Quote:
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Originally Posted by Riot
"As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam - at places like Al-Azhar University - that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality." - Barack Obama
So tell me, in the above, where are the specific falsehoods?
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just a start but some appetizers before I really get into the guts
Obama settled on Al-Azhar University as a co-sponsor of the event, because as he put it, “For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning.” Al-Azhar is indeed the Islamic equivalent of the Vatican curia.
And what learning emerges from Al-Azhar? For starters, there is female genital mutilation. In fairness, Islam gets something of a bad rap here; there is actually nothing in the Koran or the traditions of Muhammad to support it, and most Muslims find it abhorrent. Not Al-Azhar University, though. Gad al-Haq, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, adamantly endorsed the practice until his death in 1996, in defiance of the secular government of Egypt’s attempts to ban it. The current Grand Sheikh, rather than condemning the practice as barbaric, says only that it is “not a must.”
Nice Huh?