by Bahija Haidaoui

Created on: January 22, 2011

     Is Islam the real threat? No. The REAL threats are closed-mindedness, xenophobia, and self-doubt, on ALL sides. Islam is simply a religion, and like Judaism, and Christianity, before it, Islam traces its roots back to the same place, people, and principals as those other major religions. Was Christianity the threat during the crusades or was the threat the people who choose to use it as a vehicle to advance their own positions and beliefs? Is Judaism a threat to the Palestinian people? No. Zionism and Judaism are NOT one in the same.

    This “culture clash” didn’t just spring upon us in the fall of 2001, and it is multi-faceted, not the simple black and white Cable News commentators would have us believe.  When Europe and America helped Mohammad Rez Shh Pahlavi, take control of Iran, and institute a “secular” government, one which forbade even grandmothers from going out in the traditional “chador” they set the tone that the “West would Win.” The belief then was that any NOT WESTERN was also out-dated, antiquated, even worrisome. Students of history were not as shocked as the rest of the world, when, some thirty years later, the people of Iran rose up and reacted to years of internal oppression. And when they did rebel, they were not able to separate the proverbial baby from the bathwater. They, in another error of judgment, made the “West” the enemy. The conservative Ayatollahs were afraid of western influence then, just as much as some Western leaders on the Religious Right are afraid of the influence of Islam now.

     You could earn a PhD discussing the meaning behind every sura, hadith, biblical story, and psalms that touch upon war, not to mention the debate as to translating Quranic text into modern day English. If “True Christians” believed that the bible teaches them to preserve life at all costs, there would be a lot more abortion clinic bombings. Similarly, if all dedicated Muslims believed it was their mission to harm the West, or Non-Muslims, there would be more acts of “terrorism” and it would not occur where Muslims themselves are also being killed.

     You can find faulty logic in the belief that if the Mafia is comprised of Italians, then all Italians are in the Mafia just as readily as you can in the argument that since the “9-11 Hijackers” were Muslim,

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