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July 25th, 2011
01:53 PM ET
My Take: Norway attacks show why you can't #blamethemuslims
By Khalid Latif, Special to CNN In the immediate aftermath of 1995’s Oklahoma City bombing, much of the news media rushed to suggest that a Muslim, or at least a Middle Eastern connection, was behind the attack. News reports on television and in print featured Middle East terrorism experts claiming the Oklahoma City attack echoed a World Trade Center bombing two years earlier and that it contained parallels to recent Mideast attacks. The FBI picked up Ibrahim Ahmad, a Jordanian American, for questioning in an initial dragnet. Does 'Christian fundamentalist' label fit Norway terror suspect? Of course, it turned out that the attacker was homegrown and named Timothy McVeigh, not a Muslim. Sixteen years later, not much has changed. The tragic events that took place in Norway on Friday provoked initial accusations against Muslims worldwide. Of course, that proved to be the farthest thing from the truth. Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed bomber and shooter in this horrendous act, was not motivated by the teachings of Islam, but by the teachings of those who oppose Islam. A 1,500-page manifesto that appears to be written by Breivik is an anti-Islamic tirade. Who is Anders Behring Breivik? “Since the creation of Islam in the 7th century and to up to this day, the Islamic Jihad has systematically killed more than 300 million non Muslims and tortured and enslaved more than 500 million individuals,” it says. “Since 9/11 2001, more than 12, 000 Jihadi terrorist attacks have occurred,” it continues. “… This trend will continue as long as there are non-Muslim targets available and as long as Islam continues to exist.” An inappropriate response to Norway’s acts of violence would be the condemnation of Christianity, or a claim that religion itself breeds violence and hatred, though the manifesto repeatedly invokes the defense of Christianity as a primary reason for violently defeating multiculturalism and combating the “Islamic colonization” of Europe. The expectation shouldn't be that white Christian males should now be scrutinized at airports or profiled by TSA workers. It's wrong when it happens to Muslims and it would be just as wrong if it happened to anyone else. A more appropriate response would be to expand the conversation around terrorism and violent extremism beyond Islam and the Muslim community. The Norway attacks highlight why congressional hearings should not be held on solely on radicalization in the Muslim community, but should focus on radicalization more broadly. Far right makes comeback in Europe It's also imperative that training for law enforcement and other governmental offices on Islamic doctrine and law not to be conducted by those who present the normative understanding of Islam to be something that is radical. Our focus should be the safety of all citizens in any country from every act of violence or terrorism. By cultivating a narrative that says Islam is the problem, we keep ourselves from maintaining that focus. All terrorist acts stem from an idea that it's OK to resort to violence in order to get what you want; that it's OK to kill to get the kind of world that you would like; that if we disagree, we cannot co-exist peacefully. Over the weekend, #blamethemuslims became a trending topic on Twitter. The purpose of the hashtag was not to blame Muslims for the Norway attack, but show how Muslims are unfairly blamed and singled out regularly these days. The tragic events in Norway remind us that not all terrorists are Muslim and there is no reason that all Muslims should be treated like they are. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Norway. May God make things easy for them and grant us all the strength and courage to stand up against those who preach intolerance and hatred, even if they look like us, align politically with us, or practice the same religion we practice. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Khalid Latif. |
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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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Editor's Note: Imam Khalid Latif is a chaplain for New York University and Executive Director of the school's 
Muslims just hanged an 8-yr old boy in Afghanistan. They blow bombs everyday in Iraq, Pakistan . They killed innocent people in London, Madrid , New York , Indonesia ,Kenya and elsewhere by the hundreds. One incident by a non-religious guy in Norway and all of a sudden Muslims have been treated unfairly. It says in Quran 9:5 to kill infidels meaning non-muslims. Until Islam exists, killings like the 8-year old boy and others will go on. Lets all remember: Muslims are ordered to kill as good muslims, like Bin Laden killed 3000 innocent people in one day. Islam is a criminal gang , NOT a religion. To call it a religion is an insult to humanity.
Can't blame the mussies, can't blame the mussies, they are just misunderstood by you and me.
"“If there is found in your midst, in any of your [a]towns, which the LORD your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, by transgressing His covenant, 3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to [b]death."
The Bible, Deuteronomy 17:2-5
Pot, kettle, black
word...
pot calling the kettle black is a racist statement. what's wrong with being black?
9:6 : And if anyone of the Mushrimun (infidel) seeks your protection then grant him protection so that he may hear the Word of Allah and then escort him to where he can be secure, that is because they are men who know not.
See, in order to vilify Islam, you'll, like everyone, have to take verses out of context or completely lie about it. Nice try Bubba.
