We were brought up to hate - and we do (Muslim Arab world is diseased says Muslim writer)

The Daily Telegraph ^ | 12/02/2006 | Nonie Darwish

[Hannah Senesh]

The controversy regarding the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed completely misses the point. Of course, the cartoons are offensive to Muslims, but newspaper cartoons do not warrant the burning of buildings and the killing of innocent people. The cartoons did not cause the disease of hate that we are seeing in the Muslim world on our television screens at night - they are only a symptom of a far greater disease.

I was born and raised as a Muslim in Cairo, Egypt and in the Gaza Strip. In the 1950s, my father was sent by Egypt's President, Gamal Abdel Nasser, to head the Egyptian military intelligence in Gaza and the Sinai where he founded the Palestinian Fedayeen, or "armed resistance". They made cross-border attacks into Israel, killing 400 Israelis and wounding more than 900 others.

My father was killed as a result of the Fedayeen operations when I was eight years old. He was hailed by Nasser as a national hero and was considered a shaheed, or martyr. In his speech announcing the nationalisation of the Suez Canal, Nasser vowed that all of Egypt would take revenge for my father's death. My siblings and I were asked by Nasser: "Which one of you will avenge your father's death by killing Jews?" We looked at each other speechless, unable to answer.

In school in Gaza, I learned hate, vengeance and retaliation. Peace was never an option, as it was considered a sign of defeat and weakness. At school we sang songs with verses calling Jews "dogs" (in Arab culture, dogs are considered unclean).

Criticism and questioning were forbidden. When I did either of these, I was told: "Muslims cannot love the enemies of God, and those who do will get no mercy in hell." As a young woman, I visited a Christian friend in Cairo during Friday prayers, and we both heard the verbal attacks on Christians and Jews from the loudspeakers outside the mosque. They said: "May God destroy the infidels and the Jews, the enemies of God. We are not to befriend them or make treaties with them." We heard worshippers respond "Amen".

My friend looked scared; I was ashamed. That was when I first realised that something was very wrong in the way my religion was taught and practised. Sadly, the way I was raised was not unique. Hundreds of millions of other Muslims also have been raised with the same hatred of the West and Israel as a way to distract from the failings of their leaders. Things have not changed since I was a little girl in the 1950s.

Palestinian television extols terrorists, and textbooks still deny the existence of Israel. More than 300 Palestinians schools are named after shaheeds, including my father. Roads in both Egypt and Gaza still bear his name - as they do of other "martyrs". What sort of message does that send about the role of terrorists? That they are heroes. Leaders who signed peace treaties, such as President Anwar Sadat, have been assassinated. Today, the Islamo-fascist president of Iran uses nuclear dreams, Holocaust denials and threats to "wipe Israel off the map" as a way to maintain control of his divided country.

Indeed, with Denmark set to assume the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, the flames of the cartoon controversy have been fanned by Iran and Syria. This is critical since the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to refer Iran to the Security Council and demand sanctions. At the same time, Syria is under scrutiny for its actions in Lebanon. Both Iran and Syria cynically want to embarrass the Danes to achieve their dangerous goals.

But the rallies and riots come from a public ripe with rage. From my childhood in Gaza until today, blaming Israel and the West has been an industry in the Muslim world. Whenever peace seemed attainable, Palestinian leaders found groups who would do everything to sabotage it. They allowed their people to be used as the front line of Arab jihad. Dictators in countries surrounding the Palestinians were only too happy to exploit the Palestinians as a diversion from problems in their own backyards. The only voice outside of government control in these areas has been the mosques, and these places of worship have been filled with talk of jihad.

Is it any surprise that after decades of indoctrination in a culture of hate, that people actually do hate? Arab society has created a system of relying on fear of a common enemy. It's a system that has brought them much-needed unity, cohesion and compliance in a region ravaged by tribal feuds, instability, violence, and selfish corruption. So Arab leaders blame Jews and Christians rather than provide good schools, roads, hospitals, housing, jobs, or hope to their people.

For 30 years I lived inside this war zone of oppressive dictatorships and police states. Citizens competed to appease and glorify their dictators, but they looked the other way when Muslims tortured and terrorised other Muslims. I witnessed honour killings of girls, oppression of women, female genital mutilation, polygamy and its devastating effect on family relations. All of this is destroying the Muslim faith from within.

It's time for Arabs and Muslims to stand up for their families. We must stop allowing our leaders to use the West and Israel as an excuse to distract from their own failed leadership and their citizens' lack of freedoms. It's time to stop allowing Arab leaders to complain about cartoons while turning a blind eye to people who defame Islam by holding Korans in one hand while murdering innocent people with the other.

Muslims need jobs - not jihad. Apologies about cartoons will not solve the problems. What is needed is hope and not hate. Unless we recognise that the culture of hate is the true root of the riots surrounding this cartoon controversy, this violent overreaction will only be the start of a clash of civilis-ations that the world cannot bear.

• Nonie Darwish is a freelance writer and public speaker.

[Hannah Senesh]

"The cartoons did not cause the disease of hate that we are seeing in the Muslim world on our television screens at night - they are only a symptom of a far greater disease."

"We must stop allowing our leaders to use the West and Israel as an excuse to distract from their own failed leadership and their citizens' lack of freedoms. It's time to stop allowing Arab leaders to complain about cartoons while turning a blind eye to people who defame Islam by holding Korans in one hand while murdering innocent people with the other."

[nuconvert]

bump

[bikepacker67]

The only thing you can do about people who don't want peace is kill them.

