I don't blame you for having a skewed image of me. Every day, it seems like there's another story that undoubtedly affects your perception of the Muslim community. Whether it be the ridiculous response to offensive cartoons, or the nearly daily attacks that take place in our war-torn countries, it must be difficult for you not to think we're just a little bit suspicious. The Aqsa Parvez murder case in Canada, which has dominated headlines this past week, certainly does not help our case.

I know that all of our condemning doesn't change a thing. I'd like you to know how much I am sincerely saddened by what is happening. Whether or not our sister Aqsa was murdered for hijab or not is hardly even relevant to me; she was killed nonetheless, and this is something that cannot be accepted under any circumstances. Please don't think we are lessening her death because the hijab link is, at best, tenuous. She was meant to be loved and cherished as any daughter should, and it pains us that we could not be there for her when she needed us.

I know, you've already read this. You've already heard us say how Islam means peace and that such actions have no place in Islam. I've heard you, when you sarcastically make mention of our "religion of peace". You wonder how we can keep echoing this refrain, even when not a day goes by when this statement is not challenged. You may think we're incapable of seeing reason, of seeing the reality of what is going on in the world. You may believe we're stubborn, foolish, and blind because we still hold on to our faith in spite of the hateful acts being associated with it. Perhaps you're afraid of us, thinking that behind our condemnations lie people who, in an instant, can commit the same unspeakable acts we're condemning.

Do you know what our Prophet, peace be upon him, told us? He repeated thrice, "He does not believe! He does not believe! He does not believe!" Who was he referring to? "That person whose neighbour does not feel safe from his evil." Do you feel safe, being my neighbour? If that's not the case, I am afraid for my soul. I will do whatever I can to make it up to you. I cannot change what is happening in the world, but I'd like you to know that I will never harm you. I will protect you as best as I can. You are my neighbour, and you deserve it. I know, my words alone don't mean much, but for as long as I hold this belief in my heart, I will do my part. As long as I consider myself a believer, it is your right and my responsibility that you be safe.

I want you to know why we hold on. It is not because we are blind, but rather because we have seen much more. It's because we've read about what our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, brought to the world. It's because we have learned his teachings, and have become better people because of it. Because we saw how a corrupt society of nomadic tribes became a beacon of light and guidance for the world over through those teachings. Because we saw how that message instilled love and compassion amongst those warring tribes, and brought them to the heights of morality and progress. Because we have heard the verses of the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet, the wisdom of which can transform hearts of rust and stone into hearts of gold. Most of all, it's because we have felt our own hearts become illuminated by this faith, by the conviction in the oneness of the Creator of the universe, and His promises for His creation.

I wish you could feel it. I wish you could feel the incredible words of the Qur'an touching your heart the way it touches mine. I wish you could see it for the miracle it is, and see how Allah has preserved it through the miracle of hifz (memorization). When I see students of the Qur'an reciting hundreds of pages from memory in a language they cannot speak or understand, I cannot help but feel awed. I wish you could see that, hear that, and let it touch your heart as it has touched mine.

I wish you could feel the peace I feel when standing before my Creator among my companions in faith. Right now, millions of people are gathered in Makkah, worshipping together. Just think about that. Millions. Imagine every single person you passed by on the highway driving to work this morning stepping out of their vehicle and prostrating next to you, joined with you in submission to One Creator. Maybe all those commuters make up a few thousand people. Now, think about every other highway in your city, and add them to the mix. Then think of everyone else in your city, sitting at home, and include them in your congregation. Then everyone else who has already reached their offices - let them all join you. Now maybe - just maybe, you've reached a million people. That's what we see every year at Hajj. People of every colour and race, united in belief, all gathered together in one place, joined together in worship. Kings and beggars joined together, their foreheads upon the ground, in glorification of the Most High, the Most Merciful. This is why we still call it the religion of peace. You'll need to witness this spectacle yourself to truly appreciate it.

