On Feb. 1, 2007, British police arrested nine Muslim men in Birmingham for their alleged plan to kidnap and behead a Muslim British serviceman. A large segment of the Muslim population stood up in defense of these men, to an extent that Muslim clerics throughout the country needed to call for calm. Many feel the Muslim community is being unfairly targeted.
However, a Muslim community leader, Shabir Hussein, had a different take on the issue. Regarding the notion of there being terrorists in their midst, he told the BBC, "The [Muslim] community is under stress. They do not know where their children are, they do not know what they do. At the mosque we are saying 'open your eyes, look underneath your feet.'"
I found this to be a telling statement of the beliefs of moderate Muslims: They are not aware or are apathetic about radical behavior in their communities.
We have all heard that terrorists who kill innocents in the name of Allah are not real Muslims and are breaking the fundamental beliefs found in the Quran. We also know that Muslims at their dogmatic core are peaceful, caring individuals.
We also realize that many Muslims, even moderate Muslims, are easily incensed by any assault on their religion or prophet from foreign sources. The Jyllans-Posten cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad caused such uproar in the Islamic world that Danish embassies were set ablaze in Syria and Lebanon and dozens were killed. Theo van Gogh created a film dealing with domestic violence in Islam and was assassinated by an extremist in Amsterdam. Salman Rushdie and his Satanic Verses brought a fatwa on his head causing him to live in fear for years.
However, none of these so-called offenses about the Muslim religion made by private citizens in free nations should even compare to the blasphemy that is being perpetrated in the name of Islam, Allah and the Prophet by the terrorist murderers and bigots of the Islamic world.
I once lived in Israel and can remember the feeling of sitting next to old women on a bus and fearing that we would not make it to our destination. If we had not, would our families have received a sincere apology from the Muslim world or would they have watched a terrorist organization gleefully claim responsibility?
Millions of sick "Muslims" stand under the flags of al-Qaeda, Hamas, the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah, defaming the Muslim people and their faith for all the world to see. Suicide bombings against civilian targets in America, England, Spain, Italy, Israel and Iraq shame Islam in the eyes of men and God. Radicals and criminals have hijacked their religion from right under their noses. Yet, the Muslim world remains eerily silent.
We do not see the protests in the street condemning these men. Are these men not imposters blowing up children in the name of Allah?
We do not know of any respected Muslim religious leaders who can tear radicalism from the minds of Muslim youth. Where are the real Muslims? Why worry about cartoons from Denmark when your neighbor's son may be a suicide bomber?
What we see are the leaders of Islamic states and communities becoming more and more radical. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map. Just last month, New South Wales cleric Ismail Yusanato called for a holy war to bring about an Islamic state in Australia. Hamas places suicide bomber's portraits in town squares for impressionable Palestinian teenagers to lovingly admire.
Perhaps it is fear of reprisal that keeps moderate, sensible Muslims from vocally expressing their feelings of disgust. Indeed, it was just that fear that the recently arrested Muslims in Birmingham were trying to exploit: If you work with the "infidels," you will be killed.
It doesn't matter whether it is fear or apathy that keeps the real Muslims silent. They are unable or unwilling to control the radical elements within their own nations, communities and families.
Members of the Islamic faith in the Western world often feel they are treated unfairly at airports and loathe the looks of suspicion they may receive walking down the street. They blame American foreign policy, British police, Israel, Western decadence, the media, authors, the Pope, filmmakers and cartoonists. Most need to look no farther than in their mosque or out their window.
There is a growing tide of radicalism within the Muslim faith that threatens the entire world, yet most Muslims choose to ignore it. It is simply evidence of the hypocrisy that is destroying the good name of the Muslim faith underneath their feet.
