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March 7th, 2011
01:00 PM ET
Muslims anxious, active ahead of radicalization hearingsEditor's Note: CNN’s Soledad O’Brien chronicles the dramatic fight over the construction of a mosque in the heart of the Bible belt. “Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door”, airs Sunday, March 27 at 8 p.m. E.T. By Dan Gilgoff, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor Every day this week, American Muslim activists are working overtime to prepare for congressional hearings on "the radicalization of American Muslims" that open Thursday. Sunday saw Muslim demonstrators gather in New York's rain-drenched Times Square to protest the hearings, standing with celebrities like Russell Simmons and other non-Muslims who held signs declaring "I am Muslim, too." On Monday, representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations - a national Muslim advocacy group - met will sympathetic Capitol Hill staffers to discuss communications strategy and grassroots organizing to counter Islamophia. On Tuesday, a coalition of major Muslim, interfaith and civil rights groups will announce a new campaign and website to push back against politicians and others they say are trafficking in anti-Muslim rhetoric. And that's before the hearings even begin. “The community is anxious, uncertain and even fearful in terms of what this could become in this environment,” says Akbar Ahmed, an Islamic studies professor at American University who has met with Capitol Hill aides in advance of the hearings. “There is a generalized sense of Islamophobia floating around, and the hearings are not doing anything to assuage Muslim fears.” Days before the first in what Rep. Peter King, the House Homeland Security Committee chairman, has said will be a series of hearings on American Muslim radicalization, many Muslims are deeply nervous at the specter of being demonized from such a highly visible platform as Capitol Hill. The hearings may stretch out for more than a year. But King’s hearings also have galvanized American Muslims, perhaps as never before, in an attempt to counter what they call a rising tide of Islamophobia, to lobby Washington about their concerns and to help shape the national narrative about their community. The efforts come a little more than six months after many Muslims were blindsided by a wave of national opposition to a proposed Islamic cultural center near New York’s ground zero last summer. “There was this sense after last summer’s events of needing to be more proactive in stemming this activity that stokes anti-Muslim hate,” said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy group. “That’s why, as soon as we heard Rep. King say he planned to hold these hearings, we started coming forward to express our concerns,” Khera said. In February, Muslim Advocates spearheaded a letter to congressional leaders objecting to the hearings. It was signed by more than 50 organizations, including civil rights groups that had not previously been involved with the American Muslim community. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a leading Muslim advocacy group, used its annual lobbying day last month to visit 90 congressional offices to “start offering facts about American Muslims and their role in helping prevent attacks on our nation,” said Corey Saylor, the group’s national legislative director. Two other groups - the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Arab American Institute - held a briefing, “Islamophobia: A Challenge to American Pluralism,” for Capitol Hill staffers last Wednesday. The King hearings are also spurring mosques around the country to get more political. “Muslim Americans make vital contributions every day,” said Hadi Nael, director of the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley in California, whose congregation is calling and writing Congress to voice opposition to the King hearings. “They love this country just as every American does and should not be placed under suspicion of terrorism because of their religious beliefs or ethnic background,” he said. “King’s hearings would do just that.”  Muslims and non-Muslims demonstrated in New York Many Muslim activists said that recent remarks from King, a New York Republican, including his support for a theory that 80% of American mosques are controlled by radical imams, are evidence that he intends to target the American Muslim community broadly with his hearings, rather than focus on Islamic radicals. “Let’s not fall into the same ugly patterns that were prevalent in earlier years in America, when Jews were suspected of aiding communism and Catholics were suspected of supporting fascism,” said Eboo Patel, a leading Muslim activist, summing up his opposition to the hearings. “Let’s not repeat that history by blaming all Muslims for the extremist actions of a range of people in this country.” A White House official appeared at a Muslim community center Sunday to speak about the need to prevent violent extremism, saying U.S. Muslims are part of the solution. "The bottom line is this - when it comes to preventing violent extremism and terrorism in the United States, Muslim Americans are not part of the problem, you're part of the solution," said Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser to President Obama. "Of course, the most effective voices against al Qaeda's warped worldview and interpretation of Islam are other Muslims." McDonough also said, "We must resolve that, in our determination to protect the nation, we will not stigmatize or demonize entire communities because of the actions of a few. In the United States of America, we don't practice guilt by association." A White House source said McDonough's speech was not meant as a "prebuttal" to King's hearings, while a spokesman said the administration is finalizing its strategy to help stop violent extremism. King called for the hearings on Muslim radicalization after Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in November's elections. He declined calls from some Democrats to