Moderates? What Moderates?
Posted on | November 24, 2004 |
In his piece Identifying Moderate Muslims, Daniel Pipes makes the case that terrorism cannot be defeated without the help of moderate Muslims. The difficulty he says is in determing the true moderates from those that merely tell us want we want to hear. This is an excellent point but we disagree with his choice of moderate Muslims.
In one instance, he refers to an op-ed written by Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, the general manager of Al- Arabiya news channel.
It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.The hostage-takers of children in Beslan, North Ossetia, were Muslims. The other hostage-takers and subsequent murderers of the Nepalese chefs and workers in Iraq were also Muslims. Those involved in rape and murder in Darfur, Sudan, are Muslims, with other Muslims chosen to be their victims.
Those responsible for the attacks on residential towers in Riyadh and Khobar were Muslims. The two women who crashed two airliners last week were also Muslims.
Bin Laden is a Muslim. The majority of those who manned the suicide bombings against buses, vehicles, schools, houses and buildings, all over the world, were Muslim.
All very good points. He hooked me with his admission compelling me to read further. All was going great when he offered this line…
These are the people who have smeared Islam and stained its image.We cannot clear our names unless we own up to the shameful fact that terrorism has become an Islamic enterprise…
This is what it is really about isn’t it? Forget the fact that these people are mudering criminals. Look what they’ve done to Islam!
Another example cited by Mr.Pipes is a piece written by Osama El-Ghazali Harb, editor-in-chief of the quarterly Al-Siyassa Al-Dawlia.
Are Muslims aware of the threats they now face? Do they understand how millions of Europeans, Americans, Africans, Asians and Australians — Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Confucians, those who ascribe to a score of other religions and those who ascribe to no religion whatsoever — today see them?Muslims, especially Arab Muslims, are viewed as barbarians who harbour a total disregard for human life. Their value system, far from discouraging the slaughter of innocent women and children, is seen to condone and even encourage such slaughter. This is the stereotypical image that today lumps together Muslims of all denominations, and from all societies and cultures.
Why are these people so-called moderates? They seem obsessed with thier own image. Are they moderates because they have said terrorists are bad…they have given us bad name? Who the hell cares about their image? This has less to do with their own vanity and everything to do with the fact that terrorists are evil and vile creatures who must be exterminated. They want acceptance from the world community? Try worrying less about image and more about how wrong it is to intentionally murder innocent people. It’s all about fluff and substance.
Comments
Leave a Reply