JINSA Report #506 What They are Thinking? Part I

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July 29, 2005

JINSA Report #506

What They are Thinking, 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.
"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.

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http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3091

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