Posted on 07/02/2002 2:02:03 PM PDT by What Is Ain't
A delegation of high-ranking Muslim leaders from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Egypt stopped in Chicago on Monday to offer a voice of "tolerance and moderation" after the Sept. 11 attacks and urge an end to Muslim stereotypes, particularly in the media.
"Sept. 11 had nothing to do with Islam and Muslims," said Dr. Al-Shieck Ahmad Lemu, president of the Islamic Educational Endowment in Nigeria. "Don't define Muslims according to them," he said, referring to the terrorists.
Lemu is one of a dozen Muslim leaders, scholars and lawyers on a four city "goodwill" tour organized by the Muslim World League, a non-governmental group based in Saudi Arabia. The 40-year-old league is an "observer member" of the United Nations and is a member of two UN affiliate organizations.
The group is meeting with law enforcement, academics, interfaith groups and the media in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles "to extend a hand of friendship and create a dialogue among Muslims and non-Muslims," Abdullah al-Turki, secretary general of the league, said during a news conference at a downtown hotel.
The group met with FBI, Immigration and Naturalization Service and police officials Monday morning and was assured that "all citizens will be treated equally," said Mustafa I. Siric, the Grand Mufti of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We notice a positive wind of change," Lemu said. "There is clearly a better understanding of Muslims."
Still, there is much work to be done, the delegates said.
"This is just one drop in a sea of efforts to meet this crisis," said Ahmad Abulmagd, with the Arab League in Cairo.
Several delegates decried the continued association between Islam and the terrorists in the media and elsewhere.
"You're giving them a label they don't deserve to represent," Siric said. He and others were particularly disturbed by the term "Islamic fundamentalist," saying the word "fundamentalist" in Arabic simply describes someone who adheres to fundamental principles of Islam.
"Fundamentalist is understood as something intolerant, irrational and leading to violence," said Muzamil Sidiqi, the former president of the Islamic Society of North America. "All of those things aren't Islamic."
One Chicago leader said Muslims share some blame for confusion around defining Islam.
Imam Wallace D. Mohammed, leader of the Muslim American Society, at the meeting to support the delegation, said Muslims should have spoken out earlier against extremists.
"No one expected that any one human being would do those sick things, but we did know about extremists who gave us a bad name," said Mohammed, the son of deceased Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. "We should have been dealing with this all along."
Isn't that special!
after the Sept. 11 attacks and urge an end to Muslim stereotypes, particularly in the media.
Saudi Arabia, eh? So "tolerance" must surely mean that the open practice of (and adherence to) other faiths would be permitted, right? No doubt they will welcome Christian missionaries into their country.
Suuuure they will.
ISLAM IS THE ENEMY.
No. He's just practicing "spin". His objective is to deflect US public disapproval regarding Islam and Muslims. The truth or falsity of his statements is irrelevant to him.
Good! A show of good faith on the tolerance issue would be to allow Christians and Jews in each of these respective countries to proselytize Muslims. (Hehe)
There have been TOO MANY recent examples that bear truth to the charge that Islam is simply murderous cult.
How long, before the civilized world begins to recognize the murderous gangs and forces in Islam as no better than an Arab KKK?
Semper Fi
Well said Denydenydeny
(post # 3)
Well, they strain mine.
I think it was Hayek who pointed out that one of the chief flaws of communism is that doing what the book says causes the wrong people to become in charge. If a system permits leadership positions with great power and little accountability to the people, then the worst elements of society will tend to gravitate to these positions. To borrow a phrase from Deming: "Built right into the system!"
Perhaps this is an intrinsic property of Islam as well. If "the book" calls for a system where the clergy have too much power, then "peaceful" Islam will continually (re-)evolve into "nutcake" Islam.
As people like Martin Luther and the Whigs pointed out long ago, the Churches of Rome and England also exhibited these tendencies before they were reined in by their own societies.
Eyes glaze over, mind turns off, enuff said.
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