I’m on twitter and I came across a shocking bit of news concerning Dr Yasir Qadhi, the well known Islamic theologian and popular US lecturer. You may know that he has upset many salafis in recent years. Educated in Saudi Arabia he was a committed conservative salafi until it seems he did a doctorate in theology at Yale University. He is now extremely critical of his salafi past.
Anyway, a leaked email from US intelligence shows how there was an attempt to push Yasir Qadhi to create a ‘moderate Salafiyyah’ – ie one at home within the West’s particular Weltanschauung.
It’s unknown if it was actually implemented, but the writer of that email was a speaker at ISNA’s conferences.
WikiLeaks has the leaked emails. It gives us a fascinating glimpse into a parallel world in which the intelligence community seeks to change Muslims’ views to make them more ‘acceptable’.
