Ali Sina (activist)

Ali Sina is a pseudonym of the founder of Faith Freedom International, a website that claims it is set up to encourage Muslims leave Islam. According to the website, Sina is himself a former Muslim, now a secular humanist, of Iranian-Canadian nationality. While Sina's supporters claim he is uncovering the truth behind Islam [1], his critics have called him an Islamophobe [2] for his negative comments on Islam and Muslims.

Nothing is known about Sina's identity. He uses a pseudonym because, he says, he has received death threats on Islamic sites [3] and by e-mail, as a result of his outspoken criticism of Islam. His critics have on the other hand argued that he is hiding his identity in order to make a false claim about being an apostate of Islam and to serve an agenda of insulting Islam and Muslims [4]. One reason or other, Sina remains anonymous, and very little about him is known publicly.

Traffic ranking for Sina's website, faithfreedom.org, has fluctuated since its inception in June of 2001 [5]. In early 2003, according to the online source Alexa.com, it was in the top 10,000 sites on the internet. Currently it is in the top 50,000. It has become a meeting ground for many people, who use the internet to expound their criticism of Islam.

Views and beliefs

Sina claims:

• "Islam is not a religion of love but a doctrine of hate." [6]
• "Arabs had a rich secular and tolerant culture before they succumbed to Islam. They are very hospitable and friendly people. It is all about Islam. I assure you that if America falls prey to Islam, the Americans will do what Muslims do with the same savagery. American Muslim converts are no better than Saudi terrorists" [7]
• "The ultimate goal of Islam is to rule the world; Islam is political and political Islam is fascism." [8]
• "We have to kill Islam. We have to aim our darts at the heart of Islam. We have to attack Muhammad and destroy the credibility of Quran." [9]

Ali Sina believes that the war against Islamic terrorism must also be fought on ideological grounds, and he claims that Islam must either be weakened or eradicated. "Moderate Islam means less Islam", says Sina and "Islamic moderation is a myth. Such thing does not exist just as a round square does not exist." [10]

Ali Sina has consistently claimed that Islam is the greatest danger Mankind is facing today. However, he also says that Islam is "a house of cards that will collapse if sufficiently pushed", and that we may see the end of Islam within the next few decades. He has compared Islam both to Communism and Nazism, claiming that it will either collapse from within as the former did or will have an apocalyptic end like the latter, after causing the death of millions and even billions in a nuclear Armageddon. [11]. It is his belief that if enough people start voicing their criticism, Islam will fall the way communism and Nazism fell. [12].

Sina believes that modern communication technology such as the Internet may prove a turning point no less crucial to Islam today than the printing press was to Christianity. [13] "This is a new dawn for the followers of Muhammad," says Sina. "This is the beginning of the renaissance of Islamic world. And this renaissance is going to take place now and in our own lifetime." [14]

Despite the above expression of hope and prediction of a better future for Muslims, he has made remarks about Islam and Muslims that can be seen as offensive. He has written:

“Muslims are paranoid, have victim mentality, feel humiliated, have explosive personality, are vengeful, lack empathy, are oblivious of the pain that they cause to others, lack conscience, consider themselves superior to others, demand preferential treatments while deny the basic human rights to others, are scornful and abusive of others but expect respect and undeserving recognition, lack self- esteem but are most concerned about their image. …Muslims do not value personal integrity and do not respect the rights of other people. None of the so-called Islamic human rights organizations are concerned about the abysmal rights of non-Muslims in Islamic countries and not even about the human rights abuses of nominal Muslims in Islamic countries. They pup up only in non-Muslim democracies and their sole mission is to wreak havoc when someone criticizes Islam, demand apologies and resignations and make sure that Muslims are treated preferentially.

Muslims have grandiose sense of self-importance and expect to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements. They are envious of others and believe that others are envious of them. They are arrogant and show haughty behaviors and attitudes. They suffer from chronic lack of confidence and are fundamentally dissatisfied, but mask this with violence and a ruthless exploitative personality, victimizing often those who are most vulnerable and can't retaliate. These were traditionally their wives and children, but now with terrorism, they can victimize everyone and enjoy the sensation of power that this gives them. They seek respect and importance by instilling fear. Their brazen and reckless behavior covers up for a depressive, anxious interior. Their souls are barren landscapes of misery and fears. You may find individual Muslims who do not fall into this mold. But we are talking about general traits and not exceptions.

