What More Can Muslims Do To Eliminate Religious Hatred
In the wake of the deadly October 27th shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, an overwhelming response from American Muslims in holding moments of silence and fundraising for the surviving victims and their families displayed that not all Muslims are religious bigots — quite the contrary. Yet Muslims, such as Linda Sarsour and Congressional candidate Ilhan Omarthe, with the support of the media and left-wing politicians, have been allowed to continue to instigate the religious hatred towards Jews and Christians, as well as calling for the destruction of Israel without any repercussions. A contributing factor to this, as well as the acts of terrorism, as stated by then-Congressman Mike Pompeo is the silence on the matter on the part of Islamic leaders rendering them “potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow.”
Writer and Muslim reformist Shireen Qudosi in an op-ed article that appeared on the Clarion Project on October 31 entitled Muslim Response to Anti-Semitism Not Good Enough, Says Reformer, stated “Muslim Americans have the power to counter anti-Semitism [and religious hatred of Islamists] rather than just respond to it after the fact.” Naturally, Robert Bowers, the man accused of gunning down eleven congregants at the synagogue was not Muslim. In any case, Qudosi argues that Muslims in the US have a duty and an obligation to “speak out against Jew-hating [or any other religious-hating] imams and the institutions that protect them.” They can work to have these religious figures removed from their positions by boycotting the mosques and organizations where they exercise power. This mission, I sustain, must be also undertaken by those who hold political office, especially if they are Muslim. Yet the ones who can do something, do nothing.
After the British officials to the London Bridge attack of June 3, 2017, which killed seven people and injured 48 others, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is also a Muslim, refused to discuss this act of terrorism as having anything to do with Islamic indoctrination. Muslim Reform Movement (MRM) cofounder Dr. Zuhdi Jasser criticized Khan and all other like-minded politicians whose apologetic approaches have not just diverted the fight against Islamic terrorism but indirectly sustained them by relying almost exclusively on the input of Islamic human rights activists. Jasser’s critique simultaneously sought to motivate Muslims to promote a moderate Islam. This was in line when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attempted to confront the teachings that incite violence and the violation of human rights when he addressed the members of the al-Azhar University in Cairo on December 28, 2014. Despite Jasser’s reaching out to over three thousand US mosques and over five hundred renowned Muslims through email and telephone calls in 2015, very few responded, dismissively or with threats — an indication that most imams are not interested, just as al-Azhar’s Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb’s rejection to el-Sisi’s appeal.
Many in the West have been led to believe that the US-led war on Islamic terrorism can irradiate the Islamic indoctrination that breeds hatred and violence as taught by imams. The approach, however, has primarily been a military one with the assumption that problem is pyramidal. Nevertheless, the burden of demonstrating a moderate Islam or one that has respect for human rights cannot just fall on non-Muslims. Former Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Elliot Abrams, in his Realism and Democracy: American Foreign Policy after the Arab Spring (2018) argues that while religious dialogue among Muslims is essential for peace, we must acknowledge that “statements from American presidents [or church leaders] that “Islam is a religion of peace” will never have any impact, nor should they: who is an American politician [or churchman] to define the true meaning of any religion, much less one he or she does not practice [let alone studied]?” And he is correct. He goes on to say that convincing “Muslims to embrace an Islam that insists on respect for human rights and political democracy and rejects extremism and violence is critical — but only Muslims can enter that debate with other Muslims and hope to win it.”
Mario Alexis Portella is author of Islam: Religion of Peace? – The Violation of Natural Rights and Western Cover-Up
Book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
In the end, Islam seeks the submission of everyone to Allah, i.e., to a political entity based on inequality.
Can any Animal Live without Head? If yes, Islam can live without Religious Hatred. Bigotry is One of the Important Pillars of Islam.
Thank you.
For those here who have not come across Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address, here it is:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg.html
It was the quote from Emperor Manuel II Paleologus in paragraph 3 which caused all the trouble but it was paragraph 4 which stayed in my mind, explaining why Allah is utterly capricious whereas the Christian God is not.
