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| Still Think There Are No "Moderate Muslims"? |
| 2006-12-13 |
| For the "kill 'em/deport 'em all" crowd who think there aren't any Muslims willing to speak out in favor of democracy and the American way of life. Posted here in its entirety. The first thing one must understand about this whole hullabaloo with the Muslim imams taken off a Phoenix-bound plane in Minneapolis is that it most definitely was not about the right to prayer or freedom of worship. And much as the imams and their handlers may try, it is certainly not about victimization. But because the case of the six imams (five from the Valley) and US Airways Flight 300 has taken on a life of its own, it would be helpful to look and see what lessons can be gleaned from this story. All of us as Americans have endured the incremental inconveniences of air travel since 9/11. From 3-ounce fluid limits to random searches, those of us with the first name Mohammed can also attest to humbling profiling. Most of us are quite willing to endure all this because we know the inherent dangers of flying in the world today. There is little argument that American airport concourses have become clinics of anxiety-laden travelers who have become vigilant in spotting anything out of the ordinary. This vigilance and anxiety is even more acutely felt by U.S. Transportation Security Administration agents and airline crews. They will never be rewarded for a safe flight. But they will be globally vilified for one lax call that leads to tragedy. Into this highly charged environment comes this incident of the imams returning from their conference. To ignore the larger context is to virtually live in an airtight bubble. The preponderance of evidence points to some troubling coincidences during flight preparation, regardless of where we stand on this issue. The distribution of their seats, while in fact random, raised concern. Changing seats after boarding, rather than before, raised concern. Conversations in Arabic after boarding raised concern. Seatbelt extenders raised concern. However, no passengers refused to board after seeing and hearing the imams pray aloud at the gate. Taken individually, each of the reported actions could be something any of us would do. However, in totality, although unfortunate in retrospect, it remains hard to fault a cautious crew who must act with little information to ensure a safe flight. But let us look at the response of the imams since the incident. They rushed toward the media never looking back. They have taken their story of victimization to every soft media they could find. They then stoked the same tired Muslim flames of victimization through their own political pulpits in mosques around the Valley. Organizations like CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) and the Muslim American Society also immediately jumped on board, even before the imams' flight reached Phoenix the next day, and began whipping up the drums of victimization. Their handlers flew in from across the country staging rallies and pray-ins so they could teach the American people about this supposed tragedy of injustice. As a devout Muslim, I have watched this painfully protracted saga unravel, fearing what comes next. The media, especially print media, have bent over backward to hear minorities' fears. Yet public opinion has not seemed to budge in favor of the imams. The lesson here lies in why. It has to do with credibility. We are all creatures of passion. This fiasco has stirred the passionate cry of victimization from the Muslim activist community and imam community. But where were the news conferences, the rallies to protest the endless litany of atrocities performed by people who act supposedly in my religion's name? Where are the denunciations, not against terrorism in the abstract, but clear denunciations of al-Qaida or Hamas, of Wahhabism or militant Islamism, of Darfurian genocide or misogyny and honor killings, to name a few? There is no cry, there is no rage. At best, there is the most tepid of disclaimers. In short, there is no passion. But for victimization, always. Only when Americans see that animating passion will they believe that we Muslims are totally against the fascists that have hijacked our religion. There is only so much bandwidth in the American culture to focus upon Islam and Muslims. If we fill it with our shouts of victimization, then the real problems from within and outside our faith community will never be heard. Though this was not about prayer, let us look at the prayer itself: certainly a central part of our faith both alone and in congregation. The Quran teaches Muslims that God did not make our faith to be too difficult. Thus, during travel, many of us pray alone in silence when we cannot find a private place or where public display is not appropriate. Prayer is an intimate thing, five times a day for Muslims. It is a personal conversation with God and not about showing others how devout we are. Congregational prayers are preferred, but in travel (as three of the imams did apparently do) they can be combined upon their arrival in Phoenix. Alija Izetbegovic, former president of Bosnia-Herzegovina, once said he was never so close to God in his prayers as a Muslim as he was during his solitary confinement for 12 years as a political prisoner struggling for liberty under Josip Broz Tito's oppression. These imams would do well to learn from President Izetbegovic. He further understood the separation of religion and politics. He understood God teaches us in the Quran that our religion is based upon intention and that if we perceive that the public situation is not conducive to our congregational prayer, that a forgiving God will understand. Because these imams and their handlers just don't get it, it's time we Muslims found leadership and organizations that do. Our predicament is unique, fragile and precarious. We Muslims are a relatively new minority in a nation that gives us freedoms that no other Muslim nation would allow. Whether we acknowledge it or not, a radical subset of our faith community is seeking to destroy the basis for this liberty. Either we predominantly direct our passions against these radicals or Americans will not count us as allies in this consuming struggle. M. Zuhdi Jasser is a Phoenix physician and chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. He can be reached at Zuhdi@aifdemocracy.org. |
