Why aren't Muslims speaking out? Options

[radhikaeatsraman]

I was having a discussion with my uncle and my father about the current situation with terrorism and the Middle East. During the discussion, I kept emphasizing that the majority of Muslims are good people and probably don't support terrorists and their actions. But then they said that they're all keeping quiet, and that by doing that, they're indirectly supporting it. By ignoring it, it's going to continue.

Then, they went on to say that in order for the terrorists to commit these acts, they need money for weapons and other equipment. Who provides it? Right after 9/11, millions of Muslims across the US were caught having connections to al-Qaeda, and many of them are in prison for it.

So why aren't "good Muslims" speaking out? Is it because of fear, or are they quietly supporting it?

[Spirited Away]

Islam itself is not violent, Islamic fundamentalism is, and Islamic fundamentalism combined with extermist Arabs... well, you all know well the consequence. Interpretation of the holy text, depending on political ideals or the lack thereof and culture, is the main cleavage.

Islam "[tries] to conquer" other religions as much as Christianity tried, and is still trying, to conquer. These two religions' history of intolerance and tolerance is almost similar. Muslims practice belief in human justice, love and freedom as much as Christianity and Judaism. Again, we mustn't confused them with fundamentalists or else, to be fair, we'd have to mix Christians with radical Christians.

The question of why Muslims aren't speaking out enough reminds me of something and the point is to compare the questions of the why's. After 9/11, there was a wave of violence against Muslims and Arabs throughout the US. President Bush made a point that these attacks are inhumane. Of course, many Americans find these attacks to be wrongful as well, but why didn't they speak out enough?

For the record, I don't know how much is "enough" or how much a few of you expect these Muslims to speak out, but I do agree that they do need to sound their intolerance of extremist Islam a little louder. In my opinion, ONLY THE MEDIA can aid them in this. And then the question is, why don't they complain about the media not broadcasting enough. My answer: how loudly do they need to complain about the media to get coverage?

[*kryogenix*]

Islam itself is not violent, Islamic fundamentalism is, and Islamic fundamentalism combined with extermist Arabs... well, you all know well the consequence. Interpretation of the holy text, depending on political ideals or the lack thereof and culture, is the main cleavage.

I'd like to believe this, but at the moment, I'm not sure.

Islam "[tries] to conquer" other religions as much as Christianity tried, and is still trying, to conquer. These two religions' history of intolerance and tolerance is almost similar. Muslims practice belief in human justice, love and freedom as much as Christianity and Judaism. Again, we mustn't confused them with fundamentalists or else, to be fair, we'd have to mix Christians with radical Christians.

Remember, Islam started out with nothing. They had to conquer Mecca to get started. Christianity was an underground group for the most part until the Roman Empire embraced it.

Maybe you are referring to the crusades as evidence of Christian conquering. I don't agree with killing in the name of God, but to say that the Christians were barbaric attackers is misleading.

Outside of the crusades, how much of Christian conquering was religiously motivated rather than nationalistically motivated?

The question of why Muslims aren't speaking out enough reminds me of something and the point is to compare the questions of the why's. After 9/11, there was a wave of violence against Muslims and Arabs throughout the US. President Bush made a point that these attacks are inhumane. Of course, many Americans find these attacks to be wrongful as well, but why didn't they speak out enough?

People did speak out. If I remember correctly, Rudy came on the TV and addressed the issue and told people not to beat up random arab people on the street.

For the record, I don't know how much is "enough" or how much a few of you expect these Muslims to speak out, but I do agree that they do need to sound their intolerance of extremist Islam a little louder. In my opinion, ONLY THE MEDIA can aid them in this. And then the question is, why don't they complain about the media not broadcasting enough. My answer: how loudly do they need to complain about the media to get coverage?

I would think that Al Jazeera would want to help the peaceful Muslims get their voice heard, but I haven't heard anything about them yet. In fact, some of what Al Jazeera runs is what sparks violence in the first place.

How come Muslims can gather millions to protest against Israel, but they can't protest the violence on part of fellow Muslims?

Not only this, but why aren't peaceful Muslims reaching out to the violent ones and telling them they are interpreting the Quran incorrectly?