Posted on 07/15/2005 5:50:24 PM PDT by nuconvert
Waking Up to 'Islamo-Fascism'
All Muslims must play a role in stopping the violence being done in the name of our faith.
By M. Zuhdi Jasser
As we all began digesting the news of last week's terrorist attack, most of America's Muslim organizations issued what has become a predictable, yet empty, round of condemnations. Articulated in press releases, these rote statements are not backed up with sincere attempts to acknowledge and fix the problems within Islam. Listening to these empty pronouncements, I can't help but ask: Where is our Muslim responsibility--our duty--to protect the world from the actions of our own? It is time for us Muslims to take ownership of our faith by moving beyond empty condemnations and ensuring that Islamo-fascists--those who seek to create an Islamic totalitarian theocracy through the use of any and all means--have no place in our world. These fascists are Muslims who have hijacked and twisted our faith. They subscribe to a medieval code where the ends justify the means. And you can hear their rhetoric not only in the Middle East; radical imams preach in London and in many cities in the U.S. Cutting off this lifeblood and its ideology should be the focus of our collective Muslim response.
Many well-meaning Muslims react to news about Muslim terrorists by insisting that anyone who commits violent acts is, by definition, not part of Islam. But who are we fooling? The Islamo-fascists did not come out of thin air. They use our scripture, our prayers, our language, and our tradition--and they come from somewhere within our community. These killers are doing incomprehensibly evil actions across the world in the name of our religion, and because of that, my fellow Muslims and I should act now--decisively, publicly, and in tandem with our leadership--against Islamo-fascism. To argue whether they are Muslims or not--and what is a 'true' Islamic society--is only deflection and denial.
Every time I experience the joy and spirituality of joining with my Muslim brothers and sisters in devotional prayer, I feel a perfect harmony of thought and movement as we bow and say God's praises together. Islam is a religion of community, and I know I can walk into any mosque in the world and join the congregation in reciting the same prayers I say at home. While my faith is very personal, without that communal energy, my religion is not complete.
But with spiritual fulfillment and community connection come responsibility. Moderate, moral Muslims--that is to say, the vast majority of the world's Muslims--may see these Islamo-fascists as far removed from our reality; however the unforgiving truth is that we are responsible as a group for our weakest and also for our most corrupt and deranged. Islam has no formal clergy, and so it falls to the community as a whole, all of us, to take on this challenge. Denial serves nothing but the empty ego and is destined to fail. As Muslims we must help bring these barbaric Islamists to justice and assist in dismantling the systems that create them.
How many wake-up calls do we need? Most faith groups have at some point in their histories seen their compasses falter, as deviants exploited their altars. However, those same faith groups have also eventually assumed responsibility for exposing, exterminating, and marginalizing the cancers who are their own. The need for Muslims to act now cannot be overstated, for it becomes exponentially more difficult after each horrific bombing. My fellow Muslims must immediately--and in large numbers--become proactive in the war against militant Islamists, or soon it may be too late. We owe it to the nations in which we live, as well as to our truly pluralistic faith.
Many people ask what they or their communities could possibly do to counter a cancer like Islamo-fascism. But all Muslims--and all Muslim organizations--can play an active role in this battle.
* What it would mean to take a true stand against terror? *
The immediate reaction to the London devastation should be declaration after declaration by Muslim leaders around the free world that we will immediately redirect all of our resources to combat al Qaeda and every other militant Islamist organization, in order to extinguish their barbarism. These barbarians should hear words from moderate Muslims around the globe that make them fear they will never again find a single religious haven for their ideology. As pluralistic Muslims take away from them the mantle of faith and the acceptance of their formative ideologies, they will be left with nothing but the depths of their own evil.
It's time to build an anti-terror ethos within the Islamic community. We can publicly embarrass radical imams and organizations who preach hatred. We can publicly expose the twisted interpretations of the Qu'ran and Muslim teachings perpetuated by radical Islamists who justify killing innocent people in the name of our God. We can focus the public agenda of American Muslims on publicizing our commitment to our citizenship oath and to the American secular form of democratic government.
We need to force a public debate with the Islamists, not run from it. By constantly reasserting Muslim critiques of Wahhabism, Salafism, and other fundamentalist Islamist ideologies that feed terrorist networks, we will fight terror at its core. It is time to ensure that Islamic sermons around the world teach Muslims to dismantle terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbullah, and any group that harbors, teaches, and trains the world's future Islamo-fascists.
(Excerpt - please see link for more)
There is no such ideology called Islamofascism and there exists no self-described Islamofascist. Islam is bad enough. It's simply an inaccurate term invented by neoconservatives who are too afraid to offend Muslims by honestly assessing that religion.
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The cells of muslim freepers haven't shown up the way they swarm every other muslim or muslim country (turkey - iran) thread. What does that tell us?
Islam does need to reform, if it can. If it can't, then it will either fade away gradually and peacefully or suddenly and violently.
But looking to a comparison to the Christian Reformation is probably not a good idea. The Reformation was a fundamentalist movement in response to the overly worldly and corrupt Church. The Muslim fundamentalists have a greater claim to being the reformers of Islam as they are seeking to, as they see it, return purity to the religion. The liberal and secular Muslims are few in number, intimidated, mistrusted, and at risk.
"There is no such ideology called Islamofascism and there exists no self-described Islamofascist."
He gives a definition of islamo-fascist : "those who seek to create an Islamic totalitarian theocracy through the use of any and all means".
Whether there is a group that calls itself "Islamofascists" and who invented the term, is immaterial.
Whether a group exists is extremely important. If a patient has a certain disease, you call it by its name. You don't just make up a new disease that doesn't exist. To do so is intellectually dishonest, adds confusion, and delays identifying and correcting the problem.
