I admire all of their intellects and their abilities, but we don't have anyone who's actually an expert on Islam, a scholar of Islam, a historian of Islam, a speaker of Arabic, even a terrorism expert or a security expert, or a pollster let alone to talk about what Muslims believe or think. Instead, we have people coming here putting forward these views, putting forward these sweeping opinions.

Listen to Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago, one of America's leading terrorism experts who, unlike our esteemed opposition tonight, studied every single case of suicide terrorism between 1980 and 2005. 315 cases in total. And he concluded, and I quote, "There is little connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism or any of the world's religions. Rather, what nearly all suicide terrorist attacks have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists considered to be their homeland." And the irony is, when we talk about terrorism, the irony is that the opposition and the Muslim terrorist, the Al-Qaeda types, actually have one thing in common because they both believe that Islam is a warlike, violent religion. They both agree on that. They have everything in common. Osama Bin Laden would be nodding along to everything he's heard tonight from the opposition side, he agrees with them!

The problem is that mainstream Muslims don't. The majority of Muslims around the world don't. In fact, a gentleman here has started quoting all sorts of polls. Gallup carried out the biggest poll of Muslims around the world of 50,000 Muslims in 35 countries. 93% of Muslims rejected 9/11 and suicide attacks. And of the 7% who didn't, they all - when polled and focus grouped - cited political reasons for their support for violence, not religious reasons.

And as for Islamic scholars and what they say, well, Daniel talks about our University of Oxford. We'll go down to Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, get ahold of a man named Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti who is a massively well-credentialed and well-respected Islamic scholar who has studied across the world, who in the days after 7/7, published a fatwa denouncing terrorism in the name of Islam, calling for the protection of all non-combatants at all times, and describing suicide bombings as an innovation with no basis in Islamic law. Go and listen to Sheikh Tahir ul-Qadri, one of Pakistan's most famous Islamic scholars who published a 600-page fatwa condemning the killing of all innocents and also suicide bombings unconditionally without any ifs or buts.

There's nothing new here. This is mainstream Islam, mainstream scholarship, which has said this for years - you don't go out and kill people willy-nilly in the High Street or anywhere else, on a bus or a mall based on verses of the Quran that you cherry-picked without any context, any understanding, any interpretation or any commentary.

Point of information
Mehdi Hasan:
Please.

What about the stoning of women, for example in [crosstalk 00:09:31]
Anne-Marie:
It doesn't happen, apparently.
Mehdi Hasan:
I didn't say it doesn't happen at all. I never said it didn't happen. I don't blame Islam. Yes. It's a very good point. And a lot of us, a lot of us are campaigning against that and we're campaigning against it in the name of Islam. We're campaigning against it in the name of various interpretations of Islam. Anne-Marie comes and scares us with her talk of Sharia Law. I would like to see the book of Sharia Law. It doesn't exist. People argue over what Sharia Law is. And you empower the extremists by saying there is only one version. You empower them all. I don't believe you took any interruptions, Anne-Marie -

Anne-Marie:Several countries. Several countries -

Mehdi Hasan:
- so I think you should stay there for a moment.
Anne-Marie:
Several countries, not a tiny minority. Several countries.

Here's what we're dealing with. We are dealing with - I took your point. I took your point. Here we are dealing with a fourteen-hundred-year-old global religion followed by 1.6 billion people in every corner of the world. A quarter of humanity of all backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, and yet the opposition tonight wants to generalise, stereotype, smear, in order to desperately win this debate. And here's my question, if we're going to generalise and smear: if, okay, people say yesterday's bombers and we've got to be careful, there's a trial going on. Were yesterday's attackers, sorry, motivated by Islam. Big debate. I don't believe they were. Let's say they were. Let's say Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber was motivated by Islam. Let's assume for sake of argument that Richard Reid, the "Shoe Bomber," was motivated by Islam. If Islam is responsible for these killers, if Islam is what is motivating these people and Islam is therefore not a religion of peace but a religion of war, then ask yourself this question: why aren't the rest of us doing it?

Why is it such a tiny minority of Muslims are interpreting their religion in the way that the opposition claim they are? Let's assume there are 16,000 suicide bombers in the world. There aren't. Let's assume there are for the sake of argument. That's 0.001% of the Muslim population globally. What about the other 99.99% of Muslims who the opposition tonight, either ignore or smear? The reality is that the rest of us aren't blowing ourselves up tonight. The reality is that the opposition came here tonight, not worried about the fact that me and Adam might pull open our jackets and blow ourselves up tonight because we're followers of a warlike, warrior religion, which wants to take over Europe and Daniel's university. The issue is this. The issue is this.

