Christopher Hitchens thinks he is being very brave in attacking Islam. So do a lot of other Americans on the right and the on the left. They call the prophet Muhammad a terrorist, the Koran a gospel of violence, and Islam a religion for losers and murderers. Since there is an understandable fear and hostility toward Islamic terrorism in the wake of 9/11, Muslim-bashing has found a big constituency and has now become a very profitable career. Where is the bravery today in denouncing Islam?
Contrast the Islam-bashers on the American lecture circuit with the traditional Muslims who have the courage to take on the Islamic radicals in the Muslim world. The Muslim reformers are doing the really needed work, which is not to get rid of Islam (a ridiculous and impossible project) but to promote traditional Islam over radical Islam. Muslims who are confronting radical Islam in Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are the really intrepid people. Do this and your life can be at stake. No wonder that Hirsi Ali attacks Islam from the safe precincts of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C. Is Irshad Manji all that brave for letting the Muslims have it on her radio show in Canada? "Yes," these valiant souls will no doubt say, "but I've gotten hate mail and even death threats." Welcome to the club, ladies. I'm more impressed with the ordinary Iraqis who face snipers, car bombs, and suicide attackers on a daily basis.
Yes, there are wimps on the American college campus and in various European quarters who kowtow to radical Muslim demands. But these invertebrates cannot say no to anyone, not just Muslims. They are captive to a politically correct, multicultural ideology. The same people who allow black radicals to take over the college library and call for "death to the white man" are the same ones who view calls to Islamic jihad as just another expression of "diversity." The remedy here is not "courage" but rather a recognition that the institutions of freedom need to be defended against political assault.
Hitchens is a witty and erudite columnist. But Islam-bashing in the online magazine Slate or in Vanity Fair? No courage is required there.
Reader Comments ( Page 6 of 9)
76.
OomYaaqub, I was referring to the slaves the time of the Prophet Muhammad in Saudi Arabia. If Islaam encouraged slavery and cruelty towards slaves, why would have any slave of the time of the Prophet Muhammad converted to Islaam, even though they were tortured by their masters for doing so? I apologize for the confusion.
Tanya0803, thank you for mentioning the cultural aspect. It is very important to differentiate between the teachings of a belief systerm and the cultural additions. Some people believe that female suppression, violence, hate crimes are part of the teachings of Islaam, but this is false because they are part of the culture that people still retain. As OomYaaqub pointed out, that is human nature.
Ma salaama (with peace),
Mahen
MahenKhan@aol.com
Mahen at 5:25PM on Aug 1st 2007
77. it hurts to hear how others view muslims. i was born in america and proud of being an american.I'm a muslim but grew up in jewish community and i'm currently studing both judaism and christianity and both are unique in their own way. I respect all religion and i never knew anyone who hated islam but after reading some of the comments i now know. We cant judge the whole islamic community based upon some muslim people. The Quran does not teach us war but peace i know i've read many times. In the Quran we are taught to respect other religions and also we dont just believe in mohammed(pbuh)but we(muslims) alos believe in christ and all the other prophets. We believe in similar things. I personnally believe every individual has the right to practice their religion without constantly being criticed. 9/11 was a difficult time for everyone even for muslims and many innocent people died and the person behind 9/11 probably isn't a muslim because a muslim is not to hurt others and thats in the Quran it does not state anyone who is not a muslim is to be killed so get your facts straight. Religions are beliefs which should be respected and no religion is better than another that can only be a personal statement. All religions need to work together and not point fingers when things go wrong.
Mary at 5:44PM on Aug 1st 2007
78. OomYaaqub,
I would like to ask you, how could anyone, whether literate or illiterate, have known the speed of light, or anyting about length contraction or time dilation (which Albert Einstein later confirmed), or that the light from the moon is the reflected light of the sun, about the creation of the lightbulb, about matter and antimatter, about dark energy, about redshifting, about the expansion of the universe, about the geoid shape of the Earth? I do not think most of this was even known by the scientists and astronomers of the time. Clearly, Prophet Muhammad could not have written the Qur'aan himself.
I, again, do not wish to present Islaam as better than any other belief system, nor that any other belief system is inferior to Islaam.
Ma salaama (with peace),
Mahen
MahenKhan@aol.com
Mahen at 5:52PM on Aug 1st 2007
79. To all the writers- You are all very appalling and sick in the mind and hearts and are full of the thrash well exhibited by your hateful and spiteful writings, much worse than issue in discussion, which reflects you all are no more good or better, rather much worse in need of treatment from your sickness towards others people’s beliefs.
