By claiming that Islam "stands accused because of the actions of a few ignorant people," Faisal Ahmad attempts to minimize the worldwide danger posed by Islamic extremists (letter to the editor, July 13.)
Mr. Ahmad mentions that Thomas Jefferson believed we have "unalienable rights" and infers that Jefferson's ownership of a Quran was "indicative of a man of great foresight and understanding."
Jefferson's practical interaction with Islam occurred when he and John Adams called on Tripoli's ambassador to London, Sidi Haji Abrahaman, in 1786 to demand that the Barbary pirates stop extorting the U.S. Jefferson reported to Congress:
"The ambassador answered us that (the right to plunder) was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise."
When Jefferson became president in 1801, Tripoli demanded more tribute, ultimately leading Jefferson to wage war on the Muslin states of North Africa. Mr. Ahmad penned nice words when he adjures us to "live by the ideals in our Constitution, and keep our doors open toward Islam," but fails to suggest how to protect ourselves from extremists.
Jefferson not only penned nice words, he ensured Americans' life and liberty by struggling against those who threatened us -- even though, as Mr. Ahmad claims, Jefferson "realized that the God of Jews, Christians and Muslins is one and the same."
STUART GANG
Slingerlands
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Jefferson sets a better example than Friedman on the subject of Islam
It came as no great surprise to see Thomas Friedman's column published on July 4, Independence Day, titled "Death cult takes root in Muslim religion," in which he likens Islam to a "cancerous tumor." He has a long history of using his influential position as a syndicated columnist to assail Islam and Muslims.
But what struck me was the irony of seeing it published just a few lines below the following words of another influential American: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
When Thomas Jefferson penned these noteworthy words in the Declaration of Independence, few would have even heard of the Quran that he kept in his personal library. But its presence was indicative of a man of great foresight and understanding, someone who realized that the God of Jews, Christians and Muslims is one and the same.
Muslims, like Christians and Jews, believe in the one God of Abraham; in an afterlife where the righteous will be forever happy, evil will be requited and justice will prevail; and in kindness and charity to humanity and the earth we all share. Those who seek to harm others betray their faith in these ideals. Had they truly believed in the afterlife, they wouldn't seek to avenge the wrongs of others.
July 4 for many symbolizes the greatness of America, its Constitution, and the great struggles that brought America into existence. As a Muslim, I grew up proud to be a citizen of an America built on diversity and religious freedom. But today I see my religion stand accused because of the actions of a few ignorant people. What about the Serbian ethnic cleansing, or the actions of the Ku Klux Klan or neo-Nazis; is Christianity to blame?
America is at a crossroads. We can choose to live by the ideals in our Constitution, and keep our doors open toward Islam and learn more about it, and cooperate in building a better world. Or we can give in to the voices of ignorance, and refuse to acknowledge others and their mutual rights duly endowed by God.
I adjure you to keep an open mind toward Islam, and perhaps visit your local mosque, meet Muslims, and find out the truth about our faith.
Faisal Ahmad, Albany
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At a Theater Near You ...
by Thomas L. Friedman
Reposted from the NYTimes
I knew something was up when I couldn't get a cab. Then there were sirens and helicopters whirring overhead. I stopped a passerby to ask what was going on. He said something about a car bomb outside a disco six blocks from my hotel. A few hours later, I finally found a taxi. The driver warned me that it was nearly impossible to get across town. Another bomb had been uncovered in a car park. Next day, more news: a suicide bomber had driven his Jeep into an airport and jumped out, his body on fire, screaming "Allah! Allah!"
Where was I? Baghdad? Kabul? Tel Aviv? No, I was in England. But it could have been anywhere. The Middle East: Now playing at a theater near you.
But this movie gets more confusing every time you watch it. When you watched it on 9/11 it was about America's presence in the heart of Arabia. And when you watched it on 7/7 it was about unemployed and alienated Muslim youth in Britain. In Jordan not long ago it was about a wedding at a Western hotel. In Morocco recently it was about an Internet cafe. And two days ago in Yemen it was about seven Spanish tourists who were killed when a suicide bomber drove into them at a local tourist site. Wasn't Spain the country that quit Iraq to get its people out of the line of fire?
Because these incidents are scattered, we're growing numb to just how crazy they are. In the past few years, hundreds of Muslims have committed suicide amid innocent civilians — without making any concrete political demands and without generating any vigorous, sustained condemnation in the Muslim world.
Two trends are at work here: humiliation and atomization. Islam's self-identity is that it is the most perfect and complete expression of God's monotheistic message, and the Koran is God's last and most perfect word. To put it another way, young Muslims are raised on the view that Islam is God 3.0. Christianity is God 2.0. Judaism is God 1.0. And Hinduism and all others are God 0.0.
One of the factors driving Muslim males, particularly educated ones, into these acts of extreme, expressive violence is that while they were taught that they have the most perfect and complete operating system, every day they're confronted with the reality that people living by God 2.0., God 1.0 and God 0.0 are generally living much more prosperously, powerfully and democratically than those living under Islam. This creates a real dissonance and humiliation. How could this be? Who did this to us? The Crusaders! The Jews! The West! It can never be something that they failed to learn, adapt to or build. This humiliation produces a lashing out.
In the old days, you needed a terror infrastructure with bases in Beirut or Afghanistan to lash out in a big way. Not anymore. Now all you need is the virtual Afghanistan — the Internet and a few cellphones — to recruit, indoctrinate, plan and execute. Hence, the atomization — little terror groups sprouting everywhere. Everyone now has a starter kit.
Gen. Michael Hayden, the C.I.A. director, recently noted in a speech that during the cold war "the enemy was easy to find, but hard to finish," because the Soviet Union was so big and powerful. "Intelligence was important" back then, he added, "but it was overshadowed by the need for sheer firepower."
In today's war against terrorist groups, said General Hayden, "it's just the opposite. Our enemy is easy to finish, but hard to find. Today, we are looking for individuals or small groups planning suicide bombings, running violent Jihadist Web sites, sending foreign fighters into Iraq."
I'd go one step further. The Soviet Union was easy to find and hard to kill, but once it died, it was dead forever. It had no regenerative power because it had no popular base. The terrorists of Iraq or London are hard to find, easy to kill, but very difficult to eliminate. New recruits just keep sprouting.
Of course, not all Muslims are terrorists. But it's been widely noted that virtually all suicide terrorists today are Muslims. Angry Norwegians aren't doing this — nor are starving Africans or unemployed Mexicans. Muslims have got to understand that a death cult has taken root in the bosom of their religion, feeding off it like a cancerous tumor.
This cancer is erasing basic norms of civilization. In Iraq, we've seen suicide bombers blow up funerals and schools. In England, seven out of the eight people detained in the latest plot are Muslim doctors or medical students. Doctors plotting mass murder? Could that be? If Muslim leaders don't remove this cancer — and only they can — it will spread, tainting innocent Muslims and poisoning their relations with each other and the world.
Pertinent Links:
1) Protection needed from Muslim extremists
2) Jefferson sets a better example than Friedman on the subject of Islam
3) At a Theater Near You ...
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