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.

[Ladybug1]

"...confers a special status upon Christians and Jews

Yes, they call us combatants."

No, they call us Crusaders.

[marron]

Better yet, I've been your ally for over fifty years. Ask a Korean war vet...

The Turks were justly famous for their service in Korea; furthermore, while US POW's were being broken by Chinese "brainwashers", the Turks earned the reputation for being unbreakable.

[beckett]

...show me where he mentions that Mc Viegh is supposedly Christian?

Asmal: While the religious background of terrorists of other faiths is either totally ignored (Tim McVeigh)

Are you suggesting that the "background" Asmal is referring to is McViegh's actual background, that of a confused agnostic obessesed with the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Red Dawn? Of course not. He means to imply that McViegh's background --- his "faith" ---was Christian.

[Polybius]

The central point is that Islam is, really is, dead-dog-sure is, unquestionably is THE ENEMY, THE PROBLEM.

There is a difference between someone who is Islamic and someone who is an Islamist.

The Turks have been battling the Islamists for quite some time. Most Americans, even after September 11, have no idea what an Islamist is.

[The_Media_never_lie]

While the terrorists of Sept. 11 were Muslim, they were deviant Muslims

Shouldn't the word be "devout"?

[a_Turk]

He means to imply

Aaaah, I see. We have to guess what he implies.. That's cool :^D

[a_Turk]

Shouldn't the word be "devout"?

No, in fact deviant is the proper term.

[beckett]

Do you really think you scored a rhetorical point because I used the word "imply?"

A logical implication is just as potent in debate as a direct statement. There is no doubt what Asmal implied. He was referring to Christianity --- not to McViegh's true background, i.e., confused agnosticism and an obsession with the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (also a favorite among Muslims), the fantasy militia flick Red Dawn, and a favorite among the bizarre, bigoted and anti-Semitic, which I forgot to mention in my earlier post, The Turner Diaries.

[marron]

Somehow this thread has missed the point of the article that spawned it. The author has pointed at the terrorism committed against us, and has made the statement that "that is not who we [muslims] are". It appears to me that his remarks are directed as much to other Muslims as to other Americans.

He is saying something that needs to be said. A virulent form of racism has taken root within Islam, and Muslims need to speak out against it. We have been waiting for someone to do so; in this article, he does.

He doesn't mince words. He calls the terrorists "deviants" and compares them to NAZI's. Which is very much on the mark, as old NAZI propaganda is being recirculated by the Islamo-fascists.

And he does make another valid point. It was not so many years ago that Fascism, and NAZIsm, swept through "christian" Europe, even finding a receptive ear among the British upper class, at least until the war began. Of course, European fascism never claimed to be Christian, and was self-consciously atheistic. Nevertheless, Fascism, and its cousin, Communism, was wildly attractive for a time among secular, non-believing, "ethnic" christians. Europe had to be systematically purged of this evil, and it took some fifty years to do it.

The Islamic world is up to bat, now. It, like Europe of a couple of generations ago, has fallen ill with the Fascist virus, and will have to be confronted, and rid of this evil.

And, as I have said, our allies in this fight are not our allies on paper; our paper allies have proven to be almost useless. Our allies are Israel; Russia; India; Turkey; the Saxon nations; and those Muslims of good will who are willing to stand with us. And those that do all do so at risk to their lives.

[a_Turk]

Look, this is getting ridiculous. The point is that our beef is with terrorism, not with Islam. Pure and simple.

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

Being an authentic Muslim is to tolerate unless attacked.. Either I am an infidel or the terrorists are. I won't be painted with the same brushstroke.

I think I understand that, I am a Christian of German descent and do not want to be painted with the Nazi brush.

[esopman]

Agreed. There is a difference between the Islamic (a product of the culture, but not out to annihilate the infidels) and Islamists (who interpret everything through the prism of the Hadith/Koran and are militant in cleansing the planet of the 'nonsubmitting.')

I concur with Dr. Pipes, however, that we in the West have grievously overestimated the number of Islamics, with whom dialogue is possible, and underestimated the number of Islamists and their sympathisizers, with whom no reasoning is fruitful.

Yes, the Turks have fought the latter for many years. The fact that they have not eradicated them tells me something. I appreciate the comments of a_Turk, but question the notion that the number of Islamists there is miniscule. They predominate in so many other Islamic states.

The concern is that these Saudi, Petri-dish Wahabbist and other states are proving to be the perfect culturing medium for the exponential growth of this problem. We get up in the morning and the lab is overrun...

www.danielpipes.org

[a_Turk]

He is saying something that needs to be said. A virulent form of racism has taken root within Islam, and Muslims need to speak out against it. We have been waiting for someone to do so; in this article, he does.

Funny how that message is lost, however, as almost none of the readers what to hear it.

[hinckley buzzard]

"Why not focus on his sorrow?"

Whose sorrow is that, a_turk? The tens of thousands of innocents whose lives were rent by a clot of murdering moslem bastards?

No? Who then? This "author" who like every moslem mouthpiece for the last ten months without exception evades and weasels and shifts blame and slimes around the issue like a worm?


His sorrow? How many loved ones did he lose on 911?


Ptui.

[beckett]

The point is that our beef is with terrorism, not with Islam.

I sympathize with your dilemma --- I really do. But I can't agree that Islam does not play a role in the formation of the fanatical sects that spawn terrorism.

Islam is ripe for a Reformation --- it needs Reformation badly to throw off the 14th century mindset that cripples it in many places (Turkey excepted). Without a meaningful Reformation (perhaps Asmal's "international Islamic jurisdictional council" is a start), a real clash of civilizations will play out over the next fifty years, and I don't see Islam coming out the winner.

[mjaneangels@aolcom]

He is saying something that needs to be said. A virulent form of racism has taken root within Islam, and Muslims need to speak out against it. We have been waiting for someone to do so; in this article, he does.

Funny how that message is lost, however, as almost none of the readers what to hear it.

I am not sure I agree with you here on your take of the readers. I think this thread may be showing the vocal minority not the silent majority. I hope so anyway.

[a_Turk]

You filthy hater and the terrorist minded garbage deserve each other. Put on a towel and you'll fit right in in SA. Nice to see that you're still the same pitiful loser as you were 10 months ago when I joined..

[a_Turk]

I think this thread may be showing the vocal minority not the silent majority

You're right. I should have said "those who care to comment" instead of "the readers." :)

[Hildy]

So, do something about it.

[a_Turk]

What do you suggest?