Islamic leader condemns Fort Hood violence
Ali Gomaa, the grand mufti of Egypt, is one of the most influential voices in Islam. Moderate by Islamic standards but not by those of the West, he has repeatedly expressed frustration that many Westerners pay so much attention to the extremists, as if they wanted to confirm their worst thoughts about Islam.
Writing in the Washington Post, Gomaa expresses his outrage at last week’s tragedy in Texas:
“I was shocked as any sensible human being was when I learned about the senseless, appalling and cowardly act of violence in Fort Hood. This horrific attack is a complete violation of Islamic law and norms and the perpetrator is no way representative of the Muslim people or the religion of Islam. God upholds the sanctity of life as a universal principle. “and do not kill one another, for God is indeed merciful unto you” says the Quran in (4:29). Islam views murder as both a crime punishable by law in this world and as major sin punishable in the Afterlife as well. Prophet Mohammad said, “The first cases to be decided among the people on the Day of Judgment will be those of blood-shed”
The Islam that we were taught in our youth is a religion that calls for peace and mercy. The first prophetic saying that is taught to a student of Islam is “Those who show mercy are shown mercy by the All-Merciful. Show mercy to those who are on earth and the One in the heavens will show mercy to you.” What we have learned about Islam has been taken from the clear, pristine, and scholarly understanding of the Qur’an, “O people we have created you from a single male and female and divided you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.” When God said “to know one another” He did not mean in order to kill one another. All religions have forbidden the killing of innocents. To kill an innocent human being is tantamount to killing the entire humanity.”
Over the weekend, Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, warned about jumping to conclusions. “I think the speculation could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And what happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here,” Casey said.
Gomaa makes a similar point. “Blaming an entire religion because of the acts of this not-well man is patently unfair and serves no purpose,” he says. “It is important for us at this time of great sadness to stand together and process this horrific incident in a way that is fair and reasonable. It is important that we do not demonize Muslims without cause not because it is good for Muslims, but because our future ability to coexist in peace depends on it.”
NOTE: Please conduct yourself in the debate below with at least a modicum of respect for the faith of others.
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511 comments Add your comment
Pogo
November 9th, 2009
4:36 pm
This is all well and good but, actions speak louder than words Jay. One must draw conclusions based upon the evidence and the evidence is that todays terrorists are by and large Muslim fanatics. And judging by the anti-western/anti-infidel vitriole that is dished out daily in the Mosques both here and abroad, it seems this may just another case of paying lip service to perceived weak enemy. And where exactly were those 9-11 terrorists from again? Oh, that’s right. Egypt.
Brad Steel
November 9th, 2009
4:36 pm
…he has repeatedly expressed frustration that many Westerners pay so much attention to the extremists…
Please pass this message along to Mr. Gomaa: it might help move the process along if your extremists quit trying to kill us.
DoggoneGA
November 9th, 2009
4:44 pm
“Please pass this message along to Mr. Gomaa”
and pass this along to yourself: Muslim extremists kill other Muslims too. They aren’t any more immune than we are from the violence of such radicals. It isn’t their religion that leads them to kill, it is their EXTREMISM. It’s the sense of power they get…and that applies to ALL extremists, regardless of religious background (which include atheists who have none)
Mort Merkel
November 9th, 2009
4:44 pm
I don’t trust the extremists of any religion. Maybe that makes me a bigot.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Ate Up With Envy mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 9th, 2009
4:44 pm
He’s a little late, ain’t he?
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 9th, 2009
4:45 pm
Well, I’m with this Brad Steel. Don’t go preaching sermons about peace to us while you’re wrapping a bomb around your waist and getting ready to set it off when you’re in the midst of us. I might could take you more serious if you could show us all the Christian churches in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. We can show you plenty of mosques in this country. Even our President is a Muslim. Just show me a Christian President in any of your countries.
Till you can do that, I’m keeping the anti-tank weapon and the two machine guns I use for hunting and self-defense locked and loaded. Better not show up at my trailer door with a towel around your head and a bomb around your waist.
That’s my opinion and it’s very true. Have a good night everybody.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Ate Up With Envy mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 9th, 2009
4:46 pm
And ain’t he talking to the wrong people?
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
4:48 pm
“NOTE: Please conduct yourself in the debate below with at least a modicum of respect for the faith of others.”
To which I say Amen…
And, Jay, thank you for posting this. We keep asking where are the voices of rational Islaam…they ARE there. They are just not being spread. Small though it may be, Jay, you are to be commended and praised for doing your little bit given the limited forum you have here.
Mrs. Godzilla
November 9th, 2009
4:53 pm
Ever notice the Pastafarians don’t blow stuff up or kill people?
