"Allahu Akbar." This prayer conjures up a beautiful memory for me; these were the first words whispered in my newborn daughter's ear moments after she was born in Manhattan. I understand that for most Manhattanites these words probably conjure up dark memories of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Like many Americans, I have been following the 24-hour news cycle on the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy with grave interest. What alarms me most is the way misinformation about Islam and Muslims, and in many cases hateful disinformation, dominates the media coverage. Earlier this week, Pamela Geller, the blogger who incited this controversy, insisted on CNN that the 9/11 terrorists were practicing "pure Islam." I wonder how many Americans actually believe her. I wish more Americans would reconsider what they think they know about Muslims and Islam, interrogating why they think they know it and who they take as an expert.
One fascinating national phenomenon in the days immediately after 9/11 was the public rush to buy copies of the Quran, with bookstores back-ordered for weeks. The misguided, olive-skinned men who murdered thousands by driving planes into buildings did so in Allah's name, and despite President Bush's early declaration that they did not represent "real" Islam, many Americans felt an urgent need to read the Quran themselves to make sure. This impulse to "read-the-Quran-myself" reflects a scripturalist, DIY attitude towards religion that many Americans have, as well as a characteristically American over-confidence in our ability to diagnose the pathologies of religious traditions about which we may know very little. Those who actually read the Quran discover that it is not full of incendiary, hateful verses as some so-called "terrorism experts" claim. Unfortunately, the call today is not to "read-it-for-yourselves," but to "burn-the-Quran-yourselves" -- at least that is what churches in Florida and California are inviting Americans to do in protest of the proposed center. Our Constitution protects Muslims' rights to build the Cordoba Institute as well as Christians' rights to burn the Quran in protest of it. (The Church organizers are having trouble getting local burn permits, though.) These Quran-burnings are meant to send a threatening message to all Muslims, including the families of the 300+ Muslim victims of 9/11. Although the protesters have not done enough homework on Islam to know that Muslims often burn old Qurans as a respectful way of disposing of them, their hateful speech act still translates. Perhaps they are taking their cues from Nazi book-burners, another instance of an economic downturn exacerbating xenophobia and the scape-goating of minorities.
I worry more about the safety and the future of my family, my community, and my country today than in the seven years I lived in Manhattan immediately after 9/11. When I made the difficult decision to leave Manhattan for Connecticut, I did so in part for my daughter. Now I worry that someone will show up at our local mosque with attack dogs, as protesters did at the mosque in nearby Bridgeport. I am heartened by President Obama's affirmation of Muslim Americans' constitutional rights to practice their religion, even as cynical pundits predict it will cost him the White House. I hope that my daughter will be able to enjoy the same Constitutional rights and freedoms in twenty-first-century America that her grandparents struggled to earn in twentieth-century America, when they came as new immigrants from Iraq and Pakistan with little more than their American dreams.
Quran-Burning Church Vows To Proceed Without Fire Permit
Church plans Quran-burning event - CNN.com
STOP THE BURNING OF THE QURAN | Facebook
Evangelicals condemn planned Quran burning | Religion | Chron.com ...
Pastor calls for Quran burning on 9/11 - Boing Boing
Evangelical Leaders Pan Qur'an Burn Plan | Christianity Today | A ...
It is this killing the infidels that we can feel the chilling terror of the religion. And the books that you read will certainly only talk about the good things about Islam. If you want to really know, read the whole Koran and another book called the Hadith to know the whole teaching, to know how Muslims are easily recruited into the terror groups.
But muslims sounded their fear to prophet Mohamed pbuh, that infidels may betray their pact and attack them, that's why those verses came down, explicitly telling them NOT to fight them or attack them because God doesn't like the oppressers UNLESS they attack first then kill them.
Of course the only part of that story that was broad casted worldwide is the verse that contain "kill them".
That was an example, but there is a more logical thing here that should be enough to address that killing infidel matter, God ordered Muslims to spread it, to let non-muslims to know about it and read about it so that they would have the choice to embrace Islam if they believed in it.
How come that God ordered us to teach Islam to non muslims while in the same time orders us to kill them ?... The answer: God didn't order us to kill nonmuslims.
Do people still believe the first punch in this battle was 9/11 and that it was Islamist that dealt the first blow?
As you've said, "so that they would have the choice to embrace Islam if they believed in it - but what if they don't? They'd be killed or pay to stay alive, or become slaves.
People are painting Islam as a bad religion, a dangerous one because a HANDFUL of the "followers" were Muslim (or claimed to be). By extension Islamic countries are bad. So then it is only fair for Muslims and the rest world to paint Christians as bigots and intolerant because of this church...and by extension the entire USA. B/c following some people's logic you must hold an entire group responsible for the actions of a few.
I don't mind your critique, just be sure you don't forget your own "religion" did much much much much worse.
Nobody on earth has this all figured out.
Ramazan Mubarak to you.
Peace/Salaams/Shalom
imho
In fact even today as people debate the so called 'Ground Zero Mosque' we find that when government gets involved in religion it creates nothing but enmity and corruption. As politicians on both sides vie for gain by courting the volatile emotions of the masses. The media pundits and demagogues make millions by stoking the flames with their hyperbolic and irresponsible rhetoric. We are treated yet again to proof of our Founding Fathers wisdom. How wise must we be to recognize it? How foolish we must be to ignore it...
It's about the blatant ignorance, stupidity, fear, bigotry and hatred that is threatening to become part of America psyche.
Book burnings and protests are only the beginning. How far will this insanity go before Americans snap out of it and grow up....?