“The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in Perrysburg Township yesterday sponsored a four-hour symposium that considered how the media deals with religious issues, diversity, and tolerance.” So says the Toledo Blade, with thanks to nicolei.
The article says that “Imam Farooq Aboelzahab, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, said he often is questioned during tours of the center about how Islam and terrorism are interconnected. The question shows the perception many Americans have of his religion, he said.”
Imagine! Where would they get the idea that Islam and terrorism have any connection? It must be from all that unfair reporting out there. Surely they couldn’t have gotten the idea that there was such a connection from Muslims like the Senegalese imam Mamour Fall, who praises Osama bin Laden as “a great man, a great strategist, a great Muslim.” Or from Maulana Masood Azhar, who has said that “in Islam the only meaning of jihad was killing” and that it was “a conspiracy against Islam to say that Jihad was not killing.” Or from any of the actions of the global network of terrorists that commits violence almost daily, quite explicitly in the name of Islam.
No, if people asked Imam Farooq about the connection between Islam and terrorism, they must have been influenced by biased reporting.