Posted on 01/07/2005 4:22:14 AM PST by rdb3
I am overwhelmed with sadness over the state of the Muslim world. I am looking at the photograph of an Iranian woman about to be stoned to death in Iran, buried to her waste in dirt to keep her from running away.
A few weeks ago, I read about a 14 year-old Iranian boy who died after receiving 85 lashes for the ‘sin’ of eating in public in the month of Ramadan. Salah Uddin Choudhury has been in prison for one year in Bangladesh for the ‘crime’ of urging his nation to recognize Israel and advocating interfaith dialogue among equals as well as warning against the growing power of Islamists in Bangladesh.
What are Muslim community activists in America doing about their homegrown brutal human rights violations? They are silent.
The picture of the stoned woman has been seen by some Muslims I know in the Middle East and also fellow Americans, Christians and Jews. The first reaction by the Muslims was “what did she do?” while the first reaction by Americans was “How could this happen?”
The Muslim majority here in the US remains silent seeing the outrageous brutal medieval-style and inhumane punishments practiced in many parts of the Muslim world. Americans, who are puzzled by the silence of the so called “moderate” Arab-Americans after 9/11, do not understand that Arabs learned to be silent and indifferent to terror before even coming to America. Generations after generations of Muslims lived under dictatorships and were trained to look the other way when Muslims tortured and terrorized other Muslims. The result is a population de-sensitized to seeing brutality and horror. Too many of them see cruel punishment as normal. Their silence over the killing was not just an insult to America after 9/11, but is aiding and abetting the cruel culture of hate, terror, torture and beheadings.
Arab men, known for ‘machismo’, are doing nothing while watching such horrible injustice happen to their women and children. There is no uprising by Arab women over the inhumanity and cruelty their sisters in Islam are suffering. “She must have done something really bad!” one Muslim woman said to me after seeing the picture. By that, she of course meant having sex outside of marriage. 2000 years after Christianity abandoned stoning as a form of punishment, Islam still continues to practice it.
Even Muslim groups who live with Western freedoms are not making a strong stand to stop this cruel practice. There is a petition being circulated on the Internet by mostly non-Muslim or former Muslim groups to save the life of yet another Iranian woman from being stoned to death. On the other hand, many Muslim women in America, all the while enjoying Western freedoms, are busy covering their ankles, complaining about the French law against wearing religious symbols in French public schools or filing law suits to get their faces covered up on their drivers’ licenses in America.
These hijab-wearing Muslim women expressed no outrage over the brutal murder of Margaret Hassan in Iraq, a British woman who dedicated 30 years of her life to helping Iraqis. How many properly covered up Saudi, gulf state, Egyptian, Syrian or Jordanian women went to Iraq, Iran, Algeria or Sudan, to help their sisters and brothers in Islam as did Margaret Hassan? The answer is practically none. That job was usually left to Westerners who do it out of their Judeo-Christian inspired sense of humanity.
Most Islamic studies professors and Islamist groups in America exercise their freedom of speech given to them by America, but only when speaking against America, Judaism, Christianity, President Bush and Pat Robertson. However, they never dare to criticize their culture of origin and some even still have respect for the tyranny of the old country. They leave the job of ridding the Muslim world of terror to the victims of terror, namely America and Israel. Whenever they criticize the Muslim world it is in the context of blaming America for supporting dictatorships. However, when America attempts to bring democracy and get rid of Arab dictators they turn around and accuse America of occupation or empire building. No matter what America does, they voice criticism. That can only mean they do not seem to be serious about reformation in Muslim countries. They are, however, very serious about embarrassing, criticizing and hurting America.
Many Muslim groups and Middle East studies professors are aligning themselves with the liberal ‘hate America’ crowd in Western academia and media. Three days after the Tsunami in South Asia, I saw an Arab-American leader criticize America’s response as “slow and too little, too late” on CNN. They have the audacity to criticize America and give a free pass to the oil rich Arab countries that should be the first to respond financially to save their poor Muslim brothers and sisters in Indonesia.
Islamism and the old defeated and failed ideology of pan-Arabism is what many Islamic groups in America are advocating. They are silent in the face of Muslim poverty, corruption, neglect of human rights, oppression of women, honor killings and the brutal and unusual punishments such as cutting off limbs, flogging and stoning. They are not using American freedoms as an opportunity to change their countries of origin, but as an opportunity to influence and change America to be like the countries they came from. Their goal is also to keep Muslim-Americans under their control and the control of Muslim world mullahs, sheiks and dictators they should have left behind. How can any one take them seriously when they do not lift a finger to protect human rights in Muslim countries, but are militant in turning Arab-Americans into yet another voting block to influence American politics? They take no stand to protect the life of the Muslim woman being stoned and explain away such atrocities and beheadings while crying ‘profiling’ in America by the FBI.
Wahhabi Islamist groups in the West are dreaming of a day when Sharia Islamic laws that call for stoning women come to America and dominate the whole world. That is why Muslims in the West are not outraged over this picture.
Arab-Americans should reject Islamist groups and become part of the solution and not part of the problem in America. Let the history books say that Arab-Americans were the seed and cause of change in the Middle East. Let us stand behind President Bush in trying to bring about democracy in the Arab world. Let us form active genuine peace groups and reach out to other religions. Let us celebrate the freedoms America has given us by extending our compassion to the victims of terror left behind in our countries of origin. That should be the mission of Arab organizations in America and not the silly anti-American causes they are pursuing with the blessings from the enemies of America.
