It is unlikely to find a Jewish-born American working for a radical Islamic charity group that supports terrorism. While discussing his new book, "My Year Inside Radical Islam," Daveed Gartenstein-Ross said he falls into that improbable category.
Gartenstein-Ross spoke at the bookstore Politics and Prose last Sunday.
AU students who attended the speech said they were intrigued by Gartenstein-Ross' story and his unique encounter with the Islamic faith.
Gartenstein-Ross' book details his conversion from Judaism to radical Islam and how he began to work for Al Haramain, an international Wahhabi charity in Oregon that served as a major al-Qaida financer. The book discusses his realization that he was not following the path he had originally hoped for in becoming a radical Islam follower, and his subsequent conversion to Christianity.
While striving to find the true interpretations of Islamic scripture during his time at Al Haramain, Gartenstein-Ross had no idea that the organization had a $30 to $80 million budget used to fund acts of terrorism. Gartenstein-Ross' book discusses making this realization after having worked for Al Haramain for several years.
While understanding Islamic scriptures, "you need a reasonable interpretation," he said. His peers at Al Haramain started "spinning statements out of control," Gartenstein-Ross said.
"I realized that the institution was completely removed from what drew me to the faith," Gartenstein-Ross said. "I had lost the vision that I had originally came to Islam for."
Gartenstein-Ross was born and raised in Ashland, Ore., to Jewish parents. While studying at Wake Forest University, Gartenstein-Ross befriended al-Husein Madhany, an Islamic schoolmate from Kenya. His friendship with Madhany, as well as other Muslims, initiated his attraction to the Islamic faith. Islam answered the questions he had at the time about the nature of God and made him feel comfortable, Gartenstein-Ross said.
In 1997, during his early twenties, Gartenstein-Ross converted to Islam in a small ceremony in Oregon. At the time, he said he believed too many people saw Islam "in too much of a cartoonish way."
Gartenstein-Ross began working for Al Haramain after looking for a job between college and law school. After three months of working at Al Haramain, Gartenstein-Ross began to take Muslim questions and interpretations seriously.
His leap from moderate to radical Islam was made after he read an essay titled "The Cult of Jihad in the Kharan" by a Saudi Arabian Muslim. His true conversion to radical Islam "came at the time when I decided to stop listening to music," said Gartenstein-Ross, a hobby not embraced by many radical Muslims.
According to Gartenstein-Ross, people try to superimpose their own ideology about Islam and outsiders need to take a more scientific approach to the religion.
Pamela S. Nadell, Director of AU's Jewish Studies Program, said there is a low percentage of Jews who convert to other religions. According to the National Jewish Population Survey conducted in 1990, of an estimated 5.5 million self-identified Jews, about 210,000 Jews reported they had converted to a different religion, Nadell said.
After converting to Christianity in 2000, Gartenstein-Ross assisted the FBI in its investigation of Al Haramain. Gartenstein-Ross now works as a senior consultant for the Gerard Group International, a Massachusetts-based counterterrorism and homeland security firm.
