Do Dallas Muslim leaders want sharia to be the law of the land? - Part II

by Blair Lovern

This past weekend, DMN editorial board member Rod Dreher posted on his blog about a meeting the DMN had with Dallas Muslim leaders. He said he did not get a direct answer to his questions (one of which was whether local Muslims wanted sharia to be the law of the land.) That post upset Mohamed Elmougy, who led the group that came to meet the editorial board at the paper.

Elmougy writes to Dreher, in part: "One would have hoped that you would at least be honest in recanting our meeting last week in your blog! Of course I could respond to you point by point and prove to everyone that you’re blinded by bias and hatred towards Islam & Muslims, but you don’t deserve my time!

As Elmougy did, I read Dreher's post. I read it again and I still cannot see the hatred toward Islam & Muslims. I wasn't at the meeting but what I read was someone asking a question and someone else not answering. Was this not what happened? If so, why didn't Elmougy respond point by point in his email to Dreher? If it is not worth the time now, then when is it?

Responds Dreher today on his blog:

To ask these questions is not to show hatred for Muslims, and to assert such a thing is transparently an attempt at moral bullying. On the contrary, asking hard questions and expecting credible answers is to take Islam and its doctrines and believers seriously. And it is to take the journalists' role seriously. I mean it sincerely when I say that I welcome dialogue with our Muslim neighbors. Dialogue, not monologue. Mohamed seems to believe that dialogue is only possible if the outcome is predetermined, and it can only be agreement with his side's views. I respectfully but firmly dissent.