Bosch
November 9th, 2009
4:55 pm
“This horrific attack is a complete violation of Islamic law and norms and the perpetrator is no way representative of the Muslim people or the religion of Islam. God upholds the sanctity of life as a universal principle. “and do not kill one another, for God is indeed merciful unto you” says the Quran in (4:29). Islam views murder as both a crime punishable by law in this world and as major sin punishable in the Afterlife as well. Prophet Mohammad said, “The first cases to be decided among the people on the Day of Judgment will be those of blood-shed””
WHAT? But, but, but, the wingnuts said…………..
Bosch
November 9th, 2009
4:56 pm
“I don’t trust the extremists of any religion.”
No, Mort, that exhibits the fact you have common sense.
Bosch
November 9th, 2009
4:57 pm
Mrs. G.,
I’m totally stealing this from USinUK (and Doggone too maybe) but….
“Ever notice the Pastafarians don’t blow stuff up or kill people?”
RAMEN!!!
md
November 9th, 2009
4:58 pm
” It isn’t their religion that leads them to kill, it is their EXTREMISM”
Are they not “religious extremists”, being extreme about their religion.
So, their religion does lead them to kill.
Bosch
November 9th, 2009
4:59 pm
md,
“So, their religion does lead them to kill.”
As does Christian and Zionist extremists. And those Buddhist extremists – geez!!
Have a little faith in me
November 9th, 2009
5:00 pm
Muslims in the US military. The new gay? Do Tell. Anyway, some people will always need someone and something to hate and I do have faith in those people to deliver. They’re like clockwork.
md
November 9th, 2009
5:03 pm
After 9/11, I recall watching ordinary folks from muslim countries dancing in the streets in celebration. And I recall polls taken in the UK where a large percentage of muslims agreed the US had it coming.
There comes a time when people DO choose sides, and they are not all extremists.
md
November 9th, 2009
5:04 pm
Bosch, and your point?
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:04 pm
BOSCH–
Good to see you up here. In relation to our conversation of earlier, this will be much the same song, different verse.
The Pastafarians also know which wine goes best…
md
“So, their religion does lead them to kill.”
I respectfully disagree. It is not their religion leading them but the perversion of the faith by their “religious leaders.”
Mort Merkel
November 9th, 2009
5:05 pm
These blogs are fascinating. I just checked on a post I made on an earlier Jay blog which was “awaiting moderation” for whatever reason was not readily apparent in that it contained no disrespect, or cussin’.
md
November 9th, 2009
5:06 pm
Jo,
My point being “their religion” vs their “religion”.
Barry
November 9th, 2009
5:09 pm
I find it immensely interesting that Jay felt compelled to ask readers: “Please conduct yourself in the debate below with at least a modicum of respect for the faith of others.” The column wasn’t bend-over-and-be-PC enough, so then he had to try to frame the debate so no one’s feelings would be hurt, either? Wow.
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:10 pm
md
After 9/11 I also recall Muslims lining up by the thousands to give blood. I recall candlelight vigils by ordinary citizens throughout the Islamic world. Mostly, though, I recall my Muslim neighbors shedding tears of sorrow as they, with their Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh fellow parents came to pick up their little ones from school…
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Ate Up With Envy mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 9th, 2009
5:11 pm
Christians are “extremists” only because liberals are total cowards and need harmless enemies to man up against, or should I say boy up against.
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:12 pm
md
Your point on “their religon” is well taken, but their religion is NOT Islam.
Pogo
November 9th, 2009
5:14 pm
I think I mispoke. I said, “a perceived weak enemy”. What I meant to say was, ” a known weak enemy”. They (as in the terrorists and their sympathizers) know, as the world knows, that with its present leadership and with its current economic situation that the United States is at one of those periods in history where it is very, very vulnerable to attack both from within and from the outside. Make no mistake, the terrorists know exactly how to play the game and if the game calls for them to publically condemn the actions of someone they agree with it to achieve their ultimate goal, then so be it. The muslim fundamentalists are becoming very good at propaganda. They will exploit the “freedom of the press” in the West in a minute and apparently it is working. Too bad they don’t practice that freedom at home, isn’t it?
Another queston Jay; why are you so sensitive to whether Muslims are offended but you let Christians be subjected to all kinds of offensive crap on here day after day? Why is that? Why are the Muslims special? I personally don’t care for any zealot, no matter the religion. But, I say, allow all of them to be offended if you allow any of them to be offended. No-one should be left out. Why do you allow Christianity to be berated here over and over again but yet you call for tolerance and sensitivity for the Muslims? Is there something special about Muslims over the other religions? Have they brought the world less pain or more insight than other religions?
Brad Steel
November 9th, 2009
5:15 pm
DoggoneGA (they teach’em reel god there) gives me this naive’ lecture: They aren’t any more immune than we are from the violence of such radicals.
