Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Expecting Muslims to Condemn Muslim Terrorists Is Like Expecting "the White Community" to Condemn the Terrorism of White Supremacists

So says a chap named Abbas Kassam, who performs a deft (and daft) jihadectomy on Islamic doctrine here (link found on the NCCM site):
A current example of the persecution of truth and obfuscation of reality lies in the flawed assumptions and opinions about the Muslim community. Consider the demand on Western Muslims and their institutions to condemn acts of terror when committed by alleged Muslims in Western states (note that little demand exists for the condemnation of terror attacks outside of North America or Europe). Aside from the obvious critique that this assumes that Muslims are somehow opposed to or separate from their country of citizenship, this demand is based on flawed premises.  
The analogous situation of white supremacy extremism is illustrative. There appears to be no demand that the “white community” at large condemn violent acts/terrorism committed by white supremacists. This appears to be obvious for the simple reason that linking a large community together based on the beliefs of deviants who claim the supremacy of the community mischaracterizes the community and hands the platform to the deviants. Imagine the conjecture that the pinnacle of being white was being a white supremacist. Such a notion is harmful, not to mention lacks evidence. 
The same reasoning should apply to the Muslim community. Demanding that Muslims and their institutions condemn terrorism allows deviants to co-opt the image of the community as a whole. This is completely flawed. There is no collective will amongst the Muslim community for terrorism. There is no spectrum of religiosity in Islam the peak of which is violence. These are just commonly propagated falsehoods based on disproportionate focusing on deviants and a lack of understanding of Muslims and their institutions. Subjecting Muslims to a burden of proving deviants do not represent them creates the insatiable demand for condemnation.
Is the jihad imperative embedded in Islam's holy writ "deviant"? It would sure make it a lot better for all concerned (except, of course, for the jihadis) if it were. But since Islam has been into this sort of "deviance" from the time that its founder hightailed it out of Mecca, the notion that jihad is extrinsic to the religion is harmful, not to mention lacks evidence.

No comments: