[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.50,0:00:06.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Writing biography is a strange thing to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.22,0:00:08.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a journey into the foreign territory
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.90,0:00:12.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of somebody else's life,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:12.10,0:00:14.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a journey, an exploration that can take you places
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.77,0:00:17.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you never dreamed of going
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.04,0:00:19.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and still can't quite believe you've been,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.26,0:00:22.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,especially if, like me, you're an agnostic Jew
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.99,0:00:24.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the life you've been exploring
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.82,0:00:29.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that of Muhammad.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.65,0:00:32.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Five years ago, for instance,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.08,0:00:35.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I found myself waking each morning in misty Seattle
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.35,0:00:38.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to what I knew was an impossible question:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.83,0:00:42.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What actually happened
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.05,0:00:43.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one desert night,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.49,0:00:47.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,half the world and almost half of history away?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.08,0:00:48.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What happened, that is,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.80,0:00:51.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the night in the year 610
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.12,0:00:54.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when Muhammad received the first revelation of the Koran
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.97,0:00:59.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on a mountain just outside Mecca?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.05,0:01:03.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is the core mystical moment of Islam,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.65,0:01:05.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and as such, of course,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.02,0:01:08.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it defies empirical analysis.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.10,0:01:12.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet the question wouldn't let go of me.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.20,0:01:15.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was fully aware that for someone as secular as I am,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.38,0:01:17.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just asking it could be seen
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.26,0:01:20.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as pure chutzpah.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.52,0:01:23.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.20,0:01:25.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I plead guilty as charged,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.82,0:01:29.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because all exploration, physical or intellectual,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.85,0:01:33.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is inevitably in some sense an act of transgression,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.72,0:01:37.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of crossing boundaries.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.12,0:01:43.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Still, some boundaries are larger than others.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.14,0:01:46.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So a human encountering the divine,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.06,0:01:49.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as Muslims believe Muhammad did,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.18,0:01:52.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the rationalist, this is a matter not of fact
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.02,0:01:53.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but of wishful fiction,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.78,0:01:57.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and like all of us, I like to think of myself as rational.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.71,0:02:00.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which might be why when I looked at the earliest accounts
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.60,0:02:02.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have of that night,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.38,0:02:05.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what struck me even more than what happened
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.19,0:02:10.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was what did not happen.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.72,0:02:13.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Muhammad did not come floating off the mountain
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.87,0:02:16.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though walking on air.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.82,0:02:19.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He did not run down shouting, "Hallelujah!"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.29,0:02:21.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and "Bless the Lord!"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.65,0:02:25.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He did not radiate light and joy.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.38,0:02:26.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There were no choirs of angels,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.96,0:02:30.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no music of the spheres, no elation, no ecstasy,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.26,0:02:33.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no golden aura surrounding him,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.92,0:02:38.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no sense of an absolute, fore-ordained role
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.06,0:02:41.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as the messenger of God.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.14,0:02:44.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That is, he did none of the things
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.09,0:02:46.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that might make it easy to cry foul,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.85,0:02:51.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to put down the whole story as a pious fable.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.100,0:02:54.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Quite the contrary.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.83,0:02:58.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In his own reported words,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.57,0:03:00.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he was convinced at first
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.95,0:03:06.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that what had happened couldn't have been real.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.23,0:03:08.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At best, he thought, it had to have been a hallucination --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.94,0:03:10.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a trick of the eye or the ear, perhaps,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.75,0:03:12.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or his own mind working against him.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.93,0:03:15.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At worst, possession --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.10,0:03:17.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he'd been seized by an evil jinn,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.39,0:03:19.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a spirit out to deceive him,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.18,0:03:22.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even to crush the life out of him.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.19,0:03:25.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, he was so sure that he could only be majnun,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.22,0:03:26.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,possessed by a jinn,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.84,0:03:28.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that when he found himself still alive,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.96,0:03:33.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his first impulse was to finish the job himself,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.80,0:03:36.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to leap off the highest cliff
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.01,0:03:40.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and escape the terror of what he'd experienced
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.13,0:03:47.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by putting an end to all experience.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.23,0:03:50.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the man who fled down the mountain that night
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.15,0:03:52.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trembled not with joy