True, but it also challenged MANY doctrinal areas which had been sancrosanct before, such as papal infallibility, the holiness of Mary, etc.
The Islamic radicals may see themselves as the reformers, but they have still missed the target, as there does not seem to be any room anywhere in Islam for academic disagreement or debate without accusation of heresy. This culture in the Christian and Jewish worlds is what has made us last and kept us strong.
Dr. Jasser is for real.
This guy, Salam al-Marayati, on the other hand, from MPAC, who doesn't care for Dr. Jasser, (because Jasser opposes and exposes MPAC), is full of it. Notice the difference in their writings.
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/170/story_17079.html
"The liberal and secular Muslims are few in number, intimidated, mistrusted, and at risk."
That's sort of an oxymoron. As you are aware, Muslims is a term that donates those of the Islamic cult(s). So there is no such thing as a secular Muslim. I am sure it was slip of hand.
"there is no such thing as Islamofascism."
Okay. Call them grapefruits if you like. You're getting stuck in the minutiae. Go for the bigger picture and message being stated in the whole article.
"If CAIR were sincere and straightforward in its opposition to terrorism, it would cease apologizing for terrorism in Israel, which it blames on the Jews, and in Iraq, which it blames on the U.S.-led coalition. It would end its long-standing effort to identify our religion with its political ideology. It would break its ties with the Saudi kingdom, which include direct funding and other visible expressions of support. It would dedicate itself to the improvement of Muslim life among the law-abiding citizens and residents of the greatest and most generous government in human history, that of the United States. But CAIR cannot accomplish such a worthy and necessary aim. It is stuck on the crooked path of radical apologetics. "
http://www.islamicpluralism.org/wahhabiwatch.htm
When all is said and done and the islamo-fascists are destroyed. The Muslim religion itself will also fade away.
Or not.
According to Daniel Pipes there are 10-15% of the worlds Muslim that support the radicals. Now 10-15% of 1.3 Billion is a pretty big number but it's still only 10-15%.
Why don't we hear more from them?
Fear Factor
Tech Central Station ^ | 7/14/05 | Ralph Kinney Bennett
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1443532/posts
Dr. Jasser is sincerely dedicated to ridding his faith of dangerous extremists. And wants every muslim to do his part to accomplish the same goal.
What makes you so sure about Dr. Jasser? Are you Dr. Jasser?
Yes indeed, and here are some quotes from the Quran:
This is islam:
Qur’an 47:4 “But if it had been Allah’s will, He Himself could have exacted retribution and punished them (without your help). But He lets you fight in order to test you. But those who are killed in Allah’s Cause, will never let their deeds go to waste.”
Qur’an 8:72 “Those who accepted Islam and left their homes to fight in Allah’s Cause with their possessions and persons, and those who gave them shelter and aided them are your allies. You are only called to protect Muslims who fight.”
Qur’an 8:73 “The infidels aid one another. Unless you do the same there will be anarchy in the land. Those who accepted Islam and left their homes to fight in Allah’s Cause are good Muslims.”
Qur’an 4:77 “Have you not seen those to whom it was said: Withhold your hands from fighting, perform the prayer and pay the zakat. But when orders for fighting were issued, a party of them feared men as they ought to have feared Allah. They say: ‘Our Lord, why have You ordained fighting for us, why have You made war compulsory?’”
And for those muslims who do not wage jihad?
Qur’an 9:81 “Those who stayed behind rejoiced in their inaction behind the back of the Messenger. They hated to strive and fight with their goods and lives in the Cause of Allah. They said, ‘Go not forth in the heat.’ Say, ‘The fire of Hell is fiercer in heat.’ If only they could understand! So let them laugh a little, for they will weep much as a reward for what they did. If Allah brings you back (from the campaign) to a party of the hypocrites and they ask to go out to fight, say: ‘You shall never go out to fight with me against a foe. You were content sitting inactive on the first occasion. So sit with the useless men who lag behind.’ Do not pray for any of them (Muhammad) that die, nor stand at his grave. They rejected Allah and disbelieved His Messenger. They died in a state of perverse rebellion.”
These are wonderful words from Dr. Jasser, however to be frank they don't mean anything to me because the muslim's foundational book - the Koran - is quite explicit in its instruction that the good muslim should either convert the infidel (that would be me) or if they won't convert - then kill them (again, that would be me). As a Bible literalist I understand where the muslim literalist is coming from. Rather than spending their time and effort to spread the Good News that Jesus died for our sins and that Salvation is through Him alone, the good muslim will plow planes into buildings full of people. If Islam shreds their koran and comes up with a 'nicer' version - then I guess I would buy these words - but that isn't going to happen (the muslim worships their koran). Until then, my conclusion is that the hand of God restrains most muslims and keeps the majority of them in a gentle, honorable, and peaceful state... But this strain of moderate islam is merely a dormant state - awaiting the time that the 'believer' actually reads his book and believes it.
If you have any links that refutes the fact that the koran states that infidels (me again) should be killed - please reference them. The words in the koran seem pretty clear - and thus my problem isn't with the 'so-called' fringe, it is with their foundational cornerstone (the koran).
I don't know, nor does anyone really know for certain, what percentages think what. I suspect that the majority of Muslims around the world, while neither fundamentalist nor Islamist, are still rooting against the US. But what do the percentages have have to do with this discussion? I don't understand what you're trying to say.
No, I'm not Dr. Jasser
Is the Koran the literal word of god?
You asking me personally? No.
Great post. So why do the "Nuke Mecca" posts keep dancing around in my head?
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