Are peace-loving Muslims becoming irrelevant?

[Prime]

Do you agree with this article?

A German’s point of view on Islam
by Dr. Emanuel Tanay, Psychiatrist

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

“Very few people were true Nazis” he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.

"We are told again and again by “experts” and “talking heads” that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority”, the “silent majority” is cowed and extraneous.

"Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

"And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving?”

"History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

"Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

“As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.”
Emanuel Tanay, M. D.

Dr. Emanuel Tanay, MD Wayne State University Ann Arbor, Michigan A clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical School, Dr. Emanuel Tanay MD is a well-known forensic psychiatrist who has been an expert witness in many famous cases, such as the trials of Jack Ruby, Ted Bundy, Sam Sheppard, and Robert Garwood. He is licensed to practice in Ohio and Georgia, as well as Michigan. Dr. Tanay has served as an officer or committee member of many professional organizations, such as the Michigan Psychiatric Society, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and others. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and of the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry and a distinguished fellow of the APA and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFC). A Holocaust survivor himself, he coauthored a book about the survivors of the Holocaust and was asked by the German government to consult on just compensation for the Holocaust survivors. Dr. Tanay has served on several journal editorial boards, authored many publications, and presented countless times on forensic medicine. His efforts have also produced many awards and commendations from groups such as the Michigan State Medical Society, APA, the Detroit Institute of Technology, and AAFC, among others.

 

[Cluny]

Were they ever relevant? One Muslim poster here has referred to “moderate, peaceloving Muslims” as “non-muslims.”

Read this and decide for yourself.

---

www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14227&size=A

Mosul (AsiaNews) – The lifeless body of a young Christian was found yesterday by the army in Mosul (Northern Iraq). The abandoned body uncovered in a street in the east of the city was that of 36 year old Chourik Bagrad.

AsiaNews sources in Mosul – a city with one and a half million inhabitants, 360 km north of Baghdad – confirmed that it was a an execution style killing: multiple gunshot wounds to the head. His body was later discarded in al-Bakr district, where it was found by police and brought to the morgue for an autopsy. Chourik Bagrad was a Christian from the Armenian Church and his brother works in Mosul University.

The same sources refer that a Christian was also kidnapped New Years Eve in Mosul. The man, whose name we choose not to publish for security reasons, was kidnapped and held hostage for four days. He was only freed after the payment of 50 thousand dollars ransom. During his detention he was tortured over and over again. “If we hadn’t paid the ransom – the source confirms – they would certainly have killed him. They are criminal gangs, who kidnap for money. The want the Christian’s money”.

Despite government claims and reports proclaiming that security standards have improved, Mosul remains “a volcano ready to explode at any moment”.

The situation for Christians there is still tragic. In October alone 16 faithful were killed and 2000 families forced to flee. Groups linked to Al-Qaeda are operative in the area, targeting Christians in killing sprees, destroying their homes and properties, threatening them with letters, abductions and attacks. A hate campaign perfectly constructed to drive them from the land of their birth...

 

[Chancellare]

Were they ever relevant?

Irrelevant or not, hope springs eternal.

 

[Sister_Amy]

I wish people would listen to what the Muslims are actually saying… and not what they (the audience) think they (Muslims) are saying.

I, for one, don’t go around saying “Islam is the religion of peace,” but yet people keep saying that I do say that. It’s so frustrating. All Muslims love peace–the opposite would be saying that they love war. Why should Muslims love war? That’s just gross. Muslims accept war when there are no other alternatives. They love peace.

And they aren’t irrelevant.

 

[ferdie]

In a way it is true. Peace loving muslims become irrelevant if they can not stop the hijacking of Islam by the radicals. Just what the Dr said, peace loving Germans became victims of war because of the Nazi party. The same thing is happening to the Palestinians, they are dying because of Hamas organization.

 

[emarc]

**the article reminds me of sir winston churchill’s quote: “One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.” **

God bless.

