Is Shahid Bolsen Anti-West?

Someone would say, why are you reading this book? You're supposed to be anti West. Who said who said we're anti West? We're anti evil, anti evil behaviors, anti oppression, anti injustice. You said that means the West.

Is that if the you're saying that's what you stand for as the West. Okay. I won't argue with you, but my point is we're not anti West. We're anti what you've done. We're anti what your culture has meant to most people around the world.

I don't see that that's anti West unless that's what you stand for, but that's you. Now you're the one who's who's who's owning up to that. I didn't say that. Who said that we're anti West and that we're we're not pro us, we're not pro Muslim, we're not pro Islam, we're not pro Ummah. We don't have to frame that as being anti West.

If you if you make yourself anti us, then we'll be anti you. But that's that's on you. You're that's that's from your initiative. Epistemological sovereignty doesn't mean, you know, being on the attack necessarily, but we will engage with anything on our own terms. You have your epistemology.

We have our epistemology. We have our understanding. You have your understanding. See, this this is this is where we have a real distinction between them and us in our approach. They have the zero sum mentality.

They have the there can only be one of us. The earth isn't big enough for two epistemologies. We don't have that. Okay. You don't follow ours.

We so we understand this about you. That's all that we ask. We understand this about you. We are not requiring you to follow ours, but we're also standing upon our right to follow ours and not be coerced into following yours. But you go ahead and follow yours.

No problem. All all we just need that fixed in our mind that you're like that Because because we are Muslims and we believe in to you your way, to us our way. We're not crazy people. Genocide isn't an option for us. It's not on the table.

This is on the table for you guys. This is the way you think. This is not the way we think. It's not it's not something that would occur to us that, oh, well, we're you're not like us, therefore, annihilation. That's not that's not how we think.

This is how you think. Us being pro Muslim and pro our own epistemology does not in any way whatsoever necessitate us being anti you, anti West. This is again your thinking. You are applying your epistemological thinking to our thinking, and it doesn't work. All we need to know is that you're a certain kind of way, And then we will calibrate our relationship with you accordingly.

And we don't expect you to change. We are actually capable of letting you not change and living. This isn't this isn't something that you do. If we don't change, we must be annihilated. This is the way you do.