Last Wednesday, Jehan Sadat and Barbara Walters were at the 92nd Street Y last night for the 30th anniversary of the Egypt-Israeli Peace Treaty, to talk about Sadat’s new memoir, My Hope For Peace. In the clip above, she talks about the assassination of her husband Anwar Sadat and much of America’s misconceptions of mainstream Muslims. The same themes are present in her interview with CNN that was published the next day.
CNN: One of the things you do in the book is to attempt to correct the misconceptions that most Americans have about Islam. What do you think is the biggest myth that people have about Islam?
Sadat: I noticed right after 9/11 that the people were not understanding the Muslims and Islam as a religion. They were confused between terrorists doing something and Islam. Islam has nothing to do with violence, has nothing to do with revenge or things like that. Islam is a religion for peace, for love, for tolerance.
But I understand why people think that way. My husband was killed by fanatics. But these fanatics, I believe, they are not Muslims, they don’t belong to any religion because no religion tells you to kill, including Islam, of course. It does not tell you to kill. It does not tell you to commit suicide.
CNN: What’s your impression of Barack Obama?
Sadat: I am thrilled and happy, I can’t tell you. I was following his campaign. First of all I feel he has so many things in common with my husband, he has ... the same smile, the same devotion to their country, the same charisma, the same love for the people. Both were devoted to their countries very much and wanted to do something for their people ... I have hope, to tell you the truth, that President Obama will help in bringing peace in the Middle East, which will calm the terrorists down.