Unless the opposition can tell us tonight - and Peter Atkins is here, one of our great atheist intellectuals, can tell us tonight - can they answer this question tonight? Why don't the vast majority of Muslims around the world behave as violently and aggressively as a tiny minority of politically motivated extremists. Then they might as well give up and stop pretending they have anything relevant to say about Islam or Muslims as a whole. Ladies and gentlemen, let me just say this to you. Think about what the opposite of this motion is. If you vote no tonight, think about what you're saying the opposites motion is. That Islam isn't a religion of peace. It's a religion of war, of violence, of terror, of aggression. That the people who follow Islam - me, my wife, my retired parents, my six year old child, that 1.8 million of your fellow British residents and citizens, and 1.6 billion people across the world, your fellow human beings - are all followers, promoters, believers in a religion of violence.

Do you really think that? Do you really believe that to be the case? They say that in the Oxford Union the most famous debate was in 1933 when Adolf Hitler looked out for the result of the King and Country motion where they voted against fighting for king and country and Hitler was listening out for the result. Well, tonight, 80 years on, there are two groups of people around the world who I would argue are waiting for the result of tonight's vote. There are the millions of peaceful, nonviolent, law-abiding Muslims both in the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, and beyond who see Islam as the source of their identity, as a source of spiritual fulfilment, of hope, of solace. And there are the phobes, the haters, the bigots out there who want to push the clash of civilizations. Who want to divide all of us into "them" and "us" and "ours" and "their."

Ladies and gentleman, I urge you all not to fuel the arguments of the phobes and bigots. Don't legitimise their divisions, don't legitimise their hate. Trust those Muslims who you know, who you've met, who you hear, who don't believe in violence, who do want you to hear the peaceful message of the Quran as they believe it to be taught to the majority of Muslims. The Islam of peace and compassion and mercy, the Islam of the Quran, not of Al-Qaeda. Ladies and gentlemen, I begged to propose this motion to the House. I urge you to vote "Yes" tonight. Thank you very much for your time.

Gamal Fouda: 'They were the best of us, taken from us on the best of days', Christchurch Mosque memorial - 2019

22 March 2019, Hagley Park, Chrstchurch, New Zealand

Brothers and sisters in Islam, brothers and sisters in humanity, brothers and sisters in New Zealand.

Last Friday, I stood in this mosque and saw hatred and rage in the eyes of the terrorist who killed fifty innocent people, wounded 42, and broke the heart of millions around the world.

Today, from the same place, I look out and I see the love and compassion in the eyes of thousands of fellow New Zealanders and human beings from across the globe that fill the hearts of millions more who are not with us physically, but in spirit.

This terrorist sought to tear our nation apart with an evil ideology that has torn the world apart.

But instead, we have shown that New Zealand is unbreakable and that the world can see in us an example of love and unity.

We are broken-hearted, but we are not broken. We are alive! We are together! We are determined to not let anyone divide us.

We are determined to love one another and to support each other.

This evil ideology of white supremacy did not strike us first, yet it has struck us hardest.

The number of people killed is not ordinary but the solidarity in New Zealand is extraordinary.

To the families of the victims, your loved ones did not die in vain. Their blood has watered the seeds of hope.

Through them, the world will see the beauty of Islam and the beauty of our unity.

[prayer interlude]

Do not say of those who have been killed in the way of Allah that they are dead.

They are alive! Rejoicing with their Lord.

They were the best of us, taken from us on the best of days, in the best of places, and performing the best of actions.

They are not just martyrs of Islam, but they are martyrs of this nation, New Zealand!

Our loss of you is a gain to New Zealand's unity and strength.

Your departure is an awaking not just for our nation, but for all humanity.

Your martyrdom is a new life for New Zealand and a chance of prosperity for many.

Our assembly here, with all the shades of our diversity, is a testament of our joint humanity.

We are here in our hundreds and thousands unified for one purpose — that hate will be undone and love will redeem us.

We are taught by our prophet, Mohamed, that you can never truly show gratitude to the almighty God without thanking your fellow man.

To the people of New Zealand, thank you.

Thank you!

