Jill Carroll Dishes it out to the Nay-sayers!
This little article in the Chronicle really is an impressive one. I enjoyed reading it, I enjoyed how Jill has really given it on the chin of the right-wing nuts, straight-up. I love the punch-line, "Where are all the moderate Muslims? All around us." Read for yourself:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/4468083.html
STOP THE SCAPEGOATING
Where are all moderate Muslims?
An answer to what has become a ubiquitous question
I have given hundreds of talks and lectures throughout the Houston area in the past few years on issues of world religion and religion in public life. The question that always comes in the Q&A no matter what the topic, no matter if the audience is liberal or conservative, is "Where are all the moderate Muslims?"
The ubiquity of this question is deeply problematic. Not because the desire for so-called "moderate Muslims" is bad. (It isn't.) Not because the people who ask it are bad or bigoted. (They usually aren't.) The question is problematic because of what it assumes: that Islam is naturally predisposed to extremist interpretation; that most of the up to 10 million Muslims in the United States are not moderate, but radical; that those who claim to be moderate aren't because they don't stand up and denounce the extremists. None of these assumptions is supported by evidence. In fact, evidence exists to the contrary.
Muslim condemnations of terror abound, as even the most rudimentary Google search indicates. Plug in "Muslims condemn 9/11" and take an hour or so to just get started. Or read the Fiqh Council of North America's fatwa against terrorism declared in July 2005 and endorsed by 120 organizations and groups in the United States and Canada. Or go to the Council on American-Islamic Relations Web site to view the 30-second TV public service announcements they created and ran in English, Arabic and Urdu. "Why haven't we seen these things before?" you ask. You might direct that question to your local news outlets. And, given our access to the Internet, maybe we all could take more responsibility for being accurately informed citizens.
We have not had so much as a backpack bomb in this country since 9/11, and it's not because our security measures are so foolproof. Our largely terror-free experience comes because we have a free, prosperous society governed by a stable rule of law that offers tremendous opportunities for life and happiness, including religious expression. Muslims, like so many other religious, ethnic and racial groups in America, are integrated into all areas of life in all parts of the country, all sorts of neighborhoods, in all sorts of professions. They go to work, pay their taxes, raise their kids and participate in faith communities like most other citizens and residents of this country. They peacefully co-exist with others in this demographically pluralistic nation, just like almost everyone else does. They are our neighbors, co-workers, clients, friends and in-laws.
Yet, we act like they've come straight from the burning streets of Baghdad or the caves of Tora Bora with plans to blow us up. We see imams praying in the airport and have them taken off the plane. We see women wearing a hijab get on a bus or subway, and we feel ourselves tense up. Or, as happened recently when I attended a large interfaith dinner here in Houston and the well-known president of a respected Muslim organization got up to bless the food in Arabic, someone at a nearby table said, "We'd better hope he's not calling for jihad!" And in recent days we have seen the ugly episode in Katy with the pig races to protest the construction of a mosque in the area. While concerns about flooding, traffic congestion and building permits are legitimate, the Web site set up to protest the mosque is a virtual tutorial in Islamophobia.
Such things border on the hysterical. According to a recent USA Today article, more than a third of Americans think U.S. Muslims sympathize with al-Qaida and should have to carry special ID cards. This is just a hop, skip and jump from what we did to our Japanese residents and citizens after Pearl Harbor — we rounded them up indiscriminately and sent them to internment camps, a shameful and often hidden episode in our modern history.
We have to stop this. We in Houston and in America are bigger and stronger than to give in to such outlandish demon-izing and scapegoating. We must resist this irrational fear mongering with regard to our Muslim residents and citizens, as we must with all groups who for whatever reason become targets of hatred and bigotry. We cannot allow ourselves to be pawns in the manipulative hands of the most sensation-alist media outlets in our cul-ture. We must stand up for each other in the spirit of decency, tolerance and mutual respect. The very fabric and cohesion of our society is at stake.
Where are all the moderate Muslims? All around us.
Carroll is associate director of the Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance at Rice University.
24 comments:
As-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatu,
Wow, what an excellent article, masha'Allah!
Hmmmm... maybe I should send it to my local newspaper to publish... do you know how I might be able to contact the author?
Your little sister in Islam,
Mouse
Little sister, this email is for the religious dept. reli@rice.edu . You can probably get her contact from there.
Jill's info on Rice website
Awesome, jazakAllahu khairan! :)
From Jill Carroll’s article…
“Muslim condemnations of terror abound”
Yes, they do. So why do they continue then Amad? Someone should show these “radicals” how they are misunderstanding Islam don’t you think? Don’t know why the jihadists continue to operate Amad? Here let me tell you why. The Qur’an.
