Posted on 02/12/2006 11:15:05 PM PST by neverdem
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February 10, 2006, 9:30 a.m. Dreams & Realities Cartoon problems.
It seems the issue of cartoons is much in the news these days. As a devout moderate Muslim, I was just recently portrayed in the local Muslim newspaper, Arizona Muslim Voice, as a ravenous dog on the leash of our state newspaper, and devouring an imam.
Despite the fact that being portrayed as a dog is profoundly offensive if not downright hateful in our Middle Eastern culture, there was hardly a ripple of outrage in the local Muslim community. It seems that in the local Muslim community it's all right to make a vilifying cartoon of me, a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and medical officer, but certainly not one of bin Laden or al-Zawahiri. I have yet to see them publish one cartoon against the enemies of America in this so-called Muslim newspaper.
Only a few weeks after my caricature, the riots around the Danish cartoons erupted across the globe. True to form, the eruption came months after their printing, only after many so-called imams acting as warlords took the cartoons to the Muslim mimbars (pulpits) of the Middle East.
As many this week have said, this is not about cartoons. This all got me thinking about what drives people. I was born in America, raised a Muslim and a conservative. I have long struggled with what it is that makes my own reflexive passions, and my primary mission, so different from those of the mobs and even from so many of my Muslim neighbors in America. What is the fuse that, once ignited, turns normal people into a mob clamoring for Islam and often for blood?
This question leads me to the subject of our dreams. There are some in my faith who dream of a new Caliphate, a world ruled by and for Islam. It is a seductive call to many in my faith, as dreams always are. But it is anathema to me. I do not believe that we were meant to be one thing, because that, in itself, takes away our free will. My dream can only be real if it is only mine if it is rooted in the individual success. Once the community or the so-called ummah takes it on as a communal success, it is no longer a dream but an imposition, a violation of freedom and liberty.
Dreams are a funny thing. For example, it is a dream for me that I may one day make the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. But the very thought of living there, makes me feel all hollow inside. Is that not a peculiar thing that the holiest place for me to visit would not be a holy place for me to live.
That is because the hajj is a dream of mine, a pillar of my faith, but living there would be my reality. The difference between a dream that is fleeting and one that is real always comes down to the question of free will. If I would live there, I would not be free and no devotion that is coerced can ever be true.
That is why my first allegiance is to this country. Without its freedoms and protections, my faith would be something much smaller. That is also why my dream has always been one of a pluralistic, democratic society where all religions and people can feel welcome. Islamists, from the radical to the moderate, would argue that in their dream the will of the majority and the Islamic state become one. What instilled my intense love for the United States from a young age was that our democracy has a Bill of Rights that upholds minorities, prevents oppression by the majority, and keeps religious scripture out of government the antithesis of Islamism.
The Muslim mobs we see inflamed are not al-Qaeda, but they are enraged Islamists driven by a fear of losing the ideological world war to the West. They fear the West, which honors the individual first and the community second put another way, America first, and the ummah second. They fear more than anything having to compete in a non-theological legislature by the legal merit of the logic of their principles, rather than from behind the corrupt cloak of their theological monopoly on sharia.
The next question flowing from all this is, "How can we create a new dream for people so driven towards rage?" Dreams are the product of our imagination. If we can visualize something, then we can imagine it becoming a reality.
And that is why I am so enthusiastic about the liberation of Iraq.
If I were to live in the Middle East, all I would see around me in government would be thugs, despots, oil monarchies, and radical theocrats ruling the people in a sea of corruption. How would I be able to imagine freedom where there is none to be found? That is what we are doing in Iraq. We are giving people in that region a sense of what could be. Without a reality in which liberty can thrive, the vacuum is filled by corruption. The reality is replaced by false dreams of a world in which no freedom-loving Jeffersonian Muslim would ever want to live.
I would like to end with my own cartoon. In it, I see all the compassionless theocrats and obscenely rich despots on a ship named al-Titanic leaving the Middle East forever and, on the shore, the Muslims, Jews, Christians, and all people of faith joyously dancing in victory for the advent of a new Middle Eastern pluralism. Now, that would be a cartoon worth getting excited about.
M. Zuhdi Jasser is the chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Ariz.
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http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/jasser200602100930.asp
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A Muslim voice for reason? Very rare!
And that is why the Muslim extremists are trying so desperately to kill any hope. Excellent article.
bttt
Possibly, but still a Muslim, a believer in Islam, in Muhammad, and in the Qu'ran, and therefore, not to be trusted.
I think that I must register my disagreement over this statement about this particular guy. After all, he includes what is apparently his name, and the statement that he was Lt. Commander in the US Navy. I am reasonably sure that If he got that far in the Navy, he is and very definately SHOULD BE trustworthy!
And very much appreciated. Now these are the kind of folks we all need to get behind and support. They are the ones most able to sell the dream of freedom to their Muslim peers in the Middle East---something necessary for freedom to flourish.
He even said he valued his country above all else!!! what do you want?
From the article:
There are some in my faith who dream of a new Caliphate, a world ruled by and for Islam. It is a seductive call to many in my faith, as dreams always are. But it is anathema to me. I do not believe that we were meant to be one thing, because that, in itself, takes away our free will. My dream can only be real if it is only mine if it is rooted in the individual success. Once the community or the so-called ummah takes it on as a communal success, it is no longer a dream but an imposition, a violation of freedom and liberty.
No, this is a horse of a different color; I read all "moderate" Muslim opinions with skepticism, since so many are skilled in takiyah and kitman, but a Muslim who believes in "free will," who opposes sharia law and who is hated with a vengeance by CAIR (see the background material from the link in the article) is worth listening to -- if he survives the wrath of his fellow Muslims.
This is what we need more of.
The problem I have with this is that the writer describes himself as a "devout Muslim." Is he picking and choosing what parts of Islam he wants to believe in? He describes the ways in which he disagrees with "radicals," but does not elaborate on how Islam can be compatible with our society, and the majority of non-Muslim Islamic scholars will tell you it is not compatible.
Did you bother reading the article?
You can read Dr Jassers other articles posted on FR by using keyword jasser.
A sad voice in the wilderness, betrayed by his own faith, crying for the start of an Islamic Enlightenment.
If they were to shred most of the accursed qu'ran and keep the 10% that isn't about hate and conquer, they might be able to create a New Islam (kind of like the Quakers).
Chances are this guy will be killed by his fellow muslims before such an enlightenment can occur.
How would you explain your own understanding of Dr. Jasser's beliefs in regard to Islam? Obviously, you have your own personal beliefs, as well. Perhaps you'd like to share them?
Yes. That's the Dream. No radical Islamist would recognize it as such nor could he understand it if he did. It does not transcend religion, it encompasses it.
He's not the one confused, you are.
And what gall you have assuming Dr. Jasser, a patriot and muslim, doesn't know his own beliefs and his religion better than you do.
Try reading more about him and his beliefs. You can find his articles on FR using keyword 'jasser'.
Obviously, you haven't read his other articles.
He is far from deluded and he's written about his attacks from CAIR and his feelings about CAIR.
As for your knowing "enough about Islam", you've already proven that you know little.
Have a nice day.
This is the best 'Moderate Muslim' article that I have ever read. Mr. Jasser, you are one of the most courageous men that I have ever met and I salute you.
However, I would ask you to take on an even more courageous occupation than the Naval Officer...
Theologian.
If you can translate your understanding of your religion into a theological system, then we can bring this mess to a quiet and peaceful conclusion.
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