 

[Prime]

Muslims accept war when there are no other alternatives. They love peace.

Thanks for your honest response.
Just to be as direct and honest with the issue, therefore this makes the attacks of Al Qaida, Hamas and others justified?

 

[Sister_Amy]

Thanks for your honest response.
Just to be as direct and honest with the issue, therefore this makes the attacks of Al Qaida, Hamas and others justified?

Not necessarily.

 

[eichenb2]

Do you agree with this article?

A German’s point of view on Islam
by Dr. Emanuel Tanay, Psychiatrist

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

“Very few people were true Nazis” he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.

"We are told again and again by “experts” and “talking heads” that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the “peaceful majority”, the “silent majority” is cowed and extraneous.

"Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

"And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were “peace loving?”

"History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

"Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

“As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.”
Emanuel Tanay, M. D.

Dr. Emanuel Tanay, MD Wayne State University Ann Arbor, Michigan A clinical professor of psychiatry at the Medical School, Dr. Emanuel Tanay MD is a well-known forensic psychiatrist who has been an expert witness in many famous cases, such as the trials of Jack Ruby, Ted Bundy, Sam Sheppard, and Robert Garwood. He is licensed to practice in Ohio and Georgia, as well as Michigan. Dr. Tanay has served as an officer or committee member of many professional organizations, such as the Michigan Psychiatric Society, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and others. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and of the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry and a distinguished fellow of the APA and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFC). A Holocaust survivor himself, he coauthored a book about the survivors of the Holocaust and was asked by the German government to consult on just compensation for the Holocaust survivors. Dr. Tanay has served on several journal editorial boards, authored many publications, and presented countless times on forensic medicine. His efforts have also produced many awards and commendations from groups such as the Michigan State Medical Society, APA, the Detroit Institute of Technology, and AAFC, among others.

I think the question should be, “Are peace-loving Jews becoming irrelevant?”!

 

[Milliardo]

I wish people would listen to what the Muslims are actually saying… and not what they (the audience) think they (Muslims) are saying.

The essay answers this point very well:

“Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.”

They may love peace, but their silence has become so deafening that they seem to have been cowed into silence by the noisy fanatics.

 

[eichenb2]

The essay answers this point very well:

“Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.”

They may love peace, but their silence has become so deafening that they seem to have been cowed into silence by the noisy fanatics.

Why don’t Jews speak out about the 50+years of Nazi-like concentration camps they run in Gaza and the West Bank. Muslims have spoken ABUNDANTLY against terrorism…unless you live under a rock or are not listening!!!

 

[Milliardo]

Why don’t Jews speak out about the 50+years of Nazi-like concentration camps they run in Gaza and the West Bank. Muslims have spoken ABUNDANTLY against terrorism…unless you live under a rock or are not listening!!!

In fact the article addressed such an issue, in a wider scale:

“Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others (emphasis mine) have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.”

However, we should also not ignore the fact that it is the Muslim fanatics, as the article said, who bomb, behead, murder, and kill on a wide scale. Have you seen any Jew do some suicide bombing recently on some Western target?

As for those who say Muslims speak abundantly–those who do speak up against such things are viewed by their fellow Muslims as “traitors”, “mavericks”, and “non-Muslims”. It seems the fanatics have won in conditioning the majority of Muslims that the only way for Islam to succeed is through the sword…

 

[eichenb2]

In fact the article addressed such an issue, in a wider scale:

“Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others (emphasis mine) have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.”

However, we should also not ignore the fact that it is the Muslim fanatics, as the article said, who bomb, behead, murder, and kill on a wide scale. Have you seen any Jew do some suicide bombing recently on some Western target?

As for those who say Muslims speak abundantly–those who do speak up against such things are viewed by their fellow Muslims as “traitors”, “mavericks”, and “non-Muslims”. It seems the fanatics have won in conditioning the majority of Muslims that the only way for Islam to succeed is through the sword…

Wrong…try again! :dts:

 

[Chancellare]

Why don’t Jews speak out about the 50+years of Nazi-like concentration camps they run in Gaza and the West Bank. Muslims have spoken ABUNDANTLY against terrorism…unless you live under a rock or are not listening!!!

