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.
. . .
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.
Nachhaltiger Ökotourismus in den VAE
2 days ago
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4 comments:
A sensible view, for a change.
Common sense, at last!
If only that view was as forcibly and widely expressed as the minority oppressive, terror-supporting view.
I listen for voices like M Zuhdi Jasser, but I so rarely hear them. Instead I see a deluge of intolerant rubbish like this, where the poet (if one can so describe the writer of such execrable dross) whinges and bitches about the tolerance and openness in his host/home country, and even goes so far as to criticise fellow muslims for respecting the victims of terrorism.
After five years in the Gulf, I sadly believe that people like M Zuhdi Jasser are a minority - both within the Islamic world, and in the West. I no longer have any faith that their open minded, intelligent beliefs and opinions are in tune with the majority of muslims.
wow! I feel like kissing the guy.
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