...
Imam Zaid Shakir
The New York Times has reported that the 44-year-old Berkeley, California, native is one of nine influential Muslim scholars who has appeared in a YouTube video denouncing militant Islam.
“Islam teaches a balance in all of our affairs, so it’s not a religion that is amenable to extremism,” Shakir said in the video that launched this week.
Militants have been highly unsuccessful with acts of violence, particularly against civilians, Shakir said. They have contributed to “one mess after another,” he said.
“It’s time for us to start cleaning up those messes and even going beyond that,” Sharkir said. “It’s time for us to begin to contribute to the construction of something beautiful.”
Shakir was raised during the U.S. civil rights movement and converted to Islam while serving in the Air Force, according to his biography. He teaches Islamic and Arabic courses at the Zaytuna Institute in California.
...
