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March 8, 2011

CFP: 'A Rally at Times Square and a Time for a Muslim Moral Reckoning'

Daniel Greenfield writes at Canadian Free Press:

The occupant of the White House's middle name is Hussein, every school curriculum lists a whitewashed history of Islam that ignores the genocides and atrocities, and there are now more positive depictions of Muslims on TV, than there are of Christians and Jews combined. But Muslims in America still aren't happy.

From all the wailing and boohooing, you might think that mosques were being shelled, the way Muslims are attacking monasteries in Egypt. Or that Muslim politicians were being gunned down in the street the way that Christian politicians are in Pakistan. You might at least think that Muslims are treated like second-class citizens, the way non-Muslims are treated in every Muslim country in the world. But no that's not the case.

So what has Muslim burqas wadded up in a bunch this time? Representative Peter King wants to hold hearings to investigate whether some Muslim groups are urging their communities not to cooperate with government authorities in fighting terrorism. King is not inviting experts on terrorism like Steve Emerson, or experts on Islam like Andrew Bostom or Robert Spencer. He isn't even inviting ex-Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Wafa Sultan. Instead the witness list is limited to Muslims and law enforcement officials. Despite all the hysteria and Islamophobia-mongering, Islam isn't on trial here.

One of those witnesses is congressman Keith Ellison, a former associate of the violently racist Nation of Islam, who has defended and promoted anti-semitism in the past. Since then Ellison has been transformed into the chief spokesman for tolerance as America's first Muslim congressman. That tolerance however ends at the borders of Islam. And does not extend beyond it.

In response to Congressman King's hearings, a motley group of organizations held a rally at Times Square, near the site of an attempted Muslim car bombing attempt only several months ago. They made no acknowledgment of the countless lives that would have been lost at the hands of a Muslim terrorist. Nor did the media in any way acknowledge the radicalism of the participants.

They called the rally, "Today, I Am a Muslim Too". But where are the rallies for, "Today, I Am a Copt Too" or "Today, I Am a Hindu Too" or "Today, I Am a Zoroastrian Too".

[...] Many of the speakers were also supporters of the Ground Zero Mosque. Not only was Imam Rauf listed as one of the speakers, but so was the Rev. Michael Kinnamon. Kinnamon is not only a fierce Ground Zero Mosque supporter, but also an opponent of Israel. Chloe Bryer, who supports the Mosque and whose interfaith center's board includes Rauf, was listed as well.

At the rally Rauf insisted that "Our real enemy is not Islam or Muslims. The enemy is extremism and radicalism and radical ideology", one of those profoundly stupid statements that mean less, the more you think about them. You might as well say that our enemies are not extremists, but people with bombs. After all that's technically true, and yet completely pointless and wrong. To say that our enemies are extremists is to say nothing at all. Extremism is relative. It is a label that depends on the perspective of the labeler. On the other hand our enemies are certainly and undeniably Muslims. Rauf may contend that they are not the majority, but the lack of human rights for non-Muslims throughout the Muslim world is ample testimony otherwise.

As David Greenfield notes of the rally, "Today, I Am a Muslim Too" reminds him of the courageous words of Ali Sina of Faith Freedom, who in explaining his decision to leave Islam said, echoing Lincoln's "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master", said "As I would not be a dhimmi, so I would not be a Muslim." There is a weight of moral responsibility in these words entirely out of the grasp of the preening and posturing speakers on the rally stage. Muslims wish to retain the privileges of the oppressor and the moral stature (of the) oppressed -- but they cannot have both. They must choose whether they wish to be the oppressors or the oppressed -- but not both at the same time. It is time for Muslims to stop hiding behind the lies and make a moral reckoning of their guilt and bring an end to the violence. Only when Muslims take moral responsibility for the violence of their hands, can there be peace.

Posted by Richard at March 8, 2011 2:57 PM

• CFP: 'A Rally at Times Square and a Time for a Muslim Moral Reckoning' - Mar 08, 2011