Muslims condemn Mumbai attacks, while some praise it

[navid]

The Associated Press: Muslims condemn Mumbai attacks, worry about image

Muslims condemn Mumbai attacks, worry about image

By KARIN LAUB – 59 minutes ago

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Muslims from the Middle East to Britain and Austria condemned Sunday the Mumbai shooting rampage by suspected Islamic militants as senseless terrorism, but also found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion.

Intellectuals and community leaders called for greater efforts to combat religious fanaticism.

Indian police said Sunday that the only surviving gunman told them he belongs to the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group is seen as a creation of Pakistani intelligence to help fight India in the disputed Kashmir region. Another group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, has also operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.

Ten gunmen attacked 10 targets in the three-day assault including a Jewish community center and luxury hotels in India's commercial hub. More than 170 people were killed.

Many Muslims said they are worried such carnage is besmirching their religion.

"The occupation of the synagogue and killing people in hotels tarnishes the Muslim faith," said Kazim al-Muqdadi, a political science lecturer at Baghdad University. "Anyone who slaughters people and screams `Allahu Akbar' (God is Great) is sick and ignorant."

In Britain, home to nearly two million Muslims, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, Inayat Bunglawala, said that "a handful of terrorists like this bring the entire faith into disrepute."

A previously unknown Muslim group, Deccan Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The name suggests origins in India.

Pakistan has denied involvement and demanding that India provide proof. In Pakistan, Jamaat-ud Dawa, an Islamist group believed to have ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, denounced the killing of civilians.

In Islamic extremist Web forums, some praised the Mumbai attacks, including the targeting of Jews.

A man identified as Sheik Youssef al-Ayeri said the killings are in line with Islam.

"It's all right for Muslims to set the infidels' castles on fire, drown them with water .... and take some of them as prisoners, whether young or old, women or men, because it is one of many ways to beat them," he wrote in the al-Fallujah forum.

In the Gaza Strip, the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers declined comment. Hamas has carried out scores of suicide attacks in Israel, killing hundreds of civilians in recent years. However, Hamas has said it does not want to get involved in conflicts elsewhere.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the attacks as terrorism, but added that the violence is rooted in "unjust policies" aimed at destabilizing the region. He did not elaborate.

India is seen by many in the Arab and Muslim world as a Western ally. For example, Israel has become an important arms supplier to India, angering Muslim Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia said in a statement carried earlier this week by the Saudi Press Agency that it "strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act." An editorial Friday in Saudi's English-language Arab News said that "no civilized person ... can be anything but revolted and sickened by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai."

However, Jonathan Fighel, an Israeli counterterrorism expert, said Saudi organizations have been funneling money to Muslim militants in Kashmir.

"This demonstrates exactly the double game and, I would say, the hypocrisy of the Saudi regime," said Fighel of the Israel-based International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

Throughout the Muslim world, the attacks set off soul-searching.

"I think that Muslims should raise their voice against such actions. They should forge a coalition to fight such phenomena, because it harms them and damages their image," said Ali Abdel Muhsen, 22, a Muslim engineering student in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Muslims and Arabs must confront the violence "that is taking place in our name and in the name of our (Islamic) tenets," wrote Khaled al-Jenfawi, a columnist for Kuwait's Al-Seyassah daily.

"Unfortunately, we have yet to see a distinguished popular condemnation in the traditional Arab or Muslim communities that strongly rejects what is happening in the name of Islam or Arab nationalism," wrote al-Jenfawi.

Reporters across the Middle East and Europe contributed to this report.

Anyone want to go on their forum and dismantle their views?

[meraj]

as salaamu alaikum,

navid said

Anyone want to go on their forum and dismantle their views?

i think the only thing that can neutralize a polar extreme is another polar extreme. so i guess you just volunteered yourself?

meraj

[Ahmad89]

Navid, are you a Muslim?

[navid]

Ahmad89 said

Navid, are you a Muslim?

What makes you think I'm not?

