Posted on 07/15/2005 5:50:24 PM PDT by nuconvert
Waking Up to 'Islamo-Fascism'
All Muslims must play a role in stopping the violence being done in the name of our faith.
By M. Zuhdi Jasser
As we all began digesting the news of last week's terrorist attack, most of America's Muslim organizations issued what has become a predictable, yet empty, round of condemnations. Articulated in press releases, these rote statements are not backed up with sincere attempts to acknowledge and fix the problems within Islam. Listening to these empty pronouncements, I can't help but ask: Where is our Muslim responsibility--our duty--to protect the world from the actions of our own? It is time for us Muslims to take ownership of our faith by moving beyond empty condemnations and ensuring that Islamo-fascists--those who seek to create an Islamic totalitarian theocracy through the use of any and all means--have no place in our world. These fascists are Muslims who have hijacked and twisted our faith. They subscribe to a medieval code where the ends justify the means. And you can hear their rhetoric not only in the Middle East; radical imams preach in London and in many cities in the U.S. Cutting off this lifeblood and its ideology should be the focus of our collective Muslim response.
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. These killers are doing incomprehensibly evil actions across the world in the name of our religion, and because of that, my fellow Muslims and I should act now--decisively, publicly, and in tandem with our leadership--against Islamo-fascism. To argue whether they are Muslims or not--and what is a 'true' Islamic society--is only deflection and denial.
Every time I experience the joy and spirituality of joining with my Muslim brothers and sisters in devotional prayer, I feel a perfect harmony of thought and movement as we bow and say God's praises together. Islam is a religion of community, and I know I can walk into any mosque in the world and join the congregation in reciting the same prayers I say at home. While my faith is very personal, without that communal energy, my religion is not complete.
But with spiritual fulfillment and community connection come responsibility. Moderate, moral Muslims--that is to say, the vast majority of the world's Muslims--may see these Islamo-fascists as far removed from our reality; however the unforgiving truth is that we are responsible as a group for our weakest and also for our most corrupt and deranged. Islam has no formal clergy, and so it falls to the community as a whole, all of us, to take on this challenge. Denial serves nothing but the empty ego and is destined to fail. As Muslims we must help bring these barbaric Islamists to justice and assist in dismantling the systems that create them.
How many wake-up calls do we need? Most faith groups have at some point in their histories seen their compasses falter, as deviants exploited their altars. However, those same faith groups have also eventually assumed responsibility for exposing, exterminating, and marginalizing the cancers who are their own. The need for Muslims to act now cannot be overstated, for it becomes exponentially more difficult after each horrific bombing. My fellow Muslims must immediately--and in large numbers--become proactive in the war against militant Islamists, or soon it may be too late. We owe it to the nations in which we live, as well as to our truly pluralistic faith.
Many people ask what they or their communities could possibly do to counter a cancer like Islamo-fascism. But all Muslims--and all Muslim organizations--can play an active role in this battle.
* What it would mean to take a true stand against terror? *
The immediate reaction to the London devastation should be declaration after declaration by Muslim leaders around the free world that we will immediately redirect all of our resources to combat al Qaeda and every other militant Islamist organization, in order to extinguish their barbarism. These barbarians should hear words from moderate Muslims around the globe that make them fear they will never again find a single religious haven for their ideology. As pluralistic Muslims take away from them the mantle of faith and the acceptance of their formative ideologies, they will be left with nothing but the depths of their own evil.
It's time to build an anti-terror ethos within the Islamic community. We can publicly embarrass radical imams and organizations who preach hatred. We can publicly expose the twisted interpretations of the Qu'ran and Muslim teachings perpetuated by radical Islamists who justify killing innocent people in the name of our God. 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.
(Excerpt - please see link for more)
That's nice, but how does one use Islam to take a stand against the radicals when Islam advocates violence in the name of it's god?
The Koran must be refuted to accomplish the task. I'm not holding my breath.
Pong
Blah blah blah. This is a couple centuries too late. I worked with 13 muzzies around 9-11. half of them thought we deserved it. The other half stayed silent while the others were blaming America. I understand Death to the infidels!!!
When all is said and done and the islamo-fascists are destroyed. The Muslim religion itself will also fade away.
That's a start.....but only after you remove them from their positions, and blow the whistle on those in your community who are teaching this crap in your schools, and making bombs in the basement, recruiting lonely young men and women for suicide, transfering money to jihadists, etc. Simple ridicule isn't going to cut it.
I completely agree. Nuconvert...I would have perhaps been taken in by this article 4 years ago. No longer.
How does the good doctor explain away islam's bloody 1400+ year history?
Do you really think that we buy this "hijack" a "peaceful" religion and "tiny handful of extremists" nonsense anymore?
The question is, do a significant number of Muslims agree with this position.
If you read more, he is saying what you said..............
"We can publicly expose the twisted interpretations of the Qu'ran and Muslim teachings perpetuated by radical Islamists who justify killing innocent people in the name of our God. 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.
