Branding him an “anti-Muslim extremist,” The Council on American-Islamic Relations recently protested against the recent appearance of UCF professor Jonathan Matusitz.
He is known for his studies in terrorism and globalization and CAIR rallied against the promotion of his book at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.
Matusitz is a tenured associate professor who has worked at the Sanford and Lake Mary UCF locations.
Despite the group’s protests, he spoke at the President’s Speaker Series on March 6 at Embry-Riddle about his latest book “Terrorism and Communication: A Critical Introduction.”
When it was announced that Matusitz would speak there, the CAIR Florida chapter sent a letter to Embry-Riddle President John P. Johnson to withdraw the invitation for Matusitz’s speaking event.
The request came from Hassan Shibly, the Florida executive director of CAIR. In response to Matusitz’s appearance, Shibly has been invited and accepted a participation request to appear in a President’s Speaker Series later on in the year.
Despite the negative response from CAIR, Matusitz said he isn’t concerned with the organization’s action. He said he believes the organization’s allegations and calls to action against him are not just.
“What CAIR does is create ‘social noise’ to make themselves heard and to intimidate speakers and professors like me,” Matusitz said.
CAIR took its campaign against Matusitz further by releasing a video against the professor. In the video, Matusitz said that he has taught many Muslim students but claimed that they knew nothing about Islam.
He also said that “anyone with a fraction of a brain should be afraid of Islam” after explaining that he has also been called an “Islamophobe.”
Matusitz said the claims of him being anti-Muslim are untrue.
“I reach logical conclusions based on past and current facts and statistics,” Matusitz said.
He said his concern is that he believes Muslims themselves tend to not speak up against CAIR or groups that want to impose sharia (Islamic law) in Western countries.
Matusitz said he is most concerned about what he said are the key objectives of Islam which establish a global Islamic world order and impose sharia in every country on Earth.
“These are not views about Islam. These are facts about the religion,” Matusitz said.
Katelyn Picard is a humanities senior and Muslim Student Association member who converted to Islam and said many of Matusitz’s views of the religion are untrue and skewed.
“As a practicing Muslim, who is a convert, this story makes me livid. It makes me angry,” she said. “I support what CAIR is doing about Matusitz, although many students and Muslims fear speaking out because they fear they will be lumped with ‘extremists’ or those that are intolerant of others.”
Picard is seeking a double degree in history with a focus on non-Western history and humanities and has taken numerous classes on the Middle East, anthropology, history, religion and political science.
“On an academic level, there are flaws and holes in Matusitz’s statements,” she said. “He wants there to be common misconceptions. And they are rooted in misinformation found in factual partial-information taken out of context and morphed to fit his cause.”
Picard and other practicing Muslims want people to educate themselves on the facts surrounding their religion.
“From 1980 through 2005, only 6 percent of terrorist attacks were committed by Muslims in the United States,” Picard said.
Nafila Shaikh, a freshman studying biomedical sciences, MSA member and practicing Muslim, said that the best way to learn about a religion is to study its scripture.
“There are misconceptions out there about Islam, such as some people believing that Islam is a violent religion,” Shaikh said. “Some people tend to judge a religion and all of its followers based on only some individuals. Some people who do negative acts in the name of their religion cannot account for how the religion actually is.”