[Caipirabob]

The moderate Muslims I know don't really practice Islam per say. One little Muslim girl my son knows tried to argue with him that God doesn't even exist and that she didn't believe Christ ever did either. You just know her head would be on a pike in another country. My son responded by stating his faith and that Christ believed in her. She didn't respond, but we are talking young children. They probably went and played with Legos afterwards and I know he talks with her frequently.

Another young Muslim woman we know is attending Church with a friend of mine on a regular basis. She doesn't practice as one would think either. Apparently the vacuum has opened her mind to Christian teachings and she's enjoying the services.

My point is that I doubt either of these individuals would engage in the violence and would heartily condemn those who participated in it. I think most of the moderates are know are simply fearful to respond in any manner.

[FreedomPoster]

A brave woman to write that, and allow it to be published.

[starbase]

Well, I respect her courage and her attitude, but how much will have to change before views like hers have even a ghost of an impact?

And, not to be contentious, but Mohammedanism was founded on murder, torture, betrayal and fanaticism. Who's to say it could ever be anything else?

[PubliusMM]

An interesting and credible assessment. However, IF the voices of moderation still outnumber the radicals, then it's time for them to speak up more forcefully.

It is my hope that Europe is finally awakening to the harsh reality of their failed gratuitous immigration policies of the past thirty years or so. Only be re-asserting their national identities will they successfully block the advance of insidious Islam.

There is no reason to apologize for their respective cultures. There is no reason to appease the external, foreign-born demands of the Islamofascists in their midst.

The same applies to the US.

[KillTime]

A great read with thoughts (and the reality) expertly expressed.

[johnny7]

Alrighty then!!!

[backhoe]

Oh, I "understand" them all too well...

Islam, The Alleged Religion of Peace® ( TARP™ )? Click this picture:

No, I am not exaggerating. Click the pic, go to "last," and read backwards.
If you are not informed about this stuff, you will be made sick. If you are informed, you will be made mad, all over again.

Then, there is this little matter still on the books, waiting to be settled. The account is still open:

Where It's 9-11 All the Time...Click the picture...

---

From my file, "Fire & Blood & Iron:"

---

The entire West ( dare I say "the civilized World?" ) is locked in a fight to the death with militant Islam.

There will be no second-place winner, no "third way" solution-- it is March or Die time, folks.

It is Us versus an eighth-century "culture" of plunder & pillage, forced religious "conversions," and the mistreatment of women.

The sooner we face up to this fact realistically and quit dancing around PC talking-point nonsense about diversity and tolerance, the better off we'll all be.

We did not pick this fight- which really has roots in Jimmy Carter's appeasement in 1979 of militants- but we had damned well better see it for what it is, and be prepared to face it and finish it.

I'll put it in raw, personal terms-- I don't want Sharia law visited upon my women, and I don't want a goat-roper "culture" infesting my land.

I don't want their vile, nasty, loathsome weapons of mass destruction loosed upon my fair country, either.

They picked the fight, and now it is up to us to finish it- balls to the wall, hammer and anvil, fire and blood and iron... freedom is never, ever free, and the coin you pay it in is men's lives and tears and blood.

What we saw during Gulf War I was our military doctrine ( high tech ) versus Soviet doctrine ( throw a lot of low tech iron at the problem )-- and we all know how that turned out.

What we saw in the 3-Week War is Information-Tech,
( What some are calling it Hyperwarfare... )
or 21st Century warfare versus 20th Century...

What I would suggest, and call your attention to, is the fact that we, and Israel, are capable of waging 21st Century warfare, and the entire Arab world is not.

Proven fact, by recent events.

One more thing- this will be a war where we are all called to be warriors- so I suggest to you that the time has come to get hard, and stay hard... it really is the time for Fire and Blood and Iron...

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Too bad about Nonie, she had so much to live for.

[Hannah Senesh]

Nonie Darwish

[bella1]

Prayer changes hearts and lives. Pray for the Muslim people.

[DugwayDuke]

"Indeed, with Denmark set to assume the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, the flames of the cartoon controversy have been fanned by Iran and Syria. This is critical since the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to refer Iran to the Security Council and demand sanctions. At the same time, Syria is under scrutiny for its actions in Lebanon. Both Iran and Syria cynically want to embarrass the Danes to achieve their dangerous goals."

This is, by far, the most important bit of information I've seen on FR this week.

It's well known that these cartoon riots have been carefully instigated and planned by Syria and Iran and now we know why.

It's nothing but an attempt to embarrass the country slated to be the President of the Security Council when these subjects come before the council.

[AmericaUnite]

I heard her on a WABC radio show. Thought it was great.

[big'ol_freeper]

Ping

[rawcatslyentist]

The problem is the Koranus itself!

Sura 9:5 of the “Koran,” “Slay the idolaters muslimes wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.”

Promoting MURDER for 1400 years. Isn't it about time to put it down!

Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I was taught to respect all races and all religions......and it's hard to remain tolerant in the light of 9-11 and beyond.

But to be raised to hate everything and everybody not Muslim.....that must be a living hell!!

I guess that's how I would best describe the Muslim religion......

a living hell.

No wonder they are so eagert to end their lives!!

[SampleMan]

A voice in the Islamic wilderness. However, if the entire West were trumpeting this message from the roof tops, it could have some positive effect.

The Left's (MSM & socialist governments) unwillingness to speak truth to insanity will ultimately result in MORE muslim deaths, as well as Western deaths.

[DejaJude]

It's time to stop allowing Arab leaders to complain about cartoons while turning a blind eye to people who defame Islam by holding Korans in one hand while murdering innocent people with the other.

Bravo. One courageous voice... a few million more and there might be hope for the redemption of Islam.