Will we allow mainstream Islam to turn into a moderate fringe, while extremists take centre-stage?, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Will we allow mainstream Islam to turn into a moderate fringe, while extremists take centre-stage?

By Aijaz Zaka Syed

December 01, 2008

This happens all the time. Every time innocents are targeted in the name of Islam around the world, one can’t face one’s non-Muslim friends and colleagues. A distraught friend who has devoted her life to speaking and fighting on behalf of Arabs and Muslims wrote: “I’ve had it with the Arabs and Muslims and Islamic militancy. Forgive me but I am throwing in the towel.” I couldn’t write back to her. She grew up in Mumbai and is upset. She went on to say: “The Muslims and Islam have a problem and only they can solve it. If they do not, the whole world will turn against them.”

If this is how our most loyal friends feel, imagine the sentiments and reactions of the rest of the world. Can you blame the world if it’s turning against Muslims? What do you expect when not a day passes without the name of our faith being dragged through the mud by fellow believers around the world?

I know that Muslim leaders, including those in the highest echelons of power, have lately started speaking out against the extremists. The Darul Uloom Deoband in India, one of the oldest and most respected centres of learning in the Muslim world, issued a fatwa against terrorism at a large gathering of Islamic scholars in June. Last month, nearly 5,000 scholars backed the edict at a huge congregation in Hyderabad. The Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), and Saudi Arabia have, of late, been vehement in condemning these repulsive acts of violence targeting innocents. But clearly, we need to do more to be heard.

http://newageislam.com/will-we-allow-mainstream-islam-to-turn-into-a-moderate-fringe,-while-extremists-take-centre-stage?/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1041

RISE OF THE MUSLIMS: Writing on the wall, Islamic History, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic History

RISE OF THE MUSLIMS: Writing on the wall

Ashok V. Desai on a book about how Islam changed the world

That is the sort of world in which Arabs lived. Arabs existed before Islam; they were tribes that inhabited the desert to the east of the fertile crescent that extends along the Mediterranean coast from Egypt through Palestine and Syria to Turkey. Outside Nemara, an ancient fort near Damascus (the capital of today’s Syria), lies the grave of Imrul-Qays, son of Amr, described as king of Arabs, who died in AD 328 — much before Muhammad was born. Two hundred years later, this area was under Ghassanids, who were governors under the Romans. They held a fair every spring at the shrine of St Sergius where Arabs from the mountains and desert further east would come to pray and celebrate; at that time, those Arabs were obviously Christians sometimes. They were nomads; they kept camels, goats and sheep. They lived in tents. They rode horses. They traded wool and hides for grain, wine and olive oil. And they carried arms — swords and bows — to protect their herds from theft. So they were also equipped for robbery — and probably collected a tribute from the Byzantine settlements to their west in lieu of robbing them.

http://newageislam.com/rise-of-the-muslims--writing-on-the-wall/islamic-history/d/469

Dutch wisdom placates Arabs and shows international dialogue can help, Islam and the West , NewAgeISlam.com

Islam and the West

Dutch wisdom placates Arabs and shows international dialogue can help

By: Jamal Al-Awadhi

Many Muslims and Arabs were satisfied with the Dutch government’s declaration that it is not responsible for the film’s content and its strong denunciation of the film, which it says calls for violence. This was also predicted to trigger more violent reactions by the Islamic communities in Europe and Muslims worldwide.

Islam respects all the divine religions, and throughout the Islamic history, no Muslim dared to disgrace the prophets Jesus and Moses or others revealed in the other three divine books: the Old Testament, New Testament and Book of Psalms.

At this point, such events make the world more violent amid the currently dire situations, and therefore there is an urgent need for conducting broad international dialogues and activating the role of international organizations, particularly the ones having effective slogans such as those concerned with dialogue between religions and cultures.

http://newageislam.com/dutch-wisdom-placates-arabs-and-shows-international-dialogue-can-help/islam-and-the-west/d/57

Iran Worries Arabs — But They Dont Want War, The War within Islam, NewAgeIslam.com

The War within Islam

Iran Worries Arabs — But They Dont Want War

by Wadah Khanfar

When the Islamic revolution began in 1979 under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, it aroused considerable admiration in the Arab street. It presented a model of organised popular action that deposed one of the region's most tyrannical regimes. The people of the region discerned in this revolution new hope for freedom and change. The Arab street embraced the revolution without any particular unease about its sectarian or ethnic dimensions. The majority of Arabs are Sunni Muslims and the majority of Iranians are Shia. Although the Shia dimension was present in the revolution from the very first day, the majority of Arabs did not worry about that. Indeed, when the war between Iraq and Iran began in 1980, a significant segment of the Arab street continued in its positive outlook toward Iran; even though it was fighting with an Arab country. Iran's popularity grew markedly because of its support for the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance at a time when many Arabs felt their own regimes had abdicated their duties toward Palestine. In fact, during the 2006 Israeli war in Lebanon, the two most popular figures in Sunni Cairo were Iran's President Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

http://www.newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/wadah-khanfar/iran-worries-arabs-%E2%80%94-but-they-dont-want-war/d/7270