Tuesday, September 12, 2006

One Arab's apology

As I've said many times before, if there is hope for Islam, it lies here, in America, where so many Muslims have fled for the express purpose of leaving their dysfunctional societies behind.

At a time when we are at war with jihad, it never fails to amaze me that our government continues to empower groups like CAIR and the MPAC rather than people like Irshad Manji, Nonie Darwish, Irfan Khawaja, Wafa Sultan and ISIS.

Such people, rather than living in denial and phony victimization have acknowledged that there is indeed a problem with Islam and have had the courage to try and fix it.

Emilio Karim Dabul writes a superb piece in the NY Post on this very subject:

"September 12, 2006 -- WELL, here it is, five years late, but here just the same: an apology from an Arab-American for 9/11. No, I didn't help organize the killers or contribute in any way to their terrible cause. However, I was one of millions of Arab-Americans who did the unspeakable on 9/11: nothing.

The only time I raised my voice in protest against these men who killed thousands of innocents in the name of Allah was behind closed doors, among the safety of friends and family. I did at one point write a very vitriolic essay condemning their actions, but fear of becoming another Salman Rushdie kept me from ever trying to publish it.

Well, I'm sick of saying the truth only in private - that Arabs around the world, including Arab-Americans like myself, need to start holding our own culture accountable for the insane, violent actions that our extremists have perpetrated on the world at large.

Yes, our extremists and our culture.

Every single 9/11 hijacker was Arab and a Muslim. The apologists (including President Bush) tried to reassure us that 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam, but was a twisting of a great and noble religion. With all due respect, read the Koran, Mr. President. There's enough there for someone of extreme tendencies to find their way to a global jihad.

There's also enough there for someone of a different mindset to find a path to enlightenment and peace. Still, Rushdie had it right back in 2001: This does have to do with Islam. A Christian who bombs an abortion clinic in the name of God is still a Christian, at least in his interpretation, and saying otherwise doesn't negate the fact that he has spent a goodly amount of time figuring out his version of the one true and right thing to do.

The men who killed 3,000 of our citizens on 9/11 in all likelihood died saying prayers to Allah, and that by itself is one of the most horrific things to me about that day.

And, while my grandparents never waged a jihad, their attitudes toward Jews weren't that much different than Mohammed Atta's. No, they didn't support the Holocaust, but they did believe that Jews were trouble in many different ways, and those sorts of beliefs were passed on to me before I'd ever actually met a Jew.

I'm sorry for that, for ever believing that anything that my grandparents or other relatives had to say about Jews or Israel, for that matter, had any real resemblance to truth. It took me years to realize that I'd been conned into believing the generalizations and stereotypes that millions around the Arab world buy into: that Jews, America and Israel are our main problem...."


Read the rest, here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i like the part where he calls shrub an apologist.
i still think he's a lap dog for the saudi prince.........9000 of them.

KG said...

ONE Arab apology gives you hope that Islam can be reformed?
Oh, that's all right then--only another 1.6 billion to go.
Stop dreaming.

Anonymous said...

In some ways, Muslims in this country are in the same position that decent whites were in during the days of the Jim Crow South; that non-Jews were in during America's "Gentleman's Agreement" days; and that German-Americans were in during World War 2. Most of those who had the courage of their convictions made it a point to publically declare were they stood in unequivocal terms. They didn't draw the wagons. Accordingly, it's difficult to understand the frequent complaint from many Muslims who contend they have no obligation to publically apologize for or condemn the misdeeds of members of their own group and religion. Doing so would appear to be an American tradition, part of the assimilation process. This essay is a breath of fresh air.

Freedom Fighter said...

Interesting takes, y'all..thanks for dropping by!

Louie, I think that Bush is simply unwilling to believe that people he's known since childhood have such evil intentions for this country.

KG..I know plenty of Muslims like the writer of this piece, and they hold forth on their ideas at considerable physical risk to themselves. It's not their fault that the Bush administration chooses to empower CAIR and the MPAC and allow the Saudis to export jihad into America.

I recommend you hit a few of the progressive Muslim sites on my blogroll. Start with Nonie Darwish's and Irshad Manji's.

David, an interesting take, but here's the point: Many Muslims are not intersted in assimilating, or even in really being Americans inthe way youand I understand it - their loyalty is first and formost to Islam and the Muslim ummah.

We need to find out who's really on our side in the Islamic community, and act accordingly..and quickly, I might add.