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.60,0:03:57.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but with a stark, primordial fear.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.32,0:04:03.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He was overwhelmed not with conviction, but by doubt.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.24,0:04:06.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that panicked disorientation,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.04,0:04:08.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that sundering of everything familiar,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.92,0:04:12.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that daunting awareness of something
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.60,0:04:15.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,beyond human comprehension,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.51,0:04:22.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can only be called a terrible awe.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.09,0:04:25.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This might be somewhat difficult to grasp
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.30,0:04:27.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now that we use the word "awesome"
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.84,0:04:32.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to describe a new app or a viral video.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.02,0:04:35.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With the exception perhaps of a massive earthquake,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.22,0:04:37.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we're protected from real awe.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.87,0:04:39.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We close the doors and hunker down,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.76,0:04:42.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,convinced that we're in control,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.30,0:04:45.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or, at least, hoping for control.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.33,0:04:47.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We do our best to ignore the fact that
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.24,0:04:49.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we don't always have it,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:49.30,0:04:52.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that not everything can be explained.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:52.05,0:04:56.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet whether you're a rationalist or a mystic,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.22,0:04:58.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether you think the words Muhammad heard that night
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.91,0:05:03.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,came from inside himself or from outside,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.17,0:05:07.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what's clear is that he did experience them,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.88,0:05:10.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that he did so with a force that would shatter
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.31,0:05:12.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his sense of himself and his world
Dialogue: 0,0:05:12.64,0:05:15.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and transform this otherwise modest man
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.78,0:05:22.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into a radical advocate for social and economic justice.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.47,0:05:27.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fear was the only sane response,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.71,0:05:32.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the only human response.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.73,0:05:35.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Too human for some,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.24,0:05:37.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like conservative Muslim theologians who maintain that
Dialogue: 0,0:05:37.98,0:05:39.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the account of his wanting to kill himself
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.84,0:05:42.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,shouldn't even be mentioned, despite the fact
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.28,0:05:46.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it's in the earliest Islamic biographies.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.73,0:05:49.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They insist that he never doubted
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.52,0:05:56.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for even a single moment, let alone despaired.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.14,0:05:59.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Demanding perfection, they refuse to tolerate
Dialogue: 0,0:05:59.97,0:06:04.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,human imperfection.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.69,0:06:11.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet what, exactly, is imperfect about doubt?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.89,0:06:14.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As I read those early accounts, I realized it was
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.86,0:06:18.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,precisely Muhammad's doubt that brought him alive for me,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:18.67,0:06:21.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that allowed me to begin to see him in full,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.07,0:06:24.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to accord him the integrity of reality.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.65,0:06:26.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the more I thought about it,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:26.82,0:06:29.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the more it made sense that he doubted,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.84,0:06:36.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because doubt is essential to faith.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.42,0:06:39.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If this seems a startling idea at first,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:39.30,0:06:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,consider that doubt, as Graham Greene once put it,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.96,0:06:46.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the heart of the matter.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.80,0:06:51.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Abolish all doubt, and what's left is not faith,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:51.20,0:06:56.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but absolute, heartless conviction.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:56.45,0:07:00.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You're certain that you possess the Truth --
Dialogue: 0,0:07:00.32,0:07:04.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,inevitably offered with an implied uppercase T --
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.61,0:07:07.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this certainty quickly devolves
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.17,0:07:10.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into dogmatism and righteousness,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.68,0:07:14.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by which I mean a demonstrative, overweening pride
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.78,0:07:18.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in being so very right,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:18.57,0:07:26.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in short, the arrogance of fundamentalism.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.46,0:07:30.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It has to be one of the multiple ironies of history
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.93,0:07:33.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that a favorite expletive of Muslim fundamentalists
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.99,0:07:37.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the same one once used by the Christian fundamentalists
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.18,0:07:39.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,known as Crusaders:
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.99,0:07:45.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"infidel," from the Latin for "faithless."
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.22,0:07:49.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Doubly ironic, in this case, because their absolutism
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.56,0:07:54.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is in fact the opposite of faith.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:54.02,0:07:59.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In effect, they are the infidels.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:59.98,0:08:02.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like fundamentalists of all religious stripes,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.81,0:08:06.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they have no questions, only answers.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:06.65,0:08:09.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They found the perfect antidote to thought
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.45,0:08:13.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the ideal refuge of the hard demands of real faith.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.22,0:08:15.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They don't have to struggle for it like Jacob
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.17,0:08:17.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wrestling through the night with the angel,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.22,0:08:20.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or like Jesus in his 40 days and nights in the wilderness,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:20.37,0:08:23.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or like Muhammad, not only that night on the mountain,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.58,0:08:26.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but throughout his years as a prophet,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.07,0:08:30.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the Koran constantly urging him not to despair,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.25,0:08:33.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and condemning those who most loudly proclaim
