Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

An open letter to U.S. Muslims
Orlando Sentinal ^ | 11/17/01 | M.A. Muqtedar Khan

Posted on 11/17/2001 11:17:08 AM PST by ppaul

In the name of Allah, the most benevolent and the most merciful. May this memo find you in the shade of Islam, enjoying the mercy, the protection and the grace of Allah. I am writing this memo to you all with the explicit purpose of inviting you to lead the American Muslim community in soul searching, reflection and reassessment. What happened on September 11 in New York and Washington, D.C., will forever remain a horrible scar on the history of Islam and humanity. No matter how much we condemn it, and point to the Quran and the Sunnah to argue that Islam forbids the killing of innocent people, the fact remains that the perpetrators of this crime against humanity have indicated that their actions are sanctioned by Islamic values. The fact that even now several Muslim scholars and thousands of Muslims defend the accused is indicative that not all Muslims believe that the attacks are unIslamic. This is truly sad.

Even if it were true that Israel and the United States are enemies of the Muslim world, I wonder what is preventing them from unleashing their nuclear arsenal against Muslims. If anywhere in your hearts there is any sympathy or understanding with those who committed this act, I invite you to ask yourself this question: "Would Muhammad sanction such an act?"

While encouraging Muslims to struggle against injustice (Al Quran 4:135), Allah also imposes strict rules of engagement. He says in unequivocal terms that to kill an innocent being is like killing entire humanity (Al Quran 5:32). He also encourages Muslims to forgive Jews and Christians if they have committed injustices against us (Al Quran 2:109, 3:159, 5:85).

Muslims, including American Muslims, have been practicing hypocrisy on a grand scale. They protest against the discriminatory practices of Israel but are silent against the discriminatory practices in Muslim states.

In the Gulf region we can see how laws and even salaries are based on ethnic origin. This is racism, but we never hear of Muslims protesting against them at international fora.

The Israeli occupation of Palestine is perhaps central to Muslim grievance against the West. While acknowledging that, I must remind you that Israel treats its one million Arab citizens with greater respect and dignity than most Arab nations treat their citizens. Today Palestinian refugees can settle and become citizens of the United States, but in spite of all the rhetoric of the Arab world and Quranic injunctions (24:22), no Muslim country except Jordan extends this support to them.

While we loudly and consistently condemn Israel for its ill treatment of Palestinians, we are silent when Muslim regimes abuse the rights of Muslims and slaughter thousands of them. Remember Saddam and his use of chemical weapons against Muslims (Kurds)? Remember Pakistani army's excesses against Muslims (Bengalis)? Remember the Mujahideen of Afghanistan and their mutual slaughter?

Have we ever condemned them for their excesses? Have we demanded international intervention or retribution against them? Do you know how the Saudis treat their minority Shiis? Have we protested the violation of their rights? But we all are eager to condemn Israel; not because we care for rights and lives of the Palestinians, we don't. We condemn Israel because we hate "them."

Muslims love to live in the United States but also love to hate it. Many openly claim that the United States is a terrorist state, but they continue to live in it. As an Indian Muslim, I know for sure that nowhere on earth, including India, will I get the same sense of dignity and respect that I have received in the United States. No Muslim country will treat me as well as the United States has. If what happened on Sept. 11 had happened in India, the biggest democracy, thousands of Muslims would have been slaughtered in riots on mere suspicion and there would be another slaughter after confirmation.

But in the United States, bigotry and xenophobia has been kept in check by media and leaders. In many places, hundreds of Americans have gathered around Islamic centers in symbolic gestures of protection and embrace of American Muslims. In many cities, Christian congregations have started wearing hijab to identify with fellow Muslim women. In patience and in tolerance, ordinary Americans have demonstrated their extraordinary virtues.

It is time that we acknowledge that the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are more desirable to us than superficial solidarity with the Muslim world. If you disagree thenprove it by packing your bags and going to whichever Muslim country with which you identify.

If you do not leave and do not acknowledge that you would rather live here than anywhere else, know that you are being hypocritical.

It is time that we faced these hypocritical practices and struggled to transcend them. It is time that American Muslim leaders fought to purify their own lot.

For more than a decade, we have watched as Muslims in the name of Islam have committed violence against other Muslims and other peoples. We have always found a way to reconcile the vast distance between Islamic values and Muslim practices by pointing out to the injustices committed upon Muslims by others. The point, however, is this -- our belief in Islam and commitment to Islamic values is not contingent on the moral conduct of the United States or Israel. And, as Muslims, can we condone such inhuman and senseless waste of life in the name of Islam?

