What Muslims must do

Boston Globe ^ | 7/6/2002 | Abdul Cader Asmal

[a_Turk]

SEPT. 11 WAS a wake-up call - for Americans to take up arms against terrorism and for Muslims to ask who speaks for them.

The concept for Americans was simple - to identify and neutralize the enemy. The strategy for Muslims has been anything but easy. Paralyzed into inaction by competing emotions of shame and outrage, humiliation and resentment, they have yet to deliver a cohesive response to invidious questions about their religion.

[McGavin999]

the global community of Islam has to take an unprecedented step - a step to develop an international Islamic jurisdictional council.

Such an organization must be empowered not only to monitor and prosecute those who purvey hate and advocate mayhem, but also to build consensus and become the global voice of Islam that speaks for all Muslims

It's about time. Islam MUST undergo a reformation if it is to survive. They need one voice with authority to speak for them and to condemn the fanatics. That will allow those who are trapped and powerless the weapon they need to reject them. The people of Afghanistan, the Palestinians, and many others have been at the mercy of those who claim "holy authority".

If this is not done, then the world has every reason to reject them.

[Kenton]

Dear Abdul: You stated the global community of Islam has to take an unprecedented step - a step to develop an international Islamic jurisdictional council. Such an organization must be empowered not only to monitor and prosecute those who purvey hate and advocate mayhem, but also to build consensus and become the global voice of Islam that speaks for all Muslims It is up to the "decent" Muslims in America to do everything they can to show us that THEY, not the terrorists, speak with the true voice of Islam. If they are silent, we only have the terrorists and their simpathizers actions upon which to judge how "peaceful" Islam really is.

[WaterDragon]

for I think you'll find that where there are Christians acting out violently you have many Christians speaking out against them. When Jerry Falwell merely attributed the Sept 11 massacre to God being unhappy with America's something-or-other, the denunciation of Americans was swift and brutal. They rejected any excuse for such a hideous act. There were NO Christians attempting to protect McVeigh from trial and sentencing.

Following Sept 11 I realized I knew absolutely nothing about Islam or Muslims. I considered them a religion that worshipped one God, probably not too dissimilar from Christianity and Judaism. Since then I've accumulated an extensive library on Islam, including such writers as Bernard Lewis, David Prycee-Jones, Daniel Pipes, Robert Kaplan and V.S. Naipaul, as well as many books by Muslims.

As to Islam being a peaceful religion, I think Muslims are peaceful people or not, as they choose to be, just as are Christians or Jews. It does not help the case for Islam being a "peaceful religion" that so very, very few denounce the terrorists, and so very, very many applaud the terrorists.

[tomkat]

Such an organization must be empowered [blah,blah,blah] ...

fox/henhouse

[Entropy Squared]

What Muslims must do

Round up their terrorists and hang them from lamp posts or die in massive numbers.

[gawatchman]

The terrorists acts of Oklahoma, and Columbine had NOTHING to do with Christianity anyway. Being an authentic Christian hinges on a personal relationship with our saviour Jesus Christ. These terrorists were motivated by the same father of lies that Muslims follow.

[a_Turk]

Being an authentic Muslim is to tolerate unless attacked.. Either I am an infidel or the terrorists are. I won't be painted with the same brushstroke.

In the past, many people committed horrific acts posing as Christians. I don't consider these as such, I keep them seperate than you for example, who seems not to feel that any non-Christian should be persecuted and burned at the stake.

[Hildy]

Timothy McVeigh did not perpetrate his crime in the name of God. Period.

[stop_fascism]

Perhaps it is articles like this that make some of us hate Muslims. In paticular, the cheap shots against Christianity are annoying. For example:

The final solution was not perpertrated by Christians.

Timothy mcVeigh was not acting as a Christian. In fact, there is growing circumstantial evidence that Oklahoma was another Muslim plot.

Instead of attacking other religions the author should fix his own. One good place to start - stop the imans from preaching hate in mosqes around the world.

[swarthyguy]

The Dangers of the so called moderates:

"confers a special status upon Christians and Jews,"

Leaves out all the rest. That old divide and rule strategy.
Guess the animists of Sudan don't count.

"Sadly for Muslims such relentless stigmatization culminated in the self-fulfilling prophecy of Sept. 11."

WTF? When were muslims stigmatized before September 11, 2001. In fact, the case they put forward how being cultural conservatives was making great headway.
So, of course, all of us are to blame for the rage felt by the hijacker jihadis.

"While the terrorists of Sept. 11 were Muslim, they were deviant Muslims"

Who's a true believer and who's not is a matter for the adherents of the faith and the theologians to decide.
For the rest of us, it's crystal clear.

