taking care of the place
lies over Baghdad
Yesterday I entered into a conversation with someone asking, Why don’t the moderate Muslims speak out against terror? I provided link after link as her evasions & demands grew more particular. Those were Americans, how about an Australian. Oh but that’s an Australian woman, why aren’t the Muslim men speaking out? Oh, that was a young man, why don’t we hear from the Muslim elders?
She discredited the testimony of one peace-loving Muslim because he was ‘wearing a Benneton t-shirt.’ I gave her a string of direct links to the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Council of Imams Queensland, and finally His Eminence, Professor Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, Grand Mufti of Australia, who said: ‘It is utterly deplorable for extremists to use Islam as a cover for their crimes and atrocities.’ At last she wrote to me privately. ‘I feel my heart filling with hate. Am I missing something? Why can’t the moderate Muslims speak out?’
This plea from a stony-minded racist unable to hear direct replies which undid all her questions moved me. We must respect one another as human beings, no matter what. I left her with yet another google search turfing up dozens of investigative essays on the media’s stolid determination to ignore repeated denouncing of violence by peaceful Muslims, and turned away. Now: watch here as our Minister for Education deflects accusations with one ruse after another & the Opposition calmly, continually answer and defeat him. At the end of this mash-up his voice is heard, trebly and childishly gloating: ‘My comments get on the telly, yours don’t! You can’t be heard!’
This government, this media are arrogant and they lie. Their arrogance and lies are damaging our climate, our community, our minds. The real jihad is the assault on our planet’s liveability, sidelined by these posturings of hatred. Read widely. Think deeply. Speak out.
8 comments on “lies over Baghdad”
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There’s thems that want to believe in the case for “evil” so bad they don’t want to accept the truth even when it’s all warmed up nicely and served on your best china.
Thanks, Cathoel.
I compiled a short list in this article, 4 Australian instances of religious leaders speaking out. That’s only from a short google. There are many more. http://altmax.com.au/muslim-community-leaders-condemn-isis-and-extremism/
The inability of senior Members of Islam in Australia & Elsewhere to get enough airtime to say how disgusted they are with the actions of groups like the Daesh is disturbing.
It really is, Charles. I found a number of articles detailing the suppression of Muslim anti-terrorist statements. This is an old one but people across the world are still pointing this out.
http://mediamatters.org/research/2013/09/24/fox-isnt-paying-attention-muslims-across-the-wo/196058
I wouldn’t trust Fox to tell me the correct time. But the narrative is pretty writ large.
Yes violence in the ME on a secular level is minimized & there is a level of intimidation with the community not to break ranks, much like in Ulster during the troubles, but there is a very large section of the community (IMHO) who want to live in peace.
This of course does not match the requirements of the Right (in particular), hence the lack of coverage
“A large group of Islamic theologians addressed the head of the Islamic State in an open letter, articulately accusing the movement of practices that have nothing to do with Islam, even rejecting the extremists’ right to call themselves jihadists.
“Over a hundred Muslim scholars and clergymen from all over the world have released on Wednesday an address to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, accusing the self-proclaimed caliph and his army of heinous war crimes and violation of fundamental principles of Islam, illiterate use of Islamic scripture torn from the context and perversion of the rules of morality and Sharia law.
“‘Who gave you authority over the ummah [Muslim people]?’ the letter questions. ‘Was it your group? If this is the case, then a group of no more than several thousand has appointed itself the ruler of over a billion-and-a-half Muslims. This attitude is based upon a corrupt circular logic that says: “Only we are Muslims, and we decide who the caliph is, we have chosen one and so whoever does not accept our caliph is not a Muslim,”‘ the document said.
“The letter has been published in two languages, Arabic and English, on a specially-created website.”
http://rt.com/news/190468-muslim-scholars-islamic-state/
Aye, Brendan, it’s the bull in the china shop that keeps stinking the place down. This lurid B.S. that we are some of us Us and the rest of us Them. Us good people, who do nothing while the world burns.
Thank you, for reading.