Muslim groups start taking responsibility
If there is anything good coming out from the terror attacks in Russia and most recently in Jakarta, it is that more and more Islamic groups step forward and say that enough is enough.
That Islam is not about violence and that those that commit those attacks are wrong, even so they commit the acts in the name of Islam.
I was waiting for this kind of reaction, and it made me mad already during recent events in the mosque in Thailand (http://alwayswow.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_alwayswow_archive.html and http://alwayswow.blogspot.com/2004/04/it-is-enough.html) that all that came was silence
I know that I am getting into difficult territory here, but I want to take position.
The New York Times recently brought a good article that described reactions of Muslim groups across the world about the terror attacks. Jordan copied the article into his blog – so if you want to read the whole article at his blog, click here - http://www.macvaysia.blogspot.com// . The New York Times is a subscription based website, so access to it is gone by now.
Now, today, I found the link http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/breaking_12.html . It is another article about Muslim organizations that stand up and apologize for atrocities committed. The article is courtesy of http://www.freemuslims.org
And, to follow Jordan’s step, I am copying the article into this blog – just in case the World Tribune is another subscription based website (see below).
I agree with those articles
It has to be acknowledged that all religions have bloody edges. You find hardcore Christian groups in the US that promote the killing of doctors who work in abortion clinics. Overall, the US has slipped to the right to become more extreme religiously in recent years, under the Bush administration.
There are those who point out that those in the war (I wouldn’t call it war, but let’s leave it at this) in North Ireland are heavily religious – but the difference of all those is that they don’t fight in the name of Christianity or for a Christian country with Christian laws. The IRA in Ireland calls for independence. The killers in the US call for a stop to abortions.
But I also see more “bloody edges” at the sides of Islam. It is sad to say that the majority of terrorist acts in recent years have been committed by those proclaiming to fight for Islam.
When Germany lost the Second World War the population saw the crimes against humanity committed against Jews and other groups. When they came to realize the horrors of concentration camps, a deep sense of shame, and pain (is this the right word?) was the result – Germans, over the last couple of decades, changed their mindset.
From a fiery nation of constant war mongering we became a nation of tree huggers and those that stand up and say Never Again to Fascism and Racism and War. A result of it was that the overwhelming majority of Germans was and is against the war in Iraq. Even if the German military ventures out of the country’s borders, it causes a lot of headache, even so they are engaged in non-military actions.
Anyway – I hope that one day our children can look back and say that the events of these first two weeks of September let to a change in mindset amongst the Islamic population and that they finally stood up and said No More to Terror and War. That these were the days were first steps were taken to reconcile the pain in the world.
I hope that reasoning is setting in again. And that the killings stop. My kid starts to ask a lot of questions. How to explain those tragedies to him? That children are killed, wounded, hurt, by adults, who normally have the task of protecting them?
The article
Muslim group takes responsibility for 9-11: 'We are so sorry'
Special to World Tribune.com
www.freemuslims.org
Friday, September 10, 2004
We Are So Sorry for 9-11
This September 11 marks the third unforgettable anniversary of the worst mass murder in American history.
After September 11, many in the Muslim world chose denial and hallucination rather than face up to the sad fact that Muslims perpetrated the 9-11 terrorist acts and that we have an enormous problem with extremism and support for terrorism. Many Muslims, including religious leaders, and “intellectuals” blamed 9-11 on a Jewish conspiracy and went as far as fabricating a tale that 4000 Jews did not show up for work in the World Trade Center on 9-11.
Yet others blamed 9-11 on an American right wing conspiracy or the U.S. Government which allegedly wanted an excuse to invade Iraq and “steal” Iraqi oil.
As to apologizing, we will no longer wait for our religious leaders and "intellectuals" to do the right thing. Instead, we will start by apologizing for 9-11 . . .
After numerous admissions of guilt by Bin Laden and numerous corroborating admissions by captured top level Al-Qaida operatives, we wonder, does the Muslim leadership have the dignity and courage to apologize for 9-11?
If not 9-11, will we apologize for the murder of school children in Russia?
If not Russia, will we apologize for the train bombings in Madrid, Spain?
If not Spain, will we apologize for suicide bombings in buses, restaurants and other public places?
If not suicide bombings, will we apologize for the barbaric beheadings of human beings?
If not beheadings, will we apologize for the rape and murder of thousands of innocent people in Darfour?
If not Darfour, will we apologize for the blowing up of two Russian planes by Muslim women?
What will we apologize for?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that those who commit mass murder in the name of Islam are not just a few fringe elements?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that we are facing a crisis that is more deadly than the Aids epidemic?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that there is a large evil movement that is turning what was a peaceful religion into a cult?
