From: Mohd. Haque <haquetm83@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 4:26 AM
Subject: [bangla-vision] Editorial - Arab News - A threat to us all
To: alochona@yahoogroups.com
Cc: bangla-vision@yahoogroups.com, history_islam@yahoogroups.com, reform-bd@yahoogroups.com, diagnose@yahoogroups.com
Editorial: A threat to us all
Arab News, 11.09.2010
Attempts to set Islam and West against each other pose danger to the entire civilized world
All is well that ends well. Or is it?The storm raised by a Florida church seems to have blown over for now. The fervent appeals made by US President Barack Obama and leading members of his administration seem to have worked for now. Terry Jones, the raving pastor of the little known Florida church, now talks of putting his little wicked plan on hold, whatever his excuse to do so. Clearly, he has earned more than his share of 15 minutes of fame.
The world cannot afford to simply forget the whole sordid episode though and pretend it's business as usual. To give credit where it's due, Obama deserves kudos for speaking out forcefully on both the issue of Ground Zero mosque and the outrage planned by the Florida pastor. However, the damage has already been done.
Even though the despicable "Burn a Qur'an Day" has been called off now, the issue has already ignited strong passions across the globe, with people dying in protests in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Even US allies like President Karzai of Afghanistan and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia have joined their people in protests over the issue. Which only goes to underscore the explosive nature of the issue.
It is not as if those seeking to target the Holy Qur'an are not familiar with the Muslim sensitivity on the issue and the absolute reverence in which it is held as the Last Book of God. They do very well understand it and are deliberately seeking to slight what is most sacrosanct for the believers, even more precious than their own lives.
The sickness behind the outrages like the caricature of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and burn-the-Qur'an call is not limited to a lunatic fringe any more. The scourge of Islamophobia appears to be spreading fast, like a swiftly mutating disease across the West, from America to Australia, and around the world.
From the disgraceful Danish cartoons that rocked the world a few years ago to the recent Swiss ban on minarets to French and Belgian curbs on the veil, the growing intolerance to Islam cannot be dismissed as isolated aberrations anymore. They are forming a dangerous pattern now. More to the point, coupled with the totally one-sided, unquestioning US and Western support for Israel, such actions and policies are fueling anti-US and anti-Western sentiments in the Muslim world, dragging us all to the scenario that Samuel Huntington promised.
No wonder the recent, well-meaning initiatives to bridge the Islam-West chasm have not gotten anywhere.
Incidentally, it's not possible to ignore the role Israel's powerful friends in the US establishment and media have played in fanning the anti-Muslim hysteria in the West. Whatever the cause of the current lunacy, it's past time the world woke up to the specter of Islamophobia before it's too late. For this is not just a threat to Islam or Muslims. It's a clear and present danger to the entire civilized world and what it has come to respect and believe in: Our collective heritage.
In June this year, Muslim states moved a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council asking the United Nations to take on the scourge of Islamophobia. Clearly though, a great deal more and urgently needs to be done by individual governments and the international community collectively to effectively deal with the menace. More important, the worlds need to confront the forces and factors that produce dangerous nutjobs like Terry Jones.
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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