Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Muslim leaders in America have been in constant demand.

Imam Hassan Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Mich., one of the oldest and largest mosques in the United States, has been one of the busiest.

Qazwini has spoken in more than 180 Christian churches since 9/11.

“Sometimes I am overwhelmed with the number of invitations I receive from non-Muslims to speak,” he says. But he uses the speeches and interviews to assert that the Islam promoted by such radicals as Osama bin Laden is way out of bounds.

Qazwini has spoken several times in Kansas City. When he was here recently to preach at a Shia Muslim’s memorial service, The Kansas City Star interviewed him. His answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q. You were born in Iraq in 1964 and lived there until you were 7, when your family fled Saddam Hussein. Are you glad Saddam is out of power?

A. Yes, I am happy that Saddam is gone, but unfortunately the aftermath of Saddam is not less horrible than what we witnessed during Saddam’s rule.

This is very upsetting, actually, and very depressing. I try as objectively as I can to be optimistic. But sometimes, really, the situation on the ground betrays my optimism. I try to think positive about Iraq, simply because I can’t think otherwise. I can’t convince myself that after 35 years of bloodshed and mass killing in Iraq we’re going back again to more horrible chaos.

Your hometown of Karbala is especially important to Shia Muslims. Why?

Karbala is so important because in the year 682 the grandson of the prophet Imam Hussain was massacred there in a very tragic way. This is where the Shia identity was shaped. Imam Hussain to us, the Shia, is the voice of justice, the voice of freedom, a man who sacrificed his life for these ideals that we keep so dear to our hearts and cherish here in America.

Your family traces its lineage to the Prophet Muhammad. Many in that line have been imams. But do you know whether anyone along the line ever left Islam?

No, not that I know of. My family takes pride in the fact that all of my ancestors were religious leaders, with no exceptions. There are 37 chain (links) between me and the prophet. I saw how devoted my father and grandfather were. My father puts himself in the most dangerous situations. He was outspoken against the dictator who ruled Iraq before Saddam. And when the Baathists came, he was very outspoken in criticizing them.

When he left Iraq, they didn’t leave him alone. There was an attempt to kill him in Kuwait when he moved there. He had enjoyed a very beautiful livelihood in California. He’s 76. He relinquished his livelihood in California and is now living in Karbala under very terrible conditions. But the fact that he’s surrounded by his people and teaching his people in his hometown is so fulfilling to him.

I don’t have the courage he has to abandon my livelihood here and my security and my very stable life and go to Karbala, where I’m not really sure if I would be alive tomorrow.

As you know from a previous time we met, one of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks was my nephew. Tell me why my family and the families of others who died that day shouldn’t be simply furious at Islam.

For several reasons. Let me give you a number that will tell a lot about why Islam should not be held responsible. There were also about 300 Muslims who died that day. That shows that these people are not really acting in the name of Islam.

The Islam that I studied and was brought up in does not preach hatred and killing innocent people. I understand that there are legitimate grievances in the Muslim world about America’s foreign policy. But that does not really give the excuse to any Muslim to take the life of innocent people in America.

How these people justify it is beyond my own understanding. They do it, and they claim they will be dining with the prophet. What kind of religion promotes killing another follower and yet he thinks he will end up in heaven?

Probably these people don’t even believe in Islam. It’s an Islam they made up for themselves. It’s a cult. I think Americans should come to the realization that Osama bin Laden and others are leaders of cults.

Muslims from all spectrums — whether they like the U.S. or they don’t like the U.S. — legitimate Muslim leaders, whether Sunni or Shia, they all condemn these acts. And they all said this has nothing to do with our religion. And Islam disowns these people. Yet I know that some people in this country are under the influence of media that is so sensational.

In Afghanistan recently, a convert to Christianity was threatened with execution, and some Muslim leaders led the demand that the man be punished. What does Islam say about such conversions, and what should Islamic leaders there have done in that case?

Bill, before I answer what Islam says, I have a comment. Abdul Rahman, according to what I read in the New York Times, was reported insane. There were questions about his mental capacity. I’m not saying he was insane because he converted to Christianity. He was already insane.

He was sentenced to death by another insane person. In every judiciary system we know that insane people cannot stand for trial. Yet our not-insane country and the sane West made a big, big deal out of this, blaming Islam.

Now I take you back several months when Mr. Pat Robertson, who is not insane for sure, sentenced another man who is not insane for sure, Hugo Chavez, president of an independent and sovereign country (Venezuela). To my standard, he issued a fatwa of killing him. You don’t call it a fatwa here in America, but I call it that. Nobody held Christianity responsible for what Pat Robertson said.

