As promised here is a post dedicated to showing that there are Muslims who condemn terrorism and who have spoken out on terrorist acts as contrary to the teachings of Islam.
At the Religious Tolerance website you can read an answer to the question Why are there no condemnations from Muslim sources against terrorists? Their answer is that there have been such condemnations, but they are not widely publicized. Both MPAC and CAIR issue condemnations of terrorist acts regularly. At least 700,000 Muslim people have signed a petition that condemns acts of terror done in the name of Islam.
At the Star Tribune blog, Rabbi Amy Eilberg mentions two other organizations who have condemned terrorism: the Islamic Society of North America and Muslims for Progressive Values.
In her post Eilberb mentions “prayers for the healing of the madness in our world that gives rise to violence.” That phrase sends off a yellow light in my mind. It certainly could be interpreted as anti-American or anti-West. I do not believe that madness, or anything else, gives rise to violence. I believe that people choose to commit acts of violence. If it is proper to say that we are not fighting Islam, then it is also proper to say that we are not fighting madness either. We who want peace are fighting people who disrupt peace.
These condemnations are good, and it is a start. However, what I would like to see is some evidence that these Muslims are directly confronting the groups and individuals involved in terrorism, not just issuing public statements. I would like to see evidence that they are actively working to shut down schools and mosques that promote and plan terrorist acts. I would like to see evidence that they are cooperating with intelligence agencies and police forces to the point of atually turning people in whenever possible.
It’s easy to say that one is appalled at terrorism. Any decent person would say so. Now it is time to put some action to the words. At the very least, peace-loving Muslims should disseminate their message throughout the Muslim world, so that young people growing up in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Muslim countries realize that their imams are wrong about Islam and realize that no rewards from Allah await them for killing innocent people.
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Thanks to Language Lover for the links.
9 responses so far ↓
Scott Erb // November 13, 2009 at 8:39 pm |
How do you “disseminate” a message in the Muslim world? And, of course, most in the Muslim world do believe in peace. Most didn’t believe 9-11 was done by Muslims because they didn’t think a Muslim would do that. The reason that radical extremists have arisen has NOTHING to do with the religion (if their religion had been Christianity a radical extremist version of that would be motivating similar acts). Rather, it has to do with politics and economics. That’s also where these problems will be solved. That means we stop aggressive foreign policies, we stop supporting ruthless authoritarian regimes, that means we stop enabling the way Israel subjugates and ghettoizes Palestinians, and it means we recognize that we bear a lot of the blame as well. It’s a complex world.
Quin // November 13, 2009 at 9:17 pm |
Yes. A good post and Scott Erb’s comment says it perfectly.
The only thing I would add is that I think, like so many things in this world, it’s not actually money and politics that are the real driving forces – they are the tools - it’s all about a lust for power and dominance, be it over a house, a village, a city, a country, or the whole goddam world! Money equates to power and so does political muscle.
Cameron // November 13, 2009 at 11:26 pm |
How do you “disseminate” a message in the Muslim world?
Al-Jazeera, the internet, through the imams.
You act as though Muslims have no access to information the same way we do. Some would call that a racist assumption. I’ve helped teach English to women from Yemen (which is about as conservative as it gets), and they would be on cell phones as soon as class was over even though a man would not see more than their eyes until they reached home.
Spherical Time // November 14, 2009 at 5:16 pm |
I think Scott’s point is that it is difficult to disseminate a message in the Muslim world when “the Muslim world” doesn’t listen to me, RG, Scott, or just about any other American.
renaissanceguy // November 15, 2009 at 12:57 am |
Sperical Time, point taken. However, I was referring to prominent Muslims confronting their own religionists and telling them that they are wrong and not teaching the true tenets of the faith.
Quin, you are right. That’s why a country in which there is the most freedom possible is good. It prevents any one person or group from getting all the power. For the most part it is impossible for anyone to have control over other people without a police force or army at their beck and call. That was true in Feudal Christian Europe and in Communist Atheist North Korea and in Islamic Iran.
modestypress // November 15, 2009 at 10:49 pm |
The history of Christianity has plenty of behavior we now abhor, including warfare between Catholics and Protestants during the Protestant Reformation.
As a non-Christian, it is not clear to me why the behavior of Christians has improved to create a time when tolerance has become a generally accepted value. Even in our time, there has been considerable violence between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, and the behavior of Christians in Serbia toward Muslims in Kosovo and Croatia was less than impeccable.
I don’t post this to malign or attack Christians, or excuse awful behavior by many Muslims, but I find the post a little less than nuanced.
Scott Erb // November 16, 2009 at 11:48 am |
Actually, I try to watch Al Jazeera daily, it’s one of the better news sources for Mideast news, and they do a good job. They are an independent news organization, though — would CNN speak out for the “Christian world” to condemn western atrocities? They do get into the stories and it’s clear from their coverage that terrorist thinking and extremism are the opposite of their secular approach.
Scott Erb // November 16, 2009 at 11:49 am |
By the way, they many times have Muslims (both in the region and from outside) condemning violence. Muslims condemn such things constantly, especially in the region. If you want to watch more, LINK TV (if you get it) has al jazeera news daily.
languagelover // November 17, 2009 at 8:06 am |
Here’s another interesting article on this topic:
http://townhall.com/columnists/SteveChapman/2009/11/12/muslims_and_mass_murder