Go back to whinging about how your life sucks.

[Nuh]

navid said

Anyone want to go on their forum and dismantle their views?

there's a search function. Use it.

[Ahmad89]

navid said

What makes you think I'm not?

Go back to whinging about how your life sucks.

It's Whining, not "whinging"


If you are Muslim, I apologize, but I don't think you are a Muslim because it appears you constantly cut down Muslims.

[navid]

Ahmad89 said

It's Whining, not "whinging"


If you are Muslim, I apologize, but I don't think you are a Muslim because it appears you constantly cut down Muslims.

I'm Australian, get over it. We call it whinging, stupid confused Khaleeji-wannabe seppo.

So in order to be Muslim, I have to live in a make believe world where all Muslims are free of any wrong-doing? I should completely deny the fact that there are Muslims out there who make the lives of normal Muslims such as myself miserable? Because I hate the fact that there are a lot of Muslims out there who constantly make excuses and look for scapegoats to cover up their own faults?

[Revert]

Ahmad89 said

It's Whining, not "whinging"


If you are Muslim, I apologize, but I don't think you are a Muslim because it appears you constantly cut down Muslims.

Unless you ahve proff you shouldn't call out somone on not being a Muslim.

Also Whinging is the UK-Aussie word for whining.

[ChotooMotoo]

Wait, so there are sick people in the world, and some of them happen to be Muslims? Huh. Who would have thought that Muslims were humans, and as such have flaws like all other humans.

You're always going to find sick people who praise acts of violence, be they Christian fundamentalists who praise the bombing abortion clinics and murdering gynecologists, or whack-job "muslims" who think it's okay to cut innocent people down. Yes, sadly, there are some really horrible people in this world. What's worse, there will always be such people. You can't eliminate them. All you can do is be sure you're not one of them.

[navid]

I do see your point ChotooMotoo, but it is a problem to me when I see fellow Muslims praising the slaughter of civilians, because like it or not, we are under the microscope from the non-Muslim world and it is imperative for us to disown and lambast these wannabe e-jihadi tools for the scum that they are.

[ChotooMotoo]

navid said

I do see your point ChotooMotoo, but it is a problem to me when I see fellow Muslims praising the slaughter of civilians, because like it or not, we are under the microscope from the non-Muslim world and it is imperative for us to disown and lambast these wannabe e-jihadi tools for the scum that they are.

It bothers the hell out of me too. I used to live in redneck central. When I say redneck I mean REALLY redneck. One of my colleagues was a retired marine who bragged about how many guns he owned, and how important it was to be armed in case Mexico invaded etc. Every time something would happen the stupid school newspaper would come and talk to me about it. Every Muslim holiday, I would get interviewed. It never made any difference. People still hated Muslims. The sandwich board guy still came and preached about how all Muslims, black people, and Mormons were doomed to hell. People took me to be the exception rather than the rule. Their idea was that all Muslims want to kill people, except that white lady who wears the scarf. That poor poor girl, we wonder what she must go through all the time being the only Muslim in the world who hates violence, and a woman at that. Everyone knows how Muslims hate women.

[Ahmad89]

navid said

So in order to be Muslim, I have to live in a make believe world where all Muslims are free of any wrong-doing? I should completely deny the fact that there are Muslims out there who make the lives of normal Muslims such as myself miserable? Because I hate the fact that there are a lot of Muslims out there who constantly make excuses and look for scapegoats to cover up their own faults?

No, it's that you constantly focus on the bad Muslims, as if you're trying to make us look like a bad religion.

Why don't you ever post an article about a Muslim who does something good? Or an article about Muslims condeming terror attacks? Yes, you might say that this thread has that topic in the title, but you bolded the words about Muslims praising them.

[Revert]

Ahmad89 said

No, it's that you constantly focus on the bad Muslims, as if you're trying to make us look like a bad religion.

Why don't you ever post an article about a Muslim who does something good? Or an article about Muslims condeming terror attacks? Yes, you might say that this thread has that topic in the title, but you bolded the words about Muslims praising them.

Actually he often posts positive things about Iran and Iranian culture.

[roberto]

Ahmad89 said

No, it's that you constantly focus on the bad Muslims, as if you're trying to make us look like a bad religion.

Why don't you ever post an article about a Muslim who does something good? Or an article about Muslims condeming terror attacks? Yes, you might say that this thread has that topic in the title, but you bolded the words about Muslims praising them.

Go to Google NewsMuslims condemn Mumbai attacks, worry about image
By KARIN LAUB – 17 hours ago

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Muslims from the Middle East to Britain and Austria condemned Sunday the Mumbai shooting rampage by suspected Islamic militants as senseless terrorism, but also found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion.

Intellectuals and community leaders called for greater efforts to combat religious fanaticism.

Indian police said Sunday that the only surviving gunman told them he belongs to the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group is seen as a creation of Pakistani intelligence to help fight India in the disputed Kashmir region. Another group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, has also operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.

Ten gunmen attacked 10 targets in the three-day assault including a Jewish community center and luxury hotels in India's commercial hub. More than 170 people were killed.

Many Muslims said they are worried such carnage is besmirching their religion.

"The occupation of the synagogue and killing people in hotels tarnishes the Muslim faith," said Kazim al-Muqdadi, a political science lecturer at Baghdad University. "Anyone who slaughters people and screams `Allahu Akbar' (God is Great) is sick and ignorant."

In Britain, home to nearly two million Muslims, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, Inayat Bunglawala, said that "a handful of terrorists like this bring the entire faith into disrepute."

A previously unknown Muslim group, Deccan Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The name suggests origins in India.

Pakistan has denied involvement and demanding that India provide proof. In Pakistan, Jamaat-ud Dawa, an Islamist group believed to have ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, denounced the killing of civilians.

In Islamic extremist Web forums, some praised the Mumbai attacks, including the targeting of Jews.

A man identified as Sheik Youssef al-Ayeri said the killings are in line with Islam.

"It's all right for Muslims to set the infidels' castles on fire, drown them with water .... and take some of them as prisoners, whether young or old, women or men, because it is one of many ways to beat them," he wrote in the al-Fallujah forum.

In the Gaza Strip, the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers declined comment. Hamas has carried out scores of suicide attacks in Israel, killing hundreds of civilians in recent years. However, Hamas has said it does not want to get involved in conflicts elsewhere.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the attacks as terrorism, but added that the violence is rooted in "unjust policies" aimed at destabilizing the region. He did not elaborate.

India is seen by many in the Arab and Muslim world as a Western ally. For example, Israel has become an important arms supplier to India, angering Muslim Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia said in a statement carried earlier this week by the Saudi Press Agency that it "strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act." An editorial Friday in Saudi's English-language Arab News said that "no civilized person ... can be anything but revolted and sickened by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai."

However, Jonathan Fighel, an Israeli counterterrorism expert, said Saudi organizations have been funneling money to Muslim militants in Kashmir.

"This demonstrates exactly the double game and, I would say, the hypocrisy of the Saudi regime," said Fighel of the Israel-based International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

Throughout the Muslim world, the attacks set off soul-searching.

"I think that Muslims should raise their voice against such actions. They should forge a coalition to fight such phenomena, because it harms them and damages their image," said Ali Abdel Muhsen, 22, a Muslim engineering student in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Muslims and Arabs must confront the violence "that is taking place in our name and in the name of our (Islamic) tenets," wrote Khaled al-Jenfawi, a columnist for Kuwait's Al-Seyassah daily.

"Unfortunately, we have yet to see a distinguished popular condemnation in the traditional Arab or Muslim communities that strongly rejects what is happening in the name of Islam or Arab nationalism," wrote al-Jenfawi.

Reporters across the Middle East and Europe contributed to this report.
The Associated Press: Muslims condemn Mumbai attacks, worry about image