Where are the moderate Muslims? And why aren't they condemning the terrorist attacks in London and the Middle East? Is their silence a sign of tacit or even overt support for the killings? Or is it that they're afraid of retaliation? In short, why aren't Muslims speaking out against terrorism? Since 9/11, this question in one form or another has been raised by non-Muslims on talk radio, where the verbal attacks against Islam and Muslims borders on terrorizing, and in letters to the editor and in water cooler conversations. The better question might be: Why aren't you hearing us? To be fair, most of us are doing the same things you all are doing this summer: going to school or work, attending weddings, shuttling kids to summer camps, and trying to get ahead on our never-ending task lists. We're living our lives, pursuing the American Dream. What are we supposed to do? Drop everything and walk out to the nearest street corner with a bullhorn and shout: "I am a Muslim and I love America and the West and I abhor and condemn the latest suicide bombing in XYZ country that killed X number of people"? The fact is that many prominent American Muslim groups have clearly and publicly denounced acts of terror in the name of Islam as barbaric, heinous and just plain wrong. Though they religiously send out press releases and e-mail statements after every attack, somehow their message doesn't seem to penetrate. On July 7, as the news broke about the horrific bus and subway bombings in London that killed 56 people, American Muslim groups scrambled to issue statements condemning the attacks and expressing sympathy for the victims' families. Some, including the Muslim Public Affairs Council based in California and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington, D.C., continue to post their statements on their websites. After the second round of attacks in London subways two weeks later, a coalition of Muslim student organizations at universities in the United States and Canada got together to openly condemn all terrorism as "crimes against humanity" irrespective of the motivation or the perpetrator. In Minnesota, a Muslim speakers bureau has spent four years delivering fact-based presentations about Islam and Muslims to churches, schools, civic groups and law enforcement agencies at their requests. As part of these presentations, speakers from the bureau, known as Islamic Resource Group (IRG), regularly condemn terrorist attacks as fundamentally un-Islamic. They cite passages from the Qur'an which state that killing one person is the same as killing all of humanity. It doesn't get much clearer than that. Last fall, CAIR launched a national petition drive as part of a campaign by Muslims called "Not in the Name of Islam." To date, nearly 700,000 Muslims have signed the petition condemning terrorism committed in the name of Islam, and many newspapers have covered the petition drive. As part of the same campaign, CAIR also created and paid for public service announcements set to air on television stations nationwide. If that doesn't grab people's attention, I'm not sure what will. If all that wasn't enough, last Thursday the Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, against terrorism and extremism. Endorsed by more than 100 U.S. Muslim authorities, the fatwa boldly and unequivocally forbids terrorism and admonishes those who commit terrorist attacks. "Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives," it states. "There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram -- or forbidden -- and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not 'martyrs.'" The lengthy fatwa continues with references to the Qur'an that support the ruling. It may not be enough to dissuade a minority of extremists hellbent on destruction, but it is the right thing to do. In the meantime, we will continue to react with the same shock and dismay and, yes, anger, at the misguided people who continue to show no regard for human life. And we'll continue to speak out against terrorism in the hopes that someone is listening. Allie Shah is at ashah@startribune.com. |