Mohammed Alo, Editor of ToledoMuslims.com, was featured on Rick Robert's KFMB's radio morning show out of San Diego, California. KFMB broadcasts to almost half of the United States covering everything from Nebraska to Seattle to San Diego.
KFMB radio has a lineup that includes prominent and well known media personalities that include Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Tony Snow, and Michael Savage.
You can dowload the audio here: http://www.toledomuslims.com/sounds (Click on the ones that say Rick Roberts Show, they go in order. You can listen online or download for later use.)
Mohammed and Rick Roberts hit it off pretty well and discussed a variety of issues. Because Mohammed Alo is a staunch Republican and conservative, the two got along very well.
"I've worked on every Republican presidential campaign since 1988," Mr. Alo said during part of the interview. "I am heavily involved in local GOP politics and have worked on plenty of political campaigns."
Mr. Alo was invited on to discuss the recent events in Toledo and their implications. Mr. Alo and Mr. Roberts discussed the three terror suspects, implications, local reaction and where to go from here. The discussion lasted over an hour and a half and covered many topics.
The discussion began with questions about the local Muslim community and their reaction to the arrests. "The FBI made it very clear, that if it weren't for the cooperation of local Muslims, they would not have been able to break this case. They said that all the credit goes to the Muslim and Arab American community," Mr. Alo explained.
Rick Roberts acknowledged the importance of Muslims and Arab Americans working with law enforcement and denouncing violence. Roberts asked Alo the age old question, "Why hasn't the Muslim community or Muslim clerics come out and condemned terrorism and violence? Where are moderate Muslims and why don't we hear from them?"
Alo explained that this misnomer has been bandied about online and throughout various political circles, "Tons of Muslim organizations, clerics, mosques, and political organizations have been shouting that we condemn terrorism, we condemn violence, that no religion teaches violence. It's not our responsibility to make sure the media reports this. As conservatives, you know as well as I do, that the media seems to report what it wants. We have done everything we can to let people know that this is illegal and unIslamic."
Roberts said that he had not heard too many people condemn terrorism and has not heard Muslims making a big deal out of this. Alo responded that CAIR, ISNA and other Muslim organizatins in the US, canada and Europe as well individual clerics have been condemning terrorism, suicide bombings, and the rioting about those cartoons. Roberts and Alo continued discussing this issue for some time.
Roberts and Alo eventually began talking about Islam in general and the phone lines were jammed with callers waiting to chime in. "We'll be opening up our phone lines shortly and you can ask Mr. Alo any question you have, why all the rioting, why are people burning down churches and embassies, what's the deal with the 72 virgins?"
Alo spent the next hour taking phone calls and addressing misconceptions about Islam in general. Alo explained that no religion accepts violence, "Islam does not say that you should take airplanes and fly them into buildings and doesn't teach that murder is ok. No religion teaches that. Guys like Bin Laden take parts of religion, distort it to suit their political agenda. It's all about the politics. We have seen countless examples in history where people have misused religion to try to wage a political war or push their political agenda. Hitler did this, David Koresh in Waco Texas did this, the Crusaders did this, Timothy McVeigh, and now Bin Laden. People with a political agenda find reasons and ways to manipulate their uneducated masses into following their agenda. The best way to fool people into doing this is by claiming that God wants them to do it."
A caller called in and asked about the verses about the infidels and whether or not Muslims don't like Christians or believe that non-Muslims are infidels or should be killed.
Alo explained, "In Islam we don't have a word for infidels. We don't believe that you are supposed to kill people of other faiths. Islam teaches us that Christians and Jews are your brethren and that you should work with them and cooperate with them on family values and other issues. Prophet Muhammad said that he who hurts a Christian or a Jew has hurt me. When Islam came and spread throughout the middle east, so did Christianity and Judaism. Live and let live. We are taught to give people the choice and freedom to believe whatever they want. In fact, many argue that Islam invented religious tolerance. We are the first religion that taught religious tolerance."
Another caller asked about Jesus Christ and Christianity, Alo explained, "We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Virgin Birth, we believe in Mary, we believe in the second coming that Jesus Christ will return. We believe in all of that. You can't even be Muslim unless you do."
Toward the end of the conversation a caller asked about the 72 virgins, "Is it true that Muslims get 72 virgins if they die for God or commit suicide?"
Alo responded, "No, in Islam suicide is not allowed and you go to hell for killing yourself or anyone else. As for the 72 virgins, there is no verse in the Quran that says anything about receiving 72 virgins if you die for your God or your religion. We don't have that in our primary religious text. Contrast that to the Bible, in Numbers 31 it says that Jews will receive 32,000 virgins if they slaughter innocent civilians. I have deep respect for the Bible and Christianity, I went to Catholic high school, the point is that people with a political agenda will take verses out of context and misconstrue them for political gain or to promote their political agenda."
Another caller called in saying that he was Persian and that Muslims forced Islam onto the people of Persia and that when Prophet Muhammad went back to Mecca he decapitated over 500 people in public.
Alo responded, "When Prophet Muhammad went back to Mecca, that was the most peaceful welcome home party recorded in history. Muhammad was kicked out and sent to Medina, where they lived for a long time. They agreed with the Meccans that you do your thing and we'll do ours. Time went on and the Muslim population grew to staggering numbers. They eventually wanted to go back to Mecca to be reunited with their brothers, sisters, mothers and other family members that were separated. It was peaceful and pretty low key, why would you go back and attack your own family members, that doesn't make any sense. I think you got the story incorrect."
According Professor Thomas Arnold in his book, The Spread of Islam in the World, he clearly states that Islam was not spread by the sword and no one was coerced into following Islam. Islam gave people a choice of what to follow, and that's why Christianity and Judaism spread like wild fire throughout the middle east under Muslim rule.
A number of callers called in thanking Rick Roberts for doing this program and for having on a guest to discuss these issues. Callers Barry and April both spoke highly of Mr. Alo's comments and praised Mr. Roberts for finding this guest.
One caller at the end called in and said, "I have met moderate Muslims and radical Muslims and they all seem the same. I am from east Africa and they never treat me properly and they are all very bad and tehy are always violent.'
Mr. Alo responded, "Well, it's very unfortunate that you have not run into any decent Muslims. The vast majority of Muslims are well behaved and conduct themselves appropriately. If what you are saying is true, and 1.5 billion Muslims were all violent and rioting and attacking everyone else, the world would be a very difficult place to live in. I don't know why you haven't been able to find any decent Muslims. It may be you have, but you just don't know it. Muslims are lawyers, physicians, cab drivers, small business owners, pharmacists. They wake up every morning, drive their kids to school, go to work, do their jobs, and then come home and relax. But that's not really news, so you aren't going to hear about it. Who wants to do a news story on such a boring lifestyle?"
The producer of the show, CJ Wheeler told Mr. Alo off the air that the phone lines were ringing off the hook and said, "You're a hit!" She was very excited to find a conservative Muslim and encouraged Mr. Alo to "be out there, you need to be on all of these shows and tell people that you exist. Conservatives need to know that they have friends in the Muslim community."
Mohammed Alo will be featured on the same radio station, tomorrow morning as well at 9AM Toledo time. Click the link above to listen live.
Note: The views expressed in these articles does not necessarily represent the views of Muslims in Toledo, Ohio nor the views of ToledoMuslims.com, it's staff, owners, editors, webmaster, or writers. The views expressed represent the views of the writer only. ToledoMuslims.com is not responsible for any of the expressed views. Please feel free to comment on our articles in the article discussion area provided.
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