I wish you could see Islam for what it is, and not for the cultural practices that predate Islam but continue to hinder our society. You will see then that the honour killings you hear about, the misogyny and hatred, is in complete opposition to Islam. You will see why our sisters defend their faith with such fervour and strength. You will see how much we love them, and how strongly we regard our families. You will see why we believe that Paradise lies beneath the feet of our mothers. You will read about the great women from our history, among whom were the first to accept Islam, and the first to be killed for that belief. I wish you could see what these women were willing to sacrifice in order to hold on to Islam, for it raised the status of women the world over. I wish you could see how Islam liberated and honoured these women, while it is only culture and ancient tradition that has shackled and disgraced them. Often, I wish we could see that as well.

There is so much I wish you could see and feel, but alas, the responsibility is upon me to convey the message. I hope that I am conveying the message correctly, and that I have helped shed some light upon your doubts and concerns. I regret that someone better than myself could not deliver this message to you, for surely I fall short of the kindness and respect that Islam instructs me to show to you. I do hope you accept me for who I am, in spite of my shortcomings. I'm trying.

I am not asking you to forgive us. I'm not even asking you to change your mind; that's up to you. I only want you to know that I want the best for you, irrespective of what you believe about me. You are my neighbour, and I cannot neglect your rights. If you ever need something, you know where to find me.

A very beautiful piece, and I thank you.

You know, I'm not a Muslim, but I have had Muslim friends and colleagues since 1981. And I know that most Muslims don't come anywhere NEAR this kind of behavior. So when Muslims tell me that Islam is a religion of peace, I know that for most Muslims it is.

I also know that radicalization, the imposition of extreme shari'a law, and the deepening of the radicals' war against any kind of freedom for women (as if they got to legislate that) is spreading like wildfire. And so many of the imams in American and Canada are from areas where Wahhabism, Talebanism, or radical Twelver Shi'a Islam flourish.

I think the simple fact is that no matter how many times we say that Islam is a religion of peace, it's not going to work. They're going to keep doing these things until we take action. It's going to have to come by Muslims standing in the mosque and FIRING imams that spend Fridays preaching politics, with thinly-veiled excuses for men who do violence to non-Muslims or women. It's going to take telling the Saudis we don't want their money and WON'T TAKE THEIR MONEY. It's going to take ACTIVE preaching AGAINST violence towards women.

The most depressing thing about Aqsa Parvez's death is that it happened because the culture, absolutely preached from the mosque (as shown by Tarek Fatah and Farzana Hannabs) and exhorted on Canadian Islamic websites, put a man who loved daughter in a position where he felt such shame and rage that he killed her. The second most depressing moment was that ISNA, which runs that mosque, held a press conference in which 10% of it was about why Aqsa should not have been killed and 90% of it was about how she deserved it, with a polished presentation about why hijab really ***IS*** necessary. During the Prophet's life, ONLY HIS WIVES wore cover, and that was to identify them.

Meanwhile, the only thing that is going to save Islam, now the Violence Genie is out of the bottle, is MASSIVE, SUSTAINED, VOCAL, ACTIVE PROTEST (en masse would be good) against these practices, ongoing debate and counseling of people raised this way, and a demand by Muslims that their mosques be run by TRULY moderate imams.

On the evening of 9/11, 100,000 Iranians hit the streets in silence with candles to tell America how sorry they were for what happened to us. A friend of mine was on the on the space shuttle then, and he could see the lights shining in Tehran in the middle of the night. He could also see the smoke coming from the Twin Towers. It was terror and hope at the same moment.

What do you think would happen is 1,000,000 Canadian and American Muslims walked into the streets with flashlights and candles to say: No more terrorism. No more violence against women. No more violence against "apostates" and "takfir Muslims". No more beheadings for "blasphemy". No more amputations. No more dead teenage girls. No more FGM (you will have to convince the shafi'i to take this out of their basic requirements). And no more, not ever again, Muslism killing women for "honor".

It would ve over. If Muslims DECIDED to stop this, they could.

