News of the bombings in London swiftly spurred ignorant and prejudiced responses from some people in the Western world, even as most retain their humane and intelligent sentiments despite the terrorists' efforts to goad us all into blind hate and fear.
A few uninformed people still claim, incredibly, that they have not seen any Islamic leaders condemn such attacks. Therefore, they claim, all Muslims somehow support the terrorists, and share the blame for the depraved actions of a few. Here are some facts for the benefit of people who have not yet surrendered all their brain cells to ignorant hatred.
Reuters reports UK Muslim leaders call for prayers for bomb victims.
BBC News informs us Muslim leaders join condemnation of the attacks.
As London's own Financial Times explains, far from enjoying any broad popular support in the Islamic community, Fanatics realise worst fears of Muslims.
In one of many statements that give the lie to any claims of Muslim complicit silence, the Financial Times quotes a prominent Muslim leader.
Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, which has emerged as the main body representing Muslims, said: "We utterly condemn the perpetrators of these co-ordinated attacks in London. We express our deepest sympathies with the families of the victims and our prayers are with them."
Closer to the heartland of the Islamic world, Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper patiently explains Why the bombings in London are not the work of 'Islamic' terrorists.
In the very birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia's Arab News quotes several Muslims, including ordinary businessmen and students along with Islamic community leaders, who no more support the terrorists than the British citizens living in Saudi Arabia do. Citizens, Expats Condemn London Blasts. In its editorial stance, the same newspaper eloquently states:
Their bombs destroy not only innocent lives but any possible claim they have to be taken as anything other than bloodstained criminals.
In this brief survey, let's not forget the famous Arab news source Al-Jazeera, where we learn Muslim leaders condemn bloody attacks on London, and in a related story, that Muslim scholars ban killings in name of Islam.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Silas Kain
Thank you, Victor. I have been trying to get moderate American Muslims to speak up because there is a sense of fear that if they do they will suffer persecution from both sides. I have a Syrian neighbor who is a devout Muslim. We are great friends and over the years have had many a political debate about the Middle East.
2 - Nick Jones
An article on the bombings by Christopher Hitchens.
3 - Victor Plenty
Thanks, Silas, but the credit belongs to Muslims who are speaking out, loudly and clearly, to condemn terrorism.
Not being a Muslim myself, I cannot share in that credit. I can only do whatever is within my power to help their message reach more of the people who need to hear it, especially in the Western world.
4 - Tan The Man
I'm glad the Muslim communities' responses have been publicized. I'm a little surprised that the attack didn't happen in France with all of the backlash in that country toward Muslims.
5 - HW Saxton
They sure didn't have much to say when the US is/was attacked though, if I remember correctly.
6 - Tan The Man
Maybe they did, but the media didn't cover it. I'd bet my left foot on that.
7 - Victor Plenty
Most media outlets generally do a poor job of covering the Islamic community's opinions on any subject.
After the September 11 attacks, many Muslims did condemn terrorism strongly, but few major news sources reported on that fact.
Even those that did waited until it was too late, and a few brainless vigilantes had already started attacking people who looked vaguely "Middle Eastern," including some who weren't actually Muslims.
8 - Tan The Man
Seriously.
9 - Randy Kirk
Thanks for listing these examples. I wish the MSM was interviewing these folks more.
10 - Victor Plenty
Maybe Fox News will report Muslim condemnations of terrorism, since Fox is all about the fairness and the balance.
11 - Natalie Davis
Heh.
Went through the Fox News site and saw nothing about Muslim condemnations. Interesting because I found numerous ones early this afternoon. You have posted about Muslim condemnations here (thanks). So we know they exist. Of course, it is possible that Fox reported on them while broadcasting. It is possible too that it didn't...
12 - 1Potato
First, if this were in Israel, there would be little if any condemnation.
On 9-11 many Muslims were caught off guard and caught rejoicing. Few Muslim leaders spoke out. Period. Let's not revise history to fit our agenda please.
But now they know how to spin in. And so what if they speak out after a bombing? They don't speak out when their Imams preach the type of hate that engenders these brutal acts.
Are they going to put a stop to the hate speech in their mosques? If not all these condemnations are hollow.
13 - Bennett
Great job Victor. Please continue to help balance the news on BC. Your post is really important to the folks that look to BC as a source.
14 - Victor Plenty
Thanks, Bennett. I appreciate your support, especially after Mr. Potato Head piped up.
In truth, many Muslims did condemn the September 11 attacks in 2001. Most of the mainstream news outlets only wanted to incessantly repeat a film clip of a few who celebrated. The revision of history started almost instantly. My goal is to uphold the truth.
My only agenda is to help hasten the final, utterly crushing defeat of the terrorists and victory for all peace-loving people everywhere.
15 - 1potato
Sorry to "pipe in" on your mutual jerk off session, but here I go again:
Victor, are you telling us that the media is conservative and that they covered up Muslim condemnations after 9-11? CBS, home of Rathergate? CNN? These guys networks tilt left, not right.
But let's these networks are part of the vast right wing conspriacy. What evidence do you have of a media cover-up, or blackout on such statements? What prominent Muslim leaders spoke out after 9-11? I am talking major leaders, leaders of countries or top level religious leaders, not just one cleric somewhere. Please tell us.
Joe
16 - 1Potato
Notice how the Muslim leaders tell their fellow Muslims to mourn, but do not tell them to search for the killers, or report any information about it to the police. But they DO tell them to stay indoors, to keep THEMSELVES safe.
This is typical lip service, the same we heard again and again. Arafat would often condemn terrorism, and then turn around and orchestrate it. And then condemn it again. On and on. When will you people learn that this is how they operate?