The biggest victims of hate-filled politics as embodied in the actions of several Muslim militias all over the world are Muslims themselves. Hate is the extreme form of intolerance and when individuals and groups succumb to it they can do nothing constructive.

Militias like the Taliban have allowed their hate for the West to override their obligation to pursue the welfare of their people and, as a result, of their actions not only have thousands of innocent people died in America, but thousands of people will die in the Muslim world.

Already, half a million Afghans have had to leave their homes and their country. The war has not yet begun. It will only get worse. Hamas and Islamic Jihad may kill a few Jews, women and children included, with their suicide bombs and temporarily satisfy their lust for Jewish blood, but thousands of Palestinians then pay the price for their actions.

The culture of hate and killing is tearing away at the moral fabric of the Muslim society. We are more focused on "the other" and have completely forgotten our duty to Allah. In pursuit of the inferior jihad we have sacrificed the superior jihad.

Islamic resurgence, the cherished ideals of which pursued the ultimate goal of a universally just and moral society has been hijacked by hate and call for murder and mayhem. If bin Laden were an individual then we would have no problem. But unfortunately bin Laden has become a phenomenon -- a cancer eating away at the morality of our youth, and undermining the spiritual health of our future.

Today the century old Islamic revival is in jeopardy because we have allowed insanity to prevail over our better judgment. Yes, the United States has played a hand in the creation of bin Laden and the Taliban, but it is we who have allowed them to grow and gain such a foothold. It is our duty to police our world. It is our responsibility to prevent people from abusing Islam. It is our job to ensure that Islam is not misrepresented. We should have made sure that what happened on Sept. 11 should never have happened.

It is time the leaders of the American Muslim community woke up and realized that there is more to life than competing with the American Jewish lobby for power over U.S. foreign policy. Islam is not about defeating Jews or conquering Jerusalem. It is about mercy, about virtue, about sacrifice and about duty.

Above all it is the pursuit of moral perfection. Nothing can be further away from moral perfection than the wanton slaughter of thousands of unsuspecting innocent people.

I hope that we will now rededicate our lives and our institutions to the search for harmony, peace and tolerance. Let us be prepared to suffer injustice rather than commit injustices. After all, it is we who carry the divine burden of Islam and not others. We have to be morally better, more forgiving, more sacrificing than others, if we wish to convince the world about the truth of our message. We cannot even be equal to others in virtue; we must excel.

The worst exhibition of Islam happened on our turf. We must take first responsibility to undo the evil it has manifest.

This is our mandate, our burden and also our opportunity.

:



TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-46 next last
Muslims, including American Muslims, have been practicing hypocrisy on a grand scale. They protest against the discriminatory practices of Israel but are silent against the discriminatory practices in Muslim states......While we loudly and consistently condemn Israel for its ill treatment of Palestinians, we are silent when Muslim regimes abuse the rights of Muslims and slaughter thousands of them.....It is time that we acknowledge that the freedoms we enjoy in the United States are more desirable to us than superficial solidarity with the Muslim world. If you disagree thenprove it by packing your bags and going to whichever Muslim country with which you identify.

Amen brother Khan!

:

1 posted on 11/17/2001 11:17:08 AM PST by ppaul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ppaul
Amen indeed. Who is this guy?
2 posted on 11/17/2001 11:30:34 AM PST by Hugin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
I invite you to ask yourself this question: "Would Muhammad sanction such an act?"

Very good article, but what if he finds the answer to this question is "yes"?

3 posted on 11/17/2001 11:31:58 AM PST by FITZ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FITZ; ppaul
"The culture of hate and killing is tearing away at the moral fabric of the Muslim society. We are more focused on "the other" and have completely forgotten our duty to Allah. "

It is the duty of Mohammedism to hate and kill Jews and infidels. Now what?

4 posted on 11/17/2001 11:36:09 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: anniegetyourgun
This guy had better be careful or he might find himself with Salmon Rushdie.
5 posted on 11/17/2001 11:40:15 AM PST by FITZ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: anniegetyourgun
Either it is an evil religion or it is not. I agree with Franklin Graham.

.” “I don’t believe this is a wonderful, peaceful religion,” said Graham. “When you read the Koran and you read the verses from the Koran, it instructs the killing of the infidel, for those that are non-Muslim.” Asked by NBC News to clarify his statement, Graham repeated his charge that Islam, as a whole, is an evil. “It wasn’t Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn’t Lutherans,” said Graham. “It was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith.”

6 posted on 11/17/2001 11:43:49 AM PST by tessalu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
Re:"Muslims love to live in the United States but also love to hate it. Many openly claim that the United States is a terrorist state, but they continue to live in it."

Like our buddy Danny Glover is an "African-American"?

