Western Muslim reformers to name extremists in their mosques
Good news! A group of western Muslim reformers, horrified by the violence being perpetrated in the name of Islam, have announced plans to name and shame the extremists within their religious communities.
Khader and other members of the group on Friday released a declaration of principles calling on Muslims to reject violent jihad and endorse religious freedom for all and secular government, and saying they will call out those who reject it. “We reject the idea of an Islamic state,” Khader said.
In imitation of Christian reformer Martin Luther, the group’s members plan to take copies of the declaration and post them on the doors of their local mosques. “If they reject them then we know they’re on the side of the problem,” said Zuhdi Jasser, president of the Phoenix-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy, at a news conference at which the declaration was unveiled.
It is this kind of reaction that has been sorely lacking within the Islamic community since 9/11. If western Muslims had done this then, then the accusations against them for celebrating on that horrific day would not now be so easy to justify. Still, better late than never.
Interestingly, the two groups expressing opposition to their effort are Muslims within their community, which is not surprising, and liberals here in the U.S. and in Europe. Read the article, as I don’t want to quote it all. It is clearly illustrates the fascist roots of modern liberalism, which seems more willing to forge links with the terrorist elements of Islam rather than fight it.
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The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Good news! A group of western Muslim reformers, horrified by the violence being perpetrated in the name of Islam, have announced plans to name and shame the extremists within their religious communities.
Khader and other members of the group on Friday released a declaration of principles calling on Muslims to reject violent jihad and endorse religious freedom for all and secular government, and saying they will call out those who reject it. “We reject the idea of an Islamic state,” Khader said.
In imitation of Christian reformer Martin Luther, the group’s members plan to take copies of the declaration and post them on the doors of their local mosques. “If they reject them then we know they’re on the side of the problem,” said Zuhdi Jasser, president of the Phoenix-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy, at a news conference at which the declaration was unveiled.
It is this kind of reaction that has been sorely lacking within the Islamic community since 9/11. If western Muslims had done this then, then the accusations against them for celebrating on that horrific day would not now be so easy to justify. Still, better late than never.
Interestingly, the two groups expressing opposition to their effort are Muslims within their community, which is not surprising, and liberals here in the U.S. and in Europe. Read the article, as I don’t want to quote it all. It is clearly illustrates the fascist roots of modern liberalism, which seems more willing to forge links with the terrorist elements of Islam rather than fight it.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
This is indeed good news. This is where it has to start. The silence of the Muslim community has been in effect silent approval of the terrorism. Only this way can the sane Muslims join the American community.
The Muslim community has not been completely silent. There is a prince in the Middle East who has been vocal, and a few months ago I heard on the radio an American Muslim leader being outspoken against the violence and terrorism that comes from some of his fellow Muslims. Two voices in hard to hear, though.
It would be so much better if there were a large, loud outcry at each violent act. I hope that this name-and-shame strategy helps to produce such an outcry, coming from the Muslim community, against the violence.
It would be so nice if the religion of peace actually became one.
The false equivalency:
Linda Stassi writes about the San Bernadino shooting and equates the “hate” that one employee expressed in words with the “hate” that another employee expressed by killing 14 human beings with high powered weapons and injuring 22 others.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/san-bernardino-bloodbath-born-bigots-article-1.2456491
If you are going to write about something and attempt to shape the public’s perception about it I think it has to be done in a more covert way because this false equivalency is an insult to reason. But then again this is the liberal mentality, no matter what you will believe!
Another embarrassing American who actually validates the violence rather than rejects it and she really has no idea that that is what she is accomplishing.
The problem is this will only drive the radicals further underground faster than they could be rooted out.
Granted this is a great move and will have a significant impact on keeping radical Imams out and the real crazy vocal radicals out but I fear it will not get the majority.
Think of it like this.
Your in your workplace. And eventually maybe even after a few years you notice ‘bill’ is saying racist things. Its not enough to get him fired yet but you noticed.
So being a like minded thinker you decide to invite him over for a dinner. You also decide to invite over your other clan brother to help feel Bill out about these things.
You and your clan brother decide Bill is an acceptable associate so you invite him into the clan. Meetings are now between you three at your house a few times a month over a cook out and card game.
The Mosque is now just a place to find more ‘friends’ to invite over for a cookout. Not one radical word need ever be spoken at the Mosque again.
pzatchok
“after a few years you notice ‘bill’ is saying racist things”
What does this mean? What does it mean to “say racist things”?
It may sound rhetorical but I really have no idea anymore what it means to say racist things or to be racist. It used to mean taking action of some sort to do harm to others based primarily on their race but apparently it means something more than that nowadays. Are words and thoughts now actions? Has the definition extended into the realm of thought crimes? Is it now a crime to have thoughts that do not conform? Have we reached that point?
Nick P
You were the first one to post about how you approved of one group of Muslims singling out another group of Muslims just because of what they thought and or said.
If your white, the next time your wondering if what you say makes you sound racist, just go into work and loudly start telling n!gg3r jokes.
Your not a racist but its what you say that forms other peoples opinion of you. You can think anything you want all day long, just never say it out loud if it has any chance of offending any one at all, ever.
Its always been that way. Its just that now the targets of that old racism have the power to remove you from their presence. Say a gay joke or even say you don’t agree with their lifestyle and they could get you fired.
I am listening to Linda Stassi being interviewed about her column. She says that because the Jewish guy who spoke offensively, who was paid by the municipality, should not have been ALLOWED to speak those offensive words! And she attempts to walk back her assertion that basically he got what he deserved.
She is attempting to tap dance her way out of what she said, and is getting nowhere. I don’t know if she realizes that what she wrote is easily reread (not that it really needs to be) and the meaning of those words is understood by other people who read it.
An outrage! How dare she create the moral equivalency between what one man has said and the actions of another who has murdered 14 people and wounded many more. Ignorant is Linda Stassi.
I’m not holding my breath for this to have any effect, although this is a development that may move islam towards a more modern century.
Wondering how long until there’s a Fatwah convicting these reformists to death as apostates or infidels.
“In imitation of Christian reformer Martin Luther, the group’s members plan to take copies of the declaration and post them on the doors of their local mosques”
Martin Luther didn’t change the excesses of the Catholic church of his time, he created a schism. A New sect of Christianity formed – Lutheranism (full disclosure; my father was a Lutheran, my mother was a Catholic)
I suspect that the best we can expect from this split is a new sect of Islam. Sunni, Shiite, and now ??? Khaderites? (after he is martyred maybe)?