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the Message Continues ... 11/143
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MUSLIMS
DON'T
FIT
THE
NEGATIVE
STEREOTYPES
[By Charley Reese -- May 10, 2002]
courtesy: Cair internet newsletter
I wish more Americans had an opportunity to get to know Muslims.
Then they would not be susceptible to the silly anti-Muslim
propaganda that is floated by some right-wing Christians.
Muslims are good folks. One fellow e-mailed me quite convinced
that Muslims lop off the heads of every infidel they meet. I've
been a guest in the homes of many Muslim friends, and the only
thing they lopped off were extra servings of lamb. People
believe such nonsense because they are ignorant of the facts.
The oldest Christian communities in the world are in Muslim
countries. Some of the oldest Jewish communities in the world
are in Muslim countries. The deputy foreign minister of Iraq is
a Christian. Even Saddam Hussein donated $1 million to help
build a Christian church in the United States. There are
Christians in practically all Muslim countries, and there have
been for centuries. I've said all this before, but when lies
blow strong, truth bears repeating.
Islam, like other religions, has different groups. Some are
strict in their observances, and they might be likened to the
Christian Pilgrims who settled Massachusetts. But even the
strictest -- commonly called fundamentalists these days -- know
that a Muslim is commanded to treat Jews and Christians "as I
would treat myself," in the words of a Hamas leader.
In my travels in Muslim countries, sometimes among the poorest
of the poor, I was never panhandled or attacked. As far as crime
goes, you'll find cities like Beirut, Damascus, Amman, or
Ramallah, much safer than most American cities.
Islam is not a religion with a hierarchy such as the Roman
Catholic Church. In that respect, Muslims are much like Southern
Baptists, only more so. Any group of Muslims can build a mosque
and hire themselves an imam, or teacher. They are independent.
There is no Muslim pope or College of Cardinals. There are no
bishops. When an imam somewhere issues a fatwa, which is a sort
of formal opinion on a subject, it is not binding. Like
Protestant Christians, Muslims interpret their holy writings
themselves and consider themselves answerable directly to God,
or Allah -- to use the Arabic word.
Most of the disputes in the Middle East are secular and
political. Hamas' quarrel with Israelis is not about the fact
that they are Jews but about the fact that they occupy
Palestine. The objections some Muslims have to Western culture
are the same as those some Christians have. They don't like the
violence, the immorality, the pornography and the greed. The
conflict one sees between the religious and the secular in some
Muslim countries is similar to the conflict in this
country between religious and secular folks.
There are 6 million or 7 million American citizens who are
Muslims. Muslims have been in this country since the late 19th
century. If you don't know one or more already, you should make
an effort to get to know Muslims. You'll find that they don't
fit the stereotypes created by mean-spirited propaganda or
superficial news coverage.
Racism is a monstrous injustice because it imposes a stereotype
on millions of innocent individuals. The only real solution is
education and broad experience. It seems to me that God creates
individuals one at a time, and it is the human mind that insists
on grouping and classifying them. We should resist that
temptation.
Al-Huda 12/11
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