Voices of Reason - At Last
Today I heard that a group of Montreal Shia Muslim imams held a press conference. To assure Canadians of their unequivocal condemnation of terrorism conducted in the name of Islam. One of their number explained that a decade earlier the supreme Ayatollah representing Shia Muslims instructed Muslims living in non-Muslim countries to respect the countries in which they live. To behave as decent citizens of their adopted countries. To honour Allah and their Muslim heritage and to behave in their new countries in a manner that would offer no insult to the country, its traditions and values. This is coincidental to the arrest on terrorism charges of 17 Canadians in southern Ontario last week, and may or may not have been the result of this news. But it is welcome indeed, and time that religious functionaries of this stature demonstrate concern for the future of good relations between Islam and the West.Within Canada itself, Muslims like Tarek Fatah have been speaking out for quite a while, lone voices in a wilderness of seeming Muslim unconcern with personal and global responsibility for the reputation of Islam in the West. The majority of Muslims, law-abiding, good citizens and pious Muslims have not felt the need to speak out in denial and outrage at the actions of militant Islamists. Whether for fear of reprisals or unwillingness to bring attention to themselves and intra-Muslim disagreements is a moot point and quite beside the point.
From time to time one would read a truly admirable opinion letter of personal responsibility written by a Muslim in one's local community, condemning those claiming to worship Allah while fomenting unspeakable acts of violence against Western targets. In the sea of Muslim silence these were brave and committed voices of reason. Still, we waited for a groundswell of outrage from the Islamic community within North America, within Canada, and it simply did not materialize.
Now, however, it would appear that the shock of the recent few days has finally penetrated. No longer is there angry denial and baseless accusations of cause-and-effect. None too soon more and more individuals representing Muslim groups and themselves individually are coming forward to speak against the canker of militarism within Islam. There was never any question that the vast majority of Muslims had no sympathy, nor patience for the corruption of their religious values, but what was previously unspoken is now being publicly aired.
Recognizing the problem is within their own communities, understanding that impressionable young men are being corrupted by the hateful actions of fundamentalist jihadists is a start, and a good one. The next step is to cleanse the community of the opportunities afforded through mosques and schools funded by foreign sources with agendas of jihad, to single out those responsible for gross misrepresentation of Islam, marginalize them and take away their malevolent influence.
This is the kind of house-cleaning that can only be done internally to be truly effective. Done externally by official government sources leads only to claims of victimization. That old adage: "physician heal thyself" can be re-phrased to "community heal thineselves".
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, June 14, 2006
<< Home