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Muslims Do Speak Out Against Terror
By Imam Mohammad Shamsi Ali and Rabbi Marc Schneier
As New York City breathes a sigh of relief after the police and the FBI thwarted a plot by Muslims to bomb synagogues in the Bronx, Muslims and Jews are standing together-- again.
What may surprise many people is the word "again," for Muslim leaders are not suddenly coming forward to speak out against anti-Semitic attacks; on the contrary, they are often the first ones to speak out.
Why is there a misconception that imams and Islamic organizations stay quiet when they see such an injustice? If we could shatter any hurtful misunderstanding that swirls around the Muslim and Jewish communities, it would be the myth that Muslim leaders do not rise up to condemn attacks on Jews. They do, and they do so loudly and clearly.
On Thursday Jews and Muslims stood together at New York's "Great Mosque" on 96th St. and called for cooperation and unity in opposing extremists. We urged Muslims and Jews to work together and regard the premeditated assault on the Riverdale Temple and Riverdale Jewish Center for what it was: a terrible offense to all Muslims and Jews, to our city, our country, and our society.
We are proud of the quick response by Muslim leaders at the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Public Affairs Council to condemn the planned attack, noting that the Qur'an commands Muslims to respect and protect all places of worship including mosques, churches, and synagogues, as well as the worshippers. But how many times must Muslim leaders say that any form of terrorism goes against Islam for it to believed? How many times do Muslim leaders need to demonstrate solidarity with Jewish Americans and speak out against any attack motivated by anti-Semitism?
Unfortunately we are not surprised that this kind of attack was attempted here in this country. In Europe the recent phenomenon of Muslim anti-Semitism is already widespread. To have something so terrible almost come to be in our own city makes us cringe. The need for Jewish-Muslim dialogue has never been greater. If we were crying out for more support before, now we are screaming.
We praise the efforts of the New York Police Department as they worked alongside the FBI, who conducted a year-long investigation, and helped bring a peaceful conclusion to this potential horror. But just as law enforcement officials endeavor to stop something illegal before it happens, so too should religious communities work to stop extremism from
growing in the first place.
Sometimes we forget, in the midst of our panic over whatever the latest crisis may be, that we have a measured amount of control over certain things. Islamic leaders should help prevent the toxic spreading of anti-Semitism among the Muslim masses. More leaders must follow in the footsteps of the courageous Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, president of the Fiqh Council of North America, the highest body of Islamic jurisprudence in North America, who has unequivocally denounced anti-Semitism as against the teachings of Islam. In the same spirit, more Jewish leaders must speak out against Islamophobia, making clear that it is wrong to demonize an entire religion because of the hateful actions of a relative few.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel because we already have. Muslims and Jews stand together as brothers and as friends and as bonded communities committed to helping each other. The more people listen to what we are saying and have been saying, the more likely we are to drive out the dissenting voices of hate.
Imam Muhammad Shamsi Ali is the spiritual leader of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. Rabbi Marc Schneier is the founding rabbi of The New York Synagogue and president of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.
By Mohammad Shamsi Ali and Marc Schneier |
May 26, 2009; 10:03 AM ET
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Posted by: walter-in-fallschurch | June 3, 2009 8:43 AM
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But WHY it is only connected to muslims? Is not there any Pre-Understanding in such post?
One should condemn all sort of voilence, hindu terror, lanka terror, economical etc. around the world.
raheb
Posted by: raheb | May 28, 2009 4:30 PM
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ABHAB learned to hate from his...?
Posted by: zebra4 | May 27, 2009 9:09 PM
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CCNL!: Should we also build a wall around the Vatican to save our children from child molestation?
Posted by: Garak | May 27, 2009 8:57 AM
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daliamahmoud, and others,
it's all good and well for muslims in america to condemn their militant brethren. it's the muslim "moderates" overseas - where the real muslim-created problems are - who have to speak up. i know that's a more dangerous proposition in islamic theocracies where moderate voices are silenced with machetes and machine guns.
Posted by: walter-in-fallschurch | May 27, 2009 8:55 AM
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Ali assures us thus:
"Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, president of the Fiqh Council of North America, the highest body of Islamic jurisprudence in North America, who has unequivocally denounced anti-Semitism as against the teachings of Islam."
How could that be against the teaching of Islam when devout Muslims recite the Fatiha (Opening) Chapter of the Quran 17 times a day and whose last two verses are shown below:.
6. Show us the straight way,
7. The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace,
those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.
The theologians of Islam have been throughout Muslim history interpreting “Those thou hast bestowed Thy grace” as, off course, the MUSLIMS, while those “whose portion is wrath” are the JEWS while those “who went astray” as the NASARA (Christians)?
Posted by: abhab | May 26, 2009 12:59 PM
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Thanks to the Washington Post for printing such an important piece - as a Muslim Woman living in NYC - i am tired of hearing the question "where are the Muslim voices that condemn violence" = we have been here all along ...it is just sad that we don't get the Microphone - but the extremists are always given the airtime. It is time to shift the microphone over! Dalia Mahmoud
Posted by: daliamahmoud | May 26, 2009 12:23 PM
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Misters Ali and Schneier noted:
"We are proud of the quick response by Muslim leaders at the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Public Affairs Council to condemn the planned attack....................."
References please, somehow we missed the news' release. And did said references condemn the koranic passages that dictate that allow such violent behaviour??? And did said news' releases condemn the 24/7 Sunni/Shiite blood bath in Iraq and around the globe??
From: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/03/iraq.cleric.ap/index.html
"Al-Sistani was apparently referring to Abdullah bin Jabrain, a key member of Saudi Arabia's clerical establishment, who last month joined a chorus of other senior figures from the hardline Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam that regards Shiites as infidels.
Bin Jabrain described Shiites as "the most vicious enemy of Muslims."
(Looks we should build a wall around the entire Middle East until these backward, immature, and irrational clerics can have at it with each other. )
Posted by: ccnl1 | May 26, 2009 11:35 AM
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raheb,
it's just that it's SO EASY with islam: there are so many bad things done in the name of islam.