American Muslims should unite to fight terrorism

San Jose Mercury News ^ | Jul. 18, 2002 | Khaled Abou El Fadl

[CHUCKfromCAL]

IN the pain-filled atmosphere after Sept. 11, I was one of the Muslims who took a public and critical stand regarding the way both my co-religionists and our government were handling the crisis. As a result, I started to receive death threats from Muslim and non-Muslim fanatics alike. The stress my family endured became unbearable when police noticed that my home was being ``staked out'' by ``unknown and suspicious parties.''

[SouthernFreebird]

Dump the Koran in its current form, do a re-write,

Th muslim religion is based on putting Jesus as a prophet while mohammed is revered even more than God.The Koran should be spurned,burned and never seen on the face of the earth. ....It came from hell and should be returned to it's rightful owner

[TADSLOS]

Th muslim religion is based on putting Jesus as a prophet while mohammed is revered even more than God.The Koran should be spurned,burned and never seen on the face of the earth

I know. I was just giving the author an impossible challenge.

[SlickWillard]

All major Muslim organizations should agree on a unified statement unequivocally condemning terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks in the harshest language possible. All major American Muslim organizations and intellectuals should sign this statement.

To do this, a Muslim must unequivocally condemn Mohammed's clear and unequivocal commandment to seize and kill, which, to a Muslim, is a condemnation of Allah's own clear and unequivocal commandment to seize and kill. In other words: To condemn terrorism is to condemn Islam itself. Don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen. As a little exercise in domestic impolity: Ask any Muslim of your acquaintance whether they will renounce the Chapter of Women's commandment to seize and kill. Hell, for such a renunciation to mean anything, you'd first have to get them to renounce the practice of Al-Taqiyah [or Taqija, or lying to infidels], but once you introduce the liar's paradox, everything degenerates into gobbledy-gook nonsense [which, by the way, is a pretty good description of Islam in the first place].

Medina Suras
The Chapter of Women
[Chapters from the Koran]
The Harvard Classics 1909–14

But if there befalls you grace from God, he would say—as though there were no friendship between you and him—‘O would that I had been with thee to attain this mighty happiness!’ Let those then fight in God’s way who sell this life of the world for the next; and whoso fights in God’s way, then, be he killed or be he victorious, we will give him a mighty hire.

What ails you that ye do not fight in God’s way, and for the weak men and women and children, who say, ‘Lord, bring us out of this town 19 of oppressive folk, and make for us from Thee a patron, and make for us from Thee a help?’

Those who believe fight in the way of God; and those who disbelieve fight in the way of Tâghût; fight ye then against the friends of Satan, verily, Satan’s tricks are weak.

Do ye not see those to whom it is said, ‘Restrain your hands, and be steadfast in prayer and give alms;’ and when it is prescribed for them to fight then a band of them fear men, as though it were the fear of God or a still stronger fear, and they say, ‘O our Lord! why hast thou prescribed for us to fight, couldst thou not let us abide till our near appointed time?’ Say, ‘The enjoyment of this world is but slight, and the next is better for him who fears;’—but they shall not be wronged a straw.

...

Why are ye two parties about the hypocrites, when God hath overturned them for what they earned? Do ye wish to guide those whom God hath led astray? Whoso God hath led astray ye shall not surely find for him a path. They would fain that ye misbelieve as they misbelieve, that ye might be alike; take ye not patrons from among them until they too flee in God’s way; but if they turn their backs, then seize them and kill them wheresoever ye find them, and take from them neither patron nor help,—save those who reach a people betwixt whom and you is an alliance—or who come to you while their bosoms prevent them from fighting you or fighting their own people. But had God pleased He would have given you dominion over them, and they would surely have fought you. But if they retire from you and do not fight you, and offer you peace,—then God hath given you no way against them.

Ye will find others who seek for quarter from you, and quarter from their own people; whenever they return to sedition they shall be overturned therein: but if they retire not from you, nor offer you peace, nor restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wheresoever ye find them;—over these we have made for you manifest power.

[The Scorpion King]

Not bloody likely!

[Kermit]

El Fadl is a really brave and good man.

"In one year, more than 20 hate-filled books, with titles such as ``Islamic Invasion,'' ``The Truth About Islam'' and ``The Enemies Among Us,'' have been published."

I haven't read these books, but it is wrong to dismiss them as "hate-filled" from the titles. We suffered an Islamic Invasion, which is advocated by certain Islamicists around the world. Finding out the truth about Islam seems to me to be a noble goal. And Mohammed Atta and his pals were enemies and were among us for 2+ years. It is also reported that up to 5,000 Al Qaeda sympathizers, supporters and potential terrorists in this country today. Isn't that enemies among us?El Fadl also advocates that American Muslim organizations work today to find enemies in this country.

