How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim-Americans and the Arab/Muslim terrorists in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children?
The answer is simple. It is the same way you differentiate between the good and bad people of all faiths and all colors and all languages ...you get to know them. You meet your neighbors. You talk to people. You employ common sense. And you pray. We all pray. We pray that no one will steal and murder our children when they go off to the bus stop. We pray that a drunk driver won't take our teenagers lives as they drive from work or school. We hope that no one will rob the bank or mug us when we go to cash a check. We hope the pilot of our flight isn't drunk, the manufacturer of our car isn't putting profit above safety and that the food inspectors will notice the rat droppings instead of the bribe.
There are no guarantees in this life. No fool-proof way to know the good people from the bad. But common sense tells us we cannot go around being paranoid about hundreds of thousands of good people in this country because a handful of people who wore the same religious label acted badly. But this is what you are advocating when it comes to Muslims or Arabs or some combination of the two.
The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with
ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults. It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me.
I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know, whether or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your Jihads? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America ? If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.
A loyalty test? Can I begin with you? Ok...
1) Do you believe in the statement that everyone is innocent until proven guilty and do you practice this in your everyday interactions and communications?
2)Do you treasure the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and stand up to attempted incursions into those precious rights?
3)Have you spoken out for freedom from warrantless search and seizure or the right to privacy in ones person and papers?
4)Have you actively worked against and voted out politicians who threaten to subjugate these essential rights our founders sacrificed so much to give us?
5)Have you spoken out against restrictions on unpopular public gatherings, citing the right of free assembly guaranteed to every American regardless of permits or political viewpoint?
6)Do you vote in every election? And do you proceed your vote with a thorough study of everything the candidate stands for and supports?
7)Are you aware that thousands of loyal Americans including generations of my Quaker ancestors do not believe in war and do not participate combat of any kind...and yet are Americans? Actually, thanks to William Penn and company, they were some of the earliest.
Flag flying is easy. Standing up for rights is tough. Shame on us for choosing the easy way out.
And a definition -- you used the term Jihad . Jihad means struggle, as in the struggle to submit to the will of the Almighty. It can mean a defense action to protect one's own country or people, but that is considered a lesser meaning in the Qu'ran. It does not mean "attacking for a holy war" -- that usage is a creation of the media.
Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and
as a religion to protect the United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent.
No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested in any more sympathy. I am only interested in action. What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of crisis, at this time of war?
The week after September 11th, a number of Muslim groups took out full page ads in the New York Times denouncing the events. No one paid attention. Since then, a number of Muslim groups large and small have held events across the US promoting peace, encouraging understanding and trying to build bridges instead of walls. Many of these groups have met on a regular basis for years. The media is not interested, Peace-making in a community is not news. It does not build ratings or circulation. As a minister here in Florida said at a recent gathering of this sort, "No one wants to write about a Priest, a Rabbi and a Iman sitting down to talk -- it sounds too much like the punch line in a joke. But if we called and said one of us slugged the other, that would be front page." Sadly he is right.
Give the peace-makers a forum and you will hear. But in the meantime, go out and find them. If you need help, please feel free to contact me. I will be more than happy to point you to peace-promoting groups across the US. Lend your voice to the cause. We will be glad to have you.
I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America " I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.
I don't believe in flag waving. It is far too often a cover for people who use that symbol to justify bigotry, prejudice and ignorance.
What I do see are young Muslims on the streets of Miami feeding the homeless and offering clothes and comfort, No media coverage, No fanfare. No flag-waving. They are doing it for Allah, not for the cameras. Not for you. For the hungry and lonely people on the street. Interestingly, unlike so many Christian groups who use charity work as a chance to proselytize, these people offer no religious material, never talk of religion unless asked and then only in general terms. And at the local children's shelter for abused kids, it's a group of Muslims who show up every other week to put on a show for the kids and give out hugs and a few hours of games and treasure hunts...again, they have no need to prove to you or a television crew what they do. They do it because it is the right thing to do
The FBI has a list of over 400 people they! want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. many of these people live and socialize right now in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.
Some of our most treasured rights in this country have been the right to :
1) Face our accusers
2) Be charged with a crime soon after arrest--or be released if no charges are made
3) Have a speedy trial on the charges as named
4) Be represented by counsel at trial to defend against the evidence against us
5) Have a jury of our peers
6) If found guilty, receive sentence which has been determined to fit the crime
7) Have the right to appeal
8) Be imprisoned in humane and regulated conditions, free from torture
As an American, I value these rights. They have been the one thing that differentiated us from so many other places. But now you accuse people of being somehow un-American for demanding that they receive these most basic of protections? Surely if you or your family was facing indefinite incarceration without a charge, legal counsel, a chance to see the evidence or know from whom it came, any promise of a trial or even the most basic protection from torture, I am absolutely certain you would do three things:
1) Scream bloody murder to the press and anyone one else who would listen
2) Try to protect them from being taken into such a situation
3) Use every legal means necessary to protect yourself or your loved one, and to stop this atrocity from occurring at all.
So why do you pretend to not understand why Muslims in this country are doing exactly as you would? What kind of American would defend that threat to the sanctity of our very legal system? Shame on you, sir. Shame on you!
If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up.
If you were sincere in wanting to know what the Qu'ran says, you would have walked into your nearest Barnes and Nobel or Borders and bought a copy and read it. Or stopped by your neighborhood mosque and asked for a copy. It would have been offered gladly and without charge. But since you asked, here is a sampling:
2:62
Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good, they have their reward with their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.
2:208
O you who believe, enter into complete peace and follow not the footsteps of the devil. Surely he is your open enemy.
2:224
And make not Allah by your oaths a hindrance to your doing good and keeping your duty and making peace between men. And Allah is Hearing, Knowing.
59:23
He is Allah, besides Whom there is no God; the King, the Holy, the Author of Peace, the Granter of Security, Guardian over all, the Mighty, the Supreme, the Possessor of greatness. Glory be to Allah from that which they set up (with Him)!
What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good, and pure, and true, when your "leaders" are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?
Again, sir, I have to ask from where you get your information. Yes there are some bad people in Islamic leadership positions. And there are some bad people in Christian leadership positions and in Jewish leadership positions and Hindu and Buddhist and all sorts of sectarian groups.
But when you condemn the Islamic leaders alone, I have to ask you: Have you sat in a mosque and listened to what the leaders teach? Or have you formed your opinion entirely from the mouths and scripts of television news programs? I am asking in all sincerity, because I want you to ask yourself. I want you to ask yourself if a pilot could have relied on the same level on information to learn to fly as you are relying upon to judge and condemn millions of human beings? If not, shame on you. You know better.
It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if huge numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.
Consider these quotes from the Christian bible (Matthew):
5:21-22 - "You have heard that it was said to the people in the old days, 'You shall not murder', and anyone who does must stand his trial. But I say to you that anyone who is angry with his brother must stand his trial; anyone who contemptuously calls his brother a fool must face the supreme court; and anyone who looks on his brother as a lost soul is himself heading straight for the fire of destruction.
5:43-45 - "You have heard that it used to be said, 'You shall love your neighbour', and 'hate your enemy', but I tell you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Heavenly Father. For he makes the sun rise upon evil men as well as good, and he sends his rain upon honest and dishonest men alike.
5:46-48 - For if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax-collectors do that! And if you exchange greetings only with your own circle, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do that much. No, you are to be perfect, like your Heavenly Father.
How many Christians do you know who live this? Your own letter stands in direct conflict to these commandments from the reported words of Jesus in the Book of Matthew. Certainly killing over 100,000 Iraqis, largely women, children and non-combatant men violates every letter of those direct commandments! As do the deaths in every other war and attack in which Christians have participated.
So should I now follow your lead and say it matters not" how good [Christianity] SHOULD be if huge numbers of the world's [Christians] interpret the teachings of [Jesus] incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion?" Or should we just say that all faiths have their strengths and weaknesses, and as humans we often get it wrong?
A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth.
You admitted you have not read the Qu'ran. Your comments suggest you do not know any Muslims personally, nor have you sought out Muslim leaders of which to ask questions. And yet you purport to know exactly what Islam stands for, from the foundation from which it arose to the specifics of its current teachings and practices. Try this basic quiz on Belief Net to see where you are with understanding.
I think you will learn that you know very little.
A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.
I assume here you are referring to the Hijab, the head covering some devout Muslim women wear? How strange that you would consider a display of extreme modesty "twisted" while the concept of strangers seeing essentially all of another stranger's body at the beach, at the mall, or indeed even at the airport is considered "normal." And while there is dispute among Islamic scholars about whether the Hijab is required or is a cultural carry-over from an earlier time, to call it "twisted" and to suggest that this expression of sincere modesty was somehow designed to thwart airport security check-points is ludicrous! I am afraid that that this point, dear sir, your guise of "seeking understanding" has fallen away and your underlying hatred has shown its own twisted and ugly face.
We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take way that which is so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.
Do you speak out to protect those rights? Have you worked to protect us from searches without warrant, detention without trial, or wiretaps without specific cause?
I want to know where every Arab Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American.
But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand. Until then . "YOU WORRY ME!"
And you worry me. You speak without knowledge, draw conclusions without asking questions, spread hatred without understanding or even talking to those you accuse, support the violation of basic Constitutional rights, demand that citizens surrender their freedoms to you. Sounds awfully un-American to me.
IN THE MEANTIME it's time to put the reliability your sources to the test. You claimed to be a pilot. So if that fact alone is true, here is a challenge you'll appreciate:
IF YOUR SOURCES ABOUT ISLAM are, as I suspect, the television and print media and the talk at the local diner, hand over the keys to the nearest jet. I am ready to fly. I've seen dozens of news stories on jet flight, several documentaries on it even, heard some pilots talking and heck, I've even peeked into the cockpit a time or two as I walked past. That's all I need. Flying can't be any more complex than the beliefs and behaviours of millions of people from dozens of countries over centuries of time! So my cursory media and rumor based knowledge should be more than enough. So Mr. Pilot, sit down, buckle up, and get ready to fly, because I am ready to go!
And as for my background, because I know that will matter to you, I am Jewish woman from a family that includes a wide variety of religions. I have a doctorate in Political Science with a specialty in comparative politics and political theory.
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