The solution to terrorism "is to identify and empower the moderate elements who support the same ideology as the terrorists," but condemn violence as the means, Abdul-Azeez said. "People resort to violence because their voices cannot be heard in a legitimate political system.
The problem with this solution is the fact that ALL Muslims wish to impose Islam on the world. Violently or not... Terrorism is not the issue then, it IS Islam. B Politics represents root cause of terror, Muslim leader says By Stephen Magagnini - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] Published 12:00 am PST Friday, November 9, 2007 Story appeared in METRO section, Page B2 <http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/480667.html> Print | <http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-email/story/480667.html> E-Mail | <http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/480667.html#comments_here> Comments (0)| <http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/480667.h tml> Digg <http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/480667.h tml> <http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/480667.h tml> it | <http://del.icio.us/post> del.icio.us Mohamed Abdul-Azeez, shown two years ago, spoke Thursday about Muslims and terrorism. Brian Baer / Sacramento Bee file, 2005 What turns some Muslims into terrorists? Most of the time it's not religion, poverty or insanity - it's political grievances, said Imam Mohamed Abdul-Azeez of SALAM (Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims) on Thursday. Abdul-Azeez, 31, addressed the World Affairs Council of Northern California about "On the Roots of Domestic Terror," his master's thesis at the University of Chicago. He told the audience at McGeorge School of Law not to confuse Islamic fundamentalism, radicalism and terrorism - terms often used interchangeably. "Fundamentalism means getting to the essentials of an idea, concept, ideology or religion," he said. "Being a radical or extremist means you're straying away from the fundamentals. Terrorism is political violence perpetuated by a group, not an individual, in order to gain political ends by targeting an audience." Terrorism campaigns "only happen in nascent democracies or soft authoritarian regimes, such as Pakistan - not under dictators like Saddam Hussein," Abdul-Azeez said. "Terrorism only starts to happen when the grip of the government loosens up a bit. Terrorism declines with (the growth of) democracy." The solution to terrorism "is to identify and empower the moderate elements who support the same ideology as the terrorists," but condemn violence as the means, Abdul-Azeez said. "People resort to violence because their voices cannot be heard in a legitimate political system. "If moderates are given space in the political system and empowered, there will be little chance for the radicals to recruit and raise money." Most who resort to terrorism "aren't from the slums, but somebody who's well-educated, coming from the upper levels of society," Abdul-Azeez said. The vast majority of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims are moderate "and completely disapprove of violence," Abdul-Azeez, an Egyptian immigrant, told The Bee earlier Thursday. Only several thousand Muslims worldwide "are willing to go around and kill, but one person can kill 100,000," he said. "Security measures are extremely important and we need them, but we as American people need to genuinely look into the roots of violence in the Muslim world and see what we can do to prevent this from happening." That includes re-examining U.S. foreign policy, helping solve the Palestinian issue and helping build democracies in Muslim nations with butter, not guns, Abdul-Azeez said. "Why wasn't the problem of Saddam an internal Iraqi matter?" he asked, noting that the United States hasn't intervened militarily in other Muslim countries not rich in oil. Muslims worldwide need to get the message "that we are interested in helping people democratize - that is the long-term solution, because it brings economic development." Abdul-Azeez, who has degrees in medicine, sociology, political science, Islamic history and theology, noted, "For every single ideology there is always a moderate view and a radical counterpart. In Europe, most socialists weren't interested in violence and communists were, though they shared the same ideology." Critics of Islam cite a Koranic verse - often interpreted as "kill the infidels," he said. But "the preceding verse says, 'If you are being attacked by an enemy trying to destroy you and take your resources, fight back and defend yourself.' And the following verse reads, 'and if they resort to peace, you have an obligation to resort to peace.' " He said the Koran never uses the word kill, but the Arabic word qital, meaning fighting. It's completely wrongheaded to conclude "every single Muslim interprets the religion in the same way, that Muslims are all of one heart, one wavelength and are clones of each other," he said. At least 50 percent of the world's Muslims don't fully practice their religion. Probably 30 percent observe the faith, "but their observance is more quiet. Their relationship with God (is) a private thing, and their public life is guided by secular rules." "The remaining 20 percent are fundamentalist Muslims who take a more puritanical view and want to change society and make it more Islamic," he said. But less than a tenth of 1 percent "are radicalized and have the potential to commit acts of violence." "Most Muslims want to raise their kids and live happily, not be a part of a senseless machinery of killing," he said. "As long as we lump everybody in the same basket we're not going to be able to change anything." <http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/480667.html> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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