In addition, we must root out all hate and intolerance from the educational texts in our mosques, which we use to teach our youth and our co-religionists. Anti-Semitism, anti-Western feelings, and chauvinism should be combated directly by American Muslim organizations. "
My bad for not reading on. However, why do I sense that this guy is a lone voice in the wilderness?
A good point, and one at the heart of the matter.
Here are a bunch of suidical Jihdists claiming they are obeying the command of Allah to kill the infidels.
Here is a major religion without any centralized authority.
What is a good Muslim to do? Condemn wanton murder and perhaps
run afoul of Allah? Or speak out on a moral level and be sneared to death by other Muslims. Most major religions put a limit on their extreme elements.
It seems the Prophet left out an important piece of control. How to correct heresy within Islam.
We need more Muslims with conscience.
Nothing to be "taken in by".
Dr. Jasser is sincerely dedicated to ridding his faith of dangerous extremists. And wants every muslim to do his part to accomplish the same goal.
Perhaps before people start throwing to may barbs, insults, jokes etc., they should read what this guys says, analysis it a bit, and then perhaps come to the conclusion he is amoung a few (publically any) that have address the options for fixing their from day one cult. Of course he is setting himself up for extermination by the looks of it, unless a whole body of clerics in the US sign on in significant numbers (those with authority over their given sect), with one voice. Perhaps Britain's and Europe's groups would sign on, and carry out what he proposes.
I am not going to enter a debate here. Some of us have not gone to any pains then perhaps reading a web site, to get a feel as how different Islamic sects in differing parts of the mideast and elsewhere interprete different versions of the Qu'ran, how the Hadiths and other books are to be interpreted, and only go by what they read from a few verseses we all often quote and or reference by book/verse,
and this leads one to automatically think every Muslim in the world have the same believes as to what to follow and what no to. The whole system of Islam and Arab culture is beyond the reach of most of us, so we assume every muslim thinks the same, follows everything in the book to a tee etc.. To think like that is in error. How many Christains for instance, regardless of their particular affiliations can really provide a solid understanding of the how,why,who of the OT/NT? Very few people I have meet over the years really study the bible, it's histories, all the bible translations, etc.. They take a few things on faith they heard since childhood. Same with many muslims. Many are not even well versed in transliteration when they have to read a particular version of the Qu'ran where the words are different, mean different things etc.. It gets very complicated. With the end result, most of them just listen to what their Imman teaches them, and are open to all kinds of bad shit. I said my piece.
He isn't alone, though I wish there were many more as outspoken. He is very anti-wahhabi, and The Center for Islamic Pluralism has a "Wahhabi Watch" on it's website which lists the American muslim organizations that it exposes.....and yes, they go after CAIR.
http://www.islamicpluralism.org/wahhabiwatch.htm
" The Koran must be refuted to accomplish the task. I'm not holding my breath."
Are you familiar with the process of abrogation? That is where various verses in the Qu'ran where supposedly struck out to be false, and replaced with another verse say some chapters later. This has been going on for some 1000 years
or so. Put it another way, if enough Islamic sects had top leaders (it depends on a particular sect as who is really recognized and the type titles they are given), that came together, they could officially abrogtae all the verses that deal with subjugation, killing infidels, etc.. Then all new Qu'rans that where translated (yet another version), would replace the old. Then of course the only really wide ones such as the Wahaabis who will go ballistic, will be exposed, as not wanting to act in the name of Islam to save the cult form extinction etc.. Plus then western nations could simply say, hey Sunnis' your welcome, hey Shiite your welcome, hey Sufi your welcome, hey Wahabi go to hell you cannot enter our countries and set up shop.
Could this happen. Probably is impossible, to many differences in the various sects to permit them a chance of sitting down and getting the job done. But their is a legitamate mechanism that could be used to erase verses from being read and used in the future.
I don't think it was "left out", it was purposely omitted. By actively forbidding any sort of public critique or debate over doctrine, any religion can sow the seeds of its own destruction. A good example is the pre-Reformation Catholic church, which punished anyone who actively questioned the pronouncements coming from Rome. Luckily for all of us, the Catholic hierarchy has kind of caught on over the years.
Quite a few Protestant denominations have no central church hierarchy. They do, however, have voluntary organizations which police their member congregations.
A hierarchy is not necessary. The police function absolutely is. AND a healthy debate over doctrine and Kuran interpretation will also help in policing "heresy".
No intention to insult any Catholics here, but from the standpoint of openness and toleration of debate, Islam is where the Catholics were pre-Reformation. Islam needs a reformation.
I have to go with you. I don't believe this.
Now that's pretty strong, right there. Encouraging.
Dr. Jasser is ex-US Navy. You can search a number of his previous articles here on FR under keyword Jasser.
He is sincere.
I ran across this gem today which pretty well sums things up. "Radical Islam is not the problem, the problem is orthodox Islam." Sharia Law...Over my dead body.
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