You’re not going to get an argument out of me on Pope Francis’ position, I assure you! In fact, Fr. Samir, who wrote the Foreword to my book took a public stance against him on this topic. I tend to follow Benedict XVI’s line as per his Regensburg Address. Keep in mind that, so far as I can tell, I fall within a minority within the Roman Church when speaking on Islam by saying that it does not mean peace. Not to mention, I was originally declined to publish my book by a Catholic publishing house since it apparently “contradicted” the pope’s position that whoever reads the Quran authentically knows that it is a religion of peace. I, naturally, do not concur, which obviously does not win me any favors from a great number of the Catholic hierarchy. This is why I wrote my book and would need all the support I can get by purchasing it and spreading the word.
Thank you for your comment and question!!!
Dr Portella
While Zuhdi Jasser et al criticise the violence in the Islamic scriptures your ultimate boss, Pope Francis, simply denies it with mind-bogglingly counter-factual statements such as “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.”
I am curious to know what your position is on this. Are you even allowed to challenge him on the issue? I don’t know.
Self-identified moderates like Dr. Jasser or Imam Tawhidi, while they heavily criticize extremism or the Hadiths, they have a problem in confronting the historical facts of what Muhammad did: the multiple wives, the wars he started, the many raids, etc. It is also the problem with Quranists who only follow the Quran….how can they disavow the verses calling for violence?
It’s one of the things I try to address in my book. As indicate by the comments, I believe the best way for an Islamic nation, for example, to address this is to fully secularize its state as Kemal Ataturk did when he got rid of the caliphate.
Zuhdi Jasser does not seem to have gathered many moderate Muslims to his cause, any more than Quilliam have in Britain. Here’s why:
https://ecawblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/moderates-pic.jpg
moslems can stop calling themselves moslems and leave islam. because there is no peaceful interpretation of islam – the true interpretation is what mohammad said and did and that pedophile did horrible sins just to expand his cult size. Evil.
I fully concur! Not only is there hypocrisy from politicians like the Mayor of London, but they are verses inspiring such behavior and hatred found in the verses of the Quran, the hadiths, and the Sira of Muhammad Ibn Ishaq.
Thank you for your support! I do believe the more we are informed of the better we can help form and establish the common good in her society.
First ,Muslim hate may be observed in the Middle East in that many Muslim men were actually happy and glad when the discovered the news about the disaster the came upon the those Jewish people in the murderous synagogue shooting in the city of Pittsburgh ,Pennsylvania .That vicious and hateful vicious Islamic mindset is awful. To such a malicious way of thinking the Bible in Proverbs 17:5 reads “He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.” [N.K.J.V.]
Second ,that vicious despicable murderous shooter, Robert Bowers, in the synagogue in Pittsburgh Pa. is a very strong reminder of the wisdom found in the speech given by a former US President, William Howard Taft, For in that speech President Taft declared “Antisemitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out. It has no place in America.”
Likewise, every sane person knows and understands that the murders, Bowers, committed is a heinously evil things to do and evil and that by his behavior Bowers had himself to be evil. Furthermore, that hideous fiend of a man had also proven himself to be totally and completely un-American. As Theodore Roosevelt had in one of his speeches made it known that “There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only one hundred percent Americanism, only for those who are American and nothing else.”
Third, that vicious shooter, Robert Bowers, who committed those mass murders should be executed by the State government of Pennsylvania . The Bible instructs in Exodus 21:12. “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surly be put to death.”
As for the question as to “how to eliminate Muslim hate for non–Muslims ?” Well a good start would be for politicians, as Sadiq khan and Theresa May, in England to come out a speak the truth about the real reason for Islamic terror/murder attack which ids that kind of terrorism based on religion , the religion of Islam.
For that Muslim mayor of London said “Those terrorist attacks on London were performed by men [the terrorists] who were trying to justly their action by the religion I belong to …their ideology is a perversion [ of Islam ] and has no place in Islam” The Muslin mayor, Sadiq Khan, of the capital city of England further said that he is “Outraged at those who try to hide their evil with Islam.” He could be in a genuine mental state of denial about the violent and deadly of many of the parts of Islam or by contrast he might know and is attempting to cover up the truth about the violent essence of Islam. Likewise, the prime minster of England, Theresa May, when had made public statements about those violent and vicious terrorist attacks on London Bridge and nearby Borough Market. She had declared that heinous religious terror attack as the outcome of “an ideology that is a perversion of Islam,” That statement shows that she didn’t do her homework. For those jihadist Muslims were putting in the practice the instruction of real, actual, non-watered down hard core Islam. As the Quran in, for example, Surah 9:123 instructs “O you who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are close to you, and let them find harshness in you…” Running over non-Muslims with a van and then stabbing them is a very effective way of showing people who are not Muslims harshness. Also Surah 9:111 teaches “The believers fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain, they kill and are killed…” The whole foundation for the ideology of Islamic terrorism is the theology of the Quran. As seen in those two, just sited, verses from the Quran and other verses well, such as, Surah 4:89. 5:33 47:4. Teresa May also denounced “Extremism.” This type of “Extremism” is based on the Quran.