Arab-Americans should no longer stand silent before acts of terror and beheadings on our fellow brave American men and women in the US armed forces as well. America should never allow the poison of medieval-style justice and morality to penetrate its psyche under the guise of multiculturalism. It is time for America to hold Muslim countries and culture responsible for terrorism. Those countries are waging a two-faced war against the West while hiding behind their terrorists and their sacred veils.
Yes, the silent Muslim majority is the problem. Their silence is empowering not only the terrorists and brutal dictatorships, but all of the cultural, political and social pathologies behind them. Arab- Americans who speak out might be called ‘heroes’ by some. However, speaking out of love and gratitude for America is the duty of all American citizens.
Gee - should I believe Nesher, an unknown who provides no support for his statements, or this speaker ... Hhmmmmm
"I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world: We respect your faith. It is practiced freely by many millions of Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them."
Who, exactly, is the "speaker" this gem comes from?
"I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world: We respect your faith."
Yeah right. Their cult of death isnt even a real faith.
"It is practiced freely by many millions of Americans,"
sleeper cells
"and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends"
trojan horses
"Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah."
allah (not capitalized you notice) does not exist, and Islam is not "good and peaceful"
As i said above, islam is a satanic cult of death.
you set yourself up for this one.
"Who, exactly, is the "speaker" this gem comes from? "
Naw... I'd rather hear more about what you think about a person who could make those statements ...
Posters here have said things about Muslim Americans that is disgusting. These are fellow citizens. Silent majority? I'd take that any day over THOUGHT CRIME, which is where these people want to go.
Are you suggesting that Abdul=Adolf? I thought that was the assertion you were opposing?
apropos here:
"You are either with us or against us."
I suppose none of these "moderates" practice taqiyya.
islam is a death cullt,things will only get better when it goes the way of the thuggee's and nazis
Please don't mistake the ravings of a few un-American posters with those of us who stand for maintaining those principles which make this nation GREAT! Although they'd sell us out for some false feeling of security and venting of some anger, I think most Americans still see that without out moral foundation of fairness, rights, anti-bigotry, etc., then we would be nothing.
Here are some more statements from CAIR:
"Those who stay in America should be open to society without melting, keeping Mosques open so anyone can come and learn about Islam. If you choose to live here, you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam ...... Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth." - Omar Ahmad
"I am in support of the Hamas movement." - Nihad Awad
"I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future...But I'm not going to do anything violent to promote that. I'm going to do it through education."
"CAIR does not support these groups publicly." - Ibrahim Hooper
"I bring to you salaams and greetings from the Mujahadeen at CAIR."
(Statement made during a Washington D.C. rally)
"Anyone over 18 is automatically inducted into the service and they are all reserves.
Therefore, Hamas, in my opinion, looks at them as part of the military." - Ghazi Khankan
that is good to see. hopefully, there are enough to counter what seems like professional attempts to turn citizens against one another.
And so there are many people attempting to use education to oppose him. Sounds perfectly legal and right to me, even if I hope he fails. People can try to convince others of many things...making things illegal by fiat just because you don't like them is not the way to go. I'd rather see the people understand the danger of an Islamic government and just not want one here.
"Islam must ultimately be either banned or SEVERELY controlled in western nations."
No kidding. I vote we kick em all out!
tough talk. why don't you start with the lady that wrote this article?
Gee, do you think Homeland Security might need to know this ?
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/2003/17067.htm
What's your take on this ?
Why haven't they been carted off to Gitmo ?
That was the least offensive quote, so I wonder what you think of the others.
I have nothing against education, but when our grammar shool aged children can no longer recite "under God" but can learn about Islamic culture INCLUDING praying toward Mecca, I have a problem. WE have a problem. Not to mention what is happening on college campuses.
They use our protections to actually advance their cause. Sorry. No burqa for me.
Where do you intend to kick them to?
Oh, sarcasm. How "out of character" for you.
I'm sure CAIR is under investigation. Our government isn't as inept as you might like to believe. Except maybe in regards to border control.
Agreed. So let's attack that hypocrisy, instead of just thrashing around at all Muslims in frustration.
What do I think of other quotes?
Well, let's just go with the first one, for now. Substitute "Churches" for "Mosques," "Christ/Christian/Christianity" for "Muslim/Islam," and "Bible" for "Koran," and you get what sounds like a lot of church views I've encountered in America, who wants everyone to convert to Christianity:
"Those who stay in America should be open to society without melting, keeping Churches open so anyone can come and learn about Christianity. If you choose to live here, you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Christ ...... Christianity isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The bible, the Christian book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Christianity the only accepted religion on Earth."
And if say, "but they want to kill all others--that's what that means!" then I would point out that is your projection onto it. This statement doesn't say that at all, and the Koran says quite clearly that Christians and Jews should be converted (and definitely not killed if they convert). (Of course this is not to be taken as a good system, but it is reasonable that a group could consider non-violent spread to be applicable.)
Do I like their system? No. Do I believe that Islam is true? No. Do I think it (or Muslims) can be dangerous? Yes. Should we suppress it through direct banning or other similar action? Only if we want to make it stronger.
What's the context of the other quotes? They are not really easy to address without the context.
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