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My faith Islam is under siege and Muslims are a fair game. But is it really Islam that is causing death and destruction in the World. In fact; it is the Human Rights violation, monarchy/dictatorial rules in Muslim countries supported by the West because it is easier to deal with one person/family than the elected representatives of a nation. Examples of Iran, Turkey, Malasia and Bangla Desh.

If I may say: "It is the OCCUPATION Stupid". Occupation of Palestine by Israel,Occupation of Kashmir by India, Occupation of Chechnya by Russia, Occupation of Iraq by the United States,Occupation of Afghanistan by United States.Islam is being wrongly used by some Muslims to advance their agenda (that I abhore) and by the West to define a NEW ENEMY since the demise of USSR (The Godless Country as we were told to launch Jihad againt).

Islam is innocent, a minority of Muslims using Islam in the pursuit of achieving their political goals, are not. I wish they find leaders who can address these issues with Truth and Humility. How will the West respond if they do? That is the quaestion. So far the record is bad.

My faith Islam is under siege and Muslims are fair game. But is it reaaly Islam that is causing death and destruction in the World. In fact; it is the Human Rights violation, dictatorial rules in Muslim countries supported by the West as it is easier to deal with one person/family to deal with than the elected representatives of a nation. Examples of Iran, Turkey, Malasia and Bangla Desh.

If I may say: "It is the OCCUPATION Stupid". Occupation of Palestine by Israel,Occupation of Kashmir by India, Occupation of Chechnya by Russia, Occupation of Iraq by the United States,Occupation of Afghanistan by United States.Islam is being wrongly used by Muslims to advance their agenda and by the West to define a NEW ENEMY.

Islam is innocent, a minority of Muslims causing death are not. I wish they find leaders who can address these issues with Truth and Humility. How will the West respond if they do? That is the quaestion. So far the record is bad.

This is a joke right? why suddenly all muslims and their supporters do sweet talking and ignoring all the violent of muslims???

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST BENEFICIENT, THE MOST MERCIFUL

HUMANITY

DEAR LORD
I HAVE FOUND YOU

DEAR LORD
HAZAR IMAM
OPENED THE DOOR
AND LET ME IN

DEAR LORD
HAZAR IMAM
REMINDED ME
MY DAY ON EARTH
CONFUSED WITH HUMANITY

DEAR LORD
HAZAR IMAM
SAID READ

HUMANITY

H=HOW CAN THEY UNITE
U=UNDERSTANDING IS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS
M=MANY BELIEVE THEY ARE RIGHT
A=ALL SAY THEY ARE WRONG
N=NOBODY HAS THE ANSWER
I=IMPORTANT IS TO ACCEPT DIVERSITY
T=TELL THEM TO GROW EACH FRUIT SEPARATELY
Y=YET THIS IS HOW FARMERS GROW THEIR FRUIT

DEAR LORD
YOU SAID LEARN FROM
HAZAR IMAM
THE HEAVEN SHALL OPEN
AMEN

http://poetmoezelalji.blogspot.com/

July 5 news roundup of UK terror plot investigation activities and related news:

-- 45 Muslim doctors planned US terror raids. Daily Telegraph reports that "45 Muslim doctors threatened to use car bombs and rocket grenades in terrorist attacks in the United States during discussions on an extremist internet chat site". Police found details of discussion on the British Jihadist web site run by Younis Tsouli ("Terrorist 007"). Jihadists stated "We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America.The first target which will be penetrated by nine brothers is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy." Telegraph believes that is refers to the USS John F Kennedy, which is often at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida. Daily Telegraph states that the Jihadists also referred to using six Chevrolet GT vehicles and three fishing boats and blowing up petrol tanks with rocket propelled grenades. This would support Sky News report on July 4 of British Anglican cleric Canon Andrew White who has said of an April discussion with Al-Qaeda representative where "[h]e told me that they were going to start killing in the UK then the USA".

16 July 2007: The Northeast Intelligence Network was first to confirm during the June 30, 2007 edition of the Homeland Security Report that last month’s failed London car bomb plot had its tentacles reaching far into the United States. Now, NBC24, a television station in Toledo, Ohio is reporting that the FBI has questioned a Muslim doctor who recently moved to Toledo from the UK. Toledo also happens to be the corporate home of KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, an Islamic charity chaired by Hatem El-HADY, a Toledo physician, and a charity that has been the subject of an investigation for its reported ties to terror organizations.

