Posted on 11/30/2008 4:34:05 AM PST by radar101
Watching the terror nightmare unfold in Mumbai over the past three days with me on television, my kids have repeatedly asked me: “Who are these terrorists and why are they doing this?” And every time I wished I could offer them a convincing answer.
What could I tell them? For one, I was equally clueless why these guys had taken over India’s financial and cultural capital and were targeting people who had nothing to do with them and had done nothing to harm them.
For two, I was too ashamed to tell them these guys were ostensibly Muslims and came from a country that was created in the name of Islam.
At work, while my colleagues went about covering the madness in Mumbai and laying out special pages with the images of the incredibly beautiful hotel, Taj, with its Islamic arches and domes, go up in smoke, I find it hard to look my colleagues in the eye.
And this happens all the time. Every time innocents are targeted in the name of Islam around the world, one can’t face one’s non-Muslim friends and colleagues. I feel like burying myself in the ground. Growing up in a religious family, one never thought one would see the day when being a Muslim could be a source of shame.
A distraught friend who has devoted her life to speaking and fighting on behalf of Arabs and Muslims wrote in yesterday saying “I’ve had it with the Arabs and Muslims and Islamic militancy. Forgive me but I am throwing in the towel.”
I couldn’t write back to her but understood her pain. She grew up in Mumbai and is understandably upset.
My friend went on to say: “The Muslims and Islam have a problem and only they can solve it. If they do not, the whole world will turn against them.”
If this is how our most loyal friends feel, imagine the sentiments and reactions of the rest of the world. Can you blame the world if it’s turning against Muslims? What do you expect when not a single day passes without the name of our faith being dragged through the mud by fellow believers around the world?
How many innocents have to die in the name of Islam before Muslim leaders and countries take effective action to deal with the nuts, who are out to destroy us all with their nihilistic cult?
I know that the Muslim leaders including those in the highest echelons of power have lately started speaking out against the extremists.
Darul Uloom Deoband in India, one of the oldest and most respected centres of learning in the Muslim world, issued a fatwa against terrorism at a large gathering of Islamic scholars and leaders in June. Last month, nearly 5,000 scholars backed the edict at a huge congregation in Hyderabad.
The OIC, the organisation of Muslim states, and Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Arab-Islamic world, have of late been equally vehement in condemning these repulsive acts of violence targeting innocents.
Eminent Muslim intellectuals and journalists like Tariq Ramadan, a grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan Al Banna, and India’s MJ Akbar and numerous others too have repeatedly protested this distortion of Islamic teachings and spirit.
These calls of conscience on behalf of mainstream Islam have however proved voices in the wilderness. Clearly, we need to do more to be heard by the world and to stop this shameful victimisation of innocent people in the name of religion.
The great irony of the Mumbai attacks is the killing of Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare and his colleagues. Karkare, a brave and decorated officer investigating the Malegaon blasts and other recent terror attacks that he established to be the handiwork of Hindu extremists, not Muslim groups like SIMI, was killed by the terrorists outside Cama hospital Wednesday night. Obviously, Muslims do not know who their real friends and enemies are. And, pray, why is India increasingly being singled out for this savagery? What do they think this country is? A Hindu country or an anti-Muslim nation?
Do the ignorant dummies repeatedly being sent out on the so-called jihad know that this great country is home to the world’s largest Muslim population? Almost twice the size of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan! India’s greatest superstar is a Muslim, not to mention the countless achievers in other fields.
Why are our friends across the border bent on destroying the whole world with themselves? Is this what Islam and the noble Prophet teach and stand for?
It’s all very well for us to say Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. We can go on deluding ourselves these psychopaths do not represent us.
However, the world finds it hard to accept this line of argument because it sees the extremists increasingly assert themselves and take the centre-stage while the mainstream Islam remains silent.
The great religion that preaches and celebrates universal brotherhood, equality of men and peace and justice for all has been hijacked by a demented, miniscule minority. And, as my friend says, only Muslims can solve this problem. Only Muslims can confront these anarchists in their midst.
Only they can get their faith freed from the clutches of extremism. This is no time to hide. It’s time to stand up and speak out. For the terrorists will continue to speak on our behalf, until we do not speak up. This is no time for silence. Enough is enough!
For comments and suggestions, please write to:
aijaz@khaleejtimes.com
In this country we're more likely to be tempted to reopen Manzanar, and then only as a waypoint for repatriation to the ummah without regard for duration of US residency or on-paper citizenship.
