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.