The Toledo doctor was questioned by the FBI on July 4, 2007, less than a week after the failed bomb plot in London. According to information obtained through additional investigation conducted by the Northeast Intelligence Network, authorities are focused on a number of subjects in the U.S., including Muslim doctors, and others in the Toledo area who are also associated with a specific Toledo, Ohio mosque. When contacted by this agency, a spokesperson for the mosque declined to speak with this Northeast Intelligence Network investigator.

The July 4th visit to the unnamed Toledo doctor has prompted Toledo area Muslims to circulate an e-mail warning to Muslim doctors “to be ready for a knock at the door by the FBI,” and urged them to “have an attorney present” when answering questions asked by law enforcement officials. Following up on the investigation in Toledo, this Northeast Intelligence Network investigator spoke to a federal law enforcement official from Cleveland, Ohio who is familiar with the various overlapping investigations in Toledo. [MORE: Click on "read more" above or on article title to continue reading].

Responding to the e-mail being circulated, this law enforcement official stated that this type of “feigned cooperation” by the majority of Muslims, whether they are imams, Muslim community leaders or simply members of the Muslim community “is the norm.” “It has been my experience that it’s not unusual for Muslims to publicly portray a sense of cooperation, yet privately stonewall our investigations by refusing to answer questions, or limit their dialogue with law enforcement to communicating only though an attorney, even for the most basic of questions.”

This federal official, speaking to this investigator on the strict condition of anonymity, expressed his frustration at the misconception of a working dialogue between federal agents and “certain Muslim leaders and their representatives.” If you listen to them, they are actively trying to help us [law enforcement] weed out the bad guys,” stated this source. “That’s not quite the reality of it. There is a lot of stonewalling, unwillingness to share information about possible actions of other Muslims that could have criminal implications, or even ties to terrorism,” he added. “We’re talking about everything from possible terrorist funding to direct or peripheral ties to terrorism. When it comes down to them helping us by providing even some answers to the most basic of questions, there is a tremendous amount of resistance and unnecessary roadblocks. I can say from experience that instead of answering questions openly when asked, we have been put off, told to direct our inquiries to their legal representatives, or simply turned away. To make matters worse, we have been frequently told to ‘lay off’ by higher ups, to avoid causing a PR problem, I guess,” stated this source. “It’s definitely frustrating and the supposed cooperation, at least from my experience, is not being honestly portrayed.”

When asked about the media reports that Muslims are urged by Islamic advocacy groups to fully and truthfully cooperate with law enforcement whenever questioned, this source stated “I wish it was that easy, but it’s not like that at all. There is a tremendous unwillingness for Muslims to talk other Muslims, and it’s getting worse.”

This is not the first time a doctor in Toledo has been questioned or at the center of investigation. In an unrelated case, Dr. Mohammad ANVARI-HAMEDANI, 72, a licensed physician, pleaded guilty last April to 36 counts of money laundering, making illegal money transfers to Iran and tax evasion for sending at least $4 million to his native Iran over a four year period. ANVARI-HAMEDANI was sentenced to 60 days in a community jail and ordered to pay $1.15 million in fines and forfeitures. U.S. District Judge James Carr permitted ANVARI-HAMEDANI to serve his jail time on weekends so that he can continue practicing medicine.

Here is another site that keeps up-to-date on the Brotherhood's activities and mentions the suspect organizations involved in illegal activity.

http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/233/more-gleaned-from-the-holy-land-foundation-exhibits.com

This is the document, I think related to the CURRENT TRIAL.

http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/HLF/US_v_HLF_Unindicted_Coconspirators.pdf

It lists some organizations and people as unindicted coconspirators such as:

VII. The following are individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the US
Muslim Brotherhood:

1. Abdel Rahman Alamoudi
2. Gaddor Ibrahim Saidi
3. Islamic Society of North America, aka ISNA
4. Muslim Arab Youth Association, aka MAYA
5. Nizar Minshar
6. North American Islamic Trust, aka NAIT
7. Raed Awad
8. Tareq Suwaidan

