Friday, December 5, 2008

Where's the moderate voice?

The recent terror attacks in Mumbai led me to ponder (yet again) on the connection between Terrorism and Islam.

A cursory glance at the World's Terror HotSpots will reveal that a majority (>90%) of the terrorism is being perpetrated by fundamental Muslim extremists. Whether it is the Hamas in Palestine, the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Al Qaeda in Pakistan (let's stop kidding ourselves as to where the Al Qaeda are really based in), the so-called "Al Qaeda in Iraq" OR the Laskhar-E-Toiba in Kashmir, they all have a common thread connecting them and that is an extremely distorted view of the world through their lens of fundamentalist Islam principles.

In spite of all of the aforementioned groups, I still believe that Islam is a peaceful religion and that it's not the religion itself but its messengers & leaders that are to blame. Shame upon the mainstream moderate Muslims for letting their religion being defined by these terrorists. Shame on them for not standing up against terrorism and for not condemning these radicals.

Most people in the West believe that Islam is an evil religion and they are wrong but you cannot fault them. When images of AK-47s and Rocket Propelled Grenades flood your mind upon hearing the word Islam, how else would one be expected to perceive Islam?

There are supposedly moderate voices in Islam, as there are in every religion. But, these seem to be either not speaking up in a strong voice OR are being drowned out by the terrorist elements. It's a pity that I can name 10 Muslim terrorists but NOT ONE SINGLE PACIFIST.

So, instead of blaming the other religions for "persecuting" Islam/Muslims OR for having negative views of Islam, it is time that real Muslims (the ones that have actually read the Quran and understand its real meaning) stand up for their religion and repair its tarnished image.
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