In the event that al-Qaeda is defeated, "hundreds of millions of Muslims" would continue to fight against the United States," al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn said in a video message (China Daily, June 21).
Where are the voices of Islam condemning Gadahn's statement? All I hear from the Moslems in America and elsewhere is . . . silence.
I know there are Moslems who are decent people. Many in the US are here simply to seek a better life, both economically and, perhaps, to be out from under the thumb of Islamic governments. I also know there are those in this country who would like to bring the severe sharia code into force, bringing with it beheadings, stonings, and whippings (see http://tinyurl.com/cg3u4b).
But when you have people who most Westerners would label "crazies," you begin to look at all people who share commonality with suspicion, justifiable suspicion.
I'm tired of being "politically correct." I am tired of my government being "politically correct." (No, this is not something new brought to us by the present administration; it has been supported by both parties' leadership.)
Moslems who complain that non-Moslems are suspicious of them, who say they are being discriminated, need only to look at their leadership around the world to understand why.
In a Moslem-dominated country speaking out can be dangerous to one's life or health. But this is the US - and the same holds true for most democracies, even Israel - where freedom of speech is honored and people elect their leadership.
If Moslems in America want non-Moslems to view them with anything but suspicion then they need to work to erase the cause of the suspicion. To date, the only thing the Moslem community in the US has accomplished is to increase suspicion.
The silence is deafening.
Yohanon Glenn
yohanon.glenn at gmail dot com
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