I don’t know what the plan is and perhaps there is a lot going on behind the scenes, but what I can tell you right now is that it does not appear that the Imam controversy is going away any time soon. There continue to be several letters a week pushing back on the issues, and I will shortly address two of them from the past week here.
From my standpoint, I took the Imam’s apology at face value. I believe he got angry over the situation in Israel, I believe he lashed out in sermon, I believe he acted in haste and in anger and it overrode his better judgment. To me it’s less important whether he felt those things in his heart than whether he learned from his experience.
Therefore, in my view, he’s a young guy and if he can learn from his experience, then we can move on.
But at the same time, even during the press conference, I think we have to take the points made by Mayor Robb Davis and Rabbi Seth Castleman into account.
Robb Davis offered that we would hear an apology. He asked, “Is it enough?” And the answer he offered was, “No it is not.” He added, “The hurts are deep. Words were spoken that are harmful and hurtful. One statement cannot be enough.”
For those wanting an apology – it was a start. Standing behind the Imam as he spoke were religious leaders, community leaders and elected officials. The group came together and worked through the
language and hashed out an agreement.
But, as Rabbi Castleman then pointed out, “As you know as well as I, apologies are only as worthy as the actions that follow. So I call upon you, I implore you to follow up those words with actions.
“Nothing less than that will satisfy the community that you serve and I serve,” he said.
These were warnings from two men who know the community and, while compassionate and understanding about the Imam’s apology and remorse, they implored him to go further.
And so when Tom Frankel, a community member and retired attorney, asks the question, “Is this all there is from imam, Islamic Center?” I have to agree with them – there needed to be more, and in public.
Mr. Frankel writes, “Several weeks have passed since Imam Ammar Shahin aggressively announced to his mosque members that all Jews must be destroyed. Our community and nation seem to have moved on to other issues. There are many to choose from.”
(This is another part of the problem, the Imam controversy happened in late July and then August happened and we have become consumed with other issues).
However, at the core, I think he asks the important question: “Are we satisfied that sufficient resolution has been accomplished to the hate speech and ‘apology’ from Imam Shahin has been accomplished? I sincerely hope not.
“Our community, and specifically the Muslim community connected with Imam Shahin, has been mostly silent since the quasi press conference after the horrendous comments of the imam. Do we leave things as they are?” Mr. Frankel continues.
“The Jewish community morally deserves an apology for the actual words expressed on two occasions. Anything less is unacceptable. We cannot be satisfied with a statement that does not say his words were wrong,” he writes.
“We must see actions from the imam showing that he is truly sorry and that he seeks our forgiveness. In addition, the broader Muslim community from the Islamic Center of Davis, including its governing board, must step forward, publicly identify itself, and specifically repudiate the words of Imam Shahin. Otherwise, they would be saying that they support what he said,” Mr. Frankel continues. “It is critical to focus on the words, not — as already has been done — on the pain that was caused by those words.”
Bottom line, maybe there is more happening behind the scenes, but, if they are behind the scenes, no one in the Jewish community and no one I have talked to seems to know of them. We need more. The community is saying that we need to do more here and I couldn’t agree more.
A side issue has been who has been behind the push for protests to oust the Imam. The Vanguard published a piece from Gail Rubin and pushed back ourselves over what we saw as more moral equivalency comparing antifa and BLM to the KKK and neo-Nazis.
A letter appearing this weekend suggests that a piece from Alan Hirsch, who sits on the Vanguard Editorial Board, was inaccurate in pointing to CUFI (Christians United for Israel) as the organizers of the Aug. 9 demonstration at Russell Boulevard and B Street against Imam Ammar Shahin’s recent call to kill Jews.
Gail Rubin, the letters says, has already clarified in her August 16 Vanguard article that she was the organizer of the event.
The letter attacks Mr. Hirsch for spending his commentary criticizing CUFI and “their outsider presence in this demonstration.” The letter writer notes, “The only point I can see to such a long and detailed critique of CUFI is that it was an effort to discredit and dismiss the point of the demonstration, whose participants were mostly neither CUFI members nor outsiders.”