Thank you for your tears. Thank you for your haka. Thank you for your flowers. Thank you for your love and compassion.

To our Prime Minister, thank you. Thank you for your leadership — it has been a lesson for the world's leaders.

Thank you for holding our families close and honouring us with a simple scarf.

Thank you for your words and tears of compassion. Thank you for being one with us.

Thank you to the New Zealand Government and to all the wonderful people who have shown us that we matter and are not forgotten.

Thank you to our police force and front-line services. You put our lives before your own every day.

Thank you to the neighbours who opened their doors to save us from the killer.

Thank you to those who pulled over their cars to help us.

Thank you to those who brought us food and helped us when we found it difficult to stand.

Thank you, thank you, New Zealand!

Thank you for teaching the world what it means to love and care.

To my brothers and sisters, those who are here today to perform the weekly Friday prayer, thank you for coming together once again.

It is easy to feel lost after the trauma you and I experienced. But the promise of Allah made to us is true.

Give glad news to the patient.

Those, when afflicted, they say to Allah, "We all belong", and to him we shall return.

These are those upon whom God's mercy descends.

Thank you for your strength and your forgiveness.

Thank you for your anger that is restrained and for your mercy that is overflowing.

Thank you for your steadfastness and standing tall when others would fall.

Thank you.

Waleed Aly: 'The most dishonest thing would be to say that I'm shocked', Christchurch terror attack - 2019

You’ll have to forgive me, these won’t be my best words. The truth is, I don’t want to be talking today. When I was asked if it was something I wanted to do, I resisted it all day until finally I had this overwhelming sense that it was something in my responsibility to do so and maybe that’s misguided.

But of all the things I could say tonight, that I’m gutted and I’m scared and I feel overcome with utter hopelessness, the most dishonest thing, the most dishonest thing would be to say that I’m shocked. I’m simply not.

There’s nothing about what happened in Christchurch today that shocked me. I wasn’t shocked when six people were shot to death at a mosque in Quebec City two years ago. I wasn’t shocked when a man drove a van into Finsbury Park mosque in London about six months later and I wasn’t shocked when 11 Jews were shot dead in a Pittsburgh synagogue late last year or when nine Christians were killed at a church in Charleston. If we’re honest, we’ll know this has been coming.

I went to the mosque today, I do that every Friday just like the people in those mosques in Christchurch today. I know exactly what those moments before the shooting began would have been like. I know how quiet, how still, how introspective those people would have been before they were suddenly gunned down, how separated from the world they were feeling until the world came in and tore their lives apart.

And I know the people who did this knew well enough how profoundly defenseless their victims were in that moment. This is a congregational prayer that happens every week like clockwork. This was slaughter by appointment. And it’s scary because, like millions of other Muslims, I’m going to keep attending those appointments and it feels like fish in a barrel.

But that isn’t the scariest thing. The thing that scared me most was when I started reading the manifesto that one of the apparent perpetrators of this attack published, not because it was deranged but because it was so familiar. Let me share some quotes with you to show you what I mean.

"The truth is that Islam is not like any other faith. It is the religious equivalent of fascism," or, "The real cause of bloodshed is the migration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate in the first place." Or, "As we read in Matthew 26:52: 'All they that take the sword shall perish by the sword'. And those who follow a violent religion that causes them to murder us cannot be surprised when somebody takes them at their word and responds at kind."

How do those words sound now? Now how do they sound when I tell you that they weren’t part of the manifesto? They were actually published today after this terrorist attack on Australian parliamentary letterhead. And I know they came from someone who I don’t particularly want to name at the moment, who all parties have denounced. I also know that the leader of one of those parties that denounced him once described Islam as a disease Australia needs to vaccinate. And even that party is kind of on the fringes despite some valiant attempts by our media to change that.

But I also know a senior figure in our government once suggested we made a mistake as a country by letting in Lebanese Muslims in the 70s. And I know there are media reports going back eight years at a shadow cabinet meeting in which another senior politician suggested his party should use community concerns about Muslims in Australia failing to integrate as a political strategy. That person is now the most senior politician we have.

So while I appreciate the words our leaders have said today, and in particular Scott Morrison’s comments and his preparedness to call this terrorism and the strength of his comments more generally, I have something to ask. Don’t change your tune now because the terrorism seems to be coming from a white supremacist. If you’ve been talking about being "tough on terrorism" for years in the communities that allegedly support it, show us how tough you are now.

