Mark Siljander
speaker
279 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard Mar 2025
Mark Siljander’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
No, I brought a Muslim scholar with me from America. I always want to bring a Muslim scholar. to a Muslim meeting or a Buddhist to Buddhist meeting, if possible, to let them know that we're safe through this safe environment and they have to feel like you're not there to ambush them in some fashion? Yeah. Well, I mean, how did I respond to them?
They were shocked because most scholars have not heard this. I was in Oxford University lecturing to people way above my pay grade. And the Brits were all sitting with their arms crossed. They're good at that. And 12, looking like this at me.
Yeah. I think they have special classes in that.
My wife, Nancy, was in the front row. And I tried to tell a joke. Not one smile or flinch. They all sat there in this. Yeah, yeah. And Yasser Suleiman, who was head of Islamic study, was the emcee and introduced me kindly. And I felt... I'm in big trouble. My wife, similar to the Ukraine ambassador during the Oval Office meeting with Trump and Zelensky, went like this.
It's going to be a disaster.
So I quickly threw up a prayer. I had all these fastidious notes because I'm not a scholar. I have no paper in linguistics or Islam. Political scientists, yes, but not in those specifics. And so they're probably... wondering, why is this arrogant former congressman from America going to come and tell us something we don't know? Right. And they were, I could just, you could almost smell the angst.
Well, I felt just led to close the book and just start talking to him, much like you do with people. And said, I'm here because I want to validate some shocking discoveries that could be game changers if they're correct, but I'm unschooled to know if they are, and I need your help.
Immediately, their arms went like this, in this manner, and Yasser Suleiman ended up being one of the endorsers of the book. as was a few others in the audience.
Right. So you turned yourself from a salesman of ideas into someone who's on a quest for enlightenment and them into the providers of that.
Hence the subtitle that Harper Collins came up with, not me, you know, a quest.
Yeah.
Because it's one thing if you think you know it all and you're a professor.
Yeah.
It's another thing if you're... Ignorant. Ignorant and trying to become less so. but still ignorant. Yeah, which is, that's a better place to stand always, I think. So this showed me something quite dynamic that don't presume that I know everything. So we were presenting to the scholars findings in a similar fashion. This is now back in Sudan. Back in Khartoum, Sudan, with Omar al-Bashir.
And to the disdain of our government at the time, you know, which was the Bush administration. They were just so angry with me going there. Because I've been there 24 times, I told you. And at this time, maybe this was only my second trip with him. And on this second trip, after talking to scholars for hours, The president leaps out of his seat, actually. And I thought we said something wrong.
I've seen this before. The meeting's over. Goodbye. Right. I said, well, I'm sorry, Your Excellency, if we said anything that offended. Oh, no. He says, we're having dinner.
And that's a good sign. It turned out, I thought, a disaster. And he opened the sliding doors, and there was a table for 30-some people lined up. We all went in. We were sitting together, breaking bread. He always asked me to pray, because they don't pray before the food, typically. They do a bismillah, which is in the name of God, and that's enough.
So he then, at this dinner, Jordan, said, well, now, Mark, you were in Congress. I said, yes. And you were in the UN. I said, yes. You know, I can't accept this UN resolution to deploy peacekeepers in Darfur. He said, I know you can't. He said, what do you think I should do now?
Wow.
Who opened the door for the elephant to come in?
Showing 241–260 of 279 · page 13 of 14
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