Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian cleric Mahmoud Shaaban, which aired on Tahrir TV on May 14, 2013.
Mahmoud Shaaban: My dear sir, the entire world has its eyes set upon Islam. We resemble a bad salesman, who has the best merchandise but does not know how to market it. America has its eyes set upon Islam, and so does Italy.
Let me give you some quick examples. During the Wall Street protests of October 1, 2011 over the financial crisis, banners were raised demanding an Islamic economy. At first, we thought these were Muslims who had infiltrated the demonstrations, but it turned out that they were Jews and Christians, who had conducted research and found that the economic solution lies with Islam.
Interviewer: Where was that? In Italy?
Mahmoud Shaaban: The Wall Street protests in the U.S. They raised banners in all languages, saying "We want the Islamic economy."
Interviewer: The Americans did that?
Mahmoud Shaaban: Yes. They weren't even Muslims. Check it out on the Internet. They researched the subject and found that the solution lies with Islam. The solution lies in having Islamic interest-free loans.
[…]
Brother, Europe would not have made progress if not for Islam. Anything good that emerged from Europe can be traced back to Islam. The good aspects of European democracy were also taken from Islam.
[…]