broaden sessions to focus on extremists of all types, including neo-Nazis, radical environmentalists and anti-tax groups. “Al Qaeda is actively attempting to recruit individuals living within the Muslim American community to commit acts of terror,” King wrote in a letter last month to Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, the ranking member on the Homeland Security Committee, who had suggested that King broaden the hearings’ scope. “Pursuant to our mandate, the committee will continue to examine the threat of Islamic radicalization, and I will not allow political correctness to obscure a real and dangerous threat to the safety and security of the citizens of the United States,” King’s letter continued. King told CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley on Sunday that "something from within" the Muslim community is a "threat" to America and needs to be explored. He compared the goal of the hearings to investigating the Mafia within the Italian community or going after the Russian mob in "the Russian community in Brighton Beach and Coney Island." "We're talking about al Qaeda," King said. "There's been self-radicalization going on within the Muslim community, within a very small minority, but it's there, and that's where the threat is coming from at this time." King has yet to release a full witness list for this week’s hearing, exacerbating Muslim anxiety. The sole witness whose name King has released is Zuhdi Jasser, an Arizona doctor who is Muslim but who has criticized his religion. King has also invited Rep Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota - the first Muslim elected to Congress - to testify. Ellison also appeared on "State of the Union" on Sunday, saying, "I challenge the basic premise of the hearings." "We should deal with radicalization and violent radicalization, but ... singling out one community is the wrong thing to do," he said. Democrats have invited Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca, who has praised Muslim leaders for building relationships with law enforcement authorities, to testify. A recent survey showed that 56% of Americans support the upcoming hearings, compared with 29% who think they’re a bad idea. The February survey, conducted by Public Opinion Research and the Religion News Service, found that seven in 10 Americans think Congress should refrain from singling out Muslims and should investigate all religious extremism. Not all Muslims object to the hearings. American University's Ahmed says that many first-generation American Muslims, feeling rejected both by their parents' culture and by their American peers, are at risk of being radicalized. "There's a new generation of Muslim Americans who are born here or have grown up here and are no longer fully accepted as Egyptians or Pakistanis, as their parents are," he says. "But America is also rejecting them, day and night Islam is being demonized… they’re suspended between two cultures.” "Whey you are 18, that can push you into a dangerous situation," Ahmed says. "You can go online and some idiot in the Middle East can push you in a dangerous direction. It has little to do with theology and a lot to do with anthropology." Other American Muslims interpret King’s hearings as the culmination of years of growing domestic suspicions of their community, dating back to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. “For the last 10 years, there has been a movement of intolerance against Muslim Americans, but it hasn’t been above the surface,” says Patel, who leads the Interfaith Youth Corps. “It’s now clear, from everything from the discussion around the Cordoba House (one name for the proposed New York Islamic center) to the way King has framed the hearings that there is an anti-Muslim sentiment in America that is reminiscent of anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism,” he said. “But I’d rather it be out in the open like it is now,” Patel continued. According to the Justice Department, there were 107 anti-Muslim hate-crime incidents in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, up from 28 such incidents in 2000. With the 10-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the horizon and some likely contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination talking up the threat of Islamic law, or sharia, taking hold in the United States, many Muslims said they fear the worst is to come. But many are also feeling that their community is finally preparing itself to take on those challenges. “This is a very American thing, congressional hearings,” said Ahmed of this week’s King session. “Let’s present the complexity and sophistication of Islam so Americans understand it better. It’s a teaching moment.” CNN's Susan Candiotti, Bonney Kapp and Rebecca Stewart contributed to this report. soundoff (1,742 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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The story goes that a goat seen another goat passing by and told it "your rear can be seen". The moral is that you can see the rear of others but can not see yours....
You spoke about the Islamic empire claiming it was conquering by the sword...but have you seen the American empire using all kinds of weapons against civilians because they disagree with or want to take their natural national resources...?
Just as dijjal does by seeing with one eye only,seeing one fact only but not both facts...they tell others that their rear is seen but not seeing their own rear...?!
What hypocrisy–accusing American Muslims of being terrorists. This from one of the single most violent, imperialistic, colonialistic country on the face of the earth! Non-Muslims Americans commit horrific acts of violence against each other every day. They bomb civilian-populated areas in other countries, exporting their violence abroad. And yet Muslim Americans are supposed to be the real "terrorists"? Those who accuse us should look within. How many innocent people have non-Muslim Americans killed, per capita, compared to Muslim Americans? Do you dare consider it?