For [me], I’m going to say the same thing I said about four years ago after a horrific Islamist attack. Now, now we come together. Now we understand that this is not a game, terrorism doesn’t choose its victims selectively, that we are one community and that everything we say to try to tear people apart, demonise particular groups, set them against each other, that all has consequences even if we’re not the ones with our fingers on the trigger.

Osama bin Laden: 'Your securIty is in your own hands', video address to American people - 2004

29 October 2004, videotape release, Pakistan

Praise be to Allah who created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind. To proceed:

Peace be upon he who follows the guidance: People of America this talk of mine is for you and concerns the ideal way to prevent another Manhattan, and deals with the war and its causes and results.

Before I begin, I say to you that security is an indispensable pillar of human life and that free men do not forfeit their security, contrary to Bush's claim that we hate freedom.

If so, then let him explain to us why we don't strike for example - Sweden? And we know that freedom-haters don't possess defiant spirits like those of the 19 - may Allah have mercy on them.

No, we fight because we are free men who don't sleep under oppression. We want to restore freedom to our nation, just as you lay waste to our nation. So shall we lay waste to yours.

No one except a dumb thief plays with the security of others and then makes himself believe he will be secure. Whereas thinking people, when disaster strikes, make it their priority to look for its causes, in order to prevent it happening again.

But I am amazed at you. Even though we are in the fourth year after the events of September 11th, Bush is still engaged in distortion, deception and hiding from you the real causes. And thus, the reasons are still there for a repeat of what occurred.

So I shall talk to you about the story behind those events and shall tell you truthfully about the moments in which the decision was taken, for you to consider.

I say to you, Allah knows that it had never occurred to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind.

The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.

I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.

The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams. Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon? And the whole world saw and heard but it didn't respond.

In those difficult moments many hard-to-describe ideas bubbled in my soul, but in the end they produced an intense feeling of rejection of tyranny, and gave birth to a strong resolve to punish the oppressors.

And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.

And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.

This means the oppressing and embargoing to death of millions as Bush Sr did in Iraq in the greatest mass slaughter of children mankind has ever known, and it means the throwing of millions of pounds of bombs and explosives at millions of children - also in Iraq - as Bush Jr did, in order to remove an old agent and replace him with a new puppet to assist in the pilfering of Iraq's oil and other outrages.

So with these images and their like as their background, the events of September 11th came as a reply to those great wrongs, should a man be blamed for defending his sanctuary?

Is defending oneself and punishing the aggressor in kind, objectionable terrorism? If it is such, then it is unavoidable for us.

This is the message which I sought to communicate to you in word and deed, repeatedly, for years before September 11th.

And you can read this, if you wish, in my interview with Scott in Time Magazine in 1996, or with Peter Arnett on CNN in 1997, or my meeting with John Weiner in 1998.

You can observe it practically, if you wish, in Kenya and Tanzania and in Aden. And you can read it in my interview with Abdul Bari Atwan, as well as my interviews with Robert Fisk.

The latter is one of your compatriots and co-religionists and I consider him to be neutral. So are the pretenders of freedom at the White House and the channels controlled by them able to run an interview with him?  So that he may relay to the American people what he has understood from us to be the reasons for our fight against you?

If you were to avoid these reasons, you will have taken the correct path that will lead America to the security that it was in before September 11th. This concerned the causes of the war.

As for it's results, they have been, by the grace of Allah, positive and enormous, and have, by all standards, exceeded all expectations. This is due to many factors, chief among them, that we have found it difficult to deal with the Bush administration in light of the resemblance it bears to the regimes in our countries, half of which are ruled by the military and the other half which are ruled by the sons of kings and presidents.

Our experience with them is lengthy, and both types are replete with those who are characterised by pride, arrogance, greed and misappropriation of wealth. This resemblance began after the visits of Bush Sr to the region.

At a time when some of our compatriots were dazzled by America and hoping that these visits would have an effect on our countries, all of a sudden he was affected by those monarchies and military regimes, and became envious of their remaining decades in their positions, to embezzle the public wealth of the nation without supervision or accounting.

So he took dictatorship and suppression of freedoms to his son and they named it the Patriot Act, under the pretence of fighting terrorism. In addition, Bush sanctioned the installing of sons as state governors, and didn't forget to import expertise in election fraud from the region's presidents to Florida to be made use of in moments of difficulty.

