Posted on 09/09/2004 7:29:26 AM PDT by nuconvert
Russian Muslims Rally Against Terror
By Damir Ahmad, IOL Correspondent
MOSCOW, September 8 (IslamOnline.net) – Up to 40,000 Russian Muslims took part Tuesday, September 7, in a nationwide rally in protest at the hostage-taking school tragedy in the southern city of Beslan that claimed the lives of hundreds of people, mostly children.
In Moscow, the anguished protesters stood still for a moment of silence on the Red Square in memory of the victims of Beslan and the two Russian airliners that crashed south of Moscow on August 25, killing 90 people aboard.
The demonstrators, who reached 15,000 people, waved banners reading: “Terror-free Russia”, “Real human beings do not target children”, “Keep your hands off our children” and “All Russians make it clear: We are against terrorism”.
The mass rally was called for by the Russian television Monday, September 6 and was organized by a pro-government trade union.
It came as the residents of grief-stricken Beslan held a third day of funerals for at last the 336 victims.
All but one of the 32 hostage-takers and at least 336 people, half of them children, died after Russian troops stormed the school Friday, September 3.
The Russian government has admitted that it lied to its people about the scale of the crisis.
‘Not Muslims’
The deputy chief of Russia’s Council of Muftis, Izzatullah Damir Hezrat, said the perpetrators of the “terrorist hostage-takers have nothing to do with Islam”.
“They are not Muslims at all, rather they are criminals,” Hezrat told the crowd massing at the Red Square.
“Those who killed innocent people, not to mention children, are doomed to the Hellfire. They wanted to spark a religious strife in the Caucasus. But their malicious schemes would prove futile as the entire Russian people stand united against terrorism.”
He said hundreds of Muslims representing their community in Russia performed funeral prayers Tuesday in solidarity with the victims’ families and leave the impression that they do feel for them.
“We will be missing you and always remember you in our prayers,” Hezrat added.
The Council of Muftis has already condemned the tragedy as “a terrorist act that Islam totally refuses and forbids”.
The religious council for North Caucasian Muslims said the hostage taking is “a heinous terrorist crime” that inflicted pain and suffering on families of the hostages.
I'm a hawk.
I want to screw up THEIR countries, not mine.
Have the decency to ping me if you talk about me.
Somehow I sensed that.
(There is nothing redeeming in his "let's just all get along with the muslim killers in our midst" philosophy!
You quote Franklin, Luis, but Franklin didn't have to worry about the muslim terror that we must contend with today.
I'll even go you one better...and then I am through with this witness...
Where is our Augusto Pinochet or Alberto Fujimori?
The cemeteries and crematoria are full of the ashes of moderates.
"I contrubuted financially to relief efforts. There were no massive demonstrations in my rural neighborhood. I don't do candle light vigils, anyway."
So then, the same could be said about you...right?
The same thing that you want Muslims to demonstrate about...the murder of Americans.
Three words : IVAN THE TERRIBLE
Ask muslim Tatars what they thought of him.
It's much easier to round up innocent people than evil ones.
"I don't know what they call themselves, nor do I hear them speaking out against the statements being made by murderers that they are acting according to the teachings of their Allah."
Sounds to me like you're not listening. Your own admission.
If it's a muslim, it's evil.
American Muslims are first and foremost just that...Americans. I don't measure their loyalty to the Nation by the number of candlelight vigils or public demonstrations they hold, any more than I do you from your lack of participation in candlelight vigils and public demonstrations, or the fact that they did not "rise in protest" any more than you did. Their behavior, being similar to yours, only tells me that they baheved as any other American, NOT that they approved of 9/11.
So, the fact that they behaved just like you did makes them less than American?
What does that say for you?
What have you seen that makes you think that Muslim comes before American?
And does America come before Christ to you?
Yes, there are.
American Muslims know they are a protected class. They have no reason to protest Muslim atrocities.
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