It will be rather do good to put one's house in order before criticizing other’s faith and beliefs, rather than barking like dogs.
Get a life here and in the hereafter and leave Islam and Muslims to themselves and God willingly dump the likes of Rushdies’ and Hitchens’ in the Trash/Garbage Bins - that's where they all belong!!!
Farooq Khan
New Jersey
Mr. Farooq Khan at 6:32PM on Aug 1st 2007
80. Actually Christians are responsible for more Muslim deaths than Muslims are responsible for Christian deaths. That is a statistical fact which will probably be ignored by Jones and Stephanie, with their complete knowledge of history. (i.e. Morocco and Palestine are the same thing). But it's not because Christianity or Islam are any more or less evil than one another but that they both have had bad people among them. The KKK did use religion to terrorize people accortding to a warped interpretation of the bible. Islam also contributed algebra to the Western world which is probably why you trools hate them. But if you should hate anyone for you failing grade it should be your teachers who obviously failed you in many other respects.
Kamran at 6:35PM on Aug 1st 2007
81. The problem is the demographic threat. Nearly all European countries will be Muslim majority by birth by 2050 and then Islamic sharia law amputations , stonings , polygamy will be released.Read the following verses in the quran
4.34 women are inferior , flog them if they speak up
8.39 wage war till islam rules the planet
9.5 kill the unbelievers
5.52 never trust a Jew or make friends with a Xtian
arun at 8:47PM on Aug 1st 2007
82. If what the Jihadis are doing is not Islam , then why are they not ex communicated from Islam and forbidden to enter any mosque or go to Mecca?
The Muslims did this to the Ahemdis , so they can do it if they want. But they wont because they want to follow the Quran and rule the world and make us all slaves.
arun at 8:55PM on Aug 1st 2007
83. Richter,
Why does it have to be a 'prominent' leftist?
And why only talk about bashing Islam?
There are plenty of leftists who have shown plenty of bigotry; If not against Islam then against others.
How about, Jimmy Carter, and Louis Farrakhan and Leonard Jeffries who have all bashed Jews and Judaism?
There is so much hatred and bigotry on the part of the left wing, that I could spend hours giving examples, like the dozen or so nazis I encountered on a message board who espoused everything liberal, and calling Bush a fascist while at the same time praising Hitler (and in one case, his grandfather who fought for the SS during WW2 and who enjoyed raping Jewish women) and how they want to do it all again, and not one liberal on that board, not a single one (out of many many dozens, as it was an extremely popular and active board till AOL stopped linking to those boards in general)ever criticized them or called such posters, the same kinds of vile names, they love to call Bush and conservatives.
Bruce at 10:55PM on Aug 1st 2007
84. so...to all the haters. Bashers of islam.
I just wanna say. Why?
Do you guys have nothing in life to strive for?
Especially Stephanie...don't you have a job or something?
Why do you sit here and do all this false research on Islam?
Gaby, I have many Christian Arab friends. They get along with Muslims just fine. You know why? Because they are not ignorant, they have goals, they want good in life and they want good for other people.
I am nobody to judge anyone.
So i won't call anybody a fool, or stupid or anything.
God will judge me and everyone else.
I am a Muslim, i want WORLD PEACE.
I want to stop violence.
So how can you call me a murderer?
How can you call Muhammad, Jesus, Abraham, Moses murderers?
Because by saying even ONE Prophet is a murderer, u call all of them murderers simply because all prophets taught islam.
That's right. All prophets taught Islam.
Guys. All i wanna say is...stop the hate. You all have become what you hate most...hate. Your fear of something that's not even there has turned your hearts cowardly and full of hate. Only the WEAK are made to hate. The strong survive. The strong practice peace. Those who hate were not ready to be human, were not ready to handle the responsibility of keeping one's evil emotions at bay, and practicing what matters...peace.
Peace...
Peace...
think about it...
Thank you to those that show cool heads, maturity, and those that show love, and not hate. You are the people that will...WILL make the world a better place.
Sincerely,
Shazad
Shazad at 12:27AM on Aug 2nd 2007
85. Aminy was sounding very diplomatic in his post and had my attention until the excuses rolled in.
It is not directly the UK or Americas fault for 9-11 or the London incident. Perhaps indirectly we could have not been so trusting. Is this the thanks we get for trusting the Muslim faith? There is no way to sugar coat world incidents, Aminy. This isn't a test or a drill or a hoax for that matter. It was and still is the real deal. The idea was to scare the crap out of people and well for me it worked 100%. Might I remind you that Extreme Muslims will stand up and cheer and take full credit for loving every minute of those deaths.
