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.

[GoMonster]

What muslims must do. Hmmm! How about they all put on a strap bomb and go to desert and Boom!

[a_Turk]

Hey, no problem about the post, I do it to check the pulse, which by the way is indicating a possible heart attack..

Now, the only reason I bring up the US sympathy expressed towards the terrorists who bombed us in the past is to show you the other side of the coin.

As far as isolating an attribute which is shared by 1.5 billion people as the problem, I will have to disagree. We have over 60 million Muslims in Turkey, and maybe a few hundred terrorists. Heck, if all Muslims were a problem, just because of Islam, then the situation would be hopeless, which I am happy to report, it is not..

[Shermy]

Good article. Thanks for the ping. Most, if not all religions go through theologically-inspired rough spots in time by propelled by murderers. I think the current phase of Islamic fundamentalism (and fundamentalism need not be murderous) where it seems so prominent, is in reality more ethnic based - Arab and Pakistani.

[FITZ]

a step to develop an international Islamic jurisdictional council.

It might be a good move to make ----because as it it is bin Laden or any terrorist can claim to speak for the Muslims and there's nothing stopping them.

[Let's Roll]

"...tenuous ties ..."? Richard Reid and Jose Padilla? They're MUSLIMS!! How tenuous is that?

[a_Turk]

Any terrorist is about as Muslim as Christian. One can't be a terrorist and a Christian simultaneously, can one? A true Muslim follows his rules of tolerance and charity, and will not physically challenge another in any setting other than on a battlefield, unless we're talking sports..

To say that the 9/11 hijackers, or any other terrorist, is a Muslim is ludicrous. They were the very infidels we are warned about in the Koran.

[a_Turk]

Who cares what the bastard said.

[Hildy]

Wow...take a chill pill. I don't even know what you're talking about. I was just pointing out that the author had no grounds in comparing Timothy McVeigh with Muslim Extremists. If you don't agree with me, then please explain why in a civil manner.

[marron]

I made it a point to read the Koran while I was living in Saudi Arabia. There was little there to give me heartburn; much of it was readily recognizable to anyone who is steeped in Judeo-Christian theology; what little I would quibble about, I took in the context of the times and circumstances it was written.

Wahabism, of course, is a different animal.

The events of 9/11 have certainly changed our view of the world. Prior to that date, we were quietly supporting much of what bin Ladin was doing; specifically, we supported the Chechens against the Russians, the Uighars against the Chinese, we were certainly sympathetic to Kurdish calls for independence. We were working with the Taliban to stabilize Afghanistan under their rule.

What a difference a day makes. The Chechens are on their own. The Uighars almost certainly still have our sympathy, but too bad. The Kurds, likewise, have our sympathy, but not if it costs us Turkish support.

9/10 we probably didn't care who won in Kashmir; that is certainly changed.

Old alliances have been revealed to be irrelevant as our paper-allies ran for cover, offered us a couple of patrol boats to cruise the coast of Afghanistan (?), or actively and loudly blamed us for our own misfortune.

In their place a new alliance has emerged: Brits (as always, thank God). Turks. Russians. Indians. When the lead is flying, you look around to see who is standing next to you; thats who your friends are. Sometimes its not the ones you expected.

[beckett]

Like a lot of other Muslim writers I have read since 9-11, Abdul Cader Asmal enjoys attacking the critics of Islam much more than he enjoys attacking Muslim extremists.

He says nothing worthwhile in this column, other than a vague call for an "international Islamic jurisdictional council," which at best, would not become effective for years, possibly decades.

When prominent Muslims like Asmal condemn in no uncertain terms the large numbers of fanatics found throughout the Islamic world, I'll begin to have respect for them. Not before.

[a_Turk]

when people start saying he killed in the name of christianity

Quote me the part where that's written.. Condemn and engage the terrorists, not people of the faith of Islam. We suffer from the same type of terrorism.

We Turks are a nation of about 70 million Muslims. Three of our cops just died taking out an islamist terrorist while trying to avoid his wife and child.

Don't you get it? A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist. Religion is not the issue, attitude is. I am not your enemy even though I am a Muslim. Better yet, I've been your ally for over fifty years. Ask a Korean war vet...

[Hildy]

I think your anger is misdirected.

[beckett]

McViegh (the "i" comes before the "e") was not religious at all, let alone Christian!

That fact is one of several errors made by the author of the very poorly researched column at the top of this thread. The author is not interested in research. He's interested only in writing a polemic that allows him to complain about the shabby treatment of Muslims post 9-11.

[a_Turk]

It's not anger, but rather dispair...

[Nam Vet]

When I saw your post and read the article, I kinda cringed for you knowing what was coming your way. I, as many other Americans, appreciates the Turks for their many years of true friendhip. YOU were our closest 'ears' on the USSR since I was a very young man. The rabid Muslims don't hail from Turkey. There truely are honest Muslims, however I do think the religion has been hijacked by a HUGE proportion. Islam needs more countries such as Turkey. That being said, I believe the rabid of your religion should be exterminated forthwith.

Nam Vet

[a_Turk]

The author is not interested in research

Hell with the author, but since you make the point about research, then why not show me where he mentions that Mc Viegh is supposedly Christian?

[a_Turk]

That being said, I believe the rabid of your religion should be exterminated forthwith

Bingo! I don't even consider them of my religion. Liars, thieves, murderers, rapists, such people could at best be satanists, not Jews, Christians, nor Muslims.