Will Muslims wake up before it is too late? Or will we continue blaming the Jews and an imaginary Jewish conspiracy? The blaming of all Muslim problems on Jews is a cancer that is destroying Muslim society from within and it must stop.
Muslims must look inward and put a stop to many of our religious leaders who spend most of their sermons teaching hatred, intolerance and violent jihad. We should not be afraid to admit that as Muslims we have a problem with violent extremism. We should not be afraid to admit that so many of our religious leaders belong behind bars and not behind a pulpit.
Only moderate Muslims can challenge and defeat extremist Muslims. We can no longer afford to be silent. If we remain silent to the extremism within our community then we should not expect anyone to listen to us when we complain of stereotyping and discrimination by non-Muslims; we should not be surprised when the world treats all of us as terrorists; we should not be surprised when we are profiled at airports.
Simply put, not only do Muslims need to join the war against terror, we need to take the lead in this war.
As to apologizing, we will no longer wait for our religious leaders and “intellectuals” to do the right thing. Instead, we will start by apologizing for 9-11.
We are so sorry that 3000 people were murdered in our name. We will never forget the sight of people jumping from two of the highest buildings in the world hoping against hope that if they moved their arms fast enough that they may fly and survive a certain death from burning.
We are sorry for blaming 9-11 on a Jewish or right wing conspiracy.
We are so sorry for the murder of more than three hundred school children and adults in Russia.
We are so sorry for the murder of train passengers in Spain.
We are so sorry for all the victims of suicide bombings. We are so sorry for the beheadings, abductions, rapes, violent Jihad and all the atrocities committed by Muslims around the world.
We are so sorry for a religious education that raised killers rather than train people to do good in the world. We are sorry that we did not take the time to teach our children tolerance and respect for other people.
We are so sorry for not rising up against the dictators who have ruled the Muslim world for decades.
We are so sorry for allowing corruption to spread so fast and so deep in the Muslim world that many of our youth lost hope.
We are so sorry for allowing our religious leaders to relegate women to the status of forth class citizens at best and sub-humans at worse.
We are so sorry.
For more information visit our website at: www.freemuslims.org.
There was once the saying that if one wants change, one needs to look into the mirror first. Change yourself first, before criticizing others. Admit mistakes and undertake steps that help to rectify those. Be open, don’t deny.
If there is anything good coming out from the terror attacks in Russia and most recently in Jakarta, it is that more and more Islamic groups step forward and say that enough is enough.
That Islam is not about violence and that those that commit those attacks are wrong, even so they commit the acts in the name of Islam.
I was waiting for this kind of reaction, and it made me mad already during recent events in the mosque in Thailand (http://alwayswow.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_alwayswow_archive.html and http://alwayswow.blogspot.com/2004/04/it-is-enough.html) that all that came was silence
I know that I am getting into difficult territory here, but I want to take position.
The New York Times recently brought a good article that described reactions of Muslim groups across the world about the terror attacks. Jordan copied the article into his blog – so if you want to read the whole article at his blog, click here - http://www.macvaysia.blogspot.com// . The New York Times is a subscription based website, so access to it is gone by now.
Now, today, I found the link http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/breaking_12.html . It is another article about Muslim organizations that stand up and apologize for atrocities committed. The article is courtesy of http://www.freemuslims.org
And, to follow Jordan’s step, I am copying the article into this blog – just in case the World Tribune is another subscription based website (see below).
I agree with those articles
It has to be acknowledged that all religions have bloody edges. You find hardcore Christian groups in the US that promote the killing of doctors who work in abortion clinics. Overall, the US has slipped to the right to become more extreme religiously in recent years, under the Bush administration.
There are those who point out that those in the war (I wouldn’t call it war, but let’s leave it at this) in North Ireland are heavily religious – but the difference of all those is that they don’t fight in the name of Christianity or for a Christian country with Christian laws. The IRA in Ireland calls for independence. The killers in the US call for a stop to abortions.
But I also see more “bloody edges” at the sides of Islam. It is sad to say that the majority of terrorist acts in recent years have been committed by those proclaiming to fight for Islam.
When Germany lost the Second World War the population saw the crimes against humanity committed against Jews and other groups. When they came to realize the horrors of concentration camps, a deep sense of shame, and pain (is this the right word?) was the result – Germans, over the last couple of decades, changed their mindset.
From a fiery nation of constant war mongering we became a nation of tree huggers and those that stand up and say Never Again to Fascism and Racism and War. A result of it was that the overwhelming majority of Germans was and is against the war in Iraq. Even if the German military ventures out of the country’s borders, it causes a lot of headache, even so they are engaged in non-military actions.