What can be done about Muslim hate. How about Muslims leaving “the House of Islam” and coming to the joining the family of Jesus ,Who, instead of teaching hate, taught mercy and peace, as sen in Matthew 5:7,8. As for those vicious jihadists /Islamic terror attacks in the city of London by the brutal vehicle jihad attack on London Bridge and then their going over and stabbing people at nearby Borough Market had the combined results of multiple casualties were heinously evil and cruel to the extreme . This, as strange as it may seem to some people is in accord to the instruction of the “holy book” of Islam the Quran , For example the Quran instructs in Surah 9:123. “O you who believe! Fight of the disbelievers who are close to you, and let them find harshness in you…”
So those three malicious and vicious jihad-minded Muslims they violent actions were following the instruction of the Quran. Let’s face it, stabbing people with large long knifes’ and running them over with a van is a very effective way of showing disbeliever’s harshness.
Islam a “peaceful religion” ? BULL !
In addition, Islamic terror attack, in London, by three jihad-minded Muslims was, indeed, as evil and as it was awful. Those jihadist/Muslims who had murdered seven people had proven themselves to be very dangerous men. After they had committed the murders those jihadists were shot and killed by the British police. Islam’s “holy book” the Quran instructs in 9:111. “The believers fight in Allah’s cause, they slay and are slain, they kill and are killed.’’
This should tell all thoughtful people something about the actual essence of Islam. Let’s get with reality
As for thew very important and awfully sinister as well as extremely dangerous, violent and vicious subject of Muslim hate towards people who are not Muslims. This outcome of the Islamic hate was seen in those brutal and heinous jihadist /Muslims in the city of London , England who murdered seven people, those violent and murdering jihad –minded Muslims were completely demonic and murderous and also very deluded and their wicked Islamic quest of the jihad Those vicious suicide /homicide jihadist attackers against those against the people on London bridge and then Borough Market were actually behaving in accord to the instruction of the “holy book “ of Islam, the Quran. Which instructs in for example Sura 9:111. “The believer’s fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain they kill and are killed.” After those murderous jihadists died they discovered, to their shock and horror, the promise of a paradise with many houris , as the Quran teaches 44:54. 55:56. 78:31., for those dead jihadists believed an outright lie and a total falsehood . For those Muslim terrorists found this out the hard way because after they die they found themselves trapped and suffering in the fires of hell .Such as the Bible describes in for example, Luke 13:28. 16:19-31.The Bible also teaches that a murderer “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21.[K.J.V.] Furthermore, in the Bible book of Revelation in 21:8 it gives a list of the people who will end up terribly suffering without end . As in forever in that awful place , and one of those persons in that Lake of Fire are people on that list who are murderers. In short, those murderous jihadists are the real losers and they now understand that they were wrong. Very wrong and that they, in their Islamic delusion, had committed the evil of mass murder because they placed their faith in a false religion.
Dear Fr. Mario Alexis Portella. How can a Muslim denounce antisemitism when the hatred of the Jews is prescribed in the Quran?
Quran 9:29 says fight People of the Book, who do not accept the religion of truth (Islam) until they pay tribute by hand, being inferior”
The verse that follows says “The Jews call ‘Uzair a son of Allah, Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!”
verses: 7:166, 2:65, and 5:60 of the Quran goes even further and says Allah transformed the Jews into swine and rat.
The Medinan verses contain numerous derogatory comments about the Jews who had the temerity of not accepting Muhammad’s claim. No true Muslim can claim he defends antisemitism unless for taqiyyah, i.e. to deceive his audience.
BTW I downloaded your book Islam: Religion of Peace and started reading it. It is superb and I recommend it to anyone who want to have a better understanding of Islam and Islamic mindset.
Thank you for posting your article here