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Muslims feel strain of global terrorism's grip on their faith
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/1/5 | Charles Levinson

Posted on 08/01/2005 5:57:06 AM PDT by SmithL

Cairo -- From the pulpit of the Peace Mosque in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt's leading Islamic cleric ripped into terrorists who kill innocent civilians. They will be damned in this life and the next, he thundered before hundreds of worshipers.

"The aggressors who blow up themselves, their cars and bombs against innocent men, women and children will not be given any mercy by God. ... They will be cursed by God and his angels," Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi said during his sermon preceding Friday's prayers.

Tantawi, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most venerated institution, last month condemned the killings of Egypt's envoy to Baghdad and of Iraqi children, begging for candy, massacred by a suicide bomber.

Muslims across the world are struggling to deal with an escalating campaign of violence waged in the name of Islam. At the core of the debate is a growing realization that religious leaders, and the governments that often support them, have not done enough to discourage the extremism that is plaguing Muslim society across the globe.

"The statements from Muslim groups and leaders that we read whenever a terrorist attack is carried out are getting old and repetitive, and I do not know if anyone is listening anymore," wrote Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian journalist, in the London-based Asharq Alawwsat daily on July 10, three days after suicide bombers killed or wounded hundreds of bus and subway passengers.

Religious leaders condemn the bombings in one breath and justify them in another, . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: pharisee; trop
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To: SmithL
As I read this article, the good news is that moderate Muslims are beginning to look inwardly to find and uproot the causes of terrorism. The bad news is, they're not looking deeply enough.

Now moderate Muslims are apparently admitting, "Yes, terrorism is a Muslim problem." But then they add, "More specifically, it's corrupt Muslim autocrats like Mubarak and the Saudi royal family whose policies are generating poverty and resentment who are to blame."

In other words, moderate Muslims are still in denial over the profound influence that their religion has in justifying and generating terrorism. And they still refuse to recognize, repudiate, and eliminate the intense persecution carried out by Muslims against non-Muslims in Islamic countries all in the name of Allah.

Until the Islamic world comes to terms and repudiates those very clear mandates of the Qu'ran and hadith on which the terror Jihad against non-Muslims is carried out, any "fix" they achieve will be a short term fix and new waves of Islamist terrorism throughout the world will continue to pop up as a matter of routine.

21 posted on 08/01/2005 6:42:04 AM PDT by JCEccles
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To: AliVeritas
Struggle means jihad

As does the German "Kampf," as in "Mein Kampf."

22 posted on 08/01/2005 6:44:55 AM PDT by JCEccles
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To: the OlLine Rebel
>" It's only about fighting w/your inner self. You know that. "

With poisoned nail bombs strapped to your chest. Ah the oldest and deepest struggle of the human race. Shakespear wrote extensively about this struggle, as did all the great philosophers.

Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes

23 posted on 08/01/2005 6:50:50 AM PDT by rawcatslyentist ("If it's brown, drink it down. If it's black send it back." Homer's guide to drinking in Springfield)
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To: snarks_when_bored
I'm pretty sure that a video of this guy while he was giving this sermon would have shown that his fingers were crossed the whole time.

No, these guys are starting to panic. They created a monster, thought they could control it, and now it's turned on them. They're scared.

They thought these tactics would only be used against Israel, some of these guys are still trying to weasle word their condemnation in a way that will still allow the Palestinians to do suicide bombs, but most of them are figuring it out. They either kill this thing, or their governments will start killing them.

The Imams are the key to this.

24 posted on 08/01/2005 6:56:39 AM PDT by McGavin999 ("You must call evil by it's name" GW Bush ......... It's name is Terror)
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To: McGavin999

Are you saying they are scared because they fear their religion is being corrupted and they just want to go back to living peaceful lives in their communities without a thought to terrorism ever again?

-or-

Are you saying that they are beginning to see a sleeping giant (west) awake and simply did not calculate the threat they were creating for themselves and would prefer to lie their way back to a dormant state until they can regroup and do this thing right?