Everyone needs to chill out. Leave every one else alone. Mind your own business and go about your daily life. If there were no religious freaks none of this would happen. If you believe in something, then believe it and leave others alone. Everyone just SHUTUP. Stop getting so heated over things. Ignore the hate. It only fuels it. Stop blogging about it, stop protested, just leave it alone.
Al-Naml sura 27:
She said: Lo! kings, when they enter a township, ruin it and make the honour of its people shame. Thus will they do. (34).
America does not want to admit that this redicalization hearing is only meant to target Shiaa's in their fears of Iran regime.
This hearing is setup to demonize the Muslim community by a racist bigot congressman Peter King. He will control the hearing and will put up witnesses he wants to show what he wishes to show. It's amazing to see American lawmakers not learning from our history about trying to single out a certain religion or a race to make them look bad for a certain reason. This is like holding hearings on the African American community or Hispanic community for having higher crime rate in those communities. But Peter King does not have balls to hold those kinds of hearings. Peter King is a extremely belligerent person as most Americans understand by his tone and language. He has certain hatred towards Muslims. This congressman is wasting time in further diving this nation instead of dealing the real problems of unemployment and economy. The sorry state of affairs of our nation.
what happened to my reply
two simple questions will resolve whether muslims are part of the solution or part of the problem.
: if it comes to a question of your allegiance would you support your country first or the God you pray to?
: would you fight for your country against all comers , even those of the same faith ; would you protect a fellow citizen even if he or she was a jew?
if the answer to the first question is God then you are part of the problem
if the answer to the second question is no and no or even yes and no then you are part of the problem.
Muslims laughed and they cheered when 3,000 Americans were slaughtered by these swine barbarians on September 11, 2001.
Our distain for muslims has nothing to do with the muslim sympathizer in the white house but it has everything to do with the extensive, murderous history of muslims. We welcome people to the USA who come in Peace...muslims do not know of the word. We do not want their butchery, sharia law, qaran, and their way of life. They are evil...all of them.
Why do muslims come here if they do not want to integrate into US society? Why don't they just stay in their muslim countries? The muslim countries do not want people of other religions immigrating to their countries, so why should we want muslims immigrating to our country??? The muslim faith is incompatible to the US way of life. Muslims – Please stop coming here. Muslims that are here already – please go home.
Amazing how vocal the "moderate" Muslim becomes when called to task. They claim to be moderate, however, the moderate muslim is the one who passivly supports the radical muslim. After all, the precept is clear, convert all to Islam and kill those who refuse. They rally and complain, this is merely a distraction from the reality that a devout muslim is to lie, cheat, steal, and murder in the spread of Islam. Don't take my word for it, read the Quoran.
Statistics calculate 10% of muslims are radical based on a populaltion of 1 billion that= 100 million terrorist worldwide. It only takes one to kill many innocent people of all faiths as they have done time after time. So, where are the 900 million "peaceful" muslims speaking out against the 100 million who have stolen their "peaceful religion". Not speaking out loudly against these terrorists by default you are condoning their actions. Yes let the hearings begin!!!! Thank you Peter King
"Let’s not repeat that history by blaming all Muslims for the extremist actions of a range of people in this country.”
The Muslim community can take great measures themselves to help resolve this problem. Here is what they need to do:
1. Come out publicly in large numbers and condemn the terrorist activities of their misguided Muslim extremist followers
2. Assimilate into our culture and not brin "Little Mecca" to a neighborhood near you
3. Abandon any efforts/attempts to incorporate Sharia law into the American legal system
4. Police their own Mosques that spew hatred against America and teach children to hate Westerners and the very country that they are living in.
5. Turn in "Home Grown" terrorists to the appropriate authority when they are discovered.
“Let’s not repeat that history by blaming all Muslims for the extremist actions of a range of people in this country.”
The Muslim community can take great measures themselves to help resolve this problem. Here is what they need to do:
1. Come out publicly in large numbers and condemn the terrorist activities of their misguided Muslim extremist followers
2. Assimilate into our culture and not brin "Little Mecca" to a neighborhood near you
3. Abandon any efforts/attempts to incorporate Sharia law into the American legal system
4. Police their own Mosques that spew hatred against America and teach children to hate Westerners and the very country that they are living in.