| Posted by:Swamp Blondie |
| #17 And Muzzy First and Taqiyya cancel out the margins. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-12-13 22:54 |
| #16 ratio of moderate to immoderate Pretty small judging by a British survey: Many British Muslims Put Islam First When asked, "Is Britain my country or their country?" only one in four say it is. Thirty percent of British Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia (Islamic religious) law than under British law. According to the report, "Half of those who express a preference for living under Sharia law say that, given the choice, they would move to a country governed by those laws." Twenty-eight percent hope for the U.K. one day to become a fundamentalist Islamic state. "hardcore Islamists" constitute nine percent of the British Muslim population. A slightly more moderate group is composed of "staunch defenders of Islam." This second group comprises 29 percent of the British Muslim population. The scary reality is that only three percent of British Muslims "took a consistently pro-freedom of speech line on these questions." Seventy-eight percent support punishment for the people who earlier this year published cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. Sixty-eight percent support the arrest and prosecution of those British people who "insult Islam." When asked if free speech should be protected, even if it offends religious groups, 62 percent of British Muslims say No, it should not. Forty-five percent say 9/11 was a conspiracy by the American and Israeli governments. This figure is more than twice as high as those who say it was not a conspiracy. Tragically, almost one in four British Muslims believe that last year's 7/7 attacks on London were justified because of British support for the U.S.-led war on terror. I believe American elites are afraid to conduct such a survey in the US and the fallout from it. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-12-13 22:51 |
| #15 Sheesh. No point in going over the thoroughly gone over. Review this thread... Time to re-read The Time Traveler, methinks. We still disagree? Then it's willful ignorance, nothing more. Lol. Riddle me this: What planet are you from? |
| Posted by: .com 2006-12-13 22:43 |
| #14 I'm breaking up here. *sniff* Absolute Moral Authority Code: Comanche I've waited for a looong time for someone, anyone, to identify the Saving Grace of Islam. There isn't one. If you say there is, then you do not know Islam in practice... or you're one of them. Life is hard. It's even harder if you're stupid. It's fatal if you seek to end my way of life. Bite me. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-12-13 22:29 |
| #13 We need to find a way to kill the radicals and give these types more of a voice. If Islam is ever going to be reformed, it needs to clear the top so the bottom can grow in influence. That means the wahabbist and radical shia madrassas need to have their Imams removed from power, violently if neccesary and of their lives if they try to continue teaching and preaching hatred (unfortunately that will be the only way most of them will go). Then they need to be dismantled, and proper education emplaced. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-12-13 22:29 |
| #12 I'm not sure what the ratio of moderate to immoderate is. However, many moderate muslims are afraid to speak out against their coreligionists for a very good reason- it leads to being snubbed by the immoderate clique (and maybe physical abuse too). Thus the moderate muslims are themselves victims of Islam. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-12-13 22:08 |
| #11 Bzzzzzt! Nope. You lose. There are Muslims who do speak out against this jihadi crap, but they aren't news worthy. What draws more viewers? Muslims destroying stuff and killing people, or the Muslims saying stop? It's a moot point. You aren't going to see any Muslims speaking out against extremists in the news, unless they are lesbian and kind of hot. /Even when it does happen, that's not going to be the big focus. //Can't blame anyone there though... ///If danger is in your face, you focus on the danger, and not the others trying to fight it. ////Ask anyone who has had a gun pointed at them |
| Posted by: Thoth 2006-12-13 22:03 |
