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Originally posted by Timber Loftis:
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I repeat that the problem with Islam is that MAINSTREAM Muslims (especially the mainstream mullahs) choose to disown these people rather than engaging them and refuting the rubbish they're spouting. By closing their eyes to the problem and saying "it's not a Muslim problem because these people aren't Muslim", they are helping to propagate these radical extremist ideas.
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I hope your right and I hope those mainstream muslims fix this problem. [/QUOTE]The biggest challenges are:
a ) getting them to acknowledge that it is THEIR problem - non-Muslims cannot fix it
b ) getting them mobilised at the high levels (eg the Islamic Council of Britain, etc) to stamp out these terrorists in their midst who are using their children as human bombs
The more I think about this and talk about this, it's really starting to become clear to me that this is a MUSLIM problem as much as a world problem. I've learned that the "laager mentality" (to use an Afrikaner term) is one of the most important things in Islam - stand behind your fellow Muslim brothers no matter what and all that. But I really think that moderate Muslims need to take a stand against these extremists, not just in words but in deeds. Because this is the biggest challenge facing their religion today - it is being usurped by a group of fascists who are using the blind devotion of the young for their own evil ends.
And not just against the footsoldiers in this extremist, fundamentalist movement, but against the causes - the radical mullahs and leaders who spout hate and encourage these things to happen. This radical minority is painting an extremely negative picture of Islam in general, and this probably isn't fair on the majority of moderate Muslims. But it's up to the Muslim community to rein these people in - they have to take responsibility, because these people (Abu Hamza, Omar Bakri Mohd, etc) are using their religion to make the whole world think that Muslims are terrorists.
And you will note that while they are all too eager to preach holy war, none of these "fanatical mullahs" are actually willing to strap a bomb around their fat, well-fed bodies - it's always some young Muslims who who end up doing the deed.
And the scary part is that these extremists are winning the battle of hearts and minds, because they have a long list of "pressure points" they can use when they harangue the West - Iraq is just the latest example.
[ 02-02-2007, 03:54 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]