Muslim scholar: Don't excuse hate speech

[pistoff democrat]

An American Muslim scholar finds it "condescending" to dismiss hate speech from Muslim leaders as "rhetorical" while holding Christian and Jewish leaders to higher standards of discourse.

"For a long time, Muslim American organizations have been allowed to get away with all kinds of hate speech against the U.S., against Jews, against Christians -- all forms of anti-Semitism -- and somehow it's been accommodated within the whole program of multiculturalism," Ahmed al-Rahim told a forum at the Ethics and Public Policy Center this week.
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Al-Rahim said many American Muslims are afraid to condemn violence and hate speech. "I'll give you a concrete example. One of our board members (Tarek Masoud) published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Sept. 14 (2001) after the attacks, basically apologizing to America for what had happened and apologizing for the reaction of the American Muslim organizations in not condemning these attacks right away."

Al-Rahim said Masoud received no fewer than 20 death threats. When Al-Rahim arranged to meet Masoud, the latter -- fearing al-Rahim would assassinate him -- sent e-mails to friends saying, "I'm meeting with Ahmed al-Rahim. If anything happens ..."


http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031125-043542-6436r

[vierundzwanzig]

1. Everybody needs to face up

to their own demons. After 9/11 there were plenty of death threats to go around. Most of them against muslims.

[Classical_Liberal]

2. Nobody is claiming hate speech from muslims rhetorical

I don't see any christian and Jewish careers ruined over hate speech directed at muslims.

[xchrom]

3. ain't that the truth

the west has it's boot in middle east butt for a long time -- and when the people of the middle vigorously protest it's called ''hate speech''.
let's see -- let's move all people{by force} out of the state of massuchusets and let first nations people who were originally from there have that land.
can you imagine the ''speech'' that would flow from that act?
it's amazing to me tha tpeople still blame the victim in the israel/palastine debacle. displaced people will never be at peace -- unless they have attained some real justice.

[forgethell]

4. The Palestinians

& Muslims need to get a grip. they're over here now. when in Rome, you know. Whatever the justice of their cause, it is not helped by offending the people that you live among. If they indulge in hate, it will return on their heads. that's the way the world works.

[drdon326]

5. This is a very brave man.

I wish him well.

[JohnLocke]

6. Great article!

[Paschall]

7. UPI

<snip> The Iraqi-American community was very involved in lobbying for the war to topple Saddam Hussein, al-Rahim said.

"We lobbied Congress. We lobbied individuals in the Pentagon and other places. We felt this was a way we could bring about change in the Muslim world." He said a Zogby poll before the war showed that 60 percent of Arab Americans were for it. He called the effort "a victory for Iraqi lobbyists."

"If the U.S. cuts and runs, it's going to be a disaster not only for Iraq but for the region," he said.

Al-Rahim was in Iraq for two months this summer working on education. </snip>