Muslims are walking scar tissues. They collectively suffer from narcissistic personality disorder because they have entered in Muhammad's psychotic bubble universe, think like him and behave like him. The more they emulate their role model and are influenced by his psychotic mind, the more pathological they become. However, since the narcissistic personality disorder of Muslims is a reflection of Muhammad's psychosis, once they leave Islam and are no more influenced by its nefarious effect, they can recover, albeit it requires effort and self-awareness. Likewise, those who convert to Islam, and to the extent that they follow Muhammad, acquire his disorder, become narcissists and even dangerous." [15]

In another place he has stated "Islamic culture is an oxymoron, while Islamic terrorism is redundancy" [16]

Criticisms

Critics have alleged that he

• uses inflammatory language (example [17])
• incites hatred of Islam (example [18])
• is racist and uses derogatory comments (example [19])
• views muslims as stereotypes [20].
• chooses specific translations (of Islamic sources) that best supports his arguments.[21]
• uses Islamic sources out of context [22]
• has a distorted view on the history of Islam [23].
• is a hypocrite [24][25].

Yamin Zakaria, one of Sina's most ardent critics, has called him "a rabid anti-Islamic zealot" who "advocates the indiscriminate killing of Muslims by the US forces even using nuclear weapons" [26]. Sina has allowed articles on his website, advocating the nuking of Islamic holy cities such as Mecca and Medina, in the event of a nuclear attack on US soil"[27]. Despite this, Ali Sina also claims to be an admirer of pacifists such as Gandhi and Krishnamurthi. In addition, Zakaria has also criticized Sina's interpretation of the Golden Rule. Ali Sina has accused Islam to be the only religion, beside the White Supremacists, (Creativity Movement) to oppose the Golden Rule claiming that many teachings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad violate the rule of "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". [28] Mr. Zakaria’s response has been "The “Golden Rule” is not universal, not self-evident, subjective, inadequate and not absolute...it is flawed as a fundamental principle. At best it is just a moral advice to individuals to exercise self-restraint. Therefore, the allegations against the final Prophet (SAW) cannot be levied." [29] Sina responded that "As it is clear from Mr. Zakaria's rejection of the Golden Rule, true Muslims do not possess conscience. Conscience has not evolved in them."[30]

Websites critical of Ali Sina

• Faithfreedom.com, is a site created to refute Sina's writings, The goal of this site as described by its creators), is "to expose the well organized campaign of hate and deceit launched against Muslims and Islam on the Internet."

• bismikaallahuma.org A thread on an Internet Forum, critical of Sina. Describes him as a "mischievous liar" who has "gained a large following among those who have an axe to grind against Islam". MENJ, the founder of this site believes "Ali Sina should be killed according to Islamic law" not just for apostasizing but also for speaking against Islam. [31]

• thetruereligion.org an article criticising Sina for among other things, re-hashing polemic orientalist material.

• Doctrine of Unmitigated Hatred against Islam A secular article discussing methods of referencing and evocative articulation, and their context from a linguistic perspective within Ali Sina's site.

There are more critical views of Sina posted on several sites around the Internet. Some of the personal criticisms against him have been made available on his own site, presumably held up as exemplarary displays to rally support for his case [32].

A feature of Sina's site is the debates page, where many Muslims have challenged Sina's views on Islam, including Grand Ayatollah Montazeri

See also

• Opposition to Islam
• Religious conversion
• Apostasy in Islam

External links

Online sources

• World Net Daily Article Headline: "Ex-Muslim's site trashes Muhammad"
• Faith Freedom.org An opposing view on Islam by Ali Sina with a list of his essays
• FrontpageMag.com Symposium: Gender Apartheid and Islam
• Asia Times SPENGLER on Sina
• An Interview with Ali Sina
• Hugh Fitzgerald on Ibn Warraq and Ali Sina
• Wolfgang Bruno: Advice to President Bush
• A Review about Ali Sina

Opposing Views

• FaithFreedom.com A site challenging the views of Ali Sina
• Responses To FFI A collection of responses to FaithFreedom.org
• Examinethetruth.com Challenging Sina's views
• Thetruereligion.org Opposition to Ali Sina
• A debate between Edip Yuksel and Ali Sina
• The Independent Centre for Strategic Studies and Analysis (Islamist site) - A Debate between Yamin Zakaria and Ali Sina