I have worked with and been friendly with too many Muslims over too many years to believe the negative generalizations a good many people I know have about them.
But if Muslims want to shed the negative stereotypes, they have to speak up when particularly egregious beliefs are preached on their behalf, by Imams they should be sickened by.
Here is an excellent example of what I am talking about, via excerpts from Jordan Schachtel’s article at conservativereview.com:
A California imam delivered a ferociously anti-Semitic sermon Friday from his podium at the Islamic Center of Davis, calling for Allah to “annihilate” the Jews “down to the very last one.”
The imam, Egyptian-born American hate preacher Ammar Shahin, cited the Koran in his vicious anti-Jewish screed.
“Allah does not change the situation of people ‘until they change their own situation.’ The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Judgment Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Jews hide behind stones and trees,’” Shahin said in his sermon, which ranted about the situation in Jerusalem.
The clips are uploaded to the mosque’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
Shahin continued from his podium Friday afternoon:
“Oh Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews. Oh Allah, destroy those who closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Oh Allah, show us the black day that You inflict upon them, and the wonders of Your ability. Oh Allah, count them one by one and annihilate them down to the very last one. Do not spare any of them.”
The Islamic Center of Davis in Northern California is located about 15 miles from the state’s capital, Sacramento.
It has, in the past, hosted events featuring Waleed Idris al-Menessey, who has also called for Muslims to kill Jews and impose Sharia law on non-Muslims law worldwide. Al-Meneesey’s Minneapolis-based Islamic center has produced five recruits for the Islamic State terrorist organization.
If a a Rabbi stood at a religious podium and advocated for death to all Muslims, imploring God to “count them one by one and annihilate them down to the very last one. Do not spare any of them.”, you can bet I would be condemning it on this blog. And you can bet I would be far from alone among Jews in doing so.
So where are the Muslim voices condemning this sick, murderous hatred? When do we hear the calls to shut down the house of hate he preaches at? When do we hear the demands that people who come to that house of hate and listen to what he has to say explain why they support such a perversion of Islam?
The absence of condemnation indicates to people that this is not a perversion of Islam, this IS Islam. Is that what Muslims want?
The time to speak up is now.
What’s funny is that Muslims are allowed to lie for the sake of Islam, you would think they would at least lie to us and say they don’t agree. But like you point out, where are they?