Mehdi Hasan: serious or silly journalist?

“Once we lose the moral high ground we [Muslims] are no different from the rest of the non-Muslims, from the rest of those human beings who live their lives as animals, bending any rule to fulfill any desire.”
     ~Mehdii Hasan

Since 2021, I have been enjoying Mehdi Hasan, the host of The Mehdi Hasan Show on MSNBC. I find him articulate, and his reporting and interviews thoughtful and well-researched. Although I still cling to some of my conservative and libertarian roots, I find myself mostly agreeing with his gloves-off, no-nonsense opinions. Curious about his ethnicity and British accent, I took an interest in this man; so one day I decided to get some background on Hasan.

Right off the bat I was somewhat shocked to discover Hasan’s dubious past as the voice of Al Jazeera, you remember, the media arm of several countries accused of financing terrorist organizations around the globe?

     Worrisome.

Then I came across a couple YouTube videos which were nothing less than shocking, sending my admiration for Hasan into a tailspin. There they were, in living color, for all the world to see: Mehdi Hasan, a prominent Muslim, occupying the pulpit in a London mosque, spewing vitriolic hate against non-muslims–“the infidels”—in speech that would embarrass even Marjorie Taylor Greene! 

     Distressing.

It was hard to believe that the man in these videos was the same man I respected today! And what is harder to believe is that MSNBC would hire him unvetted, and that his colleges at the network would welcome him with open arms. 

     Disappointing.

I cringed in disbelief as I saw and heard Hasan railing against non-Muslims as “animals”, atheists as “a people of no intelligence,” and comparing homosexuals to pedophiles and “sexual deviants.” In 2009 he stated, “Once we lose the moral high ground we are no different from the rest of the non-Muslims, from the rest of those human beings who live their lives as animals, bending any rule to fulfill any desire.” Did he just call me an unrestrained “animal”? 

     Disgusting.

Don’t believe me? Do a search on YouTube, but be prepared to be disgusted as well.

Certainly someone besides myself has questioned Hasan's past rhetoric and held him accountable? Digging further, I read that he publicly apologized in 2019 for his past hate speech which, at first, brought me some minor relief. Well, until I learned that he continues to rub elbows with extremist Islamic clerics, the likes of Dawud Walid, who publicly incite hatred against women, LGBTQ, and against all other faiths and ethnic minorities—especially Jews–while Hasan lambasts former president Donald Trump for associating with anti-semites. And there is his troubling association with Hussain Kamani, an American Muslim cleric who instructs husbands on how to “train” their wives through proper beating techniques, while explaining how the Quran gives a Muslim man permission to perform whatever sexual act he wishes “on any female slave that belongs to him.” 

     What gives, Mehdi?

Hasan’s apology for past statements does not absolve him from hate speech when he publicly associates with and fails to reject those who continue to spew such vitriol. He remains guilty by association.

In further researching the history of this dubious journalist, I came across a video made when Hasan was still with Al Jazeera. It was an interview with Richard Dawkins, the famous British evolutionary biologist (and strident atheist,) held at the prestigious Oxford Union in England. During a lively exchange on whether religion is inherently good or evil, rational or irrational, Dawkins asked Hasan, “Do you believe that Mohammed flew to heaven on a winged horse? I'll do you the compliment of assuming that you don't.”

Without hesitation, and with a sober face, Hasan replied confidently, “No, I do. I believe in miracles.”

     Seriously?

Dawkins pushed further. “You believe that Mohammed split the moon,” he asked.

Hasan, having realized he had fallen face first into Dawkin’s trap, and not wanting to sound completely absurd, he shifted his reply a bit, “I believe in God. I believe in miracles. I believe in revelation.”

     So silly.

Then Dawkins, drove in the final nail, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”

     Ouch.

Immediately following the interview, what happened in social media was nothing less than a shit storm. Having been publicly ridiculed for his euphemistic responses to Dawkin’s valid, straightforward questions, and feeling the need (panic) to defend his reputation as a credible, intelligent journalist, Hasan hastily penned an article for The New Statesman. In a whining diatribe he played the victim to Dawkin’s “unfair” questions. As well, he blew off Dawkins’ statement that it is 'irrational to believe something without evidence' as “sheer nonsense”.

     Nonsense?

In the article titled My Faith in God is Not Foolish, Hasan asserted, (of course, without evidence) that “God is the best answer to why is there something rather than nothing." In his futile defense, he employed spurious examples like the Kalam cosmological argument (the “something from nothing” argument) and the overused assertion by God believers that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” I say simply making an assertion does not make it so, especially in regards to winged horses, talking snakes or fairies. (Well, except for the tooth fairy!)

Since my discovery of Hasan's dirty little secret, I have listened to several broadcasts where he rails against right-wing conservative conspiracy theorists, berating their absurd claims, scolding them for not presenting a shred of evidence. Evidence. There is that word again–the one he called "nonsense". So now Hasan demands evidence.

Question: Should I continue to trust and take seriously a journalist who actually believes a man actually flew to Heaven on a winged horse and magically split the moon in two? 

Answer: Probably not any more than journalists who believe in human conception without the benefit of male intervention, or that a resuscitated dead man can rise up and float to Heaven, or that a cracker and grape juice can be transformed into the flesh and blood of a dead man. Unfortunately, this describes just about every living journalist to one degree or another. 

     Frustrating.

For now, I guess I will hold my nose and continue to watch The Medhi Hasan Show–only now with a heavy dose of skepticism!