5. Turn in "Home Grown" terrorists to the appropriate authority when they are discovered.
The Five Deceptions of Islam:
1.) "Islam is a religion of love."
2.) "Islam is a religion of peace."
3.) "Allah is just another name for God."
4.) "We worship Jesus Christ like you do."
5.) "Koran is the Divine Word of Allah."
Unlike Islam, Koran, Hadith, etc....Jesus Christ teaches us the following:
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 'And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." – Mark 12:28-31
Upperhand.
Who fooled you and told you Muslims Worship Jesus as you do? Muslims do not worship Jesus nor worship Muhammed...! Muslims worship God (Allah) only although may pray for all Prophets of God...within their prayers but mostly would be Abraham and Muhammed...
You as christians should be worshipping God only bu mayt pray for Abraham and Jesus within your prayers of God worship,that would have been the correct way just as Muslims do...and it is the true religion...but instead of that you made of your prophet of God as being the Son of God or being God himself....!
Things are heating up. America will probably make a sharp political turn to the right driving full blast into a fascist military regime
that will without remorse ruthlessly destroy her enemy .
Multiculturalists and Moral Relativists believe that no cultures, societies, or religions are morally better or morally worse than others. They are wrong.
They say "Who are we to judge?"
If we cannot judge, how do we know good from evil, right from wrong?
We MUST judge to know good from evil, right from wrong.
If we cannot hate evil, what can we hate?
We Infidels are so hated by Muslims that no Infidel, not even Presidents, Prime Ministers, Heads of State etc. are allowed to enter the cities of Mecca and Medina as our presence would defile the two cities.
It is NOT a "hate crime" to hate evil.
It is NOT Islamaphobic to HATE the above atrocities that Muslims are allowed to commit in Islam per the Koran, Mohammed, Hadith, and Sira against us Infidels.
Which of the below verses from the Koran do the Islamic Supremacist Hate Organization CAIR hate or disapprove of?
Islamic Allah is the greatest deceiver of all (3:54) and leads people astray (14:27).
The Koran was made by Allah (10:37) and always been in heaven with Allah (85:21-:22).
The Koran is flawless (39:28) and only in Arabic (39:28, 43:3).
Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them (47:4)
The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them (8:65)
Muslims must not take the infidels as friends (3:28)
Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an (8:12)
Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels (8:60)
Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them (2:191)
Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood (9:123)
When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them (9:5)
Kill the Jews and the Christians if they do not convert to Islam or refuse to pay Jizya tax (9:29)
Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable (3:85)
The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them (9:30)
Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam. (5:33)
The infidels are unclean; do not let them into a mosque (9:28)
Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies (22:19)
How can one hate the KKK and Nazism, yet not hate Islam?
Why don't you hate Islam?
In 2004, King claimed in an interview with conservative talk radio host Sean Hannity that "no American Muslim leaders are cooperating in the war on terror," and that "80-85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists. . . . I'll stand by that number of 85 percent. This is an enemy living amongst us."[16] The Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the comments as "Islamophobic bigotry" and Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe called on President George W. Bush to "condemn this latest example of hate-filled language."[16]
In a September 2007 interview with the website Politico.com, Congressman King said that "There are too many mosques in this country... There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them.A few days later, King said that he had been misquoted:
He is just a bigot using is new power. WAit until other minorities have a taste of the fat miffle age white man.
I'm an American and I'm Muslim. I was born and raised in Indiana. My family hails from Italy originally.
People need to quit lying to themselves about all Muslims being "foreign." How many times have I heard "go back to your country."? What country would that be...Italy? I know no one there, can't speak the language, and it's about as Muslim as America.
I've always been proud to be an American. Until recently, that is.
The hate and ignorance directed toward me and my religion is intolerable in a country that values religious freedom. When that hate and ignorance comes from people of power, people in Congress, etc. it's even more disheartening.
As a general rule, hate fuels hate. You want to stop Muslims from radicalizing...stop radicalizing them. It's YOU, the hate mongers, the anti-Muslim hate filled mafia, that first ignite the spark of radicalization. Sure, there may be so wackos in the Middle East who don't like U.S. foreign policy that then fan the flame for their own political agenda....but it's YOU, U.S. CITIZENS AND CONGRESSMEN/WOMEN spouting your stereotypes, ignorance, lies, and hate that are to blame.
If you want all Muslims to love America, you're going to have to start loving Muslims.
