Farah: What is Missing in the Current Debate on Islam
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Monday July 23, 2007
It has become quite fashionable now to give a relatively small group of Muslim scholars free rein to talk, unchallenged, about what Islam does and does not teach. In the Sunday Washington Post, the Outlook section devoted most of this week’s pages to letting Muslims of different viewpoints speak out. Newsweek Magazine and the Post have a joint inter-faith dialogue, Georgetown University has given Tariq Ramadan more time than anyone could reasonably used, and the list goes on.
What is strikingly missing in reading through these pages is any recognition that there are significant push factors that are extremely important in the radicalization of many of today’s jihadis.
While it may be true that U.S. foreign policy has contributed to some radicalization, and poverty and racism have their place, what of the billions of dollars the Saudis and others, often through mosques controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, used to teach people how to hate us? Might that not be a factor as well?
It has become quite fashionable now to give a relatively small group of Muslim scholars free rein to talk, unchallenged, about what Islam does and does not teach. In the Sunday Washington Post, the Outlook section devoted most of this week’s pages to letting Muslims of different viewpoints speak out. Newsweek Magazine and the Post have a joint inter-faith dialogue, Georgetown University has given Tariq Ramadan more time than anyone could reasonably used, and the list goes on.
What is strikingly missing in reading through these pages is any recognition that there are significant push factors that are extremely important in the radicalization of many of today’s jihadis.
While it may be true that U.S. foreign policy has contributed to some radicalization, and poverty and racism have their place, what of the billions of dollars the Saudis and others, often through mosques controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, used to teach people how to hate us? Might that not be a factor as well?
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posted by jillosophy at 7/23/2007 06:55:00 PM
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