The Tragedy of Islam

Jewish World Review
July 28, 2005 / 21 Tamuz, 5765
THE TRAGEDY OF ISLAM
By Michael Graham





http://www.JewishWorldReview.com

I take no pleasure in saying it. It
pains me to think it. I could very well lose my job in talk radio over
admitting it. But it is the plain truth:
Islam is a terror organization.

For years, I've been trying to give the world's Muslim community the
benefit of the doubt, along with the benefit of my typical-American's
complete disinterest in their faith. Before 9/11, I knew nothing about
Islam except the greeting "asalaam alaikum," taught to me by a
Pakistani friend in Chicago.

Immediately after 9/11, I nodded in ignorant agreement as President
Bush assured me that "Islam is a religion of peace."
But nearly four years later, nobody can defend that statement. And I
mean "nobody."

Certainly not the group of "moderate" Muslim clerics and imams who
gathered in London last week to issue a statement on terrorism and
their faith. When asked the question "Are suicide bombings always a
violation of Islam," they could not answer "Yes. Always." Instead,
these "moderate British Muslims" had to answer "It depends."
Precisely what it depends on, news reports did not say. Sadly, given
our new knowledge of Islam from the past four years, it probably
depends on whether or not you're killing Jews.

That is part of the state of modern Islam.
Another fact about the state of Islam is that a majority of Muslims in
countries like Jordan continue to believe that suicide bombings are
legitimate. Still another is the poll reported by a left-leaning
British paper than only 73 percent of British Muslims would tell
police if they knew about a planned terrorist attack.

The other 27 percent? They are a part of modern Islam, too.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is outraged that I would
dare to connect the worldwide epidemic of terrorism with Islam. They
put it down to bigotry, asserting that a lifetime of disinterest in
Islam has suddenly become blind hatred. They couldn't be more wrong.
Not to be mean to the folks at CAIR, but I don't: Care, that is. I
simply don't care about Islam, its theology, its history — I have no
interest in it at all. All I care about is not getting blown to
smithereens when I board a bus or ride a plane. I care about living in
a world where terrorism and murder/suicide bombings are rejected by
all.

And the reason Islam has itself become a terrorist organization is
that it cannot address its own role in this violence. It cannot cast
out the murderers from its members. I know it can't, because
"moderate" Muslim imams keep telling me they can't. "We have no
control over these radical young men," one London imam moaned to the
local papers.
Can't kick 'em out of your faith? Can't excommunicate them? Apparently
Islam does not allow it.

Islam cannot say that terrorism is forbidden to Muslims. I know this
because when the world's Muslim nations gathered after 9/11 to state
their position on terrorism, they couldn't even agree on what it was.
How could they, when the world's largest terror sponsors at the time
were Iran and Saudi Arabia — both governed by Islamic law.
If the Boy Scouts of America had 1,000 scout troops, and 10 of them
practiced suicide bombings, then the BSA would be considered a
terrorist organization. If the BSA refused to kick out those 10
troops, that would make the case even stronger. If people defending
terror repeatedly turned to the Boy Scout handbook and found language
that justified and defended murder — and the scoutmasters in charge
simply said "Could be" — the Boy Scouts would have driven out of
America long ago.

Today, Islam has entire sects and grand mosques that preach terror.
Its theology is used as a source of inspiration by terrorist
murderers. Millions of Islam's members give these killers support and
comfort.

The question isn't how dare I call Islam a terrorist organization, but
rather why more people do not.

As I've said many times, I have great sympathy for those Muslims of
good will who want their faith to be a true "religion of peace." I
believe that terrorism and murder do violate the sensibilities and
inherent decency of the vast majority of the world's Muslims. I
believe they want peace.

Sadly, the organization and fundamental theology of Islam as it is
constituted today allows for hatreds most Muslims do not share to
thrive, and for criminals they oppose to operate in the name of their
faith.

Many Muslims, I believe, know this to be true and some are acting on
it. Not the members of CAIR, unfortunately: As Middle East analyst and
expert Daniel Pipes has reported, "two of CAIR's associates (Ghassan
Elashi, Randall Royer) have been convicted on terrorism-related
charges, one (Bassem Khafegi) convicted on fraud charges, two (Rabih
Haddad, Bassem Khafegi) have been deported, and one (Siraj Wahhaj)
remains at large."

But Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf admits what CAIR will not.
He's called for a jihad against the jihadists. He's putting his life
on the line (Islamists have tried to assassinate him three times) in
the battle to reclaim Islam and its fundamental decency.

He remembers, I'm sure, that at a time when Western, Christian
civilization was on the verge of collapse, the Muslim world was a
bastion of rationalism and tolerance. That was a great moment in the
history of Islam, a moment that helped save the West.
Let's hope Islam can now find the strength to save itself.


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