The Muslim Brotherhood's WAR ON THE WEST: 3 of 4

In Britain in 1997, the Muslim Brotherhood founded the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). This group claims to be moderate, and promotes missionary (dawah) work among the young.
Friday, June 15, 2007By Adrian Morgan

In Britain in 1997, the Muslim Brotherhood founded the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). This group claims to be moderate, and promotes missionary (dawah) work among the young. Its founder, Kamal Tawfik Helbawy, was at that time the Brotherhood's European spokesman. Born in Egypt in 1939, he had been a member of the Brotherhood since the age of 12. He co-founded the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) in Saudi Arabia in 1972 with Abdullah bin Laden, Osama's nephew. WAMY is an organization which has been accused of funding terrorist organizations, including Hamas. Kamal Helbawy was WAMY's first president.
In November 1997, in the same year that he had founded MAB, Helbawy helped to found the Muslim Council for Britain (MCB), which was officially inaugurated on March 1, 1998. As Helbawy stated in a 2005 interview: "I played a role in the establishment of the MCB. Our objective was that the MCB should remain independent and its primary function should be to represent and protect the interests of Muslims."

The MCB, whose senior members have supported extremism, enjoyed an unprecedented position with Blair's government, acting as advisers on all things Islamic. In June 2005 its then-secretary general Iqbal Sacranie was given a knighthood by Blair, even though he is an anti-Semite who wishes to see Holocaust Memorial day scrapped. In 1996, Sacranie supported plans to invite Osama bin Laden to the UK to lecture to Muslims, claiming the terrorist was an "Islamic Scholar". Despite boycotting memorials for the Shoah, Sacranie nonetheless attended a memorial service for Sheikh Yassin, the founder of terror group Hamas. This service was held at London's Central Mosque in 2004.

In 2005, the MCB persuaded Blair to introduce a bill which would have outlawed any criticism of Islam, which was neutered by the Lords, parliament's Upper House. In June 2006, the unelected MCB succeeded in persuading the elected Blair government to abandon its 18-month campaign to outlaw forced marriage, which annually affects at least 250 young Muslim girls.

The government has been so manipulated by the claims of the "moderate" Muslims in Britain, that MI6 and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have actively courted the Muslim Brotherhood. The overtures to the Brotherhood have been made through a unit called the Engaging With the Islamic World Group" (EWIG) which was founded in 2003. EWIG is led by a 27-year old former Muslim radical called Mockbul Ali. In July 2006, this group used taxpayers' money to pay Yusuf al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, to attend a conference in Turkey. On July 14, 2005, one week after the London bombings, Mockbul Ali argued that a visa should again be given to Qaradawi. That document and others can be found here.

After the London suicide bombings of July 7, 2005, the Blair government invited Tariq Ramadan, son of Said Ramadan and grandson of Hassan al-Banna, to sit on a working committee. This committee was set up to find ways of preventing radicalism amongst Britain's youth. Ramadan is not even a UK citizen, and according to Jean Charles Brissard, he has had meetings with known terrorists in his native Switzerland. The UK government sponsors a website promoting "the radical middle way" of Islam, where Ramadan has his own page. Tariq Ramadan is still barred from entering to the US, though he insists he is not a Muslim Brotherhood member.

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood

In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has been described as a de facto front of the Muslim Brotherhood." The AMC was an affiliate of the American Muslim Foundation, which was also headed by Alamoudi. Despite this, in June 2002 the FBI called the AMC "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States."

What is of concern is the manner in which Alamoudi persuaded US authorities under two administrations of his reliability. Around 1993, he was an adviser for the Pentagon on which Muslim chaplains should serve in the US military. He continued this role until 1998. From 1997 he acted for the State Department as a "goodwill ambassador" to Muslim countries. He was regularly at the Clinton White House and had advised Hillary Rodham Clinton on managing iftar dinners since 1996. Alamoudi had made donations to the Democrat party but was open to wooing the opposition.

In 1998, as Frank Gafney recounted, right-wing Republican Grover Norquist formed the Islamic Institute, which aimed to recruit Muslim and Arab Americans to support the GOP. Alamoudi made contributions both to the Islamic Institute and later, in 2000 and 2001, he made payments to a lobbying firm connected with Norquist.

Alamoudi's Brotherhood connections were not touted openly, but in August 1997 he was publicly proclaiming on Fox TV that Hamas was a "freedom fighting organization". Hamas had started its first bombings of Israeli civilians in February 1996, a year earlier. On October 28, 2000, Alamoudi attended an anti-Israel protest at Lafayette part outside the White House, where he was caught on video proclaiming "I have been labeled … as being a supporter of Hamas. Anybody supporters of Hamas here? Hear that, Bill Clinton. We are all supporters of Hamas. I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah. Anybody who supports Hezbollah here?"

Shortly afterward the White House outburst, Hillary Clinton returned a donation of $1,000 to her election war chest, which Alamoudi had presented on May 25 of that year. Alamoudi embarked upon at least 10 clandestine trips to Libya. On September 28, 2003 after returning from a multi-stage excursion he was arrested at Dulles International Airport. He was handed an 19-count indictment on October 23, on charges including money laundering, dealing with a prohibited nation.

Alamoudi had been stopped at Heathrow on August 16, 2003 before boarding a flight to Syria, and had $340,000 of Libyan money seized. On July 30, 2004 he pleaded guilty to three charges - violating conditions barring transport to and commerce with prohibited nations (Libya), failure to disclose to IRS his income, and lying to ICE federal investigators. On October 15, 2004, Alamoudi was given a jail sentence of 23 years. He had told officials that he provided Libyan money to London-based Saudi dissidents to finance a plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

Politicians may have been fooled by Alamoudi, who headed sixteen US-based Islamist organizations, but despite what is known of the Muslim Brotherhood's support of terrorism and extremism, US politicians are now openly courting the Brotherhood. On April 5 this year in Egypt. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, the leader of the Brotherhood's 55 members within the Egyptian parliament. Hamdi Hassan, the Brotherhood's spokesman, said Hoyer met with el-Katani once at the parliament building and later at the home of the US ambassador to Egypt.

On May 27, a delegation by four members of the House of Congress again met with Mohammed Saad el-Katatni in Egypt. The delegation was led by David Price, a Democrat who represents North Carolina.

The Enemy Within

While Said Ramadan was establishing European bases for the Muslim Brotherhood in Geneva and Munich, similar actions were being taken in the United States. In 1962, an organization called the "Cultural Society" was set up, the first Muslim Brotherhood body to be formed on American soil. Muslim Brotherhood members are sworn to secrecy when they join up ("kitman" or concealment) so exact details of this group are murky. The Cultural Society mainly drew its recruits from foreign Muslim students at midwestern universities, such as Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The name "Cultural Society" was employed to draw attention away from its Brotherhood identity. The following year, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) was formed by the US Brotherhood, and up until the 1970s, new bodies proliferated.

The website of a newer Brotherhood-founded group, the Muslim American Society (MAS) describes its founders as "pioneers" - "The call and the spirit of the movement reached the shores of North America with arrival of Muslim students and immigrants in the late 1950s and early 1960s. These early pioneers and Islamic movement followers established in 1963 the Muslim Student Association (MSA) of the U.S and Canada as a rallying point in their endeavor to serve Islam and Muslims in North America. Other services and outreach organizations soon followed, such as the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the Islamic Medical Association (IMA), the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA) and the Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA), to name a few."

All of the groups listed above were formed by the Muslim Brotherhood. MYNA was founded by Ahmed Elkadi, who was the US Brotherhood's treasurer from the 1970s until 1984, when he became its president. He held this position until 1995, but has since left the Brotherhood. He did not resign from his position as president of the US Ikhwan - he was pushed.

Other groups were founded by the US Brotherhood later - the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was formed in the 1980s as an outgrowth of the Muslim Students Association (MSA).

The Muslim American Society, under Brotherhood leadership, was incorporated in 1993 in Illinois. The decision to incorporate the MAS was made at a meeting of 40 Ikhwan (MB) members at a hotel near the Alabama-Tennessee state line. Shaker Elsayed, an leader within MAS, has admitted the Brotherhood had founded the Muslim American Society, saying: "Ikhwan members founded MAS, but MAS went way beyond that point of conception."

MAS is based in Falls Church, Virginia, the same town where Abdurahman Alamoudi lived. Five miles away in Alexandria lay the US headquarters of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth or WAMY, which was co-founded by a Brotherhood member, Kamal Helbawy. On Friday May 28, 2004 the WAMY offices were raided by agents of the FBI, ICE and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. An affidavit from a customs agent claimed that one WAMY publication included a section entitled "Animosity Toward the Jews", and stated: "The Jews are humanity's enemies: they foment immorality in this world." The affidavit mentioned links with WAMY and the terrorist group Hamas.

The director of MAS' "Freedom Foundation", Mahdi Bray, pushed for the release of a Falls Church Citizen, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who had been accused of plotting to assassinate George W. Bush in al al-Qaeda plot. Ali, who had been educated at the Saudi-funded Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, was convicted on November 22, 2005 and sentenced to 30 years' jail on March 29, 2005.

MAS, which has 10,000 members in 53 chapters across the US, is also involved in the disputes at Minneapolis-St Pauls airport, where Somali taxi drivers have refused to carry passengers with alcohol. Three quarters of the 900 drivers are Muslim, mostly from Somalia. Last year, 5,400 potential rides were turned down because passengers had alcohol. The Metropolitan Airport Commission sought guidance from Muslims, and a fatwa was made by the MAS. Khalid Elmasary declared: "It is expressly stated. Transportation of alcohol for Muslims is against the Islamic faith, and therefore forbidden." The issue still has not been resolved.

It is sometimes hard to work out if such Muslim "representatives" are really following the ways of the prophet, or are following the plans laid out in Muslim Brotherhood's "Project" manifesto for gaining national and global power.

Mahdi Bray, who is based in Washington DC where he has a radio talk-show, is accused of taking part in protests were calls for the death of Jews. Steve Emerson in his book American Jihad stated that at the October 28 2000 rally for Hezbollah and Hamas at Lafayette Park, "Mahdi Bray, stood directly behind Alamoudi and was seen jubilantly exclaiming his support for these two deadly terrorist organizations." Three weeks earlier, Bray had "coordinated and led a rally where approximately 2,000 people congregated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.... at one point during the rally, Mahdi Bray played the tambourine as one of the speakers sang, while the crowd repeated: 'Al-Aqsa is calling us, let's all go into jihad, and throw stones at the face of the Jews."

Bray, who was awarded a Congressional Black Caucus award in September last year, has issued a press release claiming "victory" in the settlement of vindictive lawsuit launched by the Islamic Society of Boston, which attacked 16 organizations and individuals, including Steve Emerson.

There was no settlement agreed between the parties - the Islamic Society of Boston mysteriously dropped its lawsuit, which claimed "defamation", on May 29, 2007. With MAS coming to its defense, and with Muslim Brotherhood member Abdurahman Alamoudi listed as one its founders and trustees, with the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi as another early trustee, it is not unreasonable to assume that the Islamic Society of Boston began its life in 1982 as another outreach of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2002, Qaradawi appeared by videolink at an ISB fund-raising event.

The ISB, which is building the largest mosque in Eastern United States at Roxborough, Boston, was in January 2006 defended by Arsalan Iftikhar, the legal director of the Council of American Relations (CAIR), who said: "Unfortunately, I see the Boston case as indicative of a growing trend in anti-Muslim rhetoric that has grown after 9/11." It should be noted that the two co-founders of CAIR, Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad, were officials of the Islamic Association for Palestine, which was established by Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzook, and has been called a "Hamas Front". Nihad Awad and Ahmed Bedier, head of CAIR's Florida chapter, have both openly pledged their support for Hamas, which itself is derived from the Muslim Brotherhood.

With its previous links to Muslim Brotherhood members, ISB may be thankful that it was not listed as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a plot to fund Hamas. This has been the recent fate of CAIR. In a trial in Dallas, Texas, Ghassan Elashi, the head of CAIR's Texas chapter, is accused with a staggering list of co-conspirators. Elashi was also head of Texas branch of the outlawed Holy Land Foundation. The indictment maintains that other officials from the Texas branch of the Holy Land Foundation, had conspired with numerous others to supply funds to Hamas. Ghassan Elashi and his brothers Bayan and Basman were convicted of "conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists" on April 13, 2005. Elashi was given a seven year sentence on October 13, 2006.

The named co-conspirators include eight Muslim Brotherhood individuals and organizations: Abdurahman Alamoudi, Gaddor Ibrahim Saidi, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), Nizar Minshar, North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), Raed Awad and Tareq Suwaidan. The trial will begin on July 16. The trial will hopefully clarify further the exact roles of CAIR, and also the mysterious American contingent of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not a body to be trusted. It claims peace and moderation, while simultaneously planning to conquer the globe by fair means or foul. It propagates anti-Semitism, and justifies and supports the murder of Israeli civilians. Its current motto is: "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." Those politicians who try to do deals with such a group are betraying not only the people who elected them and the nations they serve, but they jeopardize the security of the Western world at large.

This article was also published at FamilySecurityMatters.org

Wow, what a change from the normal media habit of plastering suicide bombers on the front page and tying it in with the Muslim Call for Prayer. I have often written to media outlets saying that Yes, Muslims do speak out, but it falls on deaf ears. It is so nice to see your portfolio, Muslims Speak Out. What a great service you are doing, not for Muslims, but for all people who simply want to understand each other and live in peace.

Sincerely,

It is indeed a great effort and a noble endeavor by Washington Post to start this dialogue.

Actually, Muslims voices are suffocated and are not being heard. No media, electronic, print or otherwise project or publish Muslim voices. Muslims of the world are screaming, begging, and asking for PEACE, JUSTICE, HUMAN RIGHTS, HEALTH CARE, FOOD TO EAT, A PLACE TO LIVE, AND DEMOCRACY.

But unfortunately, no one is listening. Tell me how many muslims writings, lectures, voices and pleas, do you hear. None, because people in power want to subjugate them for their land and for their resources.

Some of my comments (in quotes) are derived from an article posted on "www.muslimbridges.org".Those without any religion are not encouraged to read this comment as it requires some basis in faith (of any kind) to understand my personal view. It is by no means a universal view, just an individual experience to share. This indeed is a much needed topic for discusion and I greatly appreciate WashingtonPost's Ms. Sally Quinn and Mr. Jon Meacham efforts for doing this courageous and timely series. I became a practicing muslim in United states, this land of the free , and I highly admire this nations "sense and respect of an individual's freedom". Many people's negative experieces of Islam,including those of muslims who have faced opression/lack of discipline etc in their own ethnic backgrounds like "Hirsi Ali" stem from their experiences in their individual back grounds. Those practices are unfortunately not "Islamic" and mostly based on local customs and traditions. Sadly, not many of us "born muslims" strive to study the religions, do comparative studies, and learn to respect everyone (nor only those who share our faith), like Islam mandates. When faced with a question, our lame reply is, " I don't know, I don't practice this or that," or "this is how we were taught". Unfortunately, the more educated we become, in a wordly sense of being professionals or highly sucessful individuals, the more we ignore religion, thinking who needs it! or even worse, we learn from hearsay and practice whatever fits in our busy life styles. 90% of our practices are to please other people or compete with them in some way to ensure our wordly superiority. My waking moment came when I understood, " the one most superior to God is the one who is most God conscious". It has nothing to do with my appearnace, my beauty,wealth, however blessed I may appear to be to those arround me, but it entirely depends on the purity of my intentions, my true intentions, which only God can judge, and with that in mind, how can I justify any harmful act to myself or others. Learning and gaining knowledge is a fundamental requirement of being a muslim and not knowing your religion is not a choice. Coming to America made it possible for me to understand the beauty of my faith and that got rid of so many prejudices that I harbored , not knowing I was wrong to judge any one, as only God knows who is who !. As a muslim, I condemn the loss of innocent lives, be it muslims, Jews or christians. It has nothing to do with anyone's faith. It has everything to do with one's understanding of their own faith. A religious person, who fears God, can never commit act of terrorism. The aggressors who commit such acts may only intend to attack the religion itself. "All three Theistic religions command love, mercy, and peace. Terror on the other hand, is the opposite of religion;it is cruel, merciless and it demands bloodshed and misery. This being the case, while looking for the perpetrators of a terrorist act, its origins should be sought in disbelief rather than in religion. People with fascist,communist, racist or materialistic outlook on life should be suspected as potential perpetrators. The name and identity of the triggerman is not important" (by Harun Yahaya, website mentioned above), Sadly muslim nations are in a miserable state today because the majority have their so called faith without a strong foundaton of knowledge of religion . Those few, who have knowledge and wisdom, whatever their faith be, have and will always make this world a better place.

Thank you so much for running this much needed series which provides some much needed depth to the discussion about Islam in America. Many Muslims regularly speak out against all forms of extremism and violence, but somehow their voices have not been heard. This sort of balanced coverage may help to change that.

Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Banquet Hosted in Honor of Governor Perry, Houston, June 23, 2002

Governor Perry,
First Lady of Texas, Anita Perry,
Mayor Wallace,
Leaders and representatives of the Congress of the United States, the State of Texas and the City of Houston,
Consuls General,
Distinguished Guests

I will begin with an apology. I request your indulgence because following a good deal of food for the stomach I am going to use this occasion to dish up a fairly heavy serving of food for thought. I do so because this is the first time I have had the opportunity to speak publicly in the United States about the events of September 11th of last year. Since then many perspectives have been articulated in many settings - diplomatic, academic, the media, and in public opinion as expressed in the streets and measured in opinion polls.

That the acts of September 11th and all that is behind them are repugnant to the very spirit of Islam and to the beliefs and yearnings of the vast majority of Muslims around the world is beyond question. In the words of the Quran it is as if the entirety of humankind had suffered a death with every life that was so brutally ended. The shared destiny of the ethos of the Abrahamic tradition that unites Christians, Jews and Muslims is governed by the duty of loving care to help nurture each life that is born to its God-given potential.

But the cacophony of voices, both in the West and the Islamic world, has generated a great deal of confusion about the broader meaning of the events of September 11th. This confusion has outcomes that are potentially dangerous for relations between countries as well as for the safety and security of individuals as they go peacefully about their daily lives.

Some years ago, Professor Samuel Huntington warned of an impending "clash of civilisations" between the West and the Islamic world as the next great confrontation following the end of the Cold War.

My position is somewhat different. It is based on my perspective as the leader of a Muslim community that now lives in the West as well as in the Islamic world, and from an engagement in international dialogue, development and cross-cultural education for more than forty years. What we are now witnessing is a clash of ignorance, an ignorance that is mutual, longstanding, and to which the West and the Islamic world have been blind for decades at their great peril.

For a number of years I have voiced my concern that the faith of a billion people is not part of the general education process in the West - ignored by school and college curricula in history, the sciences, philosophy and geography. An important goal of responsible education should be to ringfence the theologising of the image of the Muslim world by treating Muslims as it treats Christians and Jews, by going beyond a focus on theology to considering civil society, politics, and economics of particular countries and peoples at various points in their history. This will reveal the fundamental diversity and pluralism of Muslim peoples, cultures, histories, philosophies and legal systems. The Aga Khan University's newly established Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations in London will address these issues directly, as have the programmes of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture with respect to the field of architecture, and more recently music. Repositioning theology with respect to the normal forces of human society will help develop the understanding that Muslims too live in the real world and have to contend with the same issues of life - of poverty, hunger, tragedy and civil conflict as all others in the developing world.

Within the Islamic world there is work to do as well, starting with a better understanding and appreciation of the pluralism of cultures and interpretations among Muslims.

The legacy is rich, a source of strength, and needs to be encouraged and celebrated. It is also crucial that the Islamic world develops a creative and reasoned response to the impact of Western popular culture, which coupled with the dominance of modern electronic media by Western corporations, poses a serious threat to local and national identities and cultures, and their creative and sustainable evolution.

I will stop here, although there is much more to say. I warned you that my serving of food for thought would be heavy, and I hope that it has not caused indigestion. But I do feel that it is vital that we reduce the ignorance that contributes to misunderstanding and can feed conflict. The good news is that this is a process that each of us in this room can contribute to whatever our vocations or positions in life, whether through small individual initiatives or major projects. Please do join me in this important endeavor.

This is what Muslims need nowadays. We need to start talking and establish a dialogue about the real Islam; which not about bombing and terrorism, but rather, about peace, tolerance, help the needy, and compassion etc. Those in charge of this task are the leaders of communities, as their influence on their people should impact positively on supporting this graceful initiative. But also, I think normal Muslims should participate and add value to this endeavor.

