Saturday, September 15, 2007

A Muslim Criticizing Radical Islamists


Just when I start to get to the point to proclaim I am a confirmed Islamophobe I run into a Muslim like Youssef M. Ibrahim. I am not sure where he lives but Ibrahim must spend a substantial amount of time in the little Emirate of Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE is located on the Saudi Peninsula so we are talking that has the Persian Gulf at one point and Gulf of Oman at another point. Dubai (UAE) is thus right smack in the middle of Sunni (Wahhabi) and Shia (Iran) radical Islamists.

Ibrahim is the Managing Director of an organization based out of Dubai called
Strategic Energy Investment Group (SEIG). Ibrahim himself is courageously and openly critical of Islamist ideology which he claims leaves a black mark on the “silent” majority of Muslims that wish nothing to do with radical Islam. I tried to dig some information about SEIG via Google to get a better feel about Ibrahim but I gave up. Just typing the organization’s name renders information that is obviously skewed toward the positive and I do not have time to dig deeper.

On the surface it appears Ibrahim is a legitimate outspoken critic of the Islamic school’s of thought that have brought the world Wahhabi (Saudi Arabia), the Muslim Brotherhood (originally Egypt now global), the Twelver radical Shi’ites of Iran’s Ayatollahs and the Wahhabi inspired transnational terrorists such as al Qaeda and the Taliban (Believe me there are more).

So I guess I am a waffling qualified Islamophobe when I find worthy Muslims willing openly criticize Islamist ideology.

Knowing Ibrahim is a Muslim working for an organization that is located and surrounded by radical Islamist ideologists, makes Ibrahim a person of interest when the criticism flows from his writing. So let us read Ibrahim’s denunciation of “
The Saudi Reign of Terror” written in the New York Sun.

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