I now know why they call themselves "African-Americans".

They aren't Americans at all.

A black, muslim, whatever, that says I am an American is my friend.

The African-American, Muslim-American etc. etc. can kiss my American ass!

7 posted on 11/17/2001 11:43:55 AM PST by G.Mason
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
It seems that Mr. Khan did a lot of selective reading of the Koran, and forgot the part about killing people.
8 posted on 11/17/2001 11:50:49 AM PST by OK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
If you disagree then prove it by packing your bags and going to whichever Muslim country with which you identify.

This should be preached in all Mosques and printed in every Muslim paper.

9 posted on 11/17/2001 11:50:58 AM PST by snippy_about_it
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
Too little, too late.
10 posted on 11/17/2001 11:53:42 AM PST by mvonfr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FITZ
This guy had better be careful or he might find himself with Salmon Rushdie.

You Nailed It!
11 posted on 11/17/2001 11:56:49 AM PST by Fiddlstix
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
Well done!!!

As for Franklin Graham pointing out that the Koran instructs the killing of infidels, there is a lot of violence in the old testiment of our Christian Bible. God did instruct Abraham to kill the people of Canaan because God had not given them that land. There was also a lot about an 'eye for an eye', etc. The new testament, after Jesus came, was less harsh and more 'turn the other cheek'.

Maybe we should allow for the possiblity that the Koran has it's 'harsh' and 'gentle' sections as well.

Regardless, Kahn spoke from his heart in this well-written letter and he condemns those who support the terrorists.

12 posted on 11/17/2001 12:16:18 PM PST by bjcintennessee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ppaul; Hugin; FITZ; anniegetyourgun; tessalu; G.Mason; OK; snippy_about_it; Fiddlstix
This fellow has a web site. I think the NY post published a similar article of his a month ago. This specific memo is found here:

Muqtedar Memo

Also visit his website for other interesting articles: Ijtihad Homepage - A Return to Enlightenment

You should also visit this site for many interesting articles: SecularIslam.Org

If you want to get the word out, e-mail these links around. Two days before the NY Post printed their article, I e-emailed it to them. Like to think I get credit for that, and shows how powerful we can be, since I learned of these sites here at FR.

13 posted on 11/17/2001 12:19:51 PM PST by Shermy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
The biggest victims of hate-filled politics as embodied in the actions of several Muslim militias all over the world are Muslims themselves.

Perhaps the BIGGEST victims, but the most DEMONSTRABLE victims would probably be the 7,000 dead in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.

14 posted on 11/17/2001 12:23:12 PM PST by IronJack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OK
It seems that Mr. Khan did a lot of selective reading of the Koran, and forgot the part about killing people.

Mr. Khan probably knows perfectly well that the Koran is full of violence and hate, yet considers himself a Muslim, just as I know the Bible is full of verses about smiting the Philistines and Canaanites yet see myself as a Christian. He, like most Christians, has looked for the good and uplifting in a document written by ignorant tribesmen in days when tribal violence and war were commonplace.

The Christian world festered with hatred and violence when Biblical inerrancy prevailed, just as the Muslim world remains a seething swamp today due to its belief in Koranic inerrancy. The Christian world has progressed to know prosperity and peace between democratic nations to the same extent that it has rejected the dangerous nonsense of fundamentalism and literal interpretations of the Bible.

I submit that if Islam stamps out its fundamentalists and radicals, it too can enjoy the blessings of civilization in the same degree as we now know them. And I submit that if the fundamentalists and Christian Reconstructionists prevail, we can expect a new Dark Age of tribal warfare and mass executions. Stupid, ignorant, infantile worship of the written word is bad for humanity whether it is done by Christians or Muslims.

-ccm

15 posted on 11/17/2001 12:25:59 PM PST by ccmay
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Shermy
maybe all is not lost, thank you M. Khan for stating what should be so obvious to all muslims of good will but who remain silent. people of other beliefs and faiths appreciate your comments.
16 posted on 11/17/2001 12:26:26 PM PST by contessa machiaveli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Shermy
Thanks for the link. To answer my own question, here is his bio from his website...

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Adrian College in Michigan. He is on the board of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Center for Balanced Development and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists.

He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations, Political Philosophy, and Islamic Political Thought, from Georgetown University in May 2000.

Dr. Khan's column has appeared in The Daily Telegram, San Francisco Chronicle, Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Muslim Democrat, Iviews.com, ptimes.com, Theglobalist.com, Freerepublic.com, MiddleEast Online, Beliefnet.com, Arabies Trends, Al-Mustaqbal, and many other periodicals world wide.

