No such thing as a moderate Muslim? A Muslim cemetary is refusing to bury the Mumbai attackers.
“People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim,” said Hanif Nalkhande, a trustee. “Islam does not permit this sort of barbaric crime.” Original Article.
By refusing to bury the radical Islamic terrorists who attacked India by saying they are not Muslim (and he runs a Muslim cemetary), Nalkhande has done a big favor for his faith and the world, and he probably doesn’t realize it. This is a strong rebuttal to those who argue that there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim, and Muslims who don’t support terrorism are simply non-practicing. There are many practicing Muslims who know their Koran and Islamic theologians quite well, and can and must debate the merits of the extremists’ arguments.
This columnist from the United Arab Emirates is doing a great job. He boldly declares:
“It is time to take a serious stand against these perpetrators and reclaim our religion. Muslims must be more vocal in their sentiments regarding such criminals, and Islamic states must counter this behavior [forcefully]. To borrow an unpopular phrase, the Islamic states must launch a psychological preemptive strike against these terrorists, and, more importantly, [against] those who encourage them. Muslim preachers who fail to condemn terror must either be reeducated or discredited completely, and those who excuse terror [by] using certain conflicts as a pretext must be silenced, because the poison that they spread today will come back to haunt us all tomorrow.”
I may be in the minority in saying this (alongside my good friend John Loftus), but I honestly believe the Iraqi Awakening is only the beginning. I agree with Loftus’ statement that “we may be witnessing the death throes of the fundamentalist terror states, and the birth of a renaissance of modernity in the Middle East.”
