AIFD in the Media] “Voices of Moderation face irrational rants” – Editorial Board, Arizona Republic, Friday, Feb. 18, 2011
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1] The following op-ed featured from the Arizona Republic Editorial Board appeared in today’s newspaper and can be found online at this link.
2] Also for those who missed it Wednesday, Feb 16 see our latest [MEDIA UPDATE- VIDEO LINK] – Dr. Jasser discussed on MSNBC the latest developments in the murder trial of Faleh Al-Maleki here in Phoenix.
Voices of moderation face irrational rants
4 comments Feb. 18, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
It is a distressing fact of modern life that too few moderate Muslims have stood up over the years to condemn the predations of radical Islamists, the violent extremists who dare lay claim to a great world religion.
They are few and brave. Like Arizona’s own Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, an indefatigable defender of his faith. You would think that self-proclaimed defenders of Western culture would cherish the company of the likes of Jasser and author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, both of them rare Muslim voices willing to publicly condemn violent religious extremism.
Alas, you’d be wrong.
With astonishing fury, some conservative commentators have begun raging irrationally against Jasser, as well as Ali, for having the gall to . . . well, to claim to speak for Muslims.
Writing on the conservative website American Thinker, former newspaper publisher Pamela Geller contends Jasser “cannot educate about the threat (of radical Islam), because he obfuscates the truth and has invented the Islam he follows.” Commentators at other sites like Frontpage Magazine logged similar views.
They appear to be animated by the fact that Jasser was invited to appear at Capitol Hill hearings on Islamic radicalization. They also appear to believe that moderate voices cannot speak for Islam because Islam itself, in their view, is immoderate.
Jasser himself destroys Geller’s error-laced tirade in a Feb. 13 posting on American Thinker. It’s worth reading.
The spectacle must be of great comfort to the Taliban and the Iranian mullahs:
Witnessing their fiercest American critics rejecting their fiercest Muslim critics as somehow being inauthentic.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2011/02/18/20110218fri2-18.html#ixzz1EKZuMQUo
