Ben Shapiro Shapiro is a second-year
political science student bringing reason to the masses. Send your
comments to [email protected].
The burden is on Islam. President Bush has stated many times
that his “war on terrorism” is not a war on Islam. And
Osama bin Laden has stated virulently that America’s attacks
on Afghanistan constitute nothing less than a global war on Islam.
And they are both correct.
Bush is correct that this is not a war on Islam ““ it is a
war on terrorism. But Bin Laden is correct when the facade of
terrorism is stripped away to reveal its roots: Islamic extremism.
America’s new war and the world’s new problem represent
a watershed moment in the history of Islam. Islamic extremists must
choose to end their militancy, to stop promoting jihads against
infidels, and to conquer their thirst to subjugate those adherents
of other faiths.
This problem has been lurking in the shadows for generations.
Only now, after the completely evil and unjustified attacks on the
United States on Sept. 11, has the problem risen to the light. For
years, women have been subjugated around the Islamic world by
totalitarian governments. For decades, terrorist groups have been
operating around the globe. For centuries, Islamic extremists
has attempted to murder infidels and quash other religious
practices. Why are so many Islamic states dictatorships? Why are
the members of these Islamic states subjected to poor and cruel
lives?
Bin Laden has attempted to unify Muslims around the globe to his
cause using the Muslim pet scapegoat, Israel. He has stated that
only when there is “peace for those of Palestine” will
there be peace in America. He has stated that the attacks will
continue until every Israeli has been removed from Palestinian
land.
What he neglects to mention, but what is exceedingly obvious, is
that in the extremist Islamic view, all of Israel is Palestinian
land. What bin Laden and his vicious band want is nothing less than
the annihilation of the state of Israel, and the mass slaughter of
the Jews.
And this is not a minority view.
While Western Muslim clerics have condemned the attacks of Sept.
11, they have just as quickly stated that terrorism in Israel is
justified by Islamic law as
“self-defense.”(“Harsh Words at Christian-Muslim
Meeting,” New York Times, Oct. 5). As if killing infants with
a suicide bomb in a pizzeria could ever be classified as
self-defense.
The truth is that bin Laden and his associates use Israel merely
as a buzzword. Terrorist attacks on America have nothing whatsoever
to do with Israel. Intelligence sources have stated in the
media that the Sept. 11 attacks had been planned for years in
advance. This would mean that even while Yasser Arafat and Ehud
Barak were sitting and talking at Camp David, bin Laden was acting
to attack America.
The root cause is hatred preached by those members of extremist
Islam ““ hatred for Christianity and other religions runs just
as deep as Islamic hatred of Judaism. States the Koran:
“Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them
to the fire. As often as their skins are consumed, We shall
exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the
torment.”(Surah IV, v. 56, “The Meaning of the Glorious
Koran,” Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall)
But there is a moderate side of Islam. Millions of Muslims
around the world abhor such evil and condemn such violence. These
Muslims face the ultimate challenge, and must make the ultimate
attempt to save their religion. They must combat this extremist
sect that perverts their religion. World governments are making an
attempt to destroy the physical outlet of Islamic extremism ““
moderate Muslims have the task of spiritually defeating this
corruption.
And so the moderate Muslim world has been issued a de facto
ultimatum ““ they must turn the tide of Islam, and change it
from a dictatorial, close-minded, imperialistic movement, into a
religion representing and defending a moral and just God.