@Sybaris: Nice post but tell me, how many times in the last 20 years have Christians deigned to obey that principle stated in Deuteronomy? I'm listening... **crickets** Ok, then in the same period, how many Islamic terror bombings have there been? I think the answer is something like... A LOT MORE(!!!), no? So it's really more like the saucepan (Christianity) calling the Double Boiler (Islam) black, wouldn't you say?
OK, I get it. 99 times out of 100 it is muslim terrorism, and this spokesman for Islam is silent. When number 100 hits he finally speaks up, to basically tell everyone to ignore the first 99 events. Sure, I agree, Islam is peaceful and a 99% guilty rate (or thereabouts) is irrelevant.
Plenty of muslim leaders speak out and comdemn terror, it's just that more often than not, it's difficult to find a major media channel willing to broadcast what they're saying.
The agnostic is the close to being right. We have Christians who decry Jews like they decry Muslims and then pray to Jesus. These same Christians preached unequally yoked is interracial dating and killed Jews who helped during the civil rights movement and then prayed to Jesus every Sunday. Christians don't follow blindly
From the crusades, to Martin Luther who was a great leader against the catholic church, Christians like most people who belong to any political party follow a void they have in their personal life and have a need to belong to something, or be accepted by someone.
Its all about strength and power. We have it and good luck getting it from us. Arabs reacted and got their butt kicked numerous times.
Why are you all speaking english? Start brushing up on you Mandarin when China takes over as the next world leader...based on the economic downward spiral we're all in, it'll be sooner than later.
You're right, but seriously off topic. Need a compass?
I wish I could say that you're wrong. Unfortunately, your right.
Soon after Democracy, The Sharia will fight China Communist!! It already told in "The Al-Qaedah Mega Project"
testing
Till todate, no proof has been given to implicate any Muslim with the 9/11 attack. US government just claimed it. Remember, this same government claimed IRAQ had WMD. On the contrary, all the evidence indicates that the twin towers were brought down by controlled demolition. Building 7 off course came down because it was feeling lonely and wanted to be with its twin sisters in heaven.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste...
You such B.S-er Mr "Guest". Your crazy conspiracy comments definetly don't help to the author of this article.
It must be true because you said so. No proof required, I suppose.
Osamah bin Laden admits it!
To peace: Did you have any proof that he actually said that? And even if he had actually said that, how is it that every Muslim is responsible for that.
MR LATIF DOESNT GET IT. YES NOT ALL MUSLIM PEOPLE
PEOPLE ARE RADICAL. BUT THE
MUSLIM RELIGON AS PRACTICED IN THE MIDDLE EAST- BY IRANS SICK LEADERS/ SAUDIA ARABIA/LEBANON
AND WEST BANK ETC ARE HATERS AND DEMAGOGUES. THEY TEACH HATRED AND INTOLERANCE.
SO WHO IS HE KIDDING- IF YOU WANT HATRED JUST LOOK AT THE MIIDDLE EAST.. HIS ARGUMENT ABOUT
ALL MUSLIMS IS CHILDISH ALREADY- EVEN THE MOST RETARDED KNOW 'ALL ' MEANS NOTHING. SO WHO THE HELL
DOES HE THINK HES TALKING TO... CHILDREN?? '
GLENN GREENSTEIN
Actually he is talking to someone with single digit IQ like you.
Nice, greenstein. Look in the mirror, it is the zionazis such as yourself and rupert murdoch who are to blame for the problems in the middle east and the world in general. The zionazis, and in particular the ashkenazis are the fifth column of the western world. USS LIBERTY was not an accident.
Yeah and the christian militia in Beirut are such nice folks.
Now THAT's somethin' you won't hear about on Sunday!
Phil – crazies like you are the fifth column.
Um, Mr. Retard,
A organization named, oh I donna know, say the IRA killed thousands of people in the name of God. Even your beloved congressman, Peter King from NY was a fundraiser for them terrorists. Oh and BTW – the IRA used to support the PLO and Yasser Arafat. But you know what, lets forget about that, since you are too stupid to know where Ireland is on a map, or what the IRA stands for, or for that matter what the PLO stands for. Just keep your head up your A@# and pretend that the world is the way Georgie Bush painted it for you "us versus them". Life is really that simple.
Ignorance comes in all colors. Will Presidential candidate Herman Cain issue an edict on Christian extremism?
