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The reason

hamza yusuf wants to make a theme park based on the inferno, is to make the public visualize and realize just how bad their actions are using the symbolism Dante uses.

for anyone who's studied english in the west, shakespeare, english poetry...the importance of symbolism is very important.

at the beginning of the speech Hamza yusuf mentions briefly that Dante is problematic for muslims but "he will get to that later"....i assume he runs out of time and doesn't get to actually explain that particular point.

regardless calling hamza yusuf a "shameless admirer" of Dante's blasphemous "the divine comedy" is problematic. Hamza Yusuf is impressed with Dante's analysis and description of some of the major sins that are currently very common in our society. nothing he said implied that he was impressed with the blasphemous statements that Dante made.

i think what people must remember is that when muslim shcolars appeal to western audiences by quoting aquinas or Dante, or any other non-muslim for that matter, they are not telling people to accept their aqeedah (nor was hamza yusuf talking about dante's aqeedah), but rather they do it to highlight Islamic messages which other people (outside of islam) also accepted and promoted.