MEMRI today has excerpts from three articles by Arab moderates that are heartening but also troubling. Arab Criticism of Muslim Extremist Activities in the West:
Extremist Muslims in Western countries have come under increasing criticism by moderate Muslims who are familiar with the West through living in America or Europe, either temporarily or permanently. In three recently published articles, Arab academic and intellectuals harshly criticized their extremist activities.
In his article on the reformist website www.elaph.com, Dr. Ahmad Abu Matar, a Palestinian academic residing in Oslo, stated that Muslims in Europe foster conflict instead of coexistence. Muslims in Europe, he explained, are influenced by an extremist fundamentalist brand of Islam – and moderate Muslims are not speaking out adequately against this activity.
In the UAE daily Al-Itihad, Saudi journalist Turki Al-Dakhil, whose popular interview program on Al-Arabiyya television frequently hosts reformist Muslims, wrote about the hatred of the West that is spread by Muslims in the U.S., sharing his personal experience during his studies in the U.S. around the time of 9/11.
In the wake of Al-Dakhil's article, Tarek Hamo, a Kurdish journalist living in Germany, also criticized the actives of extremist Muslims in the West. In his article in www.elaph.com, Hamo accused Arab and Muslim states that seek to appease the extremists and to keep them away from political activity in their own countries, as well as the European host countries that are turning a blind eye to extremist activity – on grounds of "tolerance" and "religious freedom," and more recently, on grounds of a "dialogue of civilizations."
What is heartening about the report is that if we are ever to live in a world where Muslims, Christians, Jews, et al, can live together as peaceful neighbors, the voice of moderate Islam must grow louder and louder and eventually drown out the voices of Islamic fascism. We hear very little from moderate Islam, though many Islamic spokesmen in the West are adept at speaking in the terms of peace and moderation, in English, while speaking in the privacy of their own centers to their followers of Jihad and death tot he infidels. CAIR, a leading Islamic American group, has had numerous officers arrested for aiding and abetting terrorism all the while professing to be a peace loving group. This has been the pattern for the Jihadists, perfected by the Palestinians, for decades. Jihad Watch has lots about them, as does Daniel Pipes.
What is troubling about the report is that while most would agree that we should be doing everything we can to support the moderates in Islam, our media, and some of our politicians, insist on making irresponsible charges and focusing on every possible set back, in order to tarnish our efforts in Iraq and the war on terror.
Everyday I wait for some sign that the MSM and the Democrats (they seem increasingly indistinguishable these days) appreciate how they damage our chances of defusing the catastrophic war our enemies wish for. They instead insist on keeping the fuse lit.
Recent Comments