Every religion is about absolute belief in its own superiority ...

[Guest guest]

" Why do they hate us? " asked George W. Bush. This rhetorical

question betrays the pathetic ignorance of most Americans about the

world around them. Moreover, its claim to injured innocence cannot

withstand even the most cursory examination of U.S. history. For

almost forty years, this " naiveté and self-righteousness " has been

challenged most determinedly by Noam Chomsky. As early as 1967, he

pointed that the idea that " our " motives are pure and " our " actions

benign is " nothing new in American intellectual history—or, for

that matter, in the general history of imperialist apologia. "

 

Muslim leaders have mirrored America's claim and have asked the same

question of the West. They have had little to say about September 11

that makes sense to people outside their communities. Although they

speak endlessly on rules of personal hygiene and halal or haram, they

cannot even tell us whether or not the suicide bombers violated

Islamic laws. According to Dr. Taha Jabir Alalwani, chair of the

Virginia-based (and largely Saudi-funded) Fiqh Council, " This kind of

question needs a lot of research and we don't have that in our

budget. "

 

Fearful of backlash, most leaders of Muslim communities in the United

States, Canada, and Europe have responded in predictable ways to the

twin towers atrocity. They have proclaimed first that Islam is a

religion of peace and second that Islam was hijacked by fanatics on

the September 11. They are wrong on both counts.

 

First, Islam—like Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, or any other

religion—is not about peace. Nor is it about war. Every religion

is about absolute belief in its own superiority and its divine right

to impose itself upon others. In medieval times, both the Crusades

and the jihads were soaked in blood. Today, Christian fundamentalists

attack abortion clinics in the United States and kill doctors; Muslim

fundamentalists wage their sectarian wars against each other; Jewish

settlers holding the Old Testament in one hand and Uzis in the other

burn olive orchards and drive Palestinians off their ancestral land;

Hindus in India demolish ancient mosques and burn down churches; Sri

Lankan Buddhists slaughter Tamil separatists. "

 

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