A key point, I think, is that “many Davis people in addition to the demonstrators are still outraged that Imam Shahin, the religious leader of so many young people in Davis, could call for genocide of all Jews by all Muslims and remain a religious leader, regardless of his newly found insight that that call might have caused hurt feelings. That was the point of the demonstration, not whether or not you like CUFI.”
A key point I would continue to make is that the Imam needs to do more – much more.
At Farmer’s Market, a longtime resident who is ethnically Jewish but also quite progressive pointed out that, back in January, the Mosque received thousands of dollars and had many supporters when it was vandalized. He believes that next time their Mosque gets attacked, the community will be much more reluctant to have its back.
That is the damage done by this incident and a good number of people in the community are still angry about that. That is a legitimate view.
I am still personally disappointed that the Mosque itself has not issued any sort of apology or pledged to rectify the situation.
Things are festering and the time is quickly passing to put this unfortunate incident behind us.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
There is nothing to put behind us. This happened, it is not an incident, it is what is. Keeping the Imam tells us what is real. He is not the problem, those that allowed those words to be spoken and said nothing are there, and now we know this. Many letters have been written to the editor that let us know who the scary idiots are in our berg, including a few from arrogant, fundamentalist Jews who only help perpetuate the hate. The silence from the officials at the mosque is just as telling.
There is no solution, do not look for one. Good people of Muslim and Jewish faiths and others getting together and singing Kumbaya is nice, and helps form bonds, but it does not “solve” what was said, as the Imam and those that support the Imam are not involved — they are silent.
Do not take the apology — carefully crafted — at face value. Do not let anger be an excuse. People kill when they are angry.
Many idiots, bigots, and haters have spoken and exposed themselves. Now we know who they are — but we only need avoid them. There are no doubt more bigots and haters out there who may kill when angry — who are not stupid enough to expose themselves. This is not a problem to be solved, but a warning to us all. And it is more or less permanent. Only as permanent as strife in the Middle East.
Lessons:
1. You can’t extinguish hate with hate.
This is a lesson from History.
The French revolution ending in the Reign of Terror.
The biggest demonstrations against the Nazi in Germany in lead up to Hitler’s election’s in 1932 were by Communist Party. History knows that Stalin’s Genocides exceeded Hitlers.
So, the question is “will the center hold” in Davis
Will love and listening and reparation (vs retribution) prevail?
2. We all need an opportunity for Redemption.
We all make mistakes. Say thing we can’t take back.
What do you personally do with this?
Some people deny their human failings, or even double down to save face (self-righteousness, fanaticism)
…others slow down think and try to change their ways,
or even screw up their courage and offer an apology.
Offer reparations.
So I ask—who can stand, if we don’t give people a chance to change and repent and redeem themselves?
3. God save us from the self-righteous people on both sides.
A few questions.
1. Do any of those critical of the words of the Imam know the content of his teachings since the one that caused so much disturbance ?
2. Does anyone care whether or not he has altered his tone to one of love and acceptance of those of all faiths ?
3. Are those who demand his being fired willing to accept some lesser process, or are they purely out for “blood” ?
4. An apology in words is important, contrition through actions would to me be of much more value with a change in his message probably the most important of all. Have any of his critics even considered that this might be the most important change that he could make personally both for his own development, but also for all his congregants.
Apologies alone are not enough. But in this case there wasn’t even a real apology. The imam said he was sorry that people’s feelings were hurt. He never apologized for his words or repudiated them. Neither has the board of the Islamic Center. Nor has the imam or the Islamic Center taken any actions reaching out to the Jewish community since the date of the non-public “press conference.”
Alan Miller — I am pretty familiar with the Jewish community in Davis and am not aware of any fundamentalist Jews who live here. There are some religiously observant Jews in Davis, but neither their religious practices nor their views are fundamentalist. Perhaps you should get to know people before making bigoted assumptions and labeling them.
Totally agree.