Actually, you boob, they are. The extremist are looking to kill the infidels, aka non-muslims. Hence, you don’t see too many suicide bombings in 95%-Islamic Kuwait or 97%-Islamic Saudi Arabia- unless, of course, they are aimed at US or western targets. And the US, despite is 0.8% muslim population, seems to have gotten more than it’s fair share of Islamic associated attacks.
Angry Black Man
November 9th, 2009
5:15 pm
Jay
Thanks for posting this. I’m sure those who rail about Muslim Extremist would have also railed about Christian Extremist when people were being murdered and lynched in the US. As a matter of fact, I’m sure they’re all working tirelessly in their free time to help solve those murders that have gone unsolved for so long. Moore’s Bridge, for one, is one of these cases that comes to mind.
I’m sure everyone would still be just as passionate about Extremist Muslims if they had family members who practiced Islam. They’d be ready to hang their own family because of the actions of one idiot. (insert major sarcasm here)
Regardless of religion, national origin, race, or creed, I don’t fault anyone who commits such cowardly acts except for those who carry them out. If you’re self-esteem is ok and you’re an independent thinker, no amount of radical teaching is going to make you kill yourself or anyone unless you make up your mind to do it.
Some of y’all look for any reason to moan and gripe about life. Quit griping about it and get out and live it. There’s more to the world than the U.S. The sooner you realize it, the better off we’ll all be. I’m not saying that there’s anything better than life here, but until you understand someone else’s situation, you can’t answer sh*t about what they see, think, or do.
Also, from the previous thread, disco was and is an important music form. Those who don’t like disco are probably the same ones who don’t like R&B, or Blues. Groups like Kook & The Gang played disco, but they also took the driving bass lines and horn melodies and grooved right on into R&B without skipping a beat. I’m guessing that’s why I’ve never seen Jay post George, Bootsy, James B, or any other music where you have a strong bass line backed up by live horns.
SouthGaDawg
November 9th, 2009
5:18 pm
Yes lets all conduct ourselves with a “modicum of respect” for the faith of others.
Just like Jay conducts himselves in debates about everything….oh wait…that hardly ever occurs.
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:20 pm
POGO–
While I can agree with much of what you say about Christian bashing an accepted norm on this blog and one I challenge on a regular basis, it is, in my opinion, unfair to charge Jay with doing so. I have found him to be respectful of the Christian faith and in his rare commentaries thereon to be a man of some knowledge of the subject and sincerely interested in knowing more.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Ate Up With Envy mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 9th, 2009
5:20 pm
Meanwhile, back on Earth-
The Middle East Media Research Institute last month excerpted a blog post from al-Awlaki’s Web site in which he cheerleads for America’s enemies:
America failed to defeat the mujahedeen when it gave its president unlimited support, how can it win with Obama who is on a short leash? If America failed to win when it was at its pinnacle of economic strength, how can it win today with a recession–if not a depression–at hand?
The simple answer is: America cannot and will not win. The tables have turned and there is no rolling back of the worldwide Jihad movement.-WSJ
Can anyone else imagine a Christian preacher saying something like that, what would happen? bookman would pass out. Queen Pinko would self immolate. PMSNBC would go 24/7 spastic. Well, unless, of course, it was Obozo’s preacher, mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
Instead, we get……praise of these criminals.
Angry Black Man
November 9th, 2009
5:23 pm
Whiner
Well, maybe if conservatives would quit b*tching and loosen the leash, he wouldn’t have said that.
Jus sayin…
MAC
November 9th, 2009
5:24 pm
****yawn*****
SSDD
Paul
November 9th, 2009
5:27 pm
He’s an interesting guy. More moderate than most, but he is an Egyptian and he is seeking US assistance for the Palestinian issue. His website’s here:
http://www.aligomaa.net/
But I still have to wonder… a doctor’s murdered, it’s called domestic terrorism. A security guard at the Holocaust Museum is murdered, the FBI calls it terrorism. Yet here, the media and the government seem to be going out of their way to avoid using any phrasing that would even hint at using some variation of ‘terror’ – be it an ism or an ist.
And as for all those here who were quick to brand acts of violence by rightwing “Christian” whackos as terrorism and took to task those who objected…. I would really, seriously like to hear why this is ‘different.’
But good on Grand Mufti Gomaa. When more clerics in the Middle East – in Saudi Arabia, in Qatar, let alone in Iran, pick up the call (and tying it to the earlier thread, including Israel) – then I will have more than a glimmer of hope.
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:28 pm
For the record here, the Grand Mufti of Egypt is about as close to a “Pope” as Islam comes in matters of the faith is concerned. For him to speak out so strongly and so forcefully carries weight.
md
November 9th, 2009
5:28 pm
Jo,
“Your point on “their religon” is well taken, but their religion is NOT Islam.”
