“I could set myself as an example to the western citizen, as I still carry the Jesus in my heart although I had converted to Islam,” Garaudy

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, August 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the United States would become a nosediving empire, Islam could be a substitute for the New World Order, said famed French writer and philosopher Roger Garaudy on Wednesday, August 6.

“With its deep concerns over losing the grip on some areas of the world as well as the emergence of Europe and South East Asian countries as competitive economic powers, America could feel its slide into collapse,” Garaudy told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview.

Garaudy sees the collapse of the world’s only super power country “could even be precipitated by an Arab-Islamic steadfastness” along with forming an Islamic-Christian alliance “to boycott and stand in the face of the U.S. and its close ally Israel”.

He argued that Islam could replace the New World Order as the widely-spreading religion carries no opposition to the half of the world population of Christians.

“I could set myself as an example to the western citizen, as I still carry Jesus in my heart although I had converted to Islam,” he said.

“The Islamic religion offered me the picture of Jesus in the way I like,” contended the former politician.

‘Incidental’

Garaudy lamented that “extremist Islamic” trends using violence are “part of ailments inflicted on Islam”.

But he considered such ailments incidental “as they are thriving on the current gap between Arab governments and their peoples because of the lack of democracy”.

On the other side, Garaudy said, there is a “wave of rational and responsible Islam, which represents the moderate and balanced trend whose symbols include Sheikh Youssef El-Qaradawi, Rashed Ghanoush and Al-Sheikh Al-Bouti, to mention by a few those who managed to delve deep into the essence of Islam and attempt to present people and rulers with it.”

As for reforming the syllabuses in Islamic countries, the famed French intellectual hailed the move as “a noble goal”.

“But such reforms should not be brought in as part of goals and conditions dictated by the United States” as there are lot of reformists in the modern Islamic history who could lead people down this road,” he said.

Garaudy cited schools set up by Ibn Bades in Algeria “which are a clear demonstration of this reformist spirit which goes beyond traditional religious education only based on memorizing Qur’an,” he said.

“It is also wrong and useless that some countries still see that the Islamic Law (Sharia) could be put into motion by cutting the hands of the thief only.”

Garaudy also offered reforms “put forward by scholars Mohamed Abdu and Gamaleddin El-Afghani as another prototypes to be followed.

Concerning Saudi Arabia, Garaudy argued that educations reform should be entrusted with independent scholars “who are not following the official religious establishment”.

He stressed that any need for reform should not be considered as a bow to the United States’ pressures.

“Ironically, Saudi religious institutions are following the ruling regime – as is the case for Al-Azhar in Egypt – but people themselves are rejecting appliance western legislations as they are considered means of old colonialists,” said Garaudy.

Iran Next Target

Garaudy warned that America’s next target after Iraq and Afghanistan is Iran.

“After the U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq, the next target will be neighboring Iran,” Garaudy told IslamOnline.net.

Because of such plots, Garaudy said, he accepted the Iranian government’s invitation to write letters to students who staged a number of anti-regime rallies last month.

At this delicate juncture, Garaudy told the jeering students: “you have to choose between a coming American occupation and accepting a non-idealistic government with a lot of mistakes that could be addressed”.

However, he thinks that political and religious reforms are in need in the Islamic Republic.

“During my visit to Iran, I was received by two different men, President Mohamed Khatamei and Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamaenei”

Garaudy found the first a “talker” and the other the same as other ayatollahs that “no one can argue with”.

Garaudy had wrote on the anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomenei, telling Iranians that the Iranian leader “had set up a good constitution, but his successors corrupted it, the same as the constitution drawn up by Charles De Gaul and corrupted by following French presidents”.

Garaudy had earlier said that Washington had “woven the scenario” of the September 11 attacks to wage wars against Afghanistan and Iraq to control oilfields in central Asia and Iraq, the last had the world’s second oil reserves after Saudi Arabia.