Hard-core Islamists don’t get the irony
The Pope pissed off a lot of Muslims over the weekend when he used a fairly inflammatory quote (a historical quote and not his own words, mind you) to emphasise his point that violence in the name of religion goes against the principle of religions in general.
And what do the hard-core Muslims do?
- Churches attacked and burned in the West Bank, neither of which is Catholic.
- A Somali cleric called for Muslims to “hunt down” and kill the Pope.
- A Catholic nun was shot and murdered in Somalia.
What we need are more voices from moderate Muslims to not only condemn the recent violence but also against terrorism. There needs to be more rational voices from the Muslim world to see it like the rest of us see it: radical Muslims are thin-skinned, hyprocritical and over-reacting. Why is this still so hard to come by?
Why do we need an Australian government minister to tell Muslim clerics to do so? You’d think all this wouldn’t have needed any prompting. And it is in the best interests of Muslims in this country too. Combating the stereotypes and distrust from the general public has to come from within the Muslim ranks, since as we all know by now that “outside” critique falls on deaf ears anyway.
I’d like to think the reason that we may not be hearing rational Muslim voices is because the media do not pay enough attention to them - which is understandable since there is no unified voice. So setting up an Australian Islamic Council is indeed a good idea and definitely a good start.
To sensible and moderate Muslims here and everywhere else: it’s time to start speaking louder. The rest of the world needs to hear you. Your religion has been hijacked by the militants for too long now.
ADDED 8:40am
Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell links Islamists to violence - National - smh.com.au
Technorati Tags: religion, Islam, Pope Benedict, Australia
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9 Responses to “Hard-core Islamists don’t get the irony”
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Sep 18 2006 / 9:57 pm
Methinks God doesn’t mind seeing his crazier fanboys kill one another.
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Sep 19 2006 / 1:28 am
fanboys? RTOFL! that’s a good one =)
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Sep 19 2006 / 8:13 am
Andrew: as long as they don’t kill innocent bystanders along the way, which is more often the case than not.
Lara: in a way they kinda are, aren’t they?
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Sep 19 2006 / 8:39 am
Since when we started all these name calling. Hahahaha.
With due respect to Islam, I think the extremist are kicking a big fuss and proving the pope right.
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Sep 19 2006 / 9:41 am
One of the news shows on ABC last night which brought up an important point. The pope could have easily made a stronger argument about violence not being the way by adding reference to the Catholic Church’s own past misguided use of violence in the name of god rather than just point the finger at other religions.
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Sep 19 2006 / 11:07 am
To sensible and moderate Muslims here and everywhere else: it’s time to start speaking louder.
I don’t think it’s so much that they’re not speaking out, but that the media isn’t letting their message get through to the public. They’re too busy focusing on the ‘crazier fanboys’ :/
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Sep 19 2006 / 12:20 pm
Lupin: hence the irony.
Rob: good point, he could have constructed his speech a little better. But dear God (or Allah), at least in this case he was trying to raise a valid point about violence and religion - as opposed to the Danish cartoons which really had no merit.
Yvonne: I tend to agree with that but the media can’t help themselves when the ppl who’ve volunteered to speak out about Islamic issues (current Islamic leaders like Dr. Ali and Sheik Hilaly) tend to be on the defensive all the time, instead of asking themselves and their community why is it that they are getting so much shit?
Aaaand, end rant.
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Sep 19 2006 / 12:48 pm
Good point. But while both sides are at fault, you’d think they’d have the good sense to show a story every now and then on what typical Muslims are going through here due to the actions of a few of them (something more than street interviews on A Current Affair, anyway).
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