The terrorist in Norway may have been a Christian church, but to my knowledge not a single Christian leader, minister, or Priest has declared a Christian Jihad, told him that he would go straight to heaven for his murders and get 42 virgins and eternal bliss for his murders. What Christianity has to say is that this guy is a murderer of the innocent, and if he dies without repenting and begging forgiveness of God for what Christianity considers mortal deadly sin he will burn in hell for all eternity! The entire Christian world and all Christian clergy condemn this murderous sinful act...Unanimously and with NO reservation! The problem with Islamic terrorism and the reason Islam justly comes in for criticism and condemnation is that much of the Islamic clergy and tens of millions of muslims approve of the terror and justify the murders of the innocent as an act of Jihad. They even issue Fataws justifying specific murders like that of writer/author Rushdie, as well as mass terrorism. I don't see any Christians dancing in the streets over the atrocity in Norway, but I did see thousands of Muslims celebrating after 9/11. When the Muslim clergy and people are as unanimously united in opposing this kind of terrorism and the murder of innocents as Christians are, and tell these people unanimously they will lose their souls and go to hell for engaging in these acts, than Islam can claim to be free of blame. Not until then!!!
... well said.
You, my friend, have hit the proverbial nail on it's proverbial head. Well done, indeed... and thanks!!
This is not what the religion advocates, it's bred by its followers ignorance of the religion. These acts shouldn't be blamed on an entire people or religion, but rather on the ignorance of a very backwards society. If you have ever actually known a muslim personally, your opinion of the religion would be different.
Right on the money. These muslim soldiers from the Muslim nations like US, UK, France are killing all the innocent Christians in IRAQ, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Christian countries by the millions and their Muslim leaders like Bush, Blair encouraged the killing of the innocent Christians in those Christian countries. Such arrogance.
why blaming the Muslims???it is like a killer killed a an innocent person and at the end the murdered person get blamed for the killing
let's face it, the guy is a an extremist right wing nut(Fox news watcher or a Republican)
And you must be a liberal nutcase or an arab or some other muslim filth
To Roger: And you must be very intelligent highschool dropout.
Don't blame Muslims, blame Islam that teach them to kill!!
Islam teaches to fight against the enemy as long as the enmy fights. I guess Muslims are not eunuchs like Christians.
Christians are so peaceful. They always turn the other cheek. Recently, they turned the other cheek and millions of innocent Muslims in Iraq, Afganistan and Pakistan died.
An innocent muslim, what a contradiction in terms:)
To Roger: Use SPF 50. Your neck must be getting bloody hot.
We didn't turn the other cheek...We threw a beat down on that tyrant in Iraq because the muslim countries around Iraq eithier did not care or were to cowardly to take care of that wack job.
The face of mohammed religion descendant is : "I must always right, others that oppose me is must die" what a terror minded?
To peace: On the contrary, you are actually saying that you are holier than thou and Muslims are to be killed.
To Thats Life: I didn't see you preventing Rowanda genocide where almost 1 Million people got slaughtered by the Christians. What happened? Were you hybernating or perhaps you did not find OIL, oops! I mean tyrant there?
"A more appropriate response would be to expand the conversation around terrorism and violent extremism beyond Islam and the Muslim community"
I must respectfully disagree. There is no moral equivalence to the jihad movement, as much as you want to deflect scrutiny. It's telling that you use OKC and Norway as examples. You can actually name Timothy McVeigh BY NAME, 16 years later, because you can count every non-muslim terrorist on one hand. You can't even name those that became Muslim martyrs in the last 6 mos because they are too numerous. Security should be respectful, but to ignore the fact that 99.9999% of terrorist attacks are committed by Muslim men between the ages of 20-40 is not only dangerous, but ridiculous as well.
fake numbers. fake argument. you are using all suicide killings and attacks in your guessed upon statistics? that's stupid because to me, a guy wearing a bomb walking into a bus is the same as a postal worker going crazy on his lunch break. terrorism cannot be ideologically pigeon holed when the definition of terrorism is so open to interpretation.
I agree completely..thats the truth right there^
How about the million terrorists that carried on the crusades?
And according to one cable leaked by the Wikileak, on of those so called terrorists actually on MI6 (British Secrect Service) payroll to create havoc in Pakistan. God knows how many more like him are there.
I like your words regarding "... Our focus should be the safety of all citizens in any country from every act of violence or terrorism." Most muslims are peaceful, like most Christians, Atheists, etc. Islam, as opposed to muslims, however, promises peace once the rest of the world is subjugated. So-called "islamic extremists" are in fact the truest islamists, and this is the real problem. Muslims must take responsibility for their professed faith, and change it's dogma.
Dear imam Kalid Latif, you are a coward like every other muslim. If you are the best muslims have to offer...a priest and supposedly highly educated...wow. What a drivel you spout my friend. Please go back to your sandpit and leave normal people alone. You are a disgrace to humanity.
