Editor,
I am an American Muslim who shares Jake Shalette’s frustration about the silence of Muslims, as expressed in a recent letter to the editor. However, things are not as bleak as they seem. Al-Qaida and like-minded terrorists have been thoroughly disavowed and criticized by Muslim scholars all over the world.
Mainstream Muslims and their governments all over the Muslim world are waging a bloody war against these terrorists and have driven them into hiding in caves and dark cracks of societies. While all this is no secret to the average Muslim, most people in the West seem oblivious to all of that. The Western news media and Muslims in the Western world share the blame. Muslim and non-Muslims are caught in strong crosswinds where constructive dialogue is a real challenge. The overwhelming majority of the 1.5 billion Muslims embrace Islam, where peace and mercy toward all of God’s creations are the foundation of their faith. The Islam that Al-Qaida preaches is that of cruelty and oppression to any who disagrees with them. Their new concept of “the end justifies the means” is contrary to the basic tenants of Islam. Unfortunately, many people in the West paint all Muslims with the same brush, thus becoming unwitting recruiting agents for these terrorists by making the terrorists’ point that Islam and Muslims are under attack by the Christian world. How many times have you heard some Christians saying, “We should nuke all them (Muslims)?” I can count half a dozen times the statement was made in my presence for my benefit.
Every village has its share of fools. When fools from two villages get into a silly spitting match, it eventually drags both villages into a bloody match if each gets offended by what the fools of the other village are saying. Muslims who make threats against those who abuse the symbols of Islam are breaking clear commandments in the Quran against retaliation. The Quran states that Muslims should revere all prophets, including those in the Bible. Why are these same foolish Muslims silent when Jesus or the Virgin Mary gets abused in the Western media?
These terrorists are a deadly virus in the Muslim body that can spread in the rest of the world and mutate into non-Muslim versions of terrorism. No one ever expected a highly civilized Christian nation like Germany could ever spawn terrorists like the Nazis. I dread to find out how many people will abuse me for no reason because I’m simply a Muslim who is exercising his freedom of speech.
Sami Shakir
UNM alumni