All that we have mentioned has made it easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. All that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies.

This is in addition to our having experience in using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers, as we, alongside the mujahidin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat.

All Praise is due to Allah.

So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.

That being said, those who say that al-Qaida has won against the administration in the White House or that the administration has lost in this war have not been precise, because when one scrutinises the results, one cannot say that al-Qaida is the sole factor in achieving those spectacular gains.

Rather, the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations - whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction - has helped al-Qaida to achieve these enormous results.

And so it has appeared to some analysts and diplomats that the White House and us are playing as one team towards the economic goals of the United States, even if the intentions differ.

And it was to these sorts of notions and their like that the British diplomat and others were referring in their lectures at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. [When they pointed out that] for example, al-Qaida spent $500,000 on the event, while America, in the incident and its aftermath, lost - according to the lowest estimate - more than $500 billion.

Meaning that every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs.

As for the size of the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars.

And even more dangerous and bitter for America is that the mujahidin recently forced Bush to resort to emergency funds to continue the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, which is evidence of the success of the bleed-until-bankruptcy plan - with Allah's permission.

It is true that this shows that al-Qaida has gained, but on the other hand, it shows that the Bush administration has also gained, something of which anyone who looks at the size of the contracts acquired by the shady Bush administration-linked mega-corporations, like Halliburton and its kind, will be convinced. And it all shows that the real loser is ... you.

It is the American people and their economy. And for the record, we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Ataa, Allah have mercy on him, that all the operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration notice.

It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face those great horrors alone, the time when they most needed him.

But because it seemed to him that occupying himself by talking to the little girl about the goat and its butting was more important than occupying himself with the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers, we were given three times the period required to execute the operations - all praise is due to Allah.

And it's no secret to you that the thinkers and perceptive ones from among the Americans warned Bush before the war and told him: "All that you want for securing America and removing the weapons of mass destruction - assuming they exist - is available to you, and the nations of the world are with you in the inspections, and it is in the interest of America that it not be thrust into an unjustified war with an unknown outcome."

But the darkness of the black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America.

So the war went ahead, the death toll rose, the American economy bled, and Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future. He fits the saying "like the naughty she-goat who used her hoof to dig up a knife from under the earth".

So I say to you, over 15,000 of our people have been killed and tens of thousands injured, while more than a thousand of you have been killed and more than 10,000 injured. And Bush's hands are stained with the blood of all those killed from both sides, all for the sake of oil and keeping their private companies in business.

Be aware that it is the nation who punishes the weak man when he causes the killing of one of its citizens for money, while letting the powerful one get off, when he causes the killing of more than 1000 of its sons, also for money.

And the same goes for your allies in Palestine. They terrorise the women and children, and kill and capture the men as they lie sleeping with their families on the mattresses, that you may recall that for every action, there is a reaction.

Finally, it behoves you to reflect on the last wills and testaments of the thousands who left you on the 11th as they gestured in despair. They are important testaments, which should be studied and researched.

Among the most important of what I read in them was some prose in their gestures before the collapse, where they say: "How mistaken we were to have allowed the White House to implement its aggressive foreign policies against the weak without supervision."

It is as if they were telling you, the people of America: "Hold to account those who have caused us to be killed, and happy is he who learns from others' mistakes."

And among that which I read in their gestures is a verse of poetry. "Injustice chases its people, and how unhealthy the bed of tyranny."

As has been said: "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure."

And know that: "It is better to return to the truth than persist in error." And that the wise man doesn't squander his security, wealth and children for the sake of the liar in the White House.

In conclusion, I tell you in truth, that your security is not in the hands of Kerry, nor Bush, nor al-Qaida. No.

Your security is in your own hands. And every state that doesn't play with our security has automatically guaranteed its own security.

And Allah is our Guardian and Helper, while you have no Guardian or Helper. All peace be upon he who follows the Guidance.

Isra Mohammed: 'My name is Isra Mohammed, I am a Muslim and I am not a terrorist', Kenton School assembly - 2015

16 December 2015, Kenton School, Newcastle, UK

I want you to have a look at the picture behind me. What are your thoughts? Keep those thoughts in mind. Hopefully by the end, you'll alter them, or change them.

So if you all don't know, I am Muslim and I am proud.

But after the events that took place in Paris France on November 13th, there is a lot of negativity in the media about Islam.