Am I a radical? No. Do I support what radicals do? Absolutely not! Do I understand their skewed logic? No. Do I see where this hate originates. YES YES YES, and it's not in the religion, it's in the anti-Muslim climate that permeates this country.
So you're saying that terrorists exist because of AMERICA? I dont know what kind of Muslim from Italy you are, since italians are Roman-Catholic. You're ancestors were turks or tunisians and you call yourself "italian" like you call yourself "american". NO, the HATE comes from the Koran, not from the United States. If this country is so hateful, why do you hate it so much? How about you freaks start integrating to western culture when living in a western country rather than your medieval countries before you talk about who spills hate
Any religion that teaches intoleration for all other "infedels" or unbelievers must go. I will not get on a prayer rug and I will fight and die before I do. You "peace-loving" American muslims need to start forking over the radicals among you and maybe you will recieve some credibility from true Americans who truly love freedom and America.
Not true Lisa. I had no problem or worries about Muslims until 911. Then the shoe bomber, Fort Hood, etc.... Where is the hate coming from, exactly? And America is supposed to ignore it? People of "the religion of peace" are killing Americans in the name of their god, but we are not even allowed to look into what's going on? You want to kill all Non-muslims, and we are not allowed to even ask questions?
Insanity.
You know we would not be bashing Muslims if you would TURN IN YOUR RADICAL BROTHERS and SISTERS. We Americans do not trust the so call Religion of Peace after all MUSLIM TERRORISTS have TENS OF THOUSAND INNOCENTS not to mention flying planes into WTC. You Muslims have been killing innocents, spitting on personal liberty and keeping your women as "sub class". Given the FACTS, I for one choose to NOT be an advocate or supporter of ANY MUSLIM until you all can demonstrate tolerance and peace.
Sister Lisa.
May God be on your side...against all odds..
Think I should be leaving these blogs issues, can see from it what a nation you are all divided by hatred and fears from each others....just wonder who told you to open your doors for others when you are not capable or not good enough for you to be of your nation?
As it seems I had a different picture in my mind of America that is supposed to be a smaller version of the World within it but see that still she suffered what the world suffers,America failed to make an example because you had iron curtains made between her nation's communities....
What a shame the great country suffers...this hatred growing among the nation will drive it to break into individual states for each culture or religion... That will be the start of the end for the Great American Eagle... And I am sorry to see growing signs of that....the same rules that divided the Indian great land into Islamic and hindous countries would do the same dividing yours if you do not overcome your indifference's...
Hey Muneef tell your muslim brothers to stop being MURDERERS and the fact that you follow the redicalism goes to show me that the investigations should continue to find the source of your hatred. You are the racist and what do you have to fear if islam is soo damn peaceful.
You are a fraud and need to shut up, or tell your brothers to be human not dogs.
If Big Al Sharpton is lathered up already then hearings are a real good idea. Hypersensitive that we realize Islam tends to usurp the host nation with it's own courts and politics. You're gonna need more than 10 million, we have you out numbered.
Well Mr.Too Bad.
You have just abused me for no reason as you would abuse those American Muslim Nation of yours...therefore you would deserve what you will harvest out of that....your few words of dirt you have used to abuse me and them...God is witness that if all of Americans have your dirty mentality then they deserve to have all Muslims swimming to yours to clean it from dirt such as you...as for me is enough if I take your tongue out useless piece of Sh..
Mr.Bad Sh..
God only knows who or what are you...you could be a piece of Sh.. That was brought to America either as a slave or sewage cleaner and now you speak in the tongue of those hosted you in their country,how you repay them is by insulting people towards growing hate against this country....a petty really that such country allow your kind of dog to live and bark from their neighborhood causing them distress...
Poor manners you should be more respectable to your self if you do not want people to return your filthy comments with filthier comments...
But you seem to be that type of person who enjoys being humiliated....tell you one thing 99% percent of Muslims are moderate Muslims but such as your type that drive them to leave modercy behind and take their rights with their own hands... And that is what you are going to get ...as no moderate Muslim would allow you to ride his back stupid...you are blowing fire to heat up but it is you first who will catch it's blazing fire...you got worms in your head that you call brains...
Hey, Muneef...........When you publically declare yourself to be an American citizen FIRST and a muslim second, then you will have something to say...otherwise...stuff it.
glbaco01.
Well, I am a Muslim Arab but not American and never been to America in my entire life nor I intend to become one..and if you got any thing to stuff then stuff it in your self...