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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-prager13nov13,0,1142 056.story?track=hpmostemailedlink FAITH FRONT Five questions non-Muslims would like answered By Dennis Prager Dennis Prager's nationally syndicated radio show is heard daily in Los Angeles on KRLA-AM (870). He may be contacted through his website: www.dennisprager.com. November 13, 2005 THE RIOTING IN France by primarily Muslim youths and the hotel bombings in Jordan are the latest events to prompt sincere questions that law-abiding Muslims need to answer for Islam's sake, as well as for the sake of worried non-Muslims. Here are five of them: (1) Why are you so quiet? Since the first Israelis were targeted for death by Muslim terrorists blowing themselves up in the name of your religion and Palestinian nationalism, I have been praying to see Muslim demonstrations against these atrocities. Last week's protests in Jordan against the bombings, while welcome, were a rarity. What I have seen more often is mainstream Muslim spokesmen implicitly defending this terror on the grounds that Israel occupies Palestinian lands. We see torture and murder in the name of Allah, but we see no anti-torture and anti-murder demonstrations in the name of Allah. There are a billion Muslims in the world. How is it possible that essentially none have demonstrated against evils perpetrated by Muslims in the name of Islam? This is true even of the millions of Muslims living in free Western societies. What are non-Muslims of goodwill supposed to conclude? When the Israeli government did not stop a Lebanese massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982, great crowds of Israeli Jews gathered to protest their country's moral failing. Why has there been no comparable public demonstration by Palestinians or other Muslims to morally condemn Palestinian or other Muslim-committed terror? (2) Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian? If Israeli occupation is the reason for Muslim terror in Israel, why do no Christian Palestinians engage in terror? They are just as nationalistic and just as occupied as Muslim Palestinians. (3) Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country? According to Freedom House, a Washington-based group that promotes democracy, of the world's 47 Muslim countries, only Mali is free. Sixty percent are not free, and 38% are partly free. Muslim-majority states account for a majority of the world's "not free" states. And of the 10 "worst of the worst," seven are Islamic states. Why is this? (4) Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam? Young girls in Indonesia were recently beheaded by Muslim murderers. Last year, Muslims in the name of Islam murdered hundreds of schoolchildren in Russia. While reciting Muslim prayers, Islamic terrorists take foreigners working to make Iraq free and slaughter them. Muslim daughters are murdered by their own families in the thousands in "honor killings." And the Muslim government in Iran has publicly called for the extermination of Israel. (5) Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions? No church or synagogue is allowed in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban destroyed some of the greatest sculptures of the ancient world because they were Buddhist. Sudan's Islamic regime has murdered great numbers of Christians. Instead of confronting these problems, too many of you deny them. Muslims call my radio show to tell me that even speaking of Muslim or Islamic terrorists is wrong. After all, they argue, Timothy McVeigh is never labeled a "Christian terrorist." As if McVeigh committed his terror as a churchgoing Christian and in the name of Christ, and as if there were Christian-based terror groups around the world. As a member of the media for nearly 25 years, I have a long record of reaching out to Muslims. Muslim leaders have invited me to speak at major mosques. In addition, I have studied Arabic and Islam, have visited most Arab and many other Muslim countries and conducted interfaith dialogues with Muslims in the United Arab Emirates as well as in the U.S. Politically, I have supported creation of a Palestinian state and supported (mistakenly, I now believe) the Oslo accords. Hundreds of millions of non-Muslims want honest answers to these questions, even if the only answer you offer is, "Yes, we have real problems in Islam." Such an acknowledgment is infinitely better for you and for the world than dismissing us as anti-Muslim. We await your response. ***** http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-lew-prager15nov15,1,535 8228.story?coll=la-news-comment Answers to Prager's questions November 15, 2005 Re "Five questions non-Muslims would like answered," Current, Nov. 13 I offer a simple reason, from Dennis Prager's own arguments, why these questions are inappropriate: "There are a billion Muslims in the world." Muslims are not a monolithic group sharing one collective brain and conscience. Asking someone who is neither the terrorist nor the invoker of Islam in the name of violence to answer for the actions of another perhaps from a different country, culture, race, social class and lifestyle makes no sense. The silent majority quite likely feels no kinship with someone committing such an act, and they therefore feel no guilt by association. If Prager continues to ignore the complexity of the Islamic world, he will continue to ask the wrong questions of the wrong people, leaving us with no useful answers. SONJA SOLTER Tustin The actions of Muslims do not define Islam, which is the same for Christianity and any other group and its adherents. In today's world, the Muslim community may very well not be a very high standard to look up to, but that's also true of every religion and every people throughout history, and Islam as a religion has nothing to do with it. Prager mentions a lack of freedom and democracy in the Muslim world, but the most concrete cause of this is European and U.S. colonialism and support of despotic regimes in the region. When tyrannical governments like Saudi Arabia's are supported by the U.S. government, and they continue to oppress their people, freedom will never flourish and extremism will be inevitable. This is precisely what is occurring in today's world. ZAID ADHAMI Corona What planet does Prager live on and how long will he be able to spew his inflammatory diatribes against Muslims and Islam? He asks "law-abiding Muslims," for "Islam's sake," to answer several questions, including, "Why are you so quiet?" Yet he conceals that immediately after the bombings in Jordan, the Muslim Public Affairs Counsel unequivocally condemned the attacks, adding, "Islam considers the use of terrorism to be unacceptable for any purpose. MPAC condemns the exploitation of people and issues, regardless of the perpetrators and their justifications." Likewise, within hours of the bombing, the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced, "We condemn the bombings, offer condolences to the loved ones of those killed and call for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators of this awful crime. Such acts of terror are an affront to all humanity and can never be justified or excused." And Prager ignores the fact that last July, CAIR coordinated the release of a fatwa endorsed by hundreds of U.S. Muslim groups, leaders and institutions, which stated in part that "Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram forbidden." Dennis, why have you been so quiet in publicizing these valuable efforts of the Muslim community? STEPHEN ROHDE Los Angeles Salam Al-Marayati (Opinion, Nov. 13) is speaking for Muslim-Americans; I appreciate his words and the work of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. But what non-Muslims would appreciate even more and desperately need to know are answers by a Muslim spokesperson to the Prager's five questions. DORIS SCHAFFER Fallbrook, Calif. Prager too often globalizes his concerns instead of acknowledging that these are his concerns and his issues. He's becoming a professional scold and may supplant Geraldo Rivera in promoting his self-importance. THERESA H. MCGOWAN Santa Monica Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nat-International/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
