A friend of mine recently went to the Kiev Islamic Center on business. This is both the administrative HQ of Islam in Ukraine, and the spiritual center. Think of it as a Muslim embassy and you'll be close to the mark.
Anyway, my friend visited the same day that an enormous bombing took place in Israel, and a large number of Jewish civilians had been slaughtered. The staff all assumed my friend was sympatico, and started joking and praising Allah for the death of the Jews. He walked away disgusted with them.
These weren't angry, alienated Palestinians who'd been daily propagandized by the Hamas machine. They were prosperous, educated Muslims who live in a country that has treated them very well and given them opportunities they would never have at home. Yet despite their cosmopolitan experience, they seem to have little contact with the larger world. Specifically, they haven't yet learned that Islam is actually a "religion of peace" and jihad only means "personal moral struggle" rather than "go slaughter Jews and Christians."
I think a good use of our State Department funds would be to send a pamphlet to the residents of the various Muslim countries explaining to them that their religion is actually a peaceful one that loves "people of the Book." Because I've noticed our government constantly telling US that this is so, but the Muslims themselves remain ignorant of the fact.
Posted by Discoshaman at octobre 27, 2003 11:21 PM | TrackBack
Try http://www.robertspencer.org/dhimmiwatch for a different perspective.
Posted by: saint at octobre 31, 2003 04:34 PMWow! That is an awesome site! I'll definitely post something about it in the next day or two. Thanks so much for the link... :)
Posted by: Discoshaman at octobre 31, 2003 10:11 PMYes it is a good site, as is it's brother side, Jihad Watch.
Also interesting are:
http://alt.muslim.com
http://www.muslimwakeup.com/
Be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.
Use them all wisely.
Posted by: saint at novembre 1, 2003 04:09 PM