“‘We would never ask any other faith community to stand up and condemn acts of violence committed by people within their groups,’ said Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, who has worked extensively with the Black Lives Matter movement and other minority groups. ‘The fact that this is only directed at the Muslim community is something that I personally can’t accept.'”
Well, there are about 27,401 reasons why that is the case. That is the number of lethal jihad terror attacks that have been committed in accord with Islamic texts and teachings since 9/11. In that span, how many lethal attacks have been committed by people who pointed to the Bible or any other religious texts to justify their violence? None, unless one wishes to count in the recent murders in Colorado Springs, since Robert Dear apparently identifies himself as Christian (as well as female). So it simply isn’t true that “we would never ask any other faith community to stand up and condemn acts of violence committed by people within their groups”: all Christian sects and Churches have condemned the killing of abortionists and other such violence, and no Christian group teaches that it is acceptable. On the Muslim side, however, we have all the mainstream sects and schools of jurisprudence teaching the necessity to wage war against and subjugate unbelievers. We have “Palestinian” Muslim clerics waving around knives and suicide belts and exhorting their people to murder Israelis. We have jihad groups all over the world committing violence and justifying it by pointing to the Qur’an and example of Muhammad.
The fact is, there is obviously a unique problem within Islam. The Muslims in this story who are complaining about Muslims being “singled out” are hoping that you will forget that violence committed in the name of Islam is many times more common than violence committed in the name of any other religion. They’re hoping you will forget that Islamic jihad terrorists singled out non-Muslims for murder in Kenya, Paris and elsewhere. They’re hoping that you won’t notice that there is no program in any mosque or Islamic school to teach Muslims why the Islamic State’s understanding of Islam is wrong. They are once again claiming victimhood status for Muslims, attempting thereby to deflect attention away from all these unpleasant facts and more. There’s no problem with jihad terror, you see. There’s just a problem with mean old non-Muslims demanding that Muslims do something about jihad terror.
“Some American Muslims Irritated By Obama’s Call For Them To ‘Root Out’ Extremism,” by Tom Gjelten, NPR, December 9, 2015:
President Obama’s request that American Muslims help “root out” and confront extremist ideology in their communities is getting mixed reactions. Muslim leaders say they want to help, but some are not happy that they are being singled out.
“We would never ask any other faith community to stand up and condemn acts of violence committed by people within their groups,” said Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, who has worked extensively with the Black Lives Matter movement and other minority groups. “The fact that this is only directed at the Muslim community is something that I personally can’t accept.”
In his Sunday-night message, the president did say Muslims should not be treated differently, but administration officials say they are looking to the American Muslim community for some particular assistance. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson took that request personally Monday to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque in Sterling, Va.
“I will continue to speak out against the discrimination, vilification and isolation that American Muslims face in these challenging times,” Johnson said.
But then came the appeal.
“Now, I have an ask,” he said. “It is an ask of the people in this room and all Muslims across the country. Terrorist organizations overseas have targeted your communities. They seek to pull your youth into the pit of violent extremism. Help us to help you stop this.”
Muslim leaders have heard this before, and some find it a little irritating.
“We’re not law enforcement officials,” said Shahed Amanullah, a Washington, D.C.-based American Muslim entrepreneur with Silicon Valley connections. He has worked with the U.S. government on combating online extremism, but he said it’s unrealistic to expect Muslim Americans to confront violent people in their midst.
“We’re community members and Americans like everybody else,” he said, “and we should have the same relationship with law enforcement that everybody else has. To expect us to be on the front lines without having the capacity or the support would not be [productive]. It wouldn’t be productive with any community.”…
This is arrant nonsense. No one is asking Muslims to act as police officers. They’re asking them to call police officers when they see suspicious activity. But of course those who favor such activity aren’t going to pick up the phone.
Ya think?