Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

altmuslim

Home
Muslim
Calling Spades Across the Divide in the Comedy of Errors – The Saga of Umar Lee and the Islamists

Calling Spades Across the Divide in the Comedy of Errors – The Saga of Umar Lee and the Islamists

Last updated on: June 27, 2013 at 3:32 pm by Guest Contributor

Calling Spades Across the Divide in the Comedy of Errors – The Saga of Umar Lee and the Islamists 2013-06-27T15:32:29-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Ahmed Younis and Dr. Bassem Youssef

Umar Lee left Islam — and then came back.

One of the things Egyptians and Americans have in common is professional wrestling. Weekly translations of the glory years of WWF episodes have ensured that there is nothing missed (in translation) between the youth of our two worlds. From Hulk Hogan, The Rock and the John Cena to the Iron Sheikh and Nikoli Volkov (everyone’s favorite dirty bastard communist villain) – we are all on the same page.

So, you can imagine that when writer and speaker Umar Lee left Islam, we felt the need to narrate this episode of “Islamist Wrestling – The Clown Series.”

For Umar Lee, the real human under the costume, we wish nothing but the best in the healing of his heart and his search for Grace and Mercy from the Almighty. We believe in his freedom to choose any faith and search for his truth on this earth.

Umar Lee, the cartoon wrestler that represents the comedic end of the Islamist spectrum of confusion, however, we will show no mercy in jokes.

According to Dilshad Ali of Managing Editor of the Muslim Channel at Patheos, “Lee cited numerous reasons for going back to Christianity, including infighting and division in the Muslim community, being judged on things like a woman’s hijab or the length of a man’s beard, on apostasy, on how Muslims are killing Muslims, on how he doesn’t know a happy Muslim and a host of other reasons.”

Here is what’s curious: Lee was a little known phenomenon until he released a video approximately one year ago accusing many people of many things. Among them, he criticized women who wore a hijab (head scarf) not conservative enough to his liking, calling them “HOE-Jabis” instead of “Hijabis” and underscoring that they are whores for not covering to his liking. This, of course, is consistent with connection between most Islamists and cocaine-addicted pimps that sell sex. They both see women as either avenues of power or pieces of meat for entertainment.

Umar branded himself as “The Correctifier” (you can’t make this up folks), whose job, like most Islamists, is to correct. Like the Saudi religious police meeting an Irish Leprechaun at the time of evening prayers at a bar in Jeddah, Umar was ready to correct. That is, correct the deviations he sees others are engaged in. And like a steroid-filled wrestler in a rural American gym, Umar Lee threw chairs and opponents over the ropes once the cameras turned on. He once challenged rival Muslim liberal convert Muhammad Michael Knight to a boxing match. Literally.

When he attacked a person of note in the music/art world of doing shows to “spit game” to young Muslim women and trick them into temporary marriages, a series of self-proclaimed American Muslim “activists” on Facebook took the accusation and ran with it. They took it upon themselves to “speak the truth” and expose those people taking advantage of … wait for it … OUR WOMEN.

All of these people jumped on one man because “The Correctifier” called him out in a video. When Umar Lee left Islam, the only person to call him early on and show support was this same person he cursed in his videos – a Prophetic example indeed.

Umar Lee even perfected the ultimate wrestling move. He tried to rebrand from the bad guy to the good guy! Recently he claimed that he got a vision in his sleep of a Saint, and he immediately realized the wrongs of Salafism and changed his approach to Sufism. And it worked! Many of his old friends and supporters said he was now an infidel because to them he was no longer “hard core” enough.

Who was saying this? Black, White and Latino converts to Islam in the middle of America who imported something other than Islam and are spreading it fast – all disappointed in the performance of their chosen wrestler.

You can imagine their horror when he published a video saying that he left Islam and accepted Jesus Christ as his savior. I’m sure some of those Salafis went back to drinking Johnny Walker! Maybe they felt vindicated when he later released a statement through a friend on Facebook saying that he was going into hiding to think things through and that he “jumped the Jesus shit.” Maybe it gave them hope that he will return to the abode of clowns and wrestlers in yet another form. Like … Super-Just-Kidding-Wahhabi-Salafi-Man!

And in fact, a few days ago, Popeye announced he is coming back to Islam.

The takeaway? Islamists are no different than cartoon characters and professional wrestlers.

They are usually an exaggerated version of a minute detail in a history of 1400 years, amplified to deafening levels of noise and thereby totally washing out the essence of Islam. Oftentimes that detail is inextricably linked to the glorification of a concept, norm or trait of ancient times.

So, if at the time of the Prophet there were no paved roads, Islamists walk the streets of Philadelphia in 2013 with short pants, despite no impending floods. If the toothbrush at the time was a twig from a tree and the cologne consisted of unhealthy oils meant for burning, then in Los Angeles we are going to call Colgate toothpaste the enemy of religion and lead a jihad against the automated toothbrush as an innovation in worship.

Like wrestlers, they come in many shapes and sizes, like bad knock-off Frolex watches from the street vendor. At their core, they are fakes just like the people they are attempting to imitate.

Islam is a beautiful way of life under threat from Islamists and their failed strategies, ideologies and now economic/social policies. There is a mass exodus of people leaving Islam around the world because of the ugliness that Islamists have reaped in the public square.

The story above with all of its details is a true story. And it is a story that plays itself out in Muslim societies globally every day. The simpleton approach of Islamists to religion, economics, society, individual growth etc. are not enough to satiate the appetites of either those whom were born into Islam or those that come to Islam throughout their lives. Islam is need of no more clowns.

Let us as Muslims declare our independence from the Islamists and their funders of cash and providers of ideology. Let us as Muslims not cower, allowing them to make a mockery of a great faith. The tragedy is that their hearts and the hearts of so many are turned away from a beautiful way of life, because the teachers are as confused as the students, and their cultural sources of knowledge are obsolete in modernity.

Dr. Bassem Youssef is a Cairo-based Cardiac Surgeon and satirist. He hosts Al Barnameg (The Show) Egypt’s first live audience satire show. Last week he hosted “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart on-set in Cairo.

Ahmed Younis is an American public intellectual and social entrepreneur of Egyptian descent based in Huntington Beach, Ca. who tweets @ahmedyounisjd.

Previous Post

June 20, 2013

Parenting in the Age of New Media - Advice for (Muslim) Parents

Next Post

July 1, 2013 Video: Lesley Hazleton on How Doubt is Essential to Faith

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who helped Jesus carry His cross?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judas Simon of Cyrene Peter John