Mohammed Alami (on the left), Washington correspondent for the Aljazeera Television Network, at the Grand Opening of the Creation Museum is interviewed by Michael Patrick Leahy (on the right), Managing Editor of Christian Faith and Reason MagazineOn Saturday, May 26, the two bravest men in the state of Kentucky were Mohammed Alami, the Moroccan born Washington based correspondent for the Aljazeera Television network, and his Palestinian born cameraman, who had been assigned by their bosses in Quatar to cover the opening of the Creation Museum.
The only Muslims at the event, the two men did their best to blend in to the sea of mainly white, Christian faces listening to the "creation/gospel" of Ken Ham.
The unlikely assignment did not seem improbable to Alami.
In an exclusive interview with Christian Faith and Reason Magazine, Alami elaborated:
" Our audience, though mainly Muslim, also has Arab Christians in it. And among Muslims, there is great interest in the Creation story. Just as in the Christian Bible, the Koran talks of a six day creation story. That is what we believe."
Alami's journalistic alarm bell went off when Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham made a throw away comment about his experiences with one Muslim group at the Grand Opening press conference. Ham claimed to have received an invitation to address a Muslim group in a Muslim nation about Creationism, only to have the invitation withdrawn when he insisted on talking about the Gospel as well as Creationism.
"That was an insult to Muslims," said Alami. "He is saying that we are not open to the truth."
Alami pressed Ham on the issue after the press conference.
"In what country did this incident take place ?", he asked Ham.
Ham couldn't remember.
Alami persisted. Where, he wanted to know, did this incident take place ?
"Turkey", responded Ham finally. "I think it was Turkey."
Reflecting on Ham's answer later, Alami was incredulous.
"Turkey ? " he mused. "Turkey is the most secular of all Muslim countries. That is the least likely place where this would take place."
That Turkey might have an interest in learning about American Creationism is not surprising. Turkey, as it turns out, has a vibrant Islamic Creationism movement, fueled in part by the recent success of the book Atlas of Creation, written by Hussan Yahya.
Yahya's argument points to Darwinism as the root cause of Islamic terrorism, a claim sure to draw interest from Americans. Public opinion polls in Muslim countries show that belief in evolution is lowest in Turkey. Muslim Creationism seems to be more concerned over the fact of divine creation than the particular mechanism involved.All the discussion in the United States over the age of the Earth, for instance, amuses Alami.
"We don't care if the Earth is 6,000 years old, or is billions of years old. What matters," he concluded. "Is that God created it all in the beginning. That is what is important."
Alami's Palestinian born cameraman joined the discussion, eager to add his views.
"Did you see in the Answers in Genesis press conference where they ran the video with all the different names that God goes by ? Did you see them include the name Allah ? No, they did not. Why is that ? Why do they not recognize Allah as a name for God ?"
Alami added that Muslims would attend the Creation Museum if it were nearby, but they would be unlikely to make a special trip for that purpose.
"There were no Muslims here today because there are not a lot of Muslims in Northern Kentucky. If this had been in Washington, D.C., where I live, there would have been more Muslims here. We are interested in Creation."
CFR asked Alami if this interest would translate into conversion to Christianity, as Ham says is his purpose.
Alami laughed.
"No Muslim who comes here will change their mind. I can guarantee that. This will change no one's mind about their faith."