Roger,
Man you really hate those Moslems. Sounds like you really believe in all that stuff about love and all they teach you down in your church in the South except when it comes to people who don't have white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. You sure sound like one of those Klan boys with em high IQ scores.
@ShakaZulu: Nice try but a serious fail. In putting down the potential IQ of someone else, how intelligent is it try to paint Islam in a better light than Christianity in the area of terrorism?
Do you really want to try to compare the "church in the South" and people with "white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair" and whatever prejudices some of them may have to people who would, in real life, send an 8 yeard old girl to her death on a suicide bombing mission, let alone be responsible for literally hundreds – no, thousands of terrorist bombings around the world? Last time I saw an American strapping on a suicide vest was in WWII when soldiers would strap on a halter holding 4 grenades while gearing up to take on the enemy. Last time I saw a Muslim suicide bomber was just a few days ago, and that status is effective pretty much every day. So really, where is the comparison? There is none. The levels of severity on the Christian side can't hold a birthday candle to the insane levels of violence and mindless murder that Muslims inflict on the world every day.
Oi, Lets face it there is madness everywhere. I think in the narrow view of history, the Muslims sure do look crazy. However, in the not to distant past, we had the IRA who killed many in the name of God. I used to work in the Congo and I have seen how "God" was used by the Belgians to massacre millions and their legacy lives on today. The Catholic priests and their affinity for young boys is also a form of terrorism. Bottom line, it is easy to paint in broad brushes. Despite its shortcomings and hijacking by royal families, Christianity has the power of good in it. Similarly, many (not all) of the Muslims I have met on my travels throughout Africa, Asia, and some parts of the Middle East have been honorable, noble, and treated me with respect. Their governments like the Vatican leadership are morally corrupt and we only see the deviant behaviors – the price of dissent is often too high to bear. Go see the world and live among st your fellow human beings before claiming that you claim that you understand billions.
For the libtards out there, there's a reason why people assumed it was Islamic terrorist who attacked in Norway. For every Christian extremist terrorist out there, there's probably 1000 Islamic terrorist.
But, for the republitards/tea baggers, this lunatic is a reminder that no group has a monopoly on hate and intolerance. 50 years ago, if there was a bombing, it was most likely caused by a member of the IRA or KKK, and I'm sure they thought they had God on their side as well.
Muslims are terrorist...Leave America at once!
You're an idiot. Get an education...white trash.
Id like to offer a clarification to that ...they would all be terrorist if their imam told them to be..thats more of a factual statement.
Which America are you talking about? Is it the one where the Euporean trash Christians came by the boat load and cleansed the native people of the land?
In that same island the day before an important norvegian politician was making an speech to the youngsters there about the academic boycott that is beeing organized in Norway against Israel because of its apartheid politics against palestinians. The killer say in his blog that Israel must be helped
Heroin and McDonald's kill far more Americans than extremist Muslims ever have or ever will.
Do you have facts backing your claim that actually shows people are dieing from eating McDonalds? Doubtful, carry on Muslim...can't wait for your next ignorant post.
But that's okay. We can kill each other, we just don't want people to do it who have an overt motive.
You must be a muslim hate-beard I guess, and an idiot to boot. Please die of cancer.
except cheeseburgers are smart enough to not expect 42 virgins when they die.
Okay Jimmy, forget smack and Mac. More people are killed in the U.S. by................... other U.S. citizens every year than ever have been by Muslim extremists.
Heroin and McDonald's, mmmmmmm.
isn't McDonald's already technically heroin?
@ Jimmy: don't EVER, EVER call another person ignorant when you can't even spell 'dying' correctly. I'm a Muslim-Arab-American with a degree in English. Don't you feel ashamed of yourself?
This is pure and utter ignorance and should cost you from ever being a writer for CNN. Rubbish and ignorance.
You can say that it was a crisitain fundamentalist that did all of this but the reason why is the most most important question people should be asking. There becomes a point in any society that tries to accept every one as equals when people realize that not every one is equal and that the sheltered and guest become the issue.
Remeber why Troy fell? It wasnt the attacks out side the city. But the one that came from with in.
And European Jews came to the Middle East. Arabs reacted and you called us terrorists and anti-Semites. And you might want to spellcheck your writing before it goes public. Idiot.
dude, we are screwed if the crazy muslims start hiding in horses. they'll wait for us to finish our big macs and bam, give us the inevitable heart attack we've all been waiting for.
We have lost our empathy.
Juveniles use spell-checking as their crowning argument. It's backwoods flipping Egypt way of making a point. Spell-checkers are the least of your worries.