The Problem of Muslim Leadership

[DonViejo]

Another Islamist terror attack, another round of assurances that it had nothing to do with the religion of peace.

By AYAAN HIRSI ALI

I've seen this before. A Muslim terrorist slays a non-Muslim citizen in the West, and representatives of the Muslim community rush to dissociate themselves and their faith from the horror. After British soldier Lee Rigby was hacked to death last week in Woolwich in south London, Julie Siddiqi, representing the Islamic Society of Britain, quickly stepped before the microphones to attest that all good Muslims were "sickened" by the attack, "just like everyone else."

This happens every time. Muslim men wearing suits and ties, or women wearing stylish headscarves, are sent out to reassure the world that these attacks have no place in real Islam, that they are aberrations and corruptions of the true faith.

But then what to make of Omar Bakri? He too claims to speak for the true faith, though he was unavailable for cameras in England last week because the Islamist group he founded, Al-Muhajiroun, was banned in Britain in 2010. Instead, he talked to the media from Tripoli in northern Lebanon, where he now lives. Michael Adebolajo—the accused Woolwich killer who was seen on a video at the scene of the murder, talking to the camera while displaying his bloody hands and a meat cleaver—was Bakri's student a decade ago, before his group was banned. "A quiet man, very shy, asking lots of questions about Islam," Bakri recalled last week. The teacher was impressed to see in the grisly video how far his shy disciple had come, "standing firm, courageous, brave. Not running away."

Bakri also told the press: "The Prophet said an infidel and his killer will not meet in Hell. That's a beautiful saying. May God reward [Adebolajo] for his actions . . . I don't see it as a crime as far as Islam is concerned."

The question requiring an answer at this moment in history is clear: Which group of leaders really speaks for Islam? The officially approved spokesmen for the "Muslim community"? Or the manic street preachers of political Islam, who indoctrinate, encourage and train the killers—and then bless their bloodshed?

-snip-

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323475304578503613890263762.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Which group of leaders really speaks for Christianity?

The MCC or the WBC?

[hrmjustin]

2. I should like to think that the WBC does not speak for mainstream Christianity.

We all have our extremists and we must address them.

On edit I will say I don't think everyone's problems with extremists are equal.

[demosincebirth]

3. We all have extremist, yes, but terrorists that maim and kill daily? I don't think so. Many seem to

soft-peddle the truth.

[hrmjustin]

4. Unfortunately some people think by addressing the issue they are giving Muslims a hard time

or that they sound like a conservative. This kind of thinking helps no one.

[samsingh]

5. it's not nearly the same. when was the last time a Christian bombed something

and was celebrated by Christian leadership?

[hrmjustin]

6. I agree it is not the same.

[demosincebirth]

13. You misinterpreted my post.

[hrmjustin]

15. I think the response was to me.

[demosincebirth]

17. Sorry, you're right.

[samsingh]

20. yes, my response was to you

[hrmjustin]

21. OK well I think I said agreed with you in the end.

[Pab Sungenis]

8. And yet one hatchet-wielding madman

speaks for mainstream Islam?

[hrmjustin]

9. That is not what OP said.

The OP was talking about the responses of Islamic religious leaders. Like it or not Islam has an image problem in the west and the leaders need to do something to address it. I think they need a reformation.

As a Christian I acknowledge we have extremist in out fold and they need addressing.

[demosincebirth]

10. They don't address it because their own neck may be on the chopping block if they condem all the

car bombings and suicide bombers doing their thing in the name of God. They also don't have one voice (or leader in Islam) in their interpretation of their Koran.

[hrmjustin]

11. Well if they don't speak up people will continue to have negative feelings about Muslim leadership.

[demosincebirth]

12. You mean, like, all the imams of Islam

speaking in unanimity against the killing of innocent people whether muslim or not? I wish they could, but it will never happen.

[hrmjustin]

14. Yes a council that can start a great reformation for the religion.

[LostOne4Ever]

7. Why not try this?

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#dcdcdc; padding-bottom:5px; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom:none; border-radius:0.4615em 0.4615em 0em 0em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323475304578503613890263762.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#f0f0f0; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top:none; border-radius:0em 0em 0.4615em 0.4615em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"]The question requiring an answer at this moment in history is clear: Which group of leaders really speaks for Islam?

Seems to me there is a simple solution to this: Why don't the followers encourage the leaders who do speak for them to remove the passages from their holy book(s) that support hatred, and just claim you are a different religion altogether? Why keep these sections that suggest violence is the solution or that support hate?

So long as the same book is used, both views of Islam will be supported and their actions will cast a shadow on each other.

Same goes for Christianity and all other religions. Why keep the passages calling on followers to stone children and accuse homosexuals of being abominations?

The mainstream followers don't follow these sections anyway, nor do they believe them, so why keep them? Why give those who would advocate violence in the name of religion ammunition.

It would also make it harder for non-believers such as myself to point to those sections and "twist them out of context" as some like to call it.

[demosincebirth]

16. Try to remove passages in the Koran? They would be the first target of a suicide bomber no matter

how many innocent people they kill.

[dimbear]

18. I would like a Muslim leader to speak this truth: "guys, you foolishly underestimate the revenge

potential of Europeans. Read some history."

For instance, learn why there was little or no terrorism in occupied France during the Vichy regime.

[longship]

19. Islam has no "Pope".

It's like Protestantism, whose beliefs also span a wide spectrum from liberal to what can fairly safely be termed as insane.

This was one of the topics discussed by the four horsemen atheists (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens) in a two hour discussion at Hitchens' home in 2007.

It is a very interesting discussion where this topic is brought up.

Hour 1:

Hour 2:

Or, all at once:

Unfortunately, every time I watch it, I get upset at where it ends. I want to hear more. But then again, I am a an evil atheist.