Anyway – I hope that one day our children can look back and say that the events of these first two weeks of September let to a change in mindset amongst the Islamic population and that they finally stood up and said No More to Terror and War. That these were the days were first steps were taken to reconcile the pain in the world.
I hope that reasoning is setting in again. And that the killings stop. My kid starts to ask a lot of questions. How to explain those tragedies to him? That children are killed, wounded, hurt, by adults, who normally have the task of protecting them?
The article
Muslim group takes responsibility for 9-11: 'We are so sorry'
Special to World Tribune.com
www.freemuslims.org
Friday, September 10, 2004
We Are So Sorry for 9-11
This September 11 marks the third unforgettable anniversary of the worst mass murder in American history.
After September 11, many in the Muslim world chose denial and hallucination rather than face up to the sad fact that Muslims perpetrated the 9-11 terrorist acts and that we have an enormous problem with extremism and support for terrorism. Many Muslims, including religious leaders, and “intellectuals” blamed 9-11 on a Jewish conspiracy and went as far as fabricating a tale that 4000 Jews did not show up for work in the World Trade Center on 9-11.
Yet others blamed 9-11 on an American right wing conspiracy or the U.S. Government which allegedly wanted an excuse to invade Iraq and “steal” Iraqi oil.
As to apologizing, we will no longer wait for our religious leaders and "intellectuals" to do the right thing. Instead, we will start by apologizing for 9-11 . . .
After numerous admissions of guilt by Bin Laden and numerous corroborating admissions by captured top level Al-Qaida operatives, we wonder, does the Muslim leadership have the dignity and courage to apologize for 9-11?
If not 9-11, will we apologize for the murder of school children in Russia?
If not Russia, will we apologize for the train bombings in Madrid, Spain?
If not Spain, will we apologize for suicide bombings in buses, restaurants and other public places?
If not suicide bombings, will we apologize for the barbaric beheadings of human beings?
If not beheadings, will we apologize for the rape and murder of thousands of innocent people in Darfour?
If not Darfour, will we apologize for the blowing up of two Russian planes by Muslim women?
What will we apologize for?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that those who commit mass murder in the name of Islam are not just a few fringe elements?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that we are facing a crisis that is more deadly than the Aids epidemic?
What will it take for Muslims to realize that there is a large evil movement that is turning what was a peaceful religion into a cult?
Will Muslims wake up before it is too late? Or will we continue blaming the Jews and an imaginary Jewish conspiracy? The blaming of all Muslim problems on Jews is a cancer that is destroying Muslim society from within and it must stop.
Muslims must look inward and put a stop to many of our religious leaders who spend most of their sermons teaching hatred, intolerance and violent jihad. We should not be afraid to admit that as Muslims we have a problem with violent extremism. We should not be afraid to admit that so many of our religious leaders belong behind bars and not behind a pulpit.
Only moderate Muslims can challenge and defeat extremist Muslims. We can no longer afford to be silent. If we remain silent to the extremism within our community then we should not expect anyone to listen to us when we complain of stereotyping and discrimination by non-Muslims; we should not be surprised when the world treats all of us as terrorists; we should not be surprised when we are profiled at airports.
Simply put, not only do Muslims need to join the war against terror, we need to take the lead in this war.
As to apologizing, we will no longer wait for our religious leaders and “intellectuals” to do the right thing. Instead, we will start by apologizing for 9-11.
We are so sorry that 3000 people were murdered in our name. We will never forget the sight of people jumping from two of the highest buildings in the world hoping against hope that if they moved their arms fast enough that they may fly and survive a certain death from burning.
We are sorry for blaming 9-11 on a Jewish or right wing conspiracy.
We are so sorry for the murder of more than three hundred school children and adults in Russia.
We are so sorry for the murder of train passengers in Spain.
We are so sorry for all the victims of suicide bombings. We are so sorry for the beheadings, abductions, rapes, violent Jihad and all the atrocities committed by Muslims around the world.
We are so sorry for a religious education that raised killers rather than train people to do good in the world. We are sorry that we did not take the time to teach our children tolerance and respect for other people.
We are so sorry for not rising up against the dictators who have ruled the Muslim world for decades.
We are so sorry for allowing corruption to spread so fast and so deep in the Muslim world that many of our youth lost hope.
We are so sorry for allowing our religious leaders to relegate women to the status of forth class citizens at best and sub-humans at worse.
We are so sorry.
For more information visit our website at: www.freemuslims.org.
There was once the saying that if one wants change, one needs to look into the mirror first. Change yourself first, before criticizing others. Admit mistakes and undertake steps that help to rectify those. Be open, don’t deny.
posted by Andreas @ 1:28 pm
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