Ironically western politicians continue to refuse Islam is the problem but instead attempt to appease muslims at every turn.
The 98% who are crazy keep giving the 2% who are decent a bad name.
The moderate Muslims, if there really are any, need to speak out. They need to fire the religious leadership that will cause them harm.
All of them.
You've heard of good cop/bad cop? I tend to think of this as good muslim/bad muslim.
There are 57 muslim members in the OIC and every one of them has an intelligence/security service. They could hunt these bastids down in a few months if they wanted.
They simply don't want to.
These boneheads are doing what Islam requires.
The parents of these extremist should be punished big time. You have to raise one of these from the get go to affect their will to live. Even a dog wants to live; but not these idjits.
If Islam does not begin to cleanse itself from the inside out, and not just condemn the radicals vocally, they will continue to tell the world that it is their problem, instead of Islam itself.
Islam better walk the walk, in going after those who have so easily taken over the religion of peace. If tribal areas of Pakistan are the safe areas for radical Muslims, that isn’t walking the walk.
Imams who foment violence against anyone much less the innocent west, and who are allowed such license, are evidence that Islam abhors the cleansing process. Homicide bombers in the name of Islam are more evidence that Islam lacks the will to clean up the house.
The USA has suffered over 7,000 dead since 9/11 not to mention the many injured in the battle against radical Islam, and still they cannot bring themselves to condemn their own.
Any other religion within the borders of this country The United States of America, who produced such carnage and promoted the continuation of it on a world wide basis, would pay the price of extinction. Times up!
The author doesn’t get it.
Islam is a death cult. It has no redeeming qualities at all.
The only thing it stands for is the extermination of non-believers.
The world has a cancer and it’s called Islam.
It needs to be amputated.
I am thankful for the moderate Muslims in the world. Yes, I am thankful for both of them.
It’s the “moderate” muslims who are heretics to true Islam.
Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult. It is a complete system. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The religious component is a beard for all the other components. Islamization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called ‘religious rights'.
When politically correct and culturally diverse societies agree to ‘the reasonable’ Muslim demands for their ‘religious rights,’ they also get the other components under the table. Here’s how it works (percentages source CIA: The World Fact Book (2007)).
As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness:
At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs:
From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves — along with threats for failure to comply. (United States).
At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world. When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions (Paris –car-burnings). Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats (Amsterdam - Mohammed cartoons).
After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning:
At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare:
From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels:
After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide:
100% will usher in the peace of ‘Dar-es-Salaam’ — the Islamic House of Peace — there’s supposed to be peace because everybody is a Muslim:
Of course, that’s not the case. To satisfy their blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a variety of reasons.
"Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world and all of us against the infidel."
– Leon Uris, ‘The Haj’.
It is good to remember that in many, many countries, such as France, the Muslim populations are centered around ghettos based on their ethnicity. Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. Therefore, they exercise more power than their national average would indicate.
Don't know why the answer is so hard for him. It seems fairly self-evident to most of us!
Nice Try. The root of this lies with the Mullahs and Saudi Arabia. Jihad needs to be renounced.
Tell your kids the terrorists are muslims (it’s the truth).
Muslim leaders are speaking out against it but saying something different in private to the terrorists.
I think it is about time the world took a united stand against these murderers and forced the leaders who covertly support them to change their ways or face severe consequences. And I don’t mean a stern talking to or sanctions. I’m talking a serious ass whupping!
I am thankful for the moderate Muslims in the world. Yes, I am thankful for both of them.
LOL.
The moderate Muslims are the ones that hold your feet while the radical Muslims cut off your head...
Where has your friend been? The "Whole World" is already against them. Heck... we're fighting for our lives "against them."
One does not try to reason with a rabid dog. You need to ask yourself why we are trying to reason with muslims.
Everyone needs to educate themselves about Islam and stop buying into the New Age propaganda and lies that Islam is the "Religion of Peace." NO ONE associated with Islam knows peace. Muslims live in a constant state of turmoil hence they try to make everyone else's lives miserable.
> The moderate Muslims, if there really are any, need to speak out.
There may be “moderate” Mahometans, but there is *NO* moderate Islam.
The perpetrators of these heinous atrocities are acting right out of their “holy” books and following as precisely as possible the life of their “prophet”, a pirate, a pedophile, a polygamist, a rapist, a murderer, a theif, a plunderer, a trucebreaker, a liar, and a flaming *MENACE* from the first day he heard the demonic “voices” in the cave.
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