This is similar to the arguments used by the Left; Sovietism was not the true real communism but a perversion.

More power to TUrkey, but this guy's arguments will raise more hackles than anything else. And bringing up the inquisition is a tired tactic.

[a_Turk]

Timothy McVeigh did not perpetrate his crime in the name of God.

How the f*ck do you know why he really did it? Are you his girl? Here's what happens when a guy comes out and condemns the attacks on your real estate and nationals: he's automatically condemned.

[lodwick]

bttt

Happy Birthday Mr.President!

Don't miss this one.

[a_Turk]

Oklahoma was another Muslim plot.

Pffffffffffff

That's right..

The taliban plotting to attack bumf*ck Oklahoma.. What a moron! Instead of picking on the guys attempts to show balance, why not focus on his sorrow? You just wanna hate.

[valkyrieanne]

We have sincere and good allies in Muslim countries and groups, most notably Turkey, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, and the Muslims in Bosnia that are next on the list to become victims of jihadis. The Muslims of the "Icky-stans" (Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan etc.) that were formerly of the old Soviet Union are also interested in fighting jihadism, as is Russia with its substantial Muslim minority.

[esopman]

Thank you for posting this. "...paralyzed into inaction by competing emotions..."

Mr. Asmal is profoundly deceived. Not just the maniacal 'religion' he espouses is corrupt, his logic is corrupt.

When confronted with an evil of the magnitude of 9/11, what emotion competing with the raw outrage at the evil could neutralize the appropriate response? Whatever emotion could cause one to: (1) Fail to condemn the act; (2) Be anything less than vigorous and immediate in rooting out the evil; (3) Fail to sympathize with the victims; (4) Fail to condemn ALL who in any way approve...MUST by logical definition be an evil emotion as it does not work against the evil.

Further, he lies. Daniel Pipes, Ph.D., is an extraordinarily sane voice on matters Islamic and has conclusive data showing broad Islamic support for attacks on the 'Great Satan,' the violent manner of the propagation of Islam since the Seventh Century, the militant philosophy revealed in the Hadith, et friggin' cetera forever.

It is going to take another 9/11 before the Fumbling Bureaucrats of Inaction and the media-numbed masses are even close to recognizing the problem and responding appropriately.

Blessings on Freepers Everywhere

[BunnySlippers]

•

[a_Turk]

(1) Fail to condemn the act; (2) Be anything less than vigorous and immediate in rooting out the evil; (3) Fail to sympathize with the victims; (4) Fail to condemn ALL who in any way approve...MUST by logical definition be an evil emotion as it does not work against the evil.

Dude, it is your government which sympathised with Terrorists who blew up schools, sprayed bus stops with bullets, and "shit" on the statues and busts of Ataturk. It was your government which allowed the very same terrorists to set up tent right across from our embassy in DC, even though these bastards were resposible for over 30000 deaths of innocents in Turkey, using even suicide bombers! Suicide bombing didn't mean the same to you before 9/11 as it does now does it?

I recognize this whole dilemma we find ourselves in as a fruit of human weakness many are just too happy to munch...

There were folks dancing right here in the US whenever we were attacked and killed, hell they were even fundraising here.

Now, when I say we, I don't mean Islamists, I mean Turks. Hope you know to draw the distinction..

[esopman]

My government also murdered 'Bonus Marchers' 70 years ago, lied about leaving MIA's behind in Korea, Viet Nam, failed to support the Hungarian 1956 uprising, has created an FBI and JD which under Clinton behaved like the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti....the list is very long. Nobody with a brain or a heart supports everything this Republic has done. The years of Bubba Rex left me dumbfounded at our dumbness. That notwithstanding, we have been a beacon of freedom to the world and about the best thing going. Many owe us a lot. Says something about the alternatives, n'est ce pas?

The problem is not with anything Anatolian. I have worked with Turks professionally and prefer them to, for example, the typical American college professor.

The central point is that Islam is, really is, dead-dog-sure is, unquestionably is THE ENEMY, THE PROBLEM. Just like Hitlerism/Nazism, Japanese Militarism, it will have to be not just reformed, but annihilated. They have been breeding terrorists from the cellular level up for decades. I ain't holding my breath that anybody anytime soon will be able to deal with the massive numbers and murderous inclinations of that global mob/menace.

I apologize for any American sympathies with terrorists against the Turks. I do not know enough of the K. Ataturk story to comment intelligently.

Again, thank you for the post.

[ClearBlueSky]

Crusades 2!! It's a good thing!