October 13, 2003
NOT A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS:
A Muslim Patriot's Call (Oubai Mohammad Shahbandar, October 13, 2003, Arizona Republic)
Where is the outrage in the American Muslim community?Two years after 9/11, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Council (AMC), the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and similar groups are still respectfully regarded as the voices of American Muslims, despite the fact that members of these organizations have been apologists for extremism and even linked to terrorist groups. Almost no one - Muslim or non-Muslim - dares criticize these groups for their positions or their associations.
What's more, these groups shamelessly attack, demean and attempt to intimidate Muslims who are loyal to this great nation. They continue to attempt to persuade American Muslims to view themselves not as patriots but as victims.
Muslim community newspapers are silent about these issues. They write nothing about the MSA-directed groups that stage anti-American rallies, attack people who speak out about the pernicious activities of the Saudis, or simply challenge the talking points of the establishment Muslim groups on anything taking place in the Arab and Islamic worlds.
In particular, proud Muslims who are also proud Americans need to tell the truth about Wahhabism, the intolerant and militant brand of Islam being exported from Saudi Arabia and which is defended in the United States by CAIR, AMC and MSA.
I know about these issues firsthand. As a Muslim student at Arizona State University who abhors Wahhabism, I've been the victim of MSA's hate campaigns.
Nothing would better serve the cause of peace than for Muslims to take back their religion. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 13, 2003 7:55 PM
To be charitable, the reaction of some Muslims in the U.S. may be akin to the reaction of neighbors in Kew Gardens, N.Y. to the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964, which was basically to take the course of least resistance and not get involved, even as a woman was being murdered on the street below.
Keeping a low profile for now may be a way to avoid any conflict with the more radical and threatening Muslims within the community of those living in the U.S., but in the long run it will create more problems for them when the next attempt at a terrorist attack on Americans and/or on U.S. soil finally does occur.
Posted by: John at October 14, 2003 1:38 AMJohn:
Except that the Genovese case provoked a storm of fury and national soul-searching.
Posted by: OJ at October 14, 2003 7:45 AMBut in New York City, not much concrete action for 30 years, until conditions got so intolerable the public held their noises and elected a Republican, Rudy Giuliani, in 1993.
Hopfully, the moderate Muslim community won't have the same 30-year learning curve, though if there are further terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, that decision may be taken out of their own handed and they would be forced to make a choice between their nation and the radical elements of their religion.
Posted by: John at October 14, 2003 9:50 AMFatwa alert.
Posted by: Sandy P. at October 14, 2003 11:31 AMI'd always thought the reason no one got involved with helping Kitty Genovese was that none of the neighbours assumed an attack was actually occurrig and the noises they heard were muffled by traffic and the other background nose that occurs in a busy city.
And how many people would be looking out their windows at 3 am? It's the deadest, most inactive time of the day.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at October 14, 2003 3:20 PMTrue, 3 a.m. is not a time when most people would be awake, but the street corner involved is a commercial business intersection, with the Long Island Railraod tracks and the Kew Gardens inbound platform less than 50 yards away, so it has a little more activity than your average intersection at that time of night (A friend of mine used to live two blocks away from the site, though not in 1964).
Posted by: John at October 14, 2003 8:57 PM