September 9, 2004
11 STEPS LEFT:
Rare Muslim debate over terrorist acts: The attack on Russian schoolchildren sparks critical self-examination among some Muslim opinion leaders. (Dan Murphy, 9/10/04, CS Monitor)
Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks - when disgust at the violence was tempered by a sense among many that the US got what it deserved - Muslim ambivalence is being replaced in a few influential corners by self-examination and demands for clerics to take a tougher stance against the killers.While unlikely to reach the hard-core terrorists, the shifting climate could alter public opinion in the longer term, say Arab analysts. Many point to the suicide bombings in Iraq and an Al Qaeda-linked attack in Saudi Arabia last November that left 17 people dead, most of them Arab, as turning points, too.
"I don't think the shock just begins with the Chechnya thing. It's been building, with the multiple attacks in Iraq. People can't square the killing of Iraqis standing in line to get bread with legitimate grievances,'' says Youssef Ibrahim, a Dubai-based political analyst who wrote a piece condemning the attacks for the Gulf News. "At first, there was a certain glee that Americans were getting a black eye in Iraq, but since, there's been some serious questioning about where Islam the religion ends and where the Islam of the political extreme begins."
There's also a growing sense among Arab opinion leaders that such events play into the Western stereotypes about Islam, and that the sins of the few are harming the interests of the majority.
"My Name is Islam, and I have a problem." Posted by Orrin Judd at September 9, 2004 6:45 PM
On the other hand, why should an anti-terrorist Arab street be any more influential than the pro-terrorist variety?
Stories about the awakening Muslim/Arab conscience are starting to get very tiresome. Call me when one of them shoots a terrorist in rage.
Posted by: Peter B at September 9, 2004 7:12 PMThey seem to become a bit concerned when it reflects on their image. Nothing to do with the immorality of killing innocents.
Posted by: Bobby at September 9, 2004 9:14 PMIn Islam, if you are not a fellow-worshipper of the Death Cult of the Moon God of Mecca, you are not innocent, and are subject to death at any opportunity.
Posted by: Bart at September 9, 2004 10:37 PMThis is a little better than the one Orrin linked to earlier, where the split between terrorist Muslims and allegedly antiterrorist Muslims was 2-2.
Here's it's 2-1 antiterror.
If a wave of either revulsion or even just political ass-covering is sweeping a Muslim world with 1.4 billion people in it, you'd think they could find more than 2 people saying so.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at September 9, 2004 10:43 PMThat's two more than realize secularism has a bigger problem.
Posted by: oj at September 9, 2004 11:05 PMSo he who images the best, wins?
Posted by: ratbert at September 9, 2004 11:50 PMSecularism is what let's you have your idiosyncratic religious beliefs, OJ.
No secularism, no US. And say goodbye to just about every religious belief except the Truly Correct, whichever the heck one that is.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at September 10, 2004 6:52 AM"endowed by their Creator"
Posted by: oj at September 10, 2004 7:23 AMYou should be on your knees each night thanking secularism, Orrin.
If it weren't for secularism, you'd have to be guessing which Christian sect was going to win and trmming your beliefs; or putting in for martydom
Posted by: Harry Eagar at September 10, 2004 10:37 PMWouldn't matter which won, they're all the same.
Posted by: oj at September 10, 2004 11:10 PM