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« Christmas Contentment | Main | Tsunami » December 28, 2004The PC War, a local Islamic community leader is offering free classes on Islam to dispel the notion that Islam is a religion of murdering terrorists. When Awadh Binhazim holds diversity training in the Nashville area, he asks his students what comes to mind when they hear the word Muslim. Many say "murderer," "terrorist" or "bad religion."It's a nice gesture, but the primary people who need to be convinced that Islam is peaceful are not Americans but far too many Muslims. Perhaps Binhazim will explain in his classes the underlying message of the words that appeared on the marquee of the Islamic Center of Nashville for several weeks earlier this year:  The sign was not inside the mosque, directed at local Muslims, it was outside the mosque, on the marque, directed at drivers passing by on the road. It was directed at Americans telling Americans to stop a war the sign's author considers "revenge" rather than a justified response to the attack on America. As I wrote back in May: The sign irks me. If they'd put up "Pray to Allah for Peace," or something along those lines, fine. But the message "Enough Killing, Enough Revenge, Stop the War" strikes me as a call for America to stop the war, a war the sign-writer at the Islamic Center of Nashville apparently believes is mere "revenge" rather than a justified response to an act of war against us.The truth about Islam is, not all Muslims are terrorists. But, then back in the 1940s neither were all Germans Nazis bent on slaughtering Jews and taking over Europe. But enough were, and too few fought to stop them. The equal truth about Islam - the hard truth - is that global terrorism these days is primarily committed by Muslims, and it is directed at Muslims and non-Muslims alike. And too few Muslims are fighting back. When the peace-loving non-terrorism-supporting Muslims in America and around the world rise up in large numbers to fight the terrorists that murder in the name of Allah - and to denounce, discredit and destroy the ideology that propels them - the non-Muslim community will no longer have a hard time distinguishing between the two. And classes like Binhazim's will no longer be necessary. I pray - to God, not Allah - for that day to come quickly. Comments
A sign I saw on the Internet which said it all to me was a picture of the ruins of the World Trade Center and under it was: "ALL I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAM, MAKE DONATIONS TO TSUNAMI VICTIMS IN SOUTH ASIA. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE VARIOUS ORGANIZATION THERE IS A PLETHORA OF INFORMATION ON INTERNATIONAL, AMERICAN, CANADIAN, INDIAN AND PHILIPPINE AID AGENCIES. Note: Some employers match your contributions to charities. So if you put 100 $ the employer would put another 100 $. This way you could double your contributions. Check with your employer and find out which charities are matched by your employer and make a donation to one of those charities. Posted by: BoshTang at December 28, 2004 11:15 AMThat's a good one, Joel. And next time some mouth-breather starts trashing Christianity due to, well, let's see, terrorism in Northern Ireland, the Inquisition, the Crusades, etc., you won't have a moral leg to stand on in response. There are over a billion Muslims in the world. If they were all terrorists, or even a small percentage were terrorists, we'd be in big trouble. Terrorists account for, perhaps, tens of thousands of Muslims. 100,000 of them would be 1/100 of 1%. By the way, Bill, a quick refresher for the slow learners. "Allah" is not the name of the Muslim deity. "Allah" is the proper name for God in Arabic. Christians who speak Arabic use the name "Allah" to refer to God, also. Proper phrasing is: I pray- to the Christian God and not the Muslim god-... The statement "I pray- to God, not God" doesn't make sense. Posted by: Michael Chaney at December 28, 2004 5:05 PMI think the readers know what I meant, Michael - I don't subscribe to the view that the Muslim god is the same being as the Judeo/Christian god. Just because Allah is a generic word for "god" doesn't mean it means the same god as when a Christian uses the word "God," any more than when I say the word "person" I always mean the same person. The God of the Bible has different attributes than the god/allah in the Koran. Can't be the same god, no matter how much the followers of Islam claim it is. Posted by: Bill at December 28, 2004 5:10 PMWhen the Nazis started, there were Christians that would not follow the them. These Christains were killed along with the Jews. Posted by: Ernie at December 28, 2004 6:00 PMYou misunderstand. I didn't say that "Muslim god = Christian God". Reread. Nor is "Allah" a generic word for a deity. I believe that "djinn" is the word in Arabic for our "god". We just happen to use the generic as the proper name, i.e. our "god" is God. Arabic speaking Christians still use the name "Allah" for God. Likewise, Aramaic speaking Christians use "Eloi", as recorded in Matthew when Jesus cried out to the Father. Surely you wouldn't argue that Jesus was praying to a different God. It shouldn't be a big surprise that people use different words in different languages. By the way, I find it quite odd how the American blogsphere is ignoring the Ukrainian and Uzbek elections. Comments?
"There are over a billion Muslims in the world. If they were all terrorists, or even a small percentage were terrorists, we'd be in big trouble." Yes, but that is not an issue - the issue is why the vast majority of those peaceful Muslims in the West refuse to condemn the terrorists. Where I currently reside, a Muslim who condemns th terrorists might pay with his life. That is certainly not the case in the 615 area code. Posted by: at December 29, 2004 5:19 AMIt was an ok post until it got to the "I pray to God, not Allah," part. As soon as you put up linguistic and cultural barriers to people of other cultures and religions, then your arguements become counter-productive. As Michael Chaney said: "It shouldn't be a big surprise that people use different words in different languages." Would any Muslim who stumbles on your site be impressed that you have drawn a fundamental distinction between your belief in "God" and his belief in "Allah"? When you dismiss the name of someone's God, do you allow any room for discussion? Are you confident in your culture? If you were, you might not be concerned about the local Imam's efforts at community outreach. My advice is to go along to the free sessions and learn a bit about Islam - you might find it edifying. (And if that advice turns your stomach - think about how a believing Muslim would feel reading your silly statement about Allah.) Posted by: at December 29, 2004 5:42 PMWhy are we waging war in Iraq? Iraq had nothing to do with 911. Plus, Iraq was a secular country. Obviously, these American Muslims are peaceful. Posted by: blogesota at January 7, 2005 12:38 AMPost a comment
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