by Jerome du Bois
I am not interested in a dialogue with Muslims, moderate or otherwise, but I will examine and criticize the verbal behavior of any Muslim spokesperson who appears on the internet or in print, especially local ones. Hence my previous attentions paid to Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser. This will be the fourth, stemming from his latest posting on pluggedin, which is among the shortest, most irrelevant, and most insulting I've read yet about the Newsweek-Koran-murderous-Muslim debacle.
It is titled, inexplicably, "Dances With Wolves." Subhead: "Step One-Two, Step One-Two." (Don't ask me!) Here it is:
On the heels of the uproar regarding Newsweek's fabricated Koran desecration story one cannot avoid noting a convergence of campaign interests.
The radical Islamists loved the story that fit their own media standards and their own search for a reason to wreak havoc. The false reporting fit their standard for the unchecked Middle Eastern media who would stop at nothing to win over the Islamists' most effective enemy --moderate American Muslims.
Meanwhile, some in our own media, rush to derail the Bush administration and the war on terror by seeing only what they want to see regardless of the reality or the consequences.
That's it. That's all he has to say.
I think this guy has been looking in a distorting mirror, vastly exaggerating moderate Islam. He always talks big about talking truth to Islamist fanatics, but he rarely follows through. At least, I haven't read any of it.
the unchecked Middle Eastern media who would stop at nothing to win over the Islamists' most effective enemy --moderate American Muslims.
Most effective enemy? Who is he kidding? Would that be the fifty or so who showed up in Washington DC recently? Dr. Jasser's organization's website, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy --note the url: aifdemocracy.org-- issued this press release earlier this month:
May 12, 2005: AIFD PRESS RELEASE: Join us MAY 14, 2005 in our nation's capital with over 70 other organizations representing American Muslims and Middle Easterners of all backgrounds in a national MARCH AGAINST TERROR . The Rally will take place on Saturday, May 14, 2005 at 1 PM at Freedom Square in Washington, D.C.
Join us in our nation's Capital for a rally against terrorism and to support freedom and democracy in the Middle East and the Muslim world. This will be the first rally of its kind in Washington, D.C., that is led by Muslims and Middle Easterners and the second rally of its kind in America-- the first sponsored in Phoenix, Arizona by AIFD on April 25, 2004.
Seventy-one organizations at least, and less than that many people show up. Some must have been wearing several hats. And he continues to flog the one rally ever held so far, last year right here in Phoenix, which itself had a pitiful turnout. Why didn't AIFD do an anniversary one this last April 25th? Embarrassment?
But what really concerns me is how he, a medical doctor, doesn't even mention the word "murder," which is at the heart of this story.
The Saudis routinely shred Bibles, in front of their owners, and then imprison or kill the owners if they own a lot of Bibles. They'll smash crucifixes, too, in the blink of an eye. It's the same in Egypt. When Muslims took over the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002, they not only stole all kinds of religious artifacts upon leaving, they also used the Bible for toilet paper. Did Christians kill Muslims over that desecration? No. Years ago the artists Tim Rollins and KOS drove a very long bolt through an eight-foot stack of Bibles. Nobody murdered anybody over it. The uproar over "Piss Christ" did not shed a drop of blood. Right here in the Valley, not long ago, some student "artist" painted Jesus as a puppet on strings. Nobody died over it. Jews are regularly referred to as a virus and a pestilence in mosques around the world. Those mosques remain unmolested by vengeful, murderous Jews. Yet here, a false story fanned into flames by a rich, cynical Pakistani cricket star, Imran Khan, creates a rage wherein Muslims kill --it's still unclear who killed who.
Why is M. Zuhdi Jasser speaking so lamely, so inanely in the face of such needless death? What was proven? What was upheld? What was solved? What were the reasons? No answer from the doctor.
What is the moderate Muslim position on the Qu'ran? He says nothing about it. Must I, an unbeliever, slip on latex gloves in the presence of the Qu'ran's owner, before handling a text that a significant number of its believers cannot even read, only "recite"? The answer is no. No single copy of such a book --a palimpsest, a kneaded loaf, not an inerrant narratiion-- no book-- whether Torah, Bible, New Testament, the Gita-- is worth a single human life, no matter if every letter is stamped in gold by a fiery hand.
There is an oath that begins, "First, do no harm."
And there is the arrested gesture that many call a sin of omission --the undeclared condemnation, the lowered eyes, the averted gaze, the pious, sealed lips.
But I read you, Dr. Jasser. I read you loud and clear.
Posted by Jerome at May 23, 2005 04:20 PM | TrackBack