Similarly, the five deadliest terrorist groups in the world – Boko Haram, Islamic State, the Taliban, the Fulani militants and al-Shabaab – also practise Islam. I felt sympathy with the people of France who were undeservedly victimized and terrorized.
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The last time I visited Paris was in September 2015. Although this may foil imminent terrorist attacks, it does nothing positive to shape the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims living in Western states. Its executive director, Nihad Awad, recently took advantage of a reporter’s inflammatory article on a likely miscommunication with a presidential candidate to tweet to his English audience, “Exactly what #ISIS wants: #DonaldTrump‘s recent call to force American Muslims to carry special ID”.
CAIR applauded when fearless Muslim apostate Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose life has always been threat by radical Islamists, had an honorary degree from Brandies University rescinded because she was (in their words) a “notorious anti-Muslim extremist”.
This absolutist position is counterproductive for two reasons.
On Sunday, Nov 22, around 300 protesters linked with the far-right movement Pro-NRW, from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, gathered at Breslauer Platz in Cologne, to protest against what they see as the Islamization of Europe. It isn’t fair to lump all Muslims with the ISIS terrorists, and it isn’t smart.
It attributed the increase to “the Paris attacks and to the mainstreaming of Islamophobia by political candidates and lawmakers in the run-up to the 2016 general election” as well as politicians calling for the United States to stop accepting Syrian refugees and questioning whether screening processes are effective.
The refugee migration debate turned even more contentious after authorities found a Syrian passport at the scene of the attack. Logically, they have a right to do so.
“Muslims make up only about 1 percent of the USA population”, he told host Maureen Fiedler, “and they’re also heavily concentrated in just a few cities around the country”. You’ve got Muslims in such diverse places as Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, China, Greece, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore and Sweden.
Looking at the Bible for example, of course one can find terrible stories in the Old Testament, but in no way does this transcend into one believing that they must hurt, kill, rape or harm other people.
The imam was among a number in Leicester who used Friday prayers’ last week to tell thousands of worshippers that the Paris attacks were abhorrent and un-Islamic. Go to Malaysia and see how the young Muslims offer their seats in the buses and metro to the elderly or the women holding small children; this is something not necessarily extraordinary, but highlights the humaneness of the Muslims repeatedly portrayed as evil creatures. “We don’t know why they are doing that”. Most, if not all Western Muslims are law-abiding and community-contributing citizens who are willing to defend their countries if there’s a necessity to do so.
The discovery that several of the Paris attackers were European nationals has fueled concern about Muslim immigrants becoming radicalized in the West. It reasonably indicates an unequivocal, straightforward truth: they’re not true Muslims. I kept checking the updates as they came along. Gay men face the death penalty in 10 countries, again, every one of them ruled by Islam.
Radicals and extremists are everywhere. “These people are fanatics and have nothing to do with any religion”. Nobody called him a Christian terrorist, nor did any politician or media organization lament the rise of “Christian fundamentalism”.
Ostracizing and defaming the Muslims doesn’t smoothen the way for combating terrorism and violent extremism. The phrase refers to a slice of radicalized Muslims who do not represent or speak for most Muslims and yet who act in part out of what they claim to be religious motivation.
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The problem is that Hillary Clinton and her fellow Democrats do want Muslims to be painted with that broad brush, at least when it serves them politically. He is monitored, spied on, eavesdropped and interrogated intrusively. And amid the refugees, ISIS has smuggled in terrorists. That’s what is missing now.