“We have not had so much as a backpack bomb in this country since 9/11”
No, we haven’t. But we have had a Muslim plowing into crowds with their SUVs on the campus of UNC. He was a very religious Muslim killing Infidels for the cause. Then we had the nutcase in Seattle who held a little girl hostage so he could barge into a Jewish center and murder people. He was religious too, doing Allah’s work. Perhaps you forgot about the beltway sniper, John Muhammad, also a pious Muslim, doing what he thought was right, what the sacred books say is right. Then there was the Muslim in Colorado who was just convicted for keeping a slave. Yep, that’s right, a slave. Nothing wrong with that, Muhammad did it. There are many more Amad, here, in the UK, in Australia, everywhere Muslims live.
“Such things border on the hysterical”
No, they don’t. This is reality, this is self preservation, this is common sense. Anyone who ignores 1350 years of Islamic history is a fool. Jill Carroll calls herself a teacher but I’ll bet she has never even read the Qur’an or hadith. I’ll bet she doesn’t even know about the Jews Muhammad beheaded, or the poets he murdered, or the slaves he kept, or his 6 year old wife. I think Jill Carroll is an idiot.
“We have to stop this”
Stop? No, no. Let us not stop. The truth will set you free. Islam is a cancer on the souls of men; it should be jettisoned from the planet.
“Where are all the moderate Muslims?”
There is no such thing. “Moderates” spread Islam, the cancer.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/052.sbt.html#004.052.268
Volume 4, Book 52, Number 268:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle called,: "War is deceit".
Caterpiller, err Butterfly: Where did you get your talking points? Spencer, Phares, Pipes?
An assignment for you since you have been duped into this position by the fear-mongering right-wing police:
1) Please do a historical rough count of dead-bodies (since Prophet Muhamamd). Count Muslims that have killed non-Muslims and vice-versa. In fact, look at the last century, who killed the Jews? Who was involved in the World Wars? Further, in fact look at the last decades. Count the # of dead Chechens, dead Palestinians, dead Iraqis, dead Kashmiris, and only the civilians... Then tell me who is the real victim, and who is the real terrorist.
2)You want to say "All Muslims aren't terrorists, but all terrorists are" Really? I know you don't like to hear McVeigh's name... but how about the ETA in Spain, how about the Tamils in Sri Lanka, how about Eric Rudolph, and the list goes on... lets not forget the state-terrorist Israel, Russia, etc.
3)I can give you many more quotes from the Bible that, without context, are even more violent than Quran. You mention the Prophet's words about war being deceit. Of course, you have no clue on the context--- it refers to operations on the battle front, of deceiving/tricking the enemy; a common war strategy. It is interesting though that your Prophet George Bush has adopted this out-of-context Prophetic saying quite literally, hasn't he?
Butterfly, John Allen Muhammad is from "nation of islam", nothing in common to mainstream islam except the word islam. Moreover unfortunately we practicing actual muslim (by definition moderate), do not own the media. If any incident happens that shows muslims in bad way, its all over the media and they associate the actions to Islam, rather than the indviduals. While moderate muslims have condemned acts of terror always, either from extremist muslims, state of israel (by definition terrorist state), George Bush etc. We do not blind our eyes to acts of terror when it comes to our own people.
Despite having condemned repeatedly, media and people like you keep coming and saying muslims are not condemning enough, well do you want us to daily before having breakfast go to news channels and condemn any terrorism in past and then go to work? Why don't you condemn a christian hitler killing innocent jews daily before going to work? Perhaps you may have better chance of getting news coverage than us.
Moreover a person like you would not go anywhere when reading Quran or Hadith, or anything else that differs from your arrogant beliefs. You have assumed that you are the peak of human intellectual and are living in peak of human civilization. You view other things from that assumption that you and what you believe in is better, hence you find other things inferior or nonsense.
Butterfly: Looks like somebody has been reading Michelle Malkin again!
Next time, don't get your "talking points" from right-wing hacks like Malkin, Coulter, Hannity, or anyone else at FOX for that matter.
Furthermore, even if he dresses like an intellectual -- Daniel Pipes is NOT. Don't let the Brooks Brothers suit fool you!
abu ameerah
A mad,
“Caterpiller, err Butterfly: Where did you get your talking points? Spencer, Phares, Pipes?”
I don’t need talking points. The evidence is everywhere and in every country, in the news, on the internet, in books. All of this hate comes from the Qur’an and hadith.