But it will not be stopped even by the incredibly beautiful writings of someone like Mustafa Akyol, or even by the brave hermeneutics of a brilliant imam like Soheib Benchikh.

And it will not be stopped even by so honest and beautiful an article as this is, by Faraz Abbassi, and the millions like him.

You have to get control of the imamry, or this cannot and will not end. And you have to ACT. Demonstrably, loudly. You have to MAKE CHANGE. Change does not happen on its own, because your enemies, those who are DESTROYING ISLAM with this violence, have NOTHING ELSE on their minds. They aren't raising kids. They aren't building businesses. They aren't trying to cure, build a better bridge, find out why the quasar in Andromeda galaxy is twice as big as it should be.

No, they're trying to turn everything into a 7th century caliiphate in which the patriarchy beats the living hell out of its women and can't think beyond meaningless minutiae to love and cherish the life God gave us all.

God didn't mess up. God didn't fail. And he made us all equal. And you cannot say that, and do what Muhammad Parvez did. And you can't say, and then get up in mosque, like the head of the ISNA did, and basically besmirch this girl in an attempt to blame the victim, and then hold a QUICKIE FUNERAL IN AN ATTEMPT TO SEE IF YOU CAN BURY THE RAGE IN THE SAME GRAVE THAT YOU DUMPED THE BODY WITHOUT GIVING HER FRIENDS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GRIEVE HER.

A dirty business. A very, very dirty business.

But to you, Faraz Abbassi, my deepest thanks. I know what you say is what most Muslims feel, but I thank you for saying it. It does help. It does.

See ... this isn't going to go away without ACTION, no matter how many times we talk about how beautiful Islam is for the VAST majority of people who practice it:

Iranian clerical fanatic says unveiled women should die

A top Muslim cleric in Iran, Hojatolislam Gholam Reza Hassani said on Wednesday that women in the country who do not wear the hijab should be killed.

�Women who do not respect the hijab and their husbands deserve to die,� said Hassani, who leads Friday prayers in the city of Urumieh, in Iranian Azerbaijan. �I do not understand how these women who do not respect the hijab, 28 years after the birth of the Islamic Republic, are still alive," he said.

�These women and their husbands and their fathers must die,� said Hassani, who is the representative of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in eastern Azerbaijan.

Hassani's statements came after two Kurdish feminists in Iran were accused of being members of an armed rebel group and of carrying out subversive activities threatening the security of the state. It is believed that his statements and the arrests could spark a fresh crackdown on women who do not abide by the Islamic dress code in Iran. Thousands of women in Iran have already been beaten this year for their �un-Islamic dress� such as wearing tight, short coats and skimpy headscarves.

21 December 2007

Precise, eloquent and passionate. You've done a great service by writing this piece.

I would like to make two statements.

First, Mr. Abassi's editorial comes not from a position of weakness but of strength. His sincerity and depth of conviction are like water to a parched throat. Non-muslims are growing tired of the "Islam is a religion of peace" rhetoric but see little action to prove it. This editorial is a glimmer of hope that there is substance behind the rhetoric and their are voices that speak to us in a way that remind us that we all want to be treated with dignity and live in peace.

Second, I heartedly agree with Mr. Sinclair's post. Please, please, you must speak out more. Islam is a not necessarily monolithic. It is practiced in different ways around the world. The non-muslim view is that Islam is a brutal, barbaric religion that is incompatible with Democratic values and principles. This attitude is reinforced by this young girls murder to the Teddy Bear incident to the killing of Christians and burning of Churches in Nigeria. Kamal Nawash tried to have a Muslim Rally against Terrorism and there were more non-muslims than muslims in attendance. What kind of signal does this send us? Some say that these actions are quietly condoned.

If the message is there that these are actions and beliefs truly are not sanctioned nor believed in Islam, then more must be done to get the message out because the negativity will continue to grow as these events continue to occur or God forbid, there is another event on the scale of 9/11. I shudder to think of what the consequences would be.

We are listening.

Thank you.

