This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/60

So Happy to Have Hosted Hamas -Florida Atlantic University thanks Fulbright for bringing Hamas activist Mustafa Abu Sway to their campus

April 24, 2004

Florida Atlantic University's love affair with Hamas activist Mustafa Abu Sway has reached new depths.

Hamas Activist Mustafa Abu Sway

When Abu Sway was asked, what in your opinion is the difference between the violence of defending one's rights and terrorism?" Abu Sway replied: http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/20

"Sometimes there is really a play on words, and it depends on where one stands...Definitely, if we address the issue from the point of view of national law the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves...Under these conditions. I think that one would only expect that Palestinians would do something about it". "Now what is the difference between violence and terrorism?" "I think there is a fine line between both issues and sometimes the cards are mixed". If you target those outside the conflict it is terrorism. But ultimately , if one targets the military force of the occupier, then I do not think it is terrorism although one would wish that the whole thing did not exist in the first place". http://www.americanmuslim.org/17palestine17a.html

The "whole thing" that...'career peacenik' Abu Sway wishes, "didn't exist in the first place", is very likely a cynical reference to Israel. At a 2001 interfaith conference Abu Sway remarked, to audible gasps from the Jews in the audience, that he "wishes the state of Israel would dissappear". http://www.216.239.37.104/search?q=cache.hcygv7tlC6AJ:www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2003/002/6.8html+%22abu+sway%22%22wished+the+state+of+Israel+would+dissapear.%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

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Harriet Wilkes Honors College Symposium
for Research and Creative Projects

Friday, April 9, 2004

http://www.fau.edu/~mabusway/

Special Honors College Forum Presentation

Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway

Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence and Associate Professor of Philosophy and Islamic Studies

Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University

"Islam and Women: What paradigm?"

A renowned scholar of Islamic Philosophy and Epistemology, Dr. Abu Sway has published several books and articles on topics ranging from the religious rulings of tenth-century scholar Al-Ghazzali to environmental philosophy through the Islamic worldview. His teachings and writings consistently represent a voice of interfaith dialogue, religious conflict resolution and respectful co-existence. Educated at Bethlehem University (BA) and Boston College (MA, PhD), he has since taught at both of those colleges, along with the International Islamic University of Malaysia and Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. A member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Society, and the Muslim-Christian Council of Jerusalem, Dr. Abu Sway currently teaches as a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College.

The faculty and students of the Honors College are privileged and honored to have Dr. Abu Sway as a member of their community and would like to publicly extend their gratitude to the Fulbright program for bringing Dr. Abu Sway and his family to the College during this academic year.

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On April 9, Hamas peacenik Abu Sway was the guest speaker at a special Honors College Presentation. His talk was entitled: "Islam and Women: What Pardigm? (MIM will provide information on this talk when it becomes available)

. On the FAU Wilkes Honors College website Abu Sway was billed as the; " Fulbright Scholar in residence -Professor of Philosophy and Islamic Studies Al- Quds University in Jerusalem"...

The FAU advert gushed that, "The faculty and honors college are priviledged and honored to have Dr.Abu Sway as a member of their community and would like to publicly extend their gratitude to the Fulbright program for bringing Dr. Abu Sway and his family to the College during this academic year ...whose " teachings and writings consistently represent a voice of interfaith dialouge, religious conflict resolution, and respectful coexistence."

The Hamas peace guru recently wrote a paper entitled:" The Sanctity of Life in Islam ". He wrote that Islam condemns; "assisted suicide ...no degree of pain and suffering permits suicide not even for political reasons" and then issues a caveat ."This position covers what is described as assisted suicide. Abu Sway's own definition of "justified violence against oppressors " means that anyone donning a bomb belt and detonating oneself is reacting to "ensuing violence" and the suicide is no longer defined as going against what he cites as Koranic prohibitions.

Abu Sway quotes a verse in the Koran which says and had this to say about justified conflict and violence ..."I would like to stress that there is no equality between the oppressors and the oppressed, occupiers and occupied. "Those who initiate and inflict harm are ultimately responsible for the ensued violence". Violence is the result of a context not a text. In fact there are no cycles of violence. Violence is linear with a specific historical beginning".

In a 2000 at a Passia conference Mustapha Abu Sway had this to say about the religious duties of Muslims towards Al Aqsa and blames the Israelis for winning in the 1967 war : "Being a Jerusalemite myself and living only a short walking distance from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, I have witnessed the influx of Muslim pilgrims from many parts of the world immediately after the Hajj season prior to 1967. Unfortunately, the Israeli occupation sealed off Palestine from the rest of the Muslim world".

"The hadith shows that it is the religious duty of Muslims all over the world to maintain Al-Aqsa Mosque both physically and spiritually. The relationship with Al-Aqsa Mosque is primarily fulfilled through acts of worship, but the physical maintenance of the Mosque is also part of the responsibility of all Muslims. The fulfillment of both duties will be impaired as long as Al-Aqsa Mosque remains under occupation! The truth of the matter is that under Israeli occupation, Muslims do not have free access to the Mosque. Those Muslims who are prevented from praying there and from supporting it are denied the ability to fulfill critical religious responsibilities".

http://www.passia.org/jerusalem/meetings/2000/10july/islamic.html Here we have Mustafa Abu Sway espousing the basic premises of the Hamas Covenant in pseudo intellectual terms . http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Terrorism/Hamas_covenant.html Here some verses from the Koran included in Hamas's 'mission statement' "The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'"....There is no solution for the Palestine question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. Palestine is an Islamic land".