Ergun Caner, part of the problem

In my post Need help convincing your friends that Islam is a religion? I did not name those that are presenting a perverted view of Islam and the US Constitution.  I thought I would name a few in the up coming days.

Ergun Caner is a college professor who has lied about his testimony and Islam.  Though he has always maintained to my knowledge that Islam is a religion, he has constantly stereotyped the faith.  Here is what he taught our Marines on base at New River, NC.

"We fought against each other, in 1300 years of history. Since roughly 632 to  732 we have either fought a common enemy or we fought each other.   In other words you just got in the way.  In the 80’s  it was Iran and Iraq.  Pretty soon it will be Pakistan and eastern India.  Lebanon and Syria.   We are much more comfortable fighting each other.  Turkey versus the Kurds, the Kurds versus the Iraqis.  The Sunni Triangle versus the Shia in the south. 80% of Iraq as you know are Shia. Only 20% or less are Sunni. So in the midst of this, you came and gave us the one thing that can unite us other than war. Three times in Islamic history we have been united. Three: once against Charles Martel, the grand-father of Charlemagne, Charlemagne. Second time under Saladin in the Crusades. Third time, February 23rd, 1998, the signing of the fatwa by Osama bin Muhammad bin Laden, Rasul Rahman, al-Zawahiri. Other than that we've fought against each other. We always unite when there is a common enemy, a common 'Iblis,' Devil, 'Shaitan,' Satan. It's you." 16:22 (Quote Word Count: 187 Words)

Now class, what is wrong with this statement?  Well first, if Bin Laden's communications skill were that great I want them.  Islam, like Christianity, has endless variety.  Only 20% of the Muslims speak Arabic. In order to unite Islam the fatwa must be translated into several different languages.  This is not all.  Like Christianity not all Muslims are literate even if you translated the fatwa into their language, it would have to be read to them.

OK, let us assume Caner's transmission claim is true and everyone knew about the fatwa.  All people do not agree with anything.  Human nature demands that some people will oppose Bin Laden for religious, national, or monetary reasons.  For example the Muslim Brotherhood despises Al Qaeda. They probably opposed the fatwa out of pure spite even they had not sworn off violence. Some of these Muslims that he taught united behind Bin Laden are American Citizens and soldiers.  Some of them were killed by Bin Laden on 9/11.  I hope you get my point, uniting a billion plus people is like herding cats.  When someone proclaims such an uniting they are demonstrating their prejudice.

In summary:

1. The fatwa was most likely not translated into every language and told to every literate and illiterate Muslim.
2. Even if one assumes universal transmission, people do not unite, because you ask for them to unite.

PS - He also lied about his family in this video.

Edit 9/6/11 - I said "lied", because this is how I use the word "lie".  However I recognize that "lie" unlike "slander" has greater variance in connotations.  Slander is generally making a false statement about somebody whether knowingly or unknowlingly. A lie has several components.  One, you must know that what you said is false.  I find that the sequence of statements in this video make it improbable that Ergun did not know that he was making false statements.  Though I will concede that this is not impossible.  Strange things do happen.  Others would not consider these lies, because they contain some truth.  "He says he grew up in Turkey speaking Turkish until 14. Well he is Turkish, so there is some truth to that."  Still, the amount of twisting that I have to do to say that Ergun did not "lie" makes the word lose meaning to me.   I am teaching my children not to do what Ergun did.  My four year old tries to tell me he did not lie.  I cannot make excuses for this man and teach my children honesty.  However I understand that you may have a different definition for the word "lie".  I am writing this, because my main point is that I am trying to prove that the Muslim world did not unite behind Bin Laden in 1998.  I can prove this with much greater certainty than proving Ergun lied.