What They are Thinking, Pt. I

We wrote two weeks ago that, “Rather than exhort non-Muslims to think kind thoughts about their Muslim neighbors, Western leaders should be exhorting their Muslim residents to learn to pay the price of living in a free society.” One of our favorite interlocutors replied, “You are dreaming again. Normally these reports make a lot of sense … must be the hot weather.” We stood our admittedly idealistic ground but agreed that it would be more encouraging to find Muslims willing to say what we were saying. And, indeed, we have found some worth noting.

We wrote two weeks ago that, “Rather than exhort non-Muslims to think kind thoughts about their Muslim neighbors, Western leaders should be exhorting their Muslim residents to learn to pay the price of living in a free society.” One of our favorite interlocutors replied, “You are dreaming again. Normally these reports make a lot of sense … must be the hot weather.” We stood our admittedly idealistic ground but agreed that it would be more encouraging to find Muslims willing to say what we were saying. And, indeed, we have found some worth noting.
“Waking Up to ‘Islamo-Fascism'” by Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser of AIFD (American Islamic Forum for Democracy) and CIP (Center for Islamic Pluralism) can be found at www.beliefnet.com. He writes in part:

Many well-meaning Muslims react to news about Muslim terrorists by insisting that anyone who commits violent acts is, by definition, not part of Islam. But who are we fooling? The Islamo-fascists did not come out of thin air. They use our scripture, our prayers, our language, and our tradition – and they come from somewhere within our community.

We can publicly embarrass radical imams and organizations… We can publicly expose the twisted interpretations of the Qu’ran and Muslim teachings… We can focus the public agenda of American Muslims on publicizing our commitment to our citizenship oath and to the American secular form of democratic government.

We need to force a public debate with the Islamists, not run from it. By constantly reasserting Muslim critiques of Wahhabism, Salafism, and other fundamentalist Islamist ideologies that feed terrorist networks, we will fight terror at its core. It is time to ensure that Islamic sermons around the world teach Muslims to dismantle terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbullah, and any group that harbors, teaches, and trains the world’s future Islamo-fascists.

We must root out all hate and intolerance from the educational texts… Anti-Semitism, anti-Western feelings, and chauvinism should be combated directly by American Muslim organizations.

Youssef Ibrahim, former correspondent for The New York Times, wrote this week in The Middle East Times (www.metimes.com), “The latest reliable report confirms that on average 33 Iraqis die every day, executed by Iraqis and foreign jihadis and suicide bombers, not by U.S. or British soldiers. In fact, fewer than ever U.S. or British soldiers are dying since the invasion more than two years ago. Instead, we now watch on television hundreds of innocent Iraqis lying without limbs, bleeding in the streets dead or wounded for life. If this is jihad someone got his religious education completely upside down.”

More next time.