17 posted on 11/17/2001 12:30:18 PM PST by Hugin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
"The worst exhibition of Islam happened on our turf. We must take first responsibility to undo the evil it has manifest."

Way too Little, Way too Late.

"If anywhere in your hearts there is any sympathy or understanding with those who committed this act, I invite you to ask yourself this question: "Would Muhammad sanction such an act?""

Obviously yes. It's all over the Koran, as we've seen

"Have we ever condemned them for their excesses? Have we demanded international intervention or retribution against them? Do you know how the Saudis treat their minority Shiis? Have we protested the violation of their rights? But we all are eager to condemn Israel; not because we care for rights and lives of the Palestinians, we don't. We condemn Israel because we hate "them."

Muslims love to live in the United States but also love to hate it."

Muslims love to hate, period.

The author, M.A. Muqtedar Khan, is a lousy Muslim. But if he wants it, he's got a great future as a Christian.


18 posted on 11/17/2001 12:32:00 PM PST by Sabertooth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shermy
Thanks for the Ping
I shall check out those Sites
Again, Thank You
God Bless
19 posted on 11/17/2001 12:37:15 PM PST by Fiddlstix
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: ppaul
Will The Extremists Fool Us Twice?

Cal Thomas
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
October 4, 2001

You know the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." How does that apply in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 act of war against our country?

The attack was successful primarily because Americans did not take seriously the words and actions of religious fanatics: much written in the Arab press, sermons by radical Islamic clerics, published interpretations of the Koran and Islamic law, various terrorist acts, including the assault on the U.S.S. Cole and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. In all of these, the fanatics didn't just telegraph what was coming; they shouted their intentions.

Too many Westerners thought they weren't serious. Too many appear not to believe them still. President Bush is among many voices claiming that Islam is a "religion of peace." Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Fox News that the Koran "is a book that teaches many of the same principles as Christianity."

Maybe so, but it isn't those principles that caused thousands to die on Sept. 11. It was the other ones taught by fanatical clergy and believed by brainwashed young men. These principles we must understand and oppose.

Historian Paul Johnson worries that "creeping appeasement" will weaken our national resolve and make us vulnerable to future such attacks. "One central reason why appeasement is so tempting to Western governments is that attacking terrorism at its roots necessarily involves conflict with the second-largest religious community in the world," Johnson writes in the Oct. 15 National Review. The word Islam, he notes, does not mean "peace" but "submission." Johnson calls Islam "an imperialist religion, more so than Christianity has ever been, and in contrast to Judaism."

Reading selected verses from the Koran in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks is instructive. Sura 5:85 prophesies an inevitable conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims: "Strongest among men in enmity to the Believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans." Sura 9:5 adds, "Then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them. And seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them, in every strategem [of war]." The Koran insists that no matter how mighty a nation is, it must be fought "until they embrace Islam."

Just as earlier generations were forced to familiarize themselves with the ideas that produced communism, Marxism and other political philosophies whose adherents sought to enslave vast numbers of people, non-Muslim Americans would do well to read what motivates terrorists who claim to act in the name of Islam.

While some Muslims appear on television saying that suicide is against the teachings of the Koran, others are motivating young men to conduct suicide missions using a different message.

Sheikh Yussuf al-Qaradawi, a leading Sunni religious authority and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, is among the clerics who teach that martyrdom operations are permitted under Islamic law in some circumstances. Appearing on a television program in Qatar Sept. 16, he warned that Islamic law prohibits any Muslim nation from entering into any alliance or agreement with a non-Muslim nation.

The secular West does not understand the Bible, much less radical Islam, which is increasingly embraced with America's detriment in mind. Although secular and moderate Muslims do not appear threatening, the growing number of extremists who take the Koran as a declaration of war against all non-Muslims has become a clear and present danger, not only overseas but increasingly in our own country.

Fundamentalist Muslims believe the Koran teaches them not to befriend Jews and Christians. Sura 5:51 says, "O ye who believe [Muslims], take not the Jews or the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he among you who turns to them [for friendship] is of them."

Fundamentalist Muslims also believe the Koran commands them to fight Jews and Christians: "Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger [Mohammed] and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [Islam] among the people of the Scripture [Jews and Christians] until they pay the Jizyah [a special high tax to be paid only by Jews and Christians who do not renounce their faith and convert to Islam] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." - Sura 9:29.

Does this sound like something Americans should not fear? If our leaders and too many of the rest of us believe so, terrorists could well fool us twice.[end of article]
____________________________________________________________

The Koran is loaded with hostility towards Christians and Jews, eg. Suras 3, 5, 9, 62.

20 posted on 11/17/2001 12:38:54 PM PST by Bonaparte
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-46 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson