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
I get so sick of this “Islam has been hijacked.” BS. This behavior has been the core of Islam since the day it was invented as a means to a bloody end. Islam is a political movement that has been masquerading as a religion since the day Mohammad made it up.
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So far as I can determine there is no reliable proof that Mohammed ever even existed since he wrote nothing and everything attributed to him was supposedly written long after his death by someone who never knew him. Whatever the case this “religion” is concentrated madness. The most amazing thing about it is that people convert to it as adults! Someone brought up in it could be expected to have been driven mad by it but how can someone who is exposed to it as an adult swallow all this? I can only believe that they were never taught to think in a logical fashion and there are plenty of examples of that to be seen.
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) had much to say about the workings of the human mind and the propensity of people to do violence and to work against their own interests. I am starting to think I should reread Twin from beginning to end. The longer I live the more I tend to see him as the greatest american author of all. Those who only know him as the author of “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn” have missed out on a treasure trove.
“They had better learn to hide, and quickly. I don’t know how many more incidents the world will take before someone, somewhere, pulls out the minutes of the Wannsee Conference and offers them as a ‘pretty good idea’.”
No kidding!
“Ironically western politicians continue to refuse Islam is the problem but instead attempt to appease muslims at every turn.”
Then it’s time Western citizens ignored their milquetoast politicians and took care of the problem themselves. Becausde thisd sh!t isn’t going away on its own, and it’s only going to get worse unless it is stopped in its tracks now.
“The 98% who are crazy keep giving the 2% who are decent a bad name.”
That’s a fact.
Wow. Good post.
“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?”
I don’t know the answer, but it is interesting that Indians do not have the right to keep and bear arms. If some among their citizenry had been armed, perhaps some of this bloodshed would have been reduced. And perhaps these terrorists might think twice about their choice of country to terrorize.
Easy, just do it. Do it now. Git 'er done. Or it's over.
Mark Twain is by far my favorite author. I have read everything of his I could ever get my hands on. His satires are without equal. And his scathing attacks on all things absurd are priceless.
His “Letters From the Earth” is perhaps the best indictment of Man’s idiocy I have ever read. His travel books — “Innocents Abroad”; “A Tramp Abroad”: and “Roughing It” for example — are absolute treasures.
I don’t think I buy that. It was Martin Luther and the founding of protestantism that created the political divorce and grip that the catholic church had.
That was done by Christians not some ethereal “political legitimacy” that came out nowhere.
That’s like saying during WWII france and england beat the Germans, without the mention of the allied forces.
(61 and AARP-free)
Now there is a tag line I can identify and agree with.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20081111/118255514.html
Dont be so encouraged. The people that need to read it won’t.
sooo... are you saying GW was on the right path here? Shmae on you. /s
Dose this guy speak out against sharia law? Does he condemn any muslims that kill their women for "honor"? Does he condemn them if they treat women like slaves? If he does none of those things nor speaks out against the evil and barbarism that is Islam then he is as guilty as those he portrays as "fanatics". The whole cult is based on cruelty and inhuman treatment of others not of their faith and of women regardless of faith.
Change Islam, rewrite the Koran and then they may start to make inroads into the real world. Until then people will simply become more and more fed up and eventually declare total war on Muslims.
Crap, post 53 dose = does:)
In one respect, I agree with regards to the Vatican and the Pope being ruler.
On the other hand, in Britain, the Catholic vs Protestant struggle was a bloody one (Bloody Mary) and at some point the people were fed up. If they had a Catholic ruler, they watched their neighbors die. If they had a Protestant Ruler, they feared themselves dying.
Queen Elizabeth was self serving to the extent that she feared losing her throne that was a shaky one to begin with. So in political interest, she swore off the persecution of Catholics (although she did not allow the Royal Palace to practice Catholocism, she did not set about killing all Catholics either, only ones who were determined to take her throne to place a Catholic ruler in her place. That was a treasonous act, not a religious one in her opinion).
So to a certain extent, yes, political self interest ended it. But it was fear of losing power that began that shift. If there was no fear of angering the populice, there would be no political gain by stopping the murder in Christ’s name. It was the beginning of the end in political murder in the name of Christianity.
“Is this what Islam and the noble Prophet teach and stand for?”
In a word: Yes.
talking a serious ass whupping!
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I am always gratified when someone knows that it is ass whupping and not ass whooping! Ass whooping is the yelling of Al Gore about globull warming!
But, I'd like to know from the author or anyone else how we can be sure of his sincerity given the Islamic concept of Taqiah.
ML/NJ
It won’t be long now for the author to be killed off by his own people... if he’s sincere.
The terrorists may be a minority but the muslims who support them, according to most polls I’ve seen, are a majority. The religion of Islam was founded on destruction, misery and death to all who are not muslim.
Today’s muslims, when polled, agree that terrorism is a valid tactic to right perceived wrongs.
Considering the above, I view articles like this with a great deal of suspicion and distrust, the same suspicion and distrust I have for muslims in general.
Say what you wish but deeds reflect a more accurate picture of what is real and true.
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