Column of the Day: On Alzaree, Kevin O’Brien (Mostly) Gets It
In his Plain Dealer op-ed this past Wednesday (HT Patrick Poole in an e-mail):
For now, at least, let’s take Imam Ahmed Alzaree at his word.
….. Now, having resolved every possible point of unclarity in his favor, all that we’re left with is a man suffering from guilt by association.
He’s being tarred with the same brush as his co-religionists who are engaged in a loud and bloody worldwide campaign to further the goals of a radical strain of Islam.
He apparently would like us to think he has a problem with that, but rather than take on those who have expressed suspicion about him, he has chosen simply to seek employment elsewhere.
That’s fine; it’s his call to make.
Besides, arguing with bloggers takes on a new and scarier dimension when it also means publicly repudiating car bombers and beheaders who have come to expect at least one’s tacit support.
Clergymen at odds with the prevailing winds of dogma or authority always have a tightrope to walk. Doing so requires not only the courage of one’s convictions, but physical courage. Not everyone can do it.
It was 490 years ago this very day that Martin Luther tacked his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. (You could look it up, right at the top of this page.) Putting all theological questions aside, what Luther did took guts.
Where is that kind of reformational courage to be found in Islam? Where is the leadership that calls Islamic terrorism by its real name, then condemns it consistently and unambiguously, countenancing no excuses for the perpetrators?
Who has the guts to hang 95 theses on the door of the mosque that demand peace and co-existence with people of other faiths?
We may face a long wait.
What we see instead is tens of thousands of radical-funded schools worldwide, getting young Muslims revved up about the part they are expected to play in moving Judgment Day along.
However Imam Ahmed Alzaree may feel about that oft-quoted passage in the Koran about killing the Jews, a lot of people take it literally. A lot of people today are living by it and dying by it.
If he thinks it was just a rhetorical flourish, it would be nice if he’d say so before he walks away. If he thinks it’s the truth, he ought to say that, too.
But Alzaree never really did explain himself and the specific passage in question (read Robert Briggs’s follow-up again; you’ll find Alzaree attempting to contextualize without explaining the meaning of the actual words in the actual passage). Instead, he was content to let others at his not-to-be current and former mosque do the talking for him. That’s not good enough. Steven Emerson’s “it means what it says” explanation in Robert Briggs’s article clearly trumps all.
What O’Brien did not note is that a lot of other evidence surrounding Alzaree’s tenure in Omaha strongly indicates that he couldn’t afford to, and/or simply wouldn’t, give up his true outlook.
Emerson, a Jew who gets it
A perspective of a moderate Muslim
At the risk of sounding anti-Semitic, I want to say this: either American Jews are completely clueless about the internal struggle inside Islam or they are so cowardly, that they are even afraid to voice their opinion. Or maybe it’s a combination of both.
Every time there is a development that involves radical Islam, be it a Mayor of New York attending an Islamist parade, DOJ’s officials attending an Islamist conference, or a protester being sued for having the balls to expose an Islamist-sponsored event at an amusement park, the American Jewish community is as quiet as a church mouse. It’s like it is not even there.
The effect of this silence is devastating. Not for the Jewish community, not yet. That time is still to come. The silence affects the American Muslim community. Every time moderate Muslims are ignored and Islamists are legitimized (by either direct support from government representatives or silent support of the ADL), radicals gain ground. In the current PC climate, moderate Muslims have pretty much no choice but to keep their mouths shut.
Luckily for us, not everyone in the Jewish community is like that. There are some Jews that are speaking out. One of them is Steven Emerson, who has been warning the West about the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism since before PanAm 103. Most of his current work is focused on exposing the radicals masquerading as the moderates – those radicals who are embraced by the DOJ and the Pentagon, by the mayor of New York Bloomberg (Rudy would never get into bed with terrorist supporters) and the Treasury Department, by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, by the Congress and the White House.
There is a war of ideas within Islam, and moderate Muslims are losing. Most of Muslim clergy and Muslim establishment are paid for by the Wahhabis. Moderate Muslims are being run out of Mosques and community centers, and in many cases are physically threatened. Moderate Muslims have no place in the media or public debate, because the place reserved for Muslims is filled by Islamic radicals, who attempt to make criticizing anything Islamic a taboo. According to the Islamists, a Muslim can do no wrong.
1. When a non-Muslim criticizes Islam or Muslims, he/she is an Islamophobe.
2. When a Muslim criticizes Islam or Muslim, he/she is not a real Muslim, therefore see #1.
This is a tactic used by “moderate” Muslims, the darlings of the government and the media. But how can you call someone who praises bin Laden, or has ties to Hamas, or calls for the elimination of Israel, or wants to replace the Constitution with the Koran a moderate? They are anything but moderates, however nobody except for a few people like Steven Emerson seems to notice that. But even when the Emersons of America appeal to the public, they are often being dismissed as alarmists and racists. Well, they are anything, but. You don’t have to be a clairvoyant to predict the future when it comes to expansion of radical Islam and extinction of moderate Muslims. All you need to do is get your heads out of the sand.
Why our government is so forgiving and forgetful when it comes to individuals or organizations with known terrorist ties and anti-American views is beyond me. Why the Jewish leaders are so timid when it comes to the subject of radical Islam is incomprehensible.
I thank God every day for people like Steven Emerson, because they are the last glimmer of hope for moderate Muslims.
K.M.
Original post
Comment by Muslims Against Sharia — November 9, 2007 @ 1:32 am
#1, thanks for your comments. The Wahabbist faction badly needs to be marginalized.
Comment by TBlumer — November 9, 2007 @ 7:36 am