Despite the fact that I disagree with Sheikh Salman Al-Odah on some points and that I don’t belong to the same stream of thinking, I genuinely compliment him and respect him for his objective approach and logical thinking which is often lacking in our religious preaching.
More importantly, Al-Odah was — and still is — developing himself and widening his horizons. He has worked hard to acquire and expose himself to a great deal of information regarding science, technology, political systems and economy in the West. He offers advice with the best of everything he can find out about which, in my opinion, reflects his receptive nature to dialogue and his desire to benefit from everything available.
As for his language, it’s very simple yet rational. He’s able to present and deliver different messages without too many complications. He’s very fluent and eloquent and capable of choosing the correct vocabulary to explain his views. He understands that people have brains and he addresses them directly. He doesn’t use some of the theatrical tricks common to certain well-known TV presenters learned through implementing the recent trend of neuro-linguistic programming. It’s a technique used to teach people how to grab their listeners’ attention regardless of what content they are presenting.
In spite of all that I have mentioned, I don’t understand the vicious anti-Al-Odah campaign that’s promoted by some who call themselves liberals. Liberalism emphasizes individual rights and an equality of opportunity to practice freedom of speech as long as it’s free from violence and hatred. Different forms of liberalism may involve very different policies, but they are generally united by their support for a number of principles, including extensive freedom of thought and speech and the free exchange of ideas.
As far as I know, Al-Odah has never called for violence and has never accused anyone of being an unbeliever either directly or indirectly. He has never attacked anyone personally and has never encouraged hatred — unless of course we take his being against the American invasion of Iraq and the Israeli occupation of Palestine as promoting hatred and rejecting peace.
Al-Odah respects the principle of disagreement with others and he calls for dialogue. Then what more do the liberals of this country want? Do they want Al-Odah and his ilk to adopt the so-called “liberalism,” which is nothing but blind imitation? Or do they want to silence Al-Odah and other balanced religious scholars so they can easily eliminate the entire religious stream? I don’t really understand where those so-called liberals stand in relation to extremist scholars who advocate strict immoderate adherence to Islam and don’t accept discussions or dialogue with others.