I’m not arguing your views, but can you share some example of the

“Muslims have spoken ABUNDANTLY against terrorism…”?

Peace to all Muslim brothers.

 

[bqsanc]

I’m a Catholic and a human rights defender, but I met several Muslims in Montreal during an international human rights training. Many of them became my friends.

One thing I learned from them is never to look at Islam or Muslims as monoliths. They’re not. Some of them even told me how they oppose the efforts of their fellow Muslims to convert the kafirs (non-Muslims) to Islam.

We respect each other’s beliefs. I did raise questions on their against jihadist terrorism. My Muslim friends were all indignant against the terrorists who hijacked their faith. Try checking this website: facts-not-fear.blogspot.com/2007/04/muslims-speak-out-against-terrorism.html

I can compare their situation to the Austrian and German Catholics who failed to denounce Adolf Hitler or Heinrich Himmler. In his diaries, Himmler claimed to be a devout Catholic, and wrote that he would never turn away from the Church.

The German news magazine Der Spiegel named Himmler as “the greatest mass murderer of all time.”

 

[Chancellare]

I can compare their situation to the Austrian and German Catholics who failed to denounce Adolf Hitler or Heinrich Himmler. In his diaries, Himmler claimed to be a devout Catholic, and wrote that he would never turn away from the Church.

The German news magazine Der Spiegel named Himmler as “the greatest mass murderer of all time.”

Ah, this is not German logic fortunately!
Equating Catholics under Nazi rule with present-day mobile-toting Muslims under free-market rule!:tsktsk::tsktsk::tsktsk:

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Not necessarily.

I read most of the article “How the Arabs see the Jews” and while I can see the point, I still suspect hardline Moslems are hijacking the rest. That doesn’t excuse the West’s record however.

Lawrence of Arabia tried to get the European powers and big American oil companies to recognise Arab independence and rights. But the response was “The Arabs are getting nothing!” In the end he gave up, and became a motor bike mechanic.

Had they listened to him, the world would have been spared much of the problems which so bedevil the Middle East today.

What’s happening now didn’t start to happen when Israel became a state in 1948. It started a long time ago.

 

[Hadi]

islamtoday.com/showmenews.cfm?cat_id=38&sub_cat_id=2356

                       12 September 2009

“If you admit that you are not a scholar of Islam, then how can you issue religious edicts about life and death and apostasy?”*

Sheikh Salman bin Fahad al-Oadah – General Supervisor of IslamToday – during the eighth memorial of the September 11 tragedies, addressed a message to al-Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, considered to be al-Qaeda’s real mastermind, and appealed to him to stop the bloodshed and to seriously reconsider his policies.

al-Oadah, speaking yesterday on his Ramadan television program on MBC entitled Hajar al-Zawiya, began by mentioning an interview he read online that had been conducted with Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri. During the interview, the interviewer had asked al-Zawahiri if he was a scholar of Islam, to which he had replied in the negative. Sheikh al-Oadah said he considered it laudable that a man like al-Zawahiri would admit to this. However, he found it strange that al-Zawahiri, a little later on in the very same interview, made pronouncements on the gravest matters that scholars of Islamic Law are wary to speak about, matters wherein Islamic scholars exercise the greatest of caution and diligence: matters like excommunication, warfare, and killing.

Where is the Respect for Islam’s Scholars?