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.54,0:08:37.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they know everything there is to know
Dialogue: 0,0:08:37.34,0:08:44.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that they and they alone are right.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:44.23,0:08:51.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet we, the vast and still far too silent majority,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.65,0:08:57.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have ceded the public arena to this extremist minority.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.42,0:08:59.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We've allowed Judaism to be claimed
Dialogue: 0,0:08:59.91,0:09:03.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by violently messianic West Bank settlers,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.78,0:09:06.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Christianity by homophobic hypocrites
Dialogue: 0,0:09:06.73,0:09:09.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and misogynistic bigots,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:09.25,0:09:14.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Islam by suicide bombers.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.20,0:09:16.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we've allowed ourselves to be blinded to the fact that
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.98,0:09:19.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no matter whether they claim to be Christians,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:19.17,0:09:20.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Jews or Muslims,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:20.78,0:09:26.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,militant extremists are none of the above.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.44,0:09:32.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're a cult all their own, blood brothers
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.05,0:09:37.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,steeped in other people's blood.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:37.55,0:09:39.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This isn't faith.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:39.75,0:09:44.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's fanaticism, and we have to stop confusing the two.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:44.91,0:09:49.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have to recognize that real faith has no easy answers.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:49.93,0:09:54.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's difficult and stubborn.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:54.01,0:09:56.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It involves an ongoing struggle,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.25,0:09:59.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a continual questioning of what we think we know,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:59.30,0:10:01.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a wrestling with issues and ideas.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:01.87,0:10:05.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It goes hand in hand with doubt,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:05.17,0:10:08.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a never-ending conversation with it,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.24,0:10:14.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sometimes in conscious defiance of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.64,0:10:19.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this conscious defiance is why I, as an agnostic,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:19.69,0:10:23.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can still have faith.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:23.83,0:10:26.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I have faith, for instance, that peace in the Middle East
Dialogue: 0,0:10:26.82,0:10:31.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is possible despite the ever-accumulating mass of evidence
Dialogue: 0,0:10:31.13,0:10:34.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the contrary.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:34.29,0:10:36.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not convinced of this.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.66,0:10:38.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can hardly say I believe it.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.78,0:10:40.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can only have faith in it,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:40.72,0:10:44.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,commit myself, that is, to the idea of it,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:44.74,0:10:47.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I do this precisely because of the temptation
Dialogue: 0,0:10:47.74,0:10:49.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to throw up my hands in resignation
Dialogue: 0,0:10:49.74,0:10:53.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and retreat into silence.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:53.26,0:10:57.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because despair is self-fulfilling.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:57.95,0:11:00.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we call something impossible,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:00.27,0:11:04.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we act in such a way that we make it so.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:04.03,0:11:09.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I, for one, refuse to live that way.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:09.97,0:11:12.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In fact, most of us do,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:12.27,0:11:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether we're atheist or theist
Dialogue: 0,0:11:15.84,0:11:19.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or anywhere in between or beyond, for that matter,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.78,0:11:24.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what drives us is that, despite our doubts
Dialogue: 0,0:11:24.10,0:11:26.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even because of our doubts,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.43,0:11:30.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we reject the nihilism of despair.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.90,0:11:34.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We insist on faith in the future
Dialogue: 0,0:11:34.13,0:11:38.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in each other.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:38.87,0:11:42.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Call this naive if you like.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:42.37,0:11:45.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Call it impossibly idealistic if you must.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.47,0:11:47.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But one thing is sure:
Dialogue: 0,0:11:47.90,0:11:51.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Call it human.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.36,0:11:54.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Could Muhammad have so radically changed his world
Dialogue: 0,0:11:54.40,0:11:57.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without such faith, without the refusal
Dialogue: 0,0:11:57.25,0:12:01.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to cede to the arrogance of closed-minded certainty?
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.96,0:12:05.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think not.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:05.23,0:12:07.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After keeping company with him as a writer
Dialogue: 0,0:12:07.27,0:12:10.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the past five years, I can't see
Dialogue: 0,0:12:10.57,0:12:15.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that he'd be anything but utterly outraged
Dialogue: 0,0:12:15.68,0:12:18.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the militant fundamentalists who claim to speak
Dialogue: 0,0:12:18.82,0:12:24.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and act in his name in the Middle East and elsewhere today.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:24.29,0:12:28.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He'd be appalled at the repression of half the population
Dialogue: 0,0:12:28.58,0:12:31.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because of their gender.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.58,0:12:39.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He'd be torn apart by the bitter divisiveness of sectarianism.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:39.56,0:12:42.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He'd call out terrorism for what it is,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:42.27,0:12:47.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not only criminal but an obscene travesty
Dialogue: 0,0:12:47.01,0:12:51.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of everything he believed in and struggled for.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:51.92,0:12:57.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He'd say what the Koran says: Anyone who takes a life
Dialogue: 0,0:12:57.18,0:13:00.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,takes the life of all humanity.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:00.39,0:13:07.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyone who saves a life, saves the life of all humanity.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:07.58,0:13:10.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And he'd commit himself fully
Dialogue: 0,0:13:10.65,0:13:17.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the hard and thorny process of making peace.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:17.67,0:13:19.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.11,0:13:23.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)
Dialogue: 0,0:13:23.51,0:13:27.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you. (Applause)