>> Imagine every single person you passed by on the highway driving to work this morning stepping out of their vehicle and prostrating next to you, joined with you in submission to One Creator. Maybe all those commuters make up a few thousand people. Now, think about every other highway in your city, and add them to the mix. Then think of everyone else in your city, sitting at home, and include them in your congregation. Then everyone else who has already reached their offices - let them all join you. Now maybe - just maybe, you've reached a million people <<<<

Ha ha ha h ha ha h ahhaha. This is so funny. The only place the above thing happens in the world is in Mecca, where non-Muslims are not allowed to enter!!! There is no where in the entire Muslim world, where "everyone else in your city" congregates together at one time to worship "the Creator." There are large swaths of Muslim lands where 90% plus people are Muslim, but you will find less than 50% congregating together even on Fridays.

So basically, the author is just making false and fantastical statements about Muslims. Theoretical stuff, the great religion of Islam, which Muslims themselves don't practice, but he somehow expects the average Westerner to appreciate more. Not sure why, unless the author subliminaly thinks the average Westerner is somehow a spiritually superior creature who would better appreciate what the harningers of the faith themselves dont.

Morgaan Sinclair,

You think Muslims protesting in the streets will change things? When Westerners protested against the war in Iraq, this didn’t stop the war, this despite living in democracies. Westerners are no moral position to mock Muslims who claim their religion is about peace. Western countries preach human rights and democracy, yet they go around engaging in regime change supporting brutal kings and dictators who do their bidding.

If you really wanted moderate Islam to stop the spread of extremists, you would ask the mainstream media to report on the moderates, as much as they report on the extremists. SO many times mainstream journalists and reporters will ask why aren’t moderate Muslims condemning the actions of the extremist, yet these same people will not interview the moderates; they just repeatedly report on the views of the extremists.

This article “Today's 'Islamic Fascists' Were Yesterday's Friends” by Brendan O’Neill at http://www.antiwar.com/orig/oneill.php?articleid=9615 explains the relationship between the West and Islam

This simplistic view of the new geopolitical landscape is deeply problematic. It overlooks the key role that the West played in nurturing radical Islamist groups, precisely as a means of isolating and undermining secular movements that were judged by Western governments to be too uppity or dangerous. Over the past 80 years and more – from Egypt to Afghanistan to Palestine – powerful governments in the West and their allies in the Middle East helped to create radical Islamic sects as a bulwark against secular nationalist parties or pan-Arabism. They gave the nod to, and in some instances funded and armed, Islamist movements that might challenge the claims of local anti-colonial, liberationist, or communistic outfits.

In other words, there is a deep and bitter irony in the West's current claims to be standing up to evil religious sects in the name of universal values. It was precisely the West's earlier disregard for secularism and democracy in the Middle East, its elevation of its own powerful interests over the needs and desires of local populations, which helped to give rise to a layer of apparently "evil" radical Islamism. What we have today is not a World War between a principled West and psychotic groups from "over there," but rather the messy residue of decades of Western meddling in the Middle East.

hajibaba,

Regarding your comment about Mecca, why did you leave out that the United States accepts trillions of dollars of investment money from the Saudis? The United States makes millions of dollars selling sophisticated weaponry to Saudi Arabia; the Saudis don’t have the qualified personnel to operate the weaponry, which is why they are dependent on the United States to defend them.

Why don’t those who claim to be concerned about human rights in Saudi Arabia put their money where their mouth is by demanding the United States and other wealthy nations stop accepting investment money from the Saudis and stop selling them weapons, until they improve human rights in their country?

Well, RandallJones.

Not sure what Islam and Muslims have to do with what the Saudi Government does. Its a nation-state and it is overflowing with oil, for which centrally planned Western economies are willing to pay a lot of money. So, the Saudis choose to spend the money they make in oil sales on weapons they dont need or know how to use and on likely poor investment portfolios in the US. Fine, What business is it of ours???