In the defense of American-Muslims, I would have to say that anyone I have talked to it freaks them out too and they find what happened to be scary. While we have Muslims immigrating to this country like wolves in sheeps clothing, we also have ones that came for a better life to escape dying and are probably as upset as we are.
The real issue is that Muslims don't want to believe that their brothers and sisters could commit such terrible acts. I know if someone in my family did horrible things that I would be ashamed in one breath but protect them in the next.
Mankind is corrupt. It is just a matter of what race happens to be in power at the time.
E at 6:14PM on Aug 2nd 2007
86. John(68); "...but make sure you have enough room in your jail for Christians,Jews,and any other believer of religious dogma. There all one and the same.
Thank you for speaking of my mind.
All religions are CANCERS!
jax at 5:10AM on Aug 2nd 2007
87. remember salmon rushdie? the satanic verses haunt him to this day. he and his family are forced to live in anonymnity,in mufti for their collective safety. the rads are still gunning for him/them after all these years! i'm sure they will not hesitate adding hutchins to their skull and crossbones list. or you, dinesh.
read turkish author ORFAN PAMUT's definitive"Snow." it explains the schism of the muslim mind conflicted between rejecting and accepting contemporary secular(non-islamic) society. to better understand the dynamics of the radical fundamental Islamics in power in Algeria,read Tahar Djaout's "The Last Summer of Reason." Tahar was murdered for his writing considered by radical fundamentalists to defile Islam. Naguib Mafouz, the Nobel prize winner for literature(the Palace Walk trilogy),is egyptian, a great intellect. his literary depictions of recondite aspects of muslim culture was considered an invasion of religious and cultural privacy. this literary defamation subsequently forced Mafouz into hiding.
You seem to believe that there is the beginning of a moderate "backlash". ask why the scholars(moderators) of Islam are NOT speaking out? These revered erudite imams are not so revered anymore the radicalized elements of islam with their rabid interpretations of the suras/koran currently hold sway with the majority, moderates included. why? because the radicalized version emphasizes the power of Allah in spreading the glory of Islam. their sacrosanct objective: unquestioned devotion to convert the world via armed conflict. How can a scholar or a simple moderate intellectually or politically confront that ideology, that passion, without undermining Allah himself?! They prefer to remain quiet.
dinesh,the most formidable aspect of the radical fundamental determinants is that it is much more than an iconic devotion to jihad-it is a MINDSET, a redoubtable one, too, impervious to the meager, mild attempts any moderate dares take. moderates will remain a reclusive breed. the jihadists will teach them that it is not in their best interest to speak out.they are and will remain powerless.
boredwell at 7:07AM on Aug 2nd 2007
88. Thank You, timber. Of course you can expect all of the "You're hateful" idiotic comments from Muslims like Lailah and Shabazz or whatever her name is. It's predictable. Yet, I have never beheaded anyone, or suicide-bombed anyone, or cut anyone's throat, or stoned anyone, or honor killed anyone, or incinerated anyone by fying a plane into a building, You know - all of the various ways in which Mohammedans enjoy murdering others.
These are all things Muslims, esp. male Muslims, do, have done, and are doing to S Korean missionaries right now. The evil Taliban is executing them.
So, to those who get on my case, you are as stupid as the day is long. Great that you live in some hostility-free fantasy land - why don't you stay there while we in reality try to stop the Murdering Muslims?
Thanks again, timber, and other intelligent supporters!
Stephanie at 8:57AM on Aug 2nd 2007
89. I enjoyed reading your informed and enlightened comment again, Jones. And, Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch? Great sites. If only dhimmi d'Souza could be as perspicacious as Robert Spencer.
Uh huh, Mohammed "used" Allah all the time to get what he wanted. "Oh, Allah told me thus and such, so gimme your house and possessions and females or Allah told me to behead you!" LOL, what sad sack sheeple the Mohammedans are to believe a psychopath murderer Warlord, and to this day. (Shakes head).
How many more S Korean Christians do you think the Taliban Mohammedans will mercilessly execute, Jones? Because as I'm sure you know, "Allah" has NO MERCY.
Stephanie at 9:39AM on Aug 2nd 2007
90. >>>which is not to get rid of Islam (a ridiculous and impossible project) but to promote
Richard at 10:59AM on Aug 2nd 2007