Congratulations on being the first person in history to accuse me of making bigoted remarks. If you see me on the streets or at the Congregation, you anonymous coward, please identify yourself. You don’t have the courage to identify yourself here when hurling accusations at me, so I doubt you have the courage to identify yourself to me and call me a bigot in person.
DG ran an article a few weeks ago that had some highly inflammatory remarks quoted from an editorial piece to the Enterprise. That is what I was referring to.
Specifically:
Do these authors also accept the historical and religious connections of the Native Americans to North America and it’s entirety as a sacred place, connections that predate the white person’s (and Jewish person’s) arrival in North America by thousands of years? Until this changes, there will be no resolution to the second class status and continuing bigotry and manipulation that the United States places on its Native peoples.
Just sayin’
I just don’t see how one goes from “these people should be destroyed” to “love and acceptance” in a few weeks. If he has changed his tune, I wouldn’t buy it.
I think this is unfair. It isn’t blood that I want. I don’t want to live in a community where there is an organization that, apparently, is OK with calls for the destruction of an entire people. Now, maybe, as Alan Miller suggests, that’s just what we have, and now that we know it, we adjust accordingly. And if that’s right, then this rings true: “next time their Mosque gets attacked, the community will be much more reluctant to have its back.” This is not the organization that I thought I was defending.
What sort of actions do you have in mind? I’ve seen a number of people say this, but no actions proposed.
Totally agree. Calling for genocide is not something turned around, and especially when the call comes when angry. I sincerely doubt any man would get off for threatening to kill his wife or belle by claiming “I was angry”. As such, I take no words literally, no apology literally. How many men have said “I’m sorry” after beating their wife or belle, only to strike again when angry and/or drunk? The danger is shown with the first threat or blow.
I suggest any congregation that uses the Artscroll Chumash verges on fundamentalism.
If you anyone disagrees and would like to delve into exegeis, have at it.
The only sermon I can find of this man is where it sounds like he’s quoting the Quran and says that Jews and muslims will one day fight and that Jews will be hiding behind trees… is this the sermon that’s caused a lot of issues?
didnt sound very different than sermons I’ve heard at many charismatic Christian churches. I’ve often heard ministers preach that salvation will be exclusive to Christians and all others will be damned to eternal burning in hell.
thats not nice either. But it’s their religion… is there another sermon he did because this one didn’t seem too unique to me.
I guess with the terrorist threats muslims have less religious freedom inside of their own churches than other religions now? Or did he make a sermon outside of his church?
I don’t think terrorism is about religion inasmuch as money and politics. People blame religion for too much. It’s just the scapegoat imho.
I was one of many who gathered at Central Park and opened our hearts and pocketbooks to the Davis Mosque after they were vandalized. I was shocked beyond anger at the Iman’s words. Like many I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, not that there was much. I called up translations in response to many who thought the words in Arabic that were the most horrible were misinterpreted and had them reviewed by one of our Muslim court interpreters whose first language was the Iman’s. No relief here, it said what it meant and meant what it said.
So here’s where I’m at: the apology if one can even call it that was unacceptable as so much more eloquently stated in legendary Davis Attorney Tom Frankel’s op ed in the enterprise.
The recent city counsel meeting where numerous secular and faith individuals and groups demanded a resolution against these hateful and frightening words was very appropriate but our city leaders need to followthrough and issue such a proclamation. How about “The city of Davis condemns unequivocally and in the strongest manner the hateful words of Iman Amman Shahin calling for the murder of the Jewish people. We urge the Davis Mosque to repudiate all of his words and what they clearly mean and to insist that the Iman join in that repudiation or be disciplined up to and including his removal from his position at the mosque”.
Would this suffice?
“The City Council, on behalf of the citizens of Davis condemns unequivocally and in the strongest manner hateful words of public leaders/officials calling for hateful action against other people. We urge the organizations associated with such leaders/officials, to repudiate all of their words and what they clearly mean and to insist that the their leaders/officials join in that repudiation or be disciplined up to and including their removal/resignation from their position”.
I believe that should cover this situation and send a message to others, moving forward.
Or, must it be “blood lust”? And personal, as you composed it… I strongly suspect I already know your answer…