“An assignment for you since you have been duped into this position by the fear-mongering right-wing police:”
Take your assignments and shove it.
“Please do a historical rough count of dead-bodies (since Prophet Muhamamd). Count Muslims that have killed non-Muslims and vice-versa.” In fact, look at the last century, who killed the Jews? Who was involved in the World Wars? Further, in fact look at the last decades. Count the # of dead Chechens, dead Palestinians, dead Iraqis, dead Kashmiris, and only the civilians... Then tell me who is the real victim, and who is the real terrorist.”
Have you ever read a history book A mad? I doubt it.
“You want to say "All Muslims aren't terrorists, but all terrorists are" Really? I know you don't like to hear McVeigh's name... but how about the ETA in Spain, how about the Tamils in Sri Lanka, how about Eric Rudolph, and the list goes on... lets not forget the state-terrorist Israel, Russia, etc.”
All Muslims are potential terrorists, especially those who take the Qur’an and hadith to heart. Don’t put words in my mouth. Sure a terrorist is a terrorist, no matter what their belief. The problem with Islam is that are 1.2 billion of them.
“I can give you many more quotes from the Bible that, without context, are even more violent than Quran. You mention the Prophet's words about war being deceit. Of course, you have no clue on the context--- it refers to operations on the battle front, of deceiving/tricking the enemy; a common war strategy. It is interesting though that your Prophet George Bush has adopted this out-of-context Prophetic saying quite literally, hasn't he?”
I don’t care about the Bible. No where in the world today are Christians sawing of heads and screaming god is great. You are wrong. I know exactly the context and where to find it. Do You? Bush has been listening to the wrong people, I think he is a fool. He thinks Islam is “a religion of peace.”
Hassan,
Muhammad and Malvo were jihadists. I read their statements and saw their drawings. Jihad and Allah was all over both. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.malvo04dec04,0,3960951.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
I did not say “moderates” are not condemning enough. My point is that it doesn’t matter what they say, they know the Qur’an doesn’t back up their words, whereas the jihadists use the Qur’an’s words often, in context, and with conviction. There may be moderate Muslims but Islam is not moderate, it never was, it never will be. Hitler was not a Christian. He pretended to be one so his people would accept him. Hitler loathed Christians and killed millions of them. Hitler meet with the Grand Mufti who helped plan the destruction of the Jews, he even had a Muslim brigade. Did you know that? Of course you did.
Again, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I have three Qur’ans and I keep one at work and one in my car so I can show people what it says. I don’t have any degrees, but I can read, and think, and reason. Something I find lacking in the voices of Muslims like you.
Dear abu,
Check out some of those people. You might learn something. And it might even be important.
Seems to me that butterfly, you are a 15-year or so old imbecile. You refuse to even consider the possibility that you have been completely duped. Your comments about Malvo put you to the right of even the greatest wackos in the country.
By the way, did you know the Muslims caused the tsunami? Better believe it, and the next hurricane that hits Houston (god forbid) was a master-Muslim terrorist plan as well. So, my advice to you is stay at home and hide, preferably under your blanket. You never know, some Muslim bogey-man, might find you and eat you for lunch.
A mad,
Nope, not 15, and no, not an imbecile either. I am an Infidel. The truth about Malvo is online, you can read it yourself, although I know you won’t, it’s too much work. You don’t care about the truth anyway, it gets in the way of your illusion. You can call me a wacko all day long, won’t hurt my feelings a bit.
That last paragraph was funny. You a hoot man.
Mr Butterfly, I have same Quran and Hadith which I hold very dear, yet I am strictly against terrorism and killing and hurting of innocent civilians all around the world.
Have you considered that you and terrorist that use islam name may have something in common? Both can not comprehend the Quran and Hadith?
Hassan,
002.098
SHAKIR: Whoever is the enemy of Allah and His angels and His messengers and Jibreel and Meekaeel, so surely Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers.
Your god says I am the enemy. Do you just skip this passage with your belief? Do you pick and choose what you want to believe? The Qur’an is immutable word of Allah. Who are you to decide what is “worthy” of belief. You don’t sound like a very good Muslim to me.
Sorry Hassan, it is you who does not understand the Qur’an and hadith. I’ve been studying Islam for years, from people who know, Muslim exegetes. Your “moderate” interpretation of the Qur’an is a lie. Wake up.
http://tinyurl.com/2mru4r
Cleric calling unbeliever apes and pigs in Australia.
http://tinyurl.com/2kmb2n
Thai Muslims promising death to all Buddhists.
http://tinyurl.com/2s6bzf
UK cleric calling for jihad.
