Onus of the Peace-Loving Muslim

A Pilgrim at Mecca

by blogSpotter
When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, the citizens of the US were horrified. McVeigh was reportedly angry over Janet Reno's handling of Waco's Branch Davidians in 1993. While many thought that Reno's actions were heavy-handed, Americans across the board thought that McVeigh should get the death penalty or life in prison. He wasn't embraced as a hero; his blond hair, blue eyes and Christian roots did not insulate him from any form of punishment. He was strapped to a gurney and sent to the next world with sodium pentothal just a few short years after his horrific deed.

Now, in Muslim countries, we have ambiguity in situations where there should be none. In Saudi Arabia's Wahabi-dominated region (origin of most 9/11 terrorists), not one madrasas school has been shut down, nor even much coerced to change curriculum ranting against 'infidels'. When some of the worst terrorist atrocities happened in recent years, the spokesmen of the Arabic world, scattered and coy, came out meekly to 'condemn' these actions. You can damn a man with faint praise -- did you know you can also praise a man with faint condemnation? In almost a winking concession that terrorism is wrong, the message appears more to be: "Don't get caught, don't make the infidels so angry that they invade our land". The gape-mouthed incredulity and moral outrage that should follow these actions is entirely missing.

This is a message to non-violent, non-terrorist Muslims. Pay particular attention if you physically look Middle Eastern and have an Arabic name. You are your brother's keeper. What your brother across the street does is a direct reflection on you. Every fiber of your being should be used to constrain Islamic zealots under your influence. The message you project should be that terrorism will not be tolerated. Many Muslims are equally terrified of their extremist brethren and of Americans. Rather than embrace a message of well-reasoned ideas, they calculate who will do less damage to a local market with bombs. This is a terrible way to navigate life -- almost a form of imprisonment without walls.

If the situation is never taken into hand better than it is now, it will necessarily devolve to one where Arabic people are universally distrusted – either as terrorists or as people who implicitly approve of terrorism. Many non-violent Muslims are essentially bullied and coerced by the violent Muslim Jihadists. Until they stand up to this most immediate form of intimidation, they will (as Shakespeare said of cowards) die a thousand deaths.

© 2006 blogSpotter.