Looks like misunderstanders of Islam are also the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca:
MAKKAH: Imam and Khatib at the Grand Mosque Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais warned Muslims against drifting away from the noble values of Islamic culture.
"A people achieve glory by holding fast to the noble values of their culture. In the absence of such values, deviant ideologies threatening global peace and stability emerge," Al-Sudais said while addressing hundreds of thousands of worshippers that filled the Grand Mosque and its squares for the Eid Al-Adha congregation and the millions watching around the world Tuesday morning. Eid congregations were held in mosques and special grounds across the Kingdom.
Explaining the concept of moderation in Islam, Al-Sudais said: "The moderation in faith means that a man should take a middle path in between the two extremes of negation of God and believing in many gods.
Moderate faith means belief in one God, the Lord, the Sustainer with all His supreme qualities."
The imam also warned against being the victims of the global media controlled by Zionist extremists.
He cited the strategy of the global media, which is under the influence of the Zionist lobbies, to downplay or ignore the suffering of the Palestinians worsened day after day by occupation forces that deny them food and medicine, raze their homes and Judaize the features of Islam and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article193335.ece^ I'm sure most in the crowd, after they were finished calling for the death of America and Israel, probably felt
ed by what the good Imam said about Zionists controlling the world media.
But besides being an occasional misunderstander, this guy is actually a Muslim moderate, through and through.
Here's what he said in 2005:
Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais, Imam, Ka'ba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia: The history of Islam is the best testament to how different communities can live together in peace and harmony. Muslims must exemplify the true image of Islam in their interaction with other communities.
John Ware: Sheikh Sudais is a leading Imam from the great mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest city.
He had one voice for his Western audience - another for his followers in Saudi.[One voice for Muslims, another for non-Muslims? Haven't heard that before - EH]
Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais: The worst ... of the enemies of Islam are those... whom he... made monkeys and pigs, the aggressive Jews and oppressive Zionists and those that follow them: the callers of the trinity and the cross worshippers... those influenced by the rottenness of their ideas, and the poison of their cultures the followers of secularism... How can we talk sweetly when the Hindus and the idol worshippers indulge in their overwhelming hatred against our brothers... in Muslim Kashmir...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/p ... 171950.stmWho needs extremists when you have moderates like Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais?