Islamaphobia: The Anti-Semitism of Today

worldwidewadi, what rot! Either it is free speech or it is censorship. Seig Hiel Mien Furher! all the best urban

Thanks, I appreciate your post and yes, slander's ok and is freedom of speech when it relates to Islam and Muslims, unfortunately.

lawfully speaking, here in America there are laws that protect people against slander and libel. Further, how come whenever African-Americans, Jews and Gays, whenever someone says anything against them it's seen as racist/libel slander? Is it not free speech when someone says "Israel is an oppressive state?" Oh of course not, that's clearly ANTI-SEMITIC. And I ask you how? Is it not free speech for one to say they hate gays? Was it not during the 1950's that Nazi-sympathizers marched through Skokie, Illinois? However, when it comes to Gays, Jews and African-Americans it's not considered freedom of speech? Also, was it not freedom of speech (symbolic) during the Texas v. Johnson case that was established as lawful? Yet, when people criticize the US government, they're seen as un-Patriotic, "helping the enemy," "un-American"---all of which we've heard during the Red Scare. I do not believe that slander=free speech. There is a distinct difference.

you need to define who "their" is. You cannot just whitewash all Muslims as "terrorist/extremists." No where in Islam does it say to enforce Islamic beliefs on others, in fact as I had said earlier in the Quran it says "let there be no compulsion in religion." For thousands of years Christians, Jews and Muslims lived in peace and were allowed to practice their respective religions peacefully under the rule of Muslim rulers. These extremists do not hate America and their way of life. How retarded is it to claim "they hate us because of our freedoms"? You need to read a book called After Jihad by Noah Feldman. It discusses why those under regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere are frustrated and turning to terrorism in order to bring about a change. We need to study historical trends that have brought us to what we have today and what has developed in the world. Every problem we see today in the Middle East and ultimately in all conflict regions can be traced back to imperialism, colonialism, and failed foreign policies. People often fear that which they don't understand. If you were to read up on Islam and educate yourself about Islam you'd realize that most of the actions done by extremists today have nothing to do with Islam at all. And often what we see in the Middle East is often a distortion of Islam or merely a cultural trend that has nothing to do with Islam. You have nothing to fear from Islam or Muslims. If all Muslims were as "evil" as the media claims, why do we not hear of violent crimes by Muslims against non-Muslims in the US? Granted there are a few random individuals out there but not as rampant as in the Middle East. And once again I stress that we study history in order to understand why things are the way they are in the Middle East. And what do you mean by "Islam's idea of womenhood"?

wow, that video is something that sounds like it came out of Bush's playbook. Please don't blindly believe what's put on the internet and spewed by the media...it's best to read news from overseas from other nations, which have alternate points of views. I swear, we need to educate ourselves and not blindly believe the media. After all there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq right? Right?

figures...it's a neo-con, conservative website...but that's a moot point as I was saying before Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, just as the KKK had nothing to do with Christianity. America needs to differentiate between the peaceful Muslims and the extremists if they're ever to win the War on Terror. As long as you alienate peaceful Muslims from this process you've basically already lost yourself the war. I can't believe neo-cons are still spewing this fear campaign...haven't they learned their lessons from their war-mongering in Iraq and Afghanistan? And I guess Osama Bin Forgotten....

The problem is that unfortunately, some Muslims don't follow Islam correctly and often you'll see them doing un-Islamic things that have nothing to do with Islam, Some Muslims mix culture and tradition and outsiders think that's Islam. Yes, Islam has been distorted by rulers in the Arab countries to control the masses. But that doesn't mean Islam as a religion is bad. One thing that's often misunderstood by Muslims and non-Muslims alike is that Sharia is merely the "do's and don'ts" of Islam and are based upon Quran and Sunnah (the way of the Prophet Muhammad). Sharia applies to Muslims and as long as they follow it they're fine. They don't need to apply it to non-Muslims. Some see a utopian society under Sharia, but I don't see that as viable in the near future, there's way too much corruption in these Arab governments.

Thnx so much for responding back. I do not think that Islam as a religion is bad but you are absolutely correct when you say ‘Some see a utopian society under Sharia, but I don't see that as viable in the near future’…not only for corruption, but world society today has changed a million times since the days the Arab were united under Islam. In order to survive peacefully, we all need to work towards democratic secular societies and religion should be kept within our homes and places of worship. Similarly, there are many ideas of the sharia which should no longer be applicable in today’s society (eg: witness of two women is equivalent to that of one man or talaq thrice is equivalent to divorce) and such. Muslims are so much an integral part of the world and the change towards modern education, technology, jobs etc should come from within the society itself and for that, the very first misconception that should be done away with is that modernization will dilute Islam…no it cannot be, Islam is not so weak. Instead modernization and assimilation will lift the Islamic world from the deep abyss it finds itself in today.

Actually Arabs are considered Semites too...so Israelis could be considered anti-Semitic too since they don't particularly like Arabs... Also, criticizing the state of Israel is not anti-semitism, it's just the same as criticizing any other nation... And any time you mix religion with government, don't expect people to be like "oh no, we can't criticize them, they must be perfect angels, they're a RELIGIOUS government,"(religion's been distorted and used to control the masses)rather Israel is a secular nation officially, but with a Jewish population. Zionism was a secular movement that sought to create a SECULAR Jewish state. Herzl never envisioned a religious state and never wanted Hebrew to be the official language. He sought to create a nation based upon the European model of a state.

I already explained the reason for "Arab aggression." And those regimes are supported by the US, how are the people meant to create democracies when these regimes are funded and supported by the US? People there are YEARNING for democracy. And Israel is no exception to human rights abuses, that's another reason for "Arab aggression"----the bombing of Lebanon in 2006, the bombing of Lebanon in 1982, the Shabra and Shatila massacres, and the continual occupation of Palestinian lands in violation of Resolution 141. Likewise, I'm not saying the Palestinians are angels either, they have their faults and atrocities as well, but what do you expect when you oppress a people for so long? It's similar to starving and beating a dog, would you not expect it to bite back?

Positiveminded, I'm not so far from your home :) Education is a key to good culture and behavior. Muslims are somewhat less in education, that may be the reason those people behaving in such ways. But we can't say it's all bombing is Muslims, there are non-Muslims as well in violence and Bombings in India. Some of them are still not found out who are the people behind it, some have just some assumptions. I suspect it may be the ideas of some political leaders, carry out in secret using third parties. Thanks for the comments. Peace.

Hi Harley, I remember reading somewhere that SIMI is suspected of it. There is something about SIMI here. http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/13george.htm But nothing is clear as of now. It could be some damn politicians too. However, it is true that Muslims have a very bad reputation for terrorism. Looks like when Christians have stopped killing everybody, Muslims have started. I actually have nothing against Muslims or Islam or even against Christians or Christianity. These blasts specially shocked me because I might have been one of the victims. I used to live in those areas (Forum Mall and Madivala). Plus, I read in the papers that they had planned to blow up Mangalore too. So, any one of us, including me, could have been the victims. I don't think Muslims are behind in education. I have taught so many Muslim boys and girls. And I know at least two lady Muslim professors. Most Muslim people are just ordinary people like anybody else, and only they can stop all this nonsense. Only people who belong to a particular religion can remove the ills in it. Cheers and happy mylotting

Employment problems are for the entire country, not just for Muslims. We have a nice mixed masala here - we have hindus, christians, muslims, jainas, buddhists, sikhs, and god knows what else. Why do only Muslims plant bombs and kill innocent people? That's why we have Islamaphobia here. Muslims alone are responsible for what other people think of them. So, it is up to Muslims to educate themselves and better their behavior toward other people. We will then naturally stop being terrified and stop associating bombs and terrorism with Islam. Cheers and happy mylotting

"the creation of Israel and US support which has alienated and frustrated Arabs and Muslims alike." Yes, frustrated Arab aggression. "First it'd be good to start differentiating Muslims from extremists and take those moderate Muslims as allies in the War on Terror." Let moderate Muslims first condemn their extremist fellow Muslims, until they do that they are give tacit support to those extremists. "helping these poor Muslim nations economically would eradicate the threat of terrorism" Many of these nations would not be poor if there rich and greedy leaders shared some of the wealth the nation produces with its population. all the best urban

ok.... Point #1: Muslims have condemned the terrorist acts...they just haven't gotten air time because the media loves action-packed, fear-filled news stories (similarly, should the entire US population apologize for the unjust Iraq war?) Point #2: Do you SERIOUSLY think these regimes have the people's well-being in their hearts? And it's really REALLY not helping that the US is propping up these oppressive dictators/regimes. Point #3: NO ARAB NATION, has yet to attack Israel, so far it's been empty threats. And let me emphasize NATION, not organization, terrorist group, etc. I beg to differ on the "Arab aggression" statement. Do you really think that if, hypothetically, Texas were to become an independent Mexican state, American's would be particularly happy? And all white-Texans were to be either forced out and placed in neighboring countries in refugee camps, those states would be happy? Or if they were forced to live in certain areas of Texas and not allowed to move between them? Do you really think white-Americans would be happy with the treatment of the white-Texans? I think not...thus, Arabs were frustrated with the fact that a new nation was being enforced upon Arab populations and caused a mass exodus of Palestinians and caused there to be massive refugee camps to be built in neighboring countries. That really doesn't make people happy, when they have an influx of people they need to take care of, who are not a part of their country and becomes another economic burden upon them.

I've already answered your question in another post. Terrorism is not exclusive to any one people or religion. There is nothing, as I have told you before in the Quran or sunnah (way of Muhammad) that encourages terrorism. Your glib question of "why are all Muslims terrorists" is not taking into account years of history. It is such an ignorant question, before you ask that question you need to study the trends of Middle East history. First things first, you need to ask yourself a few questions: 1)Why is there so much Terrorism and hatred towards the US? ---This is not a recent phenomenon, look back at Middle East history and you'll find your answers, one of which is the creation of Israel and US support which has alienated and frustrated Arabs and Muslims alike. Not to mention the terrible job the colonial powers did in drawing the borders of these nations, why do you think there's civil war in Iraq and Lebanon? 2) Does Islam have or support terrorism? ---See Quran (5:32) ---also, Muhammad disapproved of and condemned any killing of innocent civlians (see hadith for more details) 3) So then if Islam does not support terrorism, what is these extremists' motivation? --It's a combination of misinformation, misinterpretation of Islam (and mixing of culture/tradition with Islam) and also economic and political troubles in the Middle East. Most people in the Middle East are frustrated, poor and disgruntled with their oligarchies and monarchies they live under. And also failed economies, huge gaps between rich and poor and how they perceive US foreign policy. Most actually, you may find surprising want democracy and want a positive change to occur with democracy(to rid themselves of their despots). However, as there is no support from the US to encourage this in their nations, they resort to violence and ultimately they see the source of their troubles as the US and it's allies as supporters of these despots, oligarchies and monarchies. 4) How can we rectify this problem? ---First it'd be good to start differentiating Muslims from extremists and take those moderate Muslims as allies in the War on Terror. And touting around these terms "Islamist," "Islamofascists," "Islamic terrorism," aren't exactly the most flattering of terms for moderate Muslims as they feel they're being whitewashed as terrorists/extremists as well. Also, good foreign policy would be to promote democracy and capitalism in Muslim countries through economic means and not so blatantly (i.e. through military means) as that only furthers/supports the extremists' cause and they essentially build a larger following as they say "I told you so, the US is against us." Peaceful and economic ways are possible to promote democracy and capitalism. Also, helping these poor Muslim nations economically would eradicate the threat of terrorism as most of the extremist recruits come from poor, disgruntled and frustrated peoples. If people have jobs and are well-off, and educated it will create a stronghold against extremist influence. It's analogous to the ghettos here in the US. If you were to educate and get those living in ghettos into schools and get jobs, they'd be less likely to commit crimes. So we need to look to history first and look at events in context before we draw conclusions and make assumptions. We need to study US foreign policy, Middle East history and the US involvement there and study trends to fully understand what has brought things to what they are today.