Sheikh al-Oadah explained that these attacks bring nothing but death, destruction, and ruin. He then quoted a verse of the Qur’an that reads: “O you who believe! Respond to God and to the Messenger when he calls you to what gives you life.” [Qur’an 8:24]

The he said: “In stark contrast [to what the Qur’an teaches], these attacks do nothing but bring death to many people, ruin the lives of many others, and visit ruin upon everything. Therefore, I must ask Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who admits that he is not a scholar of Islam: What is the role of the scholars?”

al-Oadah stressed that throughout all of history, no one who can rightly be called a scholar of Islamic beliefs and Law – neither in Egypt nor Saudi Arabia nor any other country – ever condoned such acts of violence as are now being perpetrated in Islam’s name throughout the Muslim world and elsewhere. Moreover, no scholar would condone the perversion of Islam’s teachings into a violent discourse which makes any human being an enemy to be fought, and thereby justify the mass killing of numerous people. No scholar would condone the abominable act of setting off explosions in a public place or in a mosque, a prayer area, a recreational center, or at a funeral. Indeed, it is wrong to perpetrate such acts of violence even in places of sin. God does not condone wanton killing under any circumstances.

al-Oadah then mentioned a verse of Qur’an that reads: “Do not insult those whom they worship besides God, lest they wrongfully insult God through their ignorance.” [Qur’an 6:108]

He explained that in this verse, God forbids ridiculing the idols worshipped by the polytheists. This is to avoid instigating the idolaters to react by insulting God.

He then posed the question: If this reaction to insulting their false gods is to be avoided, then how much more serious it must be when killing is involved, when the reaction is the death of Muslims? This is what we see in Afghanistan, a country that has lived in the shadow of war for far too long. It is possible that in this most recent of conflicts, more lives have been lost than during the Soviet occupation.

al-Oadah added that Afghanistan is a country which falls far below the poverty line. The opinions of its people were never solicited in the September 11 atrocities, neither the opinions of its religious scholars, nor that of the common masses. They never chose to be implicated. Furthermore, those attacks were far beyond their country’s capabilities. It is a travesty that they are now involved in a war with no end in sight.

A Call to Account

al-Oadah continued by saying: "I address Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri who wrote a book entitled The Bitter Harvest wherein he criticizes the seventy-year experience of the Ikhwan al-Muslimeen. Now, I support the idea that Islamic groups are in need of criticism, criticism that is clear-sighted and transparent, just like nations and their governments are in need of criticism. Yet, al-Zawahiri has written about groups whose decisions brought few consequences that extended beyond their own selves, without serious consequences being brought to bear other groups and nations, certainly not consequences as grave and tragic as those we are now talking about, which have come as a result of al-Zawahiri’s policies.

“Is it not more appropriate for Ayman al-Zawahiri to rethink his own position, as someone who used to belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, most of whose members have now altered their outlook and renounced their violent ways? Does it not make sense, eight years after the September 11 attacks, for Ayman al-Zawahiri to take account of how many people have died as a result of his policies, and of how many Muslim countries have suffered?”

Does He Not Fear God?

al-Oadah continued his message to al-Zawahiri by saying: "Does he not fear God? Does he not fear that, on the Day of Judgment, he will bear the heavy burden of all those who will accuse him, saying: ‘O Lord! Ask him why he killed me without reason!’ "

al-Oadah stressed that self-criticism takes far greater foresight and courage than what it takes to kill others. It takes courage to face up to oneself, to make an honest account of oneself, and to admit when one is wrong.

al-Oadah described the brazen killings as a fire whose destructive path has left every Muslim country suffering in its wake. Today, you find tragic acts of violence erupting in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Somalia.

The Absence of Religious Authority

al-Oadah stressed that many of the young people who are caught up in this violence are not acting out of religious conviction, nor are many of them convinced on an intellectual level. Most of them are acting out of frustration, depression, despair, and alienation. This is what makes these young people susceptible to violent ideologies. This is happening at the same time the mass media keeps saying that Islam is a bloodthirsty religion, on account of the actions perpetrated by some young people who have who have never had a chance to give any genuine thought to what they are doing.

 

[Chancellare]

I read most of the article “How the Arabs see the Jews” and while I can see the point, I still suspect hardline Moslems are hijacking the rest. That doesn’t excuse the West’s record however.