So in google if you type in Muslim + Islam or Muslim + woman, these are some negative pictures that come up.

People think that Muslim women or Muslim girls have no rights, or have no freedom. But we do. Look at me for example. I'm Muslim. I'm a girl. But I don't wear a headscarf. I have the right and freedom to wear one, my Mum wants me to wear it, but she's given me the right and freedom of [ ] I feel comfortable enough.

So what is Islam and what do we actually believe in?

Islam is a beautiful religion, just like many others. It is a religion of peace and mercy. As a woman, I used the word [aslama malikem] every day of my life. It's a wish for the other person to blessed with peace. This is what it means to be Muslim.

In Islam, we live by the five pillars.

The first one, is that there should be one god.

The second one the ommitment to prayer

the third one, fasting in Ramadan,

The fourth one, charity and giving back,

The pilgrim to Mecca, which you must do at least once in your lifetime

In this picture, the small dots are actually people. They are all Muslim. They are there worshipping god. This is what Islam is actually about. Coming together as one.

In Islam, even a smile is charity.

But what is happening today. These are some negative headlines that come up online, and this is the latest one that came up this week. I want you to know that these headlines are actually false. None of them are actually true. And this upsets us becasue the people behind them are usually ISIS.

if you don't whoISIS is, it's a terrorist organisation, that cause nothing but harm and terror to the world, just like what happened in France. 129 lives were lost.

But Isis have one goal. They want countries like ours to reject Muslims. They'll be happy and ecstatic to hear, that since the events that took place in Paris, France, Muslims have already been threatened and attacked in the UK, America, Australia and all around the world.

This evil organisation have in their minds -- if they can get Muslims [to appear as] the enemy of the west, then Muslims in France, the UK, America and Australia will have nowhere to turn but to Isis.

So if you are someone with a Facebook account, a Twitter account, an Instagram account, or any form of social media, which I'm sure everyone here has, and you are throwing out masses of hate, you are helping Isis. You are supporting ISIS. This is what they want.

So think about it - do you want to be the person helping a terrorist organisation?

People think ISIS only kills non Muslims. But they don't. They also kill Muslims. Most of ISIS's victims are Muslims, like what's happening in Syria right now.

Therefore ISIS is Muslim and is not the face of Islam. In Islam we believe, whoever kills an innocent person, it is as if they've killed all of humanity. That's why all Muslims stand together against Islam.

'Therefore terrorism has no religion and terrorism is not the face of Islam

I have people coming to me at school, this week, and last week telling me that because I am a Muslim, I am a terrorist. And this is something I go through every day of my life. And it's become worse since what happened in France.

But how is this affecting Muslims around the world?

If you haven't heard, on November 15th, a man pushed a Muslim woman into an oncoming underground train, in London. Why? Because she was wearing a headscarf and she was a Muslim.

Imagine being that woman, and having to wake up every day and walk out your door, knowing you'll be attacked and threatened for doing what you believe.

People also have this idea that refugees and immigrants are stealing their jobs.

But they are not.

Take my dad as an example. He is a doctor. And he is Muslim. And he is successful. He saves lives every day. He could have saved one of your relatives.

People always think - that refugees from Syria, I've seen this on facebook, 'oh close the borders, they are ISIS, they are coming to destroy our country. '

As a matter of fact, ISIS took over their country, ISIS killed their loved ones. ISIS destroyed their homes.

So how would you feel if I was you? Sitting at home, bombs going off, people dying.

There's children, who are coming to the UK, with no families.

So how would you feel, if I was you, in my situation? 

I have a seven-year-old sister. She came home from school last Monday, crying. When I asked why, she said to me, 'People are blaming me in school for the Paris attacks'. She said , "I don't want to go back'.

I have a brother in year seven, he got bullied last week. People were telling him, 'your religion is killing people.'

This is something I have to go through every day.

People link us to terrorism, but we are not terrorists. They have hijacked our religion and used it against us.

I was in Tesco's just last week. I walked in, the guy goes, 'these are the people we want out of our country. These are the people you don't want around.'

So imagine if that was you. Coming into my country and I'm treating you this way. How would you feel?

So what can we do about it?

We can learn about each other's religions and cultures. We can stop making assumptions. We can be fair to one another.

And remember, when you tell somebody you're a terrorist because of your religion - it's a hate crime.  And you have to report it once you've viewed it.

My name is Isra Mohammed, I am a Muslim and I am not a terrorist.