25 posted on 08/01/2005 7:05:02 AM PDT by Eddie01
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To: AliVeritas

Thanks! The voice of moderation, every single one of them peace is right around the corner ;)


26 posted on 08/01/2005 7:11:10 AM PDT by wingsof liberty (Marines - the few, the proud, the best!!)
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To: SmithL
There are two key words in this carefully crafted statement and, if one looks closely, they repeatedly appear in all such "condemnations" from so-called moderate muslims.

Watch out for aggressors and innocent.

Non-muslims are always the former and never the latter They are the classic get-out-of-jail-free cards used to convey one message to the faithful and another to the kuffr

Quintessential, Islamic taqquiya

27 posted on 08/01/2005 7:13:28 AM PDT by Selous
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To: SmithL

It seems they've only just begun to worry about the terrorists, and only about the muslim victims, seemingly.


28 posted on 08/01/2005 7:23:46 AM PDT by manic4organic (We won. Get over it.)
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To: Eddie01
I'm saying that they planted the seeds of hatred and they never expected that THEY would harvest the bitter fruit. Their little creation has turned on them and is being used in their own countries and they can no longer control it.

They NEVER expected it to come to their countries. Short sighted men who have no understanding of evil and how evil functions. They felt pretty powerful when they called evil forth, but they are beginning to realize now that evil can't be controlled, it can only be destroyed or it devours you.

This genie can't be put back in a bottle.

29 posted on 08/01/2005 7:27:50 AM PDT by McGavin999 ("You must call evil by it's name" GW Bush ......... It's name is Terror)
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To: SmithL

These types of commentary were in this weekend's Chicago Tribune as well, some serious PR rehab by the lefties appears to have started.


30 posted on 08/01/2005 7:28:05 AM PDT by junta (Is Mexico an ally in the WOT?)
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To: McGavin999

well said


31 posted on 08/01/2005 7:29:12 AM PDT by Kelly_2000 (Because they stand on a wall and say nothing is going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch)
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To: DoctorMichael
".........Muslims across the world are struggling to deal with an escalating campaign of violence waged in the name of Islam........."

Really? Then they obviously haven't read their own koran or studied the life of Muhammed.

32 posted on 08/01/2005 7:37:46 AM PDT by Wil H
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To: Eddie01
...and would prefer to lie their way back to a dormant state until they can regroup and do this thing right?

That is an accepted practice in their culture, and they even have a word for it: hudna.

33 posted on 08/01/2005 8:03:02 AM PDT by texasbluebell
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To: McGavin999

"This genie can't be put back in a bottle."

Why not? If the IRA can give up Terror why can't Islam?

It would be harder because there is no central authority in Islam calling for terror who could now recognize continuing will lead to their destruction and renounce it but if enough of the Imams had the WILL to do so...

oh...

...nevermind...

:'-( -sigh-


34 posted on 08/01/2005 8:28:10 AM PDT by FYREDEUS (FYREDEUS)
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To: DoctorMichael

2 Cor 11:14": And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

All that appear to be angels are not from God, and there is only one way to tell which is which. "If they speak according to the word of God, only then, can one believe them." Mohammed did not speak according to the word of God, and he did not even believe the teachings of the Prophets, such a Moses. Yet he calls Moses a prophet of God. God gave to Moses tablets of stone written by his own hand. "Thou shall not kill", it reads.

So many people have been murdered in the name of Islam.


35 posted on 08/01/2005 8:44:22 AM PDT by tessalu
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To: tessalu
2 Cor 11:14: And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Prophetic.

36 posted on 08/01/2005 8:51:00 AM PDT by DoctorMichael (The Fourth-Estate is a Fifth-Column!)
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To: SmithL

"Religious leaders condemn the bombings in one breath and justify them in another."

And which message are they listening to? Well, they keep preparing and exploding bombs so I guess we know the answer to that.


37 posted on 08/01/2005 9:33:11 AM PDT by kalee
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To: ThreeTracks
I've noticed the same "but" coming from left-leaning Americans. Anyone else noticed that?

If you noticed, John Kerry did the same thing in the debates.

He would say what he thought people wanted to hear and then say "but" and say what he really thinks.

38 posted on 08/01/2005 9:59:19 AM PDT by Dan(9698)
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