Lawrence of Arabia tried to get the European powers and big American oil companies to recognise Arab independence and rights. But the response was “The Arabs are getting nothing!” In the end he gave up, and became a motor bike mechanic.

Had they listened to him, the world would have been spared much of the problems which so bedevil the Middle East today.

What’s happening now didn’t start to happen when Israel became a state in 1948. It started a long time ago.

Impressive historical insight!

 

[Chancellare]

islamtoday.com/showmenews.cfm?cat_id=38&sub_cat_id=2356

                       12 September 2009

“If you admit that you are not a scholar of Islam, then how can you issue religious edicts about life and death and apostasy*?”

al-Oadah then mentioned a verse of Qur’an that reads: “Do not insult those whom they worship besides God, lest they wrongfully insult God through their ignorance.” [Qur’an 6:108]

He explained that in this verse, God forbids ridiculing the idols worshipped by the polytheists. This is to avoid instigating the idolaters to react by insulting God.

He then posed the question: If this reaction to insulting their false gods is to be avoided, then how much more serious it must be when killing is involved, when the reaction is the death of Muslims? This is what we see in Afghanistan, a country that has lived in the shadow of war for far too long. It is possible that in this most recent of conflicts, more lives have been lost than during the Soviet occupation.

al-Oadah added that Afghanistan is a country which falls far below the poverty line. The opinions of its people were never solicited in the September 11 atrocities, neither the opinions of its religious scholars, nor that of the common masses. They never chose to be implicated. Furthermore, those attacks were far beyond their country’s capabilities. It is a travesty that they are now involved in a war with no end in sight.

A Call to Account

al-Oadah continued by saying: "I address Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri who wrote a book entitled The Bitter Harvest wherein he criticizes the seventy-year experience of the Ikhwan al-Muslimeen. Now, I support the idea that Islamic groups are in need of criticism, criticism that is clear-sighted and transparent, just like nations and their governments are in need of criticism. Yet, al-Zawahiri has written about groups whose decisions brought few consequences that extended beyond their own selves, without serious consequences being brought to bear other groups and nations, certainly not consequences as grave and tragic as those we are now talking about, which have come as a result of al-Zawahiri’s policies.

“Is it not more appropriate for Ayman al-Zawahiri to rethink his own position, as someone who used to belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, most of whose members have now altered their outlook and renounced their violent ways? Does it not make sense, eight years after the September 11 attacks, for Ayman al-Zawahiri to take account of how many people have died as a result of his policies, and of how many Muslim countries have suffered?”

Does He Not Fear God?

al-Oadah continued his message to al-Zawahiri by saying: "Does he not fear God? Does he not fear that, on the Day of Judgment, he will bear the heavy burden of all those who will accuse him, saying: ‘O Lord! Ask him why he killed me without reason!’ "

al-Oadah stressed that self-criticism takes far greater foresight and courage than what it takes to kill others. It takes courage to face up to oneself, to make an honest account of oneself, and to admit when one is wrong.

al-Oadah described the brazen killings as a fire whose destructive path has left every Muslim country suffering in its wake. Today, you find tragic acts of violence erupting in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Somalia.

The Absence of Religious Authority

al-Oadah stressed that many of the young people who are caught up in this violence are not acting out of religious conviction, nor are many of them convinced on an intellectual level. Most of them are acting out of frustration, depression, despair, and alienation. This is what makes these young people susceptible to violent ideologies. This is happening at the same time the mass media keeps saying that Islam is a bloodthirsty religion, on account of the actions perpetrated by some young people who have who have never had a chance to give any genuine thought to what they are doing.

I was almost on the verge of giving up on Islam as a source of redemption for our Muslim brothers. al-Oadah changed my mind on Islam. Scholars like al-Oadah are a beacon of light in the midst of darkness. I am praying that God, the same God of Ibrahim and of Moses, the same God who gave us the Talmud, the Koran and the Bible, will protect him from the forces of darkness that is engulfing Islam.