Its not our money, its money that belongs to the people who live on the Saudi peninnsula. If they are not happy about it, they should rise and overthrow the Saudi monarchy. If the Saudi population is not happy, and the Saudi monarchy is oppressive, how many people does it take to overthrow a bunch of fat desert bedouins sitting in large palaces? Especially when you have a powerful warlord like Osama to support any such insurgency.

Per chance, the Holy cities of Islam, vis-a-vis Mecca and Medina also happen to reside in Saudi Arabia, but that is simply a co-incidence. The Saudi Government surely panders to the religious ulema in its midst and does its best to provide good public service for the hajis. Its good politics, trying to make life hard for Muslims to perform hajj would be shooting oneself in ones foot as a ruling elite would nt it? Why make another enemy! When all these Muslims want is to come into your country, bring "tourist money", worship a black stone, buy all the sheep in the country and slaughter them once a year and leave within a week. Whatadeal!!! And all this without committing any violence or drinking or fornicating like the British football fans. Golly, the Saudis really have it good, I must say.

Now if there are human rights being violated, which is the case in every country in the world. Well, its the job of the locals to fix that up and rise against it, nobody from overseas can come and fix your ruling elites, they are from the local residents. Sure, foreign governments are always looking to help rotten people come to power in some one else's backyard. Its good business, I am not sure what you expect the United States to do?? Its as if you expect them to be people who are fair and noble and honest. Not sure if there is any government like that in the world. All governments are self serving, and for that reason its suits the United States just fine to finger the Saudis and meddle in their affairs. Thats not their problem, its for the Saudis to fix that, its their country, if they do not like the United States, then tell them to get lost. You can see what the Iraqis are doing when encountered with a similar situation.

Crocodile tears. Child is dead. Let the charges prove what he was guilty of.

I agree with Morgaan. There is a failure of Scholars to offer protection to women who are subjected to abuse within our midst and the defence of these women should be considered a defence of Islam. Hijaab or boob tube. Protection needs to be extended and Fathers need to be confronted in their Masjids on the measures to which they are resorting.

the comparison between "similar" situations in saudi arabia and iraq is a false comparison.

first the US supported the regime of hussein- then punished the population with 13 years of sanctions

im not sure what the iraqis are doing, becoming refugees and dying?

saudi arabia, has no retaliation for its human rights abuses-
it is called complicity-

sanctions and military action against iraq

sweet billion dollar sales and a nod and wink to saudi

i dont see any similarities there at all
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

muslims are also complicit in the way we react to abuses in our own communities when we see them or suspect them

speaking out, as the author has done- is an excelelnt postive step towards solving our own problems

i must commend the author and Mrs. A amongst others.

in fact, i would like to see muslim american speakers lash out against these radicals openly and voiceforously, lound enough for not only americans, but rest of the world to heard clearly and unequivocally
against the barbaric practices and preaching they call, islamic.

there are a lot of muslim americans who love the west and want to grow
their future generations here, especially in the US. in fact, i am quite surprised there is no muslim american talkshow host...so, may i venture to ask, are there muslim americans who want to stand up and take
the microphone up to speak out against this radicalization of islam?

george

>> muslim american speakers lash out against these radicals <<

lash out against what? Radicals who protest

- American support of Israel by vetoing EVERY SINGLE UN
resolutions for the past 50 years?
- American support of Saddam Hussein? Saudi Monarchy?
- CIA subjugation of democracy across the Muslim World?
- HUGE supplying of weapons to the entire Muslim World?

Unfortunately, the radicals are right about the lack of humanity and sense of justice of Americans and Westerners. Its only the violent methods of seeking retribution by these radicals that are wrong. They should maybe focus it on the locals among their midst that choose to co-operate with Westerners.

So lashing out against radicals is not going to solve anything. These so-called "Western-loving Muslims" should actually lash out against the Western Governments they so love. Tell them to support these radicals who care for their homelands instead of self-serving stooges who only make things worse.

Beautifully written piece.