No, its not. But, for many it is perceived to be, and unfortunatley in today’s world perception tends to outweigh reality. They have in essence hijacked islam and are giving it a bad name.
And I too know many muslims who chose the other side after 9/11, but my point is many “regular” folks have and do choose sides – right or wrong. Brothers fighting brothers in our great civil war, its a never ending cycle.
Matilda
November 9th, 2009
5:32 pm
ABM, Kool & the Gang, YEAH, BABY! I’m also a fan of the horns and driving bass lines. Much prefer the music topic to this one. Fact is, Planet Earth has lots o’ haters and quite a few crazies. The categories overlap, but not always. Most of us can express our differences without going batsh*- and without harming others. A few cannot live with themselves unless they make other people miserable or dead. What are you gonna do? My response: Thank a soldier, thank a veteran, show ‘em some love, man. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” MLK, Jr.
DebbieDoRight
November 9th, 2009
5:32 pm
josef: I respectfully disagree. It is not their religion leading them but the perversion of the faith by their “religious leaders.”
Very astute point. It brings to mine the “Rev. Ike’s, David Koresh’s and Jim Jones’s of the world”. Who take a very straightforward and beautiful book, and degrade it to conform to their twisted beliefs. Also it reminds me of the many “cults” that spring up around different religions. My all-time favorite one is the one where they have live poisonous rattlesnakes as tests of faith at their services.
DoggoneGA
November 9th, 2009
5:33 pm
“So, their religion does lead them to kill”
Nope, wrong. If it was the religion that led them to kill then all 1.5 BILLION Muslims on earth would ALL be radicals. They are not. It is the extremism, not the religion. And that is true – again – of ALL extremists, whether “religious” or not. And I put religious in quotes because as far as *I* am concerned such people are not religious at all, just radical extremists who care only for the sense of power they get.
md
November 9th, 2009
5:33 pm
abm,
I don’t think its the conservatives that have him on that short leash, it would be his own party.
Yo'momma Obama
November 9th, 2009
5:33 pm
“Islamic leader condemns Fort Hood violence”
Yes Jay, we know. The Kenyan President Sultan Barack Hussein Obama did condemn this in the name of “Alahu Akbar”
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:36 pm
md
I agree with you. It is a matter of perception and the lunatics have hijacked the faith. I would also argue that the perception has been fostered in no small part by our attention to the “Islamic–whatever” and ignoring the voices of the mainstream. This is why I think Jay is to be commended here tonight.
md
November 9th, 2009
5:38 pm
Dog,
Religion is both personal and collective, and ones personal religion can and does lead one to kill.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: Ate Up With Envy mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 9th, 2009
5:38 pm
ABM- I hope that outburst made you feel better but I believe the leash is being held by your Code Pinko people.
I’m sure those who rail about Muslim Extremist would have also railed about Christian Extremist when people were being murdered and lynched in the US.
Convenient that you would accuse Christians of racists crimes, seeing how you don’t have anything else.
DoggoneGA
November 9th, 2009
5:39 pm
“This is why I think Jay is to be commended here tonight.”
Yes, indeed. “They” ask “where are the Muslim voices condemning ” and when they ARE reported, as here, then there’s nothing but criticism OF those voices.
DoggoneGA
November 9th, 2009
5:42 pm
“ones personal religion can and does lead one to kill.”
Well, I would argue that’s it’s not a true religion…but let that go. If it IS “ones personal religion” then where is there justification for condeming ALL non-violent followers of the PROFESSED religion, who do NOT follow the same radicalised precepts? Answer: there is none
RW-(the original)
November 9th, 2009
5:43 pm
I’ve got no real interest in Islam but being called a Grand Mufti would be pretty cool. If I ever decide to change names here I might just become one.
@@,
Got your message a couple of floors down. Thanks!
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:44 pm
DDR–
Unmentionable and I were having a conversation the other night on the matter of faith and its perversion and he quoted Twain:
“There has only been one Christian. But they caught and crucified him–early.”
Granddaddy always said there had only been one Christian he knew of in his lifetime and he was a Hindu (Ghandi)
getalife
November 9th, 2009
5:46 pm
Time to occupy and declare war on Texas.
josef nix
November 9th, 2009
5:46 pm
RW
That’s MufTI, not MuffIE..okay?
md
November 9th, 2009
5:48 pm
“If it IS “ones personal religion” then where is there justification for condeming ALL non-violent followers of the PROFESSED religion, who do NOT follow the same radicalised precepts? Answer: there is none”
We can agree on the above, the problem is getting the hundreds of millions that have been fighting a religious war for centuries to also agree.