Now, to answer this, Qur’an answers before I answer. Qur’an in Chapter 2, Verse 256: God says there shall be no coercion in faith. Let anybody else say whatever they want. God is so clear.

You cannot force anybody. If someone says, “I don’t want to be a Muslim,” what can you do to them? If you say, “No, no, you have to stay a Muslim,” you are making a fool out of your own religion. But I don’t deny that there are fanatics in the Muslim world as well as the Western world. But do these fanatics speak for the mainstream? No way.

You are married and the father of five children. Do you sometimes think that you are almost equally married to your work?

Absolutely.

What are the tensions of that in Islam?

You know, Bill, it’s very difficult really to draw the line where you separate your private life. In our community, the imam is not viewed as a man who has certain working hours. He is viewed as a brother, as a source of guidance. You may not believe if I told you that people call me and ask for medical guidance. So people come to leaders for guidance beyond the religious issues.

It is very difficult, and I have to tell you this: In America, for some reason, there aren’t enough voices for Islam, especially after 9/11. Islam was put on the map, in the spotlight. If you talk to any other imam in America today they will tell you that we are consumed. We are bombarded with requests for interviews and public speaking engagements.

I’m not complaining, though sometimes I really feel exhausted. I spend an average of 10 to 12 hours in my office every day. It takes away from my family. But I’m very blessed to have a very understanding family.

You moved to the U.S. in late 1992, though without an ability to speak English. How American do you feel today?

(Laughs.) I have mixed feelings, actually. I am an American in the sense that I speak English. I do understand how Americans think to some extent. I’m an American now, and I love this country because it gave me the chance and opportunity that no other country gave me.

When I came to this country, I barely spoke more than a couple of English words. Less than seven years later, I was at the White House speaking to President Clinton. I’m American in that sense. But at the same time, I’m proud of my heritage. I instill in my children’s minds a love for their heritage.

By Western standards, I’m not so liberal in my practices. I am practicing Islam in a very traditional way but also in a very open-minded way because I always differentiate between open-mindedness and liberalism. Sometimes liberal to me means loose. I don’t think I’m loose, but I’m open-minded.

One thing I really learned here in America is being exposed to the ecumenical community. I’m in a country where I deal with leaders and people from other faiths. This makes you grow intellectually. It makes you a tolerant person and understanding. I have grown to understand and appreciate a verse in the Qur’an where God says I created you from one single male and one single female so that you may know each other.

Would you want America to be a predominantly Muslim country?

Of course, I would love to see America become a predominantly Muslim country, but that’s not realistic. This would be an illusion. But what I would love realistically to see is Americans becoming more friendly to Islam, something that is the opposite of what is happening nowadays, which is really painful to me as a Muslim leader to see.

I also would love to see Muslims becoming part of the major fabric of this country. I would love to see some Muslim congressmen. We have none. I would like to see Muslims infiltrating the public life of America as Jews did. Jews are not more than Muslims in this country. Probably there are more Muslims than Jews. But out of 100 senators you have got 11 Jewish senators. I would like to see Muslims becoming more recognized in America.

I am a Christian. Why should I entertain the idea of converting to Islam?

I say there are ideals of Islam that could be very attractive to non-Muslims. When you become Muslim, you are not relinquishing your Christian faith. All you’re doing is adding to it. Islam is very inclusive in that way. And the Qur’an states that. If I don’t believe in Judaism and Christianity, if I don’t believe in Jesus and Moses, I’m not a Muslim. If I don’t believe in Torah and Bible, I am not a Muslim.

But there certainly are some theological differences between us. For instance, I’m a Trinitarian. The view of Jesus in Christianity is different from the view of Jesus in Islam.

Yes.

So by converting to Islam, I would be giving up some of that, would I not?

You will give up some of that, probably, like believing in Jesus as Son of God. But we Muslims say that Jesus himself did not claim to be Son of God. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate he is Son of God. We believe all Jesus preached was that he was a messenger of God.

We Muslims believe God is not physical. He doesn’t have a physical body. That’s why he does not beget nor is he begotten. If you imagine God has a physical body that means God needs a physical body in order to survive. A god who has needs, he cannot be God anymore. He is created, and he is in bondage of his needs.

You once described how you watched Bill Clinton’s first inaugural address in 1993, right after you arrived in the U.S., and you said you couldn’t understand a word he said. Does it help to know that some native-born Americans felt the same way?

(Laughs. And laughs.)