On the equation of the religion with peace, I think the problem is that this notion is quite experiential. It may be the experience and/or sentiment of the speaker, but not of the hearer. Saying it doesn't change how that person feels or perceives his experiences. It's a bit like saying "Christianity is love" repeatedly to non-Christians--many of whom may be happy that the speaker experiences that, but don't themselves. We can argue about facts, actions and beliefs, but not quite feelings.

This is why I've argued here and elsewhere that such interreligious dialogue cannot be meaningfully be built on these sorts of maxims, but rather repeated and preferably reciprocal actions. These are the things from which trust and social capital are built.

hajibaba-
"lash out against what? Radicals who protest"

not radicals who protest-
as a long time activist and protestor in america, i can hardly lash out at nyself, can i?
and what sense would that make?

lashing out against the violent- the murderous- the barbaric tribals who- dont even understand what their relgion teaches them
dont follow what they dont understand


lash out at the physically strong who abuse the weak

the Prophet(pbuh) said, the strong are not those who overpower others with their strength, but those who control themselves in their anger.

lash out at the cowardly who justify their own outrage at social injustice, not with righting that in justice- or strengthening the ummah- not in protecting the weak- but allowing their political complaints to let themselves be convinced that their angers- their sense of outrage- is justified by strapping bombs on and killing innocents along with their targets-

by vigilante mentality and mob rule that allows people to give permission to themselves to do the impermissable
(islamically speaking)

your "solution?"

" They should maybe focus it on the locals among their midst that choose to co-operate with Westerners."

os SO completely against islam, that the cure is worse than the disease!

arent we seeing it exactly that behavior in iraq yoday?

iraqis killing iraqis who they feel are 'complicit' with the west?

is that
A) solving the problem?
B) excaerbating the problem?

your solution for violence seems to be more violence- which feeds itself-

defending oneslef is islamically encouraged

you are suggesting the same thing bush did- pre-emptive aggression
which, islamically, is specifically disallowed and for good reason

becuase of the hungry nature of war- it is never satiated, it is never full- there is never a point where it pushes the plate of blood away and says- i am done i am satisfied.

your own passion, your own voice, is powerful enough to speak as you do to use your prodigious energies and pen to to keep calling for reason- and speak out against the tyrannical despot when you can.
in this, you are doing your duty-

but such a powerful voice should be temepered with wisdom, and strengthened with true strength- which is the jihad of mastering our own angers-

peace hajibaba



I unequivocally and unconditionally condemn and revile these acts of terrorism and all acts of terrorsim done by deluded and vicious barbarians who claim they represent islam.

Council on American-Islamic Relations statement-

The �Not in the Name of Islam� petition states:

�We, the undersigned Muslims, wish to state clearly that those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam. We repudiate and dissociate ourselves from any Muslim group or individual who commits such brutal and un-Islamic acts. We refuse to allow our faith to be held hostage by the criminal actions of a tiny minority acting outside the teachings of both the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.�


Do you know what our Prophet, peace be upon him, told us? He repeated thrice, "He does not believe! He does not believe! He does not believe!" Who was he referring to? "That person whose neighbour does not feel safe from his evil."

As it states in the Quran: �Oh you who believe, stand up firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even if it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor; for God can best protect both. Do not follow any passion, lest you not be just. And if you distort or decline to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that you do.�� (Quran 4:135)


george, thanks for the kind words-
im ready

What gets me is that these people will invariably ask God for forgiveness after their crime and yet, there wasn't enough mercy before.

This is a despicable crime, and I hope the murderer is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. However I agree with Hajibaba and Randall Jones on this.
What have Americans done to stop the radicalization of their own country? Nothing. The bastards invade a sovereign nation, kills over a million Iraqis and ask others to denounce "radicals." Priceless, coming from those who elected that terrorist Bush.

How can Islam respect women if it's followers advocate harm persecution and intolerance towards them? Hmm let's see. It can't. At least not the Islam the majority of the world follows.

How can sabubu and others who think like him make intelligent comments about whats going on in the Islamic world when the mainstream media reports only on the Muslims who do bad things?

They can't?