A Case of Islamophobia

Did you hear the story about 4,000 Muslims rallying in London this weekend against “Islamophobia”, following this whole cartoon thing? Funnily enough, this whole cartoon thing that actually started in Denmark in September with their first being published but, for some reason or other, didn't explode for many months? Hmmm...

If I may be frank, the world doesn't need Muslims rallying in London to solve the cartoon row; neither does it need a misguided claim spreading around that “Islamophobia” is the crux of the problem.

The world needs those Muslims to take responsibility for their religion and those in al-Qaeda and Hamas who pervert it and use that perversion for their own ends.

They must also stop the demonization of Jews in the Arab-Islamic media.

Avoiding this responsibility and the intolerance in the Islamic world toward non-Muslims is the real reason for hypocritical rallies like the one in Trafalgar Square.

If there is a gap between Islam and the West, the gap is between the reality of an Arab-Islamic world that has outdone the Nazis in terms of the numbers of anti-Semitic cartoons appearing in state-run newspapers from North Africa to Asia, and the fantasy that somehow Muslims didn't in some way bring this upon themselves by allowing extremists to mold the West’s perception of them. They hold in their own hands the solution - to take back their religion as well as end the intolerance that currently makes any protests of theirs hypocritical.

I know this seems like beating a point to death, but you can’t do this kind of thing for decades to others and then expect to be given a pass when someone does it to you. Sure, two wrongs might not make a right; but those cartoons in the European, and now the world, press are a mere twelve – the balance sheet between right and wrong in this case heavily favors the West. “Islamophobia” isn’t the problem. People blowing up innocent people against the tenets of Islam in the name of Islam is the problem.

Constructing an Arab nationalism that directly contradicts the Koran, especially when it comes to the question of Jewish statehood in the Land of Israel, is the problem. Allowing regimes like those that produced the 9/11 hijackers is the problem. Tolerating intolerant cartoons in the Arab-Islamic press for six decades or longer is the problem. France and Russia kissing Hamas' butt is the problem (see previous post).

Muslims are trying to make this out like they are not the ones at fault. The sad reality is that if there is such a thing as “Islamophobia”, it is caused not by the overblown perceptions of the delusional kind that have fueled anti-Semitism for thousands of years.

No, bus bombings in Jerusalem and London fuels Islamophobia. Seeing pictures of children holding guns at Hamas rallies fuels Islamophobia. Kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq fuels Islamophobia. Terrorist attacks against Australians and others in Bali fuels Islamophobia. Allowing suicide bombers – and the cowards like Osama bin Laden and al-Zarqawi who send them to die – and radical imams to be the most vocal representatives of their Prophet Muhammad’s message fuels Islamophobia. 9/11 fueled Islamophobia.

If the West does indeed have a case of Islamophobia, then Muslims are the ones with the only cure. Because only they can take back their religion from those who have used it to evil ends. Only they can construct a mature Islam to stand proudly among the evolved and most famous monotheistic religions of the world, starting with Judaism being the oldest, then Christianity and now Islam. The time has come for Islam to come of age.

But Muslims have to be willing to admit there is a problem, first, before they can solve it. Rallies like the one in Trafalgar Square in London this weekend aren’t the solution. They are avoiding the responsibility for the problem.

Inshallah, they will take responsibility sooner rather than later. For their sake, not just our own.