[sheik yerbouty]

CAIR and Sarah Eltanawi are too busy whining that people think badly of them, whilst they file so called "civil rights" lawsuits.

[Stultis]

Other articles regarding El Fadl:

Inside Islam (National Review Profile)

Defender of the Faith [Portrait of anti-Islamist Khaled Abou El Fadl] (U.S. News & World Report)

For more on genuinely "Moderate Muslims" click on the keyword here or at the top of the article. (And please help me, if you are so inclined, in indexing other such articles with this keyword.)

[Stultis]

Yes there ARE American Muslims who have meaningfully and substantively denounced terrorism AND the radical ideologies that undergird it. See my previous message on "Moderate Muslims" for a link with examples.

BUT that you forward CAIR, a group run by islamist radicals and a major voice of the American Wahhabi Lobby, as such an example indicates that you are either a clueless dupe or are actively working to "mainstream" Islamic radicalism.

BTW I would also ask for FReepers to index appropriate articles to the "Whabbi Lobby" keyword. Exposing islamic radicals is an important part of defending genuine moderates.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Sihks have suffered greatly at the hands of Muslims, there is a sihk temple back in my home town (Campbell River BC, Canada) that has scrolls that depict what went on when the muslims tried to convert the sihks..all of the sihks I have met are hard working and very family oriented, they even invite non-sihks to come on down and check things out at the temple.

Most have moved to north America because they are tired of the same old crap going on in their home countries, they just want to live their lives away from it.

Besides they are good fighters and have a distinguished history of serving in times of war.

[swarthyguy]

I indexed keywords of moderatemuslims and in the singular. Left out the underscore. There are a couple of articles i recently posted. If you do a keyword search on the above two words, you may find some of interest to you.

[Stultis]

He's written other articles in this vein. YOu can also find articles by a Pakistani called Tashbih Sayyed, posted on FR; he writes for a mag called paktoday.com; he's in the US currently, having to flee Pakistan in fear of his life.

I can't relocate it now, but I once found a webpage from some fairly mainline Jewish organization urging its members to subscribe to Pakistan Today. Reading between the lines it was apparent the Sayyed has been an important resource to American Jews wishing to engage in ecumenical activities with Muslims.

Islamists, even though they do not genuinely believe in ecumenicism, are apparently heavily involved in such activities. They gain stature and influence from well meaning Jews and Christians that they cannot acheive in their own communities. Their goal is to hide the real diversity of Islam and establish their radical views as normative. It seems the Sayyed has been assisting Jews by steering them away from Islamists and toward those interested in sincere spiritual outreach.

Regarding this guy, where do we send the flowers for this brave soul.

I suppose in care of UCLA where El-Fadl is a law professor. Here is his homepage, with email link:

Khaled Abou El Fadl Homepage

[Stultis]

I was just using a space: "Moderate(space)Muslims". Some characters, like a dash, will be deleted from a keyword, such that "Al-Arian" will become "ALARIAN". In these cases it may be better to replace dashes with spaces. Don't know what happens with the underscore.

[swarthyguy]

OK, i was wondering. I've used moderatemuslim and moderatemuslims. Will adhere to your convention for the interesting articels.

[Redcloak]

American Muslims must...

Any such actions would be coming about 10 months too late.

[swarthyguy]

Kabbani was on the Shep Smith show on Fox a few minutes ago.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I didn't realize the Muslim history for them, but I have heard everything else, and of course lived it with them as neighbors. They are wonderful people. Yes, the temples are open, and during the period immediately after 9/11, they publicly made sure that people knew who they were, invited them to see what their religion was about, and it was a wise thing to do. Stomp out ignorance, before it began.

Thanks for your post.. very enlightening :o)

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Your screen name is great :o)

Everytime I see it, it makes me smile. I think it is the best screen name on FR. It continues to serve a purpose if it can continue to create smiles. And "thats" a good thing. (Martha Stewart Pun intended :o)

:o)

[mafree]

Hope the writer's insurance is up to date by the time the Al Qaeda sleepers here get to him.

[TLBSHOW]

Islam is the enemy we face.

[McGavin999]

This good man has written a number of really great articles. He's right, we waited for the Muslim community to step up and say something and it was only when we heard from CAIR and other groups of that type that we turned.

All we have seen from the Muslim community is half hearted statements that have NEVER been followed with actions.

The simple fact is, the Muslims need a reformation. They need to gather together and state their position and then they need to follow it with actions. Turn in the terrorists, volunteer to translate, go on shows AGAINST the CAIR group to argue the Muslim law.