Talib Kweli And The Trump Effect: Why Polarization Is Dangerous! (VIDEO)

By
Jenny Mason
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It is a dangerous time in world politics. Donald Trump, with his divisive language, has had a huge hand in creating an “us and them” atmosphere. By saying he will build a wall between us and Mexico, that he will ban all Muslims, that deceased Army Captain Humayun Khan’s mother was not allowed to speak during the DNC, and other shocking statements are blatantly racist and causing polarization between fellow Americans.

Both Democrats and Republicans have spotted this and named it. That is what should happen. Extremism needs to be cleansed out of society.

Trump
Image via YouTube screengrab.

Within Islam it is the same. There is a type of civil war going on. It is an ideological war again involving polarization. There are those Muslims with Orthodox beliefs and those with a more liberal, secular outlook. A mistake that many commentators make is to imply that all Muslims believe the same thing. What Trump and ISIS both want you to believe is that all Muslims think exactly alike. However, the Muslim faith and population is diverse.

Some Background On Maajid Nawaz

Meet Maajid Nawaz. He is British, Muslim, and of Pakistani descent. He grew up in Essex, England under a right-wing Thatcher government. As a teenager he was bullied violently by white supremacists.

He eventually met charismatic Jihadists. Nawaz had a grievance and felt ostracized. After meeting an extremist with charisma, he grabbed onto that ideology and ran with it. This activity ended with Nawaz finding himself in a prison in Egypt. Amnesty International then helped him.

In prison Nawaz had an epiphany. He was, and is still, a Muslim, but he became a liberal one. He decided that being an Islamist (that is to force Islam onto other people) was similar to being an extreme fascist, and he no longer believed in forcing ideas onto people.

He also saw that a number of non-Muslim British citizens were protesting against the war in Iraq. Nawaz stopped seeing things as “us ‘vs them.” He saw this as an opportunity to be a counter-terrorist, one who could be more equipped to understand how one becomes an extremist?

Recently, rapper Talib Kweli Greene accused this Liberal Muslim and activist, Nawaz, on Twitter of having white supremacist followers. It all started with this tweet:

 

Talib Kweli tweet (deleted) but retweeted by Sam Harris

It then escalated when Talib racially slurred Nawaz by implying he was equivalent to a Muslim “coon,” implying he was a Muslim who acts white.

Calling a Muslim an ex-Muslim, or anti-Muslim, has a lot of consequences within that faith. It is considered a crime in many countries to willingly leave the faith of Islam, and apostates can be punished with death in some places. Talib has one million followers. Since then, the tweets between Maajid Nawaz and Talib Kweli escalated further:

Nawaz stands for the rights of women within Islam, of gays, and of ex-Muslims. He calls on Muslims and non-Muslims who agree that we should have a free, liberal, secular, and tolerant society. He also asks for solidarity. Afterall, it takes straight people supporting gay rights as well to help change things.

Nawaz simply wants people of all creeds and colors to help defend minorities within Islam. Against his wishes, he might well have white supremacists who like his criticism of Islam. However, he also often tweets about violence and attacks on Muslims and mosques by white racists, and says to both extremes, “A pox on both your houses.”

Talib has also accused atheist Sam Harris of being a white supremacist for criticizing Islam. Harris is an atheist and also criticizes most religions. He is also careful to critique Islam as a set of ideas, rather than Muslims as people.

Maajid Nawaz uses the hashtag #solidarity, he has attempted to take off the “us and them” lens that people like Trump, and in this case Talib, have on.

It should not be a case of “us against them” or “black vs white.” It also shouldn’t be a case of  “believer ‘vs non-believers” or “Islam ‘vs Christianity.

The division has to stop! After all, we have more in common than we are different. Polarization is what is threatening peace, it is driving everyone apart.

For peace to come, we actually have to start talking about uniting Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and atheists to stand together against anything extreme and intolerant.

Talib Kweli Greene (like Ben Affleck with Sam Harris) may believe he is defending the majority of Muslims who are peaceful. However, his attack on Maajid Nawaz and Sam Harris, simply because they have white followers, shows he does not know what they actually stand for.

Nawaz is fighting his fight in defence of both Muslims and non-Muslims, who are being killed by extreme Islamists. Talib Kweli Greene might think he is fighting the racism against Muslims, and no doubt that was his intention, but in reality he is fighting against the very people who are trying to challenge extremism within that religion.

Neither Nawaz or Harris want Trump as president, nor do they want bigots as followers.  Sam Harris actually just asked bigots to unfollow him on Twitter:

Nawaz is a Liberal Muslim, not an anti-Muslim. Talib’s words have an effect, and he is essentially saying that having a liberal view of Islam, like Nawaz has, is wrong and a betrayal to other “real Muslims.”

Since Talib’s attack on Nawaz, he has received threatening tweets from actual extremists:

Labeling all critics and reformists of Islamic doctrine as racists and white supremacists, is similar to Trump saying all Muslims should be banned from the U.S..

Both are sweeping views and are extremely dangerous in contributing to the current era of polarization.

Here is Nawaz talking about a British extremist Anjem Choudary, who has just been sent to prison for supporting terrorism.

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