I do appreciate your efforts to clear the common misunderstanding about Islam and pray that may Almighty God grants you strength to achieve success and excellence and your efforts be blessed.

sorry my blog is

http://poetmoezelalji.blogspot.com/

thank you

moeze

Please check out my blog to see how a disabled person sees faith and how i am exploring the Bible and the Quran as a source of therapy. I see no conflict between the two.I am grateful to The Aga Khan for making me a better person.

my poems are updated daily for sharing with the world. I write for charity with Chipmunkapublishers.

thank you

I am sure that the "intention" of the Muslim people is peace. The thing I am not sure of is why we (in this case meaning peace-loving non-Muslims) spend so much time debating Muslim RE-action to actions taken against them in their own countries.

I truly believe that more information must be conveyed to our citizens about this Military-Industrial complex that our tax dollars are supporting, so we can better understand that all this RE-action.

It is a real shame that our political leaders, who claim to be Christian, still would have us to believe that the sin is only in the re-action.

Thank you very much for this informative and necessary series. While not a scholar (I have law, comparative religion and theology degrees, however), I have spent a life time studying a teaching the great religions. It is constantly distressing to witness the terrible ignorance of the American public. Hopefully this series will help somewhat in that regard.

Koran is word of God and therefore as a matter of principle, no human being can refuse to accept it. It sounds good but the confusion starts only here. If it is word of God then every human being should be able not only to understand it clearly but understand it in exactly same manner. But that is not the case. I find not only ordinary folks but even Islamic Scholars differ from each other. The difference in understanding and interpretation is most of the times so serious that there appear totally conflicting views. Then what happens to the word of God which, in theory, can not be altered by any human being even by a comma or a full stop?

I cannot take time at this moment to read "Muslims Speak out" but I am putting it at the top of my "must read" list.

Why doesn't the whole, peace loving, violence hating Islam body, turn on the terrorists collectively and get rid of them? Sort of a necessary holy war within the religion. Then no innocent people die.

Why doesn't the whole, peace loving, violence hating Islam body, turn on the terrorists collectively and get rid of them? Sort of a necessary war within the religion. Then no innocent people die.

Thank you for precipitating a discussion on what it means to be a Muslim living in America.

And having a week dedicated to Muslims "SpeakOut" by leading scholars. Though many voices and some greater authority like Imam Zaid Shakir and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson were unfortunately left out.

Nonetheless, I greatly welcome this discussion and applaud WashingtonPost's Ms. Sally Quinn and Mr. Jon Meacham for doing this courageous and timely series; and only hope more of this is encouraged in the near future.

Warm regards,

Ali Yaqif

Napoleon’s entry in Egypt, Ottoman’s contacts with Europe, British rule in India and above all the model of secular America and France had propelled reformation in Islamic regions in the 19th.Century. After the fall of the Ottomans, their region of influence was being replaced by secular forces. Kemal Ata Turk, Mohammad Ali Jinah, Soekarno, Nasser etc were secular leaders, who helped Muslims achieve freedom from colonialism. One of the main reasons was that the Muslims had realized that their fall from power and entry into stagnation and ultimately subjugation by the colonial forces was Mullah’s doing.
On the world seen, after centuries of religious cooling and reformation, the secular world decided to violate the principles of secularism and decided to promote the ideas of countries on the basis of religion. Subsequent Palestinian plight was new ammunition for the mullahs to revive interest in ritualism, and banish reasoning from social morality.
In the Islamic world, the corrupted puppets of colonial powers managed to regroup in the guise of democratic forces. Shariaism, Zionism, double standards in the implementation of UN resolutions, the use of oil money to promote a medieval culture, western dependence on oil, use of religion to fight USSR in Afghanistan etc. thwarted the democratic movements in Islamic countries before grass root institutions could get hold. Above all, all of the above seeded the revival of Islamism.
If the world wants to extricate itself from the present doldrums, the Zionism, Shariaism, Christian evangelism, and other religious movements should be discouraged from starting a fight among God loving people. Most of all resolve the Israeli and Palestinian conflict as soon as possible, justly and conscientiously.

dear sir/madam
why westren world support the brutal dictators and corrupted leaders in muslim world and whenever muslim people choose in free election and islamist candidates the westren world feel fear and outrage the outcome and try to punish new leaders simply they have islamic agenda isn't it doublestandard rejecting demacratic principle which is people should choose their leaders