17 - SFC Ski
Al Jazeera is also running a story on its English language site that the Israelis had advance notice of the attacks. Of the 2 Al Jazeera articles which do you think most of the Arab press is going to run with? Repeat a lie often enough, it becomes fact.
Those of us who live or work with Muslims know that they are not all terrorists in waiting, and that many are as loyal to the US or Britain as any native born citizen is, maybe moreso. Trouble is, they are the "silent majority".
18 - Victor Plenty
Cooperating with police is one thing Muslim leaders are in truth advising their communities to do. Several of the articles I linked quote community leaders saying exactly that.
It's nice when ignorant people hamstring their own boneheaded arguments by overlooking readily available facts. Makes it so much easier for people like me to uphold the truth.
No "vast conspiracy" is needed to explain the lack of media coverage for Muslim condemnations after the September 11 attacks. All it takes is the normal shallow sloppy coverage in mainstream media outlets to miss important details like that. It comes from dumbing down the news to match the attention span of an AOL politics chat room.
That's why I never said anything about any "right wing conspiracy." It took Mr. Potato Head to drag out that tired out cliche. In classical logic terms this is called the straw man fallacy. (Feel free to look that up in your spare time.)
However, one thing that did make it into the news outlets was the condemnations of the 9/11 attacks coming from the leaders of nearly every Muslim country. Governments and heads of state ranging from Indonesia, to Pakistan, to Saudi Arabia, to Morocco, all spoke out to denounce the barbarism of the 9/11 terrorists and to declare their solidarity with the American people.
Denying such well-established facts goes beyond mere sloppiness. Anyone making statements so distant from the truth is either actively lying, or is too grossly uninformed to offer any reliable commentary on current events.
19 - Victor Plenty
Here's Saudi Arabia's condemnation of 9/11 terrorist attacks. I would have included this link in the previous comment, but the spam filters in the Blogcritics software wouldn't let me put that many links into one comment.
As a free added bonus, here also is a statement from a major Saudi religious leader which explains in great detail that the terrorist attacks are a betrayal of Islamic religious values.
There is nothing "silent" about the Muslim community's condemnation of terrorist groups like al-Qaida. They are saying it loudly and clearly, if only the rest of us are willing to listen.
20 - one with no name
I'm a muslim from Karachi, Pakistan. And I'm proud of it.
And I condemn these attacks against the British, who have been nothing but friends of my country.
There. "Silent Majority" my ass.
Nice article, Victor. Thanks.
21 - Nancy
Thank you, no name. Maybe it IS just words, but words can mean a lot. I need to hear/read those words, & I'll bet a lot of others do, too. It kind of restores sanity, somewhat.
22 - carmine
Every time an extremist Muslim attacks the West it is tacitly an attack on their own moderate Muslim brothers and sisters. If extremists can destroy friendships between Western nations and Muslim nations, their hope is more moderate Muslims will reject the West and become radicals like themselves. The attack on London was more a recruitment device than anything else. If the West can be encouraged to hate all Muslims, then all Muslims will have to join in attacking the West.
When I was a child, my grandmother read the newspaper soley to discover if some local hoodlum was Jewish or not. If he was, she would always say the same thing: "Oiy such a terrible thing, and a Jewish boy too! They already hate us and we need this too?" No doubt many a Muslim grandmother is saying much the same thing today about London.
23 - Nancy
You're right, carmine. I know I'm subject to instant insanity about certain things. I calm down after a bit, but meanwhile, it's an awfully good thing I'M no world leader-! Still, I'd like to know: people in the US raise very public cain when they're outraged about something. If they're mad, everyone knows it. I still wonder why more muslims around the world don't speak up and raise hell about this kind of vile hijacking of their religion & reputation. I'm an apostate catholic, and I still get up a real rage when I contemplate the catholic church/pederasty scandals, & am very vocal about it. Karachi - is it a cultural thing, or is it the western media are ignoring it, or what? I never hear about people in other parts of the world getting exercized about these guys murdering in the name of Islam. It would make me apoplectic if I were muslim. What's up here? thanks.
24 - one with no name
I can only speak for myself...
There are more than 1.5 Billion muslims in the world. I'm surrounded by other muslims, right?
Now, like all big cities, Karachi has its share of violent crime. Bank robber shoots people and gets shot in return, etc. Of course the bank robber was a muslim. They always are. So what?
We are used to muslims being bad guys. And we're used to muslims being good guys. The religion is not the issue for the common person.
Point is, when that bank robber got killed, I felt no need to condemn and apologize just because he was a muslim and I'm the same. He was a bank robber and he got shot, cops did their job, and I'm fine with it. Similarly, I feel these terrorists should be killed. And I do condemn them. But I certainly won't apologize for them, simply because I'm not responsible for the actions of a crazed people. THEY are the ones who should apologize... but of course they won't.
Havng said that, it is the job of the country's President and Prime Minister to condemn such acts and ours have done so.
If any relgious figure from Pakistan or wherever condemns these acts, thats great. But you should know that Sunni Islam (all versions) do not have a priesthood or a church-like hierarchy (Shias do). So whatever a relgious "leader" sez or doesn't say, isn't worth much to most.
Also it is true that such news items that muslim so and so condemned such and such, are reported in newspapers like DAWN (www.dawn.com) or other local Pakistani or Arab newspapers. American media doesn't pick these stories up usually.
To sum up... if these people are called "muslim terrorists" you will hear less people condeming their actions because "Muslim" can be from anywhere and its not seen as our problem. However if you say "Pakistani terrorists" (imaginary example), you will get more of the reaction you desire.... at least from Pakistan.
I suspect this is true for most countries.
25 - SFC Ski
If a Muslim robs a bank in the name the Muslim Brotherhood, it is more than just a bank robbery, isn't it?