All over world Hassan, the fire burns and you can’t stop it. Play this scenario of jihad against the West to the end game. What do you see?
Eventually, you will have to pick a side. Choose well.
Butterfly,
We are very thankful for your comments and for having to share your thoughts with us all.
I suggest you bring your concerns about islam to someone who is more knowledgeable (scholar) in this beautiful religion of islam instead of wanting to simply pick a fight. Insha'Allah (god willing) you will find what you are looking for. If islam is not in your best intrest, then let it be and please move on.
Islam-always: I love the way you put it mashallah. Good job.
As a general point of benefit, I think we need to consider our resources when dealing with people. I'll explain with an analogy. Suppose you have a town where a disease has spread. Supposed you have limited number of doctors to deal with this, and your chances of cure are best when the disease is limited in its extent. So, what is the best course of action? Of course for doctors to concentrate first on those who are can be cured, and then if resources are left, to attend to those who have least chance of cure.
The disease of islamophobia has spread rampantly. The evil-doctors of Israel and neo-cons have planted the bacterium/virus of this disease very cleverly. The evil-doctors among the Muslims have helped its spread as well (by participating in extremist actions). The doctors (us, some more qualified than others) are few. So, let us spend our time on those whose hearts are still open to dawah and to general Islamic knowledge. Let us leave those who are already completely diseased to their own devices.
The greatest testimony to the truth of Islam is that despite the vehement campaign to spread the disease of Islamophobia, you still hardly hear of anyone leaving this religion's fold. Not only that, people are still coming to Islam everyday and every moment. If it were any religion, its people would have deserted it. If it was any other religion, it would be the world's fastest shrinking religion. SubhanAllah, all praise to Allah, that Islam still is and will always be the fastest growing religion. As a friend used to say, Islam-- the Inevitable.
Butterfly,
Being an enemy of God is something to be concerned about, I wouldn't want to be God's enemy either.
I think I can help you though, this is what you should do:
1). You must first bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is his slave and final messenger.
2). You must pray 5 times a day in the prescribed manner and at the prescribed times.
3). You must pay alms every year on your wealth to the needy.
4). You must fast the month of Ramadan.
5). If possible, you must make pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your life.
If you follow these steps, then Inshallah you won't have to worry about being an infidel or God's enemy.
abdu,
Take 1 through 5 and shove it. I would rather die than become a Muslim.
“If islam is not in your best intrest, then let it be and please move on.”
No, Islam is not in my best interest, nor yours, but I cannot move on as long as the jihad continues and I will not let it be. If I, or we of the West, let it be, sharia will arrive, and we know what that means, stonings for adultery and chopping of hands for theft. This land of freedom will become like all Islamic states, backward, brutal, barbaric.
You guys just don’t understand do you? A violent, alien religion is raping the world and you want me to “let it be?” Ha! Not in my beloved country.
But I can take a hint islam-always. You and your buddy, A mad, don’t want me posting here anymore. Fine, with me.
See ya on the battlefield chump.
ignore butterfly. she is completely diseased.
Butterfly, I do not pick and choose in Quran, thats the job of terrorist, they read one verse out of context and misintrept it and use it to cause violence.
Anyway, it seems you are suggesting you do not hate muslims, but you hate religion of Islam (because it preaches violence in your view). WOuld I be correct in understanding if I say you do not have issue that islam calls to worship one God, the creator and do righteous deeds?
>You guys just don’t understand do >you? A violent, alien religion is >raping the world and you want me to >“let it be?” Ha! Not in my beloved >country.
Butterfly, you can huff and you can puff, but you will not be able to blow Islam out!
Islam will prevail (inshaAllah) whether you like it or not. So don't waste your time and efforts, instead why don't you study Islam, just the theology, just the concept of God. It will 'click' whether you response to it or not that will be your choice!!
Butterfly,
Be witness for me on the Day of Judgment that I called you to Islam and you rejected.
Salam/Shalom/Peace
I think we might all want to work on our social skills insha'Allah (lol). Butterfly has obviously been misinformed about Islam, it is not her fault.
It's our duty to preach islam as it was preached by our beloved prophet Muhammad(pbh) to our best of abilities Insha'Allah.by arguing back and forth about who's right and who's wrong, well...we all know that isn't going to get us anywhere, now is it?
Butterfly, I'm sorry if i came off a bit harsh in what i said previously. I don't want you to leave, I'd like for all of us to have a civilized discussion about islam. and if that is not possible, then i do believe it would be best to end this discussion right now.
Your sister in humanity.
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