| #10 This is not an example of the fabled missing MM. This asshole is just intelligent enough to read the tea leaves. He sees that this has done incredible damage to the Muzzie cause among the American populace. The bag of shit exploded in their faces. He's just srambling to do a CYA for the dumbass ummah. Guess what? Despite my personal reservations due to taqqiya and so much else that is deceitful about Islam, I'm more than willing to believe that Dr. Jasser is sincere. However, as pointed out so candidly by Parabellum, "All he needs to do is convince a few million more muslims to join him." If this was happening a few days after 9-11, I'd be cheering loudly and hoisting this up with every hope. IT'S FIVE YEARS LATER, and if this is all that Islam has to show for half a decade of navel-gazing, then I give it pretty long odds. Alaska Paul put it pretty well without resorting to the (perfectly entitled) taqqiya excuse: One guy speaking moderate and saying what we want to hear in this country, takes something away from the notion that Islam is basically flawed and / or evil. It's really a Religion of Peace goes the meme, which prevents officials in the government from seeing what it really is. Color me skeptical. This guy may be honest, but it is better to be wary and skeptical then to buy into the RoP Kool-Aid. When even America's president is still sipping at the Religion of Peace [spit] Kool-Aid, we're better off and much safer NOT buying into the meme. I know that it's asking a lot to demand that moderate Muslims start a campaign of radical reform. Unfortunately for Islam, this poisonous doctrine has already taken a lot from me. Even if it is only my hatred of slaughter that has been sacrificed, there is a single bit of humanity that I never thought to lose. Much more is gone besides that; A lasting sense of security, any knowledge that the world my children might inherit could be peaceful and an overriding notion that this war could go on for DECADES. While moderate Muslims are not obligated to pursue a course of radical reform, neither am I required to be impressed by anything less. I see few, if any, other persuasive measures that moderate Muslims can take that will be sufficient to allay the well-founded concerns that any sane person should have about the infectuous and toxic nature of modern-day Islam. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-13 21:40 |
| #9 M. Zuhdi Jasser is a Phoenix physician, a community activist, and a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander. |
| Posted by: tipper 2006-12-13 21:01 |
| #8 I don't need to be a conspiracy freak, it's easy to do on this subject. One guy speaking moderate and saying what we want to hear in this country, takes something away from the notion that Islam is basically flawed and / or evil. It's really a Religion of Peace goes the meme, which prevents officials in the government from seeing what it really is. Color me skeptical. This guy may be honest, but it is better to be wary and skeptical then to buy into the RoP Kool-Aid. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-12-13 19:20 |
| #7 As I suspected, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy is a one-man show. http://aifdemocracy.org/about/members.php In reality that URL should read "/member.php" Good Luck to Dr. Jasser though. All he needs to do is convince a few million more muslims to join him. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2006-12-13 18:46 |
| #6 This is not an example of the fabled missing MM. This asshole is just intelligent enough to read the tea leaves. He sees that this has done incredible damage to the Muzzie cause among the American populace. The bag of shit exploded in their faces. He's just srambling to do a CYA for the dumbass ummah. |
| Posted by: SpecOp35 2006-12-13 16:56 |
| #5 I don't think it's that no one believes the sentiment is genuine, lh, but that the insident ratio is so low. How many Muslims share his worldview and press it in polite company? How many press it in the mosque, where such principles as mercy and peace should predominate? |
| Posted by: Jules 2006-12-13 16:26 |
| #4 how exactly is chairing an organization and writing a column in a major paper being silent? What else is this man supposed to DO? Give up his medical practice and run through the streets with a sandwich board on? Run an ad in the NYT? Perhaps he lacks the money. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-12-13 14:56 |
| #3 Word, Zenster! |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2006-12-13 14:26 |
| #2 deported or interred = deported or interned |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-13 14:15 |
| #1 Either we predominantly direct our passions against these radicals or Americans will not count us as allies in this consuming struggle. Here the author is certainly right. If he or any other "moderate Muslims" cannot bring themselves to begin radical reformation of their church they will remain part of the problem and not its solution. After a while, silence is no longer consent. Silence becomes a lie. Whatever moderate Muslims might exist are so silent as to be inaudible. While it is their privilege to remain so, it is also our privilege to neglect sorting them out of those who finally are deported or interred for seditious acts. Islam is on an intentionally malign collision course with reality and the West has no obligations beyond making that impact as lethal as possible for all Islam. It is up to Muslims who wish to preserve their faith from history's scrapheap to begin immediate and radical reformation of it. No other form of rehabilitation will have sufficient outward signs to be detectable. It must be radical reform so that the outside world can be convinced of the sincerity shown. Less vigorous activity will too easily fall into the convenient and absolutely appropriate category of taqqiya. This bed of lies is something that Islam has made for itself and those who wish to save it must somehow overcome that perception of duplicity. Again, the only convincing display will be that of vigorous and radical reformation which sees the swift and, if needs be, violent removal of those who advocate violent jihad and jihadism in general. Few other measures will be found assuring by a population already weary of constant Islamic atrocities. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-12-13 14:14 |